Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Adoniram Judson and his wife Nancy were among the very first missionaries to ever leave America to spread the gospel. They set sail for Burma in February of 1812.
[00:00:12] He was 23 years old, she was 22, about the same age as some of the graduates that we're honoring here today. They had been married for just two weeks.
[00:00:25] It took them more than a year before they reached the shores of Southeast Asia. And when they arrived they were shocked at what they saw. The streets were lined with towering Buddhist temples called pagodas and filled with crowds of people everywhere. Some of those people were Buddhist priests wearing beautiful robes, others were lepers in dirty rags.
[00:00:51] But perhaps what shocked the Judsons the most were the little children.
[00:00:57] In that day and age the average Burmese child wore absolutely no clothing and smoked like a chimney.
[00:01:06] As they walked the streets of Burma, I'm sure the Judsons had to be wondering how on earth the gospel could ever spread in such a hard place.
[00:01:17] Now I know we don't live in 19th century Burma, although I have heard some strange reports about the kids out in Waco. I've yet to hear they're smoking cigarettes while they're running around their yards naked.
[00:01:31] And even though there's a Hindu temple out on Barnes Mill now I guarantee on your way here today you drove past a lot more churches than pagodas.
[00:01:41] So no, we don't live amongst an unreached people group. But still I wonder if you can ever relate to how the Judsons must have felt. You ever get the sense that it's hard to share the gospel with your lost co workers or neighbors?
[00:01:57] Maybe your company or your campus feels like a hard place for the good news to spread.
[00:02:03] Or perhaps you've got hard hearted family members and you wonder how on earth the gospel could ever transform their lives.
[00:02:11] 19th century Burma and 21st century America are very different in many ways. But in other ways they're not so different at all. As a matter of fact, in some ways they're even similar to 1st century Macedonia. When the Apostle Paul and his mission team showed up in Thessalonica, it was the largest and most important seaport in the region of Macedonia and it was like a lot of cities in the Roman Empire at that time. So Paul and his mission team would not have been surprised to see the streets lined with idol worship. Archaeologists have discovered at least 25 different idols that were worshiped in ancient Thessalonica. Many of the Thessalonians worshiped the Roman emperor. Others worshiped Greek or Egyptian gods of health, wealth, prosperity, or pleasure. No doubt it was a hard place for the gospel, but Paul's team had just seen it happen in another city in Macedonia called Philippi. And so as they preached the Gospel, they had hope that it would be received and transform some of the Thessalonians too.
[00:03:20] What we see in this chapter this morning is what happened next. Here, at the beginning of his first letter to the Thessalonian Church, Paul encourages them by recounting what happened when the Gospel first came to them and what's been happening ever since. And as he does that, he shows us how the Gospel spreads in hard places among hard hearted people. So if you're here today and whenever and wherever you talk about Jesus, everyone immediately falls on their faces and repents and believes, then this message is probably not for you.
[00:03:53] But if you're anything like me. And whenever and wherever you try to share the Gospel, you encounter hard hearts. And you could use some hope that the Gospel can and does spread in hard places. Then take notes.
[00:04:07] Because if the Gospel can spread in a hard place like ancient Thessalonica, then it can certainly spread in a hard place like your job or your neighborhood or your school or your family. In this text, Paul tells us how it happens. And the big idea of what he says is this.
[00:04:27] The Gospel spreads through the transformed lives of those who have received it.
[00:04:36] So in order for the Gospel to spread, first we must receive it ourselves.
[00:04:41] Look with me at the text beginning in verse four.
