A Gospel Culture福音文化
1 Thessalonians • Sermon • Submitted
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Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you. And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we do for you. May he make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Amen.
願我們的父 神自己和我們的主耶穌為我們開路，使我們可以到你們那裡去。又願主叫你們彼此相愛的心，和愛眾人的心，都充充足足，多而又多，好像我們愛你們一樣。也願他堅定你們的心，好叫你們在我們主耶穌和眾聖徒再來的時候，在我們的父 神面前，完全聖潔，無可指摘。
INTRO
INTRO
Every culture has their unique characteristics. If you think about the culture you are from, what is your culture known for? Western culture is very different from Eastern culture. American, where I am from is know for independence and for ambition. It’s in our songs, it’s in our speeches. We like our freedom and we like our ability to make money. But Taiwan is very different. When I moved here it took me awhile to understand that I have to ask a Taiwanese something 3 times before I got an answer! Taiwan is known for hospitality and their humility. Every culture is known for something. When it comes to the church, what culture is a church supposed to have? What are we supposed to be known for? What I want to put before us today is that Jesus’ vision for His church is that we would embody no an American culture, not a Taiwanese culture, but a Gospel Culture. In today’s text we are going to look at two things that are vital in a Gospel Culture: love and holiness.
Here is the big idea the main point: The purpose of Christ’s love in us and through us is to make us a holy people.
CONTEXT
Really important division in this book.
In the history of the church there has been a unloving holiness- a self righteousness, but now I think the problem is that we have an unholy love. A kind of love that Paul would never have talked about, a “love” that puts acceptance and tolerance above the commands of Scripture. God’s love is a sanctifying love.
Notice he says cause them to increase and abound in love, not good works, not passion, but love-specifically agape love Christ’s love in us. So so far we can say that in order to grow in holiness, Paul says it begins by the Lord causing us to be a more loving people.
Paul is going to begin to make his case right here for our hope for holiness. HE begins by saying Lord would you cause this church to increase and overflow(or abound) with Love.
CHRIST’S LOVE IN US耶穌愛在我們當中
CHRIST’S LOVE IN US耶穌愛在我們當中
“To Increase and Overflow With Love”
Source: Christ’s love(poured out through the Holy Spirit)
CAUSE youTo increase: be more; be more than enough; multiply
To undergo change, to increase, active tense so that we would—overflow
overflow:to be abundant or plentiful;In LOVE:
agape love that we talked about in the first week
Agape love is the biblical word that tells us that God does not love us because we are worthy, or even because of some unrealized possibilities He sees in us. It’s even better than that. He loves us even though He knows our complete unworthiness. He loves me, even know HE knows I will make mistake after mistake. HE loves us without thinking of what we bring or give to Him, because there isn’t anything we can do to add to who He is. He loves us because HE IS LOVE.
Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
不是我們愛 神，而是 神愛我們，差遣他的兒子為我們的罪作了贖罪祭，這就是愛了。
Seems like Paul says can never have too much of it and we can never have enough.
The love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost which was given unto us.
We love because God first loved us.In whatever degree love exists in us, God is its source
We should pray this. Lord make me a more loving person, Lord make me abound in love.
When Christians speak about “love” we are speaking about sometime entirely different than when our culture says “love”. God shows us His love is a love that is given for the benefit others not a selfish love.
SO WHAT?
We can have so many different motivations for holiness that are not good. Guilt is one. I feel guilty therefore I need to be a better person. Pride can be one: I’m better than everyone so I need to continue to be better. But here Paul says the one of the, if not the main motivator in our lives for holiness is the love of Christ.
This is such good news. Because it gives me a place start. As a pastor I am a sinful man. Yet I desire to grow in holiness.And I want you to know that your desire to grow in holiness is a sign of the Spirit’s work in you, and Paul says here where we can begin is by saying this prayer “Lord cause your love in me, to increase. Would you grow your agape love in my heart to the point of overflowing”
For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all, and therefore all died.
原來基督的愛催逼著我們，因為我們斷定一個人替眾人死了，眾人就都死了。
So far point 1 we can say that in a Gospel culture if we want to grow in holiness it begins by the Lord causing His agape love to overflow and increase.
And it was the result of being filled and abounding in the selfless agape love of Christ? It pours for others!
CHRIST’S LOVE THROUGH US耶穌的愛活出我們
CHRIST’S LOVE THROUGH US耶穌的愛活出我們
For:Each Other(the church)
“For One Another”
For the church:
Now when you all think of a person who loves the church who comes to your mind? All of us have this example that we live with, and the Thessalonians when they thought of “love for the church” their example was Paul,Silas, and Timothy. That’s why Paul says “love the church as we do”
“As we do” in this book of Thessalonians how did we see Paul and Timothy and Silas loving this church?
