I'm having trouble processing all this, everybody together here. I'll get over it. But it is very good to see you. And some of you, I didn't even know that you had mouths. So it's good to be reminded of that. New Horizons is a ministry that we support. We support it not only with financial contributions, but we've had board members here as a part of our church. We've had volunteers from our church. We've had tutors from our church. And for the last several years, we've had a backpack packing event. We get about, Ginny could exactly tell me, but about 72 backpacks that we pack full of school supplies and then bring over to the the Super Kids Club, which is a ministry of New Horizons, and we give those backpacks and those school supplies to the kids. And it's kind of a reward that they get for finishing an accelerated reading program. The kids to whom we reach out are, for the most part, Latino kids who the school systems regard as at risk. It's not because of any problem of capability on their part. but because of language and culture that they're considered at risk. Every year we invite those kids to come and sing some of the songs that they sing. They're all Christian songs because, after all, it is a Christian ministry. It's a Christian club. They teach Bible memory verses alongside of the school subjects that we tutor those kids in. And about a month ago, they sent me a little booklet entitled, A Tiny Book of Big Prayers. And the club leaders asked the kids to write out their prayers. And I'm going to read some of those prayers that these young, mostly elementary school-aged children wrote. And as I read them, I want you to keep in mind their socioeconomic status, the people, the kids. their context. I reread them last week, and I'll tell you that I had tears come to my eyes as I read through these. Here's the first one here. My special prayer is that the pandemic to stop, God. Amen. Now, that's simple and to the point, isn't it? I bet you wish I prayed that way. Dear God, help my mom with the dishes. I have a feeling there's some enlightened self-interest involved in that one. Dear God, I want to be normal and be a good student and be a good son. That one kind of A little proclaimed there. Thank you, Lord, for my family, friends, and my dogs. Please help me get smarter and help me get kind. Please. Dear God, thank you for giving me one more day to be alive. Thank you for giving a plate of food. And thank you for giving my family one more day to be alive. I don't need anything, but give everything to my friends. Isn't that nice? Dear God, I want to tell you that I want good grades and that I want to make my mom happy. And please help people who are in need. And please help my brothers in school and help my mom in work. And I want to win for my soccer team. Thank you. This is one of my personal favorites. I pray for my cat that a car smooshed. And I also pray for the people that are sick and for the volunteers and for the people that are doing homeschool. That's kind of sweet. Two more. Dear God, thank you for the beautiful day like always. Bless people that are sick. Bless everyone and my family. Give me Let's see, what's that word? Oh, here it is. Give me intelligence to do my work in school and everybody else. I want to tell you that I love you so much with all my heart. Help people that don't know your word. I have an amazing God. I give thanks to you because you created the animals and the trees, sky, and so many other things. And I also give thanks to Jesus because he died on the cross for our sins. Thank you. I love you so much. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. We say amen, hallelujah. Now, hallelujah is not close to being spelled right. I took some liberties with that. Last one. Dear God, can you please help my dad and brother come back to here to be with me? Thank you. Wow, that last one got me too. Can't start on something like that. I had to get my momentum back. Well, this is not a sermon about justice and equity. This is a sermon about kids. and how they learn and how they grow. We talked a few weeks ago about prayer and how prayer is, particularly praying out loud, is largely a learned behavior. And we learn by watching and listening to other people. And for these kids as well, some of them are quite articulate. Others, they just spill out whatever's in their heart. And it's a delight to read every one of them, even the cat that got smooshed. The reason why we're doing this today, the reason why I started with that is because you are kids, and so am I, spiritually speaking. And it's right in our text in the Bible today, because we're in 1 Thessalonians 2. And we don't have screens, so there is the scripture text in your bulletins. Now, I've been told that I use entirely too much paper, but I'm very big on redundancies, as Patrick pointed out. So I like to have things in the bulletin for just such occasions. Our electronics are a little less than reliable. Our electronic operators are very reliable, but our electronics are not quite so reliable. But this is out of 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 11. You have that 1 through 14, I believe, in your bulletins. So 2.11 says, For you know, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. So here's the image of a father for Caecilius 2.7. But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. Again, there is that paternal, maternal sense that they're giving it. And the way we learn is, yes, in part by reading and piling up knowledge. But we also, and perhaps, shall we say, mainly, we learn by watching. We learned a lot by being kids