[AI translation] I would now like to pick up the explanation of this Word where we left off last Sunday. A week ago we were talking about how the members of this young church in Thessalonica have truly become followers of the Lord. In three things we fleshed out what that hackneyed term, follower of the Lord, meant to them. It was evident in their work of faith, their labour of love and their perseverance of hope. The passage we are about to read gives further concrete details of what a true follower of the Lord is. Let us take up the characteristics mentioned by the Apostle, with the hope and desire that the example of a young Church will help us in the renewal of the weary followers of the Lord.Paul says: you have become followers of the Lord, "so that you have become examples... to all believers." (1 Thess 1:7) Imagine the enormity and significance of this: former idolaters have become such serious followers of Christ that they are now ministering to other believers in Macedonia as examples. Paul can refer to them elsewhere as examples of true Christ-followers. For not all is desirable, not all is healthy: there is also sectarian, unhealthy, non-evangelical piety. For example, one that is always preoccupied with its own salvation, with its own spiritual problems, with itself alone in contemptuous introspection of the world - no matter how serious its intentions, this is not an attractive and unpalatable example of Christ-following.
In Thessalonica there was a different kind of piety, one whose essence consists in the fact that a man, freed from the burden and bondage of sin by the forgiveness of sin, now makes himself and all he has at his disposal for the benefit of his Saviour, his fellow men. Is it, then, a question of his finally leaving the snare of self and making use of his life in the world as a redeemed child of God and a co-worker with God? To this the apostle says, as an example to other believers: if only there were more of this type! This word "example" in the original text means a pattern, a mould for making impressions, such as that used in making plaster ornaments or cakes. So what is pressed into the mass so that it takes the shape of the pattern. And in fact, even if we don't know it, we are always examples of this, all of us who, by our behaviour, our words, our attitudes, leave some kind of imprint on people's souls, like the shape of a cake in raw dough. What we are, we unwittingly imprint the invisible stamp, the shape of who we are, on others. That is why it is suspicious when someone complains, for example, that they are surrounded by evil people. Does he not see the imprint of his own evil on the souls of others? Notice how easily our bad moods spread to those we are with. But our good moods also have the same effect on those around us.
And here the important question arises: what effect does our personality have on the people we live with? Followers of Christ are called to be followers of the Lord in such a way that they can serve as such a "multiplying example" for others, so that through their contact with people they leave some impression of Christ in the lives of others. That particular form or pattern sometimes needs to be pressed into the mass, not gently, but very firmly, so that it takes the shape it needs. Life itself sometimes keeps the follower of Christ under such heavy pressure, pressing him into situations and environments which he would never have been able to fit into - but perhaps this pressure is put on him so that the forms of the Christian life may be seen around him, so that he may be an example where he is! How much easier it would be to endure all the pressures, all the squeezes! Think of this: we could be called to be examples to the Lord's followers! Exemplary figures, by whose influence Christlike impressions, Jesus-like traits can be formed in the mass of men who come into contact with us!
Paul describes the following concrete example of the young church's Christ-following behaviour. On many a quiet summer evening I have heard someone practising on the organ here, and through the open window the devotional music would pour out into the darkness, filling the street and the square for a long time: tired people returning from work would pass by and think, perhaps involuntarily, that there is a church, there is God, there is an afterlife, there is redemption and forgiveness of sins, there is love, there is pure life, there is pure joy, there is goodness! Through the sounds of the organ, the devotion was ejected into the street, into the world. There, in Thessalonica, through the living instrument of the members of a congregation, the word of God was sent out to the whole province, so that everywhere it was heard: what a new sound, what heavenly music! The apostle says: a Christ-follower is like a trumpet or an organ pipe, which transmits the sound of the trumpet blown into it with amplification. The trumpet is made of thinly hammered copper plate, is soundless in itself, silent; it is only a channel through which the voice of one who uses it can be heard at a greater distance. The Christians of Thessalonica were hammered into such a trumpet as a result of their distress for Christ: a suitable instrument for God to make precious heavenly sounds heard throughout Macedonia and Achaia by His Holy Spirit, His breath.
The true follower of the Lord is such a mediator, through whom the word of God which he heard in the temple, which he read from the Bible in his quiet hour, is sent out into the world, into the street, among the people, and so does not remain in the temple or in the locked room. It is ejected as joy, love, purity, faithfulness, help, a heavenly atmosphere; it is ejected like the sound of the organ through the open window into the summer evening. Almost imperceptibly, worship passes into everyday life and everyday life into worship. Whose hands are holding our trumpet, who is using it, who is blowing it, whose voice is vibrating through it? Whose soul is playing it? This is another way to see how much we are followers of the Lord!
