Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19981227.htm

1 THESSALONIANS: HELPING CONVERTS FROM PAGANISM
Part VIII: Equipping New Converts Out Of Paganism With Comprehensive Personally Edifying Insight
(1 Thessalonians 5:12-28)
  1. Godless paganism, besides being full of deception, tends to tear away at the mental and emotional health of people as it leaves men to try to find happiness by their own hapless self-manipulation of circumstances: when such self-help efforts fail to bring happiness, one is left feeling hopeless, spiraling down to despair.
  2. Paul's closing admonition to a group of believers fresh out of paganism is a wonderfully comprehensive instruction on building up the inner man. We do well to focus on it to know how we ourselves and also believers around us can find true spiritual edification that counters errant self-help efforts of the lost :
    1. Equipping New Converts Out Of Paganism With Comprehensive Personally Edifying Insight.
    2. Paul's 1 Thessalonians epistle is a letter to people fresh out of paganism, cf. 1 Thess. 1:9b; 3:6-8.
    3. This letter deals with basics of edifying these new converts in view of Paul's sudden, forced departure from them due to persecution, 1 Thess. 3:1-2 with Acts 17:1, 10a, 13-15.
    4. Accordingly, in giving these new converts closing admonitions, Paul was being very comprehensive on building up these people to overcome the anti-Christian, self-help paganism in their background and oozing from their persecutors. We view those invaluable remarks as follows (1 Thess. 5:12-28):
      1. Orientation One For Happiness - Heed the leadership of hard-working, credible leaders as they work for the benefit of the rest who may not be aware of their needs, 1 Thess. 5:12-13a with He. 13:17.
      2. Orientation Two For Happiness - Strive to live in peace with fellow believers, 1 Thess. 5:13b.
      3. Orientation Three For Happiness - For maximum mental health in the body, adapt your approach to the need by (a) sternly warning the idle, (b) encouraging the timid, (c) helping those who are too weak to help themselves (d) while being patient with each group's development, 1 Thess. 5:14.
      4. Orientation Four For Happiness - Replace a spirit of vengeance with gracious kindness, 5:15.
      5. Orientation Five For Happiness - Consistently rejoice in God's goodness, 1 Thess. 5:16.
      6. Orientation Six For Happiness - Consistently pray about needs that must be met, 1 Thess. 5:17.
      7. Orientation Seven For Happiness - Consistently give thanks for everything, which is God's will, 5:18.
      8. Orientation Eight For Happiness - Consistently allow the Holy Spirit's ministry in ourselves or in other believers free reign by refusing binding legalistic rules to interfere with freedom, 5:19-20.
      9. Orientation Nine For Happiness - Test the validity of all things by God's Word, accepting the good and avoiding all evil, 21-22.
      10. Orientation Ten For Happiness - Promote these views, exposing other believers to them, 5:27.
    5. Paul said that in light of following these orientations, these converts fresh out of paganism would be sanctified wholly in spirit soul and body, being preserved blameless unto the coming of Christ, 5:23-24.
Lesson: Note that in EACH case, the presence of GOD in one's viewpoint leads to his CHANGE from a hapless pagan self-help orientation: i.e., because we trust GOD with our ultimate oversight, we can afford to heed church leaders and live peaceably, non-vengefully with people. We can be patient in discipling others, knowing GOD is also at work in them. Because of GOD'S presence in the Body, we can afford to pay attention to the Holy Spirit's leading in those gifted around us so that we don't legalist ically stifle their ministries. Because GOD has individually given us hope, we can consistently rejoice, pray about our needs and give thanks for all things He allows in our lives. Because of the trustworthiness of GOD'S Word, we can test all insights by it, and confidently reject what it says is evil and accept what it defines as good. Because Scripture is trustworthy, we can confidently share it with other believers for their welfare. Thus, we are not left on our OWN, but subjected to GOD'S OVERSIGHT, c ausing mental, spiritual and emotional stability and joy!

Application: The greatest help we can offer people fresh out of godless, self-help pagan backgrounds is to tell them of the all-encompassing oversight that GOD really has in their lives!

> [lay] Standard 513 [rght] 15840 12240 1 720 720 1 720 720 2 8 0 1 0 2 1 720 11520 12 1 720 1 1440 1 2160 1 2880 1 3600 1 4320 1 5040 1 5760 1 6480 1 7200 1 7920 1 8640 [hrght] [lyfrm] 1 11200 0 0 12240 720 0 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 [frmlay] 720 12240 1 1440 0 1 360 1440 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1440 10800 2 2 4680 3 9360 [txt] > [frght] [lyfrm] 1 13248 0 15120 12240 15840 0 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 [frmlay] 15840 12240 1 1440 288 1 15192 1440 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1440 10800 2 2 4680 3 9360 [txt] > [elay] [l1] 0 [pg] 1 18 220 152 1025 0 0 0 259 345 Standard 65535 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 65535 0 0 65535 0 0 0 0 0 [edoc] @Bullet [IV]@<:#284,10800>Introduction