WHAT MAKES A FAITHFUL CHURCH? 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

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Donna Mason
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1 WHAT MAKES A FAITHFUL CHURCH? 1 Thessalonians 1: A Faithful Church Is Being For Constantly 2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 2. A Faithful Church Lovingly And Consistently 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 3. A Faithful Church Fulfills The Responsibility God Has Us For 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 4. A Faithful Church Is By The Gospel 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5a because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. (cf. Jn 16:8-11) 5. A Faithful Church Sets And Follows Good 5b You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 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. 6. A Faithful Church Is Known To For Its Commitment To The Of God 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. 7. A Faithful Church God With One s Whole Life, Not Idolatry 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, 8. A Faithful Church The Coming Of Christ 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

2 WHAT MAKES A FAITHFUL CHURCH? 1 Thessalonians 1: A Faithful Church Is Being Prayed For Constantly 2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 2. A Faithful Church Works Lovingly And Consistently 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 3. A Faithful Church Fulfills The Responsibility God Has Chosen Us For 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 4. A Faithful Church Is Transformed By The Gospel 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5a because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. (cf. Jn 16:8-11) 5. A Faithful Church Sets And Follows Good Examples 5b You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 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. 6. A Faithful Church Is Known To For Its Commitment To The Word Of God 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. 7. A Faithful Church Worships God With One s Whole Life, Not Idolatry 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, 8. A Faithful Church Anticipates The Coming Of Christ 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

3 WHAT MAKES A FAITHFUL CHURCH? 1 Thessalonians 1: Thessalonians 1: We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 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. 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. 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. 1. A Faithful Church Is Being Prayed For Constantly 2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, εὐχαριστοῦμεν we give thanks (eu good; charis grace, thanks) When is the last time you ve given thanks for everyone not just your close friends We give thanks the missionaries prayed regularly with one another three participial modifiers, as follows: o v. 2b making mention (of you) in our prayers o v. 3 continually bearing in mind your work. o v. 4 we know that he has chosen you Constantly praying for people in the church Take notes of prayer requests shared in the church Join the prayer hour during Sunday School once a month 9 Reasons Why Church Leaders Struggle with Prayer (by Chuck Lawless) 1 Leaders are fixers by nature. Most leaders don t readily admit a need for help. Instead, we are problem solvers who seek solutions, attempt answers, and try again if the first answer doesn t work. 2 We never learned how to pray. We tell believers what to do, but don t teach them how to do it. 3 Prayer has become more about ritual than about relationship. 4 Prayerlessness can be hidden. 5 We don t really believe prayer works. 6 We have never been broken under God s hand. 7 Leaders read the Word in a one-sided way. Leaders are often teachers who read the Word for information transmission more than life transformation Our Bible reading even when preparing for teaching or preaching should bring us to praise, confession,

4 and obedience. 8 Some leaders have simply lost hope. Church leaders who prayed more consistently in the past sometimes lose hope under the weight of church conflict, family struggles, or health concerns. Unanswered prayer leads to faithlessness, which leads to prayerlessness. 9 We miss the gospel focus on the prayer life of Jesus. ( Puritan phrase: Pray until you pray. o D. A. Carson: What they mean is that Christians should pray long enough and honestly enough, at a single session, to get past the feeling of formalism and unreality that attends not a little praying. We are especially prone to such feelings when we pray for only a few minutes, rushing to be done with a mere duty. To enter the spirit of prayer, we must stick to it for a while. If we pray until we pray, eventually we come to delight in God s presence, to rest in his love, to cherish his will. ( 2. A Faithful Church Works Lovingly And Consistently 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Work of faith trusting God to accomplish spiritual affect Labor of love sacrificial love Steadfastness of hope - Comparing v. 3 & vv V. 3 v Work of faith You turned to God from idols Labor of love To serve the living and true God Steadfastness of hope To wait for his Son from heaven (Warren Wiersbe, Be Ready, pp ) 3. A Faithful Church Fulfills The Responsibility God Has Chosen Us For 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 1 Thessalonians 1:4 4 knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. (NKJV) Chosen elected by God o Gr. eklego = to call out, choose; 22x in the NT o to call out or choose (Liddle-Scott) o selection, choosing (BAGD) Election is the eternal act of God whereby He, in His sovereign good pleasure, and on account of no foreseen merit in them, chooses a certain number of men to be the recipients of special grace and of eternal salvation. (L. Berkhoff, Systematic Theology) Ie/ The stuffed alien from Toy Story picked by the claw in the vending machine I have been chosen

