TGFY
Rev. Amy Morgan
October 16, 2011
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace.
We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of people we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place where your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.
Rude customer service representatives. Continued charges after a free trial period expired. Warranties not honored. Credit card interest rates doubled. Botched Botox procedures. Medical malpractice. Bogus promotional deals. Shoddy home repairs. All of these complaints and many more, can be found on the website Customercomplaintdepartment.com.
It’s easy to find things to complain about, isn’t it? In Michigan, the weather is either too hot or too cold. We complain because people drive too fast or too slow. Internet bloggers complain about everything from political missteps to people standing in the wrong line at the grocery check-out.
And the church does its fair share of complaining, too. The conservative church complains that the liberals are ignoring biblical truth. The progressive church complains that the fundamentalist church is ignoring historical truth. People within and around the church complain that the church is irrelevant, hypocritical, and self-serving.
But this is not a contemporary phenomenon. People have complained about the church for centuries. In the early 1700’s, Jonathan Edwards complained that the church was too intellectual. Dietrich Bonheoffer complained that the church was in league with the Nazi regime. Martin Luther nailed 95 complaints about the church to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg.
And the apostle Paul did his fair share of complaining as well. He complained that the Corinthian church quarreled about which leader they were following. He complained because the Galatian church was deserting the gospel by adopting Jewish practices. He complained because the leadership of the Philippian church was divided. He complained because the Colossian church was worshipping the stars.
But then we read Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica. This letter is remarkably devoid of complaint. Throughout the letter, Paul expresses his affection for the church and his desire to return to them. Even in those places where he offers advice for the life of faith, he indicates that the church already knows and does these things. In short, he tells the church, “Keep up the great work!”
Now, maybe this uncharacteristic positivity has to do with the fact that the church in Thessalonica is one of the first Paul founded. Maybe he came away with positive feelings because he was only with the Thessalonian Christians a short time – not long enough for them to start getting on his apostolic nerves.
But the truth is, Paul was hearing from all over how fantastic the Thessalonian church was doing. Not only did he receive a good report from his faithful companion Timothy, but everywhere he goes in the region, he’s hearing about the faith of this Thessalonian church. They’ve become an exemplary congregation. They are practically doing Paul’s job for him because people are hearing and experiencing the good news of Jesus Christ through them.
And so Paul begins his letter to this church, after the usual greetings, by telling them, “Thank God for you.” I’m sure, if Paul thought hard enough, he could have found something to complain about. We can see from his other letters that he is pretty good at complaining. But instead he says, “Thank God for you.” And the rest of the letter continues in that vein.
Paul thanks God for this church because they are living in faith, hope, and love – the trinity of virtues Paul mentions many times in his letters. He thanks God for the Thessalonian church because the message he shared, the good news of Jesus Christ, came to them not just in word, but in the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Thessalonians didn’t just hear what Paul had to say and intellectually agree with his theological viewpoint. They took in God’s word of salvation in Jesus Christ and lived it out. They were empowered into action. They lived in such a radical new way that people around them took notice. They spread the good news around, they “sounded it forth,” as Paul says.
And so Paul says to them, “Thank God for you.”
As I read and studied this text this week, I came to realize that, for me, this church, First Presbyterian, is very much like the church in Thessalonica. I feel such affection for you that I want to be with you. I fret over you when I’m away. I hear great things about you in the community and the presbytery and even around the country. And all I can say is, “Thank God for you.”
This church, unlike so many churches in our denomination, doesn’t just hear God’s word, the good news of Jesus Christ, and intellectually agree with a theological viewpoint. This church lives out that good news, is empowered into action, and lives in such radical new ways that people take notice. We spread the good news around. And so I thank God for you.
I thank God that you volunteer your time and your gifts in a vast number of meaningful ways. From shawl ministry to inclusion ministry, rummage sales and communion preparation, teaching classes to driving people and church, preparing coffee – so important to me – and participating in mission trips, weekly mission with local agencies and visits to our members who can’t make it to church. I thank God for you, for the ways you put God’s word into action.
This church is generous, too. In the midst of economic downturn, you have been fiscally responsible and also lived out your faith in generous giving to the church, to special offerings, to specific needs that arise in the world, to local non-profits, to the deacons, to youth mission work, to the preservation and beautification of this building, which houses so much outstanding ministry. I thank God for you, for your generosity and sacrificial giving that helps ministry flourish here.
I thank God for you because when I meet someone at a park or a t-ball game or a restaurant, and I mention that I’m a pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham, I hear, “Oh! I’ve heard great things about that church.” I thank God for you because you have become an exemplary church in our presbytery and in our denomination, and people want to imitate us, want to know what we’re doing right.
We can all find things to complain about if we try hard enough. And generally, we don’t have to try very hard. But, as I tell my son Dean, we always have a choice between attitude and gratitude. Attitude is how we act when we are on the look-out for something to complain about. Gratitude is how we act when we say, “I thank God for you.”
I want you to try this out by turning to your neighbor on your right and saying, “I thank God for you.” Now turn to your neighbor on your left and say “I thank God for you.” I thank God for you, church.
Paul says in the opening of this letter, and almost all of his letters, “grace to you and peace.” And in the Roman world, peace was a word with a lot of baggage. The slogan of the day was Pax Romana – the peace of Rome brought about by military force and political dominance. And the peace of Christ that Paul greets the churches with is a peace brought about by self-sacrifice and service to others. It’s the peace that comes from saying, “Thank God for you.”
There are things that we need to complain about, church. We need to complain about injustice and oppression and poverty and inequality. We need to complain when we see the church failing to live into the kingdom of God that Christ established.
But before we complain, we need to say, “Thank God for you.” When we complain, we need to say, “Thank God for you.” After we complain, we need to say “Thank God for you.” Because only then will we recognize, as Paul did, how and where God is at work in those things we are complaining about. Whether it’s in political leadership or corporate management, whether it’s in school or at church, God is at work – re-creating a world of justice and peace.
When we say, “Thank God for you,” we not only recognize God’s work in those things we might complain about. We also recognize our own call to action, our call to share in God’s work of re-creating a world of justice and peace. Offering thanks to God in the midst of our struggles, persecutions, and complaints reminds us that our call to service in this world, our ability to be co-workers with God, to be Christ’s body, is a gift, a blessing, something worthy of gratitude.
So this week, I want you to say, “Thank God for you.” Say it to the first person you see each day. Say it to the person who gets on your nerves the most. Say it at work, at school, at church, at home. Because we are people of gratitude, not attitude. We are people who have not just heard God’s word but who live it out, saying, “Thank God for you.” Thank God for you, church. Thank God for you. Amen.