[00:04:44] In most of our English translations, verse four starts with a new sentence. But in the Original Greek, verses 2 through 5 are one long run on sentence. In verse 2, Paul begins giving reasons why he thanks God for the Thessalonians. Verses 4 and 5 are included in that thanksgiving. And here's what else he's thankful for. Paul writes, for we know brothers, or could say brothers and sisters, love by God that He has chosen you. Paul is thankful that God in His love chose the Thessalonian Christians. What we see in the following verses is that God chose them to receive the Gospel. Paul knows that because he writes, our Gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. When Paul and his mission team showed up in Thessalonica, the Holy Spirit showed up with them and he made all the difference. The Holy Spirit empowered them to confidently share the good news that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son as the sacrifice for our sins on the cross, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life and the divine power of the message was backed up by human example. Verse 5 could be translated just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake. Paul and his mission team were living, breathing examples of the Gospel's transformative power. The character of the messengers confirmed the credibility of the message. In the next chapter, Paul elaborates on what kind of men they proved to be. He says they weren't people pleasers or demanding or greedy. Rather, they were courageous, hard working and holy. They were gentle and encouraging with the Thessalonians. So in a sense, when the Gospel came to the Thessalonians, they didn't just hear it with their ears, they could see it with their eyes.
[00:06:48] They could see the power of the gospel at work in the lives of Paul and his mission team. And so by God's grace, verse 6 says they received the word of the Gospel. The way they received the gospel was by faith and repentance, which are two sides of the same coin we call conversion. Verse 8 speaks about their faith in God. Faith is complete trust. After hearing the good news, they completely trusted in Jesus to save them from the wrath to come. And they repented of their sins. Verse 9 says they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. That's a description of repentance. Repentance is turning from your sinful life to follow Jesus by faith.
[00:07:37] So if you are here today and you've never received the Gospel or you aren't sure if you have, then do not wait another moment.
[00:07:49] Receive it today by faith and repentance. Because there's only two ways to respond to the gospel. Reject it or receive it. In order for the gospel to spread, it must be received. When the Judsons first showed up in Burma, no one received it. It actually took six long years of learning the language and preaching the gospel. Before the first Burmese believed it. He was a 35 year old lumberjack named Maung Ngall. In his baptism testimony he said this.
[00:08:21] I believe that the divine son Jesus Christ suffered death in the place of men to atone for their sins. Like a heavy laden man, I feel my sins are very many. The punishment of my sins I deserve to suffer. Since it is so, I take refuge in the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:08:46] What about you?
[00:08:48] Can you say the same?
[00:08:50] Do you believe that Jesus suffered in your place to pay the penalty for your sins?
[00:08:57] Do you recognize that your sins are many and turn from them to seek refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ?
[00:09:05] Many Burmese rejected the gospel many times before they received It. Perhaps you've heard and rejected it many times yourself.
[00:09:14] Perhaps you've grown up in a home where you heard it regularly or in a church where you heard it. You might have heard it from a Christian friend or co worker or pastor or campus minister. If that's you, let me just say it's no accident that you are here today.
[00:09:30] I believe God chose for you to be here. I believe God chose for you to hear the Gospel.
[00:09:39] Could it be that today is the day when you will finally receive it?
[00:09:45] You don't need to walk an aisle or bow your head or raise your hand or repeat after me.
[00:09:51] All you have to do to receive the Gospel is repent and believe.
[00:09:57] And if by God's grace you have received it, then who do you need to thank? And who do you need to thank God for?
[00:10:04] Because you didn't just figure it out all on your own. Somebody told you the Gospel. Somebody read the Bible to you as a child, or somebody helped you learn gospel truths at VBS or at Awana or in your Sunday school class. Somebody stayed up late with you at youth camp answering your questions about salvation. Somebody invited you to a campus ministry meeting or to a Bible study. Somebody explained it to you over lunch break and invited you to church. Somebody preached a sermon to you. If you have received the Gospel, it's because God, out of love for you, sent somebody, or more than likely some bodies to bring the gospel to you. Just like God sent the Judsons to Burma and Paul's team to Thessalonica. By God's grace, the Gospel came to that hard place. And through the spirit empowered preaching of Paul's mission team, some of the Thessalonians received it. And when they did, something truly remarkable happened.
[00:11:06] Something so remarkable that Paul has been thanking God for it ever since.
[00:11:13] When the Thessalonians received the Gospel, they were transformed by the Gospel.
