Category: Sermon

Our response during a Pandemic! : 1 Thessalonians 2:17 – 3:5

Post author By Jinson Thomas
Post date March 31, 2020
1 Comment on Our response during a Pandemic! : 1 Thessalonians 2:17 – 3:5

Good morning church! My name is Jinson Thomas and I’m one of the pastors at the Gathering Community Church.

We are going through a series titled “Abiding Faith” from the letter of 1 Thessalonians & I’m thankful to God for the opportunity to encourage you all through the Word this morning. The fear and uncertainty of Coronavirus has gripped the entire world & as a result many nations are being locked down to contain the spread of the virus.

In the midst of this lockdown situation where we are away from each other, what is God trying to tell us? Let’s turn to 1 Thess 2:17 – 3:5 because I believe there are some very relevant principles to address our situation and lives:

17 But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavoured the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face,

18 because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us.

19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?

20 For you are our glory and joy.

Chapter 3

1Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone,

2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker[a] in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith,

3 that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.

4 For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know.

5 For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.

Social Distancing –

It’s the most heavily used and to an extent the trendiest phrase within the last 2 months. This means maintaining physical distance or avoiding contact with people during an outbreak to minimize the exposure and transmission of an infection.

This poses a tension for God’s people because we realize that God has created us to be social beings! So, pastors and church leaders all over the world are praying through and figuring out what it means to be the church in a time when social distancing is a necessity.

At the same time the world and culture around us says things like “This is the one time for you to save the world by sitting at home and watching TV, don’t mess it up!” Is Netflix the solution for this season? Or does God intend something much deeper in purpose?

On the basis of today’s passage, I would argue that God’s intention during this time is to show His concern for us believers through the church & to show His concern for the world through the church.

After all, when we look at the situation and crisis when Paul wrote this letter, he wrote it to brand new believers who were probably just weeks or months old in the faith.

Paul and Silas barely spent a few weeks with them before they were driven out of the city due to severe persecution. That left these brand-new believers with their newfound faith, alone in a very hostile environment. You can imagine how pressurized they felt as new believers to undergo suffering each day.

And in the midst of this, God shows how concerned and present He is with them through the concern of believers like Paul, Silas and Timothy. But how can we develop that genuine concern for people? Does it happen merely by us making a list to contact 15 people everyday?

Planning is good but if it’s not fueled by genuine concern, it’ll not stick. If you’re at that place today where you desire true concern for the believers and unbelievers in your life, know that you’re not alone.

Like you I’m also figuring it out and I want to know how to do that biblically. So 4 Important Steps that we learn from this text:

1. We need to Understand that Identity precedes Concern

17 But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart (v17)

Right throughout this passage, we see a lot of familial language being used. Sometimes he refers to his relationship with the church like a parent is with the child. But sometimes he refers to them as “brothers”.

I think it’s important because he recognizes although they heard the gospel through Paul (he is their spiritual father) but yet just like them he is also “a sinner saved by grace” and “a child of God”. That is his first and primary identity.

Angela my wife and I have been reading a parenting book which spoke about this concept of identity. Many a times parents seek validation and acceptance from their children.

They derive their identity through the approval of their children. They spend 20-25 years of their lives trying to do that and then suddenly when the son or daughter leaves home for college or gets married, their world turns upside down & they lose their sense of purpose in life because God never designed them to find their identity in their children.

I think the same thing could be said about finding our identity in the church as well. If we’ve been looking for validation and acceptance from the believers in the church, then the moment something like this lockdown situation comes about, we feel this sense of losing our purpose in life & our faith seems weak and fragile.

And that’s when we resort to spending hours in entertainment, social media and many other sinful indulgences as an escape route.

And the hard truth is that whenever we find our identity in the believers instead of Christ, we don’t really end up loving them. Rather we see the believers in the church as a means to an end.

That’s primarily the main reason why we fail to show concern to our brothers and sisters in Christ. A lack of concern is primarily an identity issue NOT a feeling issue.

So I want to encourage you all this morning, if you’re at a place where you want to be concerned for people, it doesn’t start from you making a long list and a set of plans…it starts from you understanding your identity as a child of God first and not as a member of the Gathering.

It starts with understanding that you are loved and accepted infinitely through Christ Jesus. Only when your heart rests in that identity, will you be able to love & show concern to people not seeking to get anything back from them but with a genuine concern to care for them.

2. We need to Express our Concern

Another thing we notice in this passage, it is filled with affectionate language for the Thessalonian church. Paul says “You are in our hearts (v17)”, “We endeavoured the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face (v18)” & “You are our glory and joy (v20)”.

In our predominantly male-dominated Indian culture, it’s looked down upon if people especially men express their heart and feelings. What’s promoted is the alpha male, tough guy persona who has no emotions. And that also somehow translates within the church.

I understand that personality types can differ from person to person. Some people will be able to express themselves at length but others might find it hard to do. But I think it’s good and important for us as God’s church to be able to express our affections and concern for each other.

I’m not saying that we need to be sentimental and over-emotional but in a way that is natural to us, we should be able to verbally express our concern and affections because it communicates care especially when people are going through a very difficult time.

Look at the way our God expresses Himself in Jeremiah 31:3-4:

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt”

And let me tell you my own experience has been that even the most rough and tough person (although they won’t show it) seeks and appreciates concern. During this season of COVID-19, the impact is such where even the spiritually mature would struggle with fear, uncertainty and loneliness.

Assured with your identity in Christ, I would encourage you especially in your conversations with your brothers and sisters, please don’t shy away from expressing your pure affection and concern for each other. They need to hear those words of concern being expressed.

3. We need to Respond to the Concern

Being assured of our identity in Christ, and having expressed our concern, we need to now do whatever is necessary according to our ability to help meet the need/concern.

2:18 – We see how that concern has driven them to make several attempts to go back to Thessalonica despite being kicked out of the city. because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us.

3:1-3 – Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker[a] in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions.

When there was no option left, Paul and Silas decided to stay back and instead send their beloved coworker Timothy to check on the believers and also encourage them in the faith. Paul didn’t say “I’m the main church planter and only I need to be the one to go back there.”

He didn’t say “Timothy is my dear Son in the faith, one of my best and most faithful disciples and a super encouraging dude so let me keep him with me for my personal edification”. No, when it reached that point where Paul couldn’t go back, he was willing to send his best resource and his best friend to encourage a suffering church who needed him the most at that time.

And we see how Paul’s concern was not just for their physical well-being. Yes, persecution was also real & physical at that time. But Paul’s deeper concern is how this persecution was going to affect their spiritual well-being.

Will they still continue to love, trust and obey Jesus or will they abandon Him? I really appreciate the calls that I was able to have with some brothers this week where they asked me about my spiritual walk. It just brought so much of refreshment to my soul.

One of the questions that I always appreciate being asked is “how is your heart?” Not that always my heart is doing great but I think it somehow is able to sift through my intellectual faith and dig deep into my heart.

And I really believe true believers in Christ want to be asked those questions, they want to be challenged with those questions even in seasons when things aren’t going great spiritually.

In those in whom the Spirit dwells, there is a deep unrest with their spiritual life and they are waiting for a Christian brother or sister to challenge them and also point them back to Christ. I want to encourage you all even though this is a season of social distancing, please make use of technology to respond to the concern for your brothers and sisters.

And remember that our desire is not in just making sure that the brother or sister is doing physically well during this pandemic, but that their heart is still responding to Christ. That is true Christian response of concern.

4. Impact of concern

There is an impact that this concern generates. I find it interesting that in spite of the encouragement & concern that was expressed and shown to them with the sending of Timothy, Paul doesn’t tell them that the suffering will go away.

Rather in chapter 3:3 he says: For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.

I think sometimes many of us do have a romanticized view of the Christian life. We don’t believe in prosperity theology of health and wealth – we know that’s wrong, unbiblical and harmful to the church of God. But yet in practice we don’t see suffering or anticipate suffering as essential to being a follower of Christ.

Think about it – if God was only about health, wealth and prosperity, then it means that He is absent and distant from me in times when I’m going through suffering, pain and poverty.

Instead in the Bible we see our God who understands our suffering, is present in our time of suffering, very near us during our moments of suffering and moreover uses suffering as a tool to redeem people from every tongue, tribe and nation to Himself.

We see this clearly displayed in the suffering of Christ on the cross through which we are redeemed and set free from our slavery to sin to live for Him eternally. And if God can redeem sinners like us through the suffering of His Son, then He can most certainly also use COVID-19 as a tool to redeem people to Himself.

I want to end with a true story of a doctor treating COVID-19 patients in Italy – the new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic which is recording almost 1000 deaths every day.

“Never in my darkest nightmares did I imagine that I would’ve seen and lived through what has been happening here in the hospital for the last three weeks. Right now we are no longer doctors but mere sorters who decide who should live and who should die.

Up until 2 weeks ago, my colleagues and I were atheists; this was normal because we are doctors and we have learned that science proves that God doesn’t exist. I always laughed at my parents when they went to church.

9 days ago, a 75-year-old pastor came to us with respiratory problems. He had a bible with him and it impressed us that he was reading the Bible to the people who were dying and holding their hands. We were all tired and discouraged doctors – physically and psychologically spent and so we found that we were listening to him.

We realized that we have reached our limits of what man can do. We need God, and we have begun to ask for his help, when we have a few moments free. We cannot believe that we who were once fierce atheists are now seeking for interior peace by asking the Lord to help us resist so that we can take care of the sick. Yesterday the pastor died.

Despite the fact that in the last 3 weeks we have had over 120 people die in our unit and we are all exhausted and feel destroyed, he succeeded, despite his own condition and our own difficulties to bring us PEACE that we no longer hoped to find.”

A COVID-19 infected 75-year-old pastor was able to bring peace through the gospel to atheist doctors. One thing I can say is that the people I’ve been speaking to over the last couple of weeks are genuinely open to God at this juncture. They are all looking for PEACE.

We know the PRINCE OF PEACE!

So to close let it not be Netflix, television or anything else that defines how we respond to this time of lockdown. Being assured in our identity in Christ, expressing & responding to the concern to our brothers and sisters, can we now look outside of our churches to impact the city with this story of PEACE?

God has divinely ordained the church to show His concern for the people within and also the people outside the church.

Tags Pandemic, Peace, Suffering

1 Thessalonians Sermon

Mark of a Healthy Church – 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16

Post author By Saju Joseph
Post date March 23, 2020
No Comments on Mark of a Healthy Church – 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16

We are currently doing a sermon series called ‘Abiding Faith’ as we are going through Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. The passage we will be looking at today is 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16, and if you have your bible or an app you can open and read with me.

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, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved-so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!

Being part of a Sunday worship is not enough
Being part of a community group is not enough
Having being born in a Christian family is not enough
Having being called Christian, a follower of Jesus by others is not enough

It takes a lot more than these to be called a true & faithful follower of Jesus.

The mark of a strong and healthy church is not in the strength of its numbers, not in its well-organised services and bible studies and community groups, it is not in its electrifying singing time, and it is not even in its online presence.

