CHRISTIAN JOY & WHAT IT DOES
2 Corinthians 4   1 Thessalonians 1 (text: 1:6-9a)
INTRODUCTION
Do they talk about your faith in Takapuna?
Are you others all the gossip in Glenfield Mall?
Are you the topic of conversation in Orewa?
In Northcote, Kaukapakapa – who's the talk of all?

The residents of Mairangi Bay, or Devonport or Puhoi?
When they talk about the folk at North Shore Reformed?
As we come with girls and boys? Do they see us full of joy? 
And do they say, Boy, those people are sure transformed!

The Thessalonians were the talk of the town. They were the talk of the country. They were the talk of the whole region.

Thessalonica was sited in a very central spot. It was a port city on the Aegean Sea towards the north of Greece. From there the Thessalonians did business with all of Asia Minor and the whole eastern Mediterranean. But Thessalonica also sat astride a major highway called the Egnatian Way. The Egnatian Way went from Thessalonica more or less east to the city of Byzantium on the Bosphorus Strait and the Black Sea. Alternatively, you could take the Egnation Way from Thessalonica and go west to the Adriatic. From there it was only a short boat trip to Brundisium in eastern Italy. From Brundisium, another major road, the Appian Way, went north-west to Rome.

Paul had spent only three weeks in Thessalonica and had had one of the most successful missionary trips ever in the history of the Church. These people had been converted. And converted is really the word. Because these now converted Thessalonian businessmen went plying their trade along these highways and sea lanes, sounding forth the Gospel they had so recently and so briefly, but so deeply and convincingly heard. All Macedonia and Achaia heard of both their conversion and what had converted them – the word of the Lord, the Gospel. Now to say all Macedonia and Achaia in those days was simply to say all Greece. But not only all Greece; in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything (v.8).

Paul would go to some new place and start preaching the Good News and people would say, Yes we know all about that. That's not news any more. We heard it from some travelling salesmen from Thessalonica last week. So before Paul even got into his stride, he had the wind taken out of his sails.

At the end of the long business lunch, when the sale had been clinched and the deal signed, the Thessalonian merchant would say, Now listen my friend, I have to tell you about something I have heard recently that has simply revolutionised my life. And away he would go and that was the end of his client's afternoon's work.

Or perhaps as they were just about to eat, and the pagan businessman was about to pray to his idol, the Thessalonian would say, Excuse me. I don't mean to be rude. You go ahead if you like, but I've done with those old gods. I've found God, the living and true. Let me give thanks and I'll tell you about him over lunch.

Or Paul would call in on some place he'd been before and begin to tell the Christians there how he'd been kicked out of Thessalonica because the Jews didn't like his preaching. But there were some wonderful conversions, all the same, he would say. And again, Paul was derailed because the people would say, Oh yes, we already know. I was talking to a bloke the other day who went to Thessalonica for a government contract. He's not a Christian, this chap, either. But he told me about the ruckus your trip caused. I understand the believers there have really caught some flak, but they've stuck to their guns. People simply can't understand them because in the midst of all the persecution, they're wonderfully joyful! They're the talk of the town. I tell you, Paul, it's been a great encouragement to us, because I ca see trouble brewing for us here too. They're a wonderful example. I hope we can take it like they have if it comes to us.

Do they talk about your faith in Takapuna?
Are you others all the gossip in Glenfield Mall?
Are you the topic of conversation in Orewa?
In Northcote, Kaukapakapa – who's the talk of all?

The residents of Mairangi Bay, or Devenport or Puhoi?
When they talk about the folk at North Shore Reformed?
As we come with girls and boys, do they see us full of joy? 
And do they say, Boy, those people are sure transformed!

Well, I can tell you, people do see us and they do notice us. The old couple next door often make comments to us about you all. The word of God sounded forth from these Thessalonian Christians. Lots of people, from all round Asia Minor, maybe Italy also, reported how the Gospel had come to them, how they had received it and what it had done in their lives. That's what this first chapter is about; it is about how wonderfully the Gospel came to Thessalonica.
 