[00:11:20] Paul writes in verse six. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord. Today we think of imitators in imitation in a mostly negative way, don't we? Our modern culture prizes independence, creativity and authenticity. So we tend to think of an imitation as something that's not real or authentic. An imitation is just some sort of cheap cop. And in a similar way, we see an imitator as someone who's fake. We call them phonies or copycats. But that's not the way Paul uses the term here. When he calls the Thessalonian Christians imitators. He's giving them high praise in some of his later letters, like Corinthians and Ephesians. He even commands those churches to be imitators of him as he is an imitator of Christ. So according to the Bible, there is a good kind of imitation. That's not a bad thing. Our English words imitate and imitation have a common root with the word image. To image or imitate something is to make a copy of it. And the Bible says that is exactly what we were made to do. God created us in his image to be his image bearers, to. To model for the world what he is like. But because of our sin, we've marred that image. It's hard to see the image of God through all of our disgusting sin. So Jesus comes to the world and perfectly models what God is like. Paul writes in Colossians that Jesus is the image of the invisible God because he is God.
[00:13:00] So when we believe the Gospel and start imitating Jesus, we aren't being fake. We are being our most authentic selves. We are being who God made us to be. And that's what the Gospel does to us after we receive it. It transforms us little by little into the image of Christ. And that's what Paul said happened to the Thessalonian church. And he tells them some very specific ways. They were becoming more like Jesus in this verse.
[00:13:27] He says in verse six, and you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the Word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit.
[00:13:43] Remember when Paul and his mission team came to Thessalonica, Some people received the gospel, but some people did not. Some people rejected it. And they rejected it violently. So much so that they stirred up an angry mob to persecute the Christians and run the mission team out of town.
[00:14:03] So the way Paul knows God chose these Thessalonians is because they believed the Gospel even in the midst of suffering. But even more than that, the evidence of their salvation was that they didn't just grit their teeth and bear it. Rather, it was a joyful kind of suffering. The Holy Spirit filled them with his fruit. And the fruit of the Spirit is joy. So the specific way that the Thessalonian Christians were imitating Paul's team and the Lord Jesus is by joyfully suffering for the sake of the Gospel.
[00:14:41] And that kind of suffering is only possible when you have received the gospel and you are being transformed by the gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit. In our modern cultural context, joy and suffering seem like polar opposites. That's why we do everything in the world to avoid Suffering at all costs. Modern Americans think that joy and suffering go together like oil and water. But guess what? So did the ancient Thessalonians. They didn't want to suffer any more than we do. That's why they had all those idols. They wanted to be safe and happy. So they pinched some incense and burned it as an offering to the Roman emperor in hopes that staying in good with the government would make their lives better. They paid for statues to be made to the gods and goddesses of health and wealth and prosperity and pleasure, in hopes that their kids would be protected from harm and grow up to have successful lives. And what the Judsons encountered in Burma centuries later wasn't all that different. But while the methods might look different in our modern American context, our hopes and dreams are basically the same, are they not?
[00:15:54] We don't burn incense offerings anymore, but we do make donations and vote and rant on social media because we think getting the right person in office will make our lives better. We. We don't pay sculptors to make idols, but we do pay doctors and coaches and teachers to sculpt our kids into happy, successful adults. And those desires aren't bad in and of themselves. But my point is that none of that makes us any different from any of the unbelievers here in Richmond today, or any of the unbelievers back in Thessalonica in that time. And what will set us apart as imitators of Christ is not merely that we go to church or pray or read the Bible. Anybody can do that.
[00:16:39] What will really set us apart as a church from the world is the same thing that set apart the Thessalonian Church.
[00:16:49] What sets the church apart from the world is our ability to joyfully suffer for the sake of the gospel.
