Sunday 9th February
Read 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10
“You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” (NIVUK)
We have here a picture of the earliest missionary message. Paul could certainly explain the gospel to those who do not yet believe in amazingly clear ways that consider the beliefs of those with whom he is speaking. But the essence of the early message is straightforward. It involved repentance (‘turned from idols’), obedience (‘to serve the living and true God’) and hope (‘to wait for his Son’).
When we tell others of Jesus do those three things capture the essence of what we say?
If they don’t it is worth considering why.
Perhaps they don’t because we live in a society or culture that clearly doesn’t have idols in the streets to which people pay homage. Perhaps we live in a society that can not bear to hear that following Jesus involves submission, a perceived loss of freedom which is unacceptable today. Perhaps the very idea of rescue from wrath is so outdatedly offensive that no one would even hear what we say.
Perhaps that is why so little preaching from Thessalonians is heard in the church today?
