100% Maybe

Ep. 30 - Thessalonians: Faith, Hope, & Love

• CLC Gulf Breeze • Season 1 • Episode 30

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What do we do with the life and faith we’ve been given in Jesus?  On this episode of 100% Maybe, we are asking those very same questions. 

As we step out of Easter, we’re turning to 1 Thessalonians - a letter written to a young church that was already thriving.  Not because they had everything figured out, but because they were living it out.

In this episode, we explore what made the church in Thessalonica so impactful.  Their faith wasn’t complicated, it was active.  They worked hard to love others, stayed anchored in hope, and continued to follow Jesus even in the middle of pressure and uncertainty.

We talk about how easy it is to overcomplicate faith today, and how this letter invites us back to something simple and powerful...faith that moves, love that serves, and a hope that endures.

No matter how uncertain the times feel, our faith doesn’t have to be.

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to the 100% Navy Podcast. I'm your host, Jeff Stewart, the Creative Director here at Community Life Church in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Each episode, we'll get together to talk about the scripture passage that we'll be studying in our Sunday services. While this started as a resource for our church, we found it applies to all of us who are interested in what it looks like to follow Jesus. So wherever you are on your journey of faith, we hope these conversations will connect you to the source of life we have in Jesus and to the greater story that God is still writing today. Here's our episode.

SPEAKER_01

I always like to make sure I feel bad if we go over 40.

SPEAKER_00

So we got a 10 o'clock shark. 10 on the dot. I could put a clock in here. You know, we had a clock in here at one time, but I took it down because I didn't like the ticking.

SPEAKER_01

That ticking.

SPEAKER_00

That little bit of TikTok. You know? Jack you up. It's it's just, I don't know what it is. It's unsettling.

SPEAKER_01

I don't think that wouldn't work.

SPEAKER_00

I don't need that in my mind. You're gelatinous. I don't need that in my mind. You're heavy set. You don't like that. You don't want to be heavy set to a tick-tock. That's right. That's right. Don't tell me where to be and what to do. You know? I can I can look at the c you know the time myself. You can. I don't need the ticking to remind me of where I'm supposed to be.

SPEAKER_01

For every second of your life.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so I got rid of that thing. Just not in here. But um to our to our audience here, what that typically means is this could be anywhere from 25 to 55 minutes, and we have no idea. We are very scripted. As in not at all scripted. I do think, don't you can't you kind of sense oh that was about 30 minutes. That was about 40 now doing this in the middle. I can sense when it's 50. Yeah. We've only had one, I want to say it was like 48, 49, something like that. This is, you know what episode this is? This is 30. Have we started round number start?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Just rolled right into it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. This is 30. This is 30, man.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00

It's good. We're still around. People are catching it. Uh, thanks to you guys who are tracking along. Uh heard a lot of great things about it. People are connecting to the greater story, the scripture. Hopefully it's helping as you come in and the sermon isn't just, I wonder what we're talking about. Okay, that was cool. You know, you're spending time in it. And that was the whole whole idea for this. So it's awesome.

SPEAKER_01

It absolutely is. Dude, I love the story. I love the story. We this coming out of Easter, a lot of people connected in ways that they've that they've never been able to experience before. I'm I feel I'm tired though. I think a lot, a lot of the team is tired. It as cool as everything was, the intellectual energies that went into pulling all that off was a bunch. And just because of life, um, there was no let up coming into this week. And uh, and so as you see me today, you you look a little bit sharper than I am. So for all those that are watching, Jeff's gonna anchor and hold the you know, uh sure. Yeah, so I'm not really this is what y'all love. I may say anything in this podcast today. My filter's gone. Should have heard him before we turned everything on. I always say nice things. Always. Never would say anything that wasn't uh okay, just super spiritual. Super spiritual indeed. Yeah, yeah. But it's uh but I'm excited that we're moving from Easter into Thessalonians, having this conversation. It would be the not the birth of the early church, but it would have been on the heels of it. So it's really still in that 20-year time frame. It's kind of hard to go Easter, and then 20 years later, right, here we are.

SPEAKER_00

But that's what we're doing. Yeah, that's a big jump.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Not relatively to history. Right. But if you think about a 20-year jump in your life, that would be like, whoa, yeah, whatever. Nothing would be the same in 20 years. So it's a big jump in that sense. Um, yeah, I don't know if people realize like all the things that that that you do and spend time and energy and bandwidth on. So I know Monday you did not get a break, you were ministering to a family, uh, had to travel, and uh it's a beautiful thing that we get to do, but it also is uh it's a lot. So anyway, thanks for being here and spending the time. Love it.

