Alba 11-5-2023
REASONS TO THANK GOD
I Thessalonians 2:13-16
H.A. Ironside, who was the minister at Moody Church in Chicago last century, told of an experience he had in a crowded restaurant. Just as Ironside was about to begin his meal, a man approached and asked if he could join him. Ironside invited him to have a seat. Then, as was his custom, Ironside bowed his head in prayer.
When he opened his eyes, the other man asked, "Do you have a headache?" Ironside replied, "No, I don't." The other man asked, "Well, is there something wrong with your food?" Ironside replied, "No, I was simply thanking God as I always do before I eat."
The man said, "Oh, you're one of those, are you? Well, I want you to know I never give thanks. I earn my money by the sweat of my brow and I don't have to give thanks to anybody when I eat. I just start right in!"
Ironside said, "Yes, you're just like my dog. That's what he does too!"
We have a lot of reasons to thank God, and not just for the meals that we eat, even though that's a good one. The hymn, “Count Your Blessings”, reminds us to “name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”
The apostle Paul went through a lot of troubles, but he always found reasons to thank God. When writing to the church in Thessalonica he says that there were many things about them for which he continued to be thankful.
Turn to I Thessalonians 2:13-16 where we read, “13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men, 16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.”
Here we find at least four reasons to thank God.
1. For people who willingly receive the word of God.
2. For people who welcome (accept) God's word as the truth that it is.
3. For people in whom God's word works.
4. For people who remain faithful even through suffering.
1. It is wonderful when people are open to hearing God's Word. That was the case in the Old Testament when Josiah was king of Judah and scrolls of the law were found when the temple was being repaired. When they were read to him, he realized that they had not obeyed the words of the Lord, and he wanted to make them known to all the people.
So II Kings 23:1-2 says that “the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord.”
Janine came across this section of scripture recently in her daily Bible reading and thinking about Israel said, “Wouldn't it be great if their leaders would call the whole nation to repentance like they did in Old Testament times?” For that matter, wouldn't it be great if that were to be done in our country? We need that right here, don't we!
We have far too many people today who have “itching ears” and only want to hear what they want to hear. After covid shut down the churches, people seem to have lost interest in hearing from the Word of God. But it is still relevant for today. We still need its instruction and encouragement. Jesus often said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 11:15, 13:9, 13:43)
Faith WILL come from hearing when the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ by His death on the cross and resurrection from the tomb is proclaimed.
But even when Paul was preaching the gospel he had to deal with cancel culture. Apparently it is nothing new. In verse 16 he says that there were Jews who were “ forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved.”
In spite of that, Paul and the others continued to present the gospel wherever they could. It is just like the apostle Peter when he was brought before the Jewish counsel who were trying to stop him from preaching about Jesus. He was not going to stop. Instead he boldly stood before them and stated, “This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Sadly there are those who will close their ears to the gospel message, but there are others who will be willing to hear it if we share the good news of Jesus Christ. And that is a reason to thank God.
2. Another reason to thank God is that there are people who not only are open to hearing the gospel, but they welcome it, they accept the truth of the message. That's what verse thirteen says the Thessalonians did, and it changed their lives. We also have the word of God and as we hear it and accept it, it will change us too.
There is only one voice that has the capacity to speak on matters of ultimate reality, and that is the voice of God. When we welcome the Bible as the truth it is, we’re saying that we acknowledge its authority. When we accept it, we’re allowing it into our hearts so that we can be changed by it.
The Bible is not just a book to read, it's a book that reads us. It is both a window into the mind, heart, character, and plan of God, and it is a mirror that shows us our true self.
The Bible was given to us as a supernatural tool that shows us who we are at the deepest level. It’s a microscope that explores the deepest and most hidden parts of our souls so that the nature of God can be infused into our most intimate levels. Not only is it a microscope to show us where we are, but it is meant to be a scalpel that will cut away those things that are not pleasing to God.
The Word of God has the inherent power to transform our lives. It has been said that the Bible is God’s hammer that sometimes gently taps on us, and other times it pounds away at our stubborn pride.
The scriptures reveal the truth that we are far from what we should be. It also reveals the truth that God cares about us so much that He sent His Son into the world to take the punishment that we deserve. When Jesus died on that cross, it was not for any wrong that He committed. It was for us!
That is the message that people need to hear. And our hope is that they will believe it. Because it is the truth.
3. And another reason to thank God is when we see the Word of God make a difference in people as we see it work in their lives. The apostle Paul saw that God's Word was effectively working in the believers in Thessalonica. When we welcome God’s Word into our lives with obedient faith, God’s power goes to work.
The power of the Word of God is tied to a believing heart. The Greek word for “work,” is where we get our English word “energy.” God's Word is energized within us, as we believe it.
The gospel changes lives! People want to talk about turning over a new leaf, about pulling themselves up by the bootstraps and so on, but listen, it only really happens when God's Word is at work in a person's life.
It took a tax collector named Zaccheus, a man who robbed people to pad his own pocket, and caused him to give it back fourfold. It was what took hold of prostitutes, adulterers, liars, thieves, and every other kind of person imaginable and changed them into honest, reputable, moral people who loved God and stood for His truth too. God's Word changes lives.
