A Passion For Life

Heavenly Father, thank you that this Word in front of us in the Bible is not only the word of men, but is really your Word. And thank you that by your Spirit you put your Word to work among us, to change our minds and hearts and lives. So, Lord, please do that now, we pray. In Jesus name. Amen.

I wonder what’s preoccupying you at the moment. When your mind is in neutral, so to speak, what do you find yourself thinking about? Or to put it another way, at this particular point in your life, what are you passionate about? My title this morning is ‘A Passion For Life’. We’re back to our series on the apostle Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians, and we’ve go to 1 Thessalonians 2.13 to 3.5. If you have a Bible to hand, please have that open in front of you. In the church Bibles, it’s on page 986.

Last week I was at a day conference laid on by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, in Glasgow. It was an inspiring and encouraging day on evangelism. Evangelism is telling others about Jesus in such a way that those who don’t yet know him as their Lord and Saviour can turn away from their old life apart from him, put their trust in him, and start following him. It’s that kind of Holy Spirit empowered evangelism that gave rise to this letter. Anyhow, I found myself sitting next to someone who was passionate. He was preoccupied with the task of equipping people and churches to tell others about Jesus. He works for a mission organisation that you might have heard of. It’s called ‘A Passion for Life’. They’re urging churches up and down the country to have a month of mission around Easter next year. The life they’re talking about is the life that Jesus gives. Anyway, as I was thinking about this morning, that chance encounter came back to my mind, and I thought, “That’s it!” A Passion For Life. That’s what blazes out of this passage of Scripture we’re focussing on. Hence my title.

Now there are various ways we could dig into this. But what I want to do is to follow up a line of thought urged on us by Paul himself. In 1 Thessalonians 2.12, he says to these young Thessalonian Christians:

we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

But how? How are we to walk in a manner worthy of God? Well there’s another clue in 1 Thessalonians 1.6, where he says he’s thankful to God that, I quote:

…you became imitators of us…

So one way to walk in a manner worthy of God is for us to become imitators of the apostle Paul. And in this section of the letter that we’re looking at (in fact really throughout 1 Thessalonians 3-4), he’s teaching them by pouring out his heart to them and letting them see what’s preoccupying him – what he’s passionate about. I’ve identified four things for us to learn from. You can see them on the outline in the service paper. And we’ll take a look at them in turn. So:

1. BE THANKFUL FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT’S WORK AMONG US

Take a look at 1 Thessalonians 2.13-14:

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. 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 Jews…

Paul is thankful to God that the Holy Spirit has been powerfully at work among those Thessalonian Christians. Admittedly he doesn’t mention the Holy Spirit here, but he does in a similar context back in 1 Thessalonians 1.6, where he rejoices that, I quote:

…you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.

Now of course it was in fact the word of men they heard from Paul. Paul was a man, not an angel nor Jesus himself. But the Holy Spirit opened their ears to hear that Paul’s gospel message was in reality a word direct from the living God to them. Such is our spiritual deafness that it’s a miracle of grace when anyone hears the Bible’s message and believes it as a word from God. What’s more, those new Thessalonian believers were not knocked off course by suffering. And when that happens, that’s another miracle of grace, and a sign of the evident power of the Holy Spirit at work.

I have no doubt that it was a miracle when in my early teens my eyes were opened to see that the Bible is the living Word of God. I have no doubt that it’s a miracle that after all these years I still do. It’s not a natural thing for any of us. It’s supernatural. If the same has happened to you, as it has for many of us here, then you too are a walking miracle, and clear evidence of the mighty power of the Holy Spirit at work among us. Let’s not take that for granted. And if that hasn’t happened to you yet, then let me challenge you to ask God to open your eyes too, to see the truth. Let’s be full of thankfulness to our heavenly Father for pouring out his Spirit upon us. He has been and he remains powerfully at work among us.

2. BE CONFIDENT THAT WE’RE ON THE WINNING SIDE

Look on to the end of 1 Thessalonians 2.14-16:

For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they [the churches in Judea] did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But God's wrath has come upon them at last!

It doesn’t feel like we’re winning. Paul reminds us that the prophets of God were killed. Jesus was killed. The churches were under attack both by some of Paul’s own people, the Jews, and by the non-Jewish Thessalonian Christians’ own people. And the result was a real hindering of their work of evangelism. It doesn’t feel like we’re winning. I try and use the Barnabas Fund prayer diary to pray for the persecuted church. Here’s part of an entry from earlier this month:

Sikapai village, Odisha state, India, is a remote community of 40 families. About a decade ago, eight of the families became Christians and have suffered for this decision. Sometimes, for example, the women went to the well, about a kilometre away, but had to come back without water because of the intimidation they encountered. Earlier this year the houses of the eight families were destroyed by a mob, who did not even allow the Christians to retrieve any possessions. The homeless believers took refuge in the forest.

It doesn’t feel like we’re on the winning side. But that feeling could not be more wrong. As Nori, one of those village victims, said:

They can destroy our homes, but not our faith in Jesus.