The mark of a strong and healthy church is in the quality of its people.

In our passage today Paul is calling out and thanking God for the church, the people of God. He is highlighting some of the great qualities these men possessed that made them different. So, let’s listen carefully to what he has to say about the Church in Thessalonica.

And as we hear and learn from these verses let us come with an open heart, examine ourselves before God and allow the Holy Spirit to bring conviction and lead us into repentance and faith making us a strong and healthy Christian and a healthy church.

There are three qualities of the church that Paul is thanking God for, the first one is that …

• They received the word not as the word of man but as word from God

In verse 13 he writes “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.”

When Paul and his associates went preaching the gospel in Thessalonica and teaching from the scriptures, the people didn’t just hear the word as its coming from the mouth of Paul or other men, they heard and accepted it as if it were the words of God himself. And Paul says that which you believed to be the words from God is at work in you. What an encouraging thing to say.

Their attentive ears and their attitude towards the word of God brought the Gospel alive in their hearts and is now at work in them.

In hard times like these, when we are going through a threat like Coronavirus – where people, news channels, neighbours, office colleagues are constantly talking to us – where everyone’s giving their views and opinions about the current situation and how to react to it, what is our source of truth? Where do we draw our strength from? What is at work in our heart?

Brothers & sisters, it is only the word of God that can be our source of truth, the only hope for our heart in such difficult times.

The scriptures, preaching of the word and others devotionals are how God communicates to us, giving words of instruction, rebuking us of our sin patterns, encouraging our hearts in difficult times, provoking us to live a Holy life, worthy of His calling. As Pastors and leaders when we prepare our sermons we pay very careful attention not to speak or present to you anything that is not in the purview of the scripture and we even hold each other accountable to it.

The transforming word of God was at work in the life of the believers in Thessalonians, but for the word to produce transformational results in their hearts, they needed to trust God’s word with the right attitude and a desire to walk in unconditional obedience.

Imagine you’ve been given a new responsibility at work, a new project to handle. And while your manager was training you for the job, explaining the process and instructions as per the guidelines given by the company CEO – instead of paying attention you were distracted on your phone or some other things, you said: “chod na, yeh manager bak bak karat rehta hai”. What do you think the result will be? We will make a wreck of the job and even ruin the company and the CEO’s reputation.

Now, when we ignore reading the Bible, not giving heed to the preaching of God’s word. If that’s the attitude we carry, then aren’t we risking our lives? God who made the world, God who knows the end from the beginning expects us to give Him a listening year and trust His word and not what the world has to say.

When we read or hear Gods word, do we see them as man-made fables written to entertain our itching ears or do we see them as from God, the Holy one. If we believe these words are from God we will pay full attention, protect it, guard it, set reminders for our heart.

While we are in Sunday gatherings, in bible study groups, in GC’s we will make every effort to align our heart and mind to make sure we get it right, that we are not missing the point. And even if for any reason we sometimes fail to make it for these gatherings, we will still make an effort to get hold of God’s word by other means.

Brother & sisters, if you are in a place where you feel fearful with the spread of this deadly disease, you don’t have hope in your heart, or you feel depressed and lonely while you are isolated in your home…. my encouragement to you is pick up your bible and hear God, I promise you will see your faith increasing, your hope growing and sense the arm of protection of our loving Father.

The second quality Paul mentions in that …

• They became imitators of the Churches of God in Christ

In verse 14 Paul writes “For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea”

They didn’t just heed to Gods word but to grow healthy they started imitating other churches and other believers. It doesn’t mean that they started imitating each other’s dressing style, worship style, talking style etc. But I believe they imitated each other’s Faith, [Pause] imitated each other’s responses to the call of God over their lives, [Pause] their response to sufferings and most importantly imitate them in preaching and spreading the good news of Jesus wherever they went.

Imitating each other is a good thing, that’s the primary way in which we learn and grow. Children imitate their parents and family members, younger ones imitate their older ones. Jairus sometimes finds it annoying when Amaze imitates whatever he does, but isn’t that how are programmed to grow. Paul writes to the Corinthian church saying “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ”

As Christians it is healthy to imitate each other, apart from all how we imitate each other as mentioned earlier, we can imitate healthy marriages, imitate servanthood, imitate prayer life, we also imitate faith-filled responses of other strong believers when we go through troubled times.

But beware, the greatest hindrance that keeps us from imitating each other’s Godly life is Pride, don’t let your pride tell you that you know it better and that you don’t need to learn from others.

As a church and as your leaders, we actively fellowship with other churches in our network to learn from them, to find encouragement from them and to imitate their godly pursuits. I can’t express the number of ways in which I have benefited from such Godly imitations, helping me grow stronger in the Lord.

Beloved, don’t sulk in your pain, sorrow and fear, but identify the areas in which you are struggling and find a godly role-model whom you can imitate so you can grow as a follower of Christ.

If you are not able to meet a brother and sister physically, pick up your phone and call them. As your pastors and leaders, we and our wives are always available to speak to you. Pls, do not hesitate to do so especially in times like this.

Don’t let these circumstances to draw us apart from each other, rather let it bring us, even more, closer to each other.

And the final quality Paul mentions is that …

• They suffered for the sake of the Gospel

For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose al mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved-so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!

Their faith in Jesus was not just a decorative badge they carried around but it invited trouble and persecution from their fellow men. Jesus said in John 16:33 “In this world, you will have tribulation”, and especially when you are a follower of Jesus.

Often we desire that our suffering would end, but please believe me when I say to you that suffering is good and you ought to be rejoicing when you suffer for the sake of Christ. You know why? Because in our sufferings on earth for Christ we get to share in the sufferings of Christ. Isn’t that a wonderful experience.

Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:13 “to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”

Paul writes in Corinthians 1: 5 “For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.”

I don’t know what kind of sufferings you are experiencing at this moment, maybe suffering because of your faith in Jesus, or maybe suffering because of the responses of this broken world in your office, in your society. When we go through such sufferings its a reminder that Christ endured the same suffering and much more for our sake, dying for sinners like us and mending our broken relationship with our Heavenly Father. Let our sufferings draw us closer to Jesus in repentance and faith in Him and his saving grace

The believers in the early church when faced with trials and testings, instead of breaking down and giving up, endured it with joy knowing that the experiences were drawing them closer to Christ. Let us also, therefore, embrace such sufferings with joy.

Brothers and sisters, my hope and prayer for us all this morning is that our hearts would be inclined to grow as quality Christians, not cold or lukewarm but hot, super hot for Christ. And that will happen as we take God’s word seriously, use our free time to dive deep into scriptures and engage with it in a meaningful way. Remember Psalm 1:2-3 “those who delight in the word of the Lord, who meditates on his law day and night, are like a tree planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

We will also grow super strong when we are together, connected in love, encouraging each other, imitating each other in the Lord and when we endure suffering with joy.

Let’s pray!

Tags church, Encouragement, Love, People, Word

1 Thessalonians Sermon

Love in Action: 1 Thessalonians 2:5-12

Post author By admin
Post date March 17, 2020
No Comments on Love in Action: 1 Thessalonians 2:5-12

Good morning, Church.

How are you all doing today?

At a time when the world is crippled with fear and every conversation when people meet is about the corona-virus, isn’t it wonderful to see God’s people gather together in love – to worship God and to fellowship with one another.

It’s good to re-iterate what Saju has been reminding us on the group that we have a Sovereign God and nothing surprises Him. Rather, God has allowed the situations that we are in – to show forth His glory and His mercy.

Church, I wish to remind you of an incident in the Bible in which Jesus and His disciples get on a boat to cross over from one place to another. Jesus makes Himself comfortable by taking a pillow and going for a good sleep.

Co-incidently, there is a great storm and the boat is about to give in. The disciples were fretting for their lives. In their desperation, they cried out to the Lord (who was apparently sleeping through all this). He got up and silenced the storm and looked at the disciples and said in Mark 4:40, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Beloved, in times like these, fear is common to find all around us – including our own hearts.

But fear does show a lack of faith – lack of faith in an-all sovereign God – right in the midst of our situations. When the world goes through fear and despair – let us the people of God – stand boldly without fear – showing forth the love of Christ through our responses – even with one another, in the family of God.

To be honest, I went through the motions of fear in the last week but a reminder of the hope that a Christian has lifted my spirit. Let us encourage one another and build each other up – in love. Because “Perfect love casts out fear.” “I am no longer a slave to fear – I am a child of God.” But love is also careful and responsible.

Our elders and few brothers were travelling last week and they decided to skip today’s service – in love – so that none of us would panic. Let us keep them and their families in prayer. Let us turn to our passage for today –

1 Thessalonians 2:5-12

5 For we never came with words of flattery,[b] as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness.

6 Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.

7 But we were gentle[c] among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.

8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

9 For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

10 You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers.

11 For you know how, like a father with his children,

12 we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

Pray.

We had talked about “Passion for the Gospel” last Sunday and as I meditated on the text for today – I realized – Paul was talking about the major reason behind his passion. His passion and craziness was fueled by something so great that He could boldly stand for the Gospel in the midst of conflict. And what was that? “Love”!

So, I would like to title my sermon today as “Love in action” and it is my prayer this morning that we may be stirred up by the Love of God and love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

In these last days, the Bible says that the love of many will grow cold. In an age of social media and television and lust – the word ‘love’ has lost its purity and depth.

Covenant relationship in marriage has been substituted for just an agreement paper. Family love has been substituted for whatsapp groups.

Brotherly love in churches have been substituted for a ‘hi and bye’ relationship. Inspite of all that – isn’t it wonderful that God has a remnant which still builds their relationships on “Die together and live together”.

Isn’t it a wonder that the Gospel still binds broken hearts and wounded relationships? Don’t we keep seeing the love of God displayed in the lives of His children in difficult times as this?

Beloved, I wish to bring your attention this morning to this agape love which is pure, willful and sacrificial – given to us freely through the Gospel. What is this love that goes the second mile?

This passage gives a small glimpse of the love displayed in the lives of Paul and his friends. As we begin, let us first understand what agape love is not.. and then we go on to understand what it really is..

What agape love is not?

Agape love is not in speaking words of flattery (vs 5)

Paul and his fellow workers showed not their love to the Thessalonians by speaking flattering words as he mentions in verse 5 – “For we never came with words of flattery”.

‘Love’ in today’s age means to flatter someone and gain something in return.

Doesn’t that happen when we flatter our bosses to gain a good bonus or a promotion in return? Doesn’t that happen when we try to flatter our friends for some favour in return? Don’t we flatter people sometimes to get them to church? Don’t we flatter our pastors and brothers and sisters sometimes to gain a good standing before them? Don’t we flatter our brethren sometimes when we know that what they do is a sin?

The human nature loves to be flattered but that is not love. Imagine a doctor examining you and flattering you that you have a normal flu when you could be having corona virus. That’s making your case even worser for you and others around you.

Paul and the apostles did not use flattering speech while planting the church nor while discipling them. They did not flatter them with a good opinion of themselves: they did not preach that they were good people who just needed Jesus to go to heaven. No! but they were blunt in saying that they were sinners in a desperate need of a Saviour.

