Tawa Baptist

Time & Place

Scripture: Deuteronomy 1:1-8

Video Link: https://youtu.be/tL-huaR34VI

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Time
  • Place
  • Word
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

In order to run a horse needs four legs. Cars are similar, they need four wheels to drive. And the human body functions best with four limbs, two legs and two arms.

The early church, during the first century, used the Old Testament for their Bible. The New Testament (as we know it today) was still a work in progress. Four Old Testament books in particular were favourites of the early Christians: Genesis, Psalms, Isaiah and Deuteronomy.

These four books were like the four legs of a horse or the four wheels of a car or the four limbs of the human body. Early Christians relied on them.

Modern Christians are different though. We quite like Genesis, the Psalms and Isaiah but we are not as keen on Deuteronomy. If we think of the Old Testament as a body, then it’s like we’ve got four limbs but we are only using three of them.  Certainly I have preached a lot from the Old Testament through the years but not much at all from Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy is quoted over eighty times in the New Testament. It was a favourite book of Jesus, John & Paul, yet it is largely lost on us. So, with that in view, we are embarking on a new sermon series in the book of Deuteronomy. Let’s learn how to use this limb which has been sitting idle for so long.

Not sure how long it will take. Probably we will have to do it in parts, like we have with other larger books of the Bible. Hopefully we survive it together. Anyway, here goes. From Deuteronomy chapter 1, verses 1-8 we begin…

These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—that is, in the Arabah—opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. 2 (It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.) 3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them. 4 This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth. 5 East of the Jordan in the territory of Moab, Moses began to expound this law, saying: 6 The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighbouring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. 8 See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.”

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

Now, with an opening like that, it is little wonder that a modern audience is not inclined to read Deuteronomy. The first few verses seem quite dry. They don’t exactly start with a bang like a Hollywood movie. It mostly sounds like a list of names and places we haven’t heard of and that don’t mean much to us.

What we notice, on reflection though, is that these eight verses are talking about time, place and words. Specifically, the words of Moses. So, if we are going to understand Deuteronomy, then there’s something important we need to grasp about time, place and words. Let’s start with time.

Time:

Do you remember the story of Rip Van Winkle? It is a fictional story about lost time. Rip Van Winkle is walking in the mountains one day with his dog Wolf, when he comes across some shady characters who give him a strange substance to drink. Rip is quite happy to imbibe the ale but falls asleep soon after.

When he wakes up, his dog is gone, his beard has grown to his waist and his clothes are falling to pieces. Rip returns to the village to discover his children have grown into adulthood and the American Revolution has been and gone.

His walk in the woods, which should have taken no more than a day, has ended up taking 20 years. The world has moved on and changed without him. He has some adjustments to make. With the rate at which the world is so rapidly changing today, some of us may feel like Rip Van Winkle at times.

From verse 2 of Deuteronomy 1 we read…

2 (It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.) 3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them.

It seems that a journey which should have only taken a couple of weeks ended up taking 40 years. Like Rip Van Winkle the people of Israel lost quite a bit of time in the wilderness. Unlike Rip, the Israelites were not sleeping.

Moses lived around the 13th Century BC. So that’s about 3,300 years ago, give or take. If we read the opening verses of Deuteronomy at face value, then Moses’ words were delivered at a time of transition for the Israelites. The nation was on the cusp of entering the Promised Land, with all the possibilities and problems that entailed.

When you dig a little deeper though, you find that Deuteronomy contains a timeless message. It wasn’t just helpful for Israel in the wilderness, preparing to take the land, it also had something to say to the people of Judah, around 600-700 BC, who were trying to hold their place in the land. Then later, after the people had been taken into exile, Deuteronomy spoke a word to those hoping to return to the land.

It seems Deuteronomy is particularly relevant for times of transition and change. This might be one of the reasons Deuteronomy struck a chord with the early church; because Jesus’ coming brought monumental change, both on a personal level but also at a wider societal level.

We, today, live at a time of unbelievable change and transition. What might Deuteronomy have to say to us?

Place goes hand in hand with time. You can’t have a time without a place.

Place:

In New Zealand culture, and in Maori culture especially, place is very important. When someone gives their Pepeha, when they introduce themselves in Maori, they refer to the place they come from. They talk about where their Marae is located as well as the name of their mountain and river.

When we talk about the place we come from and the people we are related to, we are essentially describing our home.

A place to call home was very important to Israel as well. The people had just spent 40 years wandering the wilderness with no place to call home. Now they were about to take possession of a place God had promised them.

The first two verses of Deuteronomy 1 are peppered with place names. For example: The Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab.

We also come across a place called Horeb. Horeb, is another name for Mount Sinai. Kadesh Barnea comes up a few times too.

It is verse 7 though, where Moses quotes the Lord in describing the boundaries of the land…

…go to all the neighbouring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. 8 See, I have given you this land. 

A place is more than just an empty space. For a space to become a place, it needs boundaries. There was a lot of empty space in the wilderness of Sinai but the wilderness was not Israel’s place.

The boundaries of the land, given in verse 7, define Israel’s place. Deuteronomy is a book which defines boundaries. Not just physical and geographical boundaries but moral and ethical boundaries as well.

Without boundaries, space becomes terrifying and dangerous. Boundaries provide security and freedom; they make a place safe and functional.

The boundaries God gives are generous and wise. They are tailored to fit his people.        

Patrick Miller makes the observation that Israel’s land (their place to call home) is promised, given and taken.

God promised the land to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The people of Israel have not arrived in this place by accident. They are there by God’s design.

The Promised Land is given by God. It is not deserved or earned. It is offered.

At the same time though, the land needs to be taken by Israel. Israel needs to act if they are going to take possession of the land. Divine gift and human action are two parts of the same whole.

The Promised Land is for us a symbol of God’s Kingdom, our salvation. God’s kingdom is both given by God and, at the same time, taken by us. God’s offer of salvation requires an active response from us, if we are to realise it.    

For us, Israel’s place in the Middle East is associated with a long history of conflict. I don’t really understand the politics of it and I don’t think it would helpful to try and unpick that history too much.

We are followers of Jesus, the Christ. Jesus was never that interested in geopolitical conflicts. Jesus is interested in place though. In John 14, the night before his crucifixion and death, Jesus said to his disciples…

“Do not be worried and upset. Believein God and believe also in me. 2 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. 3 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. 4 You know the way that leads to the place where I am going.”

The place Jesus was talking about here is a place with God; a room in God’s home. This place is eternal and secure.

If we think of this life as a journey through the wilderness, then crossing the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land is like passing through death to eternal life to be with God our Father.  

John 14 often gets read at funerals and that is appropriate but it also speaks to us in this life, when we feel out of place, like we don’t fit or don’t belong.

God is our home and Jesus is the way home. 

We have been talking about time and place. Deuteronomy is a book that is relevant for all time, especially times of transition and change. At the same time, Deuteronomy is a book about place. It defines the boundaries which give a particular place security and freedom.

Deuteronomy is also a book of words; the words of Moses. Moses’ words give meaning, purpose and identity to Israel’s place, their home. Moses’ words remind Israel of who they are and why they are.

Words:

We live in an age of information overload, an age of advertising, marketing and hype. True silence (inner silence) is a rare and precious thing.

Ironically, the effect of this inflation of information is that words seem cheap to us. Words appear to have lost most of their value. But appearances can be deceiving. Words are still very powerful.

The right words, spoken in the right place at the right time are like seeds planted in the soil of our mind. Good words have the potential to grow and bear fruit in our lives.

There are three references to Moses’ words in the opening five verses of Deuteronomy chapter 1.

The book of Deuteronomy starts like this: These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel…  

Then, in verse 3 we read: Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them.

And in verse 5: Moses began to expound this law…

We could think of Deuteronomy as Moses’ last and perhaps greatest sermon series to the nation of Israel. The book is presented as three or four speeches by Moses. But these sermons are not just Moses’ ideas. Moses is proclaiming and explaining God’s word so the people can understand it and know how to apply it.

Simply put, Moses is the mediator of God’s word.

If God’s word is like a seed, then Moses is like the gardener who plants the seed and waters it and protects it.

Or if God’s word is like information being sent through a fibre cable, then Moses is the technician who connects the cable to your house.

Or if God’s word is like a foreign language that we don’t understand, then Moses is the interpreter making the meaning clear to the people.

Or if God’s word is like electricity, then Moses is the electrician who installs the wiring and switches so we can turn the lights on and see.

Or if God’s word is like flour and water, yeast and salt, then Moses is the baker who kneads the dough and bakes the bread so the people can eat.

Or if God’s word is like an aeroplane, then Moses is the pilot and navigator flying the passengers to the airport of a new and different country.     

Moses is the mediator of God’s word.

The gospel of John, in the New Testament, opens like this…

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all humankind.

The Word that John was writing about here is Jesus, the Christ.

While Moses was the mediator of God’s Word, Jesus actually is God’s Word.

Therefore, Moses’ words in Deuteronomy were pointing to Jesus.

A few verses later, John makes a connection between Moses and Jesus saying…

16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Do you see what John is saying here? The law of Moses is grace already given. We might be inclined to read into these verses a disconnect between Moses and Jesus, as if the law that came through Moses was somehow different from or in opposition to the grace that comes through Jesus.

But the law of Moses and the grace of Jesus are not two separate things. They are not divorced from each other or opposed. The Law of Moses and the grace & truth of Jesus are an organic whole. They go together. They are in continuity with each other. Jesus fulfils the law of Moses. 

If we think of Deuteronomy like the roots of a tree, then the gospel of Jesus is the fruit of that same tree. Deuteronomy is the gospel according to Moses.

The difference here is not between law and grace. The law of Moses is an expression of God’s grace. The difference between Moses and Jesus is that Moses was the mediator of God’s word, whereas Jesus actually is God’s word incarnate, in the flesh, in human form.

To put it another way, if we think of God’s word as light, then Jesus is like the sun (the source of light) and Moses is like the moon, which merely reflects the sun’s light.

Conclusion:

Time, place and words. In Deuteronomy, Moses is sowing the right words at the right time and in the right place. The seeds of his words were given by God to grow into a home for Israel and for all God’s people. 

If you are homeless, adrift in the world, living on the edge of possibility, somewhere between hope and despair, then I believe Deuteronomy contains God’s word for you.

Or if your security is threatened, if your family are under pressure and you are struggling to keep your home together, then I believe Deuteronomy contains God’s word for you too.

Or if you have lost your home, had it ripped out from under you so that you no longer feel like you fit. If you long to return home, then I believe Deuteronomy contains God’s word for you also.

Let us pray…  

Father God, you are our home. Lord Jesus, you are the way home. Holy Spirit, you are our guide. Help us at this time and in this place with the words of life we need to bring others with us, as we make our way home to the Father. 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?

  • Which are your favourite books in the Old Testament and why? Have you spent much time reading Deuteronomy? Why or why not? Why was Deuteronomy a favourite book for the early church?
  • What societal changes have you noticed in your lifetime? What transitions are we (in NZ) currently going through? What do you think our country needs at this time?
  • Why are boundaries important?
  • Have you ever felt out of place? What was that like? Discuss / reflect on John 14:1-4. What do these verses tell us about our place (our home) and how to get there? 
  • Can you think of a time in your own life when you received the right word at the right time and in the right place? What happened and what was the effect?
  • What is the relationship between Moses and Jesus?
Tawa Baptist

Pure

Scripture: Matthew 15:21-28

Video Link: https://youtu.be/zzIlGG3rT3A

Message:

Good morning everyone and happy Mothers’ Day.

Jesus says, in Matthew 5, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

This morning, because it is Mothers’ Day, our message focuses on a mother in the gospels who shows us what it means to be pure in heart. From Matthew 15, verse 21 we read… 

21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” 23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.

26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” 27 “Yes Lord,” she said. “But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

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

There was a woman by the name of Monica who lived around 300 AD. She was married to a hot-tempered man by the name of Patrick, who was often unfaithful to her. Monica and Patrick had a son who they named Augustine. Patrick refused to allow Augustine to be baptized but Monica saw to it that Augustine at least went to Sunday school.

Augustine was more interested in girls than he was the Bible and during his teenage years he went off the rails a bit. Right through his 20’s he lived a life of debauchery and licentiousness.

Through this whole time though, Monica never gave up praying for her son. No matter how badly Augustine behaved, Monica never gave up hope. She loved Augustine and always believed it was possible for God to save her son.

Monica interceded in prayer for her son faithfully, everyday and often with tears, begging Jesus to save him. Then one day her prayers were answered.

Augustine was baptized during the Easter of 388AD. He then went on from his baptism to become arguably the most influential Christian thinker of his time, since the Apostle Paul. Augustine wrote hundreds of books, refuted 5 major heresies and shaped the theology of the church right up to the present day.

Soren Kierkegaard, another famous theologian who lived many centuries after Augustine, said that ‘purity of heart is to will one thing’.

Monica was pure in heart, motivated by love. She willed one thing for her son and she saw God answer her prayer.

The Canaanite mother, in Matthew 15, was like Monica in a way. She was pure in heart too and motivated by love. She willed one thing: for Jesus to deliver her daughter.

But before we get ahead of ourselves let me set the scene. In the context of Matthew 15, Jesus has just had a bit of a run in with the Pharisees. The Pharisees were giving Jesus’ disciples a hard time for not washing their hands before eating. In their minds washing your hands wasn’t just a personal hygiene thing, it was a religious thing. They thought handwashing rituals made a person spiritually clean or more acceptable to God.

