Rejoicing in Grace

if God’s people would take their
Bibles and turn to 1 Thessalonians, Paul’s epistle, his first epistle
to the Thessalonian church. And as you are turning, I would
wish you a hearty happy anniversary. This is the passage that I purpose
to preach at our 20th anniversary back in September. I’m just now
coming up for air and just recently had enough time to really delve
into this incredible chapter. This book, this epistle came
about from Paul’s very brief visit to this city. During Paul’s
second missionary journey, a journey that took Paul from his home
base in Antioch, his sending church, across Asia, over the
Adriatic Sea, down through Macedonia, including a three week stay in
Thessalonica, back again ultimately up and through and back to Jerusalem. During this great tour of the
gospel, Paul had many stops and stays, one in particular that
by all accounts should not have borne fruit at all. It was a
visit that would last less than a month because the gospel was
met with such hatred and hostility And yet against all odds, the
gospel not only took root, but it began to flourish there in
Thessalonica. The city was Thessalonica, and
this is Paul’s first and most prominent letter back to this
fledgling little church plant. If you have your finger in 1
Thessalonians, as you are no doubt adept, flip if you would
to Acts 17. I want to just introduce you
to the episode that I referenced already. This brief stay that
on the face of it looks very unfruitful. Acts chapter 17,
Paul and his companions are traveling about proclaiming Christ. We
pick it up in verse 1. Now when they had traveled through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica where there
was a synagogue of the Jews. And according to Paul’s custom,
he went to them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from
the scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that Christ had
to suffer and rise again from the dead and saying, this Jesus
whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ. And some of them
were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas along with a large
number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women.
But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked
men from the marketplace, formed a mob and set the city in an
uproar. And attacking the house of Jason,
they were seeking to bring them out to the people. When they
did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some of the
brethren before the city authorities, shouting, These men who have
upset the world have come here also. And Jason has welcomed
them. And they all act contrary to
the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. They stirred up the crowd and
the city authorities who heard these things. And when they had
received a pledge from Jason and others, they released them.
The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night
to Berea. And when they arrived, they went
into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded
than those in Thessalonica. For they received the word with
great eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see whether
these things were so. Now, if that’s all we had, it
doesn’t look really good. In fact, it looks very bleak
for the little city of Thessalonica to begin to foster a church plant. It doesn’t look good at all.
Great persecution had broken out. a very feeble plant at the
very best. And so several weeks ago, during
our 20th anniversary celebration, I alluded to this chapter, 1
Thessalonians chapter 1, because I told you that this was the
chapter that most reminded me of this church, Providence Bible
Church. And I contemplated preaching
that on our anniversary, and the Lord led us in a different
direction, as you recall, Acts chapter 20. Time and preparation
didn’t allow it until now. And so if you would, just read
along with me, 1 Thessalonians chapter one, and I begin here
at verse one. Paul and 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 making mention of you in our prayers
constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love
and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the
presence of our God and Father, knowing, brethren, beloved by
God, His choice of you. For our gospel did not come to
you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit,
and with full conviction, just as you know what kind of men
we prove to be among you for your sake. You also became imitators
of us and of the Lord having received the word in much tribulation
with the joy of the Holy Spirit so that you became an example
to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of
the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and
Achaia but also in every place your faith toward God has gone
forth. so that we have no need to say
anything. For they themselves report about
us what kind of reception we had with you and how you turned
to God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for
his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, that is
Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. That is the chapter, that is
the passage that reminds me more than any other of this church. And I want to go through it this
morning because what I’ve noticed about this passage, it is a pastor
thanking God himself for his flock and for God’s work in the
flock. And in that I see five Graces
if you will five marks of God’s grace at work in the lives of
these people that I think Echo what God is doing even in our
midst. I Don’t want you to get Proud
I Don’t want to suggest to you that in the Thessalonian Church
every last individual was godly and righteous and productive
and that these things could be said about anybody and everybody
because we know that would be that would be pretentious and
presumptuous it’s not true of them and it’s not true of us
just like in our church there are people that refuse to serve
just like in Thessalonica there are people that had plenty of
excuses that that were indolent, that were unfaithful, that were
careless in the way that they lived, just like in our day. But generally speaking, Paul
could step back and he could look at the church, he could
look at the church in Thessalonica and express praise to God for
what he saw. And I say likewise. Generally
speaking, God has been abundantly gracious to us. And God continues
to be abundantly gracious to us in pouring out His grace in
individuals’ lives, slowly but surely, sanctifying them and
making them to be fruitful. That’s what God’s grace does.
