The Word and the World
1 Thessalonians 2 verses 13 to 16: The Word and the World
Introduction
This morning we have the great privilege of welcoming eight folk into full membership of the congregation. Later these folk will confess their faith and make promises to God. And they do not do this lightly.
Over the last few months, they have undertaken a series of ‘Church Membership’ Classes. They have been taught about the realities of faith, the Biblical teaching on the Church, the particularities of our denomination, the responsibilities of membership, and the need to ‘count the cost’ and live in obedience to Christ for all of life.
In reality these classes were designed to do two things: firstly, to equip these folks to make their vows and to keep their vows as Communicant Members. And, secondly, to help them better appreciate what it means to be a Follower of Jesus. In other words, we were helping them to understand what ‘normal’ looks like for a Believer in our Church and in the world.
In our passage this morning Paul considers the question: What should ‘normal’ look like for the Believer? These words will bring rebuke and challenge, but they should also bring encouragement and comfort.
In verses 13 to 16 Paul considers how the Believers in Thessalonica responded to the Gospel, how this impacted their lives and how the world around them responded. Paul has looked back with thanksgiving to how the Thessalonians had initially received the Gospel. Now Paul wants to move on to their ongoing, ‘normal’ experience- which included a fair degree of suffering.
Our passage today can be divided like this:
In verse 13 we see the Word of God at work within Believers.
In verses 14 to 16 we see the world at work against Believers.
Paul is thankful for how they have received God’s Word and taken it to heart. This then leads to a discussion of their suffering- a suffering they share with Christ, Paul, and the Judean churches.
This then is the ‘normal’ Christian life for all who Believe: God’s Word will be working in us by His Spirit to makes us more like Christ. At the same time, and intimately connected to this process, the world will be working against Believers by rejecting the Gospel and opposing the spread of God’s Word. But we should never lose heart, God is sovereign and He will work out His purposes for His Glory.
So, let’s firstly consider… …the Word of God at work within Believers.
A few years ago, Ligonier conducted their ‘State of Theology’ survey. In it they put a series of questions and statements to the UK Adult Population- both the general population and practicing Christians. The results are fascinating and somewhat concerning.
When asked their response to the statement, ‘The Bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches’ it probably wouldn’t surprise us to hear that 64% of the general population disagreed. However, what is shocking is that 27% of professing Christians also disagreed.
That means, in the Church in the UK today, over a quarter of Believers do not Believe that the Bible is God’s inerrant Word. This is a tragic truth that has all sorts of consequences for the Church in our part of the world.
In Thessalonica in the 1st Century, the Believers thought very differently about the Word of God; in verse 13 we read:
And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.
Paul gives thanks that when the Thessalonians heard him preach, they received his message, the Gospel, as the Word of God.
Notice they did not hear it as the word of a gifted speaker- Paul did not perform for profit. And Paul did not have to use gimmicks to persuade them of the eternal truth of his message. Paul preached the Gospel simply and faithfully; Paul proclaimed the Word of God for the Glory of God.
This is a verse packed with profound truth that should make us value the Word of God and the preaching of God’s Word. Consider, firstly, the truth that God has spoken in history and given us His eternal truth to human beings. Twice Paul calls his message the ‘word of God’. This is not merely the word of man. Paul is speaking. But it is the Word of God. God has spoken and is now speaking through Paul.
We believe that God has spoken in history, and that by inspiration, the Bible is His authoritative, eternal revelation. As Paul says in 2 Timothy 3: ‘All Scripture is breathed out by God…’.
So this was not Paul’s thoughts or opinions. Instead, Paul was speaking the Word of God faithfully entrusted to him by God.
So, preaching, when done faithfully, is in fact the Word of God presented to the People of God. When God’s Word is faithfully preached it is as if God Himself is standing amongst us and speaking to us. When we listen to faithful preaching, we are, in a very real sense, hearing from God Himself- and this is the way God has planned for the saving of souls and the sanctifying of His People.
We see this in Thessalonica. Paul is clear that the Word of God has been effective: the Thessalonians had received this life-giving truth from the Living and True God and had turned from idols to serve Him.
Indeed, Paul (using the present tense in verse 13) reminds them that God’s Word is continually at work within them. God’s Word is an active agent reshaping and rebuilding their lives. As the Believers hear God’s Word and, with the Spirit’s help, apply it to all of their lives then the Word of God actively works within them to bring true and lasting spiritual life.
As we consider these truths, we should note how they apply to our own lives- how we understand the Word of God and the role of preaching in the life of the Believer. So I want to lay before us two challenges before we move on to the next section.
Firstly, do all of us, as God’s People, really appreciate the importance of preaching in the life of the Church?
Remember: when God’s Word is faithfully preached, God’s voice is definitely heard. And God has planned it so that this is THE way in which people are saved and His People are made holy.
When we gather as God’s People, we must beware of the temptation to come looking for a motivational speech with lots of nice stories that will help us feel better. So, we must ask ourselves: Do I value the faithful preaching of God’s Word, or do I prefer fancy presentations that simply mention God?
Every time God’s Word is handled faithfully then God’s People are hearing God speak- bringing comfort and conviction. When we gather as God’s People, under His Word and by the Power of the Holy Spirit, we really can hear directly from God.
