"A model church" by Rod Bayley, 3 February 2008, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

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They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. Well, from the
end of primary school through to the middle of high school the West
Indian cricket team would have been very flattered by my back yard
antics! Their team was at their unbeatable peak and I specialised in
imitating individual players, especially their fast bowlers. I was
rather fond of my Michael Holding impersonation - he was one of their
fastest bowlers at his peak. He was nicknamed “Whispering Death”
because he had such a smooth, silent run-up, before unleashing
terrifying deliveries that batsmen were often struggling to play. He
used to have a long run-up from the boundary fence - fortunately we
lived on 5 acres, so I had a run-up of about 50 metres after pushing
off the house, and I thought I perfectly mimiced his fast action when
I finally delivered the ball to my patient brother. The illusion was
only broken when occasionally my brother - as an Australian batsmen
clone - smashed my Michael Holding delivery back past the house. But
I also had another unlikely model for my bowling - his name was Dilip
Doshi. He was an Indian spin bowler who didn’t take many wickets (114
in tests), and who couldn’t bat or field, and so most people cannot
remember him. A Shane Warne he was not. What’s more, he was left
handed, and I am not. I’m not sure how he became my unlikely model,
but my brother enjoyed it because I didn’t take so long to deliver the
ball, and it was usually as ineffective as Dilip.

Well, in verse 7 of our passage, Paul says that the Thessalonian
church became “a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.”
But, like Dilip Doshi, it appears ironic that they would be called a
model. We read about the background to the establishment of the
church in Acts 17. It appears that Paul only spent a month planting
the church, and the only subsequent follow-up was a short visit from
Timothy, who was sent back by Paul (1 Thess 3:1-10, Acts 18:5). It is
as a result of Timothy’s report that Paul is writing to encourage and
instruct this fledgling church. Not only is the church young, having
only received limited teaching from Paul, Silas and Timothy, but it
was facing persecution. Verse 6 tells us that they had believed
despite “severe suffering.” Of course we read in Acts that Paul had
faced great opposition bringing the gospel to them - he’d been forced
to leave town. So it is easy to imagine this persecution continuing
for the new Christians.

But, despite this troubled beginning, Paul saw the church at
Thessalonica as a model community, a model church. Well, you are a
part of this local church, or you may become part of it, and verse 7
raises a big question of interest to us all - ‘What does a model
church look like?’

Well, in verses 9b to 10a we have a summary of the Thessalonian
model. Paul says, “They tell how you turned to God from idols, to
serve the living and true God, and to wait for his son from heaven.”
The three verbs that I emphasised mark the three crucial steps in the
Thessalonian model - “turn”, “serve” and “wait.”

Firstly, they “turned.” In verse 9 we read that they “turned” to God
from idols. The verb translated “turned” from the Greek became almost
a technical term for conversion in the New Testament. It means to
turn from sin, or rebellion against God, and trust in Jesus, or to
turn from idols to God. It was a complete about-face in repentance.

In November of 2000, Christine and I travelled into Sydney’s CBD on a
sunny afternoon to climb the Harbour bridge. By the time we got into
‘Bridge Climb’ for our late afternoon assault, the sky had become
ominously dark, with a thunderstorm threatening. But our ‘Bridge
Climb’ leader assured us that the climb would go ahead and we were
soon in the middle of what they call “a thorough briefing” - it was a
45 minute routine of being dressed in the appropriate clothing and
safety belts, and communication equipment, and doing practice climbs
over their indoor replica of the bridge’s steel platforms. Midway
through the routine we could see rain falling outside, but as our time
neared to go out, the rain bucketed down accompanied by thunder. Yet
we were still assured that our climb would go ahead - rain wouldn’t
worry us, after all we’d been fitted with special rain jackets as
well. Well, led by our seemingly unstoppable leader, we set out in
pouring rain somewhat anxiously, unsure of experiencing anything like
the promised “breathtaking 360 degree views.” But as we walked along
the bridge’s undercarriage underneath the roadway, fork lightning
started falling all around us, and our nerves increased to fear of
death. I was looking at my joggers wondering if they contained enough
rubber to protect me from a direct lightning strike on the steel
bridge. Yet we continued on until we were about to climb the ladders
which would take us out into the open above the roadway. At the last
possible point of return ‘Bridge Climb’ changed their mind on their
decision, and our climb was aborted - we happily made an about-face
and returned to safety inside. That’s an example of what repentance
looks like - a complete change of mind, and an about-face.

