Don't Mess with His Church

ReCAST Church of Mattawan

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:19

to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. This week, Pastor Don Filsak takes us through his series,

00:25

Hope Rising, from the book of 1 Thessalonians. Let's listen in. Good morning,

00:31

Recast Church. I'm Don Filsak, I'm the lead pastor here, and we're gonna go ahead and get started. So if you can find your seats, that would be excellent.

00:38

And I am so glad to be together as the body of Christ this morning together with you.

00:44

God has been really good to us in the short history of our church. Many of you know that we're currently building, there's gonna be a little announcement about that coming up here and a little financial update about where we're at.

00:56

But just if you get a chance to drive over and check that out, there's a lot of progress that's been made even just within the last few weeks.

01:03

It actually looks like a building now, and you can see where the windows are and all that stuff. So pretty cool, and HVAC is going in and some cool stuff there, so you can swing by there.

01:12

Just if you go there during the day, just be mindful to not get in the way of the construction crews that are out there.

01:19

I'd encourage you to go in the evenings if you can. This morning, our text is gonna indicate that the church, like I said,

01:26

God has been good to us as a church, but this morning our text indicates that the church holds a special place in the heart of God.

01:33

It's very, very important and vital to what God wants to do in the world today.

01:39

We are the people that are put together by his word. I don't know if you've thought about that, but God's word has constructed this church.

01:49

God's word in the lives of people in your life has brought you here in some way, shape, or form.

01:56

Maybe that was as a child you came to understand who God is through his word, through maybe a

02:01

Bible program at a church, or through your parents sharing the word of God with you, or even just if it is the sole reason you're here is curiosity, it's probably something to do with curiosity about God, and those answers that you're looking for can be found in his word, and you've come here with some hope or some sense that something here might give you some answers, and that is going to be found in his word.

02:24

We're a people, though, that are put together by his word, but we're also a people connected down through the ages. The church is connected through the ages and across geography, even this morning, by our common experiences, and we are a people who will one day be vindicated by God judging those who oppose his church, and so we see that the church is a pretty vital and important thing, and I think we can often come together and even just to our own view of what is the church, and we can have a very narrow view if we're honest with ourselves, as if the church is associated with a grouping of programmings or is a place that I go to.

03:05

You know, we're building a building. It could be an easy misconception for us and a dangerous misconception for us at this time while we're building to grow into a phase of thinking that the church is a building.

03:17

Fortunately, we've been able to meet in cafeterias and storefronts since our beginning, and because of that, we probably have a, we're a little bit ahead of many other churches that have a building in the sense of God identifying that the church is the people and not a broken down old cafeteria like this, so I think that we've got that going for us a little bit, but it's not just a grouping of programs.

03:37

The church is not a building. It's not a Sunday morning event like this that we gather to. This isn't church.

03:43

We are the church, but this thing that we're doing now is not defined as church. The church is not basically affiliated with a pastor or just merely a group of our friends that we hang out with on Sunday morning, and although none of those things are completely false, those are parts of a church, right?

04:01

Those are components of it. They don't tell the whole story of what's going on as we gather together as this church, as we're gonna see in our text.

04:09

The church is a bigger deal than any one of its components, and in our text this morning, we're gonna see

04:15

Paul explain to a very new church, the church in a city called Thessalonica at the time that he's writing this, three things that we all ought to consider when we think of church, when we think of this gathering of people, when we think of the people themselves, and by the way, when

04:30

I'm talking about church this morning, I'm not speaking merely only of our small gathering here in this school this morning, but what we are doing this morning is just one meeting of a global movement that comprises

04:42

God's global big C church, and that's a beautiful thing. So there are churches gathered all around the world.

04:49

We had the privilege just a couple months ago to go to Uganda, and some of us got a chance to see the way that church is done in different cultures, and some of you have experiences, or you know different places, or you traveled even around the

05:00

United States, and you visited other churches, and you see that church is done differently in different places, but we are all a part of something that God is doing together, and in every gathering where Jesus is honored, the good news of salvation from sins is preached, and the hope for a resurrection is held out.

05:16

That is a part of the global church, the big picture of what God is doing. So let's open our Bibles, if you're not already there, to 1

05:22

Thessalonians 2, verses 13 through 16. Again, that's 1

05:28

Thessalonians 2, 13 through 16, and if you don't have a copy of God's word, if you could do me a favor and just raise your hand,

05:36

Mike's got some back here, I think he's even already got them open to that passage, so if you don't have a Bible on your lap, or a means to navigate, go ahead and raise your hand, there's one over here, and you can actually follow along and see what we're doing here in God's word.

05:49

But again, this is 1 Thessalonians 2, verses 13 through 16, and recast this as God's word to us.

05:55

I say this often, but probably one of the most valuable things that we can do is take in God's word.

