The Gospel and Thanksgiving

In 1644, the cloud of emotional darkness descended on the Puritan minister, Richard Baxter.

! There are a number of colliding factors as to why life got so hard for him.

! There was a civil war that had basically shut down what was a very successful parish ministry.

He was shunned as an army chaplain by the nation's leadership because he was, in their words, too spiritual.

Close friends of his, dear friends of his life in the civil war.

His own father at that point was a political prisoner.

His health also broke down, rendering him very ill and weak and thinking at the age of 31 that he was near death.

And as all those factors collided and his despair of life set in,

Baxter wrote what became one of the most professional books for generations called The Saints' Everlasting Rest in 1650.

Baxter, in his book, he calls Christians to contemplate our eternal heavenly rest as a way of life now, in the moment.

As an ongoing practice of daily life, constantly recalling the heavenly rest.

He exhausts us not to seek our promised rest and comfort here in earth,

but to keep the new heavens and the new earth at the forefront of our minds, reflecting on it consistently.

And he says that, in fact, that is what fuels a life of faith, love and hope now.

Baxter's book, quite famous even to this day, really is echoing the Apostle Paul in the letters to the Thessalonians.

The moment Paul started this church, as we know from the first letter, there was persecution.

In fact, this young, small church in Thessalonica had never known a time of peace at all.

And so Paul's first letter to them was designed to strengthen a church under pressure and to encourage a church that was immature and vulnerable amongst that pressure,

in order that they would continue to make progress as believers in the Lord Jesus.

Paul urged them, as we know from one of the first letters, to turn away from their sinful life,

to walk obediently to God's word and to set their minds and their hearts and their hopes on the return of the Lord Jesus

and the future glory and joy that awaits for them in that moment.

And so as we open to Thessalonians, we see their trials have not diminished.

Paul again strengthened them by pointing them to the glorious end of all things.

And that is when Jesus returns.

And he also encourages them with the perspective of what it means to live the Christian life until the day of Jesus' return.

And what he says is, you will always be at war in one way or another.

There will always be a battle.

It will always be a struggle in one way or another.

Their trials and their sufferings, crucially, are not a sign that God is not powerful, that he's not good,

or that God had abandoned them.

But it's how God is gloriously changing them.

Their hardship is how God is gloriously changing them.

So as we open up to Thessalonians, we've got three points there.

Apologies for those of you who have got the handouts.

It's mostly there in those handouts, but I've had some more recent inspiration very early this morning.

Anyway, so three points.

First of all, thanksgiving for past grace.

So in his first letter, Paul remembered gratefully the Thessalonians, particularly for three things,

their faith, their love, and their hope.

The trinity of a healthy Christian life, faith, hope, and love.

And the fact that they were productive in their faith, in their hope, and their love.

And now, however, he emphasizes that these qualities from the first letter to the second letter have actually been increasing and growing.

So the persecution that they've been experiencing has not been a hindrance to that at all.

At all.

The original language here, in fact, means that their faith is growing like a plant in the tropics.

You just can't stop it.

And their love for all is overflowing.

The language is like the floodgates of the dam have been opened and just flooding everywhere.

And although he does not mention hope, he does refer to their perseverance and endurance,

which in 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 3, he says perseverance and endurance is inspired by hope.

1 Thessalonians 1:3

It's a hope, he says, that he boasts about to other churches.

And it was flourishing even amongst the persecution and trials which they were enduring.

And so when he jumps into verse 5,

what he's saying here in verse 5 is that growth in faith, in love and hope is not just evidence of God's grace in their lives,

but it's also evidence that God's judgment is right.

That is, the combination of their trust in Jesus with their current trials, hardships, persecutions they're facing,

it's those things together which are producing great, growing faith, growing love, growing hope.

And God is right in not just calling them to himself,

but he is right in them facing those persecutions, in God gifting them with those persecutions.

What Paul is celebrating here in the first few verses is what you would call healthy Christians and a healthy church.

Now, Western Christians tend to celebrate the growth of programs and facilities and budgets and staff and attendance and energy,

the worship, quality of the worship as signs of church health.

Not Paul, necessarily.

Paul boasts here of their growing faith, their increasing love for each other,

and their hope in the face of hardship.

Those things may flow over into progress in other things, but they may not.

