Last week at our meeting to vote on the merger, Geoff spoke about the need for us to give more attention to the sharing of the gospel as a congregation and today I want to take up that issue as we begin a series on 1 Thessalonians. I’ve called the series the Gospel and the Church, because this short letter is all about the effect of the gospel on the church and vice versa. In fact as we’ll see in these first few verses of the letter, the church comes from the gospel, it exemplifies the gospel and it spreads the gospel.
But first, what is it that makes a church a Church? Is it the building you meet in? We’ve been thinking about having our first service as a new Parish in another place, probably not a consecrated church. Does that matter?
Is it the fact that you have an ordained person to lead you? Would you still be a church if I left and you only had lay people to lead you? It’s interesting that that was the situation in China a number of years ago when the foreign missionaries were all thrown out and the church there was left with just the local people to lead it. And I guess you know that when that happened the church continued to grow. In fact some people would suggest it grew much faster when that happened.
Is a church just a group of people who gather together because they believe the same things about God and Jesus? Or people who gather because they like the same sort of music, or ceremony or whatever?
Well none of those definitions are sufficient are they? I hope you can see that they all have holes in them. No, let’s look at the first verse here and see what it suggests: "To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Can you see the suggestion Paul gives us there?
A. A Community that lives in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
He suggests that a church is defined by its relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ. A church is a Community that lives in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that’s an odd phrase isn’t it? Not ’lives through God’ but ’lives in God’. He seems to be saying that the life we have, the spiritual life that is, has it’s existence in God himself. Our life derives from God and its strength and stability comes from God.
For a church like Thessalonica this was an important truth to remind them of. You may remember from when we studied Acts a couple of years ago, that Thessalonica was one of the places where the Jewish officials started a riot and had Paul thrown out of town. So life was tough if you were a Christian there. In 2 Corinthians Paul talks about their generosity despite their extreme poverty. So economic security was a big issue for this newly established, persecuted church. They needed to know that their life was centred in God where nothing could shake them or challenge them.
Now if you think about our situation there isn’t much comparison is there? We rarely experience persecution - of that sort at least. We’re fairly secure - perhaps even very secure. We live in a stable society with a predictable future. So does this expression have any relevance to us?
Let me suggest it does, because it actually challenges that very sense of security. It makes us ask where do we find our security? Does it come from democratic rule or economic success or educational and scientific achievement? Or do we, just like the Thessalonians, need to derive our security from our place in God, from the life that derives from the life of our Lord Jesus Christ?
B. Faith, Hope and Love
But let’s read on. Not only does the church derive its existence from God but it also exhibits the characteristics of God. Paul says he always gives thanks for them. Why? Because he remembers their response to the gospel. Look at v3. "Constantly 3remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." I’m sure you’ve seen these three characteristics before. Here are the three preeminent Christian virtues: Faith, hope and love. But notice that they’re not just passive character traits. They’re not like redheads, blondes and brunettes or the different temperaments that people exhibit: phlegmatic, choleric, melancholic, etc. No these are active expressions of their Christian faith. These are characteristics that result in action, in behaviour that points outward; and we’ll see in a moment that this is critical to the Church’s task of spreading the gospel.
He speaks of their work of faith. Faith isn’t just an abstract quality that allows us to believe in God. It’s an active quality that leads us to do good works, that enables us to try new things for God. It’s the factor that allows someone to pray for healing and see that healing take place. Di was telling me about a woman she met this week at one of her training days, who’d been on a short term mission to the Philippines and had seen amazing acts of healing when people prayed with faith. So it’s something that results in action.
He speaks of their labor of love. Again, love isn’t an abstract quality, nor is it a soppy sentimentality. It’s what makes people do things for someone else that they’d never do otherwise. He’s talking here about the sort of hard labour that requires lots of effort, that wears you out. like caring for a loved one who’s come down with a long term illness. You’ve all seen it I’m sure. Someone’s spouse or parent develops Alzheimer’s or motor neurone disease or Parkinson’s and it’s their love for their spouse or their parent that keeps them going in sometimes unbearable situations.
And of course steadfastness of hope is what allows people to persevere in their faith and love when times get tough, particularly when we meet opposition to our faith. It’s the sure and certain hope of eternal life that helps us all persevere, endure, as we wait for Christ to return.
C. Chosen and loved by God
Thirdly the Church is a community that’s chosen and loved by God, v4. How does he know this? How can anyone know whether God loves them; and, more importantly, whether God has chosen them? Well he gives them two reasons.
First the stated reason: he says "5Because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction." The work of the gospel among them had visible results. There was a noticeable change among them. He doesn’t expand on it but he says it came in power. There was an outward change that he can only describe as powerful. This may have been through the expression of various spiritual gifts as it was on the day of Pentecost or it may simply have been the change of attitude that came with conversion as they turned from idols to the true and living God.
But also the things he’s already mentioned in v4 are a clear sign of the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives. They’ve changed from being normal, self-centred human beings to being people who work for God, who labour in love, who patiently endure opposition because they believe that God has a great reward stored up for them in heaven.
