WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.719 So, we're starting a new series, and it's on First Thessalonians, which we've read the 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:05.719 first chapter of. 00:00:05.719 --> 00:00:12.000 We're going to look at it over July and August, before we start something else in September. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:18.400 So, as always, when we start a new series, I just want to remind you of my need for your 00:00:18.400 --> 00:00:19.400 cooperation. 00:00:19.400 --> 00:00:20.400 Okay? 00:00:20.400 --> 00:00:24.560 When we're starting a new series, it's just good to be reminded that it's very important 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:31.160 that you come having thought about and prayed about, coming to worship, that you're looking 00:00:31.160 --> 00:00:37.479 for God to speak to you through the preached word, through His living word, and that you 00:00:37.479 --> 00:00:42.840 know that He knows what's in your heart, and that He will speak to you as you need Him 00:00:42.840 --> 00:00:44.399 to through the word. 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:50.439 And I need that help, and I need you to draw out the work of God from the Scripture in 00:00:50.439 --> 00:00:52.120 the sermons I prepare. 00:00:52.119 --> 00:00:53.119 So that it's all a partnership. 00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:54.119 It looks very one-sided. 00:00:54.119 --> 00:00:58.199 It doesn't look like I'm doing all the work, that you're just doing all the passive listening, 00:00:58.199 --> 00:01:02.959 but it's not, we're really all in this together, and we're all working together prayerfully 00:01:02.959 --> 00:01:07.200 and spiritually to receive from God and to worship together. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:14.640 So, I crave your participation and your help as in the past. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:18.879 And the kids might notice who helped Paul to plant the church in Thessalonica. 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:29.039 Well, I've put their s for Silas and t for Timothy, not Sylvainas as it was in the ESV 00:01:29.039 --> 00:01:30.039 reading. 00:01:30.039 --> 00:01:38.120 Okay, so this is the story of a church plant, a new church in the first century. 00:01:38.120 --> 00:01:42.719 It's the kind of thing that we're doing again in St. Columbas, and again the children will 00:01:42.719 --> 00:01:51.319 see that I've mentioned there the church plants that we've started in, I was going to say 00:01:51.319 --> 00:01:53.319 Cornhill, Cornhill. 00:01:53.319 --> 00:01:54.799 Crestorfin, Crestorfin? 00:01:54.799 --> 00:01:57.719 Cornerstone, I can't even read my own writing. 00:01:57.719 --> 00:01:59.120 Crestorfin there's going to be one. 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:01.120 Oh, maybe I am prophetic. 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:08.000 Cornerstone, Harington, Winchborough, Esk Valley, and as we plant churches, we are fulfilling 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:14.120 the great commission that Paul was also seeking to fulfill in the first century. 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:17.000 Different times, same vision. 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:21.080 So I hope that maybe sometime today or in the next few days you'll go home and read the 00:02:21.080 --> 00:02:25.719 whole letter, and maybe read the whole two letters because there's a first and a second 00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:26.719 Thessalonians. 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:31.439 And go back and read the section in Acts as well, in Acts chapter 17. 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:37.479 If your parents tell the story to your kids, maybe even dramatize it with them and go through 00:02:37.479 --> 00:02:41.840 what happened and bring it alive a little bit more, bring a bit of life to the whole 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:44.239 story because it's a living story. 00:02:44.239 --> 00:02:46.560 Thessalonica was a Greek city. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:48.239 It was a kind of commercial center. 00:02:48.239 --> 00:02:55.319 It was also a cultic center, and it was an economic center. 00:02:55.319 --> 00:02:56.319 They minted coins. 00:02:56.319 --> 00:03:03.959 In fact, they minted a coin to Caesar as God, which was both good economically for them, 00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:12.520 and it was also good as a political expedient to be in favor with Rome, their great overseers. 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:17.480 There was a synagogue in the middle of this city, where the Jews who had dispersed from 00:03:17.480 --> 00:03:20.560 Jerusalem would gather together and they would worship. 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:25.719 And as often was the case with Paul and his team, they would go first to the synagogue 00:03:25.719 --> 00:03:32.360 because their people knew about the Bible, and they preached from the Old Testament about 00:03:32.360 --> 00:03:34.480 Jesus coming. 00:03:34.480 --> 00:03:38.100 And very soon, people became Christians there. 00:03:38.100 --> 00:03:42.800 Some Jews became Christians, some Greeks became Christians, some very prominent women became 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:46.600 Christians, and also some pagans became Christians. 00:03:46.600 --> 00:03:54.400 Seem to have been a short but really successful spiritual time when many people followed Jesus. 00:03:54.400 --> 00:04:00.120 Paul and Silas and Timothy, they went around the houses and they taught them. 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:01.360 Paul also worked. 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:06.400 He worked as a tent maker all during the day, and then probably as he was making tents and 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:09.720 mending tents, he spoke to people and told them about Jesus. 