TURN, SERVE AND WAIT
If the Apostle Paul had made an award for the best church in Greece it could well have been to the church at Thessalonica. When the apostle Paul wrote his letters to the young churches he often began by sounding a note of thanksgiving for them. He knew his psychology. Even if he had to write some critical comments later, he first focussed on their good points. This is especially true of his letter to the Thessalonian church. Paul pays them a handsome compliment of their being imitators of the apostles and, best of all, of the Lord Jesus himself. The result was that they became an example, he said, "a model to all the believers" in the region.
An imitator of Christ and a model to all the believers - that’s the kind of accolade I would want to receive. Well, how did this come about? This is something worth exploring. Paul tells us his formula: "You turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven" (1 Thess 1: 9, 10). This is very much a preacher’s text: it falls naturally into three convenient sections. First: "You turned to God from idols"; next: "to serve the living and true God"; and finally: "to wait for his Son from heaven". Let’s look at the first part:
"YOU TURNED TO GOD FROM IDOLS"
Here we see two extremities: "idols” and "the living and true God" - they are poles apart. Idols are dead; God is living. Idols are false; God is true. Idols are many; God is one. Idols are visible and can be seen and felt; God is invisible, beyond the reach of sight and touch. Idols are creatures, the work of human hands; God is the creator of the universe and of all humankind.
Paul wasn’t being theoretical; he knew what he was talking about from practical experience. Early in his ministry he had come face to face with heathen idolatry in a bizarre incident at Lystra. He had been preaching in the open air. One of his hearers was a cripple - in fact had been so from birth. Paul was speaking of the almighty God who raised Christ from the dead when he noticed that the cripple was listening intently to what he was saying. He knew without doubt that the man had faith to be healed, not only in spirit but in body as well, in the same way that Jesus had told a cripple in Galilee to take up his bed and walk. Paul did the same. "Stand up and walk" he commanded. Instantly the man leaped up and walked. The effect on the crowd was electric. They began to jabber away in their own language and someone ran to the temple to fetch the priest of Zeus. They thought the gods had come to visit them, being convinced at the sight of the crippled man, now completely healed.
The heathen priests were about to sacrifice animals in front of Paul and Barnabas when it dawned on them, to their horror, that they had been mistaken for heathen gods and that sacrifice was about to be offered to win their favour. The evangelists tore their clothes and implored the priests to stop: "We’re only humans, like you. The good news we bring, the gospel, is that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made heaven and earth". He told them that the true and living God was the God they should be looking to, the God who had revealed himself in nature and in the provision of life’s needs.
What a contrast - idols and the living and true God. And yet how powerful are these idols. Missionaries tell us of the power that idols have over primitive peoples. A tribe’s traditional idols have a tremendous hold over people’s minds, hearts and lives. They live in dread of offending the spirits that lurk behind the visible form of the idol. They are bound by superstition and they are filled with alarm at the thought that the spirit will take revenge on them. But not only the primitive heathen, the modern sophisticated person is affected as well.
Let me offer an example: I was parking my car at the office. The car was new and shining and a lady came and said, "I like your car but I couldn’t possibly drive it!" "Why not?" I asked. "Well," she said, "in the first place it’s green and the registration number adds up to 13! Both bring bad luck." How sad! No, we can’t dismiss the idea of idols as something primitive, something that we in the modern age have left behind. Paul was writing to a church largely made up of Gentile believers but living in a community saturated in idolatry. Let’s stop to think as to what is an idol. An idol is really a God-substitute, something which has taken the place of the true and living God. That puts a different complexion on it. Let’s see if we can recognize idols in the modern scene.
It’s possible to be eaten up with a selfish ambition for money, power or fame. Everyone of course is different, and idols attractive to one person will not appeal to another. But the possibilities are endless - obsession with work, or with sport or TV, or personalities. Then there are various kinds of addiction. Anything that demands an allegiance that is due to God alone is a form of idolatry, imprisoning the person held under its sway. The biggest idol we have can be ourselves. George Bernard Shaw put it rather neatly when he described a person in one of his plays as "a self-made man who worships his own creator!"
The wonder of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is that through the grace of God the person kept captive by some idol or another, whether the downright superstitious or a modern sophisticated version, can be gloriously liberated. How does this come about? Paul drew on his experience with the people of Thessalonica. When he visited that city he preached the death and resurrection of Jesus and some of his hearers received the message in their hearts. The important thing to notice is that they not only heard the Word but they believed it. It wasn’t a belief in an intellectual sense, that’s to say, accepting it as facts, but they received it with their whole being, they believed "with the heart" (Acts 17:4). So many people hear the Word but it’s only a mental exercise of receiving some facts – a few dates and events from religious history - but nothing changes and this is not enough.
When Paul described the process that had made such a difference to the Thessalonians, he used an action word - "they turned". This was a positive move on their part - they repented and turned to God from idols. That’s what it means to be converted. In the personal encounter with Jesus the spell of the idol - whatever it is - is broken and the superior power of the living and true God is demonstrated. Charles Wesley knew this when he wrote in his hymn, "My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose went forth and followed thee." That’s conversion: that’s turning to God.
Paul himself testified to this when he was on trial for his life. He told his judge that he had the experience of turning "from darkness to light and the power of Satan to God" (Acts 26:18). Conversion must include a radical transfer of allegiance. It is liberation from the darkness of unbelief into the sphere of God’s marvellous light and power. It means entering the kingdom of God. Yes, the Thessalonians indeed "turned to God from idols" but the apostle went on to say that it was:
"TO SERVE A LIVING AND TRUE GOD"
An idol is an object of worship that claims our love, affection and homage, but conversion to Christ demands that we turn right around. Paul uses another action word - "to serve". The claim to have turned to God from idols is simply bogus, a fraud if it doesn’t result in serving the God to whom we have turned. When the Thessalonians believed the gospel and received Christ as Saviour their lives now came under another master. Previously they had served, perhaps unknowingly, Satan, but now, following a right about turn, they had begun a new life of service to their new master, the Lord Jesus Christ.
