Bad to Worse: Press On Anyway

November 17, 2013

Isaia !":17#2" 2 $ essa%onians 3:!#13 &'(e 21:"#1)

Have you ever had a problem that no matter what you did, just got worse? Trust me, not many of us have had problems like Fred. This morning I want you to meet Fred Arooji. In !"!, Fred was an avioni#s me#hani# in the $nites %tates Air For#e who worked on &F' (hantom jets. Fred was a #hild when his parents had immigrated to the $nited %tates from Iran but he was old enough that he learned Farsi as a #hild and )nglish after he immigrated. After the Ameri#an )mbassy was taken over by Iranian radi#als, our spe#ial for#es dis#overed that there was a terrible shortage of people who #ould translate Farsi, the native language of Iran. And so, a #all went out throughout the $% military for anyone who spoke Farsi and Fred volunteered. After months of interviews and intensive training, Fred still didn*t know what he would be asked to do, but was finally sele#ted as a member of the +advan#e team, for -peration )agle .law, the raid on the Ameri#an embassy that was being planned by /elta For#e. Fred and a few other %pe#ial -perations operatives were in Teheran for several weeks prior to the planned raid, gathering intelligen#e and making preparations for the arrival of the res#ue team. As most of you know, the res#ue went terribly wrong before a single shot was fired when several of the heli#opters had me#hani#al problems and, eventually, one heli#opter #rashed into a .0 12 #argo plane in the desert staging area. The operation was abandoned and so were Fred and the men of advan#e team. Things were bad3 and then things got worse. The advan#e team rapidly made new plans to get out of the #ountry but while wat#hing television ba#k at their hotel, they dis#overed that the Ameri#an press had leaked that several Ameri#ans of Iranian des#ent, like Fred, were in the #ountry and were helping the Ameri#an %pe#ial For#es team. Fred was now a marked man and, while most of his #olleagues #ould use their #ounterfeit #redentials to fly out of the Teheran airport, Fred was under too mu#h suspi#ion to do so. As Fred*s #ommander, Army 4ajor /i#k 4eadows left for the airport he instru#ted him to take the 4er#edes they had been using and drive to the Turkish border and they would find a way to get him home. Things were bad3 and then they got worse. After 4ajor 4eadows left for the airport, Fred dis#overed that the keys to the 4er#edes had already left Iran in the suit po#ket of another operative that had already flown home. 5ow Fred was alone and, if #aught, would be #onsidered both a traitor and a spy. 6pause7 I*m afraid that I*m going to leave you hanging at that point in the story for a little while be#ause I want you to hear from the Apostle (aul be#ause (aul understood how often things #an go bad. In his se#ond letter to the #hur#h is Thessaloni#a *2 $ essa%onians 3:!#13+, (aul #autions the #hur#h to be wary of believers who are not pulling their weight but instead are using their presen#e in the body of .hrist to disrupt the lives of others and the life of the #hur#h. (aul and the missionaries that travelled with him worked hard, in more ways than one, and3 well, before I say anymore I want you to hear it from him3

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7 or you yourselves know how you ought to follow our e!ample. "e were not idle when we were with you, # nor did we eat anyone$s food without paying for it. %n the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. & "e did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. '( or even when we were with you, we gave you this rule) *+he one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.,
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"e hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. +hey are not busy- they are busybodies. /uch people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. '0 1nd as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good. (aul points out that while he and his missionary team were in Thessaloni#a, they had the right, as ministers of the gospel, to ask for support from those who had believed, but (aul didn*t want to do that. (aul wanted to help this new #hur#h get started and he didn*t want to be a burden to the people there and so, both he and the members of his team took se#ular jobs. (aul was a tentmaker by trade, and so he worked for a living so that he #ould pay his own way and so did his team. %o mu#h did they believe in what they were doing, that they refused to eat in the homes of fellow believers 6or perhaps at #overed dish dinners7 without paying for what they ate. The thing that bothered him was that there were people who were #ontent to live off of the efforts of others even though they were able0bodied and more than #apable of supporting themselves. (aul doesn*t have a problem with helping people who are unable, but spe#ifi#ally #alls out people who are simply unwilling to do their share. -n top of that, some of these same people are using their free time not to help the #hur#h and its people, but to disrupt and dis#ourage the people who are a#tually doing the work. 8ut (aul doesn*t say that these people should be thrown out or abused, but simply that they should be ignored and left alone. In addition, (aul takes a sort of +/on*t feed the bears, approa#h to the troublemakers. If they aren*t #ontributing, even though they are able, then they don*t need to benefit from the work of others either. (aul en#ourages these folks to get with the program, to settle down and earn the food that they eat. I think that (aul*s last line gives us a little insight that a lot of these hardworking believers were feeling that they had been abused and taken advantage of. .learly the finan#ial situation of the people was already diffi#ult be#ause although (aul had a##epted the offerings and gifts of other #hur#hes, he refused to a##ept them in Thessaloni#a and instead worked at his regular job, as well as prea#hing, so that he #ould support himself. 9ith the believers already struggling finan#ially, #aring for the poor was a diffi#ult burden to bear, but one that they willingly #hose anyway. The part that made them feel abused was the addition of people who #ame to eat their food and enjoy their #ompany but who #ontributed nothing, not be#ause they were si#k, disabled, or unable, but just be#ause they were unwilling. 8ut (aul*s en#ouragement to these people who were struggling to survive was this: +5ever tire of doing good., (aul seems to say that he understood that times were hard. He understood that they barely had enough to get by. He understood that they felt that people had taken advantage of their goodwill. 8ut (aul says, even though you feel like ;uitting, hang in there. (ress on. +5ever tire of doing good.,

