2 Thessalonians 2:13–17

13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

This is the word of God for the people of God. – Thanks be to God!

Opening Prayer

Please pray with me.
Gracious God, You have chosen us as the first fruits of Your love and called us to stand firm in Your grace. As we hear your message this day, open our hearts to receive your truth, open our minds to understand your wisdom, and open our lives to reflect your goodness for the hope of the world and for your glory.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Introduction: The Grocery Store Line

A few weeks ago, I was standing in the checkout line at the grocery store. And it was one of THOSE lines, you know. The long lines that seem to take forever, and you start to question all of your life choices. Like, why did I stop at the grocery store on my way home from work when I’m already tired and I just want to get home? Or gosh, I wish I had thrown something in the crock pot for dinner tonight before running out of the house to get to work.

Anyway, in this particular checkout line, there were three carts ahead of me with each cart heaped full of groceries. The person at the register was arguing with the cashier about the price of eggs and an expired coupon. The man behind me was talking loudly on his phone, and a child was innocently trying to slip some candy onto the conveyor belt. And as I stood there, I realized something: Everyone’s grocery cart tells a different story.

For instance, the young couple ahead of me had diapers, frozen pizza, and ready-made meals in their cart. Clearly, they are busy raising their kids, and they are in survival mode.
The man behind me had steaks, beer, and charcoal in his cart. So I guess he was going to be the grill master for that weekend.
My cart? Well, it was filled with mostly fruit and veggies because let’s face it, I ate too much Halloween candy, and I’m still trying to do the Weight Watchers thing. But I also had coffee, creamer, and enough snacks to feed a medium-sized youth group in the bottom of my cart.

And looking around at everyone else’s soon-to-be purchases, it struck me that our lives are a lot like those grocery carts. Indeed, we fill our lives with what we think will sustain us, but in the end, it’s what we give back that truly reveals our hearts.

So, today, we find Paul encouraging the believers in Thessalonica to stand firm and not rely on what they think will sustain them.

The Thessalonian Church and Their Struggles

You see, the Thessalonians are a weary and confused church. They are anxious about the future, unsure when Christ will return, and they are surrounded by a culture that is pressuring them to give up on their faith in Jesus and conform to the world.

Now, it goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway. It’s easier to take the easy way out and give in to our surrounding culture. No doubt, the early Christians were tempted many times to do the same. Can’t you hear the rhetoric all around them? Bow down to Caesar. Worship Zeus, Aphrodite, and all the other Egyptian deities. Chase after wealth, success, and seek a place of high status and public honor. And then you will be accepted.

Does any of this sound familiar? Yes, the culture is very different from ours, but the temptations are the same. We, too, live in a time of uncertainty and pressure. Our society’s issues are complex and multifaceted, but the ones that seem to rage on and on are economic inequality, social injustice, environmental concerns, challenges in healthcare, education, homelessness, and crime. And it is amid this complex culture that many churches, even today, are struggling and can’t seem to agree on how to BE the Body of Christ amid the uncertainty and chaos.

And it’s into this type of environment that Paul writes:
“Brothers and Sisters, God chose YOU as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and belief in the truth.”

First Fruits: A Calling and a Gift

First Fruits. That’s a powerful phrase, isn’t it? First Fruits. It’s more than just a metaphor; it’s a calling because God has chosen US not because we are perfect, but because of God’s free grace and love.

Friends, we are the first fruits of God’s redeeming work in Christ — offered to the world as a sign that God is still planting hope, still cultivating faith, and still in the business of harvesting love.

You know, Paul’s words take us back to Deuteronomy 26:1–11, where God commands the Israelites to bring their first fruits of the harvest to the temple. And as they brought their offering to God, they were supposed to say “My father was a wandering Aramean,” which is a confession that remembered where they came from and who sustained them as they wandered in the desert to their new life and freedom.

So, the first fruits weren’t just the leftovers or what they didn’t need. They were the BEST, the beginning, and a sign of trust that more blessings from God would surely follow. Indeed, giving first fruits wasn’t a transaction; it was a sincere act of thanksgiving to God.

And the same is true for you and me, too. Friends, when we gather for worship, when we give our tithes and offerings, when we serve in the name of Christ, we are essentially saying, Thank You, God, for being faithful in the past to us, and we trust you, God, with our entire future.

Trusting God When Life Gets Messy

Now I realize that it’s not always easy to trust God with our futures. And if you’re like me, at times I say yes, I trust you, God, but then life’s difficulties come my way, and I find myself working very hard to alleviate my difficult circumstances.

And I do this because I don’t like to walk through the muckiness of life. I’d much rather wander in the sunshine and flowers. I like to be on mountain tops instead of trudging through the valleys of life.

Can anyone relate to what I’m saying today? Oh, good, I’m not the only one who doesn’t like complications.

But the problem with wanting a perfect life without any difficulties is that, without the challenges of life, we start taking God’s presence and blessings for granted.

Blessing in the Midst of Difficulty

Theologian Barbara Brown Taylor had this to say about the Blessings of God. She said, “Heaven begins now, for any saint willing to sign up.” Meaning, the kingdom of God is both now and not yet. We have access to God’s presence right here and right now.

