An Example for Believers

I Thessalonians 1:7-10

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Singing that song, I was thinking, I need something to lift me out of the chair, it seems like anymore. Get up. And Keith, I feel your pain with the euns. I'd make fun of me at work. They'd go around and say, hey Youns, how are you doing? They'd ham it up, you know. Oh. Well, that was great with Matthew. He did a great job on that. That takes, you know, just courage to do. I d I I remember even when I started preaching, I I was so nervous. I didn't I had to pray to the Lord, if if we don't do something about this, I can't this can't continue. I can't go on. But just for him to have the, you know, this to get the courage, I'm sure that God strengthened him to do that. And so that that was great. It's encouraging for all of us to see our youth doing those sorts of things. Um all right. We we come to uh concluding verses of thirst first Thessalonians chapter 1 this morning. Only took us three sermons to get through the chapter, it's it's relatively short. Uh thus far we have seen that Paul, Silas, and Timothy greet the Thessalonians. They also let them know how thankful they are that they have persevered through what the CSB calls severe persecution. In spite of that persecution, the Thessalonians have exhibited faith, hope, and love, and have demonstrated that they are indeed of God's chosen. Now, we ended last time with the writers specifically noting that the Thessalonians had become imitators of the writers, and of course the Lord also in enduring this persecution. We ended our message indicating that the imitators were moving properly in spiritual progression as they were becoming the imitated. At least that was the intimation that Paul has given us. The imitators becoming the imitated themselves. And so today the writers continue to offer this ringing endorsement for the Christian walk of the Thessalonians. So uh we'll read their example and consider that. And uh let's go ahead and do that and then we'll pray. First Thessalonians 1 and verses 7 through 10. As a result, you became an example to all believers in Macedonia and Achaea. For the word of the Lord rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaea, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out. Therefore we don't need to say anything, for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you, 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. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for your word. We pray as we study together that we would be encouraged, Father, to follow the example the Thessalonians have provided for us. And so, Father, we thank you again for your word and ask for your guidance in it in Jesus' name. Amen. So the writers were an example to the Thessalonian Christians, and then again, and following that example, the Thessalonians became an example to others. And of course, that really is how the process should work. Before we move to that example, I did want to go over just a bit of history. It won't take long at all, but Macedonia and Achaia are mentioned explicitly. You may recall in our introduction to the book that Thessalonica was in the province of Macedonia. Achaia was actually the other main province of Greece at the time. So there were two main provinces, and Achaia was where Athens and Corinth were. That actually still exists today. It's uh a much bigger territory than it was at the time of the New Testament writing. But in effect, the writers are saying that news of the Thessalonica faith had spread to all of Greece. And actually, they go on to say it's expanded to every place their faith has been reported. So we're not told specifically how wide that range was, and it may be that they are just making a note that whoever has heard of the Thessalonians have heard good things about their faith. It's no doubt the Christians in Macedonia and Achaia needed examples, and the Thessalonians were supplying that good example. Part of what is so encouraging for the writers and for us is that we recall the Thessalonians had only been followers at the time Paul is writing here for just a short time. It had not been long at all. And it was not only a short time, but again, it was a very tumultuous time, and they were holding strong in the faith. Now, of course, we want to know about what is mentioned here specifically and what prompts the praise of the writers for the Thessalonians. The writers, I would say, here give us three specific reasons for why they're excited about how the Thessalonians are operated. This is in addition to what we've already considered previously from verse 3. And there the writers mention the Thessalonian attitude of faith, love, and hope. And again, doing this in spite of severe persecution. This mindset is paramount for any of us as Christians. And here we move into what we might say is faith, love, and hope in action. They're commenting on what the result of that is. We see a specific example in each of the verses following verse 7. First, verse 8, the word of the Lord rang out from you. Second, verse 9, they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. And then third, verse 10, they were waiting for his son from heaven. So let's consider these in turn. And as we go, we probably should think about how we stack up against this and evaluate ourselves both collectively and individually. Because of course, it's great for us to read these things, but we want to emulate what they were doing. We want to imitate them. Be, of course, it is far uh across time and culture, but here again we are getting concrete descriptions, at least of some of what it means to follow Christ, by people who were clearly doing it. This is not theoretical. This was the Thessalonian church. So verse 8. The word of the Lord rang