It has a purpose. It’s productive. It bears fruit. I want to look at the graces
that we see in this passage. First and foremost, this mark
of grace that the shepherd himself saw. And I would just tell you
that that is a real blessing that we need to cultivate. It’s
a discipline that we need to cultivate. We often look at others
with a critical eye, don’t we? We look at them not for what
God is doing, but for what God has not yet done. It’s much easier
to see that. And we note those things. Those are the things that irritate
us. And even if we pray for them,
we pray not for what God has already done. We pray about those
things, those shortfalls, those areas where God maybe hasn’t
touched. Not the Apostle Paul. It’s not
that Paul would never admonish because in some of his letters
he admonishes the saints very strongly. But he always begins with a thanksgiving. In his letters he always seems
to find if you will, the silver lining, he always seems to find
the mark of God’s grace in individuals’ lives, and it’s not that he commends
them for it, he thanks God. Let’s look at the shepherd’s
joy in the Christian graces that he sees here in Thessalonica. First of all, the first grace
was the grace of godly action. the grace of godly action. Look
at verse two. We give thanks to God always
for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, constantly
bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and
Father. It was typical for Paul in a
very formal letter. In Paul’s day, it was typical
for people to follow their very brief greetings, almost an address
label, if you will, with an expression of gratitude to the recipient
of the letter, but not just the recipient of the letter. Especially
in Paul’s case, it was common for him to thank not the recipients,
but God for the work of grace. And every letter that Paul wrote,
only Galatians accepted, Paul followed that same pattern. Introduction,
followed by thanksgiving, followed by the body of his letter. And
the very first thing that Paul mentions about his thankful heart
is that it found expression in his prayer life. It wasn’t just
that he developed a warm feeling for what God was doing in his
midst. He turned in gratitude and fell on his knees before
God and expressed gratitude, making mention of you in our
prayers. People, I would just tell you
that if you’ve fallen into a critical spirit, and it’s so common in
our day, Where all you see is is the shortfalls all you see
are the idiosyncrasies of your fellow saints. A.W. Tozer many many years ago said
this. Now as a cure for the sour fault
finding attitude I recommend the cultivation of a habit of
thankfulness. We might say that sounds so simple.
but it’s so productive. And he explains why Thanksgiving
has a great curative power. The heart constantly overflowing
with gratitude will be safe from those attacks of resentfulness
and gloom that bother so many. A thankful heart cannot be cynical. Did you get that? And that’s
true of Paul. Paul couldn’t allow himself,
he couldn’t afford to live a life of cynicism and hopelessness. And so instead, Paul looked for
the work of God’s grace active in the individuals with whom
he interfaced. And so Paul’s thankfulness was
not just felt in his heart, it was expressed to God as here. It was passionate. It was warm.
