The Plowman

Longing for His Appearing [ 39:44 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (176)

1 Thessalonians #06: an exposition of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, October 28, 2012.

Intro:
I still remember the images of a totalitarian regime rounding up young, defiant believers and leading them to certain death while Larry Norman’s I Wish We Had All Been Ready was playing in the background.  I remember having several friends who were frightened into the Kingdom of God through watching A Thief in the Night.  I remember reading Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth and going to see that movie.  Fast forward a decade and a half and I was reading Edgar Whisenant’s 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988.  In 1989 he wrote The Final Shout: Rapture Report 1989 which promised the rapture in 89.  That was followed by 23 reasons why a pre-tribulation rapture looks like it will occur on Rosh-Hashanah 1993.  Followed by And now the earth’s destruction by fire, nuclear bomb fire predicting the end in 94.  Of course we all remember Harold Campings predictions of May 21, 2011 revised for October 21, 2011.  Since then he has been relatively quiet.  I certainly would not place all “prophecy preachers” in the same category.  Most are far more biblical than Whisenant and Camping but I think there is a problem when you scour the newspapers and then try to find a connection with Scripture.  I’ve been accused of being anti-prophecy.  That is certainly not true.  Admittedly it is not my favorite field of study but I would never categorize it as anti or uninterested.  I do question the value of what I consider to be an obsession with connecting the dots between current events and biblical prophecies and a vain attempt to predict the end even if just in general terms.

I respect the scholarship of John Walvoord but after multiple updates and revisions of his work at what point do people stop listening and wonder if there is any truth to anything he has to say?  I understand those folks who say, “It has to be close.  This is what the Scripture says and this is what technology now enables us to do – never before has there been such a clear fulfillment of this prophecy.”  Yet they were saying the same things in the mid 19^th century!  Further you are assuming you have properly interpreted the passage.  But what if you’ve interpreted the passage to fit the technology?  So much of what I hear stirs up fear and anxiety and when I think of the context of the New Testament writings – they were meant to encourage and strengthen.  The book of Revelation was written to a persecuted church threatened by extinction from the most powerful nation on earth.  It’s message was simple.  There is one God.  One King.  He wins!

As the apostle Paul is writing to encourage the struggling saints in Thessalonica he addressed concerns about the return of Christ.  He is writing to calm their fears and to encourage.  Our text this morning is found in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 beginning with verse 13.

Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

This is a familiar passage.  I use it in every funeral of a believer because it so powerfully and beautifully expresses our hope.  Here is what is clear to me out of this passage…

Thesis: In contrast to the endless speculations and the fear mongering reports of some prophecy preachers a biblical understanding of our Lord’s return inspires hope, brings clarity and provides great comfort.

The hope of the church is the return of Christ.

We long for the glorious appearing.

We live in anticipation of His certain return the the summing up of all things.

Again this is a familiar passage but make sure you see it in the proper light.  This word is spoke in light of 4:1.  This is part of living so as to be pleasing to God.  More specifically it follows on the heels of 4:12 – “living properly before outsiders.”

There is to be a clear contrast between believers and unbelievers.

It is apparent that there are questions in Thessalonica.  They are concerned about those who have died in faith.  There was a sense of imminence about our Lord’s return.  They lived each day believing He could come at any time.  In the weeks sense coming to faith some have died.  Will they be at a disadvantage?  Will they miss out on something?  There is obvious confusion and great anxiety within the congregation.

There are three things I want to point out as we work through this text:

1. A proper understanding of the return of our Lord inspires hope.  (4:13)
2. A proper understanding of the return of Christ brings assurance.  (4:14-17)
3. A proper understanding of the return of Christ provides comfort.  (4:18)

Conclusion:

This makes all the difference in our living and dying.

Rightly understood the thought of the return of the Lord inspires hope, brings assurance and provides great comfort.  Thus we are led to pray, “Even so come Lord Jesus!”

