It's easy for us to pick up a hymn-o-lan, sing a hymn, isn't it?
Without knowing the story, sometimes the pain out of which those words have flowed.
I'm grateful for this understanding that we have been given this morning regarding the
hymn, More Love to Thee.
It helps remind us that there are many people just like Elizabeth Prentice who are today
in some kind of pain.
Physical pain, emotional pain, spiritual pain.
And I hope that that reminder causes us to want to be the kind of a person who really
cares.
Would you open your Bible, please, to 1 Thessalonians, the second chapter.
Our text today begins in verse 17.
But we, brethren, having been bereft of you for a short while, in person, not in spirit,
were all the more eager with great desire to see your face.
For we wanted to come to you, I Paul, more than once, and yet Satan thwarted us.
For who is our hope or joy or crown of exaltation?
Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?
For you are our glory and joy.
People who care are desperately needed in our world.
My hope is that each one of us will determine as we leave this morning to be that kind of
person, someone who is able to feel the hopes and the hurts of others.
The apostle Paul, with his characteristic transparency in these brief words, shares
with us three potential experiences of someone who cares.
The first is the experience of bereavement.
We have seen that dramatized for us a few moments ago.
The apostle says, brethren, we were bereft of you for a short while.
That is a very strong word, bereft.
It means to be left as an orphan.
It means to be left desolate or deprived of one that you loved.
It is a deeply emotional word.
It is the kind of word that would describe how Elizabeth felt upon the loss of her child.
That is how the apostle Paul felt as he was forced to leave the city of Thessalonica.
You remember the story, don't you?
While he was ministering in the city after having been there for less than a month, it
would seem, there was a city-wide riot that was led by Jewish opponents of the gospel.
Failing to find Paul that they might persecute him, they dragged Jason, one of the believers,
before the city authorities.
The city authorities, in order to try to quiet the situation, demanded of Jason a peace bond
which he had to pay.
And then they released him.
That night, it says in Acts chapter 17, that the brethren immediately sent Paul away by
night to Berea.
He was sent on this journey of some 50 miles in order that he might escape with his life.
Now while one might feel some relief in having escaped a riot, the apostle Paul had another
emotion.
He felt that he had been orphaned.
He felt that those that he loved so dearly had been taken away from him.
Ties had developed quickly, as they do between those who trust the Lord Jesus Christ.
And though he had led them to faith in Christ and had only known them for a matter of weeks,
still there was a deep bond that had been forged between Paul and the believers that
he writes this letter to.
His being torn away from them was like bereavement.
If you and I dare to allow ourselves to care for someone else, we too face the potential
experience of suffering loss.
We may lose that person that we've grown to care for because of a move, perhaps because
of death.
There's another way that we might lose.
If we dare to care for someone else and reach out our hand to them, we might suffer rejection.
Or we may suffer the loss of our energy or even money that we have invested in the needs
of that other person.
When you and I dare to care, we too may suffer loss, albeit a different kind of loss than
Paul knew.
Bereavement hurts.
Most of us have lost someone or something precious to us.
And having experienced that loss, we do not rush into an experience where we might have
it again.
Our natural tendency is to withdraw ourselves.
But aren't you glad God doesn't do that?
The Bible says that God cares for us, and even though God has been grieved many times
by each one of us in our responses to him, he nonetheless time and time again reaches
out to us in our needs because he cares for us.
And you and I are called upon to be a caring people.
A second experience that often comes along with caring is the experience of burden.
You see that in Paul's language.
He says, we were bereft of you for a short time in person, not in spirit, and we're all
the more eager with great desire to see your face.
There was burden in the heart of the apostle Paul.
There was a fervency there that he might get back to these people whom he felt needed him.
It was with great desire.
Actually the word there is great lust.
Paul is not using it here in any kind of an evil sense, but only in the sense of a controlling
passion.
His heart was filled with burden for these people because he cared for them.
He wanted their best.
He wanted to be there when they needed him.
He wanted to lift them up.
He wanted to help them face the persecution that was coming strongly against them.
He was burdened.
Some of us say, yeah, I want to care, but I can't afford to be burdened right now.
If that's our response, we're not really very serious about caring.
There is sometimes the burden of the needs of others.
To be one who cares means to be willing to bear the hurts, the heartaches, the tears
of someone else.
The apostle Paul carried these people in his heart, and though he was separated by miles,
he felt close to them.
