The Church God Always Wanted

I Thess 1                                                                             October 16, 2005

   Paul, Silas and Timothy,

      To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

      Grace and peace to you.

   We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 3We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

    For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 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. 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. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 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, 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, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

CCI: God longs for a church that is known to the world as a place of salvation and life.

Intro: This morning we will be looking at the first letter Paul wrote to the church of Thessalonica. The city of T. was the most important city in the region of Macedonia. It was a crossroad for almost all of the trade in the Northern half of the Roman Empire.

         Shortly after Paul responded to the Macedonian call that we read about in Acts 16, he journeyed to Thessalonica. He soon established a small church in the city, and then, in perhaps as little as 3 weeks, was driven out of the city by the leaders of the synagogue who accused Paul and his partners of turning the world upsidedown. This baby church was suddenly on its own. They had the message that Paul had shared, but that is all. Would this new church survive? Was the message of Jesus firmly planted in their midst?

         This letter is evidence that it was. The church in Thessalonica not only survived, but it grew and thrived. In this opening Chapter Paul testifies to what he has heard. He wrote, “The Lord's message rang out from you, your faith in God has become known everywhere.” This was a church that had a tremendous witness.

         The characteristics of that church are found in verse 3. Paul said, “We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

         This is what a God desires in a church.

I. Work produced by faith

         The Letter of James says, show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works. So often we live with the idea that we have to earn God’s love. We try to work our way into God’s favor. But that is impossible. Paul tells us that we are saved by faith, not by works. However, faith that is merely mental assent to facts, is not faith at all. Unless our faith, what we believe, results in actions, it is worthless. What is that work? The work that faith produces is the work of prayer. The work that faith produces is the work of service. The work that faith produces is the work of worship. God longs for a church whose faith results in work that brings transformation. And when girls and boys and men and women are transformed by the work of Spirit of God, the world takes note.

         "It ought to be possible to live a Christian life without being a Christian," laments Roy Hattersley, a columnist for the U.K. Guardian. An outspoken atheist, Hattersley came to this conclusion after watching the Salvation Army lead several other faith-based organizations in the relief effort after Hurricane Katrina.

         "Notable by their absence," he says, were "teams from rationalist societies, free thinkers' clubs, and atheists' associations—the sort of people who scoff at religion's intellectual absurdity." According to Hattersley, it is an unavoidable conclusion that Christians "are the people most likely to take the risks and make the sacrifices involved in helping others."

         Hattersley also notes that this pattern of behavior goes beyond disaster relief:

    Civilized people do not believe that drug addiction and male prostitution offend against divine ordinance. But those who do are the men and women most willing to change the fetid bandages, replace the sodden sleeping bags, and—probably most difficult of all—argue, without a trace of impatience, that the time has come for some serious medical treatment.

         "The only possible conclusion," says Hattersley, "is that faith comes with a packet of moral imperatives that, while they do not condition the attitude of all believers, influence enough of them to make [Christians] morally superior to atheists like me."

         When the church which produces works of faith, is the church God longs to see and it is the church of which the world takes notice.

         The church of Thessalonica was known for her works of faith, it was also known for its

II. Labor prompted by love

         Works of faith grow from

         Robert Morris tells a story from early in his Christian life that clearly illustrates labor that is prompted by love. In The Blessed Life he writes, “I distinctly remember the first time we ever went out to eat after I had accepted Christ. I found myself wanting somehow to share Jesus with the waitress who was serving us. Then an idea came to me. If I didn't order a meal, I could take that money and leave it as an extra-generous tip along with an evangelistic tract. Maybe the tip would encourage her to read the tract and come to know the Lord. So that's what we did. Before we left, we said a few words to her about how much God cared about her.

         About a month later, we were back in that restaurant for our monthly "splurge." Through the month, I had prayed that God would bless us with enough extra money to be able to leave an even bigger tip along with another tract.

         Just as I had asked, our faithful God had allowed us to accumulate an extra $50 that we could leave along with a booklet about salvation. That night we requested the same waitress and left her a $50 tip on a $10 meal.

         We returned to the restaurant one month later, very eager to see if that waitress was still working there. She was, indeed.

         When she saw us, she said, "I read that little booklet you left last time you were here." We tried not to show how excited we were to hear that. She continued, "And I prayed that prayer to receive Christ at the end of it." Of course, we were thrilled to hear that. But she wasn't finished. "Then I called my husband on the phone and read the whole booklet to him, and he prayed that prayer, too."

         At that point, I said, "That's wonderful! But what do you mean, you called your husband? Does he travel for a living?"

         Looking embarrassed, she said, "No, my husband is in prison. He will get out in two or three years. We both want to thank you for leaving me that booklet and being so generous. Money has been pretty scarce since he went to prison."

         Over the next few years, my wife and I discipled this sweet waitress and saw great spiritual growth. We also began to mentor her husband in prison. When he was released, he joined the church with his wife, and they were baptized together. I had the privilege of knowing that the lives and eternal destinies of this couple had been changed because I gave.

         And I gave because Christ changed my life.

III. Endurance inspired by hope

Max Lucado compares our relationship with Christ with a gift Billy Joel gave his daughter.

    On her 12th birthday she was in New York City, and the pop musician was in Los Angeles. He phoned her that morning, apologizing for his absence, but told her to expect the delivery of a large package before the end of the day. The daughter answered the doorbell that evening to find a seven-foot-tall, brightly wrapped box. She tore it open, and out stepped her father, fresh off the plane from the West Coast. Can you imagine her surprise?

    Perhaps you can. Your gift came in the flesh too.

Max Lucado, Next Door Savior

The Art of Pastoring – pg 80

A Church wisely centered in the Word

produces great contentment for the people.

The activities of the church keep them

just busy enough to gain satisfaction,

but do not detract from their loved ones.

They enjoy their pastor

because they do not expect him to be

other than what he is.

Their spirits are nurtured gently

by quiet and solitude and room to be.

They care for one another

without needing certain responses in return.

They share food and song

sorrow and joy,

and become more ane more free from fear.

And when they die they think,

“It was good, is good and will be good.”