Abide With Me / Henry F. Lyte / William H. Monk
Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.
I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read I Thessalonians 1-2:16:
Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you.
Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians’ Faith
2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message 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. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how 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.
Paul’s Ministry in Thessalonica
1 You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. 2 We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition. 3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. 6 We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.
As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, 7 but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. 8 We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. 9 Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.
10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. 14 For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, 15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men 16 in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.
My Understanding: As I prayerfully considered this passage of scripture before the Lord Jesus in prayer, I realized that, combined with the words to this song, the Lord was offering me (and us) three models for living the Christian life in difficult circumstances and times.
The Model of the Song
We are presented in this song with many difficulties. Evening or night (a time that is opposite of light and day) is about to fall. Darkness (evil) is deepening (intensifying). We can see this in our daily news stories. Our friends, co-workers, neighbors and/or family members are failing us, and so we are not comforted in their love. The joys we have experienced in this life are growing dim (not easy to see). Life’s changes are hitting us hard – aging, death of loved ones, children growing up and becoming more independent, health issues, job changes, moves, sorrow, mourning, etc. Decay (decline, deterioration, rot, corrosion, destruction and devastation) can be seen everywhere. Clouds (confusion, complications, puzzles and the perplexities) of life are ever present. And, foes (adversaries; enemies; opponents) assail us, though we must be reminded here that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the forces and powers of evil in the spiritual realm.
In all of this, the model here for us to follow is for us to have Christ abiding with us and for us to abide with him, i.e. this has to do first of all with us being in an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through genuine faith in him, and then it has to do with us spending time with Jesus each day at his feet, learning from him, listening to what he has to teach us, and then obeying daily what he shows us. This is modeled for us in John 15 in Jesus’ words to us, his disciples. V. 4 says: “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” To remain means to “continue, endure, persist, keep on, stay, and/or hang around,” which is synonymous with “abide”, which means to “reside, dwell, wait, and/or endure.”
This is not something we can do for 5 minutes a day and then spend the rest of the day doing what we want. This is not something we can do one hour a week during a “worship” service, either, thinking we have met our weekly obligation to God. Jesus Christ must be abiding in us and us abiding in him moment by moment and day by day. This is constantly abiding! When we do that, we will come to know intimately the one who changes not, we will experience his continual presence with us, we will know and will participate in his grace that can thwart the tempter’s (Satan’s) power over our lives, and we will receive into our lives with great enthusiasm his guidance, his blessings on our lives, freedom from fear, his yoke that is easy and his burden that is light, and his triumph over death, hell, Satan and sin so that we can go free from the penalty, control of and power of sin over our lives.
The Model of the Church
This local church in Thessalonica is another role model for us in difficult times, because they were going through a time of severe suffering. They suffered from their own countrymen the same things that other church fellowships had suffered at the hands of those who killed Jesus Christ, who killed the prophets, and who had driven out the apostles. In other words, they were rejected and persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ just like other believers had suffered. This brings to mind how the church outside the USA has often had to undergo severe suffering for their faith and testimony for Jesus Christ, yet how we, in America, have yet to suffer in that same way. And yet, I believe, our time is coming, which is why the Lord is giving us these models to follow when the darkness intensifies around us, as well. The Thessalonian church also suffered from those who displease God, who heap up their sins to the limit, and who are hostile toward God and toward followers of Christ. These opponents are hostile by their efforts at trying to keep the church people from sharing the gospel so that others can be saved. We will face those kinds of people, too, if we have not already.
Yet, the believers in Thessalonica persevered in their faith in Jesus Christ, as was evidenced by what they did, i.e. by their labors of love. They accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ, not as the words of men, but as the words of God. As well, they received and welcomed the message of the gospel with great joy and with the power and working of the Holy Spirit in their lives and with great conviction. Their faith was not a casual belief in Jesus Christ. It was powerful and passionate faith in Jesus. They became imitators of Christ, i.e. they were his followers and they became Christ-like in their attitudes and behaviors, following the model that Christ Jesus set for us by words and example. In addition to all of this, they were also witnesses for Jesus Christ as they shared the gospel message by word and by example, so that the testimony of their faith became known everywhere. These believers in Jesus Christ had a radical, transformational, powerful and effective faith in Jesus Christ that rocked their world for Jesus Christ! Oh, that we, too, would have that kind of faith.
The Model of the Apostles – Harper’s Bible Dictionary gives this definition of an apostle – “the English transliteration of a Greek word meaning ‘one who is sent out.’ An apostle is a personal messenger or envoy, commissioned to transmit the message or otherwise carry out the instructions of the commissioning agent.” In this case, we should all be apostles because we, as believers in Jesus Christ, have all been commissioned by God (the commissioning agent) to be witnesses throughout the world and to go and to make disciples of all nations and to teach them all the things Jesus taught us. This example was modeled to us by the first apostles, and as Jesus’ “sent out ones,” it is a model that we, too, should follow:
• Having suffered and been insulted previously, with the help of God, persevered in sharing the gospel elsewhere in spite of strong opposition
• Shared the gospel message (the appeal of God made through us), yet this appeal did not spring from error or impure motives, trickery, flattery or manipulation
• Spoke as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel
• Did not try to please men but God; not looking for praise from men; not watering down the gospel message to make it palatable to the flesh of man as some do
• Did not put on a mask (disguise; façade) to cover-up greed
• Were gentle among the people, like a mother caring for her children
• Dealt with each of the believers as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting, and urging them to live lives worthy of and pleasing to God
• Loved the church so much that they delighted to share with them not only the gospel of Jesus Christ, but they gave of their time, energies, resources, etc., as well as they sacrificed their own desires, wants and reputations for the people and the gospel
• Lived holy, righteous and blameless lives among those who believed – certain this did not mean sinless, but rather they dealt with sin immediately through confession and then by turning from the sin and continuing to follow the Lord in obedience
The Bible tells us about a time of severe trial and persecution to come upon the world and upon believers in Jesus Christ, which we know as the time of tribulation spoken about in the book of Revelation, Daniel and the other prophets (OT and NT). Many Christians in America believe we will be spared this time, and yet other believers throughout the world have already gone through and are presently experiencing this kind of testing, persecution, etc., as is described in the words of this song and in the words in this passage of scripture. So, why should we think we, in America, should be spared?
The church in America, overall, fits well the description of the church in Laodicea (Revelation 3) which was neither hot nor cold in relation to God, but was lukewarm. I believe that is why the Lord is giving us these models of hot, passionate, determined, genuine, and persistent faith and practice to follow, because our time of severe trial and persecution is soon upon us, and we need to be standing out in this world in stark contrast to the pattern of the world and as shining lights for Jesus Christ, as is modeled for us in these three examples provided for us here. We need to stop living lukewarm, selfish and worldly lives, and we need to be passionate about Jesus. Time is short. We don’t know if we have tomorrow. So many people need to know Jesus Christ and to have salvation from their sins. We need to be sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, not only by our words, but by our very lives, because actions speak louder than words. May we (I) take to heart these three examples (models) today, and get passionate about Jesus, because time is running out.
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