Standard Podcast [ 41:04 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (217)

1 Thessalonians #05: an exposition of 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, October 17, 2012.

Intro:
You say you are a child of God.  You have trusted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.  You are a Christian.  So what?  What does that mean…practically?  What difference does it make?  How is your life different because of your faith?  Is your life noticeably different from your unbelieving neighbor?  Are your attitudes the same as that coworker who mocks your faith?  We are to be different.  We are called to march to the beat of a different drummer.  Our view of the world ought to be markedly different from those who do not believe.  We are called to holiness.  I’m not suggesting that you need to go through your closet and through out everything that is not black, brown or gray!  You don’t have to get rid of your TV or start speaking King James English but your life ought to be different and stand out in the face of an unbelieving world.  Like light in the darkness we are to be in sharp contrast to unbelief.  Too often that is not the case.  I’m not just talking about surface differences.  Yes I think our speech and our manner of dress ought to reflect the modesty and the purity of our faith but it is more than that.  You can be a “legalist” and have your check list and avoid all those “public” sins and be as lost as the most harden unbeliever.  Good for you if you don’t smoke, cuss, chew or hang out with those girls who do – but there must be more to it.  Holiness begins in the heart and the mind.  It radiates from the core of your being and then shows up in your behavior.  Holiness is an inward work not just an “outside” job.  Do you remember Jesus called the Pharisees “whitewashed tombs.”  They were clean on the outside but full of death.

As the people of God we are called to live so as to be pleasing to our God.  This speaks to our motivation as well as our behavior.  It is about how we think as well as what we do.  Christian does your life stand out?  If I were to talk to your coworkers about your being a follower of Christ would they be surprised?  Do the Christian virtues of love, purity and faith mark your life?  What is required of us as the people of God?  How are we to live?  For some answers we turn to the 4^th chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian believers.

Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18

Paul was burdened about the young, struggling church and when he could stand it no longer he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to find out what was happening and also to encourage and strengthen them in the faith.  Letter, after Paul left Athens and was in Corinth, Timothy came with his report.  The church was doing well.  Their faith was increasing and they were a model for believers throughout Macedonia and beyond.  Paul was overwhelmed as he wrote to them.  Thanking God for their faith and rejoicing in what God had done and was doing.  In chapters 1 and 2 Paul is remembering and giving thanks.  He recalls his work among them and reminds them of what he taught them.  Now, beginning with chapter 4, Paul instructs them in how they are to live out their faith.  In chapter 3 he reminded them that faith was to be lived out together.  Such living was to be sacrificial, mutual and intentional.

We find our key for chapter 4 in the first verse:“…you received from us how you ought to live and to please God…”

Thesis: Paul’s word to the Thessalonian believers reminds us, that we are to live lives that are pleasing to our God.

The goal, the aim or your life, as a Christian, is to please God in all you do.

In gratitude for the life He has given you – you seek to please Him.

This is to be done in an atmosphere of love and devotion not begrudgingly out of duty.

It is not a matter of cowering before this all powerful tyrant who demands your all but rather out of genuine love and devotion to the one who found you dead in trespass and sin and breathed life into you.  The one who brought you out of the kingdom of darkness and transferred you to the kingdom of light, the kingdom of His dear Son.

What kind of life is pleasing to Him?

What are we to do?

How are we to live?

There are three things I would point out from this text.

1.  A life pleasing to God is a life of purity.  (4:1-8)
2.  A life pleasing to God is a life of love and quiet devotion.  (4:9-12)
3.  A life pleasing to God is a life of expectancy.  (4:13-18)

Standard Podcast [ 35:26 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (212)

1 Thessalonians #04: an exposition of 1 Thessalonians 3:1-13. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, October 14, 2012.

Intro:
What does it mean to be part of the church?  What responsibilities come with being a church member?  How are we to relate to one another?  Is it a simple matter of “paying your dues” and attending services?  Have you fulfilled your responsibilities by attending on a regular basis and reading your Bible?  After all isn’t being a Christian about you accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?  Isn’t church just something that is there if you need a little help along your pilgrim way?  Or, could it be, our individualized, independent way of thinking runs contrary to the biblical model?  As the church, are we merely a collection of individuals or are we so connected we really do not exist apart from each other?

I like technology.  I love my iPhone and my iPad.  I love being connected.  I even think Facebook is a good thing – I don’t comment or post I’m just a “stalker” but it’s great being able to connect with people.  I’ve had contact with people I haven’t seen in years.  Yet because of technology we are more connected and more isolated than ever before.  Through technology you can interact with hundreds, even thousands of people a day and yet never hear another person’s voice or feel the touch of another human being.  I’m not sure that is a good thing.