out from them wherever their faith had gone out. The phrase rang out comes from a Greek word that indicates a loud ringing sound as of a trumpet blast. The concept is a little more advanced though, and that there is this idea of a ripple effect when the sound hits, like if you think about a stone hitting a pond, you know how the ripples go out. It's that kind of idea as well. I don't know that we really have a word that conveys the notion in English, but you probably get the idea. The good work the Lord did among the Thessalonians became well known all over the region. The news rang out, and it had a ripple effect. Everyone was talking about the changes they had experienced. Now, arguably, what Paul is saying here is a summary statement of verse 9, namely, the conduct of the Thessalonians as far as the change in their lifestyle was going out and making, and people were noticing. That's no doubt at least a part of what is being said. But I want to shift the focus just a bit. I think this speaks to more than just the repentance, if you will, that we see in verse 9. That's because Paul says something I don't think he says elsewhere, or at least maybe it was Silas or Timothy that said it, but they write this we don't need to say anything about what you did. They themselves report what kind of reception we had. In other words, again, people are talking about what you're doing and how you treated us and the response that you had after you received the word, the gospel from us. So it's like they're saying, You Thessalonian Christians are sounding forth the word of the Lord so effectively you're putting us out of business. It's that kind of idea. We don't need to say anything, because you're saying it. As such, I think it probably is very likely there was some what we would just call witnessing going on, and that would make sense. If your lifestyle changes dramatically in some way, the issue is bound to come up. It's not necessarily a situation where you're even trying to initiate a conversation as much as the change itself is bringing about questions. I lived a bit of this on both ends of my worldwide church of God experience. Some of you will relate. But when I first started attending the worldwide church of God, there were all these questions I got from friends and family about why are you going to church on Saturday? Why are you not doing anything on Friday night? But staying in your room and reading the Bible. What's the purpose of that? Unfortunately, my witness then was not really helpful for the gospel because basically what I said was, Jesus was a Jew, and so I'm trying to follow Jesus and live as a Jew. Um, so that was not that helpful. I guess if anything, those around me knew at least I was trying to follow Jesus, as weird or as awkward as it might have seemed. Now, when the worldwide church of God came to realize the error of its ways, then I got to talk about why I no longer believed that I needed to live a Jewish lifestyle. And that was more of a gospel message, because the new covenant is not the old. And I can talk about what Christ died for our sins so that we may live. We're not saved by works at all, we're saved through grace. And the point here is just that a time of change in a person's life is an opportune time to share the gospel. And I would just say, and I doubt if this applies to anyone here, else you probably wouldn't be here, but maybe. If you've been struggling with some sin in your public sphere of influence, now would be a great time to turn back to God. Use this as an incentive. If those who have been in your sphere see that and they know of your struggles, you have a golden opportunity for witness, which doesn't come easy for all of us. Of course, any time is a great time to turn from sin, either public or private. You understand that. But just making the point as far as witnesses. And the point here is not only were the Thessalonians living godly lives, they were sharing the reason for doing so. The good news that Jesus had died for their sins and had clearly impacted their lives. There are some of you, perhaps only a few, but likely a few, that are pretty open. You can strike up a conversation about the gospel with virtually no hesitation if the slightest opportunity presents itself. Most of us, however, and unfortunately I include your pastor in this, are more reluctant to just start sharing the good news and probably, especially with those we don't know well. We've been conditioned in our society to not be so quick to talk about these things. In fact, in some cases, it may be strained for us to even do so with people we know well or even family members. So, how can we make it easier for those issues to come up in some ways that flow more naturally? Well, we saw last week one way to do it is to live joyful lives and do so even in the midst of trials. And it just struck me this morning there are some heavy trials that were brought up. And I think Marilyn's commentary on the from Isaiah about being renewed in the spirit. My sister and I were talking about, she said, in reading the Psalms, we get a real honest assessment from David about how things are going on. So these are things that we need to do. Stay close to the Lord. The joy that's talked about here again, and I think I said this last week. It's not that some superficial, artificial, oh, everything's great. No, it's not that at all. It's dealing with the reality of it, but it's that inner peace and knowing, yeah, this is tough. God is with me, we're going through it, and there is a peace, and there's a still love being expressed for those around you, and those sorts of things. And those things, people see that they do take note of it. I would have preferred to do it some other way, but I probably was able to share my faith more with respect to Seth's death than