Tawa Baptist

Jealous Love

Scripture: 1st Thessalonians 3:1-13

Video Link: https://youtu.be/6GVYmiFNkE0

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Paul’s vulnerability
  • Paul’s jealous love
  • Paul’s desire
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Roller coasters. You either love them or hate them. There’s no middle ground. I’m definitely not a fan. My cousins and I were thrown off the Sizzler when we were kids and it left its mark.

Unfortunately, our children don’t share my mistrust of roller coasters and so, when they were younger, I reluctantly had to accompany them on these sorts of rides. They had a great time. Me? Not so much.

Someone once told me, never get on the roller coaster with your kids. They were speaking metaphorically. They meant don’t get carried away with whatever drama is happening in their life. Don’t let their emotions dictate your mood.

This person meant well but parenthood doesn’t work like that. If your kids are seriously ill or being treated unfairly or if they achieve some success, then you feel it with them. If you love anyone, you will be affected by what they go through. You are on the roller coaster with them whether you like it or not.       

Today we resume our series in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, focusing on chapter 3. You may remember how, in chapter 2, Paul had affirmed the Thessalonians’ faith, belonging and relationship. In today’s reading, we see that Paul has been on a roller coaster with the Thessalonians, his spiritual children. He gets a bit emotional and expresses his feelings.   

From verse 1 of First Thessalonians chapter 3 we read…

So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens 2 We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 3 so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. 5 For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labours might have been in vain. 6 But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. 7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. 8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. 9 How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? 10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith. 11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. 12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

Three things we note here: Paul’s vulnerability, Paul’s jealous love for the Thessalonians, and Paul’s heartfelt desire. First let’s consider Paul’s vulnerability.

Paul’s vulnerability:

Elton John wrote a song in tribute to Marilyn Munroe. It was later adapted for Princess Diana. In the chorus he sings: And you lived your life like a candle in the wind, never knowing who to turn to when the rain set in…

The image of a candle in the wind, is the very picture of vulnerability. 

To be vulnerable is to be unprotected, in a precarious position, exposed or at risk of harm. When you love someone, when you care about them deeply, your heart is vulnerable, you are on the roller coaster with them whether you like it or not. Likewise, when you need someone to love you, your heart is vulnerable, like a candle in the wind.

In his book, The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis writes…

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.

Paul understood vulnerability well. Before his conversion, Paul was hard hearted and hell bent on persecuting the followers of Jesus. But Jesus transformed Paul’s heart. Jesus made Paul vulnerable to God’s grace.    

The word vulnerability is not explicitly mentioned in today’s reading and none of the commentaries I read talked about it specifically so you may well wonder, how exactly is Paul vulnerable?

Well, it is both the tone of his writing here and the way in which he is so open with the Thessalonians about his feelings. Paul, the intellectual and theological giant, is wearing his heart on his sleeve and being honest about his need for them.

In verse 1 of chapter 3 Paul says, when we could stand it no longer… And in verse 5 he repeats this same line, only more personally saying, when I could stand it no longer. The thing Paul couldn’t stand here was not knowing how the Thessalonians were getting on. He was anxious for their wellbeing. But Paul also needed to know that the Thessalonians loved him.

Why was Paul so anxious? Why was he feeling so vulnerable? Because he had opened his heart to the Thessalonians and let them in.

In verse 8 of chapter 2 Paul actually says: We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. Love anything and it will make you vulnerable.       

Paul had a lot riding on the Thessalonians. If they threw in the towel of their faith then not only would Paul’s work with them be in vain, he personally would feel like he had lost family members. The Thessalonians were his spiritual children. He was like a mother and a father to them in the faith. If they had given up on their faith, Paul would have been devastated.

But Paul is not devastated. Quite the opposite. From verse 8 of chapter 3 Paul writes…

8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. 9 How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?

Before Paul received news that the Thessalonians were doing well, he was beside himself with worry over them. He couldn’t stand not knowing.

And when you feel vulnerable like that, you can’t really enjoy anything. You just sort of get by on a knife’s edge. Now that Paul knows they’re okay, that he hasn’t lost them, he can really live. In other words, he can enjoy life again.

The thing with being vulnerable is that it doesn’t always feel pleasant at the time. Vulnerability can feel risky, or unsafe, like you are not in control. The vulnerability of love requires faith.

Even though it feels risky, allowing yourself to be vulnerable with another person opens the door to intimacy, to closeness. Vulnerability creates a bridge, a connection. Vulnerability, when it is well placed, is the antidote to loneliness.

But we need to be discerning about who we choose to be vulnerable with. As Jesus said, don’t throw your pearls before swine. Don’t open up the treasures of your heart to someone who is going to treat those treasures cheaply.      

And, if someone shares something with you that makes them vulnerable, handle that pearl with gentleness and care. Be worthy of that person’s trust.

Paul was vulnerable with the Thessalonians and he loved them with a jealous love.

Paul’s jealous love:

For many people, jealousy is a bad word. We have a tendency to collapse jealousy and envy into one. But they are not the same thing.

Jealousy is when we feel like something we already possess is at risk of being taken away from us. In contrast, envy is the desire to have something that does not belong to us.

Can you see the difference? Jealousy has to do with losing something that is rightfully ours, whereas envy is about coveting what is not ours. 

Jealousy can sometimes cause us to behave in ways which are resentful or vindictive. But jealousy can also move us to do good things. Jealousy gives us courage to protect what we love and determination to restore what we have lost.

God describes himself as jealous. You probably know Jesus’ parable of the shepherd who went looking for the lost sheep. The shepherd left the 99 to find the one that was lost. That is a picture of God’s jealous love. His drive (or his zeal) to restore and protect what he loves and what rightfully belongs to him.

Jealousy is not necessarily a bad thing. It is a powerful energy that needs to be channelled for other people’s wellbeing.

When I was a child my grandparents took me with them on holiday to the beach. We stayed in a remote part of the Bay of Islands, up north, surrounded by bush, beaches and sea. My grandfather taught me to fish and to shoot. It was a boy’s paradise.

One day (I was about 7 or 8 at the time) my grandfather and I were doing some target practice with a .22 calibre rifle. Not a very powerful gun, but useful for shooting rabbits and possums and other cute furry animals that would otherwise destroy the environment.  

Anyway, while we were doing our target practice, a woman emerged out of the tea tree scrub yelling at us. She was angry; I’m mean next level angry, telling us in no uncertain terms to stop shooting at her family. She was mistaken. We were not shooting at anyone. Her family were never in any danger. My grandfather was very careful with guns. 

I guess, because we were on a hill, the rifle shots could be heard echoing around the bay and she thought the worst, that her family were under attack. As it transpired this mother had walked about three kilometres over rocks, through dense bush and up a very steep hill to protect her children.

And she did this knowing that the people she was intending to confront had a loaded gun. Incredible determination and courage. As I reflect on that event now, I realise this mother was exhibiting jealous love for her family. She was willing to risk her life to protect them.

We put the gun away for a few days and she walked back into the bush from whence she came, never to be seen again.

Nowhere in today’s reading from Thessalonians do we find the word jealousy, but we do come across the word love a couple of times. In any case it is clear, from the feelings and actions Paul reveals, that he loved the Thessalonians with a jealous love, like the mother in my story.

Verse 5 reads…

For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labours might have been in vain.

The believers in Thessalonica were brand new Christians and Paul had not had a chance to complete their basic training. They were like Macualay Culkin, in Home Alone, having to fend for themselves in a hostile environment. And Paul was like a stressed and anxious parent, worried how they were getting on.

So Paul sent Timothy (his right hand man) back to Thessalonica. It’s about 500kms from Athens to Thessalonica, which takes a day in a train. But it probably took Timothy over two weeks, each way, on foot.

The New Zealand women’s cricket team (the White Ferns) are playing Australia at the Basin today. Australia are the team to beat.

Quite often, when you are at the cricket, you see people wearing captain’s hats. At first I just thought it was a group of mates dressing up the same. But then I kept seeing these captain’s hats at other games around the country. It wasn’t until I heard someone say: ‘Steady the ship’, that the penny dropped. 

The fans wear captain’s hats to ‘steady the ship’. It is a message of support to the batsman to not throw their wicket away. Stay calm, take it easy. Believe in the leave. You can’t score runs back in the pavilion.

As much as Paul wanted Timothy to stay with him in Athens, his jealous love for the Thessalonians was greater. The new believers in Thessalonica were getting a hard time for becoming Christians. Timothy’s visit was intended to steady the ship. That is, to strengthen and encourage the young believers in their faith.

In verses 2 to 5 Paul talks about persecution and trials and being tempted to abandon Christ.    

Paul says they were destined for these trials and that he kept telling them to expect persecution. This fits with the teaching of Jesus who said it would not be easy following him.

We, in New Zealand today, are not persecuted like the Thessalonians were. But that doesn’t mean we get off Scott free. Our beliefs and values sometimes put us at odds with the wider society in which we live.

But even if society agreed with and supported Christian faith, we would still face testing in some form. It seems to be necessary for faith development, like putting cake mixture in a hot oven is necessary for baking the cake.

What we find is that our faith is usually tested when we are at our weakest and not when we expect it. Temptation is never fair.

Two of the gospels tell us how Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days. It was necessary for Jesus to go through this and overcome.

Unlike Jesus, we don’t always overcome when we are tempted. But the good news is that Jesus has done for us what we are not able to do for ourselves. We may lose the odd battle with temptation but that should not discourage or defeat us, for Jesus has won the war.

If we do trip and fall, it does not mean we are out. The Lord is gracious and compassionate. We admit our mistakes, pick ourselves up and carry on in the faith. It’s like Winston Churchill said: Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts. 

Much to Paul’s relief the Thessalonians did not give in to the temptation to abandon their faith. When Timothy returned with the good news that the Thessalonians’ faith and love were strong and that they longed to see Paul as well, Paul was greatly encouraged.

Paul’s desire:

Wrapped up with Paul’s jealous love and vulnerability is Paul’s heartfelt desire for the Thessalonians. From verse 10 we read… 

 10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.

Prayer isn’t just the words we say to God. The essence of prayer is our heartfelt desire. Words may give expression to that desire but so might our tears or our sighs or our groaning or our laughter.

Paul’s heartfelt desire is to be reunited with his spiritual children, not just for his own comfort but more to supply what is lacking in their faith.

John Stott sheds light on the meaning of ‘supplying what is lacking’. If we think of the Thessalonian’s faith as a fishing net, then Paul is like a fisherman who wants to repair the net. Or, if we think of the Thessalonian’s faith as a broken leg, then Paul is like a surgeon who desperately wants to set the bone properly.  

Or to use another metaphor, the Thessalonians have made a great start to their Christian faith journey, but they need a few more essential supplies in order to stay on the right track, like a map and a compass and a torch.

Paul doesn’t just talk about praying; he can’t help but actually break into a spontaneous prayer for the Thessalonians from verse 11…

11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. 12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

Verse 11 describes Paul’s desire to see the Thessalonians in person again.

Verse 12 describes Paul’s desire for the Thessalonians’ love to increase, something only the Lord can do.

And verse 13 describes Paul’s desire for the Thessalonians to grow in holiness, from the inside out. (From the heart.)

Holiness is an unpopular word these days. It gets a bad rap. People tend to associate holiness with being superior or thinking you are better than others. Like that expression, ‘holier than thou’.

But that’s not a fair or accurate description. Holiness is about wholeness. When we hear the word holiness, we should think health & wellbeing, strength and integrity. We should associate holiness with love, because the two go together.  They complement each other.      

At home in our garden we have a tomato plant. It was only about two or three inches high when I first planted it, just tiny. Since then it has grown a bit and we now have some fruit.

At first I didn’t need to put a stake next to it because when the plant was small it could stand by itself. But now it has grown it needs a stake (alongside) to support it. And with all the dry weather we are having lately it needs to be watered pretty regularly too.

Perhaps the Thessalonians were like my tomato plant. They needed the water of love and the stake of holiness in order to be healthy & whole, fruitful & strong.

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve heard about Paul’s vulnerability, his jealous love and his heartfelt desire for the Thessalonians. All of these are an expression of Paul’s deep care for the Thessalonians.

Whose roller coaster are you on at the moment? Who is making you feel vulnerable? Who is triggering your jealous love? Who is occupying space in your heart?

Is it your partner in marriage? Your kids? Your parents? A friend? An enemy? A workmate? The people of Ukraine? The people in your neighbourhood?

What do they need? What do you need?

Let us pray…

Loving Father, you see what is in our hearts. You know our vulnerability. You understand our fears and our desires. In you we have all we need. Fill us with your Spirit of love and holiness, so that we may care well for others and for ourselves. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • Do you enjoy roller coasters? Why (or why not)?
  • Why was Paul feeling so vulnerable in relation to the Thessalonians? What does he do with this feeling of vulnerability? How does he express it? How might we know when we are feeling vulnerable? How might we express our feelings of vulnerability in a healthy way? 
  • What is the difference between jealousy and envy? Can you think of an event in your own life when jealous love was triggered in you? What happened? How did you respond? How might we channel our feelings of jealousy for the wellbeing of others?
  • What is the essence of prayer? In what ways can we express our prayers to God?
  • What was Paul’s heartfelt desire for the Thessalonians? (in verses 11-13) Why do you think Paul puts love and holiness together? How do love & holiness complement each other?
  • Whose roller coaster are you on at the moment? Who is making you feel vulnerable? Who is triggering your jealous love? Who is occupying space in your heart? What do they need? What do you need?
Tawa Baptist

Elinor Thornton

Scripture: John 4:1-42

Video Link: https://youtu.be/Al3mm5Bfiow

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The woman at the well
  • Elinor Thornton
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Today is Baptist Women’s History Day. Last year we learned about New Zealand’s first overseas missionary, Rosalie Macgeorge. This year we feature Elinor Thornton, a pioneering preacher and evangelist.

In stereo with Elinor’s story is the gospel story of another pioneering evangelist, the Samaritan woman who encountered Jesus at the well, in John 4.

Although Elinor led a very different lifestyle from the Samaritan woman, they did share at least two things in common: they were both hungry for something more in this life and they both became unlikely evangelists.   

The woman at the well:

Let’s begin with a reading from John 4, to remind us of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well…

4 Now he [Jesus] had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?  12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

One of these kids is doing their own thing? It was an iconic scene from the TV show Sesame Street. Three kids doing the same thing and one kid doing their own thing, being different.

Sometimes doing your own thing can be selfish or harmful, but not always, and never on Sesame Street. There is a time and place when doing your own thing, standing out from the crowd, being different, is life giving and necessary for the well-being of the wider community.     

