The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in 1 Thessalonians 1:1,
"Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you."
I note Paul addressed his letter to this church "in God the Father" and "the Lord Jesus Christ."
He didn't address it to the Baptists in Thessalonica, not to the Episcopalians there, or the Presbyterians. I don't see he wrote it to the charismatics, the Calvinists or the Arminians. Paul doesn't mention the Roman Catholics or the Eastern Orthodox. I don't see the Pentecostals listed in this passage or the Methodists either. He addresses his letter to the church "in God the Father" and "the Lord Jesus Christ." Paul doesn't mention the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Jehovah Witnesses, the Seventh Day Adventists or the World Wide Church of God. He doesn't mention the church the "completed Jews" fellowship with. He addressed his letter to the church "in God the Father" and "the Lord Jesus Christ."
As God's apostle, as his emissary, Paul wrote to communicate to true believers. I suspect Paul would have had little interest in Baptist doctrine and theology and those who promote it, but in God's doctrine and theology and those who promote it. I suspect Paul would have had little interest in Pentecostal doctrine and theology and those who promote it, but in God's doctrine and theology and those who promote it.
All claim to follow God and all claim to have the real scoop on the things of God. But when we begin to discover "distinctives" that set us apart from the rest of God's family and stick a label on ourselves, identifying us as such, we commit the same error Paul addressed to the church in Corinth, with their desire to separate themselves into differing groups.
Paul didn't acknowledge different groups. He condemned them."My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, 'I follow Paul'; another, 'I follow Apollos'; another, 'I follow Cephas'; still another, 'I follow Christ.' Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?" 1 Corinthians 1:11-13. Who Paul addressed in this letter were the true believers of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and called them the church in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I also note that Paul considered the church to be made up of believers. Real believers. Real believers constituted what Paul considered to be the church "in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." We live in a day where there are many groups who call themselves churches but don't pass muster as believers. Many may have come from a heritage of real believers, but when those "distinctives" became the priority, faith in the living God became replaced with something else.
In a group claiming to be a church, the "pastor", in the Easter "worship service" questions the literal reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is not the church Paul would recognize. In a group claiming to be a church, homosexuality is embraced, weddings performed and the teaching of God rejected. This is not the church Paul would recognize. In a group claiming to be a church, the "historical Jesus" is promoted, stripping the gospels of all that is miraculous, sifting through the Scriptures to reject all that is found "objectionable." That is not the church Paul would recognize.
The true church to Paul was that group made up of folks who embraced Jesus Christ in faith. Not a Jesus of their own definition or imagination, but the Son of God who came to earth to die a miserable death to pay the penalty for our sins. The Son of God who performed miracles, who fulfilled prophecy, who confounded the wise and shamed the corrupt men of the day.
Paul's letter to the Thessalonians is for true believers. The Scriptures belong to believers, it is God's mail to them. Many claim it is theirs... but only those who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith, the true Son of God as presented us in the Scriptures, can legitimately call it theirs.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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