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Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Yesterday, we saw how the three virtues of a balanced life and how they help us go from head to heart. They came to Christ in faith, they served in love, and they stood firm in hope. Today, we'll continue the thought.
Verse 6 says, "You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the wordin much tribulation wih the joy of the Holy Spirit." Notice that right after they received the Holy Spirit with full conviction in verse 5, they imitated the men who gave their message validation.
And while they were imitating the men, they were imitating the men who were following the Lord. Ultimately, they were imitating the Lord.
When they received the word, it was in much tribulation. Frankly, that wasn't my experience, and hasn't really ever been my experience. Whenever I've received the word, it was actually with a great deal of encouragement. When I was going to church and being an altar boy, people liked that. When I started going to Bible study in high school, people were excited for me and very encouraging. When I got into ministry there was praise. The worst I ever got was a bit of ribbing from non-beleivers along the way. I often wonder what would happen if there had been real live tribulation...would I have been squelched.
The Thessalonians weren't. In fact, they counted it all as JOY.
And again, joy, was a witness & encouragement to others.
If you look at verse 7: "...so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia." Notice it wasn't the leaders of the church who were the example to the rest of the leaders...it was the "rank and file" of the believers. Their joy encouraged others...in their own province and one neighboring one.
But the main idea comes in verse 8: "For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything." The word of the Lord came from the rank and file and then sounded forth.
That word is in the Greek perfect tense...that means it is an action that continues indefinitely. Can you imagine? An echo of joy going around the world that heard of their joy despite their tribulations. So much so that the leaders would go into a town and not have to say anything at all. The message preceeded the men.
Why?
Because in verses 8--10, their lives had changed. Completely and totally...by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because He lives, they can now have life (the forgotten part of the Gospel...more on that tomorrow), and because He lives, He will come back.
Any minute now...
And how would our lives be different if we lived like we truly believed THAT? I imagine our lives would look a lot like an unending, joyful echo of the Gospel message.
Brent 10:02 PM
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