It was affectionate. Not just toward the Thessalonians,
but toward God Himself. Paul and his co-laborers, Silvanus
or Silas and Timothy, had received good news. They had received
a good report of the happy state, the happy condition of the church
in Thessalonica. It was a surprising report. It
was an extra special blessing that their immediate response
was none other than it was as a spiritual reflex to fall on
their knees and to thank God for this remarkable work of grace. But please note this, Paul is
thankful And that thankfulness is for these Thessalonian believers,
but the thankfulness isn’t directed to them. The thankfulness, in
other words, Paul doesn’t thank the Thessalonian believers for
how they’re behaving, for achieving this high spiritual standard,
this standard of faith, Instead, he thanks God. He thanks God,
the one who had granted these Christians, as he does all believers,
the necessary grace to be faithful. The fact that the Thessalonians
believed at all, the fact that the Thessalonians had a testimony
at all, was due only to the abundant grace of God. The fact that they
were greatly faithful, was an even more impressive cause to Paul to thank
Almighty God. Look, if you will, at verse 3,
we give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention
of you in our prayers, constantly bearing in mind. That’s a Paul
word. That word constantly, unceasingly,
it’s a word that only Paul uses and when Paul uses it it’s almost
always in the context of prayer. It’s not just talking about the
regularity of his prayer habit but that regularly constantly
unceasingly when he went to prayer he prayed and thanked God for
the work of grace in the Thessalonians heart. He uses the same word,
1 Thessalonians 2.13. We also constantly thank God
that when you receive the word of God, you received it not as
the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God.
At the end of this great letter, Paul says, likewise, pray without
ceasing. Paul says here that there were
three Significant features three features that not only he recognized
but that others were beginning to recognize powerful features
of this small tiny little fledgling church that If not for these
things nobody would have known about them Your work of faith your labor
of love your steadfastness of hope And if you want to look at the
emphasis here, it isn’t faith alone or the love that they had
or the endurance alone, but it was on the work that flowed out
of the faith. It was on the laborious undertaking
that they engaged, the toilsomeness, if you will, that was prompted
by their love. It was on this endurance that
was built upon hope in Christ. We could say it very simply.
I remember how your faith was at
work. I remember how your love toiled. I remember that hope
that endured. Paul frequently mentions these
three graces of God. These are common graces at work
in the Christian’s life. Faith, love, and hope. And as
such, Paul mentions them frequently. As my dear brother that I one
day look to engage in glory, although we won’t be talking
about grammar and such, John Eady, Faithful commentator said
it this way these three graces are placed together by the Apostle
in natural order and development faith the spring of all spiritual
excellence, love allied to it and vitalized by it, and hope
based on that faith which is the substance of things hoped
for and stretching onward to the glorious appearing of the
Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, this is a microcosm
of the Christian life. Faith, love, and hope. It begins by faith. It carries
itself in love and conducts itself in love wherever it goes, all
the while hoping and looking up and anticipating the return
of Christ. Very briefly this morning, let’s
look at each of those. We give thanks to God always
for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers. constantly
bearing in mind your work of faith. It’s a very broad statement. He doesn’t pin down, we thank
you so much for your Sunday school teaching. We thank you so much
for whatever, plug in whatever ministry experience you’ve had. He doesn’t do that. He leaves
it very broad. It’s almost as what Paul mentions
to the Galatians, the fruit of the Spirit. What is the fruit
of the Spirit? Well, it’s the way that a Christian
conducts himself in the world. What is the work of faith? What’s
the work that a person does when they come to Christ and they
cannot but serve Christ? It’s the activity, it’s the labor
that faith inspires. The work here is the outgrowth
of our faith. The work in which we engage as
believers is the logical result of our faith, not in order to
secure some kind of faith. One pastor said, work springing
out of faith, your faith’s work. The living faith was clothed
with work. It was not a belief that was
dead, barren, and alone. No principle of action is so
powerful as genuine faith, and these believing Thessalonians
were noted as active workers. And the reason was they were
deep, ardent believers and lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ. They
could not but work. Secondly, labor of love. Our current day use of that little
phrase really downplays this grace, doesn’t it? It’s a virtue.
