6:33 Recap

This week's 6:33 was focused on 1 Thessalonians 4, How do you live a life that pleases God? Becky Clark wrote our recap this week so let's keep the discussion going, but in case you missed it, you can listen to the audio here.

This 6:33 was a little different because both Ryan Mason and Darrell spoke. Ryan was affirmed as the next president after giving the following vision. As a body of believers, his goal is to see the BCM be more intentional about campus and community missions. Matthew 28:19-20 states “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” But even beyond the basics of the great commission Ryan has connected two very important verses in the New Testament dealing with our love for God and how we show love to those around us. In Matthew 22: 37-38 “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And in John 4:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

If Jesus is the only way to the Father, and we have a calling to love our neighbors, we need to be sharing the life saving gospel of the life and death of Jesus Christ! Everyone has a part to play in this vision. Not only does the BCM offer opportunities to serve, we as a greater body, need to step up to the plate and find ways that we can serve. We also need to be intentional. If we are living out this vision, we can be an encouragement to those around us. We can help find and promote opportunities not only for ourselves but for those around us. And finally, we don’t need to view people as projects to be brought in and converted. But rather we need to intentionally love individuals by living and showing the grace of the Father. Amen!!

After that, we pretty much stepped right in the middle of conversation between Paul and the Thessalonians in Chapter 4. We weren’t there, so we really don’t know what instructions Paul had given them but we do know, that faith is supposed to grow (vs 2). There should be expectancy. This also points us to focus on the future and not make a shrine out of our pasts. While it is good to look back on what God has done, we also need to expect growth.

This quandary about what Paul was talking about is just one of several other BDQs (Big Deal Questions) in the Bible. And we must always view these questions in light of the gospel. Some of them include: What does God require of me? Micah 6:8, What must I do to inherit eternal life? Luke 18:18,22, What is the greatest commandment? Mark 12:28-31.

Now back to the original point of discussion. We can find out generally what Paul spoke about as we read Acts 17: 1-4. “² As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, ³ explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said.” He spoke the core of the gospel, and then encouraged them in verses 1-2 to continue to grow with the goal (found in vs 3) of sanctification.

So a quick run through verses 3-10.

Sanctification: This is Gods will for your life. It is a process that only God can do within us but sometimes we can get in the way of this process.

Sexual immorality: Darrell stressed that he could talk about this for a while. We as Christians are to avoid this because it gets in the ways of the sanctification process.

And finally brotherly love, verses 11-12.

So what does all this mean? What does it look like for you to root out the things that keep you from being sanctified?

6:33 Recap

This week's recap is by the lovely Gabrielle Randall. Darrell spoke last night on 1 Thessalonians 3, What can we be sure of? If you missed it, you can always listen to it here.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”- 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Even though this verse was not mentioned by Darrell in tonight’s message, it encompasses the two main themes under tonight’s question, “What can we be sure of?” The answer: the surety of trials and the power of encouragement. The first part of 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 states the fact that being a Christian does not mean that life is going to be full of rainbows and unicorns. We are going to have hardships but God never fails in bringing us hope. God tells us that he will comfort us in the hard times. This in turn allows us to comfort and encourage others.

Darrell started off last night in Acts 17:10 and spoke of Paul’s time in Berea and Athens. He used these examples to demonstrate how Paul experienced a different kind of trial in these places than he had in others. Paul’s usual way of evangelizing to people did not work in Athens because there was a prominent amount of other idols that were being worshiped. Paul still had a calling to witness to these people. He figured out that by using the Athenians own philosophies he could find ways to preach about Jesus to them. Even though Paul was not expecting to be faced with this trial he was still able to glorify God through it.

Sometimes it is easier said than done to praise God even through the hard times. We have to realize though that we were destined for trials; we are promised hard times. “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.” -1 Peter 4:12. And as Darrell stated, “We will suffer in his name at points.” “However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.” 1 Peter 4:16

Darrell shared the verse 1 Peter 2:21 which states, “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” Darrell spoke of how this verse tells us that we need to share our sufferings because in our sufferings others can find encouragement. Not solely because we are suffering but that we are reminded of Christ’s suffering for us.

Darrell continued to James 1:2-3, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” Darrell connected this to a story about his Doctor, Dr. Chad who had asked God to put many trials in his life for a year and help him to find joy in every situation. What Dr. Chad found is that that year was an extremely difficult year and he did not always automatically find the joy in situations. Some took longer than others, but he was eventually able to see the good God was able to produce. In 1 Peter 4:13, God commands us to find joy in our suffering, “But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

As humans this can be extremely difficult. I myself admit that I have been angry at God in the past for placing so many trials in my life. I wanted to shout at him, “Can I please get a break?” But the fact is we live in an imperfect world. Bad things are going to happen, but what we can rejoice about is that God will turn every bad situation into something that we can learn from and reap something from.

