Participants: Jon Paulien & Jon Ciccarelli
Series Code: TBOTB
Program Code: TBOTB000003A
|
00:22 Hi, welcome to Books of the Book, I Jon Paulien and my
00:25 colleague today is Jon Ciccarelli. 00:28 We are studying 1 and 2 Thessalonians with you. 00:31 Yes we have been following Paul along on his journey 00:37 and he has written some letters. 00:39 It has been a bit of a rocky start, he has run into some 00:43 trouble along the way, but yet he is reaching out in his 00:46 letters and there is much to be learned Jon, from outside 00:48 of the Bible and today we are going to look at the context 00:51 of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. 00:53 So he was just journeying through ancient Greece. 00:56 - Right. - He went on this journey because he had 01:00 a dream, and the dream said to come over into this part 01:03 of the world and help us. - Right, right! 01:05 Sometimes God gives you a dream and you follow it and you 01:08 get in trouble. Is that right? 01:09 Did that ever happen to you? 01:11 - It seems often the case. 01:12 God always leads us to the places that are outside of our 01:15 comfort zones and places us to bring down strongholds for 01:18 the kingdom of God. 01:19 Well I think in a future program we are going to talk 01:23 more specifically about that, the times when people who are 01:26 really serving the Lord, really faithful to the Lord but 01:29 nevertheless go through some dark times. - Yes! 01:32 If any of you are going through dark times right now, 01:36 sometimes the way God leads you, because He can burn away 01:40 some of those things that otherwise we would cling to. 01:44 - Right! - So today, I'm probably going to be doing 01:48 too much talking, but the reason is today we are going 01:51 into some deep background to the Thessalonian letters. 01:55 We are going into the background beyond the Jewish 01:59 background, even to the Gentile background because there 02:02 is a number of things about the history of Thessalonica, 02:06 about the practices in the ancient world that will really 02:09 help us to really understand what is going on in this book 02:13 and even in some other books of the New Testament. 02:15 People might ask the question, isn't it a waste of time 02:19 to study about ancient paganism, or ancient history? 02:23 I just want to stick with the Bible. 02:25 I have every bit of respect for people who feel that way, 02:28 but I think there's some reasons why you will find this 02:32 to be an interesting program. 02:33 First of all, when Paul spoke to the Gentiles, he spoke 02:39 with a knowledge of their background. 02:41 He spoke to that background, he shaped the Gospel in 02:45 a way that they could understand. 02:47 But second of all, when you know about the ancient 02:50 background, you also know what Paul was fighting against 02:53 because these doctrines, these religions, these 02:58 backgrounds were pushing against the Gospel and making 03:02 it difficult for people to come to the Gospel. 03:05 So as Paul is giving the Gospel, he is giving it with 03:09 a twist that battles against some of these false ideas. 03:14 So in studying these things we can find, I think, fruitful 03:19 connections with what is happening in the texts of 1 and 03:23 2 Thessalonians that will help us as we go verse by verse 03:27 through these books later on. 03:28 Jon there is a text I think that would be great for us to 03:31 look at, that really gives us an understanding of Paul's 03:34 mindset, his strategy if you will in this situation. 03:39 Oh, read it to me. - it's 1 Corinthians 9:20-22. 04:11 So how do you understand that to be relating to what 04:14 we have been talking about? 04:15 Well I think Paul is showing that his number one focus is 04:19 to bring the Gospel to people, and he is going to do all 04:22 he can to understand where those people are at to make 04:25 the message relevant to where they are at. 04:27 He's always seeking to under- stand before he is understood, 04:31 and understanding the situation so that Gospel message can 04:35 be make clear to them. 04:36 And I think one thing I would add to that, is in doing 04:39 that he is following the model of God. 04:41 God Himself seeks out to understand us, and bring things 04:48 to us just the way we need it. 04:49 In order to meet someone where they are, you have to know 04:52 where they are and we see God doing that. 04:55 For example in the New Testa- ment, scholars 150 years ago, 04:58 they thought the New Testament was written in some kind of 05:02 heavenly Greek, it didn't read like any other Greek in the 05:05 ancient world, not the philosophers, not the government 05:08 not the scholars of the ancient world. 