A Checklist for the Church: Characteristics of a Christlike Church

The Opening Address — (Vs. 1)

What does Paul mean here in his opening address when he refers to the Thessalonian Church as a Church “in God the Father and the in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Position - Will of God

If your not in something you’re outside of it, right?

Here was a Church, the Thessalonian Church, who was in the will of God and the Lord Jesus Christ!

They were walking step in step with God and Christ and it was evident!

As we will see here in a moment, the Thessalonian Church was known to be a Church in the Will of God!

And if we want to be a Christlike Church we need to ensure that we are continuously in the will of God and the Lord Jesus Christ!

And the only way we as a whole can be in the Will of God is if we as individuals are in the Will of God.

Are you in the Will of God this morning?

Are you walking step in step with God and the Lord Jesus Christ or are you outside the Will of God?

That’s a question that only you can answer for you alone know what God is calling and telling you to do!

Not only does it speak to the Position of the Church but it speaks to the Priority of the Church.

Priority - Worship of God

When I began to think of the Priority of the Church, I thought about their Worship of God.

Here was a Church that was “in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

They were basking in the presence of the Father and the Son!

Their main priority was their worship of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! This was first and foremost in their lives!

They made their Worship of God a Priority!

If we want to be a Christlike Church, then our Priority needs to focused on the worship of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Our praise and thanks to Him needs never cease for He is good, gracious and merciful to those He calls His own!

Our minds are to be always and forever focused upon God the Father and His Son.

Every spare minute of every day we should be looking at what He’s doing all around us, not in just the larger details of life but the finite ones as well!

Look for the small things He’s doing in your life and praise Him for it!

We always want to look for the major things God’s doing when sometimes the most profound things are the small things!

Don’t take one day for granted.

Don’t forget that every breath is a blessing.

Every beat of our hearts is because He allows it to do so.

Everything this world is revolves around the fact that God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ spoke it into being and therefore everything that we are ought to revolve around making them the priority of our lives!

Is God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ the main priority in your life?

If not, make them a priority!

Is the Worship of God a Priority in your household?

If not, make it a priority!

Being a Church “in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” not only speaks of Position and Priority, but it also speaks of Performance.

Performance - Work of God

Here was a Church in the Will of God. Here was a Church that made the Worshiping of God a Priority. And here was a Church that was busy about the Work of God!

As we will see here in a moment, as we work through the rest of the chapter, this Church’s work preceded them and they were known throughout the region for what they were doing for God!

Now, we talked about works last week a little and maybe even the week before but you know what, I want this Church to be known as a Church that works for God because just as we learned last week in the Book of James, “faith without works is dead!”

And if faith without works is dead, then that means a church without works is dead, Amen!

James 2:20 — But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

A faithful church, a Christlike Church, ought to always be busy in some capacity about the work of God!

Now, we have to be careful not to be like the church in Revelation (Sardis) that Jesus condemned by saying, “I know your works, you have a name that you are alive but you are dead.”

We have to be careful not to misplace our focus from the Father and Son to the works but, if we are prioritizing them in our thoughts, then the work will come naturally, automatically, and happily as it did to the Thessalonian Church we’re reading about today!

If we are going to be a Christlike Church, we need to make sure we are a Church that is “in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ!”

Now that we’ve looked at the opening address, let’s move on to The Obvious Attributes of the Thessalonian Church.

The Obvious Attributes — (Vs. 2-4)

So all the things we just talked about in the opening address led to some physical attributes that were clearly seen and known about the Thessalonian Church.

WORK OF FAITH

Paul begins by commending the Church on the thing we just finished talking about which was their works!

The Thessalonian church had a working faith and if any Church is going to be a Christlike Church, then they too ought to have a working faith!

The Thessalonians put their faith into action, Amen!

Their faith had hands and feet and they were always busy about the Lord’s business!

Not only did he commend them for their work of faith but notice what’s next.

Their labor of love.

LABOR OF LOVE

The Thessalonian Church was a loving Church and all those around knew it!

How did they know it?

Because they had a “labor of love!”

The word labor means “toil or work.”

They didn’t just tell people they loved them, they showed it!

They proved their love!

You ever heard the phrase, “talk is cheap!”

Well there’s actually a lot of truth to that. I can tell you I love you all day long but at some point, chances are, I’m going to have to put that proclamation into progress and if I don’t follow through with what I said, then my pronouncement didn’t hold much weight now did it?

2 Corinthians 8:7–8 — 7 Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. 8 I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.

Galatians 6:2–4 — 2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. 3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. 4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.

The Thessalonian Church was working church with a labor of love that was known throughout the region!

But what was it that fueled this work and love?

It’s what Paul commends them for next!

PATIENCE OF HOPE

What fueled this Church was their hope in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Their hope in the salvation that comes only by Him.

Their hope in the promises that were left behind for all those who followed.

Their hope that one day He would return and bring unto Himself all those who have believed upon His name.

Their hope that where He is, they would be also!

This hope in a risen Savior is what fueled this Thessalonian Church!

And praise God, it ought to be what fuels us today!

Are we so far removed from the resurrection that we need an encouraging message from a man every Sunday to keep us looking forward and upward for the returning Lord?

As born again believers, we should be ready, waiting and longing for the Lord’s return at any moment!

For in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye the last trump shall sound and the dead in Christ shall rise and we shall be changed and caught up to be with the Lord in the air!

He has gone to prepare a place for us and promised us that when it is finished He will return again to receive us unto Himself that where He is there we shall be also!

And that my friends, is what fueled this Thessalonian Church and what should be the driving force fueling us today!

