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MODEL CHRISTIANITY : JOYOUS FAITH IN AFFLICTION1 Thessalonians 1:6-10PRE-INTRODUCTION This last October, a group of 50 key leaders of different independent underground Chinese fellowships representing over 20 different providences met at a retreat in China to discuss how best to help the poor, orphaned and migrant urban populations. The meeting was broken up when the Public Security Bureau and officials from Religious Affairs raided the Christian fellowship arresting the participants. Some were beaten and interrogated while in custody. Many of the leaders that were taken into custody saw the event as an open door to share the Word of God. One of the leaders, Pastor Zhang Mingxuan, preached the gospel to interrogators without ceasing. At the end of the questioning, one of the exhausted interrogators was quoted telling him, “Man, you preach too hard!” One church leader Ms Dai Hong, a 35-year-old law school graduate, was taken to a room on the second floor and beaten by two male policemen because she demanded that the police show her their identification before divulging hers; even though her request was consistent with Chinese law. After international pressure was applied to the Chinese government; the nearly 60 Religious Affairs Bureau officials along with their local guards and 30 police vehicles, reluctantly and shamefully left the scene after releasing the church leaders. The bold Christians joyfully said farewell to the guards with songs of praise and worship to the Lord! In another incident which also took place in China, a Sunday school class of second and third graders was picked up during a raid by the Religious Affairs Bureau. As the children were being led off to the waiting vans, one of them, with a shaky voice, started singing a simple praise song. The song was quickly picked up by the other children as they were herded into the vans, and the singing continued all the way to the interrogation rooms. The children were informed by the interrogators that unless they said that they would not follow Jesus any more they would never see their parents again. The child, who earlier had started the singing, stood up to the interrogators and firmly stated that they would, “serve Jesus today, tomorrow and for the rest of their lives.” With this statement being said the children stood their quietly and would not respond to and further questioning. When it was clear that this tactic had failed, the Religious Affairs Officials contacted the children’s parents. As the parents came in to pick up their children they were told to recant their faith in order to have their children returned to them. Many of the parents did just that. One young widow came to pick up her twin boys. When the officials told this widow that she would have to give up Jesus in order to have her sons returned to her she replied, “Well then you may as well keep them, for with out Christ I would not be able to raise them.” When the officials saw that she could be intimidated her sons were released to her. OPENING PRAYER Before we look into our text from 1 Thessalonians, please join me in prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, today as we look into your word please help us to understand what Paul was writing, and what you were trying to communicate to the believers in Thessalonica. Please provide understanding for us to see how these words written so long ago apply to us here today. In the name, and for the glory of, your Son Jesus; AMEN! INTRODUCTION This last week in many of our Discovery Groups we set aside time to pray for the needs of the Persecuted Church around the world. When I looked at the trials and struggles of these different individuals and churches, it brought up again the question of the role of suffering and persecution in a believer’s life. To explore that question let’s turn to our passage for today; 1 Thessalonians chapter one, verses six through ten (1:6-10). In verses two through five of 1 Thessalonians Paul is giving thanks to God. Thanks for the work of faith, the labor of love, and endurance in the hope of Christ that has been evidenced in the life of believers in Thessalonica. Paul continues that thanksgiving here in our text, verses six through ten. “You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia— your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell 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 rescues us from the coming wrath.” (1 Thessalonians 1:6-10, NIV) We live in a culture which expends great amounts of energy in the cause of avoiding physical, emotional, social or mental pain. The prizes of happiness, comfort and leisure sing out their siren call, singing a tune which people desire to follow. We take competition out of schools because it hurts to loose. What in the past would have been seen as duty or opportunities, today are spoken of as burdens. Many churches have even started preaching a gospel which has more origins in our culture than in scripture. A gospel which proclaims that God’s aim in saving you is to provide you happiness and material blessing. One thing is clear; we American’s do not like suffering. Yet, pain is an important part of our ability to define of physical, emotional, and social world. In spite of all of our trying, every one of us will face varying degrees of suffering through out our life. What would happen to us as Christians if we never suffered pain? What if because of having the Spirit we didn’t need to suffer physical, social, mental, or emotional pain? Is their a purpose for our suffering and afflictions? Scripture shows that pain is a reality in the midst of a fallen world. This last week as we have been setting aside time to pray for the persecuted church this became evident to me. When you read stories of Christians being