The Type of Church We Should Strive to Be
1 Thessalonians • Sermon • Submitted
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· 3 viewsThe first chapter of 1 Thessalonians highlights the strengths of the church of Thessalonica and we will look at how we should seek to apply those strengths to us.
Notes
Transcript
If you have a Bible, go ahead and open up to 1 Thessalonians 1. I’m excited to begin this new study with you on not just this book but the book of 2 Thessalonians and Lord willing, as we look at these 2 books over the next 4 months or so, that you will find great encouragement for your own walk with Christ or maybe even come to faith in Christ for the very 1st time. You may be wondering why we are studying these 2 letters of the Apostle Paul and the short of it is that back in the Fall, this is what you all voted for and I’m assuming that the reason that you voted for it is because one of the predominant themes in both letters is eschatology. That’s the study of the last things or the end times. That theme just permeates throughout the entire book, especially the last 2 chapters of 1 Thessalonians and first 2 chapters of 2 Thessalonians. Over the next few months we will look ahead and talk about the second coming of Jesus Christ. I understand that this is a weighty subject and I remember being a child and thinking about the second coming of Christ and being absolutely terrified about the prospect of it. I remember thinking, “What am I going to do on that day? Won’t I miss out on this and that? Won’t I give up so much here?” I have a feeling that many of us in this room view the second coming in this way but nowhere in the teaching of Scripture do we see the authors speaking in this way. For Christians, the second coming of Christ is the greatest day of joy imaginable. It is a day that we are to love and long for. For Christians, the second coming of Christ is a day of thanksgiving, rejoicing, and praise. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5 that the fact that Christ will return should be a way that we as Christians encourage and build one another up. This is a tremendous day! But for the Non-Christian, it will not be. It will be a day of dread, judgement, and wrath but as we are going to see later in this book of 1 Thessalonians, we as Christians are not destined for the wrath that is to come. We are destined for salvation through our living and returning Savior, Jesus Christ. But before we get to that, there is some business that we need to take care of first. There are 3 chapters in this letter that make little reference to the second coming, there is some reference but not much, that we need to get through first and we are going to get through all of 1 Thessalonians 1 today because it only has 10 verses but in these verses we get a picture. It’s a picture of a church that all churches should strive to be like. The church in the city of Thessalonica was truly a God-fearing, God-honoring, Christ-exalting, Spirit-enabled, and mission-driven church. In fact, John Calvin said of the church of Thessalonica and how it relates to us, “Paul affirms that the Church of God truly exists among the Thessalonians. This mark, therefore, is a proof of a true and lawful church. At the same time, however, these words inform us that we are to seek the Church only where God is head and where Christ reigns. In short, there is no other Church than that which is founded upon God, gathered together by the protection of Christ, and united in His name.” The church in Thessalonica is the type of church that we should all want to be a part of and I think we will see why as we read this chapter. Our main goal tonight is for us to see what kind of church we should be like and what kind of service we should be of for the Kingdom of God. Remember what I’ve said before, not every church is created equally. Just because the word church is on the sign doesn’t mean that everything that claims to be the church belongs to the Church and just because you go to church, that does not mean that you truly belong to the Church. Remember that Christ said that not everyone who says to Him, “Lord, Lord” will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. There’s no sneaking into Heaven by the side door. Everyone who gets there gets there by going through the narrow gate and the only way to get there is through the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s pray and then we will dive into 1 Thessalonians 1
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace.
We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
This sounds like an absolutely incredible church. This is a church that we should all want to be a part of. The big thing that I want us to talk about tonight is what does a truly Christian church look like? What is the evidence of a Christ-honoring, sanctified Church? I think Paul gives us the answer in these verses. Jesus says that the world will know that we are Christians by our fruit, by the lives that we live and Paul expands upon that in these verses so let’s first look at what our lives should look like if we are Christians.
