1 Thessalonians 2.9-13 (NRSV)

1 Thessalonians 2.9-13 (NRSV)

⁹ You remember our labour and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. ¹⁰You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was towards you believers. ¹¹As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, ¹²urging and encouraging you and pleading that you should lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.¹³ We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.

Most religious experiences often takes place in the ordinary and is in fact when we are involved in living ethical lives; what Paul is writing to the Thessalonians as lives that are pure, upright and blameless in conduct. Even the great mystics through the ages have downplayed the ‘special’ experiences that have been privileged to have, suggesting that the only experience that matters is that which makes one love one’s neighbour better. This is what the religious life is all about – lives that are worthy of God (verse 12).

But the difference between the lives we have been called to live and those who are committed to ethical living in a secular way is that our lives are inspired by the Word of God – as expressed and demonstrated in the life of Jesus of Nazareth in history – who is the living Word. More than this, we do not live in this way because we have to – in order to earn God’s favour or to achieve some or other end or consequence. We live this way because we are inspired by love – we live ethically because we want to live this way as a loving child would want to please a loving parent – never out of fear.

And what is more, it is the Word that is at work in our lives (verse 13 b) enabling and equipping and making possible that which we desire, but cannot achieve in our own strength.

And so we do this in the midst of our daily toil, working night and day so as to be a burden to no one. That lovely hymn of George Herbert springs to mind:

Teach me my God and king, in all things Thee to see; and what I do in everything, to do it as for Thee. ...  A servant with this clause, makes drudgery divine, who sweeps a room as for Thy laws, makes that and the action fine ...

May we all experience the love and empowering of our Lord as we go about the ordinary things of life.

Paul is trying to encourage his readers, preparing them for the demands that their Christian vocation is going to make of them. He addresses them as brothers (and the NRSV rightly adds ‘sisters’) because in Christ, there is no distinction – all are one in Jesus Christ by faith.

Paul encourages them to remember how, when they were missionaries, they had worked hard so that they would not be any extra burden to anyone else; supporting themselves, in contrast to other roaming philosophers who were always wanting some sort of financial gain.

Just as God’s grace had transformed the lives of Paul and the other preachers, the Thessalonians must also expect their lives to be transformed by the Word of God.

After the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, the Jewish faith became a faith of the Book. When they read scripture, they came to it with a sense of expecting the shekhinah of God to be present with them; touching them and transforming their lives. When they read of Moses receiving the Law at Mt Sinai, they came with the same sense of expectation – as if they too were present on the mountain, wanting God to reveal Himself to them. The first Christians were Jews and they read scripture in the same way, but expecting the Holy Spirit to make Jesus as a living presence among them. They could not wait; the expectation was ever present; and they were blessed.

We need to recapture this sense of expectation – coming with a deep sense of eagerness – with the question: “What has Jesus got to say to me today?”

John Stott suggests that instead of being a burden to the Thessalonians, Paul had been like a father to them, by both his teaching and the example he set for them to follow. While setting children an example to follow, fathers ought also to encourage, comfort and exhort them – urging them to live worthily of God and even insisting on it. There is good purpose and wisdom in this: to live ‘good’ lives is not so much because there will be a reward later; it gives a person a sense of dignity and worth now.

And the good news will always be that we are not left alone to struggle to do this and fail all the time because it is beyond our ability. God’s word can work in us to enable us to live lives worthy of God and it is this way of living that gives us the greatest sense of self-worth, because it is fulfilling the purpose for which we are in the world.

Is what we teach our students and our own children this Word of God? Is our message authenticated by the way it changes lives? Are those in our charge living lives of dignity and worth, because they are living as God intended?

Difficult questions for us to answer, because of the places where we work and the nature of our society today. We also know that being too specific in our message more than often turns people off, rather than encourage them to holy living. Once more, I believe our first and foremost duty is to earn the right to say something specific because the lives we live are like living letters to be read of all (2 Corinthians). It is our conduct that sets the scene – and this is the greatest of all challenges. It is easy to ‘talk the talk’ and too many evangelists fall into this trap thinking that they have  to say something; but the Gospel message only comes with power and people will only be willing to receive it when we ‘walk the talk’ – and this needs all the grace we can get!