It’s a God-given virtue. It’s a work of God’s grace. But
in our day and age, when we say that it’s a labor of love, what
we mean by that is that we’re doing something for which we’re
not paid. I’m just gonna do it, and I can
leave early, because after all, it is a labor of love, or we’re not paid enough, or
the task is done as a pleasure like so many people do in serving
the community. But this, this is love’s labor. It’s love for Christ. It’s love
that issues forth in a passionate labor on behalf of others. It’s hard work. It’s dedicated
work. It’s work to the point of sweat
and tears and exhaustion. It’s passionate labor on Christ’s
behalf. This particular church was a
church that was known for its labor of love. Later on in this
epistle Paul writes to the Thessalonians. Now as to the love of the brethren,
you have no need for anyone to write you. Do you realize what
a grand statement that is? Paul was ready to tell any and
every church that he ever wrote, you need to work on unity, you
need to work on love, brotherly love, you need to be nice to
each other. Not the Thessalonians. As to the love of the brethren,
you have no need for anyone to write to you. For you yourselves
are taught by God to love one another. And they had learned
their lesson well. Because he says, for you indeed
practice it toward all the brethren who are in all of Macedonia.
Not only did they love the church in Thessalonica, but it bled
out from there and it touched the entire region. This labor. It was tireless for the Thessalonians. It was wearying toil. It spoke
of a job or a duty that took you to the very limits of your
ability and your strength. And it’s important to note that
Paul uses this little word to refer both to his manual labor
of tent building, but also to his labors in the gospel ministry. It doesn’t matter what the particular
job is, as long as it’s done unto the Lord, the love for Christ
is going to carry us through, isn’t it? This love, this love is a love for Christ. It’s not just a casual affection
for Him. It’s not just a casual affection
for our brothers and sisters in Christ. that it carries us through. It
carries us through no matter what so that we don’t develop
grudges. We don’t develop a bitterness
for the labor that we expend on others behalf. The third mark,
not only your work of faith and labor of love, but steadfastness
of hope. Paul uses this word so frequently
in his epistles. Even here in 1 Thessalonians,
he uses it over and over again. They received the word in much
tribulation. They endured the same sufferings
as Paul. 1 Thessalonians 2, 4. They persevered. They persevered
in the midst of persecution and affliction. In the midst of trials,
they were steadfast, immovable. translated frequently in Paul’s
epistles as perseverance, but it was more than just that. This
hope in the Lord Jesus Christ could have been described as
brave patience. Just an immovability by God’s
grace. They refused to give in. They
refused to quit looking up and looking for Christ and waiting
on him. When Paul notes of the Thessalonian
church, the grace of godly action, I
note along with him your work of faith, your labor of love,
your steadfastness of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. This church,
you saints here at Providence Bible Church manifest that same
work of faith, that same labor of love, that same steadfastness
of hope. You’ve long since given up the
foolish idea of salvation by some kind of works, even good
works. But you’re prompted by God’s
own spirit to show your faith by your works. And having come
to faith in Jesus Christ, you are naturally led to Christ’s
example and to the Spirit’s promptings to an energetic and practical
service of Christ and his people. But Paul notes a second work
of grace in the Thessalonian church. Not only the grace of
godly action, but the grace of divine election. This is a powerful
point. passage that we read already
this morning. It’s the grace of divine election.
Paul noted that this was true of the Thessalonian church. Look
at verse 4. Knowing brethren beloved by God
his choice of you. Paul is continuing the explanation
of his thankfulness. He’s already appended two little
participial phrases, making mention of you, constantly bearing in
mind, and now this third, knowing his choice of you. These were
the causes, the great causes of Paul’s thankfulness to God. And here, when he mentions his
choice, he’s pointing back to the sovereign decree of God He’s
pointing back to eternity past when God first set his electing
love on the Thessalonian believers. It’s just remarkable. Paul’s doxologies commonly look
beyond whatever was going on on a human level, on a physical
level, and he looks beyond to some divine grace, to some divine
work behind it. But when he looks at the Thessalonians,
he looks and he says, I know this. And that little word implied
an absolute confidence, a settled knowledge. When we share Christ with people,
we don’t know. We don’t know what God has for
them. We don’t know. whether God has chosen them or
not. That’s one of the great motivations to share your faith,
to open your mouth and proclaim Christ. We know that there are
some out there. That’s what keeps us motivated
to proclaim Him. But here, this is different.
