An Impacted Church

Introduction

Well, good morning!

Listen, it feels so great to be back with you guys. We had an amazing time in Honduras. God did some awesome things…things that only He can do. Our people grew in incredible ways, as you’ve just heard…But listen, it feels great to be back with our church family. When you’re away, there’s always this void…like you don’t feel complete…and it just reminds you of what God’s called you to, and what He’s gave you…And I’m just so grateful…thank you for letting us go, thank you for helping us go, thank you for your prayers…we hope that you can join us next year…and if that’s something you’re interested in, stay tuned we’ll be having a meeting for our 2024 trip very very soon.

Alright before we get started…let’s recite our mission verse together. Matthew chapter 28, verses 19 and 20. I’ll get us started…you finish us up.

Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV)

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

[Prayer]

Alrighty…if you have your Bibles, and I hope that you do, turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1…1 Thessalonians chapter 1. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we’re taking a break from Genesis, we’ll pick that back up next year, looking at the life of Abraham and Isaac…but for the next 13 weeks, we’re gonna flip over to the New Testament, looking at first and second Thessalonians.

Listen, these two letters…Paul writes them to a young church plant that he set up during his first missionary journey around 49 or 50 AD. And of course we see this story laid out in Acts chapter 17 where Paul preaches at the synagogue in Thessalonica. And as the story goes, a riot would be stirred up by those that rejected the gospel and of course he and others would be ran out of town. But as he passed through Berea and Athens and on into Corinth, he recieved news that the Thessalonian church was holding firm to the faith and remaining loyal to the gospel…and all of this was despite the persecution they were facing. They were a model church…a church that understood the new family God had called them to…that understood the task that they were called to…they were a church impacted by the gospel. And they weren’t just a church…they were a family that centered everything on the person and work of Jesus.

And listen, these letters, they were actually one of Paul’s first letters…written about 20 years or so after Jesus died and rose again. And Paul, he spends a ton of his time talking about the future. In almost every chapter of both first and second Thessalonians, we see him showing us how the future relates to our daily lives right here, right now.

You know, oftentimes, Christianity, its criticized…people on the outside, they think Christianity, its all about the escape and that we all have this ‘pie in the sky…by and by’ mentality. Meaning, we don’t really think that the here and now matters all that much…and that we just kind of have our heads in the clouds waiting on Jesus to return and some future heaven with Him. And they think that our faith, its all about the promises of heaven and the return of Christ....and for that reason, we’re not gonna be able to do a good job of living this life right now…or we’re not gonna invest in this world…or we’re not gonna care for the needy…or serve our fellow human beings…because, to them, we have this ‘pie in the sky’ thinking about future promises. Meaning, our faith, it’s all about the future.

But listen, that label, it completely misses the mark…and it completely goes against what we see laid out in Scripture. Scripture was never written so that we wouldn’t care about the life we’re living right now…it was written to enable us to live this life right now, here on earth, well. And that’s the point of everything Paul mentions in these two letters. It’s to remind the church that the future, it shouldn’t surprise us…and it shouldn’t hinder us from God’s mission here in this earthly life…the future’s meant to remind us that we should be ready…and because we have this promise of the future, we’re to live our life well, right now…impacting the kingdom of God together as a body of believers…as His church.

And listen, it’s our hope in the future, its what helps us to live well right now…even when there’s all this uncertainty in the world today…our government’s falling apart…our schools are a mess…our economic situation is scary…health care and our nation’s credit problem…we’re not this strong and mighty nation we were decades ago…and we’re certainly not the Christian nation we were created to be. We have all kinds of morality issues and sooner or later, the church will be persecuted in some way. We live in very uncertain times, right?

And listen, so did these Thessalonians. And as we’ll see through these two letters…these believers, they show us how our faith allows us to live in these uncertain times…and they show us what’s important…and what really defines us as a church today…they show us how our faith can impact those we love most. They show us that the church today, just as it was for them, it should be defined and motivated by the gospel. These two letters, they’re a model to us of what we should look like as a body here at First Baptist Church.