06:01

So this is vital, this is important, this is why I do this every week, because we're hearing from the Almighty when we read these words.

06:08

1 Thessalonians 2, 13 through 16. And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as a word from men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you, believers.

06:30

For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the

06:39

Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displeased

06:44

God and opposed all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved.

06:50

So as always, to fill up the measure of their sins, but wrath has come upon them at last.

06:57

Let's pray before we get the opportunity to sing some songs together to the

07:03

Lord. Father, I thank you for this chance that we have to gather together in your name as your church.

07:12

A church that's being built up by your word, the very word that we're studying this morning, has the power to transform us, to change us, to make us more and more in the image of your son,

07:22

Jesus Christ. I thank you that we're part of a connected church, that we are a part of what you have been doing down through the ages, and it's just something that's carrying on in our generation through us.

07:33

And then Father, we know that those who thwart and oppose your church, and those who are against the Messiah and against Christ, those who oppose the church, will one day be judged for that opposition.

07:46

And we see all of these things in this text, and Father, I pray that you would help us to think rightly about what it is to be a part of a church, to treasure it, to delight in it, to be glad in it this morning.

07:58

Father, that we have an opportunity even now to raise our voices together as a church, as a gathering of people.

08:04

And one of the glorious and beautiful things we get to do is sing praises to you, for you have saved us, you have created us, you have brought us together.

08:12

And Father, I thank you that together our voices can be lifted up to praise you and to worship you this morning.

08:17

I thank you for the praise team that has prepared these songs to lead us. And Father, I pray that our hearts would be lost to the distractions, lost to the frustrations, lost to all of the things that would seek to take our eyes off of you.

08:30

And today, together, we would see you as you are, high, exalted, and lifted up, and that our mouths right now would sing praises to you because you are awesome, you are glorious, and you are completely worthy.

08:41

In Jesus' name, amen. Yeah, you can go ahead and be seated. And I encourage you to get comfortable as much as possible over the next half an hour or so.

08:51

You can get more coffee or juice or donuts at either table, and you're not gonna distract me if you get up there.

08:56

And then remember that seat that you're sitting in, if that gets uncomfortable for your back, you can get up and stretch out in the back.

09:03

And again, that's not gonna distract me, but the point is to keep our focus on God's word as we dig in and think this through.

09:10

I wanna reiterate with Steve before we dive into the text, though, that we as elders are so thankful for the generosity of this congregation, and it has been amazing to see the way that over these eight years that God has just month over month continued to allow us to put money aside that really our gratitude goes deeply to God, but also just to thank you for the way that you've given that this building is going up.

09:34

And again, you can go over there and check it out and see. I wanna let you know just one quick announcement on timing. The builder still thinks that we're on target.

09:41

He kind of bumped it back two weeks recently and said probably the middle of August, but we know that we're done here at the end of July.

09:49

So you do the math, we're coming up with some plans for what we might be able to do the month of August. We've already reserved the park.

09:55

So just so that you're aware, we may end up having church in the park in the month of August, which I don't think would be a terrible thing.

10:00

I think that might be actually kind of cool for us. So we'll see how the Lord works in all of that, weather permitting and all of those kinds of things.

10:07

We're coming up with a plan B, plan C, all of that kind of stuff for that month. But be in prayer for the finances of it, as Steve was sharing, but also be in prayer for the timing of it as well, just that God would work that out.

10:18

It's really cool. I don't know how many of you are aware of this, and I wasn't planning on saying this, but when we started building, when the elders finally thought that it was time and we voted as a church, and we said, yes, we're gonna move forward with this building, we didn't even know we had a deadline to get out of this building.

10:34

We didn't know that the school was gonna have a contract to lease this out to someone else. And so God had it worked out that we were already in the building process when we got the call from the superintendent saying, hey, we need you out at the end of July.

10:48

So just that we're that close in the timing is glory to God. I just praise Him for the way He's worked that out. So with all of that,

10:55

I'm confident that God has all of these things and that the future of Recast Church is firmly in His hands, and I'm just excited about what

11:02

He's gonna be doing in the coming months. Things are gonna be changing. Things are gonna be different here. You recognize that, but I think it's gonna be amazing to see how

11:09

God works. The fact of the matter is, as we dig into this text, I wanna just point out right from the beginning that God loves

11:16

His church. And I can only imagine that the Thessalonian church that Paul was writing to in this letter, this church that was born in the middle of persecution and born in the midst of physical suffering needed to hear a reminder that they were being brought into a bigger picture than just what was going on in their little community.

11:38

And sometimes we need that reminder as well, that God has a bigger picture of things that He's doing with His church than just what's happening here in this room this morning, just what's happening in our community.

11:48

So in our text, Paul will offer hope to the Thessalonians as an infant church by reminding them of three things that will form the structure of our time together this morning.