It would be difficult to exaggerate how radical the about-face of the
Thessalonians was towards God, how radical their change of allegiance
was - for as we can see in verse 9, God is contrasted starkly with the
idols that the mainly Greek congregation had formerly believed in.
Notice that the idols are dead, but God is living; the idols are
false, but God is true; the idols are many, but God is one.

So, was Paul convinced of the Thessalonians’ model conversion only
because of reports from the surrounding areas, such as he talks about
in verses 8 and 9? Notice what Paul writes from the second half of
verse 8: “your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we
do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what
kind of reception you gave us” (v8b-9a). Does he base his conviction
that they are a model church just on these second-hand reports? Well,
no! In verses 4 to 6 Paul was already confident they were chosen by
God (v4), because the gospel brought by Paul (v5) was welcomed with
joy (v6). Notice what Paul says in verse 5: “because our gospel came
to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy
Spirit and with deep conviction.” The reason it was welcomed was that
it came to them with power, and with deep conviction on Paul’s part.
Both were due to the work of the Holy Spirit. Both the power of the
gospel to convict the Thessalonians, and the conviction with which
Paul preached it, were enabled by the Holy Spirit. So, Paul saw first
hand what was now being reported back to him by others - that the
Thessalonians did indeed “turn” from their Greek idols to God. They
had been powerfully saved by God through the preaching of the gospel.

Secondly, having turned from idols, the Thessalonians then “served”
the living and true God. They had not just turned from their old
life, but they had a new life of service. In verse 6 we see that the
Thessalonians imitated Paul, Silas and Timothy, and therefore the
teaching of Jesus whose servants they were. Notice that verse 6 begins
with: “You became imitators of us and of the Lord.” This process of
modelling a life of service by Paul, was crucial for the Thessalonians
to live out their new faith in Jesus. Just as important, this led to
the imitators (the Thessalonians) being imitated by others in time.
In verse 7 it says the Thessalonians “became a model to all believers
in Macedonia and Achaia” - that is, all of what is modern day Greece.

And the reason they became a model to others was that they spread the
gospel which had saved them. Notice that the gospel “rang out” from
them in verse 8 - the phrase here refers to a sound of trumpets or a
ringing of bells. Paul was likening their sharing of the gospel to a
loud noise which seemed to reverberate throughout the valleys of
Greece. In other words, the good news about Jesus was advancing and
going out from the local church - they had received the message from
Paul, and now they were sharing it with others.

It reminds me of an African pastor from Ghana who I heard speak a few
years ago at college. He said their country did not need any more
European missionaries to come over and preach the gospel and plant
churches. The church had been established in the country - what was
needed was only support training for national pastors. You see, after
receiving the gospel for 200 years from European missionaries, Ghana
along with other African nations such as Kenya, are now sending out
their own missionaries to the middle east and other areas. They are
now passing on the gospel which they received. We see from Paul’s
description of the Thessalonians that “serving” includes sharing the
gospel with others - passing on the good news that we ourselves have
already received.

Thirdly, the Thessalonians were “waiting” for the return of Jesus.
Verse 10 states: “and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised
from the dead - Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” At
first it may seem surprising that “waiting”, which is a passive
action, goes together with the active verb of “serving.” But each
balances the other. On the one hand, however hard we work and
“serve,” there are limits to what we can accomplish. Though we strive
now, we are looking forward to the day when our Saviour returns and
the old order passes away. In terms of serving the gospel, we
acknowledge that God’s salvation plan is dependent on Him and the work
of His Spirit in individuals. Neither can we perfect society and
build a Christian utopia through moral reforms, through Christian
influence. Though we should be active in our world and should seek
justice for the oppressed, and work to see the principles of God’s
word employed in our society’s laws and structures, our service of God
and others cannot produce heaven on earth now. For that we have to
“wait” for Christ to return, and the hope of heaven to be realised -
for the new heaven and the new earth (Rev.21:1).