Paul says, I know that God chose you. I know that you are of the
elect. That’s why he thanked God. And it’s what Paul knew of the
Thessalonians, not what they proclaimed of themselves. Hey,
I’m one of God’s chosen. What he points to is this deeper
idea, this deeper level of acknowledging God’s work in the
lives of these people. that this act of God in eternity
past in choosing individuals for a particular thing or even
for His sovereign grace at work in that entire community. What
makes one community more likely to have a faithful church than
another? Only God’s sovereignty. And so
this choice is not, you know, a choice to necessarily just
to some external privilege, but it’s a choice to eternal life.
And so we read this morning, blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places of Christ. What blessing? He chose us in him before the
foundation of the world. We should be holy and blameless
before him. In love, he predestined us to
adoption as sons. Now for Paul, as he looks at
the Thessalonian believers, he isn’t waxing theological here. He isn’t getting theoretical
in the concept of looking at the outworkings of God’s sovereignty. What he’s doing here is unlike what he does in Ephesians
1 or Romans chapter 8 or 1st Peter 1. It’s presumptive. He doesn’t defend the doctrine
of election. He doesn’t even really describe
the doctrine of election. He just acknowledges it’s presumptive
in a sense. He assumes that the Thessalonian
believers will know what he’s talking about, but he says, I
know that God set his electing love on you. What a comfort,
what an incredible and astounding comfort that must have been to
fledgling little believers who had only recently come to Christ
but had come to Christ in such a way that it made such a profound
impression on the great apostle. That he could look back on this
church and say, I wasn’t in the council chambers of God in eternity
past and God didn’t whisper a surprise in my ear that by the way He
had chosen you, I can see it. I can see it by what God is doing
in your life. You have been set apart for all
eternity. And this church, this church
is likewise. Not to every last individual
soul that this church not only understands and generally embraces
the very difficult doctrine of election, but you prove out by
your lives that you are truly God’s. That he has truly set
his love upon you. And I realize, and I would tell
you that with regards to all of these, all of these graces
that we’ll look at this morning, It not only should be an encouragement,
it should be for you a test, a place for you to go back and
ask, God, how am I stacking up here? Am I really truly manifesting
divine election? Am I really truly living like
one who has been set apart from eternity past and will be with
Christ in glory forever? It’s a great test. It’s a great point of examination
in your life. You say how did Paul know this?
How did Paul know without a doubt these people were chosen? Well
that’s essentially what the entire rest of this passage is about. Chapter 1 verse 5 through 10
is all about the way the Thessalonians had responded. Here’s how one
pastor put it, the grounds of his knowledge of their election
are given by the apostle and they are historical in nature.
In other words, it was based on what Paul saw of their lives. In his own experience of their
changed character, brightened by so many Christian graces,
he did not profess to know the eternal will, but from the pages
pardon me, or from the pages of the book of life thrown open
to him, but he came to a knowledge of it from the results so visibly
brought out among them.” In other words, Paul could see that they
were the chosen people of God by the way that God reshaped
their lives and patterned them after Christ himself. Thirdly,
the third mark of grace that a shepherd rejoices in, in looking
at his church. Not only the grace of godly action
and the grace of divine election, but the grace of spiritual enlivening. Do you realize that you don’t
figure God out, you don’t figure out how to get saved, you don’t
figure out the spiritual path to Almighty God. God reveals
that to you. God enlivens you. God opens your
eyes. God literally brings you to spiritual
life. Look at verse 5. We’ll go back
to verse 4 and we’ll take a running start at it. Knowing, brethren,
beloved by God, His choice of you, for our gospel did not come
to you in word only. but also in power and in the
Holy Spirit and with full conviction, just as you know what kind of
men we prove to be among you for your sake. Our gospel did
not come to you in word only. It wasn’t just like, you know,
it wasn’t a tape just playing blah, blah, blah. You know, it
didn’t just come in word. It came. And when we speak to
people, we speak in words. When we hand them a book, the
book has words. When we give them a tape or point
them in the direction of a recorded message, those messages have
words. There’s nothing wrong with words,
but Paul says it didn’t come in word only. It didn’t remain
there for very long. Paul looks. And he says that
we came and we spoke a message and something remarkable happened. We came and we preached in words.
