Christianity’s Next Top Model
1 Thessalonians 1:4-10
Know if you are a Model of the Christian Life
Are you Chosen?
Have you believed the Gospel?
Has the Gospel affected your Life?
Know how to Model the Christian Life
We model the Christian life by
Following the Leaders
Finding joy in Suffering
Serving God
Waiting patiently for Jesus’ return
Slide
When I say the word “Model,” what do you think of?
Many people will think of women modeling clothes or some other product.
Maybe we think of a young lady walking down a runway showing off the clothes that a designer has created and wants to expose to others who will want those clothes.
Maybe we think of some pretty girl being a model to help sell perfume thinking that if you wear this perfume, you will look like her.
There is a TV show out right now called America’s Next Top Model that has girls compete to be a model for clothes and other products.
Well, I don’t know if you have ever thought about being a model, but I know that Jesus wants believers in him to model the Christian faith so today we are going to talk about that, in a message I have titled, Christianity’s Next Top Model.
Slide
In the text we are going to be looking at today, Paul calls the Thessalonian Church a model to others.
Are you a Model of the Christian Life?
It is an important question to ask and answer, and if we are a model, How do we model the Christian life well?
Let’s see if we can answer those questions today as we turn to 1 Thessalonians 1:4-10.
Slide
(Pause so they can get there.)
1 Thessalonians 1:4-10
4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia-your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Pray
Ok, let’s ask again the first question we want to answer.
How do you
Know if you are a Model of the Christian Life
Slide
Let’s take a look at what Paul says in verse 4.
1 Thessalonians 1:4 – “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you”
Paul tells the Thessalonians that they have been chosen by God.
Election
Now there is a doctrine or teaching in Christianity known as Election.
What Election means is that God has chosen people, based on no merit or anything at all that they have done, to save them, completely as an act of His love and grace.
God didn’t choose you because you are nice, because you are good, or for any other thing from you. He didn’t even choose you because you responded to His call. He chose you simply as an act of His grace.
This becomes difficult for some because they question why we even evangelize people, if God has already chosen those who will be saved?
This is also sometimes difficult for people to understand because the Bible also seems to indicate that salvation is subject to man receiving Jesus Christ as Savior.
John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 1:12 - Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-
Romans 10:9 – “if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
So how do we reconcile this?
How do we reconcile the fact that Scripture seems to teach that Salvation is completely an act of God’s sovereignty and grace apart from anything we do or have done AND
the teaching in Scripture that says you need to believe in and receive Jesus Christ as Savior as an act of your faith?
Entire books have been written about this subject over the centuries and it is still not completely understood, but I think that is part of the point.
God has created us as limited beings with limited abilities to understand some things.
God tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9
8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
So in reconciling this in our minds, part of what we need to know is that we won’t completely reconcile how God operates or what He can do.
What we need to know and understand is that Salvation is completely a work of God.
Jesus says in John 6:44 that “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him”
The other part of what we need to know is that God has chosen to call people to Himself through human agents who are sharing the good news so that those who are called will respond in faith as an act of their will.
Look what Paul says in verse 4.
“We know”, we know God has chosen you.
How does he know?
Verse 5
“because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.”
So this is interesting. We are able to know if we are Chosen.
So I want to ask
Are you chosen?
Slide
Have you been chosen to be saved and be a model to others of living the Christian Life?
How do we know if God has chosen you to model the Christian faith?
We know the same way that Paul knew that the Thessalonians were chosen.
The Gospel came to them and they believed it.
We can know we are chosen by simply asking ourselves some questions.
First,
Have you Believed the Gospel?
Slide
Have you received the gift of Salvation, by believing in, Jesus Christ for your salvation?
If you have, then you are, to use a biblical term, one of the elect.
Jesus, when talking about the end times, says, in
Mark 13:20
20 If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.
The elect are those that are chosen, but we can know if we are one of the elect by believing the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ and trusting in Him for our salvation.
Earlier we said the difficulty in reconciling God’s choosing in the doctrine of election is that they do not see a need for sharing their faith with others.
“If God chooses people, then those who are chosen will hear about it without me having to tell them” goes this thinking.
But we fail to understand that God, in His complete sovereignty has ordained for people to come to Him through other people sharing the good news of Christ with them.
Paul asks rhetorically, these questions in Romans 10:14-15
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
He not only is willing to go out and preach the message, Paul is willing to endure suffering to do this for the elect.
