Sermon: "A Model Church"
As we start this new year, I would like us to have the courage to face head on two questions:
What kind of church are we?
and
What kind of church should we be?
At the end of July of last year, I sent out a church-wide email asking “What kind of church are we?”
We received lots of replies so I had to combine and condense them.
FIRST THE POSITIVE …
Supportive – Bible based – Compassionate – Humble – Forgiving – Sincere – Focused – Jesus is glorified – Servanthood – Organized – Community church – Big in numbers, giving, heart and faith – Built on practical Biblical teaching – Plenty of opportunities to serve – Welcomes everyone – Accepting – Great praise and worship – Caring – Outreaching – 24/7operation – Uplifting – Encouraging – Spiritually rewarding – Modern – Helping – Searching/seeking/asking/finding – Loving – Alive – People oriented – Willing to change – Bible believing – Seeks input from the congregation – A united church – Growing – Real – Unselfish – Teaching – Communicating – Kingdom building – Gracious
HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT …
Take time to review and renew – A small portion of the people do the majority of the work – Congregation not involved in worship – Weak in prayer – Weak in overseas missions – Weak in helping new people establish relationships – Because we are big people are content to let someone else do it – To comfortable and guarded – Complacent – Lukewarm – We need more testimonies – Apathy sometimes passed off as unity – Closed congregation
Those were some very revealing and interesting thoughts. Now let’s turn to the second question. “What kind of church should we be?”
I think a good model for us to use as a pattern would be the church that the Apostle Paul helped to establish in Thessalonica on his second missionary journey. It was not a perfect church, but in the Apostle Paul’s mind they were doing a lot of things the right way.
Beginning this morning we are going to take five weeks and study the book of First Thessalonians.
As we have said, Paul established the church in Thessalonica during his second missionary journey. This first letter was written to them just two or three years later. Paul wanted to encourage them, to assure them of his love, to praise them for their faithfulness, to remind them of the hope in the sure return of Jesus, and to correct their misconceptions about the resurrection and the second coming of Jesus.
We can be an effective church for Jesus by following the example of the church at Thessalonica.
Let’s take a moment and read the first chapter of I Thessalonians. As you listen and follow along, be looking for things in the church at Thessalonica that can be a model for us at Five Forks.
I THESSALONIANS 1:1-10 – 1Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you. 2We 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.
4For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5because 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. 6You 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. 7and so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8The 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, 9for 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, 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
THE CHURCH AT THESSALONICA
I. IT WAS AN ENERGETIC CHURCH
Paul pointed out three things that clearly showed they were a church full of energy. First …
A. THEIR WORK PRODUCED BY FAITH
I THESSALONIANS 1:3a – We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith.
Their faith was a true and living faith because it was a working faith. Wherever there is a true faith, it will work. It will have an influence upon the way we think and how we go about living our lives.
No place in the scriptures is this made more clear than in the book of James. Here is what James wrote.
JAMES 2:14-17 – 14What good is it, my brother, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Are you providing energy for the church at Five Forks? That is, is your faith producing work? Are you involved in serving or are you content to be served?
Next Paul said …
B. THEIR LABOR WAS PROMPTED BY LOVE
I THESSALONIANS 1:3a,b – We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love.
That might be the most important statement in our lesson this morning. What a difference it makes when our service to God and to others is prompted by love. When our labor is prompted by love, hard work becomes fun, sacrifices are much easier to make and we can put the needs of others ahead of our own selfish desires. John wrote …
I JOHN 3:16-18 – 16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
Are you helping to make Five Forks an energetic church because of the love you have for God and others?
The third thing Paul said was …
C. THEIR ENDURANCE WAS INSPIRED BY THEIR HOPE IN JESUS
I THESSALONIANS 1:3a,b,c - 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.
Sometimes hope is compared to the sailor’s anchor. An anchor is of great use when dangerous storms hit. It keeps the vessel from being blown off course or into deep, dangerous waters.
Believers who are well grounded in the hope of eternal life through Jesus, exercise great patience in dealing with all of the problems and calamities in this present life.
They serve the Lord year after year because of their hope. Even though the church at Thessalonica was only several years old, Paul had already seen endurance in many of the believers. This was easy to see because the believers in Thessalonica were persecuted to some extent.
How is your endurance? Have you grown weary in well doing or is your hope in Jesus giving you the endurance to keep serving even when you become weary?
If we are going to be like the church at Thessalonica we need to be an energetic church. The next thing we see about the church at Thessalonica was that ….
II. IT WAS AN ELECT CHURCH
Paul wrote …
I THESSALONIANS 1:4 – For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you.
Paul made it very clear that God, in his love, had chosen the believers in Thessalonica. The election of God is always difficult for us to understand. Most of us have a great deal of trouble reconciling God’s election with man’s free will.
Here is what Paul wrote about this at another time.
EPHESIANS 1:11-12 – 11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
Notice that election has to do with working things out in conformity with the purpose of God’s will.
God had a purpose for the church in Thessalonica and he has a purpose for the church at Five Forks.