And so, if you’re there with me, let’s stand together as we read, starting in verse 1. It says this:

1 Thessalonians 1:1–6 (ESV)

Paul, Silvanus (Sil-van-nas), and Timothy,

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

Grace to you and peace.

We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of 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 only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

Thank you, you can be seated.

And so listen, as we walk through this text together, there’s three questions I wanna ask you this morning…number 1, has your life been transformed?…number 2, has your direction changed?…and then finally, number 3, has your joy been witnessed?

Let’s look at this first question together.

I. Has Your Life Been Transformed? (v. 1)

Has your life been transformed?

Look at verse 1 with me again…Paul greets these Thessalonians in his own name and the name of his partners…and then he addresses his recipients. He says, “To the church of the Thessalonians,” right? And then he says something that’s really key here. He says,“in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” What we see here, it’s a life-defining greeting…a greeting that really tells these Thessalonians who they are…how they’re now defined.

And listen, I get it, we don’t usually pay a ton of attention to the greetings of letters that we receive, but there are some that really get our attention, right? I know for me…when my wife would send me a love letter back in our high school days…it would start with something like “To the love of my life.” Well, that’s got my attention, right? I’m gonna read the rest of that letter very carefully now.

Well listen, Paul’s greeting here, it should have our full attention.

“You’re in Thessalonica,” he says. “But you’re also in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” You’re united to God by the Spirit in Jesus. You’re in Him. You’re under His protection. You’re close to His heart. You’re underneath His gaze. You’re the apple of His eye. You’re in Him. You’re connected to Him…You’re with Him. You’re His…You understand? Paul says, “That’s who you are as a believer.”

And then he goes on and he says, “Grace to you and peace.” Those are huge words, guys! Grace, it isn’t just unmerited favor, nor is it just favor from God…that would fall more under mercy. Grace, that’s a special favor from God…a saving favor that we don’t deserve. As people of God today…at one time, we were at odds with God…we were rebellious…we didn’t believe in His Word. We worshiped idols…we loved and trusted and served other things as our functional gods. We followed our own will and we walked in our own ways…and yet, in His love and in His mercy and in His grace, He saved us. And its this grace that defines us as Christians today. Paul’s reminding these Thessalonians that they’re the recipients of God’s grace.

And listen, because they’re recipients of God’s grace, they’re recipients of peace as well…peace that comes from this grace. It’s a peace we receive as we turn all of our worship toward the Creator and the only One that actually has any kind of control and power and might. A peace that reminds us that no matter what happens in this world, we can face it because we belong to One who’s sovereign over it all.

And listen, this is who the Thessalonian church was…they were believers in Christ, connected to the same vine, mended into a new family…who were full of grace and peace.

And listen, that’s true of us today as well here at FBC. The gospel’s transformed us…it’s transformed us as people…and it’s transformed our position. Guys, the church…it’s not about a building…it’s not about programs or strategies that we come up with…a church is made up of people, people who’ve been found in Christ. And when the gospel penetrates the hearts of people, it entirely transforms them. They’re no longer identified by the world or their mistakes or their sins or their brokenness…I’m not defined by my biological family, right? Because if you know my story, then that wouldn’t be good. Guys, we’re defined by being “in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.” That’s who we are…that’s who we worship…that’s what we care about. And because Jesus is now our priority, we naturally find our identity and we place our worth in His body…the people He’s united us with…our church.

And together, as His church, our position changes. It’s almost like a reward program…you know when you go to a grocery store…and they tell you that membership, it has it’s benefits, right? Well, for the church, it certainly has it’s benefits because as a member of God’s church, it means that you’re the beneficiary of God’s grace and His peace. They’re gifts to you. Free of charge…because of the blood of Jesus.

And so, my question for you this morning is…has your life been transformed? Because if it has, then your identity, it’s changed…you belong to God…you’re found in Him…you’re the recipient of grace and peace…and for that reason, the church and the family of God, it becomes your new priority.