11:58

Three points, not 18 this time, but just three. The first we're gonna look at is in verse 13, the centrality of the word in the church, the centrality of the word in the church, the scriptures, the

12:11

Bible, the centrality of that. The second that we're gonna be looking at is in verses 14 through 15, and that's actually my fault,

12:19

I had it wrong in my notes, but it is verses 14 through 15, the connectedness of the church.

12:25

We're gonna be looking at that there. And then lastly, we're gonna look at God's vindication of the church in verse 16.

12:32

So you can see that there. And if you're a note taker, you know where we're going. Sometimes they tell you in speech class, right?

12:40

You're supposed to tell people where we're going. So that's what I just did, there you go. All three of these movements require us to have in mind that this was a suffering church, though.

12:48

It's very important, when we read this text, this is a text that's been misapplied, misunderstood, and much maligned over the years.

12:55

Some scholars even question whether or not Paul even really wrote this. Yes, Paul, is that you?

13:05

Somebody? Got it? All right. I have no idea what

13:10

I was saying there for just a second. And I don't usually get distracted, but man, that just happened. Where was

13:18

I saying? Yeah, at the bottom. I was on a rabbit trail there, you guys,

13:23

I'm serious. That is just completely gone. Oh, passage is often misunderstood.

13:30

Yeah, thank you, thank you. Somebody was listening, that's awesome, yeah. This passage is much maligned and often misunderstood, and it leads, it's led people to,

13:39

I mean, it's led, it's actually, there are cults that have spun off because of this passage that we're looking at today. There's people who are anti -Semitic because of this passage that we're looking at today.

13:48

So when you read this and you realize how much the understanding of God's word matters, it's very significant that we get these things right.

13:57

But back in Acts 17, this is all set in the context of a suffering church, and when you understand the context, then that helps to ground us in our understanding and our interpretation of this.

14:10

Who he's speaking to and why he's speaking to them and the way he's talking matters significantly.

14:15

And it does in all of scripture, but even more so when we find a text that's a little bit difficult for us to understand why

14:21

Paul is saying things the way he's saying them. In Acts 17, Paul, Timothy, and Silas had come into the city of Thessalonica, to give you the background.

14:29

That's modern day Greece, a port city, and they shared the gospel, and many

14:34

Greek people believed there. It says that many, many, many of the Greek people, and especially among the upper crust of women that were in that village, gave their lives as followers of Jesus Christ and believed the gospel as he communicated it.

14:49

But the Jews in that community got really salty, and they stirred up a riot against the new church.

14:55

They were really upset, and within weeks of coming into town and starting a church, the church actually led

15:01

Paul and company out of town in the middle of the night, and said, see the road, hit it and run, because I know this community, we know this community, and they're going to kill you.

15:11

They will kill you if you stay. You need to get out of Dodge. And so under cover of darkness, they fled for their lives from the city of Thessalonica.

15:20

There's a church founded there. They've just started this. It's been weeks since they came into town, and the church is already forming, and they are run out by the

15:27

Jews. And so Paul is now away from the Thessalonians, corresponding them by secretly sending

15:32

Timothy back and forth with letters, and that's what we're reading when we read 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, letters that were carried by Timothy back.

15:39

Timothy takes it, brings back a report to Paul, and then Paul writes again, and he's getting an idea of what kind of struggles that they're having, and he's writing to kind of correct some of the things that are wrong there, and help them along and encourage them and produce hope within them.

15:54

And Paul wanted to give the Thessalonian Christians hope in this text by connecting them to the bigger picture of God's overarching plan for his church, of which they have become one.

16:04

And so we start with verse 13, where we see Paul encouraging the church regarding the centrality of the word of Christ, the word of the

16:14

Bible, and how central that that needs to be in their gathering. Paul begins with another statement of being constantly thankful here in our text.

16:22

He's already said he's constantly thankful for them. He repeats himself again, and I get the impression that Paul was a super thankful guy.

16:28

He said, I'm really glad for the way that you received the word of God. He was so glad to see what

16:35

God was doing in the lives of those he ministered to. And do you feel that too? Do you feel some joy in the opportunity that you have to bless others and to encourage others and to see them grow?

16:46

Now, it's not always linear, right? Like sometimes, how many of you know that sometimes it's years in the making where you've invested, invested, invested, and it takes time to see fruit, right?

16:55

Do you know what I'm talking about? And at the same time, do you trust by faith that the effort that you put into loving others and serving others is going to bear fruit?

17:05

Paul was thankful and glad whenever he saw even just a little bit of growth, when he saw just a little bit of something happening in the life of another person that he's interacting with and ministering to.

17:17

He was delighted and joyful. He's excited to see that work. And here in verse 13, he is most thankful to see

17:23

God work through his word. The flow of verse 13 makes sense, and it's pretty easy to follow.

