Sunday
11/10/19 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Stand Firm and Hold Fast”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21
New Testament
Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Gospel Lesson: Luke
20:27-38
Today, as I
said, is the Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost. Twenty-Two Sundays after the
Holy Spirit moved in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, and the Christian
Church was born. We are part of that continued legacy gathered here this
morning.
Many of us also know that tomorrow is Veteran’s Day.
Tomorrow our public schools will be closed. Banks will be closed tomorrow, as
well as government institutions. Tomorrow is a national holiday, and not just a
day off from school or work.
The United Methodist Church teaches in our Book of Discipline,
or our catechism, that war is incompatible with Christian teaching. War is
indeed awful and is not of God. I pray for the days of no more wars, as I am
sure that we all do. Yet there have been times in history that fighting was
needed to create peace. Saint Augustine called this “Just War” Theory. The idea
that there have been times that we needed to bear arms and fight, not because
we loved war, not because we were bad people, but because tyranny and
oppression was reigning. We had to fight to protect the innocent, to stop the holocaust
or the genocide of the Jews and others, and to preserve life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness. So many men and women join the armed forces not for the
wrong reasons, but for the right reasons. So many have and continued to join up
to make their parents and their families proud. So many join out of love for
their country, and the desire before God to do right, to protect the innocent,
and to serve with distinction and honor. This morning we honor those men and
women that have and continue to serve our country in the Armed Forces, and as a
church we are grateful for the incredible sacrifice and service many have
undertaken for us, and for our country. The things that our veterans and our current
military personnel have endured and continue to endure, are things that many
will never understand. So to our Veterans and our current military personnel,
we say thank you.
Just to explain for those that may not know, the history of
Veterans Day is this:
“Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed
annually on November 11, for honoring military
veterans, that is, persons who have served in the United States Armed Forces (and were
discharged under conditions other than dishonorable). It coincides with other
holidays including Armistice Day and Remembrance
Day which are celebrated in other countries that mark the
anniversary of the end of World War I.
Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the
11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into
effect. At the urging of major U.S. veteran organizations, Armistice Day was
renamed Veterans Day in 1954”.
“Veterans
Day is distinct from Memorial Day, a U.S. public holiday in May.
Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans, while
Memorial Day honors those who have died while in military
service. There is another military holiday, Armed Forces Day, a minor U.S. remembrance that
also occurs in May, which honors those currently serving in
the U.S. military” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day).
So tomorrow, is a national United States holiday, but how
does this connect to our scripture readings for this morning? Well, in our
reading for this morning from Psalm 145, it says once again in 145:19-20 of God:
“He fulfills the desire of all who
fear him; he also hears their cry, and saves
them. The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy” (Ps. 145:19-20, NRSV).
So blessed are
those who follow God, God hears our cries, God saves us, God watches over us,
and God destroys the wicked. Yet, there have been times in our history and the
history of many countries when the leaders felt that God was calling them to
not just pray, but to act. Act and fight because innocents were dying and
tyranny was reigning.
This leads me up to our reading from this morning, which is
once again from 2 Thessalonians 2. This is where I got my sermon title for this
morning from 2 Thessalonians 2:15, which once again says:
“So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and
hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth
or by our letter”
(2
Thess. 2:15, NRSV).
This morning the Apostle Paul tells
the church in Thessalonica or the Thessalonians to, “Stand Firm and Hold Fast”.
“Stand Firm and Hold Fast” to the traditions that we were taught, whether
verbally or written. “Stand Firm and Hold Fast” our beliefs, our values, our
traditions, and our faith that is passed on generationally. “Stand Firm and Hold
Fast” to our identity in Jesus Christ. In looking at the whole of 2
Thessalonians 2 reading for this morning, it says once again:
“As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not
to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by
letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already
here. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the
rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one
destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called
god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God,
declaring himself to be God. Do you not remember that I told you these things
when I was still with you?” (2
Thess. 2:1-5, NRSV).
