PreacherRhetorica
  • Home and to sermons
    • Year B frontispiece >
      • Proper 5B
      • Seventh of Easter
      • Sixth of Easter
      • Fifth of Easter
      • Fourth of Easter homily
      • Third of Easter
      • Second of Easter
      • Easter Day
      • Maundy Thursday
      • Palm Sunday
      • Lent 5
      • Next Before Lent
      • Presentation (Epiphany 4)
      • Third of Epiphany
      • Second of Epiphany
      • Epiphany (2)
      • Epiphany
      • Holy Innocents
      • Christmas
      • The Reign of Christ (Proper 29B)
      • Christ the King (Proper 29B)
      • Proper 28B (2nd Bf Advent)
      • 3rd Bf Advent (CofE)
      • Proper 27B
      • All Saints Sunday
      • Proper 26B
      • Proper 25B
      • Simon and Jude
      • Proper 24B
      • Proper 23B
      • Proper 22B
      • Proper 22B homily
      • Proper 21B
      • Proper 20B
      • Proper 19B
      • Proper 18B sermon
      • Proper 18B performance poem
      • Proper 17B
      • Proper 16B
      • Proper 15B
      • Proper 14B
      • Proper 13B
      • Proper 12B
      • Mary Magdalene homily
      • Proper 11B
      • Proper 10B
      • Proper 9B homily
      • Proper 8B
      • Birth of John the Baptist
      • Proper 7B homily
      • Proper 6B
      • Trinity Sunday
      • Pentecost
      • Lent 4 Mothering Sunday
      • Lent 3
      • Lent 2
      • Lent 1
      • 2nd Before Lent
      • 3rd Before Lent
      • 2nd of Christmas B homily
      • Christmas Day
      • Advent 4B
      • Advent 3B
      • Advent 2B
      • Advent 1B homily
      • Year A frontispiece >
        • Proper 28A (2 Bf Advent)
        • Proper 27A (3 Bf Advent)
        • Proper 26A (4 Bf Advent)
        • Proper 25A Last after Trinity
        • Proper 24A
        • Proper 23A
        • Proper 22A
        • Proper 21A
        • St Matthew
        • Proper 20A
        • Proper 19A
        • Proper 18A
        • Proper 17A
        • Proper 16A
        • Proper 15A
        • Proper 14A
        • Proper 13A
        • Proper 12A
        • Proper 11A
        • Proper 10A
        • Proper 9A
        • Proper 8A
        • Proper 7A
        • Trinity Sunday (Homily)
        • Pentecost
        • Seventh of Easter (Sunday after Ascension)
        • Sixth of Easter
        • Fifth of Easter
        • Fourth of Easter
        • Third of Easter
        • Second of Easter
        • Easter (Poem)
        • Maundy Thursday
        • Palm Sunday
        • Lent 5
        • Lent 4
        • Lent 3
        • Lent 2
        • Lent 1
        • Next Bf Lent (Epiphany last)
        • 2 Bf Lent (Proper 3)
        • Epiphany 7 (RCL)
        • Epiphany 6 (3 Bf Lent)
        • Epiphany 5 (4 Bf Lent)
        • Presentation of Christ
        • Epiphany 3
        • Epiphany 2
        • Baptism of Christ (Epiphany 1)
        • The Epiphany
        • Second Sunday of Christmas
        • First Sunday of Christmas
        • Christmas Day
        • Advent 4A
        • Advent 3A
        • Advent 2A
        • Advent 1A
        • Christ the King Yr A (2)
        • Christ the King Yr A
        • Remembrance Sunday
        • All Saints' Sunday
        • Harvest Homily
        • Harvest
        • Admission of Pastoral Workers
        • Saint Thomas homily
        • Corpus Christi
        • Trinity Sunday
        • Pentecost
        • Pentecost: another example
        • Year C frontispiece >
          • Christ the King (Next bf Advent)
          • Proper 28C (2nd bf Advent)
          • Proper 27C (3rd bf Advent)
          • Proper 26C (4th bf Advent)
          • Proper 25C (Last after Trinity)
          • Proper 24C
          • Proper 23C
          • Proper 22C
          • St Michael & All Angels (homily)
          • Proper 21C
          • Proper 20C
          • Proper 19C (story sermon)
          • Proper 18C
          • Proper 17C
          • Proper 16C
          • Proper 15C
          • Proper 14C
          • Proper 13C
          • Proper 12C
          • Proper 11C
          • Proper 10C
          • Proper 9C
          • Proper 8C
          • Proper 7C
          • Proper 6C performance poem
          • Proper 5C
          • Proper 4C
          • Trinity
          • Pentecost homily
          • Seventh of Easter
          • Ascension Day
          • Sixth of Easter
          • Fifth of Easter
          • Fourth of Easter
          • Third of Easter
          • Second of Easter
          • Easter homily
          • Easter (story sermon)
          • Maundy Thursday
          • Palm Sunday
          • Lent 5C
          • Mothering Sunday
          • Lent 4C homily
          • Lent 3C (story sermon)
          • Lent 2C
          • Lent 1C
          • Ash Wednesday homily
          • Next Bf Lent/Last of Epiphany
          • Epiphany 4 (RCL)
          • Second Before Lent
          • Presentation of Christ
          • Fourth of Epiphany
          • Third of Epiphany
          • Baptism of Christ
          • The Epiphany
          • First of Christmas homily
          • Christmas Day homily
          • Christmas Day
          • Advent 4C
          • Advent 3C
          • Advent 2C
          • Advent 1C
        • Non-lectionary sermons >
          • Plough Sunday
          • Advent and Christmas ideas
          • Christmas Day homily
          • A Christmas Tale
          • Remembrance 2013
          • Remembrance Sunday
          • Harvest homily 2
          • Harvest
          • Harvest homily
          • Harvest Water
          • New Pastoral Ministry
        • Ascension
  • Homiletics
    • A Definition of Preaching
    • Speaking locally
    • Notes from a masterclass
    • Design analysis 1
    • Design analysis 2
    • Encouraging feedback
    • Preaching in an amnesic society
    • The Aldi bag syndrome
    • Blog
  • Disciplecraft
  • Recommended
    • Preaching Fools
  • Second of Epiphany

Proper 26A (4 Before Advent)
Working for the Kingdom
1 Thessalonians 2.9-13; Matthew 24.1-14 (Matthew 23.1-12).