17:29

It goes like this. Paul says, I'm thankful for you Thessalonians that you received the message that we brought to you, and you received it as God's words and not merely the words of men.

17:41

You saw it for what it is. You were able to, with spiritual eyes, see that the things that we brought to you, the things that we spoke, were not from our devising.

17:50

They weren't from us. But instead, you identified, and you were able to discern spiritually that these things are from God.

17:58

They're from him. And Paul is thankful to God for that. He's like, I'm glad that God gave you that insight to be able to see that these things are important and are valuable and are significant.

18:09

You see, Paul and company came into Thessalonica with the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the sins of all.

18:18

The simple gospel message was the common, repeated message that Paul preached everywhere that he went.

18:24

And he did not get this message from his own wisdom. He didn't invent this. He didn't come up with it. He regularly testified that he received that message from the

18:32

Almighty God. But before we move on to the next point, let me make two important observations about the word of God for us.

18:41

As we live here in Matawan, how does this impact us to think about the centrality of the word of God in the church?

18:47

And the first is just simply this. The word we have been given to bring to others, the word that we share, the word that we read in our quiet times, it comes to us from the

18:58

Almighty. It comes from God himself. We live in a very privileged time.

19:04

Do you know how privileged we are to have this? And I don't know if you realize this, but it's not just a privileged time, but it's a privileged place.

19:11

One of the requests that we had in Uganda while we were there was, could we get a Bible in our own language?

19:17

Could we get a Bible in the language of Luganda, the language of one of the largest tribes there?

19:23

We took them English Bibles, but if we had to do over again, and I think if we lead another trip, we'll actually take different Bibles.

19:29

Now, they speak some English, but their English is very limited, and the hunger that they had, the desire to have the

19:35

Bible in their own language and to be able to read it. We're privileged to have this, and I think sometimes, and I don't wanna beat you up and make you feel guilty about it, but the fact that we have the very words of God, and how many of you would testify that right now you have more than one copy at your house?

19:51

I think a lot of us, a lot of us have more than one copy, or how many versions are on an app just that we can just search and have access to right then and there?

20:01

That's not to make you feel guilty for where you live or guilty for where you were born, it's just to say, man, do we take advantage of the privileges that have been granted to us by digging in and seeing this as the meat of our lives and the sustenance that's gonna really feed us and change us?

20:16

And how many of you would admit that there's something in your life you wanna change? I think all of us have something in our lives that we wanna change, but are you really gonna trust that God's word can bring about change in your life by consistently, regularly studying it and digging in and asking him to change you through the revelation of how he wants you to live and who he wants you to be?

20:38

And this is the message from God that God has given us to share with the world around us.

20:46

It's a powerful message of hope. It's a powerful message of purpose, a powerful message for the salvation of anyone who will put their trust in it and receive it.

20:57

Do you recognize that what you have to offer the world around you is the very message of the

21:02

Almighty himself? This is a powerful truth that should motivate us to share this message of hope to others around us.

21:12

The second observation about this word is that the word has the power. It's powerful, and I've seen its power in my life.

21:19

I've seen its power in very tangible ways. This gathering right here is a demonstration to me of the power of God's word, that we are here.

21:27

Now, I've had the privilege of being at this church from the very, very first service where there were 13 adults gathered in a basement in the

21:39

Trestle Creek neighborhood. Some of you are here that were there at that first service, a couple of us. And it was amazing, it's amazing to just see how

21:47

God has grown this. And do you know what I credit the growth here to? Not my creativity, not my organizational leadership, not advertising, the word of God.

21:59

I fully believe that the growth that we have seen here, the reason that we're not 13 people sitting in a basement right now is straight up God's powerful word having its way in this community, calling together people, carving out a people who are hungry to hear from this word.

22:15

We're a testimony here just in our gathering of the power of God's word. It's powerful enough to create a church.

22:21

It was powerful enough for us, but it's powerful enough in Thessalonica back in the day.

22:27

And the church in Thessalonica came about because Paul shared the word. What did he go in and do?

22:32

Did he organize them and lead them and come up with advertising and put up billboards and do all kinds of fancy stuff to make it relevant?

22:41

He came in and he shared the word. He brought the gospel truth to them. And the last phrase in verse 13 shows that this word was at work in those who believed.

22:55

And you who believe, is the word at work in you? I believe it is, I believe it is.

23:02

Even if it's just through the hearing of it on Sunday morning, I think it's having some impact on your life. You go, well, man,

23:07

I've got a lot of things to improve, but do you trust that God, do you see what you would be without it?

23:14

I don't think we can conceive of that in our minds. A lot of times we're blind to that. But you go, oh, I've got so much. How many of you would say,

23:19

I've got so much room to improve? And sometimes that room for improvement can become so overwhelming to our eyes, right?

23:26

To our minds, and we're like, oh, I've got so much. It just can feel like a weight on your shoulders. Do you ever give thanks to God for how far you've come?

