1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 – “The Spread of the Gospel”

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 – “The Spread of the Gospel”

This letter follows on from the hurried flight recorded in Acts 17:1-11 and shows Paul’s great concern for this first church plant in Europe.

1) The Process of Salvation in Lives:
i) God the Father has chosen us (v.4),
ii) The Word of God concerning the work of Christ for us is presented (v.5a),
iii) The Holy Spirit works in His power to bring about conviction of the truth of the Word and the reality of sin in our lives, so we are born again (v.5b) => reality of our election is demonstrated by this occurring (v.4)
iv) We turn in faith from dead idols of sin to the living and true God (v.9) => shows the other aspect of election that it is not fatalism or determinism
v) We become imitators of Christ and mature Christians as we walk in the Christian life (v.6),
vi) This progression through the doctrine of salvation culminates as we await the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection from the dead in our eternal, incorruptible bodies (v.10).

You will notice the different persons of the Godhead are referred to a great deal in these few verses, which emphasises that the spread of the Gospel and salvation is God’s work which we participate in spreading by being living ambassadors of its reality.

2) The Reality of the Gospel:
- v.3 Our working out of faith, labouring in love and endurance/steadfast of hope all flows out of the reality of the gospel in our lives. Real faith produces fruits of good works (it is not dead!); real participation in the love of Christ and a desire to love others in Jesus’ name will produce incredible labours of pain and tears in us as we seek to share it with others; real steadfastness in the face of trouble, attacks, doubts comes from the reality that we have received Christ’s sustaining grace to help us perseverance to the end with the great hope of the resurrection and eternal life with Him. *Also notice this early formulation of Paul’s extolling the three spiritual virtues of faith, hope and love

- v.5 The Gospel comes not only as words or ideas, but in power as dead sinners are born again and made alive to God in Jesus Christ – conversion of souls is something you cannot argue against when you see it! In this sense the Gospel is self-authenticating (but that is to say nothing against the importance of apologetics).

- v.6 There is true joy found through the gospel as the Holy Spirit ministers to us in the midst of opposition and affliction, as we are counted worthy to suffer for Christ’s sake. This suffering also serves to fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ (Colossians 1:24) – namely that proximately most of the world did not witness His death, but we bring His sufferings to them and show them the glory of the gospel as we share in the fellowship of His sufferings for His sake.

- v.8 the reality of their faith is seen in all the areas around as the gospel breaks new ground in Europe (“Macedonia and Achaia…has gone forth everywhere” v.8) so that the apostles “need not say anything”. People can see that these people have received the gospel and been changed by it in such a dramatic way – they don’t need to be told that something has happened. HOWEVER, they will still need to be told how and what the gospel means for these people in Thessalonica because the gospel needs to be proclaimed and explained.

- v.9 to abandon your idols in this culture was to make yourself a loner in society and an oddity. It would threaten family relationships, friendships, social positions, jobs. To take such a step would take a real belief in some glorious reality, which we do indeed find in the Lord Jesus!

3) Application:
There are three aspects to the Christian life that we all live (Saints, Sufferers and Sinners):

A) We are Saints: new born-again creations in Christ Jesus. We should seek to share the gospel and live out its reality to show the world that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. We also should await with anticipation His coming again (v.10)

B) We are Sufferers: we are still in a broken and cursed world. We should seek to experience the true joy that is unspeakable in Jesus, ministered through the Holy Spirit. We should seek to be abiding in Him and walking obediently with Him so our joy may be full (John 15) even in the midst of unspeakable pain. We should also ask for the Lord’s help and comfort and fellowship as we suffer for Him.

C) We are Sinners: there is still the inward battle between our sinful flesh and our new hearts. We should be continuing to repent of sinful idols, by turning from them to the living God. We need to pursue Him and Him alone. All the gifts He gives us should always end in praise and worship of Him – never in the gift themselves. We need to ask Him to help us see our heart aright, and come alongside others who can help us to see what we cannot see ourselves, for our hearts are deceitful.

Ephesians 6:10-24 "Life as a Gospel Warrior"

Ephesians 6:10-24 "Life as a Gospel Warrior"

We finish Ephesians today looking at the issue of spiritual warfare.