It doesn’t feel like we’re on the winning side in this country. The mainline churches have been in steep decline for decades. Revisionist liberalism that effectively rejects the faith of the apostles has invaded the church. Our culture has turned away from Christian faith. But the apostle wants us to know that God will win, and as long as we’re on his side, then so will we. In the end, judgement will come on the enemies of God. And they will not be able to stop the spread of God’s word. As Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 1.8:

For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere…

And the word has reached that remote Indian village, where it cannot be destroyed. And the word has even reached Tyneside, and you, and me. And by God’s grace, whatever obstacles are thrown in our way, it will sound forth from us too in the years ahead. Be thankful for the Holy Spirit’s work among us. Be confident that we’re on the winning side. And:

3. REJOICE IN THE FAITH OF YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS

That’s what the apostle does here. Look at 1 Thessalonians 2.17-20:

But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavoured the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.

There are three lessons for us here:

Lesson One. Let’s learn from Paul’s deep desire for in person and face-to-face fellowship. He couldn’t be with his new-found Thessalonian brothers and sisters in Christ just then, and how he felt it! He’s been ripped away from them by persecution. And now Satan was by one means or another keeping him from going back to them. Maybe the Lord is using our pandemic experience to deepen our appreciation of the blessing of face-to-face fellowship. Even when it’s not possible for us at the moment, let’s pray for a good dose of Paul’s passion for in-person fellowship, and let’s make the most of the opportunities that we have.

Lesson Two. Let’s learn from Paul’s creative communication when that fellowship is hindered. It’s easy to miss the fact that right here with this letter Paul is making use of the all technology, political freedoms and social structures that are available to him to communicate across the miles. When we’re isolated from one another by viruses or geography, let’s use the technology that God has made available to us to keep in touch. And let’s be praying for Ettie and Saz and the team who work on Clayton TV and the live-streaming, that the Lord will use their creative endeavours to bring together brothers and sisters in Christ who would otherwise be kept apart.

Lesson Three. Let’s glory in those whose Christian lives we’ve had a hand in by God’s grace. Glory is a strong word, yes. But it’s the apostle’s word. Our influence may be direct, or it may be indirect. But in one way or another, God uses every believer to build up other believers. You may not see it, but God uses you. They used to say ‘it takes a village to raise to child’. Well it certainly takes a church to raise a Christian. And it’s the people who love Jesus, who we leave behind when we go to glory, who are our greatest fruit. They are the chief legacy of our lives. They won’t like being named, but by way of example, I think of people like Andrew and Judi Coulson. If I’m not mistaken, they were leading Pathfinders here when we arrived over thirty years ago. They still are. Generations of young people have come under their care, come to faith, and grown in faith to live lives loving and serving Christ. Not their care alone of course. But what a legacy they will leave behind them when the time comes. They can go to glory (not just yet I hope) joyfully wearing those people as a crown, as Paul puts it. Let’s all of us glory in those whose Christian lives we’ve had a hand in by God’s grace. Then flowing from that, finally, and:

4. BE PASSIONATE ABOUT STRENGTHENING THE FAITH OF OTHERS

Paul was torn away from the Thessalonians, and prevented from visiting them. So look at what was in his heart, and what he did about it
(1 Thessalonians 3.1-5):

Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's co-worker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know. For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labour would be in vain.

Let’s pray that we’ll share Paul’s unrelenting passion to see others firm in the faith and consistently growing in the knowledge and love of Christ. He was well aware of the hazards that could so easily trip up the Thessalonians – the afflictions they were going through, and all the subtle stratagems that Satan would inevitably be trying on them. We need that same kind of awareness. And we must use that as motivation to keep going in our encouragement of others. It’s so tiring, year after year. But with God’s help we must not grow weary in doing good. Let’s be intentional and implement plans for church growth. Paul decided on a course of action to strengthen the faith of the Thessalonian church, and then he implemented it, despite the personal cost. And let’s do everything we can, like Paul, to pass on our knowledge, experience and encouragement to those younger than us in the faith. We may only be one step ahead. But that means we can be useful.

I’m so thankful for Tony Stevens, known to none of you and now gone to glory, who took an interest in me when I was a young Christian, and kept in touch for years, picking me up when I was down and liable to give up. I’m so thankful for Bishop John Ellison, known to some of you and now gone to glory, who was such a source of strength and wisdom to this church, me included, and who cared about us. Along with the apostle Paul, they had a passion for life. The life of Christ in the lives of others. Let’s be imitators of them – and walk in a manner worthy of God. Let’s pray:

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the passionate example of your servant the apostle Paul. Teach us, we pray, to be like him. Give us hearts that are constantly thankful for your work among us. Give us a faith that’s secure in the sure knowledge that come what may, with you we’re on the winning side. Give us joy in the living faith of our brothers and sisters in Christ. And give us a passionate desire to be useful in building up that faith. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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