The Samaritan woman is not like the other women of her village. She is doing her own thing. Most women in her culture would go to the well at the beginning or the end of the day, in a group together. But this woman chooses to go in the middle of the day, alone.

Jesus is doing his own thing too. Most men in that culture would step aside and put a distance between themselves and another woman. They certainly wouldn’t speak to a woman in public, much less ask her for a drink.

This is a very unusual interaction indeed, made even more extraordinary by the fact that Jesus is Jewish and, historically, Jews and Samaritans hated each other. Lots of bad blood and chilly silences between them.

But Jesus is not interested in holding a grudge. Who has the time and energy for that? He engages in a conversation with this woman from a position of weakness and need. He is thirsty and asks her for some water.

We aren’t actually told whether Jesus gets a drink but I guess that’s not the point. The banter goes back and forth and the woman is, quite understandably, a bit cynical at first. Jesus goes to on talk about living water and how he is the source of a water supply that will quench her thirst for good.

The woman can’t begin to imagine what Jesus means. For her, living water probably meant spring water, fresh water that bubbles to the surface by itself, as opposed to well water which has to be drawn out by hand.

She may be thinking literally but the living water Jesus has in mind is most likely the Holy Spirit. Those who are filled with the Spirit of Jesus not only stand to have their own thirst for intimacy with God met, they also become a spring for others.

As the conversation carries on it becomes clear that this woman has a thirst in her soul which no man (so far) has been able to quench. She has been married five times and now she is in a de facto relationship.

We are not told the back story with these six relationships but it is pretty clear this woman has been through the mill. Whether she is a widow or a divorcee or an adulterer or all three, she is first and foremost a person and she has suffered. Jesus sees her loneliness and hunger and he cares for her.    

As they continue talking about God and worship the woman begins to soften. From verse 24 we pick up the thread of the conversation, where Jesus says…

24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

Jesus reveals to her that he is the Messiah. In him she will find the salvation of living water.

Ephrem the Syrian sums up the movement of this chat nicely when he writes…

At the beginning of the conversation Jesus did not make himself known to her; …first she caught sight of a thirsty man, then a Jew, then a Rabbi, afterwards a prophet, last of all the Messiah. She tried to get the better of the thirsty man, she showed dislike of the Jew, she heckled the Rabbi, she was swept off her feet by the prophet and she adored the Christ.  

The conversation finishes when the disciples return…

28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

This most unlikely person, a Samaritan woman with a fifty shades darker reputation, becomes one of the first Christian evangelists, telling the people of her town about her experience of Jesus.    

Jesus enjoyed the hospitality of that town for two days and by the end of his stay people were saying, “…this man really is the Saviour of the world.”  

Elinor Thornton (nee Wilson):

I quite like the poetry of Bruce Springsteen. He has a song called Hungry Heart. There’s a verse towards the end of the song where he sings…

Everybody needs a place to rest

Everybody wants to have a home

Don’t make no difference what nobody says

Ain’t nobody like to be alone

Everybody’s got a hungry heart…                                                                     

What makes the Boss so good is his understanding of people. Each of us has a hunger deep in our soul which no amount of steak and chips can satisfy. That hunger moves us; it shapes and influences the choices we make in life.

The woman at the well knew all about that hunger and so did Elinor Thornton.

Elinor Thornton was born Elinor Wilson, in Ireland, in 1867. She was one of six children. Her father was a farmer. The Wilson family arrived in New Zealand to start a new life in 1875. Elinor was around eight years old at the time. [1]

Elinor’s family believed in education, which was just as well because Elinor loved to read. Books were her friends. Her family were church goers and Elinor excelled in Scripture, coming first in her class. Even from an early age Elinor felt a hunger for God. I imagine reading the Bible was one way she fed that hunger.

When asked which is the greatest commandment in the Law, Jesus said: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. Reading the gospel, and reflecting on what we read, cleans the inside of the cup. It is one of the ways we love God with our mind.

When we read we deepen and widen our understanding and our ability to think. Reading can transport us to different worlds. Reading quality books makes us the beneficiaries of the wisdom of other people’s experience.

For some people reading is hard work and for others it is a pleasure. Either way, reading good content is a wonderful antidote to ignorance. And, as followers of Jesus, we can’t afford to be ignorant because ignorance causes harm. In short, reading helps us to know how to love God and our neighbour and ourselves.

So why not check out our church library, over in the church office. Elaine has selected some great books, which are there to help us love God with our mind.  

When Elinor turned 14, she confirmed her baptism and remembered feeling ‘strangely moved’. Spiritual experiences like this tend to be the exception, not the rule. The routine and demands of life took over and, at the age of 15, Elinor took her first teaching position in a school. She rode six miles each way on horseback.

Teaching is a meaningful profession and yet, after three years, Elinor’s hunger for something more remained. Restless she moved to Thames to take up a teaching position there.

While in Thames, Elinor was stirred by a message she heard from the Salvation Army. After re-reading the Scriptures and seeing them in a new light, Elinor stood in a public prayer meeting and admitted to trusting in Christ. This was the start of something new.

Perhaps like Elinor you have had a similar experience. Maybe, if you grew up in a Christian family, you saw God and Jesus through the lens of your parents’ point of view. It was like piggy backing off your parents’ faith. You simply accepted what they told you. There is nothing wrong with this. It is what a child naturally does.

But then, as you became an adult and started to think more for yourself, you saw God through a different lens, the lens of your own experience. Something shifted inside you, so it was like you owned the Christian faith for yourself, rather than just borrowing it from others.

Whatever our upbringing, God puts a hunger in our heart to know him, a longing to be close to him and enjoy him. Part of that hunger includes the desire to serve him, to use the gifts he has given us for his purpose.

Elinor’s gift was with words. At the age of 18 she started a small meeting in the Thames village and another one in the school after teaching for the day. I’m not sure exactly what the format of the meeting was but I imagine it included prayer, preaching and singing hymns. 

God blessed the work and made it fruitful. A boy of 18 became a Christian through one of these meetings and later went on to missionary work in Africa. 

Returning to John 4 for a moment. After the woman at the well had gone back to the village, Jesus’ disciples urged him to eat something…       

32 But he [Jesus] said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” …My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

The thing that fed and nourished Jesus’ soul was doing the work God had sent him to do.

Perhaps we too have a hunger in our soul to participate in the creative, redemptive work of God. Something in us wants, or more precisely needs, to serve God’s greater purpose. For it is in serving God, in the specific way he has prepared for us, that our life finds its meaning.

The work of God that Elinor needed to do was evangelistic preaching. But that won’t necessarily be the work God has prepared for you to do. Yes, we must all be prepared to give account of our faith to those who ask, but we are not all called to be preachers.

It’s like what Paul says in Romans 12…

6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with yourfaith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

This is not an exhaustive list of the gifts, just a sample. The question is: what grace (or gift) has God given you to share? How does God want us (both individually and collectively) to serve his purpose of salvation? Knowing that, and doing it, go a long way to satisfying our soul’s hunger for meaning.

From Thames, Elinor moved to Remuera to work as a school teacher. She was there for three years, during which time she also taught Bible class, Christian Endeavour and helped with the Sailors’ Mission.

The job in Remuera was great. Elinor loved her time in Auckland. It was the centre of Christian activity. She might have stayed, except for a call to the back and beyond. It seems God was leading her away from the centre, to people on the edges.  

Ewen McGregor, a land and saw mill owner from the Rangitikei, in the heart of the New Zealand bush, invited Elinor to teach school for 40 children and lead a worship service every Sunday.

Elinor wrote afterwards that: ‘Mr and Mrs McGregor were as astonished as I myself when a girl was suggested. But I prayed over the matter for a month or two, then realised that the call was from God.’

In 1897, at the age of 30, Elinor left the desirable Remuera teaching position and accepted the job in the bush. She spent two years there. Nearly the whole village came to her Sunday services. During this time men and women were led to Christ. Elinor recalls one such meeting…

I sought to preach Christ in my own very simple fashion hardly looking for or expecting any definite or immediate results, for I knew nothing of evangelistic methods… I was about to close the meeting in the usual way… when a member of the congregation rose to his feet and asked if he might say something.

He was Mr Alexander, a man of splendid character, respected by everyone. I said we would be glad to hear what he had to say. Mr Alexander spoke…

‘I want to say that, until I began to attend these services a few months ago, I never realised that it was for me that Christ had died. Now I know it, I want everybody else to know it and I am so glad to acknowledge myself as his follower. By his grace I will follow him and serve him as long as I live.’  

No sooner had Mr Alexander sat down and another man jumped to his feet to make a similar declaration of faith. This began what can only be described as a revival. We experienced continually days of the right hand of the Most High. In almost every home there were those who openly identified themselves with Christ.

There was something about Elinor’s preaching which opened people’s hearts and minds to God’s love for them personally. Ultimately it is God’s love that satisfies the hunger in our soul.

Elinor’s preaching reminds us of Paul’s words to the Corinthians, where he says…

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

In many ways, Elinor was an unlikely evangelist. She was a relatively young, bookish woman speaking to tough burly men, for the most part, at a time in history when equal opportunity wasn’t really a thing. And yet God used Elinor to bring many to a personal faith in Jesus.

After two years Mr McGregor encouraged Elinor to give up school teaching and devote all her time to evangelism. She commenced her work in Mangaweka, renting out the town hall for mission meetings. All sorts came to listen to the gospel. She continued for about two years travelling and preaching, not unlike Jesus’ ministry.

Then, in 1902 at the age of 35, Elinor Wilson married the Rev Guy Thornton. They had known each other from seven years earlier. They would have two daughters.

For the next 12 years they joined in itinerant mission work and brief pastorates in Otahuhu, Christchurch, Ohakune, Morrinsville and Whangarei.

Some of these places (particularly Ohakune) were quite remote and the accommodation wasn’t that flash. Guy’s health suffered and there were weeks when he was laid up in bed. Which is when Elinor stepped in to maintain his work. She was described as a person of great saintliness and a fine preacher.

Elinor kept up her preaching ministry in New Zealand when Guy went to serve (as a chaplain) in World War One.  When Guy became ill in hospital, in London, Elinor and their daughters sailed across the world to be with him.

For a while, between 1916 and 1919, Elinor and Guy served as missioners in England under the YMCA. Elinor preached in some quite large venues and people accepted Jesus as their Saviour.

Elinor and Guy ministered in England during the great flu pandemic which followed on the heels of the First World War. It was, in some ways, like our Covid pandemic, except without the vaccines.

Preaching the gospel at that time, in the wake of so much human tragedy and loss, must have been hard graft. Many people had become disillusioned and struggled to reconcile the God of love with the vicissitudes of recent experience. But Elinor and Guy remained faithful to their calling, continuing in good times and bad.

Elinor, who by now you realise was very capable, returned to New Zealand before Guy. Not one to sit around idle, she started services in Lyall Bay, here in Wellington. Then, when Guy followed, they moved to South Dunedin Baptist in 1922 to serve there.

Guy died in 1934, during the Great Depression. Not an easy time for Elinor who was 67 by that stage. But still Elinor remained fruitful. Her love of reading had inevitably led to a love of writing. By the time she died Elinor had published five books.

Elinor went to be with the Lord in 1946, not long after the Second World War ended. She was 79 years old.

Conclusion:

Like I said at the beginning of this message, Elinor led a very different lifestyle from the Samaritan woman in John 4. But they did share at least two things in common: they were both hungry for something more in this life and they both became unlikely evangelists.

The other thing they share in common is courage. Both women had the courage to be different and to speak up for Jesus.

In both their stories we see the hand of God at work. The woman at the well was not willing to help Jesus at first. She was cynical to begin with. But something shifted in her as she spoke with Jesus. Then she couldn’t help but tell everyone about the Messiah. And people believed in Jesus because of her testimony.   

In contrast, Elinor was willing, even from a young age. Willing to leave home. Willing to stand in a public meeting to declare her faith in Jesus. Willing to leave the comfort of Remuera to serve God in Rangitikei. Willing to sail to the other side of the world. Willing to be different; to lead missions and preach at a time when women didn’t often get the opportunity. And people believed in Jesus because of her testimony.  

Today’s message is more than just a history lesson or an inspiring story.

The point is that God can use you too. Are you willing?

Let us pray…

Father God, we thank you for your wisdom and grace. Satisfy the hunger in our soul with your Spirit. Help each one here to discover the gifts you have given them, so that we might serve your purpose of salvation. Give us willing hearts, informed minds and courage to share your love. Through Jesus we pray. Amen. 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • Why do you think Jesus crossed social and cultural boundaries to have a conversation with the woman at the well in John 4? How does Jesus approach this woman?
  • What do you think Jesus has in mind when he talks about ‘living water’ in John 4?
  • How might we love God with our mind? What practical things can we do? Do you have regular practices of spiritual reading to develop your faith? If not, how might you incorporate a regular rhythm of sacred reading into your weekly schedule?
  • Are you aware of the hunger in your soul? How does this hunger influence the decisions you make? Do you know God’s love for you personally?  
  • In what ways were the woman at the well (in John 4) and Elinor similar? In what ways were they different?
  • What grace (or gift) has God given you to share?  How are you (or how could you) share this gift?

[1] https://www.bwnz.org.nz/womens-history-day-and-woman-of-the-month-elinor-thornton-1867-1946/

Tawa Baptist

Affirmation

Scripture: 1st Thessalonians 2:13-20

Video Link: https://youtu.be/FeNmfDe5CBE

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Affirmation of faith
  • Affirmation of belonging
  • Affirmation of relationship
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Affirmation, it is so important to us as human beings. To affirm something is to declare it to be true. When we affirm we uphold, confirm or ratify what is true.

At the core of affirmation is making something or someone firm, strong or secure.

When you complete a course of training, you receive a certificate to affirm that you are qualified in your chosen field.

When you buy a house or a car, you sign papers to affirm that you are the legal owner of the property.

When you pray the Lord’s prayer, saying ‘Our Father, who is in heaven…’, you affirm that you are loved by God and made in his image.

When you get married, you exchange vows to affirm your love and commitment to one another.

When you worship God, whether that is by singing or giving your time and money or obeying him in some way, you affirm his worth.

When you give someone a word of appreciation, you affirm the good you see in that person. 

When you attend a funeral, you affirm that the life and passing of the deceased matters.

When you listen to someone with empathy, you affirm the value of their thoughts and feelings.  

We could go on but you get the point: affirmation is about upholding the truth. It makes people and relationships stronger, more secure.

