2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

“I’ll sock you, old Smiley.” Probably not a handful of people could recognize that quote, but 55+ years ago a whole congregation heard it and laughed. At the Christmas program, children were reciting the parts they had remembered, and my four-year-old brother froze. Pastor Harden, was sitting on the front pew and he smiled. It was then that my brother looked at him and said, “I’ll sock you, old Smiley.”

Just as none of you understood the quote until it was explained, none of us can understand what Paul wrote about “the rebellion… and the man of lawlessness” unless it is explained. However, there is a problem, Paul did not explain it. He did not have to, because the people he was writing to understood it. Many scholars today are sure they know what he was talking about. Unfortunately, few of them agree on anything concerning that exclamation. I’m not going to attempt to explain it because I do not believe there is any need to; I believe it’s importance is found in its purpose. Paul used it to remind them of what he had taught them, so that they would remember, and know for sure that Christ had not already returned and left them behind.

Paul told the Thessalonians not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching of false prophets. That is what we need to remember. Christians today need to spend less time trying to understand and figure out the end times and put more effort into understanding how to live Christlike in the meantime. There are false prophets, getting rich, teaching gullible Christians about end time prophecies.

God gave the church a mission. We are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick and bring hope to the hopeless. Money and resources, that should be doing that work, is spent trying to understand the work that the Lord has reserved for himself. When we focus on the wrong target, we are guaranteed to miss the mark. Focus on the mission.