We used words, but it didn’t remain a mere auditory message
for very long. It didn’t remain the written
word very long. In a book or in a tract, in a
sentence, in a letter to a friend, it didn’t remain that way very
long. And that’s what we know of God’s word, isn’t it? Living
and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. It doesn’t remain
long. It doesn’t return to God void. The gospel, the gospel
was the word. And it didn’t remain like this
lifeless seed that went down into the soil and died, but in
the case of the Thessalonians, God added something to it. You
could say, in a sense, to use the metaphor of gardening and
farming, that God watered it, but he watered it by way of the
Holy Spirit. Look at verse 5. Our gospel did
not come to you in word only, but in power and in the Holy
Spirit. It was a supernatural power that
was added to it. And the Thessalonians knew this
power. They knew the power because inexplicably,
all of a sudden these guys, that’s all they knew of them. These
three guys came to town, and they had a new message, but the
message seized their heart. The message pointed out their
sin. Their message pointed out the Redeemer. Their message told
them that their sins had been forgiven and paid for by Christ.
If only they would place their faith in Him. It was the power of the Holy
Spirit was an invisible power, but they knew it. They knew this
preaching was different, and it was different because The
Holy Spirit attended it. And Paul, looking, noted that
their response was different. As Paul looked at the, he had
preached the word in many places, and he had many different reactions,
even in the city of Thessalonica, to his preaching. Not everybody
believed. Not everybody gave him a hearty and wholesome and
welcome greeting. But the ones that did, it was
remarkable. It was a powerful response. The
Holy Spirit flipped on the switch. Paul explains it in 1 Corinthians
2. A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God.
They are foolishness to him. He cannot understand them because
they are spiritually appraised. Every person ever born is born
into that kind of stupor. But he who apprises He who is
spiritual appraises all things that he himself is appraised
by no one. In other words, there is a time and a place where the
Spirit enlivens, the Spirit grants grace to be able to see the truth
and hear the truth and respond to the truth. And that’s what
happened with the Thessalonians. Not only in power and in the
Holy Spirit, but with full conviction. We know. We’ve seen a thousand
people with partial conviction. We’ve seen a thousand people,
right, in our lifetime that were intrigued by the gospel, intrigued
by church, intrigued by this kind of spiritual thing. You
know, they even go and they get a new Bible and they’re intrigued.
And like those sprouts that fell among the rocky soil, they spring
up and for a while they look just like the rest of the plants
and they die off. We know what partial conviction
looks like, but full conviction? When Paul preached, there were
some that were brought to repentance. They were fully convinced, and
not only fully convinced, but from that point forward, they
broke ground and moved out. As one said, this inborn assurance
combined with the spirits in working and the powerful utterance
entrusted to them were to them a token that they were in The
audience is those whom they could soon recognize as God’s elect. As Paul looked out and he saw
people respond by grace to the message of salvation. And before
we leave verse five, I’ll just, very briefly, I wasn’t gonna
preach about the preachers, but let’s just look at them very
briefly. Just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among
you for your sake. First of all, it is vitally important
that we be among unbelievers. And Paul was among these unbelievers. And Paul was mightily used by
being among them. We are, as we were reminded last
week, we are to be in the world but not of the world. But note the second little prepositional
phrase there. You know what kind of men we
proved to be among you. We lived among you. We conducted
our lives among you for your sake. It’s important how we live. We live for the sake of those
before whom we live. We live for the sake of their
watching eyes upon us. And I ask you, are we mindful
of those two little things, that we are supposed to be among them,
and that we are supposed to live knowing that we are before a
watching world, and that our lives are conducted in a righteous,
God-honoring manner for the very sake, for the very spiritual
benefit of those who watch? Paul says that there is a grace
of spiritual enlivening that was palpable. He could see it
at work in the lives of his people, and I see it in the lives of
our church. When we speak of how the Word comes to us in power
and in the Holy Spirit, I have witnessed and watched conviction,
real deep-seated conviction with tears and repentance that says,
I don’t ever want to do that again. And I’ve watched God pour