Today we continue our series in Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians, focusing on chapter 2, verses 13-20. The Thessalonian believers were going through a difficult time because of their faith in Jesus and so Paul affirms them and his relationship with them. From verse 13 of chapter 2 we read…    

13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. 14 For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews 15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone 16 in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last. 17 But, brothers and sisters, when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. 18 For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan blocked our way. 19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? 20 Indeed, you are our glory and joy.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

As you have probably picked up by now, the new believers in Thessalonica were getting a hard time for becoming Christians. They were suffering in a variety of ways and to make matters worse, Paul, Silas and Timothy (who had introduced the gospel of Jesus to them), had been forced to leave prematurely.

The Thessalonians were in a vulnerable position and needed strengthening.

So Paul, who loves them very much, declares what he knows to be true…

Paul affirms the Thessalonians’ decision of faith;

Paul affirms their belonging to God’s people;

And Paul affirms his relationship with the Thessalonians personally.

Affirmation of faith:

First let’s consider Paul’s affirmation of the Thessalonians’ faith.

You may have heard the expression, ‘spill the tea’. The ‘tea’ in this metaphor is some piece of news or inside information about a particular subject. And ‘spilling the tea’ means sharing the news. Preaching the gospel is ‘spilling the tea’ about Jesus. 

When you make tea, to serve to others, you begin by putting some tea leaves in the pot. Then you pour some hot water into the pot with the tea and let it brew for a few minutes.

Once the brew is just right you can pour the tea into individual cups. Some people like milk or sugar with their tea, others are happy to have it black. Some like it in a dainty floral cup and others prefer a mug.

Whichever way you take your tea the main purpose is to drink it.  If someone pours you a cup and you don’t drink it, well that’s a bit odd, even a bit rude. When you drink the tea though, you show trust in the person who made it and affirm the other person’s hospitality to be true. You strengthen your friendship.

To make this analogy plain, God is the one who makes the tea while Paul, Silas & Timothy are like the tea pot. They are the vessel which carries God’s word.

The gospel message about Jesus is like the tea leaves and the hot water is the Holy Spirit. God’s word and God’s Spirit go together. The tea leaves of God’s word need to brew in the water of God’s Spirit for a little while before being served.

Or, to say it another way, the words we read in the Bible only become the living Word of God to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of God that makes the Word of God real and alive for us. We can’t drink the tea of God’s word without the water of his Spirit.

The individual tea cups are the human heart or mind. Our hearts and minds are vessels or containers for holding the tea of God’s Word & Spirit.

When someone spills the tea, about Jesus, we have a choice. We can receive the hospitality God offers, drinking his tea down (in faith) to our inner most being. Or we can close our hearts and minds to God’s word. 

The Thessalonians chose to receive the tea of God’s word through the tea pot of Paul, Silas & Timothy.

As Paul affirms in verse 13, you received the word of God, which you heard from us, and accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God,

In other words, with the help of God’s Spirit, the Thessalonians trusted Paul’s message and accepted it (or affirmed it in their hearts) as God’s word.  

Paul notes that the word of God is indeed at work in you who believe. When you drink your cup of tea it goes to work in you. It hydrates your body and refreshes you, it gives you a lift. God’s word is like that. God’s word goes to work inside the heart of the individual believer and among the community of believers.

In verse 13 Paul is affirming the Thessalonians’ decision of faith. Maybe some of the Thessalonian believers were having second thoughts, due to all they had suffered. Maybe they were thinking, we got this wrong. But Paul affirms their decision as true. He is saying, you all got it right.

It’s one thing to speak positive words of affirmation to yourself. That has its own power. But it’s something else altogether when someone you respect speaks words of affirmation to you. That is even more powerful.

When I was a kid I played school boy rugby. For most of my career it would be fair to say I was pretty useless. And when you are useless the coach doesn’t waste his time with you. No potential there.

But by the time I reached the fourth form, which is year 10 at high school, I started to understand the game a bit better and put more effort in with training and skill development. It made a difference. The coach noticed.

After seven years of playing the coach actually spoke to me one on one, giving me some pointers on other things I could do to improve. It was just a small thing but it was so affirming. It said to me, ‘I believe in you. I think you’ve got potential kid’. Didn’t quite make it to the All Blacks, but that’s not the point.

The point is, affirmation from someone we respect has real power. It makes us stronger and gives us confidence.

At some stage in your journey of Christian faith you will have questions and doubts. You won’t always feel particularly strong. Don’t let it throw you. It is to be expected.

The trickiest doubt we might face in life is self-doubt. Put yourself in the path of other Christian believers who are a little further down the track than you. Hopefully, if they are listening to this sermon too, they will speak words of affirmation to you, declaring truth over your life (like my rugby coach did for me).

That’s one of the reasons it’s so important to stay connected to a church and not go it on your own. It creates opportunities for affirmation. Church is one of the ways God makes us stronger.         

Sometimes a little opposition and struggle is another thing God uses to firm up our faith.

Affirmation of belonging:

Navy divers do a training exercise called the mud run. This involves a team of divers running through mangrove swamps knee deep in mud. It’s hard yacker. The mud sucks and claws at you, making your every move a huge effort.

Not only does this natural resistance training build physical fitness and strength, it also builds bonds between the team members who help each other. The idea isn’t to be the first individual over the finish line. The idea is to get the whole team across the line together, no one left behind.   

From verse 14 Paul writes…

For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews 15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out.

Paul is saying here that the Thessalonians’ suffering is actually an affirmation that they have a place of honour among God’s people. They (even though they are mostly Gentile believers) belong alongside the first Jewish Christians, because they have suffered the same things for the same reason.

Far from being a cause for doubt, the Thessalonians’ suffering for their faith is in fact a sign of solidarity with Jesus, the prophets and the churches in Judea.

Paul is basically saying, you are in good company, for you walk in the footsteps of God’s faithful people. What an affirmation of belonging.

Paul uses the strongest terms he can to denounce the behaviour of those Jews who opposed the gospel of Christ, saying from verse 15:

They displease God and are hostile to everyone 16 in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last

Now, it needs to be acknowledged that Paul’s words in these verses, have been subject to some grievous misinterpretation over the centuries. John Stott points out how one of the early church fathers, Chrysostom preached eight virulent sermons against the Jews, comparing them to animals.

In the Middle Ages the church (or part of it at least) created four repressive regulations forcing Jews to live in ghettos and wear distinctive clothes.

Then there is the embarrassment of the crusades when Jewish villages were ransacked. Not to mention Martin Luther’s writing (in 1543, toward the end of his life) in which he called for Jewish synagogues to be burned and Rabbis silenced.

When we, in the 21st Century, read Paul’s words under the shadow of the Jewish holocaust of the 1940’s, we may wish to edit verses 15 & 16 out of our Bibles.

But that is to misunderstand Paul’s heart. Paul didn’t hate the Jews. He would be horrified to think his words were misused in this way. Paul himself was Jewish. He loved his own people and would have given anything for them to be saved, as Romans 9-11 makes clear.

Paul’s point here is that by opposing the spread of the gospel among the Gentiles, some of the Jews (not all of them, just the extremists) were working against God’s purpose. Paul didn’t say this to incite violence against his own people. He said it to affirm the truth of God’s purpose, which is to save people of all nations.

You see, when we affirm that something is true, we are by implication saying the opposite is false. By affirming the Thessalonians’ faith and belonging as true, Paul was (at the same time) saying those opposed to them were wrong.

Paul’s use of strong and emotive language points to the depth of his conviction on the matter. If any of us had received the 39 lashes, five times, as Paul did (for preaching the gospel) we might use even stronger language.

Paul’s words here are not a license for anti-Semitism. His mention of God’s wrath gives all people cause for restraint. We do not need to take matters into own hands. God’s purpose will prevail in the end. The Lord will see that justice is done. Leave judgement to him.     

Having affirmed the Thessalonians’ decision of faith and their belonging to God’s people, Paul then goes on to affirm his relationship with the Thessalonians, personally.       

Affirmation of relationship:

Which of these terms describes a close relationship do you think?

Colleague, client, boss, acquaintance, best mates, golfing buddy, employee, cousin, Facebook friend, brother, sister, father, mother.   

I suppose it depends on one’s personal experience to some degree, but calling someone your best mate usually indicates a closer relationship than client.

Likewise, brother, sister, father or mother would normally suggest a closer relationship than colleague or Facebook friend.  

Listen to the words Paul uses to describe his relationship with the Thessalonians…

17 But, brothers and sisters, when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you.

Paul thinks of the Thessalonians as his family. He calls them brothers and sisters. What’s more he feels orphaned apart from them. In contemporary English an ‘orphan’ is someone who has lost both their parents. But in ancient Greek, the word ‘orphan’ also referred to parents who had lost their children. [1]

Paul is affirming his relationship with the Thessalonians using strong terms. Paul longs to see the Thessalonians face to face with the same intensity that a parent longs to see a lost child, or a small child longs to see a lost parent.

I remember being separated from my mum, in Chartwell Square, when I was about four years old. Chartwell Square is a shopping mall in Hamilton. At first it was an adventure but when I got back to our Mark 1, Ford Escort and discovered she wasn’t there, I was beside myself. I needed to see her face to face, in person. I felt like an orphan, anxious and alone in the world.       

Paul says that although he and the Thessalonians are separated in person, they were not separated in thought. Not a day has gone by where Paul didn’t think of the Thessalonians and wonder how they were. When you love someone, when you care about them, your thoughts are always peopled by them. 

Despite his intense longing to see the Thessalonians, face to face, Paul’s every attempt to return to them was blocked by Satan. It is unclear exactly what Paul means here.

The English word Satan comes from a Hebrew word meaning adversary, as in an adversary of God. Sometimes in the Bible the word Satan refers to the prince of demons (like a fallen angel). Other times it simply means someone (perhaps a mortal human being) who is opposed to God’s purpose.  

Whatever Paul may have meant by the term, in this context, he continues to use strong emotive language to make the point that it wasn’t in his power to return to see his Thessalonian family.

In verses 19 & 20 Paul writes…

19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? 20 Indeed, you are our glory and joy.

The Winter Olympics has just finished. Our most successful ever. Two golds and a silver. This was the first Winter Games in which New Zealand ever won gold. The dedication, commitment, hard work and skill the athletes put into winning those medals was huge. The joy of realising their goals matched their effort.  

The crown Paul refers to in verse 19 is not a royal crown. Rather it is the victor’s crown. In ancient Greece the winners of various events at the Olympic Games were crowned with a laurel wreath. It was their equivalent of a gold medal.

When Paul talks about the Thessalonians being our hope, our joy and our crown, it’s like he is saying, ‘You are our gold medal. We have worked so hard, suffered so much and been committed for so long to win you for Christ. We don’t want to lose you now.’

Paul is essentially affirming the high value he places on the Thessalonians and the relationship he shares with them. 

Conclusion:

This morning we have heard three of Paul’s affirmations for the Thessalonians. Three messages of strength. Let me finish with two questions for you. Firstly…

What truth do you need to affirm?

Perhaps, if you are struggling at the moment with ill health or grief or some other thorn in the flesh, you need to affirm the truth that God’s grace is sufficient for you.

Perhaps, if you are fearful about the things happening in our city and world today, you need to affirm the truth that God is in control, he’s got this.

Perhaps, if you are too hard on yourself, suffering from a brutal and relentless inner critic, you need to affirm the truth that you are loved and accepted by God.

Perhaps, if you are feeling a bit isolated or misunderstood, you need to affirm the truth that you are not alone, you belong to God and with his people.

My second question for you is this…

Who needs your affirmation?

Perhaps someone you haven’t seen in years.

Perhaps someone you see every day.

Perhaps someone at work or school.

Perhaps someone in your family.

See the good in that person. Declare the truth of it. Make them stronger.

Let us pray…

Spirit of Jesus, fill us with your grace and truth that we would be firm and steadfast in our faith, giving strength to one another. Amen.  

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • What is affirmation and why is it important? Think of a time when someone affirmed you. What did they do or say? How did this make you feel?
  • What is the difference between reading the Bible and receiving God’s word? 
  • What does Paul mean when he says, ‘the word of God is at work in you’? How has the word of God worked in you and among you? What difference did it make?
  • How are we to understand 1st Thessalonians 2:14-16? How does a wider reading of the New Testament (e.g. Romans 9-11, Matthew 5:43-48) help inform / guide our interpretation of 1st Thessalonians 2:14-16?  
  • How does Paul affirm his relationship with the Thessalonians? How do you think this made the Thessalonians feel?
  • What truth do you need to affirm?
  • Who needs your affirmation?  

Some affirmations of Jesus (from Matthew 5)…

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

[1] Refer Gordon Fee, NICNT Thessalonians, page 105. 

Tawa Baptist

Genuine

Scripture: 1st Thessalonians 2:1-12

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Paul’s message is true
  • Paul’s motives are pure
  • Paul’s manner is caring
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

How do you know something is true? How do you know it is genuine, the real deal, and not fake?

Well, some statements are provable by doing the math. If the numbers add up, then you know it is true. If they don’t, then you know it is false.

For example, if someone says, ‘the sum of two consecutive whole numbers equals an odd number’, then we can test the truth of that statement by simple arithmetic.

Five plus six equals eleven. 20 plus 21 equals 41. Three plus four equals seven. Pick any two consecutive whole numbers, add them together and you will always get an odd number.

We don’t need to calculate every combination of consecutive numbers. After a while, we will see a pattern emerging and (with some confidence) can say the statement is true.

Mathematics is pretty cool like that. It makes you feel safe because it follows rules and gives you relative certainty. Unfortunately, maths has its limitations. Not all things can be proved by arithmetic or algebra.     

Today we continue our series in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, focusing on chapter 2, verses 1-12. In this passage Paul offers proofs that he is genuine and his message is true.

You may remember how Paul and Silas faced opposition in Thessalonica and were forced to flee in the middle of the night. Paul, Silas & Timothy were the real deal, they were genuine. But their opponents spread malicious rumours about them to discredit them and discourage the new believers.

Paul knew he had to defend himself, not so much for the sake of his own reputation, but more for the sake of the Thessalonians’ faith. This is what Paul says in defence of himself and the Thessalonian believers…     

2 You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not empty. 2 We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. 3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. 6 We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. 7 Instead, we were like infantsamong you.

Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. 9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

In these verses, Paul defends himself against the slander of his opponents. In particular, Paul defends his message, his motives and his manner. Contrary to what his accusers were saying, Paul’s message is true, his motives are pure and his manner is caring.

Paul’s message is true:

I have here a can of L&P. How might we know whether this can actually does contain Lemon & Paeroa?

Well, if you can see the label, then that gives you a clue. It says L&P on the outside. I’ve drunk enough of these to take the label on good faith and trust that it does in fact contain L&P. I’ve never opened a can of L&P and tasted sand.

