Day 197

Hope in Christ's return

1 Thessalonians 5

Key Verses: 4, 8, 14, 16-18, 19-22

There is a popular notion spinning in Christian circles that we as Jesus-followers will be surprised when Jesus returns. Jesus will come suddenly, but it will not be a surprise, since we know He is coming and we are waiting for it. Just like a woman in labor. She might not know the exact moment of the upcoming birth, but she knows it is coming. She is not surprised when she hears those first cries of life. So too, we know Jesus is going to return. When the trumpet sounds, we will know exactly what it is.

But for those who don’t know Christ and who are living their lives without an active knowledge of His coming, it will be sudden, unexpected, life altering. They are walking in darkness, asleep to the Truth. They are unaware or uncaring of the consequences of their everyday actions.

We must live our lives differently than they do, since we know Christ is returning. We need to keep our senses sharp so as not to live in a way that dishonors Christ. Paul speaks of the others as being drunk. We don’t know if this was literal drunkenness, or whether Paul was using drunkenness as a picture of being unaware of one’s surroundings and responsibilities. We need to be sober. This means not under the influence of alcohol to the point of disconnection, but also anything else that might pull us off focus.

Jesus repeatedly said we need to watch for His return. As a guard on night patrol on a Forward Operating Base in a combat zone must stay awake and focused or he jeopardizes not only his own life, but the lives of his comrades, so we must stay awake in our spiritual watching. We can’t afford to let the Enemy get past our perimeter, infiltrating our defenses, able to attack from within.

Paul closes out this book by giving us a glimpse of what sober living looks like. He does this by showing what it is not, and by what it is. We need to be in the work of warning, encouraging, helping and patience. This is our work toward outsiders and those who are stumbling.

Our lives need to be filled with rejoicing, prayer and thanksgiving. I don’t know about you, but I get tired of being around people who are complaining and grumbling. I like being around rejoicers, prayers, and thankers! I like myself when I am that way. I think I need to be even more so.

Paul even includes some worship service directives. When we gather for worship, it is not to be simply an intellectual exercise, devoid of the unexpected. God wants to be present, intervening in our nice neat boxes. He wants to be vitally, energetically involved in our worship of Him. Are we willing to let Him invade our perimeter?

Day 196

True love between Christians 

1 Thessalonians 4

Key Verses: 2, 3, 6, 11-12, 15, 16

Without a foundation in knowledge of God’s Word, we can’t be urged to live in line with what we know. So many Jesus-followers today don’t have a basic knowledge of God’s Word. They understand the bumper stickers, but nothing of depth. They don’t know how to read the Word in a way that they hear God’s voice speaking to them, convicting them, affirming them. Paul was confident his instruction in the Word was being applied by the readers of this letter.

One thing Paul wanted: sanctification. This is a big word which means set apart for God’s exclusive, holy use. An animal was sanctified before it was sacrifice. It was given over completely for God’s purpose. Nothing was held back.

One of the areas that sanctification was need in Paul’s day was in the area of sexual purity. We of course have the same issue today. Some things just don’t change. Paul said as believers we have the ability to control our body, to keep it pure. Those who don’t keep control face judgment. We sometimes think our modern problems are so different from the ancient ones, that we have changed so much. And yet, sexual control was a problem back then as well.

Our lives need to be the kind of lives that outsiders respect. Our words should match our deeds. We can’t afford to be word-only people. We are living examples of the power of Christ. How powerful is Christ in your life?

When Jesus returns, there will be a lot of people rising to meet Him. Jesus-followers who have died will have a body to rise in, just as we have a body and will rise. That will be a sight for those who are left behind. Millions of people rising from the ground, meeting in the sky, weightlessly rising.

Some movies has depicting something like this with “aliens” doing their evil work. I personally think that Satan has prepared the minds of unbelievers so that, in that moment, they will believe it is aliens from other planets who have done this, and not Christ. They will be deceived, as they are currently deceived. People will believe in almost anything accept the Truth. Christ will return and we will leave this planet. Paul declared it just as Jesus had declared it. Do you believe it, or is your “logic” getting in the way?

Day 195

Investigation of church's welfare 

1 Thessalonians 3

Key Verses: 3, 6, 9, 10,

Destined for persecution, that’s what I signed up for! That’s what Paul told those at the city of Thessalonica, and that is what he personally experienced within three weeks of beginning to preach the fullness of the Gospel there. They had to send him on his way quickly so that he would not be killed.

But Paul told them that they would also undergo trials because they trusted Christ. Here they are, brand new Jesus-followers, and Paul is telling them that they will be persecuted. We certainly don’t hear this message too often in the Western Church. Today, those in the 10/40 window experience this every day. Their current experience is one of persecution. Perhaps ours should be as well. I often wonder if there is something wrong with my living of the Gospel that it has become so non-offensive to unbelievers, that I fit in too well with my culture.

Paul was concerned for their further development in Christ and sent Timothy to be sure that they were not dissuaded from the Truth by the current persecution. Timothy returned with a good report about their progress in the faith. There was a joy that Paul experienced that was the unique fruit of this kind of encouragement. When we view our spiritual walk from God’s eternal perspective, then when there is progress in that walk, joy of an eternal nature is the result. But if you view the spiritual as a nice thing to have, but certainly not essential, then a shrug of the shoulders greets growth.

Paul overflows in his language of joy, but he also prays. He doesn’t want to take their continued growth and development for granted. This is a spiritual battle, after all. Paul wants to continue rooting them in the Truth. That is why he want to return to them and continue his work among them. Remember, he only spent three weeks or so with them. That is not very much time to establish someone in the Faith.

