If you follow Jesus you will be a turning person, a serving person and a waiting person. (as you follow Jesus ) Turning: 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, (1 Thessalonians 1:9) The Thessalonian Christians were former idolaters and now they had abandoned what they used to live for in order to follow Jesus. explain that a bit: Thessalonika is in northern Greece, in the shadow of mount Olympus. A city that was steeped in Greek spirituality and religion, coupled with Roman patriotism which actually was overt Emperor worship. Into that city 50AD came three ambassodors for Christ, Paul Silvanus and Timothy, they told them about the King above all Kings, the Power above all powers, the creator and sustainer of everything - the Lord Jesus Christ. powerful enough to make them, personal enough to be known, holy enough to hold them accountable for the sin, righteous enough to judge the world one day, loving enough to enter into our story and make a way of rescue. As this news went viral throughout the city some people were strangely warmed to it. They embraced Jesus and allowed Him to re-prioritise their lives. and some recognised this as a threat to their way of life; they could tell that this Jesus character would not leave the city the same way that He found it, He changed people from the inside out, and for those that were happy with the status quo, that was bad bad news - and so they violently chased away His ambassadors from Thessalonika But - the influence and the presence of Jesus stayed put. embedded in the community, through the lives of the members of this tiny young baby Christian Fellowship Calvary Thessalonika This small church made a big impact, and as we finish ch1 of our book (which is a letter from Paul to these Christians) he continues his train of though; which is his thankfulness for them, he is rejoicing in their steadfastness and their commitment to the gospel and their MATURITY. I was worried that you wouldn t make it on your own, but you are actually doing great, you are ESTABLISHED in the faith, because you are ESTABLISHED in Christ. in ch1 his lists out 6 things that assure him of their maturity and their true discipleship. they knew that they were loved by God, they were word centred, spirit empowered, with steady testimony echoing out the gospel to their region and now we ll look at some final evidences of their mature walk with Jesus. starting here: They were a turning people. having heard and trusted the message of Jesus they turned from their idols. The Thessalonian Christians were former idolaters and now they had abandoned what they used to live for in order to follow Jesus. They didn t just add Him to their pantheon of Gods - one more deity for them to honour They completely rejected the things that they used to worship (reject and eject) examples of repentance in the Bible: Ephesian believers burning their books of witchcraft and spells Acts 19:19 there is a moment of realisation (that might be happening today by the power of the Holy Spirit) that comes upon a Christian when we see that we don t just add Jesus to our lives, but He
completely takes over, re-organises, re-prioritises and establishes dominance over all other rivals. LORD an example of repentance and the changed life is my friend Tyrone Power. born and raised in Waterford, he got into far-right nationalism and was an actual neo-nazi (tattoos and all) slowly drawn into relationship with God and eventually a decisive moment of conversion. the next day he rode his motorcycle to the tattoo studio and got his swastica tattoo covered by a giant cross. years later now he is the pastor of Calvary Waterford, our vibrant, growing multi-ethnic sister church with a substantial number of african immigrants who have a loving, caring pastor looking after them and encouraging them in their walk. but that awareness that came over him - Tyrone wasn t going to be a Christian White Supremacist Jesus would not be one more hero alongside Goebbels and Hitler and Himmler Jesus dethrones them. - He is not content to just take His place alongside the other bits of our lives, He doesn t take His place, He takes over! reminds me of : throwing away expensive pile of cds and records - not only were they explicitly anti-christian in their lyrics, more than that, it wasn t just background music, for me but it was an expression of my identity. I didn t just listen to punk, I AM punk. and I tossed it in the bin. (this is before spotify! that pile of vinyl cost a lot of money!) The thessalonians didn t add Jesus to their lives, they completely rejected and ejected what they used to live for God expects nothing less from you Idolatry in the modern world - It isn t necessarily (or even primarily) statues anymore, but there are still competing gods in this world. 1. Idolatry in 21st Century Cork / Idolatry in our hearts we all have an idea of hell - the worse thing that can happen to us. I m not talking about what the Bible spells out for us about the afterlife, I m talking about the personal conception that everyone has, of the worst reality possible. religious people believe in hell, secular people believe in hell - what is the situation that would be the complete undoing of a person, that they would give anything to avoid. for some people it is being out of control, being made to feel small, being unimportant, being powerless, loss of bodily autonomy, silencing of your voice, etc. for me - being late. literal nightmares about it. so we have our idea of hell - and then we determine what can save us from that hell. a saviour. if hell is being unimportant then our saviour will be whatever rescues us from that pit of obscurity. love me or hate me, but I will not let you ignore me. if hell is being alone with our thoughts or our memories then we will cling to whatever keeps us occupied. busy-ness saves us from the hell of loneliness. controlling food intake - for me, tardiness was the worst thing possible. to be late to something was the most stomach churning agony for me. I would be very unpleasant, racing across town, and dying a thousand deaths on my way to an appointment. I had literal nightmares about being late for things. irrational fear - and when I began to scratch it, I saw that it wasn t being late so much as looking irresponsible, looking stupid or lazy.
