1 Thessalonians 1:8-10
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If you have your Bibles this morning, please take those and turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 1:8-10.
This morning, our text in the providence of God, I believe goes hand in hand with the challenge we gave the parents earlier.
Last week , we started our journey through 1 Thessalonians where we will preach verse by verse through this book.
And so much of the introductory material we discussed last week.
Remember Paul, Timothy and Silas are writing to the church of the Thessalonica.
They are believed to be writing from Corinth as they were there with those believers.
Interestingly, This is believed by many to be the oldest letter that we have from the apostle Paul to a church.
Remember last week we saw the beginning of this church in Acts chapter 17.
If you remember, what happened.
Paul preached the gospel and many believed and a church was born.
And so last week, we walked through the first seven verses.
And for those of you who were not here, we talked about the marks of genuine conversion.
Paul in the first seven verses affirms some things that were present in this church.
And these marks help us think about what it means to be genuinely converted.
And there were five marks that we talked about.
They have a new identity.
They bear fruit.
They hear the gospel and the Word of God with power and conviction by the power of the Holy Spirit.
They follow godly examples.
They become godly examples.
Last week we were dealing with what a convert is, this week we’re going to focus on what a convert does.
This morning, I have just three verses of scripture and three points.
In verse 8, the believer is a witness.
In verse 9, the believer is a worshiper.
In verse 10, the believer is someone who waits for the coming of the Lord.
And so that is where we’re headed
Pick up with me here in verse number eight.
8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.
He begins here saying— The word has sounded forth from you so that we need not say anything.
This group of people, this church in Thessalonica was known for the message they proclaimed.
When people would see them in the community, those people are the one who are always talking about the gospel.
They were known for it.
Let me ask us a question this morning: what are you known for?
You know there are people in the world that we associate something with them just by hearing their name.
When you hear the name Michael Jordan, you think of basketball.
When you hear Serena Williams, you think Tennis.
When you hear the name, Tiger Woods, you think of golf or maybe a troubled life. Those are both reasonable options.
Bill Gates is known for Microsoft and his work with computers.
George Washington is known for being the first president of the United States of America.
Mark Zuckerberg is known for Facebook.
When you think of them, they have things that they are known for.
When you think of their life, you think of what they’ve done.
And then there are people who are known for their messages.
Uncle Sam- I want you. Lately it has been I want your taxes.
Smoky the Bear- he says only you can prevent wildfires.
Let me see if you can guess this one.
If you get long-term payments, but you need cash now, call who?
JG Wentworth 877 Cash Now.
All of those names have associations.
They are known for something.
What are you known for?
What do you want to be known for?
With the Thessalonian church, Paul here says that they were known for The word of the Lord sounding forth.
This language here: the word sounded forth.
It’s being compared to a trumpet blast.
It sounded forth.
That, in this church, there was a practice… a full throated conviction, and commitment to a bold declaration of the truth of the gospel and the Word of God..
They weren’t whispering about it
They were declaring it.
So much so that it became known in Macedonia.
Now, Macedonia is in northern Greece where the Thessalonian Church was.
And so this is to be expected— the people in their community knew the gospel because of this church.
But, it went further than their own community.
He also says the word has sounded forth in Achaia, which is in southern Greece.
In other words, it wasn’t something that just stayed in their community.
They spread this news of the gospel far and wide.
Just so you are aware, the approximate distance between Macedonia and Achaia— from what I’ve read it looks to be around 300 to 350 miles by land.
That is like going from here to Jacksonville, Florida.
Church family that is some coverage.
They were doing something right.
Their message sounded far and wide.
He even goes further to say that their message was in every place.
Paul basically says here, everywhere I go around here I hear about you.
Now, you have to remember, at this point, this was a young church.
They were a fresh Church plant.
But the gospel had so gripped them.
The word of the Lord had so gripped them, that they became known for it.
They became known for spreading the word of God.
To the point where Paul says here
“We need not say anything”
Paul was saying to the Thessalonian church.