2 Timothy 2:10 - Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
He endures everything, he suffers and he sacrifices, Why? Because he has his eyes on the eternal salvation and glory of those who will receive Jesus Christ.
Truly believing the gospel of Jesus is the first evidence that you can turn to to know you have been chosen.
But there is another question you can ask that goes hand in hand with that true belief in the gospel.
Has the Gospel affected your Life?
Slide
Paul says that the gospel came to them not simply with words but also with power and the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. (1 Thessalonians 1:5)
Their lives were different than they were before.
They lived differently.
These Thessalonians were no longer simply living for their own pleasures, which leave us so empty, but they were living for the Lord and they were experiencing joy (v. 1:6) in doing it.
The Gospel changes people. It changes us internally, and it changes us externally in the way we think and act and live.
This is why Paul was so certain that the Thessalonians were chosen by God, why he was sure they had eternal life. He saw it in the way their lives changed.
Have you believed the gospel and has your life changed as a result?
Would other people be able to see the changes that have taken place?
Would others see you as an example, a model, of how to live the Christian life?
Transition
Maybe you have believed the gospel and your life has changed due to that belief.
You think differently and you are acting differently, but as for being a model, you just aren’t sure that you are the best model of the Christian faith for others.
Perhaps that is just because you have not yet learned how to be that model. Maybe you are a newer Christian and you have not yet learned how to live out your faith.
I want to look at the rest of the Thessalonians passage and see how Paul indicates that the Thessalonians learned to the models of the Christian life that they were so that we might
Know How to Model the Christian Life
Slide
Paul talks about 4 things that the Thessalonians are doing that are great things to model for others. These are not the only things to do to be a model, but these are a great place to begin for anyone.
First, we see that you model the Christian life by…
Following your Leaders
1 Thessalonians 1:6a says “You became imitators of us and of the Lord;”
The Thessalonians were following the example of Paul and Silas and Timothy, the teachers and overseers who founded the church.
We live in a society where people are very cautious about whom they trust enough to follow. And we should be cautious. We see cult leaders and others who lie and manipulate people for their own benefit.
Those are not the leaders you want to follow.
Well then how do you determine who to follow?
Follow those who follow Christ.
This is what the Thessalonians were doing.
Paul told the Corinthian church to do the same thing.
He said in 1 Corinthians 11:1 to “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”
How do we know if someone is following the example of Christ?
This is why we need to know the word of God. It is there that we see how the leaders of the church should conduct themselves to know if they are following Christ.
The Scripture gives a lot of qualifications for elders and deacons, but most of those qualifications are character qualifications that God wants all to acquire.
So as we look through the qualifications of the leaders of the church, we can know not only how God has called the leaders of the church to conduct themselves, but also what He wants each person to strive for as they model the Christian life.
Character qualities that we should follow in our leaders are things such as
Faithfulness, self- control, hospitality, gentleness, love of others, and humility living in such a way to be a model to others
Peter tells elders how they should set an example
1 Peter 5:2-3 - Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers-not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
In serving with the men who serve as elders alongside me, I have no problem encouraging each of you to follow us as we follow Christ so that you can continue in growing so you can be a model of the Christian life to others.
Second thing we see Paul commend the Thessalonians for in modeling the Christian life is
Finding Joy in Suffering
Slide
1 Thessalonians 1:6-7 – “You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.”
These Thessalonians believed the truth of the message the apostles preached and decided to follow and believe that message not only in their minds but also in the way they lived their life, in spite of the suffering that they would endure.
Acts 17 – Jason dragged before city officials
Remember last week, in Acts 17, at the founding of the church in Thessalonica, it said that Jason and others in the church were dragged before the officials and had to post bond to be released.
Believing in Jesus was casting them physically and monetarily, but they chose to believe and live and walk in Christ anyway, in spite of that suffering, and yet they had joy.
How do you find Joy in suffering? Suffering is not joyful in itself.
This is not something that just happens once you become a Christian.
Building on the foundation of 1st & 2nd coming
This is why what we talked about last week is so important.
Building our lives on the foundation of
the first coming of Jesus with the good news and
the second coming of Jesus in glory
is essential if we are going to find joy in making hard decisions to live for Jesus even if it may cause us to suffer.
The apostles understood this. They chose to continue to follow and trust the Lord in the midst of suffering and because they were building on that foundation, they experienced joy.
Acts 5:40-42
They (Jewish leaders) called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
They knew that everyone who sought to live a godly life would suffer persecution and these apostles could rejoice that they were suffering and fulfilling the will of God and people’s eternities were being changed.