SPEAKER_01

Hopefully we'll love our families, we love them, we support them and we do whatever we gotta do.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. So you touched on it a little bit, but why was this naturally for you a next starting point post-Easter? Because it's early church, it's all right, this happened, and now what? Is it is it that kind of idea?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we so in the past we I I think our thought is when we go into worship planning, it's a greater story. You've got a a lot not only just our church folks that have been here for a long time, but then you have new folks that are just starting to study scripture. So the best way to connect to the story when you go through something as intensive as what we did through Easter, that we looked at those early stories, we walked through Maundy, Thursday, Good Friday, and then Easter, man, you're more connected to the story now than you ever had before. So, in some years gone by, we would just pick up in the book of Acts, which is the birth of the early church from the day of Pentecost, and you go through all of those stories, which historically chronicles that early church. Um, so we've done that. I I like to stay close to those earlier messages because it just makes sense in the mind. You're not if we jump to Old Testament or we jump to something else, it breaks your brain.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So for me, it's not that far off. We look at first and second Thessalonians. Uh we can talk about Paul here in a second, but Paul, huge history in his own life, but ultimately becomes the one that takes the gospel of Jesus and spreads it to the whole world, takes it outside of Israel, just the land mass of Israel. And because he was the perfect one in terms of uh he was he's Jewish by birth and and highly trained in the Jewish faith. He'll let you know about it. He'll let you know about it. But then he was also a Roman citizen. Um he's from uh, oh man, give me the name of Bote. Tarsus. Tarsus, he's from Tarsus, and it's believed that he his father was one of the ones that fought in one of the wars and then bought his freedom as a bond slave. So he has both Jewish citizenship and Roman citizenship, which which makes him one of the few that can travel the Roman Empire um, you know, unimpeded. So when you're looking for someone that can spread the gospel during that time, Paul's your guy. But the beginning of his life, he was persecuting the early church. Yep. The the well, Christian church, however you want to say it. So when we say the church, we mean those that are believers in Jesus. Right. He was he was going out and he was finding them, he was persecuting them. In the book of Acts, you hear him as one of the ones who hold the held the coats of those who martyred Stephen. So that early on, Paul is that guy. When you get to Acts 9, you see his conversion. Jesus steps down out of heaven. He gets an encounter with Jesus. He has an encounter with Jesus. Jesus steps down out of heaven. I believe we would call that a Christophany and sh and reveals himself to Paul and says, Why are you persecuting me? Jesus says, which he's talking about his church. Paul has a conversion experience and then he goes on the sideline for many, many years because he was so prominent, but the early church was afraid of him because he was throwing him in prison or whatever. So they he couldn't go anywhere. Right.

SPEAKER_00

So he just started to show up a week later and be like, hey, hey, I'm on Team Jesus.

SPEAKER_01

No, you're here to throw us in jail.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_01

So then he goes and he studies and he builds all of this theology that you then that really has helped to shape us today. Guy's brilliant. Yep. It's just brilliant. Then at some point he settles in um uh man, Scott, the church that was north of Israel, the sending church for all of the early, for all of the early uh not Antioch. Antioch. Oh man, I'm so glad you're here today. So that was good graph. Yeah, so he was in Antioch, and it's in Antioch where the Spirit of God speaks and sends them out, and he goes on his first missionary journey and comes back and they report. Then they go on their second missionary journey, and this Thessalonians, when he goes into Thessalonica, is the second missionary journey, and it happens somewhere in between 49 and 52 AD. So 20 years after the resurrection takes place, Paul is now establishing churches. He has a very unique strategy. This is important. We still we still use strategies to spread the gospel today. Sure. But his strategy, because he was Jewish, is he would go into these towns, and if there was a synagogue, he would go into the synagogue and he because he's very and he would let them know how well trained he was. He trained under Gameliel and all these people, so they'd be like, Oh, come in and teach us. Well, then he would use his training to use, remember, there was no New Testament at that time, it hadn't been written, or he was writing it. Yeah, writing the letters. So he's using what we call the Old Testament, but that was their Hebrew scripture, to reveal to them Jesus. And then he would tell so he would re use the scripture and then he would tell them about Jesus, and then he would present the gospel message to them. Some of them would believe, some of them would get very angry. Yeah. And at some point he would have a window, three weeks, our story was three weeks, could be a month, could be a year, where they would listen, learn, and grow, and some of them would convert and become believers in Jesus, and then the Jewish synagogue would ultimately shut them down and move them out, or chase them out, right, or try to martyr them in some cases.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, because Paul's he's pulling a switcheroo a little bit. Little bit. Because they're they have these scriptures and he's like, hey, his message is the Messiah that you're waiting for, it's Jesus, and you killed him.

SPEAKER_01

He showed up 20 years ago and you killed him. And here's all the scripture to show it. Right.

SPEAKER_00

And he could prove it, and he could prove it, point to it, and he his message is this was fulfilled in Jesus. You put him to death, he rose again, he's alive, and he's coming back.