Notice the two concluding topics: love and strengthen. Both of these move us toward right living with a view of Christ’s second coming clearly in focus. Here again the reality of Christ’s second coming plays a prominent role in the lives of those who are being persecuted. In those final moments, all will be made right, all sin will be vanquished, all wrongs righted, all joys fulfilled. That is the moment all our hearts yearn for. It is the restoration of the Garden experience. We will walk with God in the cool of the evening. Nothing will prevent the full experience of God’s presence and provision. Peace!

Day 194

Apostolic labors in Thessalonica 

1 Thessalonians 2

Key Verses: 2, 4, 8, 12, 13, 20

Sometimes in life we have to take risks for the sake of Christ. Logic would shout at us, “Don’t do it!” But we must learn that God’s Spirit directs where He will sustain. God will never direct you to risk where His grace has not gone before and prepared the way. Even if the response is not what you expect, God’s grace is there to keep you. He won’t let your eternity slip away when you have risked for Him.

God knows us through and through. He alone knows our motives. Even when we deceive ourselves, God sees through the deception and knows exactly why we are doing what we do. He even knows our motives when we fail at something, but we were doing it for the right reasons. Pure motives don’t always bring success at the mission.

 Often the way we do something reflects on Christ in us just as much as what we do. Paul approached the Thessalonians not from a position of strength, but from a position of service. He didn’t assert his authority, but instead poured out his life for them in service. Sometimes we don’t need to flash our degrees and accomplishments. Sometimes we just need to show how much we care.

Encouraging, comforting and urging are Paul’s tools. These sound like a good set of tools. I am sure we would like to have these tools used in our lives when someone is leading us. This is much better than rebuking, lecturing and chastising. And the goal of this method is a life that is worth Christ’s sacrifice for us. It is living out God’s kingdom here on earth.

What made the difference in the Thessalonian believers’ lives? They took God at His Word. They trusted God to be able to transmit what He wanted to say across the centuries and through broken human beings. Don’t forget, there were confirmations of the message in their lives. They could see the Gospel working. Part of that working was the persecution itself.

Although Paul was only there at Thessalonica for a very short period of time, there was a strong bond formed from Paul to these new believers. They were the fruit of God’s labor through him. Paul did what God called him to do and the Lord showed up and did His work. Nothing can bring greater joy than eternity in the hearts of believers with whom you have labored. Paul experienced that joy. He saw God at work and it confirmed his path again. Even when there was intense persecution, the fruit of his labor made it all worthwhile.

Day 193

Faith of Thessalonian church

1 Thessalonians 1

Key Verses: 3, 6, 10

Work, labor, and endurance are three words we don’t necessarily like to hear spoken to us about our future. We want to hear relaxation, pampering and ease. The Jesus-followers in the large city of Thessalonica had accepted the faith in a time of intense persecution. They had grown rapidly in their trust in Christ and Paul wanted to encourage them. If Paul were writing this letter to us, what in our lives would he have to encourage us about?

When Paul presented the Gospel to them he did it with more than mere words. God confirmed the message with powerful acts. We read about this moment in history in Acts 17:1-9. Over a three week period Paul preached and they responded. Then persecution broke out and Paul was rushed away for his own safety. When someone is ready for the Gospel it doesn’t take long for understanding and conversion. They were Jews who knew the Scriptures. All Paul had to do was show them that Jesus fulfilled the Scripture. The rest is history.

Part of our difficulty in presenting the Gospel today is that people don’t have a common understanding of how the world works. In our culture every “truth” is of equal value and held to be equally “true” in spite of glaring contradictions and the obvious errors. But so many have lost the ability to think critically, to examine some fact being presented and evaluate it logically and critically. And without this ability to actually use our god-given mind we fall for anything that is presented to us.

The Thessalonian believers accepted the message and applied it to their lives, even in the middle of persecution. Their lives became a model to be followed, just as Paul had become a model for them of how to live godly in Christ. We all need models, flesh and blood examples of godly living. We need to see what endurance looks like lived out in the face of suffering, so that we can do the same when it is our turn. Our lives need to be more open to each other, allowing our lives to be read by those around us.

Remember, our reputation does spread. In the age of Facebook we know that everything we post can be seen by future employers. With a few clicks of the mouse it will all be present on their desktop. Criminal activity, mischievous activity, even indiscretion will be seen. The pictures of the British royals recently caught in exposed positions should be an example for all of us. We may not have constant cameras pointed at us by outsiders, but we do often have cameras pointed at us by our friends and immediately posted online.

Maybe we need to think about what we are modeling before we act! We are allowed to choose behavior that reflects what we say we believe. Jesus is coming again. He did rise from the grave. He will rescue us from Judgment Day. Some objects of worship are just idols, having no value in determining our place in eternity. There are just as many idols today as there were back then. Ours just come in shinier packages.

Day 193.00

First Thessalonians

01. Faith of Thessalonian church 

02. Apostolic labors in Thessalonica 

03. Investigation of church's welfare 

04. True love between Christians 

05. Hope in Christ's return

Acrostic Theme: Faith

Author: Paul the Apostle

Date Written: 52AD

Audience: The new church in Thessalonica

Key Verse: 3:12-13

Outline:

Introduction (1:1-4)

I. Personal Reflections (1:5-3:13)

   A. Regarding Their Condition (1:5-10)

   B. Regarding His Conduct (2:1-12)

   C. Regarding His Concern (2:13-3:13)

II. Apostolic Instructions (4:1-5:28)

   A. Walk In Holiness (4:1-8)

   B. Walk In Love (4:9-10)

   C. Walk In Diligence (4:11-12)

   D. Walk In Hope (4:13-18)

   E. Walk In Light (5:1-11)

   F. Walk In Obedience (5:12-22)

Concluding Remarks (5:23-28)

   (Http://Executableoutlines.Com/1th/1th_00.Htm)