Their hope in a risen Savior is what kept this Thessalonian Church’s gas tank on full and should be what keeps ours on full as well!

I fear today though, many Church’s tanks are running on “E” because they have forgotten the reason for which they exist.

They have forgotten the fact that He is alive and coming back again and that their is something far better than this world can ever offer, lying ahead in the heavens above!

We must never forget the hope of the resurrection!

We must never forget the hope of a risen Savior!

We must never forget the hope of His glorious return!

And we must let that hope be what fuels us to be more like Him… “A Christlike Church!”

The Thessalonian Church had very visible attributes and I love how Paul finishes this section out in Verse 4.

He said, “knowing your election of God!”

Basically what he’s saying is this...“There’s no denying that you are a Church in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ!

There’s no denying that you are a Christlike Church!

There’s no denying that God is at work in the Church at Thessalonica!”

Can the same be said of us here at New Home?

We should always strive to be all that we can be for God. In everything we do we need to do it heartily for the Lord, Amen!

The Thessalonians had some Obvious Attributes but it wasn’t something they cultivated on their own.

Which leads to our next point...

The Omnipotent Assurance & Adoption — (Vs. 5-7)

What was it that started all of this for the folks at Thessalonica?

The gospel!

Now, Paul says our gospel but what he meant was the gospel of Jesus Christ, Amen!

Any gospel other than the gospel of Jesus Christ is a false gospel and will fall flat on it’s face but when the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ gets preached and the Holy Ghost gets to moving as it did here in this Church, you better watch out because God’s about to do something big, Amen!

The power of the Holy Ghost was upon this Church and they believed the gospel and received the gospel and then they became examples to all other believers in Macedonia and Achaia!

The word power used here is the Greek word (dynamis). It’s where we get our word dynamite from.

And when the power of God gets involved, dear friend just as you can see clear, undeniable, irrefutable evidence when a stick of dynamite goes off, you’ll be able to see clear, undeniable, irrefutable evidence that the power of God is at work in a place!

There was no denying that God was at work in the Church at Thessalonica! There was some moving and shaking going on, Amen!

And notice what it says about their reception of the word?

It says, they “received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost.”

What it’s saying is that to be a Christian in Thessalonica wasn’t easy! There was undoubtedly some persecution going on for those who had believed.

But it didn’t stop them from believing! If anything, it pushed them to be even more like Christ for they received the word in much affliction, “with joy of the Holy Ghost!”

They had a joy in the Lord that was unshakable!

It didn’t matter what persecution came their way. It didn’t matter what affliction came their way.

They found joy and peace not in the things of this world but in the things of the world to come, Amen!

And their joy was contagious!

We talked a couple weeks ago about being contagious Christians.

Can I tell you this morning that joy unspeakable is a very contagious trait!

Now, nobody wants to follow a debbie downer around all day but praise God, when someone has pure, undefiled joy in their lives it is a contagious thing and others want to know where it originates and get some of it for themselves, Amen!

How many times you ever heard of someone ask somebody that’s walking around moping all the time, in this pit of despair and sorrow, “hey where’d you get that despair and sorrow from? I’d like some of that!”

The answer is never!

People don’t want to feel that way and God doesn’t want us to feel that way!

But praise God, you see someone who, no matter what comes their way, seems to have peace and joy unspeakable, then it makes you want what they got, right?

It makes you want some of that joy!

And that’s what set these Thessalonians apart from everyone else and caused them to be examples to all those who were around!

If we are to be a Christlike Church, then we need to ask God to move upon this place, to fill us with His Spirit and to give us peace and joy unspeakable that would set us ablaze in this world of woe for all to see and be drawn to!

The Thessalonians received the word in much affliction and they found joy and assurance in the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and it had an Outstanding Affect on all those around which is our final point for today.

The Outstanding Affect — (Vs. 8-10)

Paul finishes out this section of his letter to the Thessalonians by saying, “there’s no denying what affect the gospel had on you for look at what you’ve done!

Your work and example that you are setting forth has not only reached those in Macedonia and Achaia but as far as one can imagine!”

He was saying there’s no denying that God is at work in this place!

And I don’t know about you but that’s what I want people to say about this place when they drive by!

There’s no doubt or denying that God is at work there at New Home Missionary Baptist Church!

I want people the world over to know about this little church on the corner for the glory of God!

I want people the world over to hear the Word of God sounded out from this place, Amen!

In every place that our faith to God-ward is spread abroad, I want people to hear the Word of God and see the work of God sounding out and going forth from New Home Missionary Baptist Church, don’t you?

If every other Church closes up shop and goes to the house, if every other Church fails of faith in the face of persecution, my prayer is that this Church would stand!

That this Church would always be found a beacon in the darkest of nights shining forth the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world!

I pray that we, New Home Missionary Baptist Church would be found a Christlike Church… a Church in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ!

That’s my prayer this morning!

We have been left an example of what a Christlike Church looks like and the Characteristics thereof, now we must make sure if we want to be a Christlike Church, that we follow their lead!

That we seek out the old paths and walk therein!

That we ask God to pour into us through His Word and pour out of us the good news of His Son Jesus so that as far as He would let it go, this world might know that there’s one place, the gospel of Jesus Christ will always be preached without abandon, without regret, without fear, and in spite of any reproach that might come our way!

That we might always be found faithful to the one who was faithful to us first, the Lord Jesus Christ who loved us and gave His life for us so that we in turn might inherit eternal life through Him!

Until He returns again, may our faith always be found working, our love always be found laboring, and out hope always be found steady in the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!