Sermon Tone Analysis

The Dynamic Gospel

Just recently, with the Rugby World Cup approaching, the World Rugby Match Official select committee met to decide who would officiate the upcoming games.

It would make logical sense that the top referee from a top tier nation would likely make the cut.

For New Zealand, that would mean a flight to Japan for our top whistle blower, Glen Jackson.

Illustration about being an overweight red headed kid who didn’t get chosen for teams

It’s great to be chosen

While in one manner, this might be correct.

Viewed through the eyes of Paul, experience is a vital indicator of authentic Christian faith.

Which, however, comes first?

The chicken, or the experience of a chicken laying an egg.

Isn’t it a bit ironic that many who would oppose the ‘spiritual experience’ at the same time demand a visible change in a person’s demeanor and lifestyle.

And I believe they are right in one aspect of this.

I am not sure how, when someone becomes a “new creation” () that they can stay the same.

There must be some form of change in the person’s life or the reality of the new birth is simply no reality.

The other night, Kiri had taken Caleb out for about an hour.

This meant that Jamie would get some quality time with his Dad.

And quality it was.

40 minutes of constant crying (Jamie, not me) as he called out over 4000 times “I want Mummy”.

What Paul presents in this passage is the subjective response to the objective truth.

The experience does not precede the acceptance of truth, but is a response to it.

A response that is required as evidence of true acceptance.

I would like you to note as we read through this portion of Scripture that Paul’s emphasis is not on the mental belief in the gospel, but the experiential evidence that supports that belief.

Paul reveals more about the Thessalonians response to the gospel than the fact that they “believed” it.

However, when the names were called out, Jackson’s name was omitted from the list.

Although he was the best referee New Zealand currently has to offer, he wasn’t good enough to make the cut for the cup.

How did this make him feel?

“What did I think” he says, “I was shocked...” When asked how he felt, he said, “I was disappointed”.

And understandably so.

The other night, Kiri had taken Caleb out for an hour.

This meant that Jamie would get some quality time with his Dad.

And quality it was.

40 minutes of constant crying (Jamie, not me) as he called out over 4000 times “I want Mummy”.

Paul wants to emphasise that the Thessalonians can “know” and be encouraged, because Paul, Silas and Timothy “know” and are encouraged.

The same source of encouragement will serve everyone; that being, the response of the Thessalonians to Paul’s preaching of the gospel.

If he were ranked number 6 in New Zealand and you knew they were only going to take 3, then you wouldn’t take it so hard.

When you’re number 1, it must cut pretty deep the feeling of rejection.

It’s great to be chosen

There is something deeply ingrained in the human psyche that desires acceptance.

Greater than that, this desire is fulfilled only when we come to a point when we can know with a high degree of certainty that this acceptance is real and true, and most of all secure.

Or, what if a person purporting to be a Police Officer pulls you over in your car.

You would want to see evidence that supports their simple stat

Consider for example the cry of the heart of our Savior as he hung, crucified on the cross; “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

To truly know something generally takes more than a mental assertion of something.

I can ‘know’ something because I have been told something, or I have read something, or I can “know” something as an absolute because I have seen evidence that supports my prior assertion.

When I was at school, we would have to do PE classes and the teaches used the old system of picking out the two best players who would then have turns picking their teams; generally they would each pick the best players until they got down to the dregs and everyone was put into a team.

Let’s just say that the overweight red headed kid with the terrible hair cut was not the highly sort after player and I would inevitably be left until quite late in the peace.

I so wanted to be chosen so I didn’t have to be “that guy”, the last person standing alone.

Paul’s statement regarding his knowledge of their faith is not restricted to mere belief, but belief established in the reality of evidence.

As I hit my teen years, I got taller, faster and reasonably talented at rugby.

It was also a bonus as this stage that I was able to change my hair style.

With these changes came a change in status; suddenly I was worth choosing and man did it feel good to be chosen.

No longer was I “that guy” that was last, but I got the opportunity to be the one either choosing, or being chosen first.

That little story reveals two important truths; firstly, I am a sinful human who has an ego the size of Everest, and secondly, that there is something extremely special to the human psyche when we are chosen to be a part of something we value.

If we were to sum up in a single point what he wanted to Thessalonian believers to know at this point, it is this; no matter what is going on in life, you are God’s children and you are saved and you are secure.

As Peter outlined last week, the church in Thessolonica was established in the midst of deep oppression and persecution.

Opposition to the gospel was rife and opposition to Paul and his fellow believers was treacherous.

Since Paul had established this church, many had come attacking Paul’s message and Paul’s motives.

Paul is writing in response to Timothy returning to him with a report about this church that Paul had previously established.

We will read in chapter 3;

But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love.

However, Paul is clearly writing to a church that is struggling under the weight of persecution.

And as any good Pastor does, he writes this letter to encourage and exhort his flock to stand firm in the truth and the knowledge of God.

As we consider this letter, I would like to ask you this question; What is the most important thing that a Christian needs to know and be reminded of?

What is the one piece of knowledge that can sustain us through many trials and tribulations.

Surely, it is the knowledge that we are secure in our faith and that our faith is true.

That is the message to these believers and we see this established in the passage we are looking at this morning.

Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1.

Last week Peter opened looking at 3 verses, so we thought it only right that I also get 3. Therefore, our text for this morning are verses 4-6.

Or, the cry of the heart of our Savior as he hung, crucified on the cross; “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

7 “The Lord had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

8 But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your fathers, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

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This morning, we are continuing in our study of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians.

As Peter outlined last week, this letter was written by Paul to express his pride in their resilience in the face of severe persecution.

We heard how the Apostle Paul continuously expressed his thanksgiving to God for this church because of three areas;

You work produced by faith

Your labour motivated by love

You endurance inspired by hope

Faith, hope and love.

This morning, we continue to examine Paul’s expression of thanksgiving towards this group of believers.

Turn with me to ;

At the heart of all humanity is the desire for acceptance.

For some people, they will go to extreme measures to gain that acceptance.

People will change the way they speak, the way they dress, the people they spend time with for the sake of being accepted.

So the engineers came up with a plan to provide a firm foundation on which Neil could build his home.

The plan was to form a “raft” underground on which all the building would sit.

While this foundation would be the

At the heart of all humanity is the desire for acceptance.

For some people, they will go to extreme measures to gain that acceptance.

People will change the way they speak, the way they dress, the people they spend time with for the sake of being accepted.

This morning, I want us to consider three aspects to

At the heart of all religion is the desire for acceptance by the deity to which you worship.

In the same way, many people have gone to extreme measures to prove their worth, to ensure they are “accepted”.

For some this may mean sitting for hours on a pole.

For others, mutilating their flesh with whips and spikes.

And for others, even the willingness to sacrifice their own children to gain acceptance by their god.

While faith, hope and love form the foundation for Paul’s joy, today we come to understand the framework that holds this church together.

At the heart of all humanity is the desire to be accepted.

The issue that follows this desire however is the question; “How do I know?”

How do I know if I am truly accepted by the one to whom I am seeking acceptance?

Can I know?