Alba 12-31-2023
FACING A NEW YEAR IN A SHAKY WORLD
I Thessalonians 3:1-5
Have you ever gone to a scary movie? When I was twelve years old some friends and I walked to a movie theater that was about two miles from our home. The movie was called “Them”. It was not the kind of movie our family would usually go to see. In fact, we rarely went to any movie. Why my mother agreed to let me go is something I still wonder about. If she had known it was a scary movie, she probably wouldn't have let me go.
The movie starts out with some monstrous things that you can't see, but they make a high pitched noise and cause destruction and death. It turns out that “Them” are giant ants. Supposedly, atomic testing in 1945 in New Mexico developed the dangerous huge mutant ants that were attacking people.
By the time the movie was over it was dark outside, and we had to walk the nearly two miles back home with that shrill high pitched noise still ringing in our ears. We went home faster than when we came.
There are a lot of things that can cause us to be afraid. Too many of them are not in the movies, but are in real life. We are facing a New Year, and while that can mean hope for a better future, the past and its troubles casts a shadow over that hope that is hard to ignore. We are living in a shaky world.
Looking at things that have changed in just the last few years, life in these United States can be scary. Things considered to be improper and even wrong are now touted both as normal and something to be celebrated.
Boys are taught that they can be girls, and girls are told they can be boys adding to the confusion that children experience as they grow. And somehow parents are not supposed to have any say in the matter. Its scary!
Men who dress up in garish, sexually suggestive ways to look like a woman are invited to read stories to children in public libraries. Its scary!
In the last few years millions of people have flooded into the United States illegally. And they are still coming by the thousands with no real attempt to stop this invasion. They come from countries all over the world including those considered to be our enemies. Its scary!
It used to be that even if a person was not a Christian, most people looked up to that ideal and expected those who called themselves Christians to live up to the name. Today there are those who think a Christian can be a danger to democracy.
Groups such as Scriptures for America Worldwide Ministries in Colorado, and Concerned Christian Citizens in Texas, as well as many more have been put on the Southern Poverty Law Center's hate list.
We are facing a new year, but the fear is that these things will keep happening, and worse. And now there is the possibility of an ever expanding war in the world. Ukraine continues its struggle with Russia. Israel is in a battle for its existence. And right here in our country we see hundreds of people demonstrating against Israel. Its scary!
God told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you.” (Genesis 12:3) It can be dangerous to be on the wrong side of that battle. We are in a shaky world as we face the new year. Its scary!
So what do we do? Shall we just throw up our hands in defeat? Is there no hope? No hope at all? Oh, yes there is! Our hope is not in this world. It is in the One who has made this world, and Who continues to guide us in His ways.
We are not alone in thinking that life can be difficult. The truth is Christians down through the ages have had to face hard, scary times, and even persecution. It was true of the church in Thessalonica in the first century.
The apostle Paul had a concern for the Thessalonian believers. Just shortly after Paul had led them to Christ and established a church there, an angry mob went on the rampage and chased Paul out of town. And the problems didn't stop, so the new Christians faced some difficult times.
When Paul gets down the road to Athens, he begins to wonder about the new believers he left behind in Thessalonica. Is their faith still strong despite the persecution? Are they holding up under the pressure? Or have they given in to the affliction and given up their faith?
So he writes in his letter, I Thessalonians 3:1-5 to tell them of his concern. He says, “Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith, that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know. For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain.
In these words to the Christians in Thessalonica, we have encouragement to us as Christians as we face a new year with all the problems that surround us. Notice: We do not have to be shaken by the problems if we...
1. Remain established and encouraged in our faith (vs. 2)
2. Know that God is still God in times of tribulation (vs. 3-4)
3. Don't give in to temptation (vs. 5)
1. There are resources that will help us to remain established an encouraged in our faith. But first we had better know what faith we are talking about. At Christmas time there is a lot of talk about believing in something rather illusive like the Christmas spirit. It is good to have positive feelings but that is not the faith that scripture speaks of. Nor is it enough to keep us going when difficulties come our way.
The New Testament speaks of faith in a very specific way. It is faith is Jesus as Savior, Christ and Lord. In Acts 16:31 the Philippian jailer when he asked, “What must I do to be saved?” was told, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
And what are we to believe about Jesus? “That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” (I Corinthians 15:3-4)
Galatians 3:22 says, “The Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.”
Romans 3:21-22 says, "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.”
So how does that help us face a shaky world?