Has your life been transformed by the power and grace of the gospel?

That’s the first question.

II. Has Your Direction Changed? (vv. 2-4)

The second…has your direction changed?

Listen, when you’ve been transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ…your desires, your ambitions, your motivations, what you wanna do, what comes out of you…it all changes.

Look at verses two through four with me again. There’s three things Paul tells us about the Thessalonians…He says they have a working faith…they have a laboring love…and there’s this enduring hope among them.

Look at what he says first. He says that he’s thankful for them…that he constantly mentions them in his prayers…remembering their work of faith, right? You see that? According to Paul, the Thessalonians, they had a faith that was working. The visible manifestation of their inward transformation, it was a faith that was alive. And listen, there’s three times Paul mentions this working faith here in chapter 1 alone. He says, “the word of the Lord, it sounded forth from you.” He says, “your faith in God has gone forth everywhere.” And then He says, “they [other people the Thessalonians have impacted with the gospel] they report the very same thing.”…Those examples, they’re in verses 8 and 9.

But these Thessalonians, they had a working faith. They had a faith that showed.

And if there’s anything their example teaches us, its that when we’re given new life, we’ll be given an active faith.

Now, I wanna clear, that active faith, it isn’t necessary for salvation…but it is God’s purpose for bringing us salvation…God saves for the purpose of fulfilling His will through the way we’re working. Paul writes about that later in Ephesians chapter 2 and James writes about it in his letter.

But the point of us being saved, its that we’d be a testimony to others…and our active, working faith…the people around us, they’d see that and be pointed to the One that gave us this faith and this salvation. And listen, when you’ve experienced genuine salvation, your desire’s now to be used by God in this way…to have a working faith.

But look at the second thing Paul says about these Thessalonians…He says they have a “labor of love.”

According to Jesus…the love His disciples had for one another is what allowed the rest of the world to know who they really were. That’s what He says in John 13:35:

John 13:35 (ESV)

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Well, according to Paul, these Thessalonians, they had a deep, genuine love for one another. And listen, this wasn’t just a sentimental kind of love that we tell our friends. Paul uses the Greek word kopos (Co-pulse)…and the word kopos it literally means to labor to the point of weariness, and sweat, or fatigue. It’s genuine love he’s talking about here. It’s a love that’s willing to go the distance…even to the point of exhaustion and weariness. It’s a love that has no limits…it has no boundaries. It’s a love that’s ultimate source is found in the love of God. It’s the kind of love that the apostle John implores us to show in his writings.

He says in 1 John 4:7:

1 John 4:7 (ESV)

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

Paul expands on this idea of love in 1 Corinthians chapter 13:

1 Corinthians 13:1–3 (ESV)

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

What Paul’s saying is that where there’s no love, it doesn’t matter what we say, or what we know, or even what we do…without love, it’s meaningless…and as someone that’s been transformed by the love of God…you can’t help but change your direction and demonstrate that kind of love…especially to those He’s called you to…to the people in this church…because they’re your family.

And then the last thing he says about these Thessalonians, its that they have an enduring hope. Look at verse 2 again…He talks about their “steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Listen, they found their hope in the future return of Jesus. They were expectant and patient for Jesus’s return. And the rest of these two letters, its gonna talk about this hope. But listen, what I want you to see about what Paul’s talking about here…this hope they showed, it was a hope of endurance…of perseverance. The Thessalonians had an unshakable confidence in the Lord, regardless of their circumstances. It was this enduring hope in what the Lord had done and would do that allowed them to live out their faith actively and it’s what allowed them to love each other faithfully, despite adversity.

I saw a quote from another pastor once. He said, “A man can endure anything as long as he has hope.”