Taylor continued, “The first words out of Jesus’ mouth in his Sermon on the Mount are not ‘Blessed shall be’ but they are ‘Blessed are.’
Blessed are the poor in Spirit — not because of something that will happen to them later, but because of what their poverty opens up for them right now.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness — not because God is going to fill them up later but because their appetites are fine-tuned right now.”

Taylor continued to say, “When people who can’t stop crying hear Jesus call them blessed right in the basement of their grief, they realize this isn’t something they are supposed to get over soon. This is just what it looks like to have a broken heart.”
Indeed, the blessings in the Beatitudes describe a view of reality in which the least likely candidates are revealed to be extremely fortunate in the divine economy of things — not only later but right here, right now.

So Friends, whatever you believe about Jesus, believe this about you: the things that seem to be going most wrong for you may in fact be the things that are going most right. That’s God’s grace. That’s God’s blessings.

Standing Firm in Grace

In fact, this is why Paul encourages the Thessalonians to stand firm and hold fast to the teachings handed down to them. You see, Paul knew that faith wasn’t a one-time decision. Faith is a daily posture. Each day we awaken to live life once again. And just because we wake up, we are showered in God’s grace, which is a free and unmerited gift from God. This alone is reason enough to give God our first fruits of our labor. God’s grace is a fantastic thing!

John Wesley, the Father of Methodism, described grace as “the grace that goes before us, and the grace that saves us, and the grace that sustains us.” And Wesley also said, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, as long as ever you can.”

And that’s grace in motion, my dear friends. Indeed, when we stand firm in grace, we don’t stand still. We stand ready — ready to serve, ready to give, ready to love, and ready to live our lives for the glory of God.

Grace, then, is not passive. It’s empowering. It helps us persevere when life is heavy. It gives us hope when the news cycles drain us. It steadies us when we lose our footing, and it blesses us by letting us know that We. Are. Never. Alone. God is always with us, inspiring us to live our lives like Jesus by caring for and caring with one another.

Living Our Covenant: Prayers, Presence, Gifts, Service, Witness

You know, as United Methodists, we all make a covenant to support the church with our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. That’s what offering our first fruit means today.

Prayer, because the church’s power begins on our knees.
Presence, because the Body of Christ needs every part gathered together to make a complete body.
Gifts, because our resources fuel our ministry and mission.
Service, because love without action is incomplete.
And finally, Witness, because someone else’s faith might depend on seeing our faith lived out in our words and actions.

So, stewardship isn’t just a line item on the budget. It is the very heartbeat of discipleship. Because when we give of ourselves, we echo the very nature of God who gave us everything in Christ Jesus.

Certainly, God’s grace is a sign of God’s generosity. And our response to that generosity is a flow of gratitude that is shown by our commitment to steward the grace God has given to us by shining the Light of Christ into the desperate places in this world.

Stewardship in Action

This takes faith, trust, and commitment to be a blessing and use our gifts to build the kingdom of God. Now we do a pretty good job here at BUMC serving others with our coins for Christ donations, Messy Church, Hops and Hymns, VBS, Tandana, and so much more. We work hard to share the love of Christ to the Bellbrook community. And I know that God is blessing us in return.

But what does it mean to be blessed by God? Does it mean we won’t ever encounter difficulties? Does it mean we will live happy and carefree lives?

Paul, in his final words in this passage, shows us what blessing is. Paul says, “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” That’s a fantastic blessing!

One of the things I learned in seminary, from one of my favorite professors, is that there’s a sequence of blessings in this passage.

First, there is grace, which leads to encouragement, and encouragement gives us hope and strength, which leads us to serve God with our words and deeds. And Friends, this is precisely how grace flows into action.

Hope leads to witness. And faith leads to good fruit.

A Challenge for the Week

So I’d like to offer us a challenge this week.
Each day, let’s give God our first fruits — not just our finances but our focus, our gratitude, and our service.

This means beginning each day with a prayer of gratitude. Before we put our feet on the floor, before the calendar fills and the world rushes in, let’s take a breath and thank God for the gift of a new day.

Let’s offer God our prayers, our presence, our gifts, service, and our witness as a gratitude offering back to God. Because the truth of the matter is, we aren’t just supporting the church building with our first fruits. We. Are. The. Church. And every small act of kindness, every dollar bill, every word of encouragement, and every moment of service is a part of God’s larger Redemption plan to bring a piece of heaven to all people on earth.

Come, Holy Spirit, I pray it may be so. Amen.

Benediction

My dear Friends, You are the first-fruits of grace. Chosen, cherished, and called. Go forth into the world standing firm in faith, rooted in hope, and overflowing with love, so that others may taste and see that the Lord is Good and that his love endures forever. Go in peace now to love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Bibliography

The Holy Bible. New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., 2022.
The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church 2016. Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House.
The United Methodist Hymnal. Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1989.
Taylor, Barbara Brown. An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith. New York: HarperOne, 2009.
Taylor, Barbara Brown. Always a Guest: Speaking of Faith Far From Home (Westminster John Knox Press, 2020), 199, 200, 202–203.
Wesley, John. The Works of John Wesley. Vol. 7. Edited by Thomas Jakson. London: Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, 1872.
Wright, N.T. Paul for Everyone: The Thessalonians and the Pastoral Letters. London: SPCK, 2003.