WEBVTT
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Our text for today is the reading that we have just heard from one
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Thessalonians, which is our fourth reading in this lecture continuum.
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Grace, mercy, peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord
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and Savior Jesus Christ.
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Amen.
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As you know, Paul's first letter, letter to the Thessalonians, is most
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likely the earliest of all Christian all New Testament documents.
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It was written about the middle of the first century, that is about 20
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years after the suffering and death of resurrection of Jesus.
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It was written to a congregation formed by Paul himself. A
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congregation that was formed in the midst of conflict, a conflict so
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severe that Paul had to leave behind a little band of believers after
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just three weeks. It's not surprising that he had no peace of heart
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and mind about Thessalonicum.
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He felt that he himself could not return there without making the
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situation worse.
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And so he had to send his young co worker Timothy.
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And Timothy had to make the trip and brought back that good news.
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The congregation was still alive.
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And in fact, more than alive.
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It lived out that faith it had received from God through the teaching
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and preaching of Paul.
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Such good news after all Paul's doubts and fears and all of his second
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guessings the last words just before our text overflow with Paul's joy
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and thankfulness to the God who saves, he says, for what thanksgiving
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can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your
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sake before our God?
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And then he goes on to say, and may the Lord make you increase and
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abound in love for one another and for all as we do, so that he may
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establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father
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at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all of his saints.
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And then Paul adds our text.
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The ESB translates it finally then, and that's okay.
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But this is a rhetorical device
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and what Paul means is, okay, let's talk about something else that's
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really important, and that is the question of how you walk as the
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people of God.
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His point is we have gone about as far as we've can in discussing the
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effectiveness of words and your present relationships
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to me and others, but our world is in a far greater need.
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God has placed us as spiritually healthy people and forgiven people in
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the midst of a people who are not going to find deliverance without
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the intervention of God.
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And that is the task that God will accomplish through his people.
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Paul goes on to say that the behavior of Christians in matters of sex
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and marriage and family will make a difference.
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After all, you can go so far in talking about the Christian faith and
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that makes a difference.
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But in so many situations, what we actually do confirms or denies the
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truth of what we say.
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As African Christians say frequently about life in a pagan land, you
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have to remember that the first book the pagans are going to read are
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The Lives of the Christians.
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Paul is talking to a congregation of new believers and he wants to
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deal with a situation that can easily arise that we focus our
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evangelistic message only on right ideas and correct ways of saying
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things.
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Note that Paul makes it clear throughout this text that he is not
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proposing anything that they haven't heard before.
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From the beginning, as a part of the message of Christ, Saint Paul
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says, we gave you orders about how to walk to please God.
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Paul's practice was not only to make sure that people had right ideas
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about God, but he talked about a God who is very much involved in life
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and who cares about what people do and say.
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And he rejoiced in the progress that the Thessalonians had made in
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living as that kind of people.
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At the same time, he recognizes the challenges of living in
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Thessalonica.
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Even as this little band of believers tries to live as an obedient
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people, they are surrounded by powerful cultural forces that are a
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threat to their existence.
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When you are a small minority and you are surrounded by a majority
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with a long tradition of doing things on the basis of very different
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values, the pressure is constantly on to conform.
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In this case, Greek culture of first century, Thessalonica was
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permissive in matters of sex and
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marriage.
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This was a long established cultural value that everyone accepted.
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And so the Thessalonian message to the little band of believers was,
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it's not your place to judge, it's your responsibility to do what we
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have always done and what we all do.
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But Paul maintained that our lives as sexual beings cannot be
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separated from our faith life.
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Our sexual relationships and our relationships with God are deep
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seated, and a perversion in our understanding of one relationship
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permits and encourages perversion in the other.
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As we can see in the stories of any number of cults in our own
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country, false ideas about God lead to perversions in relationships
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between men and women and to terrible relationships with the family
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and vice versa.
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The Thessalonians lived in a world where the gods gave little
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direction about anything in the life of ordinary people, let alone
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direction about sexual behavior or marriage in family.
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The gods of Thessalonica did not have lists of commandments for people
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to follow or statements of faith.
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For the most part, people were on their own to figure it out as best
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they could on the basis of tradition and customary behavior and
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opportunity.
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In such contexts, you could take it for granted that human
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relationships would be transactional and exploitive.