You guys have been so about the preaching of the gospel, that every place we go north, south, everywhere, I hear about the word of God.
This is what they’re known for.
Imagine that. A church known for preaching the word of God.
What a wonderful thing to be known for your faithfulness to proclaim the word.
All those famous people I spoke of earlier are known for things that will in time mean absolutely nothing.
Michael Jordan may be known as the greatest basketball player of all time but, one day, time as we know it in this age is coming to an end.
People say they want to etch their name in history by doing something this world says is great.
But worldly fame and worldly accolades are temporary and fleeting.
The Bible says
17 The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
If we are going to be known, let us be known for something that last.
What are you known for?
What are you striving to be known for?
I think a godly aim is to strive to be known for the word of God you proclaim.
But it’s not just what you proclaim, it’s also how you live.
Listen to what else this church is known for-
Look at verse 9
9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
This church is not only known for the word of God going forth.
They are also known for their worship.
He mentions here-
Everywhere we go we hear of how warmly you receive us and our message.
And everywhere we go we hear the testimony of your conversion.
“How you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God”
In other words—There was an unmistakable change in the life of the people that made up this church.
There was true repentance.
They had turned to God from sin.
And this is really important.
When you think of what is involved in repentance, the anatomy of repentance.
Repentance involves two directions.
Repentance of sin is more than just stopping what you shouldn’t do.
Repentance means moving in the opposite direction from sin toward godliness and holiness.
That’s what it says about them here.
They turned TO God, and FROM idols.
Now you have to understand the context here to really appreciate how big of a change this was.
Thessalonica was in a place where idolatry was rampant.
In this area, they would have had the Greco-Roman gods that people worshiped.
There was emperor worship with Caesar.
There were household idols.
This place was a hot bed of idolatry.
Just a buffet of idols.
And so, when Paul says they turned from idols, this was no small thing.
They left what was socially acceptable.
They left the worldly norm.
They left what everybody else did and what everybody else was OK with in order to obey God.
Which is why…in Acts 17, we saw that no sooner than they say Jesus is Lord do they experience persecution for doing that.
They would face immediate opposition from the people around them. From the culture around them.
This would include family, friends, coworkers, even the government.
But as we said last week, they have a new identity.
And their new identity is bound up in who Jesus is… not what they have formerly worshiped.
And so they have turned away from those things.
Friends, This is what the church does.
This is what those who are true believers do.
SDFS
There is a way in which the world goes.
There is a way in which our world goes here in America
Our world goes a certain way with regard to its appetites and desires.
John Trapp said the world’s Trinity is a pleasure, profit, and promotion
Those are the gods most people worship.
Our world goes a certain way.
Our world goes a certain way with regard to its language.
The world goes a certain way in its pursuits.
The world goes a certain way in what it celebrates and what it adores.
America is really not too far from Thessalonica in its idolatry either.
We’ve become more sophisticated, but it’s still idolatry.
In America, People still bow down every day to little g gods they make with their own hands.
They may not call them gods, but they’re still worshiping them.
People bow down every day to money, to their job, to their home, to their car, to their worldly pursuits, to their success, to their kids, to their kids success, to their favorite government rulers whoever that may be thinking that they have the answers to all of life’s problems.
Beloved, That is the way of the world.
That is idolatry.
But idolatry is not just about things and people.
I believe it also spills over into our thoughts about who God is.
Some people claim to worship God, but in reality, they have fashioned a false god in their own mind that they worship— a god that’s OK with their sinful lifestyle, a god that’s nice and cuddly, a god that has to do exactly how they would do and every moment.
How you know this— is the moment that you begin to declare the absolute sovereignty of God and how he is the sovereign ruler over creation and over salvation.
The moment you began to speak of his holiness and his wrath and his justice that will come against all evil in this world.
People will begin to backpedal and say— oh that’s not the god I serve.
My god wouldn’t do that.
And maybe the god in our own minds wouldn’t do that.
But the God of the Bible has made himself clear and he is to be worshipped for who he says he is, not who we think he should be.
