The Great Imitators of Joy and Faith

1 Thessalonians 1:6-8 Their Example of Joy

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

“And you became imitators of us and the Lord”

A long time ago, I was listening to another pastor, who if I remember correctly, shared the name of our pastor. He was the pastor of Oakland Baptist Church, the church at which my parents are still members. The last sermon, if I remember correctly, or at least his favorite sermon was what he called his “tater” sermon. In this sermon, he listed the different members of this “tater” family. You had dic, you know, dictator. You had ol’ spec, you could imagine, spectator. Rotator, irratator, and on and on the list goes.

Well, we got one of the family members here, and he is the imitator. Paul characterizes the Thessalonian believers as being imitators of the apostles and the Lord Jesus himself. Now remember something of our context here. Think about the ridiculousness of the Gospel message for a moment.

Paul is going around to pagan, Greek cities preaching a Jewish Messiah who was born under questionable circumstances, supposedly lived without any sin, was killed as a criminal alongside of two other criminals. You know, anti-Christian graffiti was discovered carved on an ancient Roman building during the very early period of Christianity. It pictured a man bowing down to a crucified donkey with the inscription “Alexamenos worships his God.” The Christian message was utterly ridiculous to the original pagan audience. But the fact that certain Thessalonians accepted the message was an obvious work of the Holy Spirit.

“for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit”

The work of the Holy Spirit is evident all throughout this time period. Anytime someone accepts the gospel message it is a miracle wrought by the Holy Spirit. The people are living in a backwards city where the prevailing pressure around them to submit to the dominate power of Rome in order to earn blessing. This “great tribulation” I believe is experienced in every generation. The pressure to conform to something other than Christ out there in the world that has dominate power.

For these early Christians living in the free city of Thessalonica it would be to conform to Rome and worship the emperor. It was this dominate power, after all that gave them their free status; and it was this power, that could swoop in and take it away. (As they will soon sweep into Jerusalem and take everything away, including the temple).

Tribulation occurs in every age. In our generation past, the enlightenment, and modern man had a certain arrogance about them that they could leave “those primitive religious notions.” Now, post-modern man perhaps has in some sense last that dogmatic arrogance that they know all things; however, they still scoff at anyone who claims to have arrived at truth. Hence, if you claim that Jesus is the only way, you’re merely a narrow-minded bigot.

Furthermore, not only do we face philosophical tribulation, we also face a new moral tribulation. You see, for years now the majority moral opinion in our nation largely coincided with biblical ethics. In other words, what most America people said was right and wrong agreed generally, with what the Bible said was right and wrong. But no longer. You’re forced, almost in Orwellian ways, to say that homosexuality is okay, transgender philosophy is fine. And if you don’t? Then you run the risk of being “cancelled” your platform of influence will be pulled like a rug from under your feet. You could even perhaps lose your job over these things! The moral revolution is clear: bow down to the image or be thrown into the fiery furnace.

Not only do we face moral tribulation, we face spiritual tribulation. You see, all of these things in our human society is ultimately demonic in origins. Satan works tirelessly against the work of the Church. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood” as you know.

So what is the Thessalonian believer’s response in the midst of all their original tribulation? Joy, joy that could only come from the Holy Spirit; supernatural joy. This is not just a mind numbing joy; nor is it a manipulative joy. Rather it is a joy that reminds us this world is not our home, we look to another.

Here is what John Flavel says of this joy:

“Rejoice. . . in thy present mercy, and long ardently to be with thine own Christ in his glroy. There be many things disperesed through this treatise of Christ to animate such joy and excite such longings. It was truly observed by a worthy author, . . . ‘That it is in a manner as natural for us to leap when we see the new Jerusalem, as it is to laugh when we are tickled: Joy is not under the soul’s command when Christ kisseth it. And for your desires to be with Christ, what consideration can you find in this world strong enough to rein them in?”

And indeed, if you cannot “rein in your joy” for Christ wrought in you by the Holy Spirit then you will have not choice but to tell the world! Notice what this joy in the midst of tribulation has done in verse 7:

“So that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia”

This joy amidst tribulation has produced a testimony; an example to the people not only in their own city but also to people in their region and the neighboring region! What if that could be said about us? What if that could be said about Sandy Valley? That church has such a joy in this hostile culture, a joy produced by the Holy Spirit. What if we became an example not only in Houston County, but also in Bibb county. What if our example spread to another state?