23:35

And what you would be were it not for the influence of his word? I tremble at the thought of who

23:41

I would be and what I would be like without him saving me when I was eight years old. I don't know what that would look like, but I can tell you it'd be different than where I stand today, a whole lot different.

23:51

And I can tell you this, it wouldn't be for the better. It would not be for the better. His word is powerful, very powerful.

23:59

And it's at work in us. The word of God works in us when we take it in, when we study it, when we believe it, when we memorize it, when we live it out.

24:08

Just a real quick word about memorizing. Please do me a favor and don't memorize anything that you don't intend to understand what it means.

24:14

Okay, and I say that sincerely, but a lot of times we memorize verses that are like these little quips or these little quotes that are just gonna, ooh, get me through the day.

24:22

And if you don't understand what it means, it's just a mantra. It's just empty gibberish. It's kind of like just adding words.

24:31

Study it to know what it means in context and then memorize it and then take it on and live it through your life.

24:37

What does a church need? Think about that. What does a church need? What does your neighborhood need?

24:45

What do your coworkers need? What about those distant family members that you argue with over Christmas or whatever?

24:54

They need the message found in here. That's what all of us need. It's not just them out there that need it, we need it.

25:02

All of us need it. We try to come up with all kinds of ways to dress it up. The church has been guilty of this as well and often we try to dress it up in the guise of making it, making it relevant.

25:13

I hate that phrase. I despise that phrase. You can't make this relevant, it already is.

25:19

It's just recognizing that it's relevant. Trusting and believing that as written it is relevant to your lives.

25:25

Study it and it can change you from the inside out. Making it, we try to make it relevant, try to make it cool, try to make it hip, try to make it a fresh new message.

25:37

And often I would suggest to you that in the process of trying to make it something, we water it down and unfortunately often we can destroy the message altogether.

25:47

But as I said at the beginning, I can personally testify from personal experience the power of the word of God to build a church.

25:55

We're a gathering of people who have been built up together in the word. We are not flashy, I'm not flashy.

26:01

We're not professional. We're not a performance. We are a church that is committed to the genuine trust in the power of God's word to lead us and to build us and ultimately to change us.

26:14

And I'm thankful, recast, that the word of God is at work in you. I see it. As a church, we regularly need a reminder that the word of God is central.

26:23

It is the primary thing that you and I need to grow in faith, the central thing.

26:29

Second, we see in verses 14 through 15 where things get a little bit dicey and this is where cults spring up.

26:35

So let's hang on tight for a second. It's a confusing text that even has been interpreted as anti -Semitic, that's just in case you don't know that's anti -Jew.

26:44

And if we removed it from its context, it probably would sound that way. If we don't understand who it's written to, why it's written, it sounds a little bit like Paul is having it out with the

26:53

Jews right here and is really angry at them and wants to blame them for everything, even everything that goes on in the world. I mean, they're the enemies of God.

27:00

They're displeased him and they're the enemies of all mankind. So it sounds really derogatory.

27:06

Paul says to the Thessalonians, you have suffered just like the very first churches that existed in Judea.

27:13

And the Jews have been stirring things up everywhere that the churches are started. I mean, he kind of makes a blanket statement.

27:19

Wherever they go, every city that Paul goes to, it's like the Jews stir things up and they make it hard for Paul to bring the gospel forward.

27:28

And if that's all that we hear Paul saying, it sounds like a pretty anti -Jewish statement, right? Do you guys see that when you read it?

27:34

When you read verses 14 through 15, do you see what I'm talking about? It sounds strong. And again, maybe it's not your hangup, maybe it's not your issue, so I won't spend a lot of time on it.

27:44

I don't get the imagination that many of us here have anti -Semitic tendencies, right? Like I hope that that's not the case, and if you do, come talk with me, we'll work through that.

27:53

But this text has been used again by Christian cults that abuse the name of Jesus by dragging him into what

27:58

I would just call blatant racism. And there are many cults around this country who have been established on the basis of a single verse of the

28:07

Bible that they just take out of whack and just go crazy with. But let me explain first that Paul was very pro -Jewish.

28:14

You can't hardly get more pro -Jewish than him. He actually stated that he wished that he himself would be condemned if all of the

28:22

Jewish race would come to faith in Christ. It's a pretty strong statement, because I'm telling you honestly, I don't echo what

28:27

Paul said. If my condemnation would secure the salvation of others, I feel bad for those others because I don't want to give that up.

28:35

Does anybody know what I'm talking about on that? So I mean, just a moment of just bare honesty.

28:41

Might be ugly for you to hear that, but I'm not eager to give up my salvation.

28:47

And he was very strong. He was in love with the Jewish people. He was one of them.

