Alba 9-17-2023
WHAT WILL PEOPLE REMEMBER?
I Thessalonians 1:1-5
Do you ever have trouble remembering things? That is not a trick question. Someone said, “I always forget things at the grocery store. Maybe I should start bringing a list – oh wait, I always forget the list too.” Someone else said “I used to be forgetful, but now I can’t remember if I still am.”
I don't know if this actually happened or not, but I read that President George W. Bush decided it was time to do some public relations at a local Washington DC nursing home.
The President began his "tour" down the main hallway and passed by a little old man who didn't seem to notice him. Sensing this, President Bush backtracks to the resident and asks, "Do you know who I am?" The little old man looks up from his walker and says, "No, but if you go to the front desk, they will tell you your name."
Memory, it can get away from you. But when all is said and done, what will others remember about you? Will their memories be pleasant and good-natured, or disagreeable and unpleasant? It all depends on how we live and act around other people, doesn't it.
But here today, a better question may be, when all is said and done, what will others remember about our church?
Will it be, “There's a group of people who love the Lord and show that they want to serve Him”? Or will it be something less desirable that they remember? Hopefully we are leaving positive memories in the lives of the people with whom we come into contact.
I know that some of you who have been here a long time have good memories of people who are no longer with us. You remember there was something about the way they served, or the way they showed their love, or their knowledge of scripture.
I would hope that anyone who comes into contact with us will be able to say that what they remember is that we are a people who express faith, hope and love in a way that honors our Lord. And that we do our best to be true to His Word.
That is essentially what the apostle Paul remembered about the church in Thessalonica. He says as much as we begin a study of I Thessalonians in chapter one, verses one to five.
He writes: “Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
“We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God.
“For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.”
Paul started the church in Thessalonica. It was during his second missionary journey and we read about his time there in Acts 17:1-9. Paul had received a vision of a man calling to him saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” At the time, he was in what we today call Turkey, and was being called to what today is the county of Greece.
He first went to the city of Philippi where eventually he and Silas were thrown into prison, where his testimony brought the jailer to faith, and the jailer and his household were baptized that very night.
Leaving Philippi, Paul arrives at Thessalonica and goes to the synagogue and begins teaching the Thessalonians right off the bat telling them that Jesus is the Christ who came into the world with the good news, the gospel.
This good news is essential for us to truly believe if we are going to be able to spend eternity in heaven and not in hell. That is because if we do not believe that Jesus came and became a man, and died on the cross for our sins, and rose again, then we are not a Christian. A Christian, by definition is someone who believes the gospel about Jesus Christ.
Acts 17:3 says Paul was “explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, 'This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.'”
Paul preached to them on three sabbaths, but some Jews who were not persuaded became envious and caused an uproar. Paul and Silas were sent away for their protection. They went to Berea, where they again taught in the synagogue. Those Jews were more noble and they searched the scriptures to see whether or not what Paul was telling them was true.
In spite of the trouble in Thessalonica, there were believers, and a church was started. I Thessalonians was written to encourage the Christians there in their walk with the Lord.
It is obvious that Paul not only preached about the coming of Jesus the first time, but also about His coming again. Much of the letter is focused on that truth, giving instruction that would clear up any misconception held about Jesus' return.
What is interesting about the way that the letter begins is that it sounds like the other letters Paul wrote that we have in the New Testament. He offers grace and peace to them from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and tells them that he prays for them.
But then in verse three he speaks about what he remembers about this new church. What he remembers is rather remarkable considering two things. One is that he was there only for a short time. The other is that he saw in them such good things. Things that often take a new Christian a while to learn in following Jesus.
In verse three Paul says that he remembers “without ceasing” their, “work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Looking at other versions of scripture, the New International Version has it this way: “your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope.”
The J.B. Phillips version expands on it saying, “We never forget that your faith has meant solid achievement, your love has meant hard work, and the hope that you have in our Lord Jesus Christ means sheer dogged endurance in the life that you live before God, the Father of us all.”
Do you see the three qualities that are already evident in these young believers? Paul summarizes his profile of this church. It is characterized by faith, love, and hope! That is a church that could be our model. What is it that makes them a model? Not attendance numbers, annual budget, media coverage, or slick marketing techniques. No, it is Faith, Love and Hope.
The Apostle Paul was overjoyed! He didn't have to do or say anything negative about this church. They were saying everything that needed to be said by the way that they were living.
In the midst of persecution they were living out their faith and love through the hard work of sharing, caring, forgiving, encouraging, praying and worshiping. They didn't need a growth campaign or an advertising campaign. Their faith and their works of love were leading the way.
And they had hope with patient endurance. That is a characteristic of people who are not swerved from their deliberate purpose and their loyalty to their faith even through great trials and sufferings. Paul celebrated the fact that the Thessalonians did not back down when they faced struggles.
These three things are qualities that should be evident in our lives today. If they are not, we are not becoming the “fellow citizens with God’s people and.. members of his household” as we should (Ephesians 2:19). If someone was trying to remember what kind of church we are, would those qualities be on their mind?