The true Church worships the true God as he has revealed himself in scripture.
We don’t apologize for what he says about himself in his word.
We declare who he is, and we worship him rightly.
That’s what the Thessalonian Church did.
They were known for turning from the false gods to worship the one true and living God.
And this is what every church should strive for.
SDFS
The church is a distinct people marked by God, who, by the spirit’s power, our appetites have changed, allowing us to turn from worldly pursuits and idols that won’t last in eternity.
But again, it’s not merely turning our back on what the world pursues.
It’s a new direction focused on God and His glory.
Notice the language here— they left the worship of idols “To serve the living and true God”
That language there of serve is the language of worship.
In other words, The believer in Jesus Christ has a new master.
The believer has a new allegiance, a new way of life.
And the New Testament term for this is servant or slave.
In fact, if you look, one of Paul’s most common ways of referring to himself is “slave of Christ.”
A slave of Jesus Christ.
When we become a believer, when we get saved, he become Lord.
And that doesn’t mean—Oh yeah I’ll sign up and show up when I can, and I’ll help out when I can.
No, Jesus is Lord.
Which means our lives take on a new attitude.
I want you to think about this for a moment.
During this time in history, a servant would not walk into his master’s quarters at the beginning of the day and tell their master what they were willing to do that day.
No, that ain’t how it works.
That’s not the posture of a servant.
The posture of a servant is not one who draws lines of what they are willing or not willing to do for their master.
The posture of the servant is one who lays down his life before his master and says “Master, what do you want me to do today?”
Beloved friend, a converted person becomes a servant of the Lord, who lays their life down before the Lord and says whatever you desire, that is what I desire.
You are the Lord.
You are my Master.
I’ve given up my claim on my life.
That is the posture of worship.
And until WE get out of the way and turn our life fully over into the hands of the Lord, our service to him will be hindered.
Let me just apply this to us this morning as parents as we think about raising our children.
So many parents in our world today run themselves ragged, helping their child, funding their children’s pursuit of worldly things while neglecting that which is most important.
And beloved friend, I get it.
I love my three little girls.
I am their biggest fan.
If you don’t believe that, come and watch me cheer them on when they compete in anything. Come watch me beam with pride when they have their piano recitals.
Evan Grace scored her first goal in soccer the other day, and I was that dad.
I’m proud of them.
I want to support them.
I want them to excel in everything that they do.
Whether that is academically/intellectually or athletically and even financially.
I want them to do well.
But I have to keep in my mind this sobering truth—
That some of the most successful academics, some of the most successful athletes, and some of the most successful people this world has ever known financially speaking, are in hell today because they did not worship and serve the living and true God.
And so beyond any in every worldly pursuit, I hope to be a daddy that raises my three girls to love and serve Jesus with their lives ,so much so, that they would place their life in front of Jesus and say, Master, what would you have me do? Where would you have me go?
Here I am Lord, send me.
I believe that is the biblical desire for our children’s lives.
Not that they would have everything that I never had.
Not to be children who live out my dream.
And Not to be children who merely fit nicely in to the mold of the world.
No our goal as Christian parents is to raise children who stick out and look different and pursue God.
I want my children to worship at the feet of the true king, not at the feet of this world.
The believer is a witness.
The believer worships.
Finally, the believer waits.
Look at verse 10.
10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
This goes hand-in-hand with the previous verse.
In fact, its all one sentence even though it’s divided into two verses.
They go together.
But effectively what Paul is saying is that the people of this church have turned their lives and their intentions from worldly pursuit to where now they have fixed their gaze on Jesus Christ.
They have set their mind to wait on the coming of the Lord Jesus
In other words, the source and the direction of their hope, and what they most long for in life is for the coming of the Lord Jesus when all things will be made right and they will finally be with their God.
There is a posture of expectation.
Did y’all know, as Christians, we are waiting for something.
Better said we are waiting for someone.
We asked this earlier about us..
What are those in the world who not following God, what are they known for?
Mostly, they are known for worldly pursuits.
They are known for living for this life to the fullest.
