1 Thessalonians 2:13-20
A God Honoring Ministry
Introduction
Have you ever wondered how it is that two people struggling with the same sins and problems in their lives can receive the gospel and one being dramatically changed by it and the other continue on in sin? I have. I have watched as men and women have come to Christ and received the gospel and their lives experienced such a great turn around that everyone took notice, then I have watched as many others, perhaps most others come to Christ, receive the same gospel and soon fall away as though nothing ever happened. What makes the difference?
Some of you may be familiar with the Khmer Rouge, the name given to Cambodian Communists who overthrew the Cambodian government in the 1970s and who have severely persecuted their own people in the years since. I was reading the other day about one man who was in a Khmer Rouge prison, and some of the other prisoners began to witness to him, leading him to Christ. He was kept in prison for a number of years, then released. He escaped to America for a while, then determined to return to Cambodia with a goal of winning the Khmer Rouge soldiers to Christ one at a time. Through his work he began doing so, and now has led three of their top generals to Christ, and these generals are now preaching the gospel to others.
What is it that can take a man who was once a liar and murderer, a man who was a hater of God and all things Christian and make him a lover of God and other people so much that he would risk his own life to share the good news of Christ? It is nothing other than the gospel of Christ itself! The apostle Paul said in his letter to the Romans, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." 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, people can try all they want to – they can’t change a thing, but the gospel can!
It was the gospel who 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 the gospel that took a man named Saul, one who hated Jesus and his followers, arrested and murdered them, and caused him to devote his life to planting churches and preaching the truth. It was the gospel that got a 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. The gospel – it changes lives – but does it change them all? We know it doesn’t because we can see the fruits of those who claim to receive it – so what’s the difference? Why does it work for some and not for others?
It’s all in the reception
In chapter 2 verse 13, Paul said,
"For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe."
In this verse, the English word received is used twice, but it is actually two different words in the Greek text. I want to read it to you the way it actually reads without giving you a bunch of Greek stuff you won’t remember and don’t really care about anyway.
"For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you took the gospel to yourselves and carried it off, the gospel that you heard from us, you didn’t receive it intellectually as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe."
What does that mean? When the Thessalonian people heard the gospel, they received it intellectually – that is – they heard it and processed it and reasoned it out. Once they received it intellectually, they received it physically and spiritually – that is, they acted on what they knew to be true.
If I were standing in the middle of Woodlawn outside and you were in the yard, you might yell to me that I am in danger of being struck by the car driving toward me. You want to lead me to safety, so you might say something like this: "Kevin, look out! There’s a car coming!" Now, I first would receive your message by looking up and seeing the car. I would process that information intellectually and make a decision to either move or stand there. The way I receive that information is seen in my decision. If I really received your message, then I will move. If I failed to receive it I would stand there. Either way you would be able to say, "Well I told him. Why didn’t he move?" Was it because I didn’t receive the message? Yes and no.
The same is true with the gospel. It is one thing to receive the gospel intellectually or historically, but it is another thing all together to receive it with the heart and to act on it. How do we know that the Thessalonians received the gospel with the heart and acted on it? Paul said that they received it as the word of God in truth, and now it was effectually working in them. In other words, it was being put into operation, actively, effectively developing those people so that they were becoming more like Christ in character and conduct.
In this last message that is going to deal with a God honoring ministry, I want you to quickly notice that a God honoring ministry recognizes that there is great power in the gospel. It has the power to change lives. Why is this so important to realize? Because there is a great danger in ministry. Our aim is to reach people and help them become more like Christ – we readily acknowledge that, but the way we go about it makes all the difference in the world. Helping men become men of integrity and honesty, helping them become sexually pure in thought and deed, helping women love their husbands and submit to them, helping kids put on the character and values of Christ is not the result of dynamic programs or worship. It is not the result of my words or yours, it is the result of the gospel getting into their lives and doing a great work. So, a God honoring ministry will be careful to not resort to programs and methods so much as it will labor to preach and teach the gospel day after day after day and allow the Holy Spirit to take the Word of God and use it in a powerful way.
