Tawa Baptist

Longing

Scripture: Genesis 43:15-34

Video Link: https://youtu.be/d_b3nIfRQfM

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The brothers’ longing
  • Joseph’s longing
  • Conclusion – our longing

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

There is a lovely line on the opening page of Kenneth Grahame’s book, The Wind in the Willows, which reads…

“Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house, with its spirit of divine discontent and longing.”

I like the way Kenneth Grahame puts that. Springtime does carry a spirit of divine discontent and longing. Discontent with the winter and longing for the summer.  

Divine discontent is a kind of holy dissatisfaction with the way things are. We experience divine discontent when we are not living according to the deepest longing of our soul.

In The Wind in the Willows, Mole has been doing his spring cleaning and can’t stand it any longer. He must go above ground and roll in the grass and warm sunshine. Spring answers his longing for winter to end and summer to begin.

Today we continue our sermon series in the life of Joseph focusing on Genesis chapter 43, verses 15 to 34. In this passage we see the deep longing of Joseph and his brothers rising to the surface. From verse 15 of Genesis 43 we read…

15 So the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver, and Benjamin also. They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my house, slaughter an animal and prepare dinner; they are to eat with me at noon.” 17 The man did as Joseph told him and took the men to Joseph’s house. 18 Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought, “We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys.” 19 So they went up to Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. 20 “Please, sir,” they said, “we came down here the first time to buy food. 21 But at the place where we stopped for the night we opened our sacks and each of us found his silver—the exact weight—in the mouth of his sack. So we have brought it back with us. 22 We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don’t know who put our silver in our sacks.” 23 “It’s all right,” he said. “Don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. 24 The steward took the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet and provided fodder for their donkeys. 25 They prepared their gifts for Joseph’s arrival at noon, because they had heard that they were to eat there. 26 When Joseph came home, they presented to him the gifts they had brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground. 27 He asked them how they were, and then he said, “How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?”  28 They replied, “Your servant our father is still alive and well.” And they bowed low to pay him honor.  29 As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” 30 Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there. 31 After he had washed his face, he came out and, controlling himself, said, “Serve the food.” 32 They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians. 33 The men had been seated before him in the order of their ages, from the firstborn to the youngest; and they looked at each other in astonishment. 34 When portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as anyone else’s. So they feasted and drank freely with him.

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

The brothers’ longing:

David Augsburger, the late Anabaptist theologian, once wrote…

“Ontologically, chocolate raises profoundly disturbing questions: Does not chocolate offer natural revelation of the goodness of the Creator just as chilies disclose a divine sense of humour? Is the human born with an innate longing for chocolate? Does the notion of chocolate preclude the concept of freewill?”  

As a chocolate lover this quote makes me smile. It’s not often you find a theologian with a sense of humour. David is basically saying that chocolate is hard proof that God exists and God is good.

The reality is, we human beings have many desires and longings which often seem to compete for our attention. Some of those desires we might judge as wrong or evil and others as virtuous or good.

For example, we might judge eating chocolate as bad. I don’t think that, but some people carry a great deal of misplaced guilt about chocolate. Whether you deem chocolate to be good or evil, you have to ask yourself, what deeper longing is my desire for chocolate pointing to?

The very fact that many people love chocolate shows that human beings have a deep longing for God. For if we long for the goodness of chocolate, it logically follows our longing can only be satisfied through a right relationship with the one who made us to enjoy chocolate.

Or, to put it another way, it doesn’t matter how much chocolate you eat, your longing will never be fully satisfied except through an encounter with the living God.

Back, in Genesis 37, you may recall how Joseph’s brothers plotted to get rid of Joseph. They hated Joseph because he was Jacob’s favourite.

The brothers’ desire to kill Joseph was not good in itself but we have to ask ourselves, why did they want to do that? What deeper longing was driving their desire to destroy Joseph? 

Maybe it was the desire to be loved. Maybe, on some level, they thought if we get rid of Joseph, then our Dad will have more love for us. But that is not how love works. Love multiplies with giving. Love does not grow by taking. When the brothers sold Joseph into slavery, they only reduced their father’s capacity for love.

Perhaps the greatest impediment to love is fear. And Joseph’s brothers know all about fear. They have lived with it for over twenty years. In Genesis 43 verse 18 we read…

Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought, “We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys.”