But Jesus defends his disciples and explains, saying…

17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”

Jesus’ point was that God is more interested in the cleanness or holiness of our inner life. Are we motivated by love? Or do we just want to make ourselves look good in the eyes of others.

After this conversation about what makes a person clean or unclean, Jesus and his disciples walk 80 kilometres north into the region of Tyre & Sidon. In doing this they leave the holy land of Israel behind and cross over in to the un-holy land of the Gentiles.

In the Old Testament, Tyre & Sidon were renowned as places of evil. Places the Jewish people expected God to destroy, like Sodom & Gomorrah. So there Jesus is, with his disciples in an unclean place, when all of a sudden they meet two people their Jewish upbringing taught them to avoid.

A Canaanite woman and her demon possessed daughter. You cannot get much worse, if you are a Jewish man. The Canaanites were the arch enemies of Israel.

This mother knows what the Jews think of Canaanite women. She understands full well the prejudice she is up against. It says something about her courage and character that she is willing to approach her enemies for help. Or perhaps it is an indication of her desperation. 

We don’t know a lot about this woman. We know vaguely where she comes from but we don’t know her name, or how old she was or whether she had other children. Was she still married or had her husband walked out because things got a bit tough? We don’t know.

We do know for certain that life was difficult for her. Robyn quoted me a line from a novel she was reading recently that struck a chord with us both…

‘Mothers are only ever as happy as their unhappiest child.’

This mother diagnoses her own daughter as demon possessed and says that she is suffering terribly. If the daughter is suffering terribly then so is the mother.

We can’t be certain what the problem was exactly. In ancient times all sorts of illnesses, whether physical, emotional, psychological or spiritual were attributed to demons.

Most likely the daughter and her mother were socially ostracised as a consequence of the problem. This mother had probably been coping with loneliness and high levels of stress for a prolonged period of time. After a while fatigue sets in. It would have been hard for her to imagine a future for her daughter.

The powerlessness and vulnerability of parenthood is terrifying. And so it is little wonder that this mother cries out to Jesus. She doesn’t approach Jesus quietly or politely. She risks all hope, shouting and making a scene.

Notice how she addresses Jesus as Lord and Son of David. Now at that time calling someone Lord wasn’t such a big deal. It was like calling a man Sir, a way of showing respect.

But hearing this Canaanite woman call Jesus the Son of David is a big deal. Very few of Jesus’ own people would have the insight or the courage to call Jesus the Son of David. This was the same as calling him the Messiah, the King.

Think about that for a moment. This woman has the audacity to ask the King of her enemies for mercy for her daughter. It was risky and politically complicated.

During the Vietnam War the Texas Computer millionaire, Henry Ross Perot decided he would give a Christmas present to every American prisoner of war in Vietnam.

According to David Frost, who tells the story, Perot had thousands of packages wrapped and prepared for shipping. Then he chartered a fleet of Boeing 707s to deliver the presents to Hanoi.

But the war was at its height. What Perot was wanting to do was risky and politically complicated. He was asking America’s enemies for their cooperation. The Hanoi government refused to cooperate. Officials explained that no charity was possible while American bombers were devastating Vietnamese villages.

The wealthy Perot offered to hire an American construction firm to help rebuild the villages but the Hanoi government still refused to help.

Christmas drew near, and the packages were un-sent. So a determined Perot flew to Moscow, where his aides mailed the packages, one at a time, from the Moscow central post office. And all the packages were delivered intact to the American POW’s. Perot persisted and when his enemies would not cooperate, he found another way.

In some ways Perot reminds us of the Canaanite mother in Matthew 15. She was not rich and powerful like Perot but she was tenacious and she had the boldness to approach the leader of her enemies for help. Like a postage stamp she sticks to one thing until she reaches her destination.

In verse 23, of Matthew 15, we read that Jesus remained silent, even though the mother was loud and unrelenting in her cry for help.  

We see the wisdom of Jesus here. The woman was basically proclaiming to everyone that Jesus is Lord and King. She was acting as a kind of evangelist, perhaps without realising it. Jesus listened.

Jesus’ silence also had the effect of drawing out what was in her heart. Silence does that. Silence invites those parts of ourselves which are hidden in the ocean of our unconscious, to surface, like a whale rising from the depths of the sea to breathe.  

The disciples become irritated with the mother’s repetition, eventually saying to Jesus, “Send her away for she keeps crying out after us”. In other words, give her what she wants so we can have some peace.

But Jesus says to his disciples, so the woman can hear: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”.

We have the benefit of hindsight and so we know that Jesus’ mission was to start with Israel and then move outward to reach people of all cultures and ethnicities. Later, at the end of Matthew’s gospel, after his death and resurrection, Jesus gives the command to go and make disciples of all nations.

But this woman encountered Jesus before his resurrection and so she does not know what we know. She doesn’t have the benefit of hindsight.

Undeterred the woman knelt before Jesus saying very simply, “Lord, help me”. She does not use a lot of words. She does not try and make a deal with Jesus. She does not try to emotionally blackmail Jesus or threaten him. She does not prescribe what Jesus must do. She simply asks for help and trusts Jesus to decide what is best. This is a picture of pure, uncomplicated faith.

We know Jesus likes faith and so, at this point, we would expect that Jesus, full of compassion and love, would be moved to heal the child. But no, what Jesus does next is shocking.

In verse 26 Jesus says to this woman, who is already suffering terribly, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.’

In other words, charity begins at home.

The children, in Jesus’ little parable here, are the people of Israel. And their food is the healing and life that Jesus brings – Jesus is the bread of life.

Dogs is a reference to Gentiles generally but also to this Canaanite woman and her daughter specifically.  

Now, in our culture a dog is man’s best friend. A dog is loyal and trustworthy and loved by the family. But in ancient Jewish culture a dog was unclean. Dogs were despised. To refer to this woman and her kin as dogs is a racial slur, an insult.

When Jesus ignored the mother’s cries for help, she persisted.

When Jesus refused to help her child, the mother responded in faith.

How will she respond to the insult of being called a dog?

What will Jesus find in her heart? 

To her credit this mother answers with humility and wit saying, 27 “Yes Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

This is a clever response. The woman is implying that she, a Canaanite, is still part of Jesus’ household, albeit with a very different status from the children.

Like Monica, this mother wills just one thing: that Jesus save her daughter. She is pure mum. Her heart (her inner life) is clean and holy and so she sees God’s salvation.

Jesus commends her saying: “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

No other Jew in the gospel of Matthew receives this sort of commendation for their faith from Jesus. A Roman Centurion is commended as having more faith than anyone in Israel but none of Jesus’ own people are said to have great faith, like this woman.

So what exactly is it that makes this mother’s faith so great?

It is her love for her daughter. Love is what motivated this mother to ask her enemies for help and to go on asking when she was ignored, refused and insulted. None of us knows the purity of our love unless it is met with resistance. Love, that is willing to suffer, makes faith great.   

That being said we might still wonder, ‘Why did Jesus put the woman through this? Why did he make it so difficult for her?’ Because it seems totally out of character for Jesus to refuse anyone in need much less be rude about it.

Well, it appears Jesus was using this encounter with the Canaanite mother as a teachable moment for his disciples. Jesus can see this woman’s holiness, but his disciples can’t.

He had just been telling his disciples that it is the state of a person’s heart that makes them clean or unclean. Now they have seen for themselves what purity of heart looks like, in this Canaanite woman, someone they had always believed was inherently unclean.

Jesus was showing his disciples what really matters to God. Faith, hope and love.

When we look at it this way we see that Jesus was not being callous or insulting at all. Jesus was actually showing great respect for this woman. He refused to patronise her or be condescending. 

As tired and frustrated as this mother may have been, Jesus knew he was not dealing with a weak or timid person. He was dealing with someone who was a force to be reckoned with. And that’s why he pushed back. Jesus knew the strength of the woman’s faith, hope and love. He knew she could handle it.   

So what does all this mean for us?

Well, the mother’s love for her child reflects God’s love for us.

God’s motherly love is like a hurricane. It is powerful but there is a calmness in the eye.

Unlike a hurricane, that destroys everything in its path, God’s motherly love is jealous. Not envious, not wanting what belongs to someone else. But jealous in the sense of wanting to protect what rightly belongs to him. God’s jealous love is powerful to protect his children from evil.

God’s motherly love is also pure and holy. The Canaanite woman was pure in heart, she willed one thing: for Jesus to heal her daughter. And the purity of her love was revealed in the way she was willing to suffer much for her child.

God’s love (like a mother’s love) always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

It is this kind of love that makes a person clean, holy and pleasing to God.

Let us pray…

God Almighty, we thank you for your motherly love for us. A jealous love, which is powerful to protect. A pure love, which is longsuffering. Help us to receive your love with grace and respect, that we would be fruitful for your glory. 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?

  • What was your mother like? What do you appreciate about her?
  • What does it mean to be pure in heart? Can you think of examples, either from the Bible or your own experience, that illustrate what it looks like to be pure in heart?
  • Try to put yourself in the shoes of the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15. What do you imagine her life was like?
  • Why do you think Jesus is slow to help the Canaanite woman?
  • What can we learn about prayer / intercession from the mother’s example?
  • In what ways does the Canaanite mother reflect God’s love? 
Tawa Baptist

Open

Scripture: Luke 24:13-35

Video Link: https://youtu.be/Sm-a5vJA_Gg

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Open mouths
  • Open book
  • Open home
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

What do these four things share in common: a thumb print, a cork screw, a pin number and a key? [Pause]

That’s right, they open things. A thumb print opens your phone. A cork screw opens a bottle. A pin number opens your bank account and a key opens a door.

This morning, because we are in the season of Easter and because we are celebrating communion, our message focuses on Luke chapter 24, verses 13-35. In this passage Jesus opens the mind of two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus, the afternoon of the first Easter Sunday. From Luke 24, verse 13 we read…

13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven milesfrom Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.

17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

19 “What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.  

28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

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

In this passage Jesus opens his disciples’ minds to the reality of his resurrection. This involves opening their mouths, opening the book (of Scripture) and opening their home. First let’s consider how Jesus opens the disciples’ mouths.  

Open mouths:

Do any of you have a cupboard at home that you use to hide your mess. Perhaps the things in this cupboard were stuffed away in a hurry, because you had guests coming over and you needed to make the place look tidy. 

Sorting out the cupboard is one of those jobs you know you need to do but somehow just can’t seem to find the time or the motivation for. Avoiding the cupboard will eventually create more stress for you though, when you can’t find what you are looking for.

To tidy up the messy cupboard you have to start by taking everything out and sorting it into piles. Decide what you are going to keep and what you are going to throw out. Then put the keepers back in the right place.

Sometimes our hearts and minds can become like the messy cupboard. We stuff thoughts and feelings, doubts and anxieties, hopes and longings into a metaphorical cupboard inside us, which no one else sees and which we ignore, because it is easier than unpacking everything and sorting through it.

That strategy may work for a little while but it’s only a matter of time before the contents of the cupboard cannot be contained any longer. Talking about the things that are troubling us (the messy things we stuff away, out of sight) is one way to empty the cupboard in our mind and get our head straight.

We need to exercise wisdom though in choosing who we talk with about our mess. You are probably best to avoid sharing deep personal stuff with someone who is not equipped for that kind of conversation or who can’t be trusted with the information.

God is equipped though and he can be trusted. A big part of prayer is emptying the cupboard in your mind by talking with him and asking his help to sort the mess.  

In Luke 24, Jesus found two of his disciples walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus talking about him and all that had happened, in particular, his suffering and death.

They didn’t recognise Jesus at first. Perhaps the thing that prevented them from seeing Jesus was the messy cupboard in their mind.

Jesus seemed to understand this and so he got them talking (he opened their mouths as it were) simply by asking them what was on their mind. Jesus knew it was important that they be allowed to express their thoughts and feelings.

It’s interesting that Luke gives quite a bit of space to what the disciples have to say here (at least seven verses). The implication is that listening to others empty the messy cupboard in their head is really important. It is a sacred duty in fact. 

Sometimes when we are listening to someone else we can feel tempted to jump ahead of them. Perhaps anticipate what they are going to say or short circuit the listening part and give them the benefit of our advice. But that never works.

The first and most essential part of cleaning out the cupboard is emptying the contents. Letting others talk is how we empty the contents. If you give your advice before someone has finished talking, that’s like putting more stuff in, you only make the mess worse.

Jesus gets his bewildered disciples talking and he listens.

In verse 21 the disciples express their disappointment when they say…

21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.

They had high hopes that Jesus was going to deliver them from their enemies the Romans. But their hopes of military and political supremacy were dashed when Jesus was killed.

Jesus does not minimise or deny his disciples’ feelings. Jesus accepts that they feel disappointed but he does not leave them in the pit. After they have finished saying what they need to say, Jesus opens the book of Scripture for them.

Open book:

When we were kids we used to love doing those join the dot pictures. You know the ones, where each dot on a page is numbered so that when you draw a line, following the numbers in the right order, you end up with a picture.

Before joining the dots, you can’t really see the pattern. It’s only afterwards that you see the image. It was a bit like that for the disciples. They needed Jesus to help them join the dots.

In verse 27 we read: And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.     

The Scriptures that Jesus used to join the dots were the Hebrew Scriptures, what we know as the Old Testament. The Scriptures are sort of like a map. They provide some perspective and direction. They help us find our way in life.

Of course, we need to know how to read the map. Maps are two dimensional. They don’t always show you how rugged or steep the terrain is. One inch on a map might not seem far but if that inch includes a mountain or a deep gorge, then it may take more than a day or two to navigate on foot.