Nor did they flatter them by talking about the power of their self-will but they declared just the reverse: they were weak, impotent and strengthless and couldn’t think even a single good thought if not for the Grace and power of God – who works in them both to will and to do.

They also did not flatter them when they were enjoying their sin and being friends of the World. When a man from the Corinthian church was caught in adultery, Paul wrote to them to count him as an unbeliever and deliver him into the hands of Satan – Why? Why didn’t he flatter them?

Because he loved them!

Love does not flatter but looks at their eternal welfare and speaks the truth in love. That does not mean we always find faults and sins in our brethren. Rather love covers a multitude of sins. It does not keep an account of evil but is lavish in forgiving others.

But when we do see someone going in a direction towards hell, let us take care not to flatter them but show them their sin through the Gospel and point them to a Saviour who loves them unconditionally and died for them.

Going on to my next point. –

– Agape love is not greedy (vs 5)

Paul and his friends did not preach the Gospel out of greed or covetousness as said in verse 5.. “nor with a pretext for greed – God is my witness.” He calls upon God as His witness when he says that yes – we loved you – but we had no desire for money or position.

They trusted in an all-providing God for their needs and went all out for the Thessalonians in love. A love which expects nothing in return? That’s agape love. When Paul was old, he advises an younger elder – Timothy that “The love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Tim 6:10). He also adds, “Godliness with contentment is great gain”. (1 Tim 6:6).

Beloved, I know God is calling many from amongst us – from the Gathering community – to show forth the love of Christ to our fellow brothers and sisters sitting next to us – to the community of broken people in our neighbourhood and colleges and offices.

But when you do that, remember that your God is an all-sufficient God and He takes care of all your needs and you need not look at any man for anything in return for the Gospel. Freely you have received, freely give! The love that the Gospel pours into our hearts does not look for monetary gain or riches or gifts from people.

Also, our expectations when we come to Jesus is not for riches or money or prosperity. God has promised to supply all our needs but not all our greeds. This attitude should not be just amongst our church members but also in our own respective families.

Many of us come from families who do not know Jesus and they by nature have money as their God. But what is our Christian response? I serve Jehovah Jireh – God is my provider. I need not act like the gentiles but show forth Agape love – which does not run after money.

Have God as your witness this morning – there may be failures – but let us draw near to God confessing our greed to Him and ask Him to fill us with a love which is selfless.

Agape love seeks not for glory from people (vs 6)

Paul goes on to say in verse 6 that he did not seek glory from people. That convicts me. I would be wrong to say that I do not seek glory from people. People must say nice things about me. “Isn’t he a great guy?”, “Doesn’t he have a great zeal for God?”,

Beloved, most of us want God to do His work indeed but we also wish that if He does work, It must be only through us. Like the mother of James and John, we wish that we get to sit at the right hand and the left hand of Jesus – when He is glorified. That is not agape love.

Agape love seeks the Glory of God even if I am abased and crushed in the process. Agape love seeks God’s Glory in the salvation of sinners and in the sanctification of the saints. I do not love you in order to gain your approval – I love you because I am already approved and beloved in His Son – Jesus Christ.

I am passionate to preach the Gospel and live the Gospel because I live in the presence of an all-knowing God who knows my sitting down and my rising up and my thoughts afar off. I must hurry on, brethren.

Agape love doesn’t make demands and burden others (vs 6 & 9)

I will not spend much time in this point but I must say that Paul and the apostles worked very hard for their bread and butter in-spite of their commitment to the Gospel. Living out the Gospel in our lives does not make us lazy men.

“God is our provider – so let us sleep?” “God cares for me – so, I need not look after my family?” That’s not agape love, brethren. In verse 6, Paul says, I could have made demands as an apostle but I did not.

In verse 9, He says – “you remember our toil – we worked night and day” – that we might not be a burden to any of you. Beloved, we as children of God – with agape love – need to bear one another’s burdens but we are not called to be a burden to one another.

Paul in another place writes – “If a man will not work, let him not eat.” Don’t we get sometimes very demanding with our brothers and sisters? Am I not his brother? Shouldn’t he take care of me? Rather, you are called to take care of him without expecting it in return. Agape love is not demanding but giving!

Ok, so we saw what Agape love is not. But what then is Agape love:

Agape love is –

Affectionate and gentle as a nursing mother

Let me read to you something written by Max Lucado:

“Moms, I have a question: Why do you love your newborn? I know, I know, it’s a silly question.. (but still) Why do you?

For months this baby has brought you pain. She (or he) made you break out in pimples and waddle like a duck. Because of her you craved sardines (wada pavs) and crackers (chocolates) and threw up in the morning. She punched you in the tummy.

She occupied space that wasn’t hers and ate food she didn’t fix.

You kept her warm. You kept her safe. You kept her fed. But did she say thank you?

Are you kidding?

She’s no more out of the womb than she starts to cry! The room is too cold, the blanket is too rough, the nurse (papa) is too mean. And who does she want? Mom.

She didn’t even tell you she was coming. She just came. And what a coming!

She rendered you a barbarian. You screamed. You swore. You bite bullets and tore the sheets. And now look at you. Your back aches. Your head pounds. Your body is drenched in sweat.

Every muscle strained and stretched. You should be angry, but are you?

Far from it. On your face is a for-longer-than-forever love. She has done nothing for you, yet all you can talk about are her good looks and bright future. She’s going to wake you up every night for the next six weeks, but that doesn’t matter. I can see it on your face. You’re crazy about her.

Why?”

I sometimes watch Abiah nursing our son, Nathan day and night – without much sleep – tired, exhausted, weary – but still so affectionate and so gentle with him – and I see a small glimpse of agape love there.

Look at how Paul describes his love for the Thessalonians – “You had become so dear to us. We were gentle among you like a nursing mother. We were so affectionately desirous of you. We were ready to share with you – not just the Gospel – but ourselves.” T

hat’s agape love. Loving God’s children as a nursing mother loves her own children. Oh that God would pour into our hearts such love for one another – for each other’s spiritual welfare. Oh that we would be gentle and patient with one another – forgive each other just as God in Christ forgave us.

Is there something that you have against your brother or sister this morning? Make sure you forgive him/her and show some love to that person before you leave. Oh God, pour out heavenly love into our hearts! Love that cares for others. Love that goes a second mile for others.

Love that covers a multitude of sins. Love that is ready to give ourselves for others. Is that possible? I leave that for you to ponder. Let me go on… a mother’s love is great but a father’s love is equally important too.

A strong pillar of encouragement and role-model as a loving Father

Fathers have a huge role in a child’s life which the world fails to adore and admire. With all his failures as a human being, a father is a child’s strength and role-model. A bad father leaves behind a broken home and a forever distorted child – unless the child experiences God’s love.

Paul says, “Like a father, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God.” He also adds, “How holy and righteous and blameless we were amongst you”.

Is there a role that God is calling you to play, dear brother, dear sister – similar to a loving Father – who exhorts others and encourages others and charges others to live in a manner worthy of God. When you lift up a fallen brother, when you correct a brother’s sin in love, when you go out during the week to your brother’s house and ask him how he is faring – you show forth Fatherly love.

When we live out the Gospel as a role-model to our brothers and sisters, we show forth love as a father to those around us. Beloved, God is calling us to live lives like an open book – not a compartmentalized life. A holy life in church and a sinner elsewhere – sets forth a standard of hypocrisy and double-standard to the world around us.

This is not a father that a child looks for – says something but practices something else. Let me be honest and vulnerable here – I have failed in many areas to have a heart like a loving father but I pray that God would instill in me and in all of us – such a heart of love – which stands up as pillars of encouragement and role-models in this generation – in this city – those who will point many to the Father – the Holy God – the loving Father but as we see agape love being displayed in the roles of a mother and a father, it would be incomplete for me to end this sermon without pointing you to the only perfect Agape love displayed till date until now.

A love which can be seen perfectly only in the Gospel

The man – Paul – with all his love and affections and holiness – still would go on to say that amongst all the apostles – he was the least of them and so, when we would look for a perfect example of Agape love – you wouldn’t find it anywhere else except on the cross – in the Gospel – where God so loved you and me that He would give His only Begotten Son for you and me – wretched sinners and imperfect lovers!

If you admit that agape love is not what you display many a times – you have good company – you need the Gospel as much as any of us would do. God –

I have a question – Why do you love us so? Why do you tolerate us? Only heaven knows how much pain we’ve brought you. How we kicked against you and rejected you. How we disobeyed you. How we mistreated the bodies you gave us. We ignored the Word you sent us. And we killed the Son you sent us.

Ashamed I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers. You have every reason to abandon us. But here comes an answer from God – Yes. Yes. A thousand times yes. I have a million reasons to abandon you. But I HAVE LOVED YOU WITH AN EVERLASTING LOVE! I am Agape Love! My love does not change based on your actions – My love is much much greater than a mother’s love – “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I WILL NOT FORGET YOU!”

Is there someone out here who hasn’t experienced that love until now – I plead with you right now by faith to look unto Him that was pierced on the cross for you – Jesus Christ – He loves you! He loves you! He loves you!

There is no greater love than this – that a man lay down His life for his friends! And HE did! As we close, I want you to meditate on this never-ending agape love which loved His elect from before the foundation of the World!

As we respond by taking the Lord Supper, if you haven’t experienced the love of God in your life, we ask you to let it pass by and you can reach out to us after this service and we will be willing to help you.

Tags Action, Agape, Gospel, Love, Response

1 Thessalonians Sermon

Ignited by a Passion for the Gospel: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-3

Post author By admin
Post date March 12, 2020
No Comments on Ignited by a Passion for the Gospel: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-3

Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ, reflects on his missionary trip to Thessalonica

Good morning, church! How are you all doing today?

What a privilege and an honour to preach the Word of God this morning and indeed I am so humbled to be filling the gap in the absence of our elders.

To begin, I wish to remind you of an incident in the Bible. Two people were on a journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus – walking frustrated and de-motivated after the crucifixion of Jesus. On the way, a stranger joined them and began to expound the Scriptures to them and their hearts burned within them.

He was none other than our Blessed Lord. As we dive into the passage for today morning, may the Lord open our hearts to see wonderful things from the Word and be ignited, encouraged, comforted, corrected and lifted up.

Let us turn to our text for this morning – 1 Thessalonians 2:1-3

For you yourselves know, brothers,[a] that our coming to you was not in vain. 2 But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. 3 For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive

Let us turn to the Lord in prayer.

PRAYER …

On January 8, 1956, a 28-year old American missionary Jim Elliot was speared to death as a martyr on a sandbar called Palm beach in the Curaray river of Ecuador along with four missionary partners and friends.

They were trying to reach the Auca tribe for the first time in history with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Elisabeth Elliot – his wife – wrote down his story in her book – “Shadow of the Almighty”. This is where Jim Elliot was slain – in the shadow of the Almighty.

She had not forgotten the heartbreaking account of her husband’s death when she began writing 2 years later. When he was killed, they had been married for 3 years and had a 10-month old daughter.