Earlier I spoke of King Josiah of Judah who, when they found the scriptures when repairing the temple, read God's Word to the people. He wanted them to hear it.
But he also wanted to obey it. It started working in his life. So he started making some changes in his country.
In II Kings 23:24-25 it says, among many other things, “Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord. Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.”
A whole country was affected by one man in whom the Word of God was working to bring about positive change. I believe that could happen again today. If only more people will, when hearing God's Word, welcome and accept it into their lives to become the driving force for their actions.
It would break down barriers between ethnic groups, for before God we are all one blood. It would look for what was best for everyone not just a few, by stopping selfish and greedy behavior. If God's Word was working in more people we would be living in a safer world. I am thankful that there are people in whom it is evident to be working.
4. And still another reason to thank God is for the people who remain faithful even through suffering.
One could look at the Thessalonian church and say, “You're doing great! So glad that things are going so well.” But that was not the case. In verse fourteen Paul speaks of the suffering they were enduring in their faith, just like the Christians did in and around Jerusalem. He speaks of the Judeans, “who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us.
This verse is one that has been used to inspire hatred for the Jews, with some Christians calling them Christ killers. We also see a growing hatred for the Jews in the world, and even here in our country, especially on college campuses. Ever since God chose the Hebrew people as His own, they have endured hatred and opposition. And it is too obvious today. We need to pray for them.
Paul is not being anti-Semitic when he points out that the Jews persecuted and executed Jesus and the prophets. He is simply stating historical facts. The Jewish leaders were the main opponents of Jesus and they were the instigators of His crucifixion. But at one time Paul himself was a persecutor of anyone who was a Christian.
Also, we need to remember that the very first Christians were Jews. On the day of Pentecost, 3,000 Jews believed, repented and were immersed into Christ. And Jesus Himself was born of a Jewish woman, Mary.
Paul was merely comparing what had happened in Jerusalem to what was happening in Thessalonica. The people giving trouble in both instances came from their own countrymen.
The word “countrymen” is a very unique word that is used nowhere else in the New Testament. It means the people closest to you. Some of you can relate to being looked down upon by family members because of your faith.
Some people have been passed over for a promotion at work because of being a Christian. We could put it this way: If you believe the Bible, you’re going to have some enemies. Watch the news and see the way they treat someone who is a strong believer in the Bible and the derogatory words they use to describe the person.
Look at the TV programs and see how are Christians are portrayed as either weak do-gooders who are actually hypocrites or fundamentalist bigots, never portrayed as balanced people.
In John 15:1-19 Jesus said, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
It can be difficult for any person to stay faithful if treated badly. Even for those who have heard and believed. Our own Ron Hoyer saw that on one of his mission trips to India. While often there was much success in bringing people to faith in Jesus and baptizing them, there was once a time when Ron had just preached to a village in India.
About 30 people had raised their hands that they believed in Jesus and they were going to be baptized. Ron turned his back to go to the water, and a rock hit him in the back. An angry Hindu woman had thrown it to get his attention and to defy him. She stood up and began to yell and oppose him. She managed to frighten all those people away from their decision that day.
When the apostle Paul preached in Thessalonica, so many people came to Christ that the townsfolk ran Paul and the others out of town all the way to Berea and then to Athens. They didn’t want him in their town messing things up. He was messing up city politics and the local economy. In these verses in I Thessalonians chapter two, Paul with all tenderness reminds the church that they are not the first and they are not alone in this experience.
It should not discourage us when the world gives us the cold shoulder. We are not alone in the history of the Christian faith. They did it to the Old Testament prophets, they did it to our Lord Jesus Christ, they did it to the church of Judea and the Thessalonians. Why should we be any different.
James 1:2-4 reminds us that there is purpose in suffering. It says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
Often, the church has grown the fastest during the most difficult times. People who remain faithful when persecuted give an example to others to put their trust in Jesus.
So, we can thank God that in spite of this imperfect, sinful world in which we live, there are people who hear God's Word and accept it with open hearts of welcome allowing it to do its work, bringing positive changes in their lives.
And we who have heard and believed and obeyed the gospel, even though we do experience trouble in this world, as we let God's Word work in our lives, and remain faithful, we have many reasons to thank God. Because our Lord Jesus has overcome the world!
CLOSE:
During the last century a preacher by the last name of Rice was preaching a revival, and in his messages he was really preaching hard on sin. He got to preaching so hard on it he started naming names, and many of them were affluent well known people in the town.
Mr. Smith better give up his drinking, and Mr. Jones needs to repent for having an affair on his wife and so forth. After a couple of nights of this kind of finger pointing, embarrassing preaching, the preacher was walking back to his hotel and was overtaken by a group of men.
They loaded him in a car and drove him out in the country and began to threaten him. "If you don’t stop preaching like that we’re gonna kill you!" Rice looked at those men and said, "Fellas, you’re not going to threaten me with heaven!"
May we be people who hear God's Word, accept it gladly and remain faithful through any difficulty we may face.
