Katharine Welby, the daughter of the Archbishop of Canterbury, speaks very honestly and bravely about her battle with depression. One in five adults are effected by depression and 90% have felt some sort of stigma or discrimination. Katharine says in the interview that the turning point for her was when she saw depression as an illness and not just me.
Paul reports the wonderful news about the Thessalonians that they had turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God (1 Thess 1:9).
John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible says: The Thessalonians before the Gospel came among them were idolaters; here the “Dii Cabiri”, the great and chief gods of the Gentiles, were worshipped; as Jupiter and Bacchus, Ceres and Proserpina, Pluto and Mercury, Castor and Pollux, and Esculapius; these the Macedonians, and particularly the Thessalonians, worshipped with great devotion and reverence: but now they turned from them and forsook them.
If we quickly compare idols and God we can say the following:
The Geneva Bible translation notes make this interesting comment: It is no true conversion to forsake idols, unless a man in addition worships the true and living God in Christ the only Redeemer.
Turning to God means that we leave something behind, which for the Thessalonians was their idol worship. That is not always easy to do in practice. In some countries today turning to Christ may mean leaving behind family, community and friends. It may mean exclusion from society and persecution or even death in some cases. Whilst the One to whom we turn is better however that does not mean that it will not be tough at times.
Paul told the Galatians that you reap what you sow. Spurgeon in the quote below says something very similar in regard to the books that we read. Basically we are what we read. That’s worth pondering.
Certain insects assume the colour of the leaves they feed upon; and they are but emblems of a great law of our being: our minds take the hue of the subjects whereon they think. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Readers of trash become trashy; lovers of skeptical books become skeptical; and students of the Bible, who are in real earnest, become biblical, and display the qualities of the Bible. If you read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the word of God, the qualities of that word will be displayed in you. A man fed on Bibline is a man indeed. In the history of heroes, there are none who show so much moral muscle and spiritual sinew as those who make the word of God their necessary food. Old Guys – Spurgeon
One of the pages that I “like” on Facebook is Old Guys and they have recently posted the following quotes by Spurgeon on the Bible:
If the Spirit of God is in you, He will make you love the Word of God and, if any of you imagine that the Spirit of God will lead you to dispense with the Bible, you are under the influence of another spirit which is not the Spirit of God at all! I trust that the Holy Spirit will endear to you every page of this Divine Record so that you will feed upon it and, afterwards, speak it out to others. I think it is well worthy of your constant remembrance that, even in death, our blessed Master showed the ruling passion of His spirit so that His last words were a quotation from Scripture. The Spirit Will Make You Love the Word
How instructive to us is this great Truth of God that the Incarnate Word lived on the Inspired Word! It was food to Him, as it is to us and, Brothers and Sisters, if Christ thus lived upon the Word of God, should not you and I do the same? He, in some respects, did not need this Book as much as we do. The Spirit of God rested upon Him without measure, yet He loved the Scripture and He went to it, studied it and used its expressions continually. The Incarnate Word Lived Upon the Inspired Word!
Oh, that you and I might get into the very heart of the Word of God, and get that Word into ourselves! As I have seen the silkworm eat into the leaf, and consume it, so ought we to do with the Word of the Lord—not crawl over its surface, but eat right into it till we have taken it into our inmost parts. It is idle merely to let the eye glance over the words, or to recollect the poetical expressions, or the historic facts; but it is blessed to eat into the very soul of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in Scriptural language, and your very style is fashioned upon Scripture models, and, what is better still, your spirit is flavoured with the words of the Lord.
I would quote John Bunyan as an instance of what I mean. Read anything of his, and you will see that it is almost like reading the Bible itself. He had read it till his very soul was saturated with Scripture; and, though his writings are charmingly full of poetry, yet he cannot give us his Pilgrim’s Progress—that sweetest of all prose poems — without continually making us feel and say, “Why, this man is a living Bible!” Prick him anywhere—his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God. I commend his example to you, beloved. May We Bleed Bibline!
Paul tells the Thessalonians that “your faith in God has become known everywhere.” The reputation of this group of Christians had spread everywhere. Fortunately it was a very good reputation and Paul was certainly impressed with them.
Adam Clarke in his commentary on this phrase says “As Thessalonica was very conveniently situated for traffic, many merchants from thence traded through Macedonia, Achaia, and different parts of Greece. By these, the fame of the Thessalonians having received the doctrine of the Gospel was doubtless carried far and wide. And it appears that they had walked so conscientiously before God and man, that their friends could speak of them without a blush, and their adversaries could say nothing to their disgrace.