The mission seemed to have ended even before it just began. Jim and his partners were preparing for this since months – trying to learn the language of the Aucas and circling their village with a plane and trying to make contact with them in some way or the other.

Finally, when the day came to meet them personally – due to a misunderstanding – the villagers speared them to death. Seemed like an open and shut case until Jim’s wife – Elisabeth, decided to go to the same tribe which murdered her husband – to give them the love of Christ. Seriously? The same uneducated, unloving murderers? They who had destroyed her family and home – left her alone with a 10-month old kid? Why did she do that? How could she do that?

In this passage, Paul seems to describe on her behalf and on the behalf of many who threw their lives for the sake of the Gospel. They were bitten by the Gospel virus – as Jeff described last week. They were ignited with a passion for the Gospel. No one infected by the Gospel virus could stay the same.

The man who penned down this passage – Paul – who was responsible for the killing of many of the followers of Jesus Christ – when the Lord encountered him on the road to Damascus – you remember what happened to him? “He who once persecuted the people of God was now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”

The man who speared down Jim Elliot once bitten by the Gospel bug went to the US and preached the story of God’s love which came after him even though he tried to destroy it. Beloved, the Gospel of Jesus Christ makes us radical Christians – empowered by the Holy Spirit.

As I attempt to describe the passion that was ignited in Paul’s heart for the Gospel’s sake – in his message and his life – let us examine our own hearts – cause honestly, all of us – having been bitten by the Gospel bug years ago need a reminder again and again – week after week – daily – of what Jesus did for us in laying down His life for us and redeeming us and making us his own.

So, here in this passage – we see Paul – being ignited by a passion through and for the Gospel – how he ministered to the Thessalonians – through the message of the Gospel and through a life saturated by the Gospel. I would like to title my sermon – “Ignited by a passion for the Gospel” and drive home these following truths from the passage:

Passion for the Gospel is:

Characterized by boldness in conflict and
Enriched by the purity of the Gospel

Characterized by boldness in conflict and

A guy bitten by the Gospel bug is characterized by boldness in conflict as mentioned in verse 2 and I quote – “But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.”

Paul had just come out of a great conflict – beaten at Phillipi, thrown into prison, wrongly charged, shamefully treated – for the Gospel’s sake. He could have packed his bags and gone off for a vacation or a recovery break. He had enough of reasons not to go on for his next challenge.

If it was me, I can imagine myself trying to find out which is the next flight home – I have a wife and a kid to take care of. But not so with Paul. Sufferings made him rely on God for more boldness to stand as a messenger of the Gospel.

Paul in himself was a weak man and when we think about any of the saints of old, let us not have a notion that they had a strength which was different from ours. Inspite of all his weaknesses, he says, “We had boldness in our God”.

Beloved, the Bible and our rich Christian heritage is filled with people who were weak, helpless, weary in themselves yet who were extremely bold in their God. Think about a Moses who killed a man and ran away from Egypt and was feeding his father-in-law Jethro’s sheep for 40 years.

When God asked him to go to Pharaoh, he had so many questions – “Who am I to go? I smell of sheep”, “What if they will not believe me or listen to me?”, “I cannot speak. I am a man of stammering lips” and finally – “Please send someone else”.

Don’t we resonate with the same objections and questions in our lives? What about Gideon – He was hiding in a winepress when the angel of the Lord said to him, “O mighty man of valor?” – “What? Who? Me?” Jeremiah said, “I am just a child”; Isaiah – “I am a man of unclean lips”. The apostles when they were beaten and were commanded not to speak in the name of Jesus, they went back and prayed for what? – Boldness!

Dear brothers and sisters, do we find our passion for the Gospel running out due to fear and struggles and sufferings? I exhort you this morning to seek for boldness in our God inspite of conflicts, sufferings, struggles and weaknesses.

When Jim Elliot was killed, Elizabeth found boldness in her God to go out to her husband’s killers and preach the Love of God through the Gospel. Conflicts do not kill passion, rather they only serve to increase it even more. Conflicts do not end Gospel stories – they only begin another new chapter.

Beloved, the Gospel welcomes you this morning to find boldness in God to stand firm in the midst of much conflict and not be bogged down by sufferings and taunts from unbelieving family members and friends. Paul says – “We have a treasure in our earthen vessels.

We are hard-pressed on all sides, yet not crushed. Perplexed – yet not driven to despair.” He says elsewhere in Galatians 6:17 – “We carry in our bodies the brand marks of the Lord Jesus Christ”. Conflicts and sufferings are going to be an integral part and brand of a Christian’s life yet his boldness in his God will enable him to carry out great exploits.

But our boldness in God must stem from a deeper understanding of the Gospel which brings me to point 2.

Enriched by the purity of the Gospel

Let me read to you what Paul says from verse 3 – “For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive”. Beloved, Paul has a Gospel message – free from impurity and error – which makes him appeal to the Gentiles in boldness.

He is so passionately caught up with the Gospel message that it burns like fire in his bones – He knows that the Gospel is the power of God to those who are being saved. He need not add or subtract to the Gospel that he received.

He warns as well in the epistle to the Galatians that ‘let anyone who preaches to you any other Gospel than that which you received from me – let him be accursed.’

He knows that the Gospel is sufficient to save – both himself and his hearers and so he preaches it. He knows that nothing else other than the Gospel can ever save and so he preaches it even more.

What is the Gospel? “I am a great sinner. Jesus Christ is a great Saviour”. The purity of the Gospel makes a man go passionately crazy such that they are termed as “fools for Christ’s sake”. Let me take an example here – Martin Luther – the leader of the reformation – when he was moved by the purity of the Gospel in the doctrine of justification – he turned the world upside down.

How else can you explain a person being willing to defy every authority structure of this world and to stand utterly alone as a young priest against all of the authorities of the church—against the pope, against church counsels, against the finest theologians in the land?

Martin Luther had a high and holy view of God. He trembled before a Holy God. He kept evaluating himself, not by comparing himself to other human beings, but by looking at the standard of the character of God—the righteousness of God.

As he saw himself so awful in comparison to the righteousness of God, after a while he began to hate any idea of the righteousness of God.

He had such a fear of the wrath of God that, early on in his ministry, somebody put this question to him: “Brother Martin, do you love God?” You know what he said? “Love God? You ask me if I love God? Sometimes I hate God. I see Christ as a consuming judge who is simply looking at me to evaluate me and to visit affliction upon me.”

Imagine a young man preparing for the ministry declaring that he goes through periods of hating God. Luther’s hatred was inseparably related to this paralyzing fear which he expressed that he had about God.

Then one night he was preparing his lectures as a doctor in theology to teach his students at the University of Wittenberg in the doctrines and teachings of the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans.

He then came to these words: “For the righteousness of God is revealed by faith, and the just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17). And suddenly the concept burst upon his mind that this passage in Romans was not describing that righteousness of God by which God Himself is righteous, but the righteousness of God that He graciously and freely provides for you, me, and anyone who puts their trust in Christ.

Anyone who puts their trust in Christ receives the covering and the cloak of the righteousness of Christ.

Luther said: “It broke into my mind, and I realized for the first time that my justification, my station before God, is not established on the basis of my own naked righteousness, which will always fall short of the demands of God. Rather, it instead rests solely and completely on the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which I must hold on to by a trusting faith.

And when I understood that, for the first time in my life I understood the gospel. And I looked and beheld the doors of Paradise swung open, and I walked through.”

It’s like Luther said to the world, from that day forward, to popes and to counsels, and to kings: “The just shall live by faith; justification by faith alone. ‘God is holy and I am not’ is the article upon which the church stands or falls, and I negotiate it with no one because it is the gospel.” Is that crazy?

Brothers and sisters, if that’s crazy then I pray that God would send an army of insane people like that into this world so that the gospel may not be eclipsed.

So that we might understand that, in the presence of a holy God, we who are unjust may be justified by the fact that God in His holiness—without negotiating His holiness—has offered us the holiness of His Son as a covering for our sin. This is the Gospel for which Luther was ready to die!

Beloved, maybe there is someone here who has never experienced what this passion and craziness is all about. And it is our prayer that you would be ignited today with a fiery passion through and for the Gospel.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose” – Jim Elliot wrote this down in his diary.

Jim threw his life for the Gospel as he was ignited by a passion through the Gospel and Elisabeth continued the good work seeking boldness in an all-Sovereign God who entrusted them with the Gospel.

Tags Boldness, Conflict, Faith, Gospel, Passion, Perseverance, Purity

1 Thessalonians Sermon

The Viral Gospel: 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

Post author By Guest
Post date March 3, 2020
No Comments on The Viral Gospel: 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

Good morning Gathering

It’s such an honor to be with you this morning and it really is a gift to gather as God’s people in His presence like this.

We are continuing in a study that began last weekend of 1 Thessalonians. So, if you have a Bible with you, I’d invite you to turn there with me.

We’ll be looking specifically at 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10 this morning.

I think that all of us have a tendency to come into a church gathering and sort of go through the motions. To take this time for granted. I want to encourage you to recognize how sacred this time is for us this morning.

We get to approach The Word of God — which is God’s revelation to us about who He is & what He’s done & what that means for our lives.

We approach this living, active, breathing love letter from God. The thing that shapes us & molds us & corrects us & trains up. The thing that leads us into righteous.

We get to do that together as God’s people and see God move in our midst. As He changes us for His glory.

Brother & Sisters, this really is a sacred opportunity this morning

Let’s READ 1 THESSALONIANS 1:2-10

I want to spend some time this morning talking about THE VIRAL NATURE OF THE GOSPEL.

The concept of a virus that spreads rapidly should be one that we all understand pretty clearly right now given the dominant news around the world.

If you turn on any news outlet a lot of what you see is coverage of the Coronavirus.

The point for us is that the entire world is talking about this epidemic that could likely become a pandemic that’s spreading fear throughout the world. It’s almost like we’re conditioned toward fear whenever a new virus emerges.

As the virus spreads there’s fear, There’s uncertainty, There’s death. Well, this is how God designed the gospel to spread to the ends of the earth, But with a disease you have fear & death the gospel brings HOPE & LIFE.

The Apostle Paul gives us a picture of the viral nature of the gospel and how it spreads. He shows, how you and I are meant to be carriers of the gospel who infect people around us with our actions & with our words.

That’s what I want to look at today

I’d like you to hold onto this principle as we work our way through the text

Principle: The gospel comes to us in power, it transforms us and then causes us to live radically transformed lives as it moves through us to people around us

In other words when the gospel invades the human heart, we’ll see is a movement of God upon us.

Which, He initiates with us, When that happens, it never leaves us alone it never leaves us the same. It radically transforms us at the core level of our nature and then radically transforms what comes out of our lives over time

To the point where it moves through us to infect & impact the people around us. That’s the principle that we talk about so often.

That’s what we’re talking about this morning and I want to flesh that out for you in 3 movements that we can observe in the text.

1) We have been chosen by God as objects of gospel renewal

Look again at verses 2-5… .“We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.”