28:53

He longed to see his own people come to faith in Christ. When he came into a community, you can just go through the

29:00

Book of Acts, and when he comes into a new community, where does he go? The synagogue. What's the synagogue?

29:06

The Jewish church, the Jewish meeting place, the place where the Jews would be. It's the first place he would go. He always went to the local synagogue to share the message of salvation that comes through Jesus the

29:16

Messiah with the Jews, who he hoped and longed for them to embrace

29:21

Jesus Christ as their Messiah, as the anointed one, the chosen one who would redeem his people.

29:28

He was not against them, but instead he felt deeply for them. I actually think that what we see sometimes in Paul's writing is that he's very frustrated, and a mix of frustration and sadness and anger at the response of the

29:40

Jews, because he longed so much for their salvation that he was quite shocked and scandalized by their just immediate and upfront rejection of the message.

29:51

He knew full well that judgment would come upon anyone who opposes Jesus, anyone who rejects him.

29:59

Further, we need to remember that Paul had suffered greatly at the hands of the Jews as he's writing this. He had been beaten, he had been pelted with stones, he had been imprisoned.

30:08

He had even been left for dead, at least on two occasions that we have recorded for us, by the Jews. They thought they'd killed him, left him sitting there in a heap.

30:18

Next, he gets up and walks out, and it's, I think, kind of miraculous. Further in verses 14 through 15, we need to remember that Paul is speaking to the

30:27

Thessalonians, and I believe his intention has very little to do with teaching the Thessalonians to have animosity toward the

30:34

Jews, but instead he's seeking to connect their suffering at the hands of the Jews, the suffering of this little baby church to the big picture of God's global plan.

30:45

That's why I'm saying that this point of these two verses is the connectedness of the church.

30:51

I believe that if we lived in Thessalonica during this time where the letter was being received and read publicly, we would be very tempted to see our suffering and the persecution that we were enduring as an isolated thing.

31:04

You gotta put yourself in that context where they didn't read the daily news, they didn't have the interwebs, they didn't have a chance to check out what's going on in other places around the world, so Paul is serving as that for them to say, hey, what you're experiencing, church, is actually pretty common.

31:18

This is something that happens around the world where the church is being established, Satan is fighting it tooth and nail, and he is opposing this thing.

31:27

It's not isolated. But we might be tempted to think if we were in Thessalonica at the time, are we doing something wrong?

31:33

Is this normal? Is it normal for us to be persecuted this heavily? Is this really what

31:40

God has for us? And in his letter, Paul is saying, in essence, take courage, little church.

31:46

In your suffering, you are merely following the pattern that God had for the very first churches in Judea. The very first people to come to faith in Christ faced this kind of persecution too.

31:56

Before you came along, Thessalonica, they were being persecuted by the Jews in Israel.

32:02

Paul connects their suffering to the bigger picture of the suffering of his church from the very beginning. But further,

32:09

Paul connects their suffering to even further back to Jesus and the apostles, I mean the prophets.

32:15

The Jews put Jesus to death. They opposed, the Jews opposed the prophets.

32:21

They drove out the apostles from Jerusalem. They displeased God, he goes on to say.

32:27

And in hindering the gospel, they even proved themselves to oppose all mankind. Pretty rough laundry list.

32:33

Pretty strong things that are stated about them. But what does that say about the message that Paul was bringing?

32:40

To say, in essence, that you're opposing all mankind, you're opposing humanity by rejecting and holding this message back.

32:51

Did Paul trust his message was significant for all? Oh, so much, so much that he would say to thwart the gospel going forward is to oppose humanity at its best.

33:03

Paul gives a strong list of the things that the church endured at the hands of the Jews, but you've gotta remember that this is a descriptive thing that he's saying.

33:11

He is merely explaining what actually happened in his era, in his time. In the same way that we ought not to oppose any individual

33:19

German person because of Germany's role in World War II, we do not have a license to oppose a person of Jewish descent just because of their forefathers' opposition to the church.

33:30

That'd be foolish, right? Please say yes, that'd be foolish. Instead, the lesson we should gather from these two verses is multifaceted.

33:39

We should be reminded that when we go through tough times as a church, we're only experiencing what other churches have experienced and endured before us.

33:48

On an even personal, on a personal level, we can take comfort when we're betrayed because Jesus Christ was betrayed.

33:59

When we share the message of the gospel and others reject us, not just the message, but us, we can remember the prophet

34:06

Jeremiah who shared the message of God and was rejected by his own people. Of course,

34:12

Jesus Christ himself was rejected by his own hometown. There are a couple more subtle messages hidden in this text that brings us back for a moment to the value of the message that we have to bring.

34:22

I kind of mentioned it earlier. Notice at the end of verse 15 and the start of verse 16 that when the Jews stand in the way of this message going out, they are displeasing

34:32

God and opposing all mankind. It's like Paul is calling it a crime against God and a crime against humanity when someone stands in the way of the gospel going forward.

