Open your Bible to 2 Thessalonians and as you are doing so let me remind you of why this Harley and scooter are on the stage. Last week we used these items as an analogy to describe our faith journey in Christ. The scooter represents a Christ-follower who is playing it safe and being rather passive in their followership of God. Someone who is going somewhere with God but not very effectively. The Harley, on the other hand, represents the Christ-follower who is going hard and fast with God. They hear God’s call on their lives and engage their world with the gospel of Christ and let the chips fall where they may. So we concluded last week by asking the question, is it worth it to live in Christ and live out Christ even if it means we may be persecuted.
This morning the text before us demands that we ask a different question; is it worth it to resist evil? And if it is then how? Before we dive in let me talk with you honestly about what chapter 2 is going to set before us. Chapter 2 is one of the most difficult to understand passages in the Bible and its implications will be hard. For a portion of our time this morning we are going to talk about evil…that is not a pretty, feel good subject. There is no way to make the subject of evil fun or pleasant. In fact the more I thought about it the more I realized that to present the real nature of evil in all its ugliness may be one of the most counter-cultural things we could do.
But the news is not all somber for we are going to transition away from a discussion of evil to a discussion of Christ. We are also going to see the majesty of Christ and will in fact will conclude with Him and His commands for following Him more vibrantly. There is indeed good news for us Christ-followers.
So here is what we must do this morning and we are going to have to be diligent. I want us to read the chapter once and then take three snapshots of it. First we must simply apply our minds to understand what Paul is saying. Let’s make sure we grasp what Paul means. Second, let’s consider the passage from what it will tell us about the nature of evil. Finally, let’s look at the chapter again and highlight Christ for that is our highest call.
Read chapter 2.
In our first snapshot we need to understand what Paul is saying. Paul begins by saying that someone or some document had come through the church at Thessalonica that misled them about the return of Christ. As a result, the Thessalonians feared that Christ had returned and they had missed it. One could understand how this would cause quiet a bit of consternation. Christ came. I’m still here. I thought Paul said something else. So Paul explains the order of events that will lead to the return of Christ in order to comfort the Thessalonians. Paul also introduces us to one of the most evil people who will ever walk planet earth: the Man of Lawlessness. The person will be the embodiment of evil. So let’s consider the flow of events that will lead to Christ’s return and then offer some clarifications about things and people mentioned by Paul.
Flow of Events Leading to Christ’s Return
1. The secret power of lawlessness is at work even now: vs. 7.
2. The power of lawlessness is somehow being restrained or held back: vs. 7
3. At some future point a great rebellion against God will occur coinciding with the appearance of the Man of lawlessness: vs. vs. 3, 6, 8
4. At some future point as determined by God, Christ will return and overthrow and destroy the Man of Lawlessness: vs. 8
A few clarifications.
1. What is the secret power of lawlessness that is at work today? The word “secret” is better translated “mystery”. Usually in the New Testament the word is used to speak of the mystery of the gospel that was revealed in Christ. Here Paul uses the term ‘mystery’ a little differently to communicate that there is a mystery side of sin that we cannot fully understand but that is actively at work. Men and women, we see evil in our world but let’s not think that we truly grasp the depth of sin and evil. That is a pit too deep for us to search out. So while evil continues to thrive the physical manifestation of evil as expressed in the Man of Lawlessness has not yet been revealed.
2. Who is restraining this evil? To answer this I appeal to an ancient writer and a contemporary writer.
“Paul was unwilling to make an explicit statement, because he said that they (the Thessalonians) knew (who he was referring to – vs. 5-6). And thus we, who don’t know what they knew, desire to understand what the apostle referred to, but even with hard work are not able, especially as his meaning is made still more obscure by what he adds (vs. 7-8).” Augustine, City of God
“The plain fact is that Paul and his readers knew what he was talking about, and we do not. We have not the means at our disposal to recover this part of his meaning. It is best that we frankly acknowledge our ignorance.” Leon Morris, The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians; page 228.