And the fact that there are growing budgets and so on and so forth are not necessarily a sign that the church is growing in faith or love or hope.

And Paul is very keen for them for this growth that they're seeing to continue.

And once again, what he does is he gets them to fix their eyes on the hope of their future glory,

which is the section, the most of this chapter.

And we're launching into a topic that our world society does not like the Christian to talk about.

And unfortunately, way too many Christians are embarrassed by.

That is the concept of future judgment.

All religions in the world believe in some concept of judgment.

Or for some, it's the idea of karma.

For others, Christians, it's a judgment day.

That is, all religions have this concept of a reckoning of some description or accountability of some description.

That is, every person will have a day in a cosmic court, face their record,

and to satisfy the demands of an eternal absolute justice of some degree, whatever it might be.

The secular worldview, however, which is dominant in our society at the moment,

rejects the concept of a final judgment because it asserts there is no moral absolutes.

And so you cannot have a cosmic judgment if there are no moral absolutes that all people must comply with.

So there is no final reckoning.

For instance, Sam Harris, a prominent atheist, begins his book, Free Will,

by recounting a set of callous crimes committed by two men against an innocent family.

And if you read it, it is stomach-churning stuff, awful stuff.

And he concludes that while we might seek some level of restorative justice to stop those people doing that again,

he says you cannot hold those people morally accountable, however.

Sam Harris, secularism.

And Western civilization generally hates the idea of judgment.

Why would we want to believe and embrace the Bible's teaching on Judgment Day?

There are multiple reasons, and I just need to exercise the spiritual gift of superficiality this morning

and just mention two.

It's not a spiritual gift.

Don't need to look that one up.

Give me that gift.

First of all, because the Bible's teaching on Judgment Day is actually good news.

That's the first reason.

The problem with removing a final Judgment Day is it doesn't just mean that moral wrongs are never made right.

That in itself is a problem.

But it also means that no act or life of moral courage is rewarded either.

It means both of those things.

Not just that there's no accountability for wrong, but there's no reward for right.

In fact, removing of Judgment Day means there's nothing at all.

Nothing at all.

So if you want to remove the concept that, well, I don't like the idea God's going to judge me,

but I don't want him to reward me, you remove both when you remove a Judgment Day.

You've gotten rid of both.

Judgment Day means that every sacrifice we make for others actually matters nothing in the end.

It means that no one notices it at all in the end.

Those sacrifices are forgotten.

But Judgment Day means that those sacrifices will never be forgotten.

That there is a reward.

There is someone who sees and so everything means something.

Everything means something.

If, on the other hand, there is no Judgment Day, there is no judge in the end,

and human suffering and injustice goes on until the sun burns out and history ends,

and that means, according to the Nealist, nothing means anything.

There are only two, ultimately, views of life.

Either everything means something or nothing means anything.

And the difference between the two is Judgment Day.

That's the difference.

You see, the big secular thinkers of history, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, Bertrand Russell,

all explained away this concept of a final Judgment Day,

and all of them were honest enough to suggest that when you do,

it takes away all meaning in history.

At least they were honest enough to say that.

Jean-Paul Sartre once said that atheism is a long, hard, cruel business.

And he says, I've lived it to the end.

I'm not sure what he was celebrating in that moment,

but Judgment Day is good news.

But it also is good news because it means that forgiveness is possible.

Have a look at verse 6 there.

God is just.

He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you.

Now, when you read that, you go, hang on a bit.

That seems really harsh.

But it's actually liberating.

It's meant to be liberating for the Thessalonian Christians.

The liberation here is God is just.

He's the one who pays back.

You don't have to.

You Thessalonians, you Christians,

don't need to be in the position of judge of humanity.

Being the judge of someone else when they've wronged us

is a job that we are not qualified for.

Potentially, you know the experience of being in a job

that you're not qualified to do.

I've known that experience myself when I first became the minister here

and other, for instance, when I first became a dad.

It's like, what do I do now?

This is the ultimate job we are not qualified for.

You see, if we keep putting ourselves in the role of judge,

jury and sentencer of other people,

then we are the ones who become imprisoned in our own bitterness.

It destroys us, not them, when we are the judge.

And the reality is, some of us just cannot get past the wrongs

that have been perpetrated against us

because ultimately we don't believe in judgment day.