When the disciples read the map of the Hebrew Scriptures they saw the parts about the victory and the glory of the Messiah and they overlooked the hard terrain, about the Messiah having to suffer first.

So their hope was built on the false assumption that the Messiah was going to deliver Israel from suffering. Whereas the Prophets were actually saying that God was going to bring deliverance through the Messiah’s suffering.

And that deliverance wasn’t just for Israel but for all the other nations as well, including Israel’s enemies 

So, how might we know we are on the right track with our reading of the map of Scripture?

In verse 32, after the disciples had recognised Jesus, they said to each other: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

Three things we note here. Firstly, the disciples’ hearts were burning within them as Jesus spoke. Fire is a symbol of God’s Spirit. I understand this to be a poetic way of saying they felt the presence of God’s Spirit within them.

This is not to imply that God’s Spirit always feels like a burning sensation within. The Spirit may manifest himself in any number of ways.

One point of application for us is, when we read Scripture we may find a particular verse stands out for us or we get a strong impression that God is wanting to speak to us through a specific passage. We need to pay attention to that sensation in our spirit and ask God to confirm it and clarify it. 

Secondly, the disciples felt the burning sensation together at the same time.  When it comes to reading the map of Scripture we need to do so in dialogue with other believers. If our individual understanding is not in harmony with the Christian community, then we should not put too much weight on it.  

The third thing we note in verse 32 is that the disciples saw the meaning in the rear vision mirror (as they reflected on their experience). Often the meaning God wants us to get from the Scriptures is not obvious to us until after the fact, when we are looking back on it with the benefit of hindsight.

Some of you here may do the daily Wordle on your phones. Robyn does it and recently (while on holiday) I joined her. With Wordle you have six chances to work out a five letter word.

You start by guessing any five letter word. If you guess the right letter in the right place it shows up as green. If you guess the right letter in the wrong place it shows up as yellow. And if the letter is not in the word at all, it shows up as purple. It’s a process of elimination.

This particular day our first guess was GRACE. We got the E in the right place so our next guess was SPIKE. The I was correct too but we still needed to find the other three letters.

After a bit of thought we went with the word OLIVE. The O was spot on. We were getting closer but still no cigar. The harder I looked at the word OLIVE the more the answer evaded me. I could not for the life of me think of a five letter word that started with O, had an I in the middle and ended in E.       

After doing something else for a while, Robyn figured it out…

The word was OXIDE. In hindsight it seemed so obvious. But beforehand I just could not see it. This is often how it is with discerning what God is saying. We get a few clues along the way but the harder we strain to figure it out the more it alludes us. Eventually though the answer comes (with patience).

So, to recap, three keys that open the book of Scripture (from verse 32) are the Holy Spirit, other believers and hindsight.

That means we need to read the Bible with a prayerful sensitivity to God’s Spirit. We need to dialogue with other believers to discern a shared understanding of the Scriptures. And we need to reflect on specific Bible verses in light of our own experience (in hindsight). 

Interestingly, it was not an exposition of Scripture by itself that opened the eyes of the disciples. Rather, the revelation came when the disciples opened their home to Jesus.  

Open home:

In verses 28-29 of Luke 24 we read…

28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

It would have been more difficult and dangerous to travel alone in the dark and so the two disciples open their home to Jesus for the night, even though they still have no idea that it was Jesus who had been walking & talking with them.

By inviting him in to their home, the disciples were opening their lives to Jesus personally. What we notice here is a process of drawing closer to Jesus. A journey towards intimacy.

It’s sort of like pass the parcel. You know, that party game where you pass a parcel around a circle of people and when the music stops, the person holding the parcel takes a layer of wrapping off, and so on, until you get to the final layer and the present is revealed. Verse 30 tells us what happens when the last layer of wrapping is removed.

30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.

It is at this point that the disciples’ eyes and minds are opened and they realise that Jesus has risen from the dead. This is the greatest revelation of all time, indeed the greatest present ever.

Note the oddness of this scene though. When you go to someone else’s house for dinner you expect the host to serve the meal. But Jesus, who is supposed to be the guest in this situation, takes the role of the host and begins to serve the disciples.

Jesus takes the bread, gives thanks and breaks it, just as he did at the last supper and just as he did when feeding the multitudes. Just as he will do again one day when we feast in heaven with him.

The point is that Jesus is the host of our salvation and we are his guests, if we accept the invitation.

After this we read that the two disciples wasted no time in returning to Jerusalem to tell the others. Their joy could not be contained. And when they arrived their experience of Jesus’ resurrection was confirmed. Peter had also witnessed the risen Jesus.

Conclusion:

Jesus opened his disciples’ minds to the reality of his resurrection first by opening their mouths and listening to them and then by opening the book of Scripture so they could join the dots. 

The disciples responded by opening their home to Jesus and sharing the good news of his resurrection.

Where are you at in this process of realising that Jesus is risen from the dead?

Are you cleaning out the cupboard in your mind?

Are you joining the dots of Scripture?

Have you invited Jesus into your life and your home?

Or perhaps you are ready to tell others the good news that Jesus is alive?

Let us pray…   

Lord Jesus Christ, you have conquered death. Thank you for listening to us and joining the dots of understanding. May we make room for you in our hearts, our homes and our daily lives. Open our minds to the reality of your resurrection. Move us to faithfulness by the impulse of your love. 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 does Jesus ask the disciples what they are talking about? (in Luke 24:17 & 19)
  • How do you manage the messy thoughts and feelings in your life? Do you have a trusted friend you can unpack the messy things with?  How do we listen effectively to others? 
  • Take some time to do a join the dots picture. Make it a hard one that isn’t obvious before the dots are joined. Why do you think it was difficult for Jesus’ disciples to join the dots of Scripture?
  • Discuss / reflect on the three keys for opening the book of Scripture? (Refer Luke 24:32) E.g. How might we recognise (or be sensitive to) God’s presence / Spirit when reading the Bible? What practical things can we do to reflect on Scripture in light of our own experience?
  • What is significant about Jesus acting as host while a guest in his disciples’ home? Why do you think the disciples recognised Jesus in the breaking of bread? How does Jesus’ resurrection inform the way we understand communion?   
  • Using the four stages in the Emmaus story as a framework, where are you at in the process or realising Jesus is alive? Are you cleaning out the cupboard in your mind? Are you joining the dots of Scripture? Are you ready to invite Jesus into your life and your home? Or are you ready to tell others the good news about Jesus? What do you need in order to progress in this process?
Tawa Baptist

Completion

Scripture: 1st Thessalonians 5:23-28

Video Link: https://youtu.be/cLT84c9Vbto

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Completion of salvation
  • Affirmation of friendship
  • Conclusion – Grace

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Sometimes in the music world, you hear the term ‘unplugged’. An unplugged song is stripped down to its bones, so the sound is simpler, more acoustic. Unplugged songs often have an intimate feel.

Today we conclude our sermon series in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians by focusing on the closing verses of chapter 5. In these verses Paul gives us a stripped down acoustic summary of his letter. This is Paul unplugged. From first Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 23-28 we read…

23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us. 26 Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss. 27 I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

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

In this passage Paul sums up the two main themes of his letter. When you strip it all down the letter has been about the completion of salvation and an affirmation of friendship.

Completion of salvation:

Transmission gully is now open. I think we can say it is complete. Complete enough to drive on anyway. We were waiting longer than we expected but with good reason. It was a massive project and it needed to be completed properly.

In verses 23-24 of Thessalonians 5, Paul pronounces a benediction or a blessing over the believers in Thessalonica. His benediction is essentially about the completion of our salvation, which has been one of the main messages of his whole letter. In the first part of verse 23 Paul says…

23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.

Paul describes God here as the God of peace. Gordon Fee reminds us that, in Paul’s writing, peace rarely refers to the well-arranged heart of the individual but rather to the life of the community, that believers live together without conflict.

Probably though, we can’t separate the inner peace of a ‘well-arranged heart’ from the relational peace of the community. I mean, it is difficult to live in peace with others if you aren’t at peace with yourself. 

In any case, God is a God of peace. Which means God is relational. Jesus came to make peace possible in all our relationships. 

Sanctify is a word which means to make holy, pure or clean. If your dishes are dirty you might sanctify them, or make them clean and holy, by putting them through the dishwasher.

Or if you get Covid you must go through a period of isolation until you have recovered and are able to be with others without passing on the virus. The isolation period is like a sanctification process.

To be sanctified through and through means being holy on the inside and the out. It’s like Jesus said: ‘Wash the inside of the cup and the outside will be clean too’.

In view of what Paul has just been saying about the God of peace, it would logically follow that being holy (or sanctified) has to do with the way we treat others; actions characterised by justice and mercy, attitudes shaped by humility and compassion.

Jesus’ stripped down, unplugged, acoustic definition of holiness is to love God, love your neighbour and love yourself.

In the second part of verse 23 Paul says…

May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

Much ink has been spilled over what Paul means here by spirit, soul and body. But I don’t think Paul is giving a Grey’s Anatomy (medical) type description of the human person. Paul is simply using these three terms to describe a whole human being. It’s another way of saying, may God sanctify you through and through, inside and out.   

Having said that, people are still curious about what the words spirit, soul and body are referring to, so some explanation is needed.

By body Paul’s mean your physical body. The body we inhabit is given to us by God and we need to look after it. For Christians the body is sacred. It is holy and not ours to do whatever we want with. Our bodies are instruments for God’s purpose in the world.

Our body is not separate from our spirit or soul. They all go together as an integrated whole.

The term soul can have a different nuance of meaning depending on the context in which it is used. Sometimes the soul refers to the whole person, like when someone says, ‘there were 54 souls on board’.

More often though the human soul refers to the non-physical (or immaterial) aspects of a person. That is, your life force, your will, your personality, the things that can’t be studied under a microscope but which are nevertheless real and make you uniquely you. We are more than just a collection of biological cells and chemical elements.  

The human spirit can also mean different things depending on the context. Generally, though, we are probably best to think of our spirit as that part of us which connects with God. Our spirit is essentially a conduit for relating with God.

In differentiating the functions of the body, soul and spirit, we might think of the different parts of a computer. The hardware of the computer (the keyboard, screen and circuitry) is like the physical body. The operating system and application software is sort of like the soul.

And the wifi connection is like the spirit. Without wifi, a computer can’t connect with the internet or other computers.

This analogy should not be pressed too far. I’m not suggesting people are machines. Human beings are infinitely more valuable and complex than computers. Nor am I suggesting that God is like the internet.

Another (more organic) metaphor could be that of a tree. The trunk and the branches of the tree are like the body. While the roots of the tree are like the human spirit, because the roots connect the tree to the earth, drawing water and nutrients from the soil.

The sap running through the trunk and branches, together with the fruit of the tree, are a bit like the soul. The sap contains the tree’s life force and the fruit is an expression of the tree’s personality.      

Although this metaphor is not perfect, it is helpful. We human beings receive life by putting our roots (or our spirit) down deep into the soil of God’s love. This spirit connection with God nourishes our soul and body so that we bear the fruit of love, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness and so on, to the praise of God’s glory.

But I digress. We shouldn’t get too caught up with distinctions over body, soul and spirit. Paul’s main point is the completion of our salvation. God is at work to sanctify our whole being, both as individuals and as a community of faith.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we live in the ‘overlap’, the ‘in between’, the ‘now but not yet’. Yes, Jesus has come and he has conquered sin and death. And yes, all those who put their trust in Jesus are saved. But our salvation won’t be fully realised until Jesus returns in glory. In the meantime, we may still struggle with doubt and despair, temptation and suffering.

Paul’s prayer is that the Thessalonians (and all believers) be blameless when Christ returns.   

By ‘blameless’ I don’t think Paul means we can never make a mistake. Sanctification, becoming holy, is a process. Making mistakes is usually part any learning process. So we should not give up if we mess up. We redeem mistakes by learning from them.   

It takes time for a tree to grow and mature and produce fruit. It doesn’t happen overnight. Our job is not to try and force or contrive our own sanctification. Our job is to keep our roots in the soil of God’s love. Stay connected to Jesus and allow God’s Spirit to work in us, in his way and his time.

Paul picks up on this point when he says in verse 24…

24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.   

God is the one who calls us to trust and obey Christ. And God is faithful to his call. He is reliable and trustworthy. He always makes good on his word. While we certainly need to play our part in the process of sanctification, ultimately God is active in completing our salvation, so we do not need to be anxious.

Jesus tells a parable in Mark 4 about the growing seed, which overlaps with this idea of God’s faithfulness in completing our salvation. From verse 26 of Mark 4 we read…

26 Jesus also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

The person who scatters seed, in this parable, is the one who proclaims the gospel about Jesus. The person who scatters the seed does not make it grow. God, by his Spirit, makes the seed grow. God, by his Spirit, brings the plant to fullness and fruition, in time for the harvest. The harvest here refers to Jesus’ return in glory.

There is a certain mystery to this process. Yes, we can give the plant a helping hand. We can water it and put a stake alongside to support it. We can protect it from the wind and insects. But ultimately it is God who makes a human person grow to maturity (body, soul and spirit).

Or, thinking more like Paul, it is God who grows the community of believers (the church) to fruitfulness.           

Okay, so that covers one of the main points of Paul’s letter, the completion of our salvation. The other point is the affirmation of friendship. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians to affirm his friendship with them.