Please understand what Paul is driving us toward here:
We are objects of gospel renewal. God acted upon us, He initiated with us, This renewal wasn’t our idea, Our idea was rebellion going our way instead of God’s way.

This is a common theme that we see in all of Paul’s writing.

In Titus chapter 3 Paul explains what life outside of Christ looks like. It’s a life that’s defined by selfishness & self-gratification. It’s marked by malice & envy & relational conflict. And then he describes how all of that changes, when God moves upon us

He says, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,”

Please don’t miss this,

You didn’t find God, He found you.
You didn’t choose God, He chose you.
You didn’t stumble upon the gospel, the gospel came to you IN POWER

You are an object of God’s love & mercy & grace. When He targets you, The gospel comes in Word & in Power, Meaning — it’s not just intellectual, it’s not just something that we hear & understand, It moves in our hearts in power to radically change us.

This is what Paul means when he says that it brings conviction. It awakens the heart to the truth of our sin & rebellion and convicts us while simultaneously allowing for repentance & faith.

This is what salvation looks like And that salvation belongs to God

It creates relational intimacy with each other — that’s marked by love. Paul says, “We’re thankful for you, we’re praying for you, we constantly remember you.” And — it’s all because of what God has done to radically transform them.

You can think about it like this, Reconciliation with God — is the only thing that allows for reconciliation with one another.

God moves on us as objects of renewal .That moves in us in power — as it changes us, Which shapes how we interact with other people.

And — that’s our 2nd point:

2) We have been chosen by God as agents of gospel renewal

Look again at verses 5-7: “You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.”

God’s work in us — isn’t really about us. It’s the way that He’s chosen to glorify His name in the world — THROUGH US.

Paul is reminding the Thessalonian believers that he, who was once far from God — lived out his gospel transformation among them. He was with them — and they were able to see the power of the gospel at work in Paul Which is what God used to bring the gospel to them — as Paul proclaimed the truth…

All of this means that we are called to IMITATE & MODEL.

Remember the viral nature of the gospel?
God’s design is to work through the infectious nature of the gospel at work in us. We catch transformation from His work in others and we spread transformation as we model it for others.

And — let me point out 2 important things as it relates to this:

This requires proximity. Notice the words “AMONG YOU”.

This only works if you’re in close proximity with people. The same way a virus will only spread if you’re with people.

The 2nd important thing to note here is that: Imitating & Modeling happens best when we’re suffering for the gospel. You want to see what someone really believes — see what they do when they begin to face affliction.

** God glorifies Himself in a unique way through us — when He allows us the privilege of suffering for the gospel. This shouldn’t surprise us when we look at Jesus, The disciples, The early church, The historical church & the current persecuted church throughout the world.

** Peter — there Spirit rests upon you when you suffer.

So — get this We’re OBJECTS of gospel renewal as God moves in and changes us. That leads us to be AGENTS of renewal. Where God uses us to model the gospel to others.

3) We have been chosen by God as carriers of gospel proclamation to the whole world

Look again at verses 8-10: “For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”

The gospel will not let you sit still. It will necessarily propel you out into the world as an agent of renewal — a gospel proclaimer — wherever you go.

And — there’s nowhere you can’t go.

You and I — are carriers of the gospel — are charged with speaking the gospel into a culture that is riddled with IDOLATRY. I’m not just talking about outward — visible idolatry that we see so pervasively in India. I’m talking about the idolatry of the heart.

Idolatry is slavery. The gospel brings freedom!

Here’s the thing: The church becomes a viral movement — when you see the ruthless dethroning of idols in people’s lives. The gospel brings that freedom in our hearts and then we get the privilege of being able to speak that into the lives of other people

So,

We have been chosen by God as objects of gospel renewal
We have been chosen by God as agents of gospel renewal &
We have been chosen by God as carriers of gospel proclamation to the whole world

This is the vision that we must have as the church if we’re going to be viral in how we live out the gospel.

Here’s the hard truth:

The longer that someone is a Christian the greater the tendency to quarantine themselves to just hang out with other infected people.

We must push back against this,

++ Be reminded of the gospel at work in your life — God’s Sovereign rescue of you

++ Be reminded of your calling to live that out & proclaim it in the lives of people within the family of God

++ Be reminded of the calling on your life to take that gospel near & far

Tags Chosen, God, Gospel, jesus

1 Thessalonians Sermon

Faith Unpacked: 1 Thessalonians 1:1

Post author By Jinson Thomas
Post date February 24, 2020
No Comments on Faith Unpacked: 1 Thessalonians 1:1

Good morning church! I’m humbled & it’s a great pleasure for me to have the opportunity to preach the Word this morning. We just completed a topical series last week titled “The church”. And we get back to our book study as we begin 1 Thessalonians.

I think this is a continuation on the topic of “the church” because it talks about the “abiding” or the “continuing faith” of the church.

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace. (v1)

“Christianity is at risk”! This was the title of a news report in a UK newspaper Daily Express in 2019. They saw a dramatic decline in the number of people that call themselves as Christians in Great Britain. From 66% in 1983 to 38% in 2019. And this is a similar declining trend that is seen all over Europe where thousands of churches have been closing due to lack of attendees (Wikipedia).

Even in a country like the US that has been the source of a lot of good resources and writings, they’ve seen 10-15% churches shut down. People are turning to atheism or modern spiritualism where they take what they like from each religion to create their own version of a religion that suits them. And in the face of these real facts, I’m sure the question that the church asks is: Is faith in Jesus temporary like a trend or can there be genuine, abiding faith? Will my faith last till the end? Not just me – but will the faith of my brothers and sisters in Christ abide and survive till the end? The theme of the letter to the Thessalonians is like an answer given to us to help us navigate and find help to these critical questions.

3 points of observations:

1) Christian faith is validated by perseverance

When Paul starts out mentioning “the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” & as he continues throughout the letter – he actually remembers the context in which the church was formed.

In Acts 17, Paul arrives in the cosmopolitan, business capital city of Thessalonica (similar to a city like Mumbai). And he arrives to Thessalonica after being beaten & imprisoned in Philippi. One would think that Paul, Silas and Timothy would’ve been intimidated by that previous experience but they were instead fearless because they immediately go to a Jewish synagogue (sort of like a gospel community or a small group) over 3 Sabbath days & they have open discussions with the people gathered out there on what the Scriptures tell about the necessity for the Messiah to suffer & rise from the dead.

Paul tells them that Jesus whom He proclaims is the Christ! Some Jews believed, a lot of Greek worshippers believed & many prominent women also believed!

Isn’t this is awesome? To have new believers in this amazing, fast paced, influential city. They were at the tipping point of a vibrant church expansion movement. But unexpectedly even before Paul could make the most of this new discipling opportunity, some of the unbelieving Jews who were jealous got together some people who were experienced in stirring up riots and a crowd and started attacking the house of Jason (probably the church met at his house).

They couldn’t find Paul and his companions so they dragged Jason and some of the new believers in front of the city authorities & accused them of being international troublemakers & more severely saying there is another King called Jesus apart from Caesar!

The only way in which they released Jason and the others was with a money security – to guarantee that Paul wouldn’t cause any more disruptions by continuing to preach in that city. That same night Paul and his companions were sent away from the city. All of this all tells us that the Thessalonian church wasn’t born out of a marketing strategy or a pastor’s big vision. This church was born in the midst of humiliation, pain and suffering!

The fact that they were standing in the midst of severe suffering showed that their faith was genuine! I find that a stark contrast to how we evaluate the genuineness of our faith. We say our faith is genuine because we know all the worship songs at church, we are fairly regular at church, and also we have a good relationship with the pastor and other church members – so we assume that’s what certifies our faith.

Instead the bible tells us that “Count it all joy, my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness”. (James 1:1)

Losing our job, sudden loss of a family member or a loved one, a broken relationship, an unexpected illness, long wait on God to answer a prayer for a good thing like a spouse for marriage or a job, taunts and insults being hurled at you because you’ve chosen to follow Jesus – these are all very real and painful.

But at the same time suffering exposes our heart idols. Those idols of inconvenience, comfort, self-love, self-reliance, pride, anger, impatience suddenly come to the fore when we are met with unexpected suffering. And it’s not as though someone who doesn’t believe in Jesus will not undergo suffering. But here’s the difference – Genuine Christian faith will be displayed through repentance & faith in God.

Even though there might be seasons when believers doubt, are confused and might even look to sin for comfort but true believers will eventually come back to God in repentance and faith. Why? Because they can’t abandon the Lord who gave them a new heart to love Him. They can’t abandon the Lord who has placed His Spirit within them. They will indeed return back to him.

Maybe some of us have been frustrated or discouraged by the season of suffering that you’re going through. If you’re in that place today, could you ask God to reveal those areas in your heart that need repentance & faith in God? Could you ask God to use your current situation to display His mercy? Genuine Christian faith is validated by perseverance.

2) Christian faith is personal & yet inter-connected

Our Christian faith is personal in the sense where God has a unique and direct relationship with every person who believes in Jesus. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12)

But at the same time Christian discipleship happens in community – with other brothers and sisters. Throughout the whole letter it’s filled with language that mentions the presence & necessity for deep relationships within the church.

You became imitators of us and the Lord (1 Thes 1:6)

But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. (1 Thes 2:7-8)

I remember a time during my first-year in college when this truth hit home for me. Now I had been a believer for about 2 years or so but Christian life for me was just Sunday. I was the most spiritual and most committed on a Sunday but the rest of the week I lived a double life – isolated from the rest of the church & world and joyless.

I assumed that was what Christian life was for most people. About that time, I was introduced to a brother who came to India on a two-week trip during his college break to share the good news about Jesus. I accompanied him throughout those two weeks, watching his life closely, paying attention to his words and I was amazed to see the joy & purpose with which he lived his life.

In every conversation I saw him have, he would somehow bring every conversation back to Jesus because it looked like he truly loved Jesus. For him time with the Word wasn’t a duty or a Sunday activity, he enjoyed reading the Bible and telling people about what he learnt. Plus, I was amazed to see a young college student come to India on a trip to tell people about Jesus during his summer break when he could’ve spent it with his friends.

Just imagine what this did to a young believer like me. This brother didn’t sit down and preach “discipleship” to me – but I saw him live it out during those 2 weeks. God used that brother to rejuvenate my relationship with God.

And I really want to challenge you brothers and sisters today. Maybe just like my experience, you see yourself as a Sunday Christian and desire to change. Let me encourage you to find a brother or sister in the Lord whom you know is living for Jesus & just go and spend time with them.

Observe how they are loving Jesus and allow them to speak into the insecurities & fears & doubts of your heart. That is God’s design for us to experience full joy. Christian faith is personal & yet inter-connected.

3) Christian faith is based on God’s faithfulness

As we are reading through chapter 4 & 5 in 1 Thessalonians, if we read it without any context, we might be mistaken to think that it is simply a bunch of rules: abstain from sexual immorality, help the weak, admonish the idle, pray without ceasing.

We may assume that Paul is telling us that “Jesus has done half the work of saving you, now it’s up to you to perform and make sure that Christ receives you as perfect in the end”. Although we may say that we theologically don’t agree with that but practically we might believe it’s true.