out His grace and change lives. I’ve watched the full conviction
develop, the cultivation of principles, the cultivation of new affections
to live and walk, as we saw last week, in newness of life. There’s
a fourth mark of God’s grace that I see. As a shepherd looks
out over his church, not only the grace of godly action, the
grace of divine election, the grace of spiritual enlivening,
but this fourth, the grace of reciprocal influence. Look at verse six. You also became
imitators of us and of the Lord. Having received the word in much
tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became
an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. For
the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia
and Achaia, but in every place your faith toward God has gone
forward. You became imitators. Now we’re
a little nervous at that, aren’t we? One of my dear family members
used to say, Don’t do as I do, do as I say. We’re afraid to
have people emulate us a lot of times, aren’t we? Not Paul. 1 Corinthians 4.6, be imitators
of me. Philippians 3.7, join in following
my example. 1 Corinthians 11, be imitators
of me, and here’s the secret, just as I am of Christ. Hall
says it to the Thessalonians, you became imitators of us and
of the Lord because we were following the Lord. We were patterning
our life after the Lord Jesus. And when you pattern your life
after us, after our example, you were really following the
Lord Jesus. It was because they had received
the word out of much tribulation, joy of the Holy Spirit. But in
the end, they too became examples to others. As they followed the
Lord and followed hard after Christ, as they left off sin,
as they pursued righteousness, as they longed and sought and
pleaded and prayed for a God-honoring life, they soon became examples
to others. It’s amazing, isn’t it? It’s
amazing in the Christian life to watch how quickly you come
from disciple, follower, looking up, imitating others, too soon
you look around and there are other people looking at you.
It’s amazing. It’s God’s grace at work in the
lives of his children. Look at verse seven, so that
you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia. They
get this. I want you to understand how
broad this region is. This is essentially the size
of the whole state of Florida and almost as long. And he says
that the testimony of this Thessalonian church nestled up at the top
of a cove, the word of this church spread abroad, not only through
the entire region, but through the entire area that we now know
as Greece. Massive area. Paul says not only did the news
spread, but they became examples. They were exemplary. Paul could
easily have said, you know what, look, if you want to know how
to do church, go to Thessalonica. Go watch these people at work.
Watch how they interact with each other. Watch how they worship.
Watch how they love one another. The word of the Lord, he says in
verse 8, has sounded forth from you. What an incredible statement
that is. It is as if God is speaking,
but he’s not using words. He’s using lives. lives touched
by His grace. And their conversion in Christ
was so noteworthy, so powerful, so seasoned with the gospel that
it became a testimony in and of itself of the gospel. There is a reciprocal influence in Christianity. And not only
was it true of the Thessalonian church, it’s true of this church
as well. That some have come in like so many scared rabbits,
not really knowing, you know. It’s always curious to watch
people look for different books of the Bible as we reference.
Come in, they’re scared, they’re frightened. Still trying to loosen
themselves from the sin that so easily entangles us. and then
they begin to grow, and God begins to use them. And the next thing
you know, they’re teaching, and they’re modeling, and they’re
serving. That’s Christ at work in you. There’s a fifth and final. As the shepherd looks out over
his church, he sees God at work in these graces, the grace of
godly action. the grace of divine election,
the grace of spiritual enlivening, the grace of reciprocal influence,
and finally, the grace of thorough transformation. This is a funny
place to put this one. But I think Paul has a point.
The grace of thorough transformation, look at verse nine, for they
themselves, and he’s talking about all these people in Macedonia
and Achaia, they themselves report about us. Did you get this point? They’re telling Paul how he was
received by the Thessalonian church. Not that he was amazing,
but how amazingly God had used him. They themselves report about
us what kind of reception we had with you. This is a remarkable
thing. So powerful was this visit, so
amazing that it literally transformed lives. And Paul isn’t taking
credit here. But I want you to notice how
they changed, how thoroughly transformed they were. They themselves
report about us what kind of reception we had with you and
how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God.