#	It came to them in such power of the Holy Spirit that they were moved to work of faith, labour of love and steadfastness of hope (v.3).
#	They received the word in tribulation but with such joy that they became imitators of Paul and of the Lord and an example to other believers (v.6f.).
#	These missionaries had such a reception with these believers that they turned to God from idols to serve God living and true (v.9).

In word and in deed, the people could see that these people were Christians by their love, their joy, indeed by their complete conversion. Their lives were completely turned around. Well, it is about the second thing I want to talk this morning: how that even though they received the Gospel in the midst of much tribulation, they received it with much joy.
1.	THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF CHRISTIAN JOY
In what circumstances can Christians be joyful? If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit we are often not very joyful. Or at least, we are not as joyful as we know we should be; or as we would like to be. And there can be all sorts of reasons for that. 

As Garth George (not always to be quoted!) said in the Herald this week, commenting on a report of large numbers on depression medication, there is plenty going on in this world to give anybody the blues. And because Christians should think more deeply about the state of the world than others, perhaps there is very good reason for Christians to be depressed rather than joyful. The passing of the Prostitution Reform Bill this week would be a good example.

Or perhaps it can be because of our own personal circumstances. And once again, they can often be difficult and trying. Problems in work relationships. Family troubles. Health problems. Business concerns. Maybe we are concerned about the future of the Church. That is quite understandable, in a way, if we look at some present trends. 

Whatever, do we not often find ourselves thinking, even if we may not say it, If such and such were different. Or, If only that would happen. If it would turn out this way. Then I could be content. Then I would be happy. Then I would rejoice.

But here is the odd thing. Paul and Silas had just been to Philippi where they had been beaten with rods, many times, and tossed into the stocks in prison. And in the middle of the night they sing psalms! They went to Thessalonica and again they got the thick end of the stick. And of course, so did these new converts. So that Paul speaks of them having received the word in much tribulation. Yet they received the word, the Gospel, with joy.

The truth is, congregation, our circumstances should have very little to do with whether we are joyful or not. Circumstances did not stop Paul being joyful. Circumstances did not stop the Thessalonians from being joyful. Circumstances did not stop Jesus being joyful. Thus the Thessalonian Christians became imitators of Paul and Silvanus and Timothy and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with joy.

I am not saying it is always easy to be joyful, especially when circumstances are against us. In 2 Corinthians 4 Paul acknowledged that Christians are often afflicted in every way. But then he added, but not crushed. They may indeed be perplexed, but not despairing. They may be persecuted. But they ought to know they are not forsaken. They may be struck down, but not destroyed.

I realise that we might have an enormous struggle, especially under some circumstances, to rejoice. Jesus did. In the garden of Gethsemane, he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood and cried to the Father, three times, If it be possible, let this cup pass from me, before he won through to accepting the Father's will. To speak of winning through to joy would be wrong in that instance. The joy was still in the future. It may take quite some time to win through to joy again. Job didn't get there in a hurry. And periods, spells of grief are right too.

But is it not true, when we think about it, that we often have to be quite disappointed at the rather trivial circumstances that rattle us and depress our spirits at times? The truth is, all circumstances are the circumstances of Christian joy. James even says, Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Well then, if not circumstances, then what is …

2.	THE SOURCE OF CHRISTIAN JOY
I have been leaving out the last phrase of verse 6 when I have quoted it so far. You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit.
Paul tells us in Romans 8, If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. It is a basic fact of being a Christian that one has the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit produces fruit in our lives and one of them is joy. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22). 

Paul was talking about the same thing when he wrote to the Philippians some time later from another prison in Rome, I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances –being in prison – have turned out of the greater progress of the Gospel … by some, to be sure, out of envy of me…. So what! I rejoice and I will rejoice. And therefore he exhorts them, Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice! 