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Do your best to get everything you can out of every relationship,
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including relationships between men and women.
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Not unlike our own world. In such a context, Paul's directions to the
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Thessalonians demand a dramatically different lifestyle. A lifestyle
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that we can see now ultimately changed culture and not just the
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behavior of a few individuals.
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We remember that St.
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Paul is talking to the entire Thessalonian congregation, both single
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and married people, both men and women.
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This is not a text to teach men about how they should treat their
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wives or how they should treat women.
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But Paul's concern is the whole people of God gathered in that small
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congregation of new Christians and how they should live as
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responsible people in an overwhelmingly pagan society.
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The challenge we have.
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His instruction centers on verse four.
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For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that each one of you
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know how to control his or her own body in holiness and honor.
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And Paul adds that this this is not just his personal opinion, but
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this is the instruction given by the Holy Spirit.
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This is what God wants, says St.
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Paul.
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This is about taking responsibility for yourself and your own behavior
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and making sure that your conduct reflects obedience to God and
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respect for your partner, whatever the level of your relationship.
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Paul doesn't then give a whole list of what you can do and what you
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can't do.
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A first century list would probably not be very helpful to us in the
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21st, but he is clear that God's direction requires that our life show
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our obedience and respect to God and our commitment to those around us
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whom we love.
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At the same time, we can see from the surrounding verses that Paul was
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well aware of what precedes and what follows a failure to control your
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own body and holiness and honor.
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His first instruction to obtain from sexual immorality and to
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translate into plain English to stay away from every use of what Paul
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calls pornea, the Greek word for what we describe as sexual immorality
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and the first half of our English word pornography.
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Study after study shows that pornography is addictive and not unknown
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among church workers as well, and corrosive to healthy values and
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behavior, to say nothing about the enslavement of people who willingly
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or unwillingly, including exploited children, are a part of that
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industry.
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For our culture, this is a nudge nudge, wink wink sort of thing that
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everyone does.
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It's only looking at pictures.
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But our contribution to the life of the world must be that each one of
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us sets the example that we know how to control our own bodies in
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holiness and honor, and we stay away from every form of sexual
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immorality, including pornography.
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Paul knows the other side of the equation as well.
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He knows what follows indisciplined living.
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He speaks in terms of passion, of lust, like those who do not know God.
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In his world
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he is thinking about all those situations where people convince
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themselves or are convinced by others that the usual rule rules do not
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apply and you have to do what comes naturally. In his world as well as
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in ours
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this is the world of drunkenness
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when people drink to take part in behavior they know is wrong and
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would not be a part of their normal Christian lives. In the world over
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indulgence excuses, indiscipline.
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Our culture knows that wrong can have terrible consequences, but so
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much is excused.
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And indeed our culture is committed to the search to find additional
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ways to avoid responsibility and indulge in irresponsible behavior.
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Again, our contribution to the life of the world must be that each of
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us knows how to control his or her own body in holiness and honor.
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We are a different people because we are the children of God.
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After laying these heavy responsibilities on these new believers, is
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there any hope of success?
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Indeed there is, says St.
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Paul.
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The first is the matter of Philadelphia, the word that the Greeks used
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to describe the love that the children of the same father have for
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each other.
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Christians need each other.
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I'm not the only one who cares.
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I'm not going to drown in a sea of unbelief and disobedience.
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God is our Father and we know it.
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We know his love for us in the forgiveness that we experience in our
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daily lives for Jesus sake and in his constant care.
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And we know our brothers and sisters that he has given to us as well.
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We are committed to them and they are committed to us.
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And we are growing in our understanding of how we help each other and
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rejoice.
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God has placed us in a community here that we may bear each other's
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burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
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And then there is that last amazing verse where Paul summarizes the
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ideal Christian life.
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Where Paul describes the kind of life that will make a difference.
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And the way
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I will paraphrase it is this.
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Try to live quietly.
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Mind your own business, do your own work, just as we instructed you.
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You may not change the whole world, but first of all, you may walk
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properly before outsiders and change their lives.
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And you maybe blessed to be dependent on no one because you are a
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child of God.
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For Jesus sake.
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Amen.
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The peace of God, which passes all understanding.
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Keep your hearts and minds in faith in Christ Jesus to life
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everlasting.
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Amen.