Isaiah 65:17-25 Luke 21:5-19 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Today, I want you to think about what the word “Childhood” means. Our ideal hope is that it refers to a time of innocence, playfulness, learning, development, and growth. But we all know that not all childhoods are created equally. Some of us had a childhood that leaned toward the ideal, but we all know of others whose childhood was less than ideal, or that ended much earlier than it should have because of a crisis, trauma, or death in the family. I have heard psychologists say that the childhood of an entire generation was shifted in important ways because of the national trauma that we all experienced on September 11th, 2001. But as much as we all would like everyone to have an idyllic childhood, our reality is that because we are imperfect humans that live in an imperfect world, even when we are doing well, most childhood fall far short of our ideals.
As parents, no matter how hard we try we cannot protect our children forever. The best that we can do is to give them the best start that we can because, sooner or later, in childhood or early adulthood, our children are going to experience loss, trauma, suffering, and other unpleasantness. If we’re honest, we can admit that experiencing those things, and learning to overcome them, or at least to survive them, contributes strongly to our maturity as adults. But even so, sometimes the tears, sorrow, suffering, trauma, and loss are hard to move past and we not only struggle with what we have experienced, but our path to maturity gets stuck, and we drag these negative experiences along with us as unwanted emotional and spiritual baggage.
And so, it’s fair for us to ask how we can move past our trauma, and to unload the baggage that we carry. And this is one of the questions for which we might find some answers as we read and think about our scriptures this morning. We begin this morning by reading the words of God from the prophet Isaiah. In these words, Isaiah writes to the people of Judah, both warning them that they will be conquered by the nation of Babylon, and that they will be carried off into captivity, but also that God would not forget them, and that they would one day return home. Reading from Isaiah 65:17-25, we hear these words:
17 “See, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
will be heard in it no more.
20 “Never again will there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred
will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reacha hundred
will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses and dwell in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
the work of their hands.
23 They will not labor in vain,
nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
they and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer;
while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.
God tells the people of Judah that his creation is not done and that there will come a time when he will once again resume his work after his original seven days of creation. God promises that after all of the destruction, sorrow, suffering, and death that his people would witness, that he was one day going to start over and create a new heaven and a new earth and in that new place, the pain and grief of the our former world would fade and be forgotten. In these words, God promises a future filled with hope where weeping and crying would no longer be heard among his people and where life’s greatest sorrows and traumas would never happen again. Instead, God says that in that place everyone would be able to keep the things for which they had worked, fear of the natural world would be no more, and everyone, as well as their descendants, would be blessed.
But we all know that years of pain and suffering separated the people of Judah from the time of Isaiah’s words until the time of their return from captivity in Babylon. There was a separation between the time of the promise and the time of God’s restoration. Likewise, Jesus warns us that following him is not a magic bullet. By choosing to follow Jesus, our lives are not miraculously transformed into joy without pain. Instead, Jesus warns his disciples that while we are promised victory against our enemies, we must still endure hardship, pain, and suffering before that day comes. In Luke 21:5-19, we hear this Jesus describing the destruction of Jerusalem that would come forty years in the future in 70 CE, but Jesus also describes God’s promise of victory:
5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6 “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”
7 “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”
8 He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. 9 When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”
10 Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
12 “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 13 And so you will bear testimony to me. 14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 Everyone will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 Stand firm, and you will win life.
As Jesus and his disciples walk the streets of Jerusalem, and they marvel at a city that was filled with the magnificent architecture built by King Herod’s engineers as well as the most powerful kings and empires of the previous several hundred years. But Jesus warns them that many of them will live to see the day that, as marvelous as it was, it would all be destroyed and left in ruins. Further, Jesus says, they would see deceivers and imposters that would claim to be sent by Jesus, or even to be Jesus, they would hear of wars and uprisings, earthquakes, famines, pestilence, natural disasters, ominous portents, and signs, as well as personal suffering and persecution. Jesus says that everything that could go wrong, would go wrong, but no matter what happened, God would protect them if they would stand firm in their faith. The disciples understood that Jesus was saying that even if their suffering resulted in imprisonment, torture, and death, God would still greet them as they entered his kingdom as victors and conquerors and not as victims or the conquered. God’s promise is that because the war with the enemy has already been won, no matter what pain we might experience during our lives, we will stand as victors in life if we will only stand firm in our faith.
But as much as we might appreciate Jesus’ warning of future struggle and the hope of ultimate victory, we are still left with trying to figure out how to navigate through the life that we have been given in the world and the culture in which we live. And for that, we look once again to the Apostle Paul who gives life advice to the church in Thessalonica as he writes in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13, saying:
6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teachingyou received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”
11 We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. 13 And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.
Paul tells the church that it is important how you choose your friends. While we are called to reach out to the lost people around us and to share the good news of Jesus Christ with everyone that we can, it remains vitally important that we protect ourselves. And one key tool that we have to do that is to surround ourselves with hardworking people of strong and solid faith who live lives of integrity and follow the teachings that have been handed down to us. Paul points out that even when he had every right to ask for some assistance from the church when he and his team were with them, he chose not to exercise his rights and instead they all worked secular jobs as well as preaching and teaching so that they would set a good example for the people of the church to model and imitate. Instead, Paul says, each of us who is able should work hard to contribute in every way that we can and not be tempted into idleness or disrupting the work that others are doing.
Taken together, what have we learned today?
First, that God promises a future filled with hope where weeping and crying would no longer be heard among his people and where life’s greatest sorrows and traumas would never happen again. But also, when we choose to follow Jesus, our lives are not miraculously transformed into joy without pain. Instead, Jesus warns his disciples that while we are promised victory against our enemies, we must still endure hardship, pain, and suffering before that day comes. We will live to see deceivers and imposters that claim to be sent by Jesus, we will hear of wars and uprisings, earthquakes, famines, pestilence, natural disasters, omens, and signs, and endure personal suffering and persecution. Jesus says that everything that can go wrong, could go wrong, but no matter what happens, God will protect us if we stand firm in our faith.
But to do that, it is important how we choose our friends. While we are called to reach out to lost people and to share the good news of Jesus Christ with everyone that we can, it remains vitally important that we protect ourselves. And to do that we must surround ourselves with hardworking people of strong and solid faith who live lives of integrity and follow the teachings that have been handed down to us. We must work hard to contribute in every way that we can and not be tempted into idleness or disrupting the work that others are doing.
Like Paul and his missionary team in Thessalonica, a part of our calling is to live our lives as a model for others to follow. We are called to live lives that are filled with hope because we know that although none of us will pass through this life without experiencing pain, heartbreak, suffering, grief, and loss, we keep hold of God’s promise of a new creation where there will no longer be tears, sorrow, or death. But between here and there, we must stand firm in our faith in Jesus, surround ourselves with strong, hardworking people of faith, and…
…never stop doing good.
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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com . All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
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