I believe
we are at a watershed moment in the life of our church. I am convinced that we
are entering a season in our church’s life that will define what kind of church
we are going to be moving forward. Will we be a church that brings glory and
honor to Jesus Christ? Will we be a church that strives hard for unity in the
bond of peace? Will we lay down our preferences for the sake of the body? Will
we love one another from a pure heart? Will we uphold God’s Word? Will we
contend for the faith that was once delivered to all the saints? Will we seek
God’s face in prayer? Will we do the work of an evangelist? Will we put to
death the deeds of the flesh? Will we make the glory of Jesus Christ our
highest aim? Simply stated, will we be the church of Jesus Christ? We are indeed
at a defining moment for our church.
I strongly
desire that we will enter into a time of intense pursuit of the Lord through
prayer, fellowship and the Word. I do not think we realize how desperately we
need God. I went to see Ira Williams yesterday to wish him a happy 92nd
birthday. As I sat in his living room, he lamented, as I have heard many times
from our senior saints, that people do not prioritize God or His church any
more. I believe one of the biggest reasons churches are in decline is that
churches are not experiencing the manifest presence of God. Most people attend
church for fun rather than to have an encounter with the living God. What kind
of church are we going to be? Are we going to be a church that wants more of
God and that desperately pursues Him, or are we going to be satisfied with one
foot in the world?
Beloved, I
strongly believe that we are at a critical moment for our church. I am not
afria, but rather I am excited. I am excited with the challenge of corporately
pursuing the face of God together. I am excited that we get to serve together
with the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be
glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and
ever.” I am excited to see God bring glory to His name through Park Baptist
Church. I want us to be an exemplary church; a church that displays the
manifold wisdom of God to rulers and authorities in heavenly places. So how are
we going to become an exemplary church?
I grew up
watching Michael Jordan. I watched almost every Chicago Bulls game in the
1990s. I loved basketball and loved watching Michael Jordan play basketball. I
spent years watching and studying him so that I could learn from him. I was
never as a great basketball player, but I was a lot better because I studied a
great example. If we want to grow in any area of our life, we look for examples
that we can emulate. If you want to learn about strength in suffering, look at
Ken Tedder. If you want to learn about joy in sorrow look, at Jerry Greene. If
you want to learn how to treat your wife, look at Max Phillips. If you want to
learn to develop a quiet and gentle spirit, look at Judy Ferrell. If you want
to learn to encourage, look at Rachel Brazzell. If you want to learn, find an
example. If we are going to become an exemplary church, then we must study and
meditate on an exemplary church. The church of the Thessalonians was an
exemplary church for all the churches throughout Macedonia. They were known for
their reception of the Word, their love for the saints, their holiness before
God and their hope for the coming of Jesus Christ.
If we want
to be an exemplary church, it is going to take a lot of work and effort. We
need to allow the Holy Spirit to change us through His Word. I am going to
challenge all you to memorize the book of 1 Thessalonians over the next 11
weeks. The book has 89 verses. I know that many of you have never memorized a
chapter, let alone a book, but I want to exhort you to try. If nothing else, I
want you to focus on a specific passage in 1st Thessalonians each
week. I have printed a handout that has text for each sermon through the book.
I do not want us merely to hear the word, but I want the Word to become part of
you. A few months ago, I was doing marriage counseling and I made the couple
memorize Romans 12:10, “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one
another in showing honor.” The husband came back sharing how much easier it was
to serve his wife while that verse was floating around his head.
If we are
going to become an exemplary church, then we all need to be focusing on an
exemplary church and we need to do more than hear a message once a week. I want
to encourage you write this book on your heart so that we can become an
exemplary church. And to that end, we are going to start by focusing on this
entire letter in our remaining time. I am going to quote the book from memory
in hopes to give you an example and to encourage you to do the same. Please
know this is not a show, for God has used the memorization of his Word to
change and grow me spiritually more than any other discipline. I did not start
seriously memorizing Scripture until I saw someone do it. I hope my example
will encourage you as that example encouraged me. I want us to write this
letter on our hearts so that we will become an exemplary church by meditating on
an exemplary church. So as I share this letter, notice what made this church so
special!! 1 Thessalonians,
Paul, Silvanus,
and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of
you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and
Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our
Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,
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. 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, so
that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 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. 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, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead,
Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
For you yourselves
know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had
already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had
boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much
conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt
to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the
gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.
For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for
greed—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or
from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we
were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.
So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not
only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very
dear to us. For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and
day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you
the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and
blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how, like a father
with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you
to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and
glory. And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the
word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men
but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that
are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they
did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove
us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind by hindering us from speaking
to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of
their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last! But since we were torn away
from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the
more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted
to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope
or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?
For you are our glory and joy.
Therefore when we
could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, and
we sent Timothy, our brother and God's coworker in the gospel of Christ, to
establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these
afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. For when we
were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction,
just as it has come to pass, and just as you know. For this reason, when I
could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that
somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain. But now
that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your
faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see
us, as we long to see you—for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and
affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. For now we
live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. For what thanksgiving can we return
to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as
we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and
supply what is lacking in your faith? Now may our God and Father himself, and
our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and
abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may
establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the
coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
Finally, then,
brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us
how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so
more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord
Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from
sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness
and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;
that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord
is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly
warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore
whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit
to you. Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to
you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that
indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we
urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly,
and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed
you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep,
that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him
those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the
Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will
not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend
from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the
sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we
who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore
encourage one another with these words.
Now concerning the
times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to
you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like
a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,”
then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant
woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for
that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light,
children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us
not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who
sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since
we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith
and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us
for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for
us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore
encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. We ask
you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the
Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their
work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the
idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See
that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one
another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in
all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not
quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast
what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself
sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept
blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful;
he will surely do it. Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy
kiss. I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the
brothers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
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