The Church that Made an Impact: HOW the Thessalonian Church Made an Impact Series
Series: 1 Thessalonians
Chuck Sligh
Oct-Nov, 2016
NOTE: This is the second lesson of an extended Bible study of the book of 1 Thessalonians. Each lesson includes discussion questions. Some are open ended questions which require no guidance or correction designed to just get the participants thinking. Some offer suggested possible answers to make sure they are included in the discussion, or correct answers for questions that have only right or wrong answers. Most lessons extend over more than one week; some several weeks if the discussion is good.
TEXT: Read all of 1 Thessalonians 1.
INTRODUCTION
The church of Thessalonica was truly an exemplary church. This letter to the Thessalonians is one of the few letters not written to address some doctrinal error or wrong behavior in a New Testament church.
-- 1 CORINTHIANS was written to set the Corinthian church right on several sins and doctrinal fallacies that had arisen in the Corinthian church. – These included such as division over their leaders, the open immorality of one of its members, members going to court against one another, the abuse of spiritual gift, abuse of the Lord’s Table and false teaching on the doctrine of the resurrection.
-- Paul wrote to the GALATIANS to correct the doctrinal error of mixing faith with works.
COLOSSIANS was written to combat a false philosophy called Gnosticism that had crept into the church, a subject also addressed by John in his three epistles.
But 1 Thessalonians was not written to deal with any known doctrinal error or wrong conduct on the part of the Thessalonians. Note verse 7 – “So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.”
The word ensamples is the Greek word tupos, which literally means “an impression; the mark of a blow; the impress of a seal; the stamp made by a die.” Paul was not just saying that they had been GOOD EXAMPLES, though they were that. Paul was saying that they had made a GREAT IMPACT, or they had made a TREMENDOUS IMPRESSION, upon all the believers throughout all the regions of Macedonia and Achaia. This would be like our church making such an impact in Germany that churches all over the Bavaria heard about us.
Now, there are essentially two basic types of churches: The church nobody ever hears about except in a bad way, cares about, or really wants to go to. The second kind of church is the one that people have heard about in a good way; which has made a positive impression; that the lost are curious about visiting; and dedicated, zealous believers want to be a part of.
That’s the kind of church the church at Thessalonica was. That’s the kind of church I want Grace Baptist to be.
In our study, we want to look at two things. First, HOW the church of Thessalonica made an impact (this week and next). Second, we will look at WHY the Thessalonian church made an impact.
So tonight, let’s jump in and look at the characteristics of the church at Thessalonica that made such an impact on surrounding churches.
I. THE CHURCH OF THESSALONICA MADE AN IMPACT BECAUSE IT HAD A MIND TO WORK – Verses 2-3 – “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; 3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.”
Q. What does Paul point out here that tells us how they made such an impact?
I would summarize it this way: The Thessalonian church had a mind to work.
I have never seen a lazy church that made any impact for the Lord. A church that will impact its community, that leaves an indelible impact on the lives of its own members, is one that has members who say, “I want to be on the team and I want to be on the first string.”
Most churches have five types of people, or will have them eventually:
1) Some are SQUABBLERS.
They are negative and critical people—and are very destructive to a local church. They’re too busy criticizing the way things are being done than to actually do anything themselves.
2) Some are STRUGGLERS.
They have so many needs that they don’t (can’t) do much for the Lord. They’re the ones who need a lot of support to help them through their problems; and who pour out their burdens others. They need this for a time, but sometimes they can have a self-centered focus and can sap the energy of those trying to minister to them. There’s a fine balance: they NEED a ministry of compassion and care, but also they need to be taught to be victors in Christ and brought to greater maturity.
3) Third, some are SLACKERS.
These are neutral. They don’t hurt a church, but they don’t do anything to help the church either. They’re satisfied to just come to church and sit and sing and soak in the preaching and teaching, but that’s about all they do.
4) The fourth are the SUPPORTERS.
They give financial, emotional and moral support for those who labor on the work, but they would rather others do the actual work. Sometimes they’re at a place in their lives where that’s about all they can do, and for that, the church is grateful.