Affirmation of Friendship:

We all need friends. We all need to know we have someone on our side. We need to feel connected and not alone. Developing and maintaining good quality friendships is part of the process of our sanctification.

We need to be careful in church life not to get the cart before the horse. The horse goes first and the cart comes second. The horse, in this analogy, is our friendships. While the cart represents our programmes, the things we do in service to the community.

If we don’t take care of the horse (of friendship), then the cart (or the programme) isn’t going anywhere.  Paul was writing to take care of his friendship with the Thessalonians.

In verse 25 Paul says: 25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us.

Numerous times throughout his letter Paul addresses the Thessalonians as ‘brothers and sisters’. It is a term of affection. A term of close relationship. A term affirming the bond of their friendship. 

So what is a friend? Friends know each other, they have history. They share things in common. Friends do things together. They trust one another. They have each other’s back. Friends are loyal, through thick and thin. They care for each other and support one another. Friends give priority to their relationship. The bond of friendship is a sacred thing.    

And this is one reason why Paul asks his Thessalonian friends to pray for himself, Silas and Timothy. Prayer is an act of spirit (both our spirit and God’s Spirit). Prayer helps to create connections and maintain friendships.

The idea of affirming friendship continues in verse 26 where Paul writes…

26 Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss.

In the culture of that time people greeted each other with a kiss, much like we might greet each other with a handshake or a hug. It wasn’t a sexual thing. Rather it was a tangible, physical demonstration of friendship.

In Maori culture, people greet each other with a hongi. This is when two people press noses together. When you hongi, you inevitably share breath. You connect. It is a beautiful way of honouring the relationship with each other.

Some people don’t like to be touched and we must respect that. But there is still a place for good physical touch. If someone is anxious or up-set we show them they are not alone by holding their hand or touching their shoulder or holding them in our arms.

Conclusion:

In verse 27 Paul instructs the Thessalonians, in strong terms, to ensure his letter is read to everyone. Paul does not want anyone to be excluded. They are all his friends and they are all under God’s umbrella of salvation.

Paul’s final word though is one of grace. He says, 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Paul signed off pretty much all his letters with a reminder of God’s grace. The word grace means gift or favour. Something done for us by God that we do not deserve and cannot do for ourselves.

C.S. Lewis was once asked, ‘What makes Christianity different from any other religion?’ And Lewis replied, ‘Why, grace of course.’

The completion of our salvation and the security of our friendship with Jesus, depends on God’s grace. Not on how we are feeling. Not on our own efforts. Not on luck or circumstances beyond our control. When you strip it all down, the Christian faith, unplugged, is pure grace.

Let us pray…

Gracious God, we thank you for the work of your Spirit in completing our salvation. We thank you too for your gift of friendship. In and through Jesus we share an eternal bond. Give us all we need to go the distance in your will and help us to take care of our friendships. 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 Paul write to the Thessalonians?
  • What does peace mean for you? What did Paul mean by peace? What are the implications for us of saying that God is a ‘God of peace’?
  • What does it mean to be ‘sanctified through and through’? How are we sanctified? E.g. What role can mistakes play in the process of our sanctification?  What role does God play in our sanctification?
  • How might we understand the terms body, soul & spirit (in the context of 1st Thessalonians 5)?  How do these three aspects of the human person interact/relate with each other?
  • Why do you think Paul wanted to affirm his friendship with the Thessalonians? What is friendship? What do friends do? Are there friendships in your life that you need to renew or affirm? How might you do this?  
  • What makes the Christian faith different from any other religion?
Tawa Baptist

Capstone

Scriptures: Psalm 118:22-24; Mark 12:1-12; 1st Peter 2:4-7

Video Link: https://youtu.be/pqaLFDN6etA

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Psalm 118:22
  • Mark 12:10
  • 1st Peter 2:7
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

The story is told of a king who had a close friend. [1] The two men had grown up together. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation in his life (whether positive or negative) and saying, ‘This is good’.

One day the king and his friend were out hunting. The friend reloaded the gun but it misfired, blowing the king’s thumb off. As usual the friend said, ‘This is good’. To which the king angrily replied, ‘No it’s not – I just lost my thumb’. And, in his frustration and pain, the king sent his friend to prison.

About a year later the king was out hunting again, only this time in an area he should have known to stay clear of. Some bandits captured him and took him to their hide out. They tied him to a stake hoping to get a ransom for him.

That night, when the guard had fallen asleep, the king managed to slip his hands out of the ropes and escape. Having a missing thumb enabled him to get his hands free.

On his way home the king remembered how he had lost his thumb and he began to feel bad about putting his friend in jail. As soon as he got back he went straight to the prison to set his friend free.

‘You were right’ the king said, ‘it was a good thing that my thumb was blown off. I’m sorry for sending you to prison for so long. It was wrong of me.’

‘No’, his friend replied, ‘this is good.’

‘What do you mean, “This is good”? How is it good that I sent you, my best friend, to jail for a year?’

The friend replied, ‘If I had not been in prison, I would have been kidnapped with you.’

It’s funny, isn’t it. Sometimes the things that we discard as bad or unfortunate are the very things God uses to save us. We don’t choose the moment or the means of our salvation. God does that.

Psalm 118:22

One of the lectionary readings for today (Easter Sunday) comes from Psalm 118, traditionally read by Jews as part of their Passover celebration. It was during the Passover festival that Jesus was killed.

Verses 22-23 of Psalm 118 read…

The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this and it is marvellous in our eyes.

The capstone is like the key stone – it is the most important stone, the one that holds all the others together. And it’s usually a different shape to the others, so it doesn’t look like it fits or belongs at first, even though it is indispensable.

Now, when a person of Jewish faith reads this verse, they would most likely understand the capstone to be either the nation of Israel or the king of Israel, while the builders are the rulers of the nations – those who hold the power in the world.

So it’s like saying, although Israel and her king are rejected by the other nations (because they appear different) God has redeemed them and set them aside (as holy) for a special purpose; to hold everything together and bring God’s order (his kingdom) to the world.

Mark 12:10

Not long before his crucifixion, Jesus quoted this verse (about the capstone) in the context of the parable of the tenants. Jesus told this parable to the Pharisees and religious leaders. From Mark 12, verse 1 we read…

Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.  3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed. 6 “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; 11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes’?” 12 Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. 

May God bless the reading of his word.

The vineyard in this parable is Israel and God is the vineyard owner. The tenants are the religious leaders and Jesus is the son of the vineyard owner. Jesus’ parable was a prediction of his death at the hands of the religious leaders.

At the same time though, Jesus was alluding to his resurrection. When Jesus quoted Psalm 118, he was implying that the religious leaders of Israel were the builders rejecting him, the capstone.

Jesus’ message is: ‘Even though you plan to kill me, God will redeem my life for a greater purpose’. 

Returning to Psalm 118 for a moment. In verse 24 we read: This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. The day in mind here is the day of salvation. The point is, the ‘day’ of our salvation is ‘made’ by the Lord, not by us.

Sometimes what we despise and reject is the very thing God uses to save us. We don’t choose the moment or the means of our salvation. God does that. The day of our salvation orbits Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone;

Jesus is the odd shaped stone, rejected by the builders, whom God the Father has made the capstone, holding everything together.

1st Peter 2:7

The phrase, “You are such a brick” is a compliment. It’s a way of saying you are solid and reliable. A person of integrity and strength.

Possibly the saying originated with king Lycurgus of Sparta. The story goes that king Lycurgus was boasting to a visiting monarch about the walls of Sparta. When the visiting monarch looked around and saw no walls, he said to the Spartan king, “Where are these walls then?” And king Lycurgus pointed at his soldiers. “These are the walls of Sparta. Every man a brick.” [2]     

In first Peter chapter 2 we read…

4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house…. 

 6 For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

Verse 6 here, comes from Isaiah 28. Peter is saying, the cornerstone Isaiah was talking about is Jesus the Messiah, the Christ. Unlike an actual stone, Jesus is living, for God has raised Jesus from the dead.

A rock or a stone is not a perishable thing. A stone is imperishable, everlasting. To say that Jesus is the living Stone, implies his permanence. The life Jesus offers is a resilient life, abundant eternal life.

As well as being the living stone, Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s new temple. In ancient times the cornerstone was different to the capstone. The cornerstone was the very first foundation stone to be put in place.

The cornerstone set the profile for the whole building. The angle and plumb line of the walls were taken from the cornerstone. So it was important that the cornerstone was square and true, otherwise the building would not be level. [3]

Peter is saying here, there will be no crocked-ness, no injustice in God’s holy house, because the cornerstone (King Jesus) is righteous, just and true. As living stones in God’s house, we follow the plumb line set by Christ. 

Peter continues in verse 7 by quoting from Psalm 118…

7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”

Peter gives Psalm 118, verse 22, a slightly different nuance by referring to Jesus as the cornerstone, rather than the capstone. The main point remains the same: Jesus is the most important stone in the whole building. 

Jesus, the cornerstone, is described as precious to God and to those who believe. The word translated as precious comes from the Greek word for honour. [4] If we put our trust in Jesus, we will not be put to shame at the final judgement. In fact, we will share in Jesus’ honour.

In quoting Psalm 118, Peter is picking up on Jesus’ parable of the tenants in Mark 12.

Although the builders (the religious leaders) discarded the most important building block of all by rejecting Jesus, God vindicated Jesus by raising him from the dead and making him a living stone, the cornerstone of His new house.  

Conclusion:

So what does this mean for us?

Well, it’s funny, isn’t it. Sometimes the things we reject as bad or unfortunate are the very things God uses to save us. Sometimes the things we don’t like about ourselves are the very things God uses for his unique purpose.

We don’t choose the moment or the means of our salvation. The day of our salvation may not happen as we expect. In fact, at first, it may feel like losing a thumb (or worse). The good news is God does not waste anything. Nothing is too difficult for him.  

The Easter story shows us God’s power to transform shame into honour, guilt into forgiveness, suffering into healing, rejection into acceptance, loneliness into friendship, death into life and fear into love.

Let us pray…

Lord Jesus Christ, you are the capstone. You hold everything together. You make sense of life. You are also the cornerstone. The true foundation on which to build our lives. We ask you to make us alive with your presence. May you transform our fear into love, to the praise of God’s glory. 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?

  • Can you think of an experience in your own life that, at the time, seemed terrible but later you came see God’s salvation or provision in it? What happened?
  • What is the main point of Jesus’ parable of the tenants in Mark 12:1-12? How does this parable point to the events of Easter?
  • What was Peter getting at (what was his meaning) with the metaphor of living stones? (in 1st Peter 2)  
  • Why did God raise Jesus from the dead? What are the implications of Jesus’ resurrection for us?
  • Discuss / reflect on the various transformations revealed through the Easter story. What transformation has God brought in your life so far? What transformation do you wait for? 

[1] Adapted from a story retold by Mark Stibbe.

[2] Refer William Barclay’s commentary on 1st Peter, page 231.

[3] Refer Edmund Clowney’s commentary on 1st Peter, page 84. 

[4] Refer Thomas R. Schreiner’s commentary on 1st Peter, page 110.

Tawa Baptist

The Cross

Good Friday Reflection: Four dimensions of the cross

Video Link: https://youtu.be/XnyM2pIaKUw

Good morning everyone.

John 19:28-37

A reading from the gospel of John chapter 19, for Good Friday. This is John’s account of the death of Jesus. From verse 28 we read…  

28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.  31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down.

32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”

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

Four dimensions of the cross:

The cross of Christ has many dimensions. Today we briefly touch on just four of those dimensions: Relational, Psychological, Global and Physical.

First and foremost, the cross of Christ is relational. Jesus came to restore our relationship with God and our relationships with each other. Through faith in Jesus our sins are forgiven. In fact, our sins were nailed to the cross with Jesus.

And so, when we face the cross we face our mistakes; those things we might prefer to ignore or forget. We also face the hurts we have received.

Jesus taught us to pray: Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. What things do we need to ask God’s forgiveness for? And, who needs your forgiveness? We need God’s grace to forgive others.

Another aspect of Jesus’ suffering is the psychological dimension. Jesus was forced to wear a crown of thorns. This crown of thorns was a cruel joke of the soldiers, a parody of Jesus’ claim to be a King.

The physical anguish of the thorns digging into his scalp points to the psychological anguish Jesus suffered. Jesus was betrayed by one of his closest friends. He was deserted by his disciples, separated, mocked, alienated and alone in a crowd. Most people did not see him for who he really was.

The prophet Isaiah foretold how the Messiah would be a man of sorrows, acquainted with the bitterest grief.

Many people these days live with psychological trauma. Many people struggle with the yawning chasm of loneliness. Many are exhausted by anxiety and the toll of emotional pain and grief. Perhaps you can identify with Jesus in this way.

The Spirit of Jesus intercedes for us with groans and sighs too deep for words.

The cross of Jesus has a global dimension as well. You see, Jesus was innocent. The accusations against him were false. Jesus did not deserve to die. Through the cross, Jesus stands in solidarity with all those who suffer injustice, wherever they are in the world.

There are many in this world who suffer injustice. The people of Ukraine are hanging on the cross of war, through no fault of their own. Millions of people hang on a cross of slavery and unfair trade. Millions more find themselves on the cross of abuse or poverty, not by their own choice but by the callousness and greed of others. 

Isaiah said of the Christ: A bent reed he will not break and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out till he leads justice to victory. The justice Jesus will bring to the earth is global, reaching every corner of the earth. And it is a justice that restores.

The fourth aspect of the cross, we are thinking of today, is the physical dimension. Jesus suffered in his body. He was beaten, scourged and crucified. He was thirsty too, after having lost so much blood. The physical pain Jesus endured is unimaginable.