SPEAKER_01

Yep. And all these towns, and we're just there's a lot of time setting this up, but this is important. It's the reason for this podcast was to get you, give you the extra information. All these towns he's going to, they are in the Roman Empire outside of Israel. So there were Jews that were in those towns, but there were largely Romans or Greek-speaking people. So he's not just speaking to them. There were many, so there were there were some Jews that would believe, but then a lot of Greek-speaking or Greek people that came to faith. So he just starts spreading the gospel all across the Roman Empire. The challenge he got into is the Jews hated him at some point. So they started, just like they did Jesus, they started looking for ways to get him in trouble. And when you start proclaiming Jesus as king when the emperor was king, then they would say, Hey, Greek folks, hey Roman folks, you got a guy here that's saying there's another king. Right. And Paul kept running into problems. He would have to cite his Roman citizenship, which allowed him a higher level of defense. And ultimately, after all of these missionary journeys, that's why he's sent to Rome. He's he's he's thrown in jail, he's sent to Rome to be held on trial, and he is then killed in Rome for his faith. He's martyred. Yep. And that's that was his last place. But the big picture, if Jerusalem was the center of Israel and their faith, Rome would have been the center of the world at that time, the Roman world. So he took the gospel of Jesus to the ends of the world. So when that, when you read that to all of the world, when he ultimately gets it to Rome, that was the fulfillment of that scripture, and then it just it spreads from there.

SPEAKER_00

And Paul is a master at being in any situation. It probably speaks to what you said about how unique of a guy he was to be situated to be able to do the work he did, because he could go into a Roman, Greek, Greco-Roman world, however you want to say that. That was a culture who polytheistic, so many gods. So if you come up and show up and say, Hey, let me tell you about this God, that's not that's not a shocking message. Right. It's okay, cool. Tell me about this. They wanted to learn. That's one of their knowledge, but they they they believed in knowledge, yeah. Knowledge, wisdom. They wanted to learn it all. Philosophies were all coming around. Yeah, philosophy. Um, which is it's so interesting when Paul talks about the philosophy of the world versus the cross of Christ, and those are really cra uh beautiful conversations. But um, he even is using able to use, hey, you've got a statue out here to an unknown God. Let me tell you about this unknown God.

SPEAKER_01

Was that in Athens? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I think it was unknown to you, let me tell you about him, the one true God. And it's such a, I can imagine it's such a flip to go to be a person of all except any and all gods, to be told there's actually one true God and he actually sacrificed for you. What a transformative message.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Unbelievable. And right alongside that is the strategy. So he started off going into synagogues, but if he went into Athens and there, but there I'm sure there was a synagogue in Athens, but he goes into there and that's where the where all of the philosophers were. He sees the statue, he uses philosophy. This guy's so brilliant. He can hang with all of the theology, all the philosophers of he's so well read and so well versed that he can go toe-to-toe with them and and he would have been killed there had he not been able to carry it to that depth and and had great success through all of those areas. Just just be I'm telling you, God reached down and plucked that guy out and said, Team Jesus.

SPEAKER_00

We should do a series on Paul. We did two years ago, we did his myths missionary journey.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I'm and I would that's when I was on sabbatical and and Clint did a great job, but man, I wanted to be here for that whole thing. And and but I don't know, I was melting down, so it was good. It was good. You were getting some good time. It's good. And look, we got that out of it. We got that, we got fishing, we got fly fishing, we got all that stuff, which is exciting.

SPEAKER_00

And now we have that. So now we have that. Uh okay, let's jump into Thessalonians briefly. We touched on the history, but Acts 17, if you want to read about it, is where Paul establishes this church in Thessalonica. Thessalonica in Macedonia, it was a free city, it was a capital city, it was a port city, highly strategic, uh, big trade city, big city, 100 to 200,000 people, they believe would have been a big city for the time. Um, rich history, named after Alexander the Great's sister. I'm gonna put you on stage on this on Sunday morning. I like Sheryl. I love the history of the city. Okay, good. I haven't I've not gotten that deep into it yet, but good, good. Prominent, established in the 300s BC, taken over by Rome, I think 168 by 140 something BC. It's now this Roman trade city and capital of Macedonia. So rich history. He shows up in here in Acts 17. He's running in Philippi, gets thrown in jail. It's arrested in Philippi.

