1 Thessalonians 3 - Freedom or Fear

Drawing a parallel between our nation's 250-year celebration of freedom and the spiritual battles we face, we're reminded that true freedom comes at a cost.                                             
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Johnny's family was having the extended family Fourth of July cookout over at their house. One of the special treats was the lighting of the fireworks. You know, the Roman candles, the bottle rockets, the missile batteries, yes, everything that they had bought out of state because they were illegal in their own state, unless they happened to have seen Jared at school years ago. Some of you will remember that one. Just before they were about to arrive, a cousin called up and said, Hey, our neighbors' plans have fallen through. Would it be all right if we brought them over to the family picnic? They had extra food, so Johnny's family say they said, Sure, the more the merrier. Upon their arrival, it was discovered that the neighbor, the cousin, brought was a police officer. The father turns as innocently as he could to Johnny and he whispers to Johnny, Run, go grab the bag of fireworks from the kitchen. Hide, hide them somewhere quickly. Johnny disappeared. The father changes his topic for the day, and the family says, You know what? We brought some chicken we'd like to grill. And so the father says, Well, we have a gas grill out and back, just go right ahead and go back there. Ours is an old one, so you gotta leave the lid shut. You can leave it shut, turn it on, and hit the button, and click, click, click, click, click, and it'll take off. They head back out. Johnny comes back around to the front door. Father says to him, Wow, that was close. Did you get those fireworks hidden? Yep, Dad, and nobody will ever find them. I put them in our old barbecue grill. Well, that may not be the best idea. It might cause a lot of fear rather than freedom. You know, this weekend is the 250th celebration of the founding of our nation, celebrating 250 years of freedom. Our freedom came with a great cost. Many people who fought in wars from the Revolutionary War, even to more modern wars. And I'm thankful we have the freedoms we have in the United States of America. Yet even as we celebrate our nation's freedom, I can't help but think about what the cost of spiritual battle every Christian is in. And especially what Paul was in. Even as he wrote to the Christians at Thessalonica, Paul wrote about some of those costs, trials that every Christian faces for the sake of Christ. Today I want to look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 and see the trials that Paul wrote about, what we can learn from this chapter. But let's begin, of course, with prayer. Lord, we're thankful for your love. We're thankful for our nation. We're thankful for the celebration of 250 years. But Lord, help us to think about freedom and its costs, and especially fear, and help us, Lord, to be willing to put up with the and endure the trials that we have to face in Jesus' name. Amen. There are seven thoughts about trials that I see in this chapter, chapter three of 1 Thessalonians. I'm going to start with the first three verses where our trials are unsettling. Our trials are unsettling. Therefore, when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother, and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions. Life is not always easy. Our nation's celebrating 250 years of freedom, but that freedom didn't come easy. I can't imagine what it was like back in the 1770s when people had to make a choice. Either you stand up against England and you rebel and you fight a war against England, or you just continue with the status quo, not rock the boat, and just let things keep on going. To rebel against England had to have been a huge step. Roughly 25,000 Americans lost their lives in the Revolutionary War. Think about how many families were affected. And that doesn't count those who were just injured or those who were traumatized by the fighting. Yet here we are 250 years later, and we don't think about the trials they went through, only the celebration of freedom. Even now, many of us when we face trials in our lives, we often think we are alone in them, and that our trials are far worse than any of the trials anyone else goes through. I may be completely wrong, but it seems to me that all of us have problems that we try that try us, that try our patience, that try our lives and generally disturb us. Over the past year, I think in about four different sermons I have brought up about how upsetting it is when you're driving and somebody cuts you off. Nearly every time I bring it up, there are people who are relating to that. Probably all of us have had it happen to us at least once a month, if not even more often. Yet when it happens, we almost always act like we're the only person anybody ever has it happened to. Nobody else has that problem. Oh yes, they do. And trials are upsetting, they are disturbing, they're bothersome, they're problematic. And Paul writes here that when he was going through the trials of not being able to visit the Christians in Thessalonica, he wanted them to know how they were doing. He wanted to know how they were doing. And Paul even mentions that this trial was so bad, he says, when we could endure it no longer. Life