Paul was more concerned with the timing of events than explaining what the Thessalonians already knew. As a result Paul does not tell us who is restraining evil. Suggestions ranging from a particular person to the Holy Spirit to government are offered but none can answer all the questions. So what we can say with certainty is that while evil may be rampant it is not without its master. God always determines the boundaries, timing and limits of evil and Satan.
3. Who is the Man of Lawlessness? Most scholars believe the Man of Lawlessness to be the anti-Christ. 1 John 2:18 talks of many anti-Christ’s who will come but Paul seems to be referring to the final one who will prepare the coming of Satan. I believe we can state with some certainty that Paul is describing the anti-Christ described in the second half of the book of Daniel, Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation.
That pretty much sums up our first snapshot of the passage and leads us to a more somber second snapshot…Understanding the Nature of Evil. Let me remind you that evil is not some physical thing that exists outside of us. Evil is the absence of God. Evil is not conforming to God’s commands and ways. It is a refusal and possibly even a conscious choice to reject the standards, truths and laws of God.
I don’t watch a lot of movies but when I do I have a real preference for the sci-fi genre. So yes I have seen all the Star Wars, Star Trek and Matrix movies more than once. The other day we were watching Star Trek: First Contact. This is the movie where they encounter an alien race known as the Borg which are part machine and part human. This alien race exists to conquer other planets and assimilate them into what is known as the collective. When these guys show up they always announce their presence with the same phrase. It goes like this, “Drop your weapons and surrender. Resistance is futile.” Drop your weapons. Surrender. Resistance is futile.
Let me ask you something, “Do you ever feel like that is true in your life when it comes to resisting evil.” Do you at times want to surrender? Is resistance futile? I will be honest with you. There are times when I want to set aside this whole God life and embrace my shadow side, my evil desires. Moments when I feel almost compelled to stop fighting and indulge in sinful behavior. Rebellion seems so attractive and evil seems to offer more promise than obedience to God. There are times when God seems very gray and sin bright red. When evil just seems easier. It seems easier to just click on that Internet image. It seems easier just to leave out something important on the tax form. It seems easier to go along with what everyone else is doing. It seems easier just to be quiet when God is not being honored. Evil just seems easier.
I once took some time and wrestled with God about why I felt like this. This certainly does not characterize my life but just moments. I want to share what I learned about my propensity to choose evil and sin. I learned that these moments were surrounded by other circumstances that served to magnify my desire for evil. For me there are four primary circumstances that contribute to this.
1. Physical and/or emotionally exhaustion. Satan seems to be more vicious when I am just worn out. When I am near exhaustion anger seems to be closer to the surface and a confrontational spirit seems express itself more.
2. When I believe the allusion of secrecy. Have you ever thought to yourself, “I can do this and no one will ever find out?” I have come to recognize those words as the first step on the path to sin. It’s a promise that doesn’t deliver.
3. When I choose aloneness has a lifestyle. Now I am one who truly values solitude and I re-energize by having some regular alone time. But I find myself more susceptible to evil when I choose aloneness for any significant period of time. Aloneness allows me the indulgence of justifications.
4. When I fail to see through falsehood and lies. We are bombarded with images, information and beliefs everyday that are contrary to Christ and the Bible. When truth begins to be reasoned away and excuses are made for not following truth I know that sin is lurking at the door of my heart.
Well those are mine. Maybe you share one or more of them with me or you have others. The important thing is, “Do you know yourself well enough to see when you are heading toward destruction?” To see the deceptions of sin and stop them? I challenge you to take some time this week and identify those times when sin becomes brighter than God and to determine how you will resist them. Now let’s consider the passage again and I want to draw out four key descriptions of evil.
