Author: Wes White

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Always Doing Good (Acts 9:36–43)

[Listen to an audio version here]

It’s easy to look at the great figures of history and see what they’ve accomplished and think that our lives are insignificant. Who are we in the light of such great people? Who are we in light of David? Or Moses? Or Paul? Or Peter?

Well, God may not call us to preach to thousands, to conquer kingdoms, to liberate a nation, or to plant churches, but that doesn’t mean that we have no purpose. This month, I want to highlight from the book of Acts several people who demonstrate the variety of ways in which we can participate in God’s redemptive plan and make an impact in the world that lasts for eternity.

Today, we begin with a woman named Tabitha. I want you to see what she did and the effects of what she did.

What She Did
We meet Tabitha in the context of Peter’s travels. God was getting his Apostles out into the world, and they were beginning to travel and make an impact in the world. They were beginning to see that they had to put the new wine into the new wine skins. They were leaving behind the old wine skins of the religious practices of the elders and even of the Old Testament. They were good for the time, but now the Gospel was going worldwide. Things had to change.

We see this change in the fact that Peter stayed with Simon the tanner. Because Simon worked with dead animals, he was “unclean” and would have had to stay outside the city gates. The fact that Peter stayed with him was evidence that his views were changing. This would be made explicit in his encounter with Cornelius in chapter 10. I encourage you to read it.

When Peter came to Joppa, our text tells us that there was a disciple named Tabitha. A disciple is a student or follower. Those who follow Jesus are those who listen to what He teaches and then seek to imitate Him and live by His teachings. In those days, a student would literally follow their teacher around listening to his teachings. Today, disciples listen to Jesus’ Word in the Bible and seek to put it into practice in their lives.

Tabitha was a woman who was “always doing good.” Here is the goal of the Christian, to be a person who is always doing good. In this way, Tabitha was and we can be disciples of Jesus. Peter describes Jesus as one who “went around doing good” (Acts 10:38). Those who go around doing good are like Jesus. That’s why Paul says that we are called as disciples to do good. He says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:9–10).

The text points us to the object of these good works. She was “always helping the poor” (Acts 9:36). Why was she doing this? She did it because this was Jesus’ agenda. Jesus wanted her to make the poor a priority. Here is what Jesus said:

When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous (Luke 14:12–14).

Tabitha took this to heart and made helping the widow and the orphan her priority. We should, too.

What did doing good to the poor look like? The sad thing was that Tabitha had died just as Peter arrived. When Peter went and saw her where they had lain her body, “All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that [Tabitha] had made while she was still with them” (Acts 9:39). This was the sort of good thing that Tabitha had done for the poor.

And this gives us an idea of how we can be partners with God in the work of redemption. We can do good. We can give our money, time, and resources to do good unto others.

What does this look like today? It may mean that we see a need in someone’s house and work on it with them, as Live It does all over this county. It may mean that we speak to people in our neighborhood, giving of our time. It may mean we get involved in civic organizations. It may mean helping a young family by watching their children. It may mean foregoing something we would want to do to let others enjoy things. It may mean having people over to our home.

In doing this, we will need to be strategic. We have limited resources and an absolutely limited amount of time. Where should we focus our energy? We may have friends and family to connect with, but the example of Tabitha reminds us that Jesus wants us to put the least of these on our list of priorities. Where are the least of these in your schedule? I know this is hard. Jesus calls us to take a hard look at our schedule and priorities and say “no” to some good things in order to do those things that are best for His kingdom.

The Effects of What She Did
But this passage reminds us that doing good is not without its rewards. As the Apostle Paul says, “we shall reap, if we do not give up.”

We see the rewards in the people who mourned for her. They were so deeply moved by what she had done that they wept at her funeral. She had loved them so well.

When the men went down to the MNA Disaster Response Warehouse, Mike Kennamer, who coordinates the work at the warehouse, told us about his experience in going to places where natural disasters had wrought devastation. He said that he found again and again that people were amazed at what the volunteers did. Why, they would ask, would you take your vacation time to come and help us? Then, he would tell them about how much Jesus had done for him and that this was his motivation. That’s what “always doing good” can lead to.

But God had greater things to do here. When Peter went up to the room, he knelt down and prayed. Then, he stood up. He spoke to Tabitha, “Tabitha, get up.” He said. Then, she opened her eyes and got up. God had performed a miracle, and Peter presented her to them alive.

The testimony of her resurrection was so great that it spread all around. “This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord” (Acts 10:42). This is a reminder that we never know what God will do when we step out in faith to do good to those around us. God takes what we do and miraculously spreads it much further than we can imagine.

I heard about an example of this at our Presbytery meeting a few weeks ago. Our Mercy Ministry Committee has gotten involved in medical debt relief. For pennies on the dollar, you can wipe out a huge amount of medical debt. A Christian organization is partnering with people who want to serve the poor in this way. The chairman of our Mercy Ministry Committee told about one woman whom they had helped relieve from hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. They not only helped her, they got to know her. She was so moved by this demonstration of love that she accepted the love of Christ into her life. That’s what God will do when we step out in faith to do good.

So, how can we do good? Take the things you actually already do and ask yourself, how can I use this to do good? Who are the people in my life to whom I can do good? Who has Jesus already put in my life that I can bless as a way of showing His love? Once you’ve answered that, do it. You never know how God made use it. Amen.

________

Photo by Marília Castelli on Unsplash

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You Are God’s Workmanship (A Sermon on Eph. 2:10)

[Listen to an audio version here]

I began 2020 on a sabbatical in Myrtle Beach. Looking back, I’m extremely thankful that I did so because this year has been a doozy! We’ve all dealt with so many things and had to adapt in so many ways. We’ve had to try and get a handle on what’s going on. We’ve missed parties, milestones, and vacations. We’ve had financial setbacks. We’ve have had funerals that we could not attend. I talked to someone recently who finally made the difficult decision to put their Mother in assisted living . . . in February! They just saw her in person for the first time since March! Besides all this, we have the concerns over COVID itself. People I know have lost parents and important people in their lives to COVID. The struggle is real.

As I talk to people in a variety of churches, ministry workers had to figure out how to make church and ministry work without buildings or in-person meetings. One church hasn’t met because the place where they met does not allow large gatherings. Going back to in-person meetings has helped, but it required a lot of adjustments. And . . . not everyone liked the adjustments. Some thought they were too strict. Others thought they weren’t strict enough. Has anyone noticed that COVID has been controversial? It’s a good thing that we’ll have a vaccine soon, and the controversy will be over.

In the midst of all this, people have got to find a way to function. I want to suggest to you today that this passage and many like it gives us a firm foundation in the midst of a mass of confusion. It provides the stability that can enable us to function well in any difficulty.

What we need in the midst of all this anxiety is to go back to the basics. And when I say basics, I mean basics, like you can see color, you can feel, you can touch. You can understand what you see and praise your Creator. You are accepted. You are loved. You are forgiven. And, you are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works. That’s what our passage teaches us today.

The Context
Ephesians is such a beautiful letter that it would do us good not to write or speak about it all. Instead, we could simply read it and then offer our praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. That is the purpose of the letter: praise to our gracious Father.

The letter discloses the Father’s glorious and wise purpose to us. It is to bring all things in heaven and earth together under one head, Jesus Christ. This is God’s plan, and He will bring it about according to His great wisdom and power, just as He works out all things according to His great purpose and power. He then calls those who have submitted to Jesus Christ to do everything in their power to conform themselves and others to the reign and grace of Jesus Christ.