Before we can expect the gospel to effect a great change in the lives of those to whom we minister, it must be having a dramatic effect on our lives first. If you are not changing, then you won’t see the need for others to change. If you are not growing, your people will not grow. If you are not like Christ in action, in word, in attitude, in your opinions, in your thoughts and so forth, then they won’t be either. So, how can you know whether the gospel is effectually working in you?
Throughout the Scriptures and particularly in this passage, you find this one sure test – your willingness to suffer. How can you know that the gospel is working in someone’s life? How can you know whether the gospel is really at work in your own life? Are you willing to suffer? Well Brother Kevin, that doesn’t sound too positive! That can’t be right – Jesus said He came to give me abundant life. He said He came to bring peace and love and joy. Jesus came to make life better, not worse! To all of that I will say, "Amen!"
But before anyone writes it off, let’s look at our passage. Verse 14 says,
"For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:"
As these people followed the examples set before them by the other churches, they suffered persecution at the hand of their own countrymen. We’re not told exactly what kind of persecution this might have been. I suspect that in some cases, it may have been ostracizing, being singled out as believers in Christ so that those who once were friends were not any longer. I would say that this is a mild form of persecution. Maybe they couldn’t hang out where they used to, or shop where they liked, or trade with former friends and so forth. Now, notice some examples of how the New Testament believers were willing to suffer.
They were willing to die
who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets,
Now I realize that most of us will never face the decision of whether we would give our lives for the sake of the gospel. It is not every day in America that Christians are martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ. We know that it goes on in other countries, but not in our own. But listen, those New Testament believers were dying for Jesus! When they accepted Christ, they put Him on and wore His name proudly! If that meant dying for Him, then they died for Him, for as Paul said, "to die is gain!"
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!"
I like that! You see, when the gospel gets a hold of you and it goes to work, it doesn’t mean you’ll have to die, but that you’re willing to do it if it comes to it. If you’re living like the Bible says and doing what is right you’re going to suffer for it in some way or another, but oh, brother! How we like to be liked and be comfortable. We want to be respected and lifted up, and if we take too strong a stand for Jesus people aren’t going to like us! I know – I know. But let me ask you, is the gospel at work in you? If it is, then you’ll be willing to let that little god of comfort and acceptance of yours go and be willing to suffer for Christ.
They were run out of town
and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
If you have a center margin Bible you should notice that the word persecuted means chased us out. We have already seen that when Paul preached in Thessalonica that 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.
Now I’m not advocating being purposely offensive, but I am saying that your stand is either going to please God or it is going to please men. Most of us live our lives so quietly and inoffensively that no one even knows that we’re Christians. You start doing the math and figure out how many churches are in this town. Somebody here tonight ought to go home and count up all the churches in Denison and call them up and ask for their total membership. Figure up how many professing Christians are in this town and then you think about why we are so tolerant of the sin and lostness of our own community. Right here in Denison the sins of homosexuality are promoted with our 2 or 3 gay bars. Pornography is sold on street corners all over town. Drunkenness and drug abuse are winked at. Sexual immorality is spoken of as a joke. Well, kids will be kids – that’s a slap in the face to God when that message is coming from His own people!
Brother Kevin, I can’t do anything about that stuff. Sure you can, but are you willing to suffer to see it done? We need to get something into our heads as children of God. It is not the saved person who is contrary to man, but the lost person. The saved person has something to offer. Do you know who ought to make the best citizens? Saved people. Do you know who ought to make the best employees? Saved people. Do you know who ought to be the best in city government? Saved people. Lost people can’t offer what God’s people can offer, but too often we are just like them. They are the ones who are contrary to all men, and if we are not careful, we in our passiveness and quietness daily contribute to the problems of sin by doing and saying nothing.
They were censored
Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.
They were separated and satanically hindered
But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.
For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy.
