1st Thessalonians
One of the things my father would always say as he headed out the door to something that was going to be difficult or contentious was, 1st Thessalonians 5 and 25. Now to save you looking it up, it is a short verse that just says, “Brethren, pray for us.” In these difficult times it is more necessary than ever that we pray for each other and I would hope that you are praying, for leaders trying to get the country through this crisis, for health care workers trying to help the sick and for other frontline workers such as grocery store employees who are trying to keep us provisioned at this time. Then there are those who we know are vulnerable and our Elders who are trying to keep in touch with their districts and help those who are struggling. From a purely selfish perspective I hope you are also praying for me as I try to encourage you to be the church when we cannot be in church. We are in effect being forced to be the church without walls while actually having more walls divide us than ever before as we self-isolate.
However because 1 Thessalonians 5:25 comes so readily to mind because of my father’s persistent quoting of that reference it has led me to look afresh at Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians and I thought I would share these thoughts with you through this facebook live feature. I hope you find them a blessing as we try to find new ways of being church.
Thessalonica was an interesting city in Macedonia. It was a port on the major east to west trading route from Rome. As such it was wealthy and cosmopolitan. It was within the Roman empire yet it had a degree of autonomy unknown in other cities and their support for the Emperor was crucial to their relative freedom. It is important to know that context as we go through the letter as inevitably it led to conflict between the new Christians who worshipped God in Christ and those who worshipped Caesar and whose wealth depended on keeping Rome happy.
The letter is an early one, dating from only 50 – 55AD so it is actually one of the earliest Christian documents we have, predating even the written record of the Gospels. So, it gives a wonderful glimpse of life in the very early church. It was written by Paul after he had spent about a year in Thessalonica to encourage the young, yet vibrant church. It is a very encouraging letter which is why I believe we should study it today as I think we all need a little encouragement.
Paul opens his letter by giving thanks to God. The thanksgiving is for the faith of the new converts and the evidence of the fruitfulness of their faith. Is that where we focus our thanksgiving in our churches? Unfortunately, because of the incessant desire for statistics we often more focus on numbers, average attendance, membership and even financial status. Yet that is the way of our consumerist culture and is not really where we should concentrate our efforts. If we focus on spiritual growth, I am sure that numerical growth will follow, but the reverse is definitely not the case. That is why Paul’s focus is not on the good life, but on the life that is good.
Paul focuses in the first five verses on three indicators of the life that is good in the Thessalonian believers.
First of all their response to the initiative of God. God, in his grace, has blessed them and they have responded by believing. Paul is thankful that even before we searched for God, God was already searching fur us.
Secondly he is thankful that the people accepted their leadership which had brought them the good news and had then monitored and encouraged their spiritual growth. A great amount of the ills in the church today could be avoided if we focused more on the spiritual growth of our members than just keeping the plates spinning. It may well be that one of the results of this lockdown is that we see the value of meeting together for prayer and spiritual growth as well as fellowship as we go forward. It is only when we grow in the spirit that we develop the endurance to deal with life under pressure. So my major encouragement to you today is that during this time when the pace of life is slowed and you are spending so much time indoors, use it profitably to read and study the scriptures, spend more time in prayer that when Kinnoull comes out of lockdown it does so as a transformed church, transformed by the Word of God.
Thirdly Paul gives thanks for the qualitative distinction in the lives of believers. Paul does not commend their work, but their work of faith, not just their labour, but their labour of love, not just their steadfastness but their steadfastness in the hope of the Lord. Their routines of life had been transformed by their faith in Jesus just as our routines have been transformed but those routines now had a purpose that had not existed before as they worked for the building of the kingdom even in trying circumstances. The same can be true for us.
I, like Paul, give thanks to God for all of you. Join me not in the good life but in trying to live the life that is good, the life of purpose, the life that glorifies Jesus Christ even in these difficult times.