September 15, 2019 Sermon - CATM - Stand Firm in the Lord
We are fearfully and wonderfully made. Most of our bodies functions are automatic. Digestive, circulatory, breathing. And even when you’re scared, your brain takes over your response.
When you’re scared, your amygdala sends a distress signal, the hypothalamus activates the sympathetic nervous system by sending signals through the autonomic nerves to the adrenal glands.
These glands respond by pumping the hormone epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) into the bloodstream.
This gives you the ‘fight or flight’ impulse - when confronting a threat, should you fight it, can you fight it, or should you run away?
- how should you best use your body’s energy? It’s amazing. We are fearfully and wonderfully made.
But…what makes you confident, what makes you confident when you might otherwise be fearful? What enables you to face your fears and not hide tale and run away when you might want to?
We are nearing the end of our series on the letters to the Thessalonians. You may have noticed that both letters contain indications that the Christians in Thessalonica were living with significant fear.
They were fearful because of the hostility of the culture around them to what they represented - something new, something strange albeit wonderful.
They were fearful of the Jewish leaders who were aggressive toward the church who they saw as a potential threat to their own shakey status as a monotheistic faith in that polytheistic pagan culture.
And they were fearful because some among them were spreading misinformation.
They were saying that the day of the Lord, the day of Christ’s return had happened.
Back in the day before cell phones and Facebook, the joke among Christians, when you couldn’t contact anyone you knew at a particular time,
was that the rapture must have happened and, oh well, ya got left behind.
That was a joke, mostly. But!...If someone told you that the Lord had already returned, but you’re still here...how would you feel.
That wouldn’t be particularly good news. And it wouldn’t make any sense as a follower of Jesus. It would just be confusing.
The Thessalonian church was waaaaay before phones of any nature, so what they felt, when people starting saying that the Lord had already returned, was fear.
So the letter to the Thessalonians contains all kinds of encouragement designed to calm their fears.
These are some of the words of encouragement in the letter to the Thessalonians.
[Readers: Read the passages below without reading the verse number. Read it as though you are speaking directly to the people around you.]
Reader 1
1 Thess 1:4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you,
Reader 2
1 Thess 1:6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere.
Reader 3
1:9 you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Reader 4
1 Thess 2:19 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? 20 Indeed, you are our glory and joy.
Reader 1
1 Thess 3:6 But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love.
Reader 2
1 Thess 3:7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. 8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. 9 How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?
Reader 3
1 Thess 4:9 Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.
Reader 4
1 Thess 5:5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
Reader 1
2 Thes 1:4 Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
Reader 2
5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.
Thank you, readers!
These are all profoundly encouraging words that Paul and Timothy and Silas, the authors of this letter, wanted the people of the church in Thessalonica to hear.
They were fearful, they were on edge and they needed to be courageous. They needed to be encouraged
They were confused, and they needed to be clear-minded. They were wondering about their relationship to Jesus, and they need to be reminded that they belonged to Him.
Do you ever need to be reminded that you belong to Him? Do you ever have doubts? Do you look at other Christians and think: “I’m not as good as them”, and then feel inferior?
Do you look at some of the incredibly bad press that Christians sometimes earn and think: “What is going on?” Are you sometimes just afraid?
To those fears, and to the fears of the Thessalonicans, this letter has more to say. What it says involves, for us, understanding, believing and living:
13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord,
Do you understand what this means? Do you believe that we ought always to be thankful for our brothers and sisters in the Lord?
Take a minute during the peace sometime of after a service to speak a word of encouragement to someone here. Who among your brothers and sisters are you thanking God for today? [Wait for responses]
[[I’m thankful for Rita. She loves the Lord and is always encouraging and always deeply engaged in worship.
I’m thankful for William, he loves the Lord and he is incredibly faithful making everything happen behind the scenes for our worship on Sunday.
I’m thankful for Faith. She loves the Lord and is faithful in leading us in worship and as an Elder.
I’m thankful for our other Elders, Rodney, Darlene and Breda and Florence. They love you and they pray for you and they seek God’s best for this church and this community.