SPEAKER_01

God knocks the walls of the jail down. The jailer becomes a believer, they're all baptized. By the way, awesome baptism service coming on Sunday night, right? Yeah, it's gonna be amazing. We've we've got we're now in the 60s. 60s plus people that are gonna be baptized. I'm so so stoked. Keep it going. Yeah, let's go. And then he leaves and he goes to Thessalonica. Yep. And um, and and we're so we're gonna read through Acts chapter 17 on Sunday morning. So we don't need to probably cover that fully today. We can we can just paraphrase it. It but but if you want to if you want to read it, Acts 17, verses 1 through 14 is what we're gonna cover Sunday. It tells you about their dealings in Thessalonica, right? So you so if you want to if you want to truly understand first and second Thessalonians, you have to read those verses because you get a feel for what he experienced, right? So um he goes in there, it only tells you he was there for three weeks. Three weeks for sure in the synagogue, arguing with the Jewish leaders, or not leaders, but arguing with the Jews in the synagogue about the Messiah, and then he tells how the Messiah had to suffer. That's what he says. Yeah. And then he tells them that Jesus is the Messiah for three weeks. And then it tells you that uh some Jews became believers, not a few genetic Greeks, and then many prominent, what does it say? Many prominent women. Yeah. Yeah. Of of high standing or whatever became believers in Thessalonica. And then everything blows up. We don't know if it's three weeks, we don't know if it's a month, we don't know if it's two months, but everything blows up. Yeah. And they start getting persecuted and and they go to arrest Paul. They can't find him, so they arrest a guy named Jason. Jason. Poor Jason, just his name just shows up. Yes. Jason's thrown in prison with a few others. Whenever you see someone's script name in scripture and they're they're just a singular name with no context, that means that more than likely Jason was pretty prominent and well known to the readers of whatever's being written. So Jason must have been a rock star in the early church. I love it. Yeah. And then uh and then Paul and his team get pushed out of Thessalonica. They go to Berea. The Bereans are more open to study scripture. But then Thessalonica sends people over there to stir trouble up. They get pushed out of Berea and they land in some that's when they start moving towards Athens.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So Yeah, so this church gets established quickly, a few weeks to a few months. We know it was not long. There is there is a reference in Philippians 4 that tell Paul says, When I was in Thessalonica, you took care of me. He talks about the church in Philippi. So there's reason to believe he was probably there longer than just three weeks, but we don't know that for sure. Um but he they pretty quickly get into some trouble. They call it persecution, call it big trouble. Jason's getting into trouble. Um why why does this message of Jesus cause such a strong reaction?

SPEAKER_01

That's a great question, Jeff. You one you never even kind of cued me in on, so I appreciate that. I'm gonna make it up. You obviously have a thought, so I'm just gonna talk and then you fix it.

SPEAKER_00

I don't always have thoughts.

SPEAKER_01

My guess is because it comes out of the Jewish world, like the we the Jews are credited with real with starting this this uh animosity towards him. They they go get some ruffians, right? Right. Troublemakers. Troublemakers, yeah. The message of Paul would not have been a problem in the normal Greek world, with the exception of Paul's like, no, this is the one. So maybe trying to narrow all the other gods down might have been a problem. But in in Judaism, if you're gonna try and mix Jesus in there and proclaim that he's the one, then they're eventually, if they don't believe that Jesus is the one, they're gonna have to shut him down. And and if there's people in there that started to believe that he's the one, now they've got to fight for their context, and and they every single time they they go to violence, it seems like in all of these stories, they go to violence, and uh, which was which was probably notable for the time. So why why is it so significant? I think even though it's a polytheistic world, because the anchor was the Jewish group, they had to fiercely defend their faith, and that's exactly what they did. Christians were known for, we're gonna find out in a second, faith, hope, and love. So they were supporting the people that were marginalized, hurting, and uh their their faith was showing up in more of a transformed way, uh, while the the Jews in the synagogues were more dogmatic and um back to the we're just we're on the heels of the crucifixion. If you were if you were a believer in if you were a uh a Jew and you were talking this way, then you've created heresy. Right. Or you've done, you know, you cause heresy and you gotta go. Yep. Uh you got a better answer, or any not better, I don't mean better.

SPEAKER_00

You gotta you have an answer? I don't have any answer.

SPEAKER_01

Easy. That's my guess.

SPEAKER_00

Uh no, that that makes sense. That's that's great. Thank you for that. Oh, whatever. I don't always have a thought behind a question.

SPEAKER_01

You just like to watch me make stuff up.

SPEAKER_00

Well, yeah, good. Everybody likes to watch that. Sure. Uh okay, so Paul, I do want to get into the uh we won't cover everything. It's the first three chapters. I know you're gonna paraphrase a lot of one and two. There are some pretty significant things that stick out here, especially as it relates to not only, I think, our life as a believer and what it's like to follow Jesus, but the church. This is not only the individual believers, but obviously that makes up a church. And this is a church known for some pretty amazing things. And Paul sends Timothy back. He wants to go back. He tells you, I long to go back, I wasn't able to. He has his own kind of crazy life and problems going on, but he sends Timothy. And if you read those first three chapters, he's kind of afraid uh you guys suffered a lot quickly. I kind of was worried that you fell if they'd make it. Not sure how you guys would fare. And so he's so excited writing this to hear, man, you guys are standing firm in the midst of these troubles and trials and persecution. You guys are killing it. And not only in your area, the example of what you guys are, how you're living out your faith. I want to get your thoughts on that, is an example to believers, not just in that area, but throughout this known world at the time.