This, of course, does not mean that it is simply our effort. This is a book about grace, God’s gift. God’s gift has given Christ for us, and the Holy Spirit works God’s gifts and grace within us. In the verses prior to Eph. 2:10, we read as powerful an expression of this as you will find in the Scriptures, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast.”

But—though we are not saved by works; we are most certainly saved unto good works. That’s what our passage says. We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. It’s not by works but unto good works; not because we were holy but because He chose us in Him to be holy. Good works don’t precede being justified, but they certainly follow in the one who has been justified.

This was God’s purpose for us—to make a people zealous for good works. He prepared them in advance for us to do them. This means that we were destined to be God’s workers. As Paul says in Eph. 1:4, we were chosen to be holy not because we were holy. We are created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The Encouragement
A few years ago, I started using a Scriptural phrase that to encourage my children with God’s promises to them. It was taken from Song of Solomon. It was, “You are the beloved’s, and His desire is for you.” Whenever I could, I began to share this with them. I still say it to this day. This phrase would help them and encourage them. I remember one time when one of my daughters was upset, my wife said, “You are the beloved’s, and His desire is for you.” Her frustration began to dissipate immediately, and a smile came to her face.

I also have a son, and I quickly realized that telling him, “You are the beloved’s, and His desire is for you” would not affect him in quite the same way. He would acknowledge its truth and accept it, but it would not touch his heart in the same way that it did my girls. I’ll be honest here. The same was true for me. That’s when I realized I needed to use this passage, “You are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” God wants to do something significant through you. That doesn’t change, no matter what.

The message of God’s love is indeed a powerful one, but the Gospel is broader than that. God not only offers us love; He offers us friendship. He not only loves us; He also likes us. God not only accept us; He wants to use us. We are His workmanship.

If we begin our explanation of the Gospel with the doctrine creation, then we will see that God created us to do good works, significant things that bless ourselves and others and glorify God. Understanding that God created us for good works, we can understand that God restores us to good works in salvation, which is precisely what our text says.

Once we get this, a whole host of the benefits of the Gospel and its promises are opened to us. God is our friend who makes known to us what He is doing. He is our companion who wants to work alongside us in His mission to the world. We are co-workers with God. God makes us holy, meaning, we are set aside for His service. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.

The Confirmation
Now, how do we know that God wants to use us? God has given us all ample opportunity to see how He values us and wants to use us. He has already used us in a variety of ways. He has used us to serve and work in the world. He has used us to build families. He has used us to build community. He has used us to make our homes beautiful in ways that bless the community. He has used us in all sorts of small ways to contribute to the well-being of the world.

He has also used you in innumerable ways in the work of redemption. You have supported the work of the church with your money and time. You have taught your children the things of God. You have loved your neighbors. You have built friendships that encourage people. You have taught Sunday School classes and contributed to small groups. You have cooperated in the work of missions, as our men’s group did when they went to the MNA Warehouse.

All these things are evidence of God’s good work in us and that He values us and wants to use us. We should not downplay these good works. We sometimes are guilty of false humility. Humility, says theologian Josef Piper, is an estimation of ourselves according to truth, and that is almost all there is to it. We should acknowledge our sins and failings, but we should not be afraid to acknowledge that we have done good things as well, giving ultimate credit to the grace of God.

Few people have praised the value of good works more than Martin Luther. Listen very carefully to these words:

We teach that to reconcile God, to make righteous, to blot out sin, is so high and great and glorious a work that alone Christ, the Son of God could do it and that this is indeed such a pure, special, peculiar work of the one true God and His grace that our works are nothing and can do nothing. But that good works should be nothing or be worth only a penny, who ever heard of such a thing, or who could teach such a thing except the lying mouth of the devil? I would not give up one of my sermons, not one of my lectures, not one of my treatises, not one of my Lord’s Prayers, nay, whatever small work I have ever done or am doing, for all the riches of the world (Cited in Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953), 3:59–60.

Luther saw that the Christian was really God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.

The second way that we know that God wants to use us is the Gospel promises, like the one we are considering today. We have to admit that we can make the mistake of confusing our good works as evidence of God’s value of us with seeing good works as the basis of God’s value of us. If we do that, then they will fall apart. We always have to go back to God’s free acceptance of us in Jesus Christ as the our most ultimate foundation.

We can easily wrongly estimate our value when we’ve failed or sinned. It’s at such times that we tend to think we are worthless or that God doesn’t want to use us. But that’s not true. However much we’ve failed or sinned, we are still God’s workmanship. He still wants to use us today to do significant things that bless ourselves and others and glorify God. That doesn’t change based on how well or poorly we do. God’s value of us remains the same.

At these and many other times, we need to go back again and again to this basic foundation: You are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do.

Dear friends, that’s a Gospel foundation that will get you through the tough times. That’s a Gospel foundation that will get you through failure. That’s a Gospel foundation that will get you through COVID. That’s a Gospel foundation that will get you through this election. That’s a Gospel foundation that is a resource for a lifetime of ministry wherever the Lord may lead you. Amen.

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Embracing a Life of Adventure (Acts 8:26–40)

[Listen to an audio version here]

Our days often go on without much adventure. Sometimes, time just moves slowly with not much going on. Other times, we’re so busy, we just go from one thing to another and barely have time to think.

In this passage, God shows us how to really open up our lives to something exciting. He shows us the life of the serenity, creativity, and adventure that He wants all of us to have. It’s really quite simple, and it’s available to each one of us.

This is the lesson that God teaches us through the life of a man named Philip.

Philip
We meet Philip as a man “filled with the Spirit” in Acts 6. The Apostles chose him along with six other men to serve as the first deacons. These were men who oversaw the distribution of money to the widows there so that the Apostles could focus on the Word of God and prayer.

One of those deacons, Stephen, was the first martyr. He was put to death under the leadership of a religious leader named Saul. Saul would later bitterly regret this, because he himself became a follower of Jesus. Saul went over all the world preaching and teaching the good news about Jesus. We know him as the Apostle Paul.

One result of the martyrdom of Stephen was that the church in Jerusalem scattered. This was one way that God used the evil actions of men to accomplish His purpose to send out witnesses into Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

In this next stage of global evangelization, Philip played a significant role. We find him preaching to people in Samaria about Jesus. Many people accepted Philip’s messages and became followers of Jesus. Peter and John took notice, and they came down from Jerusalem to minister to the new believers.

Later in that passage, God told Philip through an angel to move on. “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” (Acts 8:26). The phrase we read afterwards is literally, “And he arose and went.” I like what Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie says about this phrase, there is Christianity. God commands. We move. That’s what it’s all about. Dr. Ogilvie says, “Think of the opportunities we have never experienced because we were immobilized on some dead center waiting for the ‘big picture’ before we could do the Lord’s work” (Drumbeat o Love, 114). We need to arise and go!

Once Philip arrived there, there was a court official from Ethiopia in a chariot (we’ll hear more about him in a minute), and the Spirit told him, “Go to that chariot and stay near it” (Acts 8:29).

I’ve often felt like the Lord was leading me to go up and speak to a certain person. The most memorable for me was a time when I came to the end of the greenway in Spearfish, SD. This greenway led to the mouth of Spearfish Canyon and a large parking lot. On the other side of the parking lot, there was a man sitting on a motorcycle who looked like he was trying to figure something out. Watching him, I felt strongly that I should go up to him.

It turns out that he was a man from the community that I knew, and his life was in a crisis. His wife had left for rehab in another state. I was able to allow him to share his burden, and we developed a friendship afterwards and spoke often about the Gospel.

Now, you may ask, how do we know it’s God leading us? Well, what’s really the downside? If we feel like God is leading us to reach out to someone, and it’s not really God, what’s the worst case scenario? We meet someone new? They don’t like us? It’s a pretty low risk assumption to assume God’s leading when we feel compelled to reach out to someone.