It's not close on the forefront of our minds.

Or we haven't understood it.

We're not constantly reflecting on it right now.

The more the good news of judgment day goes deep into our hearts,

ultimately what it means is the more patient and loving

and forgiving we will be.

The Christian who is harsh in their proclamation of the gospel condemning humanity

has not understood judgment day.

They've not understood it.

It hasn't penetrated to the depths of their hearts.

Now, the second reason to believe in this final judgment day

is that Jesus tells us so.

He reveals the reality of it.

Judgment day is good news, but we also need to believe it.

In order to believe it, we need evidence for it.

And like millions and millions of people throughout history,

I myself came to believe in who Jesus is and what he did

because of the facts about him, the facts of who he is.

You see, when you look at the person of Jesus Christ,

you see this combination that you don't see in anyone else in human history.

He's incredibly confident and centred on himself

and who he is and what he declares about himself,

and yet you've never met anyone who is at the same time more humble.

He combines both the confidence and the humility.

He combines courage to death and incredible tenderness

for the sinner and the sufferer.

People become overwhelmed by his moral perfection

and attracted by his love.

And yet it is Jesus who talks about judgment day

more than any other biblical writer,

more than any of them put together.

You see, what we read in the Gospels

is that Jesus has come to us not just as a saviour

and as a friend, but as a judge.

He said that.

His salvation absolutely means nothing without judgment.

What the Bible says about judgment day is, however, quite distinctive

and is often misunderstood

and it has massive implications for how we live right now.

And the first distinctive compared to other religions

is the nature of God's judgment.

Have a look there at verses 8 and 9.

It says,

He will punish those who do not know God

and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

They'll be punished with everlasting destruction

and shut out from the presence of the Lord.

Now, sentences like that

stir up an emotional response.

I could stand on the street corner in Chatswood

and talk about God's love

and people walk past and go,

you know, I'll ignore you, but that's okay.

Read this, however,

and you're going to get a response of some description.

It should, in fact, stir up an emotional response.

And, in fact, if you're a Christian

and it doesn't stir up an emotional response,

it means you need to understand judgment day a bit deeper.

The reality is there's no nice way to smooth over words

like everlasting destruction.

What is important here

is to see what this everlasting destruction actually is.

Notice the statement.

It's actually described for us.

Shut out from the presence of the Lord.

In other words, everlasting destruction

in biblical terms is the removal of God's presence.

To not have God is to be eternally destroyed.

The presence of the God, of God,

is the source of all life and love and beauty,

of all goodness,

whether we realise it or not.

You see, a person walking in the countryside

on a beautiful sunny day

is living off the presence of the sun in the sky.

They feel it.

They experience it.

They know it.

They can see it.

But in that exact same moment,

a person working in a mine shaft

three kilometres under the ground

is also living off the presence of the sun

even though they don't experience it.

They can't feel it.

They can't see it.

They don't know it.

They're both living off the presence of the sun.

If in that moment,

the sun disappeared,

the sun ceased to exist,

both of them would freeze to death

instantaneously.

It matters not whether you are

three kilometres under the ground

or you're walking in the countryside.

It matters not.

You're both done.

It's not where you are

on the face of the earth

because you are both

living off the sun's presence.

You see, what the Bible tells us

is that every person in history

has lived off the presence of God

while they have lived,

whether they know it or not,

whether they acknowledge it at all.

It matters not whether you have sought

and trusted and followed him

or you instead have existed in darkness

and you've rejected him

and gone your own way in life.

It matters not.

Now, every person has breathed his air,

drunk his water,

lived off his gracious presence.

And if God's presence goes,

everything goes.

There is no life.

There is no joy.

There is no beauty.

There is no good.

And so the Bible's teaching

on God's judgment day

is the thing that all of humanity

actually want deep inside of their hearts.

Perfect justice.

It's what we want.

Perfect justice in the sense

that the punishment truly fits the crime.

The Bible often uses imagery of fire

for eternal destruction.

Lake of fire, burning fire,

Jesus here coming in, blazing fire.

It is figurative language.

It's figurative language.

Now, number one,

stick with me in case you think

I'm moving into heresy here.

Secondly,

if you think,

oh, phew, great.

It's only figurative.