so because I had elevated my image so high, anything that challenged my self-image became a threat to my very being and value. I could feel my idol being attacked. so I defend my idol, I sacrifice to / for my idol. that s how idolatry works : a pseudo saviour saves us with a pseudo salvation from a pseudo hell. my turning from idols involved consciously addressing this - acknowledging that for me: respectability, or other people s impression of me, or my own definition of success, was more important to me than nearly anything else. that I was violating the first commandment : do not have any other gods before Me. and so I began meditating and thinking through how my relationship with God (relating to Him) could rid me of this, or rather how I should be turning from idols to the living and true God. I needed to acknowledge a) that people probably don t even think about me half as much as I think that they do, and B) the only real estimation of me is what my God thinks of me. And He knows the real me, and He loves me. He knows me fully and deeply, and loves me regardless. If you follow Jesus you will be a turning person, and a serving person SERVING 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, (1 Thessalonians 1:9) As significant as it is to cease doing one thing, what is more important is that they starting doing a brand new thing : they serve the living and true God Greek: doulous - bondservant, a willing slave. formerly they would admire honour their idols. but now they could actually serve God. you can only serve someone who is alive and who you are in relationship with. God is living, loving and powerful. They are dead - He is living They are fake - He is real and genuine They are unable to help - He is ready willing and eager to help. he is Mighty to Save what are things that they DID to serve Him? work of faith, labour of love, steadfastness of hope 1:3 lived exemplary lives of integrity, even in the midst of suffering 1:7, 2:14 loving one another 4:9 encouraged one another and built each other up 5:11 noteworthy that much of what God counts as service to Him, is service that we do to others. 1. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. (Mark 9:41, ESV) 2. And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. (Matthew 25:40, ESV) 3. What a King! you won t find that anywhere else. 2. dead and false idols vs the Living and True God 1. repentance is attractive when we see it from the right perspective 2. if it is a matter of fixating on what we have to give up it will be difficult, painful, unlikely and temporary - once we stop looking at our sin, and look up to our Saviour, while it may remain a challenge, it will not be impossible. 3. we trade in copper and in exchange we get pure gold.
Waiting: If you follow Jesus you will be a turning person, and a serving person and a waiting person and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:10, ESV) Christian faith is lived in between the two comings of Christ - He has come and He is coming again. We don t want to only live in the past (we are not merely historians or memorialisers nor sentimentalists - looking back on the good old days) we also are those who are looking forward to a miraculous and inevitable future: Jesus is coming back! Because of this it is possible to live with confidence and hope. (two things that seem to be in rare supply these days) They had been transformed because of his first coming, now they were looking forward with patience and confidence to his second coming. In the Greek language, the word is used to describe what a mother does when she is anticipating the birth of her baby. - waiting, and preparing. as we are confronted by what is wrong (in us and in the world) it is a reminder to us that Jesus has not come back yet, His Kingdom has not yet come, but we can confidently with assurance know that one day He will come again. Not like the first time, in humility, obscurity and weakness. who are we waiting for? we re waiting for Jesus: and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:10, ESV) 3. Jesus saves sinners 4. Saves sinners from what? 1. certainly not from hardships, suffering, sadness - because they were experiencing all of that. 2. this corresponds with our own experience, doesn t it? deciding to follow Jesus doesn t actually make life much better, sometimes it even makes life worse! 3. it can be incredibly discouraging, and many people give up once life gets rough (parable of seeds/sower,) hardship : (thlipsis) wrath : (orgē) Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come. 4. Wrath is God s eternal and settled indignation against sin. 5. The believer is safe from God s wrath past, present and FUTURE 6. There is a coming Judgement, God will not sit quietly forever. the time will come when abuse, degradation, exploitation, cruelty, violence, falsehood will all come to an end. 7. The only way to keep from being wiped out in that flood of Justice is to be safe in the one who saves from the wrath to come, Jesus Himself. 1. we ll talk about this more as we journey through the book of Thessalonians 2. Bible-believing Christians differ on many of the details regarding Jesus coming, but they all agree with the fact that He is coming bodily. the gospel is not the message about how Jesus can help you succeed in life, but rather about how Jesus alone can rescue you from the wrath to come. The Bible tells us that our sins have
separated us from the holy God so that we are under His righteous judgment (John 3:36; Rom. 3:23; 6:23). Our good deeds cannot pay the penalty that we owe. But God so loved the world that He sent His eternal Son Jesus to take on human flesh and bear the penalty that we deserve (John 3:16). He gives salvation from His judgment to all who believe in Jesus. in conclusion: you follow Jesus you will be a turning person, a serving person and a waiting person. What do you need to turn from? perhaps some of you need to turn away from unbelief and embrace Jesus by faith. some need to acknowledge that the lordship of Jesus is incongrous with ideologies that you are holding on to some need to turn away from idols of your heart Some of you need to realise that we don t just turn away from things - we serve the Lord. and we serve the Lrod though His people and we wait for Him