The Eunuch
The person Philip reached out to was a Eunuch, a court official in the court of the Queen of Ethiopia, Candace. He was most likely a Jewish proselyte. He had gone up to the temple and was a follower of the Scriptures of the Old Testament. He was reading the book of the prophet Isaiah as he returned home. There were actually many people like him in the world at that time who sought out the God of Israel.

In the book of Isaiah, God had given particular encouragement to eunuchs that they would experience acceptance in God’s house. In Isaiah 56:4–5, God says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant—to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever” (Isaiah 56:4–5).

It is this same passage and many like it in Isaiah 56 that also gives encouragement to Gentiles. It is the passage Jesus cited when he cleared the Court of the Gentiles in the Temple, “for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Is. 56:7).

The Encounter
When Philip heard that the Ethiopian Eunuch was reading from the scroll of Isaiah, he asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

The Eunuch replied that he needed some help. Here was the passage he was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth” (Acts 8:32–33).

This is a portion of Isaiah 53. This passage is one of the clearest statements of the substitutionary atoning death of Jesus in the entire Bible. It takes the sacrificial language of the Old Testament and says that the coming Messiah, the future King of Israel will give himself up like a sacrifice for the sins of His people. He can do this because He is, as it were, a spotless lamb, a sinless sacrifice.

This prophecy, given 700 years before Jesus was born, is so clearly about Jesus that people hearing it have thought that it was in the New Testament! They have thought it was written after Jesus died rather than 700 years before. The Reformer Huldrych Zwingli of Zurich said about it, “What now follows affords so plain a testimony concerning Christ, that I do not know whether anything more definite can be found in the Scriptures, or even whether a more explicit passage could be framed.”

After reading this passage, the Ethiopian Eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” (Acts 8:34). What an opening! It’s not surprising what we read in the following words, “Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35).

God used those words to open the heart of the Ethiopian Eunuch. “As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?'” (Acts 8:36). Then, he got down and was baptized. In baptism, he publicly committed himself to faith in Jesus and received the visible confirmation that God accepted him as a child, giving him a name better than sons and daughters.

And then God took Philip away, and the Ethiopian Eunuch went happily on his way.

Conclusion & Application
What an amazing day! It was a day of excitement and adventure for Philip as God used him in a powerful way to serve both His glory and the Eunuch’s good.

And that’s what God can do for us, too. There is a rather simple formula here: be open to God and open to people. Be open each day to what God wants to do in your life, and be open to the people around you. The Spirit will show the way and lead you to an exciting and adventurous life like you never knew before.

That’s not to say it will be easy. An adventure is an adventure in part because there are setbacks, challenges, and obstacles. People we have worked with will abandon us. They will make mistakes and mess up, sometimes again and again. They will hurt us. They will do things that make us cringe. It’s a challenge.

But we will also see triumphs. We will see people accept Christ. We will see people turn from their sin. We’ll see people put destructive things behind them. We’ll see them beginning to build godly habits. We’ll see them use their gifts. We’ll see them grow strong. We’ll see them launch into new adventures of their own, experience falls, and get back up again. We’ll see them lead, and we’ll see God do significant and wonderful things through them.

All this is available, if we, like Philip, are open to God and to people. Amen.

________

Photo by Doran Erickson on Unsplash

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Info on LeConte Hike

Hello folks, I’m really excited about hiking Mt. LeConte with you all on Sunday, October 25th!! We will leave immediately after church. Just want to give you some info that will help you when we go.

1. This is a 10 mile roundtrip hike. It is a 2500 foot ascent. It’s not easy, but it is really rewarding. If you would like to go part of the way, you can go up to Alum Cave, a 5 mile roundtrip hike. The ascent is less steep, too, but I’m not sure exactly what it is.

2. Make sure you wear good hiking shoes or very good tennis shoes, if possible.

3. Bring a lunch and snacks.

4. I will have a first aid kit and other things needed in case of small emergencies.

5. Bring water. One good thing is that you can fill up your water bottles at the top of LeConte. You can also purchase lemonade and coffee there as well as some souvenirs.

6. It can be very cool at the top of LeConte, much cooler than the surrounding area. I would encourage you to bring layers as the temperature may be very different at different points in the hike and as you walk more.

Let me know if you have any questions! 865-567-6763

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Power & Prayer (Acts 4:23–31)

[Listen to an audio version [here].

Ambition. It may seem like a bad word, but it’s not. We should think about great things and seek great things.

The problem is selfish ambition. It is ambition at the expense of God and others that aims simply at glorifying ourselves. Ambition that aims at glorifying God and serving the community is not only legitimate, it is laudable. We should seek after it. We should seek to do as much good as we possibly can. We should seek the kingdom of God as our first priority.

So, why don’t we do it? Primarily, it’s because of resistance, internal and external. It’s hard. We may not even know where to start. Well, this passage tells us where to start in seeking greater things for the kingdom of God. Let’s consider it together.

Resistance
The Apostles here had already begun a great task. They were following Jesus’ command. They were to be God’s witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. The book of Acts is the story of how they obeyed this command.

The first day of their work went pretty well. They gained 3,000 converts. The next few days went pretty well, too. They were gaining traction.

Then, they encountered resistance. It was the same sort of resistance that Jesus encountered. The religious leaders did not like what they were doing. So, here’s what they did: “They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day” (Acts 4:3).

They then brought Peter and John before them. Eventually, they said this, “Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18).

The response of Peter and John was extraordinary. “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19–20). In other words, they had to listen to Jesus’ command rather than that of the religious leaders. It’s an obvious truth but still a bold response.

In spite of seeing this triumph, we need to remember that resistance is hard. When people oppose us, it makes things scary. When people get angry, it’s easy to see people as large and ourselves as small. We can feel like a little kid again. We may not be arrested for speaking about Jesus, but people may look at us as weird. It may also interfere with our other tasks. Getting involved with people takes time and it takes effort. It’s often messy. It’s easier to avoid it. Getting involved with people will involve resistance.

So, what do we do when we face resistance?

Prayer
We should turn to prayer. Instead of recoiling, running, or rebelling, we should turn to prayer, prayer for power. And that’s what they did. They prayed.

This is crucial. We should see that the book of Acts is filled with prayer. Dr. Lloyd-John Ogilvie, former Senate chaplain and Pesbyterian minister said in his excellent book on Acts: “The spectacular events spread across the pages of Acts must all be traced back to praying like that.” Ambition for God’s kingdom and prayer go hand in hand.

Let’s look a little more closely at their prayer. They begin their prayer by lifting their hearts above the things of earth to the greatness of their Creator. “Sovereign Lord . . . you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them” (Acts 4:24). In itself, this perspective will help us begin to move beyond the frustrations and difficulties of our daily life.

Then, they quoted God’s words back to Him. They went to Psalm 2. “‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one” (Acts 4:25–26). They then said, what you spoke about is exactly what happened. The Lord is faithful and true. Resistance is just what you promised.

Then, they brought the situation to God’s attention. “Now, Lord, consider their threats . . .” (Acts 4:29). God wants us to bring our specific circumstances before Him. How often do we face difficulties in work, business, school, family, or church that we don’t bring them to God? We may think, He already knows, but that is an erroneous way to think about prayer. God wants us to be very specific with Him.

And then they made a very specific request: enable them to speak with boldness and perform great signs. Continue this work by demonstrations of power outside them and within them. And that’s what we should do as well: make very specific requests.

Power
And see what happened. “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31). They sent up the prayer, and God sent down the power. That’s the way it always is.

