Make Me an Offer I Cannot IGNORE

1 Thessalonians 1

As we have been repeatedly reminded throughout the past few years, all of life comes down to whether we sin (distort, suppress, or reject God's character and involvement) or we worship (recognize, submit to, and celebrate God's character and involvement). Left to ourselves, we are hopelessly enslaved to sinful tendencies. This, then, leads to other symptoms of sin: relational conflict, anger problems, gossip, lack of self-control, greed, etc.

Equally important, however, is the gospel of Jesus Christ! The gospel is a free gift that takes people who are helplessly in the bondage of sin to be able to live a new life. No longer are we slaves to sin, but we now have the power to recognize, submit to, and celebrate God's character and involvement. All of this is because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. His death has forgiven and cleansed us from all sin; his resurrection empowers us to grow in worship and to die to remaining sinful tendencies.

Although the gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed free, it does require a response. If we do not properly and continually respond to the gospel, then we are in fact sinning. It is, therefore, no surprise that Paul begins his letter, 1 Thessalonians, by emphasizing his recipients' response to the gospel of Jesus Christ. They responded with diligence (1 Thess 1.3) and with perseverance (1 Thess 1.6). For us, responding to the gospel must be a continual act—not just when we were first saved, but weekly, if not hourly or at every second! However, as exemplary as these recipients were, Paul makes it clear that even our ability to respond to the gospel is determined by God's grace (1 Thess 1.4, 6). It is only because we are in Christ, loved/chosen by God, and empowered by the Holy Spirit that we can properly respond to the gospel.

Lastly, Paul mentions that a proper response to the gospel must also lead to a repentant mentality and faith that Jesus will return (1 Thess 1.9-10), which are ideas similar to last week's sermon on Jeremiah 29.

In the sermon, we will unpack all of this, including how to deal with burnout, why imitation is so important in our Christian life, how to deal with affliction, and other important topics.