The Apostle
Paul is saying to keep the faith, keep your values and your focus, and “Stand
Firm and Hold Fast.” The Apostle Paul also discusses the coming day of the
anti-Christ, prior to the glorious return of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul is
saying, “Stand Firm and Hold Fast.”
The Apostle
Paul concludes this reading from 2 Thessalonians 2 for this morning, by once
again saying:
“But we
must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved
by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation
through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this
purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you
may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand
firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word
of mouth or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our
Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort
your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word” (2 Thess. 2:13-17, NRSV).
Chose
faith in Christ, and live that out as brothers and sisters, the Apostle Paul
says. Living out our Christian faith, our beliefs, and our values, is who we
are. It is also who Christ has called us to be. Then the Apostle Paul says once
again, which includes part of my sermon title for this morning once again:
“So then,
brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were
taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter” (2 Thess. 2:13-17, NRSV).
“Stand
Firm and Hold Fast” to our traditions, to our faith, to our beliefs, to our
values. Freedom, liberty, democracy, and the freedom to worship God and boldly
declare the gospel of Jesus Christ without fear of persecution. I love the fact
that we live in a country where we are free to worship in our Christian
tradition without fear for our lives.
Indeed
we do not like war, but we should not be led to believe that we live in a world
with no violence, oppression, or evil. To serve one’s country in the armed
forces, is to place the lives of the people of you country above yourself. It
is to put your life in the hands of God, and to sacrifice so that others won’t
have to.
In
the gospel of John 15:13, Jesus says this:
“No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”
(Jn. 15:13,
NRSV).
Do we like war?
No. Do we value service above self? You bet we do. Do we value faith and hard
work? You bet we do. Do we value defending the innocent, the oppressed, and the
weak? You bet we do.
In looking
briefly at our gospel of Luke reading for this morning, the Sadducees, or some
of the Jewish religious leaders attempt to trick Jesus. These Sadducees, citing
the Old Testament Law of Moses, asked Jesus about a man’s brother marrying his
wife.
Specifically
they say to Jesus:
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a
man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall
marry the widow and raise up children for his brother”
(Lk. 20:28, NRSV).
According to the Jewish or the Old
Testament Law of Moses, if a man’s brother dies leaving behind his wife with no
children, then the man must marry the widowed wife and raise up children in his
brother’s place.
This is where the Sadducees try to
trick Jesus. They say once again:
“Now there were seven brothers; the
first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and
so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In
the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had
married her” (Lk.
20:29-33, NRSV).
I used to visit an older widowed woman
before she died. This woman was a member of the church that I used to pastor in
Cortland, NY. This widowed woman, had been married and widowed four times, and
she used to joke with me and ask me which one of her husbands would she be
married to in heaven? I told her that this was between her and God!
The Sadducees are trying to trick
Jesus here. In a connected way, some people won’t honor our great veterans
because they claim that they are celebrating and promoting war. We are
honoring, celebrating, and are grateful for the service of our veterans. No one
loves war.
On
the ropes now, Jesus fires back as he always did, and immediately shuts down
those who were criticizing him and trying to trip him up. Once again this
gospel lesson ends with:
“Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to
this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy
of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor
are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like
angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the
fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the
bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him
all of them are alive” (Lk. 20:34-38,
NRSV).
The only thing that is eternal is God
and God’s kingdom, through Jesus Christ. We worship a God of the living, and we
should seek to serve him above all else.
To serve one’s country, to serve one’s
community, and to serve one’s family and church is a sacred honor. The work,
the stress, the sacrifice, and the drive to make the world better, is what so
many of veterans have taken upon their shoulders.
May we as individuals, and as a
church, be grateful this day and always for the heroes of this country, for the
men and women who gave so much. For without them, would we be able to worship freely
here this morning?
Let us never forget once again,
Jesus’s words in the gospel of John 15:13:
“No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”
(Jn. 15:13,
NRSV).
On behalf of a grateful Church, we say again to our great
veterans, thank you for your service to our great country, and know that your
service will always be honored and celebrated at this church. Amen.
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