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This morning our primary text is I Thessalonians 2:13.
In that one verse Paul says this to the Thessalonian believers.
We are coming up on the thanksgiving season, and providentially God allowed us to think about this verse together this morning.
Notice what Paul is doing in this verse.
He said, “We thank God without ceasing.”
Paul was a great man of prayer.
You get the impression that Paul prayed all the time.
You know those times in your day when your mind wanders and you catch yourself day-dreaming?
I think Paul didn’t day-dream very much because his mind was always burdened with the need to pray.
Thus, we read here in I Thessalonians 2:13 that Paul prayed and thanked God without ceasing- that is he thanked God with unflagging resolve.
Why?
What was the cause of Paul’s thanksgiving?
Or what did he thank God for?
“For this cause” what cause?
“because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard from us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”
The cause of Paul’s constant prayer of thanks to God was that the Thessalonian believers received the word of God.
How did they receive it?
Not as merely the word of man, but just as it is- in truth, the Word of God.
Because the Thessalonians received God’s Word- Paul thanked God constantly?
Why?
Why did Paul thank God constantly for this?
Well, maybe he was grateful that the church in Thessalonica was doing so well.
Remember back to 1:8-
So maybe the idea is every time Paul thought about the Thessalonians he also thought about their success in making disciples and because of their success he thanked God.
I think that is a major part of it.
But, I also think that Paul’s thanks to God goes to a much deeper theological issue.
W. Bingham Hunter, in his book titled The God Who Hears, says this,
“We persist in prayer primarily as an expression of our complete dependency on God for all aspects of our existence.
Persistence and importunity affirm our recognition of the reality that apart from God we can do nothing.
Persistence flows from the certainty of our creaturely helplessness and the logical conviction that God alone can help.”
He goes on and says this, “Persistence is an act of humility as well as an expression of faith.
This attitude is diametrically opposite the popular notion that is we are importunate over a long enough period, God will eventually see the strength of our desire and respond.
That is manipulation.
It says, ‘Look at me, Look At Me, LOOK AT ME!’ while humility says, ‘I’m looking to you; I’m looking to You; I’m looking to YOU.’
The point?
Great faith in God always expresses itself in humble acknowledgement of dependency.”
I believe this is exactly what Paul is doing in his prayer of thanksgiving- he is acknowledging his utter dependency on God.
He constantly prays and thanks God because He realizes that without God none of this would be possible.
The success of Paul’s disciple-making ministry and the success of the Thessalonians in their disciple making ministry was utterly dependent upon God.
Listen again to the reason for why Paul thanked God.
What did Paul attribute the success of his ministry to?
Why did the Thessalonians become so successful as a church in making disciples?
Because of their own innate talent?
Because Paul was such a persuasive preacher?
Because they were an overly spiritually gifted church?
Because of a great sweeping revival?
No- none of those things.
Why were Paul and the Thessalonians so successful in making disciples?
Because they received the word of God- and they accept it as the word of man, BUT just as it really was- in truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
They key to their success was the received the Word of God- and the Word of God effectually worked in the lives of the people that believed.
And that is the only way disciple-making works.
We will only develop a disciple-making culture, we will only accomplish the Great Commission, we will only be able to walk worthy of God, who is calling us into his own kingdom and glory- if we accept the Word of God.
If you change your behavior because Pastor Jon said you should, or you change your behavior because you want to impress other people around you, or you change your behavior because it seems like the spiritual thing to do- it is doomed to fail.
You must first accept that the imperative as a church to make disciples- that is we all get involved in following one, winning one, and leading one- you must accept this imperative for what it really is- the Word of God.
I am in complete dependence upon God.
I can’t change your heart.
I may be able to superficially change your behavior, but I can never change your heart- only God can do that- and God does that through the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God.
I find myself in multiple different situations right now where I am studying the Bible with different people.
Some are believers but there is a glaring sin problem in their life that we are trying to work through.
Some I think are unbelievers who need to see their lost condition and trust Christ as their Savior.
All I can do is plant seed and water seed.
All I can do is to share with them the Word of God.
But, I am utterly dependent upon God to bring real change.
So, what do I find myself doing?
Praying!
I pray for them all the time, and I beg God to work in their heart, to cause them to accept the Word for what it really is- the Word of God that effectually works in them that believe.
And then there are those times when the light seems to go on in someones thinking- and they get it- and Holy Spirit takes the word of God and does Hebrews 4:12-13
All of a sudden that person struggling with a sin problem sees themselves clearly in a way that they never have before.
Why?
Because I am such an influential person?
No- it is only because they received the Word of God- they believed God’s Word.
When that happens and I see change taking place in people’s lives- the only response I have is to fall on my knees and weep and thank God for doing what I could never in a million years hope to do on my own.
And every time I think God I am acknowledging my utter dependence upon God and upon His Word.
Folks, I begging God that we all here at Faith Baptist Church would receive the Word of God concerning disciple-making- for what it really is, not the words of man, but just as it is in truth, the Word of God.
As I have been thinking and praying through this verse this week, I began to ask myself the question- why doesn’t receiving the Word of God like this happen more often?
What hinders us for accepting the Word of God?
What keeps the Word of God from effectually working in those that believe?
And the Lord brought to my mind several reasons for why we do not accept the Word of God and I want us to think about those reasons this morning.
I.
We do not receive the Word of God because we may be unregenerate (I Corinthians 2:14)
II.
We do not receive the Word of God because we may be spiritually immature (I Corinthians 3:1-3)
III.
We do not receive the Word of God because we may be hard hearted (Hebrews 3:7-13)
IV.
We do not receive the Word of God because we may be spiritually lazy (James 1:21-25)
My prayer, Faith Baptist Church, is that just like the Thessalonians received the Word of God-
My prayer is that we would receive the Word of God for what it really is- not the mere words of men, but as it is in truth- the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe.
What might be hindering you this morning?
Unregenerate?
Spiritually Immature?
Hard Hearts?
Spiritual Laziness?
None of these reasons prevented the Thessalonians from receiving the Word of God- and it was evident that it really was God working in their hearts through the Word because not even intense persecution slowed them down from being a disciple-making church.
Followers = imitators = mimickers
Mimickers of the churches in Judea (Interdependent churches!)
How? Suffered like things from their own countrymen- just like the believers in Judea suffered from the Jews.
Think about this- in the short time that Paul had with the Thessalonians (he had to flee the city prematurely because of this persecution), even so, this young church facing intense opposition doesn’t miss a beat!
Why?
They had every earthly reason to fail- but they thrived?
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