Evidence of our Faith (Verse 3)
Evidence of our Faith (Verse 3)
What we see in Paul’s writings is that the church is something which is distinguishable. It is a community that has certain elements that are front and centered and while this is certainly true of hopefully the God-fearing church at large, it is also evidence of the individual Christian. Remember, no man is an island and no one man makes up the church but this does not detract from the fact that the church is made up of individual Christians. What then does a Christian look like? How does he act? What is the evidence that they are different from the rest of the world and what is the evidence of their salvation? As we talk about this, we’ll see how this relates to the body of Christ but how does it first relate to us as a single person? Paul tells us in verse 3 when he says that he is, “Remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Does this remind anyone of what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:13
1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV)
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
It’s the same 3 qualities that Paul mentions in 1 Thessalonians 1:3, these 3 all point to the evidence of our faith and evidence of a Godly church. How do they do that then? Let’s quickly break down these 3 terms that Paul uses.
Work of Faith
What does Paul mean when he talks about works of faith? It implies that something real, active, and moving is happening in the lives of the believers. It means that there is an authentic work of salvation happening in their lives, a true justification that is gifted by God the Father, accomplished by Christ the Son, and bestowed by the Holy Spirit. For faith to be a work of faith, it means that their faith in Christ has so impacted their lives that all that they do is an outward expression of that faith. Our faith, our salvation is not accomplished by our works, but is seen through our works. A faith void of works is a dead faith. This is what James means in James 2:17-18
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
This doesn’t mean that you earn your way to Heaven. Salvation isn’t 50% faith and 50% good works. What James means and what Paul means here is that our faith is interconnected with our works. To claim to be a Christian but not do the things that Christ has called us to do is contrary to the new life in Christ that we claim to have. We’re not saved by our good works but we’re saved for good works. So, really this is what it means: When you come to faith in Christ, the things that you do, the things you set your heart on, change drastically because you have been made new in Christ and when you are made new in Christ, you will do the works that Christ did. Why? Because you love Christ and to live a live void of good works would be totally foreign to your new life in Christ. No we are not saved by our works but our works show that we have been saved. Paul is telling the Thessalonians, “the things that you are doing make it evident that your lives have been changed by faith in Christ.”
Labor of Love
The next evidence of a Christian life that Paul mentions is a labor of love. Christians are a loving people. To not be loving is to not be Christian. How so? Because Christ tells us to not just love our friends, not just love the church, but to love our enemies. A labor of love implies that love is hard and it is! It’s easy to love the people you love but it’s hard to love those that hate you. The love that we have for others will drive the work or labor that we do. Why do we do missions? It’s because we love God and we have a heart for God’s people. Why do ministers labor so hard for their congregation even when that congregation looks like an un-sanctified mess? Because they love the church! Why does my heart ache when I see you guys make mistakes or fall into sin? Because I love you and when you become a Christian, your love for others should increase regardless of how they feel about you. Christians need to labor in love because Jesus says in Matthew 24:12 “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” But our love shouldn’t grow cold because we are caught up in a great love for God and a love for our neighbor.
Steadfastness of Hope
The next mark or evidence of a Christian is that they possess a steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. What is steadfastness? I guess you could call it endurance or perseverance. A Christian is someone that perseveres. Jesus says in Matthew 24:13 “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” A Christian is one who endures. He’s one that has a hope that can’t be taken away because the hope that he has is set on the God who fulfills every promise. The God who never changes is the one we have our hopes set on and our hope is more than just wishful thinking. The hope of a Christian is a certainty. The Christian is certain that Christ is coming back and that is what Paul is emphasizing as a mark of true Christianity. The Christian is longing for Christ’s second coming. Here are 3 marks of the Christian life. Jonathan Edwards wrote, “The proper evidence of the genuineness of faith is its activity, or its being operative. The proper evidence of the genuineness of love is its being laborious and self-denying. The proper evidence of a genuine hope is patience or perseverance in waiting for the hoped for reward, through all intervening labors and sufferings.” Do you possess these 3 attributes? Does your faith drive your works? Do you labor in love? Are you persevering in an unwavering hope? Yet Paul doesn’t stop there in regards to assurance or in regards to what kind of church we should strive to be. In verses 4-5, Paul emphasizes that the church is a chosen church.
