Building Blocks for a Healthy Church
First Thessalonians 1:1-4
Introduction: Well, here we are. Hopefully you’re not too stressed out or haggard from our first experience in setting up for Sunday morning worship. Let me encourage you. It will get easier. Not only will we get better at it, but also it won’t be long before we will have more people helping out. Before I go any further, I want to thank each of you for all you’ve done–not just this morning, but from the day each of you joined the team. Whether you’ve been with the team since the beginning, or have joined us recently, each of you is important to the team and are very important to Mahria and me.
We are just a few weeks away from opening our doors to a world in need of our Savior. My original plan for these first few preview services was to use this time after worship to debrief how the set-up of the facility had gone. But that idea was short-lived. To be honest with you, I can’t wait until the 22nd to begin bringing you God’s Word. As your pastor, my primary concern is your spiritual growth and spiritual health. The word “shepherd” is much more than a colorful adjective to me.
Our greatest source of nourishment is the Word of God. Would any of us go three weeks without a meal? Can you go three weeks without food? Well, neither should we wait three weeks to begin enjoying the meat of God’s Word together.
For the next three weeks we’re going to draw encouragement from another infant church, a church plant if you will. In the process, we’re going to see what a healthy, young church looked like in the first century and some of the attributes of this early church that we should try to model at Pico Canyon. So turn with me in your Bibles to First Thessalonians. Let’s read chapter one.
This first letter to the church in Thessalonica was one of the warmest letters written by the apostle Paul. The Thessalonians occupied a special place in Paul’s heart. The tone of the entire letter is exhorting and consoling. Paul had a genuine affection and sense of protectiveness for the believers in Thessalonica.
By way of background, let’s take a brief look at the city of Thessalonica and the people who made up the fledgling church in that city. In order for us to really relate to the Thessalonian church and draw from their experience, we need to spend some time getting to know them.
When we study God’s Word, we should never overlook the historical context of what is written. Knowing the background of a letter or a book can really help to make the pages come alive and make the text that much more practical.
At the time this letter was written, Thessalonica was the largest city in all of Macedonia, with an estimated population of 200,000. Most of the population was Greek. But there were also a significant number of Romans, Asians, and a host of other nationalities calling this large metropolis home.
There were also quite a few Jews in the city that would eventually make a concerted effort to disturb the harmony within the young church. Thessalonica sat on the main road connecting Rome with its eastern territories. In fact, this main highway went through the city walls. Thessalonica had a beautiful and very busy harbor. The city ranked alongside Corinth and Ephesus in strategic and economic importance to the Roman Empire.
Many of the wealthier Roman citizens chose Thessalonica as their home. But as in any big city, then and now, Thessalonica had its share of poor people. Interestingly, many of the people in the city, who were involved in the typical forms of big city idolatry, were dissatisfied with their pagan practices and were searching for something more.
Prior to Paul’s arrival in Thessalonica, the Jewish synagogue was drawing a lot of people who were interested in the morality and the worship of one God within the confines of Judaism. Thessalonica is still an important city in Greece and has a population of more than 400,000 people.
Let’s look at the first two verses of chapter one again.
Paul and Silvanus and Timothy . . . (1:1a).
As was typical of letter writing in Paul’s day, Paul introduces himself as the author of the letter. He also introduces two of his companions–Silvanus (or Silas) and Timothy. Now, these two men were so much more than administrative assistants to Paul. They were his ministry partners.
We first hear of Silas in Acts 15. Turn to Acts 15 and let’s look at verses 22 and 32.
Silas was considered to be a leader in the Jerusalem church and a prophet. He was given the task by the Jerusalem council to accompany Paul on his second missionary journey. In II Cor. 1:19, we learn that Silas was a valuable teacher. Silas was also a valuable part of Peter’s ministry. Turn to I Peter 5:12. Not only did Peter consider Silas to be a faithful brother, he also allowed Silas the privilege and responsibility of serving as the scribe of Peter’s first epistle.