05:11 This was unique, and then an archaeologist in 1896 stuck 05:15 a shovel into a garbage dump from ancient times and found 05:20 something they had never found before. 05:22 Personal letters, bills, receipts, marriage contracts, 05:27 the kind of stuff people do every day. 05:30 That was never preserved intentionally, that was garbage. 05:33 But when we discovered it, do you know what they found? 05:36 - What? - it was the language of the New Testament. 05:39 When God chose to speak to people of the ancient Greek 05:42 times, He spoke the language of the street. 05:44 He met them right where they were. 05:47 We see this happening in the four Gospels. 05:49 There is only one Gospel really, the Gospel of Jesus 05:53 Christ and yet there are four because God knows different 05:57 people, different mindsets need to hear the message 06:01 in their own way. 06:02 Even more exciting is the book of Daniel. 06:04 In Chapter 2, God speaks to King Nebuchadnezzar and gives 06:10 him a dream. What is the form of the dream? 06:12 It's an idol, it is something he would recognize, it is 06:16 something he would understand. 06:17 But He gives essentially the same message to Daniel in 06:20 Chapter 7, but to the Hebrew prophet it's the story of 06:24 creation, a stormy sea, animals, the Son of Man who has 06:28 dominion over the animals. 06:30 That is the story of the Garden of Eden, you see. 06:33 So God, even when He makes a dream, a vision, is shaping it 06:38 in the form of the person who is receiving it. 06:42 So I think we see God, like Paul, meeting people 06:46 where they are, has that ever happened with your kids? 06:50 Oh yeah, I have a boy and I have a girl 10 and 12 years 06:53 old, so they are already different. 06:55 You have to talk to them different, and interact with 06:57 them differently, and you share that same message of 06:58 your love to them but differently. 07:00 My son is much more, when you show affection, 07:03 it's more let's wrestle, let's play hard. 07:06 But with my daughter, it's more like let's snuggle dad. 07:09 Same affection but just expressed in a different way. 07:12 Umm, that's right. People often wonder why teenage boys 07:15 are hard to deal with, well you probably just need to 07:17 punch them in the shoulder or something and they will 07:19 say, ah, I'm loved now. 07:21 But with the girl she would be mad at you for weeks. 07:24 - yes, yes absolutely. 07:25 Missionaries call this the point of contact. 07:28 It's that place where people are hungry for the Gospel. 07:33 They may not know it, they don't think they need the 07:37 Gospel, but there is a point where they feel a need, and 07:42 when you touch that point of need with the Gospel then 07:46 they are more likely to be open to the larger picture. 07:49 Where do you see people meeting the Gospel today? 07:55 In the secular world is hard to reach them. 07:58 It is, but you know there are still those times in life, 08:01 Times of change when people are really open to the Gospel. 08:05 Times when a child is being born, or someone dies, or 08:09 someone is going through a crisis. 08:10 You don't have the answers because it is outside of the 08:14 norm, and I can think of a story of a neighbor of mine 08:17 that I had when I was living in San Diego and at that time 08:20 was doing a lot of surfing. 08:21 We would surf together, but he was not a believer. 08:24 - You surf? - I know it's hard to believe but! 08:29 He would never want to talk about religious things. 08:31 He knew I was a Pastor, but one day I get a call from him 08:34 out of the blue and someone at work died suddenly that day 08:37 and he left work and I get this phone on my cell phone 08:41 saying, hey, can you go surfing? 08:43 I dropped everything and went. 08:45 Then he was open to spiritual things, he was open to 08:48 what happens when people die? What happens? Where is 08:50 God in this? And we was able to talk about those things. 08:53 But it is those key moments, the felt needs, 08:55 when we need that. 08:58 Alright, well we're going to get to Thessalonica and some 09:01 of the unique backgrounds that really unpacks where 09:05 Paul's letters are going, but first I would like you to 09:08 read a text out of the Gospel of John because I think in 09:12 Jerusalem people were experiencing life much as the 09:15 Thessalonians did, would you read that text for us? 09:19 Sure, John 11:48-50. 