Remember that power is a key word here. Jesus promised power. Even to those who had killed Jesus, God promised the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of power to be part of what Jesus was doing in redeeming the whole world.

That power is available to us, too, but we don’t just sit back and wait for it. Now, we may have to wait at times, but we don’t wait passively. We pray. We ask. We seek. We knock. We look for the Lord’s power. We ask, and God supplies. We seek, and God enables us to find. We knock, and God opens the door.

That’s what I want you to do, but we need an ambition for God’s kingdom. It’s only when we have an ambition for God’s kingdom that we will really begin to pray for the power that God wants to give.

Now, you may say to me, how does that start? What do I need power for? Start by thinking about the world around you. What would you want to see God do in your family? In your business? In your community? In your nation? In your church? In your neighborhood? Then, start praying. Start praying for God to open up doors. Start praying that He will enable you to cross the boundaries that have kept you from moving forward. Ask God to give you a vision for what He will do in you and through you.

People generally pray for two reasons. The first is when something disrupts their normal life such as family conflict, cancer, or job loss. The second is when they get a vision to do something bigger. When people move outside themselves, they sense their need for help. That’s where prayer comes in.

Recently, I talked with a woman at Aldi who I had not seen in a while. She told me she about a woman in her neighborhood she was reaching out to. She said, pray for me because we are having really good discussions. That’s what reaching out will do. It makes us feel our need. That moves us to prayer, and God then supplies the power.

When you start something new, you begin to pray. We’ve started Evergreen Midweek, and it is the sort of thing that I’m praying for regularly. I want to see it be a blessing to our kids, our youth, and our adults. I want to see it as something that will bless our community as well. I realize how little I can accomplish that. This drives me to prayer.

When Marty decided to get involved with disaster response, he did not know how he was going to fund it. It was tough, especially at the start. He prayed. We prayed. God has supplied the need. He is very close to being fully funded. That’s what happens when we get a vision to do something more.

There are people everywhere who need to experience God’s love and God’s purpose. God wants to empower you and use you to show that to them. He just wants you to be open to others and ask Him for help. He will supply the power.

________

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

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Sermons

God Wants to Use You (Acts 2:38–39)

[For an audio version, go here]

Have you felt overwhelmed at any point this year? To ask is to answer. 2020 has been a year like no other. It has been overwhelming!

Think about it, people have last their businesses. People have moved to online work and online school. Many are trying to work from home while their kids do school from home, staring at a screen for 7 hours a day. Many people are isolated, not just the vulnerable, but those who care for the vulnerable. There are mental health issues. There are financial issues for businesses, churches, and families. And, by the way, there’s also a presidential election this year.

So, in the midst of an overwhelming year, what does God want us to do? Let me tell you exactly what He wants us to do: reach out in love and service to those around us.

What??? You might respond! I’m already overwhelmed, and you want me to add to it reaching out to others! That’s crazy! How in the world am I supposed to do that?

There’s a simple answer: God’s power. The Holy Spirit. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you!

Think about this. Jesus left 120 disciples behind, and He told them to essentially let the entire planet know about Him. How were they were going to do this? “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you . . .” (Acts 1:8).

That’s what this whole series is about, but today, I want to ask, does God really want to use me? After all the ways I’ve failed and all the wrongs I’ve done, does God really want to use me? This passage gives us an emphatic answer.

The Prelude to the Passage
The book of Acts is the sequel to the book of Luke. The book of Luke tells us all the things that Jesus began to do and to say before He went up into heaven. The book of Acts tells us what Jesus did after He ascended into heaven.

Through all of Jesus’ suffering, trials, and resurrection, several of His disciples had stuck with Him. Jesus told them, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). This meant that they would be Jesus’ representatives to tell the world about Him. However, they wouldn’t have to rely on their own resources. Jesus would send them the Holy Spirit. The 3rd person of the Trinity would come in power to enable them to serve the world. That was the promise.

This teaches us how much Jesus values His disciples. He leaves and wants them to be His representatives to the world. That’s how significant Jesus thought they were, and that’s how significant He thinks you are! He gives you all the resources you need and sends you out into the world to serve it with power.

A few days after Jesus said this, the Holy Spirit came upon them. The sign was a great wind, for Spirit in Greek and Hebrew means wind. The Spirit is also compared to a fire, and so flames of fire on their heads. The promised Spirit had come. God showed that this was His work by enabling them all to speak in different languages. Everyone heard them in their own language and understood them. However, we always want an easy explanation for things we don’t understand. Some mocked them and said that they were drunk.

At this point, Peter stood up to explain what was going on. He told them that they were not drunk. It was much too early for that. He told them that Jesus had risen from the dead and had sent His power upon them to enable them to do what they observed. This was clear evidence that God had made Jesus both “Lord and Christ.”

The People in this Passage
Now, to whom is Peter speaking? I want you to pay very careful attention to the people to whom Peter is speaking. He says in v. 36, “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” They were the people who put Jesus to death.

Killing Jesus is a pretty big crime. He says in Acts 3:15, “You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.” You killed the author of life! How could you do that?

Now, think about your own life. What have you done? What sins have you committed?

Maybe you got made at the worst time and made a fool of yourself.

Maybe you abused someone physically or emotionally that has led to alienation.

Kids, have you ever done something really wrong that you knew was wrong and that you still think about? I know I did. I still look back on those things with regret.

Maybe you had an opportunity to do something really good but you did something stupid and blew it.

Maybe you had a sexual relationship that you knew was wrong or you cheated on your spouse.

Maybe you got drunk at your best friend’s wedding and ended up doing something that made you an embarrassment to yourself and your best friend.

Maybe it’s something else.

The point is that we’ve all done things that make us feel guilty. We’ve all done things that are painful to remember. But we haven’t actually killed Jesus. That’s pretty bad.

The Promise in this Passage
And what does God say to these killers of Jesus? “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Let’s unpack that.

What does God want them to do? He wants them to say they’re sorry. He wants them to acknowledge they did the wrong.

Second, he wants them to be baptized. This would mean to publicly acknowledge that they had done the wrong thing and to now accept that Jesus was right.

If they will do those two simple things, He will forgive them. What he says is that anyone who admits they are wrong and then acknowledged Jesus as Lord will be forgiven. That’s it. They don’t have to do a whole lot. Just acknowledge their wrong and commit to doing what’s right. That’s the grace of justification by faith alone. Forgiveness is a free gift.

Now, go back to all the things we talked about in the previous section. If God was willing to forgive those who would kill His own Son, won’t He forgive you? Of course, He will. It’s an argument from the greater to the lesser. If God is willing to forgiven those who killed His Son, won’t He forgive you? God is a God who forgives. Wherever you’ve been, whatever you’ve done, however much shame you feel, God is there with forgiveness. He will cast your sins as far as the east is from the west. That’s His promise.

But there’s much more. He says, “and you shall receive the Holy Spirit.” In the context this means that God not only forgives you, He values you and wants to use you. He wants to be your partner, your friend, and your co-worker in His mission. He will give you power to serve.

Now, in creation, we are all part of God’s mission to bring the creation to a place that shows forth God’s glory. When we learn, when we parent, when we work, when we teach, when we organize, when we garden, when we create, we are God’s partners in His mission to make the world into a beautiful place that shows forth His glory.

But He also want to be our partner in His mission to restore people to Himself. He wants us to be His partner in His work of redemption, redemption and creation. He wants to bring people who have turned from Him and are under His wrath back into forgiveness and fellowship with Him. He wants us to share the good news about Jesus. It’s in Him we have those things. He wants to use us to make that happen. That’s what it means to experience the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is power to serve in God’s work of redemption.