We are coming through a global pandemic. But even without the pandemic, many in our world suffer sickness in other forms and are feeling the pain of hunger and thirst in their bodies.

The prophet Isaiah said of the Messiah: by his stripes we are healed. The healing in view here is both physical and spiritual. Jesus’ suffering is the source of our ultimate healing and wholeness.

Our environment is suffering too. Deforestation, global warming, extreme weather events, dirty water, plastic in our oceans and our food chain. The whole planet is physically sick. Jesus came to make all things new. ‘All things’ includes the whole of creation, not just human beings.

The cross of Christ has relational, psychological, global and physical implications for all people everywhere.

I invite you to take some time now to pray into these four areas.

Examples of things you could include, in your prayer, in relation to each of the four dimensions of the cross…

Relational: What things do you need to ask God’s forgiveness for? Who do you need to forgive or make peace with? Pray for God’s grace to forgive.

Psychological: Pray for someone you know whose mental health is suffering. Pray for people who are lonely. Pray for those who are suffering the grief of losing a loved one. Pray for those who are overly anxious or afraid.

Global: Pray for those who are suffering some form of injustice. E.g. Unfair trade / modern day slaves, the poor, survivors of abuse, refugees displaced by war or famine, the people of Ukraine, etc.  

Physical: Pray for the healing of our bodies and our environment. Pray for someone you know personally who is unwell. Pray for an end to the Covid pandemic.

Tawa Baptist

Care

Scripture: 1st Thessalonians 5:12-22

Video Link: https://youtu.be/p9_RXHv8CM8

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Respect your leaders (12-13)
  • Care for the needy (14-15)
  • Discern God’s will (16-22)
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Can you remember the first time you left home? Maybe you were going away on a school camp for a week, or perhaps you were going overseas on an exchange trip or leaving home to go flatting.

In all likelihood one of your parents probably went through a checklist with you. Have you packed your tooth brush? What about your phone charger? Do you have a spare inhaler in case the first one runs out? Make sure you eat properly. Stay away from the boys. Or stay away from the girls. Remember I love you. Stay in touch and call me when you get there. I’m going to miss you.

This is a little ritual that many parents can’t help performing when they send their children into the world. It’s not easy being apart from the people you love. It takes faith.

Today we continue our series in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, by focusing on chapter 5, verses 12-22. In these verses Paul is getting towards the end of the letter and he is preparing to say goodbye.

Before he signs off though, Paul runs through a checklist of things he wants the Thessalonian believers to remember. Paul loves them like family and wants them to be okay in the world without him. From verse 12 of Thessalonians 5 we read… 

12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.  14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.

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

There are lots of things in Paul’s checklist for the Thessalonians. We could summarise them under three sub headings…

In verses 12-13 Paul is appealing to the congregation to respect their leaders.

In verses 14-15 he is urging them to care for the needy.

And in verses 16-22 Paul is instructing the believers to discern God’s will.

Let’s start with respecting your leaders.

Respect your leaders:

Donald McGannon once said, leadership is an action, not a position.

Donald was a broadcasting industry executive. He worked to improve the standards of radio and television broadcasting. Among other things, Don insisted on dropping cigarette advertising, at a time when that was an unpopular thing to do. He was a leader who used his influence for good.

‘Leadership is an action, not a position’, was very much Paul’s view on leadership too. In verse 12 Paul says…   

12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you.

The interesting thing here is that Paul uses verbs (or doing words) to describe the leaders of the congregation in Thessalonica. Having a fancy title doesn’t make you a leader. Rather it is what one does that makes them a leader.

The three things a church leader does: Work hard among the congregation. Care for the congregation and admonish people.   

Working hard for the congregation is about service. Good leadership is servant leadership. Leadership takes time and energy. Not just physical energy but emotional and mental energy as well. It’s not only the long hours, it’s also the weight of responsibility a leader carries.   

A good leader works hard because they really care about the well-being of the people. To care for people means to look after them. Make sure their needs are met.

Fun fact, the Greek word translated as ‘those who care for you’, in verse 12, can also mean ‘those who are over you’, as in those who are in authority over you. So the thought here is of someone who uses their authority to take care of others (as opposed to abusing their authority).

Admonish is a bit of an old fashioned word. To admonish someone is to correct them or to warn them to avoid a certain course of action. Admonishing people is essentially about providing guidance. It can sometimes require having a difficult conversation with others.

Of course, the spirit in which a Christian brother or sister admonishes is one of gentleness and humility. Christ like admonition aims to balance grace and truth. The foundation for admonishing people is the example we set.

When thinking about admonishing we might draw on an image from the sailing world. As John Maxwell says: ‘The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.’

Admonishing people is about adjusting the sails to suit the conditions, so the boat doesn’t capsize or go off course.

In verse 13 Paul says to the Thessalonian congregation, regarding their leaders:   

13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 

In other words, we Christians are to love and respect the leaders among us. Don’t make a leader’s life more difficult through conflict. Nothing will empty a leader of their joy more quickly than having to sort out strife. Support the leaders among you, not with flattery or empty words, but by living in peace with each other. Get along together.

Kiwi culture is relatively egalitarian and independent. Kiwi culture, generally speaking, is not naturally inclined to respect those in leadership. Our wider society suffers from tall poppy syndrome. We, in New Zealand, have a tendency to cut our leaders down, (although one would hope this does not apply so much in the church).

But if you think it through, it is in everyone’s interest to support and respect good leaders because, by Paul’s definition, they are the ones doing most of the heavy lifting. They are the ones trimming the sails and keeping the boat afloat. They are the ones caring for you and looking out for your interests.

To show contempt for our leaders is like poisoning the water upstream. It just makes everyone sick.

So that’s the first thing, respect your leaders. Paul’s next piece of advice is, care for the needy.

Care for the needy:

From verse 14 we read… 

14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

The first thing we notice here is that Paul is addressing everyone in the church, not just the leaders. So everyone in the congregation has a responsibility for pastoral care. We must all be our brother or sister’s keeper. 

In this verse Paul identifies three types of needy persons: those who are idle and disruptive, those who are disheartened and the weak.

The Greek word translated as ‘idle & disruptive’ is ataktos, which literally means ‘out of line’. It originally referred to a soldier who was out of line or slacking off and not following orders. A soldier who is idle and disruptive puts the lives of his platoon at risk. He is a danger to everyone.

There were, apparently, some in the church at Thessalonica who were freeloading off the goodwill of others and not pulling their weight. Paul’s message to them (as we find out in his second letter to the Thessalonians) was, ‘if you don’t work, you don’t eat’.

This may seem a little uncaring of Paul, but it was actually the most caring thing to do. The idle and disruptive were busy bodies, gossips, meddling in other people’s business and generally making things worse. They needed a more positive and constructive occupation for their time, both for their own well-being and for the well-being of the whole community. 

In caring for others we need to avoid creating dependencies. Wise care doesn’t mean doing everything for someone. That is a short cut to resentment for the carer. Wise care motivates people to do for themselves what they can.

The second type of needy person, Paul mentions, are those who are disheartened. The disheartened are sad and need to be encouraged.

We are not exactly sure why some were disheartened. Perhaps they had been worn down by the constant criticism and opposition of their pagan neighbours. Or maybe they were grieving the loss of loved ones. Whatever the reason, they needed the courage to carry on in the Christian faith and not give up.

We give courage to people, partly by the positive things we say, but mostly by staying close to them. Committing to them. Being present with them so they do not become lonely. Because it is when we feel like we are on our own, in our faith, that we are most vulnerable to losing heart and giving up.

In the Old Testament story of Ruth, Naomi had become disheartened. Naomi’s husband and two sons had died. In her sadness she had lost hope and become bitter. But Naomi’s daughter-in-law, Ruth, made a commitment to stay with Naomi whatever happened. ‘Your people will be my people and your God will be my God. Wherever you go I will go there with you.’

God used Ruth’s commitment to redeem the situation and restore Naomi’s faith and hope. There is strength in friendship and community.

The third type of needy person are those who are weak. Again, we can’t be sure who the weak refer to. Maybe Paul means those who are morally weak, who are vulnerable to temptation in some way. Or perhaps the weak are those who are a bit timid or afraid. Either way they needed help.

Interestingly, the Greek word translated as help, literally means to cling to or to cleave. In other words, we are to help the weak by holding on to them, supporting them, holding their hand as it were, giving them security.

Whether someone is needy or not, we are to be patient with everyone. To be ‘patient’ here means to have a long fuse or to be long suffering. It is part of our Christian discipleship to go the distance with people and not give up on others who we may find annoying or frustrating or slow to learn.

Patience is one of the key characteristics of love. Love is patient, love is kind… Paul is giving us a picture here of what love looks like. In verse 15 he says…

15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

Paul is echoing the words of Jesus who said (in Matthew 5)…

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.

Both Paul and Jesus’ words here don’t just apply to fellow believers within the church. This teaching applies to our relationship with people outside the church as well. This is not easy to do. We need God’s grace.

It might help for us to remember that someone who does us wrong, isn’t necessarily an evil person. They are more likely a needy person.

Hurt people, hurt people. Do you get what I’m saying there? If someone hurts you, there’s a good chance they are acting out of their own hurt. They may want you to understand their pain and the injustice they have suffered. While their behaviour is unacceptable and wrong, they need healing, not more hurt.

Some of you may remember a story I told of Robyn some years ago. When Robyn was pregnant with our eldest daughter, a boy in her class lost his temper and punched her in the stomach.

When I heard about it my blood boiled. But Robyn put herself in this boy’s shoes. She understood that life wasn’t easy for him at home. She didn’t take it personally. She instinctively knew he was acting out of his own hurt and what he needed most was to be shown love. And so, when he had calmed down, she gave him hug. She had no problems with him after that.     

Hurt people, hurt people. This doesn’t necessarily explain all bad behaviour, but it does remind us to put ourselves in other people’s shoes. Which I think is what Paul is asking us to do in these verses.    

Do you have someone needy in your life?

Are they disruptive and in need of something meaningful to do?

Are they disheartened and in need of your encouragement and companionship?

Are they weak and in need of support?

Are they annoying, do they press your buttons. Do they need your patience?

Are they hurt and in need of healing and grace? 

How might you care for them? What is in your power to do?

I say, ‘what is in your power to do’, because I’m talking to a room full of people who I know do care for the needy and I don’t want you to feel guilty about what is not in your power to do. There is no end of need in this world but there is an end to our energy and resources.

Alongside caring for others, we also need to take care of ourselves. So exercise wisdom and know that God’s grace is sufficient for you.  

Respect your leaders, care for the needy and discern God’s will.

Discern God’s will:

From verse 16 Paul gives us a cluster of imperatives (instructions), in rapid succession, which seem to be about discerning God’s will and walking in it. Paul writes…  

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.

This topic of discerning God’s will, probably deserves its own sermon series. We don’t have time to explore every knook and crany now but Paul does give us some very helpful tools for situating ourselves in the path of God’s will.

Firstly, he says: Rejoice always. My initial reaction to this is, ‘yea, right’. It doesn’t seem realistic to always rejoice. There are times when we can easily celebrate but other times when rejoicing goes against the grain. So discernment is called for.

If someone does an illegal manoeuvre in their car, we don’t need to say, ‘Thank you Jesus for dangerous drivers. I really enjoy stress’. You don’t have to jump for joy if you get Covid. Nor do you need to put on a happy face if you lose someone or something you love.

I don’t think Paul is suggesting we pretend to be something we are not. He is not saying we should deny our feelings or our circumstances. You see, Paul’s instructions to 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, [and] 18 give thanks in all circumstances; are not independent of each other, they go together.

The chapter and verse numbering we have in our Bibles was never in the original text. The numbering was added centuries later to help us find our place. Unfortunately, the demarcation of verses sometimes has the effect of distorting the meaning of Scripture.

The instruction to rejoice always goes hand in hand with praying and giving thanks. Keeping those three together, the message is: discern God’s hand for good in your daily life and talk to him about it. Thank him for the good.  

So, for example, if someone cuts you off on the motorway, once you have recovered from the shock, you might see and appreciate how God prevented an accident and give thanks that no one was hurt. You might also pray for the other driver.

Or, if you lose someone you love, then you might tell God how you are feeling (in prayer) and thank him for the good times you had with that person, taking comfort in the hope that, through faith in Jesus’ resurrection, you will see them again one day.  

In reality, getting to a place where we can truly rejoice and thank God is a process. And we call that process prayer. Prayer isn’t just chatting to God. Prayer also includes times of weeping, times of silence and stillness, times of sacred reading and reflection.     

Praying continually then, is about remaining open to God’s presence and activity in our lives, 24-7. So whatever may happen, whether it seems good to us or not, we are looking for God in it.

It’s not that we always get an answer or understand why things unfold the way they do. It’s more that we recognise we are not alone, that God is with us and for us, working it all for good. And that is something we can rejoice in and give thanks for without having to fake it.  

In verse 19 Paul says: Do not quench the Spirit. This is connected to what has gone before and what follows.

It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to discern God’s will. The Spirit reveals the truth to us. The Spirit intercedes (or prays) for us continually and enables us to see God’s hand for good in all circumstances so that we can rejoice and give thanks with sincere hearts.   

The Spirit also gives prophecy. Now when we hear the word prophecy we might think of someone predicting the future. There can be a future element to prophecy but more often prophecy is a message from God about the present.