5 Ie/ A particular news network likes to point out that when a significant crisis happens in America, a certain significant politician is either on vacation or goes golfing. Then they ask the question: Where is our elected official when the going gets tough? Whether that is true or not is political speculation. But the question is still asked. Ephesians 1:4-6 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. God chose us by Himself for Himself God is always the grammatical subject for the verb to elect He chooses, we are chosen Salvation begins with God (not man) Man doesn t elect God, God elects us chose exelexato aorist middle indicative of eklego indicates God chose us in His own interest, for Himself o reflexive verb He chose for Himself Hoehner: God chose with great personal interest rather than a random impersonal choice. (Ephesians, pp ) in Him salvation is always through Jesus Christ Chosen for what? that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love Let me ask that question of the church God has elected us. Are we faithful to His call? Are we faithful in holiness and love? 4. A Faithful Church Is Transformed By The Gospel 5a because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. (cf. Jn 16:8-11) A faithful church not only proclaims the Gospel but sees the power of it Because the Holy Spirit is the power that brings full conviction John 16: And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. CONVICTION = CONVINCING Convicts Jn 16:7-11 convince us of the reality of our sin and the holiness of God convict = clearing up a mystery, providing understanding o man is not convinced of his sinfulness, God s righteousness and God s judgment unless the HS convinces us

6 ie/ A young boy was at Disneyland enjoying Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and the rides and the fanfare and didn t notice that he had become separated from his parents.once this boy discovered he was not in fellowship with his parents anymore, Disneyland turned into a Disney disaster.that young boy at Disneyland needed to come face to face with two realities before he could get help. First, he needed to discover he was lost. And second, he needed somebody to lead him back to his parents.enter the Holy Spirit. He is the champion of the lost and found. His unique task is to bring men and women front and center before Jesus Christ: to bring the unregenerate and the unconverted into a saving relationship with Christ. (Tony Evans, The Promise, pp ) Conviction Of Sin o sinful, proud and depraved men need to be convicted of sin because v. 9 points out they do not believe in Me o Ephesians 4:18 Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart Conviction Of Righteousness o An unbeliever needs to be convinced that there is a righteousness that exceeds man s righteousness o Romans 8:8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God o Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. o Matthew 5:22 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. o 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Conviction Of Judgment o Many people don t have much of a concept of the future judgment. Even among most of those who admit there is a hell, they wouldn t think this was a judgment they deserved. o John 3:18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. o Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. 5. A Faithful Church Sets And Follows Good Examples 5b You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 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.

7 6. A Faithful Church Is Known To For Its Commitment To The Word Of God 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. Do we sound forth God s Word? Many churches are about social causes only o Social causes are good but a lot of people who are fed and rescued will still be bound to hell because the Word of God does not accompany the thoughtful service Many churches are about health and wealth o Ie/ spoke to a service manager (as he was picking my pocket with exorbitant car repair costs) about church he said he likes Joel Osteen who preaches about health, wealth and feeling good about yourself very little substance in the Word of God your faith in God has gone forth everywhere o the Thessalonians had a reputation for faith o Paul didn t have to brag about them o Other churches knew o But what was their faith in? Self-esteem, riches? o Their faith is in the Word of God they proclaim Are we trusting in God s Word to accomplish His purpose in our lives? When we read God s Word, are we expecting Him to change us? Do we trust the Gospel that is taught in Scripture or do we feel compelled to add to it? Are we trusting in our education, transcripts, resume, work experience or life experience, or are we trusting in God s Word? Do we believe the Scriptures that Christ will build His church? (Mt 18) Do we believe that all things will work for good? (Rom 8:28) The Thessalonians object of faith is in God s Word So is the faithful church s faith 7. A Faithful Church Worships God With One s Whole Life, Not Idolatry 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, repentance turning from sin and idols o metanoia (noun) = 23x, metanoeo (verb) = 34x meta = after, noeo = to understand lit. afterthought or change of mind o metamelomai regret, remorse used 6x in NT