00:04:09.720 --> 00:04:13.840 And then they went round houses, and Jason's house was one of them, obviously, and they 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:18.319 worshiped and they taught and they grew together and they were discipled. 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:25.439 And they really grew a bond of love together, leaders and people in this new church plant. 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:36.360 And very soon, the Jewish, the group of Jewish hardline believers recognized the threat of 00:04:36.360 --> 00:04:43.240 the Christian influence and also recognized the threat of their position within the city, 00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:52.000 kind of safe position in kind of relationship with the leaders and with the Roman authorities 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:53.839 and the Greek authorities. 00:04:53.839 --> 00:05:02.159 And so they stirred up a riot against the gospel and against this young church and made 00:05:02.159 --> 00:05:07.279 it out to be very seditious and a very dangerous thing. 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:13.279 And of course, Jason was hauled in and he was posted bail, but he was threatened and 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:18.919 they were threatened and they realized that Paul and Silas and Timothy would probably lose 00:05:18.919 --> 00:05:20.359 their lives if they stayed. 00:05:20.359 --> 00:05:23.039 So they were taken out. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:28.160 They were taken out safely out of Thessalonica. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:31.960 They went to Berea and then they went to Athens after that. 00:05:31.960 --> 00:05:35.360 But Paul was really missing this young church plant. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:41.160 It will be like me when Robin comes to Winchborough and I'm back here. 00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:46.320 I love being back here, but I'll also really miss going out to Winchborough on a Wednesday 00:05:46.320 --> 00:05:50.920 evening, which I've been doing regularly and I might just drop in every so often. 00:05:50.920 --> 00:05:55.360 Paul was desperate to find out about what was happening in Thessalonica. 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:59.640 He was a bit worried about the church just falling apart. 00:05:59.640 --> 00:06:08.720 And so he sent Timothy back and Timothy went there and then Timothy returned with a really 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:09.720 good report. 00:06:09.720 --> 00:06:12.360 He's saying things were great, things were going really well. 00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:19.639 And so then Paul writes this letter in response to Timothy's report and he's really wanting 00:06:19.639 --> 00:06:25.959 just to teach them and help them in a situation where they're under conflict, where there's 00:06:25.959 --> 00:06:28.639 persecution and where it's difficult. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:31.839 Now, different situation, different time. 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:36.879 We're in 21st century Western world, but there's still pressures for us as Christians 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:37.879 and as a church. 00:06:37.879 --> 00:06:40.000 And obviously we're a much older church. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:41.000 We're not a church plant. 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:46.000 But do remember some of the pressures of new churches and the churches that we were planting 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:49.159 ourselves as well as other churches. 00:06:49.160 --> 00:06:54.360 Now there is relentless pressure today in our churches and as Christians to accept the 00:06:54.360 --> 00:07:00.320 current morality that surrounds us today, the secular agenda, some of the assumptions 00:07:00.320 --> 00:07:02.840 that are made, some of the theories. 00:07:02.840 --> 00:07:04.480 And we're pressured to be silent. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:09.960 We're pressured not to live out your faith, to have our faith blunted, to have our faith 00:07:09.960 --> 00:07:15.520 so vague that it doesn't really make any difference and challenges nobody. 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:22.000 And so some of the issues might be different, but the teaching that Paul brings to that 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:28.759 church but also to us, the principles he brings are absolutely relevant. 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:34.240 Not only because they're relevant because he is speaking into a similar situation, but 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:36.680 because it's the living word of God. 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:38.799 And it never ceases to be relevant. 00:07:38.799 --> 00:07:45.359 And it never ceases to be important and God will breathe into our hearts and lives what 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:47.560 he wants us to hear. 00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:52.520 So I'm going to say a couple of things about this chapter. 00:07:52.520 --> 00:08:01.000 And the first is that the Apostolic foundations that were laid here by Paul and others, they 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:03.439 still apply. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:09.439 And the first thing is that they describe church here as God's family. 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:15.000 And that happens right through the New Testament, right through the epistles, is that God wants 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:18.920 us to understand church in terms of family. 00:08:18.920 --> 00:08:24.959 You know, we know that he introduces God as our Father in this passage in verse 1, but 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:31.519 he goes on in many places right throughout this letter to speak about the brothers, for 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:33.159 we know brothers loved by God. 