But imagine if our experience of soft drinks was a bit patchy, less reliable, so that sometimes the contents were not same as the label said. How would I know if it did contain L&P and wasn’t just full of sand or water or something worse?

Well, the only way to know for certain is to open the can, pour the contents into a glass and have a taste. [Open the can and take a sip]. Yes, this is L&P.    

Apparently, one of the accusations against Paul was that his message was erroneous, false, untrue or empty. The first thing Paul says to refute this is: You know brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not empty.      

In the same way that I know this can contains L&P, because I’ve actually tasted it for myself, so too the Thessalonians know Paul’s message is true from personal experience.

As we read in chapter 1, verse 5, last week, the Thessalonians didn’t just receive the gospel by hearing Paul’s words. They experienced the power and the deep conviction of the Holy Spirit, confirming the content and truth of the gospel.

Paul doesn’t need to come up with some elaborate argument to prove his point. He simply reminds his readers of the truth of what they themselves experienced. He keeps saying things like, ‘you know’ and ‘you remember’ and ‘you were our witnesses’.      

Sometimes, in our busy-ness, we can become detached from the facts of our lives. Maybe something bad happens in our day and our minds get stuck thinking about that one bad thing. Or maybe nothing especially bad happens but we begin to worry that it will.

One strategy to help reconnect us with the reality of God’s goodness in our lives, is stopping to reflect on what went well during the day and thanking God for that. You could do this thankfulness exercise while you are eating dinner with others or perhaps by yourself just before you go to bed at night.

Remembering what we know to be true helps to silence the voice of fear and conjecture. It restores our perspective.    

Verse 2 adds strength to Paul’s claim that his message is true where he says…

We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. 3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error…

In Acts 16 we read how Paul and Silas were stripped naked, given a severe beating (with whips) and then thrown in jail, without any sort of trial or procedure of justice. A short while later they were released. Most people would go home licking their wounds after an experience like that and Paul might have as well. But he doesn’t.

Paul doesn’t enjoy suffering and would rather he didn’t have to. So why does Paul dare to carry on proclaiming God’s message of good news about Jesus?

Because he knows the message he shares is true. And Paul knows his message is true because it comes from God. And he knows it comes from God because God has helped them to continue proclaiming the message in the face of strong opposition. Without God’s help Paul & Silas could not have continued.

In verse 4 Paul writes: we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.  

Paul has done the maths. Jesus suffered opposition for his message and so it follows that Paul, a servant of Jesus, will suffer for proclaiming the same message. God’s help for Paul and Silas, in their suffering, is evidence that Paul’s message is from God and therefore is inherently true.

Paul’s message is true and Paul’s motives are pure.

Paul’s motives are pure:

Some of you here may own some gold. Perhaps a gold wedding ring or a necklace or some other piece of jewellery. Maybe you have wondered whether it is real gold or a fake.

When I googled ‘how to test gold’ on the internet, the first piece of advice that came up said, ‘If it floats in water, it’s not real gold’.

Straight away I thought to myself, ‘the internet must think people are stupid’. Most metals will sink if you put them in a glass of water. Not everything that sinks is gold.

So I kept looking and found some other tests. I’m not sure how accurate they are.

Apparently, you can test the authenticity of gold by putting it in vinegar. If it changes colour then it’s not gold.

What’s more, gold doesn’t rust, which I think is probably true because I’ve had my wedding ring for over 30 years now and it has never shown any sign of corrosion or discolouration. (And I’ve washed a lot of dishes in that time.)

Then there is the ping test. If you drop a piece of gold on a hard surface it will make a high pitched pinging sound. That certainly works with my wedding ring.

If your gold jewellery has the letters GP stamped on it then that stands for ‘gold plated’, which means it’s not pure gold.

The other thing you can do to test the purity of gold is hold a magnet close to the gold. If the magnet attaches to the gold, then the gold contains other metals.

To be completely certain I guess you would have to take your gold to an accredited specialist to have it scientifically tested.               

From verse 3 of Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul writes…

3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you… 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. 6 We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, … 7 Instead, we were like infantsamong you.

Paul is talking about his motives here. He is saying they were as innocent and as pure in heart as babies.

In the first century (as in the 21st century) there were people who peddled philosophy or religion for some kind of personal gain. They may have done it to make money or to make people like them or for some other ulterior motive.

Jesus warned there would be false teachers. This is what the master said…

15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.    

In reflecting on Jesus’ words here about false prophets I can’t help but make a connection with the protest movement in our city at the moment. If we apply Jesus’ parable to this situation, then the fruit we’ve seen from this protest so far is fear, intimidation and a careless disregard for social responsibility.

Our politicians are receiving death threats. Kids walking to school are being spat on. People who choose to wear a mask are being verbally abused. Businesses are being forced to close. The courts, the police, the university, the transport system and residents have also been negatively impacted by this.

The fruit is not good. I’ll let you do the math.

We pray for a peaceful resolution soon.

Returning to Paul. We know Paul’s message and motives were genuine because the fruit of Paul’s life was good. In verse 10 of Thessalonians 2, Paul writes: You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.

Holiness is about being whole, being one, having integrity, being the same on the inside as you are on the outside (like my L&P). Righteousness is about relating to other people in a right way and being blameless is about doing no harm. The three go together. They speak of good fruit and therefore point to pure motives.

Verse 9 tells how the Thessalonians witnessed the way Paul, Silas & Timothy worked with their own hands to provide for themselves, so they could preach the gospel, freely.  9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. 

On this occasion at least, Paul chose to be a volunteer. This speaks volumes for the value of volunteering one’s time in support of God’s kingdom.

Does this mean that anyone who accepts payment for doing missionary or church work is not a genuine representative of God? No, of course not. Paul himself says in 1st Timothy, “For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,”and “The worker deserves his wages.”

Paul had every right to expect recompense for his work but he chose not to, under the circumstances. The situation in Thessalonica was not an established church. It was a pioneering church plant in a hostile context. Paul supported himself because he didn’t want to be a burden and he didn’t want to give his opponents any ammunition. He didn’t want anyone saying he was doing it for the money.

Paul says, we never used flattery and nor did we try to trick you. The gospel message is good news but it is also quite uncomfortable, even painful to hear at first. The gospel forces us to face the inconvenient truth about ourselves.    

Paul’s message was not cargo cult or prosperity doctrine. Paul wasn’t saying that accepting Jesus would be easy or make them rich. Paul was quite clear that accepting Jesus as Lord meant dying to oneself, picking up your cross and following him. Paul’s honesty, in talking about the hard parts of the gospel, testified to the purity of his motives and the genuineness of his character.   

Any organisation these days, that produces financial statements, needs to have those statements audited (or at least reviewed) to ensure the accounts give a true and correct picture of the financial position and everything is in order.

The independent auditor looks beneath the surface of the financial statements to check whether the figures can in fact be substantiated. This includes taking a look at the accounting processes, what’s underneath. Once they are satisfied everything is in order, they give it their seal of approval. The auditor is a professional and unbiased witness. 

In verse 4 Paul talks about God being the one who tests our hearts. In other words, God (like an auditor) looks beneath the surface to check our unseen motives. God is a witness to our inner life.

In verse 5 Paul goes on to say that God is his witness. Paul is confident that God won’t find anything untoward in his motives. We are reminded of David’s words at the end of Psalm 139 where David says:

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Knowing God cannot be separated from knowing yourself. The two go hand in hand. The less we know ourselves the greater the risk of hurting others. We all need God to be the auditor of our heart. We need him to gently show us what motivates us so we can better serve his purpose.

Paul’s message is true, his motives are pure and his manner is caring.

Paul’s manner is caring:

If motives are about what’s happening inside a person, what’s driving them, then a person’s manner is about the outward way they relate with or behave toward others.

In the movie The Sound of Music, Captain Von Trapp has a very formal, strict and cold manner with his children, at least at the beginning of the film. He relates with his kids like a sea captain might relate with his crew, not like a father at all. Captain Von Trapp’s manner is distorted by his grief.  

Fraulein Maria, the children’s nanny, has a very different manner with the children. She is warm and kind, encouraging and caring. She comforts them when they are scared and gently guides them in a good path. Maria’s manner brings the best out of the children and indeed warms the Captain’s heart and heals his grief.  

In verse 7 Paul describes his manner of relating with the Thessalonians. Paul is much like Fraulein Maria. Paul says: Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

There is a real tenderness in Paul’s words here. The Thessalonian believers were brand new Christians, toddlers in the faith. Paul, Silas and Timothy cared for their spiritual needs in the same manner as a mother nursing children.

Paul continues the parenting metaphor in verses 11-12 where he says…

11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

Notice the verbs Paul uses to characterise the manner in which he relates as a spiritual father to his Thessalonian children: encouraging, comforting and urging. (Like Fraulein Maria)

To encourage literally means to put courage into someone. Children need courage to face the world, they don’t need fear. I believe we put courage into people by being there for them, being reliable. In that way the child learns they are not alone. If you know you are not alone, you can be brave. We also put courage into children by trusting them and speaking good words into their life and soul.

Children need comfort from their fathers too. Comfort is about showing kindness and tenderness, especially when a child has gone through a difficult time or had a hard knock. Comfort isn’t about doing everything for our kids. It’s not about spoiling them. Comfort is one of the tools, in our parenting tool box, for managing fear.  

And urging is about pointing people in the right direction; helping them to find the right path. Notice that it’s urging and not controlling or forcing or driving. As human beings we feel a natural urge or motivation to make decisions which are in line with our values. So the key to urging is instilling good values, from the inside out.

Paul’s manner (his way of relating) with the Thessalonians is consistent with his message of God’s love.

Whether you have biological children of your own or not, you can still relate to others younger in the faith by caring for them, encouraging them, comforting them and urging them to live lives worthy of God’s calling.   

Conclusion:

When Paul’s name and reputation were slandered by his opponents, he responded by reminding the Thessalonian believers of their experience of him. They knew first hand that Paul’s message was true, his motives were pure and his manner was caring.

Paul was genuine. He was the real deal and he provides a model for us.  

Let us pray…

Loving Father, guide us in the truth. Purify our hearts. Help us to live our lives in a manner worthy of your calling. Through Jesus we pray. Amen. 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • How do we know something is true? How do we discern truth from error?
  • Why did Paul feel it was necessary to defend himself against the slander of his opponents? How did Paul do this?  
  • What can we do to reconnect with the reality (the facts) of God’s goodness to us personally?
  • How do we know Paul’s motives were good / pure? What motivates you? If you are not sure, how might you find out?
  • What do we notice about Paul’s manner in relating with the Thessalonians?
  • How might we encourage, comfort and urge others in their life and Christian faith?  
  • At end of each day this week, think of three things that went well and give thanks to God for those things.
Tawa Baptist

Change

Scripture: 1st Thessalonians 1:4-10

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Chosen
  • Convinced
  • Committed
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone. My name is Jerome. Will told me you are studying Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians. He thought I might be able to shed some light on the subject. You see, I lived in Greece during the First Century. I knew Paul. He told us about God’s love and that changed everything.

Change, transformation, it’s all around us. Tadpoles becoming frogs. Caterpillars becoming butterflies. Seeds becoming trees. It’s wonderful really, how in the process of changing each of these things becomes more itself.  

It was so good to receive Paul’s letter. He remembered us. I won’t read you the whole letter now, just a short section of it, my favourite part. Paul writes…   

4 For we know, brothers and sistersloved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 

6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 

8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore, we do not need to say anything about it,

9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,

10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Hearing those words of Paul’s for the first time was so affirming, so reassuring. It still fills me with a feeling of warmth all these years later. Paul saw the change in us and he understood the cost of that change.

Chosen:

The change all started, of course, because God chose us. Isn’t that amazing, we were chosen by God. Think about it. What were the chances of Paul speaking to us? There were 200,000 people in our city of Thessalonica and God arranged for his messenger, Paul, to speak to us. It’s like we won the lottery.

Or, it’s like when you go to the beach to collect shells. There must be millions of shells along the seashore but every now and then one catches your eye, so you bend down to pick it up and take it home. We are chosen from among many.

But the truly remarkable thing is, we weren’t that special. We were like you, just ordinary everyday people. (No offence.) There was nothing exceptional about us that would catch the eye. Of all the people in this world, why would God choose us?

I remember the day I first met Paul. We were in the market place and there was this short bald man, repairing a tent. He had a calmness to him, an assuredness. And then he spoke to me. ‘Could you pass me that tool there please?’ So I did. And that’s how we started. Him asking for my help.

The marketplace is not a safe place. You have to be on your guard. But Paul was different. Somehow I felt I could trust Paul. His face was weathered, his hands calloused and his eyes had seen some pain. So I invited him home and that’s when he told us (our whole family) about the God of love.

God chose us because God loves us. And God loves us because God is love. God can’t help but love people. When God loves, he is simply being himself.

Now some might think we are a bit full of ourselves believing God chose us. (Tall poppy syndrome I think you call it.) ‘Why would God choose you and not me?’ they might say. But that is missing the point. Being chosen by God doesn’t make you better than anyone else.

God chose us for a purpose. Unlike the shells you take home from the beach, which end up collecting dust and being forgotten, we actually serve a useful purpose. God has a plan you see. His plan is to redeem all of creation. God chose us to help others know his love and power.

And Paul’s letter tells how we Thessalonians are serving God’s plan of salvation. I’ll read that part again. This is what Paul said about us:

7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.  8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere.   

Isn’t that amazing. Even though we hadn’t left the city, people everywhere throughout the Roman Empire, knew about our faith in God. Our little church had become famous. Even people like you, on the other side of the world, have come to know about us. We became a model for other churches to follow.

It’s not that we were bigger or better than others. It was probably because we were ordinary and unexceptional that God chose us. If God is willing to choose and use us, then the bar isn’t set very high. He can work with anyone and that gives everyone hope. The Kingdom of God is accessible to all who truly believe.  

The point is, God’s election (his choosing) isn’t about who’s in and who’s out. No, God wants everyone to be saved. Being chosen by God is about knowing we are loved by God, knowing we belong to God and knowing we serve a purpose in God’s plan of salvation.

Love, belonging and purpose. Pretty valuable gifts really.  

Convinced:

I wonder, when tadpoles become frogs and caterpillars become butterflies, does the transformation happen automatically?

Becoming a Christian is not automatic, not in my experience anyway. God does choose us (it starts with him) but we also have choices to make. Becoming a Christian requires us to make a few changes and we human beings usually need a bit of convincing before we embrace change. 

It was strange hearing Paul say that God loved us. We had never heard anything like that before. It was hard to accept at first. We worshipped lots of gods and none of them loved us.

