Love the Church

If you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it. We’re going to be in 1 Thessalonians 2:13-20 tonight. Here’s our main question for tonight: what does it mean to love the Church? You could say that you love the building or that you love the beauty of the sanctuary or the music that you hear but is that what the Bible has in mind when it talks about us loving the Church? Or do we mean that we love an institution or the things that the Church stands for? Nope, while those things may add up to our love for the Church, that shouldn’t be the main thing when we talk of loving the Church. So, what does it really mean for us to love the Church? Well to love the Church as we should, we need to first love Christ, the chief Cornerstone of the Church and from that relationship, we in turn love those that are within the Church. To love the Church means that we have true affections for those that God has saved out of the world because we see them as our dear brothers and sisters in the faith. What we are going to look at tonight is Paul’s heart for the church of Thessalonica and then we are going to see how we can imitate his example to love one another. But it isn’t always easy to love the Church right? Why is it so hard? Because the Church is made up of people and anytime you add imperfect people to an equation, you are guaranteed to have some difficulties. Let me tell you my story real quick, I struggled for a long time to love the Church. Not a building, I struggled to love the people. I look back at my old church in Georgia and it was a struggle to love some of those people. There were numerous times I thought about walking out or saying something that would have not been Christ-honoring and I’m glad I didn’t do that. There were so many times where I would have to stop and say to myself, “Jesus said that if you love me, you will love my People and no matter how marred they are, no matter how hurtful they can be, it is my responsibility to love them anyway.” To love the Church requires a conscientious effort on your part first. It does not matter the lovability so to speak of the other person, love for the church, while ultimately starting with Christ, moves first and foremost to you as an individual. We need love in the Church, we need unity in the Church, we need to not be tearing each other limb from limb at any given moment. David Torrance said, “Because the Church is called to represent God in his ministry to the world, so the church must always act in love. The Church can only represent God and reflect and share in Christ’s ministry when the Church acts in the same love and manifests the same understanding and tender compassion that Christ does to everyone. Nothing so mars the ministry of the Church and hinders the work of the Holy Spirit more than quarrelling and division within the Church.” How did Paul love the church of Thessalonica? To find out, let’s read 1 Thessalonians 2:13-20

1 Thessalonians 2:13–20 ESV

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last! But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.

Before we dive too much into this, I think it’s important to remind you guys that just because there is the end of a chapter here, that doesn’t mean that chapter 3 is disconnected from chapter 2. Chapter divisions and headings were added much later from the time that the New Testament was written and I’m saying this because we can make a case that Paul’s example of love for the Church continues into chapter 3 but I want to save chapter 3 for something else next week so if you are looking at chapter 2 and are thinking, “Isn’t there more?” Yeah, there’s chapter 3 that expands Paul’s thoughts but that’s next week.

First Things Must Be First in the Church

As we look at loving the Church, we need to address that which we must love first. Before we truly love the People of God, we must come to love God Himself. 1 John 4:7 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” We love because God has given His love to us and it is when we know God that we can begin to really love as God loves. I would even argue that before we can love the People of God properly, we must love the Word of God properly. The first things must be first when it comes to the church and Paul points out these realities in verses 13-16. He makes note of how the Thessalonians received the Word of God for what it really is. It’s not the invention of man, or a distortion of words, it is the authoritative and inspired Word of God. The Scriptures is God-breathed and where Scripture speaks, God speaks. The Thessalonians understood that the true message of the Gospel that Paul preached was the Gospel from the Lord Himself. It wasn’t a cleverly devised fable or legend, it was something from God Himself and they accepted this with joy! I think it’s worth mentioning quickly that when you go to a church, you need to go to one that teaches the whole counsel of God. Don’t settle for half Gospels which are no gospel at all. Find somewhere that truly preaches Christ crucified and risen from the dead, somewhere that teaches the Word of God and not public opinion, find a place that Is God-honoring, Christ-exalting, Spirit-driven, imitators of Christ Himself. Don’t just join a social club. Find a true Church that teaches what God’s Word proclaims. Paul is able to see in the lives of the Thessalonians the impact of God’s Word in their lives. Paul is also able to see how they have faithfully endured persecution and this is one of the great pieces of evidence that their lives has truly been changed by the Gospel. You see it’s easy to be in and love the Church when everything is sunshine and rainbows. But what about when it gets hard? When persecution comes and you need to start playing defense? What about then? The way the church you are in handles persecution will tell you almost all of what you need to know about the spiritual state of that church. A church that runs and hides is not a church worth being in. We need to be faithful unto death and the church that we are in must follow that same principle. The next thing that Paul reminds the Thessalonians of is the heart of the Gospel: the death of Christ and the sinfulness of man. The church must acknowledge that Jesus truly existed, that He is who the Bible says He is, that He lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose again 3 days later. If you can’t get this right, you won’t get anything else right. A church that makes light of sin shouldn’t be surprised when sin overtakes them. Remember man is not 99% good and 1% bad. Every ounce of man is plagued with sin, we are totally depraved in nature. J.I. Packer wrote, “No part of us is untouched by sin, and therefore no action of ours is as good as it should be, and consequently nothing in us or about us ever appears meritorious in God’s eyes. We cannot earn God’s favor, no matter what we do; unless grace saves us, we are lost.” Paul and the Thessalonians knew this, we saw evidence of this in chapter 1. What we see in this short section of Scripture is that the first things must always be the first things in the Church and this is always going to be counter-cultural from the world’s viewpoint.