It’s amazing how fear can distort our thinking. Fear tends to disconnect us from our deepest longings. It makes our thinking smaller somehow, so that all we can imagine is our own harm.   

Why would someone as rich and powerful as the Prime Minister of Egypt be interested in their scrawny donkeys? Surely the ruler of the land has bigger fish to fry.

Moved by a longing for peace of mind, the brothers front up to the steward of Joseph’s house and tell him the truth. We did not steal the silver last time we were here. Somehow it ended up back in our sacks. We don’t know how. Here it is. And the Joseph’s servant says in reply… 

“It’s all right, don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver.”

The steward’s opening phrase, “It’s all right”, is just one word in the original Hebrew. Shalom. Shalom means peace, wholeness and well-being in all aspects of your life, especially your relationships.

The brothers are afraid. They long for peace and the steward answers that longing saying, God has given you treasure in your sacks.

One of the deepest longings of the human soul, is the longing to know that God is with us and for us, that he loves us. Joseph’s brothers did not believe that God was with them. They thought God was against them because of what they did to Joseph. They thought God was out to get them. They had been looking over their shoulder in fear for decades.

The brothers have become so alienated by their guilt that they don’t really believe the God of their father Jacob, is also their God. But their wrongdoing does not stop God from being God. The God of their father is still their God.

It’s the same with us. Our moral failure does not stop God being God. Our straying off track and getting lost, in a spiritual sense, does not prevent God from pursuing us with his love. Nor does it derail God’s purpose.

When the steward says, God has given you treasure in your sacks, he is not just talking about silver. The silver is a metaphor for something far more valuable than mere money.

It’s like the steward is saying, God has put treasure in the sack of your soul. The treasure is in you and in your relationships. And the treasure is God’s grace.   

Joseph was Jacob’s favourite. Perhaps that made the other brothers feel less valuable, less loveable, in some way. But they are not less to God. The brothers have divine treasure in them as well, even if Jacob, their earthly father, does not see it or acknowledge it.  

The message to the brothers and to us is clear. No matter how worthless you might feel (because of what you have done or what has been done to you), you are intrinsically valuable because God has made you that way.

Like the apostle Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians…

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

It is not your looks or your charm or your achievements or your reputation or your bank balance or anything you do that make you rich. You are rich because you are loved by God. The treasure is in you.

Okay, so Joseph’s brothers had some deep longings. Longings for peace and love. Longings that could only really be satisfied by God. What about Joseph himself, what did he long for?  

Joseph’s longing:

John Ortberg (another Christian author) says this about longing…

“The human longings that are deep inside of us never go away. They exist across cultures; they exist throughout life. When people were first made, our deepest longing was to know and be known. And after the Fall, when we all got weird, it’s still our deepest longing – but it’s now also our deepest fear.”

What John Ortberg is talking about here is intimacy. To know another human being deeply and to be known and accepted by them in turn, is the definition of intimacy. Into me see.

Each of us has a deep longing for intimacy. The desire for physical intimacy points to a deeper longing for emotional intimacy. Intimacy of soul, mind and spirit. A genuine sharing of oneself with another.

Sadly, fear gets in the way of developing intimacy. We get hurt in this life and our hurt makes it harder to risk making ourselves vulnerable. If fear is left unchecked it shuts us down and closes us off from knowing others and revealing our true selves. What if others don’t like who I am.

The longing for intimacy runs deep in all of us but some are more in touch with their longing than others. Certainly, Joseph longed for intimacy. He wanted to know his brothers and he wanted them to know him. The question was, could he trust them or not.

We see something of Joseph’s desire for intimacy in the way he asks after his brothers and father in verse 27…

27 He asked them how they were [shalom], and then he said, “How is [shalom] your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?”

Twice more the Hebrew word shalom pops up, this time on the lips of Joseph. In asking after his brothers and father, Joseph is actually inquiring after their shalom, their wellbeing, their peace.

This is more than a simple, ‘How’s it going’. Joseph genuinely wants to know his family is okay. He cares about them. He loves them.

Notice also how verse 27 is framed. In verses 26 and 28, all eleven brothers bow down to honour Joseph. They don’t know it’s Joseph at this point but we, the readers, can see that Joseph’s dream all those years before (of his brothers bowing to him) is being fulfilled.