We said earlier, they live for pleasure, profit, and promotion.
Those are the gods they serve.
That’s what they wait for.
They wait for the time when pleasure comes, when they can do what they want in life, take it easy, live a life in luxury.
They wait for the time for profit to come.
Longing for the day where they get that big financial win that will just make all their dreams come true.
They wait for the time of promotion.
They long for the time when the world recognizes them as someone who stands above the rest and promotes them to the top.
What does Paul say this church was known for?
For their witness.
For their worship.
For their waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus.
In other words, there is a marked difference between the world and the Christian.
The worldly person’s waiting is centered around this world.
But the Christian has something better that they are waiting for.
The Christians waiting is centered around something beyond what this world can offer.
I think this may be one of our greatest struggles here in America because we’re all so well off.
We have so much.
It’s interesting— If Satan can’t make you poor enough to hate God, he’ll make you rich enough so you’ll forget him.
Satan, I believe is content to give you everything this world has to offer so long as you worship the wrong thing.
Just look at the temptation of Jesus Christ and what Satan offered him.
But where our Lord Jesus was successful and did not give into the temptation of the evil one, so many people today that would claim to be Christians have fallen prey to becoming so infatuated with this world that they have taken their eyes off of the coming Lord Jesus.
Satan has entertained us to the point where hardly anyone is looking and waiting for the coming of Christ anymore.
But this church was waiting.
But what does it look like to wait for Jesus?
First let me clarify, it doesn’t look like sitting around doing nothing looking at the sky.
That’s not what it looks like.
That’s what some think, but that ain’t it.
What It looks like is living in a way that anticipates the coming of Jesus Christ.
That our efforts, our pursuits, our time, our energy, our resources are directed towards preparing for the day when Christ returns.
That’s what it means to wait for the Lord.
To prepare for the day of the Lord.
It doesn’t mean to sit idle. It means to get busy.
How do we know that he’s coming back?
Look at the second part of verse 10.
10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
“Whom He raised from the dead”
The resurrection guarantees His return.
When Jesus rose again from the third day, he made it clear that when he ascended into heaven, he was going to come back.
We don’t serve a God who lays in a tomb.
We serve a living savior.
And now we set our minds and our efforts and our time and our energy and resources on preparing for his return and thanking God that he delivers us from the wrath to come.
Now, pay close attention here…
Jesus Christ is coming back to judge.
But for those who believe, we are delivered from that wrath.
And so there is a hope in the waiting for the believer.
But there’s a warning here as well.
Because if He is coming to deliver His people from the wrath to come, that means there is in fact a wrath to come.
And so for the person in the room this morning who may be outside of Christ.
You would say —I’m not a believer in Jesus Christ.
If that’s you this morning, you have to consider this passage as a warning that there is wrath to come for those who are outside of Jesus.
For those whose lives are characterized by idolatry and a life lived for this world, there is wrath to come.
God is coming to pour out his just and holy wrath on all those who oppose him and do not put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
That’s the bad news.
The good news of the gospel is that God sent His Son Jesus to this world born of a virgin, He was perfect in His life, never once sinning or transgressing God’s law.
He went to the cross, where on that cross, He died for sinners who will believe and call upon Him for salvation.
But He didn’t stay dead… He rose again, and He promised to return one day.
But when he comes back, it’s judgment time.
And so respond today.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Jesus being raised guaranteed he will come back in judgment.
Will you be found waiting or worried?
Friend, if God through His word has stirred your heart to this message this morning, let me encourage you to cry out in faith to Jesus and I believe He will save you.
And then your life can be changed.
Then you can be a witness.
Then you can turn from your worthless idols and truly worship, the one true and loving God.
And then you will have something worth waiting for in this life other than worldly things that won’t last.
To the believers in the room.
To the parents in the room who promised earlier to raise their children in the Lord.
Are you a witness?
Are you worshiping?
Are you waiting?
We have a message to tell.
We have a God who is worthy of our worship.
We have a future worth waiting for.
Let’s pray this morning.
