1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the
Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to
you and peace.
1:2 We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention
you in our prayers, constantly
1:3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith
and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus
Christ.
1:4 For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that
he has chosen you,
1:5 because our message of the gospel came to you not in
word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full
conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be
among you for your sake.
1:6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in
spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the
Holy Spirit,
1:7 so that you became an example to all the believers in
Macedonia and in Achaia.
1:8 For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not
only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God
has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it.
1:9 For the people of those regions report about us what
kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from
idols, to serve a living and true God,
1:10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised
from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.
Hi, I am impressed with how well this fits with the gospel this
week. Are we Imitators or Imposters? The Pharisees and Herodians (
and all of Israel ) was called to be imitators of God's love and
grace and make that known to the world. Yet they were imposters -
claiming Jesus to be a teacher of "Truth" yet seeking to entrap him.
Also Jesus says, "Render to God the things that are God's." To me
this means not just the temple sheckel but ourselves, our love and
service.
Are we Imitators or Impostors? Often we get caught up in Running,
defending, controlling the church as we see and understand it.
Perhaps we need to receive and share the word with joy inspired by
the Holy Spirit. Let go and let God.
Bob in WP, NY
Wouldn't it be great if all our faith was so great and known that it
would not have to be spoken of, for it was evident, as Paul writes
of here to the Thessolonians?
Hmmmm, maybe I found a sermon in that.
Peace and Grace of God to All Pastor Deb- Bangor, ME
Bob, Thank you for your discussion of impostors or imitators. I
think I will try to go some where with this on Sunday. I am
struggling with how the mission of the people I serve is best
communicated. Is it in a building program, which will meet our
needs? Or is it in doing mission and ministry within our community
and inthe world in which God places us? I feel like I am leaning in
the direction of the later answer. However, there are other voices
in our congregation which would say the former, because it will help
to empower ministry. I want to be an imitator, not an imposter what
do I need to do?
TN in MN
I plan to use the theme of reputation as a witness. Paul has given
the Thessalonians a reputation of faithfulness as he hears of their
ministry. It will be a challenge to our people to build a reputation
based on their ministry. It is laity Sunday and I can point the
sermon toward the pew with examples from the pew.
CGS in IL
Bob, ditto on your idea of imposter/imatators. The song that keeps
going through my mind on this is "thay will know we are Christians
by our love, by our love, yes they will know we are Christians by
our love." It seems to me that to often we are known by our INGS. As
in left wING, right wING, militia wING, etc. And not by our servING,
lovING, prayING, and imatatING. So often as we try do define who we
are as a congregation, or a Christian, the wrong ING's are in the
minds of our us and our church's members. This is why when I read
this letter to the Thessalonians' I get excited by the knowledge
that we can be known by our "LOVE". We have the example of a people
that were surrounded by all of the negitive INGs and yet they over
came this and their reputation in the land reflected this.
DLB in TN [frequent reader, first time writer]
>From Walt in Mo. A late posting but I thought interesting. I picked
up a book this week "When You're a Christian, the Whole World is
from Missouri" by James W. Moore. Each chapter ends with, " When
you're a Christian, the whole world is from Missouri, saying, "Sow
me your spirit of forgiveness", or what ever the chapter is
discussing. Many good thoughts for this text.
Walt
Too often I hear folks say,"I don't feel comfortable talking about
my faith so I just try to witness with my actions." The message of
Paul (and elsewhere, of James) isn't "Deeds, not words" but rather
deeds to back up the words. There are a lot of noble heathens out
there who act good because society applauds it or they were raised
in good company. We need to let the world know the source of our joy
and the reason for our service. Verse 6 has the real evidence-even
though they were persecuted they still served with joy.how well do
we keep the faith when things turn against us?
tom in tn.
Something about the contagious congregation theme strikes me as
applicable here; what are the charecteristics of a "body" that makes
others automatically ill with the good flu of faith? What are the
danger signs that our faith no longer infects others who wander by?
How can we recapture that spirit of contagion so that "If Christ be
lifted up, he will draw all unto him?" in our day?