And to wait for his son from heaven. Not only was the message not
opposed by the greater portion of the Thessalonians. The things that Paul taught were
received. They were attended with the Holy
Spirit himself and lives began to be changed and began to effervesce. This testimony began to effervesce
throughout the entire region. They turned to God from idols. They turned to the one true and
living God and they turn from these dead idols made out of
stumps of trees that were nothing until people put their faith
in it, and then they become possessed with demonic powers. Paul said,
you turn to God from that. You turn to God, you turn to
the real, true, and living God from all that foolishness that
was so, so much a part of the culture in their day. They turned not only to God from
idols, but they turned to serve Him. Their lives were changed.
They couldn’t wait to roll up their sleeves and get to work
for the sake of the kingdom that will never fail. They had seen
many kingdoms. These were people from all over
the world living currently in one of the most powerful kingdoms
that would ever be on the face of the earth, and it too failed. But to know that they could serve
an eternal Savior with an eternal kingdom. They couldn’t wait to
get to work. But they were looking up. They
were waiting. And if there’s one thing that’s
true of this church is it’s anticipation, it’s longing. Nothing wrong to
long for heaven. Nothing wrong to long for Christ’s
return. To wait for His Son from heaven
whom He raised from the dead. who rescues us from the wrath
to come. I mean, if that isn’t in your
heart, if there isn’t a longing to see Him and embrace Him and
to fall down and worship Him, even for that one point that
He rescued you from the wrath to come. One pastor said, He, in the fullness
of humanity, has gone up to plead, to reign, to sympathize, to prepare
a place, and He will return. according to promise to complete
His work, to raise His people, to invest them with spiritual
bodies, to confer on them the crown and totality of redemption.
This distinctive Christian grace of hope is based on faith. We
look up in faith. We look up believing that Christ
is going to return. And that was true of the Thessalonian
church, and it’s true of this church. That we are in the midst of a
very thorough transformation. The reason I think Paul puts
this at the end is the transformation is never complete on this earth.
We are always engaged in repentance. We are always engaged in transformation. We are always engaged in turning
to God and from idols. But it has been amazing for me
to see as a pastor the sin that people have left behind. great
sin, vices, foolish behavior, gossip, slander. And they’ve
turned to God out of devotion and out of a humble desire to
serve Him. Well, the world serves themselves. It’s a mark of God’s grace. At
the end of it, it’s all God’s grace. Every part of it. Would you humble yourselves before
this God of grace? O merciful God, we thank you for the recollection that when
we came to this city, someone asked in time if we had
done our demographics. And in times past we have. Noted
that yes we had. Done our demographics that there
were plenty of sinners here in Fort Collins. But now as we look back we know
that you have done. And begun and continue a mighty
work of grace in this community. We thank you for our little church
and we thank you that our own testimony does echo forth. We
thank you that you are changing and transforming lives for your
glory. Lord, it is a great testimony
to the abundant grace of God. Lord, we thank you and praise
you for the work that you’ve done in and among us. And even
as we course through this list, we know Because we know God,
we know of His grace, we know that many were likely very convicted. One of the most fearful things
I ever heard was, by and by when I look on His face, look on His
face, look on His face, by and by when I look on His face, I’ll
wish that I had given Christ more. Father, that’s true of
many of us. Lord we pray that if there are
those that in addition to those believers who have put their
faith in Christ and have yet to really put their hand to the
plow really serve Christ. Lord we pray that you would so
bless them by your grace that they could not but desire to
serve you. Lord, for those who do not know
Christ, who have not placed their faith in the Savior, may this
be the day of salvation. May this be the mark, the beginning
of the mark of their own election. Lord, we thank you and praise
you for our Savior. We thank you for your work in
our lives, for your glory. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray.
Amen.