and learning how to conduct ourselves as human beings and later as adults. And most of that came simply by watching. Some researchers suggest that up to 93% of learning, 93% of learning is non-verbal. shall we say, not written. And so the Apostle says in 1 Thessalonians 2.8, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also ourselves. Some translations, our very lives. Paul knew that. And he was prepared to live in front of the people in Thessalonica. And so this verse provides the subject matter for today's sermon. And first on your outline, which is also in your bulletin, is Thessalonication. Now, of course, Thessalonication is not a word. Well, it is a word, but it's not a real word. I just made it up. But I made it up for the alliterative quality of it. Thessalonication, intention, incarnation, reconciliation. So you had to put a shun on there anyway. I'm very pleased to have an extra two hours today to be able to go over this with you. OK. Thessalonication. Thessalonication. Years ago, I had the opportunity to become a chaplain for the Florida Everblades. I did that by walking up to the coach's office, knocking on his door. He came to the door. I said, coach, you need a chaplain. And he said, what's a chaplain? I said, a chaplain is someone who cares for the spiritual well-being of your players. And he said, Well, if it's okay with the captain, it's okay with me. So we went down to the hall of the locker room and there was the captain there. He said, Captain, this man says that we need a chaplain and that he's the man. And he said, if it's okay with the coach, it's okay with me. So all of a sudden, I was a chaplain. And while I was there, I taught a Bible study on First Thessalonians. It was the first Bible study for most of those hockey players, maybe every one of those hockey players, it was a first. And not only was it the first, but that was the finest Bible study they will ever hear. And after I was finished, one of the hockey players raised his hand with a question. Now, I thought for sure after that Bible study that it would be something about, man, are you deep, John, or that is a theological gem, John. His question was, say, John, what's a Thessalonian? I shot very well, but over everybody's head. Well, a Thessalonian, of course, is a resident of Thessaloniki, as we call it today, Thessalonica in that day. Thessalonica was a cultural hub of Greece back in the day, so it was heavily flavored with Greek culture. It's less than 200 miles from Athens, so one would expect that it would have a heavy Greek influence. In biblical times, though, there was also a heavy Jewish influence, and there was a synagogue in town. And so when Paul traveled there with the gospel, he started, as he often did, in the synagogue with the Jews and reasoned from the Torah. It makes sense. Christianity has its roots in the Torah. which is our Old Testament, and it is the Jewish book. So Paul went to the Jewish synagogue, and he got heavy resistance and pushback from the Jews who were there in Thessalonica. He actually only spent 21 days, plus or minus, in Thessalonica before his companions sent him down the road to Berea for fear of his life. The Jews had become jealous of Paul. Paul had had so much success, and there were so many people, prominent people, who were being converted with the gospel. And so the Jews hired thugs from outside to come in and rough him up a little bit. Paul's posse then sent him away. But that three-week period of time was marked not just by Paul's teaching, but also his very transparent life that led to for the Thessalonians, personal reconciliation. A great number of people were reconciled with God. And for the church, broadly, and for the city of Thessalonica, transformation. As a matter of fact, it was in Thessalonica where it was said that these people, these apostles, have turned the world upside down. Such was the effect of three weeks of Paul in Thessalonica. It's a remarkable thing. Nowadays when you get ready to start a church and you begin by raising funds and you go to people who fund such operations like the Florida Church Planning Network of which we're a part, They tell you to figure on a three-year budget because they say it takes at least three years now to start a church, to become established. In Thessalonica, it took them three weeks, and their budget was a little thin. So Thessalonication, it was Paul living a transparent life and preaching on the Sabbath. There was some gospel intention there. A large part of Paul's success, of which success the Jews in Thessalonica were jealous, was the gospel itself. The gospel is a product that really sells itself. There's so much about it, and I have to tell you that the more I understand about the Bible, the less I understand about the processes that make us who we are. There's a mystery involved. There's a certain mystic piece of the puzzle that I don't understand. Now, I used to know everything. Now there's much less that I know. And so that mystery becomes a little bit more. But the gospel sells itself. You could explain to your neighbor this much of the gospel, and they may say, that's what I want. I embrace that. Or you may tell your neighbor this much about the gospel, and they may say, you're full of beans and walk away. It's a mystery. It's God's spirit working in his way, in his time, with his message. And so the gospel is a product that sells itself. God uses his word to invade the lives of people and bring them life. So Paul says, we brought you the gospel to the Thessalonians. The gospel is about redemption. Now, redemption is a word that is a compound