Ryan Goude came up and shared a story about how he and two other members of his family group got their cars towed at a family social last week. His family was able to pray and come together and pay for the cars. They saw that even though getting their cars towed kind of stunk, it gave them the opportunity to still glorify God and have a family bonding time.

Like Dr. Chad’s story showed though, joy does not automatically happen. Sometimes it takes us a while to see the reasoning behind a trial in our life and appreciate what has come from that trial. Like I said, I have been angry at God for placing some trials in my life but I have not held on to that bitterness. Now I know that's rather silly, to get mad at God because trials are inevitable, but the comfort and love God gives us through these trials is never-ending.

After talking a good while about trials, he wrapped up the night with a good talk about encouragement. Since we are looking at 1 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 3:4-8 speaks of how Paul expected persecution, but was encouraged by the faith that Timothy still embodied after it all. We are able to encourage one another through our actions, but Darrell focused on how our words can encourage. He spoke of how sarcasm is so prominent in everyday speech. Sarcasm broken down in Greek means flesh and hole, which states the effect sarcasm can leave on people. Sometimes sarcasm is like being stabbed with a knife. We need to be conscience of our speech to others. We need to learn to be slow to speak and quick to listen. And that is listening to the words we are saying as well and realized how they can affect others.

“May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other for everyone else, just as ours does for you.” 1 Thessalonians 3:12

This is a verse that we as BCM should try to embody so that we may encourage through speech and actions. How can you this week build other people up?

6:33 Recap

Hey Ladies. Every Wednesday of this semester we'll be spotlighting the message from 6:33 that week. Our very own Caity Edwards is kicking us off with a recap of last night's message from 1 Thessalonians 2, What is the Focus of your Heart? In case you missed it, you can download the sermon here.
As humans, we seem to have an approval addiction. It can go without saying that we want people to like us. But as Christians, we can’t always have that. Our faith—what we live for—does not always go hand in hand with approval. As soon as Darrell mentioned this last night, I instantly related. You see, I really like to be liked. My friends occasionally threaten to bake me an “insecurity cake” that has the message “Don’t worry, Caity, no one is judging you” on it.

The Thessalonians were discouraged because Paul left on a somewhat low note. The officials had tried to arrest him, but couldn’t find him and ended up arresting his host, Jason. They eventually freed Jason, but Paul was forced to leave town. It just felt a little like a failure to the early church. But in verses 1 and 2, Paul encourages them to 1) not think of it as a failure and 2) remember what happened in Philippi. Because of the big commotion that occurred with the nature of Paul’s departure, word was spread about the church. And Paul’s experience in Philippi was way worse in comparison, so they shouldn’t be distraught. (You should check out that story if you are unfamiliar with it. Acts 16:8-40)

In verse 3 Paul reminds them that they did not come to the city with “impure motives” or “trying to trick” the citizens. It’s hard to think that Paul, author of thirteen books of the Bible, could have possibly been suspected of having impure motives. As followers of Christ, we should be viewed similarly as he was, but how often do we let impure motives slip in? How often do we try and make ourselves look better than we actually are? How many times have we slightly modified the truth or changed a subject ever so slightly to bring up something attractive about ourselves? I know I am definitely guilty of this.

Verse 4 talks about Paul’s actions as being approved by God and how they were not trying to please man, but God—a goal for which we all strive. At this point, Darrell mentioned how many times Proverbs mentions the word “heart.” If you have time, check it out. If you write in your Bible, maybe underline all the times it appears. (Darrell even suggested drawing little hearts around the word.) A good way to avoid the approval addiction is to guard one’s heart. The only way to overcome the fear of rejection is to focus on God’s acceptance of us as we are.

Verse 5 mentions flattery and a mask to cover up greed. The difference between flattery and encouragement is that the latter is used to lift up other believers in Christ. Flattery is used to inflate a person and serve the speaker’s purpose. Darrell brought up an interesting suggestion during this part which I intend to try out now when I study the gospel. Today, we are so accustomed to the Pharisees being the bad guys. Whenever we read a story with them, we instantly scoff at what they say. But during Jesus’s time, they were the religious leaders—the ones others looked to for guidance on how to serve God. As Christians today, the world sees us similarly, and how often do we screw up? So when you read a story involving the Pharisees, read Jesus’s words to them as if he were speaking to you. Darrell then read Matthew 23:25-28, where Christ reveals the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He compares them to beautiful tombs filled with death and a clean mug with a filthy inside. They focus so much on looking holy on the outside while their insides—their souls—are unclean. We are challenged to not fall into this trap. We should not be focusing on the outside, (appearance or our actions that others see and thus judge us on) but the inside (where we are with Christ.)

Finally Darrell talked about verse 8, the memory verse for this week. “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our loves as well, because you had become dear to us.” To how many people can you truly say that? Is it a small list? I pray that throughout this semester, as you and others grow in your relationships with Christ together, that that list will become longer.