Effective resources of divine nature
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Growing Pains
Growing Pains
No pain no gain, you have heard it, more than likely have even experienced it. The church at Thessalonica was experiencing it then so we can learn from them now and apply some divine resources to help us in our spiritual growth.
The church at Thessolonica was going through a time of growth but with the growth came some difficulties like:
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Affliction (1The1:6; 3:3)
Suffering (1The2:14); persecution (1The2:15)
Hinderance (1The2:18)
Still they had joy (1The2:19-20)
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Affliction (1The1:6; 3:3)
6 You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit,
Add to that
3 so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this.
In our passage today we are going to see other growing pains too.
Suffering (1The2:14); persecution (1The2:15)
Hinderance (1The2:18)
Still they had joy (1The2:19-20)
We as the church experience growing pains as we seek to save the lost and to grow and mature the saved and to bring glory to God.
In times of suffering, and we will face them (2Tim3:12) we need some resources to help us, and that is what our passage is about today.
12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
So the resources before us today are:
God’s Effective Word in us (1The2:13)
God’s Effective people around us (1The2:14-16)
God’s glory within us and around us (1The2:17-20)
13 For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. 14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews,
15 who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, 16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.
17 But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short while—in person, not in spirit—were all the more eager with great desire to see your face. 18 For we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, more than once—and yet Satan hindered us.
19 For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? 20 For you are our glory and joy.
God’s effective word in us
God’s effective word in us
The word founded the church because it was heard (1The2:13); believed and obeyed. This effective word that brings salvation also brings instructions for enduring. But first may we look how they received the Word.
They appreciated the word (1The2:13)
They received it for what it was, the Word of God, not the word of man (2Tim3:16; 2Pt1:20-21; Ps19:7-9)
Reference 2Tim passage
20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
It is the inspired word of God written by spirit filled men and it is pure, holy and perfect, let me show you
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. 8 The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.
It came with great cost, great cost to Christ, and great cost to the inspired writers too. And it may come with a great cost to you too (your lifestyle; your family. . .)
Our appreciation of the word
Our reception is a reflection of our acceptance of Jesus Christ (Jn1:1, 14; Jn6:48; Jn8:12, Jn14:6; 2Pt1:20-21; Rom1:25; 1Pt1:23-25)
It is the word, it is Christ as seen in (Jn1:1, 14)
It is bread of life
48 “I am the bread of life.
It is Light
12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
It is truth
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
It came through inspired men as read a moment ago in 2Pt1:20-21
Jesus, the word, the truth, the life is the eternal Son of God
25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
And this word in which they appreciated will live forever
23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off,
25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.
Our feeding on the word
Are we feeding on the word, for it is:
It is bread (Jn6:48, 51)
48 “I am the bread of life.
It is milk and meat (Heb5:11-14)
11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
It is honey (Ps119:103)
103 How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Is the word of God sweet to you?
If we, like the church at Thessolonica want to live victoriously through the suffering we must appreciate the word, but then we also need to appropriate the word too.
They appropriated the word
They received it, not only in hearing of the ear, but also hearing of the heart.
There are bible warning about hearing too
First, that you hear (Mt13:9)
9 “He who has ears, let him hear.”
Then, what you hear (Mk4:24)
24 And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides.
Then, how you hear (Lk8:18)
18 “So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.”
Don’t have itching ears (2Tim4:3) or be dull in hearing (Heb5:11)
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
and i already gave you the Hebrews passage about dull of hearing from Heb5:11.
How we appropriate the word is important. By understanding we receive it and receive it into our hearts and then by meditating on it is our digestion process of it.
“Mediation is to the spiritual life what digestion is to the physical life.” - Victor Brooks
They applied the word
It is not enough to appreciate the word, or to appropriate the bible, we must apply the word for it to be effective and we know with them it was.
God’s word is the power of God unto salvation, but also the enablement needed during times of suffering and testing.
We appreciate the word with our heart, we appropriate the word with our mind, and we apply the word with our will! And when we do these things we have our victory!
God’s Effective People Around Us
God’s Effective People Around Us
People that we surround ourselves with oftentimes will impact us. It sure was that way to the church at Thessolonica, but how about for us, who, what kind of people are we surrounding ourselves with?
14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, 15 who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men,
16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.
They became imitators of those in Judea who were suffering
Those in Judea were suffering at the hands of their own countrymen
Everyone suffers at some time in one way or another, maybe sickness, pain, death of loved one.
They suffered at hands of the Jews in Jerusalem; here in Thessolonica at the hands of the Gentiles (see Act17 for details)
Paul then goes into (1The2:15-16) and deals with religious bigotry; don’t allow this to happen today. (other scriptures Heb7:25)
Bigots killed the Lord and the prophets
Bigots drove Paul out of Philippi and chased out of Thessolonica
But bigotry was storing up wrath for them, the full measure of their sins.
Paul encouraged them, even through the negative illustration, that they were not alone in their suffering, others suffered before, there was suffering going on now in Judea. Suffering oftentimes is a time for sanctification and purification, when we grow the most. Int was in much tribulation that the church continued to grow.
Saints have been saved to the uttermost (Heb7:25); sinners will experience wrath to the uttermost (1The2:16)
25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
and then another version of one of our verses
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.
One of the greatest values we can have as the church (local body of believers) is each other, that we stand together in unity and encourage one another in the difficult times.
This now brings me to the next point.
God’s glory within us and around us!
God’s glory within us and around us!
As you can clearly see throughout the letter, Paul loved the brethren in the church of Thessalonica. He had the care of a mother, the instructions of a father, the service like a brother. Even though he was not there with them when this is written, he was with them in spirit. Paul longed to be with them, but being withstood, hindered look at his thoughts now.
17 But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short while—in person, not in spirit—were all the more eager with great desire to see your face. 18 For we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, more than once—and yet Satan hindered us.
19 For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? 20 For you are our glory and joy.
Paul desired to be with them, to see them (1The2:17-18a)
Paul was hindered from coming by Satan (1The2:18b)
Paul’s desire was similar to Jesus desire prior to his death (Lk22:15)
15 And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
In the times of trouble, testing, tribulation and trials may we come to have the forward future view of what we have to come. Paul lived in the future tense and the present tense. His actions were guided by the promises of the future and what a glorious day it would be:
Living in the present and future tense:
For the church there was his hope, was his joy
For the church there was his crown of exultation
This is the victor’s crown, the stephanos
Not that they were going to receive a crown here, but they were going to be his crown when they came to be in the presence of the Lord.
they were glory! and they were joy!
Effective resources continued:
Your body is a precious living resource, so use it effectively(1Cor9:24-27)
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 25 Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
Use the self control given as fruit of the Spirit (Gal5:22-23)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Know, look, look for the crown of life (Rev2:10) and the crown of righteousness (2Tim4:8)
10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
and then the crown of righteousness
8 in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
So, don’t give up, be encouraged by the effective resources we have before us, the word of God within us, the people of God around you and the glory of God before you.
(invitation slide)
First you need the spirit of God in you! (invitation) - (invitation slide 2) (Song) prayer (exit slide)