Evidence of our Election (Verses 4-5a)
Evidence of our Election (Verses 4-5a)
1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 says, “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.” To be a Christian means that you have been chosen by God. I understand that the doctrine of election is a messy subject to many but despite the rejection by some, it is a Biblical doctrine. You can’t escape election in the Bible. How does Paul know that they have been chosen by God? How does he know that they have been loved from before time began and saved? Because the Gospel came to them in power, and in the Holy Spirit and they were fully convicted of the truths of the Gospel. Know then that if you are a Christian, it is because you have been chosen and given to Christ the Son by God the Father. We love because He loved us first. We are saved because He set His eyes on us long before we ever laid eyes on Him. John MacArthur said, “Christians are the elect, chosen by God solely by His sovereign, loving purpose, apart from any human merit or wisdom. God in eternity past sovereignly chose all believers to salvation, drawing them to Himself in time, by the work of the Holy Spirit.” No one that’s not supposed to be in Heaven will be there and no one that is supposed to be there will miss out. Understand too that when we talk about God’s choosing and God’s election, God did not look down the hallway of time and see who would respond favorably to the Gospel and then choose to save them. God never learns anything so He couldn’t look and learn something. His choosing is based entirely on Him and nothing in us and praise God for that because to steal a line from Charles Spurgeon, for God to choose me, He would of had to have done it before I was born because He certainly would not have chosen me afterwards and if He hadn’t chose me, I never would have chosen Him. The scandal of election is not that God saves some and doesn’t save others, the crazy thing is that God would choose to save any! No one bats an eye at God choosing Israel over every other nation but we lose our mind when we think that God would choose the elect. In Romans 9, Paul references a statement in the book of Malachi that talks about how Jacob was loved and Esau was hated. Here’s the thing, I can understand why God would hate Esau but I cannot wrap my head around why God would love Jacob! We as Christians are in the same boat. Anyone that has ever been saved is saved because God has shown mercy to them and anyone that has not been saved has died in their sins by their own free choice. Free will carries many to hell but no one to Heaven. In Paul’s mind, the evidence of the Thessalonians election comes down to the lives that they now live. It comes down to the impact that the Gospel has made in their lives. What is the Church then? John Stott gives a great description: “Here, then, is Paul’s threefold description of the church. It is a community beloved and chosen by God in a past eternity, rooted in God and drawing its life from Him, and demonstrating this life of God in a faith which works, a love which labors and a hope which endures.” When you leave here and go look for a new church home, maybe when you go to college or move somewhere, these are the marks of the church that you need to look for. Find the church that is rooted in God and in the Word. Find the church that labors in love for each other and for their enemies. Find the church that looks ahead to the second coming of Christ and perseveres in the faith. When you find the church that looks like this, you see the evidence of God’s approval and choice. How then does all of this impact our lives. How does verses 2-5 drive what we do as Christians. I think Paul highlights the how in verses 6-10 so let’s read those again.
The Example of our Lives (Verses 6-10)
The Example of our Lives (Verses 6-10)
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Several years ago, Francis Schaeffer wrote a book called How Should We Then Live? And in this book he presented the basic argument that when culture walks in line with the absolutes of the Bible, you see culture and society thrive. What we need in the world is not less religion, it’s more. We don’t need less Bible, we need more Bible. What we need are better examples not more examples and the Thessalonians were blessed with Godly influences in their lives. They not only strove to be an example, they strove to imitate the one’s who led them in the truth. And here’s where we need to take a quick detour on imitating those who are over us. Paul would readily admit that he wasn’t perfect. This is seen in Romans 7 and Philippians 3 but Paul is a good example to follow. Why? Because in all things he sought to imitate Christ. Everything that he did was done with the tint of Christ-likeness. You follow leaders to the extent that they follow Christ. Paul never said, “Do as I do because I’m so perfect. Instead in 1 Corinthians 11:1 “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” It stands to reason then that the Thessalonians were imitators of Christ because they saw Paul seeking to imitate Christ. When you surround yourself with Godly leaders, it is easy to become inspired by the way that they live. I can’t tell you how many biographies that I’ve read of Christ-honoring saints that have left me with a greater desire to know Christ. That is Paul’s desire to the Thessalonians. It’s not that they would want more of him but that they would want more of the Christ that he serves. Let’s quickly now