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:36.279 And that's just a term that just, it means brothers and sisters. 00:08:36.279 --> 00:08:37.279 It means family. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:42.879 It means probably the best way to translate it would be siblings, because there's that 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:45.919 whole idea of being a family together. 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:50.840 And that's the model that we have here for the church that's just as relevant today as 00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:55.399 it was then, the language of family. 00:08:55.399 --> 00:09:00.799 And he does that, and God does that because it implies some important thing, implies that 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:02.759 we know one another, doesn't it? 00:09:02.759 --> 00:09:09.120 That's what family, the best outworking of families are families that know one another. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:12.919 And now we know there's dysfunctional families and there's families that don't, but the best 00:09:12.919 --> 00:09:19.159 idea of loving family is that there's knowledge of one another, there's community, there's 00:09:19.159 --> 00:09:20.960 visibility with one another. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:25.840 We share characteristics, and obviously as Christians we share characteristics with 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:32.080 God as our Father and with our fellow Christians as our brothers and sisters. 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:36.759 And I just want to throw out that question this morning, how do you view church? 00:09:36.759 --> 00:09:38.899 What do you think of church? 00:09:38.899 --> 00:09:42.919 When that word comes up, what do you think of, or what do you think when you come along 00:09:42.919 --> 00:09:43.919 to church? 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:48.039 Do you see it institutionally as a denomination? 00:09:48.039 --> 00:09:53.240 Do you see it organizationally, something you come along to that's very highly organized 00:09:53.240 --> 00:09:55.240 or not sometimes? 00:09:55.240 --> 00:09:56.840 Do you see it formally? 00:09:56.840 --> 00:10:00.319 Is it a formal meeting together? 00:10:00.319 --> 00:10:07.639 Or do you recognize it as it's so often emphasized in the Scripture as being a family? 00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:14.639 I think it's very easy for us to impose sometimes our dysfunctional family experiences onto our 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:16.679 model of church life. 00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:20.159 I'll say a little bit more about that later. 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:28.319 Sometimes when we maybe come from not strong and healthy and good family context, then 00:10:28.319 --> 00:10:34.519 we maybe think, well, that's how you view church in the same kind of slightly dysfunctional 00:10:34.519 --> 00:10:38.079 and isolated and separated way out. 00:10:38.079 --> 00:10:48.360 Or you see it institutionally as maybe a corrupt organization or maybe a disinterested organizational 00:10:48.360 --> 00:10:51.480 reality. 00:10:51.480 --> 00:10:58.279 But the New Testament and Paul here, and particularly in the way he built churches, church plants, 00:10:58.279 --> 00:11:05.759 with this great family context that we're brothers and sisters with God as our Father. 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:09.679 Okay, so that's the basic premise. 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:16.399 But they go on to example what that looked like, both as leaders and as they wanted everyone 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:19.919 in the church to recognize. 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:28.159 They saw the importance of both their teaching and their life and their example. 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:30.679 Now I'm going to say a little bit about leadership. 00:11:30.679 --> 00:11:35.679 I'll say more in future weeks because there's quite a lot about leadership later on. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:41.839 But for leaders and for all of us, do you recognize and do you realize the value of 00:11:41.839 --> 00:11:51.600 your life within the congregation and the fact that we're called to be imitated? 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:57.959 Are we confident enough that our life is such that we could use it as an illustration of 00:11:57.960 --> 00:12:00.800 the gospel and say, well, imitate me as I imitate Christ. 00:12:00.800 --> 00:12:03.519 We'll see that a little bit more in a minute. 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:07.400 So the example of what it looks like to be in a family context together, both by how 00:12:07.400 --> 00:12:14.960 they live and what they communicated. 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:19.720 How they live, verse 5 of chapter 1, it says, you know, because our gospel came to you not 00:12:19.720 --> 00:12:24.200 only in word and also in power and in the Holy Spirit with full conviction. 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:30.240 You know the kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake and you became imitators 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:32.080 of us and the Lord. 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:34.280 They were known. 00:12:34.280 --> 00:12:38.840 You know, they weren't there for a long time, but they went wholeheartedly and they became 00:12:38.840 --> 00:12:43.120 known and how they lived was significant and important. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:47.280 And they lived their lives as if their lives were an open book. 00:12:47.280 --> 00:12:52.000 And that's a crucial reality for us as a church family, not just for leadership, although it's 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:57.960 very important for leadership, but for us all that we live our lives as an open book. 00:12:57.960 --> 00:13:02.840 You know, you know, is that something we can say, well, you know what I'm like, you know 00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:05.639 how I live, you know what my life is like. 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:11.720 Now that takes time and it takes effort and it takes commitment. 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:17.200 But that's a responsibility that we all have as we belong to the church. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:22.240 And as leaders, the leadership ethos in St. Columbus, maybe as it's developed, it's maybe 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:30.160 not formulated strongly as it should, but we don't seek to lead by dictat and our leadership 00:13:30.160 --> 00:13:37.960 is not positional, it's relational and should always be relational to be spiritually known 00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:38.960 and imitated. 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:43.520 That's an amazing verse, verse 6. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:48.279 You became imitators of us and of the Lord for you received the word in much affliction 00:13:48.279 --> 00:13:49.399 with the joy of the Holy Spirit. 00:13:49.399 --> 00:13:51.000 You became imitators of us. 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:55.559 Who of us would be, any of us, leaders or people within the congregation, who of us 00:13:55.559 --> 00:14:01.759 would be confident enough to make that incredible statement? 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:08.519 They were known and they lived with integrity and with openness as a people. 00:14:08.519 --> 00:14:14.480 Now we all have a role to play in that, sometimes we have a formal role in leadership. 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:19.480 There's many informal roles in leadership in St. C's, but even as parents, as brothers, 00:14:19.480 --> 00:14:27.600 as sisters of your own family or in your workplace or university, whatever it is, whatever role 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:33.919 we have, we are to aspire surely as Christians, followers of Jesus, to live in such a way 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:39.599 where we could encourage other people to imitate our dependence on Christ. 00:14:39.599 --> 00:14:43.559 Wow, that is strong stuff. 00:14:43.559 --> 00:14:51.799 Let that sink in and challenge you and me about our life, so they lived in such a way. 00:14:51.799 --> 00:14:56.479 Now, the great challenge is that love hurts, doesn't it? 00:14:56.479 --> 00:14:59.360 And family life is costly. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:05.919 It's often very beautiful, but it's also sometimes brutal, let's be honest about that. 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:09.360 And I wonder if maybe this morning as you're hearing this, you're saying, oh no, I would 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:16.039 much rather that Jesus allowed my Christian life to be a solo journey. 00:15:16.039 --> 00:15:18.639 It'd be so much easier. 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:23.159 Now, you probably know the quote that I'm going to lay on you at this point, because 00:15:23.159 --> 00:15:26.680 I've used it before, and if you've ever done marriage prep with me, you'll have got this 00:15:26.680 --> 00:15:27.680 quote as well. 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:31.120 Can we have the quote up from C.S. Lewis, you know it, isn't it? 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:33.079 To love at all is vulnerable. 00:15:33.079 --> 00:15:35.879 Love anything in your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:39.719 If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give it to no one, not even to an 00:15:39.719 --> 00:15:40.719 animal. 00:15:40.719 --> 00:15:43.959 Wrap it carefully around with hobbies, little luxuries. 00:15:43.959 --> 00:15:47.759 Avoid all entanglements, lock it up and safe in casket or coffin of your selfishness. 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:54.279 But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change, it will not be broken, 00:15:54.279 --> 00:15:58.039 it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. 00:15:58.039 --> 00:16:02.679 To love is to be vulnerable. 00:16:02.679 --> 00:16:07.279 And that goes for loving one another in a church context as family. 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:11.399 We have to overcome our fear of being hurt. 00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:14.120 You will be. 00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:18.319 Lack of trust, it will be broken. 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:27.360 To let down you'll feel it will happen because we live often that way in our relationship 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:32.240 with Jesus and yet He forgives us and loves us. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:37.400 And we have to accept and live His love through others, both as we sacrificially give it and 00:16:37.400 --> 00:16:38.879 as we receive it. 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:40.240 There's no other model. 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:42.000 I can't give you any other model. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:48.120 I can't say there's a solo path that you can walk to follow Jesus because He calls us 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:51.560 to be family and He calls us to be a church and a people together. 00:16:51.560 --> 00:16:55.000 So we cry out for His help to do that. 00:16:55.000 --> 00:17:01.879 Now if you've grown up in a great family, naturally, wonderful, loving, close family, 00:17:01.879 --> 00:17:06.319 then maybe church for you falls very far short of what you've experienced. 