"Faithful In Christ"
1 Thessalonians • Sermon • Submitted
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Transcript
But as for us, brothers and sisters, after we were forced to leave you for a short time (in person, not in heart), we greatly desired and made every effort to return and see you face to face. So we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us.
弟兄們，我們被迫暫時離開你們，不過是身體離開，心卻沒有離開。我們非常渴望再見到你們。因此，我們很想到你們那裡去，我保羅也一再想去，只是撒但阻擋了我們。
INTRO
INTRO
There is a phrase in English that says “absence makes the heart grow fonder”不相見，倍思念.”別離倍增相思情，短期的分離會讓雙方的感情滋長”. Meaning that time apart actually causes us to grow in appreciation of the person who is away. While that may be true, absence also can cause the heart to grow fearful. When I was dating Allison we were dating for about a year and a half before we were married, and 384 days of the time we spent apart. Long-distance. Anyone else have long distance relationship. While of course we missed each other and grew in our love for each other, you better believe, there were fears, questions, some nervousness that was in my heart as well. I knew she was at another school, so I’m thinking, okay, what other guys are there? I’m believing that she’s faithful, but I’m wanting assurance. We would talk on the phone, we would email, this was before smartphones. But there was a point when Allison was in Palau that communication was rare. I would wait for the email to come back, I would wait to see her number pop up, wanting to hear from her. Paul was forced to leave this church he loved. HE was forced. Now I knew that Allison wasn’t in a dangerous place, but for Paul, he left these people in the midst of all out persecution.
Context:
Here is Paul’s dilemma. How can I be sure that this church will survive? Paul had anxiety, Paul had fear, over the endurance of this church. He is reflecting on the fear and anxiety that he had as he left this church. He’s waiting to hear, how does this church endure? Where we talked last week about the power of the word, this week Paul moves to the power of their faith.
A Community Facing Spiritual Opposition屬靈大戰
A Community Facing Spiritual Opposition屬靈大戰
Paul’s heart for the church
Forced(17):to be separated ⇔ be orphaned — to be separated, conceived of as becoming permanently separated from one’s parents. Paul saw himself as their spiritual parents.
Some of you have had the same situation, you had to leave countries, cities where you left young believers behind, or new converts to the faith. Why is Paul’s desire so strong?
this is not just a little pastoral visit: back into the lions den, back to the front lines. Why?
this is how Paul sees the church. God’s family. Not like a member at Costco, but we are the family of God. As you look around this room and see people who are in Christ, we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Sometimes it may feel like we are distant cousins, but the Spirit has united us as brothers and sisters.
Do we have the same view of the church as Paul does? What if we treated each other as brothers and sisters?
long distance relationship. I had this fear when I dated Allison.
As strong as Paul’s desire was to come and see them, something, someone was hindering him.
Satan Opposes The Church.
hindered us from coming to do what? To see you and encourage you!
Means to obstruct or to thwart.
1 Peter 3:7 “husbands not living with their wives in an understanding way will have their prayers hindered”
1 Peter 3:7
照樣，你們作丈夫的，也要合情合理的與妻子同住。要體諒她比你軟弱，要尊敬她，因為她是和你一同承受生命的恩典的。這樣，就使你們的禱告不受攔阻。
Now did this mean that Satan literally dropped down in Paul’s room and held him down and wouldn’t let him go?
what did Satan use?
sinful people. Paul is referring back to his persecution and those jealous Jews who hindered him.
Paul is saying that they were operating under the rule and reign of Satan.
Whenever the ungodly cause us trouble, they are fighting under the banner of Satan, and are his instruments for harassing us. John Calvin
Satan opposes the church. He seeks to destroy and hinder the work of God. HE is our real enemy.
Your real enemy is not your spouse. Your real enemy is not your co-worker, it isn’t your kids, it isn’t your boss, it isn’t the the people who persecute us, our real enemy is Satan.
There really is a spiritual reality that is as real as this physical world we live in, and there is really demons and angels, and there is a being who hates God and hates the church, that is Satan. Our battle is not against flesh and blood
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.
因為我們的爭戰，對抗的不是有血有肉的人，而是執政的、掌權的、管轄這黑暗世界的和天上的邪靈。
2. Satan he will try to destroy your body, your mind, your relationships, in order to destroy and shake your faith! I would imagine if you grew up in Taiwan, or a similar culture, the idea of a spiritual reality, is not new to you. Taiwanese are very much aware of the spiritual realm that exists around us. In the west, if you want to people to think that you are crazy, just tell them you believe in the Devil. The greatest mistake you can make with Satan is to overestimate or underestimate his influence.We are called to be biblical, and the bible says Satan is real, he is seeking to hinder and destroy the work of God. HE can’t destroy the church, Jesus has already won, but he seeks hinder and disrupt.
In WW2 the Germans had the Allied forces in a place called Dunkirk敦克爾克大行動. Some of you might have seen the movie. But basically the Nazi’s, who were outnumbered, used a method called “Lightning War”. This method seeks to identity the enemy’s weak point, and win by disrupting the enemy, not destroying. This method seeks to break off lines of communications, isolations, causing confusion. That’s one of Satan’s main tactics. That’s what he is doing here. He is hindering Paul from doing what? Going to encourage and strengthen the church.