The Greek in this letter is very smooth, probably more so than we might expect from a Jewish fisherman. Although the words and the message are clearly Peter’s, it is written by the hand of someone who had command of the Greek language–someone like Silas. Not only did Silas assist in the writing of the letter, but he was also tasked with being the bearer of the letter to the first churches to receive it.
Silas had the dubious distinction of being beaten and imprisoned with the apostle Paul, in Philippi. We can read about that in Acts 16. When the two men were forced to leave the city, they headed for Thessalonica. We’re not sure if Timothy was with Paul and Silas during the initial visit to Thessalonica or if he joined them later while on his way to Berea.
Timothy is probably more widely known to us than Silas. After all, two of Paul’s letters are addressed to him. Paul meets Timothy for the first time in Lystra. Timothy was already a believer with a good reputation before he ever met Paul. Paul was obviously impressed with the young man and decided he wanted Timothy to accompany him on his missionary journey.
Since Paul usually went to the local synagogue to preach whenever he entered a new city, and Timothy’s father was Greek, Paul had Timothy circumcised so that he would be more welcomed in the synagogue environment. Talk about commitment.
We don’t know for sure how long Paul and his team was in Thessalonica. We do know that Paul was engaged in tent making in the city so he could support himself while he was there. Scholars have speculated that Paul’s stay in Thessalonica lasted anywhere from three weeks to six months. At any rate, considering that we have been working for almost two years to bring us to this point in the life of our church, it’s apparent that Paul’s time of ministry in Thessalonica was short and intense.
The time Paul spent planting the church in Thessalonica was not a walk in the park. Turn to Acts 17 and let’s look at verses 1-9. The Jews did not like the idea of these outsiders, these Christians, disturbing the success they were having in the city. The Jews were jealous and turned violent against Paul and his followers.
Paul and his men were eventually forced out of Thessalonica. The animosity toward them in Thessalonica was so intense that some of the Jews from that city followed them to Berea and caused problems for them there as well. Paul, Silas, and Timothy made their way to Corinth. It is here that Paul probably wrote this first letter to the Thessalonians, sometime around 50 or 51 A.D.
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace (1:1b).
As we can see in the second half of verse one, Paul is writing to the church, to the believers in Thessalonica. The word used here for “church” is interesting. It comes from the Greek word ekklesia, which literally means “a called out company.” It was originally a secular term used primarily of political and governmental bodies. What I find most interesting about this word is that it is not used anywhere in the New Testament to describe a building. It was used to denote the gathering of believers as an assembly or congregation, regardless of where they met.
We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; (1:2)
Paul, Timothy, and Silvanus prayed continually for the body of believers in Thessalonica. Look at the first half of verse two. Notice the direction of their thanksgiving. These men did not take any credit for themselves, nor were they taking opportunity to pat the young believers on the back because they were making the missionaries look good. No. Their thanksgiving was always directed to their heavenly Father. Paul and his team realized that no one but God was worthy of praise for what the missionaries had opportunity to see in the lives of the Thessalonians.
You see, in Thessalonica, like in so many other large cities of that time, there were many devout pagans who gave praise and thanksgiving to their false gods. The same is true today. Paul says something in verse two that flies directly in the faces of the followers of these false religions. We don’t see it in our English translations, but it rings loud and clear in the Greek.
In our English translations we read, “We give thanks to God.” But the Greek literally reads, “We give thanks to the God.” There is only one God who is worthy of praise and there is only One way to God, only one Mediator between God and man–and that’s Jesus Christ.
Why was that important for Paul to say? It was important for Paul to emphasize that there is but one true and living God. Paul, as well as other apostles like Peter and John, were constantly watching for false teachers who were always trying to bring their idolatry into the body of Christ. Paul wanted to remind the believers in Thessalonica that they were born of God and their only hope was in the risen Lord, Jesus Christ.