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:07.960 And you kind of give up on churches. 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:09.440 It was not like my natural family. 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:13.920 I'll just stick with them. 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:17.720 Or maybe you've had a terrible family upbringing and experience. 00:17:17.720 --> 00:17:23.720 And you're maybe biased against the whole concept haunted by the concept of family and 00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:27.160 commitment and love and vulnerability. 00:17:27.160 --> 00:17:32.680 And so again, you pull back from the idea of church as family. 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:39.880 But please, please see that God will help us to view family differently and experience 00:17:39.880 --> 00:17:49.600 family differently by His grace and enable us to be patient and long-suffering and compassionate 00:17:49.600 --> 00:17:59.800 and possibly even allow what we experience in our church family to remodel our natural 00:17:59.800 --> 00:18:03.080 families' experiences. 00:18:03.079 --> 00:18:11.000 So how they lived, you know, they lived as those who were known and imitated. 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:16.480 But they also, they example what it looked like to be in family by how and what they 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:20.399 communicated as leaders in the church. 00:18:20.399 --> 00:18:27.319 And there's a little bit about that on the children's worksheet as well. 00:18:27.319 --> 00:18:29.439 The way they communicated. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:35.360 And if I covered it in one phrase, it would be the intentionally encouraged. 00:18:35.360 --> 00:18:39.920 The way they communicated reflected their idea of family. 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:44.120 They intentionally encouraged the church. 00:18:44.120 --> 00:18:46.840 And they said two things. 00:18:46.840 --> 00:18:49.640 They said many more things, but I'm only going to pick up on two. 00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:54.600 You're valued and you're chosen. 00:18:54.600 --> 00:18:56.840 And that's the message from God. 00:18:56.839 --> 00:19:02.639 So those are part of God's family, one that were valued and one that they were chosen. 00:19:02.639 --> 00:19:03.639 We're valued. 00:19:03.639 --> 00:19:07.959 Verses two and three says, Paul says to them, to this church, this young church plant, we 00:19:07.959 --> 00:19:12.879 give thanks to God always for all of you constantly mentioning in our prayers, remembering before 00:19:12.879 --> 00:19:17.279 our God and Father, your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:20.079 our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:21.079 Brilliant, aren't they? 00:19:21.079 --> 00:19:22.079 Brilliant words. 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:28.279 Paul spoke to this young church and he intentionally encouraged them and said to them, look, I 00:19:28.279 --> 00:19:29.759 value you. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:30.759 God value you. 00:19:30.759 --> 00:19:32.679 I give thankful prayer to you. 00:19:32.679 --> 00:19:38.079 The apostle, he was planting churches all over the Middle Needs and yet he had time to 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:45.480 write back to them and to tell them what he thought of them, his great love and his prayerfulness. 00:19:45.480 --> 00:19:51.639 He made time to pray for them and to speak to them words of encouragement, speaks of 00:19:51.640 --> 00:19:58.840 his interest, of his commitment and of the bread of his prayer life for the church. 00:19:58.840 --> 00:20:05.480 As he was willing to be vulnerable and known by the church, so he also wanted them to know 00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:08.920 that he knew them and he prayed for them. 00:20:08.920 --> 00:20:13.600 And he prayed and he told them that he prayed for them and he told them what he prayed for 00:20:13.600 --> 00:20:14.600 them. 00:20:14.599 --> 00:20:22.240 It wasn't just that, you know, he would heal their corns or that they would have a nice 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:24.839 day in the office. 00:20:24.839 --> 00:20:30.639 But he prayed kind of meaningful spiritual prayers that they were growing in faith and 00:20:30.639 --> 00:20:32.799 hope and in love. 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:37.359 So there was a spiritual knowledge of this young group. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:41.679 He recognized that there was growth and he knew that growth. 00:20:41.679 --> 00:20:43.519 It wasn't just, hello, how are you doing? 00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:46.359 Hey, I'm the apostle and leaving out and going. 00:20:46.359 --> 00:20:48.319 I was like, I don't have time for you. 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:50.039 I'm planning churches over the world. 00:20:50.039 --> 00:20:51.200 Someone else will speak to you. 00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:52.200 He knew them. 00:20:52.200 --> 00:20:53.599 He had time for them. 00:20:53.599 --> 00:21:00.720 People mattered to him because Jesus, he knew that he mattered to Jesus and Jesus loved 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:02.639 him. 00:21:02.639 --> 00:21:04.879 Great general principle. 00:21:04.879 --> 00:21:09.319 If we do anything in our lives as a church, let's be intentional encouragers. 00:21:09.319 --> 00:21:12.720 Anyone, can I give you a secret? 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:14.279 Anyone can discourage. 00:21:14.279 --> 00:21:16.400 We don't need any gifts to do that. 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:18.039 We don't need any intentionality. 00:21:18.039 --> 00:21:20.200 We just, we do it by nature. 00:21:20.200 --> 00:21:26.200 We discourage and we are careless and thoughtless so easily with one another, but too intentionally 00:21:26.200 --> 00:21:30.600 encourages such a wonderful gift from God. 00:21:30.600 --> 00:21:32.079 And it's a great general principle. 