Friday, September 28,
2012, 8:30 a.m. – the Lord woke me with the song “Love Never Fails” playing through my mind. Speak, Lord, for your
servant is listening. I read 1
Thessalonians 1 (NIV 1984):
Paul, Silas and
Timothy,
To the church of the
Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to
you.
We always thank God
for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 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.
For we know, brothers
loved by God, that he has chosen you, 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. 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. And so you became a model to all the believers in
Macedonia and Achaia. 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, 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, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised
from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Words
of Encouragement
This is a fairly short passage of scripture,
yet Paul had the ability to pack a great deal of truth into just a few
sentences or paragraphs. At a quick glance, it may not seem like a whole lot to
digest, but with careful study, we can dig into to the passage and learn much
about who God is, and about our relationship with him and with his body, the
church.
Paul pretty much began all his letters with a
greeting, followed by a note of thankfulness to God for the saints of God to
whom he was specifically writing. Since he knew (of) them, and most likely had
received periodic reports concerning their progress, or maybe even had recently
made a personal visit to them, he was able to give thankfulness to God and
appreciation for specific praiseworthy actions on their part, as well as to
address any particular concerns he might have concerning their walks of faith
with the Lord Jesus Christ.
In this first section of 1 Thessalonians,
Paul offered many words of encouragement to the believers there, which should
encourage and inspire us, as well, to follow their model.
The
Fruit
Paul said that he (and Silas and Timothy)
continually remembered before our God and Father the believer’s: 1) work
produced by faith, 2) labor prompted by love, and 3) endurance inspired by hope
in our Lord Jesus Christ.
When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, our
faith should be lived out through our daily lives in the things that we do, our
thoughts, attitudes, behaviors, and actions, etc. We are not saved by works,
and God is not interested in what we think we can do for him, but works are the
outgrowth (the fruit) of our relationship with Jesus Christ. These kinds of
works are of the Spirit of God, not of the flesh of man. In other words, just
because we are in Christian ministry of some kind does not mean our work for
the Lord is produced by faith, prompted by love or inspired by hope in our Lord
Jesus, though it may be.
What Jesus wants is not what we can do for
him, out of our own will and desire, but what he desires is our heart-felt
obedience and surrender to what he wants for our lives. When our labor for the
Lord is rooted in what Christ wants and in obedience to his calling upon our
lives, and we are following the lead of the Holy Spirit and not our flesh, then
we can begin to experience what Paul is describing here about work, labor and endurance
produced, prompted and inspired by faith, hope and love (see 1 Co. 13). And,
there is no greater place to be than right in the center of God’s will,
following his lead, doing what he desires.
With
Power and Conviction
When we come to genuine faith in Jesus
Christ, there should be evidence that the Holy Spirit of God has truly
transformed our hearts and minds. Paul described this evidence in terms of the
gospel coming to them, not simply with words, but with power, with the Holy
Spirit, and with deep conviction. In other words, the believers in Thessalonica
had heard and received the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power and working of
the Holy Spirit in their lives in taking them from death to life. Their faith
in Jesus Christ was accompanied by deep conviction, in putting their faith into
practice in their lives. In other words, they showed they truly believed by how
they lived out their faith. If we say, for instance, that we believe Jesus
Christ died on the cross to free us from sin, and yet we continue to live
sinful lifestyles free of conviction, then where is our faith? James and John
both state it is null and void.
This also means the gospel was presented, not
just received, in the power of the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. The true
gospel is not to be gospel-lite in order to appeal to the flesh of men or to
gain more “converts.” If we are truly presenting the gospel in the power of the
Holy Spirit and with deep conviction, then we should be telling people the
whole gospel message. The reality of the gospel as lived out in our lives is
that just as Jesus Christ died to take away the sins of the world, so we, in
response to what he did for us, willingly lay down our lives for him, we
forsake our lives of sin, and we choose to walk humbly before God in faithful
obedience to God, following Jesus wherever he leads us. Conviction entails showing
we mean what we say we believe, as evidenced by how we live. And, it means
believing God, and that he will do what he said he would do. We can’t take a
casual approach to our faith. That doesn’t mix with conviction and the power of
the Spirit.