09:44 Umhumm! So you see here in Jerusalem they are dealing with 09:48 occupation, the Roman empires occupied the city, occupying 09:52 the territory and they are struggling. 09:55 What do you do with Jesus? 09:57 If it hadn't been for the occupation may be Jesus wouldn't 10:00 have bothered them that much, but because of the 10:02 occupation they were afraid something was going to go 10:05 wrong and the Romans would clamp down on us. 10:08 We can't afford this kind of things going on. 10:12 When Rome came to Jerusalem there were four basic 10:17 reactions, one group was the accommodators. 10:21 We called them Sadducees, these were people that said, 10:24 well this is what it is, so let's deal with it. 10:26 Let's get along and maybe one day when they are gone 10:30 we can do what we want to do. 10:31 So the Sadducees were trying to make peace, and if 10:35 everything goes smoothly and so on. 10:36 Then you had the passive resisters, the Pharisees. 10:40 They would smile at the Romans and make nice and the 10:44 minute the Romans were out of sight they would be plotting 10:47 how can we do it the way we want to do it? 10:50 How can we encourage them to get out of here and so forth. 10:53 They wouldn't fight or any- thing, but they were resisting 10:57 in a passive way. 10:59 Then you would have the rebels, the zealots, and they 11:03 were doing terrorism and stuff, acts of terrorism trying to mess 11:10 up the Romans and discourage them from hanging around. 11:13 Then you had the withdrawers, the Essenes, the people who 11:17 kept the Dead Sea Scrolls and they just checked out. 11:20 Life here is too much for us and we are going out in the 11:24 desert and everybody leave us alone. 11:27 Yeah, so similar things happened in Thessalonica. 11:31 Thessalonica was a free city, but they invited the Romans 11:35 in about 200 years before Paul comes. 11:37 Why? Because they were having fights with their 11:40 neighboring cities and they saw Rome kind of 11:42 as the big brother who would take care of the 11:44 bullies in the neighborhood. 11:46 So the Thessalonians invited Rome in, there was no war 11:50 to conquer the Thessalonica, and you say alright, 11:52 they are a free city under Roman rule 11:54 what could be better? - Good deal! 11:56 Occupation is still occupation, you know? 12:00 When you're occupied you don't really make your own 12:03 decisions in a real sense. 12:05 They will come and say well 20% of the crops. 12:08 Ship them to Rome, those are taxes, but you didn't 12:11 get consulted about those taxes, somebody else decides that. 12:14 So occupation, no matter how friendly it is, is never 12:18 particularly a happy thing. 12:21 It brings along with it the sense of powerlessness, and 12:26 hopelessness and it divided the people in Thessalonica. 12:30 The rich people were good with the Romans, like the 12:34 Sadducees, hey this is alright, they left us in power. 12:37 We still have our wealth, we still have our mansions 12:40 so let's make the most of this. 12:42 So the rich were happy, the poor people they were 12:45 the ones that suffered from the heavy taxes and from 12:48 the oppression, forced marches and all kinds of things 12:51 the Romans were doing. 12:53 So Thessalonica was divided over the Romans just like 12:58 Jerusalem was divided. 13:00 Paul walks into that situation of the city that is 13:03 struggling, you know? 13:05 - It's tough, especially being Christians is sometimes politics 13:09 in the world, and sometimes at the local level with the 13:12 city or the county sometimes. 13:15 I've been in a building program myself and it 13:17 can be challenging, trying to do what God has called you 13:20 to do but then there are restrictions that you feel 13:22 sometimes are not always fair, you know? 13:24 There's benefits, but there is that tension, the tension 13:26 that you live with. 13:28 So in a sense being a Pastor of a church is almost like 13:30 being in occupied territories sometimes? - Sometimes! 13:33 Sometimes it is. - Yeah, well, alright that is beginning 13:36 to set a foundation for Thessalonica and the stuff that 13:40 was going on back then. 13:41 There is a very interesting religious movement going on 13:46 in Thessalonica at the time Paul came. It made all the 13:49 difference when you understand it, after the break. |
Revised 2023-01-25