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:41.360 Let's be a people who pray for and pray with one another like Paul did knowingly. 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:45.079 It's an amazing secret here, isn't it, that Paul knew the kind of things to pray for because 00:21:45.079 --> 00:21:46.079 he knew them. 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:51.599 I actually, I do think and include myself in this, I don't think we're great at this. 00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:54.639 I don't think we're great at praying for one another. 00:21:54.639 --> 00:22:01.919 And I certainly don't think we're great for encouraging one another in our spiritual characteristics. 00:22:01.919 --> 00:22:07.319 You know, taking someone aside and saying, I'm so grateful for the way I've seen you 00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:10.799 grow as a Christian in A, X, Y and Z ways. 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:11.799 Why is that? 00:22:11.799 --> 00:22:12.799 Why are we so embarrassed by that? 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:14.599 Why do we find that so difficult? 00:22:14.599 --> 00:22:20.879 Why do we find it difficult to take someone and pray with them as Christians together? 00:22:20.879 --> 00:22:24.440 Is it because we don't know them? 00:22:24.440 --> 00:22:26.639 We wouldn't know what to say. 00:22:26.639 --> 00:22:28.039 It's not that cool. 00:22:28.039 --> 00:22:34.359 I'm not sure why we find that difficult to be specific, itemizing personal spiritual 00:22:34.359 --> 00:22:36.279 characteristics. 00:22:36.279 --> 00:22:41.799 So that we're not just praying maybe about crisis or about practical issues, important 00:22:41.799 --> 00:22:48.399 though they are, but that we pray the faith, hope and love stuff that Paul speaks about 00:22:48.399 --> 00:22:51.039 here, verse 3 and 4. 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:52.039 Why do we do that? 00:22:52.039 --> 00:22:57.319 Because when you say you're praying for someone, because you are praying for them, it announces 00:22:57.319 --> 00:23:00.079 to them, you are valued, doesn't it? 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:01.079 You're valued. 00:23:01.079 --> 00:23:02.079 I care. 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:03.799 I've taken time this morning. 00:23:03.799 --> 00:23:04.799 I've got a prayer diary. 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:06.599 I've written your name in it. 00:23:06.599 --> 00:23:08.720 You're not forgotten. 00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:11.359 And why is that important? 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:18.919 Because it reminds us, if our fellow Christians are doing it, it reminds us that Jesus is 00:23:18.919 --> 00:23:20.599 always doing it. 00:23:20.599 --> 00:23:23.319 And that's what's really important. 00:23:23.319 --> 00:23:30.000 Romans 8.34 tells us, who then of you can know and Christ Jesus who died more than that 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.680 who was raised to life is at the right hand of God is also interceding for us. 00:23:34.680 --> 00:23:40.400 So when a fellow Christian prays for you, it reminds you that already Jesus is doing 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:41.400 it. 00:23:41.400 --> 00:23:47.960 Jesus is praying for us and we imitate the divine family, the Trinity in our lives, one 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:48.960 to another. 00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:55.120 I wonder if our model of church, if it goes as far as family as a model, does it go as 00:23:55.120 --> 00:23:59.120 far as being a family that prays for one another? 00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:06.239 Do we know people well enough to say, to give thanks for them, for who they are and for 00:24:06.239 --> 00:24:10.599 their spiritual lives and their gifts, and telling them that? 00:24:10.599 --> 00:24:17.719 It goes against all our Scottish Presbyterian Calvinistic background, doesn't it, to be 00:24:17.719 --> 00:24:21.439 open and spiritual and vulnerable at that level. 00:24:21.439 --> 00:24:23.839 So you are valued as the first thing. 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:30.720 The second thing is, and with this I close, you are chosen, verses 4 to 10, for we know 00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:36.119 brothers loved by God that He has chosen you because our gospel came to you not only in 00:24:36.119 --> 00:24:40.720 word but in power and the Holy Spirit and in full conviction and so on to the end of 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:42.240 that section. 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:47.879 And Paul is reminding them as a family that they're valued because of Jesus and what He's 00:24:47.879 --> 00:24:53.039 done and because of His continued intercession, because He's working the cross, His resurrection, 00:24:53.039 --> 00:25:00.079 His intercession, but also because you're chosen now. 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:04.480 The great reality of this is that what Paul is reminding the church and what God's reminding 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:09.680 us as Christians is that this is God's church. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:12.759 We are God's people and it still is. 00:25:12.759 --> 00:25:15.119 He has purposed that you're here today. 00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:18.879 Maybe you're here for the first time. 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:24.600 Maybe you're here for the last time, but God is sovereign and God has purposed and planned 00:25:24.600 --> 00:25:26.400 our lives. 00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:31.520 And there's great mystery, isn't there, that we choose Christ, we choose to follow Christ, 00:25:31.520 --> 00:25:38.520 we choose to come and give ourselves faith to Him as our Savior, yet we are chosen by 00:25:38.520 --> 00:25:39.520 Him. 00:25:39.520 --> 00:25:42.240 He is at work even in that choice. 