5) The last kind is the best kind of person in a church –SERVANTS
These people also support the church with financial, emotional and moral support, but in addition THEY GET BUSY AND FIND A PLACE TO WORK in their local church. These are the ones who serve as ushers, who pick up those who need rides to church, who teach the children’s classes, who work in the nursery, who fix refreshments for homegroup, who host homegroups, who visit the sick, who help those who are needy. They are most valuable to a church because they are what makes a church really work; they are what makes a church “tick.”
Notice how Paul talks about the Thessalonians. He uses three different phrases. He talks about their work of faith…labor of love…and patience of hope. Let’s examine these individually:
1) First, Paul commends the Thessalonians for their WORK OF FAITH
Q. How are work and faith interrelated in the Christian life?
Faith STIRS a Christian to work for the Lord. When a person believes in Jesus Christ—truly believes—he is STIRRED to work and serve the Lord Jesus.
The same is true with a body of believers—a church. The stronger the faith of the people in Christ, the stronger they will work for the Lord.
A strong faith stirs, arouses, activates and energizes believers to collectively work and carry out the mission of Christ. Turn with me to James 2:14-17 – James said, “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works?…15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”
Q. What does this scripture teach us about faith and works?
2) Second, Paul commends the Thessalonians for their LABOR OF LOVE
Love also stirs a church to labor. The word labor is the Greek word kopáu, which means “to toil; to labor to the point of exhaustion; to arduously labor.”
When a person truly loves Christ, he is prompted and driven to arduously labor for Christ. He looks at the love of God for Him in giving his Son to die for him, and the love of Christ in being willing to give His life for him, and he cannot help but be stirred to give back to Christ through works of love.
This is what Paul meant in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 when he said “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”
Q. What does Paul mean when he says, “The love of God constrains us”?
A. Constrains = “Compels”
3) Finally, Paul commends the Thessalonians for their PATIENCE OF HOPE
The word hope in the New Testament is frequently linked to the Second Coming of Christ. Since verse 10 refers to the Second Coming of Christ, it’s probable that this is the patience of hope Paul is referring to.
[HAVE A PARTICIPANT TO LOOK UP AND READ:] Titus 2:13 talks of this hope where Paul says: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”
The Greek word for patience (hupomonés) means “endurance, steadfastness, perseverance.” Hope in the Lord’s return stirs the church to endure in its work and labor, knowing that the Lord could come at any time and we should not face the Lord empty-handed.
Paul said in Galatians 6:9 – “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
It’s easy to not be steadfast in our work for the Lord and to become weary in well doing. Just remember, someday Jesus will come again. If we don’t faint—that is, if we don’t stop our well-doing for Christ, if we don’t get weary in our good works—Paul promises that we WILL reap rewards, if not in this life, than at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
That’s why in another place, 1 Corinthians 15:58, Paul exhorts us, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
So, the first reason the church of Thessalonica made such an impact was because it had a will to work for Christ.…
II. SECOND, IT MADE AN IMPACT BECAUSE IT HAD JOY IN THE MIDST OF PROBLEMS – Verse 6 – “And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost.”
One of the most powerful things that impresses people positively about faith in Christ is when they see Christians who have joy even in the midst of problems and difficulties. The world cannot understand that. It blows them away.
We ought to have the philosophy of the tea kettle—to be up to our necks in hot water and still singing! Our problem is that we let circumstances overcome our joy rather than letting our joy overcome our circumstances.
Illus. – Describe when I had cancer and was told I only had six weeks to live. The nurse who came to talk with me over and over again and whom I had the joy to witness to, but she never accepted salvation.
About ten years later, we were on furlough and I called the doctor who did my surgery to see if I could make an appointment for a check-up. When the receptionist heard my name she told me she was that lady, and that the joy and peace I had when I thought I was going to die convinced her of the truth of Christianity. She went to a church a few weeks after I was dismissed from the hospital, heard the Gospel again and trusted in Christ as her Savior.
