Plan B or C
Notes
Transcript
I know that a lot of people and churches in America are having conversations about the difficulty Christianity is having with lots of people leaving the church. It has been a trend for some time now, but it’s not the whole story for our churches, and it’s definitely not the whole story around the world. The places Christianity is growing the most and the fastest are in Africa, Eastern Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula. In fact, in my last call that congregation had a partnership with a congregation in Tanzania. Part of what our church did was to take up an extra offering every single week to help the build their new sanctuary. There were updates every month from the team that communicated with the church, and the pictures of the church showed crowds of people standing outside their church trying to hear the service. Before I left, we saw pictures of the church, not finished yet, but for Easter they had worship inside the expanded sanctuary and the building was already completely full. Despite the expanded, larger sanctuary, the church was growing faster than they could physically build the building. I believe they were going to add more services, but the rate of new believers in this area was explosive and while evangelism was happening, they could not explain the growth of the church in relation to the work they were doing.
An article from World News Group confirms that these are the places that Christianity is growing the most and at incredible rates. Part of it is the missionary work that is being done, but part of it they cannot explain. In fact, there is a need for more theological training in the form of seminaries and teachers, or at least some kind place to train the leaders that are wanting to strengthen and deepen their faith to be able to better lead and share with people the good news of Jesus Christ.
It is this same missionary work that is happening in these parts of the world today that was being done by Paul and Silas as they traveled to Thessalonica. While verse 4 does tell us that some in the synagogue were convinced including Gentiles and some prominent women, this is not the kind of major conversion events that Paul and Silas had experienced and was nothing like their experience in the next place they go which is Beroea. Here there is a eagerness to which they accepted the word and studied the scripture to see the truth of their claim, and many people came to believe. It must have been both their faith in Jesus as well as the experiences that happened in Beroea and other places that kept them going because they also experienced many hardships and setbacks. One of those setbacks happened just before our text where Paul and Silas were imprisoned in Philippi.
It just goes to show that things don’t always go as planned or hoped for. When they were in Beroea the text seems to indicate that the people hearing the word accepted right away, and yet if we look verse 2 then we see that it was three weeks of entering the synagogue at Thessalonica and there seemed to only be a modest number of people who began to believe this interpretation of scripture that Jesus was the promised messiah. While it isn’t clear it does seem that Jason may have either simply been hosting Paul and Silas, or it could be that he was the place of gathering for the new house church of those who believed. You see it was custom for Paul to share his message and then find a place of gathering especially in places like Thessalonica where the synagogue leadership were not happy with what they were teaching. With only being there a few weeks and not accomplishing a lot it’s hard to know if Jason’s house was this new house church or if Paul and Silas didn’t have enough time to really set it up, and we also don’t know how much Paul was really able to teach them before they were forced to leave Thessalonica. Things just don’t always go as planned and it can be really frustrating and disappointing.
And the same kinds of things happen today and even in our own churches. Sometimes we plan ministries or events and despite our best efforts they just don’t work out the way we hoped. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it was a bad ministry or that we shouldn’t do that, but it may mean that it wasn’t the right timing or maybe it wasn’t the right place. If we think about all the different ministries that happened just here at Bethlehem throughout it’s life I’m sure there are many of them that are no longer happening today. Again, I will say, that doesn’t mean that they failed or were poor ideas, but perhaps some had gone through their lifecycle or perhaps some are simply dormant for a time until the right time comes again to do them again.
What I think we tend to forget when something ends, no matter the reason, is the impact that it had when it was happening. Think of the lives touched and the faith that was inspired when it was happening. I personally think of ministries in other churches I have served and how they are no longer going, and while it is sad, I remember everything that we accomplished together to live out our lives of faith.
Which is why it is so fantastic that we get to hear from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. It helps us bridge this moment of joy for the new believers with this sadness that Paul and Silas are kicked out of Thessalonica and cannot return. Of all of Paul’s letters to the various churches, this one has to be the most uplifting and complimentary. The verses that really drives home this sense of joy as well as the point I want to ultimately make are 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8. As as result of their acceptance of the good news and the power of the Holy Spirit this community of believers has become an example to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia, and then Paul says, never mind, not just those places but in every place.
This opening to Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians combined with what actually happened in Acts really just gets me pumped. Why…because we go from what seems like more of a loss than a win by being kicked out of Thessalonica and not allowed to return to this fledgling community to Paul praising them for being an example and I would say a beacon even for all the other communities to see. I guarantee it wasn’t Paul or Silas’ plan to never be able to return to Thessalonica. I wonder if they even thought that maybe this small group of believers might not survive, yet they become not just a thriving community but also one that is the example for all others to follow.
So what does this mean? It means that we should never give up just like Paul and Silas when it comes to doing the work of Christ. It means that we may never know what outcome there may be from the work that we do and the faith that we share and the love that we embody. It means that God is at work in and through us and even where we see failure, even when we have to go to plan b or c and beyond and we are discouraged and even give up, God is still there, still working in and through us and the lives of others. Never give up on the mission of the gospel and the power it has to transform lives and communities even if you never return to see it for yourself. God is at work in unexpected places and in unexpected ways. God who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job. Amen.