EXAMINATIONS
I’m glad that you are all seated this morning because I’d like to talk about something that we’ve probably all feared and obviously all survived - examinations.
Now if you’re like me, whenever you had to sit for an exam, you were never quite ready. For those who can’t remember what it was like to sit for an exam, I’d like to remind you:
- Rows of people all writing furiously and continuously (except for you). And how did you know? Because you’re the one looking around in amazement!
- People all around you nodding and smiling to themselves as they answered yet another question correctly - and you can’t even remember today’s date.
- The monotonous ticking of the clock as it counts down while you watch your future disappear in another blank page.
- The measured step of the exam supervisor who always seems to stop right behind you.
You get the idea?
Now you’re probably all thinking that it wasn’t all that bad because every now and again one of your teachers would take pity on you and set a multiple choice exam. Now they were OK because at least you had the right answer in front of you - all you had to do was find it.
Despite the apparent advantages of multiple choice exams, sometimes a particularly vindictive teacher (and I hope there are none here today) would set a multiple choice exam where you lose marks for getting an answer wrong. In such an exam, it is conceivable that you could get a negative result.
Of course, other types of exams were true/false exams - at least you had a 50% chance of being wrong. And I’d rather not talk about essay questions.
1. TRUE OR FALSE
(A) THE THESSALONIAN EXPERIENCE
Thinking back to those halcyon days of multiple choice and true/false exams, I would like to ask "what is truth?" It is the question that Pilate asks Jesus recorded in John’s Gospel.
In particular, I would like to examine the idea of truth as it relates to Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians - chapter 2.
Paul had heard from Timothy of the Thessalonians’ great love, faith and perseverance, and Paul wrote to them in his first letter to encourage them. Tom reminded us last week that, in Paul’s view, the Thessalonians were very much "trophies of grace".
But Paul also wrote to correct some errors they had fallen into. They had heard from someone that the "last days" were upon them and that Jesus’ return was imminent and they were trying to figure out how they should be living in these "last days". Some of them had given up work and were just biding their time waiting for Jesus’ return, others were dying - leaving their relatives to wonder what would happen to their recently departed. They were resting on Christ’s laurels waiting for Him to come back. The Thessalonians had confused the imminence of Jesus’ return with the suddenness of how it would happen.
But Paul’s first letter obviously wasn’t enough because he felt he needed to write again in the letter we are looking at this morning. In chapter 2, Paul again emphasises to them that they are in error and he again exhorts them to seek and follow the truth.
But how does Paul word his encouragement and advice in chapter 2?
Paul states the Thessalonians problem ... they were behaving irresponsibly because they had misunderstood some aspect of the Gospel they had heard.
Paul then breaks through their error and ignorance by saying "Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way." And to avoid the deception, Paul then tells them the truth about their situation. I don’t wish to speculate about the nature of his response to them in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 because it’s somewhat confusing. But he assures them that, since the coming of the day of the Lord will be preceded by certain events which had not yet occurred, then the day of the Lord had not yet arrived. Suffice to say, the Thessalonians understood what Paul was saying - even if we can’t be absolutely sure.
Paul then goes on to remind them of God’s action of redeeming and sanctifying them - He encourages them that they can put this mistake behind them because God has chosen them.
Finally, he exhorts them to stand firm and hold on to the truth. This is Paul’s call for them to respond faithfully to the truth they now know.
In summary Paul:
- states the problem (v. 1-2)
- tells them not to be deceived (v. 3)
- tells them the truth (v. 3-12)
- reminds them of God’s love for them (v. 13-14), and
- exhorts them to stand firm and hold on (v. 15).
(B) WHAT IS THE QUESTION?
The question that confronted the Thessalonians is almost irrelevant to us. Their original question was basically "how should we behave since the last days are here?" But after Paul’s two letters their question became how should we respond to this truth, and how should we respond because our understanding of the truth is corrected?
I want us to stand in the Thessalonians shoes (or sandals as the case may be) to examine the ways - both positive and negative - that we can respond to the truth and to correction.
2. MULTIPLE CHOICE - 3 POSSIBLE ANSWERS
As I see it, there are four possible answers to those questions. The questions again are:
- How should we respond to the truth? and
- How should we respond when our understanding of truth is corrected?
The issue confronting the Thessalonians was a substantial one which would have impacted on their daily life. But a question of truth does not have to be such a large issue to be a problem for us. It could be the way we react in certain situations, or the way we think about particular issues, or it could be the way we seek to resolve problems we face.
In any situation or issue facing us, we can respond either actively or passively; and either obediently or disobediently. These possible actions and reactions can be presented in the form of a matrix - which is purely a way of visualising the interrelationship between a number of events.
Active Passive
Odebience AO PO
Disobedience AD PD
I would like to look at these four possibilities in turn.
(A) ACTIVE DISOBEDIENCE
Multiple choice answer (a) is to respond with active disobedience.
If you have children, you will know that when you ask them to do something, sometimes they will do the exact opposite. I think it’s called reverse psychology - your children do the reverse, and you think you need to see a psychologist!
A good example of active disobedience is Jonah. God told Jonah to go one way and what did Jonah do? He went as far as he could the other way!
Another possibly extreme example of active disobedience is the way that many of the Pharisees responded to Jesus. Fairly early in Jesus’ ministry, Mark chapter 3 tells us that "the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus." Now that’s going the extra mile - in the wrong direction.
But disobedience doesn’t have to be that overt. Active disobedience is seen any time we positively and wilfully sin.