That means that God wants to use you. Again, if God is willing to use those who killed His Son and partner with them in His mission to the world, then God will surely use you. If He partnered with those who were willing to kill the Author of life, then He will partner with you, no matter what you’ve done, where you’ve been, or what you’ve left undone. God wants to use you! That’s for certain.

This doesn’t mean you have to enter full-time Christian service or be a pastor. The book of Acts tells us that people partner in God’s mission to redeem the world in a variety of ways. They walk on their way and are open to talking to the people God leads them to like Philip. They do deeds of service that show the love of God like Dorcas. They cross boundaries to people who are different from them like the Christians in Antioch. They gather people together like Lydia. They invite people into their homes and talk about the Lord like Aquilla and Priscilla did with Apollos.

The bottom line is that they are open. They are open to the work of the Spirit. They are open to people and how God might use them. That’s what it means to receive and live in the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion
Look, we are already doing this to a degree. I think of a couple in the church who asked me to pray for a woman to whom they were ministering. I think of another couple who has made their neighborhood their mission. All through Covid, they’ve been actively ministering to their neighbors. They have keys to their neighbor’s houses because they take care of them when their neighbors are gone. They do this because they see God’s mission to bring restoration to people, and they want to be a part of it.

However, we’ve got to be reminded of this. We’ve got to remember what God is doing and wants to do in our lives. We’ve got to fan the flames of the Spirit in our life. That’s what this series is for. It’s a reminder for me, and it’s a reminder for you. We’ve got to remember: God wants to use us. God wants to partner with us. God wants to empower us to serve the world.

Don’t let the past keep you from it. God offers you forgiveness of sins. He offers a fresh start to you today. But he wants to give you not only a fresh start with Him. He wants to give you a fresh reason to exist. He wants to use you in the life of the people around you. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is always and ever available. There is always a fresh start with God. We simply need to accept and receive it and be open to the people around us and how God wants to use us. He will supply the power to serve. Amen.

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Sermons

The Intentional Christian Life (1 Thess. 5:12–28)

[Listen to an audio version here]

Human beings tend to react in certain sensible but often unhelpful ways. We recoil when people try to lead us. We retaliate against those who do us wrong. We notice the negative and quickly forget the positive. We gravitate to that which is easy and away from that which is hard. We love those who love us and distance from those who hate us. We accept uncritically what fits our preconceptions. We scrutinize critically anything that opposes our interests.

The Christian life calls us to move out of all these natural reactions and to live a life that is entirely different. It calls us to live a life where we honor our leaders, are patient with people, and do not react to wrongs committed against us. It calls us to live a life where we see the good and embrace it. It calls us to take our concerns and lift them up in prayer. It calls us to think critically about all things and embrace all good and reject all evil. It calls us to seek what is good not only for ourselves but for all people. This is the intentional Christian life.

Now, you might say to me, how can anyone do all this? How is it even possible? Well, let’s remember that Christianity is a religion of grace. It is a religion of God’s gifts. It is a religion where God enables us to live a new life. We work hard, but even our work is a gift of God. Work out your own salvation, Paul says, with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do (Phil. 2:12–13).

This letter began with grace, and it ends with grace. Paul took the common greeting of the Roman world, charis, grace, and filled it with new content, the content of God’s grace. He went on to say immediately that the Thesslonians believed, but they believed because of the work of the Holy Spirit, God’s grace and God’s gift.

As the letter ends, God teaches us that it is grace that brought us safe thus far and grace will lead us home. He says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (v. 28). What this means is that he wants their whole spirit, soul, and body to be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ by Jesus Christ. He assures them, “the one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

It is important to recognize that this grace is not just ours to make us feel good or have peace. It leads us outward to serve those around us and to react differently in the world. Wherever the grace of God is operative, you will see what we have in these final instructions in this letter, an intentional Christian life of love and service rooted in God’s love and grace. I want to look briefly at how God’s grace leads us to four intentional ways of living the Christian life.

1. Intentional Submission. Our natural tendency is to love those who love us and seek the good of those closest to us. Instead, God’s grace calls us to “always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else” (1 Thess. 5:15). This is in line with what the Apostle Paul prays for in 1 Thess. 3:12: “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else . . .” Instead of thinking just about ourselves or those closest to us, we should ask, what is good for everyone? We keep sending our thoughts higher and higher to align our thoughts with the Lord’s thoughts. He cares for all, the just and the unjust.

As we think bigger thoughts, we recognize that the good of everyone will require organization and leadership. This means that the general attitude of the Christian is one of respect and honor for leaders and cooperation with leaders. This includes being patient with their failings. Particularly, in the church, we should honor those in authority and those who work hard among us. He says:

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. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live at peace among yourselves (1 Thess. 5:12–13).

It’s so easy to join in the general disrespect for authorities in church, home, and state that characterizes our society. We need an intentional attitude that empowers us to live differently than our culture. Submission to and cooperation with leadership should be our basic stance, even if at certain times, we have to choose to obey God rather than men.

2. Intentional Relationships. The way we relate to others is deeply programmed into us. Our tendency is generally to attack or distance when relationships feel strained. When we feel like we are on the outside, we want to make alliances with other people that make us feel better. This goes back and forth in a whole lot of interesting and often unhelpful ways. This is true for everyone, including leaders. It’s easy for the leaders to make a leadership position about making themselves comfortable rather than seeking the general welfare of the communities they serve. What this looks like is that we talk to people whom it is easy to talk to, and we avoid those who are difficult.

The Bible gives us a whole different perspective here. It teaches us that we should pursue the general good. This means there are times when we have to do the hard thing. We have to warn the unruly. We have to say, “no.” It also means that we have to meet people where they are. People have trouble moving forward for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they are recalcitrant but at other times they don’t know what to do or are timid. We need to strengthen the weak and encourage the timid. In all of this, we recognize that moving forward together involves patience. Community is a process. When we enter into relationships, we need to embrace the lengthy process that working together involves.

In addition, we don’t react with wrong to those who do wrong to us. Instead, we seek everyone’s good. If others do wrong, let that be their issue, since it hurts primarily them. We continue to respond with a disposition of gentleness and love pursuing the good.

This is all very hard. It takes intentionality, and it requires the grace of God. It is the Spirit of Christ that did not retaliate but did what was good for all, even to His own hurt, that animates us.

3. Intentional Devotion. The power to live well with others is rooted in a life lived before the face of God. That’s what God calls us to. Many people are seeking to heal relationships, but they are too focused on the other person. They make the human relationships too large in their lives, whether looking for too much fulfillment in them or seeking to blame them for the evils and difficulties they experience. To counteract this tendency, we must seek the Lord and place Him above all human relationships.

Here is a brief summary of what that looks like: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit.” We are to seek joy, and our chief joy is found in God Himself and the loving communion that we enjoy with Him.

We pray continually. This means that we are ever in an attitude of prayer, ready to go to Him, referring all things to Him. We should also continually seek His goodness to us in every situation. We generally remember the bad and quickly forget the good. We need to work to even out this tendency. Don’t ignore the bad, but see the good. When you see the bad, pray. When you see the good, give thanks.

We must not quench the Spirit. This means that we think of the work of the Holy Spirit as a fire that should always be burning brightly in our hearts. We recognize that all our devotion to God is a result of God’s work in us, but we also cooperate with the Lord in living a Christian life. We should not quench the fire but do all that we can to to keep it burning brightly. Presbyterian commentator Albert Barnes says that quenching the Spirit is “anything that will tend to damp the ardor of piety in the soul; to chill our feelings; to render us cold and lifeless in the service of God.” Instead, we should put fuel on the fire by meditating on God’s love, singing praises, praying, and giving thanks. In this way, we will not quench the Spirit.

