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?
Well, I don’t have a good answer for the second question, but the answer to the second question is that Paul loved the believers in 1 Thessalonians. And they loved him back. The first thing that made the Thessalonian church a culture changing community was that
1. They loved each other with whole hearts.
Paul doesn’t just express his love for the Thessalonians, he gushes it. Look at the language:
• I was torn away from you, in person, but not in heart (v 17)
• More eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face (v. 18)
• You are my glory and my joy (v. 20
• When I could bear it no longer (3:1, and again in v5)
This is heartfelt language. Paul loved these guys! And it wasn’t all one sided. Look at 3:6. The Thessalonians wanted to be with Paul as much as he wanted to be with them (3:6)!
What a picture of the church! This was a church that wanted to be together. And I see this every week at Glynwood. You guys don’t rush to the parking lot the minute the service is over. Raise your hand if you’ve been the deacon of the week recently. How hard is it for you to get people out of the sanctuary? See?
To the leaders in the church I say, do you love people wholeheartedly? Staff: if we don’t love the people of Glynwood, we need to get our resumes in order. The most important thing to me about our next minister of music is not going to be how well he sings or plays an instrument. It’s not going to be how he leads the choir or how he rehearses the orchestra. The number one thing to me is whether or not he loves Jesus, followed by whether or not he loves us.
Tonight we will have deacon ordination. It’s the same standard for the men that are being ordained tonight. Do you love the people of Glynwood?
Sunday school teachers: Do you love the kids or adults in your class wholeheartedly?
Bill Hybels, founder of Willow Creek community church, describes the group that founded the church back in the early days. He said, “We had a radical commitment to the gospel and an irrational commitment to each other.”
How great would it be if people described Glynwood that way? Man, I’ve never been around people that love each other the way those people do. The gospel just seems so REAL to them! Man—I want to be part of that!
The statement “I like Jesus but I don’t like the church” shouldn’t make sense. The church is the bride of Christ! Are you really going to say to Jesus, “Jesus, I love you, but your wife is weird, dude.” You can’t do that.
As we grow in our relationship with Christ, you will also be growing in your love for one another. Paul emphasizes this by praying,
12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you,
The second thing that made the church at Thessalonica a culture changing community is that Paul was willing to
2. Confront With Care and Conviction
Paul knew that the stakes were high for this baby church. We’ve talked before about what a strategic location this was, right in the middle of the Roman highway that connected the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea.
He knew that a culture changing church posed a significant threat to Satan’s grip on the Roman Empire. Jesus described Satan as a thief who came “to steal and to kill and to destroy” (John 10:10).
So the devil knows that if he can’t render the church inoperative, he will work tirelessly to make the church ineffective. He’ll send persecution to destroy or at least discourage the church. And if that doesn’t work, he will attempt to destroy it from within.
That’s one of the reasons Paul was so anxious to get back to Thessalonica. Look at 3:5:
5 For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.
And Timothy comes back with an encouraging word. He says the Thessalonians are standing firm! (v 8). Paul says, “According to Timothy, you’re crushing it! Your faith in Jesus and your love for each other is strong!
So Paul says in verse 10: I can’t wait to see you and complete what is lacking in your faith.
Wait… what? Imagine getting that in a letter or a text. Your dad says “I’m really looking forward to seeing you son, so we can discuss your shortcomings!” “Sweetheart, now that we’ve been dating a few months, can we have dinner and address your deficiencies?”
The text never says what was lacking in the Thessalonians’ faith. But because Paul has already established how much he loves the Thessalonians, so confrontation is not coming without a great deal of care.
Paul’s affection isn’t infatuation. It’s I love you, but I’m going to challenge you.
A culture changing community is willing to confront individuals within the community with care and conviction. Sometimes people who are getting baptized will ask, “Well, why do I have to do it in front of the church?” And here’s what I tell them: when you are baptized, you are identifying yourself with the family of faith. And that means you are giving implicit permission to your faith community to hold you accountable to the teachings of Jesus. See, if I’m out in the community and I see someone in my family of faith doing something he shouldn’t do, then it’s my responsibility to confront them on it. Not because I’m the pastor, but because I’m a brother in Christ.
Let me encourage you—we have lots of small groups of people studying the Bible together and praying together. But are you giving the other men or women in your small group permission to hold you accountable? Do you care enough about each other to call each other out?
[I think more of you than that story, if I’m good on time]
So here is the third thing that made the church in Thessalonica a culture changing community. Not only did they love with a whole heart; not only did they confront with care and conviction, number three, they lived with eager expectation for the return of Christ.
Look at the last three verses of chapter three:
11 Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, 12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
We are living with expectation that Jesus is coming back. It’a interesting that Paul not only ends this passage with a reminder that Jesus is coming back, but that’s where he begins it also. Glance back up at chapter 2, verse 19:
19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?
Jesus’ return was central to Paul’s worldview. Even though his stay in Thessalonica was cut short, Paul had apparently spent a considerable amount of time teaching the infant church about Christ’s coming. In 2 Thessalonians 2:5, he said, “Do you not remember when I was still with you I told you these things?”
Paul wanted the Thessalonians to view their present circumstances in the light of their future hope. Even though they had lots of questions Yet, even though they still had lots of questions about what it would be like when Jesus came back (just like we do), the assurance that Jesus will come back reminded them (and it should remind us) of some bedrock truths. These truths were not only important to the early church; they also have significant implications for how you and I live today. Notice three ways that the promise of His coming should impact us.
• Jesus will come to meet His Church face to face.
Therefore, we aren’t discouraged by the troubles of this life. Christ will one day remove us from our troubles and take us to be with Him (John 14:1–3). That doesn’t mean we ignore the things that we experience in this life, but we do not have to focus on them (2 Cor 4:18). Like the Thessalonians, we must fix our eyes eagerly toward heaven to wait for God’s Son. If He is able to rescue us from the “coming wrath,” then surely He is able to deliver us from life’s tribulations (1:10). Every day should be met with the expectation and anticipation that this might just be the day of His coming.
• All believers will give an account of their lives to God.
Therefore, we will be accountable to Him when He comes. Jesus’s return is not meant to be a doctrine to confuse us or a threat to hang over our heads, but a promise to motivate us.
When He comes we will be accountable for what we did with Jesus and how we lived for Jesus. Paul’s words of encouragement should call us to action repeatedly:
But you brothers, are not in the dark, for this day to overtake you like a thief.… We do not belong to the night or the darkness. So then, we must not sleep, like the rest, but we must stay awake and be serious. (1 Thess 5:4–6)
• God will judge this world according to His perfect justice and righteousness,
Therefore, its not up to us to right every wrong that is done to us because we have the promise that God will exercise His righteous judgment at Christ’s coming. God is more than capable to balance the books. Paul told the Thessalonians “It is righteous for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to reward with rest you who are afflicted” (2 Thess 1:6). So instead of looking for the day when we finally get revenge, we should be longing for the day when God judges in righteousness.
• there will be some people who will spend eternity in hell.
Therefore, there is an urgency to our gospel message. Right this minute, there are people you know—people you work with, people you serve with, people who live next to you, people you sit next to in class, maybe even people you gather with at Thanksgiving and Christmas who are heading for an eternity without Christ. ‘
And let me take a minute to confront some of you with care and conviction. Some of you this morning are heading toward a christless eternity. You might like Jesus, but you don’t obey him. You might enjoy the traditions of church, or want to make sure your kids learn the good moral principles that the church teaches, but you’ve never surrendered to Jesus as the authority in your life. If so, you need to hear this: [Gospel presentation]
Invitation
