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“A
Life Worthy of God”
a sermon by
Thomas L. Jenkins
Text: 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father
with his children, urging and encouraging you and pleading that you lead
a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
Dear Sisters and Brothers, last week at the beginning of the sermon, it
was mentioned to you that I was going to communicate with you, as your
minister, my beliefs about us when it comes to thinking about and
discussing the same subjects which Paul did with the Thessalonians’
Church. However, this
morning, because the Bible is a holy presentation of the Word of God, we
are going to hear, believe, and grow in understanding that what truths
God spoke through Paul to the Thessalonians in these verses, God is
speaking the same truths to us through the church’s proclamation of
these passages in the
Bible.
Let’s move a little bit ahead of mentally picturing Paul ministering
to the Thessalonians. You
probably already know that one of my favorite sentences that Paul wrote,
which is in the Bible, was when he had moved forward in understanding
all of our relationships with Christ.
The verse is, “It is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
The most personally real Word of God spoken to us is Jesus Christ.
When the time comes, and we are fully awakened to the reality
that we are in heaven, we will not be reading the Bible or listening to
preaching anymore. We will
be talking with the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, and our Heavenly Father.
Let’s say “YES” within our hearts, to our real truth, that
the Word of God, Jesus Christ, is speaking to us, through this passage.
No other person has ever given and sacrificed their entire adult life,
with the accomplished purpose of bringing us to see and believe that we
have already been adopted into the eternal family of God, than Jesus of
Nazareth, Jesus’ own
testimony is the most fascinating, and world changing event and story in
the entire history of this Earth.
Jesus was born through his mother, the virgin Mary.
I think that while he was a little boy, his mother was finding
many ways to teach him that he is the Son of God.
When Jesus was 12, he, his family, and his community walked to Jerusalem
to participate in the Jewish worship service of the Passover.
When they all were on their way home, Mary searched throughout
the whole crowd and realized Jesus was not there. She went back to
Jerusalem, and found him in the Holy Temple talking to the priests about
God, whom he was believing to be his Heavenly Father.
When Jesus was about 30 years old he began moving into the ministry
which his Father, God, was leading him into.
He started with being baptized by John the Baptist. When Jesus walked out of the water, in some way, the heavens
were opened and the Holy Spirit, in the form of a Dove, came down upon
him and fully embraced him. Next,
a beautiful, powerful, and clear voice, above and around everyone there,
was heard: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am very pleased.”
After this, Jesus went out into wilderness, fasted and prayed to his
Father for about five and a half weeks.
Then Satan came out to him trying to use evils’ most powerful
lies to manipulate Jesus into being sinful.
Jesus won. Satan
lost.
Jesus lived in a way, that today we would call homeless. He certainly attracted and chose those whom we call his
disciples. They stayed with him as Christ went across a few countries,
and hundreds of towns and cities. Sometimes
they were invited to stay in someone’s house.
At other times they camped out in the wilderness, with Jesus.
Jesus often prayed all night long.
This went on for about three years.
Jesus taught and preached about the Kingdom of God now being present in
this world. He did not have
any advanced formal education in the Jewish Religion.
The Jewish religious leaders were starting to hate Jesus because
of what he taught, the miraculous healings he accomplished on the
Sabbath, and mostly because he referred to himself as the Son of God.
One of Jesus’ closest disciples knew that the Pharisees wanted to
arrest Jesus and have him put to death.
So Judas went to the Pharisees and told them that if they would
pay him some money, he would tell them where they could find Jesus.
Later that evening Jesus was arrested.
The next night, he was physically beaten all night long.
In the morning, Jesus was given the cross to which he was going
to be nailed. The reason
was for Jesus carrying it to the top of hill, where he was going to be
killed. While Jesus was
doing this, an unknown man, from Africa, did step in and help him carry
the cross a little bit. In
a couple of hours he was striped, his hands and feet were nailed to the
cross, and the bottom of the cross was pushed down into the ground, so
that Jesus would be lifted up and watched during his death.
No other human being has ever sacrificed their life through that level
of suffering, for the whole purpose of bringing divine love into your
being. For sure, this
sacrificed life of Jesus Christ, that has accomplished what we call our
salvation, does not throw any kind of religious burden back on us.
We do not have to believe in Jesus in order earn our salvation.
Jesus has already earned our salvations.
To hear about our accomplished salvation located in Christ, and
then starting to believe it with a desire to understand more about our
gift of faith, that is a life
worthy of God. When
Jesus finally died on the cross, he looked into each and every one of
our hearts, because of love. That
is the Word of God.
Let us pray …
Amen.
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