The Church is Counter-Cultural

Paul emphasizes this reality in verses 14-16 and from your own Christian experience, you’ve probably already recognized this. Historically, the people of God have always been ridiculed and hated by the world. Paul emphasizes this when he says that the Jewish people rejected Christ, the prophets, and drove out the apostles. Yet from all of our studies that we have done over the year, we’ve repeatedly come to the conclusion that at the heart of the Church, the heart of the Gospel, there is no wrong doing that the world should ultimately be able to charge us with. We pursue truth, righteousness, love, and holiness. All that we do is to be Christ-centered and if we seek to imitate Him, there is nothing sinful that we are to be doing. The People of God have always stood in contrast with the world and this is likely down to the fact that we do not belong to this world. Paul says in Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” We aren’t like the world because unlike the world, our minds have been made new. The priorities of our lives have changed and the desires that we once had have been replaced by desires that are holy and righteous. While all that we do happens in this age and this world, we are to live our lives as if we were already in the world that is to come. The Church needs to take bold stances against the sinfulness of this world because the wrath of God is real and it is coming. If one sin is enough to condemn mankind forever, what treatment will a multitude of sin receive? The question shouldn’t be, “How bad is one sin?” The question has to have some form of confrontation: “How much evil is in one sin? And if there is so much evil in one sin that it separates God from man forever, how great will the punishment be for those that die in their sins?” We must be counter-cultural, we must be the Church as Christ formed it to be. So, here we have our 2 starting points before we see how Paul loved the Church and how we by extension should love the Church because if we don’t first recognize the first things, the main things of Christianity and the way we are to live in this world, we are going to struggle to love the Church as we should. None of this should be new information to us because we talked about this all throughout the book of Acts right?

How Does Paul Love the Church?

How does Paul love the church based off of what we have read tonight? I want to point you quickly to 5 things from 1 Thessalonians 2:17-20 so let’s read those verses again:

1 Thessalonians 2:17–20 ESV

But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.

The Church should ever be on our heart

The first point is that Paul had the Thessalonians always on his heart. He was torn away from body but never from heart or mind. We should always have the people of God on our heart. We should always strive to think of them, pray for them, talk with them. Notice too that Paul didn’t say that he had this person, this person, this person on his heart but not that person, it is all-inclusive. The Body of Christ was always on his mind and in his heart and this included everyone from the elders to the Christian that had been there a day, to the closest friends in the church to the people that we can’t stand. Paul’s heart was set on the People of God because they are God’s People. One of the hardest things about leaving my old church was that I knew I was leaving this group of people, these students, that I cared very much about. I’ve been away from them for 3 and a half years and I still think about them. I still pray for their growth in the faith, I still want to talk with them, and I would absolutely love to go see my old students one more time and that’s because they are on my heart, just as you are on my heart. Something that we need to do in order to love the Church and have them be on our heart is recognize who those that are in the Church are and recognize their relationship to us. These people that we are with aren’t strangers, they’re our brothers and sisters! When they hurt, we hurt. We they rejoice, we rejoice with them. Why? Because this is our family. The Church is a home for us, it is a new blood-bought family for us and when you love your family, your family is almost constantly on your mind. Even if I don’t say it, I’m always thinking about Lora and the kids because they’re on my heart 24/7. So, in order for us to love the Church as we should, we need to have the Church always on our heart.

The Church desires to be together

The second point that Paul makes that emphasizes his love for the church is that he desired to be with them. The Church should always desire to be together and we should desire to be with the Church. Unfortunately, we seem to think that fellowship isn’t all that necessary but even from the beginning of time, God has made a point that we do our best when we are together. Even from the first relationship of Adam and Eve we see that it is not good for us to be alone. Again, I think this starts with you before it starts with those that are in the church. Do you desire to be here? Do you long to be in the House of God and with God’s people? I love being with the Church because I’m with family, with dear friends and loved ones. Shouldn’t we be concerned that the Bible warns us about not being together? The author of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 10:24-25

Hebrews 10:24–25 (ESV)

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

As the day of Christ’s return gets closer and closer, we are commanded to not neglect being together and to use this time to encourage one another. We all need the church because we all need to be encouraged. Some of the most depressed people in the world are often the ones that make no effort to be with other people. We need the church. John Stott wrote, “Some people construct a Christianity which consists entirely of a personal relationship to Jesus Christ and has virtually nothing to do with the church. Others make a grudging concession to the need for church membership, but add that they have given up the ecclesiastical institution as hopeless. Now it is understandable, even inevitable, that we are critical of many of the church’s inherited structures and traditions. Every church in every place at every time is in need of reform and renewal. But we need to beware lest we despise the church of God, and are blind to his work in history. We may safely say that God has not abandoned his church, however displeased with it he may be. He is still building and refining it. And if God has not abandoned it, how can we? It has a central place in his plan.” Do you desire to be a part of the People of God? How can we neglect each other here when we are going to spend eternity together? We are going to be with each other for a really long time so we might as well get used to it now.

