Preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco
November 8, 1998
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Second Coming
The Scripture for this morning describes the Thessalonian Christians anxious and fearful. They thought that the “Day of the Lord” which refers to the Second Coming has already come. Convinced that the events of the apocalypse were exploding like popcorn all around them, they saw every tragedy, every hardship, every phenomenon as evidence of the last days. Every anxiety caused their blood pressure to skyrocket. They couldn’t sleep at nights fearing that the Lord will come. They couldn’t wait for the daylight of the Lord’s return.
The Thessalonian Christians had a “Whatever” attitude. Believing that nothing matters now because the Lord will return, they stopped working. Some could not think or talk about anything else. They were so shaken up by their anxiety of what was about to happen that they said, “Whatever.” They didn’t care anymore.
Whatever
A few years ago, our daughter Lauren’s generation flocked to watch the movie, “Clueless.” The story was about a Valley Girl and her friends whose response to any kind of concerns, was “whatever.” This is pure indifference. We don’t know, don’t care, and don’t care to know.
Sometimes, the attitude of Whatever is harmless:
Do you want to go to the 1:00 or 4:00 matinee? Whatever.
Do you want thick crust, thin crust, stuffed crust or no crust on that pizza? Whatever.
Do you want chow mein, chow fun, my fun, or Hongkong style? Whatever.
But sometimes, the attitude of Whatever costs us:
The attitude of Whatever can happen on Election Day allowing those voters who did come out to express an opinion.
There can be the attitude of Whatever when we watch news reports that 11,000 people in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras have perished from mud slides this week.
The attitude of Whatever happens every night when a million children go to bed hungry and homeless in America.
Not Yet
While the Thessalonian Christians were in a frenzy about the pending Second Coming, Paul intervenes. He counsels his Thessalonian brothers and sisters to calm down, to not be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed. “Let no one deceive you in any way,” he writes, because the “day of the Lord” will not come until two decisive events occur: 1. a “rebellion” and 2. “the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction.” They will know when this “lawless one” is here because he will exalt himself as God and make that claim in the temple. And since that has not happened, they need not to worry. And even when it does happen, Paul said the Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath out of his mouth. Instead of a Whatever attitude, Paul says to the Thessalonian Christians, “Whatever It Takes.”
Whatever It Takes
Paul was a “whatever it takes” kind of guy. Before he experienced the presence and power of the risen Christ, Paul was a “whatever it takes” zealot stamping out Christians. After his personal encounter on the Damascus Road and his transformation, Paul became a “whatever it takes” zealot to spread the gospel to the world.
As Paul preached and taught in an increasingly hostile and dangerous world, he became keenly aware that there were powerful forces of evil lurking in the background and sometimes in the foreground. Facing hardship and opposition, Paul didn’t shrug his shoulders and mumble, “Whatever.” When the world shrugs its shoulders and says, “Whatever,” the church responds by saying, “Whatever It Takes.”
For the past two weeks, we have all been ecstatic about the response to the Stewardship Campaign pledging results. We are so excited about the results that we can easily become fixated on counting our ‘turkeys before they hatch!’ The Thessalonian Christians were fixated only on one part of the gospel message that they lost sight of what was happening in the present. We are so happy that so many have pledged toward the Faith Goal that others may find themselves saying, “I don’t need to pledge that much because others have done so already!” A “Whatever attitude” can begin spreading in our church.
Paul confronted the Thessalonian Christians to not be fearful and worrying about what the future may be since the “lawless one” is not here yet. We must also remember that our work is not done yet as long as there are still pledges that need to come in and the hard work is ahead of us!
First Fruits
Today we received our “First Fruits Offerings” as a part of our larger three-year pledge toward the Faith Goal. In the Old Testament, the first fruits were the first of the crops or fruit that ripen and therefore are gather to be eaten. These represent the best that we have because they are given sacrificially before the first of the year.
When Paul was writing to the Thessalonian Christians, he reminded them that they are chosen by God from the beginning for salvation. They are also first fruits, saved by God and presented to the world to glorify God. Therefore, we too are first fruits for today. We are saved “through sanctification by the Holy Spirit and through belief in the truth.” What does this mean?
First of all, our salvation comes from God’s decision. God chose us from the beginning as his “first fruits” for salvation. When we receive Christ into our hearts as Lord and Savior, there is no other choice but to live lives of faith that are manifested in good works. Sanctification is a process by which the Holy Spirit makes us whole and holy, transforming us into the image of Christ. As God’s first fruits, we are gradually weaned from the passions of this world and becoming filled with the Holy Spirit. Sanctification is a continuous process moving us closer to the image of Christ.
How do we live as “first fruits” Christians today? These come right out of Paul’s writing to the Thessalonian Christians.
- Give thanks to God because we are beloved by the Lord. Marvel at the display of generosity and gratefulness in our hearts in our pledging toward the Continue the Legacy stewardship campaign.
- Believe in the truth of Jesus Christ. Lift up Jesus Christ as your Lord and let no other gods distract you from that. Discover what Jesus might have done if he was here in that situation and do as He would have done. In order for us to better know the mind of Christ, we need to attend worship regularly, study our Bibles, pray earnestly, and receive as well as provide support and guidance from other Christians.
- Stand firm and hold fast to the traditions. As we begin to move into the future in this coming year with the retrofit/renovation projects, the recognition that our Sunset church plant has grown up to begin flowering on it own, and the commitment to reclaim our historic mission of reaching Chinatown for Christ, we don’t want to forget our traditions and our values. Surely there will be some traditions that will need to be retired since they may hold us back from moving forward. But who we are as a faithful community of disciples, mindful of the cloud of witnesses that have gone before us, we will stand firm and hold fast to our rich traditions.
