Not Just About Speeding Ahead - 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

Read: 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

In Christianity, there is a difference between discipleship and “marketing Jesus.” What is marketing? It is the task of persuading consumers that a certain good or service is desirable, and possessing that good or service will make one’s life easier, or at least, cooler. Do we all really “need” an iPhone? No. But Apple’s marketing has persuaded many of us that it is cool and useful to have one. And thus many of us are hungrily awaiting the near-apocalyptic Fifth Coming of the holy iPhone. Discipleship is vastly different. It is, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer has put it, a radical following of Jesus, even at the expense of what or whom we hold dear. The goal of evangelism is to persuade others that not only is following Jesus good, but it is right. The relationship between discipleship and evangelism is something we will investigate today.

In his closing, St. Paul closes with a prayer request. Note that he begins by asking that the word of the Lord may “spread rapidly” and “be honored.” The “and” is important, because we need to remember that evangelism and discipleship are not separate issues. To tell others about Jesus is not the raison d’etre, the reason of existence for the Church – discipleship is. True evangelism must lead to discipleship, otherwise all we’re doing is marketing the Jesus brand. That’s why Paul desires that the spreading of the Gospel will be accompanied quickly by its honoring.

Many churches today operate on an evangelism-only basis, which is quite a shame because if we all we do is evangelize, we face the temptation to water down the Gospel in order to make Jesus palatable to others. We tell others about how Jesus loves you, John 3:16, but we don’t tell them about Mark 8:34-35, for example. Some take it much further by lying to them that if they believed in Jesus, everything will be okay. We need to understand that Jesus did not come to this world to be “cool” or “acceptable.” Nor did Jesus come to be the solution to all of the world’s problems or the answer key to all the blank philosophical questions we may have. We don’t worship the “God of the Gaps.” We worship Jesus the Christ, not Jesus the Cool. This is the Jesus who died on the cross, and taught all who follow him that we must take up our own crosses. Evangelism is the task of telling people that this is the Jesus whom it is good and right to follow.

“But Henry,” you might say, “this is utterly impossible!” You’re absolutely right. Any right-thinking American would never follow Jesus if we tell them that following Jesus means taking up our crosses. What if we tell them that following Jesus meant selling our possessions (See Mark 10:17-31)? What if it meant loving God above our careers, our money, our jobs, our family? But to hide these things is to tell a false gospel. So what shall we do? Are we just going to tell the Gospel as it is, and wait for rejections or maybe even face gun-pointing from everyone?
Perhaps. Indeed, Paul constantly faced such adversities when preaching the Gospel… minus the guns. Thus, he asks the Thessalonians to pray that they may be “delivered from wicked and evil people”, for not all believe (vs. 2). Indeed, when we present the true Gospel to the world, not all will believe, and many will react violently against it. But more importantly, this telling of the Gospel needs to be met with a living out of the Gospel. Evangelism must be accompanied by discipleship. That’s why in vs. 4-5, Paul praises, but encourages them to “continue to do the things we command.” It’s not a matter of believing, but also a matter of living what we believe.
The challenge of the church is to live out the Gospel we claim to accept. Only by living it out can we tell others what it means to receive the Gospel, what it means to have faith in Jesus. In my seven years at WCAC, it was a joy to see many youth group alumni graduate and serve God’s kingdom in many capacities. But there were some who have left the faith. Accepting the Gospel in its entirety is not an easy task. It requires great courage and faith. That is why why it is right for Paul to pray that the Gospel spread rapidly and be honored.

Saving God, free us from hardness of heart. Take from us all pride and pretension. Strip us clean of all that makes us incapable of being witnesses of your gentle love. Make us worthy agents of your peace, so that even as we contend with one another, the world may say, “But see how they love one another.” Amen.

(the prayer above was written by Stanley Hauerwas)