isn't easy. Sometimes we're stressed beyond what we feel like we could possibly endure. And Paul then goes on and writes that he expresses that our trials are appointed by God. The last half of verse 3 says, For you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. The Greek word translated for us in New American Standard is destined, literally means appointed. Destined. We have been made for this. I know we can bring trouble upon ourselves, but a certain amount of troubles and trials are appointed to us simply because we are Christians. Jesus warned his disciples, John chapter 15, again John chapter 16, that persecution and trials are going to come to Christians. If Jesus was persecuted, if they beat him, if they crucified him, then we, his disciples, should also expect persecution to us. Back when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6 and 7, Luke chapter 6, he pointed out that we should consider ourselves blessed when we are reviled, when we are persecuted for his name's sake. And there are several other Bible verses that tell us that all of us, anyone who lives for Jesus, is going to face trials. In fact, verse 4 here, he says we should actually expect trials. For indeed, when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction. And so it came to pass, as you know, over my years in ministry, I've had many people come to me asking me, where's those verses that promise Christians that if we just have enough faith, we will never suffer problems? I've heard evangelists preach. If you have enough faith, you'll never have problems. If you have enough faith, you'll never have any trials. You'll just be fine. I can remember many times I have searched the scriptures for those texts. I've never found them. And in preparing for the sermon today, I decided I'll better check one more time. So I typed onto the internet. Where does the Bible say that we will never suffer trials? The internet came with a very simple answer. The Bible does not state that we will never suffer trials. And then it went on and gave several Bible verses and passages that promised problems and suffering and woes and trials and troubles to anyone who follows Jesus Christ. You know, I wish that I, like many preachers, have heard, that we could actually preach that Christians will never suffer in this world. But that's not what the Bible teaches us about life on this earth. We are promised that when we get to heaven, God is going to wipe away every tear from our eyes, that there will be no more sickness, no more pain, no more suffering, no more death there. But on this earth, and as long as Satan seems to rule the people in this world, Christians will face and should expect to face trials, especially for believing in Jesus and proclaiming the truth about Jesus. Trials are unsettling. They are appointed by God. We should expect them. And then in verse 5, it points out that trials can tempt us to give up. Verse 5, for this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith. For fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor would be in vain. One of the biggest stresses to Paul regarding the Christians in Thessalonica was whether or not they had been faithful to God through the trials they were facing. Have they stayed faithful? I've only had three full-time ministries over my years, yet I can relate to Paul in this aspect. Because even after you leave those ministries, my first ministry, my second ministry, and here I am in my third ministry, and I'm getting ready to have retirement, Deborah and I have both talked about one of our biggest concerns is that you, the Christians here at Valley Christian Church, will you stay faithful? We pray about it. We're glad that Brother Jared has come alongside of me for these past roughly six years and that he preaches the word of God. He knows the word of God, and he will keep preaching it faithfully. But sometimes when a transition happens, some people will walk away just because it's somebody different. I know Jared and I have different preaching styles, but as long as the word is preached, I hope you don't let the changes here cause you to give up and walk away. Let the church remain strong. You keep growing in Christ. And when you face difficulties, work together, strengthen one another, build one another up. Don't let trials tempt you to give up and walk away. Don't let it make you quit or abandon your brothers here and sisters here at Valley Christian Church or worse, totally abandon Jesus Christ and stop living for him. You stay faithful. Yes, we're gonna have trials, and even minor trials can actually tempt us to give up. Don't give up. Paul continues on and points out that trials can be overcome by faith. They can be overcome by faith. Verses six and seven. But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always think kindly of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you. For this reason, brethren, in all of our distress and affliction, we were comforted about you through your faith. In 2008, Stephen Curtis Chapman, a Christian singer, had a terrible trial that he had faced. He shared about it on a radio broke broadcast that I heard years ago. One of his children, his old one of his older children, a son, started backing the SUV out of the driveway to go somewhere, did not see that his sister, Stephen Curtis's uh Chapman's little daughter, had