4. Intentional Thinking. All of this involves careful thinking. The command to test all things here is similar to what Paul says to the Corinthians, “Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults” (1 Cor. 14:20).

He begins by telling them that they should not despise prophecies. There was probably a tendency here as there was in Corinth to look for the spectacular miracles and look down on the simple preaching of God’s truth. That is wrong. The simple preaching of God’s truth is the general nourishment God uses to build us up in the intentional Christian life.

However, he didn’t want them to blindly accept what people told them. He wanted them to become mature. He wanted them to test all things. He wanted them to put it in the refiner’s fire and test it to ensure that it was consonant with reason and God’s truth. This is the job and duty of each Christian, critical thinking. We should do this with the ideas of others and with the ideas of ourselves, all those thoughts we have imbibed consciously and unconsciously through the years.

Once we see the differences between the good and the evil, we should cling to all that is good, wherever we find it, whoever teaches it. We should also reject the bad, wherever it comes from, including me, including you! We’ve got to think! It’s an absolute necessity for intentional Christian living that glorifies God, blesses others, and blesses ourselves.

Conclusion
How can we do all this? The answer is clear. The grace of God. That’s why the Apostle Paul asks God to make them pure and blameless. He asks for the grace of God in their lives.

But note one more thing here. Throughout this whole letter, we have seen that we grow, even in suffering, but we help each other. The grace of God is the source of our blessing, but we also show this grace to one another. Paul offers the very un-Covid advice to greet one another with a holy kiss. I do not think that we have to embrace this particular cultural practice in order to fulfill this command. We may not need to actually kiss, but we do need to show warmth. How we relate to each other shows God’s grace. When we walk in to this sanctuary, how we greet each other communicates something about God. When we have an open attitude towards others, we demonstrate God’s grace. We show each other grace. We show that God is willing to receive others by grace.

And that’s the message we all need. We have high ideals and much work to do to attain them. How comforting to know that we are simply joining what God is already doing. How comforting to know that He who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion, in the face of all opposition. How comforting it is to know that we have brothers and sisters here who will help us, encourage us, and show grace to us. With all this, we can join in a hearty prayer: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. And all God’s people said, Amen.

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Sermons

Our Glorious Hope in Suffering (1 Thess. 4:13–5:11)

[Listen to an audio version here]

The Fundamental Problem
When kids are little, few things are more exciting than a visit from the grandparents. They greet these visitors with an eagerness that warms the heart. But this doesn’t last forever. These same kids get busy with life and other things get their attention. They may still love their grandparents, but the relationship changes. When this chapter of life closes, it’s easy to look back on it with a joy mixed with sadness. You realize that life has moved on.

The sadness we feel at loss points to the final loss. All changes point to the final change when death closes all chapters. Alfred Lord Tennyson said, “But every hour is saved from that eternal silence, something more, a bringer of new things. Death closes all.” Death is the final loss that all losses point to.

This is what the Apostle Paul addressed in his letter. Their friends, their close companions, had departed this world. The Thessalonian Christians were, understandably, sad. They had embraced the faith, and now their friends had died. They were mourning, and they were not sure what to think of it. The ever present power of death still seemed to be at work in spite of the resurrection of Christ.

To understand this, we should consider that there is an even more basic problem than death. It is the judgment of God. God’s holiness shatters all our delusions of righteousness. We can compare ourselves to others and believe that we are better, but in the light of the holiness of God, we all stand equally condemned before the throne of God.

In this political season, we can easily demonize one side or the other. “Demonize” is a good description of what we tend to do. This is not to say that one side is not more righteous than the other, but it is always good to remember that in light of the judgment of God, Democrats and Republicans alike stand condemned for our our own pride and sins before the holy throne of God’s judgment.

The day of the Lord is the word the Bible uses to describe the final judgment, when all of the world will be evaluated according to God’s standard and weighed in the balance. The question of the day of the Lord is always this, how will anyone survive, since all are sinful and deserve God’s wrath?

And none of us knows the time when we will be summoned before the throne of God. We do not know the time of our death. You may take all the precautions and avoid COVID, and you may die on the way home. You may wake up dead tomorrow. This is hard for us to hear, but it is one of the most important facts of life.

That is how the day of the Lord is. It comes like a thief. The thief doesn’t call you and give you a date and time when he will rob your home. He comes at a time you least expect it. That’s how death is and that is how the day of the Lord will be.

In light of these facts, we might wonder, is there any hope?

The Glorious Hope
Indeed. There is. A glorious one.

The first aspect of our hope is that we know the day of the Lord is coming. “But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness” (1 Thess. 5:4–5). We don’t need to be in the dark. We know the day of the Lord is coming.

Second, the good news is that we are not appointed to receive wrath. “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:9). We might expect wrath and condemnation because of our sin, but that will not be our end. The Lord will come to end our suffering not give us over to suffering.

Now, we must add, this is only true for those who have accepted Jesus as their representative before God. Whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. Christ has made the sacrifice, but we must accept it. It is only those who are anticipating Christ’s return who will be saved from the wrath of God. Is that you? Where do you stand? You may enjoy community at church or feel good about being here, but have you given yourself to Jesus and accepted Him as the one who saves you? Remember. The day comes like a thief. You need to be ready.

The third aspect of the hope is that we will be with the Lord. “He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him” (1 Thess. 5:10). God tells us what it will be like when Jesus comes again:

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. 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. (1 Thess. 4:16–17).

We will always be with the Lord. He died for us not only to save us from our sins but also because He values us so much that He wants to experience our presence to all eternity. Jesus love you and values you that much! Don’t let anyone look down on you!

This past week, I had the great privilege of witnessing the marriage of a cousin on my Mother’s side. She was the last of my generation to get married, and now all of us are married. Marriage is a beautiful thing. One of the things that we say in our wedding vows is, “Until death do us part.” We can only commit as long as life lasts.

With Jesus, it is not like that. He wants to be with us forever. We are united with Him forever to enjoy Him, the person who fulfills all our desires for fellowship and friendship and loves us and values us more than we can imagine. That’s the relationship He wants to have with us.

That doesn’t mean that we will go there alone. That is the fourth aspect of this hope. One thing Paul emphasizes is that though the Thessalonian Christians may mourn their Christian friends who have died, they do not need to mourn as those who have no hope. We will all be together with the Lord. That’s a great hope.

Our Appropriate Response
So, how should this affect us? How should this change our lives? Paul has very practical instruction that is immediately applicable to each one of us right now, today.

First, we need mental space. Last week, I went camping up at Indian Boundary by myself. There was zero cell phone reception. It was really strange not to be able to text people when I thought about it and not to hear from anyone or be able to look things up I had questions about. But it was good. It allowed me some extra mental space.

Every bit of growth we experience comes from this extra space. The Bible will not necessarily say, “clear mental space,” but it presupposes it. Everything it tells us to do requires time and mental energy. Unless we have that, we will not be able to grow.

Second, we need to use that mental space to think about the big issues of life, including death. What would happen if you died today? If you die 30 years from now, what would you have wanted to do with it? What would be a good life? We’ve got to think about these questions in order to live well. I tend to think we should consider each day as a completed whole. We should think of this day as in some ways as our last and live it doing what our Lord would want us to do. We should lay our head down on our pillow ready to meet the Lord, if He should call us home.

Third, we should develop the virtues that lead us to hope. We need to tell ourselves the stories of God’s love for us. We need to tell ourselves the story of God’s interest in us. We need to tell ourselves of the stories of God’s eternal plan for us. We need to take these stories in deep and receive them with all our hearts. That’s what it means to put on faith, hope, and love as armor. The Apostle Paul says, “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” (1 Thess. 5:8). Like armor protects a soldier from the missiles of the enemy, so faith, hope, and love enable us to keep moving forward in the face of the opposition that can keep us from becoming what God has called us to be.

