According to the Scriptures

Guest (Male): Pastor Damian Kyle says it's always a great idea to test all things by the word of God.

Damian Kyle: Whether we're in a academic setting, in a classroom, or on the internet, or we're watching television, or we're listening to music, or we're listening to a podcast, or even concerning the worship songs that we that we sing. Test everything anyone like me says to you from a pulpit while the Bible is being taught and where someone like me is saying I am representing God in the teaching of of his word here this morning. And then after it's passed that test of of God's word, then it can have a place in my thinking.

Guest (Male): We're winding down our study in 1 Thessalonians here on according to the scriptures with a closer look at chapter 5 as we continue our series while we wait. The epistle ends with a series of exhortations like don't despise prophecies, test all things, hold fast to what is good, abstain from every form of evil. Here now to unpack all of that for us as we hear more about Christian living in anticipation of Jesus's return. Here's Pastor Damian.

Damian Kyle: He goes on to say do not despise prophecies in verse 20. I like it in the NIV where the NIV says do not treat prophecies with contempt. And so prophecies can be communicated by the Holy Spirit to a church through someone who holds an office within the body of Christ of either a prophet or a prophetess. Those things are real for today. And or sometimes a prophecy will be revealed to an individual Christian or to a church as a whole through an individual Christian operating with a gift of prophecy through their lives. And so prophecy is basically I like how one man put it.

He said essentially the prophet is someone who could say thus saith the Lord. And then what follows actually is of the Lord. And so speaking on behalf of God and the message will be edification, exhortation, or comfort. It will build people up, it will stir people up, it will lift people up by virtue of whatever is needed. I think that very often in our culture we contend to think of prophecies much more narrow than the Bible views and speaks about prophecies. When we talk about prophecies, typically in our culture, we are thinking about something where someone is foretelling the future.

Now God's prophecies can have an element of that, but it isn't exclusively that. So we think of prophecies as foretelling, but it also has an element of telling forth. So it isn't always speaking about the future. It can be something God wants to speak to us about our lives right now. So when you read the prophets in the Old Testament and you'll see that an awful lot of what they have to say is they prophesy has to do with the future, what's going to happen in the coming days in their period in human history or at the end of the age.

But it isn't exclusively that. A huge amount of prophecy is the prophet speaking to the children of Israel about their lives right now and what needs to be changed and what they need to do. And so the gift of prophecy covers all of those bases. And prophecy remains a legitimate means by which God communicates to the church and to individual Christians. And so we dare not cut off any means of communication that God has chosen to communicate to us as members of the body of Christ. Anything where he wants to communicate to us we want to hear.

So someone might wonder here well how in the world is it that what does it mean to despise prophecies? What are some of the reasons that a Christian might despise or or treat even the idea of a prophecy with contempt? I think one of the ways is if a Christian has witnessed the abuse of the gift of prophecy or the abuse of spiritual gifts as a whole and in kind of making a circus of spiritual gifts instead of them being addressed and expressed in a decently in an order in a local church. And it just turns into chaos that would later happen in the church at Corinth and Paul would address it there.

Happens in many churches yet today. And when people see that if they're of a little more conservative nature and more biblical nature, they then that can cause them to neglect or ignore spiritual gifts entirely. They will look at them and say the whole thing looks like madness to me. Or at the very least it looks like it requires an awful lot of effort to keep this stuff well directed. And so if I never hear another prophecy the rest of my life, it couldn't be too soon. And if you don't think there are people that have been through exactly that, then you have a met them yet.

But there's plenty of them. And yet for all of the baggage and all of the challenges associated with spiritual gifts and with prophecy, we are not at all to treat that means of communication with contempt or to despise them. It would be just another way to grieve the Holy Spirit if we did. Now he tells us to test all things and hold fast to what is good. So that applies certainly to prophecies. So somebody prophesies whether to you individually, I think the Lord wants you to know this or prophesies more broadly in a church kind of of setting then just because a person begins something with I believe the Lord wants me to say this to you or thus saith the Lord, it doesn't mean that we automatically accept what is said at face value.

It has to be tested. And and that's the context of this. It isn't the limit to what he's talking about here, but all prophecies have to be tested. They have to be tested by the word of God chiefly. Does this match the word of God? If it violates the word of God, then we're not talking about a prophecy that comes from God. He doesn't contradict himself. It's also good to look at the Christian character of the person who is making the prophecy. Are they a person whose walk is consistent? Is their walk one that is holy?

Do they look like an instrument? Not perfect, but do they look like a serious Christian that God would use them to communicate to a church or to other Christians or an individual Christian? Additionally, these prophecies were exercised in a in a church setting at at Corinth for instance. Paul called the elders of the church to then test those prophecies by the word of God. But then God also gives and I'm not going to get bogged down on this, but he also gives within a church body those with a gift of discerning of spirits to know whether this is actually come from God or this is an imagination or a product of somebody's heart.

