I continue with my Tuesday with Thessalonians series. Today I look at 1 Thess 1:4-8
4 For we know,
brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because
our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy
Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your
sake. 6You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you
welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the
Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the
believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message
rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become
known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,
Paul views the gospel’s arrival
as beginning a chain reaction with Thessalonica at the epicenter. It was like dropping a stone into the center of a
quiet pond. At first there is the initial splash, then ripple after ripple
reaches out until it fills the entire pond. In Thessalonica the gospel caused
an initial “splash” (1:5a; cf. Acts 17: 1-4) and formed a series of concentric
rings beginning with the way the apostles chose to live among the Thessalonians
(1:5b). The rings expanded to include the Thessalonians who became imitators of
the apostles and the Lord (1:6). Eventually the rings expanded beyond the walls
of Thessalonica so that they became an example to other believers living in the
far flung areas of Macedonia and Achaia (1:7). But the splash did not end
there. The concentric rings from the initial splash extend far beyond
Thessalonica to places and in ways that neither Paul nor the Thessalonians
could have predicted nor imagined (1:8). In fact, the events in Thessalonica
are so well-known that the apostles can sit back and say nothing. The results
speak for themselves (1:8).
The world is
becoming increasingly smaller and more interdependent. Globalization as an
economic, cultural and political phenomenon is linking the world in ways never
before seen. Whatever our opinion of globalization, we must acknowledge its
existence and the impact that it is having on how ministry is done, in
particular missions and evangelism. Most of the world now participates in a
global culture connected by better communication, an interdependent economic
system and is formed by a way of thinking patterned on the scientific method.
I have seen
this blurring of the lines happen in my own lifetime. I grew up outside of New
York City on Long Island. When I was in
school it wasn’t uncommon for other kids to ask “what is your religion.” By
that question they meant: are you Catholic or Jewish? In my neighborhood you
were either Jewish or Catholic. Those two groups represented the vast majority
of religious identities in my area, even in a place just outside of the New
York metropolitan area. Yes, there were other groups there. But they were few
enough in number that we did not notice them. Now, however, it’s not unusual to
see a sign for a Buddhist temple or the minarets of a mosque among the church steeples
and synagogue menorahs.
The
globalization of religion invariably impacts our ministry and evangelism. There
is an increasing chance that the person working with you, walking in the park
or answering the door is going to be Muslim, Hindu or a member of some other
religious group that is not Christian. We no longer live in a world where
religious identity can be assumed based on the region in which we live. Just as
globalization has opened up the market place to products and services from
around the globe, it has also brought religion to new places and Christianity
no longer encounters these religions. It coexists with them.
While
religious globalization might be threatening to some, there are some parallels
with the first century. In the Greco-Roman world the religious market place was
not just an economic metaphor to describe the dissolving of geographic,
political and economic boundaries between countries and regions. Religion was
literally in the market place. I remember the first time I toured ancient
Corinth and was struck by the way that the temple of Apollo dominates the
agora. Archaeologists have uncovered and identified some nine temples and seven
shops/markets from the first century all scattered among one another in the
agora. The close proximity of temple and
market explains why some, if not most, of the meat available in the shops had
been butchered as part of temple sacrifice, a problem Paul confronts in 1 Cor.
8-10. The situation was probably the same in Thessalonica. While much of first
century Thessalonica remains unexcavated, the city’s forum has been excavated
along with some of its shops. Remnants of inscriptions and buildings belonging
to a number of temples, including one dedicated to worshiping Caesar, have been
found suggesting that religion in Thessalonica provided a smorgasbord of
opportunities for worshipers.
But this
mixture of religions in the market place was not only a pagan phenomenon. Early
Christians do not seem to have been shy about opening a church in the same
neighborhood as a pagan temple. In the third century Syrian city of Dura Eurpos
located on the Euphrates River, archaeologists have uncovered more than
thirteen different temples. If you walk
the streets at the western edge of town you pass by a number of pagan temples
or shrines as well as a Jewish synagogue and a Christian house church. Consequently,
when Christianity came to town the religious marketplace was already very
crowded. Religious pluralism typified all ancient cities and Christianity did
not step into a religious vacuum waiting to be filled. Christianity was one
among many competitors vying for attention and support.
The
religious setting of the ancient world also impacted evangelism. As noted
above, it does not seem likely that the first Christians in Thessalonica
initiated a missions movement to spread the gospel. On the contrary, the
troubles they encountered at home probably kept them preoccupied. Besides, the
church was still very young and still in need of learning much about the
gospel, as Paul himself acknowledges in 3:10. Yet, word about what was going on
in Thessalonica spread to the surrounding area. Their “turn from idols” to
worship God (1:9) seems to have been enough to get the attention of a lot of
people. Their life style was radical enough that they did not need to advertize
it. People seemed to notice. Moreover,
considering the religious market place of the Greco-Roman world, there was no
need for them to go outside of their own city, they were able to be very
effective in their own location. They were salt and light within their own
community.
In a
globalized world, missions no longer require us to move to a foreign land. In
previous centuries it was possible to never encounter someone from another
people group and culture. Now, it is almost impossible not to encounter someone
who is different from us racially, ethnically, religiously. This means that for
many of us the opportunity for missions exists right where we live. The
concentric rings can start in our own cities and neighborhoods. The gospel
“splash” happens where we live.
This is the first night of Hanukkah, the Jewish celebration of lights. This is when Jews across the world commemorate their victory of Antiochus IV Epiphanes who outlawed Jewish worship and desecrated the temple. The earliest source we have for the holiday is Josephus' Antiquities 12.