8 Paul first regretted sending a letter, then didn t regret after a while (2 Cor 7:9) one brother told the master he would not work in the vineyard then regretted his decision and went (Mt 21:29) Judas was repentant ( remorseful NKJV) for betraying Jesus, then killed himself Charles Horne: Repentance includes a godly sorrow for sin. The remorse of the truly penitent involves a deep contrition of heart, not so much for the punishment to which he is exposed as for the indignity he has done to a holy and gracious God. (Doctrine of Salvation, p. 50) Acts 17:29-31 "Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. Thomas Watson: Bible knowledge without repentance, will be but a torch to light men to hell. 8. A Faithful Church Anticipates The Coming Of Christ 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. Because Christ is resurrected, He will come again (as promised) He will come and deliver us from the wrath to come The wrath, in my understanding of Scripture, is the Tribulation I believe Christ will rapture us to deliver us from the wrath to come What is the rapture? Prior to the advent of the Tribulation, Christ will descend from heaven, catching up the church to be with Himself while the Tribulation is unleashed on an unrepentant and unbelieving world. (Paul Enns, Moody Handbook Of Theology) Though the Thessalonians were faithful through suffering, Paul points to a future wrath that they will be delivered from delivers has the sense of a powerful delivery (George Milligan) from = ek o The question whether ek here means out of the midst of or away from, is to be determined by some statement of Scripture where the subject is specifically mentioned; this is provided, e.g., in 5:9, the context of which makes clear that believers are to be delivered from (not out of ) the Divine wrath to be executed on the nations at the end of the present age. (W.E. Vine, Expository Dictionary Of NT Words, Vol. 4, p. 149)

9 wrath to come = most scholars believe that this is the eschatological tribulation or cataclysmic world judgment of God o Gustav Stahlin observed that wrath (orge) is eschatological or future when combined with the word for coming (erchomai), and that, since Paul combined these terms in the expression the wrath to come in 1 Thessalonians 1:10, he was referring to eschatological wrath. Therefore, the following statement by Stahlin is most significant: There are two points in the future where eschatological orge has a place, first, in the tribulation before the end, then in the final judgment itself. He further stated that the term orge is one of several technical terms for the eschatological tribulation. (Showers, p. 197) In 1 Thessalonians 1:10 the believers were informed that they would be delivered from the wrath to come. This epistle has a literary unity, therefore, the wrath so mentioned must be the same wrath which is mentioned in 5:9, and it must be that wrath manifested by the terrible destruction which accompanies the coming of the Day of the Lord. To assume otherwise would be to deny the consistency of the epistle. (William K. Harrison, The Time of the Rapture as Indicated in Certain Scriptures Part I, Bibliotheca Sacra, Volume 114:456, October, 1957, p. 319) If they had been taught that the Great Tribulation, in whole or in part, must first run its course, it is difficult to see how they could be described as expectantly awaiting Christ s return. Then they should rather have been described as bracing themselves for the Great Tribulation and the painful events connected with it. (D. Edmond Hiebert, The Thessalonian Epistles, p. 205) 1 Thessalonians 4: But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. Revelation 3:10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. tereo ek is always used of being preserved away from the situation; there is always a separation involved "hour" indicates a specific period of time, not a general trial the definite article teis points to a well known hour of judgment, not a general set of trials that Philadelphia was exclusively experiencing "test" = gr. peiradzo = test to break down, demonstrate failure

WHAT IS THE RAPTURE? 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18

WHAT IS THE RAPTURE? 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 I. Where Is The Rapture Taught In The Scripture? (1 Thess 4:15a) 15a For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, A. Is The Word Rapture" Found In The