What I mean is this – there is a reason why we feel super happy and assured on days when we read our bibles early in the morning, are able to have a productive day at work, manage to minimize our sinful behaviors & even share the gospel with one person.

At the same time, we struggle with immense guilt and condemnation on days when we aren’t able to do any of the above. On those days we don’t “feel” like God’s child. We instead “feel” like we are orphans.

If we are absolutely honest, all of us will confess that even on our best days – even our best efforts aren’t good enough before a Holy and Perfect God. There’s nothing we can do to make ourselves a loved child or an accepted child of God. So then what does that mean? Can our faith survive with this kind of failed record?

1 Thessalonians is a reminder for our hearts that when we fail – and fail we will, God still remains faithful. Even when we feel like we’ve let go, God continues to hold on those whom He has chosen. Think about it – Paul and his companions thought they lost these new believers.

They were anxious and thought that these believers may have gone astray in the midst of severe suffering and persecution. Instead when Timothy meets them, he is overjoyed to find them loving Jesus no matter what it may cost them. How come? The Lord Jesus remains faithful. He doesn’t let go.

No one can snatch them out of my hand – says Jesus in John 10:28

At the end of the letter in chapter 5 – Paul says some remarkable things – read with me in v23, 24: Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Who sanctifies or makes us Holy? God does. Who will keep us – people who fail and sin blameless? He will. Because He who calls me is “FAITHFUL”. He will surely do it. Does this cause us to be lazy in our faith? No, in fact it makes us zealous to serve him because of His faithfulness.

For some of us who are feeling like they’re orphans this morning in spite of believing in Jesus, I believe we should be reminded that our faith, our identity, us being the child of God is not based on our performance.

It is based on God’s faithfulness – His faithful Son who lived a perfect life and died the death that we deserved so that through His resurrection our faith is firmly anchored in His faithfulness. For some others, it’s probably the first time where God has opened your eyes to His faithfulness.

Till now you’ve been living a life against God, apart from Him but today God’s moving your heart to trust Him. And God is true to His Word – if you believe in what Jesus has done for you, you will be saved. He will surely do it according to His promise.

Tags Faith, God, Perseverance, repentance

Matthew Sermon The Church

Ministry of the Church : Matthew 28:18-20

Post author By Saju Joseph
Post date February 18, 2020
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We are on the last & final topic of the series called ‘The Church’.

The title of today’s sermon is ‘The Ministry of the Church’ and the passage we are looking at is Matthew 28:18-20

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus, after spending 33 years on earth as a human being, walking through this broken world with us, through all the vulnerabilities we humans go through so He can identify with our struggles, tempted in every possible way just as we are tempted but still lived a perfect and holy life pleasing to God the Father.

And after spending the last 3 years in ministry, preaching the Kingdom of God, making disciples out of uneducated, sinful men, teaching and enlightening them about the Kingdom of God, offering Himself to die on the cross as a perfect sacrifice for the atonement of our sin and rebellion, he exchanged His righteousness with us & finally rose up from the dead and sealed this new covenant with us of restoring us back to Father. And now Jesus is at the end of His ministry and He is giving out his last commandment to his disciples.

These disciples after hearing these commands from Jesus, on His instruction they wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, just like Jesus waited when he started His ministry, and then scattered all around the world preaching the good news of the Gospel, making disciples and teaching them to obey.

Today we are the recipients of God grace because of these men who took Jesus’s command seriously against all the odds, challenges, threats, pain, suffering, even death and made Jesus and truth of the Gospel famous all around the world. A special thanks to Thomas who when led by the Holy Spirit travelled to our nation India in the year AD 52 and faithfully preached the Gospel, later was killed in AD 72 in Chennai for spreading the Gospel.

Brothers & sisters, we all are called & commanded to do the same. This is the ultimate purpose of our lives and the ultimate purpose of the Church as we saw a couple of Sundays back. It is to lift up Jesus to this dying world and communicate this message of hope.

And the funny thing is that this almighty, all-powerful God doesn’t need us to accomplish this task, he can do it on His own, but he invites us to have this amazing privilege to participate in His work as partners – For which He rewards us, on earth and in heaven.

Therefore, lets pay careful attention and understand this Great commission in depth and how it applies in our current context of life.

I want to share four things from this passage that are important for us to know and learn.

1. It’s a command and not an instruction, from the highest authority.

We all work in corporate companies, imagine the Founder & Managing Director of your company invites you to his cabin and personally assigns you a task to do and also promises to reward you for doing it. How would you respond?

Will you say ‘I’ll do it whenever I get free time?”, or “I’ll see whether I want to do it”.

No, we will never say that, instead we will be so excited that we will keep aside every other work to complete the task, in fact some of us will even work extra hours to get the job done, just to please your boss and get his compliments.

Brothers & sisters, the one who is speaking to us is Jesus, to whom all authority in heaven and earth has been given. If an assignment from an earthly boss can move us and shake us from our comfort zone. Consider, the one who is speaking to us is almighty God.

And when the most powerful person on heaven and earth speaks to us, it’s not just an instruction that we can chose whether we want to do it or not.

There is no other option then to take Him seriously and get on with the task.

2. Go & tell, not come and see

The instruction is quite clear. It is to ‘go & tell’ and not ‘come and see’. – “Go therefore …”

In the Old Testament, or in the old covenant the presence of God resided in the “Tabernacle of God”, in the temple, where people would come with their sacrifices to receive pardon from their sins. But if we study the structure and ordinances of the temple we will learn that they were mere symbols pointing us to Jesus and the ultimate display of His work on the cross.

Instead of we bringing the sacrifice for the atonement of our sins, he came and gave himself as a sacrifice once for all. The Bible tells us that now we are the temple where God resides.

Today the church is not a building or a structure, church is the people of God – temple of God where God resides (1 Cor 6:19).

When Jesus is asking us to ‘go therefore’, he is telling us to take His presence with us into this dying world. Which means, when we invite and have a coffee conversation with a friend or a college we are allowing them to have close proximity with the presence of God residing in us. When we are talking to them and expressing our hearts, inviting them into our lives we are expressing God’s heart to them and inviting them to God’s Kingdom.

Here’s some practical ways in which we invite them to give us a listening ear. Remember, these are only effective when we are thoroughly soaked in the Gospel and are experiencing the transforming work of Christ in us.

Through Our vocabulary – Speaking the Kingdom language:
- When we speak Words of Hope that help people see life beyond their present pain and suffering
- When we speak Words of Life that put King Jesus on the pedestal for others to see and admire
- When we speak Words of acknowledgment & gratefulness to God for others to learn and follow.

Through Our responses – Our faithful responses to the brokeness of this world:
- Our response when we go through financial crises in trusting His provision.
- Our responses when we fall sick in relying on His Sovereignty.
- Our response when we are tempted to sin in saying ‘No’ at all costs.
- Our response when we see delay in Gods answering our prayers in knowing that He makes everything beautiful in His time.
- Our response when our bosses sit on out head in trusting in the ultimate authority.

Our responses to such situations testify the fact that nothing in this world bothers us because we rest in Jesus and his finished work on the cross.

Through Our values – Walking the talk:
- Doing the right thing at all times regardless of what the consequences are.
- Walking according to principles and commandment prescribed in the scripture. – Not out of compulsion but with joy.

Through Our service – Having a Servantheart:
- Going the extra mile to bring the hope of Christ to a person in need, physical or emotional.
- Serving the poor, caring for the orphans, providing for the widows.
- Sacrificing our time, energy and resources to comfort others in need.

Remember, these are means through which we can invite others to hear us out, but the ultimate goal is Gospel proclamation. Sharing the True Gospel in a clear, meaningful, & effective manner is most important, not the Gospel that promises health, wealth & prosperity but the Gospel that promises eternal life in heaven whether in riches or poverty; pain, suffering or good health, not a work-based Gospel that says to get this you have do this, but a Gospel of grace, that says its a free gift we receive without doing anything in return – All we do is believe in the Son of God & trust Him.

3. We are called to make disciples, not mere friends and colleagues

Don’t settle and be satisfied that you have made some unbelieving friends and that you hang out with them often. Our job is not complete unless we make a disciple out of them.

And it just doesn’t happen like that, there is an investment of time, money and resources we need to consider if we have to walk and disciple people. If time, money, comfort matters to us more than saving our loved ones from pain, sorrow & misery then we have to consider offering them as a sacrifice for the sake of the Kingdom.

Jesus left His glory and came for us, sacrificing everything, the disciples of Jesus left the comfort of their homes and sacrificed their lives so that we could find hope.

What is it that the Holy Spirit asking us to do? Are we making disciples or just friends with whom we like to hangout and chill, mostly so that we can feel good and relieved from the daily stress.

We ought to be making disciples, not just hang out with them as friends.

4. Teach them to obey, not just attend church and sing Christian songs

Let us not be like those parents who are happy that their children go to church, by-heart bible verses and sing Christian songs. Unless we’ve understood and experienced Gospel transformation and are walking in obedience to God word, no Christian activity will save our lives.

We are not inviting our friends to do Christian activities with us but we are inviting them to walk in obedience and to fulfil the God given purposes in their lives.

It is not the good feeling of being part of a church, or a good feeling of being part of an exuberant worship that brings life transformation. What brings life transformation is the truth of God revealed in our heart that leads us to walking in total surrender to Him.

Therefore, we need to consistently and faithfully encourage one other to walk in obedience to God’s word. Jesus said “If you love me you will obey me”. There is no loving without obedience. If you come to me and say you love Jesus, I will only be able to validate your love for Jesus if I also see unconditional obedience. – That’s how even Jesus will measure our love when we meet Him.

Teach them to obey, not just attend church and sing Christian songs.

In all of this, brothers & sisters, be encouraged – Jesus is with us and walking alongside us. He promised never to leave, never to forsake, his hand of protection, his comfort, his strength, his wisdom, his power is always with us.

This is the ministry of the church, the ministry of every single person sitting in this room. I hope I’ve given you compelling reasons to find your joy in serving in the Kingdom of God and tools to start acting on it. I believe you will be like the faithful servants who used their talents for God’s glory and when you meet your saviour and master in heaven you will hear him say “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master”.

Let’s pray

Tags Christ, church, Life, Ministry, People

Sermon The Church

People of Church: Devoted & Faithful

Post author By Wungmathing Zimik
Post date February 12, 2020
No Comments on People of Church: Devoted & Faithful

Introduction:

Good morning Church! I am delighted to stand before you to share the word of God, I am thankful to God and our two elders for giving me this opportunity to preach the word.

Let us pray before we enter to our sermon.

Purpose of this sermon:

You will live a devoted life to Christ and serve the church.
You will be faithful to God in every area of your life.
You will know your role and responsibility in the Church.
You will know your life priority and fully commit to that.

Let us come to the first point.

Fully Devoted to the Lordship of Christ.

“They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2: 42.

Apostle teaching: Scripture

Illustration: Little plant in my window.

Important of Devoting our life to Scripture:

1.Psalm 1. fruitful life,

2. You will be successful and prosperous Joshua 1: 9.

3. Bulletproof to fight against sin.

Psalm 119: 11.Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.

