This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Ignite the Light Ministries radio and podcast. It is our mission to help listeners develop a deeper relationship with Jesus by sharing what the Bible says and what it means. We aim to encourage and equip you to serve others, share the gospel, and reflect Christ in every aspect of your life. I'm Pastor Wyatt Cudd.
Thank you for tuning in.
So today we're going to be kicking off the new year with the brand new sermon series going through 1 Thessalonians.
Now we just finished up Colossians talking about a kingdom perspective. Seeing the world, seeing our lives from God's point of view. And towards the tail end of the summer, I was kind of praying and just thinking through: you know, where do we go from here? Uh and in my personal devotion, this was kind of Right around August, I was reading through Thessalonians, and it was just kind of highlighted to me.
Well I think now we look at a church that did it right.
So, the church of Thessalonica was very different from many of the other churches that Paul had written to. The Corinthian church, for example, they just could not get it together. They were followers of Christ, but they had envy, strife, division going on in their midst. Paul even says in 1 Corinthians 3 that he can't address them as spiritual people, that he could only feed them milk, not solid food. Their sin had stifled their development.
But the Thessalonians The Thessalonians are a completely different story. Paul doesn't have to spend all his time saying, do this, don't do this. Would you please stop hitting your sister? Like, he doesn't have to do any of that with this church. Yes.
The Thessalonians were ready for solid food. Because they had matured in their obedience to God. And it's no coincidence that we see Paul going to significant detail of end times prophecy with this church. They are spiritually ready to get a glimpse, a fuller picture of the hope that they have in Jesus. And I almost see it like.
This is almost a reward for their obedience, is that they get this glimpse into the end times.
So, when we do Bible study, when we open the Bible to read it, there are four things that we do in sequential order: we do observation. Interpretation Application and then reflection. Observation is what does this passage say? What is its surrounding historical context, cultural, geographical context? Who was the author?
When was the author? Who is the audience? This is observation. This is just gathering information about the passage we're looking at.
So, observation, then interpretation. What does the passage mean?
Now oftentimes people, you'll hear the world object to this one. You know, well, that's just your interpretation. It was written so long ago. How can we know how to interpret it? It's a common objection that we hear from the world today.
It's kind of based in relativism. Your truth, my truth, Oprah's truth, it's all the same. Objective truth is not knowable. Truth is subjective. And that's foolishness.
It's absolute foolishness. You know how I know it's foolishness? Because to say that truth is subjective is an objective truth claim about truth. You have to declare that this is true about truth, while at the same time saying true is not true. I can't even get my head around it.
It's incomprehensible. It doesn't make sense at all.
Now as Christians, we believe truth is knowable and good. Of course there's different interpretations of Scripture other than what the author and God intended. Do you know what we call those? Garbage, throw them out. We don't want them.
They're not accurate. Because, see, truth doesn't care if you agree with it or not. In fact, if there's something in the Bible that I don't understand, what it means is there's something in me that has yet to grow, that has yet to change, that has yet to become more in line with God. We call that sanctification. We don't bury our heads in the sand of our own perspective like the world does.
No, we sanctify, we change, we grow. Interpretation. This is what does the passage mean? And truth is knowable. Observation, interpretation, application.
Application is the next step here. Application is the bridge from what does the author mean to what does it mean for my life. And then reflection is taking that and applying it. What do I need to change? What do I need to start doing?
What do I need to stop doing? And then making it happen. God, help me make these changes. Observation, interpretation, application, then reflection. Take these with you in your Bible study, and it will be.
the richest Bible study that you have.
Alright, so today we're going to be looking at the opening here, Thessalonians chapter 1, verses 1 through 4.
Now being good students of the observation interpretation application, we're going to start with observation here.
So the author was Paul. The letter was written between 50-52 AD and Paul was in Corinth at the time of this letter. It's around the same time frame of Acts 18. The letter is written to the audience, the church of Thessalonica. We see that in verse 1.
Now, the city of Thessalonica was a large city, the capital of Macedonia. It was very well positioned with its own harbor. The largest of the Romans' road ran right through it, the Ignatian way. It went all the way from Italy to Greece. And then to Turkey.
It went ran all the way through.
So you have all of these major cities positioned on this road. Thessalonica is right in the middle. Perfect for trade, perfect for commerce. It was a very wealthy city.
Now, I sat through a real estate class, one of them when I was in college.
Well, here I am a pastor, so obviously that wasn't for me, but I remember hearing this a lot: location, location, location. It's all about location. If you're trying to build a restaurant, Are you gonna build it in the Sahara Desert? No, like, who would come to your restaurant? You're gonna have no customers.
No, you don't build the Sahara Desert. You build it in a community. You build it around other restaurants.
So now you have customers that already know where to go if they want to eat somewhere. Location, location, location.
Now the city of Thessalonica was a prime piece of real estate for evangelism and the gospel. You got tons of neighbors, you got foot traffic and traders coming in and out that can take the gospel to dozens of other cities. Thessalonica was an amazing place for a church to start.