SPEAKER_01

Yep. So so let's back up for those who don't have no idea. So he continued on in his journey, he lands down in Corinth, which you maybe have heard of first to second Corinthians, but he's there and he's pastoring the church or he's building the church. He's doing the same thing in Corinth that he did in all these other places, right? Then he writes this letter. Now, as he's writing this letter, so that's what first and second Thessalonians are. They're just it's just a letter back to the church of Thessalonica. So let's just go ahead and state that that's what it is. Um, while he's writing it, chapters one through three are kind of the setup for the letter chronicling, man. You received the word grit well. Here are the things that you're known for. You're known throughout the whole region for these things, the way that you received and grew. And then you get to chapter three and you find out that he already has the report from them. So as he's writing the letter, he's excited. But in his mind, he was he was worried the whole time. Man, that church we started there that grew so fast, there's no way they made it. That was their worry. Yeah. It was their worries. Like, there's no way they made it. So, like in our modern minds, if if Scott just headed off to wherever and started a church and um and somehow the town ran me out of town, oh we have all this internet, but they didn't, um you'd be thinking, oh man, I hope those people are still holding on to the faith. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. Well, then I might send somebody up there if that's not me, because I I'm gonna be too visible to go and check on the church. That is exactly what he does. So, in the in the understanding of what this is, Paul sent Timothy, who we find out later is a young pastor to go. It probably people don't even expect that he's gonna know anything, but he he's been trained up underneath Paul. He's smart, he's knowledgeable about the scripture. And Timothy makes his way back into Thessalonica and he comes back and he gives him a report of how well they're doing. So when when he writes this, this jumps off the page to us. The first few verses in chapter one, he says what they're known for. Uh and there's three things, and we've been laughing about this ever since you read them. So in in the in chapter verse three, he says that we thank God for blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, your work of faith and labor of love, and your steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Those are the those three words are the markers of Paul's ministry: faith, hope, and love. Faith, hope, and love. They're so awesome that we turn them into stickers that you can put on your bumper, on your wall, in your living room, faith, hope, and love. Put them on a pillow. They've lost all the punch, right? I mean, it's just something where we go, oh, faith, hope, and love. You if you do not see the qualifiers, then then you then you miss what it means to contend for these things. The work of faith. You know, just to have faith, you go, oh, just have faith and believe. Mm-mm, mm-mm. Faith, you have to work. Yeah. It is a process of of trenching in. Um, uh a labor of love. I love people that are just saying, you know, throw some flowers around and say, love everybody. Love is a labor. If you've ever had to love somebody that's unlovable, oh, it's the hardest thing on the planet. And then steadfastness of hope. Steadfast means you're going to stand in the middle of it to contend for hope. You know, I would tell you I have hope, but I've got to fight for that thing every day. Every single thing tries to tear away and erode and fight and get there. So, Paul, he's writing to them and saying, I am in a short window of time. You have shown this work of faith, this labor of love, this steadfastness of hope. And it's so well known that the region knows who you are. Now, why do why would that matter when he writes that to them? I'll throw that out there. What what is what do you think he's saying in doing that, or or what is that saying to the region in reference to the time that he was there, maybe? Because of the amount of time that he's there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, and where we sit here the day after Easter or the I to me it says you can overcomplicate what it means to follow Jesus. Yeah. And you could sit there and spin your wheels for years, and you could sit there and think, Oh, I don't know enough. I gotta do X, Y, and Z. And I think this church is an example. No, you really don't. You got Jesus, you know what it is we're to do, so go do it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I love that he didn't say your deep, rich understanding of theology, right? Like contempt. I love I'm so excited. This is a guy who loves very theological, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. He he is credited for a lot of the most of the theology of the New Testament that we have.

SPEAKER_01

He is celebrating them saying, Man, you are known for your faith, hope, and love. We can complicate this, but it's all about transformation. It's all about transformation, showing up in this world as believers. I'm not trying to poo-poo on theology, right? Because theology is a part of our transformation, but it's it's the way that that transforms our lives, how we live, because it's in that life that we further reveal God to the rest of the world. So you see Thessalonika just taking ownership of it and growing into in in beautiful ways. So he so here, the week after Easter, we've had many people come through our church that connected in all of those different services. And maybe you're like, yeah, but I don't fully understand it. That's okay. Yeah. None of us do, or not all of us do. Right. Right? But allow it to be a part of your life. How does the message of Christ change our faith? How does it change the way that we love? How does it change the hope that we have? Um, maybe you don't fully understand it, but we have hope to recognize and see throughout history that there's a God that reached into this world and displayed his love for us. You can have hope and hold on to that and know that there's a greater truth without fully you and you can spend the rest of your life putting those pieces into place. Yeah. Um, same thing with faith and and love.