For instance, somebody can get up and they can say thus saith the Lord and you say everything that he prophesied right there, it is in complete alignment with what the Bible teaches. Doesn't violate the Bible at all. And yet the product of the prophecy is that this member of the church is frustrated over how loud the sound is in this room or whatever other complaint they might have about the church and they get up and then they prophesy against that or whatever it might be. And it 's a prophecy out of their own heart. Sometimes people will want to shape up the body or shape up other Christians and it's really bothering them and they don't know that it's simply their flesh.

But they'll get up and they'll speak in the name of the Lord. And discerning of spirits reveals what spirit is behind what has been spoken and and will expose that kind of misuse related to the gift of prophecy. Also if a prophecy is given and it doesn't come to pass, then it's certainly a false prophecy. But you notice that Paul's exhortation here in terms of testing all things, holding fast to what is good, it's not limited to spiritual gifts. He says all things. And so everything in life, every communication that comes my way in life is to be tested.

And only what passes this test is then to be allowed to safely become a part of my life. And so how how do we test it? There's nothing neutral in this world. The devil is not neutral in this world. God is not neutral in this world. There's an agenda attached to everything. Now some agendas have higher stakes associated with them than other agendas. But if you think you're hearing anything that is just pure I mean with the idea of having no agenda, then you're mistaken. And so the importance of listening to things and then testing them and only letting what passes that test then to stay recognizes safe to stay in our heart.

So whether we're in a academic setting, in a classroom, or on the internet, or we're watching television, or we're listening to music, or we're listening to a podcast, or even concerning the worship songs that we that we sing. Lots of worship songs are written and we we love the good intent behind all of them. But every once in a while you know get a worship song and it's got a I like that, you know. But two lines in it are incorrect related to the Bible. And so you say well we got to let that one go.

We can't let that. That's not what that's not what the Bible teaches about God. And that's not a cause for worshipping him. And so you let that go. And by all means test everything anyone like me says to you from a pulpit while the Bible is being taught and where someone like me is saying I am representing God in the teaching of of his word here this morning. And then after it's passed that test of of God's word, then it can have a place in my thinking. He says further in verse 22 that we're to abstain from every form of evil.

Abstain from every form of evil. 1 2 3 4 5 6 New King James, those are six words and this little exhortation that he gives us. And it hardly needs any elaboration, I think. So I I won't say this to you, but I'll say it to myself, okay? Because I can offend you, you can offend me and but I find it very difficult to offend myself. This is one of the nice things about quoting scripture to yourself or exhorting yourself. So who are you going to fight with? So abstain from every form of evil. So I look at that word every.

I don't need to see it in the Greek. It means every. Damian, it means every. And then I look at evil. Okay, define evil. That's not a bad sign. That's a bad sign if somebody starts right there. So I know well I know what evil is. I know what evil is. In the NIV it says avoid every kind of evil. I like that. Abstain is kind of brings images of lent to me. Philip says steer clear of evil in every form. The Amplified Bible abstain from every form of evil, withdraw and keep away from it.

So we don't need an elaboration on this. We just need to take a moment this morning and just to allow that exhortation to impact our lives. So Paul had enough experience with Christians. He's inspired by the Spirit to know that when he includes this in the letter, it's not going to fall on deaf ears. It will need to be heard by some number of people who are not avoiding the practice of evil. And so this is an opportunity this morning. Just allow that that exhortation to search our lives and and that's Paul's intention. And then you notice he closes his closing prayer for them in verses 23 and 24.

You might wonder when I was a new Christian, it wasn't just a new Christian. If if anybody prays for me, they come up, they lay hands on me and they pray for me. I'm very interested in what they're going to pray for me. But imagine being in a meeting where you have the ability for the apostle Paul, you think oh what it would have been like to have the apostle Paul lay hands on me and then pray for me. And here we're given an indication of what he might pray for you personally if if that if that you had had that chance.

He says first that the God of peace himself will sanctify you completely. That is that God would continue his work of making our lives holy, making our lives more and more Christlike, and that we would allow him to do that in our lives. And so am I cooperating with this sanctifying work of God in our lives to continue to make us more and more holy, not during the first five years of our Christian life or the first six months of our Christian life, but all the way through our Christian life until we see the Lord.

And or am I resisting that? And Paul declares here that this this call for that sanctification to continue in their life and our lives. He says second of verse 23 that their whole spirit, soul, and body may be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ that our the work of God's sanctification in our lives to make us more and more like Christ, to grow spiritually all the days of our life that that work would be complete. It would be inside, outside, up and down so as to be found blameless at the rapture of the church.

Now blameless doesn't mean that we're going to be perfect as Christians because we're not going to be perfect. We're going to sin regularly, hopefully not deliberately, but we will fall short of perfection continually. But blameless carries the idea that when the rapture of the church occurs, we will not be found living in deliberate sin. We could be blamed for that and that to be blameless in terms of the deliberate practice of sin. Again as we've got the case with all five chapters here in the in 1 Thessalonians, each one of them ends with a reminder that Jesus is coming back to rapture his church and and then speaking of the influence of that coming rapture upon us to be one of sanctification and and it it's to have to be an influence for us living a life of holiness.

