If I Had Only One Sermon To Preach . . .

Many years ago, I remember reading a book called “If I had only one sermon to preach”. The photos of the ministers on the front cover or dust jacket made me think twice about reading it, though, because these men had some of the most sour expressions I’ve ever seen! It reminded me of a bit of testimony from Hudson Taylor, who observed that he went to a church where, a s he put it, the members were known for taking their Christianity seriously. He went on to say that, after looking at them, they were indeed serious in expression—and probably everything else, too!

Oddly enough, I don’t remember one word of any sermon in that entire collection—and a collection it was, having messages (?) from conservatives and liberals alike, but I have never forgotten the book itself. There are times when I think, could this be the only time our Lord allows me to give a message to the congregation here? Or, might this be my last sermon, the only sermon I’ll get to preach?

A classic example of a situation like this is in the book of 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1. The text is from the New American Standard Version:

1 Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers;

3 constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father,

4 knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you;

5 for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

6 You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

8 For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything.

9 For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from

idols to serve a living and true God,

10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.

The first thing we can see, from verse 9, is the fact that these believers had turned to God from idols. We could make this the first point and say that the WORSHIPED the Lord God, the True and the Living God. Was it easy for them to make that radical change? We’ll never know, down here, but refer back to Acts chapter 17. It’s there we can find the brief sketch, as Luke recorded it, of Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica. Paul went to the synagogue first, as was his pattern of preaching the Gospel to Jews first and then the Gentiles. He preached God’s message and many people believed.

To me, this is something that’s even past amazing. True, the Jewish people had prophets for many years, the aim being to restore Israel back to her proper relationship to God. After the last prophet, Malachi, delivered his messages, however, there was a four-century period of silence when the only message from God they had was the Law and the Prophets—our Old Testament scriptures. The Jews went to many places, bringing the synagogue and their belief in one God only but I have yet to find a reference that any of them actually preached or brought messages from God Himself. Paul and others preached God’s message, and God blessed!

I find one thing, also, that is remarkable: Thessalonica wasn’t too far from Mount Olympus, the so-called “home” of the Greek deities or pagan gods: Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Hermes, and all the rest. These Greeks had worshipped these pagan deities, and the images or idols of these so-called deities, for hundreds of years, maybe longer, and had built some of the most beautiful buildings in history as temples to these deities. They were thoroughly pagan, worshiping these idols and images; statues carved from wood and stone, perhaps made of metal, and as lost as could be in sin and separation from God.

But when the simple message of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, came near they heard and believed! We’ll see these believers, and many more, in Heaven when we get there and may the Lord hasten the day when this happens.