We need to acknowledge that he has, in love, chosen us to be a light for him here at Five Forks, and do what we can to shine for him.
When you accept the fact that before the creation of the world God choose us to be servants for him at this time, in this place, it causes you to want to serve him with joy and gladness.
The next thing we see about the church in Thessalonica is that …
III. IT WAS AN EXEMPLARY CHURCH
Exemplary means – serving as a model or example – worth imitating
Our scripture lesson says …
I THESSALONIANS 1:5, 7 - 5Because 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.
7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
There are several things here that made them a church worth imitating.
A. THE WORD WAS PREACHED AND TAUGHT WITH POWER AND CONVICTION
Here we see that it is our responsibility as a church to preach and teach God’s Word. In a church our size we all will never completely agree on what all this involves, but we can agree that we must preach and teach God’s Word. We may not agree on the methods, but we must agree that the Bible is God’s revelation to us.
The Bible must have a prominent place in our daily lives and in the life of our church if we are going to be an exemplary church. But there is more …
B. THEIR PREACHING AND TEACHING WAS ANOINTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
This sounds simple and it can be, but it is also a struggle.
God wants to work through us. He is willing to use us even though we are weak and sinful. God can take unlikely people and do mighty things when they preach and teach his word. This is the simple part. Where then is the struggle?
The struggle comes from within ourselves. We know we need God’s power. We know we need to pray and seek his help. We know we need to offer ourselves to him as living sacrifices. We know we need to obey him in all areas of our lives. We know we need to deny ourselves instead of being selfish. We know we need to put God first … but often we fail.
I probably shouldn’t judge your spiritual life based on my own, but sometimes those things are hard for me to do. Prayer is sometimes hard work. Sometimes I don’t feel like praying or feel my prayers aren’t getting anywhere. Sometimes I get busy “doing things” and forget that I need God’s presence and power. Sometimes I just plain blow it and sin by disobeying God’s Word, and yes, sometimes I put self ahead of God and others.
So if you are anything like I am, it is a struggle to experience God’s anointing even though he is willing. Finally we see …
C. THEIR LIFE-STYLE SET A GOOD EXAMPLE
Today we might say they “walked the talk.” Notice that Paul, Silas and Timothy lived among them. That’s what we try to do as pastors. We try to work and play among you. We try not to set ourselves up above you.
Together we need to serve the Lord even when things aren’t easy in our lives. Together we need to receive God’s word with great joy. In other words, we need to be excited about our faith.
Together we need to be a model as to how a Christian church should function in society. Hopefully, we are functioning in such a way that the Lord would be pleased if other churches would follow our example.
Of course, that means that as individuals we need to be living a life-style that sets a good example. We will be taking a closer look at this as we move through the next four chapters in Thessalonians in the coming weeks.
Another thing we see concerning the church at Thessalonica is that …
IV. IT WAS AN EVANGELISTIC CHURCH
Our lesson says …
I THESSALONIANS 1:8 – 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.
I realize this verse doesn’t speak of anyone coming to trust in Jesus, but when it says “The Lord’s message … which is a message of salvation … rang out from you,” I think we can assume that people came to believe in Jesus.
We need to be a church that is so excited about what God has done for mankind through Jesus, that the Lord’s message goes out from us loud and clear. We need to be excited about our faith and share that excitement with others. Of course, others must see that our lives have changed. They must see that we truly are serving the Living and True God.
Are you helping our church be an evangelistic church? Are you excited about your faith? When it comes to following Jesus can you say to others, “Follow my example.” That should be a goal for each of us who claim to be a Christian.
The last thing we see about the church at Thessalonica is that …
V. IT WAS AN EXPECTANT CHURCH
Our lesson says …
I THESSALONIANS 1:9b-10 – 9bThey tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Most of you, and hopefully all of you here this morning who claim to be a follower of Jesus would say that you believe Jesus is going to return to earth some day.
The problem most of us have is that we don’t expect it to be today and many don’t expect it to be in their lifetime. That is understandable because it will soon be 2000 years since Jesus ascended into heaven. Many of us are guilty of going long periods of time without thinking about the second coming of Jesus. That is not good for us because when we think about Jesus returning it helps to make us more diligent, more willing to serve God and others and less apt to be so selfish.
Are you helping to make Five Forks an expectant church by thinking about the second coming of Jesus or have you allowed this wonderful truth to get pushed to the back of your mind?
It would be a good thing for each of us when we wake up in the morning to say to ourselves … this could be the day Jesus returns.
CONCLUSION
The new year is before us. Those of us who consider Five Forks to be our church home should want to have our church be effective in serving Jesus.
The church at Thessalonica is a model worth following. If we follow their example we will be …
- An Energetic Church – serving the Lord by serving others
- An Elect Church – always depending on God
- An Exemplary Church – setting a godly example
- An Evangelistic Church – by our example and by our words (telling others about Jesus)
- An Expectant Church – looking forward to the return of Jesus
Do you love the Lord enough to select the area you are the weakest from that list and determine to improve in 2008?