SPEAKER_00

That's what he's celebrating. Yeah. Those words are the strongest use of those words. We we kind of laughed about that because it's become watered down. It's become something you put up on your wall, but it doesn't maybe it doesn't even really mean anything to you, or you don't it's you don't feel the weight of that. If if you look at those words, it's it's this, it's not a sentimental type of labor. It's working to the point of exhaustion. Yeah. It's this hope is not passive patience, that endurance, but great insight. Active endurance under pressure is like the actual strength of the marker, yeah. And think about what what they're doing. And yeah, how easy would it have been to fall away from the faith, too? If you're talking, hey, this thing was new to us six months ago, you know what? This is a lot of trouble. Like fell apart. They chase that guy, yeah. You know, it would we we could probably look in and understand, be like, man, I don't I don't know if that's worth it. Unless what's the marker? A changed heart, a changed life, the spirit of the living God now in you, you realize, okay, that this is what it is. So let's talk about the opposition. This shows us that the sign of opposition is not uh an absence of Christ. It might be the enduring mark of what it means to labor for Christ.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I need to I need to add that um because we heard some concerns in worship planning the other day, uh, as a believer, even with Paul ripped out of town, they were not alone. Right, the belief and the understanding of the Holy Spirit being your advocate, the one that walks alongside you. So the ability to live out your faith while being hammered by people that are trying to convince you it's some other way. Um, you know, we we pray about, we worry about our children, and we we think that uh the connection to God is so fragile and so frail, and yet we forget that God is pursuing some of the messages that we had throughout Easter that God is a God that is pursuing us to love us and to connect to us. So as much as our heart is and we're trying to watch and figure out what God is doing in the heavenlies while we're or in the spiritual realm, while we're you know lining up things to take care of our children, they're an example of people who receive the faith and then full of the spirit of God just started living into it against great persecution. Yeah, or we're thriving. I forget what you're asking me, but I think that's important.

SPEAKER_00

I I think the tendency is to think, oh, well, this got hard, or I'm facing this didn't come easily, or I'm facing some opposition or some challenges, so I must not be doing it right, or this must not be for me. Right. You know? And and it looks our persecution. I mean, I uh this is my personal belief. We don't we don't experience persecution, I believe, in America. Certainly not like other parts of the world still, and I don't think we can truly relate. I mean, we might get made fun of for our faith, you might get eventually, may get there eventually. Sure. I mean, yeah, throughout history, that certainly that happens, and that is happening in parts of the world here today where your life is on the line for professing Christ. Yeah. Um, we we don't experience that, I think, today, um, right now. Um, but how how much would we hold on to this message and are we willing to have that kind of faith? Because we might have to at some point.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Yeah, or we might be sent into areas where they where they are.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Right. So I'm thankful. I mean, this I'm thankful for a church like this who's still speaking to us today from their great example.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's other nations sending missionaries into the United States as we speak. Yeah. There's a shocker. Not really. So when we op when we look at it, we'll look at the first part. I will paraphrase through two. So you want to read it, because two talks you can get into strategies and and co strategy sounds cold, but what the strategy tells you about Paul is that when he engaged in Thessalonica, it was familial. He talks the the word nurse is used, but you have to understand that in the lens of a mother. And then the word father is used, probably a picture of a father that that many folks have not understood, a father that's urging, encouraging, and pleading that they lead a life worthy of God. Um, and and I uh Robin said this in our Bible study this morning. All of this is a preparation for when we get to chapters four and five. Right. So Paul is the is quintessential, front, nice on the front side, nice on the backside, and you give them the stuff in the middle. Yeah. Right. And there's a lot of names for that that we'll just leave out here. Uh, but um he's he's really connecting and he's warming their hearts. When you get to four, he's gonna start talking about sexual immorality and he's gonna start talking about the things that really deviate your heart from God that are not in keeping with with with the Spirit of God. So right now it's all about the celebration of what you're known for. Um I sent Timothy, and then into chapter three, he came back, and dude, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah. As far as letters from Paul go, it's a pretty good one.

SPEAKER_01

It's a good one. It's not it's can be it's mild.

SPEAKER_00

Well, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah. It leans more towards encouragement and reminder. Yeah. It's first letters like severe correction.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's it's believed to be his first letter written.

SPEAKER_00

Ever.

SPEAKER_01

Ever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Or that we mean that we have as far as scripture goes. For sure. I'm sure he wrote many letters.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I'm sure he wrote many, many letters. Set some eschatology in there.

SPEAKER_00

Right. What is that fancy big church word, Scott?

SPEAKER_01

Well, that's the old end time stuff. The returning, the being caught up into heaven. Next week, we'll have some conversations about some of that. Week two. Yep, and we'll have fun.

SPEAKER_00

What a tease. Come back next week. Yeah. Tune in to find out what happens in the end times.

SPEAKER_01

And and his first letter, and he what he says in the first one, he clarifies in the second one. I mean, it it's interesting how how theology grows, shifts, changes, clarity.

SPEAKER_00

And you see, Paul, the heart of a teacher, the heart of a pastor, to though he wasn't with them in person and we know he longed to be, um, he still wanted to help encourage and shape and teach and make sure that they had what they needed as far as understanding of of theology goes. Yeah. So it's important. So we're not discounting it, but also there's no discounting.

