Behaving Like Believers

Behaving Like Believers 1 Thessalonians – Week 1 Tuesday, October 23, 2018 1 Thessalonians 1:1-4 When thinking through a series of messages, one of the most difficult things is coming up with a title for the series. I started studying the book of 1 Thessalonians to prepare for this series in April—at that time I started looking for themes in this letter that we can’t miss. One of the things that stuck out to me is that this book has a lot of teaching that is counter-intuitive to the way the world thinks today. This book talks about a church that is counter-intuitive to the way churches exist today. This book contains a lot of common sense, that has become all too uncommon for the people of their day and for people now. Here is what you need to know; 1 Thessalonians is a book of uncommon sense that needs to be more common in the church today. With that in mind, we’re going to begin with this truth—Christians are people who spend their lives behaving like believers. 1 Thessalonians 1:1–4 1 Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. 2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; 3 constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, 4 knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you; The first letter written by the apostle Paul to the church of Thessalonica is unique because the contents of the letter do not really deal with any problems that were present within the church. Most of the letters Paul wrote to the churches were written, in part, to deal with problems in those churches. • The letter to the church at Philippi was written to a group of people who were dear to Paul’s heart, but they were struggling with worry, they were complainers, and they were in danger of losing their unity because there were two ladies in the church who could not get along. The feud was causing division which would ultimately hinder the ability of the church to glorify God and be effective in its mission to make disciples. • The letter to the churches in Galatia was written to a group of people who were listening to and being influenced by teachers who claimed that faith in Jesus alone was not enough for salvation. • The letter to the church at Ephesus was written to a group of people who were proud, impatient, lacking forgiveness, following patterns of sin from their past life, and struggling with spiritual weaknesses. • The letter to the church at Colossae was written to a group of people who were struggling with being faithful to the Lord. They were drawn toward legalism, mysticism, and sensuality. • The letters to the church at Corinth was written to a group of people who were an absolute mess. The church was fractured. The church was immoral. The church was arrogant. The church was worldly. The church was lacking love. No wonder Paul wrote: 2 Corinthians 11:28 28Apart from such external things (being robbed, persecuted, shipwrecked, stoned and left for dead, being hungry and thirsty), there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. You see, Paul pastored many churches from their beginning and all but one of those churches gave him problems. All but one of those churches forced him to address serious issues that threatened his joy. Things were so bad in some of the churches that Paul wrote that feared that he had labored in vain to plant and establish those churches—he was afraid all his effort would mean nothing. (Gal. 4:11) But when he turned his attention to the church at Thessalonica, Paul saw something uncommon compared to all the other churches he planted. The Thessalonian church was a group of people behaving like believers—and they caused Paul to be thankful for them and he was filled with joy when he thought about them. The church at Thessalonica was special—not because the ministry there was easier than in any other city. As a matter of fact, those believers suffered for the gospel. One of the verses that exemplifies Uncommon Sense is found in this first chapter: 1 Thessalonians 1:6 6 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, Did you hear that? They received the word in much (great deal of) affliction (distress, oppression, adversity, intense pressure). This means that it wasn’t an easy thing for people in Thessalonica to trust Jesus and begin following Him. This means that it wasn’t easy for Paul to plant this church. Let me explain. The city of Thessalonica was the largest and most important city in Macedonia. One of three key cities in the Eastern Roman Empire, Thessalonica was a thriving seaport with more than 250,000 residents. It was a strategic city for Rome because the Egnatian Way—the major east-west highway went right through the city. Thessalonica was a military center and an economic powerhouse. The city eventually became famous for all sorts of vice, and sexual perversion—history tells us that the residents would paint obscene and pornographic pictures on the walls of their houses. Prostitution was rampant and well organized.  Crime was out of control—so much so that people built their homes in Thessalonica with no windows—they would literally build a house with only a door. Divorce was very frequent.  Babies were continually abandoned.  That was the old form of abortion. You just had your baby and let it die.  Murder was common. So, it wasn’t a city filled with good people who needed a little religion. It was a city filled with people far from God who needed a Savior. God directed Paul to Thessalonica where he would spend the first three weekends preaching the gospel in the synagogue. Evidently Paul’s ministry in the city was going well until he was forced to leave after a mob of angry Jews stirred up the citizens of the city against him. But Paul left a group of genuine believers who were committed to Jesus. 