When we find ourselves not wanting to communicate to each other, ignoring each other, you better believe there is an enemy who is loving when the church is divided.
This community was facing spiritual attack.
A Community Facing Suffering受苦了
A Community Facing Suffering受苦了
What was the purpose for Paul wanting to go right back into the lions den? Right back to the front lines to see this church?
to encourage and strengthen then so that
faith would not be shaken!
Paul was concerned with their “faith”. Not that he wasn’t concerned with their physical being or bodies, but suffering has a way of affecting not just our body but our soul doesn’t it.Paul knows that the in persecution the real battle isn’t just the toll of the body, but the battle that persecution can have on our hearts.
to be so emotionally disturbed as to give up one’s belief
or like a dog wagging his tail: back and forth, not sure, going back and forth on whether I should follow Christ, to waiver.
SUFFERING IS APPOINTED BY GOD FOR EVERY CHRISTIAN
to be set conclusively and authoritatively.
Paul is saying this affliction is evidence of your faith in Christ not your lack of it. These trials are coming to you because you are a Christian. The Jews were not experiencing the same persecution you are, the pagans worshipping at the temple are not experiencing the same affliction you are, why? Because you are a part of a kingdom that is directly opposed to the kingdom of this world! Many times spiritual oppression is a sign not that you are doing something wrong, but that we’re something right!
When trouble comes, we often react by doubting that we are where God wants us to be; we often think that they we done something wrong and that God must be displeased with us. But Paul says that it is because you are being faithful to Christ that you are experiencing persecution.
because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
因為知道你們的信心經過考驗，就產生忍耐。但忍耐要堅持到底（「堅持到底」原文作「有完全的功效」），使你們可以完全，毫無缺乏。
“We learn to endure by enduring” Charles Spurgeon
think of the cross. It is at the cross where God uses the suffering of Christ at the hands of sinful men to accomplish His purposes.
Though he was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him.
Think about Joseph in the Old Testament. Sinful brothers seeking to destroy his life. Enemies seeking to destroy his reputation. But because of God’s faithfulness to Joseph the bible says’s this:
Christian Standard Bible Chapter 50
You planned evil against me; God planned it for good
從前你們有意要害我，但 神有美好的意思在其中，為要成就今日的光景，使許多人的性命得以保全。
As our greatest good comes through the sufferings of Christ, so God’s greatest glory that he has from his saints comes through their sufferings.
當我們最大的好處來自基督的苦難時，上帝從他的門徒身上獲得的最大榮耀也來自他們的苦難。
Yet I know what it’s like to feel despair. Paul shows us right here, he experienced anxiety, he experienced fear. He experienced despair. When I see people in the bible who struggle with the same things I struggle with, it gives me great hope. I know as Christians to talk about depression and anxiety it sometimes isn’t comfortable, but here Paul says he experienced affliction, the great apostle of love, or joy, experienced dark nights of fear and anxiety. So Paul reminds us reminds this church that:
this affliction is evidence of your faith in Christ not your lack of it.
IF that’s not enough Paul says something else is happening when we encounter suffering and affliction.
SATAN USES SUFFERING TO DRAW CHRISTIANS AWAY
Paul’s fear is that Satan would be tempting these young believers to fall away because of the affliction they are experiencing.
Satan often comes to tempt when we are feeling weak. Jesus in the wilderness, when you feel weak and tired. . Satan is a coward, but he is crafty. He knows your weakness, he knows humans pressure points.
He seeks to separate us from each other. When you watch lions or predators on the hunt, which animals of the herd do they kill first? The one’s who have been separated from the rest of the herd, the one’s who are weak and alone.
Isolation is not good! Satan wants you to stay away from community. For some of you, getting to church, coming to GC is sometimes the last thing you want to do, but it’s the very thing you need. It’s the very thing I need.
Paul says something really important for us as a believer, when you are suffering, when you feel weak, when you are tired, when we experience persecution, you better know the enemy of our faith is right there whispering lies into our minds, tempting us to give in. I would imagine, because this happens to me, it is when you feel angry, tired, alone, frustrated, or going through suffering that you begin to hear the whispers, these slanders from Satan that seek to separate us from our relationship with God but also with others. This is how he tempts.
I never go to Costco when I’m hungry. Why? If I go to Costco and I’m starving, everything at Costco looks like something I need. Everything looks tempting. I can justify why this looks good or that, but if I go when I’m full, when I’ve eaten, if I go with someone else, it’s a much easier trip. It’s the same in our spiritual lives, when we feel weak, when we feel broken, it is in those moments when Satan comes and tempts! Be alert!
A community is facing suffering, suffering that has been appointed by God, but is being inflicted by satan.