Thus the apostle then goes on to detail the Thessalonians' following of Christ: 'you have turned to God from idols, that you may serve the living God.' (1 Thess 1:9) A follower of Christ: a man converted to God. Without conversion, one cannot follow Christ. For example, it is possible to imagine a drunkard becoming a total abstainer, and that is a huge step forward, but it is not enough. Or it is possible for a frivolous, idle person to become a serious church-goer, and that is undoubtedly a great achievement, a great improvement in his life, but more needs to happen. This more: complete reconciliation with God, unconditional submission to God, coming to the grace of God - coming home, becoming a child of God. It is not enough just to turn one's back on the trough of the swine, but to go home to the Father, where God himself is waiting with open arms, with the kiss of forgiveness, with new clothes. Where the Lord's grace will do its best to make us forget what we have left behind as soon as possible. It is another thing to be in the service of a godly cause, or to be in the service of the living God Himself. Noah had fellow-labourers in the building of the ark, who laboured honourably in the service of a good cause, and yet only those who were personally attached to him by family ties were left in the great judgment. The followers of Christ do not serve an ideal, but the living God himself. They are not fans of a distinguished apostle, but are devoted and lovers of God. It is not that they have converted from a bad company to a good company: they have converted not to the church, not to the church, but to God! Where do we stand with that? Have we not been left somewhere halfway between the pig trough and the gates of the Father's house? Are we truly at home, reconciled, reconciled, in the grace of forgiveness of sins with the Father? Look, the gates of heaven are still open, you can still go in through them, you can go in through them again! Under the cross of Jesus is the way, free for all to be converted to the living God Himself through faith in Jesus the Redeemer.
You are converted, says the apostle, to serve the living and true God. The Christ-following life consists not in pious religiosity but in active service to God. We often have very strange ideas about what it means to serve God. We are tempted to think that service consists of reading the Bible at certain times, praying, going to church, and other such innocent religious practices. Would our employer be satisfied if we served him by talking about him, reading his provisions, then reading them over and over again, reflecting on how right he is, praising his wisdom and goodness to the utmost? Well, to serve is different from to approve, to speak! To serve is to do! Everything in all creation is set up for service. There is not a single tree or flower that is only for itself: it serves others with its fruit, its fragrance, its colour. The members of our body are all serving each other, working and caring for each other. As soon as they do not do this, they are preparing the destruction of themselves. God Himself gave Himself for service: He became the servant of all in Jesus Christ, Who specifically said that He did not come to be served, but that He would serve and give His life for others. To serve God means to participate in His work, to work with Him for the sake of people. To serve is to be a servant. If God was not ashamed to be a servant of men in Christ - God still has an army of angels ready to serve men today - why should we, as followers of the Lord, be ashamed? Our relationship to our fellow human beings is not that of the benevolent, not the gracious benefactor, but of the servant. To be in the service of God means in practice to serve my fellow human beings in this way, to regard them with respect, because whoever they are: they are of divine origin and I am ready to help them! What if we started serving God in this way? How quickly the face of the world around us would change! But that would be following the Lord!
And the inspiration for this active service there in Thessalonica was what the apostle Paul describes as, "And wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus Christ, who will deliver us from the wrath to come." (1 Thess 1:10) The secret of the momentum and power of the whole apostolic age was in this certain hope that Christ would come again! There was a great, glowing hope, an expectation, an anticipation. No matter how much they had to suffer, one thing became their unshakable certainty: Christ is coming again! They were waiting for this day, the day of Christ's final victory. Sadly, we are so entrenched in this earth and its furnishings that we can hardly understand that longing hope any more! Yet God is still encouraging, animating and stimulating His church with this hope. If only we could become again a hopeful congregation, a people whose gaze casts its anchor over the earthly into eternity, who have the certainty that Jesus Christ will come again!
So may Christ's renewed, young church arise today, here too. I am convinced that our Lord is ready to carry out this rejuvenation and renewal with us, with us, his weary followers! He is waiting for us! He is waiting for you! Let us pray together:
Be merciful to us
For your blessed Son,
for the Lord Jesus Christ,
Our holy Saviour,
And take no vengeance on us
For our great unbelief,
For our many sins!
Enlighten us
The Holy Spirit with God,
That they may shine fair
The gospel in us,
And strengthen us, Lord God,
With your blessed Word
Against all errors!
(Canto 378, verses 3-4)
Amen
Date: 22 November 1953.
Lesson
1Thessz 1,1-7