beaten, impoverished, imprisoned, and even beheaded the reality that we need a gospel which has an answer to the question of suffering is necessary. If I see God’s blessing through the lens of happiness and material pleasure, then God must have cursed those believers. We may not face the daily threat of persecution like many of our brothers and sisters around the world, but if we can not understand and handle the sufferings that are common to life in the light of the gospel, then we are ill prepared to face persecution. Life is a painful experience. I saw this when, as a young man, I had to pick up and carry a young woman who was overcome with grief at the news of her mother’s death. I saw this when my young nephew walked slowly up a church isle to lay his father’s birthday present inside a coffin. I see this every time I get up in the morning and it hurts to get out of bed. Life is full of pain and afflictions abound whither we try to avoid it or not. Yet, scripture tells us it is not random but under the sovereign control of God. God has a purpose for our afflictions, and not just for individual Christians only, but for whole churches as well. So how should we view suffering and affliction? What does Paul tell the believers in his day who were facing persecution and suffering? In verses two through five in 1 Thessalonians chapter one Paul thanks God for the work of grace in their lives and in our passage, verses six through ten, he is continuing to give thanks. Paul is giving thanks for how they received and responded to the gospel, as well as their continued growth. So how did they receive the gospel? Lets look again at verse six; “You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.” So they had received the gospel by imitating Jesus and the apostle’s faith. Here we see Paul’s first point. I. They were to follow Jesus and the apostle’s in being joyously faithful in suffering. The first part of verse six tells us that they were imitators of Paul and the Lord, but how were they imitators? The second part of verse six gives us the answer. “You became imitators of us and of the Lord” How? “in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.” Or as the English Standard Version would put it, “for you received the word in much afflictions, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.” This was the mark of Jesus, enduring suffering trusting in God with joy. The apostles like wise were marked for having been with Jesus. Trusting in God and enduring suffering, but not just enduring, they were full of joy in the midst of trials. The Thessalonians had done this too, and in so doing, had imitated Christ and the apostles; by being joyously faithful in affliction. Not just faithful, but joyously faithful in their suffering. So let’s jump over to Acts chapter 17 and take a look at how the Thessalonian believers had suffered. “When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women. But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting: "These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus." When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.” (Acts 17:1-9, NIV) The Jews were so riled up that in verse 13 we see; “When the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, they went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up” (Acts 17:13) Doesn’t this sound almost like a story coming out of China or Pakistan today? This is the kind of persecution that the believers had seen at the beginning of their faith. May be this happened to some of you, but here in America this is not the typical experience. After we accept Christ, we don’t usually have the police come and knock on our door and drag us off to jail. Not many of us lost jobs, or were separated from family because we accepted Christ. There are places where this still happens today, but it is not the normal experience here in America. It is hard enough to handle persecution when you have been a believer for a while, imagine what it must be like to be persecuted at the very inception of your faith. When you hear stories like the two I read at the beginning of this sermon, have you ever wondered how you would have stood up to this type of persecution? One indicator is how we view and handle suffering in general. Do you endure suffering in faith with joy? It is difficult to be in the midst of suffering and simply endure in faith, but to do it joyfully! That seems very difficult, how do you do that? Is it even possible? No, it is not humanly possible. It is not something that we can build up out of our own resources. We may endure, but to do so joyfully requires divine enablement. Therefore, when we face suffering we must pray for divine resources. If we look at the end of verse six we see that their joy was given, or its source was the Holy Spirit. This joy is a gift; it is not putting on a face or drumming up happiness. In stead it is an altered perspective on our suffering provided by the Holy Spirit. We need to seek this joy. When we see others in the midst of suffering we need to gather around them in prayer. To rally around them and pray that they will not despair but will continue to trust in God; that they would be filled with the joy that comes from the Holy Spirit. In Colossians chapter one verse twenty four (1:24) Paul states; “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you” (Colossians 1:24a, NIV). In 2 Corinthians 7:4 Paul states; “in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds” (2 Corinthians 7:4b, NIV). Isn’t that a strange thing to say, to rejoice in suffering. The world doesn’t rejoice in suffering. Yet we are to follow the Lord and the apostles in doing so. How did Paul do this? How did Jesus do this? Hebrews 12:1-3 states; “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:1-3, NIV) The author of Hebrews points us to Jesus as our