word in the original language, the Greek language of which the Thessalonians had their roots. Now, if we had had our screen, I would have put up on the screens the word exaggerazo. E-X-A-G-O-R-A-Z-O. Exaggerazo. And that's the Greek word for redemption. And it's a compound word. The first part of the word, ex. If we're reading the Bible, we come to the book of Exodus. What does Exodus mean? The way out. Someone said the way out. Hadas is the word that means out, and ex means excuse me, the way and x means out. The way out is the book of Exodus. If you go and check into a hotel room, you go to your room, you look down the hall to see where the exit is. Or if you go to the hospital and they excise something, that means they cut it. Out. So, x means out. Agorazo. It comes from a Greek word, agora. The agora was the outdoor market. You could still go to Greece now and go to an agora, an outdoor market. It's like the farmer's market next door on the weekends. It is an agora. So, x agorazo means to purchase in the market out. to buy out, if you will. So redemption is the purchase out of. Out of what? Well, our condition is that of moral and spiritual disrepair. Sin bent something deep inside of us. So now we have something and the depths of our being that is bent or even broken, we might say. That may even be a better word. Now, if anyone should have had it right, it would have been the Apostle Paul. But when he talks about brokenness, this is what he says. It's in Romans chapter 7, verse 15. The Apostle Paul, the one who writes, who wrote most of the New Testament, says, I do not understand my own actions. I do not know what I, I do not know what I, excuse me, I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate. Isn't that interesting? From the guy who wrote most of the New Testament, he says, I do not understand my own actions. I do not do what I want to, but I do the very thing I hate. Why? Because Paul has something bent, something broken inside of him. Romans 7, 18, for I have the desire to do what is good, but not the ability to carry it out. I really wrestled with whether I was going to say that. I'm short on time anyway, but I'm going to go ahead and tell you anyway. Every now and then I bump into a video by a guy named Ron White. Ron White is not a guy that I particularly endorse. He's a comedian, and he's foul, and he's profane, and he's funny. But he has one thing where he's talking about he was driving under the influence, and he was pulled over by the police. And the police said, OK, get out of the car. And he got out of the car. And he says, now in that moment, I had the right to remain silent, but not the ability. So that's a non-endorsement of Ron White. But that's what Paul was saying here. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. Something deep inside of us is bent, is broken. And what do we do in our culture with things that are in disrepair? Well, typically, we throw it out. So we have disposable dishware, disposable plastic cups, disposable spoons, disposable knives, disposable forks. We got some of those disposable utensils back there in the kitchen. We have dispensable cups that we use. And we have disposable tablecloths and cans and bottles and jars and cartons and wrappers. We even have disposable Tupperware parties. You ever been to a Tupperware party? You'd spend a lot of money at those things. Well, now they're disposable. They throw them out. And we have disposable coffee filters, cupcakes, containers, diapers, community cups, wet wipes, paper towels, handkerchiefs, cotton swabs, surgical kits, dental instruments, razors. We have disposable combs. And we have disposable toothbrushes. disposable cameras, disposable batteries, disposable pans, disposable cigarette lighters. In fact, if you go to your computers and type in Google disposable, you'll find at least 30 million hits. We are kind of a disposable generation, but God's intent is not disposal. You know, sometimes we get involved in things that we shouldn't have gotten involved with. To this day, there are times when I shudder, physically shudder, at some of the things that I did maybe as a youth. And I go back and I say, am I disposable? But God's intent is not to dispose. God's intent is redemption. And the vehicle for us is the gospel. That is that God took bent and broken people, and he redeemed them. He bought them back. He bought them out of our bentness and our brokenness. Isaiah tells a story in Isaiah 42, verse 3, a bruised reed. He will not break. You are the bruised reeds. I am the bruised reeds. And He won't break us. And a faintly burning wick He will not extinguish. You are that faintly burning wick. And He loves you and will not extinguish you. Redeemed means that he brought us out of our brokenness and what was the price, what was the purchase price of that? It was the blood of Jesus. What you need to know is that the gospel is God's big issue. We pray, we prayed a lot of things, those kids, they prayed a lot of things too. But God's big issue is the gospel. There are other things in the orbit of his purposes, but the big issue by far is the gospel and redeeming that which is bent and broken. Jesus tells a story in Matthew. It's Matthew 13. He says, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and he buys that field again. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had, and he bought it. The field is the gospel. The gospel is the pearl. God's principal purpose and intent in the world is the gospel. And whatever is in second place is not materially close. Becky Pipper wrote a book entitled, Hope Has Its Reasons. And I want to read for you just a section. I'm just going to read a paragraph. I was going to read two paragraphs, but that clock is fast. Hope has its reasons. She experienced relief, joy, and gratitude. She no longer felt condemned. She felt free. Why? Because there's nothing others can do to you. When you have seen the worst about yourself, and it has been forgiven. Sin always seeks to disguise itself, but nowhere is it more unmasked than at the cross. That is the reason, that is the intent of the gospel, to expose our hearts and then to forgive us. That's God's intent to heal the bentness and the brokenness of us. Thessalonication, number one. Number two, intention. Number three, incarnation. Another thing that our scripture text tells us that Incarnational ministry is effective. You know, we read before of Paul's use of the metaphor of father and mother. That is incarnational ministry. Within the Christian realm we have a tendency to label things. And years ago, I would have described my ministry style as MBWA. M as in Mary, MBWA. Now what does that mean? Some people who have been in management and business might know this, which is management by walking around. I call it ministry by walking around, or simply hanging out. That was my ministry style, just hanging out. I think it was A.B. Bruce who said, more is caught than is taught, which makes the point that we made earlier about nonverbal communication. So my hanging around ministry style went on the shelf as I departed the ministry for 14 years. When I came back into the ministry, someone asked me what my ministry style was, and I said, hanging around. And they said, oh, you're incarnational. I like that better than hanging around. Yeah, I'm incarnational. That sounds pretty sophisticated. That's me, incarnational. Now the text for today, the mother caring for her children, parallels yet another passage that makes the same point, and that passage is in 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 4, 15 and 16, 4, in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the gospel. Therefore, I urge you to imitate me. Paul had that transparent life that he lived in front of the Thessalonians. He said, I'm a father, I'm a mother, look at me, watch me, be imitators of me. And the Thessalonians watched and they learned. As a child, my daughter Paige picked up a great many things from me. Our personalities are very similar. She does a lot of things the way I do them slash did them. In fact, one might say that she was self-consciously trying to imitate me, if you didn't know better. She doesn't really self-consciously imitate me, but my behavior patterns are buried deep in her psyche. I can remember when she was maybe three or four years old, She was pulling something out of the bottom drawer of the dresser. She pulled it out and she got ready to close it. She contorted her body in a certain way and she took her foot and she closed the dresser drawer with her foot. Now, she could have just pushed the drawer closed, but what do I do when the bottom drawer of the dresser is closed? I take my foot and I kick the drawer and get it to close that way. I'm not going to bend all the way down for that. I've got better things to do with my time. But you see, she saw that. I didn't tell her, OK, Paige, now when you close the bottom drawer, you kick it shut. I didn't tell her that. She picked up by herself. I'm wondering by a show of hands how many people here taught their children to be bad. Probably none. And yet, I would bet someone said that your child at one point in their life, maybe only once, but they were bad. And as I think about my own life, I think of how closely I mirror my father's mannerisms, the way in which my father did things. We learn so much by watching. You might learn something by walking, too, but watching is what I meant to say. So Martin Luther said this. He said, as our Heavenly Father has in Christ freely come to our aid, we also ought freely to help our neighbor through our body and its works. And each should become, as it were, a Christ to the others, that we may be Christs to one another. How did the Father come to our aid? Incarnation. If you're a carnivore and are carnivorous, you eat meat. If you went to Spain and you said, I want chili con carne, what are you asking for? Chili with meat, right? Don't say frijoles, say carne. So someone who is incarnational is someone who is in flesh. There's a fleshness to it. Incarnational, the enfleshment of the gospel. Now, we're not quite there yet. We have six months to go before we get there. But you remember this little number. Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord, late in time behold him come, offspring of the virgin's womb, veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity. That little Christmas song, my favorite. Hail the incarnate deity. How did God come to the aid of broken and bent people? Incarnation. How did the apostles come to the Thessalonians? Incarnation. How does the Bible encourage us to flesh out the gospel? It's right there. The answer is in the question. Incarnation to flesh it out. incarnational ministries, how we change the lives of those around us. Christ veiled in our flesh. Paul said elsewhere, be imitators of me even as I am of Christ Jesus. Of all people, it was Karl Marx who said, philosophers have only interpreted the world differently The point, however, is to change it. And so that first Thessalonians passage tells us, these are the people who have turned the world upside down. How did they do it? They started with the incarnated Godhead, the incarnated deity, Jesus