1 Thessalonians - The Word of God

We grow in the doing of the word of God and not just in the hearing. Let's appreciate the word. Let's appropriate the word. Let's apply the word. This is the way God gives us His best blessing.

Father in heaven, we give thanks for our great Savior and for the great salvation we have through Him. We're thankful for the word of God. Open our eyes to understand your word. Open our hearts to love and receive your word. And may we be nourished and encouraged and helped today. I pray, Father, for our worldwide listening audience, that your grace will be upon each listener. May each one hear the word of God and respond to it. And bless and meet the needs that are in each life. I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1 Thessalonians 2:13: For this reason, we also thank God without ceasing because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. Paul is once again giving thanks for something that was true about the Thessalonian church. Paul was a great appreciator. It's a tragedy when a pastor, a missionary, a Sunday school teacher becomes a critic.

Now, we're trained to have discernment; we are trained to, as it were, criticize in the right way. We have high ideals. We want to apply the word of God to everyday life. Let's also learn to be thankful. There is so much to be thankful for in our people. 1 Thessalonians 1:2, Paul gave thanks for their work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope. In 1 Thessalonians 3:9, he gives thanks for the joy that they brought to him and the fact that they were standing firm in persecution. 1 Thessalonians 5:18, he says, in everything give thanks. Paul was a thankful servant of God. If you want to take a lot of the burden off of your life, just learn how to be thankful.

Now, for what is he thankful? Well, he's thankful for the way they responded to the word of God. He gives to us three responses that they showed to the word of God. Remember, these people did not have a printed Bible. When Paul came into the city of Thessalonica, he came preaching the gospel and sharing the word of God. These people had never heard the gospel before. As a result of Paul's preaching, these people were born from above, born again. And Paul rejoiced at their responses to the word of God. Now, they had a threefold response to the word of God according to 1 Thessalonians 2:13, and you and I should have these same responses in our lives today. If you want your Christian life to grow, have the right responses to the word of God. They appreciated the word, they appropriated the word, and they applied the word.

They appreciated the word. For this reason, we also thank God without ceasing because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God. Notice that central phrase: not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God. We do not treat the word of God the way we treat any other word. There are some people who give more attention to the weather report than they do the preaching of the word of God. There are some people who when they read their newspaper give greater attention to the stock market report than they do when they read the word of God.

Now, these people heard the word; faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Today, I find that it is difficult for many people to discipline themselves to hear. We talk about dull preachers—I trust I'm not one of them—but Hebrews 5 talks about dull hearers. People who are not disciplined to listen. You see, when the pastor gets into the pulpit to preach the word of God, whether he be a gifted preacher or not, that's not important. The important thing is he's bringing us the word of God. When the Sunday school teacher is teaching, that teacher is bringing to us the word of God, and that word demands from us absolute attention. They appreciated the word of God. They were attentive to the word of God. They said, "Listen, Paul is giving to us the word of God."

Now, it's easy to be distracted. In fact, even listening to a broadcast like this, it's easy to be distracted. I've had people write and say that when they listen to Back to the Bible, they do crossword puzzles or they have some other occupation. Frankly, I'd have a hard time listening to someone teach the word of God if I were doing a crossword puzzle. I don't have that kind of a gift. We should give our full appreciation to and our attention to the word of God. By the way, do you appreciate your Bible? You say, "Well, that's a strange question, I'm listening to Back to the Bible." Let me ask you again: do you appreciate your Bible?

Keep a marker in 1 Thessalonians 2 and turn back to Psalm 119. Now, as you know, Psalm 119 focuses on the word of God. Every verse except probably four mentions the word of God in some way. Now, whoever wrote Psalm 119—and we don't know who it was, it may have been David, may have been Jeremiah, I don't know—whoever wrote it, though, had a great love for the word of the living God. Psalm 119:72: The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of shekels of gold and silver. Would you rather have God's word than have money? Look at Psalm 119:127: Therefore I love your commandments more than gold, yes, fine gold. Psalm 119:162: I rejoice at your word as one who finds great treasure. Here's a man saying, "I'd rather have the word of God than have money." Now, that's quite a statement to make. "My greatest treasure is the word of God, and when I get an opportunity to hear the word of God, it's like money in the bank. It's like receiving great wealth."