4. Your word is a Lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:105.

5. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17. so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17.

Devoted to Fellowship : Church Worship Service.

(koinonia) it means to be as committed to each other as we are to Jesus Christ.

Illustration: Why believers are always happy.

Benefit of Church family.

We fellowship better together. (1 Cor 1:10)
We grow better together. (Col. 3:16)
We Serve better together. (Phil.2:2)
We worship better together. (Matthew 18:20)
We reach out better together. ( Phil 1:27)

Application: “Not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrew 10:25.

Devoted to Breaking of Bread : Reminding ourselves of the Dead of Christ for our sins.

Reminding every week that we are forgiven and Redeem by the blood of the Lamb.

Devoted to Prayer : Living a prayerful life.

# Elijah was a person just like us, and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and rain never came to the land for three years and six months. James 5:17.

# So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. (Acts 12:5).

Amazing things happen Angel came and released Peter from the prison.

Application:

All of us have to live a prayerful life, the church need a devoted man and women who live a prayerful life, we should be a believers who live a prayerful life.

We need to pray more, the church need to pray more.

Prayer will help us to achieve the impossible things.

Prayer will lead us to victory,

Prayer will heal the broken family, broken relationship, broken world.

What we need most at this time is a man and women of prayer.

What we need most is a praying Church.

let this Gathering church be a praying Church.

We need a person like Elijah, you can be Elijah in this generation.

2. Be Faithful till the End.

Ephesian 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

1 Cor 4:2. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

Rev. 2:10. Be faithful until dead and i will give you the crown of life” (Smyrna Church)

In a body of Christ we have different roles to play, example like hand have different role, leg has different role, eye has different role, Nose has different role but all these role are for one purpose to the head which is Christ Jesus. Remember all different roles are equally important in the Lord.

God want us to use the spiritual gift to glorify His name, to achieve His purpose in our life.

Spiritual gift text. Roman 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesian 4, 1 Peter 4, we see God gives spiritual gift to every believers.

Illustration (The parables of the talents) Matthew 25.14-30.

1. This parable teach us that God gave everyone a Talent or gift or skill to serve Him.

2. The parables remind us that this life is not at all about us but our life belong to our Creator.

2.The Parables teaches that we are not all created equal.

3.The Parables teaches that we work for the master, not our own self purpose.

4.The parables of talents shows that we will be held accountable of the talents He has given us.

Application:

1. Have you recognise what your talents is? Did you know your spiritual gifts or talents?

2. If yes are you serving God with the talents or Are you Building up your own empire?

3. If you haven’t find your talent we all can help you find your talents.

4. Remember God will ask you, What did you do with the talent (Life) I gave you?

(you are accountable of your life).

5. Are you giving your best service to God with your Talent or Are you Squandering your life.

6. Great lesson from Rich man life Luke 15.

(Wasted his time, money, life, He regrets how he has lived)

1 Cor. 15: 58.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Ephesian 5.

15 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

John 9:4. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.

Conclusion:

Beloved I pray that we all as a church will fully surrendered our heart to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and be fully devoted to Him all the day of our life.

Let us be faithful and walk worthy with our calling, we know our life is short on this earth, let us not waste our time anymore, we have wasted enough time, let us awake and arise and give our best to our master Jesus, the night is coming where we cannot work.

This is the best time to serve our living God.

May God bless you and keep you and May His face shine on you and give you peace.

Amen.

Tags church

Romans Sermon The Church

People of the Church : Romans 12

Post author By Guest
Post date February 5, 2020
No Comments on People of the Church : Romans 12

Allow me to start this morning by sharing with you the story of this young violinist from London.

He was a young musician who had a very tough life but caught a break and went on to become wealthy and successful. One day he realized that it was his time to give something back to society and decided to use his talents to do something charitable.

As he entertained this thought he chanced to see a newspaper report of a homeless man who died in the street. He followed the story and found out that the burial of this man was to be done in an unmarked grave outside the city.

This was his opportunity to do something good for someone less fortunate, so the young musician decided to give go to the funeral and honour the life of this homeless man by playing at his funeral for free.

So on the day of the funeral he left the city and drove towards the church by outskirts where the funeral was to take place but along the drive, he lost his way.

He drove around for several hours trying to locate this funeral site. He finally arrived an hour late and saw that funeral guys had evidently gone and the ambulance was nowhere in sight. There were only a few the diggers left and they were eating lunch.

He felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. He went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. He didn’t know what else to do, so he started to play.

As he played a few old beautiful Christian hymns the workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. He played out his heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. He played like he’s never played before for this poor deceased homeless man.

And as he played ‘Amazing Grace,’ it was so I powerful and moving that the workers began to weep. They wept, he wept, they all wept together. When he finished he packed up his violin and started for his car.

As he opened the door to his car, he overheard one of the workers say, “Man 27 years I have been laying septic tanks outside of the city, not once did anyone play music for us like this before”

I understand from your leaders that a few weeks ago you guys started a sermon series on ‘The Church’ . The goal of this sermon series is for you as a community to better grasp the Biblical design of the church so that you may live meaningful lives as the church in the city of Mumbai. Today I want to pick it up where Jinson left and continue on this topic as we look at what it means to be the people of the Church.

This morning I started with the story of the violinist because when it comes to the topic of church many are like the diggers in the story who enjoyed this melodious music but was totally oblivious and confused as to what its purpose was.

You see even in the christian community today there are those who regularly attend church and maybe even weekly groups but are still left confused and disillusioned on what it really means to be the people of the church.

Most people have some view of what the church is, based on either their experience or someone else’s experience of Church.

1. Some view church as just a part of their family tradition: This view is popular particularly in professing Christian communities. It’s simply done as what has always been done without thinking or feeling very deeply about the church.

–church becomes a place we go to or something we do on Sundays

2. Then there are those who look from the outside and view church as a gathering of good people

This view is popular especially if you did not grow up in a Christian home, somehow we have brought into the idea that church folks are people that are morally superior and follow strict rules and regulations to reach or be closer to God.

Well firstly, if you have been around church folks for more that 5 minutes you will soon get over this idea, you realize that they are also folks that need God’s grace just like you. Secondly the Bible is very clear that Christianity is not primarily about rule-following but being captured and changed by the love of Christ.

3. There are also those who have completely rejected the idea of church

This could be based on painful personal experience to them or to someone they know.

-at times simply not understanding that the communion of saints (church) is also a communion of sinners leads to unrealistic expectations and disappointments. Think of it, if there was a perfect church somewhere when you and I join it and bring our imperfections to it, it will stop being perfect right?

4. Finally, there are those that have taken on the individualism and consumerism in our culture and transported it directly into their expectations and understanding of church approaching it as consumers. Church to them is a supply of religious goods and service that they are to be consumed

-this often leads to treating the church like a buffet line, we like worship in this one place, the preaching in this other place and we love community in this other place that we keep hopping from one place to the next without being known deeply or rooted in one community.

To some degree every single one of us in this room including me have a mixed view of what it means to be the people of the church.

The good news this morning is that Jesus has not left church to our imagination but has given us much clarity on what it means to be the people of His Church, a people rooted and grounded in Him. So if you have your Bibles would you turn with me to the book of Romans chapter 12 as we read it together.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

The book of Romans is an amazing book that the Apostle Paul writes to the growing Church in Rome. There are some beautiful gospel truth that Paul gives us through this book, From chapters 1-11 Paul covers a variety of deep truth ranging from the the judgement of God against sinners, the righteousness of God offered in Christ, to what it means to be justified by faith in Christ. Now, by the time we come to chapter 12.

He takes this deep and high theological realities and brings it to street level. In the chapter that we just read together Paul shows us how this truth informs the way we live our lives, how we see ourselves and each other as the people of the church. He shows us at least three things to consider this morning from this chapter.

We see that the people the church are

A Worshipping People
A Diverse yet United People
An interdependent People

What do I mean by this? Let’s take our brief time together to unpack what this means.

1.A Worshipping People

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

In the very start of this chapter Paul’s appeal to us is to remember that we are a people created to worship God. He does not call us to this by giving us a list of do’s and dont’s. He simply calls us to remember the mercies of God offered to us in Christ In fact this is what creates true worship in our hearts.

Now this kind of worship in response to the mercy of God is not limited to singing songs for twenty minutes on Sundays but includes everything in our lives, it affects the way we live our lives on Monday, the way we respond to the person who cuts you off in traffic, the way you react when your colleague or your boss treats you unfairly?

The way we respond to the brokenness and need of our city. This kind of worship informs the way we live out our singleness and extends to the way we treat our spouse or children or spend our finances.

Paul reminds us that at our core, we are people who have been changed by the mercies of God given to us in Christ. Growing in an awareness of this truth starts to transform us from the inside out!

Now, although we all know this basic truth, here is a reality. There are a million things in our own hearts and in the broken world around us that is distracting us from walking in this truth daily. Let’s face it, you and I struggle to remember this truth daily.

If you are honest and take an inventory of your week, most of our lives are lived in response to two competing voice in our head and hearts. When we are doing well, when we are hitting our goals. When our day is going well we hear the voice of pride telling us “ Look at you, you are killing it, ‘way to go’, you are doing better than your neighbor.

On days and moments that you are not doing so well we hear the voice of condemnation and shame reminding us how miserable we are, that everyone else is doing well and that our life is spiraling down. Now living our days reacting to these voices will not create joyful worship in our lives.

As a worshipping people, Paul is calling the church to take the focus of off ourselves and our achievements and failures and look to Jesus, remembering his mercy and grace freely given to us. Friends on our best day and our worst days the best thing about us is that we are the recipients of God’s abundant mercy through Christ.

Now the way that we walk in this truth is by remembering this truth often and we help each other to walk this gospel truth out everyday. This is why we gather on Sunday’s and through the week to sing together of the mercies of God, this is why we sit under the preaching of god’s word that reminds us of the mercies of god. We remind our forgetful hearts about the mercies of God in Christ as we come to the Lord’s table on Sundays.

The people of the church are a worshipping people called to grow in our experience of God’s mercies.

In addition to this Paul shows us in this chapter that the people of the church are also a diverse yet united people

2.A Diverse yet united People

In the next few verses Paul shows us that this worshipping community is also a diverse community. Paul reminds us that the church comprises of people from diverse backgrounds, with diverse stories and a diversity of gifting and talents brought together by Jesus. He uses the analogy of our body and just as the different members of our body has to come together and work together for the body to function in health.

Now if we were honest about our lives today, the bent of most of our hearts would be to gravitate toward people who look like us and have a similar experience, people who enjoy and like the same things as us and who are maybe even gifted in the same way as we are.

Paul here exhorts the church against this very bent of our heart. Paul reminds us that God’s grace given to us in Christ should make us people of sober judgement. Here is what I mean by that, an experience of God’s grace frees us from our sinful tendency to define ourselves by our gifting, our experiences, our families of origins or our talents and resources.

