RECIPE FOR A SUCCESSFUL CHURCH

Acts 17:1-9

Introduction

What we need in this church are more troublemakers!  Troublemakers?—Yes, Troublemakers!  That's what the enemies of the church called the Christians at Thessalonica. They said they were the ones, "who have caused trouble all over the world" (v.6)

Our Church needs troublemakers like the troublemakers at Thessolonica.  We need students to shake up their schools—working adults to impact their jobs for Christ—Seniors to mentor the young as a testimony to God’s keeping-power.  We need Christians ready to shake up our world in the same way that the Thessalonians shook up theirs.

Ø  Where there was darkness, they brought light.

Ø  Where there was hatred, they brought love.

Ø  Where there was sadness, they brought laughter.

Ø  Where there was bondage, they brought liberation.

Ø  Where there was death, they brought life.

They took a world that was tired and troubled and tangled, and they put that world back on its feet.

Are you ready to be a world changer?  Are you ready to turn your world upside down for Jesus Christ?  If so, pay attention as we begin our journey with the Thessalonian church by discovering key ingredients that enabled these believers to change their world for Christ.

Read Acts 17:1-9.

Acts 17:1-9

17:1 When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women.

5 But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.   6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting: "These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus." 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.

The 1st key ingredient that enabled these Christians was their:

1. INTEGRITY:  Luke tells us (v.4) that Paul's preaching was successful in Thessalonica.  Many believed including a large number of "God-fearing Greeks."

The word "God-fearer" was a technical term for Gentiles who were drawn to the morality & monotheism (one God) of the Jewish faith.

They could never actually become Jews, but they were Jews from a distance.  They were those who desired something more than their pagan culture could offer them, so they turned to the God of the Jews, and after Paul came to their synagogue they turned to the Messiah.

The world in which Christianity was conceived was a world of incomparable immorality.

Ø  Slavery was a universally accepted system.

Ø  Homosexuality was rampant, as evidenced by the Emperor Nero parading through the streets of Rom, fondling his 12-yr-old male lover in full view.

Ø  Sexual permissiveness was the rule of the day.

Ø  Prostitution and all forms of sexual immorality were a major part of the various religions that they followed.

Ø  Human life was cheap and pleasure was primary.

And into that world of immorality Christianity introduced a new element—integrity.

A letter written to Diognetes in the middle of the 2nd century indicated how revolutionary Christian integrity was in the pagan world. 

The letter marveled that Christians, "have their meals in common, but not their wives. They find themselves in the flesh and yet, live not after the flesh."

No wonder these Christians were causing trouble in their world.  They were doing something that had been forgotten in that pagan culture—they were living lives of integrity, and the people didn't know how to react to it.

1 Thess 1:9

They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,

1 Thess. 1:9 tells us that these Christian had "turned to God from idols to serve the living & true God."

A fresh dose of integrity emanating from the lives of Christian men & women is needed to cause some trouble in our world. 

We are living in the midst of a crisis of integrity.

Ø  Several major Fortune 500 companies have cooked their books

Ø  There is a crisis-of-confidence that has shaken Wall Street to its core.

Ø  Markets have lost a huge percentage of their value in the last six months.

Ø  This crisis permeates many facets of our society besides business.

Ø  It is flaunted on T.V. with abandon.

Ø  We have gone down a slippery slope of immorality in the last 50 years that former generations would not be able to relate to or accept—yet our culture accepts it as the norm.

D.L. Moody, a great preacher of an earlier time, said that you could tell a person's character by what he/she does in the dark.

Macaulay said, "The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out."

It’s like the lady who wrote a letter to the IRS:

"Dear Sir, I can't sleep. Last year, when I filled out my income tax form, I misrepresented my income. Enclosed is a check for $325—If I still can't sleep, I'll send you the rest."

During the presidential election of 1990, people were saying that a person's character did not reflect the kind of job he/she will do in public office.

The result of that logic is reflected in our recent history with the scandals that almost destroyed a Presidency.

In recent years we've seen prominent preachers fall because they lacked a basic element of integrity.

Richard Dortch, one of our A/G preachers, wrote a book entitled, “Integrity—How I Lost It, and My Journey Back.”  It was his account from inside the PTL scandal with Jim Baker.

Coaches have been fired and athletic programs put on probation because of a lack of integrity.  Some of America’s top college teams—placed on probation because they stepped over the line in recruitment of –players.

We are living in a culture where we have fallen victim to the lure of wealth and fame and many have lost the meaning of the word “integrity.”

When we lose our integrity, we have lost it all.

When we refuse to live by the truth, then we are not living the kind of life that will be approved by God.

As Christians, we must live a life of integrity so that the non-Christian world will know that there is a better way—the way of truth!

The 2nd key ingredient of the church at Thessalonica was:

2. INTENSITY

A.                  The accusation hurled at the Thessalonian Christians, and Paul and Silas implies this.

a.    Why else would they be accused of causing "trouble all over the world" or "turning the world upside down" if they were not intense in their commitment to Christ?

b.    And we know that the intensity of the Thessalonian church didn't die down because Paul wrote to them later (1 Thess. 1:8) and said, "The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia & Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere."