1 Thessalonians was written after one of Paul’s companions, a man named Timothy, visited the church at Thessalonica and reported back to Paul that the church was doing well—meaning that the church was strong even though they were suffering for living out their faith. Now, at the beginning of this message I said that the first few verses teach a truth—that Christians are people who spend their lives behaving like believers. What do I mean when I say that they were behaving like believers? I do not mean that they wore certain clothes, had specific hair-styles, sang a specific kind of song in their worship services, or sent their children to a specific kind of school. I do mean that their faith was obviously genuine—so much so that I doubt people on the outside of the church who were observing the members of the church would be confused as to the kind of people these were—their behavior was obviously Christian. • They were known by Paul for their work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope (v. 3). • They become imitators of Paul and of the Lord (v. 6). • They were an example to other believers in evangelism, separation, service, and expectation as they awaited the return of Jesus (vs. 7-10). According to verse one, these brothers and sisters were in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ and they were living the life they had been saved to live. The way they lived individually and together as a church brought joy to the heart of Paul. Notice what Paul told them—he (and other believers) gave thanks to God always for them—why? Verse 4 says, “for we know, brothers loved by God, that He has chosen you.” In other words, Paul was grateful and prayed constantly for these people because he knew that they were believers. How did Paul know with complete, joy-inducing confidence that those people were believers? Because Paul remembered three important things about them—their work of faith, their labor of love, and their patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. 1. Believers have an obvious faith. Have you ever been surprised when someone you know from work, school, your neighborhood, or even your family tells you they are a believer? It’s not that you’re trying to be judgmental—but you’ve heard the things they talk about—you know the things they do—you’ve taken note of their priorities and because of the way they’ve lived there just never seemed to be any evidence that they are followers of Jesus. Why? Because they don’t have an obvious faith. When Paul pointed out the “work of faith” of the believers in Thessalonica, Paul was saying that no one would ever have mistaken them as unbelievers because their faith in Jesus produced practical proof that their faith was real. Their faith produced works. In other words, their faith was not something they only talked about. Their faith in Jesus was obvious to other believers and their faith also had to have been obvious to unbelievers—because they were taking heat for their faith. Here is what you need to remember—when a person truly follows Jesus, they will change. When a person follows Jesus, they will be different, and the difference is obvious. Why? 2 Corinthians 5:17 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. Let me tell you what that means—when a person turns to Jesus and trusts Him as Lord and Savior the person they used to be—the old man or sin nature, dies or passes away. Every believer has a new identity—they are a born-again, child of God. Because they are a new creation they now have a desire to love God, to serve God, to know God and to live for God. Because they have experienced an internal change, they will begin to change outwardly. Now, I want to be very clear—being a new creation does not mean that every believer lives for God perfectly. Every believer still struggles with sin because the flesh—the physical, mental and emotional part of us—is still drawn to sin. This means there is still something in us that drives us to disobey God and disregard His commandments. This is why Paul wrote: Romans 7:18–23 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I (new creation) have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability (in my flesh, independent of the Holy Spirit) to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I (new creation) who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Paul was saying that the life of a believer is a life of struggle against sin—but the fact that we struggle against sin and yet experience moments of victory over sin is proof of faith in Jesus Christ. Romans 6:17–18 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. A believer is a person who has an obvious faith because their life will be different. James put it this way: James 2:18 18 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. Listen, it’s impossible for your faith in Jesus to be obvious to others without works. However, your faith in Jesus will be obvious to others by your works. The Christians in Thessalonica were people whose faith in Jesus was made obvious by how they lived. They were new creations and there was a noticeable difference in their lives. Here’s the point. When it comes to following Jesus, talk is cheap. Anyone can say they are a believer. Anyone who has been in church any length of time and has any intelligence can learn church lingo. Anyone who has been in church can give a testimony. But what are your works of faith? What has faith in Jesus produced in your life that makes your salvation obvious to you? What does faith in Jesus produce in your life that is practical proof that you are a believer to others? All believers have an obvious faith—it is one way we can know we are saved, and it is one way others know we are saved. But we can also see that… 2. Believers labor because of love. When Paul thought about the believers in Thessalonica he thought about a group of people who did not sit around—he remembered how hard they worked. The word “labor” means to do work that is difficult, arduous, and wearying and to do it to the point of exhaustion. In today’s terms someone