That's what he means by in person, not in spirit.
Literally, he says in face, but not in heart.
He couldn't see their faces, but his heart was just beating with theirs.
Indeed, the strings that bind our hearts with those who need us can carry heavy loads.
The story is told about a soldier who returned from battle.
Not having seen his parents since he went away to war, he called them on the telephone
to let them know he had arrived in the States.
And he asked his parents if he could bring a buddy of his home with him.
You see, Mom, my friend was pretty badly wounded in battle.
He has only one leg, one arm, and one eye.
His mother paused for a long time and then said grudgingly, well, son, of course your
friend can come and stay with us for a little while.
But it was obvious that her voice carried another message, and that was that she didn't
feel that she could afford to be burdened with such a severely handicapped person in
her home.
You may know the rest of the story.
Just two days later, she received a telegram that was sent to her saying that her son had
plunged to his death from a hotel window.
They were grief-stricken.
His body arrived home, and when she went along with her husband to view his body, their son
had only one leg, one arm, and one eye.
If we're going to care for others, it means that we're going to be burdened.
It means that the load that we already have in life is going to be increased and intensified.
But God calls us to be a caring people.
Because it means bearing the burdens of others' battles.
These Thessalonians were going through a tough battle.
Satan was attacking their church by persecution from those around them.
They lived in a hostile world, and many were opposed to what they were seeking to do in
their lives for Christ.
The apostle shared that burden.
In fact, as he tried to get back there, he confesses that more than once he had tried
to do that, and Satan thwarted him.
The word thwart is a colorful word from Paul's day.
It was used in the athletic realm to refer to one who cut in front of another in a race,
to cut in.
And thus to force another person off the path.
It was used in the military world of that day.
And it meant to break through the lines of the enemies.
Or to break up a road so that it would become impassable for the opposing army.
So you see how Paul used this term regarding Satan.
He said, we tried to come back to you, Satan cut in front of us.
He made the road impassable.
He broke through the lines, and we've been unable to fulfill the burden of our heart.
But he tells them about Satan so that they would know that he shares the battle that
they're facing.
It's unclear as to exactly how Satan hindered Paul.
It may have been the Judaizers who were constantly tracking him and opposing him.
Or it may have been of some circumstance that came to him that we know nothing about.
But whatever, Satan was the source of it, and Paul interpreted it that way.
It's interesting that Paul didn't always interpret a hindrance to his plans as from
Satan.
You remember before they entered into Europe, he and his missionary team were heading off
another direction.
And there the Holy Spirit in some means said no and stopped them.
It takes spiritual discernment to understand where the hindrance is coming from.
Sometimes it's the hand of God, sometimes it's the doing of the devil, but it's a burden.
Whatever God allows Satan to hinder you and me in our plans is because God has a higher
and greater purpose in mind.
You say, what could have been greater for Paul than to go back to Thessalonica?
The answer is very simple and obvious if you stop to think about it.
Because he was unable to go there personally, he wrote them a letter, which the Holy Spirit
inspired, which is in the New Testament, which we're studying today.
That was God's greater and higher purpose, that part of his word should be pinned through
Paul at this point in his life.
And so when you feel that Satan has cut in front of you, or when he has torn up the road
of your life so that you can't do what you would love to do, and you're bearing a burden,
remember if God has allowed that for you, he has a greater purpose.
You may not know what it is now.
It's not important that you do, but it is important that you trust God.
There's a third potential experience for someone who cares.
It is the experience of blessing, which the apostle describes in verses 19 and 20.
You and I never give ourselves to others and caring for them without some return coming
to us.
Always, always there is blessing for those who sacrifice on behalf of others.
Despite the trouble that Paul faced because he had gone to Thessalonica and cared for
these people, to him the blessing and delight and satisfaction of having ministered to them
was greater than anything else.
He speaks of them as his hope, his joy, his crown.
He seems to be looking forward to that day when they would all stand in the presence
of the Lord, and he would be able to present them to Jesus Christ.
And he says, in that day you will be my reward, as was pointed out to us last Sunday morning
in Keith's message.
The crown is not necessarily one that we wear on our heads, but it's those that we may present
to Christ.
That is the soul winner's crown.
To have someone or some several that we may present to Jesus.
The apostle Paul was filled with blessing, as he thought to that day.
But he says even now, right now, you are presently our glory and joy.
What he's saying is that people are worth the pain.
Caring may bring its bereavement and its burden, but it's all worth it.