anything else. Because people understandably find that hard to grasp. How do you move on in those situations? So as you go through life, you'll have all manners of disturbances and trials, and you all understand this. But I suggest the text here is saying one way we can open the door to spread the good news of Jesus' love is simply to reflect that joy. And again, it's not a superficial joy, it's that inner peace that exhibits itself in that kind of calm, steady approach we have because we know this is not the end. And then we can be ready to share that, share the reason for that, share the hope that we have, and why we go on as we do, and we can even smile in the midst of some really difficult times. Now, of course, the specifics of the gospel go out in our verbal witness, but as stated in verse 9, as we've mentioned and alluding to, even in talking about the verbal witness, the change in lifestyle prompts an open door for communication. And again, we read they turn from God, they turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. And of course, that encompasses a lot of possibilities. It's a very broad statement. It points to the definition of what it means to become a Christian, not what it means on how to become a Christian, right? We again are saved by grace, not works. But the clear result, once you put your faith in Christ, it's indicating here that's not merely an acknowledgement that Jesus died for my sins, but it's also a wholehearted commitment to Jesus because he died for my sins. As far as the Thessalonians, the uh turning away from idols can be taken more literally than we tend to think of it today. Most of you have probably heard, or we may have even said, we say things like it's not unusual for us Christians to talk about an idol of food, idol of drink, idol of greed, idol of lust, whatever it is that has distracted us from God's service. But the Thessalonians were turning away from literal pagan worship of idols. I mentioned last week, this is no doubt a large part of why the Thessalonians were under such severe persecution. They were no longer participating in this pagan worship. And so any problems that came up with either family or society at large, people were looking to them like, you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. And so they were getting this kind of um idea pinned on them that they were causing trouble. Up until this point, their life had been consumed with idols in a very realistic sense. The whole area was overrun with idolatry. Deities and Greek, and some of you studied some or heard some of Greek mythology. I know I did growing up in school. I don't know if that did they teach that to y'all growing up at all? Maybe a little bit. Um we call it Greek mythology. They looked at it as reality. Deities were regarded as human-like and immortal and powerful. The emotions and actions of these so-called gods were largely the same as as humans. They frequently engaged in sexual activity. They were amoral, if not immoral. It was their power that caused all the natural events, so any kind of you know, weather was caused by them. They often dictated the outcomes of the lives of people. So those who grew up in Greek culture grew up going to various shrines of all these different deities. And again, Paul says clearly, they've turned away from that now. When we first came to Christianity, we probably all had to turn away from something that had taken priority in our lives. In some ways, I'd say our idols are a little more tricky. That's because they're often not fully wrong wholesale. We don't profess to worship them. Rather, they may be things that are good things, but we put a wrong priority on them. And so this is something that we'll have to reflect on throughout all of our walk with Christ to make sure that we're not setting up an item. What do you think the biggest trap is today? Yeah. Everyone agrees. Of the devil, my fellow elder properly says. People will run over. What I find interesting is I walk quite a bit. And if somebody's looking at their phone, I have to get out of their way because they may just run over me. They're not even paying attention. And same is true in a car. I've noticed people swerving, I look at them, they've got their head down, they're looking at that phone. Um the things that the thing is, many things that pique our interest are at our fingertips now. For some, it's social media and this constant contact. For some, it's just cruising the internet, seeing what's going on. Uh, for us men in particular, we have to be careful with every click that we're not inviting lust into our lives. We all have to be careful, we're not spending time on this, that we should be dedicating to God, either in prayer or in study or in meditation. So there's that. There's also obvious sin that could emerge as an idol that we let creep in that we probably find comfort in in some way, that it's normally either coming from the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes. We've talked about the potential for sexual sin already. That comes not only from the phone, but TV and what I've heard too referred to as trashy novels. Uh, that might be more tempting for you ladies. I don't know. And then there's food and drink. Food is obviously good unless we overindulge. Some will argue that alcohol is never good, but you're fighting a losing battle with that from the Bible. Jesus said he's saving his wine drinking for when we drink it together in the kingdom. So that presents it that as an obvious good. But of course, we must limit that even more than food. So either could get to idle status if we start relying on them for comfort and support in some way that we are distracted from serving the living God or that we are not relying on the living God. The pursuit of material wealth can be an idol. But