PictureFrom Truro cathedral
By night she was on permanent night-duty as a nurse and by day she cleaned cinemas. I learnt a lot from her – she was a very capable and caring colleague when I too worked in a hospital. I loathed my turn at night-duty - yet it involved only 25% of my working hours – I just couldn’t understand how she coped so well with it and a second job. If asked, she always replied that it was to fund her expensive holidays. Once or twice a year she took herself away to exotic, far flung places. She insisted long hours of working were merely a means to an end. That was a humble reply, but not an absolutely frank one, I think. She was simply too good a nurse to be simply going through required tasks as nothing more than funding for fun. Part of the reason had to be that she enjoyed what she was doing, in a way that I usually didn’t.

Research recently published by the Department of Work and Pensions discloses that nearly three-quarters of working women aged 55 to 75 describe their health as good compared to less than half of those who have actually retired. Similarly the study also showed that working men of the same age were healthier than those who had retired. There are probably lots of caveats that need to be added to those statements, but nevertheless it’s clear that there is something life-giving about work that is enjoyed. Most of us recognize that; and we recognize too that dull, boring and unfulfilling work has the opposite effect.

When St Paul writes that he laboured and toiled ‘night and day’ when he was with the Thessalonians so that his presence wouldn’t be a burden to them, what I hear is Paul revelling in work that enabled him to support himself. Night and day it might have been – as it was for my nurse colleague – but it was worth doing. And why? So that he could freely share his teaching of the Gospel with the people he was visiting without any sense of dependence or exploitation that could so easily have diverted their attention from what matters most.

And what mattered most? That God was calling Paul’s Thessalonian friends into his own kingdom. No one could say that Paul’s efforts on their behalf were for any other reason than their well being. There is no gain for him; he is not in it ‘for the money’ or any other personal advancement – ‘pure, upright, and blameless conduct’ was the character of his witness, and physical work to give him the food and resources to advance that witness, was a blessing – as hard as it was. Labour with a purpose is something to give thanks for, and especially so here because the Thessalonian Christians received the word Paul offered as God’s word at work in them.

Paul is undoubtedly a great teacher, but he is not afraid of physical labour in order to make room for his teaching and to authenticate its graciousness. Perhaps he knew Christ’s own teaching about those who claimed the authority of teachers yet put all the burden of effort on those they claimed as learners. In Matthew 23 Christ criticises those who lay heavy burdens on the ones they teach and instruct ‘but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move’ those burdens (v.4). And he goes on to condemn the teacher who is more concerned about personal status, being honoured, and receiving a public title, than what godly learning requires. Know, he says, who the real teacher is: ‘for you have one instructor, the Messiah’ (v.10). So to the Thessalonian Christians Paul states boldly that it is ‘God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory’ (2.12). Paul’s labours are about urging, encouraging, indeed pleading that those he teaches should lead a life worthy of the one who has called them. It’s not about Paul, it’s about the one who does the calling – God alone – and nothing in Paul’s actions must get in the way of that. God it is who has called them into his own kingdom.

The Messiah calls them into the messianic kingdom. The first followers of Christ, along with many Jews of the time, longed for the day when the Messiah would appear to roll up, as it were, the map of human history. Jewish believers spoke of the Messiah, and Christians of the return of Jesus. Both longed for a new age when the old order will be done away and God’s rule will reconfigure all that is. In this return will be inaugurated an era of peace and justice on the earth. God’s people will experience a newness in all things that will disclose in actuality God’s purposes and intentions for his beloved. In face of persecution, violence and oppression this longing for the new age was an immensely powerful hope. Fuelled by this expectation people found courage and hope where previously there was only despair – even torture and death couldn’t crush this expectation, as Matthew 24 makes so plain: ‘Anyone who endures to the end will be saved. And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world’ (vvs 13-14).

The expectation is so fervent; so all embracing; so motivating – yet no one can say when that time will be – not even Jesus. All he says is that there will be many false claims and many false starts. And he also says something profoundly disarming, something that every believer must think long and hard on: ‘the love of many will grow cold’ (Matt 24.12).

Could it be that this is the very thing Paul is concerned about? So eager for the return of Jesus some Thessalonian Christians were planning to just sit things out – they expected Jesus’ return today, or tomorrow, or at most in a little while. Why work? Why indeed do anything but pray and hope?

Paul sees in such surrender to expectations only disillusion. Yes, the Thessalonians are called into the kingdom – but the kingdom is something to be worked for as it is waited for. In effect he is saying ‘do as I do’ – I have laboured, night and day that you may see that work is part of ‘life worthy of God.’ God’s word isn’t a burdensome expectation of the kingdom; it is a striving after Christ’s active rule here and now as we await its final completion. Let not love grow cold; work for one another’s good – work for the kingdom.