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:44.520 Now that changes everything. 00:25:44.519 --> 00:25:50.839 It reminds us not only that we're chosen, but within that also that we're valued, doesn't 00:25:50.839 --> 00:25:52.119 it? 00:25:52.119 --> 00:26:00.279 For everyone who will come, we come to appreciate that we are chosen and kept and protected 00:26:00.279 --> 00:26:01.279 by Him. 00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:09.200 Ephesians 1, 4 and 5, for He chose us in Him before the creation of the world. 00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:15.920 To be holy and blameless in this light, to be predestined for adoption, you see that 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:21.279 whole family concept again, to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:24.840 and will, to the praise of His glorious grace, which He's freely given us in the one He 00:26:24.840 --> 00:26:28.920 loves, chosen but we choose. 00:26:28.920 --> 00:26:31.480 That gives us great confidence. 00:26:31.480 --> 00:26:39.279 It's humbling to the nth degree, but it enables us to worship. 00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:41.480 And how do we know that we are a people chosen by God? 00:26:41.480 --> 00:26:42.480 How do we know we're redeemed? 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:46.079 Well, we know because His Word has changed us. 00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:49.200 You know, the gospel came to you not only in Word but in power and the Holy Spirit and 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:51.000 will fill conviction. 00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:55.559 So when you became a Christian and as you keep on being a Christian, the evidence is that 00:26:55.559 --> 00:26:57.839 the Word of God has changed you. 00:26:57.839 --> 00:26:59.120 They're not just words. 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:03.439 It's not just a flat book of old boring, dull history. 00:27:03.439 --> 00:27:05.879 It's not what other people might regard as fiction. 00:27:05.879 --> 00:27:13.799 We recognize its historicity, its relevance, and its living authority over our lives. 00:27:13.799 --> 00:27:17.799 The fact that you are still here under the Word, the fact that you woke up this morning 00:27:17.799 --> 00:27:25.199 as a Christian still believing that the Word changes you in the preaching, which I mentioned 00:27:25.199 --> 00:27:26.199 at the beginning. 00:27:26.200 --> 00:27:32.200 As you read the Bible, as it transforms you from your conscience out, we're convicted 00:27:32.200 --> 00:27:38.080 when we see God at work in our lives, changing us, convicting us of sin, renewing us, transforming 00:27:38.080 --> 00:27:39.080 us. 00:27:39.080 --> 00:27:40.279 Yes, I know it's by degrees. 00:27:40.279 --> 00:27:41.880 And yes, I know we want more. 00:27:41.880 --> 00:27:46.799 And yes, I would love to see more and more people coming to faith through the Word of 00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:51.279 God that comes with full conviction in the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:27:51.279 --> 00:28:01.160 But each time that you fall on your knees, whether physically or metaphorically, asking 00:28:01.160 --> 00:28:06.240 for forgiveness and help to turn back to God, every time your conscience pricks you about 00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:14.680 what you're doing in your life before the Savior who loves you, that is you hearing 00:28:14.680 --> 00:28:18.279 His voice, that is you being refreshed, that's you starting again. 00:28:18.279 --> 00:28:24.319 That is the Word coming to you in power and in the Holy Spirit. 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:29.639 But also we receive the Word and recognize the Word and receive it with joy. 00:28:29.639 --> 00:28:34.559 You became imitators of us in verse 6, and of the Lord as you received the Word with 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:36.759 much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit. 00:28:36.759 --> 00:28:41.079 So you became an example to all the believers. 00:28:41.079 --> 00:28:46.119 So there's a sense in which, now I know we don't receive it with the joy we should, that 00:28:46.119 --> 00:28:50.599 we're aiming to, but there's many times, isn't there many times you've opened the Bible, 00:28:50.599 --> 00:28:55.479 you've been struggling and you've read something and it's just absolutely filled you with joy 00:28:55.479 --> 00:28:59.559 because you know that God is speaking to you. 00:28:59.559 --> 00:29:04.399 And you become His Word then in many ways to other people. 00:29:04.399 --> 00:29:11.239 Your response to the Word is an evidence of you having been chosen and having chosen to 00:29:11.239 --> 00:29:12.519 follow Jesus. 00:29:12.519 --> 00:29:22.079 Just think of if we took the Bible into maybe the Scottish Parliament or the council offices 00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:26.799 or your workplace or among your friends and you read a passage. 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:29.639 Generally speaking, it wouldn't be received. 00:29:29.639 --> 00:29:36.039 And it certainly wouldn't be received with joy. 00:29:36.039 --> 00:29:40.440 But as Christians, we recognize and know that God has changed our hearts and every Christian's 00:29:40.440 --> 00:29:42.880 heart has changed. 00:29:42.880 --> 00:29:47.360 And we are aware, it speaks about idolatry here, but we're aware of the kind of things 00:29:47.360 --> 00:29:50.880 that can be idols for ourselves as well. 00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:59.000 And we recognize and see that as we worship God for who He is, that He is the one that 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:04.160 is only worthy of first place in our lives. 