Introduction
Our text this evening is taken from verse 7... “And you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia”. Tonight we consider ‘A Model Church’.
What is a model church? Is there such a thing? We don’t mean a children’s piece of Lego – not that kind of model! We mean a church that is worth copying. A church that is a wonderful example to others.
The young church at Thessalonica may have been young and inexperienced, but it was a church that one could learn from. How easy to think that because a Church or Christian is new and inexperienced that we can’t learn from them.
Well, the Thessalonian church was a model to those fellow Macedonian churches and those in the nearby province of Achaia. And in verses 1-10 we see 6 ways in which the church was model to be emulated.
1. A Model Church is an Active Church
At the Church Members Evening we alluded to this aspect of the Thessalonian church.
vv2-3, It was a church that is active in faith, love and hope.
John Calvin calls verse 3 “a brief definition of true Christianity”.
True Christians in a model church are Believers, Lovers and Hopers.
Faith, love and hope are outgoing...
Faith looks to God and what he has done in the past for our sins.
Love looks to others and what we must do for them now.
Hope looks to the future which will be glorious.
Faith, love and hope are also productive... it says...
Faith produces works of obedience.
Love produces a commitment to practically love others even when it’s difficult to.
Hope produces endurance. Because we know this world is NOT what it’s all about for us, because we know we have a glorious and eternal future with Christ, we are able to get through the difficulties and griefs of this current life.
Verse three is a great challenge to us:
If a so-called Christian is not working out his or her faith obediently we can ask: where is his faith?
If a so-called Christian is not labouring at loving others we can ask: Where’s your love?
If a so-called Christian is not able to endure tough times of opposition we can ask: Where’s your hope? A model church is an active church – active in faith, love and hope.
2. A Model Church is a Chosen and Loved Church
Verse 4, Paul says the believers are chosen and loved by God.
What a wonderful thought. They are not Christians by accident. They are not second best citizens. They are specially selected.
A study of the doctrine of election in the Bible will discover that God’s people are never chosen and loved by God because they are better than anyone else. But there is one reason given for the choice and that is all: Deuteronomy 7:8 “It was because the Lord loved you.”
He loves us because he has decided to love us – not because he thinks we are lovable. That is a comforting thought! It means that every time I am unlovable – which is quite often.... He will love me anyway because he has already decided to! But we move on to another point connected to this one...
3. A Model Church is a Responsive Church
You see, Paul is able to say in verse 4, WE KNOW God has chosen and loved you. So how did Paul and his missionary team know the Thessalonians were chosen?
Verse 5 has the answer: “Because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.”
‘With power’ is the way the gospel came to the Thessalonians. Paul’s words had a powerful effect on them.
‘The Holy Spirit’ is the Person the power came from as the gospel was preached.
‘Deep conviction’ is the evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit. The word for deep conviction means entire confidence and passion. In other words, as Paul preached with entire confidence in his message and in the power of God, the message was received with deep conviction and entire confidence.
To those among us here tonight who are preachers and teachers of God’s Word – in church or Sunday school – and to those of us who try to share the gospel with family, friends, neighbours and colleagues..... ask yourself a question: Do I share God’s Word with entire confidence and with passion? Let’s pray for each other that this will be true of us!
However, notice something very interesting here! When Paul saw that their hearts were touched by his preaching he didn’t say, ‘O my preaching was good today’. Rather, he said I can see God has plans for you because your hearts are responsive – that is, in both my preaching and your receiving of the message I see a power at work.
Remember when the Lord Jesus, in Mark 6:5, quote, “Could not do any miracles there, except lay hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith.”
You see, when the gospel is preached with power, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the preacher is good. It means that God is also at work in the hearts of the listeners. The Thessalonians were a responsive church.