And then 30 says in verse 24 he who is calls you is faithful who also will do it. And it's just a wonderful encouragement that the work of God's sanctification that he's begun in his life he's going to bring to completion. So in terms of exhortations when we're teaching these or we're studying these in the Bible, most often we address and Paul has done it here, we address exhortations and we direct them in a teaching like this toward anyone, not naming names. We don't know anybody's heart. I don't. But to direct the exhortation toward anyone who is living in violation of the exhortation.

But that isn't everyone in the room. We can come to think that all Christians are living their lives every single day resisting God's work of sanctification in their lives and that making us holies like pulling teeth. And that's not the case for I don't know what percentage of the body of Christ. So you have this whole section of the body of Christ that wants that sanctification in their lives. They want to become like Christ and they say God do it as fast as you can, as thoroughly as you can, up one side and down the other, and inside and out.

I don't want to be the person that I was. And here you have an encouragement to that person that God is going to do that. He's going to accomplish that and and bring that work to full completion. Philippians chapter 1 verse 6 being confident, Paul writes of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Christ Jesus. And then he concludes in verses 25 to 28 he requests prayer them to pray for him in in verse 25. One of the characteristics of the apostle Paul is he's given to us in the scriptures is that he wanted to be on every prayer list he could possibly find himself on.

When a person asks for prayer in their lives and the way that the apostle Paul consistently did, it is an indication that that that person understands the power and the importance of prayer. And it also reflects upon the fact that that person understands that apart from God I can do nothing. And so at least out of those two things he said I want as many people praying for me as I can possibly have praying for me. And it encourages us. Maybe you you might be hesitant to ask people for prayer. Paul had no hesitancy at all.

Or to come up to a person or to come up after a service or to wherever it might be and say would you pray for me? Would you add me to your prayer list related to this issue in my life? And and if and if that has been something that isn't a part of your Christian life and something you rarely do or never do, and why not begin that practice in your life today? Get on as many prayer lists as you can, ask as many people to pray for you as you can. He then calls and this really doesn't need any teaching.

We just need everybody to stand and we'll just practice it here in verse 26 to greet the brethren with a holy kiss. This is one thing I'm glad kind of went by the wayside. You know there are people struggle with hugs and handshakes. I don't know what would happen to if if this was still going on. But there was a good thing behind it in the in the ancient world and in the early church within the Roman Empire. Ultimately they're going to end up against the entire they're going to be persecuted by the entire Roman Empire.

All of the power of the Roman Empire against them. So they got to have one place that they come together that values them, treats them as a family member, recognizes them as a family member, can be warmly greeted by everyone that's in that environment. And the church was that place for people. And so that would be this a physical kind of a communication. We're family here. We're in this together. And of course the men would kiss only men on the cheek and women would likewise only kiss women. Some of us are a little more comfortable with Philip's translation of this.

It's really an interpretation of it to capture our culture. He puts it give a handshake all around among the brotherhood so that you sweatless bullets with that that one. Verse 27 Paul's charge that this letter would be read to everyone in the congregation. Didn't want the leadership to censor it or just to read certain parts of it. Come when the whole church is together, read this to everyone. He didn't want the parts of the letter that was going to clearly step on some people's toes when it was read in the congregation for them not to hear that or to be protected from that and just as we have done on this series.

And then finally Paul commended them to the grace of God in verse 28. So he begins the letter with grace and he ends the letter in commending them to God's grace. God's grace means his unmerited favor. May you have the Christian life that God has for you and all of it absolutely undeserved. May you know his continual unmerited favor and and the undeserved favor in your life. And I think it's one of the nice things about growing older in time and title as a Christian is our how we recognize that our Christian lives are from beginning to end an expression of his grace.

And not only his salvation and the salvation that it was given to us as a gift on the basis of his grace, but that his grace toward us abounds all the way through to this very moment in our lives. And we look at our lives as Christians. And when we look, we declare it to be what is a phrase that's used repeatedly in in the New Testament. Our lives are to the praise of the glory of his grace. There is no other explanation for it. And Paul wants us to be strong in the grace even when he steps on our toes like maybe he did this morning or he did in the course of our series here.

God's grace is greater than all of our sins. And we are objects and we are evidences of how grace graceful he is.

Guest (Male): You know what a fitting note to end 1 Thessalonians with, the grace of God. Today on according to the scriptures we listened in to part two of Pastor Damian's study called Body Life. You can hear it again at accordingtothescriptures.com or oneplace.com. If you'd like to obtain this series called while we wait on CD, well give us a call at 209-545-5530. Again reach out to us by phone at 209-545-5530. It would be our honor to pray for you. So keep those prayer requests coming. Leave a comment or prayer request at accordingtothescriptures.com or you can email us at atts at ccmodesto.com.

Again that's atts at ccmodesto.com. Your financial support is greatly appreciated and helps us bring Pastor Damian's messages to the radio on stations like this one all across the nation. If you'd like to make a donation to the ministry, please visit accordingtothescriptures.com. Next time on according to the scriptures we'll hear about the righteous judgment of God when Pastor Damian Kyle takes us into 2 Thessalonians. This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Modesto.