Subtle Changes With Big Consequences
(I Thessalonians 1:1-3)
One of the fringe benefits of being an English or History teacher is receiving the occasional jewel of a student blooper in an essay. I have pasted together the following "history" of the world from certifiably genuine student bloopers collected by teachers throughout the United States, from eighth grade through college level. Read carefully, and you will learn a lot.
The inhabitants of Egypt were called mummies. They lived in the Sarah Dessert and traveled by Camelot. The climate of the Sarah is such that the inhabitants have to live elsewhere, so certain areas of the dessert are cultivated by irritation. The Egyptians built the Pyramids in the shape of a huge triangular cube. The Pyramids are a range of mountains between France and Spain.
The Bible is full of interesting caricatures. In the first book of the Bible, Guinesses, Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. One of their children, Cain asked "Am I my brother’s son?". God asked Abraham to sacrifice Issac on Mount Montezuma. Jacob, son of Isaac, stole his brother’s birthmark. Jacob was a patriarch who brought up his sons to be patriarchs, but they did not take to it. One of Jacob’s sons, Joseph, gave refuse to the Israelites.
Pharaoh forces the Hebrew slaves to make bread without straw. Moses led them to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. Afterwards, Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandments. David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. He fought with the Philatelists, a race of people who lived in Biblical times. Solomon, one of David’s sons, had 500 wives and 500 porcupines.
(source: hem.passagen.se/daes78/engstuff.html)
Main idea: Seemingly minor adjustments can have far-reaching consequences; this is especially true in the spiritual realm.
I. The First Subtle Change: A Change of GREETING (1)
A. The way we view LIFE is altered
B. The church is unique in God’s plan, as evidenced by Paul’s greeting
(1) Jewish people would great one another with "Shalom Elechem."
(2) Gentiles with "Greeting" a word that can also mean rejoicing
(3) But Paul changes this; he continues the Jewish "Shalom" (peace), but alters the gentile, "greetings" to become "grace."
C. From GREETINGS to GRACE
(1) The church is connected to the Jewish heritage of the Old Testament, but includes gentiles whose behaviors have been altered to conform to godliness
(2) And now we exalt God’s grace, because everything about us, every breath we breathe and every blessing we have is by God’s grace -- His favorable disposition toward us based upon His own determination to bless us…
D. It is only by experiencing God’s grace that we have peace with God; and that same grace provides us with the potential of peace in daily life, because peace comes from walking closely with God, and we can walk closely with God by grace. We now view life as a gift of God’s grace, our daily provisions as by God’s grace, and our purpose in living to glorify God because of His grace.
Seemingly minor adjustments can have far-reaching consequences; this is especially true in the spiritual realm.
II. The Second Subtle Change: A Change of LOCATION (1)
A. The church is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
(1) implying the Father and Son are on equal footing
(2) "in Christ" refers to our special legal location in heaven
(3) Colossians 3:3 "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God."
B. Our perspective about OURSELVES is revolutionized
1. before Marylu and I went to Italy, we made reservations; a seat was waiting for us on the plane; hotels, the tour…all waiting for us…but still uncertain
2. our position in heaven is there; legally, all our ducks are in a row…but since this is by God’s grace, nothing can happen to alter these plans…
3. We live with one foot in heaven and one foot on earth
C. In CHRIST and in our NEIGHBORHOOD
(1) In Galatians 1:2 we read, "To the churches in Galatia…"
(2) True have churches are always multi-campus: one location in heaven with God, one in earth, in the world but not of the world
(3) We are balanced as a church and as individual Christians to the degree that cultivate our heavenly relationship to God with practical service here on earth…
Our church’s mission seeks to recognize the two environments in which the church exists: REACH people, CONNECT People to One Another and To God, and DEEPEN them in their Christian walk
III. The Third Subtle Change: A Change in PRAYER
A. Church life can be boring:
An elderly woman walked into the local country church. The friendly usher greeted her at the door and helped her up the flight of steps. "Where would you like to sit?" he asked politely.
"The front row please." she answered. ? ?
"You really don’t want to do that", the usher said. "The pastor is really boring." ?
"Do you happen to know who I am?" the woman inquired. ? ?
"No." he said. ? ?
"I’m the pastor’s mother," she replied indignantly. ? ?
"Do you know who I am?" he asked. ? ?
"No." she said. ? ?
"Good", he answered.
B. Prayer can be boring when we are praying for many people we do not know!
1. The task of prayer becomes empowered by RELATIONSHIP
2. When Christians CARE about people, they pray for them
3. We should care more about their spiritual progress than their physical
health
John Stott writes, "For it is when we remember people (their faces, names and needs) that we are prompted both to thank God and to pray for them." (The Message of I & II Thessalonians, p. 29)
"In the epistles, prayer requests are most often linked to the rapid spread of the gospel and the advance of Christ’s Kingdom. Christians are encouraged to seek God’s wisdom and revelation, perseverance, and power…petition comes across as a dynamic agent of change, something that seizes the initiative and seeks to accomplish a specific good. It goes on the offensive; it outmaneuvers the forces of evil; it doesn’t just react to disaster."
(from If Only God Would Answer by Steven Mosley, p. 40)
Nothing kills prayer meetings like praying for people you do not know about one ailment after another; nothing invigorates them like praying for people you know, ailments, yes, but spiritual breakthroughs and victories even more so.
Seemingly minor adjustments can have far-reaching consequences; this is especially true in the spiritual realm.
IV. The Fourth Change: A Change in ORIENTATION
1. Work produced by FAITH
Normally Paul emphasizes a faith which produces works while James emphasizes works which are produced by faith; this time, Paul takes James’ approach!
A saving faith is a gift God gives us with which we embrace Christ as our Savior; this gift of faith evidences its genuineness by means of works which follow; works provide the certificate of authentication; we are not pirated copies of Christianity, we are certified and genuine!!!
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
2. Labor prompted by LOVE
Labor is work we do not enjoy, when things get old. Some Christians are willing to work, but not to labor. When a ministry is new and exciting, they work; when it becomes old, tedious, or difficult -- or it is not going so well -- they labor.
Whereas good works is basically a reflection of our relationship to God. labor is a reflection of our love for God and others…
3. Endurance inspired by HOPE
The "staying power" for works and labor is hope. Faith focuses in upon what God has done; love, about what He is doing through us for others to His glory; but hope is focusing upon what God is going to do.
• order could be chronological: faith is trusting in what God has done or said,
• love is letting God work through you in the present
• hope is trusting God for what He will do in time
• experience wise, it is faith, hope and love
• But here, the order is to emphasize hope; in a sense, this letter is all about hope:--- Hope in light of persecution and the hope of Christ’s Second Coming; this minor change from "faith hope and love" gives us a big clue as to the emphasis of this letter.
? All three of these virtues, faith, love, and hope, require us to stop viewing ourselves as the center of the universe!
• Instead of focusing either inward or outward, we BALANCE our focus
Seemingly minor adjustments can have far-reaching consequences; this is especially true in the spiritual realm.