The gods we worshipped needed to be appeased. We gave them our time, our devotion, our worship, our food and our money, as payment in return for them not hurting us. The pagan gods were like the mafia running a protection racket.

Paul told us there is only one true God and he is a kind and loving Father. He doesn’t need us to provide for him. He wants to provide for us. He doesn’t want us to cringe in fear of him, always looking over our shoulder, always worrying about the worst. He wants us to learn to trust him. This blew our minds.

It was hard to imagine this invisible God of love, until Paul told us about Jesus. Jesus shows us what the God of love is like. In fact, the Spirit of Jesus convinces us of God’s love.

Not only that but Jesus shows us how to live, how to be fully human. If we are the caterpillars, then Jesus is the fully formed butterfly. If we are the seeds, then Jesus is the fully grown tree, bearing fruit. Jesus is the picture of what God intended human beings to change into. We are to become like Jesus.

We had lots of questions for Paul. I wanted to know how we could possibly relate to God as a Father. I couldn’t imagine having that kind of relationship with God. Paul explained that, as well as representing God to humanity, Jesus also represented humanity to God.

In other words, Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Jesus lived a life of perfect, willing obedience to God the Father, on our behalf. Which means we are able to get close to God through Jesus.

Paul was an intellectual giant and he lost us sometimes with the things he said. But Silas (Paul’s companion) had a way of breaking it down so we could understand.  

Silas translated Paul’s thought like this: Being friends with Jesus gives us a back stage pass to God. Jesus speaks directly to God for us and says, ‘They are with me, Dad’. God the Father treats us like family because of Jesus.

When Paul told Jesus’ story, the way Christ was betrayed, arrested, falsely accused, beaten, mocked, scourged and crucified, the room went very quiet. Thessalonica is a free city but we had seen the cruelty of the Romans. The images of men dying on crosses were tattooed on our brains. You don’t easily forget the sight or the smell.

Something in my spirit was burning, as Paul spoke about Jesus’ grace in the face of such injustice. ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’

When Paul said that Jesus’ forgiveness on the cross extended to us also, I remember feeling a bit offended at first. I mean, when someone says they forgive you, they basically mean you’ve done something wrong. I didn’t think I was an especially bad person. I’d never killed anyone. Did I really need Jesus’ forgiveness?  

Then it occurred to me. If not killing anyone was my measure of being a good person, then I was a long way from the God of love. Love isn’t just refraining from murder. Love requires more from you than that.

The older you get, the harder it is to maintain the illusion of your own goodness. 

As I thought about Jesus on that cross, I felt something sharp, cutting me to the core, like a boil being lanced. Jesus died for me. That is the power of God’s love. In that moment my strength was undone by the weakness of God, my pride laid low by the humiliation of Christ.

We were convinced by Paul’s message. There was no guile, no deceit in him. But it wasn’t just the things Paul said. We were convinced also by the Spirit of love and truth at work in and among us.

It was exactly like Paul describes in his letter: our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.

Committed:

Knowing we were chosen by God and having been convinced of God’s love, there remained only one thing for us to do: commit wholeheartedly to God.

And so that’s what we did.  

Paul sums up our conversion well when he writes: you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son [Jesus] from heaven,   

Turn, serve and wait. That may sound simple enough but, for us Thessalonians, it required a significant commitment. Turning away from idols comes at a cost, in the short term at least. Longer term though, the benefits of worshipping God far outweigh any cost.

To understand the cost of the changes we made, you have to understand how idolatry works. Pagan religions are based on fear. Pay your dues and the gods will look after you. Don’t pay your dues and all hell will break loose. It’s an unreliable system built on lies and superstition.

Some of the people in our city made life difficult for us, when we gave up worshipping idols, because they were afraid of losing their power and position. You know how many tradesmen make their living by sculpting idols? To say nothing of the men who exploit the temple prostitutes. Idolatry is a money making racket.

Of course, people can make idols out of anything. Their career, their following on Instagram, their investment portfolio, sex, beauty, you name it.

I haven’t seen anyone bowing down to a statue, while I’ve been here, but I have seen people bowing to the idol of individualism and personal freedom. (I saw it on your TV news this past week.) Freedom is a good thing but we are not free to do whatever we want. We were set free to love God and our neighbour.

Anything that we make more important than God, that’s an idol and idols always end up breaking your heart. Worshipping the true and living God, putting him first, yea, it’s difficult at times but in the end God heals your heart. He makes it whole again.   

Yes, we suffered greatly for giving our exclusive loyalty to Jesus, but we wear that suffering like a badge of honour. I wouldn’t say we were happy about it exactly, but God gave us the strength, the energy, the attitude to deal with it.

Greater is the power is in us than the power that is in the world.

You can’t always expect the Christian journey to be plain sailing. It takes real commitment to stick with it through the doldrums and the storms. Silas taught us to enjoy God. Delight in him. Enjoying God, taking pleasure in his presence and remembering all his benefits, feeds your commitment. It keeps you going.  

The other thing that supports your commitment is keeping the end in sight. Whatever difficulty you are facing now will not last. This pandemic you’re in, it too will pass. Jesus is coming back to make all things new. That’s a sure thing.

In the twinkling of an eye we, who trust in Jesus, will be changed. These caterpillar bodies will be transformed, resurrected. But it won’t be an awkward or ill-fitting change. The change God’s Spirit creates makes us more fully ourselves.

‘How do we know this?’ you ask. We know it because God raised Jesus from the dead. Paul had seen a vision of the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. It sounded incredible but, on the lips of Paul, it rang true.

Paul was absolutely convinced of the fact and had the scars to prove it. The authorities had whipped him, in the city of Philippi just a few weeks earlier, for talking about Jesus like this.

Whatever else you may think of him, Paul was the real deal. Paul was a walking advertisement for the suffering of Christ. He was our model. 

As hard as it was, being shunned by our neighbours and threatened by the authorities, we could handle it because we knew we were on the right side of history. It is the risen Jesus who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Yea, that’s right. The day of God’s wrath is coming. Paul didn’t say this to scare us. He was simply being open and honest so we aren’t blindsided.

Some of you may be wondering, how do we reconcile the God of love with the God of wrath? Well, there is nothing to reconcile really. It’s the same God.

God’s love and wrath are perfectly compatible. In fact, you can’t have God’s love without his wrath. God’s wrath is actually an expression of his love.

In talking about God’s wrath we should not imagine a grumpy old man, losing his temper and flying off the handle in a rage. God’s wrath is measured by his justice and controlled in his mercy.

Simply put, God’s wrath is his steady and uncompromising opposition to evil. 

You see, because God is love, he cannot abide evil. God is pure goodness and light. The God of love is against injustice and cruelty. Yes, God is patient and longsuffering but he will not indefinitely tolerate that which is harmful to his creation. It is not loving to condone evil.

God does not negotiate with evil. He is simply going to destroy it.

The risen Jesus rescues us from being annihilated along with evil. Being in Christ puts us on the right side of history.

Conclusion:

Where I come from church goes all day, that’s how committed we are. But I understand your culture is different. You are not used to listening for long periods of time, so I will stop shortly.

Let me finish by saying this. Although Paul wrote his letter to our church in Thessalonica around 2000 years ago, it also contains God’s word for you today.

You, the people of Tawa Baptist together with all believers in Christ, you have been chosen by God to serve his purpose of salvation. You (together) are here in this time and place in history to bear witness to the love and power of God.

Be convinced of God’s love for you and for the wider world out there. Being convinced doesn’t mean having all the answers. There is quite a lot of mystery attached to our faith. There is quite a bit we don’t yet understand. That’s okay. You don’t need to have all the answers. But you do need to know you are loved by God. You are his. You belong to him.

Finally, commit yourselves wholeheartedly to the God of love, revealed to us by the Lord Jesus Christ. Make the true and living God the number one priority in your life. But don’t stop with one grand gesture of commitment. Nourish your commitment going forward. Feed it. Keep your commitment alive by enjoying God and looking forward to Jesus’ return. 

Let me pray for you…

Father God, we pray for these your people. May they know they are chosen for your purpose. Convince them of your love. Sow in them a deep awareness of your truth. Nourish their commitment to you as they delight in your goodness and look forward to Jesus’ return. We pray these things in and through Christ, our Saviour. Amen.   

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • Why did God choose the Thessalonians? (How did God use them in service to his purpose?)
  • Put yourself in the shoes of the Thessalonians, many of whom came from a pagan background. What do you think it would have been like for them hearing about the God of love for the first time? 
  • How were the Thessalonians convinced of the truth of the gospel? (E.g. that God loved them and Jesus had risen from the dead.)
  • What did Christian conversion look like for the Thessalonian believers? Was their experience of conversion similar to yours or different? How was it similar? How was it different? 
  • What is God’s wrath? How is this compatible with God’s love?
  • How can we nourish our commitment to God? (E.g. what practical things can we do to enjoy God and delight in him?)
Tawa Baptist

Connected

Scripture: 1st Thessalonians 1:1-3

Video Link: https://youtu.be/pZPJgH83KFI

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Connected in God
  • Connected in prayer
  • Connected in experience
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone and happy Waitangi Day.

Sometimes, when your internet connection drops out, you have to wait a few minutes watching the dots make a little circle until the wifi comes back online. We can become impatient because we have to wait a few seconds but the inconvenience of a buffering internet connection is nothing really. In years gone by, before the internet, people separated by the tyranny of distance had to wait months, even years, to receive word from loved ones.

Last week we began a new sermon series in Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians. By way of introduction, we looked at Acts 17, which is Luke’s account of how the Christian church got started in the city of Thessalonica, which is in Greece.

Today we get into the letters themselves, looking at the opening verses of First Thessalonians, in which Paul reconnects with the Thessalonian believers, by letter, after having not seen them for several months, perhaps a year. From verse 1 of First Thessalonians we read…

[From] Paul, Silas and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you. 2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

In these three short verses we note how Paul makes three quite profound and enduring connections with the Thessalonians. Paul shows how he, Silas and Timothy are connected to the Thessalonians in God, in prayer and in experience.  

Connected in God:

You may remember, from last week, that Paul & Silas had to leave the city of Thessalonica after certain people stirred up trouble and put pressure on Jason and the other believers.

Paul and his companions then went to Berea and from there to Athens. Paul was naturally concerned for the well-being of the Thessalonians and so he sent Timothy back to see how they were getting on.

By the time Timothy returned with his report, Paul was probably in the city of Corinth. As you can imagine, this journey would have taken months on foot. After hearing what Timothy had to say, Paul wrote his first letter to the Thessalonians to reconnect with them and to offer some guidance and encouragement. 

The experts aren’t sure exactly but they think First Thessalonians was probably the second letter Paul wrote to a church, depending on when you date his letter to the Galatians. Paul’s affection for the Thessalonians is clear. Despite being relatively new converts and despite having suffered for Jesus, the Thessalonians’ faith (their connection with God) was strong.

In verse 1, Paul addresses the Thessalonians in an interesting way. He refers to the Thessalonian church as being in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Being ‘in Christ’ is a favourite saying of Paul’s, but he wouldn’t normally start a letter this way or talk about being ‘in God the Father’ in the same breath.

The word translated as church is literally assembly, as in a gathering of people. So the assembly or the gathering of believers is in God. What does that mean? Is it like when the teachers at school say the assembly will be in the hall? Well, not exactly. Paul isn’t talking about the physical location of the Thessalonians. He’s talking in spiritual terms.  

Paul is reconnecting with the Thessalonians by affirming they are not alone. They are as close to God and to Jesus as you can get. They are in God. God is the source of their life, the ground of their being.

The Thessalonian assembly (or church) is in God, like a tree is planted in soil. If you take the tree out of the soil it will die. Keep it in the soil and it will thrive, drawing its life from the nutrients in the ground.

Or to use another analogy, the Thessalonian church is in God, like a school of fish is in water. Take the fish out of water and they soon die. Keep the fish in water and they live. God and Christ provide the right spiritual environment for human beings, much like water provides the right natural environment for fish. 

William Barclay uses the metaphor of air. He says that being in God (or in Christ) is like being in air. Not only is the air all around us (as close as our skin) but when we breathe, the air is inside us as well.

That’s how close and life giving God is to the Thessalonians, as close as air. That’s why their faith is thriving, despite the persecution they are experiencing for being Christians. Their physical or material life might be poor, but their spiritual life is rich.

By affirming the Thessalonians’ closeness to God and to Jesus, Paul is basically saying he is close to them as well. In verse 3 he talks about our God and our Jesus. Even though they are about 576 km’s apart (geographically speaking) they are close in the Lord, for Paul & Silas & Timothy are in God as well.

There are three crosses on the wall behind me. The crosses remind us of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. I can’t see the crosses at the moment because I’m facing the other way. But I know they are there because I’ve seen them before. Now, I might forget they are there because I’m focused on something else but that doesn’t change the fact that they are still there.

You know sometimes we lose sight of God’s nearness and grace. We get busy with something or other and God passes out of our awareness. If God is out of sight and out of mind for too long, it may feel to us like God is absent or distant.

That subjective feeling can have a very real effect on us. It can mislead us into thinking that we are not loved by God or that God is angry with us or that he doesn’t care. But our feelings and perception are not always reliable. Like the crosses on the wall behind me, God doesn’t cease to be close to us just because our back is turned and we are thinking about something else.

We human beings need to turn and face God, regularly. We need to do tangible things to remind ourselves of God’s nearness and grace.

Those things might include starting the day by reading a chapter from the Bible. Or stopping three times a day to be still and pray. Or spending time with other believers, or singing songs of worship or listening to sermon podcasts. Whatever it is that puts you in touch with God again.

Paul is eager to reconnect or, more accurately, to insist that he and the Thessalonians were never disconnected, as verse 2 implies.

Connected in prayer:

At home we have a wall hanging. One of Robyn’s friends from school gave it to her. It reads: Prayer, the world’s greatest wireless connection.

Before the internet there was prayer.

In verse 2 of chapter 1 Paul says: We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.      

Prayer is eternal. Prayer is beyond the confines of time and space. In prayer, we draw close to others and to God. Prayer is about connection.

By keeping the Thessalonians in their prayers, Paul, Silas and Timothy were never apart from them. 

Prayer isn’t just the words we say to God. The larger part of prayer is listening to God. I have come to believe that prayer is also about the burdens we carry with and for others. When we pray for others we, in some way I think, connect with them and make their burden lighter.

I can’t give you any scientific or empirical evidence for this. But, anecdotally, people who have been going through some difficulty and have had others in the church praying for them, have said things like: ‘I feel lighter’ or ‘I feel like I’m being carried by people’s prayers’.