The greatest joy that a person can have in this world is to serve Jesus Christ and others.
That's easy to lose sight of, isn't it?
Sometimes we become so focused on our own problems and our own battles that we forget
the blessing of caring for others.
Charles Swindoll in one of his books says, when we become so intense in fighting our
battles that we become grim, we lose three things.
One is our hope, as we come to believe that we will never make it through the struggle,
we begin to feel defeated.
We also lose our hunger for God's word.
As our joy decreases, our desire to read, study, and believe his truth diminishes.
In the midst of all this, we also lose our sense of humor.
We begin to take ourselves too seriously and fail to take God seriously enough.
Thus, it is imperative that we face our struggles with a joyful hope that no person or thing
can take away from us.
It's wonderful to note how Paul loved people and how he told them so.
Isn't it interesting that he wrote this to them?
When was the last time you said to your sweetheart, that very special person in your life, that
you've written a word of affirmation and joy and delight in sharing the burdens and
the bereavements of life with that one?
Or that friend who's been close to you?
Or that one who has ministered to you in the time of your need, who really cared?
You've written a word just to say thank you.
I want to encourage you to do just that, to write a word.
I was reminded of this sometime during the night last night, and for whatever reason,
I don't know.
The importance of writing to someone.
And especially if that someone is a person that you love deeply.
I shared this with you three years ago when my mother died, that I was thankful that I
had, on at least one occasion, that I can prove, written my deepest thoughts about her
to her.
So that after she passed away and went to be with the Lord, and I asked myself, I wonder
if I ever told her, I could look at a piece of paper that I'd kept a copy of and know
that I had told her those things.
I want to encourage you not only to say it, but to take the time to write it down.
For that person's sake, so that there can be a repetitious reading of it, but also for
your sake in the future.
So that you can know that you said those things that communicated your joy and your delight
and your blessing that came through that other person.
God has called us to be a caring people.
Caring for others will bring a dimension of adventure and excitement to your life.
It provides a catalyst for growth.
Being ingrown and merely self-concerned only leads to smallness of heart and misery.
But to take the time and the energy and whatever it takes to invest in others, ah, that brings
delight in this world and in eternity.
To care about others can bring rejection.
It can bring misunderstanding, yes, you can even be taken advantage of.
But God calls us to risk it.
God calls us to dare to be people who care.
We live in a world that is characterized increasingly by what is called privatization.
There are people in our world today who build walls, and that is a characteristic of the
90s.
People are withdrawing into their own homes, into their own worlds, and building walls
of privacy.
God calls us to be people who build bridges, not walls.
People of caring and compassion.
Who is it that today needs to be cared for by you?
It may be someone closer to you than you think.
It may be someone at work.
It may be someone that you will just by God's appointment meet this afternoon.
But God has called us to be a people who care.
Let's be willing to pay whatever price there may be so that we reach out the hand to someone
who needs the love of Jesus Christ through us in real and tangible ways.
And let's be bridge builders.
Let's bow together.
Father remind us that there are those like Elizabeth who are going through battles, who
are disappointed, who are fearful, who have lost their way, who are crushed beneath loads
they cannot carry alone.
Father, I pray that each of us will realize that there are some like that sitting near
us right now, or with whom we will brush shoulders this morning or speak later today.
Fill us with the Holy Spirit that we may be a caring, compassionate people who reach out
not only to other believers, but also to those who are not a part of the family of God with
the love of Jesus.
And in doing that Lord, may we fulfill in our lives that prayer that was sung earlier.
More love, O Christ, to thee.
More love to thee.
With our heads bowed and just before we go, I wonder how many here would say, God has
touched my heart this morning and I want to be a caring person.
And God helping me, I'm going to be looking for that person or that family that he wants
me to care for in some special way.
I can't care for everybody, but I can care for those that God appoints to me.
Would you just lift your hand and say that I want to be that caring person that God wants
me to be.
Oh, amen.
Father God, as we go from here today, fill us with the Holy Spirit and strengthen us
for your calling in our lives.
May we be like Jesus as we walk through the pilgrimage of this world.
May we show his love.
In his name we pray, amen.
Would you stand together please?
I want to ask you to pray today for the family of Jim Cook.
In the service I received word that his brother was staying with them this weekend and passed
away during the night.
And so please remember to pray for Jim and his family in this time of their bereavement.
God bless you, we're dismissed.