Figurative language in the Bible

is always used

to explain something that is far worse.

So figurative language is not better.

It's actually far worse.

It's symbolic of something

that's so much more worse.

So the picture of everlasting destruction

that you have in the Bible

is not God poking people with pitchforks

or employing people to do pitchfork poking.

It is far worse than that.

It is his presence removed.

Far worse.

It's his presence removed.

There is only two ways to live in this life.

It's either God's will be done

or it's my will be done.

There's only two ways to live.

It's either facing God

or it's turning your back

and facing away from God.

That's only two ways to live.

And the person here described,

destined for eternal destruction,

are getting what they have chosen

and what they have wanted

for all of their life.

Existence without God.

God throughout their life

has been facing them,

facing them,

facing them

and they have turned their back

and faced the opposite direction

and then when they eventually

on the judgment day

turn to face God's ability

for their life,

God will turn his face from them.

Perfect judgment.

And as C.S. Lewis wrote

in his book,

The Great Divorce,

once they get what they want

on that moment,

on the day of judgment,

when they receive it,

they still won't change their mind.

They still won't change their mind.

They will still have for eternity

the very thing that they wanted

and they will not change their mind.

You see,

what this means is,

this is really important,

the Christian teaching on judgment day

is not about good and bad

at all.

It's not about whether I've done enough good

and it balances out my bad.

It's got nothing to do with

good or bad at all.

Judgment day gives us

what we have been after

all of our life.

That's what judgment day is.

If we have sought communion with God

or we have sought distance

from God in life,

then we will get that

on judgment day.

It's what we have chosen

in relation to God.

It's unbelievably just.

And the confirmation of this

is Jesus Christ on the cross.

That's the confirmation of it.

That's the evidence for it.

And that's why the Christian teaching on this

is so distinctive.

Because Jesus is the only person

in history

who has ever gone through judgment day.

The only one

who's ever gone through

the judgment day

that's described here.

He's the only one in history

to be abandoned by God

in the most final way.

And when Jesus Christ

was being crucified,

there was no sulfur,

there was no burning fire,

there was no pitchforks,

what happened

is God

turned his back

on him.

In fact,

his ultimate

cry

of dereliction,

the thing that caused him

to scream

from the cross

was not

the spear in the side,

was not the nails,

it was not the crown of thorns,

the thing that called him

to scream

from the cross

is,

my God,

my God,

why have you forsaken me?

The cry of dereliction

as his father

turns his face away.

Judgment day.

The hell

that Jesus experienced

on the cross

was deeper

than any hell

than anyone

will ever experience

in life

or the afterlife.

on the cross

Jesus faced God.

You see,

Jesus

in his entire

perfect life

lived the life

facing God

in perfection.

Perfect

obedience.

He obeyed

his father

all the way

to the cross

facing God

in obedience

all the way.

His father

turned his back

on him.

and that

will never happen

to another person

in human history.

That will never

happen

to a Christian

who looks

facing to Jesus

in all of their life

when judgment day

come

and that's the

confirmation here

for the Thessalonians.

Jesus,

your life

of suffering

in this moment

is not

a wasted life

because when judgment

day comes

your father

will not

turn his face

from you

and the confirmation

he will not

turn his face

away from you

is because

he turned it

away from his son.

Jesus is the only

one who

experienced

the presence

of God

perfectly.

He obeyed God

perfectly

and on the cross

the sun

went out

for him.

He was

facing God

and God

turned his back

at him.

His hell

was deeper

than anyone's

and his hell

pays for all

of our sin

and guarantees

that God

will not

turn his face

away from me

on judgment

day.

No matter

who I am

no matter

what I've done

in my life.

See the Bible's

teaching on

judgment day

is justice.

The punishment

fits the crime

it explains

the cross

judgment day

explains the cross

and the cross

explains what

happens on

judgment day

and it is

profoundly good

news

to those

who face

Jesus now.

Turn their

face to him

and the

encouragement

here

for the

Thessalonians

is you

need to keep

your eye

on that

end.

in the

midst

of

suffering

temptations

sin

in this

world.

Verse 10

is the

perspective

the good

news

the outcome

if you like

on that

day he

comes to

be glorified

in his

holy people

and to

be marveled

at among

all those

who have

believed.