The flip side is that sometimes we can feel a bit weary after praying for others, like we’ve been doing some heavy lifting. At the same time, praying for others can also release us from the burden of our own problems and the tiredness which comes from always thinking about ourselves.

So while praying for others does take some effort, there is a mutual benefit on the whole.  

One of my cousins was really into scuba diving, when he was younger. He loved it. One day he was down fairly deep underwater and his mate got into trouble. My cousin kept his head and shared his breathing apparatus; you take a breath I’ll take a breath sort of thing. They returned to the surface slowly, to avoid getting the benz. Thankfully they made it up before my cousin’s tank ran out too.

Perhaps keeping others in our prayers is a bit like that. A friend finds themselves in deep water and in trouble. Maybe they are in so much distress or pain they can’t find the words or the faith to pray themselves. So you pray for them.

In praying for your friend like this, you are sharing your spiritual oxygen tank with them, at least until they reach the surface and can breathe (or pray) again themselves.    

That’s what intercessory prayer is; praying on behalf of others. We, who believe in Jesus, are priests. Interceding for others in prayer, with God, is what priests do. It is what Jesus (the great high priest) does.

Whether we are praying for ourselves or others, the risen and ascended Jesus knows our deepest needs and desires. He hears the inarticulate cry of our heart, asking God the Father for what he need. So even if we don’t know how to pray or can’t find the words, Jesus does know and has just the right words.    

Is there someone you know who needs you to share your oxygen tank of prayer with them?

Connected in experience:

So, even though they are apart physically, Paul and the Thessalonians are connected spiritually, in God and in prayer.

In verse 3, Paul goes on to point out another connection he and his companions share with the Thessalonians. They are connected in their experience. Paul writes…

We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

When we remember something, we are reconnecting with our experience of what we are remembering. Memory is a powerful form of connection. It brings the past into the present. It brings people, we haven’t seen in a while, close.

When I was at intermediate school one of my friend’s, Mark, had an older brother who sometimes used to pick us up in his Datsun 160B. Mark’s brother, Richard, used to play Dire Straits music in his cassette player; Tunnel of Love, Romeo and Juliet and so on. Very cool when you are 11.

Sometimes when I hear a Dire Straits song from the 80’s, I remember the Datsun 160B and my friendship with Mark, even though I haven’t seen Mark in over 30 years. It’s funny how a familiar tune or sight or smell can reconnect you with your past. Memory is a powerful transporter.

Dire Straits have a song called ‘Brothers in Arms’. In the second verse the singer remembers the connection forged with his mates on the battlefield…

Through these fields of destruction, baptisms of fire. I’ve witnessed your suffering as the battle raged high. And though they did hurt me so bad, in the fear and alarm, you did not desert me my brothers in arms.

The connections made through a shared experience of suffering run deep and live long in the memory.

As we heard last week (in Acts 17) the Thessalonian believers stood their ground under fire and did not desert their faith in Jesus, remaining loyal to Paul, Silas and Timothy. Their suffering for Jesus together is what connects them.

And when we suffer for Christ, we too are connected to other believers (around the world and throughout history) who have suffered for their faith. 

Three points of connection Paul makes when remembering the Thessalonians:

Their work produced by faith, their labour prompted by love, and their endurance inspired by hope

Faith, love and hope come to the surface in Paul’s letters a number of times, most famously in First Corinthians 13 where Paul writes, and these three remain: faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love.

Faith, hope and love are to Christian spirituality what oxygen, heat and fuel are to fire. They are indispensable, we can’t do without any one of them.

Faith, hope and love are about connection you see. They connect us to Jesus and to each other.     

Looking more closely, what does Paul mean by the Thessalonians’ work produced by faith. Idle faith, faith that sits around and does nothing is not true faith. Genuine faith finds expression in acts of Christian service and good deeds.

Those who did the online services in early January may remember John Tucker’s sermon about Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding. John made the connection between faith and work when he pointed out how the servants did what Jesus asked of them, filling the jars with water.

Filling each of those 120 litre jars of water was repetitive, time consuming, mundane, tiring work. And it may have seemed pointless too, when the problem wasn’t a lack of water but a lack of wine. Yet the servants did what Jesus asked of them, in faith. And Jesus did something very special with their work produced by faith.

Those of us who serve Jesus are connected through the work we do in faith that Jesus will use it for God’s saving purpose.           

Paul remembers also the Thessalonians’ labour prompted by love. The Greek word translated as labour here refers to hard labour, real back breaking toil. The kind of labour that puts blisters on your hands and sends you to bed early.

As Leon Morris says, the phrase labour prompted by love directs our minds to the unceasing hardship borne by the Thessalonians for love’s sake.

Those of you who are parents of small children understand about labour prompted by love. Caring for babies is exhausting. You are up all hours of the night feeding and changing nappies and working all day putting bread on the table or doing house work. It’s hard yacker. But you do it for the love of your family and through your labours a deep connection is created between parent and child.     

We are reminded of Jacob who laboured seven years for his father-in-law, Laban, so that he could marry Rachel. But those seven years seemed to him like just a few days because of the love he had for her. Romantic love gives you wings. 

Of course, the love Paul has in mind in Thessalonians is not romantic love, it is agape love. Not the love of seeking to possess something but a self-giving love. God’s love is always giving.

The Thessalonian believers did it tough for the love of Jesus. They were persecuted and harassed for becoming Christians but they handled it for love’s sake. Paul, Silas and Timothy also did it tough, working during the day with their hands to support themselves, then feeding the new born believers with God’s word in the evenings. It was hard graft.  

Thirdly, Paul remembers the Thessalonians’ endurance inspired by hope.

Hope is forward facing faith. Hope believes something good waits in our future. The Christian hope is that Jesus will return in glory one day to make all things new. Our hope is a future eternity without suffering or pain, where God wipes away every tear from our eyes, no more war or hunger or pandemics.

But getting there is a marathon, not a sprint. Hope of a better future gave the Thessalonian believers the strength to endure their present sufferings.

How is your hope at the moment? We are two years into a global pandemic and about to face a tidal wave of omicron cases (so we are told). We need the endurance inspired by hope. God has got us through this far. He will see us through to the other side.

Conclusion:      

Looking at the whole of verse 3 again we note that your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope are all in our Lord Jesus Christ.   

These things which connect us and support our life are not done in our own strength.  Nor are they hidden in some treasure vault beyond our reach. No, they are in Christ, whose Spirit is as close to us as the air we breathe.

So this spiritual connection does not depend on us. Nor does it depend on our changing moods or feelings. Our connection to God the Father and to one another depends on Jesus. Which means it is a reliable connection, not subject to buffering.

Our job is to remain in Christ. As Jesus says in John 15…

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 

Let us pray…

Father God, we thank you for the connection we share with you and each other, through Jesus. Help us to remain in Christ and to draw strength from him, that we may bear the fruit of faith, hope and love. In Jesus we pray. Amen. 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • Why do you think Paul is eager to reconnect with the Thessalonians? How do you think the Thessalonians may have felt receiving Paul’s letter and having their connection/relationship with Paul, Silas & Timothy affirmed/renewed? 
  • What does it mean to be ‘in God’ or ‘in Christ’?
  • How do you turn to face God? What tangible things do you do to reconnect with God’s nearness and grace?
  • Have you ever felt light (or carried) in some way by the prayers of others? How do you feel after you have spent time praying for others? Is there someone you know, at the moment, who isn’t able to pray for themselves and needs you to share your oxygen tank of prayer with them? 
  • Discuss/reflect on Paul’s three phrases in verse 3. That is: your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope. What do each of these phrases mean? Can you think of ways in which these three things have been (or are being) worked out in your life? 
  • Is there someone you need to reconnect with? Or, to put it another way, is there someone who needs you to reconnect with them? How might you go about reconnecting? 
Tawa Baptist

Persuasion

Scripture: Acts 17:1-10

Video Link: https://youtu.be/Y-PupQ_mVz8

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Persuasion
  • Protest
  • Persistence
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

One of the things that distinguishes human beings from animals is language. Unlike animals, people are able to communicate using words.

In some ways though, words have become cheap for many people in the western world today. We are bombarded with words in advertising, at work, on TV and the internet. With all the noise and confusion around words and their meaning, we may find ourselves longing for the oxygen of silence.

Words may have become cheap for us but, in the thought world of the Bible, words carry real power.

Today we begin a new sermon series in Paul’s words to the Thessalonians. Paul wrote two letters to the Thessalonians but, before we start into the letters themselves, we are going to take a closer look at Acts 17, which describes how the Thessalonian church got started.  

In Acts 17 we hear about the power of words for good and for harm. From verse 1 we read…  

When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. 5 But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go. 10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

Acts 17, written by Luke, describes Paul & Silas’ experience in the city of Thessalonica. Three things we note. Paul’s mission work is characterised by persuasion, protest and persistence. Let’s start with Paul’s words of persuasion.

Persuasion:

Do you know those toys, for small children, where the child has to fit different shaped blocks through the corresponding shaped hole? There’s no way an oblong block is going to fit through a square hole. You can’t force the blocks.

First, you find the right shape to match the right hole and then you adjust the position of the block so that it lines up correctly. Once you’ve done that the block fits easily.

Persuasion is bit like that. The box that receives the shapes is sort of like the human heart or mind and the shapes that fit into the box are like pieces of the gospel message; ideas and beliefs.

You can’t force someone to accept or believe something that doesn’t fit for them. You have to understand the shape of the person’s heart & mind and then position the idea or belief in a way that person can accept.

Paul understood this. Paul did not coerce or manipulate people into accepting the gospel about Jesus. As verse 4 of Acts 17 tells us, Paul persuaded people.

Paul thought about the shape of his listeners’ hearts & minds and presented the gospel message in a way they could receive, without compromising or changing the gospel and without damaging his listeners’ hearts.

Thessalonica was the capital city of the province of Macedonia. Verse 2 of Acts 17 tells us that Paul went to the synagogue as was his custom. The synagogue was like the local place of worship for people of Jewish faith living in that area.

On the Sabbath (a Saturday) people came together in the synagogue for prayers and singing psalms and hearing the Hebrew Bible (what we know as the Old Testament) read aloud and expounded.

It was Paul’s custom to go the Jewish synagogue on the Sabbath because he had done that all his life. While the Jewish faith is not exactly the same as the Christian faith, the two hold quite a bit in common. The Christian faith grew out of the Jewish faith. The very first Christians were Jews.

From a mission strategy point of view, it made good sense for Paul to preach the gospel of Jesus in the synagogue because the people were starting with a shared understanding of God. This shared understanding included, for example, the belief that there is only one God, the creator of all there is. And he is just and merciful.  

Although Luke tells us Paul talked about Jesus in the synagogue over the course of three Sabbaths, this does not exclude the probability that Paul also talked about Jesus in people’s homes and the market place during the other days of the week. Luke’s account is not a comprehensive report of Paul’s activities. It’s more of a highlights reel.

What we notice in these verses is the way Paul went about persuading people to believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Paul understood better than anyone how difficult it was for Jews to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, when Jesus had been crucified.

The idea of a crucified Messiah was a key piece of the gospel that didn’t fit easily with the Jewish mind-set. To suggest that God’s Messiah had to suffer and die on a cross was like trying to fit a square peg through a round hole.

The Hebrew Scriptures carried authority for the Jews and so Paul reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. 

Reason, explanation and evidence were key tools in Paul’s toolbox of persuasion. We can easily imagine Paul using passages like Isaiah 53, which predicted the suffering of the Messiah, as a way of proving that Jesus had to suffer and rise from the dead. Isaiah 53 reads…

10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makeshis life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of lifeand be satisfied;

Verse 11 is talking about resurrection after death you see. Isaiah continues…

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.  

Isaiah 53 fits for Jesus, the suffering Messiah.  

While it is Paul’s persuasive preaching that Luke highlights in Acts 17, it wasn’t just Paul’s words alone that convinced people to believe in Jesus.

As Paul himself writes in First Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 5…

…our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.       

This tells us the Thessalonian believers were persuaded not just by Paul’s words but also by Paul & Silas’ example (their lifestyle and deeds).

More importantly though, the Thessalonians were persuaded by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Jesus is a Spirit of truth and grace. The Holy Spirit works in our heart and mind to create the right shaped opening to receive the gospel message, with deep conviction. God’s Spirit enables us to recognise when something is true.

Paul was mindful of his listeners, in the way he presented the gospel message, but he also recognised that ultimately the effectiveness of his message depended more on God’s Spirit than anything else.

Returning to Acts 17. Verse 4, tells us of three groups of people who were persuaded and joined Paul & Silas. In other words, they became followers of Jesus. These groups included Jews, God fearing Greeks and many prominent women.

We might pass over that without thinking much of it, but it’s actually quite illuminating. These days Paul gets quite a bit of criticism for what he writes in relation to women. Paul’s thinking may be misunderstood by people today but the fact that many prominent women responded positively to Paul’s presentation of the gospel strongly suggests that the women of the first century quite liked what Paul had to say.

Protest:

Not everyone liked Paul’s words though. Some of the Jews were not persuaded. In fact, some were so jealous at Paul’s success in winning converts that they organised a protest against Paul & Silas. The jealous ones formed a mob and started a riot. What happened next mirrored (in some ways) Jesus’ experience.     

They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.”

There are few things less trustworthy than a crowd. The organisers of the protest were basically accusing Paul & Silas of high treason. In today’s terms it would be similar to saying they were terrorists. The accusation was untrue and unfair.   

We are reminded here, of Jesus’ words in Matthew 10…

32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. 34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Jesus is not promoting war or violence. He is not talking in military or political terms. He is talking in spiritual terms. The point here is that there is no sitting on the fence with Jesus. You have to choose which side you are on, spiritually speaking. And there are real consequences to the choice you make. 

Jason made the choice to show hospitality to Paul & Silas. The eternal (unseen) consequence of this was that Jason was joined to Christ, destined to share in Jesus’ glory. The temporal (felt) consequence, for Jason, was finding himself at the sharp end of a protest and legal action.

8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.

In other words, the magistrates put a legal obligation on Jason and the other Christian believers to get Paul & Silas to leave town. If Paul & Silas stayed, then Jason and the other believers would face some kind of penalty like losing their homes or going to prison.

Paul & Silas did not want Jason and the new believers to come to harm so they left quietly in the night, without making a fuss. 

Some years ago I worked in a cycle and mower shop. At times we came across nuts and bolts that were seized together with rust and age. If you tried to force the nut off, you ran the risk of breaking the bolt or slipping and skinning your knuckles.