4. A Model Church is a Church that imitates the Apostles and Jesus
In verses 6-7 Paul commends them for this. They were a church who imitated the life and faith of Jesus and his apostles. They watched the way that Paul, Silas and Timothy spoke and acted; they saw how they forgave and served; they heard how they gently instructed in the truth; they observed their faith, hope and love and boldness. They saw their love for Jesus. And they adopted as their own this new Christian life.
Perhaps we are familiar with Ephesians 5:1-2 where we are told to be imitators of God and Christ; or with 1 John 2:6 where we are told to walk as Jesus did.
But how often do we think of the fact that we are also called to imitate the life of godly people? That’s why Christian biographies and autobiographies are good to read. We learn how godly men and women throughout the ages have lived for Christ.
Paul even says in 1 Corinthians 4:16 “I urge you to imitate me”!!! And “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ”. Chapter 11:1...
Sometimes we hear well intentioned Christians say, Don’t look to me, look to Christ. That’s not what Paul said! Yes, we should be always pointing people to Him as the answer to everything. But there is a sense in which God asks us to be examples for others to follow. And there is a sense in which it is a cop-out for us to say Don’t look to me. Because folks, by the power of the Holy Spirit we can and should be examples to others. Just as we should be learning from the example of the Lord and of godly people.
The Thessalonians imitated Paul and the Lord. In spite of severe suffering and with JOY!
A brief read of how the church got started in Thessalonica will give you a taste of that suffering. The opposition was huge. But they continued to live out their faith. And they didn’t do it with long faces either! They did it with Holy Spirit given joy. Perhaps it was especially in this way that the church was a model church.
Are we living out the Jesus lifestyle? Are we doing it with joy in the face of ridicule and opposition?
5. A Model Church is a Church that spreads the Gospel
Verse 8 tells us that “The Lord’s message rang out from you not only [locally], but everywhere – in other words everywhere there were Christian gatherings, they were talking about how the Thessalonians had come to faith in Christ.
Notice the two ways the gospel spread. First, it rang out locally through the way they gossiped the gospel to all around them. Second the gospel spread as their faith “became known everywhere”. And see the particular aspects of their faith that was being talked about:
Verse 9, “the kind of reception” the Thessalonians had given to the apostles and the gospel.
Are people talking about us like that? Do they talk about the good reception they received? O friends, let’s make sure we seek out the new and newer faces at after service tea and coffee! Let’s receive people well and show interest in them! And do people gossip about the way we receive God’s Word? That we listening carefully and Monday-Saturday seek ways to practice what we have learnt? When new folk join us do they think, ‘Well here’s someone or here’s a church that takes the Bible seriously; here’s a church that takes ministry seriously. Do they think, I’m welcome and loved here’.
So many in those days were talking about the Thessalonian’s attitude towards the Christian ministry. But they were also talking about something else, verses 9-10:
“They tell us how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven”.
The message of the gospel was ringing out from the Thessalonians as people talked about their conversion. For in those words we have a picture of what it means to become a Christian. Notice those verbs: turn, serve, wait.
They had turned from things which were not God to God. That’s faith.
They were now serving God. That’s love.
They were now waiting expectantly for Christ’s return. That’s hope.
Increasingly this must be a short description of our Christian lives: We have turned, we are serving, we are waiting.
Conclusion
Active, Chosen and Loved, Responsive, Imitating, Gospel Spreading – that was what made the young Thessalonian church a model church.
The church that modelled itself on Jesus and his apostles was the church that became a model to all around them.
Now all this could intimidate us! We could say, ‘Woah! That was them! I’m me! I can’t be that kind of Christian. We can’t be that kind of church’.
Or we could say, Lord, if that’s what you can do in them, that’s what you can do in me.
Thank you that all my resources are in You.
Thank you that I am chosen and dearly loved.
Lord make me active in faith, love and hope.
Lord make me responsive to You.
Lord help me to imitate You and those who lives you have touched.
Lord help me – help us – to spread your word.
Lord make us a model to others. A model that will glorify You and bless others. Amen.
