Thank Full | Perspective Change

Recently, some friends of ours visited us from CA: the Subido family - Andrew and Eliza, and their son, Evan.

My wife and I love these friends with all of our heart. Here’s a picture of us from Halloween together a few weeks ago.

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Nearly every week for 4 years, our two families, along with two others, shared our lives together in a small group.

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Together, we shared our pains, our struggles, our hopes, and our dreams. We shared ministry together. Many of those in our small group served alongside of me in student ministry. We traveled together. We prayed together. We even welcomed our newborns into our families at the same time, together. My daughter Hannah, and their son Evan, were born just 30 days apart from each other. Some of my best memories come from my time in that small group.

Truly, we experienced the fellowship of the Holy Spirit together, as we sought to work out our faith in community.

A few weeks ago, as we sat together and reminisced on life and caught up with one another, I asked them about the wildfires burning in Northern California.

They told us about their family friend, who were woken up by the police at 3 AM to evacuate their home. They put on their clothes, woke up their sleeping child, and drove away, intending to return in the morning to gather their essentials. Several hours later, at midmorning, they returned to the charred ruins of a home in which they slept just a few hours earlier.

I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. I sat there dumbfounded. I cannot even imagine that kind of experience. As of this very moment, there are still hundreds unaccounted for.

To the East Coast, the panhandle of our state will be in ruins for months, as the clean up from Hurricane Michael continues.

Closer to home, on pray.com, everyday I read prayers shared by men and women who are part of our church community, longing for healing, relational reconciliation, forgiveness, and hope.

Even closer still, without knowing the shadow places of your own heart, I can assume that many of you in this room also feel the same way. You, too, are longing for healing, reconciliation, forgiveness, and hope in the various places of your life.

In a world full of so much of beauty, there is also so much division and brokenness, isn’t there? I don’t even need to give you examples of it. Just saying those words, division and brokenness, images are popping up in your minds, and those images are around us and in front of us seemingly all the time.

I know others of you in your home countries, such as Venezuela and Nicaragua, are asking the very same questions, too, as fear and control are dominating the beautiful landscapes and people there. For good friends of mine like Rafael Bracho, our worship leader, and others from these countries, I am well aware that you all feel constant concern for your families and friends.

Do you ever find yourself, like me, asking the question:

“Is this it?”

Is there any way through all of this pain and suffering?

I think every human being is asking this question, regardless of where one lives, how much money one makes, who one loves, and what a person believes. I think at the end of the day, as we lay our heads down at night, we’re all wondering, ‘is this it?’

Are we all destined to ride this crazy train until the day we die with all of our anxiety and pain riding alongside with us, or is there a different way? Is there a means to experience peace, joy, and connection with God and with one another?

That’s the question, isn’t it? I think that’s what we’re all wondering.

And what you experienced around the table last Thursday is kinda the key to it.

Today marks the final message in our series, “Thank Full,” as we explore a passage from one of Paul’s letters written to a church experiencing very much a similar kind of condition in which we find ourselves today.

The evangelist Luke recorded in his book of Acts when Paul arrived to the city of Thessalonica, a major port city and the capital of Macedonia. Thessalonica, like Ephesus and Philippi, were major cities of culture, trade, and political influence, along a major travel route called the Egnation Way.

The Egnation Way connected these major cities along a horizontal West-East route in Northern Greece. Here, along this major route, Paul planted several churches.

Today, this would be like planting churches in major cities along I-95.

This was part of Paul’s mission strategy. He intentionally planted churches in influential cities where the Gospel could take root and then be exported all over the world.

According to Luke’s record from Acts chapter 17, Paul arrived at Thessalonica and taught in the synagogue for 3 consecutive Sabbaths, showing how Jesus is Lord and forgives us of our sin.

Upon hearing this, however, the city revolted against Paul for declaring Jesus Lord and not Caesar. As a consequence, the elders of the synagogue and rulers of the city demanded that Paul and his partner, Silas, be put to death.

Now, Paul and Silas escaped, but the loyalists to Caesar persecuted the new converts to Christianity and caused them much unrest and division for years to come.

Friends, does any of this sound familiar to you?