You might sense God speaking to you through something in a worship service, like the sermon or a prayer or the words of a song or if someone shares something spontaneous.

But words of prophecy (little messages from God) can also come to us through conversation with others. This can happen when we are not expecting it. In fact, the person we are talking with may not even be aware of the significance of what they are saying.   

Paul’s advice is to have a thoughtful and measured response to prophecy, not a knee jerk reaction. If we think God might be saying something to us, then we need to test it to discern whether it is in fact from God. If the message is consistent with the teaching of Jesus, if it is edifying and helpful to ourselves and others, and if fellow believers concur, then it probably is from God.

Whatever we are presented with, we are to discern the kernel of truth and discard the husk. We are hold to what is good and reject every kind of evil.   

Conclusion:

We have heard today Paul’s advice to respect our leaders, care for the needy and discern God’s will. There is a smorgasbord of wisdom in these verses. What is God saying to us collectively? What is God saying to you personally?

Let us pray…

Lord Jesus Christ, you are the good shepherd. You lead and guide, you care and provide. Give us wisdom and grace to help the needy, without neglecting ourselves. Give us eyes to see God’s fingerprints in our lives and discernment to walk in God’s will. For your name’s sake. 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 did Paul define leadership? What three things does a leader do?
  • Why does Paul instruct the congregation to respect their leaders? How do we respect our leaders?
  • Do you have someone needy in your life? What is their need? How can you best care for them? What is in your power to do?
  • What does it mean to rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances?  Can you think of examples from your own life of how to apply these instructions? 
  • How can we discern God’s activity in our lives? How can we know when God is speaking to us?   
Tawa Baptist

Long View

Scripture: 1st Thessalonians 5:1-11

Video Link: https://youtu.be/N0JwN1MmGmc

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Take a long view
  • Be prepared
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

As many of you know there is a residential care facility (a home) for older people at the southern end of Tawa called Longview. Originally it was a facility for people who were blind.  

When you sit in one of the north facing lounges, the name makes sense. Situated as it is, on a hill, you can see right down the valley. You do in fact get a long view, as the name suggests.

Thinking metaphorically, the term long view describes an approach to a problem or situation that emphasises long range factors.

People who save for their retirement take a long view of their life.

People who plant native trees strategically, take a long view of the environment.

A government that invests wisely in education is taking a long view of the country’s future.

We can take a long view of the Covid pandemic by reminding ourselves that these sorts of things come around every 100 years or so and normally run their course after 3 or 4 years.

Today we continue our series in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, focusing on chapter 5, verses 1-11. Last week we heard how Paul reassured the Thessalonian believers who were concerned about those who died before Jesus’ second coming. Paul said they would not be disadvantaged in any way.

This week’s passage continues the theme of Jesus’ second coming with the same tone of reassurance. In these verses Paul encourages the Thessalonians to take a long view and to be prepared. From chapter 5, verse 1 we read…      

Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labour pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 

7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

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

Paul is using a lot of metaphors in these verses. If we boil it all down though, his message seems to be that when it comes to waiting for Jesus to return, we need to take a long view and we need to be prepared.

Or said another way, taking a long view helps us to be prepared for Christ’s return.   

Take a long view:

The Bible thinks of history in two ages or two epochs. The first epoch of history is the present age, which is characterised by evil. And the second epoch we might call the Messianic age, which is characterised by the reign of King Jesus.

Paul uses the metaphor of night and day (darkness and light) to describe these two ages. The present age is like night time and the Messianic age is like the new day.   

There is an overlap between the present age of darkness and the Messianic age of light. The Messianic age started with Jesus’ coming 2000 years ago and will continue eternally. The present age is still going but will eventually come to an end with the return of Jesus.

We live in the overlap between Jesus’ first coming and his second coming. During this time of overlap, the Kingdom of God is sometimes described as ‘now but not yet’. Or, ‘now, but not fully realised’.

We might catch glimpses of heaven on earth but generally speaking this world (the time in which we live) is a bit of a mixed bag really. The best is yet to come for those who are in Christ.

The point at which Jesus returns and the present age ends is sometimes called the Day of the Lord.

In verses 2-3 Paul writes…

2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labour pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

‘The day of the Lord’ is a phrase borrowed from the Old Testament. It describes a period of time (not necessarily 24 hours) in which God intervenes in human history to save and to judge.

So the day of the Lord is both a day of salvation and a day of judgment. A day of deliverance for some but also a day of destruction for others. Like when God saved the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. That was a time of deliverance for Israel, but a time of death and destruction for Egypt.

Or going back further to the time of the great flood. That was a time when God intervened to judge the people of the earth for their evil deeds. But it was also the beginning of a new day, a new start for creation, with Noah and his family. 

Paul’s words, in these opening verses from Thessalonians 5, echo the words of Christ. Jesus talked about his return coming like a thief in the night. No one knows the day or the hour. 

There are two images in these verses; that of a thief and that of a pregnant woman. Burglars don’t make an appointment to rob people’s houses. So the image of a thief tells us that Jesus’ second coming will happen at a time when people least expect it. It will take people by surprise.

The image of a pregnant woman adds a different nuance. Labour pains, for a pregnant woman, are expected. They are certain and unavoidable. When a woman is heavily pregnant there is no turning back. The baby has to come out one way or another.

Put the two images together and the thought is: the day of the Lord (when Jesus returns) will certainly happen (no one can escape it) but it will happen at a time when no one expects.

Now, this idea that the day of the Lord means salvation for some people and destruction for others can be a little unsettling. It raises the question, what will happen to me and the people I love? Because you don’t want to be on the wrong side of the Lord when he returns.

Both John the Baptist and Jesus preached a message of repentance. They said, the day of the Lord is certainly coming and so you need to get your life in order. You need to make sure that your hearts and minds and way of living are acceptable to God, so that you are not destroyed along with evil.   

But Paul’s purpose is not to frighten the Thessalonians. His purpose is to encourage them. They were persecuted. They were getting a hard time from their pagan neighbours. Paul is not telling the believers to repent. They have already done that. He is reminding them to take a long view of history.    

The fact that the day of the Lord is certainly coming is a comfort to the beleaguered church. It means they will be delivered from the pagans who are treating them unfairly.

It’s like that famous line preached by Martin Luther King: The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. That’s good news if you are oppressed. But it’s bad news for the oppressors.

From verse 4 Paul reassures the Thessalonian believers that they are on the right side of the Lord…

4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.

For those who are in Christ, the day of the Lord is not like a thief. Rather Jesus’ return is like the dawn of a new day.

Paul says: you are all children of the light and children of the day. ‘Light’ is an image for God. Paul is saying you are all children of God. To be a child of God is to belong to God’s family and to get our identity from Him. To bear his image.  

The word ‘day’ in these verses refers to the new day, the new epoch, the Messianic age, when the kingdom of God is realised in its fullness. To be ‘children of the day’, therefore, means that anyone who is in Christ belongs to the Messianic age and will not be destroyed.  

Paul is comforting the Thessalonians by showing them a long view of history. Taking a long view helps us to be prepared.   

Be prepared:

The Thessalonians are children of the day in more than name only. Being children of the day carries with it a responsibility to conduct ourselves in a way that is appropriate to daytime behaviour. From verse 6 we read… 

 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober,

Once again Paul is using metaphors or word images to get his idea across. It’s not that the Thessalonians were alcoholics. They did not need to be reprimanded about their drinking habits.

When a person is drunk they are not in control of themselves. By saying, don’t be like those who get drunk and fall asleep, but be sober and awake, Paul is saying exercise self-control.

We can’t control what other people do, nor can we control when the Lord will return. The best we can do is control ourselves so we are prepared for Jesus’ coming.

Getting drunk is also about excess. So the idea here is to avoid excess of any kind (not just excess alcohol). As we wait in the overlap, the now but not yet, we want to live a balanced life.

On one level, living a balanced life is about making sure our rhythms of work, play and sleep are in order. Making sure we pay attention to the needs of our body and soul. Looking after ourselves. Building fun and enjoyment into our lives and not always being a slave to duty. Making sure we get the mix of solitude and social interaction right for our personality and stage of life. 

On another level, living a balanced life is about managing our thoughts and feelings and not becoming too fixated on just one thing. Children of the light avoid getting stuck in a rut with the same old patterns of thought.

When Paul says, don’t be asleep but be awake, he is talking figuratively. He doesn’t mean we should not get a good night’s sleep. He means, be prepared for Christ’s coming. (Incidentally, good rhythms of literal sleep actually support us to be awake and prepared.)

I like Gordon Fee’s turn of phrase in relation to these verses. He says (and I paraphrase), being prepared is not about living up-tightly but living uprightly. [1]   

Did you get that? Being prepared is not about living up-tightly but living uprightly. If we are always on edge, thinking: ‘I must be good, I must be good. Jesus could comeback at any moment. I don’t want to be left behind’, then we will end up having a nervous breakdown.

There is enough anxiety in the world without adding to it. Paul doesn’t want the Thessalonians to be fearful or uptight. He is well aware of the present difficulties they are facing and, with that in mind, he is urging them to be prepared; to live righteously and without fear of what the future holds.

Getting prepared for the day of the Lord is not something we can leave to the last minute. John Stott offers some helpful illustrations for guiding our understanding of what it means to be prepared…

It’s too late to prepare for an exam at the moment the exam paper is set in front of you. You have to put in hours of study before that.  Likewise, it is too late to prepare for a marathon when the starting pistol goes off. It takes months of training and discipline to get ready for a marathon.

And, living in Wellington, we might add: it is too late to prepare for an emergency when the earthquake strikes. You need to have your emergency water supply and canned foods in place before that happens.

In verse 8 Paul brings out another metaphor for how believers are to prepare for Jesus’ return, saying…

8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.

The first thing we notice here is the triad of faith, love and hope. Paul had talked about these three at the beginning of his letter. Faith, love and hope are at the core of what it means to be a follower of Christ. 

Paul uses this image of Christians equipping themselves for spiritual battle in a couple of other letters as well. Most likely he is drawing on Isaiah 59 where the Lord God (Yahweh) dresses himself in military armour as he sets out to achieve justice in the world.

A breastplate protects your heart and a helmet protects your head. They are defensive, not offensive. Paul is not encouraging the Thessalonians to attack their enemies. He is encouraging them to be prepared for when they come under attack.

Living in the overlap is a dangerous place to be, spiritually speaking. We might not suffer persecution like the Thessalonians, but the world in which we live is not altogether friendly to the followers of Christ either.

What then does it mean to put on the armour of faith, love and hope. Well, armour doesn’t put itself on. It’s not like Iron Man’s suite of armour which automatically wraps itself around Robert Downey Junior. To get dressed in military equipment we must be intentional. It won’t happen by itself.

One tried and true method by which Christians have equipped themselves with faith, love and hope is something called a rule of life. A rule of life is a schedule or rhythm of practices that one carries out each day and each week.

This rule of life is designed to train our bodies and our minds to be more like Christ. You might tailor your rule of life to suit your spiritual needs or the shape of your soul, much like a personal trainer at the gym might tailor a work-out programme to meet your fitness goals.  

A rule of life could include things like starting each day with prayer and Bible reading.

Taking one day off in seven to rest and worship.

Drinking alcohol in moderation or not drinking at all.

Opening your home in hospitality to others on a regular basis.

Ending each day by writing in your thankfulness journal.

Not having any screen time 2 hours before going to sleep at night. 

Getting 40 minutes of physical exercise each day.

Taking half an hour to be completely still and silent, three or four times a week.

Meeting weekly with other believers to pray and share and study the Bible.

Some form of service to the community.

Devoting a certain percentage of your income in worship to God.

Trying not to work more than 50 hours a week in your paid job.

And, if you are married, setting aside regular time to listen to your spouse

And, if you have children in your life, reading to them.   

The thing about a rule of life is that you follow the rule even when you don’t feel like it, so that you develop moral and spiritual fitness. In this way we are prepared for being at odds with the world and we are ready for Jesus’ return. 

Whatever your rule of life is, it needs to include times and places when you can take your armour off and relax a bit. We each need to find sanctuary, or safety, with other believers, when we can let down our guard and allow others in.  

Do you have an intentional rule of life? If you don’t, then make it your goal this week to develop a plan for one. 

Now, please don’t feel burdened by this. That was never Paul’s intention. To the contrary, Paul was wanting to lighten the Thessalonians’ burden (and ours) by encouraging us to take a long view and by reminding us that our salvation does not depend entirely on us.

From verse 9 Paul says…

9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.

We might hear the word wrath and immediately alarm bells go off so that we don’t hear what follows. But if we pay attention to what Paul is saying, the main thought is that our salvation does not depend on our performance or the shifting sands of our feelings. It depends on God.

Our salvation is by God’s initiative and through Jesus’ sacrifice. Therefore, we don’t have to live up-tightly, we are free to live uprightly.

With the phrase, God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, we need to be careful not to take Paul’s words in a direction he never intended. It is not that we human beings have no choice in the matter. It’s not that God chooses for some people to suffer wrath and others to be saved.

God wants all people to be saved but, at the same time, he respects the choices people make, even if that choice is to reject him.

Like I’ve said in other sermons, God’s wrath is not an emotional or uncontrolled flare up of anger. God’s wrath is measured and fair. God’s wrath is his settled and righteous opposition to evil.

God’s love means that he cannot tolerate evil indefinitely. The long view is that, ultimately, God intends to destroy evil. That is good news. God is the one who bends the arc of the moral universe toward justice.