Now, this church started on Paul's second missionary journey. It was mainly converted Gentiles, and there was a large number of prestigious women in their midst. They were faithful, obedient, and they were well organized. That's the context of this letter. With this in mind, Let's do our little read-through here.
1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Verses one through four, starting here. Paul, Silas, and Timothy. To the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you.
See you. We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith. Your labor produced by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters, loved by God.
He has chosen You Now we know this church of Thessalonica was strong. This church was no push over.
So I want to highlight today several markers of a strong church. Verse 1: Paul, Silas, and Timothy, a common marker of a strong church. is that a strong church has faithful ministers. And we see right here at the opening of the letter, Paul is not writing alone. Silas and Timothy are a part of this exhortation.
And these three founded the church in its early years. They've been faithful, they've been consistent ministers. And that contributes to the strength of a church.
Now the converse of this is also true. Churches without ministers or churches with unfaithful ministers. Really struggle. A good minister will challenge a church to growth. Challenge a church to sanctification.
Now sometimes this feels like you get your toes stepped on a little bit.
Sometimes it feels like a call to change that maybe I don't feel ready for, but we must understand that growth and sanctification do not happen without positive change in our lives. The same is true for the church corporately. Growth requires a measure of positive change.
Now, a good minister does not push his church to this for the sake of making them uncomfortable. He does this because he loves his church. He wants to see them spiritually grow, and it is the best thing for them. Him. It's the same way when God saves us, He doesn't just leave us where we're at.
And just like, bye, see you later. No, I'm gonna take you, and we're going this way.
Now a poor minister A poor minister Does not care about challenging his church. They don't exhort their flock to be fully devoted to Jesus, perhaps because they themselves are not fully devoted. A poor minister will not challenge the status quo. They will not push the church to grow in a meaningful way. These pastors, maybe they get up, give their 20-minute speech, and leave each Sunday.
What goes on throughout the week? Could they be bothered? That is a poor minister. And a strong church is one of faithful ministers. 1 Thessalonians 1.1, Paul, Silas, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians.
You'll notice Paul does not address this letter to the church of Thessalonica. It is to the church of the Thessalonians. This is because the church is not a building. The church is the people. And a strong church is a church of the people.
If the church does not have people committed to the Lord, in turn, committed to one another. You don't have a church. All you have is the building. You also know the letter is not addressed to the leaders of the church. It's addressed to everyone, all of the Thessalonians.
Paul is writing to every member of the church because it takes every member to make up a church. A strong church is comprised of all people. Built on all people.
Now When a church is built upon a few people, Or just a few leaders, what happens there? Or what happens when a church ignores the needs of its members? What happens when a church fails to involve people and equip them to use their gifts? The church becomes weak. Leaders exhaust.
The needs are not met, and we leave glory for God on the table. If you take a sheet of paper, I have one here. Let me use an example. Mm-hmm. I don't.
Just imagine a sheet of paper. If you take a sheet of paper, you take a sheet of paper and you try to pull it in two, what happens? It's a sheet of paper, it just comes right apart, right? Like, you just rip it in two, boom, sheet of paper, it's two sheets of paper now.
Well, let's say it's five sheets of paper stacked together. You go to rip it. Ah a little more resistance, but it's five sheets of paper. It's coming apart. But what if you got a whole stack of copy paper?
Stacked together and try to rip it. Or a phone book. You got a phone book. You can try to rip it. Is that thing coming apart?
Not if you got forums like Popeye. If you got four arms like Popeye, that thing coming apart. But no, a stack of paper, you can't do it. A church that is built on a handful of people will come apart. Much easier than a church comprised of all the people and all of their gifts.
A strong church is a church of the people.
Now how do we apply that? If there's not a place that you are serving in the church, I encourage you to find out how can I. There's no shortage of work to do. And If you feel led to maybe start a class or a small group, I want to know about it. I want our church to be able to come behind you and equip you.
to obedience to God.
So continuing verse 1. Church of the Thessalonians, in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. A strong church is a church founded on God and the Lordship of Jesus. Were it not for this, this would not be a church at all. This would just be a man-made assembly.
But we believe, John 3:16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. This is our confession. This is our strength. Our strength is God's strength. And He loved us enough to come down in the form of the man, deal with our sin issue, and make a way for us.
Our strength is God's strength, and our way is God's way. Amen. A strong church is founded on this God and the Lordship of Christ.
Now continuing here, Paul says, grace and peace to you. To you. A strong church embraces the unearned grace and peace. of God. Grace is God giving us that which we do not deserve.
It is an unearned Blessing, and no church can be strong without the favor and blessing of God. And God abundantly pours out His favor and blessing on those who faithfully seek Him. Matthew 7, it says, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds. and of one who knocks, the door will be opened.
So I would ask Are you experiencing the abundant blessing of God? in your life. If not, I would ask. Are you faithfully seeking God? in every aspect of your life.
If we as a church body Faithfully seek God. He will abundantly bless us. Amen. And it says peace to you.