So we have a problem here church. I hope you can feel the tension here. We have a community that is facing spiritual opposition. Spiritual opposition that even hindered the apostle Paul! We have a community that is facing affliction and suffering. Satan is using the hands of sinful men to beat, to lie, to accuse, to afflict this community. In all of this you the Tempter himself whispering these lies to Thessalonians to draw them away from Christ. How does a community in all of this endure? How do they persevere? When everything seems to be stacked AGAINST US , against YOU, how do you and I overcome?
So we have a problem here church. I hope you can feel the tension here. We have a community that is facing spiritual opposition. Spiritual opposition that even hindered the apostle Paul! We have a community that is facing affliction and suffering. Satan is using the hands of sinful men to beat, to lie, to accuse, to afflict this community. In all of this you the Tempter himself whispering these lies to Thessalonians to draw them away from Christ. How does a community in all of this endure? How do they persevere? When everything seems to be stacked AGAINST US , against YOU, how do you and I overcome?
A Community Faithful In Christ 在主裡站立得穩
A Community Faithful In Christ 在主裡站立得穩
“Good news” of what? This word is actually the only time in the New Testament where this phrase is used to speak of something other than sharing the Gospel of Christ. They evangelized to us what had happened!
that the persecution had stopped? That they were healthy, wealthy, and well?
That Satan had stopped opposing them?
no about their faith!
Maybe your bodies are broken, your jobs have been lost, your relationships have been torn, but your faith has overcome!
How did this church stay faithful? How do we stay faithful? How do we overcome?
“Stand Firm in The Lord” 在主裡站立得穩
This church was a church facing spiritual opposition, facing suffering and affliction, but they were a community Faithful In Christ. Standing firm.
to hold one’s ground; maintain a position; be steadfast or upright.
The verb is a continuous action that we are supposed to be doing all the time.
So as they were getting blasted by spiritual attacks, as they were encountering suffering from their people, they were holding their ground, standing firm, calling each other, stand firm, not back down, we don’t retreat!
We’re holding our ground, we’re standing firm. Because our faith to stand firm is not in our ability to overcome, to endure, to persevere. Our faith to stand firm, is in the One, Jesus Christ, who HAS(past tense) overcome satan, who has endured suffering even death on a cross, and who will come again to make all things new!
Christ faithfulness to us causes us to remain faithful to Him. We are standing firm in the Lord.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
賜平安的 神快要把撒但踐踏在你們腳下。願我們主耶穌的恩惠與你們同在。
Crushing Satan is God’s job, not ours. And he did it through the cross and resurrection.
The church is on the offensive. Satan is a retreating enemy.
In Taiwanese religion spiritual attack are very real, and most times people are on the defensive when it comes to spiritual attacks, but the church, in Christ, we are on the offensive and receiving attack from a retreating enemy.
Christ is guarding His church and Christ is carrying His church.
He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
他也必堅定你們到底，使你們在我們主耶穌基督的日子無可指摘。
Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength.
最後，你們要靠主的大能大力，在他裡面剛強。
He will strengthen you church, He will strengthen you christian, He will strengthen you of weak faith, He will strengthen you who are going through affliction, He will strengthen You who are experiencing spiritual attacks! For those of us who are in the midst of despair or depression, He will strengthen you. He will strengthen YOU TO THE END.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
There is a story about a dad who lived by the ocean. One morning, the tide receded so much that the children ran out to catch fish in the tide pools left behind. We'd never witnessed the tide so low before. But what we didn't know was that the ocean was preparing to unleash the largest tsunami our town had ever experienced.
Within minutes, an 18 meter wave crashed down upon the shores. The power of that wave left twisted buildings, shattered windows, splintered homes. The dad ran as fast as he could to his home, where he found his wife crying "Our son is missing," she shouted. "I can't find our son!"
Robby was their six-month-old child who was asleep in the house when the ocean beat against their house. Realizing that another wave may soon be following, the dad running tearing up one piece after another of trash, running over boards of broken houses, until he heard the whimpering of a child under a mattresses. Another wave was coming.
He pulls up my little son, Holds him as tight to chest as he could, the baby holding on as well, as waves begin to come. As hard as the child was holding on, the dad was holding on even tighter as they made their way back to safety. Church, God is holding onto you. As much we are grabbing hold of Christ, and standing firm in Him, He’s holding us even tighter.
Let’s stand
When troubles roll like breakers 當困難像海浪一樣滾來時
So full of dread and dangers 如此充滿恐懼和危險
My victry's in the Savior 我的勝利者在救主裡
I'm tethered to the cross 我被拴在十字架上
Hallelujah, oh my soul, the cross will not ever let me go Hell may rage but it will hold I'm tethered to the cross.
哈利路亞，哦，我的靈魂，十字架永遠不會讓我走。地獄可能會打架，但是，十字架永遠不讓我走，我拴在十字架上.
Christ’s faithfulness to you causes you to remain faithful to Him. Let’s be a church, that as we face spiritual opposition, as we encounter suffering, we are standing firm in Christ. Let’s pray.
Christ’s faithfulness to you causes you to remain faithful to Him. Let’s be a church, that as we face spiritual opposition, as we encounter suffering, we are standing firm in Christ. Let’s pray.