A Culture Changing Community Series

A Culture Changing Community: 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13

Main Idea: When we joyfully invest in discipling others, the church becomes a culture-changing community.

Good morning. Please open your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 2.

We live in a culture that has popularized the idea of liking Jesus but not the church. In 2012, a guy named Jefferson Bethke released a video of a poem he wrote called “Why I HATE religion, but I Love Jesus” and to date that video has been viewed over 35 million times.

People might tell you that they just aren’t into organized religion. I have a friend in ministry who planted a church years ago, and the first mailer he sent into the community said, “Don’t like organized religion? Join us! We’re not organized at all!”

Some people have legitimate church hurt and so they have pulled back from church. Others simply have no appetite for God. You invite them to church, and it’s like how you would respond if a Muslim invited you to go to mosque with him. Church is just not on their radar. If they were being completely honest with you, their response might be “why would I do that?” Like they are genuinely perplexed. Whatever the case, the church is not for him.

For others, attending a church has become a “take it or leave it” proposition. They have no real negative feelings about church, nor do they see church as holding any meaningful place in their lives. They are not against the church and they are not for the church. For them, church is simply a place where they may or may not “go” on Sunday mornings.

And we have lots of people in the church who still go out of obligation or loyalty, but at the end of the service walk back to their cars feeling like, “Is that all?” They look at their wives and go “Honey, what are we doing this for?” They have this restless sense that there should be something more. Deep down many people have the sense that something is missing in their church. Many of them go church shopping, looking for a church that is more on fire, making more of a difference in the community, where its members do more than just go through the motions.

And they have a point. As Mark Howell says in his commentary on Thessalonians, “God never intended the church to be this way. He did not send His Son to die so that we could attend church once a week. The church was never meant to be a weekly family tradition or just another social affiliation. Jesus did not establish His church so that its congregation could keep the lights on, the piano tuned, the preacher paid and the grass mowed.”

We know that God desires so much more for His people than to sing a few songs, listen to a sermon, and give an offering.

You get the sense from 1 Thessalonians that the church there in Thessalonica wasn’t just going through the motions. Instead of the culture changing them and getting them to buy into the “I like Jesus but I don’t like the church” mindset, we read about a church that was changing the culture.

What was the secret sauce? Was there a magic formula?

Now, before I say anything else, let me make it clear that I believe it’s the Holy Spirit that fuels a dynamic, healthy church. Ultimately, a church needs the favor of the Holy Spirit in order to survive.

However, I do think there were at least three things in the Thessalonian church that created favorable conditions for the Holy Spirit to work within their community. And so here’s the big idea for this sermon:

When we joyfully invest in discipling others, the church becomes a culture-changing community.

This morning, we are going to look at 1 Thessalonians 3 together, but I want us to see the last few verses of chapter 2. In this passage we are going to see three characteristics of a culture changing community.

[READ 2:17-3:13]

May God bless the reading of His word. Pray with me.

[PRAY]

Ben Stuart’s the pastor of Passion City Church in Washington DC, and in his RightNow Media Bible study on 1 Thessalonians, he provides this tongue-in-cheek outline of this passage. You’ll see this as we walk through the passage this morning.

• I tried to come see you (2:17)

• I Couldn’t (2:18)

• So I sent Timothy (3:1-2).

• He says you’re killing it (3:6-8).

• Awesome, but I still want to come (3:9-10)

• Let’s pray (3:11-13)

Pretty simple, right? Pretty straightforward, right?. Twenty-six words. So why does it take Paul over four hundred words to say it? Why am I taking 3000 words this morning to say it?