The Nature of Evil – It Is…
1. Characterized as willful opposition to God – vs. 3. The Man of Lawlessness or champion of wickedness is named as a real person. The term “Lawlessness” means willful opposition to God both morally and in civil matters. The writer John uses the term in 1 John 3:4 “everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” Sin is then characterized as a choice to continually place your life, values and behaviors in opposition to God. It is rebellion against the authority of God in the world and in your life. It is the rejection of moral truth and absolutes as well as rebellion against civil laws. It is anarchy in both the moral and civil realms. It is the end of freedom. Evil or sin occurs when a person clearly knows what God expects and chooses not to do it. So to fudge on your income tax return when you know the information is wrong is to indulge in sin. Evil wins when we sit quietly by and do nothing as Christ is disparaged in the words and actions of others.
2. The attempt to usurp the position and worship of God – vs. 4. Verse 4 describes how the man of lawlessness will exalt himself over everything that is called God. Evil cannot stand for God to be greater. The idea is that evil seeks to replace God in all aspects of our world and in our lives. Evil demands allegiance and first place in our lives. Evil insists that nothing associated with the true God nor any form of worship connected to the living God be allowed to continue and exist.
Evil is like the bully in elementary school. He makes himself bigger by making other people smaller. Evil is the bully who exalts itself by making God smaller to us.
Christ-follower, I know that evil continually bombards us with visions of exalting ourselves or something else as greater than God. Everyday something or someone challenges our allegiance to God. When I make God just a better version of me evil prospers. But when my view of God becomes bigger then holiness is magnified. When I act as if I am the center of the world I am actively choosing evil and sin. When I see the universe as existing in the palm of God’s hand and way too small for Him then holiness grows. When I choose to live a scooter lifestyle of faith evil wins. When my faith is like a motorcycle God is pleased.
3. The promotion of deception – vs 9. This is one of the greatest tools of the enemy. Deception gets as close to the heart of evil as is possible. Do you realize how much of evil is simply a distortion of God’s truth and character? In verse 9-10 the Man of Lawlessness will have his own grand and glorious coming as a counterfeit to the coming of Christ. He will perform counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders. Why? So he can deceive people who are already running head first into spiritual death.
I suspect that most of us would like to think that if we were openly confronted by Satan and invited to become partners with evil we would without hesitation reject the invitation and walk away. But we all know that Satan does not operate that way. His invitations come camouflaged as things that appear to be good or benign.
For instance, we turn people into abstractions so that we can explain euthanasia and abortion. Nations use political language to justify the slaughter of innocent people. As wrong as those things are they are not too difficult to see as evil. But let’s move things a little closer to home. C.S. Lewis once said, “the greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of crime that Dickens loved to paint. But it is conceived and ordered in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks.” Other words, the greatest evil has come out of the concentration camps and into our personal lives. So allow me to meddle in our lives for a moment.
We use the argument of “what a person does in the privacy of their home is their business” to justify doing things that are morally atrocious. We will go to Internet sites that if someone were standing over our shoulder we would never visit. We laugh at things on our TV that blatantly dishonor God and His truth. We allow humor to mask lifestyle choices and decisions that are morally wrong. We have allowed sin to make us callous to itself.
Let me meddle a little more. How about the way we devalue human life through video games like Grand Theft Auto and the new game from X-Box called Gun. We use these games to steal, kill and destroy without thinking about the fact that we just defined evil. I will offer just one more example in the form of a poem that we made up in staff meeting this past week.
I’ll make my way, You make your way
As long as you stay out of my way, We are all okay.
The triumph of individualism, selfishness and a belief that what you believe is relative and that truth is not absolute.
4. Doomed along with everyone who has bought into it: vs. 8, 10-12
Satan, the anti-Christ and evil do not have a future. Their doom has been guaranteed and written in the annuals of God’s plan. It is certain. It is equally certain that anyone who sells out to Satan’s plan will also be doomed. Verse 10 says that those who embrace evil will perish because they refused to love the truth of the gospel and embrace God’s salvation. So God allows them to recklessly pursue their plan…but only for so long. Once again, I plead with those of you in this picture to choose Christ.