00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:09.400 And also as we receive His Word, look at that last verse, I finished with this last 00:30:09.400 --> 00:30:13.640 verse, and we wait for His Son from heaven whom He raised from the dead Jesus who delivers 00:30:13.640 --> 00:30:15.640 us from the wrath to come. 00:30:15.640 --> 00:30:20.640 This risen Savior is ascended, who is returning. 00:30:20.640 --> 00:30:26.240 We recognize that purpose and plan of God that we ourselves have been rescued from the 00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:27.240 coming wrath. 00:30:27.240 --> 00:30:33.360 Now, the wrath of God, with this I finish, is probably the hardest concept for anyone 00:30:33.360 --> 00:30:36.240 in the Western world to accept. 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:43.799 And maybe even as Christians, we find it hard to accept the idea of God's wrath and God's 00:30:43.799 --> 00:30:47.480 judgment and God's justice. 00:30:47.480 --> 00:30:52.960 The idea, you know, that for a twenty-first century person, we're accountable to someone 00:30:52.960 --> 00:31:00.079 greater than ourselves, someone greater than them, the corporate group of humanity, that 00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:03.480 we're accountable but we fall short. 00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:08.559 That God would be justified in His wrath and judgment and that we incur His righteous anger 00:31:08.559 --> 00:31:11.640 against our sin, of which death is the penalty. 00:31:11.640 --> 00:31:14.360 Sin, the wages of sin, we're told is death. 00:31:14.360 --> 00:31:20.200 That's unfathomable to the vast majority of people around us in the world in which we 00:31:20.200 --> 00:31:21.200 live. 00:31:21.200 --> 00:31:23.200 Absolutely unfathomable. 00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:29.880 Mock and deride the whole concept, calling it Philistine and out of date and out of time 00:31:29.880 --> 00:31:35.800 and not worthy of a sophisticated society yet. 00:31:35.800 --> 00:31:43.600 All the time, as a society, we are setting our own bar of justice. 00:31:43.600 --> 00:31:51.120 We've never lived in a more wrathful, in many ways, individual, judgmental society. 00:31:51.120 --> 00:31:57.440 Just take a look at the responses on social media that we find. 00:31:57.440 --> 00:32:02.320 We know that our society has standards of morality. 00:32:02.320 --> 00:32:05.279 We know they have standards of judgment. 00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:11.519 We know that they reject and are angry at anyone, often, who is different from them. 00:32:11.519 --> 00:32:18.960 So there is much judgment and there is much wrath, but it's very much on our own terms. 00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:26.440 The concept is there, but not the standard, not the God, not the person in His perfect 00:32:26.440 --> 00:32:39.799 holiness and justice, which is why you and I must keep going back to the cross. 00:32:39.799 --> 00:32:47.279 We need to keep going back to the cross because there we find both God's justice and God's 00:32:47.279 --> 00:32:51.440 love being poured out in our place. 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:54.320 He dies so that we don't die. 00:32:54.320 --> 00:32:56.039 The wages of sin is death. 00:32:56.039 --> 00:33:02.920 We took these wages in our place so that as we trust and believe in Him, we can know His 00:33:02.920 --> 00:33:08.680 love and His grace and His forgiveness and His justice satisfied and His love assuaged 00:33:08.680 --> 00:33:10.680 for us. 00:33:10.680 --> 00:33:17.319 That's why the cross is so important because it speaks both of His justice and of His love 00:33:17.319 --> 00:33:18.319 and mercy. 00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:23.720 It's the greatest and the most mysterious act of love in the universe. 00:33:23.720 --> 00:33:30.200 If you're not a Christian, can I encourage you to think about the truth of God's Word 00:33:30.200 --> 00:33:37.200 and the truth of the cross of Jesus Christ, of which we can never be ashamed because it 00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:41.680 puts all of life into its context and gives us an answer. 00:33:41.680 --> 00:33:46.000 Can I encourage you to be challenged and to consider Jesus? 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:53.600 If you're a Christian, can I ask you to be encouraged and to look around you? 00:33:53.599 --> 00:34:01.480 And to be the Word to other people, to challenge and encourage them. 00:34:01.480 --> 00:34:10.039 Remember that you are valued and that you are chosen and that that changes everything. 00:34:10.039 --> 00:34:12.119 I mean, let's pray. 00:34:12.119 --> 00:34:18.360 Father God, help us to know more about you and know more about your Word and understand 00:34:18.360 --> 00:34:28.680 that it's living and vibrant and passionately relevant to our hearts, our day-to-day living, 00:34:28.680 --> 00:34:31.120 our life, our death. 00:34:31.120 --> 00:34:38.640 That you are the one God and there is one salvation, there is one crucifixion, there 00:34:38.640 --> 00:34:42.519 is one resurrection and one ascension, there is one message. 00:34:42.519 --> 00:34:44.400 And Lord, help us to be family together. 00:34:44.400 --> 00:34:51.079 Give us where we fail and fall and stumble, where we act more like glorious isolates than 00:34:51.079 --> 00:34:55.039 we do as family, brothers and sisters. 00:34:55.039 --> 00:35:01.880 Remember us as leaders as we try and live out that example, but all of us as we seek 00:35:01.880 --> 00:35:06.160 to be imitators of you so that others will imitate us. 00:35:06.160 --> 00:35:09.440 And Lord, help us to pray for one another. 00:35:09.440 --> 00:35:15.880 Pray not only for one another, but pray until one another that and also pray together, the 00:35:15.880 --> 00:35:21.400 great value of praying together and the importance of recognizing as a family that we pray to 00:35:21.400 --> 00:35:23.039 our Father who we need. 00:35:23.039 --> 00:35:26.280 So help us in all of these things we ask and pray in Jesus' name. 00:35:26.280 --> 00:35:42.320 Amen.