How many words do you hear or read in a day? A couple of thousand? A couple of million? Someone has reckoned that, between conversations, phone calls, TV, radio, newspapers, books, and the internet, you will hear or read around 100,000 words each day. That’s a lot to take in! But, when you think of it, you don’t give equal attention to every one of those 100,000 words.
Some words are more important than others. So, maybe you’ll turn on the radio for Good Morning Ulster, and then turn it off quickly when Stephen Nolan comes on. A chat with a friend is more important than the chatter on Coronation Street. You’ll stay on the phone when it’s a family member, but quickly hang up when someone rings about PPI or someone claiming to be from Microsoft wanting to talk about a problem with your computer.
The importance of the words depends on who is speaking. What we think about the person will affect how we listen. So, imagine the scene when Paul arrived in Thessalonica. He’s just got out of jail in Philippi, having been beaten. He’s walked the 100 miles, so he’s not in great shape, might not smell too good. You might not be inclined to listen to him.
But when the Thessalonians did listen to him, they discovered a remarkable thing. Paul was speaking the word of God to them. As Paul spoke and shared the gospel, they heard God’s word. Look at verse 13: ‘And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.’
They heard Paul speaking, but they accepted it for what it really was - not human words, manmade philosophy or made up stories - but God’s word. The God of the universe has spoken, and Paul was bringing a report of it.
Most days on the news, they’ll have, at some point, a report of what the Prime Minister has said. Probably about Brexit, or sometimes about something else as well. Theresa May said so and so about the NHS today... But this is so much more important. God has spoken. The God who created the universe by his powerful word, is speaking to us. This is God’s word. And it’s at work in you who believe.
Now if that’s the case, and this is indeed God’s word, then it must lead us to action. In our services, at the end of the readings, the reader says ‘This is the word of the Lord.’ And the response is ‘Thanks be to God.’ If that’s not just a bit of formal liturgy that we say without thinking, if we really are thankful for God’s word being read to us, then we must see that work out in our lives. As God’s word works in us who believe, we must see it worked out in our lives.
Paul shows us two things it calls us to do, even while circumstances are difficult: Having God’s word we practice it and plead for it, even while some prevent it.
So having God’s word, we practice it. This Thursday night at the Growth Group in the upper room, we’ll be looking at James’ letter, at the end of chapter 1 where he says this: ‘Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.’ (James 1:22). You see, it’s not enough to read what God’s word says; it’s not enough to know what God’s word says; you need to do what God’s word says. And that’s what we are urged to do here, in 1 Thessalonians as well. Doing what God’s word says.
So look at verse 10. ‘You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.’ Paul and the other missionaries showed the Thessalonians how to do this - how to live out God’s word in practice. And what did it look like? Holy, righteous and blameless.
When we receive God’s word, when we become a Christian, when we start to live it out - it will bring changes into our lives. There’ll be something different about us. We’ll become more like Jesus. But it only comes when you practice God’s word, doing what it says.
And what might that look like? In the morning (or the evening, or whenever you do it), you open your Bible. You read a chapter or a few verses, and as you do, you know what God wants you to do. Maybe it’s to grow in patience, or to love an enemy, or to trust God. It’s highly likely that something’s going to happen later in the day that gives you an opportunity to do just that. So you’ve heard God’s word, are you going to do what it says? You’ve chosen the wrong queue in the supermarket, the one that’s taking ages. Will you grow in patience or try to find a shorter queue? Will you put God’s word into practice?
Having the word of God we practice it, but we also plead for it. We see this in verses 11-12, where Paul and the others not only live out God’s word themselves, but they urge and encourage others to do the same - pleading for them to live out God’s word.
‘For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.’ (11-12)
Last week, we heard how Paul was like a mother to the Thessalonians, gentle among them (7). Now he shows he was also like a father to them, giving a lead and example, so that they too would live out God’s word.
Do you see the action words in verse 12? ‘Encouraging, comforting and urging...’ They’re all positive, constructive, upbuilding sort of words. It’s like a dad watching his son play football, cheering him on. Except, this is even more important than football. Because the encouragement here is to ‘live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.’
God’s word calls us into his kingdom and his glory. As we hear it we need to heed it, and be moulded and shaped by it. Paul’s summary here is ‘lives worthy of God’ but we’ll see what that looks like in greater detail in chapter 4. For now, though, it means a life reflecting his glory, living under his kingdom and rule - a life of worship of God, because we have heard and responded to his word.
But it doesn’t come naturally or easy. Spiritual growth is hard work - we need to work at it, together, as we urge and encourage and comfort each other to stick at it. We need to be people who cheerlead for each other in our successes (the pom poms are optional!), and comfort and encourage when we mess things up. We’re probably more aware of the ways in which we fail - so that fatherlike encouragement is so precious as we respond to and apply God’s word, and live out the call he has made on our lives.
This is why the growth groups are so important - providing opportunity to talk out our challenges, and to encourage and build up one another in a small group. So who are you receiving encouragement from? And who are you encouraging?
Having God’s word, we practice it and plead for it. It’s amazing that God has spoken, that we can hear it, and pass it on. But not everyone thinks that. Some people jump to the other conclusion, the one the Thessalonians had rejected in verse 12, that it’s all just made up, the word of men.
It’s a viewpoint that we hear all the time on TV documentaries and discussions programmes, and on Stephen Nolan’s radio show. People will try to rubbish or reject or deny the Bible as God’s word. They’re just ancient stories, they don’t really deal with the complexities of life in the 21st century. We’ve moved beyond that nonsense. And so on.
And there seems to be greater hostility to Christians in the western world these days. The question arises, will we be punished or persecuted for holding to God’s word? Will we be silenced? Are things getting worse and worse? Well, it seems that things are getting back to normal - not the way things should be, but the way things really are for our brothers and sisters around the world, and for the way things always were.
Having received God’s word for what it was, and having that word working in their lives, the Thessalonians were feeling the pressure rise. They were suffering for God’s word - just as Paul had (2:2). But that wasn’t unusual. This was how the very first churches had suffered as well. 14: ‘You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out.’
The Jews were opposing the church, but they were actually opposing everyone, v15, ‘They displease God and are hostile to all men in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved.’ The pressure is there - to shut up. To keep quiet and not share God’s word.
But those who look at Christians and think they’re an easy target could find they’re picking the wrong fight. It’s like the school bully who picks on the new kid in school, only to later discover that the new kid is the new principal’s daughter. To take on Christians who hold God’s word is to take on the God whose word they hold. They might be able to intimidate Christians, but God cannot be silenced.
That should be encouraging, as we seek to live lives worthy of God. It’s God’s word that we have received, God’s word that we are practicing, God’s word that we are pleading for. And it’ll be God’s word that counts on the last day, when the full measure of sin is judged, and God’s wrath is paid out for the unbeliever.
When you sit down to read your Bible, God is speaking. When we gather together on Sundays or in the midweek groups, and hear the Bible read and preached, God is speaking. What will you do with it? Paul urges us to receive God’s word, to practice it, and plead for it, even as some prevent it. Let’s live it out this week; and let’s encourage each other to live it out this week. For the glory of the God who calls us to his kingdom and glory. Amen.
This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 30th September 2018.
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