I don’t know about you but I’ve had enough of evil and sin. This morning we are asking the question, Is It Worth It To Resist Evil? Perhaps we should say that differently. Is God really better? Is God so great to you and me that I want to be consumed with Him? Is pleasing my God my highest desire? YES! Yes I do want to please Christ. Yes God is better. So let’s look at the chapter again one last time and this time let’s focus on Christ. To help us with this snapshot I want to show you a brief video clip from the movie Grand Canyon. Our clip picks up with a wealthy man who has gotten lost in a rough part of Los Angeles and his car has broken down. A gang begins to harass him and finally the tow truth driver arrives. Our scene is a conversation between the two truck driver and the leader of the gang. Listen carefully to what the tow-truck driver says. Men and women, did you hear that? “This is not the way it’s supposed to be!” That is the hope I offer you this morning. Evil is not the way it’s supposed to be. Christ is coming and He will make all things right. Until that day let’s embrace Christ with the vigor of a motorcycle rider on a 600 pound Harley.
Embracing Christ…a greater means of resisting evil.
1. God wins because He is Sovereign – vs. 6, 8. The word ‘sovereignty” when used of God means that God is king, supreme ruler and lawgiver of the entire universe. Paul stated it this way in Ephesians 1:11, “In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.” So I encourage you this morning with this absolute fact: it is God who is restraining evil in some manner; it is God who has determined when the Man of Lawlessness will be revealed; it is God who is going to destroy Satan and his minions; it is God who is determining the whole order of events. God is the master of the ship and the sea. The sea moves as He directs and the ship goes where God commands. If someone were not directing all these things I would loose heart. But God is in control so take hope.
Notice also the language of verse 8. Jesus will overthrow the Man of Lawlessness with the breath of His mouth and the splendor of His coming. Christ will overcome Satan and the Anti-Christ by the breath of His word. God spoke all creation into existence and with the breath of His command Jesus will bring an end to the anti-Christ. There is no effort being expended here. It is simply Christ speaks and it happens. The second picture is that His coming will be so bright, so splendid, so powerful that victory is won. Do you see what Paul is getting at? The mere presence of Christ and a simple breath from His mouth ends the reign of evil. The true Authority has come and has spoken. Nothing more is needed. Christ rules.
So let’s focus on Christ rather than evil or the events of the end times. Let’s spend our time becoming enthralled with Him. Let’s meditate on Him. Let’s read about Him. Let’s study Him. To help us along this journey I have put a document in your bulletin today entitled Meditations on Seeing God More. Listed on this brochure are 30 names and characteristics about God with a short description and Bible verse. For the next 30 days would you join me in reading one description and verse each morning and then spend time during the rest of the day mulling over what you read. Be like a cow chewing his cud. Chew on the person of God and the scripture. Let it digest for a while. Then pull it up again and chew on it a little more. I trust that as we do this we will get a bigger and clearer picture of God.
2. Find courage and power in salvation: verses 13-14
Christ-follower, God has chosen you, is transforming you and is calling you to share in Christ’s glory. Salvation demonstrates the power of God and His plan. Notice the two horizons of time that Paul mentions. “From the beginning” means that in eternity past God chose you to know and follow Him. At some future time will share in the glory of Christ. God has the past and future covered so there is no room left for fear, instability and carnality. Let the Devil mount his fiercest attack. Let the Anti-Christ be revealed and let rebellion break out. I am in Christ. My future is secure. I will stand today.
3. Know and hold to the truth: verses 1, 2, 15
In verses 1 and 2 Paul says that the Thessalonians had received some form of communication that contradicted what he had taught them. The point is that information is readily available, that it is not always true and therefore it must be tested against what is stated in the Bible. We live in the information age with more ideas than seems possible and where many contradict one another. That should not surprise us. We need an anchor and Paul tells us the scripture is that anchor. So let us be a people of the Word.
4. Do life with one another: vs. 13, 15
Twice Paul uses the term “Brothers” as a reference to the community of people gathering as a church. It is this simple. Evil is rampant. Christ is better. Know Him. Stand firm in the truth and Christ TOGETHER.
Let’s pray and I want to pray for you what Paul prayed for the Thessalonians – verses 16-17.