again, in the things I've noted, none of them in and of themselves are sinful. Obviously, not food or drink or even material things or even sexual desire. It's when they are pursued in sinful ways or at sinful times, they become an issue. And that's why we should be careful not to let anything gain idle status. And we should ask God to make us aware of that kind of thing that's creeping up on us. The Thessalonians put away their lifeless idols. Idols or idols are just a mirage, right? They're a mirage, they're a distraction, they have no answers for life. So, two, we must put idols away. People around us, all around us, are serving idols, different things. Achievement, academics, notoriety, bank balance, and the grace of God comes in. It's not necessarily that all of those is removed or that it should be, but it is that there is a radical transformation on the priorities of our life. Becoming a Christian involves a very definite break from non-Christian bad habits. Becoming a Christian doesn't simply mean adding the Jesus package to a lifestyle of our own choosing. And I think the church has to be more clear on this. When I was in the worldwide church of God and thought works were contributing to my salvation and sin could get me in trouble quickly, I tended to be more diligent then, I think. And that was for the wrong reasons. If there is a problem with the evangelical church, I think it may be that we're selling the message of the gospel short by failing to make it clear that becoming a Christian involves a definite break from all non-Christian habits. And I get it. For most of us, I think growing up in a Christian-influenced culture, which we were blessed to have done, but we likely didn't, of course, experience a wholesale shift like the Thessalonians. And again, therein lies the danger for us. It's very clear you need to stop going up to Zeus's temple to quit worshiping. It's not as clear when you need to put your phone down. That's not as obvious. So it's going to be a matter of Christian discipleship for us to ask ourselves individually: is there anything that I'm putting above God? And again, more importantly, ask God. I just say, mean it when you ask it, because He'll show you. And if there is, we will need, like Sis was talking about when she was reading, a change of heart, a change of mind, a change of direction. The old is to pass away, the new has come. And now that brings us to the final encouraging lifestyle change of the Thessalonians mentioned here. Verse 10, they are waiting on God's Son from heaven. Jesus who rescues us from the coming wrath. Here Paul pointed to the essence of salvation and saying, Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come. Just a few points here. One theological, one eschatological, which you may realize speaks of the last days, and then one finally practical. As far as theology, I think I mentioned not too long ago the atonement theory wars that are really taking place now. I'd not seen anything like it. And this has just happened in the last, I don't know, a few years. I really think it has a lot to do with the upsurge of Eastern Orthodoxy in America. That church is that they had been, you know, pretty much relegated to the Iron Curtain, and so they weren't as out even in America, but that has changed. Eastern Orthodoxy is strident in upholding gender roles, so it has a lot of appeal, especially to young men. That said, Eastern Orthodoxy does not hold to penal substitution atonement, at least in the sense that evangelicals typically do. We discussed atonement theory not too long ago, so I'm not going to get into it really today, other than to say I don't believe it's a salvation issue as far as what theory of atonement you hold to. But I will say I think it's hard to get around Isaiah 53 and the idea that God's wrath was put on Christ as a substitution for the wrath we deserve. That's what penal substitution atonement theory is. And again, the reference to God's wrath should not be thought of as some outburst of anger, you know, like the wrath of our boss or someone we cut off in traffic, or I dare say our spouse's wrath, or when we have our own little outburst. Rather, God's wrath is an expression of God's holy and righteous judgment against sin. It's because of God's love for us. He both judges sin and also provides a way to escape that judgment. Thus the gospel. The theological debate is over whether his wrath actually goes on Christ on our behalf. It does seem to me it has to go somewhere. To be sure, I don't think penal substitution is all there is to say about the atonement, but neither do I think we can simply shrug it off as something inconceivable that God would allow for his son. Again, penal means punishment, and so that's where the rub comes in. The Eastern Orthodox is loath to say that God is punishing Jesus in our place. But Jesus' death had to be satisfying some great purpose. Why else would God have determined Christ's death was needed to atone for sin? As far as the end time, in this particular context, it seems to be clear enough the wrath that is being referred to is the end time wrath that will occur the day of the Lord. And some of you may recall in chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians, Paul writes that we Christians are not appointed to suffer wrath. The day of the Lord is an event that marks judgment and will occur at the coming of Christ. Everyone believes that. Now, and obviously rising, as Paul mentions. Now, I debated whether to launch into a prophetic sermon next week and maybe a couple weeks, but I think I've decided to wait. And I really don't want to go down too far a prophetic trail today either. We just don't have time, and that's really not the focus here. Let's just say this. It's of course stridently debated on whether the wrath spoken