The interesting thing here is that Joseph does not care about his brothers’ bowing and scrapping. He cares about them and their shalom, their wellbeing. What Joseph really wants (and always wanted probably) is a lifegiving connection with his brothers. Joseph longs for intimacy.

Being Jacob’s favourite had isolated Joseph. It alienated him from his brothers. They hated him for it. Joseph longs for warmth, belonging, acceptance and understanding from his brothers. Most of all though, Joseph longs for his brother Benjamin.

When Joseph sees Benjamin, his only full-blooded brother, he gives Ben a blessing saying, God be gracious to you, my son.  In the Hebrew culture of the time this was no small thing. This blessing carried real weight. It had gravity. But it is also full of affection.

Rather tellingly, in verse 30, we read how Joseph was deeply moved at the sight of his brother Benjamin. Joseph is moved to tears in fact and must run out of the room to compose himself.

Has that ever happened to you? Have you been ambushed by tears in the same way? Quietly going about your day only to be triggered by a familiar sight or smell that somehow puts you in touch with a deeper longing.  

Our spiritual life (to use Ignatian language) is characterized by times of desolation, times of consolation and times of normality.

In times of desolation, we feel like God is absent and our lives seem empty but also heavy at the same time. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Joseph certainly had his times of desolation.

But then come the times of consolation, when we feel God’s presence so close and tender. In those moments of intimacy with God, something shifts inside us and we may be moved to tears. It is difficult to know whether the tears are releasing pain or joy or both.

We only know we don’t want the consolation to end. But we cannot control it. Consolation is visited on us by God’s grace. All we can do is make space for it. Treasure it for the gift that it is. And remember it, especially in the times when feelings of desolation return.    

Joseph’s tears bear a close resemblance to the tears of consolation. He is so in touch with his deep longing for intimacy that he can feel God’s presence and it undoes him in the best way possible.     

Genesis 43 finishes with the brothers feasting and drinking freely with Joseph and each other. Even though Joseph has shown favouritism to Benjamin, by giving him five times as much food as anyone else, there is no hint of envy or resentment.

This is a picture of shalom, the kind of peace which makes room for intimacy. The kind of easy companionship they had all been longing for.

Conclusion:

A few days ago, I felt like eating some vanilla wine biscuits. It happens every once and a while. It wasn’t so much that I was physically hungry. I had chocolate biscuits in the cupboard, but strangely I didn’t feel like chocolate biscuits that day.

I put it down to missing my grandparents. You see, when I was kid, my nana and pop would give me vanilla wines, alongside home baking, whenever I went to visit. My hankering for vanilla wines was really a longing for them in a way. 

What do you long for?

Most of the time we are too busy, too pressured or too focused on a screen to be in touch with our inner longings. If that’s you, then perhaps a better question to ask might be, what’s your vanilla wine?

What simple, ordinary thing do you hunger for? What movie do you keep watching again and again? What place do you daydream about when life feels soulless and draining? What memory do you keep on repeat? What comfort food do you find sanctuary in?

Those seemingly superficial desires may be pointing to a deeper longing within you. Be gentle with your longing. Don’t judge or condemn it.    

When I think about it, my longing for my grandparents is really a holy discontent with death. Deep down we each have a yearning for resurrection. We want the springtime of abundant life to prevail over the winter of loss. We long for the summer of God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.

God understands that about us. God knows our longing, which is why he sent Jesus. In and through Christ, our deepest human longings are fulfilled. What do you long for?

The heart of prayer is longing. Perhaps longing for wholeness. Longing for atonement. Longing for peace. Longing for redemption. Longing for intimacy. Longing for love. Longing for resurrection life. Longing for God.

When the apostle Paul says, pray without ceasing, he doesn’t mean, talk to God non-stop. He means, be honest about your longings. Stay in touch with what really matters to you because that is where you will find God’s purpose. That is where God will answer the longing of your soul with his presence.

May the Lord give you the desires of your heart. 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 does divine discontent feel like? Why might we experience divine discontent? What can we do about it?
  • What do Joseph’s brothers long for? 
  • What treasure has God put in the sack of your soul? Why is it there?
  • Why does Joseph weep when he sees his brother Benjamin? What is Joseph’s longing?
  • Can you think of a time, in your own experience, when you were deeply moved? What happened? What longing were you in touch with?  
  • What is your equivalent of wanting a vanilla wine biscuit? What deeper longing do your surface desires point to? 
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?