For Karen and Sharon as they grow and as they serve the Lord.
Barbara and Shirley.]]
I could go on and on, but I understand the importance of thanking God for my brothers and sisters.
I believe in doing it and in doing it it makes me focus on the positive. And I seek to live thankful for each of you and each of the blessings in my life.
Understanding, believing and living.
What else does our Scripture say today:
God chose you as firstfruits to be saved...
You know what firstfruits are? They are the first part of and the guarantee of the rest of the harvest. The firstfruits are always celebrated.
When a first child is born, that is celebrated. And there may well be more.
When the first apple is picked and tasted and is good, that is celebrated. It means the crop is good.
That firstfruit is the sign that the rest to come will be good.
When the firstfruits of the harvest are healthy and ripe, it means a successful crop. It means abundance. It is the sign of God’s provision. More good is coming.
That’s why we bring the firstfruits of the harvest to God, who is the maker of the harvest.
God chose you as firstfruits.
In my family, I was the first to become a Christian. My family did not expect or want that to happen.
God got a hold of my heart through the gospel, and light started to break into my family.
A few years later my brother Craig, trying to ‘unconvert’ me, trying to ‘fix’ me, examined the gospel up close, and much to my parent’s chagrin, Craig became a Christian. The first is a sign of more to come.
The Thessalonians were the first to come to Jesus, and they are being reminded that many others will come, and that they themselves are a sign, a guarantee that there is more to come!
You may have been the first in your family to come to faith in Jesus.
Or maybe someone else was the firstfruit and you were part of the promise of the firstfruit fulfilled.
You’re either the firstfruit or you’re the fulfillment of the promise that the firstfruit contained-that more good was coming.
Whatever the situation, we know that God wants each person in this church to be a forerunner, to be a sign of the promise of more salvation to come. (Pause)
I hope you share your faith with your friends. I hope you’re ready when someone asks you why you are a follower of Jesus.
If you don’t feel ready, just think about it. “Why do I follow Jesus? How has he been good to me? How has He been faithful to me?”
Answering your own questions can give you the seed of your testimony to others as to why you love the Lord. Understanding, believing, living.
God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
You came to faith in Jesus by the work of the Holy Spirit, drawing you to Jesus. That’s called grace. Specifically, that’s called prevenient grace.
God calls you, He woos you, and you respond because the Spirit of God is at work, and you come to believe in the truth of Jesus.
You develop a profound conviction that God loves you so much that He gave His only Son for you. That Christ’s sacrifice was for YOUR sins.
You are blown away by this revelation, and you respond with a mustard seed of faith. As you keep trusting Jesus that little seed of faith blossoms and becomes a mountain.
Jesus becomes your source of hope, your source of joy, your source of encouragement, or purpose. He becomes key to your world.
You see verse 10 of 2 Thessalonians chapter says that people “...Perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved”.
People who are presented with the same gospel, with the same witness of transformed and transforming lives, people respond differently.
What’s the difference between a person who is saved, who comes to be a follower of Jesus, and one who does not?
One who hears the gospel and is moved and transformed and one who hears the gospel and couldn’t care less?
The one who does not believe “refuses to love the truth and so be saved”.
Who is the truth that saves us? Jesus Christ Himself. What is the truth that saves us? That He gave His life for you and me.
So the one who is not in the end saved is the one who in the end “refuses to love the truth and so be saved”.
It’s their choice as to how they respond to the grace of God. “God...wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”. (1 Tim 2:3-4)
But if a person chooses to not love the truth of Who Jesus is and the truth of His sacrifice, God will not force or coerce anyone to change.
For the Thessalonians, the Holy Spirit was active in each of their lives, causing them to become more like Jesus. That’s the best definition of the word Sanctification.
The character of the people was changing. There are no longer as they used to be.
Their appetites were changing, being submitted to Jesus.
Their moral worldview was coming to be lined up with God’s will. They were moving from being self-centred and self-focused to living their lives focused on God and on being a blessing to other people.
Do we understand what the Scripture is saying? Do we believe it? Are we learning to live in this way? (Pause)
14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ok. Let’s just stop for a second here. This is a mind-boggler. Might take a bit to grasp what is being said here. “He called you to this through our gospel”.