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=esus had similar advi#e for his dis#iples. 9hile things seemed to be going fairly well at the time, =esus took time out to e>plain to his friends that things were going to get bad3 and then get worse. *&'(e 21:"#1)+
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/ome of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to 3od. 4ut Jesus said, 6 *1s for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another- every one of them will be thrown down.,
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*+eacher,, they asked, *when will these things happen5 1nd what will be the sign that they are about to take place5,
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6e replied) *"atch out that you are not deceived. or many will come in my name, claiming, 7I am he,$ and, 7+he time is near.$ 8o not follow them. & "hen you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. +hese things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.,
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+hen he said to them) *9ation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. '' +here will be great earth:uakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
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*4ut before all this, they will sei;e you and persecute you. +hey will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. '0 1nd so you will bear testimony to me. '< 4ut make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. '2 or I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. '6 =ou will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. '7 >veryone will hate you because of me. '# 4ut not a hair of your head will perish. '& /tand firm, and you will win life. =esus tells his friends that horrible things are going to happen in the world but before the end of the world, being a follower of =esus will sometimes be a very hard thing. 8elievers in =esus .hrist will be tormented, perse#uted, arrested, betrayed and even put to death, but in spite of it all, there will be life in the end. =esus says, +/tand firm, and you will win life., In this, =esus e#hoes the words of the prophet Isaiah who said that ?od would, +#reate new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they #ome to mind., *Isaia !":17+ In Isaiah @A, the prophet Isaiah e>plains that ?od understands that the world often seems to be unfair, that the good die young, that bad thing happen to good people, but that there is a day #oming when ?od is going to make thing right. There is a day #oming when we will live in a world where the lion and the lamb lie down together and #hildren don*t die young. 9e, like Isaiah, look forward to that day. 9e look forward to the time when things will get better, but until that time we are #alled to +%tand firm,, to press on, and to +never tire of doing good., %o what happened to Fred? After his #ommander and everyone else flew out of Iran, Fred was stu#k in Teheran without transportation and with an army of people hunting for spies like him. As his #ommander /i#k

4eadows said goodbye, he thought that Fred was probably doomed and that he would never see him again. 8ut over the ne>t two weeks, Fred Arooji es#aped Iran by his wits, largely on foot, and in #onstant danger of being #aught. 9hen Fred eventually returned to the $nited %tates, (resident .arter wanted to meet him and said, +Boung man, I believe I have just met one of the bravest young men in uniform., (resident .arter asked Fred what he would like to do and Fred e>pressed an interest in being a military pilot. He was granted an interservi#e transfer to the Army and was trained as a spe#ial operation pilot on both heli#opters and fi>ed wing air#raft and stayed in the servi#e for twenty four years. /uring Fred*s time in the servi#e he was one of the first to test night vision e;uipment and developed the rules for pilots flying with su#h e;uipment. /uring the war in Ira;, a #all #ame in that a unit was being overrun and Fred volunteered to res#ue them. $sing night vision e;uipment, Fred landed a rather large airplane on a small dirt road, pi#ked up the guys in trouble, and flew them out, all in the dark. 4aybe a part of his motivation was that Fred never wanted anyone else to be left behind like he had been so many years before. Fred Arooji never gave up. He pressed on, and be#ause he did, a great many men and women are alive today. /espite the danger to himself, Fred never stopped doing good. -bviously, Fred lives in the $nited %tates and not in heaven, but we #an learn from his perseveran#e. %ometimes life is hard and sometimes things get worse instead of better, but no matter what, our #alling is to press on, to stand firm in the truth of =esus .hrist and to look forward to the time when ?od will remake the world. $ntil then, regardless of how we might be#ome dis#ouraged, we must never tire of doing good.

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Bou have been reading a message presented at Trinity $nited 4ethodist .hur#h on the date noted at the top of the first page. &ev. =ohn (artridge is the pastor at Trinity of (erry heights in 4assillon, -hio. /upli#ation of this message is a part of our 4edia ministry, if you have re#eived a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Cetters and donations in support of the 4edia ministry or any of our other proje#ts may be sent to Trinity $nited 4ethodist .hur#h, 1"A" Cin#oln 9ay )., 4assillon, -hio ''@'@. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. Bou may subs#ribe to these messages, in print or ele#troni# formats, by writing to the address noted, or by #onta#ting us at subs#ribeDtrinityperryheights.org. If you have ;uestions, you #an ask them in our dis#ussion forum on Fa#ebook 6sear#h for (astor =ohn -nline7. These messages #an also be found online at http:EEwww.s#ribd.#omE(astor =ohn (artridge. All %#ripture referen#es are from the 5ew International Fersion unless otherwise noted.