Pastor's Ponderings: Tuesday Bible Study on Paul’s letter, 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 (May 6, 2025)

May 6, 2025:  Tuesday Bible Study on Paul’s letter, 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

Good morning my dear weekday morning Bible studiers.

Today we move forward with more of Paul's guidance for the new Christians in Thessalonica. Yesterday's study was basically about the problems that the culture of the Thessalonians might tempt these newest Christians to fall back into their old practices of sexual impropriety. In that part of Paul's letter, Paul is attempting to overcome a movement in the area of Thessalonica and Greece in which those who were spreading the ideas of Hellenization believed and said that marriage was an unimportant part of the relationships between people, which tended to encourage intimacy outside of marriage, or sexual activity practiced in some cults that would be regarded as completely inappropriate for any person who was living through faith in Christ.  We need to take note that at the time of this writing Paul does not talk about justification through grace and faith in Jesus Christ, nor does he really raise the issue of forgiveness through the resurrected Christ. That's coming from Paul, perhaps most especially because Paul only needed to look around at the world's temptations to understand that Christ's forgiveness of sin (which He accomplished through His death on the cross) was going to be crucial in the lives of the faithful who were saved through their belief in Christ, but who, like all of us, would act sinfully, even in the face of the overwhelming Grace of Christ to transform brokenness into wholeness.  

(Just a note here…) I am kind of pushing on today because of my specialist appointment for my prostate cancer later this morning.

In our reading for today Paul once again speaks about the need for always appropriate hospitality, and that the Thessalonian Christians are doing a really good job at this, by providing for the needy and destitute as those issues became a reality in their midst. In other words, within their community of believers. But Paul says there must be more! Such a sense of giving for the benefit of people must become a complete part of their ministry and lives. Today we can give to World Hunger, and sometimes we do give through holiday  challenges to stretch out our giving, we give a generous gift to CROP for food advocacy and for providing through the community food bank the resources of food assistance for those in our county, we give  flocks of chickens, some herds of goats, and even pigs through our generous offerings, we help the destitute and our own members through the discretionary fund in our church office, and we bring nonperishable food for the food cart, while at some times of special need we appeal for peanut butter, or other specific food items that bring our Christian care into the lives of people.  God presents us with all kinds of opportunities, both big, and small, to make this a greater part of our lives in Christ. That is what Paul is asking of the Thessalonians too. Paul also speaks of believers living in peace with others, and quite frankly, it is the call on our lives from Christ that all believers should be peace makers. How are we all doing at that my friends and faithful ones? Gossip is a great destroyer of Christian communities, and even the most faithful can succumb to sharing "juicy" information about someone, or something! Paul says believers should mind their own business. How True! When I first came to our congregation, we would, at fellowship events, always have a table of whisperers who were talking about others in the church, and in the community. What damage this group of people did! The cure for this is apparently to stay busy doing Christ Things in our lives. Help provide meals for others when they are laid up, bake treats to give away at church, or to people you may not even know. Do property work around our church home. Make cold weather shawls for people to use when worship is a little too cold. Bring a can of soup for the food cart. Share a meal with someone you don't know, or don't know well. I must admit I see these things happening quite often in our congregation. We even have members who provide veggies on Sundays, boxes of them! Free for the taking! All of this style of faithful living is truly an attractive message all on its own for those who may not be believers. These things are really the message that touches the heart of people around us. When we, like the Thessalonians, live transformed by the gift of the Spirit, with an exuberant faith lived every day in the care we offer for all people. I don't know about you, but my heart hurts when I witness the failure of good people to be the living Christ in the lives of others, but when I can do that myself, and I see the good people of faith doing it, my heart is filled with joy in our loving Lord Jesus. 

Please hold me in your prayers this AM as I get to my specialist appointment.

With the Love of Christ, Pastor Kim