What does it mean to serve the living and true God? When Paul wrote to the church at Rome, after his great doctrinal section, he began his summing up with an appeal to the Christian believers: "Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him" (12:1). The AV says that "This is your reasonable service" - it’s not something exceptional, it’s the standard expected; it’s not doing God a favour, but only giving him his due. I heard it put like this: "Give God the lot!" - and that’s what God is looking for from his people - total commitment.
I sometimes go to the performance of a concert pianist and hear a great evening of music. These virtuoso performers are highly talented but need to practice many hours a day to maintain their standard. They give it all they have - and this is what Paul is telling us: "Give God the lot!"
These days we read about products and service being measured against a standard. If the Lord were to put our service under quality control inspection would it be rejected as sub-standard? Somehow I can’t imagine Jesus being a shoddy carpenter. There were no lapses in the service that Jesus offered. The Father’s opinion of Christ on all occasions was: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased". That’s the standard God looks for in Christian service.
Very often we don’t give God the best. Our diaries are filled with family events, hobbies, sports and social activities, but what can God have? Is it only our leftovers? This mentality brings a cheapness and shoddiness in our service to the Kingdom of God. This is not our reasonable service. God expects us to use what we have in terms of time, talents and possessions as his stewards.
What must we do to serve the living and true God? We’re called upon to offer ourselves to him in body, mind and spirit. Paul tells us that our service must be in the nature of a "living sacrifice". In the Old Testament era, the sacrifices were dead animals, but even then there was the obligation that the animal was to be without blemish. But when Jesus came he offered himself as a living sacrifice, in full control of all his faculties - he held nothing back.
There’s a telling illustration of commitment in the story of Moses and the children of Israel. Several times Moses asked Pharaoh to let the people go and serve Jehovah in the desert, but Pharaoh was cunning and told Moses, "Yes, you can go, but leave your flocks and herds behind", knowing that without their animals they would have to return to slavery. But Moses was firm and insisted that the herds were needed for the sacrifice: "Not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God" (Exodus 10:26). I rather like the phrase "Not a hoof shall be left behind" - it was all or nothing!
How are we to know what form our service should take? There’s a variety of tasks to be done, each according to his or her gifts, talents and resources. I think it was C H Spurgeon who had a lady come to him saying that she felt called to the ministry. Spurgeon asked about her home and family and when he heard she had 13 children he exclaimed, "Well, praise God, not only has he called you to the ministry but he’s given you a congregation as well!" Yes, God knows what we are suited to, and will make it clear to us what we should be doing in our service for him. The question is, will we answer the call to serve?
I was brought up in a tomato growing family, and as was customary some 60 years ago, it was expected that I should help to pick tomatoes for an hour or so before breakfast and going to school. I have to confess I was often reluctant to get out of bed! I can still hear my father calling outside the bedroom door as he went downstairs, "Are you getting up?" It’s easier to hear the call than to obey it! - especially at 6 o’clock in the morning!
This call to service is something that we need to work at in our lives as a continuous process. Just as in a business we have to stop and take stock, consider carefully our priorities and check which way we are facing - is it in the direction of idols or the living God? It’s a very personal challenge, isn’t it? It’s something we can’t do in our own strength - we need the enabling of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
The Thessalonian Christians had been slaves to idols but through the gospel they had come into a second liberation - into the service of God, which is perfect freedom. The hymnwriter George Matheson wrote, "Make me a captive Lord, and then I shall be free". So we’ve seen the Thessalonians "turned to God from idols" for a purpose, "to serve the living God", but the apostle has more to add; it was:
"TO WAIT FOR HIS SON FROM HEAVEN"
I wonder if you think it rather odd that the apostle should link "serving" which is obviously something active, with "waiting" for the Lord’s return? Paul is teaching his converts that the two go together. However hard we work and serve in the Kingdom, there is a limit to what we can achieve. Of course we must make it our aim to leave the world better than we found it, but we can never make it perfect. We shall never build a utopia on earth. For that, we have to wait for God’s Kingdom to come, as we often say in the Lord’s Prayer. Only then will he secure a final triumph of God’s reign of justice and peace. And yet we have no right to wait in idleness, with arms folded and eyes closed, indifferent to the needs of the world around us.
The model Christian is called to work while waiting; to be ready for our Lord’s coming. The need is for watchfulness, because he will come unexpectedly like a thief in the night. The trouble with burglars is that they don’t tell us when they are coming. They don’t make an announcement of their arrival - there’s no warning postcard! The same unexpectedness will characterize the day of the Lord.
This echoes our Lord’s words: "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come" (Matt 24:42). This doesn’t mean that Jesus will come in our lifetime, but he may come. Paul knew and he urged his converts to realize that the next great event on God’s calendar was the return of the Lord Jesus Christ in great glory. We are called upon to live our daily lives in constant readiness for our Lord’s return and certainly for his call.
The apostle Paul has shown us a picture of a model Christian; he’s giving a picture of someone who has:
- Turned from idols - they may be different according to each person’s temperament and culture; a model Christian is someone who is:
- Serving the living God - to be expressed in different forms but requiring the same commitment of life; and the model Christian is someone who is:
- Waiting for God’s Son from heaven.
A verse of a hymn summarizes the thoughts of our text: "So now to watch, to work, to war and then to rest for ever." May that be our testimony too - turning to God, to serve him and to wait for our Lord’s return.
