YEAR 1, WEEK 31, Day 5, Friday, 2 July 2024

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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Friday, 2 July 2024:

1 Thessalonians 2:4-6, 13 — …just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others…. And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

Trust God enough to be willing to share the Gospel with others, and trust God to convict hearts through His sovereign power, not through your eloquence. God has charged us and entrusted us to share the Gospel and to “walk in a manner worthy of God” as evidence of our testimony (v. 12). However, the spiritual battle is not ours but rather God’s. Speak the truth of the Gospel to all in love, and watch God work. Some will treat you shamefully (v. 2), and some will receive the word of God (v. 13). Trust God with and through the outcomes. Faithfully share the Gospel, and this will be your glory and joy upon Christ’s return. “For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.” (1 Thessalonians 2:19, 20)

• Colossians 1:24-29 — Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
• 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 — And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
• Romans 1:16 — For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
• 2 Timothy 1:8-14 — Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
• 1 Peter 4:16 — Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

“…we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.” (1 Thessalonians 2:2) Christians have a tendency to get wrapped up in much conflict, in the issues everyone in the world is upset about and taking sides over. However, we are a very special group of people, charged with proclaiming a different message – the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom. It’s not that the issues don’t matter, but you have a higher calling from which you can’t let yourself be distracted. Everyone is talking about the problems and who is to blame, but who is talking about the only real solution, Jesus Christ.

• Joshua 5:13-14 — When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.”

“For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive…. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people….”

Today, it is popular to say, “Everyone gets a voice,” and social media has democratized the speaker’s platform like never before. Now people can make a living as a “social influencer,” regardless their real experience, character, or wisdom. Increasingly, it isn’t what you say but how you say it which makes the difference in how people are swayed, and playing upon feelings and emotions is the approach. A quick Google search reveals there are currently over “114 million active YouTube channels, with over 10,000 partners using Content ID.” There are over “5 million podcasts available worldwide, with more than 70 million episodes between them….” and over “368 million monthly active Twitters,” full of people with something to say passionately. This competitive environment of attention getters has promoted increasingly powerful communication techniques and some well-known and talented public speakers who are getting people excited and angry about many things. In conversations, people you know will often boldly proclaim an idea they heard online from someone they don’t really know and whose motives they don’t really know but who said something in a way that made the idea sound true and great, perhaps “life changing.” Too often people believe what they want to believe said by someone who appealed to their desires and emotions with their craftiness.

Paul, on the other hand, was very careful not to speak from his own opinions or rely on his own intellect and talent, nor did he use techniques to appeal to human pride, fear, guilt, or passions. He didn’t try to create an emotional experience which would get people to make emotional decisions, to profess a belief based on the excitement in the room. No yelling, no dancing on stage, no crafty words, no catch phrases, mantras, or slogans, just the word of God, so that only people who were truly convicted by God would respond. Therefore, Paul didn’t have to worry too much about his speaking skills and could focus on his speaking faithfulness motivated by his love for God and love for others. He didn’t have to worry about being “effective” or about promoting shallow statements of faith or false conversions.

• 2 Timothy 4:1-8 — I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

1 Thessalonians 2:9 — For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

All Christians are in full-time ministry, or at least should be. The Gospel is spread primarily by those who work in full-time professions while simultaneously professing the Gospel. Your job resources your ministry while also salting you into environments where most people spend most of their time and deal with life’s real issues. If you think the work of the church is done primarily by those who get paid to work at the church full time, you have the wrong model. Pastors, elders, and deacons merely “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:12) Work hard to earn the ability to give for free.

• Matthew 10:7-8 — And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.

1 Thessalonians 2: 14 — For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews….

Likely, the most important things you really learned in life you learned by example from someone else; we are called to imitate Christ and be an example for others to follow. Who do you know who truly walks like Christ and an example to you? If people followed your example, would they be like Jesus. Are you Christ’s image bearer in a world where people desperately need to see what right looks like?

• 1 Corinthians 4:16 — I urge you, then, be imitators of me.
• 1 Corinthians 11:1 — Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
• Ephesians 5:1 — Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
• Philippians 3:17 — Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
• 1 Thessalonians 1:6 — 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,
• Hebrews 6:12 — …so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
• Hebrews 13:7 — Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
• 3 John 1:11 — Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.

1 Thessalonians 2:17-20 — But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.

God’s priority for life, as it was for Paul and the early church, is intimate relationships with fellow believers and the fulfillment of the Great Commandment of Love. Satan will make every effort to hinder your relationships, and today he seems to do it mostly through business and various distractions and amusements. Don’t fall for his trap. Are your days centered on loving God and others, face to face, or on something else?

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) –2 July 2024: Share the Gospel with as many as you can today and prioritize personal, meaningful relationships.