The word of god at work in you

On Thursday afternoon I listened to Bud Burk’s sermon on prayer from last week. I was deeply moved. Christ went to Gethsemane and the cross so that I might be able to pray. Access to God in Jesus’s name was dearly bought.

My assignment today is to do for the Bible what Bud did for prayer. Our custom in prayer week each year is to sandwich the week with a message on prayer and a message on the word of God. Because the two are so intimately related in the Bible and in Christian experience.

• The psalmist prays, “Incline my heart to your testimonies” (Psalm 119:36). He prays that he would want to read and meditate on God’s word. Prayer and the word.

• He prays, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). He prays that he would see wonders in the Scripture. Prayer and the word.

• Paul says, “Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17–18). Take the word praying. Prayer and the word.

• He says, “Pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored” (2 Thessalonians 3:1). Pray that the word would break through and triumph. Prayer and the word.

• And the apostles said that they should “devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). Prayer and the word.

“We believe that God has spoken in history and the Bible is the authoritative deposit of that word for all time.”

So we sandwich prayer week with messages on prayer and the word around prayer week because the Bible puts them together so closely, and because we believe this juxtaposition is the key to living the Christian life. That is what I will try to show today with illustrations of how this actually works. The text we will build on is 1 Thessalonians 2: 13–14:

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea.

1. God has spoken.

Verse 13b: “You received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God.” So twice he calls his communication the “word of God.” This is not merely the word of man. Paul is speaking. But it is the word of God. God has spoken and is now speaking through Paul.

We believe that God has spoken in history, and that by inspiration, the Bible is the authoritative deposit of that word for all time.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16–17)

2. His word comes to us in human words.

In the middle of verse 13, Paul says, “You received the word of God, which you heard from us.” You heard God’s word from us. We are human. God is divine. We are speaking on his behalf. His word is heard in human words.

Christ had appointed apostles who would be his authoritative spokesmen. He teaches and guides and inspires them (and a band of brothers close to them) and they speak his word on his behalf with his authority.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:13, “We impart [God’s truth] in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” This is what we have in the New Testament — God’s word mediated to us in the divinely taught words of men. God’s words come to us in human words.

3. The Thessalonians heard the words of Paul.

Verse 13b: “When you received the word of God, which you heard from us. . . .” God spoke, humans gave his word through their words, and the Thessalonians heard that. They heard the sounds. They knew the Greek language. They construed meaning with their minds.

God uses humans to deliver his word, and he delivers it to humans. Human minds hear and understand the word from God, and then another set of human minds receive it from those human mouths and again hear and understand it.

Nothing has been said yet about how the Thessalonians have evaluated the words. Only that they are hearing, and by implication, they are construing. They are trying to make sense of what they hear. That’s what we do when we hear someone speak. So the Thessalonians heard the words of Paul.

4. As they heard, God acted on their minds and hearts.

What did he do? And how do we know this?

What he did was enable them to receive Paul’s words as the word of God. Verse 13b: “When you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God.” That’s what God did. He opened their mind and heart to know that Paul was speaking the word of God, and he gave them the inclination to receive it for what it is, not mere human words, but God’s word.

How do we know God did this? Because at the beginning of verse 13, just before saying that they received his word as the word of God, Paul says, “And we also thank God constantly for this.” For what? “That when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God.”

But why would Paul thank God for this? Why would he thank God that the hearts of the Thessalonians grasped the divine nature of the human word? Why would he thank God that the hearts of the Thessalonians embraced the human words as divine word? The reason is that God enabled them to do this.

It’s the same as when Peter said to Jesus: “You are the Son of God,” and Jesus responded, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). In other words, God enabled Peter to see that the human person of Jesus was more than human. And God enabled the Thessalonians to see that the human words of Paul were more than human.

“We thank God that . . . you accepted our word not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God.” We thank God because God gave you eyes to see the word for what it really is.

If you have welcomed the gospel as God’s word and believed, that’s how it happened to you. God opened your eyes. God inclined your heart. You saw in the words of man, the word of God (see John 8:47; 18:37; 1 John 4:6).

5. The Thessalonians accepted Paul’s word as the word of God.

We’ve said it, but it deserves its own point. Point 4: God acted. Point 5: the result was that the Thessalonians accepted Paul’s word as God’s word.

There is another word for this reception in verse 13: belief, or faith, or trust. “You accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” He is calling them believers now precisely because they accepted his word as God’s word.

So saving faith, involves the work of God, opening the eyes of our hearts (Ephesians 1:18) to see Paul’s message as God’s word and accept it, embrace it, receive it. Faith doesn’t look at the word of God from a distance and pronounce it true. It takes hold of it, receives it, takes it in, embraces it.

