Today is Mother’s Day. I am so glad we have had time together this morning to celebrate all the Mothers.
If you have been coming to this church for very long you have probably hear me talk about Tina my pet turkey. Tina passed away last night after she was attacked by my neighbor’s dog. It was a very sad time for me. She has been my pet Turkey for close to 6 years and maybe longer……But she was very special to me and it was sad to see her suffer and to bury her once she had passed.
So I was very surprised at the scripture the Lord woke me up with this morning. I would have thought that the Lord would have given me one of the traditional scriptures of comfort such as:
Romans 12:15
15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
Psalm 30:5
5 ……….. weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
***But actually the scripture the Lord put on my heart this morning was even more powerful than what I thought I needed. You see I thought I needed comfort but God knew I needed perspective.
In a lot of ways this is the role that God has given to Mothers in our lives. Many times growing up as a young child I would be playing and get minor injury or hurt and go to my mother for comfort. And yes she would hug me, kiss me, provide a Band-Aid or ice pack….but it was not very long after tending to my immediate needs by providing comfort, that my mother would provide wisdom and perspective. One of the most memorable quotes of perspective my Mother would give me growing up following an injury was this one: “Well that will heal up before you get married” …… to a six or seven year old boy that was both very confusing and comforting…...
So let me share with you the perspective that the Lord gave me this morning: Here is the verse:
1 Thessalonians 5:18
18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
**I thought to myself how Lord? How can I give thanks in everything? I do not want to give thanks when I am hurting. I do not want to give thanks when someone has done me wrong. How can you expect me to have an attitude of gratitude when the pain and the loss is so fresh and raw? Tina has not even been dead for 24 hours and you are calling me to give thanks……….
When we look at this passage of scripture in context we find it is placed in the final thoughts of Paul to the Thessalonians as he is closing his first letter to them. It is almost like he is trying to make sure to squeeze in some final instructions that seem to be unrelated to each other until you take a step back and look at the entire letter from Paul.
But 1st let me give you a little historical background on the establishment of the Church at Thessalonica:
Thessalonica was established around 315 BC by Cassander, who named it after his wife Thessalonica, the half-sister of Alexander the Great. The Romans took the city in 168 BC and made it the capital of Macedonia in Greece.
Thessalonica was a “free city” (without a military force) governed by its citizens and was more Greek than Roman in character. Its population, estimated at 200,000, was made up of Greeks, Romans, and Jews.
The city borders the Aegean Sea, providing access to the Mediterranean. Its location made it a major shipping center, second only to Corinth and Ephesus. Artisans, merchants, and trade guilds made it wealthy, although most citizens performed physical labor of all types.
Religious pluralism filled Thessalonica with all types of pagan cults, temples, and deities. Archaeological evidence indicates at least 25 gods were represented in heathen worship, including Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Dionysus, and the Roman emperor, to name a few. However, some Gentiles had become proselytes to Judaism and were known as God-fearers.
March/April 2016 David M. Levy
***Paul was not originally planning to go preach at Thessalonica but God lead him there by a vision after the Holy Spirit prevented him from going to preach the word of God in Asia as he had originally planned:
Acts 16:9-10
9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.
***Point #1 of the message today: In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
*** Paul changes direction in his trip which takes him to several other places where he preaches and soon Paul and Silas are beaten and put in inner prison
Acts 16:23-33
23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.
***Point #2 of the message today: Your praise of thanksgiving to God will bring freedom to you and those around you.
27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
***Point #3 of the message today: Your praise of thanksgiving to God will expand the reach and effectiveness of your ministry.
*** My friends this world is full of hurting people who are looking for something to hold on to. They are looking for hope, life and fulfillment. People are searching in every way possible to find meaning, value and worth in their lives. The genuine expression of thanksgiving by a child of God in the midst of trouble is a beacon of light to someone around you who is hurting and in pain and lost.
***Point #3 of the message today: Your praise of thanksgiving to God will expand the reach and effectiveness of your ministry.
For Paul and Silas what started as a detour in their planned missionary trip, has lead them to physical beating and prison but it has also expanded the reach to families that it is likely would never have heard the Good News of Jesus and received him as savior.
A few verses later in Acts 17 we see Paul and Silas come into Thessalonica. Lets pick up the story here:
Acts 17
1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:
2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
3 Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.
4 And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.
5 But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
6 And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
7 Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.
8 And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things.
9 And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.
10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.
11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
12 Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.
13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people.
14 And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timotheus abode there still.
***So now I am beginning to understand what the Books of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians are covering so many topics of discipleship for new believers in Christ. Paul did not have very much time to spend their due to the opposition by leadership to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Look at verse #4 again: 4 And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. So their ministry was effective and many people believed on Jesus but Paul had to leave due to persecution.
So with all of this in mind we can look at 1st Thessalonians in a whole new light. This book is intended to confirm young disciples in the fundamental truths and doctrines of scripture. Paul specifically reinforces living a life of holiness and the comfort we have promised by God concerning those who die in faith before Christ Jesus return. The new believers were primarily Greeks who go on to become outstanding examples of demonstrating God’s power in a believer’s life.
***Point #1 of the message today: In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
***Point #2 of the message today: Your praise of thanksgiving to God will bring freedom to you and those around you.
***Point #3 of the message today: Your praise of thanksgiving to God will expand the reach and effectiveness of your ministry.
At the end of Paul’s letter to the Church at Thessalonica we see he presents 14 commands or directives for the believers to follow. These are found in 1 Thessalonians 5:14-22. These are all very important and we could spend the rest of the day going over each one of them in great detail but let’s just look at them together as we prepare to close today:
14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.
16 Rejoice evermore.
17 Pray without ceasing.
18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
19 Quench not the Spirit.
20 Despise not prophesyings.
21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
*** In Closing I want to direct you to the preceding passages of scripture that frame Paul directives to the believers. The reason why Paul is making these directives is not just as a guide to great living but it is in the context of Christ soon return.
***The 4th and Closing point of the message today: Your praise of thanksgiving to God is based on your faith in what God has promised to come.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
***continuing in Thessalonians chapter 5***
5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
**Reminder it is mother’s day. Call you mother. No Sunday night service tonight so families can be together and be with their mother or remember their mother.
