05-18-2025 - UNDER THE WATERFALL OF GOD'S GRACE. - 1 Thessalonians 1

MESSAGE BY PASTOR ROB INRIG

  FROM BETHANY BAPTIST IN RICHMOND, BC.

I invite you to pray together: O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need: We humbly beseech thee to behold, visit, and relieve thy sick servants for whom our prayers are desired. Look upon them with the eyes of thy mercy (Gaby P, Vicky O, Nancy R, Tere G, Liz N, Stevie A, Socrates D, Sara's mom H, Margarita G, Fega G,  Rosy Ch, Patricia L. Lina J. Manuel D. C, Yuya N. Mercedes L, Magda-)   Comfort them with a sense of thy goodness; preserve them from the temptations of the enemy; and give them patience under his affliction. In thy good time, restore them to health, and enable them to lead the residue of their life in thy fear, and to thy glory; and grant that finally they may dwell with thee in life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

You can add names from family and friends who need prayer

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To all of you who visit this blog, I ask for a prayer for Gabriela Piña, a beloved friend who is battling cancer, she has been fighting against this disease with much positivism against this terrible disease, we have been praying for her but lately she is battling with the unpredictable, my heart is in great pain knowing this, but my great faith in our Lord remains that for Him there are no impossibles even when everything looks dark, He has a light waiting for her but I ask with my spirit and heart to give her that opportunity that He always has available for all, to know Him and be a living testimony that He is real and that He loves her infinitely as His adopted daughter, I ask for a prayer together so that He hears our plea, because I know that prayer is powerful and I humbly ask that you support me in this at this very painful time for her for all of us who love her as a sister in Christ Jesus. With my broken heart, I thank all my brothers and sisters in Christ for your support in this. Amen!

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In a time long ago – before things like Instagram, X and Facebook, there used to exist these things called letters.  As hard as it is to understand, people would take a pen, (we’ll explain that at a future time) and make markings on a piece of paper and then send these jottings off to another person.  It would take days to get there and usually days to return but despite delays, people sat down to write out their thoughts.

I know – hard to believe, harder to understand.  Today we still receive a trickle of these, most of which are destined for the recycle bin – because we don’t need a new roof, our gutters are fine, our lawn doesn’t need Weed B Gone and our driveway has already been resealed.   The decision to get those into the recycle box, easy.

Then there are those letters you would love to direct to the recycle box but wisdom calls you to forsake the impulse - VISA, MasterCard, CRA.  Funny thing but they aren’t particularly concerned with how you react to what they’ve sent you. They just care about payments made in response to what’s been sent. 

And then there are those ones that present themselves in the  language of familiarity and friendship.  ‘Dear Rob, it’s been so long since we have talked.  Your friendship means so much to me.  I want you to know about something that has transformed my life’ – all written in best friend language.  But it doesn’t take too much reading for you to discover – your best friend is – a realtor trolling for clients, a time share promoter hiding hooks beneath attractive bait, and a lottery peddler promising the amazing not mentioning the miniscule odds. 

On rare occasions there are those special letters that sneak past the junk mail and bills, that deeply impact our lives – ones that come at just the right time, say just the right thing, offer just the right hope.  Those letters that don’t have a gadget to sell or gimmick to present but instead give an encouragement to hold onto or a reminder of a truth you almost abandoned.

These letters are penned with love and concern.  Letters like the one we are opening today written by Paul.  It’s a letter he deems so important that he commands it be read for all to hear.  Paul came to the Thessalonians after a time of deep difficulty in Philippi. Acts 16 tells us that his time in Philippi involved being beaten, unjustly prosecuted, confined in stocks and cast into an inescapable prison.

When God finally orchestrated his release, destroying the prison and shattering his shackles, it would have been understandable if Paul had reined in his travel plans and headed for home.  Enough already.  Instead the next destination on his itinerary was Thessalonica which was anything but a smaller stage with dimmer spotlights.  