The English puritans in the 16th and 17th centuries struggled with the
desire to create a nation which was completely controlled by biblical
principles - one that would impose Christian principles on all
citizens. After about 90 years of trying to influence the monarchy
and parliament in England, their dream appeared to materialise when a
devout Christian named Oliver Cromwell overthrew the monarchy (in
1649) - they thought they could create heaven on earth, a perfect
Christian society. Yet the dream evaporated in just over a decade
with the return of the monarchy. The desire to create heaven on earth
through revolution had failed. You see, you simply cannot impose
God’s principles from the top down - individuals have to turn to Jesus
for real change to occur, and to “wait” for him to return and bring in
his kingdom, to see perfection. Our home is not this fallen world.

On the other hand, we don’t wait in idleness, indifferent to the needs
of the world - we need to “serve” and share the gospel. So, this
third aspect of “waiting” for Christ is crucial, particularly for our
endurance in serving - we need to have the big picture in mind. As
verse 3 tells us, this future hope will sustain us. Notice the
“endurance” that we will have, particularly in the light of
persecution which may be faced, if we have this heavenly focus, this
certain future hope in mind.

Well, what applications can we draw today from the model response to
the gospel that the Thessalonian church made? Firstly, have we
“turned” to God from our idols. The Church Life Surveys have shown
consistently since 1996 that only about 5% of Australians are
evangelical Christians, with perhaps another 5% attending church -
that means that at least 90% of Australians serve an idol, because if
you’re not serving God, you’re serving something else. The idols in
our Australian culture are fairly obvious - they are usually self, or
money, or possessions, or career, or even family. When any of these
things become the number one priority in our life, then they have
pushed God down the list from his rightful priority as our Creator,
and have become idols.

If today you have not turned from your idols yet, and haven’t realised
that you are in rebellion against God and are in need of being saved -
then this is the first thing to understand. The bible says sin or our
rebellion against God separates us from being in a relationship with
God. Our rebellion can be either open hostility to Christianity and
rejection of the existence of God and His authority over your life; or
simply indifference or apathy towards God - you may have simply
ignored His great love for you shown in the giving of His son Jesus.
Well, like the Thessalonians, you can “turn” towards God and seek
forgiveness because of Jesus’ death on the Cross which paid the price
for your sin. If you are thinking about your need of salvation,
please speak to myself, or someone you know this morning. Here at
Wollongong Baptist we want our focus to be about presenting this good
news of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection so that people might
turn to God in response to his love.

Secondly, for those of us who have been saved by God’s grace through
trusting in what Jesus has done on our behalf, the question is whether
we are really “serving” the living and true God. Are we imitating
Jesus in our daily lives, and sharing the gospel, the good news that
brings salvation? As individuals and as a church, a model community,
we need to be like a telecommunications satellite, which having
received the message, transmits the message on. Our faith needs to
“ring out” - it is something we have to continually work at, because
it’s God’s simple plan for evangelism - that the local church as a
group take the gospel out to the community that we live in. Our
intention here at church is that we will come, to go - that is, we
will come to be built up in our faith, that we might go out and share
it with our friends and contacts. Obviously, if we are to serve in
this way, we need to have first turned - we have to be living out the
faith that we are sharing.

Thirdly, are we too earthly minded to be of any heavenly good? Or vice
versa? Have we got a balance between “serving” here on earth, and
“waiting” expectantly for Christ’s return? It seems to me that our
problem is more likely to be earth-bound thinking like the Puritans -
being caught up totally in our ministry or our programs, and wanting
to see total obedience to God’s word now, to see friends saved now.
This is because we naturally long to see perfection and we’re
conscious that we live in a fallen world with so much that is wrong -
and it is right that we seek to bring change where we have
opportunities, ultimately by sharing the gospel with people that God
might change them by his Holy Spirit. Yet we won’t see perfection -
we need to “wait” for Christ’s return to experience this, and this
certain future hope will sustain us as we serve now. The glorious
hope of heaven awaits those who trust in Jesus for their salvation and
we need to maintain this eternal perspective.

So, we have seen this morning that the model church “turns”, “serves”
and “waits.” Wollongong Baptist can be a model church, holding out
the good news of Jesus to the community of Wollongong, as individually
and together we turn to God, and continue to serve Him, and as we wait
expectantly for the return of Christ and the sure hope of heaven which
is our true home, where we will be in the presence of Jesus and see
him face to face.