St. Luke's, Ramsgate

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Today is the last in our series of talks on 1 Thessalonians.

“He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.” (1 Thessalonians 5:10)

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 "Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words."

“Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.” (1 Thessalonians 4:1)

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9)

We continue the series learning from 1 Thessalonians

“And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

“He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27)

The Lion and the Mouse, The Boy Who Cried Wolf and The Tortoise and the Hare are just some of the fables attributed to Aesop, a Greek fabalist traditionally known to be a slave in ancient Greece. 

As fables often have one key point, the boy who cried wolf teaches not to lie, the parables of Jesus have intrigued people to this day with how to interpret them, how deep their meaning runs, how many layers the stories have and whether they should be interpreted in multiple different ways or seen simply with one moral takeaway. 

In our story of the Good Samaritan, we could see it simply, as scholar Adolf Jülicher did, as a story with the message to ‘be kind and help others whoever they are’ and nothing more. However, we could understand it on the other extreme, how St Augustine of Hippo writes about it, that it’s a parable where every element and character is symbolic, serving together as an allegory for the fall of man. 

However, there’s a significant challenge here when we consider the context in which Jesus shares this story. Jewish Scholar Amy-Jill Levine suggested a more balanced approach between the two above, highlighting the importance of context in understanding parables and their nuanced meanings. Before sharing this parable Jesus is asked ‘Who is my neighbour?’ Jesus responds with the parable of the Good Samaritan. It shows kindness, compassion and neighbourly love between enemies, between people that are not similar in their beliefs, culture or location. This raises a difficult question for us today: who are the people we, both individually and collectively, would be tempted to exclude, ignore, or turn a blind eye to in their suffering, and how do we truly love our neighbour?

“We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.” (1 Thessalonians 2:8)

We will be considering how Paul and his team went about sharing the good news of Jesus in the early days of the church and what lessons we can learn today.

"We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 1:3)

Why do you do what you do? It is not an easy question to answer. We all have mixed motives for our actions in life, but some will be more important to us than others. 

So, what drives your life? A desire to seek pleasure or comfort for yourself? A belief that life will be much better and more secure if only you had more money? Wanting to please others? To look good in front of the crowd? To please a loved one, a boss or someone you admire? Perhaps it is a desire to feel that you have made a success of your life or that you have achieved something meaningful or lasting? 

As Paul writes to the baby church in Thessalonica, he starts by giving thanks for what is driving their actions: faith, love and hope. These new Christians have found a new reason for living: Jesus Christ. Knowing that they have been saved through his death and resurrection, they have re-oriented their lives to live for God and to live like Jesus. Their faith has not just changed the way they think it has led to a life of action that is prepared to put in the hard graft and to keep going despite the challenges. 

For us this raises two questions: “Does our faith lead to action?” and “Are our actions motivated by our faith?” The more we can honestly say, ‘Yes’ to both these questions, the closer we are to being true disciples of Christ.