Now, Achan didn't have that attitude. You'll recall in the book of Joshua, when they conquered the promised land, God said to Joshua, "Don't let anybody take anything from Jericho. No spoil from Jericho." But Achan did. He saw some gold and some silver and a Babylonian garment, so he took it. He'd rather have the money than have the word of God. You recall in Genesis 14 when Abraham defeated the kings, he came back and the king of Sodom offered him all of the loot, all of the spoil from the battle. He said, "Take the money, just give me the people." And Abraham said, "I've lifted my hand to Almighty God, God Most High. I won't even take a shoelace off of you. I want the word of God and I don't want money." Many a Christian has been taken away from devotion to the word of God simply by wealth, the false wealth of this world. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

Look at Psalm 119:62: At midnight I will rise to give thanks to you because of your righteous judgments. Psalm 119:147: I rise before the dawning of the morning and cry for help; I hope in your word. My eyes are awake through the night watches that I may meditate on your word. Would you rather have God's word than have sleep? Do you set your alarm clock so that early in the morning you can get up and read the word of God, meditate on it? Would you rather have God's word than have sleep? That wasn't true of Peter and James and John. They were up on the Mount of Transfiguration. Moses appeared, Elijah appeared, Jesus was there in glory, and the three men talked about His decease, His exodus, His death that He was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. And the disciples were asleep. Here they were sleeping through the greatest Bible conference ever held on earth. The greatest subject: the cross. The greatest speakers: the Lord Jesus and Moses (the law) and Elijah (the prophets). The greatest glory, the greatest opportunity—and the disciples were asleep. I wonder how many times we have slept through the word of the living God?

Now, when we're hearing the word of God, we have to give it attention. They appreciated God's word. And like the Psalmist, they'd rather have God's word than have money or sleep. How about food? Now, this life demands nourishment. The inner person has an appetite. When you're saved, God gives to us life down inside, and your inner person gets hungry for spiritual food. The word of God makes it very, very clear that unless you have that kind of an appetite down inside, you may not truly be born again.

The word of God, we discover, is the nourishment. It's bread, Matthew 4:4. It's milk, 1 Peter 2:1-3. It's meat, 1 Corinthians 3 and Hebrews 5. And it's honey, Psalm 119:103. And I'm sure you know that Psalm 19:10 says the same thing: More to be desired are they—meaning the judgments of God—than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Psalm 119:103: How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Rather have the word of God than have honey. Honey was the sweetest thing that the Jew would know. In the book of Job, Job says in Job 23:12—let me read the verse to you—I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. Now, honey would be dessert, but Job said, "I'd rather have the word of God than have my necessary food." Jeremiah had something to say about this. Jeremiah 15:16, listen to what he said: Your words were found and I ate them, and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. He ate the word of the living God. Feeding on God's word. Would you rather have the word of God than have food? If you had the choice of going to a banquet or going to a Bible conference, where would you go?

You see, the word of God has to be appreciated. These people appreciated the word of God. Please don't treat the Bible the way you treat any other book. Now, I know there's sometimes you can't help it because churches are not always built for convenience, but I hate to see a Bible put on the floor of a church. I'm always glad to be in a church building where they have little shelves in the pews or the seats where you can put your Bible. I don't like to see a Bible on the floor. I don't like to see other books stacked on top of a Bible. The Bible ought to be on top. I don't like to see someone throw the Bible or drop the Bible. We need to treat the word of God with sincere devotion and appreciation. These people appreciated God's word. As I'm talking to you right now, I trust that you will receive the word of God as the word of God, not the word of man. So often somebody says, "Well, Brother Wiersbe, that's your interpretation." Well, sometimes my interpretations may need help, but pay attention to the word of God. They appreciated God's word.

Secondly, they appropriated God's word. Notice 1 Thessalonians 2:13: For this reason, we also thank God without ceasing because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it. We have two different Greek words here. The first word is the word "received," the second is the word "welcomed." You welcomed it. It's the picture—well, it's the same word that's used of Simeon when he received the baby Jesus into his arms. Do you welcome the word of God into your mind and heart the way you throw your arms around someone you love? They welcomed the word of God. They received it. They appropriated God's word. Now, the word of God in our hand is good. The word of God in our head is better. The word of God in our heart is best. And when the word of God gets into our head and we understand it, and gets into our heart and we love it, then it can move over to our will and we can obey it.