We see them praying for the church(5x’s just in this book Paul mentions that he prays for the church constantly)
We see them sharing the Gospel with the church, not just a one-time evangelism message, but the reminder of who they are in Christ
We see them not only sharing their words with the church, but their very souls, their lives.
So they didn’t just give the Thessalonians a book to read, or podcast to listen to, those are helpful, but they can them their very lives to watch.
This Agape Love through us for the church creates a vision of us doing “life together”
For many years I lived in a culture that said we loved each other but never wanted to confront each other.
In this text does Paul shy away from issues that the Thessalonians need to grow in? Nope, that’s what the second half of this book is about.
Does Jesus shy away from calling us to change? No He addresses sin in our hearts.
This agape love is not a shallow affirm only love, but is a love for us to have honest conversations with each other in love and call each other to grow.
This love calls for us to have tough skin but tender hearts.
If we are a people who are easily offended, we need to stop and pray that God would cause His agape love to grow in us.
If we are people who are harsh and not gentle in our conversations, we need to stop and pray that God would cause His agape love to grow in us.
We have to mature as people and as a church that desires this kind of love from each other. I always take heart in this quote from Spurgeon
Charles Spurgeon “If any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him, for you are worse than he thinks you to be.“如果有人認為你不好，不要對他生氣，因為你比他認為的要糟”
This love is not a selfish love, but a selfless love a love that is directed towards others.
It’s so easy to be like a Pharisee isn’t it? I know it is for me. Jesus says this
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, and yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These things should have been done without neglecting the others.
「虛偽的經學家和法利賽人哪，你們有禍了！你們把薄荷、茴香、芹菜，獻上十分之一，卻忽略律法上更重要的，就如正義、憐憫和信實；這些更重要的是你們應當作的，但其他的也不可忽略。
It’s easy to come to church and sing our songs, to read our bibles, to do study after study but neglect the state of my heart, and my love for others. There are some days where I just don’t like who I am. I struggle to forgive, I struggle to believe in God’s forgiveness and I easily listen to the lies of the enemy.
Community life together, reveals what we lack. When we live life together, think about marriage, think about roommates what begins to happen? You begin to notice not only the imperfections in the person you are living with but you begin to notice how much you lack in your own heart. This is why this is such good news Christian, because the ability to live this kind of life, to love in this way, is not your work, but it is the Lord’s work through you. May the LORD CAUSE YOU TO INCREASE AND OVERFLOW IN LOVE.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
如果你們彼此相愛，眾人就會認出你們是我的門徒了。」
But then he says not just for one another but, this agape love through us is also for
For Everyone
In this context: could Paul be talking about the Thessalonians enemies? The very one’s who are persecuting them?
If you told me that you were the most loving person because you loved people who were like you, or treated you kindly, I would say, well that’s pretty easy.
Paul again reminds us the distinct quality of Christian love. Christ’s love increasing in us and living through us isn’t just directed towards those who are Christians, but it gives us the supernatural ability to even those people who are difficult and hard to love, even persecuting us.
Part of my testimony is about loving someone who is very difficult. There was a guy at work and he was really arrogant. He was tough to work with, he would lie, he was selfish. And that person was me. Yet there was another guy named Aaron Bailey. I’ll forever thank God for him. Aaron would be so patient with me, love me when I was a mess, I still am a mess. But I could see this supernatural agape love for Christ in Him not just for people that were like him but for people even like me who were making his life more difficult not easier. I’m sure each of us that is part of our story, we can think of someone who did this.
We are reminded that this is exactly like what Jesus did for us! While we were still enemies of the cross, He poured out His agape love to you and to me.
As Christians we don’t get to choose who to love and who not to love. Jesus shows us this.
REMEMBER this is all in the Lord’s work! If you walk away from this sermon and say okay well now I need to go and try really hard to be a more loving person, you missed it! Paul says MAY THE LORD CAUSE YOU. This is a work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
So here we see that it is our love for others causes us to grow in holiness. For this reason, one of the best ways to advance your sanctification, my sanctification—your progress in holiness—is to become involved in ministry toward others.
What does Paul say is the purpose of all of this so that grow into a holy people.
WHAT CHRIST’S LOVE DOES TO US耶穌愛的結果
WHAT CHRIST’S LOVE DOES TO US耶穌愛的結果
Make: means to confirm or strengthen: idea of resolution,
So Paul says so far that The purpose of Christ increasing His love in us is so that we might be a holy people. So that we might become a people set apart, that we might look different.