look at how our lives should be an example to others and by doing that, we will answer Schaeffer’s question of how we should then live. One of the key giveaways of Christians is how they stand in the midst of persecution. The church is remarkable in the way that despite repeated attempts to squash it, it has thrived. One may say that the church thrives under adversity. It was in the midst of great affliction that the Thessalonians received the Word of God and they received it with joy. This is again a mark of a true Christian. A Christian can go through the valley of the shadow of death with a smile on his face because he knows the One to whom he belongs. Justin Martyr, one of the early church fathers said, “Now it is evident that no one can terrify or subdue us who have believed in Jesus over all the world. For it is plain that, though beheaded, and crucified, and thrown to wild beasts, and chains, and fire, and all other kinds of torture, we do not give up our confession; but the more such things happen, the more do others and in larger numbers become faithful, and worshipers of God through the name of Jesus. For just as if one should cut away the fruit-bearing parts of a vine, it grows up again, and yields other branches flourishing and fruitful; even so the same thing happens with us.” A Christian is like the hydra, cut off one head and another seems to always take its place. With joy, the Thessalonians endured persecution and affliction because their hearts were so captivated on Christ. When Christ is your everything, you will be content with nothing. When Christ is at the center of your heart, you will gladly count all things as loss for the sake of knowing Jesus. You will gladly give up the trinkets of earth when you know that you will possess the treasuries of Heaven. The Thessalonians lived such a Christ-centered life that Paul says that they were an example to all the believers throughout Macedonia and Achaia and not only that, word of their faith has practically been heard around the world. They were a church that wasn’t afraid to let the world know who they were and what they believed. They didn’t hide their faith in a basket or in the corner of a room. Their lives were devoted to Christ and they would rather cut off a limb than not let the world know about the God they served. What is wrong with us today that we don’t want to live like this? God forbid that we be a church that hides the fact that we are Christians. How are we to live our lives as Christians? How are we to live our lives as the Church of Jesus Christ? We are to live in such a way that word of our faith and changed lives reaches the ears of others long before we get there. Can you say that you live like that? Has Christ so possessed your heart, body, and soul that no matter who thinks of you, all that they can think of is Christ? Is your faith echoing in the ears of those around you? Remember, the last thing that the world should see when it looks at you is someone that looks exactly like them. If you are a Christian, you have been changed, you have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ and now you eagerly await the day of His return and as you wait, you live the words of 1 Peter 2:11-12
1 Peter 2:11–12 (ESV)
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
May our lives be so saturated with Christ that even those that oppose our message may see what we are doing and glorify God in some way. In the last 2 and a half verse of 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul appears to recount what happened to those within the Thessalonian church and it is a picture of what happens in our lives as we turn to Christ. We turn from the idols that we once served. Maybe it was money, maybe power, maybe sex, maybe a different god or person, we turn from those things that are dead and nothing to the living and true God. We have repented of our sins and we have turned to Christ in faith and in His grace, He has justified us and removed our garment of sin and shame and has bestowed His perfect righteousness in its place. This doesn’t happen without the cross. Paul reminds us that it was Jesus that died on the cross in our place and it was this very same Jesus that rose again from the dead and it is this very Jesus that will deliver us from the wrath to come. Now we wait eagerly for the day of His return. Can you say that this describes your life? Have you turned from the things of this world, the things of Satan, the things of self and have you turned to the living and true God? Have you submitted to God the Father and embraced the Son of God that stood in your place? The One that took on the wrath that was due for your sin and my sin? Have you been washed in the blood of the Lamb of God? Because if you have, your life will never be the same. Your life will look different. Your priorities will be different and my prayer is that your life begins to imitate that of the Thessalonian church as they sought to imitate Christ. My prayer is that we would find ourselves to be a church just like this one: A Church that longs for the day of Christ’s return, one that labors in love and steadfastness of hope and works of faith so that all may hear that we have truly been changed by the Gospel. I hope that this describes your life and if not, may you this very moment say that you are going to devote your life to Jesus Christ. I’m looking forward to our time together in this book and I trust that God will mightily use this book in your life and my life as well. Let’s pray.