[00:17:01] No unbeliever can do that. They can't stare death in the face with a smile for what's coming. They can't get a cancer diagnosis and give praise to God. They can't bury a loved one and grieve with hope. They can't go through a trial or a miscarriage or a job loss or a breakup and count it all joy. That's not possible for unbelievers. Genuine joy in the midst of long term suffering is not possible for them. It is only possible for those who look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. In other words, joyful suffering is only possible for those who have received the Gospel and and are being transformed by that same Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:18:04] Jesus joyfully endured suffering to make the Gospel possible. Paul and his mission team joyfully endured suffering to spread the Gospel. The Thessalonian Church joyfully endured suffering to receive the Gospel. And it will be your joyful suffering in the midst of whatever trial you're going through that will set you apart from the world as someone who's being transformed by the Gospel. Now, I want to be clear that that doesn't mean you deny the pain or the sorrow. Suffering joyfully doesn't mean you never feel sad or hurt.
[00:18:43] What it means is that no matter what happens, you know deep down in your heart that the Gospel is still true.
[00:18:55] So you have a resilient joy that no amount of suffering can ever take away because the tomb is still empty and Jesus is still alive and all your sins are still forgiven and God is still with you, working all things for your good. You can suffer with joy.
[00:19:14] And that will be what both sets you apart and, and makes you a powerful witness of the Gospel. That's what Paul says about the Thessalonians. In verse 7, he writes, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. They're imitating Jesus so well that they are worthy of imitation themselves.
[00:19:36] In the original Greek, the word Paul uses to call them an example is the same word used to refer to a stamp that would be used to mint coins. The Thessalonian church has been so changed by the Gospel that it has left an indelible mark on their lives and on the lives of Christians both near and far. The regions of Macedonia and Achaia would have included the churches in Philippi, Berea, Corinth and Athens. Paul says the Thessalonian church has become a model to them of the transformative power of the Gospel. And he's not just saying that to flatter them. He's not just saying that to puff them up. Listen to what he writes about the Thessalonians to the church in Corinth. In 2nd Corinthians 8, verses 1 and 2, Paul writes this. We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. He's referring to the church of Thessalonica here.
[00:20:30] For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. Severe suffering and abundant joy go hand in hand for Christians. The Secular world knows nothing about that. But that is exactly what set the Thessalonians apart as an example to other Christians and as a witness to the unbelieving world. Paul talks about this more in the final verses of chapter one.
[00:21:04] Notice verse eight.
[00:21:06] For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere. So not only has their gospel witness spread in the neighboring regions, it's spread all over the place. It has sounded forth, it's resounded. The gospel is reverberating like an echo in a tunnel or valley. By God's grace, the gospel came to the Thessalonians. They received it by faith and repentance. And now, as it's transforming them, it's expanding near and far. Their gospel witness has so effectively spread that Paul says in verses eight and nine, so that we need not say anything, for they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you. Wherever Paul and his mission team went, before they can tell people about what happened in Thessalonica, the people were telling them. Believers and unbelievers were coming up to them and saying things like, oh, you guys are Christians. Have you all heard about what happened in Thessalonica? You're never gonna believe it. Well, yes, actually, we do believe. We were there. We know what happened. Paul says this. He says that the Thessalonian church was famous, says they were famous for all the right reasons. People couldn't get over how they had been changed by the Gospel. Paul writes in verses 9 and 10 that everybody was talking about this. How the Thessalonians turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead. Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. The people were talking about the gospel. Get this. Pay attention to what happened, because this is the key to understanding how the gospel spreads in. In hard places.
[00:22:59] Paul says the gospel was spreading all over the place through the transformed lives of the Thessalonian church. People heard about it from them and they saw it for themselves through their joyful suffering. Which sounds an awful lot like what happened when the gospel first showed up in Thessalonica, doesn't it? Paul and his team joyfully endured persecution to declare the gospel with words and to show the gospel with their. Now it's happening all over again through the Thessalonian Church. And that's the way it always happens. No matter how hard the place is, no matter if it's a hard place like ancient Thessalonica or modern America, the gospel spreads through the transformed lives of those who have received it. It is as we imitate the Lord Jesus and the Apostle Paul and the Thessalonian Church by suffering with joy for the sake of the gospel that it will spread here in Madison county into the ends of the earth. Here's how.