And as we’ll see in a moment he can see that their new life in the Spirit is bearing fruit in new converts.
So the first really important truth to glean from these few verses is that the Church is not just a human institution like Lions or Rotary or a Masonic Lodge. This is a divine society. This is a body that finds its life in the life of God. This is a body that we’re drawn into as part of a living organism that both sustains and motivates us to action.
Well that leads us on to the other main truth in this passage.
D. The Work of the Gospel
Paul describes here an interesting process by which the gospel is disseminated.
1. From us to you
First the gospel was proclaimed by Paul and his team (v5). And it came to them in words. As we’ll see in a moment it came in more than words, but it did come in words. The gospel is a message that has a content. It’s important that we know how to express out faith in words. We don’t all need to use the exact same words. It’s right and proper to express our faith in our own way, to tell it how it is for us, but we do need to use words and to say it in a way that’s clear to others.
But along with the words came power and the Holy Spirit and full conviction. So, again, this isn’t just a convincing spiel that someone has thought up to convince gullible people. This isn’t a sales pitch you learn off by heart along with the techniques to suck people in. No, It’s a message that carries with it the power of God. You might find this encouraging if you’re the sort of person who has trouble putting things into words or who doubts your ability to convince anyone of the truth of the gospel. The gospel itself is the power of God for salvation. The words matter, but God’s power matters even more.
I know the leaders in the youth group have been working hard to present the gospel to the teenagers who go there and in some cases this has borne fruit. But it’s a big struggle isn’t it? How do you convince young people (or old people for that matter) to forego the pleasures that are presented to them by the world as essential to happiness and to trust that God will provide them with everything they need to enjoy life? How do you convince people that the security they appear to have in our beautiful country is a fleeting security and that the only truly secure future is a future with God? It’s hard isn’t it? Let me suggest that only the power of God will change their minds. So we need to be praying for our youth group leaders. We need to be praying for the Christian young people in the youth group. We need to be praying that God’s Holy Spirit would touch the hearts of each of those kids as they hear the gospel presented week by week.
2. It was received with joy
But secondly the gospel was received by the Thessalonians with joy. Here’s the second step in the process. First it’s proclaimed and then it’s received. No-one becomes a Christian by osmosis. Some people creep towards faith through their membership in a Christian community, but there has to come a time, a moment in their life when they stop and receive the message for themselves. A moment when they choose to turn their life around to follow Christ. And that’s what the Thessalonians have done.
Despite the challenges confronting them, the persecution they faced, they received the message with joy. Can you remember the joy of discovering God’s love for you? The joy of realising that you weren’t alone, but that God was with you at every step of the way? The joy of discovering a community of people who were there to support and encourage you; to rejoice when you were rejoicing, to mourn with you when you were mourning? This is also what the Holy Spirit does.
3. It was exemplified in their lives
Finally the gospel was not just proclaimed and received, it was then broadcast by being exemplified in their lives. Look at vs 7&8: "7so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it."
Here’s a church that had taken up not just belief in God but the life of God. As I said before their faith, love and hope were active, outward focussed, characteristics. So much so that they’ve become a byword in the whole region. Do you remember I said that when Paul wrote to the Corinthians he was able to use them as an example of generosity in the face of extreme poverty. Well, that’s because their reputation was so well known. And why had people heard of them? Because their life as a church was visible to those around them. Because people had noticed the way, first of all, their spiritual lives had been changed, they’d "turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God," and secondly people had seen the way they’d become imitators of Paul and of the Lord.
Can you imagine the whole neighbourhood around here talking about how the people of St Theodore’s seem to live changed lives? Can you imagine us becoming a byword for faith, hope and love? This is the challenge for us from this passage I think. How can we live together in such a way that people start talking about us? How can our lives demonstrate the love and power of God to the extent that people take notice? That people are drawn to God because of us?
Now I don’t think we do too badly in the way we interact. We’re a fairly friendly, caring, loving community. But at the same time I worry that the love we show is hidden to anyone outside. It’s like we’ve got a really bright torch, but we’ve covered ourselves with a thick blanket, so only those under the blanket actually experience the light.
I wonder how often we talk to our friends and neighbours about the life we experience here. Roy and I were talking the other day about how we run regular special outreach services that are always well done, creative, worth being at, but rarely are there many visitors to experience them. Why is that? Is it because we’re not talking about our life here in between? Is it because we’re embarrassed to tell people that we belong to a church. Are we still not sure that our guest services will be worth inviting guests to? Unless we make ourselves visible to the world around us we’ll always struggle to convince people that the gospel is worth listening to.
Well here’s what we’ve discovered so far in 1 Thessalonians: the Church is a divinely instituted community with a task to carry out: to share the gospel with the world. If we’re to be a church that reaches people with the gospel we’ll need to be a church that not only receives the gospel but exemplifies it and then talks to people about how the gospel has had an impact on us and our life together.
For more sermons from this source go to http://www.stthomasburwood.org.au