example. We are to consider Him, and not loose heart. This means that Jesus in the midst of Gethsemane, his betrayal and arrest, the beating and trial and finally death did not loose heart. Jesus was motivated to endure joyfully, not just faithfully, but joyfully. Why, because he saw the value of obedience to the Father as something that far exceed the pleasure of having a life with out pain. It wasn’t fun, but there was joy in knowing that his actions, in the midst of suffering, were pleasing to the Father. Jesus chose the way of pain because of the joy set before him. What was that joy, it was knowing that his actions where pleasing to his father, and that by those actions he would bring many sons to glory; that is you and I. As written in 1 Peter chapter two; “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21 NIV). The word that Peter uses for example here is the word for exact coping. It denotes talking a piece of tracing paper and laying it on top of writing so that you could make a precise and accurate duplicate of the original. We are to trace with our lives the life of Christ, by being joyously faithful in suffering. II. Why are we to be joyously faithful in suffering? (v. 7 – 10) Now we come to the question of; why are we to be joyously faithful in suffering? Is it simply so that we can be like Christ? Or that we can have satisfaction that our lives are pleasing to God? Those are good reason but they are not the two that Paul gives us here in this passage. The first reason can be found in verse seven to the middle of verse 8. “And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia— your faith in God has become known everywhere.” (1 Thessalonians 1:7-8a). So what is the affect when we are not begrudgingly faithful in suffering, but instead take pleasure in the midst of it knowing that we are living in God’s will? We find that our suffering like Christ’s wasn’t just for ourselves. Instead, we model Christianity for others. A. We become models of faith for others. (v. 7 – 8a) Take note of the word “model” here in verse seven. The word, Tupos in the Greek means pattern; example, model or standard. Have you ever heard the term typology, this is the Greek word from which our term typology comes from. I actually think that a better translation of the word could be mold. I am not much in the way of a cook. I can follow a recipe and on most occasions will meet with success, but I would in no way consider myself to be an expert. Yet I know that if I take Jell-O and pour it into a mold and let it cool, the Jell-O will come out looking like the mold. If I roll out dough and press a cookie cutter into, I will end up with a cookie shaped like the cookie cutter. That is what we become when we follow in the example of Christ in being joyously faith in the midst of suffering. We become a mold which displays Christ to others. We don’t just live lives for ourselves; we live our lives so that they will have a molding impact on others. Not a molding impact in the sense of the green and fuzzy kind, but molding of the shaping kind. The essence of discipleship is imitation. There is an old saying that children learn from what is caught (modeling) as well as what is taught. Don’t misunderstand, we need the teaching, but if we are lacking the models then what is taught has less impact. When our life and our word line up, the proclamation of the gospel is magnified. We need to be witnesses of how to receive the gospel, and how to live it in the face of suffering. In the beginning of verse eight Paul says that “The Lord’s message rang out from you...” The word ‘rang out’ is the word that the Greeks would have used to describe loud rolling thunder, or the sound of army trumpeters sounding out orders. By the Thessalonians, as a church, living in joyous faith in the midst of suffering; the message of the gospel was heard like the sound of thunder bouncing off of skyscrapers. I remember living up in the Twin Cities and being downtown when a thunderstorm went through. There would be this flash of light then the sound would begin. Bouncing from one building to the next seeming to gain in intensity, coming at you from every direction, then slowly fading away only to be repeated by the next clap of thunder. Paul’s reaction to persecution was and example to the Thessalonians, a clap of thunder when mixed with the message of the gospel. So too their lives together as a church continued that thunderous roar. Every where in scripture that we see joyous faith in the midst of suffering, we see the gospel spread with power. In Acts chapter five verse forty we see this affect. It reads; “They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (Acts 5:40&41, NIV). Do you see that, they just got whipped. Flogging was a very painful ordeal. Yet here we see them rejoicing. What is the affect? In the beginning of chapter six verse one we see the affect; “in those days when the number of disciples was increasing” (Acts 6:1a, NIV). Just recently my kids were going through Acts chapter sixteen and were amazed by Paul. Here Paul and Silas where sharing the gospel in Philippi, when Paul casts out a spirit from a slave girl by the power of Jesus’ name. So what happens? “The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.” So how would you be feeling about now; Maybe a little sorry for yourself, or a little angry at the injustice of it all. Maybe you would be asking God “Why Me?” So what did they do? “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, ‘Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!’" (Acts 16:22-28, NIV). Would that have been your reaction? If you were taken out stripped naked, severely flogged, and thrown into prison, would you feel like singing? Yet that is exactly what they did. So what happened next? “The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’" (Acts 