As Aesop once said, it is better to use persuasion, rather than force. Most of the time you can persuade a rusty nut to come off with patience and a squirt of CRC, no damage done.

The jealous ones, who organised the protest against Paul, did not use reason or truth to persuade the authorities. They used lies and fear. They twisted the facts and manipulated the situation so that Paul & Silas were forced to leave. The problem with using force is that it usually has unintended consequences.

Those who were out to get Paul unintentionally promoted the spread of the gospel. By organising a protest against Paul & Silas, pretty much everyone in the city became aware of Jesus.

Now, it is thought that Thessalonica had a population of about 200,000 people in the first century. At least some of those 200,000 people would have become curious to learn more about Jesus.

Without intending to, the protest organisers actually gave weight and credibility to Paul’s message. They signalled to everyone that the gospel and the name of Jesus is a powerful thing that should be taken seriously.

The gospel is powerful but not in the way the authorities feared. God has a sense of humour. Less than 300 years later the emperor would become a Christian.

One other unintended consequence of the protest was the strengthening of the new believers’ faith.

After a potter has shaped the clay into the vessel they want (a bowl or a cup), they then put the soft clay into a kiln to be fired. The heat of the kiln sets the clay and makes the vessel strong.

By putting heat on Jason and the other believers and dragging them before the authorities, the protest organisers actually made the new believers’ faith stronger. Having suffered for their new found faith, Paul’s converts were more resolved to stick with Jesus.       

Reading between the lines of Acts 17 we see that God has a way of working adverse circumstances for good.

Persistence:

This pattern of persuasive preaching followed by strong protest was not unique to the city of Thessalonica. Time and again (in the book of Acts) Paul and his friends had to flee from one city to the next.

Which brings us to the third ‘P’ in today’s message: persistence. Paul was relentlessly persistent in persuading people to receive Jesus.

Persistence is about never giving up. We see Paul’s persistence in the wider context of Acts.

Before arriving in Thessalonica, Paul had been preaching the gospel in Philippi. With the help of the Holy Spirit, Paul managed to persuade a small group of people to believe in Jesus, including Lydia (the seller of purple cloth). But it wasn’t long before someone protested against Paul and he found himself being flogged and thrown in prison.

Once they had been released from prison in Philippi, Paul and Silas didn’t give up. They carried on, making the 100-mile journey (probably on foot) to Thessalonica, where they were forced to leave again for the next town, Berea. Fortunately, Paul’s reception in Berea was more positive.

Paul’s persistence paid off. As someone once observed, ‘Water cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.’

Of course, even persistence has its limits. The goal is not to be so stubborn that we never give in. The goal is to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, that we may go the distance in God’s will for us.

Conclusion:

So what do these three P’s (persuasion, protest and persistence) mean for us as Christian believers today?

Well, persuasion has a number of points of application…

Before we can persuade anyone else that Jesus died and rose from the dead, we must first be persuaded of Jesus’ resurrection ourselves. We must know what it is we believe about Jesus, with deep conviction, and hold to it.

Persuasion also requires us to be respectful of others who have different beliefs from us. What may seem simple and straight forward to you may be incredibly difficult for someone else to accept.

It does no good to force our beliefs on other people. Like Paul, we need to be ready to speak about our faith with gentleness and an understanding of how the other person thinks, trusting the Holy Spirit to create the right shaped opening in their heart and mind.    

We must not be surprised or discouraged by protests against what we believe. When you become a Christian, you choose a side, spiritually speaking. You are not likely to be driven out of town, like Paul was. But there is a good chance you will be misunderstood and misrepresented if you identify yourself as a Christian.

Don’t take it personally. It’s not really about you. The Christian message has often been unpopular and met with resistance. Take heart. God is more than able to use the efforts of those who protest against him for good.

Finally, we must persist in our witness for Jesus. Sometimes that will mean quietly going about our lives, letting our actions speak for us. Other times that will mean proclaiming aloud our deepest convictions about Jesus. Whatever happens, hold to Christ and be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.   

Let us pray…

Lord Jesus, help us to know you more deeply, to love you more dearly and to share you more freely, with the help of your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • The Jews of Paul’s day struggled to accept the idea of a crucified Messiah. How were they persuaded to believe in Jesus?
  • Are there any aspects of the gospel message that you have found difficult to accept? How did you come to accept these aspects? (Who, or what, persuaded you?)
  • Verse 4 (of Acts 17) tells us a number of Jews, God fearing Greeks and prominent women were persuaded to accept Jesus after listening to Paul. What does this indicate to you?
  • What were the consequences for Jason in providing hospitality to Paul & Silas and accepting Jesus? What are the consequences for you personally in accepting Jesus?
  • How did God use the protest, against Paul & Silas, for good?
  • How do you think Paul & Silas might have felt meeting resistance in preaching the gospel and having to flee to the next city? Why do you think they persisted?
  • Take some time this week to prayerfully reflect on the points of application in the conclusion (above). Is there any point of application in particular you feel a deep conviction about? What is the Spirit saying to you? 
Tawa Baptist

Acceptable Worship (Ewan)

History

The early church faced many problems in presenting the gospel message.  Judaism was a barely known religion in the Roman empire, restricted to a fairly small group of people of Hebrew descent in Palestine.  It was unknown elsewhere and of no concern to those that knew of it.  Christianity was new, and even though it was related to Judaism it was a complete unknown.  What strange activities Christian converts might indulge in was a matter of speculation and even slander among those who became aware of it.

Imagine then the attitude of a new convert in those days.  They have heard the gospel message, that God (the only true God) loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die so that we might be reconciled to Him.  And the proof that Jesus was the Son of God was that Jesus was raised from death!  Once they came to believe this, how should they live their life?  What did God expect them to do?  How should they worship God?  Other religions of the day featured sacrifices, and even orgies.  Did God want those?

Micah was one of the prophets who tried to set Israel straight on worshipping God.  He said: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

However, the early church had relatively few who knew the Jewish scriptures.  And the Jews were poor examples in their worship.  Despite many efforts by the prophets, Israel repeatedly failed to meet God’s requirements.

Paul spent a lot of his time and writings trying to explain what the Christian life meant.  He emphasised love as the guiding principle as in 1 Cor 13.  If God loved us so much, then we should show love to others.  For Jews, this went back to the second commandment “You shall love your neighbour”.  Jesus also taught that your “neighbour” was anyone you may encounter, with the story of the good Samaritan.  Your neighbour’s appearance or beliefs are not important, but their need is.

Christian teaching

So how did this work in the church?  In his letter to the Galatians, Paul pointed out that (Gal 3: 26-29):

“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Clearly then our lives and worship should reflect our attitude to other Christians in particular, because we are all one in Christ. 

This teaching made a difference, but even today we see Christians who do not put it into practice.  Our Old Testament shows that loving your neighbour was never a guiding principle for the Jews over the centuries since the commandments were given, and mankind does not practice it readily today.  Christians find it hard to regard all Christians as one in Christ regardless of status or sex, let alone treat non-Christians as neighbours.  For that matter, Christians are not all in agreement as to what constitutes a Christian, because we cannot know the heart as God does.  Agreeing how to treat those who are not Christian is a step further.

James tackled one aspect of this weakness in his letter.  He said (James 2:1-4):

“My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”  

Between them, James and Paul dealt quite firmly with discrimination between Christians.  Paul demolished the foundation of discrimination by pointing out that Christians are all one in Christ.  James took a specific example of discrimination and pointed out how wrong it was.  Living lives that reflect these points is another matter!

Jesus, however, had gone further.  In his story of the good Samaritan, he told us that anyone who is in need is our neighbor.  You see, Jews and Samaritans were enemies and normally would go out of their way to avoid each other.  Yet Jesus talked about a Samaritan who was prepared to see a Jew as his neighbor in need, and helped him.  The Jews who heard him would rather restrict the definition of neighbour to a more comfortable group.

We are not neighbors only to Christians.  Jesus taught that anyone in need is our neighbour, and challenges us today to meet their needs.

The why

The reason we find it hard to follow the teaching of Paul and James, let alone Jesus teaching, is because of our limitations.  The only person we can know really well is ourselves, and to each of us comes a bit of self-belief that says that we – and our ideas – are always “right”.  We look at others and see their outward appearance, words and behaviour, and we base our opinions of them on those.  And they have “different” ideas from us that are probably “wrong”!

However, God does not look on our outward appearance.  He is not concerned about whether we are smartly dressed, male or female or even clean.  He sees our heart.  If our heart truly belongs to Him, then we are one of His “sons” – as Paul puts it.  John records Jesus saying:

“John 4:23 – 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

If we worship God in spirit, our outward appearance is not important.  God wants our love and worship to come from our heart, not from our appearance.  If our heart belongs to Him, then our worship is acceptable to Him and our appearance is of no concern.

There is an Old Testament story that illustrates this point further, when David welcomed the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 6 16-23)

“12 Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. 13 When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, 15 while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

16 As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

17 They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. 18 After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. 19 Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.

20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”

21 David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. 22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

Personally I take my hat off to David.  If I were to leap and dance in my worship, you would think I was crazy, and I would probably fall over.  But David’s heart belonged to God.

Let’s look again at James in more detail (James 2:1-13):

“My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?

8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! “

James is pretty strong in his comments.  He bases his comments on the second commandment “love your neighbor as yourself”, just as Jesus had done, although his context is a Christian audience.  Paul took a different approach saying we are “all one in Christ Jesus” to give a reason against discrimination, but again his words were in a Christian context.  Clearly they sought to first keep the Church’s house in order.  However, we must further remember that Jesus taught that anyone in need is our neighbour.

Fortunately, the early church accepted that your neighbour is anyone in need, not just Christians.  Helping needy non-Christians was one of the significant ways the church overcame paganism in the Roman empire.

The other side

However, there is another side to this story.  How we appear to others can affect how others view God.  Michal’s response to David shows what can happen.  We are God’s children, and how we behave can change the reputation of our Father in the eyes of non-Christians.  Our behaviour may also influence other Christians who are less strong in their faith.  Non-Christians may think less of God because of our appearance in worship.  The self-belief that can lead us astray is also an influence on non-Christians.

Paul had occasion to advise the Corinthians on this problem in relation to food offered to idols (1 Co 8 4-17):

4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

7 But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, won’t he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.

Paul took the position that “ if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall”, but clearly the issue is wider than meat offered to idols.  He also makes the more general comment “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak”. 

We have a freedom in Christ that means we are not bound by earthly customs and beliefs, but we remain bound by love.  A neighbour who is weak in Christ or who is not a Christian needs our love, and Jesus calls us to be a “Samaritan” to them.

How we behave affects others.  Both James and Paul address this point.  Anything we do that might cause a fellow Christian to be weakened in faith is a failure of our love.  Further, if our behaviour affects God’s reputation, we might stop someone from becoming a Christian in the first place.

Clearly Paul is saying that our heart is known by God and our behaviour is understood by God in the light of our faith.  However, what we do influences others who cannot know our heart.  We need to think about how our behaviour is seen by others, and how they may be influenced by it. 

This does not mean we must live lives dictated by the highest common denominator of acceptable behaviour.  We don’t need to wear our smartest clothes to church to establish God’s reputation in the sight of others.  We do need to ensure our behaviour, yes and perhaps even sometimes our dress, does not diminish God’s reputation in the eyes of others.  Remember that Paul put it like this “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.”  Our behaviour does not change how God sees us, but it can influence others, and the key is love.  We need to show love to all we encounter, our neighbors both Christian and non-Christian.

There are occasions where we can use the freedom that is part of our faith, but there are also times when we need to restrain our freedom in order to express our love to our neighbours.  One possible recent example of this seen on the news, has been when non-Muslim women meeting Muslims have worn head scarves. 

How should we worship God

So how should we worship God?  What does it mean to worship him in spirit and in truth? 

We tend to think of worship in the context of a church service.  However, if our bodies are God’s temple, our whole life should be an act of worship.  When we gather in a church service, we are sharing together in worship, because each of us brings something in our heart that brings us closer to God.

David gave us what may be the purest guide to worship.  In Psalm 24 he wrote:

         3      Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?

         Who may stand in his holy place?

         4      He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

         who does not lift up his soul to an idol

         or swear by what is false.

         5      He will receive blessing from the LORD

         and vindication from God his Saviour.

         6      Such is the generation of those who seek him,

         who seek your face, O God of Jacob.

We live our lives before God, and our lives should be part of our worship.  Where David’s worship was focused on the ark of the covenant and Israel’s worship came to be focused on the temple, our bodies are God’s temple.  Our worship should be from the heart and founded in love.  It should be part of our spirit. 

We can only approach God because His love made it possible. Despite the commandments given to Israel being based on love for God and for your neighbour, it was only with the coming of Christ that mankind had a clear picture of the importance of love in our relationship with God.

As Paul wrote (1 Cor 13: 13)

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Let our worship reflect our love for God, and for our neighbour, as we live our lives daily.  This is how we worship God in spirit and in truth.  When we gather to worship, it does not matter if we gather in silence or in chaos if our worship clearly shows our love for God and for our neighbour.

Tawa Baptist

Jesus’ early life (Neville)

A few weeks ago we celebrated Christmas, the time God became a human baby called Jesus. The New Testament doesn’t tell us a great deal about Jesus as he was growing up – it concentrates on the three years of ministry that started when he was 30. And on his death and resurrection.

Because not much seemed to happen, some people nowadays ask the question “Why did Jesus come as a baby, not a 30 year old?” We do so hate to be kept waiting, don’t we? Whatever happened to the saying that “Anything worth having is worth waiting for”? After all, the Jews of Israel waited many, many years for the birth of their Messiah, because God worked to a long-term plan for humankind.

Jesus was a gift that God gave to the world – and gifts are best enjoyed by taking time to unwrap them carefully, rather than just ripping the paper off and missing things hidden in the folds and layers. So I thought I’d have a go at unwrapping some of the early Jesus.

It’s that time of year when monarch butterflies are busy in our garden. You’ll know the main life stages of a monarch butterfly:

Egg

Caterpillar

Pupa

Adult butterfly

You can divide the human life span into stages too. People who study human development use up to 12 stages, but I think four is enough for today:

Infancy

Childhood

Youth

Adulthood.

Actually, my favourite way to think of human development is a lot less scientific, and doesn’t apply to everyone!

Stage 1: You believe in Santa

Stage 2: You don’t believe in Santa

Stage 3: You are Santa

Stage 4: You look like Santa!

Let’s go back to the idea of childhood, infancy, youth and adulthood.

No stage is more important than any other, so to be fully human, Jesus had to experience all of them. Of course, his three years of adult ministry were vital, and his death on the cross was a necessary sacrifice. But his early years living as a human were important too, preparing him for what was to come.