I certainly hope it does because this same thing is still happening all over our world as we speak, including our very own country. The roots of those issues are the same roots that cause division and persecution today.

Paul’s teachings threatened the political power of both the religious and civic elite in that Paul proclaimed a different Lord other than their political one.

In the first century, it was common for Roman citizens to show their allegiance to Caesar and the Roman empire by shouting: “Caesar is Lord.”

Yet, Jesus proclaimed the beginning of a different kingdom, a new kingdom in which true peace and justice reign, and in this Kingdom, Jesus is Lord. In order to show their allegiance to the Kingdom of God, the early Christians would shout, “Jesus is Lord.”

Make no mistake, the early Christian Church intentionally chose those words.

Jesus is Lord, not Caesar, not a king, not even a president.

This message is not about politics. This platform is not the place to discuss those kinds of issues. Our gospel, though, is threatening to politics… as well as to economics and culture and the elite, because ultimately, as Paul and Silas demonstrated and as many of you have witnessed in your own faith, the Good News message of Jesus is a threat to those who desire power.

At the heart of our division and brokenness, and ultimately at the heart of our sin, is a desire for power. If you don’t hear me say anything else tonight, then please remember this: at the heart of sin is power, and I define power as ‘the desire to live as the god of your own life.’

This is the root sin of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:5 when they were tempted to ‘be like god.’

This understanding is so absolutely crucial to your faith and why we believe in a Savior who is called Lord.

Lord isn’t a fancy church word that some pastor made up a long time ago. Lord is a declaration of power and the naming of the one who’s got it!

Every time you call Jesus “Lord,” you are declaring that Jesus has the power, authority, and right over your life.

Now, think about that. That’s a bold confession. Don’t you think?

Let me ask you: Is it true for you?

How much of your time do you spend fighting for power, authority, and right over your life?

Now, there’s a difference between living your life well, making wise decisions, exercising your passions, and working hard to gain more responsibility and influence.

Those are good pursuits.

What I mean to say is how much time do you spend fighting for power, authority, and right over your life for reasons that only benefit yourself at the expense of others.

That’s the root of all sin. That’s the brokenness which divides us and keeps us separated from one another, from our true selves, and ultimately, from our Creator.

That’s corrupted power.

That kind of corrupted power executed Jesus on a Roman cross… persecuted the early Church in Thessalonica in AD 51… and still continues to plague every country, state, and town around the world.

That same corrupted power continues to divide your friendships, cause you anxiety, tear apart your family, and isolate you into loneliness. It is at the heartbeat of nearly every conflict, argument, and subject of dishonor.

Friends, if you don’t hear me say anything else tonight, then please hear me say this: your sin is a result of your desire to live as the god of your own life, mustering all of the power and control that you can find.

The early church in Thessalonica lived and worshipped amidst these tensions. You live and worship amidst these very same tensions! You live them in your public life. You live them in your private life. And at some point, like me, you wonder:

“Is this it?”

Is life all about simply trying to chase down a little bit of power, or acquire some kind of American dream, or get ahead of the next guy?

Is this it?

Paul says no, this isn’t it. Your life doesn’t have to be the mere sum of your battles for power, nor does it have to be the product of whatever circumstance befalls you.

Paul says, no. Your life can actually be different, the kind of different that looks nothing like a result of power or circumstance. In fact, this kind of different is unlike anything the world has ever seen.

Paul tells us that you can choose a different way and experience the benefit of Jesus’ salvation and Lordship in your life amidst the tensions and pains.

You’re right: We can’t escape our circumstances, no matter how hard we may try, but we can choose how we respond to them.

What is your inclination? To numb? Flee? Avoid? The Good News about Jesus’ salvation and Lordship declares that those tactics aren’t our only options when we face trials of many kinds.

In fact, at the conclusion of his first letter to the Thessalonian church, Paul gives us the way forward, saying:

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

It’s that simple and profound and hard, but this is the antidote to selfishness and pride.

In fact, this is God’s very will for your life:

Joy

Prayer

Gratitude

This is how God desires for you to live out your life.