“If you have welcomed the gospel, then God opened your eyes. God inclined your heart.”

“As the word of God!” That is, as supremely valuable. Precious. All important. So the Thessalonians accepted, welcomed, received, embraced Paul’s message as the very word of God, as supremely important and precious and valuable in their lives. It was received as a treasure —whose value is only exceeded by God.

6. This word of God was now at work in the Thessalonians.

Verse 13b: “You accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” So God acted to cause them to welcome the word. And now the word itself is living and active in them.

The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

And what specifically was the effect of this working? That’s the last observation.

7. The working of God’s word produced joyful endurance in suffering.

Notice the connection between verses 13 and 14. End of verse 13: “which is at work in you believers. For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews.”

Paul is giving evidence that God’s word is at work in them. And he says that receiving Paul’s word as the word of God had led to suffering. But that by itself would not prove God’s word was at work in them, because they might have responded to their affliction with anger and doubt and unbelief. But they didn’t. How do we know that? Because Paul had already said it clearly, which is why he didn’t need to here. Look at 1 Thessalonians 1:5–6:

Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.

By the Holy Spirit, God had powerfully given them joy in the midst of their affliction. “Our gospel came to you in power and in the Holy Spirit . . . And you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.”

Now when we go back to 1 Thessalonians 2:13–14 we see how God does this. He does it by his word. Verse 13, at the end, “The word of God, which is at work in you believers. For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered. . . .” Indeed you suffer with joy. Joy in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit was giving them joy in suffering by the working of the word in their hearts and minds.

Applying the Text to Your Life

So here is the truth that I draw out of this for living the Christian life: by the work of the Holy Spirit, God defeats temptation (like the temptation to be angry and depressed that you are suffering) by awakening joy through belief in the word of God which is at work in us. And that word is most centrally the good news that Christ died for us so that all the promises of God are Yes in him (2 Corinthians 1:20).

So let’s say the lesson another way now. We live the Christian life, we walk by the Spirit, when the Holy Spirit overcomes our temptations to sin by awaking joy through faith in the blood-bought promises of God that are at work in us. So you see the dynamics at work here: the Holy Spirit, the word of God, faith, and joy. By the Spirit, we trust the promises which bring joy which defeats temptation. And all the while we are praying!

So now let me illustrate how this works. It helps me to have an acronym called APTAT.

A — I admit I can’t in myself do what needs to be done.
P — I pray for God’s help.
T — I trust a particular promise he has given.
A — I act to do whatever God is calling me to do.
T — I thank him for his help when I am done.

So here’s how it works with temptations for specific sins.

The Temptation of Fear

God has called you to do something. You know it’s right, but you’re afraid. What do you do?

You admit honestly and humbly: “I am afraid and I cannot do this by myself.” Then you pray: “O God, grant me courage. Please don’t let me be ruled by fear. Take it away.”

Then you call to mind a specific, tailor-made, blood-bought promise that Christ has guaranteed for you by his blood: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). You trust this promise. You say to God, “I take this promise for myself. I trust you. You are now my help.”

And you act. You act, believing that God, the Holy Spirit, is acting in you by his word through your faith. And when you are done, you bow your head and say, “Thank you. Thank you.”

The Temptation of Covetousness or Greed

You desire something that you don’t need. And the desire grows and starts to be very powerful. You’re losing your contentment in Christ — starting to feel that if you don’t have this, you will be miserable and maybe even give up on God. What do you do?

You admit you can’t beat this. It’s too strong. You need God’s help. Powerful help. Then you pray: “Father, I need your help. Please conquer my covetousness. Take away this craving. Restore my joy and my contentment.”

Then you call to mind a specific tailor-made, blood-bought promise like Hebrews 13:5–6: “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’”

And you trust that promise. You say, “Yes, Lord. Yes. You will never leave me. You will take care of me. You are enough. You are my contentment. I trust you. I believe you.” And you act. You turn away from the idol. And as you turn away from the coveted idol, you thank him. “Thank you, Lord. Thank you.”

The Temptation of Bitterness for Being Wronged

Someone has hurt you very badly. Or perhaps they’ve hurt someone close to you. A huge injustice has been done. You know it was wrong. Everybody knows it was wrong. Efforts at biblical reconciliation have been made. Maybe you made progress, maybe you didn’t. And you find yourself eaten up with recurrent anger and bitterness against the offender. You may even be married to him or her. Or it may be your father or your former boss.

“Call to mind a specific, tailor-made, blood-bought promise that Jesus has guaranteed for you by his blood.”

And you know the bitterness is wrong, but you can’t seem to shake it, because every time you try the sheer injustice of it all rises up with such ugliness you clinch your fist and grit your teeth that this wrong is not being properly punished. Justice is not being done. In fact he or she may not even think they did anything wrong. Life may be going on just fine for them while you deal with the wreckage. What do you do?