1) The War
- The spiritual battle we find ourselves involved in is done by "being strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might" (v.10), and putting on the "whole armour of God" (v.13) that He provides us with for protection.

- The Ephesian church faced a great deal of opposition from the Cult of Artemis and the pagans of the city (indeed Pastor Timothy would be martyred by them for preaching the gospel during one of their pagan processions), but Paul calls people to recognise that the real battle is a spiritual one: "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood..." (v.12).  Whatever men and women do in opposition to the gospel, we should remember that they are themselves deceived, blinded and being destroyed by the enemy, Satan who merely uses them for his own purposes.

- "rulers...authorities...cosmic powers over this present darkness...spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (v.12) is a description of Satan's kingdom on earth, which Christ has come to liberate captives from and to destroy at His coming, for He has decisively won the victory at Calvary - Satan's power is now broken.

2) The Armour
- Purpose of the armour: "to stand against the schemes of the devil" (v.11); "withstand in the evil day" (v.13)

- Sometimes we think that the gospel and the church are being marginalised in society, that we are on the retreat...but the truth is that not even the gates of Hell can prevail against the gospel as we press on (gates are a defensive measure, so it is really Satan's kingdom that is under siege).  The Church stands its ground and advances through the work and power of the Lord Jesus Christ

- The pieces of armour are all coming from the gospel that God gives us to equip us for our gospel ministry in this world => we are to ACTIVELY "PUT ON" (v.11)
a) The belt of truth => God gives us the truth through revealing to us His Son, who is the truth and giving us the Spirit of truth, and His word which is the truth.  This allows us to run into battle easily without being tripped up over confusion of what is actually true.

b) breastplate of rigtheousness => We have received Christ's righteousness, which has been creditted to our accounts and which changes our hearts.  We receive this armour to protect our hearts from Satan's attacks, for he hates Christ's righteousness in us

c) shoes of the gospel of peace => Remarkable that our feet are to be a blessing of peace in this battle, for Paul elsewhere talks from the OT about "blessed are the feet which bring good news".  Everywhere we walk we can bring good and a blessing, because we are bringing the gospel of peace and offering men and women an invitation to be reconciled to the King.

d) shield of faith => this is our defense against the fast and unsuspecting arrows of Satan who fires doubts, pains, troubles our way from out of sight.  We must be prepared to choose to walk in faith and to apply our faith to many situations, because the shield of faith is no use if we do not direct it at the direction of attack.

e) sword of the Spirit => the Word of God is our great weapon for taking on the attacks of Satan, with it the Lord Jesus also fought Satan in the wilderness and was able to properly use the scriptures to disarm Satan's temptations.

f) helmet of salvation => we have been gifted to protect our minds this helmet, which guards our thoughts when it comes to the doubts and attacks of the enemy so we might have assurance (for we cannot fight at all if we doubt we are even saved by the gospel and doubt its truth)

- With all these pieces of armour, it's not just an once off thing putting them on, rather we should be "praying at all times in the Spirit" (v.18) about being equipped with this armour as we seek to serve the Lord in this hostile world, as we never cease to be His "ambassadors" (v.20).
=> given this armour we should pray for one another that we can "open [our] mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel" (v.20)

3) A Balanced Perspective
- "Peace be to you...from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (v.23) => after spending a study thinking about warfare, here is quite the conclusion talking about peace.  We often in the West seem to forget about the spiritual aspect of the war we are in for the gospel.  However, we must avoid the other extreme of being terrified about the schemes and threat of the enemy.  We can have peace even though we face the kingdom of Satan, because we are on the side of God, who is the victor and has secured the victory.  That peace comes from Him, firstly for the forgiveness of sins, and also in giving us His spiritual power of protection so we might stand.