We’ll talk about some of the adversity they faced in just a moment…but this hope Paul mentions here…it’s not a hope that their favorite sports team would win the championship game…It’s not the kind of hope that I have for the Saints to go to the Super Bowl this year or the Clemson Tigers to win the National Championship. No, that’s a hope that’s not really grounded in absolutes…They have a hope of certainty…they hope, knowing of what’ll happen…they know Jesus’ll sanctify them…and they know Jesus is coming back for them…and for that reason, they labor for His kingdom…doing the work He’s called them to do because they have an unshakeable hope in the Lord.

And so, guys for us…does the hope we have in the very same thing…does it cause us to have a working faith....and does it cause us to have a labor of love for one another? Has this hope caused your direction to change? Because guys, if you’re striving for all the same things you were before you knew Jesus…and if you’re prioritizing all the same things and all the same people…and if your desires are still the same as they were before…have you really been transformed into something new? Because with a new transformation…it comes with a new family…and it comes with a new direction. And guys, this new direction…it prioritizes Jesus and what He cares most about…which is His church, His kingdom…and His glory.

Has your direction changed? That’s the second thing.

III. Has Your Joy Been Witnessed? (vv. 5-6)

The third and final question…has your joy been witnessed?

Look at verses 5 and 6 with me again. Paul writes, “our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.”

Listen, there’s a couple of things that Paul points out here. First he says, “the gospel comes in power.” It didn’t just come to Thessalonica in word, but he says it came to them “in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction,” right? And notice, before there was any power or the Holy Spirit or conviction, there was the word.

You know, sometimes we talk about sharing the gospel wordlessly, with only our actions…and guys, it just can’t be done that way…Now for the record, our actions and our deeds, they can absolutely demonstrate the gospel, but at some point, the gospel needs to be spoken and communicated so that the power behind it can impact and change the person hearing it. The gospel in itself…the word gospel…it’s defining an announcement, right? And of course, our announcement is an announcement of good news. It’s about the good news of what God’s done…who, in His love, gave us His only Son…Jesus…to die in our place. Jesus lived, He died, and He rose so that, while we were yet in our sin and in our ungodliness, we might be forgiven, that the dominion of sin might be broken in our lives, and so that we might be accepted back into God’s family and dwell with Him for all eternity. That’s the gospel announcement.

And sometimes we as preachers, we say things like, “Be the gospel,” right?…And listen, quite honestly that’s just wrong and unbiblical. It confuses what the gospel really is. And guys, I’ve said it, I’ve tried to correct that in my own preaching, but I know I’ve said it…of course I don’t mean it like it sounds. When I have said it, what I personally mean is for us to live in a way that reflects the gospel. But guys, we can’t “be the gospel” because ultimately the gospel, its an announcement…and it’s announcement meant to be communicated and proclaimed with words.

And not just any words…but the word of God. We don’t need anymore words than that or anymore actions because God’s word’s enough…in fact, that’s where the power comes from. When the word’s communicated, God’s power, by His grace and through His Spirit, does the convicting and converting. And as Paul says here, that’s where their assurance of its truth comes from…the evidence that the Holy Spirit was at work.

The point Paul’s making here is that the word of God’s powerful, and as its affirmed in Hebrews, its sharper than any two-edged sword. But its not just the word…its the word partnered with God’s power and His Spirit…that’s what brings full conviction…that’s what changes perspectives…that’s what transforms lives. And the point of what he’s saying is that it did do that in these Thessalonians…they were evidence of that.

And listen, the manifestation of the Spirit in these Thessalonians, He allowed them to reflect His joy to those around them…regardless of what adversity they faced. That’s the point of verse 6. Paul says, “You became imitators of us and of the Lord.” These Thessalonians, they started to live their lives the way Paul did and they began to have the same priorities....because ultimately they began to believe in all the same things as Paul.

But the big thing that Paul points out here is this last part, “You received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.” This was the thing that Paul most saw the Holy Spirit doing in them. This was the most dramatic change in their life. In their affliction, they had joy…and obviously....because Paul’s writing about it here…obviously it was witnessed. Like Paul…and like the apostles…and like Jesus…these Thessalonians, they didn’t allow their persecution or their valleys to rob them of the eternal joy they had in the Lord.