Thessalonica, a Greek city with strong ties, to Rome was influential.  It was known for her beauty but more importantly it was a major trading gateway into Europe.  Emperor worship was strong as was the worship of Roman and Egyptian gods.  As a major metropolis catering to a diverse world, trade needed to be accommodating to a diversity of belief.  If this meant accommodating indulgence and pleasure, that was in abundant supply.  Chief among the gods was Dianna, the goddess of fertility and sexuality.    

Given what Paul had been through, you could have expected his entrance into Thessalonica to be a little less visible, a little less bold and a lot  less vocal.  Sure he wouldn’t shirk from speaking about Jesus but if they wanted to continue their worship of stone and story so be it.  But as we know about Paul, timidity and retreat were not words in his vocabulary but as we discover, Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica wasn’t defined by power and battle.  Instead he spends his time with them speaking truth but living among them in humility and servanthood. 

Despite that, it didn’t take long for opposition to arise, forcing Paul to flee the city.  Though his time with them is short 3 weeks, his impact among them was not.

Clearly Paul had a special place in his heart for these Thessalonians.   Away from people he had grown to love, he writes to encourage them, reassure them and strengthen them.  Those same qualities is also what he wants us to know as well. 

As he begins, he wishes them Grace and peace :1   At first glance these can appear to be words of custom – throw away greetings that we parrot but don’t literally mean: like ‘How are you doing?’  it’s an icebreaker – a connection piece but we rarely mean it to be, “Well my arthritis is flaring up and back my back is killing me … My son phoned last night, telling me he is addicted to drugs and my wife told me she’s leaving”.   

In truth all that was wanted was connection - a time to hear about last night’s game or the latest news. Nothing in your greeting was intended as a deep, heart to heart investment.

I don’t think the same can be said for Paul when he writes, ‘Grace and peace’.  For him ‘grace and peace’ are deep truths.  In his former life, Paul beat, arrested and had Christ followers killed.  The ‘faith’ he religiously followed, driving him to judge. His ‘dogmatic truth’ compelling him to seek and destroy those he thought unholy, a driven call from which he could never rest. Grace and peace lived a long  ways from this place of hate. 

And then on a road to Damascus, Paul met Grace transforming him from someone who was for God and against Christ to one who would come to be IN God and IN Christ. 

When he was not looking for it, Grace was poured out on this man who had broken families and destroyed lives.  It was from this thankful, grace filled heart, Paul was able to focus on the faith, love and hope :3 he saw in these Thessalonians.  These attributes – faith, love and hope - rarely draw a crowd, rarely get a headline.  No earthly rewards are given for things like these. But they are defining characteristics that stand as witness of a transformed life.  

These simple but profound realities, far distant from the things Paul once valued.  Previously he had a checklist faith of accomplishments that was connected to rigid truth.  Those things that could be measured by the rules obeyed and unrighteousness eliminated.  

And then he met Grace or better yet – Grace met him - a grace that cherished people not performance; a Grace that could only be understood in the embrace of God’s love not in a pursuit to gain God’s love.  

God moving him away from a performance defined life to a peace discovered life.   It was a peace he lived in and a place from which he lived out that he had been forgiven by God.  The truth of God’s love bringing peace into the hard places in which we live.  Grace and peace to him didn’t mean the absence of opposition or removal from life events that toss us out of control rather he reminds grace and peace live IN God and IN Christ not circumstances. It’s a truth we often ignore in a ‘How ya doing?’ sort of way – a gloss over, a throw away phrase.  

That, when we bowed at the Cross of Jesus we were forgiven.  Still imperfect, not having to put on a false face, pasting smiling exteriors over broken hearts but grace receivers – who have come into relationship with the One who alone can give grace.  Not peace pretenders when life’s storm threaten to overwhelm but peace discoverers IN Christ.

