The Model Church – 2 Series

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INTRODUCTION:

The early church was a dynamic, growing church that turned the world of its day upside down! In spite of incredible opposition and terrible persecution – first from the Jewish authorities and then from the might of the Roman Empire itself – the church began and grew so dynamically that within 300 years the Roman Empire had surrendered to the gospel of Christ and many turned to Christ.

I imagine the days where people from every walk of life come to church and worship Jesus Christ. I dream of days where common people, gang members, drug dealers, prisoners, politicians, and other influential leaders are transformed by the gospel. Well, it all happened in the pages of Acts. How was this possible? What was it about the early church believers that withstood strong opposition and conquered the hearts of the people around the globe?

Today we will see the qualities of the NT believers that made them the model church. We are going to see how we can be the model church of Bangalore city?

Two weeks back we started a series on 1 Thessalonians and we saw some qualities of the believers of the church at Thessalonica.

V1 – Union in Christ. The believers were rooted in God. They identified themselves in Christ.

V2-3 Their energy – Work of faith, labour of love, and patience of hope.

3. THEIR ELECTION.

Paul is exhorting them that they were elected by God.

1 Thessalonians 1:2-5 2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, 3 remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, 4 knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. 5 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 is saying that God elected them. Paul is saying that when they preached the gospel to them, when they preached the Word of God – It was spoken in power, the Holy Spirit convicted them and they were saved. You see the ideal church is a saved church. How do people get saved? Salvation happens when the word is spoken in power, where the Holy Spirit convicts the people, people are transformed, and they give their heart to the Lord. The Thessalonian church was elected by God. Every saved believer is the elect of God.

I believe you are here at City Harvest not by chance but you are elected by God. God has chosen you. God is at work in your life. You are not an ordinary person; you are God’s elect, Amen. People may fail you, your family may fail you but God will never fail you, so don’t worry you are elected by Him.

Now the question is: Are we elected by God or did we choose God? Which is it? Is salvation predestination of God or decision by people? Is it that God elected some and only those who are elected are going to heaven or is it people’s own personal decision to follow Christ? Our answer is our election is both predestination and human decision. You see, salvation is open to all, but God in his wisdom knows who will eventually make the decision to follow Him.

God the Father says you were saved before the foundations of the world, God wants everyone to be saved. Jesus says you are saved at Calvary, Jesus died for all. The Holy Spirit says you are saved only in the moment we made the decision to trust in Christ’s sacrifice for our sins and accept Jesus as our personal saviour. The choice of salvation is open to all but the decision is made by man. Our election is 2 ways, God elects and we elect. Now God has foreknowledge of who will be saved but we do not or else we could evangelize the predestined and leave the rest.

Our election also gives us a responsibility, to share the gospel. How many people did we share the gospel to last week? Do we pray for lost souls? Do we share our testimony to others? We are the elect and we have a responsibly to share this message to others. The Thessalonian church was an elect of God. They participated in sharing the gospel message and we the elect at City Harvest have the responsibility to share the gospel.

4. THEIR TESTIMONY.

The believers of Thessalonica had great testimony. In Acts 17 we can find the worldly people testifying about this church. When Paul preached at Thessalonica, some Jews and many Greeks accepted the Lord. The non-believing Jews attacked the house of Br. Jason and brought him to the rulers of the city and see what they said: Acts 17:6 They dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.” What a testimony the unbelievers are saying about the Christians – “These that have turned the world upside down.”