of here is referring to the great tribulation and as such, whether believers are raptured from the earth to be rescued from this wrath. While again, there is great agreement that end time wrath is associated with the day of the Lord and the coming of Christ. There is dispute about whether the day of the Lord and the Great Tribulation are running concurrently, or whether they are real, really completely separate events. Many, if not most of you, probably believe they're running together, which is a major reason you think the church is raptured prior to the Great Tribulation. In effect, you believe the day of the Lord is a seven-year event that the Lord will rescue believers from. I believe the day of the Lord and the Great Tribulation are separate events. With the Great Tribulation coming first and the day of the Lord coming after. And I don't think we're given enough biblical data to know how long the day of the Lord is. It may be just a day, it may be a month. I doubt if it's much longer than that. But from that perspective, we both agree, or at least I agree, with pre-tribers, and tend to think the church will be raptured prior to God's wrath. Although, I grant, as you should, it's clear with Noah's Ark, God can protect his people from his wrath without us being actually removed. All that said, timing is certainly not the focus here. The focus here is that the Thessalonians are waiting on a new future. And that's our practical application. Not only have the Thessalonians become servants of the living God, they are waiting on Christ's return. Paul also notes here again that Christ was raised from the dead. What he's doing there is assuring us fully Christ is alive and he's going to return to rescue us fully. It's a full rescue. It's not just, you know, where we're at peace, which he's been talking about, but this will be a complete and full rescue. This is how uh Philips paraphrases what the Thessalonians are doing. He writes, they tell the story of how you turn from idols to serve the living and true God, and how your whole lives now look forward to the coming of the Son of His Son from heaven. In other words, what he's saying is for them it's a complete reorientation. They're focused on a new future that is coming. And that will help us get through so many things as well. When we can just recall that. And of course, as we talk about, we're all getting older. So it's something that we can look forward to more and more each day. Once life was hopeless, once there was no future, now all that changed for the Thessalonians. And now they're looking forward to the appearing of the Lord Jesus from heaven. And that's how we're to look forward to it. In anticipation of the appearing of the Lord. Yes, we wait in patience, but we wait in anticipation. We wait reverently, but we can wait in confidence. We the the waiting implies, yes, a readiness, and the readiness implies a preparation. And the way that you or I may be identified as those who are waiting from the coming of Christ, to me, I think it draws down ultimately to two characteristics. And we've really mentioned them already, but I'll just mention them here in summary as we conclude. First, we want to have a desire to live a holy life. We want to follow God. And of course, we understand we're tempted and stressed and fearful and do things wrong, but we want to live a holy life and follow the Lord. Secondly, and this one has just hit me more and more as I've gotten older. There's an increasing passion for the souls of men and women who don't have Jesus. We can't surely be keenly waiting for Jesus to come back and wrap up history, which we know is going to create a separation between the believer and the unbeliever. And knowing that, we need to have that compassionate longing, I think, as we think about it, for those who don't know Jesus, that they would come to know him. So may God help us have the gospel ring out. He said, Well, remember, they had become imitators of Paul, Silas, and Timothy, and ultimately, of course, of Jesus Christ Himself. They were letting the gospel ring out. Their reputation was preceding itself to others all around. So I thought about that, and yeah, a sounding board is a good picture because a sounding board is just that. It doesn't create sound, it reflects sound. The source of the sound is coming from somewhere else. Of course, that's coming from Christ. It hits the sounding board, and the sounding board magnifies it so that others can hear it. That's a wonderful picture of the church. So let's ask God that the new covenant church in Christ might be a sounding board for the message of the gospel in our area, around us, where we are in our generation. May we become sharer of the good news of God's grace through deed and also word. Because we serve a mighty God, he can help us do wonderful things in his name as we hold him in high esteem, follow him, and wait for Christ's return. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for your word. Thank you for the example of the Thessalonian Church. Help us, Father, to follow in that example that we would have a heart for those around us, that we would live according to your word, that we would let the gospel ring out. And we may not see how we might uh most effectively do these things, but we know we call out to you and that you are our strength, Father. We are weak in all things, but we look to you and we know you can strengthen us and move us forward in a way that will be of benefit to the kingdom, and that's what we ask, Father, is that we might be used of you, and that we would just be completely zealous for following you, and thank you, Father, for your word. Thank you for all that you've provided for us. And we ask these things and thank you for our church, and ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.