1 Thessalonians 2:13-20

Have you ever heard of the phrase 'the Passion of Christ?? Maybe you remember it from the Mel Gibson movie that had a similar title.  Perhaps you've heard of the Passion Play at the Rose Bud theatre? The question that sits at the back of our minds however, is what does the Passion of Christ mean or refer to?  The word ?passion? in Acts 1:3, in the King James version, is most often translated as the word 'suffering?. Its? meaning is, 'to feel, or have a sensible experience?. The term 'the Passion of Christ?, refers to the very real feelings that Jesus experienced as our Redeemer and Justifier. But it is not just the suffering of Christ that is the subject, as if the suffering were the main thing that was supposed to capture our attention, the passion of Christ refers directly to the purpose of why He was willing to undergo suffering. The Passion of Christ will refer to His perseverance, His suffering and His accomplishing the purposes of the Father in salvation. I want to lay out a few verses of scripture where this same word for passion is used, which will take us into our topic this morning.

2Cr 1:5 ?For  just as the (PASSION) sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.?

Phillipians 3:10 'that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His (PASSION) suffering, being conformed to His death?

1Pe 4:13 ?But to the degree that you share the (PASSION) sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exaltation.?

It would seem that whatever the experiences and purposes of the Passion of the Christ are, the Passion of the Christian is deeply connected to them. We need to ask ourselves a couple of questions at this point:

1.     Were these verses just intended for the persecuted Church to encourage them on through their suffering?

2.     If these verses are meant for all Christians how do we interpret them, we who are not suffering and may never suffer persecution in this way?      

Hang onto these questions as we read the passage of 1 Thessalonians 2, verses 13 to 20.

I. The Passion of the Christian Comes From the Word of God.

I need to invite you to see this point and to agree with it before we go on. The Thessalonian Christians suffered because ,?WHY? because they received and accepted the preaching of the gospel as the Word of God. They allowed the preaching of the gospel to get to their hearts, and the word then performed its work in those who believed. This brought them into the Passion of the Christian. I suppose that we need to be clear in answering those previous questions about whether these verses just apply to the persecuted church. They do indeed address the persecuted church. Listen to this just released report from Voice of the Martyrs ?one of the most prominent Chinese House Church leaders, Pastor Zhang Rongliang, was arrested on December 1, 2004 ? Zhang is the leader of the Fangcheng Mother Church, Henan, and the leader of the China for Christ Church , which is one of the largest house church networks in China , estimated to have more than 10 million members. At least three house churches at Fangcheng area were raided last week after Zhang's arrest, including the house of Ms. Xiao Min's parents. Xiao Min has been sought by the authorities because of her prolific writing of Chinese worship songs known as ?Canaan Hymns.? She would be like the Fanny Crosby or Brian Doerksen of China .

Yes, these verses are directed to the persecuted church, they probably represent the great majority of the population of Christians on the face of the earth today. But these verses also apply to us here this morning for they come from the same word of God that we have, we too receive and accept and believe and the word performs its work in us. It will lead us into a passion as well, a suffering that is much connected to the suffering of Christ. What might that look like? Consider some of the next verses.

II. The Passion of the Christian is the Reaction of the Darkness. 

Paul tells the Thessalonians that it is at the hands of their own countrymen the great experience of suffering comes, just as the church in Judea experienced it at the hands of their own. It comes because their countrymen  reject Jesus Christ as God, they reject the Scripture as the word of God and ultimately they reject truth. There is an intensity of reaction to truth from darkness, it is threatened by it, even pushed back by it. Darkness, whether it be moral or political is always spiritual. As it speaks to the rules or desires of men it seeks to assert itself as supreme in understanding and sovereign in authority. It is neither, and it hates that truth. The very issue of same sex marriage, an issue that has direct reference to less than 1% of our population, is something that our Prime Minister is willing to loose his government on. That speaks to the intensity of the reaction of darkness. In Pauls? words they ?always fill up the measure of their sins.? What was the main problem with this group? they didn't want to do what God desired, they rejected first one thing, then another and then even another. Rebellion leads to greater and greater unbelief. Unbelief will be responded to by the wrath of God. For the Jews the wrath of God was poured out upon them to the utmost, God hardened their hearts until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Romans 9, 10 and 11 describe Paul's anguish over this very thing, to the point that he concludes in 11:11 'they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.? Be careful about the amount of unbelief you are willing to entertain, as a Christian it is one of the ways that darkness will seek neutralize the passion of the Christian.

III. The Passion of the Christian is for Those Who Are His.

Philippians 3:10 describes the fellowship of His passion or suffering. What is this fellowship all about, for clearly Paul sees it as something great value, of great joy. The fellowship of His suffering has reference to the bond we have in Christ. It is His suffering of becoming man, of being rejected, of being humiliated and spat upon, scourged, nailed and speared and laid down in death for the purposes of Him bearing our sin and for the purposes of conferring His righteousness upon us. I identify with that suffering, I identify with Christ for now I am righteous because of Him. I am part of this fellowship, my suffering for the gospel, my passion,  affirms what he has accomplished and completed. It is not added to but pointed to by my passion. God calls us to look toward those who will be our hope or joy or crown of exaltation, those who when Christ comes again we will earnestly look to see. These may be people you barely know right now, they may people you don't know yet. They are your crown of exaltation, the gospel you preached they accepted and believed as the word of God and it did its work in them. There will be things that hinder you, even Satan, but the eyes of Christ are already upon these ones who are His. Can you imagine standing in the presence of Christ and saying that your glory and joy is ? where??? ?in these who are His whom God has enabled you to reach. Paul says that because that is where the joy and the glory of God are emanating out of, these recent testimonies of His grace. What is it that thrills your king, what is it that proclaims your king? let the passion of the Christian be poured out for this.

Rev. Spence Laycock pastors at Church of the Open Bible, Ponoka, Alberta, Canada.
www.churchoftheopenbible.ab.ca