The gospel of Jesus gives you and I the primary identity of being sons and daughters to God, a people loved and received by the Father through the finished work of Jesus on the cross. This means frees us to learn, to appreciate and encourage others in the body of Christ that may have a different experience or background than us. This will help us to approach each other with sober mindedness

Here is what this practically means, as the diverse people of God in the church between each one of us stands Jesus. We now get to relate to each other only through Christ, I get to relate to Saju and Jinson and others in this body through Jesus. I don’t get to go around Jesus, I don’t get to go over Jesus, or under Jesus.

This is not just when everything is going well, even when I feel offended or misunderstood, even when I feel insecure about someone else’s gifting. I don’t get to lash out in anger or be passive-aggressive or refuse to participate and engage.

The Holy Spirit is reminding us that as recipients of God’s grace we are called to see the same grace at work in our brother and sister, we learn to submit to each other, encourage each other and approach each other and work with each in this diverse body.

We are called to move towards each other and fight for unity even when offended or in disagreements. In fact, a gospel formed diversity is necessary for us to grow in a deeper experiential understanding of God’s grace as we learn to give grace and receive grace in community.

Not only is the church a worshipping and diverse yet united people. Paul also reminds us that we are called to live our lives as

3.An interdependent People

Look at the second half of this chapter, Paul here lists out the things that make you and I a counter cultural witness of Christ to a watching world.

Friends, God’s church is a sign and symbol of the rule and reign of Christ. Here is what I mean by that, all through Scripture we see that God’s plan is to put himself to display through the counter-cultural life and witness of His people.

His mercy and care for the world is to be reflected in the way that His people live here on this earth. Paul gives us a list of things that sets us apart from a Christ followers,| The interesting thing though is that this is not a list that is lived out in isolation. We need each other to live out this list.

Over 59 times the NT mentions the one another’s. Serve one another, love one another, pray for one another, outdo one another in showing honor. Friends, we need each other to live out this list that Paul mentions here. It points us to consider the kind of interdependence that Jesus is calling his church to. Plainly put, we need each other, we need each other way more than we realize, and God has designed it that way.

As the years pass I realize more and more how dependent I am on God’s grace flowing through the community of His people to faithfully finish the race well. The church does not merely comprise of a few Lone Ranger super Christians. We are a grace formed community of imperfect people whose life together puts to display the patience and mercy of a perfect God.

Living individualistic lives of isolation is not an option for God’s people.

You and I need an arsenal of varied stories of grace from each other’s lives. We need them to inspire and encourage us to keep running our own race with diligence. We need the encouraging presence and prayers of a brother or sister as we fight sin and face temptations. We need each other!

Friends, there is going to be seasons in our lives when we find ourselves taking turns to lay on that bed of trials and suffering, simply because that’s what it means to live in a broken world. God has given us the gift of each other to fight for us and to carry us and take us to the presence of Jesus in those seasons. Do we really treasure this gift? We need each other!

There will be a day when God will make his dwelling among his people and we will be rescued from the very presence of sin but even as we wait for that day, Jesus calls us today to rehearse this future reality by living together as worshipping people, a diverse but united people with interdependent lives that serves as a prophetic witness to a watching world of the coming Kingdom of Christ.

So this morning, as we bring this to a close, maybe you have been attending the gathering church for a while now and maybe you would even call this your home church but you have still not completely given yourself to this community. Maybe you have had reservations about the idea of fully committing to be known by others in this body.

What if the real you would be rejected by others? Is it wise to risk that kind of vulnerability in the church? If that’s you I want to say Jesus loves you, He does not love the future better version of you but knows the worst moments of your lives and has set His love on you. He invites you to walk in the freedom of being loved by Him and to be known in the community of his people.

If you are here this morning and you’d say that you’re not a Christian, In the preaching of this word God is actually moving towards you. For you I’d invite you to come to Jesus. The church did not die for you but Christ did. He saves and he’ll add you to this imperfect community of people fitted and held together by Him.

Tags church, People, Purpose, Unity

1 Peter Sermon The Church

Leaders of the church – 1 Peter 5:1-3

Post author By Jinson Thomas
Post date January 29, 2020
No Comments on Leaders of the church – 1 Peter 5:1-3

Good morning church! Right now we are going through an exciting series titled “The Church”. A couple of weeks back we understood that the church isn’t a building or an event we go to but it is the redeemed children of God. Last week we learnt that the church has an amazing purpose – to glorify God by preaching the message of His grace! This week we’ll try to understand a little bit about the leaders / pastors / elders (NT uses these words interchangeably) that God has appointed to lead the church.

But before we get into the passage, I want to start by asking a few questions. In today’s day and age, is it relevant to have pastors in the church and our lives? If we have the Bible and the Holy Spirit in us to lead us, do we really need a pastor? Or is it like every team needs a captain & every organization a manager, is that why we require a pastor? Do we really need another person to tell us what we should or should not do?

Let’s look to the Bible to understand God’s purpose in appointing pastors.

1 Peter 5:1-5

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight,[a] not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you;[b] not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

3 observations on pastors from this passage:

1) Being a pastor is a role and not a title

shepherd the flock of God that is among you (v2)

The word pastor actually means “shepherd”. What if we called the pastors we knew as “Shepherd so and so” instead of pastor? Suddenly is sounds less prominent and sort of funny. It’s a role and not a title. For many of us – the word “shepherd” although we know the meaning but the visuals aren’t familiar because there aren’t too many shepherds around us. But in that time and culture in ancient Israel, they knew exactly what Peter meant when he said “shepherd”. They knew that the shepherd’s duty was to keep the flock intact, protect it from predators and help the sheep find pasture to graze on.

Feed the sheep – In John 21 is a fascinating passage where Jesus basically asks Peter thrice if he loves Him. Peter responds “Yes” three times and after every response Jesus tells Peter to feed His sheep. In a sense Jesus was trying to tell Peter that he was to show his love for Jesus by feeding the church. With what? The word of God. The primary responsibility of the pastor is to preach, teach & guide the church with the Word of God. It’s not to entertain or plan programs but to preach and teach the Word of God because it’s the Word that will cause the sheep to love, trust and follow Jesus.

Protect the sheep – In Paul’s last meeting with the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, he tells to pay careful attention to the sheep of Christ because “fierce wolves” are going to come in to draw disciples after them. Who are these fierce wolves? False teachers & teachings that are going to creep into the church. And the pastor’s role is to protect the sheep from that. I think nowadays with the access that all of us have to the internet, it presents a different type of challenge because we can allow false teachings and teachers to influence us even without meeting them in person. I think one way we’ve tried to address that is by coming back to the gospel and reminding people of what’s true & beautiful & life-changing.

Care for the sheep

exercising oversight,[a] not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you;[b] not for shameful gain, but eagerly; (v2)

The pastor cares for the church by watching over them willingly and eagerly. And that’s a challenging question because it deals the attitude of our hearts. If we don’t see any fruit in ministry, will we still serve the church willingly and eagerly? If we don’t see greater commitment and passion for Jesus from the members of the church, will we still continue to serve them willingly? And if the members don’t end up doing what we tell them to do instantly, will we still continue to serve them eagerly? If we don’t ever get anything from the church monetarily, will we still serve them willingly? Genuine care is displayed by willingness and not mere activity.

Model for the sheep

but being examples to the flock. (v3)

Pastors also called to model what trust & obedience looks like for the church. Their lifestyle matters. That’s why in all the passages that talk about qualifications for being a pastor – it always combines character qualities with competency. It’s not good enough to know theology but you have to live it out. In my previous church experiences, I noticed that some churches would automatically consider a person to be a pastor if he graduated from seminary even without paying attention to his life. This can be damaging for the church because instead of bringing people closer to God, a pastor whose life isn’t monitored or tested might take people away from God.

How do we apply this? Sometimes we end up placing pastors on a pedestal creating a divide between God’s expectation of godliness from them vs what He expects from a church member. And although God will hold the pastor accountable to the way he shepherded the flock, God’s expectation of intimacy with Jesus, purity, faith & love from pastors isn’t any different from the way He looks at us. Some of you might be called to pastoral ministry but some others might not be called to serve in the same way but yet God’s desire to see you mature & grow closer to Jesus is exactly the same.

2) God calls broken people to pastor His sheep

Imperfect people – broken leaders! What? That’s crazy. I presumed that pastors were the best in the lot and that’s why they are chosen to be leaders. Not true. Look at v2 & 3. Peter addressing fellow pastors tells them to not serve out of compulsion, not do it for shameful gain & also not dominate or control people! He’s presuming that the leaders are going to struggle with these areas and they need a powerful reminder of what they’ve been called to.

Soul shepherding Institute sometime back compiled a list of alarming statistics regarding pastors in the US (unfortunately I didn’t have any Indian stats)

77% feel they do not have a good marriage
41% display anger problems in marriage as reported by the spouse
38% are divorced or divorcing
50% admit to using pornography
37% report inappropriate sexual behavior with someone in the church

These are such sad figures. I’m sharing this not to justify any of the sins. It’s absolutely wrong & abusive to the flock of God. I can’t imagine the pain & hurt it has caused to the church members & families of these pastors. My intention in sharing this is to indicate that pastors are broken people in need of redemption. How do we comprehend this reality? For the members, I think it’s to recognize that your pastor cannot be your redeemer. If you are looking at your pastor to give you ultimate hope, satisfaction and peace – you will be end up being terribly disappointed at some stage because that’s something he is not capable of offering you. He himself needs to be redeemed. For the pastors, I think it’s important to acknowledge that we cannot be our own redeemer. Since we are used to advising & counselling people, we sometimes forget how sinful we truly are…more than we can admit or even imagine about ourselves.

3) Pastors are under-shepherds of Christ

4 And when the chief Shepherd appears (v4)

It’s a very crucial truth to realize because then that means pastors are accountable to Jesus Christ & it also means that no church belongs to an earthly pastor. The church solely belongs to Jesus Christ and pastors are “under-shepherds”. And I think in this lies the secret to redeeming the brokenness in the pastor & the church – Run toward the Chief Shepherd. Listen to what Jesus says in John 10

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. (John 10:11-13)

Imagine the same picture of a shepherd in ancient Israel. Jesus says that someone who is hired and doesn’t care about the sheep will run away as soon as trouble arrives for the sheep. When the weighty penalty of sin & it’s deadly consequences fiercely approached us, Jesus Christ our Good shepherd who owns us stood in the way and laid down His life to protect us! That’s the love & commitment of our Chief Shepherd. He doesn’t abandon us. He doesn’t leave us. He fights for us & lays down His life for us!

When pastors rest in this amazing assurance & when they learn how to pastor by mirroring the love and commitment of the Chief Shepherd, it’ll invariably transform the lives of the people in the church as well. Success in ministry isn’t determined by the flock that gathers around a pastor, but success in ministry is determined by the flock that gathers around the Chief Shepherd.

Pray for your pastors – pray for their intimacy with Christ & that they continue growing in repentance. And also, trust their leadership – not only when it comes to administration or initiatives but also when biblically they are challenging or correcting you so that your love & faith increases. (v5)

5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Tags Christ, church, Leadership, Pastor

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