Churches adapted to the culture by use of the stage. You see, each church has a “select few” Christians they parade in front of everyone. I say this because I suppose when you hear me say “we could be an example” you might suppose via my preaching, or through our worship in song. You hear how other people talk about their churches right? Oh, I love my pastor, he’s so nice, and his preaching is good. Or, “Our worship is amazing!” When they’re just talking about the singing.

Should we have biblical preaching? Yes! Should our worship in song glorify the Lord? Of course! But this vision is too small. You see, our local gathering is not just marked by me here on the stage, or Dallas at the piano, or Diana at the microphone. Our church is all of us. You teaching the Sunday school classes, volunteering in the library, the nursery, the sound and media team, the WMU, our support of outreach ministry, you sitting right there in the pew! This is Sandy Valley, this is who we are.

Is our example, all of us together, because we are in this together. I’ve covenented with you as a local body. If your membership is at Sandy Valley, you are apart of this particular and peculiar body that God called out. Is our example marked by this same type of joy? When the culture around us, the demonic world around us pressures us in this great tribulation we face, do we look to the beyond to the infinite beauties of Christ and have joy?

The plot thickens: their testimony is further recognized:

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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.

The word of the Lord, of which Jesus himself is the author, has “sounded forth.” This word is like the sound of a trumpet blast. Something clear and piercing that can be heard for miles. The testimony of this group of believers is such that has gone forth everywhere, to the extent that the apostle himself doesn’t have to say anything. He doesn’t have to boast in this group to other believers, because these other believers have already heard of their testimony.

Think about churches that have gained national or international notoriety. I think of Hillsong church in Australia. What are they known for? Their music, which I don’t recommend anymore since they joined the New Apostolic Reformation. I think about Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. It has gained notoriety far and wide for its false teaching: name it and claim it, or blab it and grab it theology. It is a syncretization of New Thought movement and Christianity and now has nation-wide attention as its pastor gets hosted on the Oprah Winfrey show (at least, used to, I don’t really keep up with it anymore).

I also think about some more orthodox churches like Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, CA. This church has notoriety because of its biblical preaching done with power. Also, First Baptist of Dallas which gains notoriety because of the fact it is in a large city and is heavily involved in politics. Also Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis TN which has notoriety because of its pedigree, the great Adrian Rogers used to preach there.

I had to rack my brain, but I could not think of a single church to gain national priority because of the joy its people experience in the midst of tribulation. Not a single one. As far as the dream, the vision if you will, that I have; dare not say I, but the Lord, has for the local church is that Sandy Valley could be a church whose people are marked by joy, supernatural joy that comes from the Holy Spirit.

So what if we have mediocre music, as long as we praise the Lord? So what if our preaching is dull, does it stick to the Bible? But what if we become the church whose every member is impacted by a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ; that we would be so enraptured with his goodness that we couldn’t but help but have a smile on our face. What if that was our example? Not just here but across the world! “You know, those people at Sandy Valley. . . Their preaching is not too bad, their music sounds good enough, but man! Those people love Jesus!”

You want to test our impact on the world? You want to test our impact on our local community? What would the people on Feagin Mill say if we closed our doors. What would those people in the apartment complex across the road say if we never opened our doors again? Church, this church, our local church gathering here; it’s not just about me, it’s not just about the music, it’s about us, all of us. We are the church.

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 Their Example of Faith

Look at something else in verse 8:

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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.

“Your faith in God” has gone everywhere. Faith is something I remember personally having a difficult time defining. I knew it meant simply to trust, but when it came to actually defining it, it was difficult. Faith really involves three things: knowing, agreeing, and trusting. Therefore, faith involves knowing truth about who Christ is. It involves agreeing with that knowledge, but not only agreeing, also trusting in that knowledge, having confidence, resting and placing full hope in Christ.

Listen to this common illustration that makes the difference between the agreement of faith and the trusting of faith:

On June 30, 1859, Charles Blondin became the first man in history to walk on a tightrope across Niagara Falls from the United States into Canada.

The tightrope was suspended 160 feet on one end and 270 on the other above the raging waters of the falls. The tightrope had no safety harness or net. Some report that over 100,000 people gathered to watch him walk the 1,100 feet across the falls the first time.

The Niagara walk made Blondin famous and wealthy, and he was asked to perform for audiences worldwide. He would make 17 subsequent, more daring walks across Niagara, which drew more and more crowds.