The Church makes an effort to be together

The next point that Paul makes is that not only does he desire to be with the church, he put forth an effort to be with the church. These are 2 closely connected but vastly different things. There is a pretty big difference between wanting to do something and actually putting in the effort to do that thing. Think of it like a marriage. Let’s say that a husband has it in his heart to do something nice for his wife. Maybe an anniversary is coming up and he has it in his heart to treat her right. He wants to take her on an exclusive cruise to the Bahamas, it’s adults only so the kids will be with the grandparents, everything on board is paid for, he sees the itinerary and it has all her favorite things on it and he thinks, “This is perfect, she’ll love this!” But then he doesn’t do anything. He doesn’t take her on the cruise, he doesn’t even take her out to eat, he simply says, “It would be a nice gesture but I’m not going to do it.” Even if his heart is set on doing it, it’s not going to really matter if there is no effort on his part to do it. Think of how that would relate to us with the church? Sure, you can desire to be here but you also need to make an effort to be here. I understand there are sometimes circumstances that come up, Paul himself gives the reason why he couldn’t be there in verse 18, but there needs to be an effort to be together. We can say all day long, “I want to be with the church, I want to love the church” but just saying that means nothing if there is no effort on our part to actually do that. We need to desire to be together as the church and we need to put forth an effort to be together and love the church.

The Church is united against a common foe: Satan

What was it that stopped Paul from going to the Thessalonians? Verse 18 we see that it was Satan that hindered Paul and his traveling companions from going. John MacArthur wrote, “Paul understood well in his ministry and relationship with the Thessalonians that he faced satanic opposition...Satan wants to thwart the progress of God’s kingdom much as an army seeks to disrupt the advance of an opposing army.” The fourth point is that we as the church are united against a common foe. The church needs to be united when it comes to the attacks of the Devil. We need to be looking for this prowling lion that is looking for someone to devour and the best way to do that is as lovers of the Word of God and united believers. Jonathan Edwards said that just one sentence from the Word of God is poison to to ancient serpent and when the Body of Christ is united in Word and in deed, Satan cannot stand. We are not here to fight each other, we are here to encourage each other as we look to the world that is to come. We are to work together to make sure that all that is coming out of the Church is in response to what is found in the Word of God. We are to call out false teachers and false teachings and false churches for the good of our brothers and sisters in the faith. If we want to love the Church, we need to come together to stand against the devices of Satan.

Our joy and crowns in this world are intertwined with our glory in the next

The last point that I want to make is that our joy and crowns in this world are intertwined with our glory in the next. Paul talks about how it was through the church that he would receive his crown before the Lord’s coming and that it was through the actions and faith of the Thessalonians that Paul would find much joy. I think in some ways, the church is only as strong as the weakest member and this is why we need to come along and support one another. We need to love one another because God has called us to do it. God shouldn’t have to tell us more than once to love one another before we do it. When you love someone, you get caught up in their joy and their wellbeing and this is what Paul is getting at here at the end of chapter 2. Henry Scougal wrote, “Love is that powerful and prevalent passion by which all the faculties and inclinations of the soul are determined and on which both its perfection and happiness depends.” We need to rejoice in the success of those that are truly within the church. This doesn’t mean that we stand up and sing hallelujah when we see false teachers making the claim that thousands joined there church. Instead what we do is we rejoice when we see the church stand against the tides of persecution. We rejoice and glorify in our Lord when we see one lost sheep come home. We praise God when we see God work in the hearts of His people. We also need to be in a church where the minister is truly allowed to love the members. It’s hard for a pastor to truly shepherd the flock when he doesn’t know who the flock are. Pastors need to know their people and they need to be able to rejoice with their people and even mourn with their people. It’s in this where we see a great love for God and for His Church. John Calvin wrote, “We are to learn from this that the ministers of Christ will share His glory and triumph on the last day, according as each of them has extended His kingdom. Let them now therefore learn to rejoice and glory in the success of their labors alone, while they see that the glory of Christ is increased by their efforts. In this way they will come to have a proper feeling of love for the Church.” As we’ve looked at this passage, we’ve seen Paul’s heart for the Thessalonians and my hope is that just as he loved and longed for the Church, as you grow in your faith you will love and long for the Church as well. I know that this body is imperfect but Christ is leading us towards perfection. Right here and now we are to strive with one another because we are united against a common foe and we are heading to a common country. We are not to only desire to be together, we are to strive to be together because that is what God has created His church to do. He created the Church so that we may glorify Him through our witness and through our fellowship. The Church may be imperfect now but our time together is simply training the imperfect for the perfection that is to come. Jesus says if we love Him we will love the Church and that means that no matter how much this Church dirties itself and looks like the whore of Babylon, it is each of our responsibilities to jump in there, love the church, and point them back to the Savior. The world may be against us but we are not of the world. We are the People of God, the Body of Christ, created for His glory and for His Kingdom so may we ever strive to love the Church. Let’s pray.