Like us, he was born virtually helpless, unable to walk, to talk or feed himself. Like us, Jesus would have watched and mimicked people, learnt to walk and talk and soak up what was going on around him.

When Jesus was about 40 days old, Luke 2:22-24 tells us:

The time came for Joseph and Mary to perform the ceremony of purification, as the Law of Moses commanded. So they took the child to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord: “Every firstborn male is to be dedicated to the Lord.” They also went to offer a sacrifice of a pair of doves or two young pigeons, as required by the law of the Lord.

This tells us that the family Jesus was born into was a devout one that followed the Jewish laws and traditions. By presenting Jesus in this way, they showed that he was part of the covenant between God and Israel.

In case you were wondering, the ceremony of purification referred to Mary, who by Jewish law was considered unclean for 40 days after the birth of her son.

Something else special happened at the temple during this visit.

Luke 2:25-32 records:

At that time there was a man named Simeon living in Jerusalem. He was a good, God-fearing man and was waiting for Israel to be saved. The Holy Spirit was with him and had assured him that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s promised Messiah. Led by the Spirit, Simeon went into the Temple.

When the parents brought the child Jesus into the Temple to do for him what the Law required, Simeon took the child in his arms and gave thanks to God:

“Now, Lord, you have kept your promise,

and you may let your servant go in peace.

With my own eyes I have seen your salvation,

which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples:

A light to reveal your will to the Gentiles

and bring glory to your people Israel.”

Simeon had waited many years to welcome Jesus. He set us an example of how to welcome Jesus and to give thanks to God for his gift. He reminds us not to become tired of trusting in God, just because things are maybe taking too long. He must have believed in “Anything worth having is worth waiting for”, after all, he got to hold the baby Jesus in his arms.

Jesus’s infancy wasn’t over yet, as recorded in Matthew 2:13-23. Back in Bethlehem, wise men from the East arrived, with special gifts fit for a king. Then Mary and Joseph had to flee to Egypt to escape King Herod and his plans to kill Jesus – the infant Jesus experienced being a refugee. It would have been unsettling too, when they returned from Egypt after Herod’s threat was gone, this time settling in Nazareth.

So, like any human infant, Jesus was influenced by the events and people around him:

  • His parents brought him up according to strong religious beliefs
  • People around him recognised how special he was, and expected great things from him
  • He was a refugee, and experienced the trauma suffered by his family

Now we come to Jesus’ childhood, which he spent in Nazareth, in Galilee. The Bible tells us of only one specific event of Jesus as a child, but we can fairly speculate on other aspects.

In Jewish families at the time, it was the responsibility of the parents to provide early education. Just about as soon as they could speak, Jewish children were taught the alphabet and some Bible verses. As he grew up, Jesus would have learnt other life skills from his parents – as well as scripture, he’d have learnt the rules of his culture and society, and how to behave in an acceptable manner. It’s good when children today do the same. The difference being that Jesus, who had to lead a completely sinless life, was presumably never naughty!

In Jesus’ time, all Jewish boys from the age of 6 or 7 were offered a free public education. This covered scripture and law, reading and writing, history and their equivalent to science and maths. This education was for boys from all backgrounds, so Jesus would have gone to school and made friends with other boys from all walks of life.

I went to school in the UK, and from the age of 5 my parents received an annual report of my progress. For some reason I have all these reports, and they make for interesting reading!

Here are few examples:

Aged 6: Neville speaks clearly and has a good mastery of words.

Aged 7: Has produced very good results in art and handwork, but prefers to keep clean!

Aged 12: He has made good progress in most subjects. Perhaps a more sustained effort would improve the overall standard of his work.

What do you think Jesus might have had on his school reports? Take a couple of minutes now to talk amongst yourselves about it.

Actually, the Bible does give us a report of sorts.

After the presentation in the Temple, Luke 2:39-40 tells us that

The child grew and became strong; he was full of wisdom, and God’s blessings were upon him.

What an example to follow!

When Jesus was 12, he went to Jerusalem with his parents for the Passover festival, as they did every year. Luke 2:41-49 tells of how, after his parents left on the long journey home, Jesus stayed behind in the Temple without telling his parents, who thought they’d lost him.

On the third day they found him in the Temple, sitting with the Jewish teachers, listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him were amazed at his intelligent answers. His parents were astonished when they saw him, and his mother said to him, “My son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been terribly worried trying to find you.”

He answered them, “Why did you have to look for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand his answer.

After this reminder that he obeyed a heavenly father, Jesus went back with his parents to Nazareth, where he was also obedient to his earthly parents. Here, from the age of 12 to 30, Luke 2:52 tells us

Jesus grew both in body and in wisdom, gaining favour with God and people.

Already, by the age of 12, Jesus was not just growing and learning, he was setting a good example. He was teaching lessons that we can learn from today. His main ministry started when he was 30, but in a sense this was really the continuation of something that had started many years before.

So what do we know about Jesus as a child?

  • He obeyed God, and his parents, and pleased both
  • He became physically strong
  • He got to know and understand the scriptures inside out
  • He learnt to listen and ask questions
  • He set a good example

The Bible tells us virtually nothing about the teenage years and young adulthood of Jesus – yet it was during this period that he must have met many of the treasure store of characters who gave him an insight into the minds and lives of humans. Perhaps knowing something about where Jesus lived will help us fill in some gaps.

Modern Nazareth is a large and busy city, but archaeologists have been able to find and excavate the remains of the old Nazareth, from the time of Jesus. It seems that in those days Nazareth was a small village with a population of about 500, surrounding by many smaller agricultural settlements. Archaeologists have found artefacts associated with agriculture, glass working, cloth production, other crafts and food processing. Quarrying of limestone was also a busy local industry. Surrounding settlements had lots of roman artefacts, but despite Nazareth being quite close to an important roman city, very few roman artefacts have been found in the village. So Nazareth would have had an exclusively Jewish character, though no remains of a synagogue have been found yet.

This all suggests that in and around Nazareth, Jesus would have had the opportunity to speak with a wide range of people and observe their behaviours. His job as a carpenter or builder may well have taken him to surrounding settlements too. Men and women, young and old, poor and rich, shepherds, craftsmen, bakers, farmers, fruit and vine growers, tax collectors, widows, beggars – what an education in being human! And he certainly drew on these experiences later – he knew exactly how to communicate his teachings in the most relevant manner for different audiences.

Jesus as a youth and young adult experienced a ‘normal’ family life. His family was deeply religious, so Jesus grew up in a home centred on God’s love. He was the oldest of at least 7 children, so he was probably given some responsibilities over his younger brothers and sisters. He would have been glad to escape and hang out with others of his own age too.

So what do we know about Jesus as a teenager and young adult?

  • He continued to live in a God-centred, loving home
  • He knew about the ups and downs of having brothers and sisters
  • He continued to study scriptures
  • He probably got to know many different kinds of people, so he understood about relationships

If we add up all that we’ve heard about Jesus growing up human, we can begin to understand why it had to happen this way. He came to earth to sacrifice himself for us, but he also came to teach the truth about why that sacrifice was necessary. And to do that, he had to understand us, identify with us and sympathise with our weaknesses.

One attempt to make sense of Jesus’ early life was made by Irenaeus, who was a priest in what is now the South of France only about 150 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. He thought that:

Jesus passed through every stage of life:

He was made an infant for infants, sanctifying infancy. That is, he declared all infants to be holy, set apart for a sacred purpose.

He was made a child for children, sanctifying childhood. That is, he declared all children to be holy, set apart for a sacred purpose. He set an example of family love, righteousness and obedience.

He was made a young man for young men, an adult for adults, sanctifying youth and adulthood. That is, he declared all youths and adults to be holy, set apart for a sacred purpose.

During his ministry, Jesus drew on all those relationships from his younger days, all those people skills, all those experiences of what makes humans tick. And he has never lost them, only added to them, so that whoever you are, he knows how to relate to you. It doesn’t matter what age you are, what sex or gender, what your background is, what your circumstances are – Jesus knows how to relate to you in a human way. And as God, he relates to you in the very personal way that only God can.

After God appeared to humans in human form, they had to wait for him to grow up before he was ready for his great ministry, his death and resurrection. But he was worth waiting for.

Jesus told his disciples, in John 14:1-3, that he will return to complete his mission of salvation for mankind:

“Do not be worried and upset,” Jesus told them. “Believe in God and believe also in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house, and I am going to prepare a place for you. I would not tell you this if it were not so. And after I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself, so that you will be where I am.”

He was saying “I’m worth waiting for”.

Jesus is patiently waiting to come back, because he is giving humanity as much time as possible to choose and follow him. He wants as many people as possible to repent and return to heaven with him. He knows we are worth waiting for.

Tawa Baptist

Christmas Message – Mary’s Song

Scripture: Luke 1:46-55

Video Link: https://youtu.be/LMr7Om-kBKQ

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God is mindful
  • God is mighty
  • God is merciful
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Kai ora whanau and Merry Christmas.

Have you ever noticed how good things often come in threes?

There are three primary colours from which all other colours can be made.

There are only three bones in the human ear, all of which are needed for us to hear.

A chair or a table needs at least three legs to stand.

A triangle, the strongest geometric shape, has three sides.

There are three feet in a yard, three dimensions in the physical world, three wickets in a hat trick, three Bronte sisters and three main ingredients in a BLT sandwich (apart from the bread).     

What’s more, there are three things needed to decide any kind of dispute: rock, paper, scissors.

Today’s message is based on Luke chapter 1, verses 46-55. This is Mary’s song of praise, sung while she was still pregnant with Jesus. From Luke 1, verse 46 we read…

46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord
47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49     for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.

50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
    he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

In these verses, Mary is basically saying three things about God…

God is mindful, God is mighty and God is merciful. 

These three attributes of God are like the three bones in your ear, or the three primary colours or the three legs of a table or the three sides of a triangle. We need them all. We need to know God is mindful, mighty and merciful.    

God is mindful:

According to the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand, mindfulness means paying attention to what is presently occurring, with kindness and curiosity.

The idea with mindfulness is to bring some order and control to our patterns of thinking. Not let our thoughts run away from us. Not allow ourselves to think the worst, nor set ourselves up for disappointment by manufacturing unhelpful expectations. Just breathe and stay present in the moment. 

In verse 48, of Luke 1, Mary says that God has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.

I’m not sure that our human definition of mindfulness is transferable to God exactly, but Mary (the mother of Jesus) is certainly mindful that God is paying attention to her present situation with kindness.   

Mary had quite a bit to worry about. What would people think of her being pregnant and not married? How would she tell her fiancé Joseph and what would Joseph do?

But Mary doesn’t go down that path in her mind. Instead Mary enjoys the moment. She focuses on what God has done for her and how blessed she is.

The past couple of years have been difficult. Change is the only constant. We are all pretty tired and feeling over it. Maybe our thoughts are running ahead to next year and what the future might hold.

Try not to go there. Today is Christmas. Now is the time to be mindful of what God has done in sending his Son Jesus. This is the day to be aware that God is thinking of you personally and of his world collectively.

God has not forgotten. God understands the losses you have suffered, the pressures you feel and the burdens you carry.        

God is mindful and God is mighty.

God is mighty:

Some of you may be planning to do one of New Zealand’s great walks this summer. Perhaps the Routeburn or the Abel Tasman or the Milford Track.

If you are spending time in the bush you might come across some predator traps. For many years now our native birds have been under threat from rats and stoats and possums. Conservationists have been seeking to restore the balance by culling as many of these introduced predators as they can.

Mindfulness can be helpful, as far as it goes, but if you are a Kiwi or a Kōkako or a Black Robin, then you don’t need people to just be thinking about you. You need humans to build a predator proof fence to stop stoats from raiding your nest.   

In verse 49 Mary says, the Mighty One has done great things for me, and in verse 51 she says, He has performed mighty deeds with his arm… he has scattered the proud… but has lifted up the humble.

If God were only mindful of you, what good would that do? If you are homeless then you don’t need a sympathy card. No, you need affordable housing. More than that, you need someone with the might (as in the wisdom and power) to make the system more just so you can get into your own home.

As a young woman in a male dominated society, Mary was somewhere near the bottom of the social ladder. She didn’t have much power or influence. She was vulnerable, like a Kiwi or a Kākāpō.

But God, the Mighty One, has done great things for her. He has lifted her up, as humble as she is, by making her the mother of the Messiah.

In some ways, the nation of Israel was a bit like Mary in that they were relatively poor and vulnerable compared with other nations. Israel were oppressed by the Romans and needed God’s mighty power to save them.     

Like Mary and like Israel, New Zealand is not mighty. We don’t have an arsenal of nuclear weapons or a huge navy or the latest in drone strike technology. We need God to defend our free land.

God’s might (his power) goes hand in hand with his mercy. 

God is merciful:

Recently the United Nations (in Geneva) discussed the issue of Lethal Autonomous Weapons (or killer robots). Most countries were against the sort of technology where humans are not in control and decisions are outsourced to computers. But the bigger more powerful nations didn’t want rules around it.

Lethal Autonomous Weapons maybe mighty but they are hardly mindful, much less merciful. The world has enough problems without introducing more. 

In verse 50 Mary says that God’s mercy extends to those who fear him and in verse 54 she says that God has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful…

Mercy is essentially about using your power or might to help someone else.   

Power comes in many forms: for example, money & wealth, knowledge & skill, physical strength, political leverage and so on. When you use the power you have, to help someone who is in a weaker position than you, that’s mercy. 

If someone is having a heart attack and you know CPR, then mercy is stopping to help them. If someone owes you money and can’t repay you, then mercy is forgiving the debt. If someone is marginalised or an outsider and you are well connected, then mercy is including them in your community.

By definition God is the mightiest being there is. Fortunately for us, God chooses to use his power for the benefit of those who fear him. That is, those who respect and reverence God, those who hold the Lord in high regard.

As one who was relatively powerless, Mary was very mindful of God’s mercy. Usually it is when we are at our weakest and feeling vulnerable that we are most conscious of God’s mercy.

Conclusion:

For some, Christmas is a time of happiness and fun and good feelings. For others though, Christmas is a time that just seems to highlight what we have lost and how far from ideal our lives are.

Whatever you are feeling today, may you know that God is thinking of you with love, that nothing is too difficult for him and that he wants to use his power and might for our wellbeing.

Although her situation in life was far from ideal, Mary rejoiced because of God’s mindfulness, might and mercy for her personally.

She also rejoiced because the child she was carrying, Jesus the Christ, embodies the mindfulness, might and mercy of God for the world. That’s what we celebrate at Christmas.