This is so foreign to many people today.
Suffer for Jesus?
So often we not only don’t want to suffer, we don’t even want to be uncomfortable.
I speak from experience on this.
There are times that I am afraid of sharing my faith with other people for fear of what they may think of me.
“Oh, there is Scott, that religious nut.”
Now, obviously we need discernment in how to share the gospel in ways that we don’t come across as offensive, but we need to recognize that people are not always going to like what we have to say and it may challenge what they have thought in the past, but this is where we have to keep our focus on the fact that Jesus is coming back and there are people who don’t know Him and are facing a Christless eternity.
In the face of that, it helps me to be more bold and to speak in ways that communicate my love for them even if it makes me uncomfortable.
I care about their eternity and
I care about what Christ thinks of me more than what people think of me.
I really do, but if that is not in the front of my mind, then I will act in ways that sometimes indicate that I care more about what others think of me.
That is why we have got to live with a view to the future constantly.
We have to remember and remind ourselves that Jesus is coming back, and it could be at any moment. Are we ready? Are we going to be doing His will when He comes?
That is what is going to help us when we are suffering or uncomfortable, that “we know we are doing what Christ wants in sharing the good news with others or taking uncomfortable steps of faith in our own life.
That is when we can have joy in the midst of suffering and persecution and even in being in uncomfortable situations.
Keep focused on Christ’s return and you will be able to model for others joy in the midst of suffering.
A third thing that Paul says the Thessalonians were doing that was an example to others was they were
Serving God
Slide
1 Thessalonians 1:8-9 - The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia-your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
The Thessalonians turned away from their idol worship to serve and worship the living and true God.
They turned away from what they used to practice and how they used to live, to serve (or that word could be translated “became a slave to”) the true God.
This is how effective they were at modeling the Christian life.
Other people were testifying about how they completely changed directions and lived life in service to the Lord.
For those of us who are Christians I want to ask, “would other people be able to report how we are serving the Lord wholeheartedly and turning from the idols we used to worship?”
The idols of money, the idol of self, the idol of feelings?
Are we still a slave to those idols still or are we serving the true and living God trusting Him in all things?
This is hard, because if you have been a Christian for any length of time, you have probably faced times of being super charged for the Lord and you had really turned from those things and were serving wholeheartedly to the point where others could have reported this about you,
and then there are other times when you feel burnt out and you aren’t serving God like you once did and it seems some of the old “idols” start creeping back into your life.
Two things to realize about this.
First, this is not uncommon in the Christian life.
We are going to face ups and downs, but the key is not to stay down.
That is where Satan wants to keep us.
There are legitimate times that we need to back off of outward service to rest, but we cannot stay there forever. We need to rest, be reenergized and step up again and serve.
Even in the midst of rest however, it is vital to stay connected with the Lord and with His body, the church.
Secondly, realize that this letter is to the church as a whole.
It was the church as a whole where it was apparent to others that they had turned from idols to God.
This is why we need to be using our gifts in the unity of being a body.
We are more effective together than as individuals.
And when we serve together, and carry the load together, we can endure longer and not get burned out.
It is when we are serving alone or feel we are alone or there is not enough help, that we get burned out.
So, I want to encourage each of you to serve God in the area that He is laying on your heart as part of the body to his glory and so you can be a great model to your kids and others of living the Christian life.
Well those are hard things to do sometimes that Paul has indicated that the Thessalonians were doing.
Following the example of leaders, finding joy in the midst of suffering for Christ, Serving God.
How in the world can we do those things effectively to be a model for others?
It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit and by this last thing that Paul commends the Thessalonians for.
Waiting Patiently for Jesus’ Return
Slide
1 Thessalonians 1:9b-10 - They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Now as we will see over the coming weeks, some of the Thessalonians had taken this to a point of not working and not doing anything as they waited for the Lord.
This is not how we are supposed to wait for the Lord.
Most of the Thessalonians knew this.
It was in their focus on the Lord’s coming back that enabled them and energized them to actually do work for the Lord, and even find joy in suffering, because they were focused and waiting for the Lord and wanted to be found faithful.
Are you focused and the Lord?
Are you anticipating His return?
We need to keep this in our mind and as we wait for Him, we serve Him.
We are going to close this morning singing “Mighty to Save” which recognizes that God is the one who saves and that as we surrender our lives to Him, he shines His light through us to help others see His love and compassion.
As the worship team comes up this morning, make this your prayer as you sing and glorify Him.
“Mighty to Save”
