What do we mean by being God- centered? What is a God centered
church? This question has been occupying our minds as we have been working our
way through Paul’s first letter to the
Thessalonians. Being God –centered
means to
have the Word of God shape our way
of thinking and living as opposed to living and thinking in a man centered or in a natural or fleshly way[1]. Being God centered means to engage in
sanctified living- a life that pleases God. Sanctification is a progressive process
whereby the Holy Spirit continuously and
progressively applies His Word to our heads and our hearts, causing us
to act more like Jesus. The subject
of sanctification is
extremely important – for it must
follow our justification. They belong together like the protons
and neutrons that compose an atom. We all know that splitting atoms has
disastrous consequences!
I simply point out that if you have believed in Christ and if you have been justified by grace
through faith, then it must also follow that you
should obey your Lord, “working out
your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in
you…” (Phil 2:12,13).
The Christian race is not finished simply because we have
started. Neither is the race a concluded
matter because we have started well. You know the famous story of the race
between the rabbit and the tortoise –
and you know who won! The
tortoise, slow starter that she was, won
because she persevered. The
rabbit started with an impressive sprint
but fell down exhausted before the finish line.
Starting well is great – but it
is not what matters. Finishing well is what counts. So your justification must be followed by sanctification. You must persevere to the end.
Now, the
Thessalonians were commended by Paul
because he knew that they had
started well.“ The gospel had come to
you not only in Word , but also in power
and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” BUT how did they continue? See 1:6-10! The Thessalonians gave rich evidence of a
sanctified lifestyle. But we also saw
that Paul exhorted them not to sit on their laurels and he exhorts them, “For
this is the will of God – your sanctification …” (4:3). He says to them, “do
so more and more !”(4:1,10)
Now there are many aspects to that process of
sanctification – that process of growing to be more Christ like and less worldly. Paul addressed a number of them such as
the sanctification of our sexuality purity ( 4:3-8) and
the sanctification of our brotherly
love (4:9-12), the sanctified relationship with the elders of the church (5:12-13),
our relationship with those that struggle in the church (5:14&15) , along with
real displays of joy,
prayer and thanksgiving. (5:16-18)
etc. You will find that Paul
is a very practical theologian. He never thinks in terms of
doctrine as the Greek philosophers did. They loved
philosophy because it stimulated their
brains and because i sharpened their
logical thinking skills – but it did
very little else . Above all, it
often lacked practicality.
Paul wants the truth to works itself out in practice , and he isn’t finished yet. And now he addresses …
5:19- 22: “ A
life pleasing to God through a
sanctified obedience to the Holy Spirit and to the Revelation of the Word of God.”
Our obedience and submission to the Holy Spirit’s work in us and to His
revealed Word (prophecy) is crucial to
our sanctification! In this
regard Paul reminds us: “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise
prophecies…”
In this regard there are two errors
which are often committed in the
churches. On the one hand there are those quench the Holy Spirit
by claiming to speak prophecies and revelations that are not from
Him, and then there are those who make
altogether too little of Him, even
despising His person and His work.
Now what does
this mean - “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies…” ?
a. Do not quench the Spirit (v. 19)
To ‘quench’
in its other occurrences in the New Testament is used with reference to
putting out a fire [2].
This term is used here metaphorically to warn
us not to quench - not to put out the Spirit’s fire . Simply
stated this means that we must not hinder or oppose the person and the work
of the Spirit. Paul writes this in
the present tense and
in the imperative mood i.e. “don’t
go on quenching the Person and the work of the Holy Spirit.” This
is what Jesus said that the Pharisees always did (Matt 12:22-32) . In fact they attributed the work of the Spirit to Satan! Jesus tells them that this sort of
persistent blasphemy ( for they kept on saying this) was tantamount to committing the unforgivable sin-the sin against the Holy
Spirit. In
view of this and what we read in v.20
about prophecies we may come to the
conclusion that some in the church may
have been resisting the gift of prophecy. This was certainly the case in Corinth. There the gift of prophecy was being
ignored because of an overzealous emphasis on the showy gifts like speaking in
tongues (see 1 Cor. 12-14).
b. Do not
despise prophecies (v. 20)
The gift of prophecy is the
ability to receive and communicate direct revelations from God. Now here is an
important aspect to consider. Before the
NT was completed (1 Cor. 13:8) this was
an important part of the
church’s ministry. It still is an important part of the church’s ministry,
but the prophetic element today has
become subject to the
written Word, since in Christ the revelation from God,
given to the apostles, is now complete à Hebrews 1:1-3.