Paul uses the word always in the sense that every time his team went before the Lord in prayer, they prayed for the Thessalonians. Some have speculated that Paul actually had a prayer list which included the names of the believers in Thessalonica. When he and his team would gather together for prayer, they would make mention of every name on the list. They take the phrase “making mention of you” to mean that each and every believer’s name was mentioned during prayer.
The point of what Paul is saying here is that the prayers of other saints covered the Thessalonians. This prayer really served as the glue that held several building blocks together, which helped the church in Thessalonica to be healthy.
This morning we’re going to look at three building blocks that helped to construct the church in Thessalonica. These same three building blocks will undoubtedly help our church to grow healthy and strong. Paul mentions all three of these building blocks in verse three. They are a faith that works, a love that labors, and a hope that perseveres.
constantly bearing in mind . . . . . in the presence of our God and Father, (1:3)
Paul begins verse three with the phrase “constantly bearing in mind.” These building blocks or characteristics of the Thessalonian church were so evident, were so active, that Paul was reminded of them every time he prayed for them.
It’s not by accident that Paul put these building blocks in the order we read them–faith, love, and hope. As we’ll see later, these three characteristics are in a natural, chronological order.
The Thessalonian church was built on a faith that worked. We could spend all morning talking about the relationship between faith and works and fall short of saying everything that needs to be said. When we begin our study of the Book of James in a few weeks, we will spend as much time as we need to, digging into this important issue. But for now, we are going to focus on the fact that a genuine faith is a working faith.
The faith of the Thessalonians was such that they were energetic and productive. Now, I’m sure all of us have heard of the dreaded “20/80 Rule.” In any given church, 20% of the people are doing 80% of the work. This paradigm affects churches of every size, demographic, and denomination. The largest and seemingly most healthy churches in the Santa Clarita Valley suffer from this malady.
The church in Thessalonica did not know of any “20/80 Rule.” They probably did not struggle to find motivated children’s ministry workers. They probably didn’t struggle to keep the ones they had. It’s doubtful that they had to pass a clipboard during their times together to encourage the body to fill ministry needs.
It’s unlikely, in times of desperation, that leaders had to convince members of the flock that they were gifted for a particular aspect of ministry, when in actuality, leadership needed a warm body to fill a spot. It’s unlikely, at least during the time of Paul’s letter, that the Thessalonians knew the feeling of such desperate times in ministry.
Theirs was a faith that found a great deal of joy in the work of ministry. For, to them, it was not work. It was service. It was a service that sprang from the assurance of their faith in Christ. You see. Genuine faith is a working faith. It is a faith that is so excited about the work Christ has done in a person’s life that the person is compelled to not only believe the Word of God, but to obey the Word of God. Belief and obedience results in the act of serving the Lord and serving others. These works of faith are not done under duress or compulsion. They are not done with grumbling or complaining.
At Pico Canyon, our faith in Christ must be a working faith. I have seen too many churches; too many good, Bible-believing churches struggle to overcome the “20/80 Rule.” It seems that churches that have fallen pray to this slothful paradigm have struggled greatly to overcome it, if they are ever able to overcome it at all.
As we look to the task set before us, the incredible privilege and opportunity of beginning a new church, we must constantly be looking back to the moment in time in which God’s grace shined upon us, the moment when the blood of the Lord washed over us, the moment when the Holy Spirit set our hearts aflame through the everlasting torch which is our faith in Christ. And we must be willing to do the work.
The word “work,” as it’s used here, speaks more about the activity than the amount of effort that goes into the activity. There’s a better word that speaks about the labor involved in doing the work. It’s the word “labor.” Paul said he was constantly reminded of the laboring kind of love that the Thessalonians shared with each other. If the word “works” speaks more about the activity, then the word “labor speaks about the effort that goes into completing the work when the going gets tough.
The Thessalonians had to first have a special kind of love for each other and for the God that they served in order to be able to labor through the tough times. The love Paul is talking about is not a romantic, eros sort of love. It’s not the kind of love that comes from personal affection.