Finally, we don’t do this alone. Growth is a communal activity. At the end of 1 Thess. 4, the Apostle Paul says, “Therefore encourage one another with these words.” He gives further explanation and then says again, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (1 Thess. 5:11). So, let’s help each other. Let’s encourage one another, as we are doing. Let’s not run from the reality of death, but let’s encourage one another that in the face of this ultimate suffering, we have a glorious hope! That’s something we can and should do . . . today. Amen.

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Photo by bing an on Unsplash

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Sermons

Power to Grow in Suffering (1 Thessalonians 3:6–4:12)

[Listen to an audio version here]

Our goal should always be to become people who trust more, love more, and hope more. We want our hearts and minds to be oriented toward God so that our feet rest firm on the rock of His promises even when storms are blowing all around us. This foundation of connection with God enables us to love others, even when everyone around us is trapped in the vicious cycle of their own anxieties.

It’s easy to think we’re doing well at faith, hope, and love when times are good, when things are prosperous, when anxiety is low. What happens, though, when people oppose us, when life unravels, and when our earthly securities collapse? Then, we find out what we are made of.

That’s how we need to reinterpret suffering. Suffering is a revelation. It tells us where we really stand. It reveals the depths of our thoughts. It shows our lack of training. It points us forward to areas of growth.

However, suffering can seem so daunting. How can we stand against so many temptations? The answer: we don’t have to do it alone. The power of God is available to help us. We need to trust Him!

I want to draw your attention to the blessing that Paul pronounces over the church in Thessalonika in 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13. In particular, he asks God to “make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you” (v. 12) and to “strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy.” In this benediction, God teaches us that the power for growth comes from Him. In this passage of Scripture, I want to consider how God gives us power to grow in faith, to grow in holiness, and to grow in love, even in the face of suffering. There is hope that we can do this because God is our Father and has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ with power to live a new life and die to sin.

Growth in Faith
The question that Paul introduces in this book is the question of whether or not the Thessalonians would remain unmoved in their faith in the face of suffering. He was concerned about them because he could not be with them. He knew they were facing trials. He had prepared them, but he was still concerned about how they would do.

Anyone who has loved and cared for children can understand this. Inevitably, there comes a time in which we must let them go out on their own, and they will have to stand for themselves. How will they do when they meet the shocks of life? We are anxious to know. Will they be OK? That is what Paul was feeling before he wrote this letter.

Paul wrote this letter, though, after having received a wonderful report. “But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you” (1 Thess. 3:6). They were encouraged “because of their faith.”

Now, even though the Thessalonians had to exercise their faith, that did not mean that God was not the ultimate source of their faith. Recall that earlier on, Paul gave thanks that the Word had come not only in words but in power and in the Spirit (see 1 Thess. 1:5). This meant that it was God’s power that enabled them to believe. Here he gives thanks again. He gives thanks to God not only that they became believers but that they remained believers. “How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?” (1 Thess. 3:9). Who they were was ultimately rooted in God’s power working in them. As Paul put it elsewhere, “what do you have that you did not receive?”

And so, how can we get the power to continue unmoved in our faith in the face of all the trials and suffering in the world? The Holy Spirit. The power of the Father. The life of the resurrected Christ. That is our hope.

Growth in Holiness
There is a second area of growth mentioned in the benediction. It is growth in holiness. To be holy means to have wholehearted joy in God through Christ and a delight to do His will. It is to be devoted to the highest good.

There are many good things we can do in the world, but holiness leads us to seek the best, communion with God and service to God. There are many evil things we can do as well. Holiness enables us to separate ourselves from these evil activities and devote ourselves to God.

Paul encourages the Thessalonian Christians to lean into holiness. “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” (1 Thess. 4:1). They were not to rest with where they were. They needed to grow to become more and more devoted to God and His service finding their joy in Him and in His will. “Do so more and more” is how Paul talks about growth in this letter.

One area that Paul addresses in particular is sexuality. He says:

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister (1 Thess. 4:3–6).

In spite of what our culture may say, sex is a gift from God to be enjoyed in the context of a loving, lifelong commitment between a man and woman. Anything beyond this is contrary to our own nature, an injustice to the other person, and against God’s will for human beings. The Apostle Paul recognized that this would be controversial, even in his day, and so he added, “Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit” (1 Thess. 4:8).

Sexuality is a powerful thing and, because of that, we readily turn it into an idol. The patterns of idolatry also become wired into our brain in ways that are very hard to change. That’s why we need God’s power. American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr says,

[Sexuality’s] force reaches up into the highest pinnacle of human spirituality. . . . sex reveals sensuality to be first another and final form of self-love, secondly an effort to escape self-love by the deification of another and finally as an escape from the futilities of both forms of idolatry by a plunge into unconsciousness (The Nature and Destiny of Man, 1:236, 239).

We are dealing with powerful stuff when we deal with sexuality, not because we are so animal-like but because we are so spiritual.

So, as we seek after holiness, remember a couple of things. We need to develop holiness by finding our delight in God. That is the angle at which to attack the problems of sexual sin. Second, the power of God is available to live a life devoted to God. Third, and this is very important, God works through His church. Don’t try to do this alone. If you are struggling with sexual sin, come talk to me or a trusted person. I’ve talked to a lot of people about this issue. It’s scary to bring it up, but I’ve never found a person to regret enlisting help.

In our day, we can enjoy sexuality in private through the internet, and so we’ve got to have accountability here. I use Covenant Eyes to keep myself accountable. It reports on any questionable behavior to my wife and friends so that I’m always using the internet, as it were, before the eyes of others as well as God. This is part of God’s grace: to give me friends who will help me in areas of temptation and help me seek after holiness. We all need them.

Growth in Love
Paul also wanted the Thessalonians to experience growth in love, but this was the area where he had the least concern. This was the area where they were doing the best. “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” (1 Thess. 4:9). Once again, he says that it was God who was teaching them. He saw the evidence of God’s work in their lives.

This did not mean that they did not need to grow. He writes, “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 . . .” (1 Thess. 4:10). “More and more.”

However, he was concerned about one area, which comes up in his second letter as well. He wanted to make sure that they were doing productive labor that would glorify God and bless themselves and others. He says, “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” (1 Thess. 4:11).

When God created the world, He wanted human beings to be active in the world. He did not want them simply to enjoy it passively. He wanted them to do things that would glorify Him and bless themselves and others. Wherever you are today, faith can give you the margin to have space to serve others. Use that space not simply for yourself but for others. Whether you’re working for a paycheck or not, you should be working for the Lord. That is our duty while we are here: to love and to use our strength, our minds, our hearts, and our hands to bless others with useful labor. God Himself will teach you the way.

Conclusion
And so, what is our hope for growth? “That the Lord would make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you and strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father.”

That’s a powerful hope. We don’t have to remain stuck in the past. There is new life. There is the Holy Spirit. There is the power of God. Christ is risen! We can grow. We can become more and more of what God has destined us to be, really and truly in this life, and then perfectly in the world to come. Amen.

Categories
Sermons

We Told You Life Would Be Hard (1 Thessalonians 2:14–3:5)

[Listen to an audio version here]

The Inevitability of Suffering
Jordan Peterson is an interesting modern thinker. His book 12 Rules for Life has sold 3 million copies. He has toured the world speaking about these rules, giving long academic-style lectures to large audiences. As Jordan Peterson spoke around the world, one thing really surprised him. When he spoke about the inevitability of suffering and how hard life is, people were really encouraged. Why? Because everyone experiences hardships, and it can feel some like something unique to us. It’s good to know that it’s not something strange just happening to us. Suffering is part of life. Life is hard.

