Building Blocks

Have you ever started something new?

Some of you know this but one of my cool talents I have is I can wakeboard. (I do not have many cool talents so I have to brag on the one I have)

But you know when I was first learning to do this it was really exciting, but I was also really unstable

I would pretty regularly mess up and get thrown facedown into the ground

There were was one time where I actually landed on my head and blew out my eardrum

I have hit my head with the board (I am not showing you the picture of this)

But as I got better I began to get more stable and begin to do some neat things where I could start jumping.

And so why am I telling you this?

Because I want you guys to know I can do somthing cool

No but because if you have been with us we have been in this series for a while called “The Story” And we have been looking at God’s story that we see throughout the Bible and even today and really we are finding our place in God’s Story

And so if you have been with us recently we began to see the early church form.

And last week we saw the story of this one man named Paul who became a leader in the church

And he began to help the church grow and expand to all these different areas

And some of these churches are doing amazing things

And others are really far off from where they should be.

And so we see the church is expanding, but its a little unstable in areas

And so where we are today is Paul begins to write letters to these churches to make them stable in their walk with God.

Because here is the truth in our walk with God or even in the church it can look like these blocks.

We can build it quickly, but if it is not built well it can fall apart quickly.

But if we build it firm life can happen, things can go wrong, things can go great but that foundation is going to hold.

And really my goal for us today is to look at just a section of one of Pauls letters (found in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24), because it gives us really practical steps to where we can live a life where the foundation is in God and not something else.

And if you are a note taker these are easy things to write down.

So we are going to start with just verses 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15

And its interesting because Paul actually starts with how we act as a church to each other it say:

1 Thessalonians 5:12–15 NIV

12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

You know we are going over a lot today so I am not going to get into every little detail of this part, but notice how it says for us to live with one another.

because it is really focusing on the relationship of people with in the church.

And you get this picture of just a unity that Paul is telling this church to have and a love for one another.

And I am really thankful that we have a church where people care for each other, but I have to say it is so important to aalways keep this in check

Because when the body of Christ becomes unhealthy it is toxic and leaves people hurt.

Its almost like an autoimmune disease

Because an autoimmune disease is where your immune system attacks the healthy parts and it ends up causing a lot of damage.

And when the church looks this way there are people who come to a church to know God or maybe there is a brokeness in their life, but they leave worse then how they came.

It is really important to have a type of unity in the church.

And look what is says next in verse 16 and this shifts from how we live life together to our individual lives.

And its a really long verse so read it with me it says:

1 Thessalonians 5:16 (NIV)

16 Rejoice always,

You know thats kind of a weird verse isn’t it?

Because there are times in my life I do not necessarally feel like rejoicing. right?

But I want to clarify because this is not saying your life should be perfect where everything is going great and you are so happy

Its not saying you never feel depression in your life.

But its saying you can rejoice in Christ because there can be times life is going great or there can be times where life knocks you down, but we can rejoice because we have a God who walks with us through those times.

You know I mentioned how I am heading to Africa tomorrow for a mission trip, but I love trips like this.

Because I have been on a couple others and everytime I go on them I get to serve alongside people who a lot of time hardly have anything

But they are some of the most joyful people I have ever met

And its because all they have is Jesus and they rejoice so strongly in Him.

We need that joy.

Well lets look at the next couple verses because so far Paul tells us we need unity, we need to rejoice and then next he says:

this in verses 17-18:

1 Thessalonians 5:17–18 (NIV)

17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

So it says pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances

And I love the word for “continually” because in the Bible’s original language it means the word there is also used to describe a hacking cough that does not stop.

And this might be a bad illustration during the time of Covid but when you have a cough like that it just does not stop.

Because you go to the gym and you are coughing

You are eating and coughing

When you are driving

And in a way this passage is saying regardless of what is happening and what is going on you are praying and giving thanks in all circumstances whether is a great circumstance or a not so great circumstance.

And the reason it is telling us this is so we understand where our life source comes from and we trust God in everything.

And look at the next part because it moves on and says this in verse 19 and its another really long verse

1 Thessalonians 5:19 NIV

19 Do not quench the Spirit.

You know Paul is saying let the Spirit of God continue to grow you in your walk with Him.

Because the truth is our walk with God can sometimes look like a fire.

And there are a few options that we have in our walk with God.

We can feed the fire and grow it

But we can also do things to put it out or even if we do not feed it we end up going out.

And really we want to be people who are feeding where God is leading us and what He is calling us to do.

Because when we do that we are alowing His presence to increase in our lives.

Look at the next part and I know this is a lot today, but we remain united, we rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks, grow Gods precense in our life

and then verse 20 says:

1 Thessalonians 5:20–21 NIV

20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good,

You know you can picture Paul building up these churches and on one hand God is moving, but on the other hand there are also people who are beginning to teach things that are not the best.

And thats why Paul says Do not treat Prophecies with contempt, basically prophasies are important

And if you are unformilure with the word prophasee, we a lot of times we get this fortune telling thing from it, but mostly in the Bible its actually just used where a person speaks truth into someones life or into a situation

You could say what I do on a Sunday morning is prophasising, (I dont think I ever guessed the future yet unless we count guessing who won the super bowl)...

But this is saying speaking into a situation is good right?

I mean what we do here is good (I think)

But it also says test what is being said

Meaning think about it and think through if what is being said and if it is from God or somthing else.

I mean when I preach on a Sunday morning its good to say “you know Pastor Brendan seemed a little off there or He has know idea what hes talking about

Or when you see something somewhere else asking is this from God or something else?

Because the truth is there are a lot of things that communicate a message claiming this is truth,

And a lot of times as Christians we will allow these views on other things to have an impact on God’s truth.

And when we do this we group Jesus into catagories where we say Jesus holds all the values and views I hold

Jesus is an American

Jesus is 100% Republican

Jesus is a 100% Democrat

And this is an issue because when this happens we have a world that impacts our faith rather than a faith that impacts our world.

and there is an intersection of faith and culture, but we have to make sure it is our faith that impacts these areas and not the other way around.

We need to test what speaks into our life.

Well look at this last one, because Paul is giving us all these practical tips right, but he ends on telling us how any of this is possible.

Look at verses 23-24 and this is where we are ending today. It says this:

1 Thessalonians 5:22–24 NIV

22 reject every kind of evil. 23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

So you will notice Paul ends this telling the church if you want this foundation makesure you work as hard as you can and do not mess up right?

The awnser is actually no, He actually says may God himself sanctify you through and through, basically meaning that is not you who is going to do this but its God.

And then all we really have to do is say yes.

Its almost like if you ever baked with your parents growing up (we did around Christmas)

But you need ingredients to make what your making, but the truth is as a 7 year old you have no way to get these ingredients,

But your parents provide the ingredients and then all you have to do is say yes to what your parents are asking you to do.

And maybe thats a little bit of an oversimplification, but we cannot create the ingredients to change our life or give us a firm foundation in Him. The only one who can do that is God.

And maybe today you realize the ingredients are around you, but you have never put them together

Really you have never really connected God’s grace to your life.

And really its just led to some rough places in your life.

What would it look like to say “yes” God I want you to sanctify me through and through and bring me closer to the person you have created me to be.

Because I beleive this is how we create the firm foundation God has called us to that can stand even in the best days and the worse days.

Will you pray with me?