Do we always live in that place of grace and peace?  I would like to tell you we do but there are times when the storms feel too great and our faith becomes too small.  Relationships too frayed, health too compromised, finances too stretched.

And in those places, He reminds, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:6,7.

That His grace is sufficient when life turns sideways because it reaches into places where nothing else can.  Embracing love that holds when there’s nothing else to hold to.  Where He calls us to, Trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not unto our own understandings.  IN all our ways acknowledge Him and He will direct our paths. Prov 3:5,6.

How? First by understanding and  fully embracing what He says to us in :4, He has CHOSEN you.  The Gospel is all about God’s transforming – chaos into order; darkness into light; aloneness into relationship; separation into adoption; rebellion into forgiveness.

Chosen IN Him means that I have my value in Him, I find my purpose in Him and I know my destiny is secured in Him.  Our security is His choice of us, not my choice of Him

Make no mistake, this does not mean that you are given a pass on making a decision for Christ.  That decision determines where you spend eternity – everlasting life in heaven with Jesus or eternal separation from Him in the torment of hell.  

But there is also a very real sense that God has chosen you.  There is much in this I don’t understand but I can’t escape this truth that gives repeated emphasis on being chosen.

But here’s the thing, while you have been chosen to live IN His grace and peace, we have also been chosen to live OUT of that place of grace and peace.  To show grace and peace to those around 

–  Parents to children as life gets tangled and frayed

Husbands and wives as the other has, yet again, failed to deliver as promised

Co-worker to co-worker as that special account got messed up

Grace and peace receivers who are to be grace and peace givers.  Grace given us when we received the gospel as true for us. 

This grace and peace God dispensed TO us, is what He wants to dispense THROUGH us to others. The greatest grace gift we have to give? - the gospel - God’s great news that through the cross of Christ, we can be made new. This grace: God revealed, God empowered and God transforming.  This gospel :5 is God’s news waterfall given us in the  power of the Holy Spirit.

With this as true, what is this grace to look like?

1st - Chosen People are to see God differently

Not Creator God – but Father God.  A God who is love.  A God who redeems.  A God who brings rescue.  A God whose heart isn’t to condemn, it is to make new and set free.  That’s why we’re told, If any man (any person) be in Christ, he is a new creation.  Behold the old things are passed away, all things have become new. 2 Cor 5:17  

The gospel, God’s good news, is that, Those far off from God have been brought near by the blood of Christ, giving us peace with God Eph 2:13,14.  Lives are changed.  The gospel - rescue by a God who loves; the gospel - embrace by a God who cares; the gospel - forgiveness by a God whose heart is to set free, who doesn’t condemn but runs to us to bring life – life more abundant and free Jn 10:10, Lk 15. 

That relationship changes everything.  

With that in place, 2nd - Chosen People are to see ourselves differently.

3d Reconstruction of ancient city of Thessalonica in 4th Century AD

:9 tells us They turned from idols to the living God :9.  This change of lifestyles, of beliefs, of actions was so transformative that word of this change travelled throughout Macedonia and Achaia, made known everywhere :7,8.  The expression used in :8 describes it as, The Word of  the Lord sounded forth conveying the ‘sounding of a trumpet, or the boom of thunder’.  The evidence of changed lives undeniable, those changes that couldn’t be explained merely as modified, enhanced or improved behaviours.  Instead the difference between who they were and who they now are was dramatic.  

For some here this morning, that was your experience - the life you now have radically different from who you once were.  All because of God’s grace, Jesus finding you and making you new.  For many here this morning, that type of transformation was not nearly as dramatic but make no mistake, that transformation was no less needed, no less real.  Without it you would still be dead in your sins, eternally separated from God.   

As we read, this life transformation for these Thessalonians came at high cost, They received the word in much affliction :6.  Allegiances changed, social practices and social circles turned upside down, business practices transformed.  Life now lived going a totally new direction.

