Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Thess 2:13-14 “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea.

For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews,”

As a reminder, Paul and his missionary companions had to leave Thessalonica early on and move on to another location because if increased persecution from some of the Thessalonians.

They were wondering how they were doing and recieved testimony that they were a thriving community in Christ.

There are several things we can learn from this community which Paul mentions here.

Paul says, “And we also thank God constantly for this. .

.”

Paul’s attitude toward this group is one of thanksgiving.

Their thanksgiving is directed toward God whom they recognize to be the ultimate end of this praise.

We all innately recognize this feeling, I would argue that it is something present from being made in the image of God.

It was recorded somewhere that an Atheist standing at the precipice of an immense and immaculate view said he had a feeling of gratefulness.

For the Atheist, this feeling of gratitude is worthless.

You see a true and consistent Atheist has to believe certain things about the origin of himself and the view that is so mind-boggling.

If an intelligent being did not create these beauties, then both him and the view came into existence by chance and an very large amount of time.

His own existence is left up to chance just as much as the universe around him.

The consistent Atheist is also an materialist, this means he believes all that really exists is material things.

In that case, we don’t have a soul, for example.

A consistent Atheist believes that the thing we call “consciousness” is really just made up of the physical chemical reactions in our brain.

The consistent Atheist believes there’s no such thing as free will because our actions and desires cannot come from anywhere else other than our bodily chemistry of which we have no control over.

The consistent Atheist believes all our bodily chemistry was already determined within the big bang.

As one Atheist, Richard Dawkins, puts it, ““DNA neither cares nor knows.

DNA just is.

And we dance to its music.”

So the gratitude that an Atheist might feel, according to their own conviction, is no different that the heartburn he feels after eating an especially greasy cheese burger.

In their view, we’re just a bag of chemicals.

Now try to develop a meaningful human experience out of that!

You can’t!

Because we’re not made for that!

And of course we may find disgust at the fact that our own gratitude is merely a chemical reaction; but how often I myself live like God does not exist.

You realize that everything that is in our life, God has put there for a reason.

And if you are in Christ, everything God does for you is for your good.

Whether he chastens our sins or prospers our ways, God is good and we can be grateful.

God established his church to proclaim his word.

But Paul is grateful to God for something in particular.

He goes on to say, “that when you recieved the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word from men but as what it really is, the word of God.”

I was pondering in my head when I was meditating on this passage some things we may say that we are grateful for in various churches.

If someone on social media was writing a review for our church, what kind of things do you think they would list that they are thankful for?

If we took a poll of families around our area and asked, not just about our church, but their church, “Why are you grateful for your church?”

What kind of answers do you think we would receive?

I, sadly did not take a poll, but I could imagine that it would focus on what our culture focuses on.

Our culture is a therapeutic culture.

We believe the key to happiness is some inner sense of being fulfilled.

A lot of times we bring this into our church as well.

“I’m grateful for my church because it gives me a since of belonging.”

“I’m grateful for my church because when I leave I feel encouraged.”

“I’m grateful for my church because they were there when I was going through hard times.”

“I’m grateful for my church because I can slip in when no one notices and be entertained by what’s going on the stage”

“I’m grateful for my church because it makes me feel like my relationship with God is okay.”

“I’m grateful for my church because it accepts me for who I am”

“I’m grateful for my church because it gives me an opportunity to serve”

On and on the list could go, right?

I’m not listing these things because the are de facto wrong.

There is truth and goodness in everyone of these things.

The problem is that when we begin to believe that we can be fulfilled by the things the church provides rather than solely in God.

Let’s look at this from another angle: Why did God establish the church?

Did God establish the church to meet our inward psychological needs?

Did he put together these believers to exist as large group therapy sessions to meet our selfish inner fulfillment needs?

Did God establish the church so that we could feel like we’re apart of something bigger than ourselves?

We’ve gotten some idea in our culture that we humans are all the same.

We all have something lacking inside that needs to be met.

And that Christians have one answer to fulfill that inner need.

And churches advertise this way all the time.

Let me read you some:

“We aren’t settling for religion, we’re going for romance”

“Each Sunday at blank church you can expect great music, encouraging messages, and a family type atmosphere, each of which paves the way for genuine encounters with our God.

The church should never be a place where you’re bored to tears, but instead a place that is filled with excitement about our God and His plan for the people of the earth.”

Y’all remember those “I’m a Mormon” ads that were popular for a little while?

They would have people share their heartfelt story about themselves, and essentially explain how their felt needs were met through the Mormon church.

By the way, if you don’t know, these stopped because the Mormon prophet recieved word from beyond that they have to revert to the classic name, LDS saint rather than Mormon.

Here’s another church slogan meant to get you going, “live better, help often, wonder more.”

Doesn’t that sound fulfilling?

Can you guess where it comes from?

It comes from an Atheist/Agnostic church called the Sunday Assembly.

That’s right, inconsistent Atheists have gone quite religious, well, not so much religious as it is therapeutic.

Paul does not say that he’s grateful because for this church because they’ve decided to help often or because the feel like all their psychological needs have been met in Jesus.

He’s grateful that they’ve accepted God’s Word as God’s word.

Again, one of the marks of a healthy church is they accept God’s word.

A lot of people want to tell a pastor how to run their church.

I heard advice one time that the people need a series on marriage and a series on finances and a series on parenting every year.

Why?

Why do you think someone would give that advice?

Obviously, they have come to believe that the greatest thing people need is to find fulfillment and satisfaction in their everyday life.

Listen carefully: The greatest thing you need is not inner satisfaction, but God himself!

Let me say this carefully.

We have this idea that a lost person has some lack in his inner self.

And that lack can be filled up by God.

Sometimes we call this a “God-sized hole in their heart.”

A lost person hates God!

A lost person believes he can live his life on his own.

When we start evangelizing with this “God-shaped hole” nonsense, a lot of time what we do is give people a more powerful version of themselves to worship!

The lost person thinks, “I need more money” and we say, “if you worship God, your life would be better” So what do they think, “If I worship God, I’ll have more money”

But oftentimes the lie is not so obvious.

A lost person might think, “I feel inadequate, my life just doesn’t measure up.”

So we tell him, “Hey why don’t you believe in Jesus.”

So they think, “Jesus will increase my self-esteem.”

And they begin to worship, not the Jesus of the Bible, but a Jesus who tells them how beautiful they are and how much they are worth.

You see, we though idolatry was dead, but psychological idolatry is alive and well and thriving in our land.

I’m sure you recognize it!

You know exactly who the people are who go to church, not to hear God’s word preached, or worship and serve their creator, but rather they go to church to feel better about themselves.

I know because sometimes that’s me!