SPEAKER_01

He also probably didn't anticipate that his letter would be canonized into scripture. Right. So when you and I and I boy, you can get I get in a lot of trouble because people are like, Oh, you can't or can't say I don't know what I just said right there. But you know, when Paul writes, we'll be caught caught up into the clouds. Oh, people the entire create the theologies that are created about all that stuff, and then he clarifies it in the next one. And and and you know, people will quote this stuff forever. I'll I'll tell you one verse, I'll tell you one verse, read it this morning that has caused chaos in the early church. Um, and and and you'll understand why. So if you go to uh uh 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 13, okay. He says, We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you receive the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as human word, but as what it really is, God's word, which is also at work in you believers. So there are faith systems now that they're like, I just said it, God spoke it to me, and God is still revealing his word today. And I I there's a there is an element of truth to that. I believe that God can say, you know, God can give me a word and I can speak to somebody, but there are people out there that are writing and rewriting scripture using that one verse as oh no, no, no, this is what God says as a person. And you're and you can receive it from me as God's word. Um it doesn't matter what you say, it matters what's said, right? Like how people interpret it and where they run with it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and if they've deemed themselves an apostle or not.

SPEAKER_01

An apostle, and you know, all of those things. This is why context matters, the greater story matters, how all of this comes together matters, and you have to hold it all with an open hand. And um, and you know, I I I just I see things like that, and I've seen the travesty of the of the early church, well, good lord, the church, the modern church, yeah, and how we treat people. You get into the next verse, the next set of verses, and he talks about God's wrath has overtaken them at last. He's talking about the Jewish nation. Uh the these were these are reasons for the crusades. Let's go kill all the Jews. So it you man, oof. You gotta read this stuff and interpret it well in context, knowing that you know, if you see a verse that you don't fully understand, maybe set it aside, do some research, look at it, and figure it out. But the Bible has to interpret the Bible.

SPEAKER_00

Well, it's a very theological book. It's different from what I know you love the story. We just came from a series with narratives of these are Jesus in the flesh encounters. And so now we've gotten into something a bit different, but it's interesting, twenty years later, Jesus isn't in the flesh there with them, but you see radical transformation. So the gospel is not just informational, it's transformational. Right, right. And it's still happening today because Jesus is alive, though not in the flesh. Now, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to be able to light a heart on fire and change a life. Yep. Still incredible, but I it does lend itself. I was I'm excited about this series, and I'm I'm I'm interested to see where it goes because it is deeply theological in some of the teaching and understanding. And there are going to be times where probably people hold some of these verses differently than others depending on background and dependent on where you're at in your faith journey.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I uh if if we go into any extremes, we've missed the point, right? I mean, he he does offer clarity about end times. He does he offer he offers insight about them and people take them and they run. But the thinker is clear. Yeah, what's that? They think it's clear. Oh, they're very clear, and they make it all about that thing that's coming. But but when he talks about it coming as a thief in the night, I I'd never, you know, everybody always focuses on that, that the that that he's gonna come as a thief in the night. But the very next words are, but you don't have to worry about that because you're not living in darkness. So, but but all of us we're going, oh, he's gonna come, we're not even gonna know, we're gonna have any understanding. He's like, man, but you're not gonna be shocked by it. It's all gonna be fine. And it's not nighttime, you're gonna see it coming. So, so we we people have driven this narrative out of fear instead of the full understanding of of the way that is meant in context. For me, I think it's best to read these as transformation. The church starts here, Jesus is the Messiah, but his life was an example for us to live out to represent God here on the earth. Yeah. Not to make it about the extremes, right? Right, but to invite people into a connection or a reconnection with God and um how to live in a way that loves people, loves God, loves, loves your neighbor, and moves in that way. So for me, we can deal with those, with those topics that are in here. And I and Paul obviously mentioned them because he thought they needed clarity on them. But dude, the day that we are out of balance because we're all focused on end times, or we're all talking about hell, or we're all talking about, you know, a couple different things, is the day that we've missed the fact that we're supposed to be transformed by this, and it shows up in my conversation with my neighbor, or it shows up in my conversation when I'm walking through the store and and somebody has a challenge and I can hit whatever.

SPEAKER_00

I want to talk about representation because you just said that word. We had a really good conversation last night about that very thing because if you're looking at this church, they were known for something, they had a representation, and this is what it is, and it's faith, hope, and love. And he tells you that straight away. Yep. We had that conversation of, you know, as someone who's either a part of a church or even maybe works at a church, there is a different level of, okay, I'm in a store, people see me, people know me. How am I representing myself, my church, Jesus to the world? What is that? Why does that uh perspective shift how we interact in the world? Is is there a deeper level of of understanding? It's not just me doing my own thing out here. I'm representing something that makes a bigger mark here.

SPEAKER_01

As a believer, you're representing God. And you uh yes, a hundred percent. That's the part of yielding your life and knowing that you're living for something bigger. It's not just, oh, I believe in God, now I'm good, I go do whatever I want to. In fact, that's the antithesis of what it is. That's the that's the exact opposite. It's no, that's not the way we were designed to live in our own likings and desires. There are things that God has created inside of us that we'll discover in our faith journey, but it is representing God here. We're living in a man, living in a way that does represent God because we choose to live that faith out. You're exactly right. You go into the store, you show up differently. You're supposed to.

SPEAKER_00

Right. Hopefully. Hopefully. If you got a CLC shirt on, hopefully.