Now before we go any further I think we need to stop and consider something for a moment: Notice that Paul says BECAUE YOU ARE A HOLY PERSON CHRIST POURS HIS LOVE OUT FOR YOU. That’s what other religions say. I obey therefore I am loved. That’s how we as humans act. I will only love you to the degree that you meet my standard. But the Gospel says something completely different: Jesus says we are accepted therefore WE CAN OBEY. We are loved therefore WE CAN OBEY. Christ’s love in us, produces holiness through us. This is really important. Christ’s love has been poured into our hearts before we’ve got this all figured out. Preach this part!
What does he say about holiness?
Your hearts
From the heart. We’ve talked about his before, but Before Paul goes into the commands of how to live(not commit sexual immorality) he reminds us that all of those sins, have their root in our hearts. So Paul prays here that God would not just change your behavior(most religions focus on that) but would He do the deep work of even changing your desires, your thoughts, your will SO THAT you could live holy lives.
This is important in our parenting. Parents one of the best things we can do for our kids is constantly point out their need for a Savior who can rescue us and not a teacher who teaches us new behaviors. God changes our hearts.
“Blameless in holiness”
Holiness:the quality of being personally dedicated to God; either by being set apart, by being morally pure, or by being devoted to God.
When we think about holiness what do you usually think about?
Maybe you think of monks? maybe you think about the way a person dresses, or maybe you think of not being sinful, being Morally pure, or what we don’t do. Holiness is very much about the purity of God. Holiness is about being set apart.
His character is unimpeachable. He cannot be charged with any wrong.
However the holiness of God isn’t just what God sets Himself apart from, but also what He devotes Himself to
And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies; his glory fills the whole earth.
他們彼此高呼著說： 「聖哉！聖哉！聖哉！萬軍之耶和華！他的榮光充滿全地。」
The holiness of God isn’t just what He is separated from, but also what He is devoted to: which is His own glory. The holiness of God does not separate his presence out from the earth, but just the opposite; it fills the earth with his presence so that he might display his unique and exclusive glory.
Our holiness is the same. Our becoming a holy people isn’t simply abstaining from sin, but it is also what we are devoted to, what we are set apart for and that is being a people who are increasing and overflowing in God’s agape love for the purpose of being set apart for glory of God. On the fame of Jesus.
So Paul tells us that a Gospel culture is a church where Christ's love in us and through us makes us a holy people.
GOD IS BOTH A HOLY GOD AND GOD OF LOVE
HOLY GOD聖傑的神/GOD OF LOVE有愛的神
HOLY GOD聖傑的神/GOD OF LOVE有愛的神
Some of you may be asking these questions: If God is love then how can he be holy and just? If God is holy, completely just and righteous, then how could He love me, how can He accept unrighteous sinners? The answer is the cross. The Gospel. The reason we don’t have to choose between being holy or being loving is because God doesn’t.
In Jesus we see both the holiness of God displayed and the love of God displayed perfectly. The most holy person to ever live was Jesus. But also Jesus was the most loving person who ever lived. God did not compromise His holiness He upheld His righteousness by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, God did not compromise His love, for it was His love for you that put Jesus on the cross.
But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
唯有基督在我們還作罪人的時候為我們死， 神對我們的愛就在此顯明了。
God’s love is demonstrated through the Gospel.
Holiness?
God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
好在現今顯明他的義，使人知道他自己為義，又稱信耶穌的人為義。
God’s holiness is demonstrated at the cross.
And it is because of the cross of Christ, that Paul calls this Thessalonian church, a church that needs to grow, church that is imperfect ,saints.
“at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Amen.”
He calls them the very thing which is he asking them to grow into. This is the Gospel. Martin Luther said that we are at the same time saint and sinner. I confess that I am the biggest one in this room. Yet, holiness isn’t something that we attain by our own righteousness but it is given to us through the righteousness of Christ. In the Gospel we are fully known for what we are yet fully accepted in the Gospel.
“A Gospel culture looks like a bunch of sinners growing into saints because of the Love and mercy of Christ.”
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
What: Paul is calling us not to choose between being loving or being holy. But instead a Gospel culture will be a holy church. And a holy church will be a church that is a loving church.CityLight if we want to be a church that lives out this Gospel Culture it begins by recognizing our need for Christ’s love to grow and increase in us. The bible says HE fills the hungry, HE lifts up the humble, He heals the broken. This is where it starts.
Where/How? This begins with us individually. We must be people of prayer who pray for Christ’s love to grow and overflow in us. In our marriages we must believe that our spouses hope for holiness is not our nagging or our harsh words, with our kids, but the hope is Christ’s love in them.
The purpose of christ’s love in us and through us is so that we would be a holy people.