Modern life can deceive us on this point. Our industrial might has enabled us to overcome so many problems that our ancestors over the centuries and millennia struggled with such as basic clothing, shelter, and food. Because of this, we begin to think that life will be easy. The trouble is that industrialization simply solves some problems to reveal further problems on a higher level. We may have food in abundance, but we can’t solve our anxiety, loneliness, death, or need for meaning. For all our scientific know-how, we can’t achieve social cohesion.

So, everyone is going to suffer. Everyone will experience pain. The question is, what will we do with it? Will we rise to the occasion, or we will be crushed under its weight? Will we take the blows, get back up, and keep moving forward; or, will we retreat from the challenges of life and try to build a suffering-free bubble?

All of life has challenges, but Christianity has additional challenges. Much that is in this world is hostile to our faith. There will be attacks. How do we process this? How can we think about this in a way that will help us move forward?

The first thing to do is accept the truth: we will face opposition and suffering. When someone comes to Christ, we should tell them, get ready for trials. Get ready for suffering. Prepare for battle. Start training. This will be no cake walk. Prepare to get punched in the mouth.

The Apostle Paul says this very plainly. He did not want them to be be “unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know” (1 Thess. 3:3–4). He kept telling them, Christianity is not going to be easy. You will be persecuted.

There are two basic difficulties that we face here. The first is from outside. This was a significant factor in Thessalonika. “For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews” (1 Thess. 2:14). When we seek to do something good, we should expect to face opposition from people. This is inevitable. So, don’t be surprised.

The resistance goes beyond people, though. It also comes from Satan. Beyond the world that we see, there is a real spiritual world of evil with real personalities that are attacking us. “I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain” (1 Thess. 3:5).

But the most important struggle we have is the struggle within. Our own brain, spirit, and body conspire against us to keep us from doing what is right. It’s a battle to move in the right direction. It’s a battle to get ourselves thinking and moving in God’s direction.

The novelist Steven Pressfield wrote a book describing his struggle to write successful novels called The War of Art. He said the biggest challenge was his own “resistance.” So, producing something good was like a war. He had to fight every day the urge to give up and just go off to the beach instead of writing the novel. The struggle against the flesh in the case of our faith is a war of even greater intensity.

Faith Built by Suffering
So, how can we find encouragement in this struggle? The first thing is to accept that suffering and opposition are a part of the Christian life. But that’s just the first thing. The second thing is to re-interpret suffering to see the good in it.

Many people hear the fact that suffering is inevitable and think that this is an unmitigated disaster, but the Bible has a very different perspective. Paul says elsewhere, “we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Rom. 5:3–4).

James says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance” (James 1:2–3).

Peter says that we greatly rejoice even though we suffer a variety of trials. There is even something good in them: “These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Pet. 1:7).

The point is that as we experience suffering and then exercise our faith, we grow into what we are supposed to be. There is no higher goal that we can have than to become people who trust God. It’s what the Apostle Paul said in Romans. He prayed that the God of hope would fill them with all joy and peace as they trusted Him.

Faith fills us with joy and peace, but the trials and opposition we experience can knock us off our game. They keep us from joy and peace and dim our faith.

In the case of the Thessalonians, however, they did not have a lot of experience. They were just getting started. They seemed to be doing well, but they had not yet felt the rattle of their teeth from blows in the midst of battle. That’s why the Apostle Paul was concerned that they would “be unsettled by these trials.”

However, Paul knew that if they could exercise their faith in the midst of the trials, then the virtue of faith would grow within them. It would produce perseverance, an ability to keep doing good in the face of opposition. This perseverance would build their character. This character would make them complete.

So, the stakes were very high for the Thessalonians. Would they rise to the occasion and become the people of faith, hope, joy, and peace that God designed them to be, or would they be thrown into turmoil by the trials? Would the tempter successfully induce them to abandon their destiny, or would they remain faithful to the Word of God?

Support in the Midst of Suffering
The stakes are high in the battle we face, but we are not without support. Even though we undergo sufferings, we should not think we have to do it alone. We have resources. We have the Holy Spirit, we have the new nature, and we have the people of God. If you are struggling with your faith today, come back to the community! We can help. If you are here and struggling, share it with one of these friends.

The whole context here is Paul’s support and concern for the Thessalonians. He wanted them to know that he left unwillingly and was kept from helping them in person unwillingly, but he was still a resource for them. He said, “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy” (1 Thess. 2:19–20). He wanted them to know that his failure to come back did not indicate any lack of affection for them.

In fact, he was so concerned about them that he did not want to leave them without a face-to-face support. So, he says, “we sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith . . .” (1 Thess. 3:2). Each of us have Timothy’s and Paul’s and Silas’ that we can turn to when we need support in the battle.

As a Pastor, a colleague of Pastors, and a friend, I have spoken to many about their struggles. They come sometimes with great trepidation, but they are almost always glad that they shared their struggle. They find that they are not alone and that people still accept them in spite of their failings and sins. There is support in suffering!

Conclusion
Let me speak to three groups of people here today. You may be experiencing some severe suffering today. You may want simply to be rid of it, but can I encourage you to look at in a different way? Can I encourage you to see that this as part of life and as part of the life of faith? Can I encourage you to see it as walking the path of Christ who first suffered and then entered into His glory? Can I encourage you to see it as an opportunity to trust God and so develop the most important characteristic that you can have as a human being?

Maybe you are not experiencing a large degree of suffering today. Maybe you’re just experiencing the small challenges that we all face in living day to day life. Can I encourage you to not let those things go to waste? Use them as an opportunity for training. Commit yourself to trusting God whatever the day brings at you.

What does this look like? First, make it a goal. Make it a goal to trust God throughout your day. Ask for His help. Ask for strength to face the day with trust that leads to love and peace. This means that you keep trusting even when it’s hard and keep showing respect to the people around you no matter what.

Second, if you fail, then analyze what happened and consider how you might have viewed the situation differently. How did you respond when you didn’t get all the work done you needed to? Did you trust God with your status and security? Or did you start to panic?

How did you respond to a broken relationship? Did you repent for what you needed to repent of and leave that person in God’s hand? Or did you let yourself get frustrated as if the relationship was ultimately up to you?

How did you respond to ongoing health problems? Did you fall into despair as if you were abandoned? Or, did you trust that God would be with you and help you every step of the way? These are just a few examples of the way we can dedicate our lives to God and continue to develop trust, even in life’s hard circumstances.

Third, keep doing it. Keep making it a goal. There is nothing more important than becoming a person who trust God. This is the sole rock and sure foundation for human life, human serenity, and human creativity.

Now, some of you don’t experience suffering because you have insulated yourself from it. This is not faith. God calls us out into the world to exercise our faith in the midst of all its blistering and bruising. Put yourself out there. Put yourself in uncomfortable situations where you know you’ll be challenged. Seek for bigger things. Push out in relationships. Stretch your abilities. Try the heavier weight! Reach out to your neighbor. Invite that person over. Do something! Move into a bigger world. Let’s see your work motivated by your faith and your labor prompted by love.

Yes, it’ll hurt! but it will get you closer to where you want to be. You can’t become your true self by closing yourself off to the world. You become your true self by extending yourself into the world. You learn to meet the world with serenity after you have learned to experience its harshness. You learn to keep loving and serving after you’ve been hurt by others. This is how God develops faith and love within you. This is where God is leading you. So, let’s lean into it . . . together!

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Photo by Edward Howell on Unsplash