The following is a true story:

Sisters, Betsie and Corrie ten Boom, were imprisoned in the notorious Ravensbrück Concentration Camp north of Berlin for hiding Jews in their home during the Nazi occupation of Holland.

The ten Boom family of Haarlem, Holland were watchmakers by trade. They also lived as devout Christians. In her memoir The Hiding Place Corrie ten Boom recounted how their cramped concentration camp living quarters became infested with fleas. She wrote that fleas swarmed them day and night, and they struggled constantly with bites and pain. Yet, her sister, Betsie, challenged Corrie with 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 to always be joyful, never stop praying, and be thankful in all circumstances.

Over the next several weeks, they both noticed that the guards stopped patrolling the inside of their living quarters, which miraculously allowed Corrie and Betsie to host a morning and evening worship service for other women at the camp.

From Corrie’s memoir, allow me to read you the following excerpt:

“One evening I got back to the barracks late from a wood-gathering foray outside the walls. A light snow lay on the ground and it was hard to find the sticks and twigs with which a small stove was kept going in each room. Betsie was waiting for me, as always, so that we could wait through the food line together. Her eyes were twinkling.

“‘You’re looking extraordinarily pleased with yourself,’ I told her.

“‘You know, we’ve never understood why we had so much freedom in the big room,’ she said. ‘Well–I’ve found out.’

“That afternoon, she said, there’d been confusion in her knitting group about sock sizes and they’d asked the supervisor to come and settle it.

“But she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t step through the door and neither would the guards. And you know why?”

“Betsie could not keep the triumph from her voice: ‘Because of the fleas! That’s what she said, “That place is crawling with fleas!’”

“My mind rushed back to our first hour in this place. I remembered Betsie’s bowed head, remembered her thanks to God for creatures I could see no use for.”

Friends, we don’t have to be grateful for every circumstance, but our calling is to find gratitude and joy in the midst of our circumstances. Like Corrie, sometimes the search is hard and not easily apparent.

But the search is yours to choose.

Corrie chose it. Many of you at one time or another have chosen joy, prayer, and gratitude in Christ in the midst of your circumstances, not for them.

The combination of joy, prayer, and gratitude is the pure one and only antidote to sin and our struggle for power.

I simply want to say tonight: Keep choosing joy, prayer, and gratitude. Keep going. Keep going, friends.

One theologian wrote of 1 Thessalonians, ’The main point of Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica was simply to say: keep up the good work.”

Friends, keep going. Either keep up the good work or let today be a new day. Either way, Jesus has won the victory, and you have the freedom to choose how to respond. .

Tonight, let me encourage you to choose joy, choose prayer, and choose gratitude. Truly, this is God’s will for you.

There’s so much freedom in God’s will. Contrary to what some may argue, God doesn’t pin you down to one path and then punish you for deviating from it. Rather, God simply desires for you to choose a life of joy, to pray without end, and show gratitude in all circumstances.

Yes, it’s hard to always choose joy. I’ve encountered situations in my life that have made joy nearly impossible to find, but as I have searched for it, God has always proven faithful to provide it.

Praying without ceasing means aligning your entire mind and inner thoughts with God’s character. It means taking captive any thought that does not bring honor to God, throwing it away, and dwelling on God’s purity, delight, and beauty.

And last, give thanks for the fleas, whatever your flea may be.

When I first learned about my son’s eye condition, I felt so angry that he may never be able to do certain things in life that I take for granted.

One day, I shared my anger with a former colleague of mine whose son also has a severe eye condition, and she said, ‘Ryan, you’re missing the whole point. Don’t be angry for Levi. He will know God’s grace in a way that you never will. Instead, give thanks for his condition, and seek how you may align your desires to God’s will (which is praying without end).’

When she said that, everything about my perspective changed. Now, don’t get me wrong, I still feel sad at times, but I don’t feel angry anymore, and as a family we are trusting that as we live into God’s will, then God will provide.

Friends, let’s trust God together. As a church, may we choose joy, even when it doesn’t make sense. May you thank God for the fleas. In doing so, we will experience God’s grace and mercy upon us in a way that we otherwise would have never known. In a world filled with tension, struggle, and pain, our lives will tell a new story.

Will you pray with me?