4) Applications:
- We need to be asking God consciously in prayer each day to be clothed in this armour
- We should remember that Satan is scheming against us and seeking to discredit the gospel - when we are tempted let's remember what's going on!
- We need to take up and use the shield of faith, by choosing each day to walk in faith and apply it to whatever troubles and situations we face.  Faith is lived out!
- We should be praying for all the saints and our brothers and sisters in relation to this warfare we all face
- We need to ask God to help us to be bold ambassadors of the gospel, because even Paul indicates that is not easy!
- We need perserverance from God in order to press on through this life and to reach the end of the course - that perserverance will be given to us (as we cannot lose our salvation) but we should never let that fact dull the fact that we must keep pressing on in the strength and power of God!

Gospel Talk: World Cup Paul the Oracle Octopus

Room65 – The World Cup Oracles

David J. Nixon (August 2010)

Octopus making predictions (lucky!), Nostradamus (vague), Jesus (was the fulfillment of specific prophecies and gave specific PROPHECY which were fulfilled => culminating in His RESURRECTION 3 days after His death!)

Creation:
Just a few weeks ago the World Cup was being played in South Africa. It was a tournament with many surprises and disappointments. There was the surprising behaviour of France; the lacklustre performance of England; and Spain’s victory.

One story that got my attention was the fun one of Paul, the oracle octopus. Maybe you heard about this creature that correctly predicted the winner of each match. He would choose between food in two different boxes (which each had a country’s flag) and the box he chose was meant to be his prediction of the winning country. I’m not sure Paul’s oracles were very scientific or anything more than good luck, but it certainly got me thinking about predictions.

Maybe you have heard of: Nostradamus. He is famous for making hundreds of so called predictions or prophecies about the future. Most interestingly some believe that he prophesied the rise of Hitler by saying a terrible German dictator would be called Hister and be born on the Danube – indeed Hitler was born in Austria in a village on the banks of the Danube. However, most scholars would agree that all of Nostradamus' prophecies only look convincing with the benefit of hindsight, as they all are so open and vague that they can be applied to various events after they have happened. So while interesting, he also must be dismissed.

Christ:
However, let me tell you about a very remarkable historical character whose whole life was steeped in incredibly accurate prophecy and predictions. Maybe you've heard of him: Jesus Christ.

(Matthew’s gospel focus)
Jesus is the only person whose biography was written hundreds of years before His birth:
- He would be born to a virgin mother, because His father would be God not man.
- He would be born in a small little town called Bethlehem
- He would have a ministry of healing people and showing compassion to the broken and destitute
- He would be a great teacher
- He would be the king over God’s global kingdom of justice, equity and peace
- He would be rejected by His own people and killed for them

If you pick up one of the historical accounts of Jesus' life you will see these prophecies, which we can historically validate as being written hundreds of years previously, were all exactly fulfilled. But that's not where the amazing nature of Jesus ends! Jesus made some incredible prophecies Himself, and one particularly I want us to consider one this evening.

Several times in His ministry He told those closest to Him that when He went up to Jerusalem the week of the biggest Jewish festival, Passover He would be taken prisoner by His own people, He would be given to the Romans who would crucify Him until He died. But then He said He would rise again from the dead three days later: “And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them a third time: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.” (Matthew 20:17-19)

Now that's a prophecy:
 It specifies the TIME when the predicted event will take place,
 it specifies WHERE,
 it specifies WHO will do it, who will kill Him,
 the METHOD of His death,
 AND also then says 3 days later a tremendous and impossible event will take place: Jesus would rise again from the dead. This is an event that has never happened before: a man to rise again from death of His own volition and prediction.

What makes Jesus really remarkable is this impossible prophecy was fulfilled. 3 days after His death He was seen again ALIVE! He even appeared to hundreds of people gathered together at one time, so this was no fabrication by His followers. Rather the reason people became His followers was because all of these events convinced people that Jesus was not just any other man, He was actually God come down as a human being - as ONLY GOD could do these things.

That is why I am a Christian - a follower of Jesus - because of these incredible prophecies that He fulfilled that show me that He truly is God. He makes the call which I have responded to, to dedicate my life to following Him.

Choice:
What do you think about Jesus? Have you ever looked into the astounding claim of His resurrection? Can I encourage you to take away one of the historical accounts of Jesus’ life, written by one of His friends Matthew. Read this unique man’s life, see His prophesied death and think about His resurrection. Will you respond by following Jesus?