Illus. – Many years ago, when the great missionary Adoniram Judson, missionary to Burma and the first Baptist foreign missionary, was home on furlough, he passed through the city of Stonington, Connecticut. A young boy playing about the wharves at the time of Judson’s arrival was struck by his appearance. Never before had he seen such a light on any human face.
He ran up the street to a minister to ask if he knew who the stranger was. The minister hurried back with him, but became so absorbed in conversation with Judson that he forgot all about the impatient youngster standing by his side.
Many years afterward the boy—who could never get away from the influence of that wonderful face—became the famous Henry Clay Trumbull, the mid-nineteenth century world-famous editor, author and pioneer of the Sunday School Movement. In his memoirs, he penned a chapter entitled: “What a Boy Saw in the Face of Adoniram Judson.”
That lighted countenance had changed his life. Judson had a JOYFUL countenance. But what the little boy did not know was that Judson buried three wives and several children in Burma and that he spent four years in a filthy, vermin infested Burmese prison for preaching the Gospel. When Judson visited that town in Connecticut, he had just recently buried one of his children before returning to the United States. He was in the throes of grief…and yet he radiated an ever-present joy that shone through his present sorrow.
You CAN have joy—even in trials. How?—There’s only one way. To walk in the Spirit and thus produce His fruit – Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance…”
Q. Do any of you have a testimony of a time when you witnessed a believer experiencing some terrible obstacle, sorrow or disappointment in life in which you were able to experience joy in the midst of problems?
This church of Thessalonica not only made an impression because it had a will to work for Christ and a joy in the midst of trials, but…
III. THIRD, IT MADE AN IMPACT BECAUSE IT WAS BOLD AND EXCITED ABOUT BEING SAVED – Verse 8 – “For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.”
Q. What does this tell us about how the church of Thessalonica made such an impact?
I mean they got so excited about being saved, they HAD to spread the good news. They COULDN’T keep it in. They COULDN’T keep silent! We ought to be excited about the Christian life!
I don’t know about you, but getting saved was the best thing that ever happened to me! It was better than when I married my wife, though that was a great day (for her!...just kidding). Getting saved was better than when my boys were born. In fact, if you were to offer to trade me $100 billion in exchange for the Christian life, I wouldn’t take it—it wouldn’t be worth it! Being saved is the greatest life in the world!
Illus. – Tom Wallace tells of his experiences as a pastor over his lifetime. He said it took place on Sunday morning at the church he was pastoring in Elkton, Maryland. The Sunday morning service was just getting ready to begin when in walked a man who had never attended church before in his entire life, and seated himself on the second row from the front. As Dr. Wallace preached a very simple salvation message, this man listened with keen interest.
At the end of the sermon, he came forward during the invitation and a personal worker led him to Christ. He was so filled with joy that he could hardly contain himself. When he was baptized, Dr. Wallace describes how he submerged him in the water and when he came out of the water, he was filled with so much joy that came up out of the water clapping his hands and shouting, “Hot dog, hot dog, hot dog!”
You see, this excited convert had never been in a church before and so had never learned “acceptable” words like “Praise the Lord” and “Amen.” People in the audience roared with laughter at his innocent ignorance, but he was just praising the Lord with the only vocabulary he knew. And the good thing was he was excited about being saved!
Now, we ought to be excited about the Lord! We all feel this way when we first come to come to Christ, but if we’re not careful, we can lose the magic and wonder of knowing the Lord.
Q. What causes us to lose our excitemebnt in the Christian life?
A. Here are four things that cause us lose our excitement in the Christian life (EXPAND ON EACH AS LED):
Sin
Wrong response to trials
Violation of the Bible’s principles of interpersonal relationship
Lack of spiritual growth. This can be caused by several things:
Neglecting church attendacne
Neglecting spending time in the Word
Neglecting prayer
Not sharing your faith
Not having a real Christian life in the first place—that is, not being truly saved. (EXPAND AS LED)
IV. THE FOURTH REASON THE THESSALONIAN CHURCH MADE AN IMPACT WAS BECAUSE THERE HAD BEEN A DRAMATIC CHANGE IN THE LIVES OF ITS MEMBERS – Verse 9 – “For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.”