Did you know that God has given to us three editions of His truth? For example, the word is truth. John 17:17, Jesus said, "Sanctify them through your truth; your word is truth." Not your word is true—that's a valid statement—your word is truth. The very essence of truth comes in the word of God. The word of God is a book to learn. Your word is truth. It can take hold of the mind. I can't explain this; the psychology of it eludes me. All I know is when the word of God gets into your mind and you think on it and you meditate on it, something happens to your mind. Romans 12:2 calls this the renewing of your mind. It makes us start to think the way God thinks. Your mind becomes, as it were, a receiver and a transmitter of the very truth of God. God's truth is a book to learn for my mind.

But God's word is a person to love. Jesus said, "I am the truth," John 14:6. Now, this is for my heart. The Lord Jesus Christ is truth, therefore my heart can love Him. The word of God is truth, therefore my mind can learn it. 1 John 5:6, we read the Spirit is truth. Now, the Holy Spirit of God wants to work in me both to will and to do of God's good pleasure. The Spirit of God wrote the word of God. The Spirit of God teaches the word of God. So when I appropriate the truth into my mind, I learn it. And when I appropriate the truth into my heart, I love it because it tells me about Jesus. I also appropriate the truth into my will, and I ask the Holy Spirit of God to help me to live the truth. It's not enough to learn the truth. It's not enough to learn the truth and then love the truth. We must live the truth. God's word has been given for us to obey. These people appropriated God's word and it went to work in their lives.

Which leads us now to the third response: they applied the truth. We must appreciate the truth, we must appropriate the truth, and we must apply the truth. Notice what he says: the word of God which also effectively works in you who believe. Paul likes this word "works." It's a translation of a Greek word that gives us our word energy or energize. He says the word of God is what energizes you. The word of God is living and powerful. The word of God has life. This is the living word. Now, the words of men do not have life. They eventually die and decay. Now, so much of what we manufacture has no life in it; it doesn't last. I've seen ministries come and go. I've seen testimonies come and go. But you know when they're based on the word of God, there is a fixedness about the ministry. There is something that says this is going to last. He who does the will of God abides forever. The word of God has life in it like seed. The great need today is for life. Our world is a vast cemetery, and the corpses are walking around spiritually dead, physically alive. And oh, how desperately they need the life of God, and that life comes through the word.

I have a large library, I try to use it. I've noticed that there are statements in books that have been forgotten. There are great people whose words have just been forgotten. Occasionally a statement will show up in a quotation book, but here are vast libraries of material written by people whose words have been forgotten. They died. But the word of God is living and powerful. And when the word of God gets into our lives, our mind understands the truth, our heart loves the truth, our will then obeys the truth, a miracle takes place. The Spirit of God takes the word of God and energizes us as we believe in His word. This word of God which also effectively works in you who believe.

How did God create the universe? Through His word. And God spoke and it was done. And God said, "Let there be," and there was. How does God run the universe? Through His word. He said to Jeremiah that "I'm going to watch over my word to perform it." Now, how does God work in our lives? Through His word. By the way, you don't get blessed by learning the word. You don't even get blessed by loving the word. The blessing comes when you do the word. Isn't that what James told us? You know that statement, James 1. He tells us the word of God is like a mirror. If you just glance into the mirror and go your way, it doesn't help you. But if you stare into the mirror and find out what God wants you to do and do it, you'll be blessed in what you do. James 1:25: But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. Not in what he learns. Not in what he feels. In what he does. The blessing comes when we obey the word of God. Let's not just be hearers. Don't look at your outline you've written down and say, "Well, I have a new outline today." Oh no. Ask God, "Lord, what do you want me to do?" That's what Paul asked: "What do you want me to do?" I think a lot of people are fooled into thinking because they hear a lot of preaching and a lot of sermons and they hear a lot of radio messages and read a lot of books they are growing. No, we grow in the doing of the word of God and not just in the hearing. Let's appreciate the word. Let's appropriate the word. Let's apply the word. This is the way God gives us His best blessing.

Now, let's pray together. We're grateful, Father, that you give to us all that we need that we might have a life of godliness. Help us to listen to your word, to obey it, to feed upon it. Help us, Heavenly Father, to live to glorify you. Oh, may we not bring disgrace upon the name of the saints, the name of the church, the name of the Lord. This I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and for His sake. Amen.