It changes our lives and changes our focus. No matter what we face in this world, I Peter 2:6 says that the person “who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”
And in 2 Timothy 1:12 the apostle Paul admits that he had many difficulties simply because he was a Christian. But he says, “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”
As you face this new year, be established and encouraged in your faith. It is Jesus your Savior who will keep you in His care, now and for eternity.
2. You will also be able to face the new year in this shaky world if you remember that God is still God in times of tribulation. The apostle Paul reminds the Thessalonians saying, “we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened.”
Trials are common to every Christian. No one is exempt; no one gets a trouble-free ride to heaven. The apostle Peter writes in his letter to Christians, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. (I Peter 4:12-13)
We should expect difficulty. It’s better to expect it than to think that life will always be a bed of roses. It reminds me of the guy who said that he doesn’t mind obstacles as long as they don’t get in his way.
The Christian life is not promised as a quick fix. New Christians are sometimes confused when they think that everything should go perfectly, that there should be no more difficulties in their life.
Persecution is promised to believers; therefore we should not be surprised when we encounter trials of various kinds. In the midst of difficulties, we must continue to trust God because He hasn't gone anywhere. He is still God.
Whatever trial we face doesn’t matter as much as how we respond to it. Often we focus intently on the details of our difficulties as if our problem was the most important thing in the world. It may seem so at the time, but its not really.
God is much more concerned with how we respond than with the trial itself. Someone has said that trials don’t make you or break you. They simply reveal what’s already inside of you. Someone else has said, “God will take care of what you go through; you take care of how you go through it.”
Don't give up hope. There is hope in our faith in Jesus Christ. God is still God. Nothing can change that. His power is just as strong today as when He spoke and this world was created.
3. So hold on to your faith, trust God to be God, and don't give into temptation. The apostle Paul was concerned that the troubles the Christians in Thessalonica were experiencing would tempt them to give up their faith (verse 5). He rejoiced in the good news that Timothy brought back to him that they were remaining faithful.
No matter what we see around us in this shaky world today, there is no reason to think that we should just give up. That would really please the old devil, wouldn't it?
It is no secret that Satan desires to turn us away from our faith. He has been tempting humans for centuries. In fact in Matthew chapter four, it tells us that he even tried to tempt Jesus. He is an ancient foe and very aware of the most effective means of destroying the faith of those not ready for his attacks. That is why we need to have our armor on.
We have to be aware that temptation strikes everybody. The devil does his best to draw us away from the path of following Jesus. He is just waiting for the opportunity to see weakness and to pounce on us like the roaring lion that he is. But he is toothless if we remain faithful.
1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
The apostle Peter assures us in 2 Peter 2:9 that, “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.”
And James tells us the promise that is ahead for us when we don't give in to temptation in James 1:12. It says there, “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”
There are many things in this shaky world that we cannot change. But we do have a say in how we will face the new year that is coming.
We can approach the problems and difficulties that we experience in this world with a strong faith, established in our knowledge of scripture and of Jesus Christ. We can seek those things that encourage faith, rather than discourage it.
We can continue to trust God, even when things do not seem to be going our way. He has not left us. We can cast our cares upon Him, for He cares for us. Don't expect things to always run smoothly. The only constant is God. It will help when we remember that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)
And in a shaky, scary world, we can pray. Jesus tells us that if we will simply, and sincerely, watch and pray it will keep us from temptation (Mark 14:38 & Luke 22:40).
Then whatever happens in this new year, we should be able to agree with what it says in II Corinthians 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
We will make it if we keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
CLOSE:
Wouldn't it be great to look forward to a new year without any worries? Have you ever been out driving when there was a thick fog? Since we cannot see the future, the things we face in this shaky world can be like a fog that can be scary and obscure our vision. That's when can accidents happen.
Did you know that according to the National Bureau of Standards, a dense fog covering seven city blocks to a depth of 100 feet is composed of something less than one glass of water. That is, all the fog covering seven city blocks 100 feet deep could be, if it were gotten all together, held in a single drinking glass; it would not quite fill it.
Worry is like that thick fog that makes it hard to look ahead. Worries and fears can seem so big. But if we could see beyond those troubles, we would see that in comparison to the hope we have in Jesus, they are very small.
We need trust God to do what’s right in this life. We have a heavenly Father. We can trust Him. When we truly have confidence in God, we can face the future in this shaky world, and our faith can be a powerful testimony to others.
Lets make sure our faith is in Jesus who went to that cross so that our sins could be forgiven.