been playing behind the vehicle and he accidentally backed up over her and killed her. It was a tragic accident. And Stephen Curtis Chapman on this interview, he was confessing he was mad at God for allowing this horrible event to happen. And he even found himself out in his yard with his hand raised to the sky and yelling at God that God would allow such a thing to happen. And then he was confessing, God, if you can allow evil like this to happen, I don't even know for sure if you exist. I don't even know if I can believe that you exist. It was at that moment he started realizing, wait a minute here, I'm out in my yard yelling at God, claiming I don't think he exists. That's not logical. And he started to realize that even at his lowest point, he still realized he could look up to God. And he could hold fast to his faith. Faith in a loving God that would let him uh that would let God welcome his innocent child up into heaven, and a loving God who would show grace to his son in an accident that took his sister's life. I can't remember exactly how long after the event of Stephen Curtis Chapman had happened to his family that the interview existed. But it deep definitely impressed me because sometimes in our deepest, darkest, most horrible trials, the only thing that's going to help us get through and overcome is our faith. Our faith can let us overcome trials. We need faith to overcome those unsettling, appointed, expected trials that will tempt us to give up. And then in verses 7 through 9, Paul points out that others can be encouraged by our faithfulness in trials. Others can be encouraged by our faithfulness in trials. For this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction, we were comforted about you through your faith. For now we really live if you stand firm in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account. Many times when we've had people in the hospital, and I go up to the hospital, go and pray with somebody, go sit with them for a little while, I get encouraged because of how well they're handling the health issue they're going through. Many people we've had up there, they're not getting mad at God. They're accepting what God was allowing in their bodies. They were trusting that God would heal them one of many different ways, whether it's going to be a miracle, whether it's going to be surgical, whether it's going to be medicinal, or possibly eternal. That they die and get to go home and be with the Lord. Such people, when I find them, and that's their attitude, even in the hospital, they can be a great inspiration to the rest of us. I know that sometimes I get more encouragement going to the hospital talking to somebody with that kind of attitude than I possibly could give them. What we need to do is be trusting in God and His will and His will for us. I've known people who were undergoing treatments for cancer or doing radiation, doing chemo treatments. Some of them were going through that, ah, can you think what it is, dialysis, and trying to help them keep on going. And they had decided that since they're going to have to go to the doctor over and over and over for these treatments, they decided that they would make sure that they would be praying, that they could witness to the doctors, to the nurses, to the people who were caring for them. They looked at their trials not as, woe is me that I'm going through all this stuff, but I wonder what God can do with through me today for these other people. That's the kind of people to me I find is an inspiration. Other people can be inspired and encouraged by the faithfulness as we go through trials. They can encourage us to stand strong when we face issues and trials. I can remember back when we first moved to Bullhead City. There was a little old lady here, she was a widow. She was nearly 90 at the time, turned 90 shortly after I got here, and she continued to live for several years beyond her 90s. But what impressed me most about her was that every morning at 5 a.m. she went to work, or 4 a.m., 4 a.m. And she was in her 90s. 4 a.m. When she drove, she was such a short little lady that you couldn't see her head over the steering wheel. She was looking underneath the steering wheel. She was just a short little lady, old lady, and she would go to work at 4 a.m. and go clean a hair salon. And I remember asking her, why are you still working? You're 90 plus years old. Why are you still working? And I remember her telling me, well, my Social Security is really small and it barely covers my housing, my costs, my utilities, my food. It gives me nothing left to spare. And so I'm working for only one purpose. And said, Well, what's the purpose? I want to have money to give to the Lord. I said, Carly, like, what? I want to have money to give to church for the Lord's work. And I was looking at her like, wow. To me, she was an inspiration that even when my own money would get tight, it didn't matter. I'm going to give money to the Lord. If she could go work at 90 plus years of age just so she could have something to give to the Lord, who am I not to? You know, it's an inspiration. How do we handle trials? How do we handle health issues? How do we handle financial issues? How do we handle job issues? How do we handle relationship issues? They can be a great encouragement to other people. In fact, I've noticed that some people, one