Religion or Christianity

II Thessalonians – lesson #1

1  Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

1)    A message from . . .

           a)    Paul

           b)   Silvanus

           c)    Timotheus

2)    The recipient (or the audience)

            a)    The church of the Thessalonians

   i)       In God

   ii)    In our Father

   iii)  In the Lord Jesus Christ.

1a) Paul - is the apostle Paul who was saved on the road to Damascus

1b) Silvanus – was also known as SILAS.  It was “Paul and Silas” who were in prison when the Philippian jailor was saved.

1c) Timotheus – or Timothy was a companion of Paul.  Timothy’s mother was a Jew but his father was a Greek.

Paul (in the company of Silas and Timothy) wrote a letter that was to be delivered to the local NTC (New Testament Church) located in the city of Thessalonica

This city of Thessalonica was a seaport – it was formally named Therma and it was inhabited by Greeks, Romans, and Jews.

It was from these different nationalities that the apostle Paul organized a NTC.  And it was to this church that this letter of II Thessalonians was being sent.

2) The church of the Thessalonians was a local NTC similar to our church today.  Their rule of faith and practice was no different than the rule of faith and practice which we follow in our church today.

By “rule of faith and practice” we refer specifically to two things . . . 1) HOW we actually function as a NTC and 2) specifically what we TEACH as a NTC.

Now what this means to our church today – is that the things which Paul taught to this church - also applies to the worship of our church today. 

The things which "strengthened" their worship – will also "strengthen" OUR worship . . . and the things which HINDERED their worship are things which will also hinder our worship.

What Paul taught to this church at Thessalonica - he also teaches to our church as well . . .

2abc) The church of the Thessalonians IN GOD . . . the significance of stating that this church was IN GOD – IN OUR FATHER and IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST is simply that the Truth rests completely in the entirety of the Godhead (The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost).

When a man worships God – he worships God the Father – he worships God the Son and he worships God the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit.

I John 2: 22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

Our worship of God – is the way that we honor the entire Trinity . . . The fool has no fear of God’s divine power and justice – but the humble 

servant (the man who desires to be a true worshiper – he) has yielded his heart to God’s will.

The unbelieving have no faith in the power that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ possesses – but the man who believes – the man who has experienced godly sorrow – he understands his guilt – he

recognizes the promise of forgiveness and he trusts in the power of the blood of Jesus to bring this forgiveness into his heart.

Those who are living in rebellion fight against the leadership of God or The Holy Ghost as God’s divine Spirit leads them toward The Truth . . . but 

the man who has fallen in love with Jesus – is a man who allows himself to be lead into all truth.

The whole concept of church and “worship” is GOD centered not man centered.

The NTC was not organized and built to honor man – it was organized and it was built to provide man the means (the way) to properly honor God.

Eph 3:21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

This tells us that there is only one way to bring glory to God . . . and that ONE WAY is in the church that was built not upon man but upon Jesus Christ.

Worship is not to be confused with religion . . . religion is something that centers upon man (or the worshiper) while the true “worship of

Christianity” is something that is focused only upon GOD.  To be a Christian is to “Christ centered” -- in fact the very term CHRISTIAN actually means “like Christ” – so to be a Christian means that our lives and our worship resemble CHRIST . . .  while

the proper definition of being religious is to be SELF centered . . . When we look at religion what we always see is a man (group of men) . . . but

when we look at worship all we are able to see is God . . . For instance – if I asked you if you were religious – what would you say?  

If you said yes I am religious – you would say . . . I know I am religious because of “what I do” . . .  I GO TO CHURCH . . . I know that I

am religious because I DO GOOD THINGS . . . I know that I am religious because I READ MY BIBLE . . .

To say that you are religious – and to prove it . . . you will ALWAYS be required to back-up what you say with an explanation of how YOU have  

DONE something GOOD which puts you in a religious category.  BUT if I were to ask you if you worshiped God “as a Christian” . . . you would

never prove yourself to be "a Christian" by listing all of the “religious activities” that you perform in your life . . .

Galatians 5: 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

A true Christian is a man who possesses these fruits of the Spirit in his life . . . a true worshiper is a man who also possesses these same type of fruits.

Love is simply compassion for others – joy describes being happy – peace is brought about by contentment - longsuffering is identified as patience while we wait on God’s promises to be fulfilled – gentleness deals both 

compassion and patience as we handle the emotions of others with care – goodness describes our character – faith describes what motivates us – meekness tells of a willingness to be humble when our position does

not necessarily required us to be – temperance speaks of moderation . . . sort of a mixture of compassion – patience – and justice . . .

These fruits of the spirit do not describe any type of religion – but they DO describe CHRISTIANITY . . . these things have nothing at all to do with any type of “church activities” at all . . . but they have everything to do 

with our heart felt "attitude" toward others . . . and our heart felt "attitude" toward God.

You see a true worshiper – a real Christian is defined by HUMILITY – the man who worships God is a man who denies himself and he is a man 

who is submissive unto God . . . the man who is a real Christian does not see himself as “doing good” – but rather the Christian sees himself as an UNPROFITABLE servant.

Luke 17: 7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?

8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?

9  Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.

10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

This type of submissive and humble attitude is simply NOT ALLOWED in the world of religion – if we perform religious activities we must 

advertise all of the things we have done so that we can prove our claim of religion . . . but if we perform genuine “Christian activities” in our 

worship of God – we are not at liberty to think more of ourselves than we ought to think. 

Even as a saved man/woman -- we are guilty of the blood of God’s only begotten son – and nothing we can do in this life OR in the next life will 

ever be able to change the fact that OUR "PERSONAL" SINS  are what nailed Jesus to the cross.   

If we are saved – it is true that we are forgiven - but it is also true that we are NO LESS guilty than the lost man who will spend his eternity in hell.

So you see – the whole idea of worship “is for a man to admit his own personal guilt” and to set God aside in his life as being so very special that his life is a reflection of the admiration that he has for God.  

End Lesson #1