There's a

little word

in that

verse

that's so

easy to

miss

but it's

absolutely

essential

it's very

crucial

in fact

the way

it's put

together here

in the

original language

is so

unique

it's only

used two

times

in the

New Testament

here in

verse 10

and again

in verse 12

two verses

later

and it's

so unique

it's

it's the

word

in

in

what it's

saying here

is that

when Jesus

comes on

that judgment

day

Jesus will

not be

glorified

among

his holy

people

as if

they will

be the

stadium

in which

he appears

neither

is it

by them

as if

they will

be

spectators

who applaud

him

for his

glory

everyone look

at his

glory

kind of

thing

neither

is he

glorified

through

them

as if

they are

the mirrors

reflecting

his glory

he will be

glorified

in

them

in that

sense

his

people

are like

a filament

in a

light globe

which

itself

glows

with light

and heat

when the

electrical

current

passes

through it

you see

a

stadium

is

never

itself

changed

by

the

activity

of the

stadium

a

theatre

is

never

changed

by

the

play

that's

played

there

whatever you

call it

in there

performed

in the

theatre

an

audience

is never

necessarily

changed

by the

drama

in the

theatre

itself

a

mirror

is

certainly

not

changed

by the

image

it

reflects

in

that

moment

in

any

moment

the

mirror

of my

home

is

going

to

get

me

one

moment

not

the

next

and

the

mirror

is

still

the

same

but

a

filament

in a

light

bulb

is

changed

dramatically

it's

actually

changed

when

the

electricity

flows

through

it

and

it

glows

you

see

when

Jesus

revealed

in

his

glory

on

judgment

day

he

will

be

glorified

in

his

people

we

will

not

only

see

his

glory

but

we

will

in

fact

share

his

glory

that's

what

it's

saying

we

will

share

his

glory

and

much

more

than

a

light

globe

where

the

filament

glows

temporarily

but

it

only

becomes

dark

and

cold

again

once

the

electricity

stops

the

Christian

will

be

radically

and

permanently

changed

into

his

the

best

example

of

this

I

think

in

the

Bible

is

the

transfiguration

of

Jesus

where

on

that

occasion

Jesus

was

glorified

in

his

physical

body

his

face

just

radiated

like

the

sun

his

skin

and

clothing

gleamed

became

as

white

as

light

in

other

words

his

body

became

a

vehicle

for

his

glory

and

that's

the

best

picture

in

the

New

Testament

that

we

can

find

what

will

happen

on

the

day

when

Jesus

comes

we

will

be

transfigured

by

the

glory

of

Christ

eternally

everything

that

attracts

a

person

to

the

person

of

Jesus

will

become

ours

it

will

be

ours

because

verse 10

says

we are

marvelling

at

him

now

stick

with me

here

because

this is

the

really

really

important

bit

what

is it

we are

marvelling

at

in

particular

what

we are

marvelling

at

is

the

love

of

God

for

us

displayed

what

Jesus

done

for

us

on

the

cross

to

marvel

is

not

just

to

go

that

was

good

as

you

might

as

a

spectator

in

a

stadium

watching

something

before

you

or

in

a

theatre

watching

something

before

you

go

that

was

good

I

admire

that

they

did

that

well

to

marvel

is

so

much

more

than

that

it

is

to

have

our

expectations

our

desires

our

imagination

explode

exceedingly

that's

what it

means

to

marvel

it

means

to

have

our

heart

and

our

mind

overflow

beyond

comprehension

and

Jesus

will

be

glorified

in

the

Christian

on

judgment

day

because

we

are

marveling

at

him

one

of the

most

unpalatable

!