- And lastly, it’s not “whatever,” but a “Whatever It Takes” attitude that we must have to do God’s work.
Yard Work
What I love about living on Arguello and Balboa is that there is no yard work. For over 20 years around this time of the Fall, I am out there raking leaves from:
4 dogwood trees
A massive maple tree
Needles and cones from at least five 30ft. fir trees and a white pine tree
1 magnolia
1 holly tree and countless holly bushes
and worst of all, the millions of red maple leaves, oak tree leaves, and other maple leaves from our neighbors!
My hands would blister and I would hunt for that tube of BenGay used only during the Fall season. My annual ritual before the winter solstice, reminds me of a story that Robert Fulghum told.
Fulghum’s wife believes that leaves should be raked. There are rules. Leaves are not good for grass. Leaves are untidy. Leaves when wet are moldy and slimy.
But Fulghum says “There is a reason for leaves. There’s no reason for mowed grass.” He thinks that trees are there because of the leaves. With unbridled extravagance, zillions of seeds helicopter out of the sky to land like assault forces to green the earth. The leaves follow to cover, protect, warm, and nourish the next generation of trees. Even though stony ground, birds, squirrels, bugs, and people may intervene, some of these seeds for dear life make it. In the silence of winter’s night, some seeds plant themselves and survive to become the next generation of trees. To prove a point, one half of the yard is raked clean of leaves, his wife’s side and the other half is covered with leaves, Fulghum’s side. Come summer, they will see which side of the yard will do better.
There’s a rap on Fulghum’s front door.
“My name is Donnie. I will rake your leaves. $1 a yard. I am deaf. You can write to me. I can read. I rake good.” He holds out the pencil and paper with patience and hope and goodwill.
There are times when the simplest of events call all of one’s existential motives into question. What would I do if he wasn’t deaf? What will it do for him if I say no? If I say yes? What difference? We stand in each other’s long silence, inarticulate for different reasons. In the same motion, he turns to go and I reach for the pencil and paper to write solemnly: “Yes. Yes, I would like to have my leaves raked.” A grave nod from the attentive businessmanchild. “Do you do it when they are wet?
“Yes,” he writes.
“Do you have your own rake?”
“No.”
“This is a big yard—there are lots of leaves.”
“Yes.”
“I think I should give you two dollars.”
A smile. “Three?” he writes.
A grin.
We have a contract. The rake is produced, and Donnie the deaf leaf-raker goes to work in the fast falling November twilight. In silence he rakes. In silence I watch—through the window of the dark house.
Carefully he rakes the leaves into a large pile, as instructed. (Yes, I am thinking I will spread them out over the yard again after he is gone to continue with my experiment. I am stubborn about this.) Carefully he goes back over the yard picking up missed leaves by hand and carrying them to the pile. He also is stubborn about his values. Raking leaves means all the leaves.
Signing that he must go because it is dark and he must go home to eat, he leaves the work unfinished. Having paid in advance, being cynical, I wonder if he will return. Come morning, he has returned to his task, first checking the previously raked yard for latecomers. He takes pride in his work. The yard is leaf-free. I note his picking up several of the brightest yellow leaves and putting them into the pocket of his sweatshirt. Along with a whole handful of helicoptered seeds.
Donnie raps on the door. He signs that the work is done. As he walks away up the street I see him tossing one helicoptered seed into the air at a time. Fringe benefits. I stand in my own door in my own silence, smiling at his grace. Fringe benefits.
Tomorrow I will go out and push the pile of leaves over the bank into the compost heap at the bottom of the ravine behind our house. I will do it in silence. The leaves and seeds will have to work out their destiny there this year. I could not feel right about undoing his work. My experiment with science will have to stand aside for something more human. The leaves let go, the seeds let go, and I must let go sometimes, too, and cast my lot with another of nature’s imperfect but tenacious survivors.
Hold on, Donnie, hold on.
Donnie has that “Whatever It Takes” attitude. He went about his work focused and committed to getting it done. You can say, he believed in what he was doing and stood firm and held on fast to his values and beliefs.
When Joy and I visited Gordon and Anita Chan in Milpitas during one of the Emmanual Family Group meetings, we learned about the Chans’ cut flower nursery. We heard about how growing long-stemmed roses required pruning and tying them along a trellis to develop those long stems. My guess is that you would also need to spray and fertilize them in order to grow beautiful flowers—first fruits. Just like long-stemmed roses need spraying, we as “first fruits” need sanctifying!
Chosen from the beginning, we are “first fruits.” We need to live lives of faith and manifest good works with a “Whatever It Takes” attitude. And when we actively participate in the church’s ministries, we go beyond the initial decision to accept Christ to continuously reaching to become persons trusting God with our lives. We are to be holy and happy in Spirit of Christ.
Closing
Joy and I met at a small Christian college near Boston, Gordon College, named after a Baptist minister, Adoniram J. Gordon. He says,
It is a great work of nature to transmute sunlight into life. So it is the great
end of Christian living to transmute the light of truth into the fruits of holy
living.
Let Us Pray
O holy Father God, we come with the commitment to finish the task of discipleship as you have taught us through Christ. Guide us with the convictions to do whatever it takes to make a difference of peace, justice, and wholeness in the world. In the name of Christ our Lord, we pray. Amen.