That’s not so hard to understand. They became Christians, were among the first to come to Christ in that pagan city, through hearing, understanding, and believing the gospel.
But here’s the thing that we need to understand. Each of us in this room is known by name by the living God;
Each of us was called by the Creator of the universe, was called by God to come to faith in Jesus SO THAT... So that what?
Did you know that Jesus prayed for you?
John, an intimate friend of Jesus, recorded a prayer that only he, in seems, was privileged to hear Jesus pray:
Jesus prayed: 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one”.
Again, the verse we’re looking at says:
14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Can you say to the person on your right: “God called you to salvation so that you might share in the glory of Jesus Christ”. Amen.
How do we share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ? (2:14)
What does it mean to share in the glory of Jesus Christ?
Pastor John Piper is helpful here as we unpack this. He says:
? “His glory is the brightness and the nature of the Creator of the universe.
? “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).
? The glory of Jesus is the sum of all the beauties of love and wisdom and power that he revealed in his earthly life.
? “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory” (John 1:14).
? His glory is the triumph of every battle he wins over all his personal, global, and universal enemies.
? “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12).
? Jesus’ glory is the eternal radiance of the light of God replacing the sun and moon forever.
? “The city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Revelation 21:23).
? “You were made for this glory.
This alone will satisfy the longings of your heart. Jesus prayed that you would see his glory in its fullness, on the other side of his resurrection: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory” (John 17:24).
“The glory of Christ will be yours. This is your final, highest enjoyment in the future. You will come into the possession of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ”.
“The glory of Christ is our “blessed hope.” We long for him to appear. “We wait for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).
“When it appears — when he appears shining with it — we will see him...Then we will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and we will become glorious as he is glorious.
“We will be changed by the sight of his incomparable glory. “When he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
For now, we suffer with him. But this happens “in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:17).
“Our union with him will be changed from invisible to visible. And in him we will become glorious. “God has called you to his eternal glory in Christ” (1 Peter 5:10).
“The union will be mutually radiant, so that not only are we glorified in him, but also he in us. “The name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in him” (2 Thessalonians 1:12).
And we will shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father (Matthew 13:43).
“Jesus himself will always be the height and the depth of our glory and our joy.
“This is the goal of our calling, our life — the possession of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
NOW...with perhaps MORE understanding, say to the person on your left: “God called you to salvation so that you might share in the glory of Jesus Christ”. Amen.
So stand firm in that knowledge. When the fears comes, stand firm!
So I hope you are encouraged. If you are a follower of Jesus, I hope you are inspired in your understanding, believing and living what you believe.
I hope you choose to live this coming week remembering these things. Remembering that you are called to share in the glory of Jesus Christ.
And you can do that today by bearing witness to the love of God. By sharing Jesus with your friends and family.
Perhaps by inviting someone you care about to church, so they too can be encouraged. (Pause)65
But I always think of the one. The one who may be among us who has not yet entered into this relationship with the living God.
The one who may not know Jesus. That one may be ready to receive Jesus today as their Lord and Saviour
Do YOU know Jesus today? Have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour?
Are you willing to give your life to the one who gave His life for you on the cross?
Are you ready to deny yourself, pick up your cross daily, and follow Jesus? Do you want to live a transformed and transforming life?
You see, what you hope for shapes what you live for.
Are you ready to place your hope in Jesus Christ, the living God Who gave Himself for you, who suffered and died on the cruel cross for your sins and mine?
If you’re ready, I want to pray now. This is an opportunity for you to renew your love for Jesus, your walk with Jesus. It’s an opportunity for you to for the first time receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.
We’re going to thank Jesus for His love and His grace in going to the cross for us, to save us from our sins.
We’re going to confess that we believe that Jesus died for our sins, that He took our place, took the penalty for our sin upon Himself.
We’re going to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour of our lives.
Are you ready? Are you ready to trust your Maker, your Redeemer, the Lover of your soul? If you are, let’s close our eyes together and pray.
Are you ready? Let’s pray