He traversed his tightrope on stilts, riding a bicycle, blindfolded and stopping in the center to do tricks, like cooking omelets with a small stove he carried on his back. He walked across carrying people on his back.

At one point he asked a man in the crowd if he thought he could carry a person in a wheelbarrow across the rope. The man excitedly said, “Yes!” When asked if he would get into the wheelbarrow, then man emphatically said, “No!”

The man's response is a great lesson between believing and having faith. While the man believed Blondin could carry someone across the falls in a wheelbarrow, he did not have the faith in Blondin to get into the wheelbarrow himself.

In the same light what these Thessalonians had was true saving faith. They did not just say, “Yes, Jesus you can bridge the gap between sinful man and a holy God” rather, they also took the step to entrust their lives to him.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

“They report” refers to the people surrounding them in Macedonia and Achaia. They don’t just report two things 1. their reception of the apostles, 2. their turning. Firstly, let’s look at their reception of the apostles. I have noticed in the past people, even in churches, be stubborn and stiff-necked at sound doctrine. The Bereans, if you remember, were commended because when they heard of the gospel, they searched the scriptures to see if what Paul was saying was true. There is a danger that exists, even within me, that when I hear something that I disagree with I immediately denounce it rather than search the scriptures. I remember when someone brought up to me an contrary doctrine concerning the end times. You see, I was raised on the Left Behind series. The church I attended when I was a kid, we would watch the Left Behind movies in church on Sunday night. I just remembered being scared out of my mind about the end times, honestly.

Anyways, when someone questioned me about it I said, obviously “you’re wrong!” But when this fellow pressed further asking for scriptural proof, I had next to nothing. Now, I’m not saying that you all should reject everything you know and just listen to what I say. Heavens no! Instead, you should test what I say against the witness of Scripture. I could be in error, but you know what never errs? The Bible. These Thessalonians are welcoming of the apostle’s teachings, even when it goes against their traditions. I submit to you, that we should be receptive of what the Bible teaches, even, or especially when it goes against our traditions. When we have the feeling that we should say NO! we should first take a step back and examine the scripture.

In the same vein, we should not be tossed too and fro by every wind of doctrine. We should develop a general knowledge of what the scripture teaches. There are very committed cults that claim the Bible is on their side; yet, they do not have the apostles on their side. The early church was receptive to the Apostle’s doctrine, and so should we be.

Second, their turning. Now, the majority of these believers in Thessalonica were pagans. So they are turning from Paganism, many gods, idols of gods, cultic emperor worship and so on. Things that are not really gods. Rarely in our culture are people turning from paganism (although it is on the rise because secularism has caused a void). Nonetheless, what we see people turning from more and more is a general spiritual apathy. Perhaps from other religions, other philosophies, atheism, or just from being self-centered. That is the American dream: the self-made man. Don’t follow that dream, turn to God.

That is what the Thessalonians did: they turned to God for to express reasons: to serve and to wait. What two great words to sum of the Christian ethic: serve Christ while waiting on his return! This is faith, genuine saving faith leads us to serve the living God and to wait with expectation for Christ’s return.

Notice something of the truth Paul infuses at the end about Christ. We see some core doctrines about Jesus, that if we deny these things, we have no business calling ourselves Christians.

The bodily return of Christ: Jesus will return from heaven as the angel said to the apostles as they gazed up at the ascending Savior. There will be a day, a great day of the Lord, where all wrongs will be made right. The just in Christ will be justified, and the wicked will recieved the punishment they deserve. Justice is final in the Christian worldview. Where human justice fails, God’s justice will never fail.

Jesus rose from the dead. This coming judge into the world God himself vindicated by raising him from the dead. Talk about a failure of human justice! The only sinless man to ever walk these earth crucified as a criminal for crimes he never committed. But God raised him from the dead proving his righteousness and giving us a down payment, a taste of things to come.

Jesus delivers us from the coming wrath. The wrath of God is one of his own attributes. Which makes since, even humanly speaking. If I love children, I hate abortion. That what goes against, or works against that which I love, I will hate. In that since, God stores up his wrath against those who sin. As the raging inferno of God wrath comes our way, it is Jesus who delivers us through his death in our place.

Do you have faith in these truths? Do you have joy in these truths? True saving faith involves our mind, wills, and emotions. Close with possible illustration from 1984? Discussed coerced conversion with consent conversion.