Preached by Michael Cheuk
November 4, 2007, Twenty-third Sunday in Pentecost
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
Today is All Saint’s Sunday on the Christian calendar. It is a day for remembering and giving thanks for all the saintly people both living and dead whom God has placed in our lives and in the history of Farmville Baptist Church. And I think it is especially appropriate that we celebrate a baptism today, because it is a reminder that in our baptisms, we join that “cloud of witnesses” described in Hebrews chapter 12, describing the saints who persevered and have already completed the race of faith. In light of this, it is also appropriate that the Revised Common Lectionary assigned this passage from the book of 2 Thessalonians. This book was a letter sent to the church that was planted by Paul, Silas, and Timothy during the middle of Paul’s second missionary journey as recorded in Acts 17. This church was birthed in a hostile setting, but it persevered and flourished even in the face of open resistance. This letter was written in part to encourage that church to keep the faith and to persevere in the midst of trials and difficulties.
For my message today, I would like for you to imagine with me Paul, Silas and Timothy writing a letter to Farmville Baptist Church based on today’s passage. On this All Saint’s Sunday, on this baptism Sunday, perhaps this is what they might have to say to us this morning.
To the church of Farmville Baptist in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.
We are writing this letter to you like the way parents would write a letter to their grown child. And my, how you have grown! We remember when you were just a baby, when you were first planted as a church. Oh, how we thanked God for you as we held you in our arms! You were such a gift to us and to this community. Members from Sharon Baptist Church stepped out in faith to establish a Baptist church in Farmville in 1836. We remember how you, with just twenty three charter members-two of them African-American-took those first, wobbly, baby steps of faith under the leadership of Rev. William Moore, your first pastor. As you took those steps, you trusted that God would be there for you to hold you up, and to kiss away the scrapes and boo boos when you fell. But you know, we don’t remember you crawling and falling much. Before we knew it, you were up and running! Our hearts swelled with thanks when, just one year later in 1837, you built and dedicated your first church building on the corner of Main and Fourth Streets, where First Baptist Church now stands.
And it was evident that it wasn’t only your faith and trust in God that grew during those early years, it was also the love that each of you had for one another. Through your faith in God and your love for one another, you added one hundred and twenty one members, and eight new baptisms in the next ten years. You outgrew your original building and later sold it so that African-Americans in the community could organize their own church, now known as First Baptist Church. You built a new sanctuary further north on Main Street in 1856, and then in 1914, you rebuilt and dedicated the present church building to serve the needs of your growing congregation. As your faith in Christ increased and as your love for each other through Christ increased, God was pleased to grow Farmville Baptist both numerically and spiritually. And like earthly parents, we can’t help but always be thankful to God when we see our child grow in faith and in love. It just makes our hearts beat proudly for you, as you celebrate the good times but also as you persevere through the challenging times.
Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
We know that we really shouldn’t boast about our children, but surely people will forgive us when we take out our wallets and show to other people pictures of you growing up. “Look, there you are riding your first bike! Look at how happy you were at your elementary school graduation! Can you see just how beautiful you looked at your senior high prom!” Yeah, we know that we embarrass you every time we whip out those pictures, but as proud parents, we can’t help it. Just be glad we don’t show others your middle school pictures! Remember when you were going through those awkward years between being a child and a full-fledged teenager? Remember those glasses and braces, and, dare I say, all those zits erupting out of your face? Remember when your body was growing so fast that you could barely walk straight without tripping over yourself? Remember when you just weren’t sure who you really were? Remember those times when the peer pressure was so great that you just wanted desperately to fit in with the crowd, even though the people in that crowd weren’t necessarily the kind of people you wanted to hang out with in the first place? All of those things are the trials of being an adolescent. And have you had times when people actually made fun of you or were hostile toward you because of your faith? That might be called “persecution.” Yeah, I know, you just want to forget about those painful times. But just because you don’t want to think about them anymore doesn’t mean that they didn’t happen. And being in middle school is not the only time that we face persecution and trials. People get seriously sick, they get into accidents, people break up and divorce, loved ones die, terrorists attack, and hurricanes strike. Like it or not, times of persecution and trials do come and they deeply shape who you are. But it is what you do in response to those trials that will shape you into the person who you will become.