How then do we understand prophecy? The
Puritan pastor William
Perkins (1558-1602) wrote a treatise entitled “The art of prophesying”. William Perkins wrote this book for fellow
preachers because he was concerned that
the “main business was to preach
Christ , and to reach the heart.” Perkins said that preaching should “rip up the hearts of those that heard it,
and by the same token he saw the preacher as a spiritual doctor
whose knowledge of the biblical remedies enabled him to bathe the wounds and heal the spiritual sicknesses of God’s people with the grace of
Christ .” [3]
Now when I read this, I think immediately of
the OT prophets. Their prophecies under the hand of God were spiritually very challenging and exposing. They ripped open their hearers
hearts. But their prophesying was not heartless. Yes, it was severe, but it was not heartless. It was intended to bring healing to those who
would hear and obey! For those who
had the grace to see the truth of these words , these words became life giving in their effect.
But there is also an opposite effect to
such prophesying. Many whose hearts were ripped hated the prophets on
this account and that is why many of
them were eventually killed. Jesus words in this regard are very telling: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills
the prophets and stones those who are
sent to it.” (Matt. 23:37) Remember
that the greatest of prophets was
Jesus and for this reason He was killed by those who hated His prophetic words, because
they perceived that He spoke against them!
Perhaps you will now understand that your preacher is a prophet in that sense, when he opens the Word to you, and when he proclaims it forcefully and filled with heavenly conviction and with contemporary application - “thus says
the Lord…! ”
Now for argument’ s sake let us consider how
God may
be using this series of sermons to speak prophetically into the life of
this church:
1.
We begin by reading the Word of God.
2.
The pastor –teacher who has a biblical office and mandate from God to inform God’s sheep of His will,
having spent hours this week seeking to
understand this Word, letting it
first speak to his own sinful heart, praying into his own situation, now relaying this Word of God to his congregation, releases it
as it were into the hearts of His hearers , at which time the
Holy Spirit will do His ploughing work within
each heart.
3.
So, what has
God spoken to us about? Many things ..
just to take it from chapter 4 sexual immorality … the need for brotherly
love … concerning the coming of the Lord… relating to church leadership …
helping those that are struggling etc … Do you get the point?
Does this mean that you must accept everything thoughtlessly that comes to you from this
pulpit? Clearly not !
c. Examine All Things (v. 21a)
Let me begin
with the context . Apparently, however, certain “idle” brothers (v. 14; cf. 4:11, 12) had misused this
gift by providing false information
regarding the Lord’s return. This may
have caused the church at Thessalonica to despise
prophecy in general. Their tendency now was not to listen to any more
prophetic messages. Paul warns against such
an overreaction and urges the church to give prophecies their proper
place in edifying its members.
This is also important since
false prophets would arise, as
the Lord Himself warned[4] us. There must be careful discernment of
the message of a prophet. Thus, Paul
ends with this positive command :
“Test [5] everything“. Here
is your warning against
gullibility. Here is a call to biblical
discernment. The Bereans
(Acts 17:11)
tested everything Paul had said by the standard of Scripture (the OT)
In 1 Cor. 12:10 and 14:29 discernment is a spiritual gift to be
used in conjunction with the gift of prophecy. It consists of an
ability to discern whether what a prophet has said is
true.
For us
this is a call to examine all preaching and teaching in light of the
Scripture. Just because somebody preaches from the
Bible it does not mean his message is truly biblical. There is far too
much Scripture twisting and
proof-texting done in pulpits ,
and God’s people do well
to know the Word of God
themselves in order that they may
discern what is truly the Word of God. It is difficult
to skillfully handle the Word (2 Tim. 2:15). This is one of the reasons God places a
greater responsibility on teachers (Jas. 3:1).
d. Hold fast what Is good (v. 21b)
Obviously then, once what is heard is discovered to be
“the good,” i.e. true and in accordance with the revelation of God in Christ, then we must
hold fast to it.
e. Stay Away From Every Form of Evil (v. 22)
Believers must examine everything carefully
and avoid that which does not conform to the truth – stay away from it. Avoid it. Don’t be taken captive by it.
This too then is part of our sanctification, and it forms part of
Paul’s ultimate prayer for the
Thessalonians (5:23-24) : “ Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely , and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful ; He will surely
do it “. Amen !
[1] Paul uses the following
terms to describe the opposite of the God centered way of thinking and
living i.e. by
speaking about “the natural
person” (1 Cor. 2:14) , “the spirit of
the world” (1 Cor. 2:14) , “ being of
the flesh” (1 Cor. 2:14; 3:1-4 ), “the
wisdom of the world” ( 1 Cor. 1:20; 3:20)
[3] William Perkins : The Art of
Prophesying , Foreword by Sinclair Ferguson
p. x
[5] Gr
dokimazo – to test metals in the
fire , with the view of separating the
metal from the dross .
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