Gospel Talk: The Scream

Room65 - The Scream

David J. Nixon (August 2010)

HOPE in a broken and painful world, but how FAITH is the full consummation of hope (as we need to trust God, who is the only one who can make things better, all other sources of hope will fail since only Jesus has conquered the ultimate enemy of death)

Creation:
Edinburgh is a great City of Art and Culture. If you take a stroll through the National Gallery of Scotland on Princes Street then you’ll see many pictures. Pictures evoke different responses and emotions in us. One that has always intrigued me is one by the Norwegian impressionist Edvard Munch, entitled “The Scream”. What makes it stand out is how it evokes despair and horror. He described in his diary in 1892 how the inspiration came as he saw a red sunset one evening and as the sun went down he saw blood and tongues of fire rising above the city of Nice and felt an “infinite scream passing through nature”.

When we look around our world today there appears much to despair and be horrified about in our cities as a scream passes through nature: e.g. financial collapse, unemployment, terrorism, natural disasters.

Against this background of despair and sadness, people look for hope…
… in people e.g. Barack Obama was touted as hope (PICTURE) - sadly he has failed to live up to the expectations
… sometimes people go looking for hope in social popularity, work promotion, or financial prosperity – only to find that when they get there, they are still just as unsatisfied
… sadly others turn to drink and drugs to numb the pain and escape the despair that comes from lacking hope amidst the turmoil of life.

We live in a broken world, we are all victims of that brokenness and we desperately need hope. But the things we turn to for hope only seem to work for a short time, but ultimately disappoint.

Christ:
I want to tell you tonight about a true and living hope: Jesus Christ (PICTURE)

We can only begin to have hope, if we understand the cause of the brokenness! The “infinite scream passing through nature” is the cry emanating from a broken relationship between God and His creation. This broken relationship was caused by sin, that is our rebellion against and abandonment of God. Sin can be described as placing your hopes and dreams in anything but God – to think that something, someone or yourself can give you all that you want so you don’t need to worry about God. The Bible says of our sin that each of us has turned to our own way, a way that is separated from God, living without reference to Him, and a way that will only lead to death and destruction. This extends to eternal death and separation from God after death. Thus, this broken world is actually the best thing going if you do not have God…that is what it means to have no hope!

How can this news possibly be the beginning of hope? Well simply because even though we all have gone our own way without God, God still loves us. He wants to restore us into relationship with Him. We can have hope as we suffer in a broken world if we know we have a good God who can fix the brokenness and bring good.

But you know hope is actually something LESS than what we really need, which is faith. I could live in London and hope to meet the Queen one day, but unless I have a relationship with her or someone close to her I will never get to enjoy the fulfillment of that hope. Likewise, we can hope that a good God will help us and heal us, but we need a relationship with Him in order to experience the fulfillment of that hope. A living relationship with God is something we can call FAITH. Christian hope is not about our wants or desires for the future…it’s about assurance and confidence about the future which comes from knowing the good and living God.

Let me illustrate this all important truth from one of the historical accounts of Jesus’ ministry in Mark’s gospel. Jesus heals a crippled man who had no hope in the world, just begged to try to get by and would have lived an awful life in the gutters and edges of society. This man has hope in Jesus to heal him of his physical brokenness, but He gets so much more. Jesus deals first with this man’s broken relationship with God as Jesus says: “your sins are forgiven”. This shows that the real hope this man needs is only found in having a relationship with God through having faith in Jesus; but this relationship is not possible unless our sins are forgiven. Jesus came to bring hope in the only way possible by dealing with our sin.

Choice:
Do you want to be set free from despair? Do you want to receive the free gift of hope – not only for this life but for all eternity? I want to leave you with this wonderful truth that faith in Jesus is the culmination of our desire for hope in this broken world. And because it is hope in a good God, we can have assurance that our faith will not disappoint.