That’s why it is so important to persevere in your trust in God and endure those times of trial. And that’s why as much as we would like to show you off during your good days, we are even more proud of you as you overcome times of trial. We remember you in the nineteen fifties and sixties. Those days were, in the words of Charles Dickens, the best of times and the worst of times. America was still basking in her victory in World War II, Christianity and the church still commanded respect in the culture, people were having babies left and right, and Farmville Baptist was growing numerically so fast, it was busting out at the seams. On many Sunday mornings, people packed into this sanctuary like sardines in a can and the ushers regularly placed folding chairs in the aisles and the choir loft to accommodate the crowds. Those were the best of times, but they were also the worst of times. For in the fifties and sixties, America was also divided on racial issues and civil rights, and those divisions ran deep splitting through communities, churches and even families. And Farmville Baptist Church was no exception. During those days, it was hard seeing you not sure of who you were as a church, pressured by different camps to fit in with the crowd, and pressured to believe and behave in certain ways. It was also hard seeing you, like an awkward, gangly teenager, being challenged physically and emotionally to deal with the growth spurt that was taking place within the church. Factions developed vying for influence and resources and power that ultimately resulted in the church splitting in 1976. Oh, we’re not here to lay blame on any one particular group, for how can we blame our own child when she is emotionally and physically ripped apart?
With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.
My dear child, when you become a parent, then you’ll know just how much it hurts to see your own child suffering. As any grieving parent will tell you, when one’s child is hurting and going through persecution and trials, and when you’ve done all that you can to help, then the only thing left to do is to constantly pray to God for the child. We want to let you know that we’ve been praying for you ever since you were born, but we’ve prayed especially hard for you during those times of trial. And we are so proud of you that you have endured and persevered through them, and that you have kept your faith in God. And we want you to know that we will continue to constantly pray for you.
And what do we pray for, you ask? We will constantly pray that God may count you worthy of his calling.
Do you know what our favorite picture of you is? It is the picture we took of you on your wedding day. You have always been beautiful, but on that day, oh, you took our breath away! Seeing you in that exquisite white wedding gown with the long flowing train and the delicate silk veil lightly framing your radiant face still brings tears to our eyes. But as we look at that picture, what strikes us most is your absolute joy as you gaze into the eyes of Jesus, your beloved bridegroom. It is the joy of feeling the unconditional love of one person in the whole world who knows everything about you, warts and all. It is the joy of believing that even though you have struggled through trials and have made mistakes, this person does not count that against you. It is the joy of knowing that even though you are dirty and sinful and scarred, this person will only see your pristine beauty as on your wedding day. We pray that our God will count you worthy of his calling you to be the bride of Christ. For in order to be your groom, Jesus paid the price to baptize you in the waters of his forgiveness so that you come out clean, pristine and perfect. In order to be your groom, Jesus also paid the price for your dress, your veil, your flowers, your rings, your ceremony and your reception! Now that’s a groom that any parents-in-law can love! And we constantly pray that you will live fully in your calling to be the bride of Christ, not in order to win Christ’s love, but to respond to an unconditional love that cost Him so much, but is so freely and fully given to you.
So how do you respond to that love? Well, the first thing is to know that you can’t do it on your own power. It is by God’s power that every good purpose, every good motivation of yours will be fulfilled in Christ. But that’s not enough. For we all know that we have many good motivations and good intentions, but we don’t actually carry through with most of them. Thank goodness that God will also give you the power to carry through those good intentions and to fulfill every act that is prompted by your faith. God the Father will count you worthy of His calling not by what you can do on your own power, but by your openness to receiving God’s power to direct your motivations and your actions in living a Spirit-filled life that is pleasing to Jesus His Son, your bridegroom. Don’t forget that you are the beloved bride of Christ! And then with God’s power, live like it!
We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
My dear child, I know this letter is getting long, so one final thing. When you do live a life that is worthy of God’s calling, remember that you do it not to show the world how good and great you are. You do it in order to show the world how good and great God is. You do it in order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him. It’s not about you. It’s all about the Lord Jesus. So many times, churches are tempted to bring glory on themselves by boasting about their budget, their building, and the number of bodies in attendance. So many times, Christians are tempted to bring glory on themselves by boasting about all the good things they do. But they forget that the success and the abilities they have are theirs according to the amazing grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s all an undeserved gift and so we can’t take credit for it. We can only give all the thanks and glory to God.
As we end this letter, we just want to say that we love you and we are proud of you. But even more importantly, Jesus loves you and continues to call you to be His lovely bride. Listen to Him. And by His power and grace, live out your life worthy of God’s calling. Amen.
