Latest / The Daily Word / May 12 - Joy in Affliction
Transcript
- Cory Barnes: Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Good wee hours of the night. Whatever time you are joining us. Welcome to the daily word podcast from Lakeshore Christian Fellowship. My name is Corey Barnes. It's my privilege to pastor our Kataba campus. I'm excited to be sitting down with you for another devotion on our daily word podcast, where we're just looking at the New Testament portion of our reading plan that we're joining in together. on as a church family and we're just doing a devotion every day based on that reading and what stood out to us. Today we're jumping into Paul's first letter to the church at Thessalonica. A little bit of background on this letter just to help us have a little bit of context. Paul planted this church in Acts chapter 17. He and Silas and Timothy Spent what what's described in act 17 as three Sabbaths, but we just think of that as roughly roughly a month three weeks a month They're preaching and teaching and they're preaching and teaching it bore fruit So much fruit that that scripture says that some of the Jews and a great multitude of devout Greeks Accepted Jesus now with the traction that Paul was getting some of the Jews That didn't accept Jesus actually got envious of what was happening in the Christian movement. And they actually went to the marketplace and they basically like whipped up a mob that like drove Paul and his companions out of town. we aren't exactly sure how much time passes between the ⁓ mob ⁓ whipping ⁓ up ⁓ and Paul down write letter, it was enough time. that Paul was able to send Timothy back to Thessalonica for him to like get a report and bring it back to Paul. And once Timothy got back, Paul, Silas and Timothy sat down and they co-authored this letter together, encouraging the church at Thessalonica, inspiring them. to live holy chased lives. And we're just seeing the introduction to that letter in this first chapter. Now it's a pretty short chapter, but when we understand that context of how this church was planted and what these believers must have continued ⁓ dealing with, if the church got planted in a mob being whipped up, we can imagine there was probably some continued persecution and issues going on. Once we understand that context, it really makes the verses six through seven of that first chapter really stand out reading for the new King James version. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word and much affliction with joy of the Holy spirit so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe now in this letter, Paul, is saying that the believers received the word in much affliction. He's not super clear about what that affliction was. Now we can understand from the context of Acts chapter 17, it probably has something to do with some, some persecution that was going on, but, but let's be clear. Affliction in in biblical terms. We understand that that all kinds of things actually bring about affliction in our life And it started all the way back in Genesis chapter 3 when Adam and Eve sinned and were cast out of the Garden of Eden Before they had to leave God was explaining the ramifications of their sin to them We often think of this as like the curse of Adam the curse of Eve But one of those things that the Lord highlights and lets them know is that now that sin has entered the world, things are going to get harder. Things are going to get more tense. Things are going to be more challenging. It's by the sweat of your brow that you're going to work the ground to be able to have food. And the ground is going to produce thorns and thistles that you're going to have to contend with. And we can understand that. Yes, that has a lot of farming, a lot of agricultural significance and ramifications, but we can also see that those thorns and those thistles and the sweat of your brow, those are broader and symbolic of the fact that everything in life has challenges, everything that we are trying to continue with to, to, pursue life, liberty and happiness. All of those things have. difficulties that come along with them affliction That come along with them. So whether Paul is specifically referencing the persecution Which which would have been wouldn't have been a small thing for the church Thessalonica like they could have been suffering violence They may have suffered loss of life and martyrdom at the hand of the Roman Empire But regardless of the nature of that affliction what I want us to recognize is that When they received the word with much affliction the believers also received the joy From the holy spirit see biblical joy Isn't what we think it is sometimes just like biblical peace is not what we think it is See we think of joy and we think of peace is like going well like Like if you aren't having any struggles, if you aren't having any outside problems going on, yeah, you have peace. have reason to have joy, but the truth is that biblical joy, biblical peace are not the absence of problems. It's the presence of God in whatever circumstances you may be navigating. So you can be like Jesus was. in a boat in the middle of the sea being tossed to and fro by waves and wind. And you can have so much peace in the middle of that store because of who you are with that you can be asleep in the back of the boat and you can have joy in the middle of affliction. See, it's by being connected to the Holy Spirit that believers who can be experienced a wide range of affliction from being persecuted to all kinds of other things can still experience joy. Galatians five list joy as one of the fruit of having relationship with the Holy Spirit. So if these believers who were being dealing with persecution and who knows what other kinds of affliction they were dealing with, if they could have joy in the midst of that, how much more can you and I with the mundane pressures of living life today? Now I don't want to downplay what you may be going through, but I doubt that any of us have a mob that are trying to Stone us or or spear us with pitchforks and torches, you know I doubt any of us are up against that level of problem in our life But even if we were we could still have Joy, I mean, yes, there is a time. I want to make this clear There's a time for mourning and there's a time for grief But there is also a joy available to us that can keep us going through those seasons So let's talk about application. And this is another pastor Corey famous, like self evaluation and just a conversation to have with myself and just like grade myself. And am I experiencing the joy that these believers experienced? if I'm not, am I remaining close enough to the Lord that I can experience his joy in a way that carries me through the tough things that I'm facing? And here's the thing that I want us to be clear of when we're starting to jump into this application. We don't have to strive and we don't have to fight for joy. All we have to do is draw near to the Lord and he does the rest that that drawing near to him. When we're dealing with affliction, maybe it does look like tears. Maybe it does look like weeping and sobs at the beginning, but God has a way that if we let him, he can turn. our mourning into dancing and he can fill us with joy no matter what we are going through. Let's pray. Father, we just thank you that you are so good that every time we come to your word, you start showing us beautiful things that we can apply to our own lives. Father, I pray that you would fill each and every one of us with your joy. I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Come on, Jesus. We thank you Lord, that we have your joy that we can live and we can walk in and we can be filled by your joy, no matter what we are dealing with. Father, we pray that you would draw us near to you. James tells us that if we draw near to you, you will draw near to us. And I pray that in our closeness with you, as we get right next to you, that your joy would just flow into us and would dry our tears would help us to continue navigating whatever we are navigating and remain faithful and live a life that is holy and consecrated brings glory to your name. We love you Jesus. And we're so thankful for who you are. We praise you and we thank you in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. If this has been a blessing to you, send it to someone. I don't think I've ever ended one of our recordings that way, but Hey, This has been a blessing to you and you know somebody who's going through something just shoot this podcast out to them. Let them take a listen. This is a message that is timeless and is so beautiful for all of us who love Jesus and believe in him. Love you guys. Y'all have a great day. Bye bye.