Gospel Talk: The Most Valuable Gift This World Affords

Room65 - The Most Valuable Gift This World Affords

David J. Nixon (August 2010)

the Bible is RELEVANT, God's Word is TRUE at all times and places, and it is God's INVITATION to know the true King of Kings and Lord of Lords

Welcome to Room65 at the Edinburgh Fringe festival. Carrubbers is a church that has been working in the community here for 150 years now, and has a prime location between the castle at the top of the hill and the Queen’s palace at the bottom. I don’t know what you think about the British Royal Family, but whatever your views you will probably have heard of Prince William and maybe have a soft spot for him! He and his long-term girlfriend, Kate Middleton, just moved in with each other a few months ago fuelling rumours that the long-awaiting royal engagement is due any time! Now I’m getting married this year, but as much as I love my fiancé, our wedding is not going to be nearly as grand as this royal one!!! This is very exciting because this is the young heir to the throne and this will be his future queen! Let’s think a little bit about the Coronation Ceremony that one day we will witness for this couple.

When current Queen Elizabeth II was crowned at Westminster Abbey in 1953 at the height of the ceremony she was presented with a book accompanied with these words: 'Our Gracious Queen, we present you with this Book, the most valuable thing that this world affords.”
Imagine that, she is being given a crown worth millions, palaces and mansions all around the country; is the head of the British Commonwealth around the globe…but all of that pales into insignificance compared with this BOOK.

You know, this same Book was once considered the most dangerous book in the world: in England 500 years ago if you were found with a copy of it in English then you would be burnt alive at the stake along with it. Indeed, hundreds of good people lost their lives smuggling it into the country in bags of flour and wool. What book could really be so threatening to those in power?

Well before I tell you, let me add that this Book also makes the most astounding claims: it claims that it contains the Words of Life.

This book is none other than The Bible – the world’s best selling book: HAVE YOU EVER READ IT?

Maybe you’ve heard that far from containing the Words of Life, the Bible is irrelevant to life in our world today. Well do you see these issues as being ones we face today?:

 war
 poverty
 injustice
 love
 suffering
 forgiveness
 relationships
 death

The Bible has much to say on these issues and MANY MORE.

But it is not just the fact that it addresses relevant ISSUES that means you should read it, but also because it contains relevant ANSWERS. Maybe you’re asking though: how can a 2000 year-old book be relevant today? Only because it is authored by and contains the Words of the One who authoritatively knows how this world was meant to work in the first place, the one who is truly the ruling king and creator of all things: God! The Bible claims for itself that it is the very WORD OF GOD.

God is the king over all of creation. He made a wonderful and good creation to rule over with goodness and love. Men and women were meant to love and delight in being members of God’s kingdom…but they would not bow the knee to their king. Instead we all have rebelled against the king’s authority. We have broken His commands, which we find recorded in the Bible. We ignore the King in His own kingdom. Indeed we have decided that we will be kings and queens of our own little lives – which makes us REBELS in the sight of God and His kingdom.
*The Bible is amazing because it INTRODUCES US TO THE KING – WE MAY NEVER KNOW AND MEET PRINCE WILLIAM BUT WE CAN MEET THE KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS => we all will meet God the King one day at the end of our lives, but the question will be whether we will be received into His kingdom, or are punished as rebels for living in His world ignoring Him and His decrees.

The Bible tells us of Jesus, God’s Son, who was sent into this world to bring peace between the King and the Rebels. The Bible contains the Words of Life because it tells us how we can have life by accepting the invitation Jesus gives us to know God the King and be made right with Him again after our rebellion.

Let me share with you one of the amazing things Jesus says in the Bible: “I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE; no man comes to God except through me” John 14:6.
 I AM THE WAY (The record of Jesus in the Bible gives us an invitation to be introduced to the King)
 THE TRUTH (Jesus and the Bible deals relevantly with all the issues we face in reality because it is written by the Creator who made the very fabric of this reality)
 THE LIFE (The Bible not only directs us in how to live, but tells us that true life comes from being restored into a right relationship with the creator King from whom all life comes and by being forgiven for our rebellion: “I have come that you may have life, and have it abundantly” John 10:10)

Please take away with you a portion of this book (John’s Gospel) which is the most valuable thing this world has, the Words of God. In John’s gospel (which I quoted from earlier) you can be introduced to Jesus, the king and receive an invitation to receive true abundant life for ever in His kingdom.