SPEAKER_01

Not not always, because we're not perfect, and that's a that's a part of it, but you gotta be quick to own those mistakes.

SPEAKER_00

Right. But yeah, just that understanding. People are watching. People are definitely watching. So why I mean, why did why would we think that this made such an incredible mark if not this is not the norm? People don't always react this way and live their lives this way. This is not a passive faith. This is a practical living out your faith in the Spirit of God. That's something very different.

SPEAKER_01

Yep. The early Christian church, you and this is extra canonical writings, they were when they were viewed from outside people, people were like, man, that is a weird group. They're taking in widows and orphans and they're caring for people. And, you know, today we're thinking, oh, that's that's a really cool thing to do. Back then, those were outcasts. They were cast aside. They were taking care of the people with leprosy, they were doing all of the stuff that we think today is very noble, and maybe it shaped our character or our communities better. But um, in this society here, man, there was caste systems, people knew where they belonged, there were slaves, there were all sorts of divisions, and in that early beginnings of that church, their heart was to love and to care. When you he's he's writing this letter from Corinth, which was a hot mess. They got a different letter. Yeah, they got a different letter later. They were doing communion, which then was a larger meal. And so the rich people would get together and they would receive communion, what we would call communion, and they would eat all the food. And then they would leave none of it for the under-resourced people to even celebrate the body and blood of Christ because they had just hammered all the food. And he's like, Wow, what are you doing? Like, you're so crazy. You're missing the whole point of all of this. So every one of these communities had a different issue that they were dealing with, and they all we would get a letter today.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. Yeah, we would. Community Life Church would get a letter. We would. Yeah. And what's it gonna say? It's still being written.

SPEAKER_01

Um somebody's like, I'll tell you what it's gonna say. Send it off to us. But yeah, we would get a letter.

SPEAKER_00

All right.

SPEAKER_01

I guarantee you. We might not be um self-aware enough to be able to put that down. Um I'm I could probably name some things. I'll reserve that and probably hold on to it because it's just stuff we gotta watch.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So good, man. Ah, it's so good. I'm excited for it. There is there there is an element of taking the message of freedom, because you talked about it as a there's groups that will receive it as I can do whatever I want. And Paul wrote about that too, because there was a group, and it might have been Corinthians if I'm thinking of it. But that idea of freedom in Christ is not so that you can do whatever you want, and if you think it is, you've completely missed the point.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

You've not taken the whole thing, right? You've just yeah. So I'm just thinking through this just as a church and as myself, as a as a believer, as a husband and a father, like are we prepared and are we helping prepare people to live out their faith in times of trouble or trying times, too? Because everything's great until it's not it's not enduring hope.

SPEAKER_01

That's that was the t that's a tagline of the series, right? Faith, uh hope that endures. Hope that endures, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But yes, from from that verse, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

And I and I think that's that's a great title. In this time, with all the things going on in the world, with all the challenges we're facing, even if we're just narrowing it down into our country, struggles with families, all those things. Um Thess uh this the church in Thessalonica really stands as a good example for us to to to champion.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Love it.

SPEAKER_00

Awesome man. Well, I know you've had a crazy week, so thanks for being here. Thanks for taking it.

SPEAKER_01

It's all good, man.

SPEAKER_00

Continuing on.

SPEAKER_01

I could not imagine doing anything else. I would not do anything else well. Fly fishing guide. No, we wouldn't catch a lot of fish, but I sure would enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00

People would be entertained, I feel like. People would be entertained. They'd have a good time.

SPEAKER_01

They would be entertained. I don't know that they'd catch any fish.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. They might be bombed out about it.

SPEAKER_01

But that's okay. It's not about that. For me, it's about standing in a river. Right.

SPEAKER_00

With the idea. It's just about you. Yeah. It's just about what uh if you could do anything else, what would you do? Other than what I'm doing right now?

SPEAKER_01

Uh huh. Uh uh it would be it would be a different version of this. And and and that's probably just because I'm in my mid-50s now, 56-ish, something like that. Where uh my heart starts to long for what it looks like afterwards. So it would be raising up and positioning people. Tam Tammy and I've always felt called to to um to be a part of sending people into this world, not as necessarily missionaries and it's in its understood scope, but sending people into the world to go to be healthy. The the this idea of faith, open, love, it really strikes at the heart of who we are. Yeah. Believers that aren't weird. And I know we're we're we're weird as it is, but people that can sit in a room and have a conversation and love people well, it's what the world longs for. Yeah. I mean, man, they've had so many, they've looked at the church and they're like, those freaks have nothing to offer us. Um, but at the very core, Jesus came down here and he put He put flesh on and walked among us. And he was relevant in his time frame, and I think the same thing should be true for us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

To be known for what we're for and not all these things that we're against. But faith, hope, and love. Yeah, that's right. Love it. Awesome, man. Well, we can't wait to see you guys this week as we kick off our Thessalonian series. So hope y'all have a great rest of your week, and we'll see you Sunday. Love y'all.