teachings

of the

Christian

faith

in our

modern

day

is

what

we

have

just

looked

at

here

in

the

God

as

judge

and

there

being

a

judgment

day

many

in

our

society

are

very

willing

to

accept

a

God

of

love

a

God

of

love

not

a

God

reject

Jesus

the

cross

judgment

just

a

God

of

love

and

unfortunately

way

too

many

churches

want

to

just

talk

about

a

God

of

love

in

the

end

what

that

means

is

a

God

that

reinterpreted

as I

see

love

a

God

who

just

approves

of

me

a

God

whose

face

is

towards

me

and

my

face

is

away

from

him

and

he

just

says

well

that's

okay

that's

alright

I

want

to

affirm

that

person's

choice

in

life

a

God

who

doesn't

mind

if

I

live

life

my

way

and

God's

love

becomes

about

what

I

want

him

to

be

not

about

who

he

is

and

so

therefore

if

you

look

at

those

people

and

you

look

at

those

churches

and

look

at

those

people

who

want

to

downplay

the

judgment

of

God

what

you

see

is

no

change

in

their

life

at

all

at

all

there

is

no

change

change

because

the

love

of

God

does

not

exceed

their

expectations

their

desires

or their

imagination

there is

no

marvelling

and so

there is

no

change

Christian

it

is

the

marvelling

at

the

gospel

that

brings

change

the

marvelling

of

the

gospel

I

want

to

ask

you

do

you

as

a

Christian

do

you

see

that

your

life

is

changing

are

you

seeing

that

you're

becoming

more

compelling

as

a

Christian

people

noticing

the

glory

of

Christ

being

in

you

right

now

there

is

so

much

pressure

in

our

world

to

conform

to

the

values

of

this

world

and

to

reject

things

that

are

unpalatable

even

in

good

churches

the

gospel

of

the

Lord

Jesus

Christ

has

become

an

accessory

to

middle

class

values

where

it

affirms

my

choices

in

life

where

we

are

culturally

captive

to

consumerism

and

convenience

and

comfort

and

maybe

we're

not

seeing

the

growth

in

faith

we

are

not

increasing

in our

love

for

all

and

we're

not

enduring

with

hope

and

we're

not

seeing

evangelistic

fruit

because

as

churches

we are

not

looking

much

different

to the

world

around

us

this

is

the

consequence

of

redefining

God's

love

as

him

being

the

great

permission

giver

this

is

the

consequence

of

taking

our

eyes

of

judgment

day

being

embarrassed

by

judgment

day

there

is

no

glory

without

a

cross

there

is

no

glory

without

a

cross

there

is

no

good

there

is

no

grace

without

judgment

it

is

the

marvelling

at

the

wonder

of

the

gospel

of

the

Lord

Jesus

Christ

where

justice

and

mercy

meet

that

brings

transformation

in

life

if

we

don't

see

what

it

costs

God

to

love

us

we

have

nothing

to

marvel

at

which

brings

me

to

my

third

point

Paul

ends

this

section

by

praying

and let

me be

very quick

here

he

prays

he

doesn't

just

give them

a vision

of their

future

glorification

he

prays

that

that

future

glorification

will be

starting

in them

now

that

the

power

from

God

to be

changed

now

he

does

that

in

verses

11

and

12

he

gives

thanks

for their

growth

and he

prays

that it

will

continue

growth

in

faith

love

and hope

he

wants

them

to

see

them

grow

in

that

way

and so

let me

just

leave you

with

a

very

quick

challenge

it

could

be

unpacked

in

so

many

ways

!

is the

marveling

at

the

love

of

God

displayed

in

the

cross

of

Christ

that

transforms

us

now

now

if

there

is no

marveling

there's

no

change

and

in

a

day

when

we

are

bombarded

with

competing

objects

of focus

in our

lives

email

social

media

breaking

news

all the

time

millions

of

other

things

in

our

lives

there

has

never

been

a

greater

need

to

lift

our

eyes

to

the

gospel

of

the

Lord

Jesus

Christ

consistently

day

in

day

out

moment

by

moment

to

fix

our

eyes

on

the

gospel

and

the

eternal

hope

of

glory

that

awaits

all

those

in

him

you

we

us

Christians

will

never

see

change

in

our

lives

while

ever

we

have

dust

forming

on

our

Bibles

this

with

that

future

glory

this

tells

me

there

should

be

dust

on

our

technology

but not

on

our

Bibles

that's

what

this

is

telling

me

and

if

it

is

not

happening

we

are

being

captive

to

the

culture

of

our

age

we

need

to

be

walking

with

God

in

prayer

we

need

to

be

lifting

our

voices

to

him

in

worship

and

we

need

the

fellowship

of

brothers

and

sisters

consistently

pointing

us

to

the

gospel

and

to

the

future

glory

and

so I

commend

to

you

our

next

steps

here

as a

church

pursue

them

and be

changed