(B) PASSIVE DISOBEDIENCE
Answer (b) of how we can respond to the truth or to correction is through passive disobedience.
The best example I could come up with was the rich young man. Luke tells us that this man was quite happy to be obedient in the things that didn’t affect him. But Jesus cuts to the chase when He tells the young man he should sell everything he has, give the proceeds to the poor, and follow Him.
Jesus asked this guy to drop his materialistic baggage to enable him to grasp spiritual treasure. His response? Nothing! Luke tells us that this young man becomes very sad. He was disobedient because he did nothing.
Now you’ve probably realised that the distinction between active and passive disobedience is a very thin line. I don’t think that in reality we can make a legitimate distinction.
(C) PASSIVE OBEDIENCE
While we’re being passive, I’d like to turn to the idea of obedience. Passive obedience. This multiple choice answer (c)
Passive obedience comes in many shapes and sizes:
- It can be giving intellectual assent to something - but not allowing it to percolate into our souls.
- It can be praying for something, but not believing that God will answer our prayer.
- It can be failing to exercise a gift or ministry that we have.
- It can be praying for something when we have no intention of doing all that we can to see it come about.
- It can be coming to church - but not getting involved in things that make a difference.
Passive obedience is purely lip service. Could you imagine Isaiah - when he was commissioned to be God’s vocal chords in Isaiah 6 saying "Here I am. Send him."
Passive obedience is a very sterile type of Christianity because God’s word and God’s Spirit does not get from the brain to the heart and we don’t become the people God would have us be.
3. THE RIGHT ANSWER IS ... ACTIVE OBEDIENCE
(A) STAND FIRM & HOLD ON TO THE TRUTH
Now if you picked any of those three answers active disobedience, passive disobedience or passive obedience then I’m sorry, but you would lose two marks. The right answer is (d) - active obedience.
But what does Paul say the answer is and how does he phrase it? If we look at verse 15 it says "So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter."
But stand firm on what? And hold on to what? To their relationship with God and to the teachings Paul had passed on to them when he had stayed with them. Paul here is talking about truth - truth in the person of Jesus Christ, and the word of God.
To stand firm and hold on is something active. Not only should we stand firm in the truth, but it also means for us to stand up for the truth. That does not mean steamrolling anyone and anything that stands in our path on our quest for truth, but it does mean standing up for the truth in a spirit of love and empathy in a community that is not interested in hearing the truth.
Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to stand firm; and hold on - and the same applies to us. To be actively obedient to the truth is to seek to know, understand and apply the truth in our lives. But in saying that, I am not advocating blind acceptance of everything anyone tells us. We’ve got to check it out for ourselves by going to the manual.
(B) THE WRITTEN WORD - SCRIPTURE
Our situation today is certainly different from that faced by the Thessalonians. They may have had a few copies of the Law throughout the city, but certainly no leather-bound, gilt-edged, cross-referenced versions on their coffee tables. They’d had Paul stay with them for a few weeks, but this was all new teaching to them. Paul had been chased away and now they got some funny ideas about the "end days" and how they could best respond to the message they had heard. Lack of information and understanding was the cause of their problem.
In contrast to them, the church today probably suffers from information overload. If you’ve been to a Christian bookshop recently, you’d see that they have thousands of books covering every conceivable "christian" subject - many purporting to tell us what the Bible says and how it applies to us.
Now many christian books are informative, valid and interesting because they describe people’s understanding of Scripture - but they are like vitamins - only supplements to the real food.
Many of us recently acquired cassettes of the New Testament - that’s going to the source because we are listening to the word of truth.
In this church building, there are maybe thirty Bibles - and most of us would have at least one at home. Maybe you have two or three or ten at home - but you can only read one at a time and that is the one that makes a difference. Stand firm and hold on to the word of God.
Paul, in writing to his disciple Timothy encourages him to "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."
(C) THE LIVING WORD - JESUS
But Paul is also talking about standing firm in the truth of Jesus Christ because He is the personification of truth
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus, when talking to His disciples and crowds repeatedly says "I tell you the truth ..." The words of Jesus are the truth, His life embodied the truth, and His coming is God’s manifestation of the truth to us. In John 14:6, Jesus assures us that He is "the way, the truth and the life." Jesus not only spoke the truth, He is the truth.
Paul’s exhortation to stand firm in Jesus is a call to strengthen their relationship with Jesus personally. This is something that can primarily be achieved through prayer. Paul is calling for a more consistent and deeper prayer life - and they are words we can’t ignore.
CONCLUSION
The challenge of Paul’s message to the Thessalonians was for them to understand and respond to the truth. Paul saw this need and so wrote to help them reach spiritual maturity. By the way they were living, they were short-changing themselves in their relationships with Jesus and with each other.
The challenge of Paul’s message to us is the same - for us to grow in our relationship with Christ and with each other.
How can we as individuals and as the body of Christ in live closer to Christ and to the truth of His words? And how can we demonstrate that truth to those around us?
Now they’re not multiple choice questions, and not even short-answer or essay questions. They are questions we can only really answer in the way we live. Jesus on one occasion told his disciples that "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
The answer is in the way that we relate to and respond to the truth. There are many opportunities and challenges facing us this year, but we can only meet those challenges if we are serious about handling the truth and in coming to grips with Jesus and the Bible.
Active obedience to God’s Son and active obedience to God’s word is how we should respond to the truth and the result is full marks and freedom.
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© Gary Bennett 1994
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version.
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission.