Imitators
of the Lord
To imitate means to copy, reproduce, emulate,
duplicate, etc. An imitator can be genuine or can be a fake. Some people fake
their Christianity in order to gain acceptance or to give off an image that all
is well, for the purpose of deception, while they hold on to sin in their
lives. Yet, this is not what Paul meant by imitating the Lord. This kind of
copying is not surface-only in order to present a false image, but it is
genuine, from the heart, and of the Spirit of God, in becoming more and more
like Jesus. When we reproduce the things of the Spirit in our lives, first of
all it is a work of the Spirit who does this within us. We can’t generate this
ourselves. Second of all, this imitating of Christ involves our willingness to
work with the Spirit of God in cooperation with his work of changing us,
molding us and making us into Christ’ likeness. This is often a painful process
and involves suffering.
The
Lord’s Message
Not only did the Thessalonian believers
receive the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit and with conviction, and not
only was this evident in their work, labor, and endurance produced, prompted
and inspired by their faith, hope and love (1 Co. 13) in Jesus Christ, and not
only did they become imitators of Christ in how they lived out their lives on a
daily basis, but they also diligently and with much perseverance, in spite of
severe suffering, gave out the gospel message all over the place. Yet, it wasn’t
just the gospel message that was spread everywhere through them, but their
faith became known everywhere. In other words, it wasn’t just their words that
went out, but their reputations as those who believed what they said they
believed, and who acted accordingly, spread everywhere.
It became known everywhere that these
followers of Christ forsook their idols and turned to the one and only living God,
in faith, to serve him and him alone. They had a reputation of having much
faith, hope and love, believing God for who he says he is, as evidenced in how
they conducted their lives, and in their hope of eternal life in heaven with
God, free from not only slavery to sin but free from the wrath of God at the
final judgment of mankind.
How
are we doing?
This is not a contest to one-up each other,
nor is this a demand for absolute perfection, because if it was, none of us
would ever measure up. We are not going to be perfect in this life, though we
should strive toward perfection in Christ, and should never use our lack of
perfection as an excuse for willful sin. Yet, we can look at this model
presented for us for how we should live our own lives, and of what our response
should be to the wonderful salvation God has so lovingly provided for us. If we
do not identify with these believers, then we should spend time with the Lord
in prayer, asking God to show us why we are not living like this, or perhaps we
already know the answer to that question. We should confess any known sin in
our lives, and we should determine, in the power and working of the Holy Spirit
within us, to walk in obedience to God and to follow the leading of the Spirit
and to allow the Holy Spirit of God to transform us in heart and mind and to
mold us into Christ’s image.
If you were to be honest with yourself at
this point in your life, what kind of reputation (true) do you think you would have
everywhere? I realize people can get false reputations, so I am not speaking
here of that. But, if the truth were to be known about you everywhere, what
would your reputation be? What evidence would there be to convict you of being
a follower of Jesus Christ? If Paul were alive today, could he honestly write
this about you? These are honest questions I believe we need to ask ourselves in
practical application to what is being taught here in this passage of
scripture. Our lives should speak volumes for our faith in Jesus Christ. Do
they?
Love
Never Fails / An Original Work / August 20, 2012
Based off 1
Corinthians 13 NIV
If
I speak
With
tongues of men and angels,
But
do not have love,
My
speech is but noise;
It
sounds like thunder from above.
If
I have the gift of preaching,
Knowledge,
faith and prophecy,
But
I do not love my brothers,
Oh,
what vanity!
If
I give all I possess
To
help a neighbor who’s in need,
But
I do not love my sisters,
I
gain not a thing.
Love
is patient; love is kind;
It
does not envy; is not proud.
It
is not rude; not self-seeking;
Selflessly
gives out.
Love
does not delight in evil,
But
rejoices with the truth;
Protects
always; hopes and trusts,
And
always perseveres.
Love
is not easily angered;
Keeps
no record of the wrongs.
It
forgives when wrong’s intended;
Returns
hate with love.
Love
will never fail when it is
God’s
love reaching out through us,
Selfless
in its care for others;
Yielding
to the cross.
Prophecies
and tongues
And
knowledge,
Wisdom,
teaching, miracles,
Gifts
of healing, helping others –
These
will all be stilled.
When
perfection comes
The
imperfect will surely disappear.
Faith
and hope and love remain;
The
greatest of these, love.
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