A Tale Of Two Peoples

PASTORAL PRAYER

Gracious and mighty God, You are the Lord who reigns in majesty, enthroned on Your holy mountain. From ancient days You have gone before Your people, leading them in triumph and filling their hearts with songs of praise. Today we join that procession of worship, lifting our voices with the saints of every generation to declare: Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. We thank You, O Lord, for the victory that is ours in Christ Jesus who has conquered sin, broken the chains of death, and given gifts to His church. We rejoice that You gather us as one body: men and women, young and old, families and nations, to proclaim Your praise together. Father, strengthen Your church in this place and around the world. Make us bold to witness to the gospel, faithful in service, and united in love. Bless those who lead in song and prayer, in teaching and service, that all may point to Your glory and not our own. We pray for our community: for homes that need Your peace, for those burdened with sorrow, for those who carry hidden struggles. Lord, as You daily bear us up, may they know the comfort and strength of Your presence. We remember the poor, the lonely, the sick, and the weary—draw near to them with Your saving power. We pray for our nation and for the nations of the earth. You are the God of all peoples; may rulers seek justice, may communities learn compassion, and may the light of Christ shine into every dark place. And now, O Lord, as we continue in worship, let our praises rise like the songs of Israel long ago singers and musicians, young and old, all joining together in joy before the God of salvation. May You be exalted in this house of worship, and may Your glory be known among the nations. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, to whom belongs all glory and honor now and forevermore. Amen.

INTRODUCTION

Today, we return to the first letter of the Apostle Paul sent to the church at Thessalonica.

A church where Paul and his companions spent about a month during the Second Missionary journey

Chased out by unbelieving Jews who had formed a mob

Fellow believers helped them escape to Berea, though, only for a short amount of time before the Jews from Thessalonica showed up and started causing trouble

It is suspected that not long after this hostile trial, Paul sent Timothy to check on the believers they had left behind.

Perhaps to see if their faith had endured

Or to see how they were faring with the hostile Jews

After Timothy’s report back to Paul, he sent his first letter to the church at Thessalonica.

Read 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16

A People To Be Glad For

v. 13-14

Paul and his companions ministered in Thessalonica for a short time.

The young believers probably did not receive thorough instruction on church history

Certainly, they had not finished going through the latest systematic theology book.

Yet, God was clearly at work in their lives.

In summary, the biggest thing that Paul was thankful for was their reception of the Word of God as that: the Word of God.

While the message that Paul had preached was given to him by the Lord, that does not always mean people will listen to it or receive it.

With hostile, unbelieving Jews chasing Paul out of Thessalonica, that was their opportunity to convince the young believers that Paul was whacko.

“Don’t drink that Kool-Aid”

But the Thessalonians received the Word of God, and it went to work in their lives.

Colossians 1:6 [the word of the truth] has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth

For the true believer in Christ, the Word of God is received and begins to go to work in their lives through the teaching and convicting work of the Holy Spirit

James 1:21–22 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

The Word of God implants itself in the heart of the believer, taking root for the purpose of bearing fruit.

Psalm 1:2–3 [The righteous man’s] delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

What was the fruit in Thessalonica?

They became imitators of the churches in Judea

Though they were suffering trials and hardships because of their own countrymen, they remained resolute.

Jews hated the gospel of Jesus, so they persecuted the church in Jerusalem and the surrounding area. Gentiles also hated the gospel, so they persecuted believers for abandoning their pagan religious roots and chasing “nonsense.”

Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

As the Apostle Paul identified, there is A People To Be Glad For when they receive the Word of God and unwaveringly commit themselves to it.

A People To Be Grieved For

v. 15-16

To sum up the Jewish condition: wasted privilege.

Romans 3:1–2 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

The Israelites were God’s chosen people through Abraham

God supernaturally delivered them out of Egypt, from a tyrannical ruler

They were given His revelation through the Law and the prophets.

He fought for the Israelites in battle to claim the Promised Land

He was their ruler once they settled in the Promised Land

Even though He punished them for their disobedience time and time again, He still sought to correct their heart attitude and restore their privilege

Another example of such wasted privilege is Cain in the book of Genesis.

Had immense spiritual privilege

His parents, Adam and Eve, are the only two humans to experience the difference between sinlessness and sinfulness

Adam was a man who had intimate and personal communion with the living God as he walked and talked with God in the cool of the day in the garden. 

Adam was a man who had authority to be king of the earth with all the fullness of the blessing of God to support and sustain that. 

Adam was a man who knew perfect union and compatibility with a woman. 

Adam was a man who perfectly understood righteousness, who knew goodness in its wholeness. 

Cain was privileged to have a father like no other father who ever existed.  The lessons that Cain must have heard at the feet of Adam would be the profoundest that any son could ever hear.

If you were to search the New Testament and look for one with wasted privilege equal to Cain, you would not have to look too far before you discover a man by the name of Judas. 

If Cain had the privilege of sitting at the feet of Adam, Judas had a greater privilege of sitting at the feet of Jesus Christ. 

Judas experienced what only twelve men on the face of the earth experienced: intimacy with Jesus Christ. 

Judas heard what He said

He saw what He did. 

Judas felt His attitudes and expressions

He watched His reactions

He could see the absolute and utter perfection of His character. 

Judas, in his mind, would have understood the truth that Jesus taught. 

He had the greatest spiritual opportunity ever offered to any human being, but he rejected God

He rejected Christ

He rejected the Word of God 

He sold Jesus for money, committed suicide, and went to eternal hell.

The lesson to be learned in all of this: the more exposed a person is to truth, the more tragic becomes their rejection.

Hebrews 6:4–6 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

F.F. Bruce The author is stating a practical truth that has verified itself repeatedly in the experience of the church. Those who have shared the covenant privileges of the people of God, and then deliberately renounce them, are the most difficult persons of all to reclaim for the faith.

Hebrews 10:29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

CONCLUSION

Week-in and week-out, people go to church and sit-in on Sunday school lessons and sermons.

They are being exposed to the truth of the Word of God.

Many of those people hear the clear gospel message:

There is a holy Creator God who has a standard of moral perfection

We, as His creation, have fallen short of His perfect standard

There is a day when that same Creator will judge each man according to their deeds, and they will be found guilty of transgressing His perfect standard

The sentence deserved? Eternal punishment for transgressing an eternally holy God’s standard, separated from Him forever

The good news? That same God took on human flesh, lived a life in conformity to that perfect moral standard, and suffered and died on the cross where the wrath of God toward the sin of the world was poured out on Him.

Now, God is calling all men everywhere to repent and believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sin

The message is clear, and it has been clearly communicated. Yet, the tragic reality is that people will still leave having not heeded the warning.

Is that you, today?