[00:24:06] Your doctor sees a lot of anxious patients who will do whatever it takes to avoid death. Your teachers see a lot of lazy students who will do whatever it takes to do as little as possible. Your neighbors see a lot of worldly people who will do whatever it takes to keep up with the Joneses. Your co workers see a lot of greedy employees who will do whatever it takes to get ahead.
[00:24:30] What they do not see are a lot of people who will do whatever it takes to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. They don't see a lot of people who are joyfully putting their lives in danger and the lives of their children in danger in order to move to an unreached people group to plant a church. They don't see a lot of people joyfully spending their vacation time working really, really hard to share the gospel and serve church plants in a place like New Orleans or Peru. They don't see a lot of people joyfully downsizing or drastically living below their means so they can give more money away for missions. That is to say, they don't see a lot of people joyfully suffering for the sake of the spread of the gospel.
[00:25:18] So when they do, that person will inevitably stand out.
[00:25:25] They will stand out in a very good and very strange way.
[00:25:32] In a good way that will encourage other Christians to follow and in a strange way that will encourage non Christians to reflect on, to wonder about, maybe even to ask questions about. I know when Samantha and I left for the mission field, so many of our coworkers and classmates and friends and family had the same question.
[00:25:55] Why? Why would you ever do something like that? And it gave us all kinds of opportunities to tell them about Jesus. To tell them about how Jesus is worth it. So don't be surprised if as the gospel transforms you into someone who joyfully suffers for the sake of the gospel, it will lead to opportunities to share that same gospel.
[00:26:19] And when that happens, tell them about the gospel truths we read in these last verses. Tell them about how by God's grace you repented from serving the dead false idols of our culture like health and wealth and prosperity and pleasure, and how much more rewarding it is to serve the living and true God. Tell them about how instead of hoping and waiting for the perfect job or the perfect spouse or the perfect house or the perfect circumstances to satisfy you, you are waiting for the Son of God to return from heaven who will perfectly satisfy you forever. Tell them about how Jesus joyfully endured the suffering of the cross and died for their sins in their place, and three days later, God raised him from the dead.
[00:27:10] Tell them the good news about how they can be saved from the wrath to come by repenting and believing in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Let them hear the gospel from you and let them see the gospel transforming you. That's the way the gospel spreads in hard places. That's the way it will spread in a hard place like your company or your campus, like your neighborhood or your family. It will spread in the same way it spread in hard places like Thessalonica and Burma.
[00:27:45] When the Judsons arrived in Burma, they could never have imagined what would happen next.
[00:27:51] They suffered joyfully and greatly to spread the gospel in that hard place.
[00:27:58] Thirteen years after arriving in Burma, Adoniram buried his beloved wife, Nancy. She was 36.
[00:28:06] He would later remarry, only to bury his second wife as well.
[00:28:12] Of his 13 children, seven died before their third birthday.
[00:28:18] For nearly two years, he was imprisoned and tortured.
[00:28:23] And that's not to mention the daily trials of just living life in an undeveloped country in the 19th century.
[00:28:31] But through it all, the gospel spread in that hard place.
[00:28:36] When Adoniram arrived In Burma in 1813, there were no churches.
[00:28:41] When he died 37 years later, there were around 100 of them.
[00:28:48] When he arrived, there were no Christians. And after six years, there was just one.
[00:28:54] But at his death, there were 8,000.
[00:28:58] Today, in Burma, now known as Myanmar, there are over 2 million Christians. And most of them can trace their spiritual ancestry directly back to a couple of ordinary Christians from America. A couple of ordinary Christians who by God's grace, had received the gospel themselves and had been transformed by it enough to joyfully suffer to spread it even in the hardest of places.
[00:29:27] Brothers and sisters, if the gospel can spread in 1st century Thessalonica and 19th century Burma, you can have an unshakable hope that it will spread in hard places today. It will spread now as it did then through the transformed lives of those who have received it. That's just as true in your neck of the woods as it is on the other side of the planet.
[00:29:52] So let's not give up until the gospel has sounded forth to every neighbor in every nation.