I think it’s very easy for Christians to approach ministry with an eros kind of love. The idea of being involved in a ministry can be a romantic thing. We serve a meal to the poor and begin to think of becoming a missionary. We teach a Bible study or preach a message, and we envision being the next John MacArthur or Chuck Swindoll. We become passionate about the ministry because of some sort of romantic aspiration.
But then we’re asked to serve meals to the poor every week and it begins to affect our free time. Or we’re told that we need to spend more time studying God’s Word before we can sit or stand before a group of people and share the truth of the Word. Those romantic feelings about the ministry begin to turn to disillusionment. What once seemed fun and exciting is now laborious and we decide what we initially thought was the call of God was little more than a phase in our spiritual growth.
The love Paul is talking about is the more powerful agape type of love. The love Paul sees in the Thessalonian church is a sacrificial kind of love. It is the kind of love that focuses not on what the object of the love can do for you, but what you can give of yourself for the one you love. It is the kind of love that was perfectly expressed at the cross. No greater, loving sacrifice could ever be given than what Jesus Christ did on the cross.
Paul saw the manifestation of the Thessalonians love in the way in which they exerted themselves to do the work of Christ. They counted the cost of ministry and did not let the incredible cost dissuade them from doing what God called them to do. Because of the sacrificial love in their hearts, the Thessalonians were willing to gladly labor for Christ. The word “labor” comes from the Greek word kopto. It literally means, “to cut,” “to lash,” “to beat the bread” or “to toil.”
Have any of you ever worked a lump of bread dough? You won’t see me hosting any cable cooking shows, but I know that working bread dough can be a tiresome experience. Your fingers begin to cramp and your joints begin to ache. This is what is pictured when Paul talks about labor.
Our love for what God has called us to do here at Pico Canyon must be a labor of love. Some of us might be tired this morning. Some of us may have worked all night in order to have the opportunity to work all morning. Through the fatigue we must remember that it is not the labor that produces the love. It is the love that produces the willingness to exert ourselves in the labor. Without the love, we will not last long when the work becomes exhausting.
If we do not have the agape kind of love that Paul saw in the Thessalonians, we will be unable, and eventually unwilling, to labor on behalf of others. With Christ as our ultimate example, we must love the lost around us to such an extent that we are willing to sacrifice ourselves for the benefit of others. And you know that unless we are first loving each other in this way we won’t extend ourselves to those outside our church family.
Remember, I told you a little while ago that Paul lists the three characteristics he saw in the Thessalonian church in chronological order. Their faith looked back to the finished work of Christ on the cross. Their love looked to the present relationship they had with God the Father through Jesus Christ.
The third characteristic Paul saw in this fledgling church pointed to the future. It was the endurance producing hope that sustained them. It makes good sense that Paul would connect endurance with hope.
Without some kind of futuristic hope, what would there be to motivate them to endure through toils and snares? Their hope was in the future coming King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Their hope was confident. They hoped in the future with certainty, not with hesitancy.
Often when we think of the word “endurance” we think of being able to take whatever comes our way. We think that if we have endurance we’re able to pick ourselves up whenever we’re knocked down. We tend to give the word “endurance” a passive meaning as if to say we will quietly take whatever the world throws at us.
That’s not the way we should look at the word “endurance.” It is not a passive word but a very aggressive word. Paul saw endurance in the lives of the Thessalonians in the way they faced the trials and persecution they had to endure. Their endurance was marked with courage. Because of their future hope, they were able to bravely face whatever was thrown their way and endure the trials.
Our faith in Christ has brought us here today. It is our faith that has prepared us, and continues to prepare us to minister to the unknown number of people who will call this clubhouse their church home. It is our sacrificial love for Christ and for those He wants to save from their sins that keep us working when things become difficult, when our faith is stretched and challenged.
It will be our future hope in Christ that will make us aggressive in times of real testing. And those times will come. We are in a race–not for our own lives but for the lives of those who do not share our future hope. But it’s important for us to remember that “the Christian race is not a competitive event to see who comes in first but,” as R. Kent Hughes so aptly puts it, “it’s an endurance run to see who finishes faithfully” (Hughes, p. 139).