Speaking of remembering, do you remember another place in scripture that lists those three things, faith, love and hope? That's right. It is in I Corinthians 13. That chapter ends by saying, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
The only difference between that and this verse in
I Thessalonians is in the order they are listed. Here it ends with “hope”. Perhaps that is because the entire book of first Thessalonians has as a theme: the return of Christ and how that effects our living here. We are to live in hope.
This past Monday, we remembered the events of 9/11. I can still remember seeing the men and women who sacrificed days and weeks, spending hour after hour searching for people in the rubble of the World Trade Center. They were looking for people so they would not die.
The sad part about that is that any survivors from the acts of terrorism that occurred that day, like all of us, will one day die physically. The laboring of the volunteers and firefighters would only bring about a temporary salvation for this lifetime. We need a hope that lasts.
Sadly, what is happening all of over our nation in many of our churches is that people are losing hope. They have come to believe that evil (the Devil) has won and that the age of Christianity is over. They have come to believe that the cause of Christ is lost. They have come to believe that over the next few decades the Church in America will shrink, shrivel and eventually die.
Now, I wonder who is promoting that agenda and promoting those lies? Could it be that the Devil is once again lying to us? Could it be that the Devil knows that Jesus defeated him once and for all on the cross and that it is only through lies, deception and trickery that he can be victorious?
Could it be that the Devil is putting out some "FAKE NEWS" that really he and his demons are still in charge? Could it be that he is just telling lies and leading all of us astray?
The devil is forgetting that three days after the crucifixion, that tomb where Jesus was placed was empty. In three days, the victory that the devil may have expected, vanished. Jesus is alive! Time is on God's side. The devil does not win.
We have a lot of things that should give us hope. The first is our salvation brought to us by the death of Jesus on the cross. He paid the penalty we should have to pay for the sins we have committed. Because of Him, we are set free.
And we have hope because Jesus is coming again, and we will be spending eternity in heaven, with no sickness, no death, no separation. That is a reason to shout hallelujah! We have hope!
Each one of us needs a hope that endures because living a godly, Christian life is going to be challenging at times.
And we are going to be wrestling through those times when we are working and laboring and Satan comes and says “Why are you working so hard, Jesus isn’t coming back. He hasn’t come back yet, why do you think He is going to?”
Peter warned that this would happen in II Peter 3:3-4, 8-9.
3First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4They will say, "Where is this ’coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation" …8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
We need to realize that the fact that Christ has not returned yet is giving us more time to work and labor so others can hear about Him and trust in Him, because God does not want anyone to perish.
And once we become Christians, what are we to do? Should there be anything different about what we do with our lives? Should there be a different focus for our lives than what we had before we came to Jesus? What should we be doing with ourselves as we await the return of Christ?
Surely we want to be known for: Faithful Work, Loving Deeds, and Enduring Hope as we follow Jesus. I imagine all of us have wavered some at times. It would only be natural. But when we think about what Jesus has done for us and for the promises that God will keep, we can keep hope strong in our hearts.
We are a people of Hope. Not because we have all the answers, but because we have THE ANSWER. Jesus is our only hope and we can put all of our trust in Him. In the Bible, hope is not a think so, it is a know so.
Romans 15:13 says,”Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
The hymn says, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”
Let's remember the positive things that we see in these first verses of I Thessalonians chapter one. In verse one God is our Father in Heaven and His Son is the Lord Jesus Christ. Also in verse one, we are given grace and peace through Jesus Christ.
In verse two we see that prayer is the way we can connect with God the Father in Jesus. And verse three shows us that faith in Jesus gives us steadfast hope in Him based on His love for us. If we remember the hope that we have in Jesus, it will take us over the bumps in the road.
Like the Thessalonian church, we need a faith that works, a love that labors and a hope that endures.
So again, if someone knew of Alba Christian Church and took the time to think about what they remembered of us, what would they have to say?
Could it be said that we too are committed to the work of faith? That they saw our labor of love and our patience of hope? May it be so!
CLOSE:
Isn't it amazing that this young church in Thessalonica exhibted such good qualities of the Christian life so soon?
Calvary Chapel minister, Jon Courson, experienced this very thing early on in his own ministry. Here is the story he told:
Our first youth pastor was a California-transplanted hippy who got saved and baptized at our first Bible study at Yale Creek. About two months later, he said, “Jon, I am so thrilled with what God is showing me that I want to teach the kids.”
Smelling cigarettes on his breath, I said, “If you’ll never smoke another cigarette, you can be our youth pastor.” “Okay,” he said. Dave stopped smoking that day and became our youth pastor. He is now pastoring a Four Square Church in Washington State.
I look back now and wonder if I was crazy to put a guy on the ministry team who looked like Charles Manson and smoked constantly. Yet Dave was, and continues to be, an example of how the Spirit of the Lord can change a person from within and blow conventionality right out the window.
I’m not suggesting we put every three-week-old Christian in a position of leadership. I am saying that in certain times and places, it can happen.
If it can happen there, and in Thessalonica, it can happen here. May we remember who we are, and whose we are!