16:29, NIV) Was it just the earth quake and the fact that they were still there that impacted the jailer? Or was it not their joyous faith in suffering. He had heard their singing. What did the jailer do? “The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God— he and his whole family” (Acts 16:34, NIV). The jailer imitated Paul and Silas. Models of faith get people’s attention. They may think that you are crazy, or they may want to know the source of your joy. It all depends on the Spirit’s work in their life. The one thing that is sure is it is rarely ignored. B. To relieve the load of evangelism from church leaders. (v. 8b – v. 10) The second reason that we are to be joyously faithful in suffering in found in the second half of of verse eight. Let’s look at it again. “Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell 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 rescues us from the coming wrath” (1 Thessalonians 1:8b-10, NIV). We have a therefore here which points that this is the pinnacle point of Paul’s thanksgiving. What is the major result of the Thessalonians believer’s joyous faith in suffering, it is right here. Paul says; “we don’t need to say anything.” At first glance you look at it and go, what! That is the main point? “We don’t need to say anything.” Yet, just think about what that means; it means that the Thessalonian believers were so effective in their example and verbal witness that they put Paul out of a job. That is the second effect, they relieved the load of evangelism from church leaders. Notice verse nine and ten, what were those impacted by the faith of the believers in Thessalonica doing. “for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell 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 rescues us from the coming wrath” (1 Thessalonians 1:9&10, NIV). People were proclaiming the gospel. Paul would come and people were telling him the gospel because of the witness of the Thessalonians’. The effect of their joyous faith in suffering was that others came to faith because of them. Look close at this witness to the gospel in verses nine and ten. This was not just a lifestyle model lived, but for people to be proclaiming this message they were getting content as well. Remember it is got to both be caught and taught. What we have here is a basic three point summary of the gospel. It starts with repentance “turned to God from idols,” then to live “serving the living and true God,” and finally, waiting for Jesus to return as judge. All of us need to have a verbal and lifestyle witness like that of the Thessalonians. This is not just for believers in China, or Indonesia. It is not just for pastors and elders. Each and every one of us is called to model our lives after the example of Christ, and be joyously faithful in suffering. CONCLUSION Let’s close by looking at two things. First, let’s review our opening question of what is the purpose of suffering. No doubt, as Hebrews 12 relates, that God uses suffering to discipline us and set us on the right path; like a parent does with a child to help them to mature into a responsible adult. That is an aspect of our suffering, but it is not the point of our text here. Paul relates here that our suffering is so that we can model faith for others as we maintain joy in our suffering. If God came to you and expressed that he desired to come and fill you with an unshakeable joy, and began the process by maiming you and taking away many of your normal sources of pleasure and happiness you might find this to be confusing. You would look at it and might even say that the process seemed to be taking you farther from joy. Yet, we need to have trust in the wisdom of God. Say you knew a recluse who was shut away in his house. This recluse always kept the curtains drawn and shut tight to the point that he never saw the light of the sun. Yet this recluse took great please in sitting and staring at a painting he had on the wall. You know that viewing the painting by lamp light didn’t do the painting justice. The colors which should be vivid and bright are muted and dull. You may proceed, desiring to give the recluse greater joy, to turn off the lamps and throw open the curtains to allow the sun to shine on the painting reviving it. Yet the recluse would be irritated, and may even be in pain from the unexpected brightness of the light. Yet, through the pain the recluse would finally be able to see the painting in all of its glory. When God removes from us the things in this life which provide us little joys it is only to let in the light of his greater presence, his greater joys, now and even more when we face him. Even when things look to our earthly eyes like a defeat, we know that God is working these events into great successes in the cause of his glory. Which brings us back around to the point of this text; when we are joyously faithful in our suffering we become models of faith for others. Secondly, if you have never placed your faith in Christ; if you don’t believe in your heart that Jesus took that final end time wrath for you. Then there is only one other option and that is you must take that wrath yourself. The promise for believes in Romans 8:28 is that all things, even the suffering and pain in life, God is using for the present and eternal good of the ones who loves Christ. Yet, this also means that for those who do not love him, every good thing that you have received, every blessing, every moment of happiness is working towards your damnation. When we stand before Christ as judge only those who have placed their faith in Christ’s saving work will be saved from the wrath of God. I implore you today if you have not yet turned away from your sins to serve the living and true God, to do so. © Copyright
2005 Derek Perdue
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