of their favorite Bible stories is the little widow who gave the two mites. And that's all she had to live on. And people are inspired by her, and the word of God recorded that for us because that's one of those things. We get encouragement by what she did through her trials. We need to live as examples that when we face trials, that others can look to us and get encouragement from us, how we handle it. Trials are unsettling and no one wants them. Trials are appointed by God. They're predetermined that if we live for Jesus, we're going to face problems. Trials should be expected. Jesus was persecuted, so will we be. Trials can be so severe they may tempt us to give up on our faith. But trials can be overcome by our faith, and we need to keep trusting in God and during all this that God has it under control. And other people are going to be encouraged by our faithfulness in the midst of trials that we go through. And we can be encouraged by their faithfulness as they go through their trials. And finally, verses 10 through 13 here, they point out that trials should lead us to prayer. Let me start reading verse 10. As we night and day keep praying. Most earnestly, that we may see your face and may complete what is lacking in your faith. Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you, and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all people, just as we also do for you, so that he may establish your hearts without blame and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Paul pointed out that the trials that the Christians in Thessalonica faced and the trials that Paul was facing, they were causing Paul to pray night and day all the time. What I find really interesting about Paul's statement is here, he doesn't just say, I've been praying night and day, and I'm praying for you, and I'm praying for you, but he continues on and gives us an example of his prayer. Verses 11 through 13 is one of his prayers written down. He has been earnestly desiring to see them face to face and help build up the Christians in Thessalonica. So what's he right? He prays that God and Jesus will direct us to you, that we may see you face to face. And since he also prays that he could help strengthen them and their faith, he writes in this prayer, May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love, and may he establish your hearts without blame and holiness. Paul is setting for us an example that when we're facing trials and troubles, and when other people are facing trials and troubles, don't just say, Oh, I'll pray for it. Do it. I try and do this more and more the older I get. Some of you might have experienced this with me at church. Oh, you share to me some prayer concern at church, after church, somewhere else, and then I ask you, Well, may I pray with you for it? And people often say, Well, yeah. So I stop, I put my hands on the person's shoulders, and I start praying right then and there. I think all of us need to be willing to do that when we hear somebody give a prayer concern. When someone sends us a prayer request, a text, or an email, don't just respond praying. Actually stop and pray. Maybe better yet, stop and respond with a written prayer that you are saying for that need right now. Did you notice here that Paul's recorded prayer is not very long? It's three verses, 11, 12, and 13. It's less than a hundred words long in the New American Standard. For some of us, texting that might take us quite a while. But how do you think the Christians in Thessalonica felt upon reading that prayer or having it read at church? You mean Paul does care? He is praying specifically for us. Wow. You know, prior to this 250th birthday of our nation, there's some groups out there who have been recommending that Christians would commit to praying for our nation at 7.04 a.m., 7-4, or 7.04 p.m. on July 4, 7.4. Makes sense. Easy to remember. Other groups have asked us to pray for our nation for a full hour. Some have requested that Christians would consider a day of fasting and prayer for our nation. Some of you may have read about those ideas, some of you may be hearing those ideas right now for the first time. But are we praying for our nation? We should be. Of all times, I think our nation needs a lot of prayer. I personally believe our nation, our national leaders, our state leaders, our county leaders, our city leaders all need prayer all the time. And we as Christians need to pray at all times. We print a prayer list every single week. We encourage people to pray for one another. And when people are facing trials and troubles, we need specific prayer, but are you praying? We need to commit to being prayerful people. Let's be a people who let trials move us to prayer. Let's be free to pray. And let's never be afraid. Let's not have fear to pray. Lord, I thank you for this passage. I thank you for our nation. I ask, Lord, that you would help our nation to be turning back to you in all ways. Let us be a nation, one nation under God. Lord, help us to live faithful for you, but Lord, I ask that you would help each one of us as we go through trials, as we go through troubles, as we go through problems in our lives, that we would remember to stand faithful and true. Let our faith hold us fast. Let us overcome by our faith. Let us continue to pray. Thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.