So, we must come expecting to hear from God. We must come having prepared ourselves for worship- reading the passage beforehand and asking for God’s blessing upon the service. And then we must leave seeking the Spirit’s guiding to apply the faithful exposition of God’s Word to our own hearts and minds. When we do these things, we prove that we really value God and His Word- and He will honour us as we honour Him.
And so, secondly, do we really believe that the spiritual growth of Christians is primarily dependent upon God’s Word working within us?
In 2 Timothy we learn that God’s Word teaches, rebukes, corrects and trains in righteousness long after the preaching has finished because the Spirit of God applies the Word of God to the individual’s life. And in Colossians 3 we learn that God’s Word dwells within the Christian and actively rebuilds the pattern of Christ from within.
As Believers, then, we must make use of every available opportunity to hear God’s Word. Meeting with God in His Word must be a priority. Without God’s Word our Christian life will soon drift, and we will start listening to many other voices.
So this is the normal Christian experience according to Paul: Believers are those who hear God’s voice as God’s Word is preached and, having received that Word, find that it is actively working away within them fulfilling God’s intended purposes. The Word of God has impact within the life of the Believer.
But as the Word works within it will have other consequences; we will see… the world at work against Believers.
‘Like Father, Like Son’. Perhaps you have heard this phrase. I know I have. People will often remark upon the ways in which the boys are like me. And I, myself, am very like my own father in some ways. So you could say the Wilson men share a ‘family likeness’- we share common traits and outlooks because of our shared genetics and heritage.
In verses 14 to 16 we read of another ‘family likeness’. As God’s Word is at work in the lives of all Believers it is not surprising that it produces a family likeness- all Believers should grow in likeness to the God of the Word.
And when God’s Word is at work within, making us more like Jesus, then it should be no surprise when we experience what happened to Him. Paul therefore moves naturally from the Word at work within the Believer to the world at work against the Believer.
In verses 14 and 15 Paul declares:
For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out.
The evidence that God’s Word is at work within them is the fact that their current experience is identical to that of the One they follow and their fellow Followers.
So, the fact that they are suffering like other Believers really shouldn’t surprise them- it is part of the family likeness and part of the normal experience of all who belong to Christ. Jesus Christ Himself suffered at the hands of the Jews, as did prophets in the Old Testament, apostles like Paul in the New Testament and the churches of God in Judea.
Given this pattern, Paul isn’t surprised that the Thessalonians have suffered hostility from their fellow countrymen. The experience of the Word at work within will often go alongside the experience of the world at work against the Believer. The two go together.
Faithful Christians can expect opposition as they hold to God’s Word in a world that opposes God and His Truth. Remember, Jesus Himself warned His followers would be persecuted in John 15: ‘…A servant is not greater than his master… If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you…’.
So, as the Word is at work within there will be opposition from the world around. The world will not like the change it sees in us. The world will oppose the truth of God’s Word and how life is to be lived under His perfect Law.
Hostility is the normal experience of Christians both in 1st Century Greece and 21st Century Antrim because when the Word is preached, it must either be received or rejected. If it is received, it does it’s wonderful work in the Believer. If it is rejected, it will lead people to reject the message and the messengers.
The world will always feel threatened by God’s Word and those who faithfully live out its truth. Hostility is the normal experience of Believers down through history. We are engaged in an age-old battle between truth and deception, between light and dark.
The preaching of God’s Word must always be set in the context of a great spiritual battle where the very souls of men and women are at stake. So, in a sense, when we face rejection and hostility because we are obedient to God’s Word, we should be encouraged. It means we are engaged in the battle and the enemy feels threatened by our efforts.
And Paul gives us further encouragement and challenge. In verses 15 and 16 he teaches about those who reject God’s Word and the inevitable consequences of that rejection.
Firstly, their rejection displeases God since it is a personal rejection- they have rejected the God who has spoken to them through His Word. If you refuse to listen to someone when they are talking to you, it is a clear sign of personal hostility.
Secondly, such opposition is to be interpreted as a hostile act not just against God but all mankind, since it is calculated to prevent others hearing the Gospel. It is bad enough to reject the Gospel, but it worse to stand in the way of others who might otherwise hear, believe, and be saved. Our sinfulness is serious enough but opposing the preaching of God’s Word by God’s servants has the effect, says Paul, of heaping up even further judgement.
Then Paul concludes this section be saying that the Thessalonian Believers do not need to be anxious despite the hostility they are enduring. Although their current circumstances seem hopeless and uncertain, Paul encourages them to patiently endure and remember that one day Jesus Christ will return.
And, at His return, He will rescue Believers from God’s wrath and set all things right. Believers can be confident that one day God will bring justice upon those who rejected His Word and His servants. Paul is so certain that this will happen that he even speaks of it in the past tense.
So, as Believers let us be those who expect opposition in a world hostile to God and His Truth. But let us live with humble confidence as we seek to point to Him in every word and deed.
We are on the Lord’s side, and we eagerly await His victorious return. But until then we must acknowledge we are engaged in the great spiritual battle of proclaiming the Truth with love. Let us do this with a deepening appreciation of the Truth of the Gospel and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion
This then is the ‘normal’ Christian life for all who Believe: God’s Word will be working in us by His Spirit to transform us to be like Christ. At the same time, and intimately connected to this process, the world will be working against Believers by opposing the Gospel and rejecting the spread of God’s Word. But we should never lose heart, God is sovereign over all and He will work out His purposes for His Glory.