Tag: God

I have come to realise as I’ve got older not everything is what it seems.

A numerically growing church doesn’t mean all is well backstage.

A Christian who quotes the Bible doesn’t mean the Bible lives through their life.

I think of a lady I used to Pastor who passed away many years ago. I can picture her in my mind right now standing in worship with her hands in the air and yet at the same time her head revolving around (not quite 360 degrees) watching everyone else, it was quite amazing to see. Was she worshipping? In one sense we could say she was. Was she being nosy? Again in one sense yes! This wasn’t synergy. This was 2 activities working against each other.

I see that today in Christians and the Church. I see it in my own life.

There were things in this Corinthian Church that were not healthy. These Christians were wrong and yet there were aspects that were true and right: they were saved, they were filled with the Spirit and they operated with the gifts that the Spirit brings.

This letter did not start from verse 10 but verse 1.

What I mean is Paul didn’t start addressing what was wrong with their lives. He does and he certainly has a good go but he shows us how to get there.

This has become a very important leadership principle for me recently. Last week I was advising a Pastor caught in the middle of a difficult confrontational matter to firstly talk about Jesus; talk about all that Jesus has done for them; talk about the common ground; talk about the good. For starting with the positive is a good springboard to address the negative. 

As with the opening verses you would not believe that the following verses were to a Church that was anything but healthy. Paul does this deliberately.

“I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way – with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge – God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:4-9

So how do we approach people who are in the wrong, part 2!

1. Point out the good that you see in them.

Paul reminds them that God has been generous to them. He can see that. He can see the grace that was given and experienced in Jesus. He sees the blessings that Jesus has given them. Jesus has given them everything they need. Paul builds a platform of thankfulness. He is attempting to lift them back on to that stage so that they themselves can see how far they have fallen from it.

• Point out the growth that you see in them.

Paul says that the good he sees has come about because they responded to the testimony that he and his team had given them about Jesus. “I see the growth in your life. I see the lessons you have learnt. You were really listening to my advice/to my preaching!” This is a challenge to us preachers to preach for long-term growth not short-term response. It is also an encouragement knowing that even the Apostle’s preaching didn’t bring about a perfect church!

• Point out the hope for tomorrow.

Everyone needs a future to live for. Paul is keen to show how God is faithful to them. They have hope because of God and it is found in Jesus. They are kept by Jesus. They have the presence of Jesus. Paul expects them to make it and so should we.

What a beautiful way to confront?!

One more thing. Let’s read the whole 9 verses again and let me identify something to you. Again this is Paul about to confront this Church for things that are not consistent with their faith.

“Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, ² To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours: ³ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. ⁵ For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— ⁶ God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. ⁷ Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. ⁸ He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Every sentence contains God, Lord or the name Jesus. There are at least 16 references that are to do with Christ Jesus, God, Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, God our Father, Christ, He, Son and Jesus Christ our Lord. So finally maybe the best way to approach people who are in the wrong if they are Christians is to get their eyes off themselves and others and get them on Him alone who can help to bring about any change that is going to be needed.

Paul moves us forward in his second letter to speak of the Anti-Christ and the return of Christ. But he does so with a background noise of false rumours. Though we need to understand what these false rumours are it may encourage someone reading these next 2 verses that Paul and his team had to handle allegations that were simply not true.

“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, ² not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come.” (2 Thessalonians 2 v 1-2)

It would appear some false teachers had got hold of something that Paul had said or had written and twisted it completely. For example, Paul had said in 1 Thessalonians 5 v 8 that the believers belonged to ‘the day’ and so this must mean the day of the Lord has already come because we belong to it. If the day of the Lord has come and the persecuted are still here on earth then they must have missed His coming!

How did they hear of this rumour? Paul says it could have been a misquoted prophecy of Paul’s; or a preached message of Paul; a letter that Paul supposedly had written. We don’t know anything more about those 3 examples but Paul cites them as the possible means of which has unsettled and alarmed the believers.

• There are times when you will experience an attack on what you have believed you heard from God. The NASB states, “that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us”. The word is pneuma which the NIV translates as prophecy but as you can see it simply means ‘spirit’ and so it could mean any kind of gift. The main point is that you can face an allegation that you have said something from God which you did not say.
• There are times when you will experience an attack on what may have originally been a message of encouragement that you were bringing. To see people you love now being unsettled, alarmed and disturbed because some have twisted your message can be hurtful for you because it is the opposite of your intention.
• There are times when you will experience an attack on being misquoted from something you have written. People can easily misread into what you wrote. You may wonder how on earth they can interpret what you wrote in that way but they can and they do. As you read what you wrote it stuns you to think how it can be read that way but it has been.

What do you do?

Go again. Repeat. Write another letter as Paul has done.

Bring it to the surface. Expose the false allegation. If it is a lie call it what it is. You may not be able to stop people speaking badly of you but you can do what you can do.

Paul used it to speak the truth of the coming of Christ and we will see that next. However, Paul wanted them to know what he hasn’t said and what he doesn’t believe.

“It is a lie. Don’t believe it. Don’t accept it. That’s not what I said.”

There are times when you just have to move on. But equally there are times to say ‘NO THIS IS A LIE’.

Yesterday I wrote about the hope of salvation that is ours. If you haven’t read it you should, it will encourage you! But how can we be so certain that we are saved and will be saved when Christ returns? It is because of 3 truths.

^“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁰ He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. ¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5 v 9-11)

How can we be so certain that we are saved and will be saved when Christ returns?

1. God appointed us for salvation, v9. It was God’s intention that we wouldn’t be left out in the cold or rejected. God wanted us and He still does. He wanted us to be forgiven through the action of His Son, Jesus Christ. So how can I be certain? God decided that salvation be ours.
2. Jesus died for us, v10. This wasn’t an act that simply is a benefit of kind. No. This is that Jesus died in our place, it was our death that He took. So how can I be certain? He was the substitute. So that we will never be in that place of death.
3. We have a promise of living with Him, v10. Whether we are awake (it means being alive when He comes) or asleep (having died and immediately with Christ) how can we be certain? we have a promise of life with Jesus.

So the promise of eternal security is based on God’s decision and purpose for our salvation resulting in the Son of God’s death on the cross. It is not based on our performance of holiness for how much holiness would be needed to secure it? It is not based on our feelings for how do quantify feelings? It is all based on God, who He is, what He has said and what He has done!

This is what we should be continuing to encourage one another with, v11.