These Christians had a faith that was so intense that their reputation had become known everywhere.

B. We see the same spirit in Peter and John before the Sanhedrin

(Acts 4:19-20), "Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen & heard."

C.   These Christians had intensity about them for they were proclaiming an intense message.

a.    They preached Christ crucified, Christ risen, and Christ available to all, Who was coming again.

D. We need this spirit of intensity in the church!

Ø  There are too many at ease in Zion.

Ø  There are too many who have lost their intensity.

Ø  So often we hear a message that tells us "let's not do anything to bring attention to ourselves".

Ø  "Let's not get involved in anything controversial."

Ø  "Let's not take a stand politically."

Ø  "Let's not do anything to trouble the waters."

And by proclaiming this message of non-involvement, what we're really saying is "We don't want to be world-changers"--"We don't want to turn our world upside down like the Thessalonians did".

To be a world-changer for Jesus Christ I have to get out into the world and let them know what I believe if I ever expect them to join me in my cause.

Ø  Paul said in 1 Cor. 5:20 "the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power."

Ø  Jesus said, (Matt 11:12) "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it."

F. We must reach the point where nothing is more important than the expansion of God's kingdom.

Ø  It is more important than our personal well being.

Ø  It is more important than our education.

Ø  It is more important than our success.

Ø  We must be Kingdom-minded people if we are to turn our world upside down for Jesus Christ.

Ø  Kingdom people are people who put the kingdom first in their lives.

We see that in the Christians at Thessalonica.

And my prayer to God is that we would see the same thing in ourselves.

The 3rd key to the church at Thessalonica was its:

3. INVOLVEMENT

A.   In this passage we see that Christians were willing to get involved.

a.    Paul & his companions were willing to be involved in the lives of the Jews, believers, and prominent leaders in Thessalonica.

b.    Jason was willing to get involved by welcoming these Christian leaders into his home even though he knew it could mean trouble for him.

A.          A number or years ago when the exploits of Albert Schweitzer in Africa were receiving world-wide publicity, and Jack Parr reigned on late night TV, Parr made a statement which captures the spirit of our age.

a.    He told his TV audience, "I'd like to be an Albert Schweitzer, if I could commute."

B. Too many Christians have that same attitude.

Ø  "I'd like to be a force in the kingdom of God if I just had enough time."

Ø  "I wish our church could be more evangelistic, but I'm not able to witness."

Ø  There are a lot of things that we would like to see happen in our church and in our world that are not going to happen unless we get personally involved.

Ø  Have too many of us become armchair generals—backseat drivers?

Ø  We know what everybody including us should be doing but somehow cannot bring ourselves to the task.

B.          We, like the Thessalonians, need to be involved in our church.

a.    You are needed to be that vital, pivotal person to build the Kingdom of God

b.    Follow the logic of this story:

There was once a man who always seemed to bring home a boatload of fish.  It was unreal, and people wondered what his secret was.

The game warden heard about this man's great success and asked to go with him.  The two men started early one morning and crossed the lake to a secluded area.

The warden noticed that the man didn't have a fishing pole—just a net and a rusty old tackle box.  When they got to the appointed place, the fisherman opened up the box and pulled out a stick of dynamite--lit it--and tossed it into the water.

It blew up and the fish rose to the surface.  The fisherman began dipping his net into the water and putting the fish in the boat.

The warden then reached back and pulled his badge from his pocket and revealed to the man that he had done this in front of the Game Warden

Calmly, the fisherman opened the tackle box again, got out another stick of dynamite, lit the fuse and handed it to the game warden.

Then, as the fuse burned down, the fisherman asked, "Are you going to fish or are you just going to sit there?"

Isn’t that what we have to ask ourselves?

We have the most powerful force ever known in our world--the message of a resurrected Savior—are we going to fish or just sit there?

(Didn’t He call us to be ‘fishers of men?”)

To carry out the work of Christ and communicate His message, we must be personally involved in the church. 

(As Pastor Jim used to say “Get Plugged In”)

To continue the witness of Christ and to conform to the will of Christ, we as a church, must be involved in the world.

Conclusion:

A junior-high youth group prepared a Palm-Sunday Passion play for their church.

Instead of memorizing a script, they decided to familiarize themselves thoroughly with the story by studying a modern translation of the Bible and then they would ad-lib their lines.

When the student playing Jesus came back to the disciples the 2nd time after praying alone in the garden, Jesus said: "Asleep again! Boy, they just don't make disciples like they used to!"

The disciples at Thessalonica were involved in the life of the church.

They were intensely committed to God's work, and

They were characterized by integrity.

Do they still make disciples like that?

I believe they do--and I believe you can be one of them.

Do you want to be a world-changer?  Not because you are smart, or

because you know all the right things to say—but because God is empowering you to be a mighty force in His Kingdom.

I hope you are ready for God because I know He's ready for you.