When a person is truly saved, there’s a change in his life. He doesn’t love the things he used to love. He doesn’t want to do the wrong things he used to take delight in doing. He used to find church insufferably boring and the people who attended incredibly strange; now he loves church and delights in being with those strange people! The Bible used to be a dead book to him; now he loves it and lives by it. He used to think Christians were fanatics; now people think HE’S a fanatic!
2 Corinthians 5:17 says “…if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Q. What does this verse teach us about salvation and its effect?
Turn with me to Romans 6: In the first five chapters of Romans, Paul explains the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, without any works on our part added to it.
Then in chapter 6 he deals with the charge that some made then, and we still hear it today in some quarters, that if we preach that salvation is by grace alone and that our works do not have ANYTHING to do with either earning or maintaining our salvation, people will just choose Christ as a fire escape from hell and then just live however they want.
Look at Paul’s response to this: Romans 6:1-2 – “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”
In the whole of Romans 6, Paul argues that the believer is freed from the power of sin (verses 7, 14). Yes, he can, and will sin, but if he can comfortably live in sin without God’s working in his heart, without experiencing judgment from God, without guilt…he needs to reexamine whether he is truly born again.
Now one reason the Thessalonian church made such an impact was because they there was a dramatic change from their worship of idols to serve the living and true God. The lost around them could not miss it.
Q. Now most people we know do not worship idols as we normally think of stone or wood gods that people bowed down to. Yet when we trust Christ for salvation, there is nevertheless a change in our lives. What kinds of changes take place in the lives of new believers?
When the lost see hypocrites, it turns them off to Christians; but when they see people whose lives have been changed by God’s grace, it makes a remarkable impact—even more than their words.
The church of Thessalonica made an impact because…
-- It had a will to work.
-- It had joy in the midst of trials and difficulty.
-- It was excited about being saved so that their faith toward God was spread throughout the region.
-- There had been a dramatic change in the lives of its members.
V. LASTLY, THE CHURCH OF THESSALONICA MADE AN IMPACT BECAUSE IT LOOKED WITH ANTICIPATION AND EXPECTATION FOR THE LORD’S RETURN – Verse 10 – “And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.”
Q. What is “the wrath to come” that Paul refers to here?
A. The “wrath to come” refers to the seven-year Tribulation that the Bible prophesies in many places, but is fully developed in the book of Revelation.
This will be a time of unparalleled horror as God pours out His wrath upon those who have rejected Him and followed the Antichrist. But it is a great comfort to know that believers will be delivered from this wrath. This is why the Thessalonians were “waiting for the Son from heaven.”
We will not have time to look at this in great detail, but let’s at least look at the primary passage in the Bible that deals with what is commonly called the Rapture – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 – “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
Now this truth of the Rapture galvanized the Thessalonian Christians! It roused them to “wait” for the Son from heaven.
Q Does the word “wait” here mean to sit around and do nothing?
A. The word “wait,” when used in connection with the Second Coming, means the exact opposite of sitting around doing nothing. It means to be living your life in such an exemplary way that you would not be ashamed if the Lord should come at any moment.
Note two verses along these lines:
-- 1 John 2:28 – “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.”
-- Titus 2:12-13 – “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.”
Illus. – I think I have told the story before of the lady in our church in Germany whose husband insisted on a squeaky-clean house. He went on TDY in another country for a couple of weeks, so she decided she was going to take it easy and enjoy herself in his absence. She didn’t do any housework for two weeks—no dishes until necessary, no vacuuming, no beds made, no clothes washed, etc. Then on the last day, her plan was to rush around like mad to get the house clean.
There was only one problem: her husband came home one day early—and HER HOUSE WAS A MESS! He knew she wasn’t a “cleanie,” but he had no idea she could allow things to get this dirty. She was embarrassed and ashamed. That’s the way we will be if not prepared at the Rapture.
“And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming (1 John 2:28).”