The words in verse 10, about being awake or asleep, are metaphors for being alive or dead when Christ returns. They refer back to the concerns Paul dealt with at the end of chapter 4. For believers, it makes little difference whether we are alive or dead at Jesus’ second coming, for we will all be reunited with him.

Conclusion:

Paul finishes this section of his letter by saying…

11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 

This tells us that Paul’s purpose in sharing this stuff about the Day of the Lord is not to scare people but to give believers courage to carry on.

Life was tough for the Thessalonians because they identified with Jesus. It was important that they looked out for one another and had each other’s backs.

Life is tough for us at times too. Not in the same way exactly, but it can still be a grind as we wait for our salvation to be realised in its fullness. The opposition we face today is perhaps more subtle, less overt.

In any case, it is important that we look out for each other too. To do this we need keep in touch with one another regularly and not neglect meeting together. But I hardly need to tell you to build each other up with kind words and expressions of trust, for you are already doing that.

Let us pray…

Almighty God, you see the beginning from the end. Thank you for including us in your plan of salvation. Thank you for the forgiveness that is ours through faith in Christ. Grant us the grace to take the long view that we would be prepared when Jesus returns. Help us to live uprightly, not up-tightly. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. 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 it mean to take a long view? When is it helpful to take a long view?
  • What is the day of the Lord?  How does the day of the Lord make you feel? (E.g. comforted or full of dread, or indifferent, or something else.) Why is that do you think?
  • Discuss / reflect on the two epochs / ages of history. How might this long view of history shape our thinking and behaviour in the present?
  • What practical things can we do to be prepared for Jesus’ return? Do you have an intentional rule of life? If so, what is your rule of life? If not, how might you go about developing a rule of life? 
  • Why did Paul write about the Day of the Lord (Jesus’ second coming) in his letter to the Thessalonians?
  • How might we encourage one another and build each other up, as Paul instructs in verse 11?  

[1] Gordon Fee’s NICNT The First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians, page 200. 

Tawa Baptist

Reassurance

Scripture: 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18

Video Link: https://youtu.be/VnfIyKKRv9g

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Reassurance
  • Resurrection
  • Reunion
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Some of you may have heard of the word Parousia. Parousia is a Greek word. It has two meanings: presence and coming. In Christian theology the Parousia refers to the second coming of Jesus.

Christians believe that Jesus will return again one day. This belief is based on various Biblical prophecies. 

Today we continue our series in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, focusing on chapter 4, verses 13-18. In this passage, and the verses that follow in chapter 5 (which we will look at next week), Paul addresses some concerns relating to the Parousia, Jesus’ second coming. From verse 13 of chapter 4 we read…  

13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of humankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.  15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

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

The topic of the Parousia, and end times generally, is often seen as complicated and contentious, with a wide variety of differing opinions and interpretations. But today’s Scripture reading is relatively simple and straight forward and doesn’t need to be complicated by speculation.

Three words to give you a handle on what’s important here: reassurance, resurrection and reunion. Let’s start with reassurance.

Reassurance:

Reassurance is the action of removing someone’s doubts and fears.

If your friend is worried about having bad breath, then you might provide reassurance by giving them a mint and telling them their breath smells fine.

Likewise, if someone close to you is worried about something they’ve said and whether it might have been taken the wrong way, you can reassure them by saying, ‘no one will be thinking about what you said’.

Or, if your kids are afraid of the dark, you might reassure them by leaving a night light on and saying, ‘There’s nothing in the dark that isn’t there in the light.’

We reassure people by taking away their fear and doubt.

We often need reassurance at times of transition in our lives. Starting school. leaving school. Starting a new job. Getting married. Shifting towns. Retiring. And when we lose someone we love.   

Paul had told the Thessalonians about Jesus’ second coming but, in the time Paul had been away, some of the believers in Thessalonica had died. And so the question, the concern, the doubt, the fear rose in their mind: what happens to them? If a believer dies before Jesus returns, will they miss out? Will they be left behind? Would they ever see their loved ones again?

Verse 13 and verse 18, which frame today’s passage, set out Paul’s purpose of reassuring the Thessalonian believers who were grieving the loss of people who had died. Paul is basically saying, it’s going to be okay. Those who pass away before the Parousia won’t be left behind. You Thessalonians will see your loved ones again. In verse 13 Paul writes…

13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of humankind, who have no hope. 

Grief creates a vacuum or a hole in our lives into which fear, worry and doubt can creep. But with the right kind of reassurance (based on truth) the hole can be filled with faith, hope and love. The truth sets people free from their fears, worries and doubts and it allows faith hope and love to grow.

Most people in the ancient world faced death with utter despair and powerlessness. Pagans believed death was the end, it was final. No more. And so their grief was heavy indeed.

But Christians have a different belief system. To the Christian mind, physical death is not final, it is not the end. Paul uses sleep as a euphemism for death because sleep is temporary. After sleep there is an awakening. And, after a good sleep, you feel better.   

Some people over the centuries have read into these verses an idea known as soul sleep. Soul sleep is the theory that when a person dies their soul sleeps in death while their physical body decomposes. Then, when Jesus returns, their soul is woken up and they are given a new body. It’s an interesting idea but it’s not without its problems. 

There are lots of theories about what happens to people in the time between them dying and Jesus returning. The Bible is not all that clear about the specifics so we should hold these theories very loosely.

The truth is, we don’t know exactly what the experience of death is like. That is not revealed to us in this life. We do know that we come from God and we return to God. That means when we die, God looks after us, so we couldn’t be in better hands.

In any case, we can say with some confidence that Paul’s intention here is not to speculate on what happens to a person between their death and Jesus’ return. Paul’s focus, in these verses, is what happens when Jesus comes back at the Parousia.         

What’s more, in verse 13, Paul is not saying that Christians cannot or should not grieve. Rather he is saying that Christian grief is qualitatively different from pagan grief because Christians have hope. Hope is the belief that something good waits for us in the future.

So, while it is painful to lose someone we love, we believe that loss is not permanent. Christian hope (in the face of death) provides an anti-inflammatory for grief. It still hurts when someone dies and we need to acknowledge our grief, but we are comforted by hope at the same time.

Resurrection:

The thing is, for reassurance to work, it has to be true. Reassurance which is made up or fake is not reassurance at all. And that’s where Jesus’ resurrection comes in. In verse 14 Paul writes…

14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 

Belief in Jesus’ death and resurrection is foundational to Christian faith. Pretty much everything Christians believe hinges on a belief in Jesus’ death and bodily resurrection.

If we don’t believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, then we have no basis for believing that he will raise us or anyone else from the dead. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is the basis of our assurance. Jesus’ resurrection is the first fruits or the deposit, if you like, guaranteeing the resurrection of those who believe in him.

If you want to fly on a plane, from one place to another, you need to buy a ticket on-line. Then, once you get to the airport, you have to get your boarding pass. The boarding pass guarantees your seat on the plane.

Jesus’ death & resurrection buys us a ticket on the plane to God’s kingdom. We don’t have to pay for the ticket, Jesus has already done that. But we do need to get our boarding pass. Believing in Jesus’ death and resurrection is how we collect our boarding pass.  

So the question is: do you have your boarding pass? Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus?

From verse 15 of Thessalonians 4, Paul continues…

15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 

The Thessalonians were afraid that those who had died believing in Jesus would miss out when Jesus returned in glory. Paul is saying here, ‘No, they won’t miss out. The dead in Christ are not disadvantaged in any way. Those who have fallen asleep (or died) in Christ will be resurrected when Jesus returns.’

If you fall asleep when you are on the plane, that’s okay. You will still end up in the right location and you will wake up when the plane lands. 

The Thessalonians can trust this reassurance because this is according to the Lord’s word.  It comes from Jesus, so it’s true.  

Earlier in the service we heard a reading from Matthew 24. In that passage Jesus explains what happens at his second coming and the lead up to it. Jesus says that false Messiahs will appear but we should pay no attention to them. From verse 27 of Matthew 24 we read…   

27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 29 “Immediately after the distress of those days

“‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ 30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earthwill mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

It is pretty clear that Paul is getting his description of the Parousia from Jesus.

Three things we note about Jesus’ second coming. It is universal, it is unmistakable and it is personal. 

By universal we mean the Parousia is not localised to a particular area. It is everywhere. So it’s not like people in New Zealand are going to miss out because Jesus decides to return in the Middle East.

By unmistakable we mean you can’t miss Jesus’ second coming. It won’t be like Jesus’ first coming when he was born in a manger and only a handful of people got to see him. No. Jesus’ second coming will be clearly visible to everyone.

And by personal we mean the angels will gather those who belong to Jesus wherever they are in the world. No believer left behind.  

Now, the reflex of our 21st Century scientific minds is to ask, how is that even possible? Well, nothing is impossible for God.

If it helps, keep in mind that Jesus (and Paul) are probably using a certain degree of poetic license to describe a spiritual event. So we need to avoid interpreting these words with a crude literalism. There is a mystery to this which calls for humility. We don’t know what we don’t know.    

Rather than asking, how is the second coming even possible? We would be better to ask, am I ready for Jesus to come again?

Some of you may have heard of a series of fictional books and movies known as the Left Behind series. In this imagining of the future, Christians are raptured or taken away to be with Jesus and everyone else is left behind in a world that quickly degenerates into chaos.

If you haven’t seen the movies or read the books, then don’t bother. And if you have seen the movies and read the books, then please don’t let that colour your thinking about end times and the Parousia.

Pretty much all the experts say the Left Behind series should be ‘left behind’ because they do not represent a Biblical picture of the second coming. 

When talking about the beginning and end of human history, we need to tread lightly and admit the limits of our knowledge. In his 1949 book Christianity and History, Herbert Butterfield writes…

“We can do worse than remember a principle which both gives us a firm Rock and leaves us the maximum elasticity for our minds: the principle: Hold to Christ, and for the rest be totally uncommitted.”

Holding to Christ necessarily means holding to his death, his resurrection and his return. But the details of how and when that return will happen, we hold loosely. We keep our minds open, elastic, flexible.  

Reunion:

Holding to Christ is precisely what Paul is encouraging the Thessalonians to do. The resurrection of Jesus makes possible the reunion of believers.

In verse 17 of Thessalonians 4, Paul gets to the heart of the matter where he writes…

17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

The key idea here is reunion. Reunion with Jesus and reunion with fellow believers who have passed on. The Thessalonians were worried that those believers who had died would miss out. But no. Paul reassures them with the certain hope of reunion. We will be together with them and with the Lord 

Now, once again, we must be careful not to miss the point. It’s not that we will float in the air on clouds with Jesus forever. A picture of heaven, with people playing harps in the clouds, is exactly the crude literalism we want to avoid.   

In all his letters Paul doesn’t show much interest in the geography or location of heaven. For Paul, heaven is being with Jesus. Eternal life, in the New Testament, is a relationship of intimacy and joy with God.

Grief can do funny things to the mind. I remember losing someone I loved in my 20’s. There was the inevitable sadness and pain of course. But there was also this longing to see them again. Just to be with them.

Once I walked into a bakery to buy some lunch and I saw someone who looked just like the person who had died. For a moment I thought it was them. It was all I could do not to call out their name.  

This person who died, I had witnessed their suffering when they were alive and just needed to know that they were at peace, that they were not suffering in death. I was still sorting through my theology of the afterlife at that point.

When someone dies and we know they are in Christ, we can comfort ourselves with the thought that they are with Jesus now, in a far better place. But it’s not always clear where people stand in relation to Jesus. We don’t know what goes on in another person’s heart. What happens to those who are not in Christ?

In my grief and anxiety for the person I had lost, God (in his grace) reassured me. One night, while I was sleeping, I had a dream in which I met the person who had died. I won’t tell you the details of the dream because it is personal to me and it won’t mean anything to you. But when I woke up and reflected on the dream, somehow I just knew this person was not suffering. And that helped me to move on.   

I know that many of you here have lost people you love and it’s not always clear where they stand with God or whether you will see them again. Some things are beyond our knowing in this life. Some things we just have to leave in God’s hands, trusting him.

We can find reassurance though, through faith and reason. Not by speculating on what we don’t know, but by returning to what we do know. And this is what we do know…

God is love and love never fails. God is just and merciful, patient and kind. The Lord loves all people and indeed all of his creation. It hurts God to see us in pain. Because of God’s character (his goodness and compassion) we can be confident that the Lord will do what is right by our loved ones when they die. 

The truth is, God is looking for ways to be reunited with us. That is why Jesus came to earth in the first place, so that we could be reunited with God and each other. Therefore, we hold to Christ: his death, his resurrection and his return.    

Conclusion:

Let us pray…

Loving Father, we thank you for your goodness and grace. You are our maker and we are your children. When we grieve, reassure us by your presence and with your truth. Fill the vacuum left by our loss with faith, hope and love in Christ. Give us a vision of the risen Jesus, returning in glory, to reunite us with you. 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 reassurance? Can you think of a time when someone gave you reassurance? What happened? How can we reassure others?
  • Why does Paul use sleep as a euphemism for death? How might we face death and grief in a healthy way?  
  • Why is a belief in Jesus’ death and resurrection so important to Christian faith? What do you believe about Jesus’ death and resurrection?
  • What three things do we note about Jesus’ second coming (as described in Matthew 24:27-31)? What reassurance can we take from these three things? 
  • How can we prepare (be ready) for Jesus’ second coming?
  • What can we do to find reassurance when someone we love dies and we are unsure of where they stand with God?
Tawa Baptist

Ethics

Scripture: 1st Thessalonians 4:1-12

Video Link: https://youtu.be/ee3SwLNEkGo

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Sanctification
  • Self-control
  • Social responsibility
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

A few days ago I found a debit card on the ground in Redwood Ave. At first I just walked passed it. I had other things to do. Then, after giving it a bit more thought, I went back and picked it up. What if the card fell into the wrong hands? If it was my eftpos card, I would want someone to return it safely.