See, it is joy of the Holy Spirit. It is, Rejoice in the Lord. How can we be imitators of Paul, and of the Lord in this way, brothers and sisters? Perhaps by being more concerned about the progress of the Gospel? Perhaps by being more taken up the things of the Holy Spirit? Of the kingdom? Of God and his righteousness?

I'm sure you've all heard the statement, Oh, he's too heavenly-minded to be of any earthly use. If you mean by too heavenly minded a false, put on, out of this world, kind of piety, then the statement is true.Otherwise, don't you believe it. After all, an unjoyful person is not endearing, not attractive and not likely, therefore, to be of much use to the Lord or anyone else. And by joyful, I'm not talking about being such a shallow person that you don't even grapple with what's going on in the world or people's lives, just blithely going your cheery way. That's false. But who was more heavenly minded than our Lord? Who was more heavenly minded than Paul? And he tells us that another good thing about the Thessalonian Christians was that they were waiting for God's Son from heaven. They too were heavenly minded! But what use they were!

I have the feeling, congregation, that this has a great deal to do with our malaise, as we call it. There is something wrong with us Christians at the present time. We live in a disillusioned, apathetic age and it is hard not to be infected with the disease. That is true, isn't it? We are often lethargic about spiritual things; about our devotions; about fellowship with one another and Bible studies and prayer; about Church life and using our gifts in the service of the Lord. Am I right?

The source of joy as a Christian is the source of our all as a Christian, the same source of our very being a Christian. The Lord and his Holy Spirit who came for the very purpose of revealing the Lord of glory to us and in us. The verse before 2 Corinthians 4 that we read, says; We all, …  beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed in the same image (of the Lord) from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. 

Are we being transformed from glory to glory? The reason we are not is because we are too taken up with this world and this life, which is only passing away! Perhaps we are even too occupied trying to solve our problems or overcome our shortcomings! Because when we are doing that we are still focussed on, we are beholding, ourselves rather than the Lord! 

It is very hard to imagine glory without joy. If we are not being transformed from glory to glory, it will be, perhaps quite simply, because we are not beholding the glory of the Lord enough. In other words, we are not taken up enough with the Lord and his kingdom, with the things of the Holy Spirit. That is the source of Christian joy.

3.	THE SHINING OF CHRISTIAN JOY
The joy of these new Thessalonian Christians had two results. First of all, they could not help but sound forth the Gospel to others. 
But secondly, their joy in the midst of suffering became an example to other Christians.
Just as they became imitators of Paul and of the Lord who were joyful in their sufferings, so the Thessalonians became examples to others.
Perhaps we ought to think about that when difficulties come our way. Maybe we should think not only of ourselves, but of others to whom we should be an example. Maybe awareness of this would help us.

Maybe also if we were more joyful even under difficult circumstances, that would be some of the answer to the difficulties we feel in evangelism. These Thessalonian Christians never had to organise a thing. The only organised evangelism we read of in the early Church was Paul's journeys. Evangelism just happened with them. It was the same with the Jewish Christians twenty years earlier. In Acts 8 we read of a great persecution and the church in Jerusalem was scattered throughout all Judea and Samaria and the people preached the word wherever they went. Some have suggested that perhaps we should translate that verse to say, They gossiped the Gospel wherever they went. That probably catches the idea quite well.

But did you notice also that connection again? So often in the Bible joy goes together with suffering. Martin Luther said once, If Christ wore a crown of thorns, why should we expect only a crown of roses? 

Will we even have to experience persecution, real tribulation, to make us take our eyes off this life and this world and make us see with a proper perspective all the spiritual blessings we have in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1) and thus rejoice as we ought? I do not wish for it, I shrink from it, but perhaps the Lord will have to do that to the western Church to lead her to appreciate what we really have in the Lord, of the Holy Spirit.

For only then can a Christian really rejoice. And then our joy will encourage other Christians. Then our joy will adorn the doctrines we believe and perhaps the Lord will use us effectively to win others to faith and salvation. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.		Amen