Through the internet you have access 24/7 to the finest teachers in the Church living and dead!  You have access to sermons, books, seminars, panel discussions, seminary classes and worship services – all at your convenience and at your control.  So why does anyone need the church?  We already have churches using video feed for the sermon.  Why have our own preacher when we can have a good one piped in?  Churches are now beginning to take the next logical step – why bother with our own musicians when we can use video of a really good worship band?  Is it unthinkable that there will come a day when we ask, “Why should we go to all the trouble and expense of a building and upkeep when we can just sit in front of a screen in the privacy and comfort of our own home?

Do we really need the church?  Let’s be honest the church comes with a lot of baggage we’d just as soon not deal with.  In the church you don’t control what you’re going to listen to.  There are people you don’t agree with.  There are people you don’t like.  There are things that go on that drive you up the wall.  You are tired of the bickering, the politics and the power struggles.  You just don’t like they way “they” do things.  If I gave you the opportunity you could no doubt add to my list of things wrong with the church.  I want to suggest to you, “It’s precisely because of those things – you need the church.”  The church is not heaven on earth.  It is not that place where the will of God is done perfectly all the time.  The church is that place where broken people, touched by the grace of God, come together and imperfectly try to live out the Gospel together.  It is in the church I learn to love and forgive.  It is in the church I learn to die to myself and live for others.  It is in the church that I have a front row seat to witness the transforming power of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus.

Listen, the church is not an option available if you think you need it.  To be in Christ is to be connected to Him and His bride the Church.  We are called not to live out our faith in isolation but to live the faith together.  As the people of God we are to believe the Gospel.  Confess the Gospel.  Proclaim the Gospel and live the Gospel together.  But what does it mean to live the Gospel together?  For some answers we turn to Paul’s first letter to the church at Thessalonica and look at chapter 3.

Text: 1 Thessalonians 3:1-13

We are in that very autobiographical section of Paul’s letter.

At the end of chapter 2 Paul speaks of his profound love for the Thessalonian believers.

“But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face…For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming?  Is it not you?  For you are our glory and joy.”  (2:17-20)

Chapter 3 begins with the word “therefore”.
What he is about to say is directly linked to what he has just said.
Because you are so dear to me, because you are my joy and crown…

As we explore Paul’s “therefore” we are going to discover three characteristic of Gospel living.

This is what the church is about.
This is how we are to live together.
This is what ought to mark us as the people of God.

1. Gospel living is sacrificial.  (3:1-5)
2. Gospel living is mutual.  (3:6-8)
3. Gospel living is intentional.  (3:9-13)

Standard Podcast [ 38:06 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (216)

1 Thessalonians #03: an exposition of 1 Thessalonians 2:1-20. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, October 7, 2012.

Intro:

We, as a church, have been called to a glorious, demanding, joyful and impossible task!  We’ve been given an assignment by our Lord and Master that we cannot possibly complete.  We’ve been called to impact the world.  We, you and I, have been called to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  We are to make disciples of all the nations.  We are to engage our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the nations.  All the while remembering that we are to glorify God in everything we do.  Oh, and love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength – all the time!  How are we doing?  I don’t really want to see the scorecard.

Wait a minute.  God has promised to empower us and equip us for the task assigned.  That’s good news.  Further the standard of measurement is obedience and not results.  Well, maybe I wouldn’t mind looking at that scorecard.  Of course as God examines our obedience He is also considering our motives, our character and our conduct.  Well, maybe I don’t want to see it after all.

Ministry, God-honoring ministry, is the toughest job you’ll ever love and every believer is called to ministry.  From time to time we have to stop and take stock of where we are and how we are doing.  At times the process is painful.  Just what am I doing and why am I doing it?  In our text this morning the apostle Paul takes stock of his ministry to the church at Thessalonica.  As we explore his words we get some insight as to what goes into a ministry that honors God.

Text: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-20

This whole section is among the most autobiographical of all of Paul’s writings.

Keep in mind he had been run out of Thessalonica by those who were threatened by his ministry.

No doubt after he was gone his critics slandered his character and his work.

They accused him of being just another religious charlatan making the rounds.

The fact that he left town in the middle of the night (due to the threat) was used against him.

“He doesn’t care about you.  He left town in the middle of the night.  He’s made no attempt to come back to you.  Oh, he was with you until there was trouble.  Now he’s nowhere to be found.  We heard he did the same thing over in Berea.”  Such attacks called into question both Paul’s character and his message.

In considering Paul’s response we discover that…

Thesis: God-honoring ministry demands adequate motivation and produces appropriate fruit.

There are three things I want us to note along the way.