I didn’t recognise the name on the card and a quick look on Facebook didn’t reveal any clues, so I took it to the nearest Kiwi Bank, because it was a Kiwi Bank card. They could get it back to the rightful owner.

Ethics. We make ethical decisions all the time. Sometimes the decisions are simple and straight forward, like when you find some lost property. Other times the decisions are more difficult and complex, like whether NATO should try to enforce a no fly zone over the Ukraine.  

Today we continue our series in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, focusing on the first 12 verses of chapter 4. This begins a new section in Paul’s letter in which he talks about Christian ethics; how Christians should behave and conduct themselves. From First Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 1-12 we read…   

As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control your own bodyin a way that is holy and honourable, 5 not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you and warned you before. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit. 9 Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10 And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, 11 and make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

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

For the sake of coherence, here are three S’s to guide our thinking on this passage: sanctification, self-control and social responsibility.

Sanctification is the process of becoming holy. Self-control, in this context, is about managing our own body. And social responsibility is about consideration for other people. Let’s begin with sanctification, the process of becoming holy.

Sanctification:

How is your emergency water supply? Each of us needs to drink about one and half to two litres of water a day. Many of you will have an emergency water tank but, unless you have refilled your tank recently, the water probably isn’t potable, meaning it isn’t fit for drinking.

In an emergency, you would need to boil the water for about 5 minutes or so, to kill any bugs, before drinking it.

By way of analogy, potable water (water that is fit for drinking) is holy. It is clean, pure, good for your wellbeing and therefore set apart for human consumption. Continuing this analogy, the process of boiling the water to make it holy (or drinkable) is sanctification.

Unlike stale water, God doesn’t boil us to make us holy. But he does gently and gradually, over time, remove those attitudes and habits and practices from our lives which make us unhealthy or unsafe to be around. 

Holiness is about wholeness or oneness. 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.

In Leviticus 19 God says to his people: “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy”.

Holiness, therefore, has to do with attitudes and behaviours that are in keeping with God’s own character. And sanctification is the process of becoming more holy, like God.        

In First Thessalonians chapter 4, Paul writes…

As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.

The first thing we note here is Paul’s tone and posture. Paul is not heavy handed or top down when introducing ethical teaching. Paul is not holier than thou. Paul comes alongside in a relational way. He refers to the Thessalonians as his brothers and sisters (his equals).

Notice too how Paul says, we ask you and we urge you in the Lord Jesus…    

This is the language of persuasion, not coercion.

What’s more, Paul does not appeal to his own authority in talking about ethical matters. Paul appeals to divine authority saying…     

 2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified:

In other words, these ethical instructions are not coming from me (a mere human being), they are coming from the Lord himself.

In fact, the Greek word, translated as instructions, carries the nuance of a military command that is carried down a line of soldiers. Paul then is like a fellow soldier, in the trenches, passing on orders from the general.

Another thing I want to draw your attention to in these verses is the idea that sanctification (or becoming holy) is a process. It is not instant or quick. Sanctification takes time.

When Paul says, we instructed you how to live, the word translated as live is literally walk, where walk is a metaphor for one’s lifestyle. The idea of walking suggests steady progress. It implies being on a journey.

As Paul indicates, it is not the first time the Thessalonians have heard these ethical instructions. Paul is recapping, in this letter, some of what he had already covered when he was with them in person. Repetition and reinforcement is part of any process of learning something new.

This idea of process is seen again at the end of verse 1, where Paul urges the Thessalonians to do this more and more. Sanctification, becoming holy, is incremental or step by step.       

On first becoming a Christian we can’t expect to be morally perfect overnight. Nor do we have all the answers on right and wrong. We may slip up from time to time. Two steps forward, one step back sort of thing. That’s okay, so long as we keep moving in the right direction toward holiness, toward Christlikeness. 

Perhaps the most obvious thing to point out, in these first three verses, is that the goal of Christian ethics is to live in a way that pleases God.

Living to please God indicates a dynamic relationship. Christian ethics isn’t just about following a set of rules. It’s more about understanding God’s intent (or the spirit behind the law) so that we can apply the rules in a way that pleases God. To understand God’s intent, you need to have a relationship with him.

Okay, so that’s our first S, sanctification. Our second S is self-control.

Self-control:

Some of you may go to the gym. As part of your gym routine you might do a bit of weight lifting, to build muscle mass and strength and burn some fat. Three things muscles need to grow: nourishment, exercise and rest.

Nourishment is about eating the right kind of foods. Exercise is about using your muscles regularly and carefully. And you need to rest, so that your muscles have a chance to repair. Improving your strength and fitness is a process that requires commitment and discipline in these three areas.

Self-control is like a moral muscle. Self-control enables us to do the heavy lifting of ethics. Three things you need to make your self-control muscles stronger and fitter are nourishment, exercise and rest.

We nourish our self-control by avoiding anything that would tempt us to self-indulgence and feeding our minds with that which supports us to make good choices.

Like Paul said in his letter to the Philippians: Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.

We exercise self-control by showing restraint. Sometimes that means not talking but listening instead. Other times it means being careful about what we eat. Some of you may have given up chocolate or alcohol for Lent.

We might also exercise self-control by counting to ten when we feel angry or taking a walk to calm ourselves down. The exercise of self-control requires self-awareness.

Rest is essential to self-control as well. If we show too much restraint all the time, or if we try and suppress all desire and all enjoyment, then we will only end up doing ourselves harm. Self-control does not mean denying ourselves of every pleasure and never having fun.

Sometimes, as part of a balanced diet, you are allowed to eat cake. Sometimes we need the distraction of watching an uplifting movie. Sometimes it’s okay to have a sleep in. And, in the context of a loving marriage, it is healthy for a husband and wife to enjoy each other’s bodies.

If we are too buttoned down, too rigid all the time, we will end up doing damage to our self-control muscles, like a weight lifter who pushes too hard with their training. 

Returning to Thessalonians; from verse 3 of chapter 4, Paul focuses on one aspect of Christian ethics, namely, sexual ethics. Paul writes…

3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control your own bodyin a way that is holy and honourable,

The main point I want you to see here is that we avoid sexual immorality by learning to control our own body. That is, through developing our self-control.

Now it needs to be said that Christian ethics and sanctification are not solely concerned with sexual matters. Christian ethics covers a whole range of things including money, speech, work, caring for the environment, social justice, discerning when to get involved in geopolitical conflicts, and so on.

So why does Paul want to talk about sexual ethics with the Thessalonians? Well, it’s probably because the society in which the Thessalonians lived was sexually permissive. (Even more permissive than our society.)

For example, the ancient Greeks and Romans didn’t really consider adultery to be a sin. While some husbands and wives were faithful in marriage, many weren’t. It was commonly accepted that a man keep a wife for raising children and looking after the home and keep a mistress for romance and sexual gratification.

The Greeks and the Romans had made a religion out of sex. Temple prostitutes walked the streets plying their trade in the name of Aphrodite and Venus.

One in five people were slaves in the Greco-Roman world. Slaves had almost no rights under law. If a slave owner wanted to sexually exploit a boy or girl in their employment, they could do so freely.

Divorce was also rife in that culture. If a man grew tired of his wife he simply divorced her and found someone else, leaving the first wife destitute.

Incredible harm was caused by this culture of sexual immorality. The Christian ethic of self-control, promoted by Paul, protected everyone, particularly women, children and slaves who were among the most vulnerable.        

You may be wondering, what does Paul mean by sexual immorality? And what does it mean to control your own body in a way that is holy and honourable?

Well, before answering that I need to say this: please hear me as a brother. Hear my heart. I’m not speaking to you as someone who is perfect. I’m in a process of sanctification too. So I speak to you as an equal and as someone who cares about your wellbeing.

For Paul, any sexual activity prohibited by the Law of Moses is immoral.

Basically, when it comes to sex, there are two paths which Paul would have considered holy and honourable. The first path is being single and celibate. (Paul himself walked that path.) And the second is being married and faithful. 

This means, sex outside of marriage is not God’s intention for Christians. Furthermore, it is God’s intention that sex within marriage be consensual, not coerced; self-giving, not selfish; and enjoyable, not something to feel ashamed about.          

Now I realise this teaching, prohibiting sex outside of marriage, may be difficult for some. Life is not easy and we are complex creatures. Each of us comes to this with different experiences. But, whatever our history, we all have desires (whether we want them or not). We all have a need for companionship and intimacy. We all want to feel tenderness and love. God understands that. So, as a brother, let me provide some Biblical nuance to aid our understanding. 

If you have had sex outside of marriage and you are repentant (sorry) about that, then know that God is gracious and compassionate. Failure is not fatal. Jesus forgave the woman caught in adultery and said, ‘Go and sin no more’. Those who are repentant don’t have to carry around a weight of guilt and shame for the rest of their life.

For those who have been sexually abused, please know it is not your fault. You are not to blame. That abuse was never God’s intention for you.

Sexual ethics isn’t just a private personal matter. It is a matter of social justice.  As Paul says in verse 6 of Thessalonians 4, in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord is an avenger in all these things.

That means God understands your hurt (if you have been abused) and he will see that justice is done. The one who harmed you will be held to account.

If you have crossed the line sexually and you don’t feel sorry for it, or don’t think you can help it, then know that God wants more for you than that. As Paul says in verses 7-8: For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.

God gives us his Holy Spirit to help us on the road to holiness; to enable us to make choices which are life-giving to ourselves and others.  

If someone you love is making choices in their sex life that the Bible does not condone and you are concerned for them, then know that God loves them. You don’t have to cure them. Nor do you need to agree with them. Simply seek to listen and understand. Then you will be better able to care for them.

If you are single but don’t want to be, then know you are in good company. Jesus, Paul, the prophet Jeremiah, Mother Theresa and John Stott (among many others) were single and celibate. By God’s grace they redirected their energy in service to God’s call on their life.

Despite being single, none of these people were alone. Each of them had a circle of close friends who helped to meet their needs for companionship and emotional intimacy. 

If you have never crossed the line sexually. If, somehow by God’s grace, you have always controlled your body in a way that is holy and honourable, then respect. Well done. We salute you. But be aware, there may be another area of holiness that God would like you to work on. We are all on a journey.

We have been talking about self-control in the context of sexual ethics. Self-control is the necessary pre-requisite to social responsibility.

Social responsibility:

In verses 9-10 Paul celebrates a different kind of love. Not sexual love, but brotherly love or family love. The Greek word here is Philadelphia, like the city. The kingdom of God is a city of brotherly love.

Loving others like they are our family is the foundation of social responsibility. The church is a spiritual family. You don’t get to choose your family but you still do everything in your power to look after them. It is God’s Spirit in us and among us that enables us to love like this.    

In verses 11-12 Paul enlarges the net of social responsibility to include people outside the church family; people in the wider society who we may interact with. He writes: 11 and make it your ambition to lead a quiet life:

This is a bit of an oxymoron. It’s like saying, and make it your ambition to not be ambitious. I guess the thought is, don’t be greedy, be content.

Paul continues saying, …You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Minding your own business is about exercising self-control in your speech. We need to avoid gossip and take care in how we talk about others. We have a social responsibility to look after other people’s reputation.  

Paul also encourages the Thessalonians to work with their hands. This was a counter cultural thing to say. The Greeks despised manual labour. There’s was not a DIY culture, like we have in New Zealand.

Apparently some in the church at Thessalonica were freeloading, taking advantage of the kindness of other believers. This was not good for anyone. Those who are able to work have a social responsibility to contribute as they can.

More than that, working is good for you. It provides you with a purpose and it keeps you out of trouble. The rhythm of regular work actually supports the process of sanctification and helps with developing self-control.

The Christian faith was brand new in Greece and Macedonia, in the first century. Most people outside the church were unsure of Christianity. By showing themselves to be socially responsible citizens the Thessalonian believers could earn respect and acceptance.

Conclusion:

A point of application for us here is being mindful of how those outside the church perceive us. We don’t want to worry too much about what others think but we do want to walk the talk. Our ethics both personally and publicly need to reflect God’s holiness.

Let us pray…

Holy Spirit, help us in the process of sanctification. Grant us strength when we feel weak, clarity when we feel confused, patience when we feel frustrated by our progress and grace when we stumble. We trust you to complete the work you have begun in us, for Jesus’ sake. 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 you make ethical decisions? Think of an example from your own life?
  • What is sanctification? Why do we need to be holy? What is the goal of Christian ethics?
  • How do we grow our self-control muscles? What practical strategies can we employ? How does self-awareness support self-control?
  • Why does Paul focus on sexual ethics in 1st Thessalonians 4:3-8? What does it mean to control your own body in a way that is holy and honourable? How are Paul’s words, in verses 3-8, relevant for us today?   
  • Discuss / reflect on the various aspects of social responsibility that Paul touches on in verses 9-12.
  • Is there a particular area of sanctification that God’s Spirit is working on, in you, at the moment? How might you cooperate with the Holy Spirit in this area?

Outtake:

Paul doesn’t start his letter with ethics and telling people how to live. He gives the first three chapters to affirming his relationship with the Thessalonians and letting them know how much he misses them and cares for them. So it is in the context of care that Paul by talks about right conduct.