Christ. And they themselves lived in an incarnational fashion so that others caught what they were teaching. Change can be accomplished through incarnational ministry. OK, that's it. And I'm already over. Thank you for being patient, but I have another 20 minutes to go. What do we take away from this in this ever so brief glance of First Thessalonians? First of all, incarnation is about friendship. When Jesus' ministry was almost complete here on earth, he met in a private room, and he engaged in some of the most intimate and explicit teaching he would give. It was to his 12 apostles. Fully one quarter of the Gospel of John has to do with a few hours on Thursday evening. Jim Diller is teaching that on Thursday evenings, this very same passage. But there in that upper room, Jesus said, I no longer call you servants. I have called you friends for everything I have heard from my father I have made known to you. Now suppose if it were me and I was going to start a worldwide ministry and I wanted to reach the world with the gospel, I would have maybe rented some time in the Coliseum. and say, can you just stop with the blood and the lions and the guts and just give me an evening there? Much like maybe Billy Graham would have done. I would have chosen to be born in Rome and gotten some time in that Colosseum. Maybe I would have gone to a little bit more urban environment than Jerusalem. Maybe I would have gone to Rome or Athens or something a little bit more cosmopolitan. Yet Jesus befriended. a group of 12 and proceeded to incarnationally pour his life into the 12. And after three and a half years, he let it go. utilized incarnational ministry. Not only was he incarnated, but he used incarnational ministry. Paul had a ministry of friendship. First Corinthians 10.14, my dear friends, flee idolatry. Second Corinthians 7.1, since we have Those promises, dear friends, 2 Corinthians 12, 19, and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening. Philippians 2, 12, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, Philippians 4, 1, stand firm in the Lord, dear friends. Peter picked up on the same theme. Dear friends, I urge you. First Peter 4.12, dear friends, do not be surprised. The Apostle John, not surprisingly, joined in. First John 2.7, dear friends, I'm not writing you a new commandment. Seven other times did John use that construction of dear friends. Jude. used that same construction three times. An incarnational ministry is a personal ministry, a mentoring ministry, a ministry of friendship and relationship. It's modeled after Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, and Jude. It is the master's plan of evangelizing the world. First. Second, incarnation is costly. For Jesus, incarnation was costly in two senses. First of all, his birth. Jesus, in one sense, is not like us. We're created. Jesus is eternal. His throne was in glory. His throne now is in glory. So in that sense, Jesus' incarnation was a bit of a parenthesis. For Jesus to be incarnated, it cost him for a time his glorious throne. He left his throne in glory in order to become what? A baby who needed his diapers changed, who couldn't even feed himself. It cost Jesus glory to become a human being. Instead of being the righteous judge, he was judged righteously. It cost him in his birth. It also cost him in his death. John 15 verse 13, no greater love has any man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. For Jesus, the ultimate act of friendship was the ultimate act. Incarnational ministry for us as a ministry, as a church, will cost us also. It takes resources, having a friend come over for dinner, sitting with someone so that they're not uncomfortable in church, using God-given skills to help plug holes in other people's lives. In 1973, a young man who was really not a very bright person, and he had limited talents, but he had a load of unfounded self-confidence. He went a long way from home to start a life for himself, and then his confidence wavered and his world began to crumble when another man, who lived a few doors down, brought him a Bible and got up early six days a week to read the Bible with him. this floundering young man, and of course that floundering young man was me. I'm a product of an incarnational ministry, and I see its value in reaching and changing a bent and broken world. Those New Horizons kids are the product of an incarnational ministry where people are modeling their lives in front of them by tutoring them and caring for them. Those kids will understand as they grow about being incarnational. Third and final takeaway. Remember we talked about the pearl of great price. We talked about the gospel being that pearl of great price, that field with the treasure. Well, there's something more about that. Because you see, you are the pearl of great price. And you are the field. And God gave everything. God gave what he valued the most to redeem and keep that pearl of great price. Would you pray with me? God, thank you that we were that pearl of great price, that you saw our value bent though we were, broken though we were. You came to us in Christ. You paid a heavy price so that we might be redeemed. And you bought us out of our brokenness and our bentness because of your great love for us. Thank you, God, for that great love. Thank you for the ministry of incarnation that my guests affected one way or another, most everybody here in this room, so that now here we are, incarnational, looking for others with whom we can perpetuate the gospel, which is your big deal. Hear us, God, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.