Knowing their experience, Paul is encouraged that the ones he. writes to have their faith right, their love right and their hope right but he also knows that tough times unsettle and can bring doubt and hard questions so he reminds, Our gospel came to you .. in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction :5.  He reminding them to firmly anchor to when they first believed – not forgetting who they were.  And what was true when they and we first believed?

They and we were dead in our trespasses and sin, but made alive together with Christ  Eph 2:5.  Made alive how?  By repenting of our sin.  The word for repentance is metanoia.  In military terms, it’s used to describe an about-face – turning from one direction and going an entirely different way.  Leaving what was behind and running in to what now is. 

This turn of direction is more than just hearing or saying some words. Paul says, Our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction :5.  This conviction leading me to truly take hold and living out what I believe.

That power enabling us to stand when we have no power to stand; power to endure when we have no strength to endure.  This power given us in God’s Holy Spirit - His power in us. 

So live as new people – children of your Heavenly Father.

Faith gets us started, love keeps us focused but hope keeps us going.

With that in place, 3rd Chosen People are to see others differently 

Through thankfulness & prayer, beginning, as Paul models, with a spirit of gratitude.  Thankfulness is a theme Paul returns to again and again, Thanks be to God for all of you :2.  His orientation calling us to dwell not on the things we see as wrong or returning to places of disappointment and offence but focusing on God and what He has done.

Notice how he states, We give thanks to God always for ALL of you meaning his thankfulness isn’t preferential, reserved only for those who are like him or who agree with him.

I would guess there would have been some in the Thessalonian church for whom Paul didn’t have warm thoughts but he chose not to live there.  This would have meant overlooking hurts and failures, instead focusing on things for which he could give thanks.

I was challenged on this when working with a Christian whose actions were unpleasantly self-focused and self-serving. Not just irritating but problematic but Paul reminding – don’t go there and instead, live as Christ has called us live, To love one another even as I have loved you Jn 13:34.

Focused differently, I dwelled on the thoroughness of his work and initiatives he was involved in by which some came to faith.  So I wrote him a letter stating things for which I could say thanks.  Just a paragraph or two.  Initially this was an act of my head more than my heart but in this, I was unlocked from feelings that easily could have taken hold.   

Paul gives the second secret that allows him to live with gratitude not weighed down by those things which could justifiably steal his joy - he remembers them in prayer which again is a change of focus.  It’s hard to hold onto offence, hard to think poorly of someone for whom you are praying. We do this because our audience is not the person who hurt us. Our audience is not even the one who stares at us in the mirror. Our audience is our God Father.  

How?  By Understanding 4th - Chosen People live in God’s power not our own  :5

The Holy Spirit doing what we cannot naturally do.  The Holy Spirit working, wanting to plant deep roots in us where we know we are loved and that by the grace of God we have been made new people who are called to serve the living God.  Representatives of the gospel who live with faith, in love, with great hope, Waiting for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come :10.  

What we hope for – the evidence not seen now as we might hope.  Our focus too easily distracted by other things.  Sometimes temptation coming and yes, sometimes yielded to, that encourages us to walk away.  Yet what is promised is true.  Even when difficulties tell us something else.  Even when failure causes us to hide.  Even when discouragements settle in.  God still at work.  Still true.  Still faithful.  Still forgiving. He wanting us to draw close.  Calling us to trust.

Our experience not unlike what is referenced in a description of the Chinese bamboo tree. 

When planted, watered and nurtured, it shows almost no growth. The first year not a hint of growth. The second year, the same, the third year – no different.  For 4 years there is no tangible evidence.  And then year 5 arrives when in 6 weeks, the bamboo tree suddenly explodes, growing to a height of 80 feet.

5 years of the unseen, roots digging deep for a time when a 80 foot tree will need to be supported.

So too we in years 1-4, year 5 soon upon us, the appearance of which will be far better than any 80’ reveal.  So as followers of Jesus, allow and trust the Planter to work His amazing grace in us and through us, He doing far more than can be imagined.  

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