We are not here to build the biggest church. We are not here to build the most innovative or progressive church. We are here, my friends, to build the most faithful church. Let it be said that the Pico Canyon family is faithful to the truth of God’s Word, faithful to the Great Commission, faithful to endure whatever challenges and temptations may come our way because our hope is in our Lord Jesus Christ.
knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you; (1:4)
In the time remaining, let’s look at verse four. Paul and the other missionaries knew with certainty that the Thessalonians were true and committed believers. Having seen the church live out the faith, love, and hope consistent with the Christian faith, Paul was confident that they were among God’s chosen people.
Paul uses the term “brethren” some sixty times in his letters. He uses it fourteen times in this letter alone. He uses it to reaffirm the genuine affection he has for this young church. The fact that one, as highly esteemed as Paul, would count them as brothers had to bring great encouragement to the Thessalonians. But Paul takes the encouragement a step further.
Paul tells the Thessalonians that they are beloved by God. What I’m about to say may mean more to those of us who have been studying First John together. The verbal phrase “beloved by God” is in the perfect passive tense. And what do we know about the perfect tense? It indicates action completed in the past with continuing results. Paul brought reassurance to the Thessalonians by reminding them that God loved them from time past and continues to love them. The ongoing results say that the love God has for them is a love that has no end.
The same is true for us. Since we have a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ, we can be assured of God’s unending love. What has been given to us by God cannot and will not be taken away. I know of nothing more encouraging than that. Paul was sure, and he wanted the Thessalonians to be sure, that God had chosen them before the foundation of the world. God’s choice, or election of the Thessalonian believers was the manifestation of His love for them.
The Greek word for choice or election is a noun which, according to D. Edmond Hiebert, “denotes the act of picking out or choosing someone; it implies a selection of some from among others who are not selected” (Hiebert, p. 54). We see the verbal form of this word in John 15:16. Paul also uses the verb in his letter to the Ephesians when he says, “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him” (Eph. 1:4).
The word Paul used in this verse is used only six other times in the New Testament. Every time it is used in the context of God’s choice of men.
But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; - Acts 9:15
for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand , not because of works but because of Him who calls, - Rom. 9:11
In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. - 11:5
What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened - Rom. 11:7
From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; - Rom. 11:28
Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; - II Pet. 1:10
Now, those of you who know me well know that if there is a saber that I rattle, it is this one. I am passionate about the issue of man’s election verses free will because I truly believe that our understanding of the sovereignty of God hinges on our understanding of this doctrine. Apparently, it was important enough for Paul to make mention of it to bring encouragement to his readers.
Without belaboring the point, and I’m certainly willing to discuss the issue further with anyone who has a mind to, had it been the Thessalonians’ choice of God that impressed the great apostle, wouldn’t it stand to reason that Paul would have made mention of it? But he wouldn’t write of man’s choice of God because it would contradict everything else he would write about the subject.
The fact remains that it was God’s election of the Thessalonians that came to mind when Paul thought of the genuineness of their faith. Paul saw the genuineness of the Thessalonians’ faith, love, and hope that was all rooted in their relationship with Jesus Christ, as confirmation of the fact that God expressed His love to them by calling them to Himself.
We will try to model the three characteristics of the church in Thessalonica that we’ve looked at this morning. As we watch God build this church that He is allowing us to be a part of, our faith must be such that the work it produces will be fruitful and pleasing to God. Our love must be such that there will be no labor too great, no work too exhausting, nothing that would cause us to miss the many opportunities God will give us as we faithfully serve Him. Our hope in Christ must be so sure, so confident, that we will have the endurance to finish the race set before us–and to finish it well.
We are in an exiting time in the life of our church. With Christ as our foundation and guide, with His Word as our blueprint, with faith, love, and hope as three of our fundamental characteristics, we will witness God’s mighty hand moving in the lives of people we have yet to meet. Let’s pray.