You admit: “I can’t shake it, I need help. I am being enslaved by this bitterness. It’s destroying me, and no one else.” Then you pray: “Father, I really need your help. I can’t stop feeling rage at this person. Help me. Please take it away.”

Then you call to mind a specific, tailor-made, blood bought (and that is especially relevant here, because Jesus bled instead of being bitter) promise, like Romans 12:19, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”

And you trust this promise: He will repay. He will repay. Vengeance belongs to him and he will see to it that perfect justice is done for every sin against me, indeed every sin in the universe. He will deal with it, either in hell or on the cross. I don’t need to carry this cause anymore. I can hand it over to him who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23). And I do that now. “I trust you, Father, to settle this matter perfectly. I trust you.”

And then you act. You get rid of the reminders you’ve been using. You don’t go to the brooding places. You burn the letters you’ve been simmering over. You stop rehearsing all the scenarios of vengeance. When they come up in your head you say, No, and turn to the word of Christ, the cross, the promises, the judgment.

And you look up to God, your merciful Father, and thank him for being a perfectly holy and righteous judge who lifts the deadly burden of vengeance from our back.

So I commend it to you: APTAT — admit, pray, trust, act, thank. I think this is what it means to walk by the Spirit. To walk by faith. I think this is what it means for the word of God to be at work in those who believe.

And I pray I will be able to look back on 2012 with you and say,

I thank God constantly that all year long you received the word of God, which you read in your Bible and which you heard from me; and that you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe, to set you free.

New American Standard Bible Copyright ©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org

Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.

Psalm 1:1-3

Prayer

Dear Lord, as I think about my work, I want to be like that tree in Psalm 1.

• I want to yield fruit in season.
• I don’t want my leaves to wither.
• I yearn to prosper in whatever I do in my work.

You have made me to be fruitful, Lord. So my yearning is part of my God-given DNA. That I want my life to matter – yes, my work to matter – is a result of how you have created me. Plus, I am your handiwork, created anew in Christ Jesus for good works that you’ve prepared for me (Eph 2:10). I want to do these works in all of life, including the part of life I call “my work.”

Help me, I pray, to be a tree planted by streams of water.

• May my roots grow deeply into your truth and love.
• May I take time each day to meditate on Scripture, so it might inform and inspire my work.

Even as I’m doing my job, focusing on the tasks before me, may your Word be alive within me: guiding, encouraging, nourishing, empowering, and helping me to be fruitful in all things.

To you be all the glory in my work today! Amen.

Ponder Throughout the Day

Meditating on God’s Word will help you to be fruitful in your work.

For Further Reflection:

Read all of Psalm 1, paying attention to what the Spirit of God is stirring up in your heart, especially in relationship to your work. Talk with God about what you are thinking and feeling.

For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. — Ephesians 2:10

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This prayer is part of a collection: 52 Workday Prayers: Learn from the Psalms How to Pray through Your Work. To purchase this devotional and small group guide, visit the De Pree Center store.

Last updated Jan 28, 2020

Paul continues to give further elements that contributed to the Transformation of the lives of these Thessalonian Christians. He says, it is their view of God’s word that made the difference.

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God 2 Thessalonians 2:13

Then he adds this interesting comment about the word of God in their lives

Which is indeed at work in you who believe.

Paul says, the word of God, which these Thessalonians received, was at work in their lives. In order to understand what the Apostle means by this statement, we need to know a few things about God’s word. Here are a few verses that will help us.

God’s word is powerful

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.Hebrews 4:12

God’s word is able to do many things to build us spiritually

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

God’s word has a purpose to accomplish in our lives

As the rain and the snow
 come down from heaven, 
and do not return to it
 without watering the earth
 and making it bud and flourish, 
 so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: 
 It will not return to me empty,
 but will accomplish what I desire
 and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11

This is what God can do with his word in our lives

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. John 17:17

No wonder these Thessalonian Christians became a model for all believers in their region and beyond. God’s word produced in them what we have seen in the preceding passages.

APPLICATION:         

1.     Is God’s word at work in your life today?

a.      If so, how do you know that it is at work in you?

b.     What is God’s word doing in your life today?

2.     But God’s word cannot work in your life if you do not have God’s word in you. Therefore, a more relevant question is this; do you have God’s word in you? The only way to have God’s word in your life is by reading it, memorizing, studying, meditating on it and of course listening as it is taught. Have you been reading God’s word?