34:45

Consider what this declares about the message that you have at your availability to share with others.

34:51

The church is the one source of the words of God. It is the emissary of the cause of God in the world today and our task is to bring this message forward and it ought not to be stopped.

35:05

Paul is encouraging the Thessalonians that those who stand in the way of the gospel are guilty of seriously displeasing the

35:11

Almighty. Does that sound like a scary place to stand? In the displeasure of God to displease him?

35:16

That doesn't sound happy. But Paul is dignifying the suffering of the Thessalonians and even giving it a place along Jesus Christ himself who suffered to provide the good news for us.

35:26

So how often do you consider what God is doing here in this church as connected to the bigger picture of God's global plans?

35:35

Is Recast a place to come for free coffee and donut holes in the morning? Yeah, it is that.

35:41

But I mean, is there more to it than that? Is there a sense that we are connected to a long tradition and a long history that goes all the way back to Jesus Christ and the cross?

35:53

It's interesting, I know not everybody likes history. I wasn't always that much into history until God called me to be a pastor and then

35:59

I just really grew in my love and hunger for church history particularly. I really enjoy church history and understanding just how the message is passed down through the ages and in different iterations and the way that God has protected the gospel in different eras and different times.

36:15

But the connectedness of the church across the ages, the connectedness of the church around the world should give us a reminder that we endure times of suffering and we endure good times in the same way that the church has all down through the ages.

36:29

We are not alone as individuals. Praise God, we have each other. But together we don't only have each other, but we have a whole host of prophets and apostles who have gone before us, showing us how to live out the gospel in a fallen world.

36:46

But further, even beyond those gospels and prophets and patriarchs and people that we can read about in the pages of scripture, so much more importantly, we have the word of God himself who became flesh and dwelt among us.

37:02

The greatest of all models, Jesus Christ, our savior. The perfect model of living and loving in a broken world.

37:09

The last point, that was the connectedness of the church, but the last point comes from verse 16 and serves as a stark and strong reminder of what is at stake in this gospel message that builds the church that is central, that is powerful, that connects us all globally with other churches.

37:25

And that is the church that suffers like Thessalonica will be vindicated in the end.

37:33

I believe that Paul wants to remind the suffering church that it will not always go well for those who persecute

37:39

God's church, although in the short run it may look like they're getting away with it. It might look like, yeah,

37:44

I mean, you do bad, you do bad, and nothing happens, you sin, nothing bad happens to you. You oppose Christ, nothing bad happens to you.

37:53

But it will not always be so. As a matter of fact, in AD 49, 49

38:00

AD, a decade or so after the death of Christ and his resurrection, just before the writing of this letter, there was an uprising of the

38:10

Jews against the Roman occupation in Jerusalem. There was a great slaughter and a great massacre of Jews.

38:17

And I think that verse 16 ends with a commentary on that current event. I believe that Paul read the headlines with theological eyes, and I wanna caution all of us about that.

38:28

We need to be careful with this, that we are not quick to judge why

38:35

God did or didn't do something. Often bad things happen in general. You notice that?

38:41

Anybody notice that in your life? Sometimes bad things just happen. Hurricanes and earthquakes affect the righteous and the wicked alike.

38:49

Did you know that? So be careful about spewing out the reasons why something bad occurred.

38:57

I would not encourage you to follow Paul's inspired comments at the end of verse 16 unless you happen to be inspired by God, in which case

39:06

I'd like to talk with you a little bit about that. What I mean is that under inspiration, the

39:12

Holy Spirit dissecting and explaining to Paul something about his current events,

39:18

Paul was able to connect a current event to a theological principle of God's judgment and see the massacre of Jews in Jerusalem as wrath coming upon them for their sin, which

39:28

I think is what he's indicating here at the very end of our text, the last phrase. Cannot ever say, we can't say that.

39:36

We can never say that with as much confidence as Paul unless the Holy Spirit is revealing scripture to you, in which case, go for it.

39:45

But I would, again, I don't believe God is revealing scripture to you. In this sense,

39:51

I would avoid ever declaring that a tragedy or a catastrophe came upon a people or a person because of their wickedness specifically.

39:57

Are you hearing me? Did any of you ever hear that? Did you hear that around the earthquake in Haiti? Terrible, terrible things being said, terrible things said about New Orleans during Katrina or New York during things, or when something tragic happens, it's like, oh, well, they got what's coming to them.

40:14

What about you? What if God just really worked that way and just gave you what was coming for you?

40:21

Do you get what I'm saying in that? So be very cautious. And were there God's people who died in Katrina?

40:26

Were there people who loved him that died there? People in the towers that loved

40:32

Jesus? Yeah. Oh, do we work percentage -wise? Were there more evil people than redeemed people?