So we got grace and we got peace. As we know, this peace is a peace that comes from God. And to have such peace requires us to be regular in our fellowship with God. This is actually implied in the Greek. Watch this.
This is the coolest thing ever. When I found this this week, I about fell out of my seat.
So peace in the Greek, the word is ereine. And the primary verb there, aero, means to join or to weave together or to buy together, to tie together into a whole. Ero, that is what that means in the Greek. That's the word peace.
So we get this sense that. When Paul says peace to you, he is saying something like, may you be woven together with God into a whole. By becoming united with God, that is the very definition of peace in the Greek. Isn't that cool? Jesus, the Son of God, took on our sin so we could be justified and united with God.
Romans 5:1. that we've been justified by faith. We have peace areine with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It's the same word. Peace in the Greek is no different than being interwoven with God.
Yeah. And it makes sense, you know, in marriage. If you are not tied together with your partner, or if your desires are at odds, where's the peace? You know? If you are at odds with your friends, or you guys are pulling in different directions, if you don't come together to solve conflicts.
But where's the piece? It's the same thing with the nations. If nations do not come together and negotiate fair trade or have cooperation, establish appropriate boundaries, where's the peace? I feel like that lady from the Whitney's commercial. Where's the piece?
Uh but being interwoven with God. is the ultimate peace. Without it, there's only war. War in marriage, war in our friendships, war among nations, and war. with God.
So I ask, do you have peace with God? It is directly related to how often we meet with God. and allow ourselves to be interwoven to His will, His purposes and His unending love. By definition, that is peace.
So if you want peace with God, Well, now's a good time to make New Year's resolutions. I encourage us, let's meet with God daily. Let's pray every day. Start a devotional this year.
So observation, interpretation, this is application.
Next is reflection, is us asking, all right. What do I need to change this year? What do I need to do differently? A strong church embraces this unearned grace and peace with God. And we receive his abundant blessing and are united with him.
Alright, moving on to verse 2 here. We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. A strong church. is a praying church. Prayer is absolutely crucial to our spiritual health.
It's how we communicate with God. Prayer and reading of the Word is how we meet God and how we have peace, that unity, arenae, how we unite with Him and are tied together with Him. But don't mistake this as prayer's only function. Prayer is the medium that God uses to bless his people and to move on behalf of them. James says in James 4, What causes fights and quarrels among you?
Don't they come from your desires and battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. And then when you do ask God, you don't receive because you ask with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
So if we ask for things with motives that are disunited with God. We do not receive. But Jesus says in John 15 If you remain in me, and my word remain in you. Ask whatever you wish. And it will be done for you.
If you tie yourself to me, If you treasure my words in your hearts, ask Ask me for anything. and it will be done for you that's what jesus is saying We as people have intimacy by talking, sharing, communicating. It's hard to have intimacy with a brick. I don't know if you've tried. It doesn't exactly talk back.
They're good listeners. I think But God has chosen prayer as the medium because it's the very nature of intimacy for us.
So a strong church is a praying church. Moving on to verse 3 here. We 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. A strong church. is a working church.
It says your work produced by faith. Faith stirs us to work. We have faith in Christ, and He stirs us to work for the kingdom. And it gives us the clearest purpose of all to our work. I am not working for a mere man.
I'm not working for a boss, not anymore. I am working for my Creator. That is what we have when we become Christians. We are now working for our Creator. James says in James 2, Faith by itself, if not accompanied by works, is dead.
Verse 18, show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. Authentic faith always stirs us to work without exception, and authentic faith is evidenced by our works. See, work is a good, it's a healthy thing. If we go back to Genesis, God put man in the garden to work it, to take care of the garden. That was before sin entered the world.
It's only after that now labor is a part of the work. And we see in the in the clinical world of psychology that the major contributors to depression and anxiety is a lack of employment, a lack of work and no clear purpose in the work. Work is good. Work is healthy. It's only after the fall that now there is labor.
It's only after the fall that now we hurt our back while moving a couch into the parsonage. Yeah. It's only after the fall that now labor is part of it. And we see verse 3: labor prompted by love. Faith stirs us to work, love stirs us to labor.
And the difference is labor in the Greek kopu indicates labor to the point of total exhaustion.
So it is talking about the pains of work. If you've ever had to take care of a newborn infant, you know this kind of legibir. Voluntary labor, voluntary suffering in our work. is prompted by love. This love that Christ has for us, we love him back, and that stirs us to suffer for Christ as he suffered for us.
in our work. And this is what Paul means. He says in 2 Corinthians, the love of Christ constrains me. He loves me so much, I have to love him back, and I will suffer for him. Hey there, I hope this sermon has enriched your day.
If you like this message, I want to personally invite you to join us for Sunday worship. We have two locations in Virginia, Trinity Methodist Church in Concord and Mount Comfort Methodist Church in Appomattox. Come join us Sunday morning at 9.45 and we will help you get connected. As always, I'm Pastor Wyatt Cudd. Thank you for tuning in.