3.     If you already have God’s word in your life, then, the question is this; are you responding to God’s word?

4.     Remember the conviction of the Holy Spirit we learned about? The Holy Spirit uses God’s word, which is already in you to bring relevant conviction, related to what God’s word says. It can be towards repentance, warning to run away from sin, or to guide us in doing God’s will.

5.     So what is God’s word doing in your life today? What kind of conviction is the Holy Spirit convicting you to do?

For the word of God is alive and active.

Sharper than any double-edged sword,

It penetrates even to dividing soul

And spirit, joints and marrow;

It judges the thoughts

And attitudes of

The heart.

Hebrews 4:12

So

Is The Word Of God At Work In You?

Pastor Shadrack Ruto

1 Thessalonians 2:13–20

Welcome to this study of 1 Thessalonians 2:13–20. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with these verses.

“Did you know that First Thessalonians is possibly the oldest piece of literature in the New Testament, written about twenty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus? The Gospels, describing the life of Jesus, were written a decade or more later, to preserve the stories the disciples had told” (How to Get Into The Bible by Stephen M. Miller).

Probably all of us know that Jesus died on a cruel cross to make spiritual salvation possible. Salvation from sin, a gift given to sinners, is surely the greatest present we can imagine. Paul confirms this and many other eternal truths as he wrote to the Thessalonians and by extension, to all of us today.

Consider the following:

1) Paul was constantly thankful to God for each of these brethren – who had heard the Gospel from him and “accepted it, not as the word of men, but …the word of God” (2:13). This is the inherent claim of all scripture, which Paul will explain in another place is “given by the inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). It is full, final and complete…nothing more is needed.

2) Paul informs the church at Thessalonica that their endurance in the face of persecution had been preceded by the saints in Judea (2:14a). They were imitating the Judean churches. Those who imitate godly behaviour are applauded in scripture (I Thess 1:6–10) Christian living can be imitated, and when it is, it is pleasing to God. Even though Jesus paid the full price for our sins, we may be called upon to share in his suffering through persecution.

The guidance that we receive from God’s word is often all that keeps us from condemnation in this life and certainly in the life to come. As John Bradford concluded (in the mid 16^th century), while observing a group of prisoners being led to execution… that “there but for the grace of God go I”

When we hear or meet a person who is lost in sin, it behooves all of us to reach out to help. That is what Jesus did and wishes to do again through us.

3) The decision to follow Jesus as had the church in Judea had caused the brothers and sisters from Thessalonica to suffer in a similar fashion Jesus (2:14b). We are reminded that this present world often punishes good and rewards evil. And while this is far from ideal, it is the cost of following the Galilean carpenter – a cost that all believers are encouraged to count in advance.

The decision to follow Jesus is a decision to accept persecution. Knowing this in advance strengthens us for ‘hard times’ when they come.

4) It was persecution that cut Paul’s first visit to Thessalonica short. He was forced to minister to them through his mission team and the written word. While he was with them , he set an example of personal industry and sacrificial living. He reminded them of this when he wrote: “For you recall brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God” (I Thessalonians 2:9).

Paul was willing to pay any price necessary in order to share the gospel (2:9). As he would later remind the Ephesian elders, he did not fail to proclaim the ‘full counsel of God’. (Acts 20:19-20). He did not neglect to share anything that they needed to know about God’s plan of salvation, acceptable worship and daily Christian living. Elements of these may be gleaned from I Cor 15:1-6

On a personal note, I was recently asked to talk to a young lady regarding the topic of water baptism. While she thought I would discuss water and immersion, etc., it seemed wise to me to delay a discussion of those steps, explaining first of all what Jesus did for us; what He requires of us; what baptism includes and how these all fit together. This person followed these spiritual guidelines of the Bible and the rest is history.

Conclusion

Paul called upon the church at Thessalonica to remember both his way of life and the message of salvation. They served as witnesses along with God Himself, of his blameless conduct and faithful ministry. (2:10) This allowed Paul to exhort and implore like a father, to follow his good example. (2:11). In so doing, they would know how to walk in manner worthy of God (2:12).

For This Reason

“We”, meaning Paul or Paul and his companions, always thanked God for the opportunity to preach the word to them. This gospel message was and is not difficult to learn and repeat. We need to commit it to memory and to live by it. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, FOR OUR SINS.” is the heart of the gospel. It is that simple! Read 1 Corinthians 15:1–6.

Truly “Jesus paid a debt He did not owe, and we all owed a debt we could not pay, so we needed someone to wash our sins away.” They received the Word, “Not as the word of men but for what it really is, the word of God!”

What Jesus did, he did for the benefit of the whole world. When God’s word is allowed to do it’s work, it brings men and women to salvation. It is up to us, to trust and obey, for there is no other way. Jesus Himself is “the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me!” (John 14:6).

Beamsville, Ontario