might say it means to leave it all on the field. When you labor, you put forth maximum effort and use all of your energy to accomplish a task or tasks. So, the believers in Thessalonica worked hard—they exhausted themselves. But they did not labor to make themselves wealthy or to provide a life of ease and comfort. They exhausted themselves serving Jesus and serving others, and they were motivated to do the work because of their love. The love they had was a love that was produced by the Spirit (love is a fruit of the Spirit) and it moved them to put forth great effort to live for Jesus and to reach people for Jesus. Let me show you how we know what they labored to accomplish. Look at verses 6-8: 1 Thessalonians 1:6–8 6 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, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 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. This is the work believers do—we make every effort—we work to the point of exhaustion to imitate Christ, to be an example to others of Christ, and to tell everyone about Christ. We do this, not because we have to do it—but because we want to do it. We do this because we love Jesus and we love others. To quote Huey Lewis and the News—“that’s the power of love.” John MacArthur wrote: “Authentic Christianity has always been identified by loving Christ.” I would add—and loving others also.” Here’s the thing, when you love someone, you don’t mind working to the point of exhaustion for them. When you love someone, you will not see your work as burdensome—or optional. Many of you follow Ohio State Football. One of the messages the coaches push to the players is something they call “the brotherhood.” I don’t think this is exclusive to Ohio State, but the idea is simple—if you love your teammates—your brothers—then you will do everything you can to help them reach the goal. You will lift weights, you will study, you will run, you will train, you will practice, you will hit, you will live clean, you will strain—you will work to the point of absolute exhaustion for your brothers because you love them and they will do the same for you because they love you. The result of this intense effort will be wins and wins lead to championships. And when your time on the team is over, you will walk away with no regrets because you held nothing back. So, I see that, and I read about it and I wonder, what if we had the same mentality about each other and about our mission at CrossPointe? We have hard working people at this church and I’m thankful for all the effort that so many people make every week to ensure that we are doing what God has called us to do. But I do wonder what it would be like if every believer who calls this church “home” had the same mentality. Would we ever have to worry about having enough workers? Would we ever wonder how we were going to afford necessary expenses? Would we ever have a shortage of young people stepping up to follow the call to ministry? What does a church look like when they love each other and the love Jesus enough to work themselves to exhaustion? Here is the answer—it looks like the church in Thessalonica. They were a model to other believers then and they are a model to us nearly 2,000 years later. Why? Because of their labor of love. Let me show you one last trait of Christians behaving like believers… 3. Believers have a steadfast hope in Jesus. The King James uses the word “patience”—while other translations use the word “steadfastness” or “endurance”. They all mean the same thing—these believers did not give up their hope in Jesus Christ even though they were under constant pressure. They persevered because their hope was not anchored to anything this life had to offer them—their hope was in Jesus. The author of Hebrews calls hope in Jesus “an anchor of the soul, a hope that is sure and steadfast.” Why is hope in Jesus so powerful? Because Jesus promised that He would never leave or forsake us. He promised that He would intercede for us. He promised that He would stand guard over us. He promised to save all who believe in Him. He promised to take us to be with Him when our time on this earth is over. He promised to return for us after He went away. He promised that we will reign with Him forever. He promised us victory over sin and death. All of His promises are powerful because Jesus never fails to keep His promises. This is why we anchor our soul to our hope in Him. This means that no matter the difficulty, no matter the pressure, no matter the pain, we will endure to the end. Those who are saved will not turn away. Yes, there are times when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death—but in those times we do not fear, and we do not stop because Jesus is our comfort and Jesus is our life because Jesus is our hope. Those who behave like believers don’t walk away from their hope. Instead, they endure, they persevere, they stand steadfast no matter what comes at them. Over the course of this series we will see how our brothers and sisters in Thessalonica were steadfast in their hope—even when they were experiencing persecution for their faith in Jesus. Here is the challenge to us today—would anyone ever accuse you of behaving like a believer? Not because you act better than someone else. Not because you can recognize the sin of others. Not because you have nice things. Not because you’re here today and not because you’re better than the next guy. Would anyone ever accuse you of behaving like a believer because your faith is obvious, your labor is driven by love, and you remain anchored to your hope in Jesus—even when life gets really hard? These are the things that testify to you and to others that you are not a Christian in name only—but that you have a real and life altering faith in Jesus Christ. Remember: Christians are people who spend their lives behaving like believers. Two considerations: • Am I a Christian? • What needs to change in my life?