Imagine that “their adversaries could say nothing to their disgrace.” What an outstanding reputation the church in Thessalonica had!
Most of our churches are probably not as conveniently situated for traffic as the one in Thessalonica. Yet wherever we are located, whether in a large city or a small country village we can aspire to be places where we reflect Christ well to the world around us.
Good reputations take time to build but sadly can easily be destroyed by one foolish act. Many years of hard work building a good reputation can be destroyed in an instant. The MD of one company for whom I used to work often said “you cannot put a price on our reputation.” Sometimes we used to snigger inwardly to ourselves when he said that but to be honest looking back he was 100% right. Let’s pray that the reputation of our churches will be like the church in Thessalonica.
I’ve had a sore throat since last Thursday (18 April) and am now getting fed up with it. This has resulted in me being off sick from work. I’ve also had to miss going to the London Marathon last Sunday. This sore throat does not seem to want to leave me despite what I try to fight it (tablets, medicine and drinking liquids).
I’m reminded of Heb 12:1 (please see below) when I think of the way that this sore throat has entangled me. I wish my sin caused me as much concern as my sore throat does.
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 (Hebrews 12:1)
In 1 Thessalonians 1:8 Paul says “The Lord’s message rang out from you” (NIV). Some translations though instead of using the phrase “The Lord’s message” say “the word of the Lord.” Personally speaking I prefer NIV’s translation of this verse. Why you might ask?
For me I think the phrase ‘the Lord’s message’ reminds me that it is not our message we preach but God’s message. It is not something made up by man or some mere human philosophy but instead it’s inspired by God and is His.
I think it is good for us to understand and remember too that it is not our pastor’s or vicar’s message either but the Lord’s. Therefore we must not change it to fit what we want it to say or to satisfy whatever may be popular at the time in our modern culture. We must be faithful to it – even when it makes us unpopular!
The Lord’s message is powerful. It will change you……… if you let it!
I expect that most of us have heard someone described as a model employee. So it’s interesting to see that Paul uses a similar phrase regarding the church in Thessalonica saying that they “became a model to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia.”
What an incredible statement this was to make to a group of Christians. I guess that Paul is saying they were the best church to model the Christian faith to others in that part of the world. This indeed was a big compliment for the church in Thessalonica.
The Greek word used for ‘model’ can also be translated ‘example.’ The Strong-Lite dictionary says that this word can be used in the context of ‘an example to be imitated‘ or ‘of men worthy of imitation‘
What an endorsement of that church! I wonder could the same be said of your church? Is it a church which others would hope to imitate? When visitors come to your church do they speak favourable of it? I don’t mean that they say you have the best preacher or worship band in town. Neither do I mean they say you have the best facilities. Rather they comment on the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self-control that is exhibited by your members. They see the radiance of Christ reflected amongst the people.
I’m reminded of 1 Timothy 4:12 where Paul says “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
The same challenge for our churches also could be asked of us too. Are we a good model of the Christian faith? Do we desire to become one?
Last Sunday morning in church I noticed one of our young children looking at some of the adults standing near her clapping during one of the songs and she joined in and copied them. Let’s hope that there is much in our life and church that models Christ well to others and inspires them to wish to imitate our example.
Paul tells us that although the Thessalonians have suffered severe persecution they welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. Humanly speaking none of us like to suffer persecution and our natural tendency would normally be anything but joy. However this was not the reaction of the Thessalonians. So was their response unusual?
Acts 16 records that when Paul and Silas were imprisoned that at about midnight they were singing hymns to God. Additionally the book of Philippians, which was written by Paul whilst he was in prison, records exhortations from the apostle to rejoice in the Lord. So we can observe that the Thessalonians response was not completely unusual.
The joy that the Thessalonians displayed was not a human produced one but instead one that came from the Holy Spirit. This joy far surpassed any hardship which they were experiencing. Adam Clarke in his commentary says:
The consolations which they received, in consequence of believing in Christ, more than counterbalanced all the afflictions which they suffered from their persecutors.
John Wesley in his explanatory notes says
Though in much affliction, yet with much joy.
I wonder how much of this joy can be seen in me and you?
The period between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday is the most important one in the Christian calendar. In fact I would say that this is the most important period of time ever in history. Without the events of these days there would be no Christian church or Christian faith. This was the time when history changed.
Let’s remember the events of these few days which changed the world :
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