40:40

Do you see the inconsistencies in the way that we sometimes can think about these things? I think we've gotta be very cautious taking a passage like this and running with it and go,

40:48

Paul was interpreting a current event and reading the headlines, and he just kind of was able to just say, well, this is them getting what's coming for them.

40:58

Gotta be very careful. Instead, I would be much more quick to state that tragedy in general happens because humanity has rebelled against God.

41:11

And I deserve the hurricane. I deserve the earthquake.

41:17

I deserve the tragedy just like everyone. We're all in that boat together.

41:24

All of us deserve it. Only that God's grace doesn't crash the whole thing down on our heads right now.

41:32

I'm not saying that Paul was wrong for declaring that the Jews are filling up the measure of sin and that the current bad things happening to them were from God.

41:41

I just think it took special revelation from God to state that with any confidence, to put pen to paper and say it.

41:46

I think it's because the spirit of God is alive in him, revealing it to him. But what we can state with confidence is that God will indeed vindicate his people.

41:55

He is patient. He is patient with us. He is patient with the Jews, giving them chances to repent, while the picture and the image that's given here by Paul is that they're filling up God's measuring cup of sin.

42:08

The picture is the same that's used in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis for a group of people in the land of Canaan called the

42:14

Amorites. And one of the reasons that Abraham wasn't given the land right away at the promise was because it stated that the

42:20

Amorites had not yet filled up the measure of sin to which they were going to be measured. The image here and in the

42:29

Old Testament and for the Jews here in the New Testament is that God's patience will one day be done.

42:36

When the sins of the Jews overflow, his judgment will be poured out. And those who suffered under the sins of the abusers and the oppressors will be vindicated on that final day of judgment.

42:48

So take encouragement, church. The word is building us. Take encouragement, church.

42:55

You are connected to a bigger picture than what is happening here in this cafeteria this morning. Take courage, church.

43:02

The Lord will vindicate his people on one final day. And we come to communion each week to celebrate the message that comes from God and not from mankind.

43:14

You see, over the next minute or so, my lips will be moving, but God, I believe, will speak his message when

43:20

I say this, that Jesus came to earth. He lived a sinless life.

43:27

He died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins. And he rose again three days later to show that he is the king who has conquered our greatest enemies, sin and death.

43:39

And anyone who puts their trust in this message will be forgiven. They will be cleansed and they will be given a fresh start on life.

43:50

Further, they will be given eternal life forever. And Jesus Christ will be their

43:56

Lord and King on a restored earth without sin, without pain, without tears, without death.

44:05

Is that a beautiful story? It's the truth. And it's the truth that is building his church.

44:12

This is the message that builds his church. This is the message that connects his church.

44:19

And this is the message that the enemy is trying to prevent from going forward. So as we come to communion, let's celebrate this message today by taking the cracker to remember his body that was broken for us.

44:30

And take the cup of juice to remember his blood that was shed for us. Let's celebrate together. Let's celebrate together,

44:38

Recast, the unity that we share with people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who is our

44:47

Lord and King. He showed us the way of suffering and one day he will lead us to the way of victory.

44:55

And that, my friends, is hope rising. Let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for hope.

45:05

That you have given us hope through the power that is available to us in your word. That we can be transformed and this community can be transformed and our lives can be changed and anybody that we're working with in our lives can be transformed through the glorious truth of your word.

45:23

And Father, there's hope found in the connection that we have with a continuity of your work down through the ages where we can look in scripture and see the glorious things that you've done in the past and the way that you've worked in people's history.

45:35

The way that you have proven yourself trustworthy time and time again for us and for them.

45:41

And Father, sometimes all we have to cling to are the promises. We trust in them because you are good and you have shown yourself to be good.

45:49

And Father, we also acknowledge that a day of vindication is coming for those who are abused, for those who are oppressed.

45:56

And although we don't live in the reality of oppression very commonly here in America, some of us got a glimpse of that.

46:06

Sense of economic oppression, a sense of injustice in a society, a sense of suffering.

46:14

And Father, it just brings to my mind your vindication that is coming.

46:21

Father, let that fuel our motivation for sharing the glorious hope that is there, that abusers would be turned into those who genuinely love through the radical transforming work of your spirit.

46:33

Help us to carry your word forward. Help us to remember in this next few moments the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that gives us hope.

46:43

That the line is so fine and so thin between the believer and the unbeliever, and it's at the same time so vast and wide because it is what is purchased for us through the blood of Jesus Christ.

46:55

Thank you for his sacrifice for us. And I pray that you would give everyone in this room hope. For those who are unbelievers,

47:03

Father, that they would turn their hearts and lives to you, maybe even this morning, that they would acknowledge their need for a

47:08

Savior, their need for forgiveness. And Father, for those of us who are all in with Jesus, I pray that you would continue to grow us in hope and faith this week in Jesus' name.