"We Make A Difference"

The sermon is titled, "We Make A Difference" and is based on Paul's second letter to the church at Thessalonica, chapter 1:1-4 & 11-12.

Last week I preached a forgettable sermon titled "Keeping Pride in its Place." There are many reminders in the scriptures that we must not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to. That's one of the marks of growing up; eventually getting to the point where we no longer think only of our "self" as if the universe revolves around us.

Parents note these changes in their infants and toddlers with much delight. Becoming aware of the world around us, and especially of the people around us, and showing an understanding of relationship moved us all at one time or another from our self-centeredness to interdependence. But, hopefully we all maintained a sense of "self"
and with it some sense of being important in some way to others.

Keeping pride in its place does not mean, however, that we are to somehow arrive at the notion that we're not important. When we look seriously at what Jesus called the second commandment of the Kingdom -- to love our neighbor as we love our "self" -- we will see clearly that we cannot fulfill that unless we have a sense of worth, and an understanding of the importance of our lives. To honor these words of our Lord, we must see ourselves as loveable and know that we matter, and we make a difference.

I have always had a special affection for the little church in Thessalonica to which Paul was writing. In the first place, like all of the "house" churches of the first century, it was small, and I like the friendly, family feeling of a small church. Again, permit me another of those “Bible Study” moments. By the time Paul wrote this second letter, there were likely a number of house churches there -- all equally small -- and his letter was circulated among them. But, there is a different tone to this second letter. Paul's first letter responds to their preoccupation with the question about the second coming of Christ. Paul admitted that he didn't know when that would happen, and repeated the reminder of the Lord that it would come "as a thief in the night." The second letter appears to have been prompted by their unexpected response which might be summed up in these words:

"As long as we know that the world is coming to an end, let's stop working, and just wait." In the final analysis, the Thessalonians no longer believed that they were needed by God to make a difference, especially if Jesus was about to return quickly.

In this letter to the church at Thessalonica, he praised them for their patience and complete faith in God, in spite of all the crushing troubles and hardships they were going through. He said he thanked God for them and that he remembered them in his prayers—that God would make them the kind of people He wanted them to be. That’s interesting.

Notice that Paul does not pray that the church at Thessalonica would be delivered from its troubles. His prayer was that these troubling experiences would mold the members of this church into the kind of people God meant for them to be. That’s significant. We admire people who have overcome hardship. Hardship serves as a reminder of our need for God. And in the process of overcoming, they get a vision of themselves as strong, as people who can make a difference.

Visitors are always welcome at Plymouth Congregational Church.