And guys, that joy, especially in their hardships…it was like a neon sign flashing, saying, “The Holy Spirit, He’s changed us!” Even though they were experiencing real affliction, they still had joy. Again, this is the same place that Paul got kicked out of town back in Acts 17, right? And so, naturally, this church, they would’ve also experience this same kind of adversity…and yet…those around ‘em, they only witnessed joy!

And so, while this life will come with affliction and with adversity…understand that you’re not experiencing those things because you don’t somehow have enough faith…No, sometimes the Holy Spirit means for you to have affliction…but not just affliction, He wants you to have affliction with joy. Because it might just be that witness, that testifies to someone else about the glory and the wonder of Christ.

And so the question again, has your joy been witnessed? If you’ve been transformed by the word and through the power of God’s Spirit, in full conviction…then your direction’s changed…and your desires…and your ambitions…and your own will…its all transformed into something new…and through that…real, lasting, eternal joy, its witnessed…no matter what it is we face.

Does your life…does it point to the glory of God and as a member of FBC…are you pushing us to do the same…to point to the glory of God by aligning us with the heart of God.

Closing

Guys, as we close…the heart of God…it’s about His glory…His kingdom…and His church. And our transformation…its about His glory…His kingdom…and His church…and when its experienced, we begin to care MOST about His glory…His kingdom…and His church. And for the record, we bring God glory and we advance His kingdom through His church.

And so, the real question this morning is…do you love His church and do you prioritize the people that He’s called you to? Can you see that kind of transformation in your life?

That’s Paul’s point here…it was obvious that these Thessalonians, they had been transformed because their direction had changed and because their joy was witnessed. They were a church defined and motivated by the gospel.

Do these same things define you today?

Every head bowed and every eye closed.

Listen, when I was a boy…after my parents separated…all I wanted was a family. I wanted to be just like all the other families I saw my friends have…and when God didn’t answer that prayer for me…I became angry and bitter…and quick frankly, I pushed the very thought of God out of my head.

But it wasn’t until Jesus pursued me and changed me and gave me a new heart that I saw just how misguided my thinking really was. He gave me something even better. He gave me the church…He connected me to people who understood my brokenness and my pain…He gave me people that were connected by something even greater than just a family lineage…He gave me a people that were all connected through the blood of Jesus…people who were just as broken…just as sinful…just as separated…and all recipients of God’s grace and love and mercy.

You see, God heard me as a young, broken, hurting boy…and He answered my prayers in ways I could’ve never imagined before. You are God’s answered prayer in my life. And people ask us all the time how we can move so far away from every one we know and every thing we know…it’s because you’re even better than those things.

And guys, until you see that same thing in your own life…what God’s brought you to, you’ll never be motivated by His heart. And so, as you reflect…where you’re at this morning…have you been transformed by the gospel of Christ? Has your direction changed? And if both those things have happened, then is your joy witnessed by those around you? Do you find joy in all the same things God does? Because that’s the heart you should have.

Listen, our deacons, they’re gonna come this morning and prepare the elements for the Lord’s Supper and here’s what I want you to do…I want you to think about your life in the past week…month…year…has it reflected a life transformation? Does it demonstrate a direction change? And does it allow your joy to be witnessed…a joy that leads to gospel proclamation? And listen, as we do this…I want you to confess whatever the Spirit’s putting on your heart and allow Him to cleanse you this morning.

Maybe that means getting more involved in the church here at FBC…or joining the church…or professing your faith in baptism…maybe it means you’re gonna finally give your life to Christ today…to repent and believe. Listen, would you do that? Would you just quiet your mind, and listen to the Spirit, and be obedient to what He’s putting on your heart this morning?

And so, you respond…be obedient…and I’ll close us in just a moment.

[Prayer]

Matthew 26:26 (ESV)

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”

Matthew 26:27–29 (ESV)

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”