1. The desire to please God is the only adequate motivation for ministry.  (2:1-12)
2. Such a ministry produces God-honoring lives.  (2:13-16)
3. Such a ministry creates a unique, unbreakable bond.  (2:17-20)

Standard Podcast [ 37:05 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (161)

Sunday AM

1 Thessalonians #02: This is an exposition of 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on September 30, 2012.

Intro:

What are we doing? Why are we here?  I know it is Sunday and so we’ve gathered for worship but I mean as a church – why are we here?  What are we to do?  What is our mission, our task?  That’s obvious, “We are here to see that the name and fame of our God is spread throughout the Earth.  We are here to make Him known.  We are to carry on the work of the Lord Jesus.  We are to engage in world evangelization and the equipping of the saints.”  That’s all true.  In addition we are to be light in the darkness and that leads to all kinds of social ministries, caring for the poor, defending the defenseless, providing for widows and orphans.  At the center of all we do is the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20 – the “making of disciples.”  We are to call spiritually dead people to life.  We are to call folks to faith in the Lord Jesus.  Let me tell you why it is important to ask and answer the question, “What are we doing?”

In the words of the great philosopher Yogi Bera, “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up somewhere else.”  If we don’t know what we are aiming for how do we know when we hit it?  If we are not sure what our task is how can we measure our effectiveness?  I’m afraid a large number of churches are like another “yogism” – “Lost but making good time.”  If you don’t know where you are going then it doesn’t matter which road you take but if you have somewhere to go you need to right road!  Just what are we to be about?  For some help we turn to the first chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian Christians.

Text: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Following the first missionary journey Paul and Barnabas had a falling out.

They disputed over whether John Mark should accompany them.

Paul said, “NO!”  Barnabas said, “Yes.”

They split up – Barnabas and John Mark retracing a portion of the first journey while Paul and Silas retraced another.  After being prevented by the Spirit from going east into Asia, Paul received the “Macedonian Call.”  A vision pleading for him to come west with the message of the Gospel.  Eventually they came to Thessalonica the capital city of Macedonia.  A large city with a population of over 100,000.  Thessalonica was a “free city” allowed to govern themselves.  Located on the Egnatian Way (the main Roman Road connecting East and West) the city was a commercial, cultural and religious center.  Populated by cultured Athenians, barbaric peoples from the North and a large number of Roman soldiers and politicians who had retired there.  It was an important city.  After just three weeks (three Sabbath Days) Paul and his companions were run out of town.  They pressed on to Berea, Athens and then to Corinth.  While in Corinth Paul received word on the progress of the Thessalonian church.  The book, known to us as 1 Thessalonians, is his response to that report.

Three great themes run throughout – Salvation, sanctification, and the return of the Lord Jesus.

Our focus this morning is on chapter one as Paul remembers and encourages the young church.  As we explore what he says to them we are reminded of something very important about our calling…

Thesis: The goal of Christian ministry is conversion and not decision.

It is not about getting people to intellectually accept a body of truth or agree that the claims of our faith are true but for them to pass from death to life.  It is about change, radical, fundamental life-altering change.

In this opening chapter Paul gives his customary greeting – 1:1.

From Paul, Silvanus or Silas and Timothy to the church that is in Thessalonica and in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

He gives both their geographical and spiritual location (with the emphasis on the spiritual).

He prays that they might have the full measure of both grace (God’s active work in them and for them) and peace (the resultant state of their being due to God’s work).

Paul then speaks a very encouraging word to them about what God has done and is doing.

He speaks with great warmth, love and enthusiasm.

This is where I want us to settle in for a moment this morning because it is here we find some important information about the goal or aim of Christian ministry.  Note what Paul is thankful for.  Take note of why he is encouraged about this young struggling group of believers.  As we explore verses 2-10 I want to point out three things about genuine conversion.

1. Genuine conversion is made evident by the presence of Christian virtues.  (1:2-3)
2. Genuine conversion is a sovereign work of God.  (1:4-5)
3. Genuine conversion produces the fruit of new life.  (1:6-10)

Conclusion:

They had been changed and that change was evidenced by how they lived.  This is the goal of Christian ministry.  It is about conversion not decision.  This issue isn’t whether or not you’ve come to believe the Gospel is true.  It isn’t a matter of saying, “I want to be a part of this church.”  The crucial, fundamental issue is have you passed from death to life?  Have you walked out of darkness into the light?