1 Thessalonians 5:12-15 - Radical Other-centered Grace
Last Sunday I preached from 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15. I had made the decision in planning this sermon series that I would take my time with Paul’s concluding remarks. My tendency–in reading Paul’s letters–is to speed up and overlook details as I get to the end of his letters which usually are comprised of short exhortations and greetings. I realized that in doing this I was robbing myself and my hearers of potions of Paul’s letters that are rich in gospel application.
The particular section that I’ve entered into is one that shows similarities with various other letters of the New Testament, some written by Paul and some not. If you were to study these “house rules” portions of the NT epistles you would find a standard doctrine of basic Christians living. We find the NT authors incredibly unified in the way that they think the gospel should “work itself out” in the lives of those who call themselves by the name of Christ.
Paul’s particular outline in verses 12-22 roughly falls into the following five catagories.
- A Christian’s responsibility to church leaders
- A Christian’s responsiblility to other Christians
- A Christian’s responsibility to those outside the church, especially enemies of the church
- A Christian’s responsibility in daily living
- A Christian’s response to prophecy
My sermon from last Sunday covers the first three topics of this list with my next two sermons closing out the list.
My goal in preaching this sermon was to show how the gospel of redemption in Christ Jesus–which Paul just finished talking about–has direct and specific application to the Christian’s life.
1 Thessalonians 5:12-15 - Radical Other-centered Grace
