I Thessalonians 1: 7-10
On December 30, 1940, hundreds of German planes attacked London with
thousands of fire bombs and tons of explosives.
Their goal: Destroy St. Paul’s
Cathedral. The Germans had hit the
cathedral two months before but the damage left the building largely
untouched. Hitler believed the
destruction of this symbol would break the British spirit. Again, alhough many buildings around the
cathedral burned, the cathedral stood.
St. Paul’s Cathedral is one of the world’s most famous churches.
For a brief moment, two thousand years ago, the Thessalonian church was
one of the best-known churches among early Christians.
Listen to what Paul writes.
...you became an example to all the
believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
Those who inspired by the example of
Paul and the others became examples themselves.
Their lives and resilient joy inspired other Christians.
Their faithfulness was such that
they were models to other believing communities.
[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.
Like a bell ringing, the faith of
the Thessalonian Christians rang out through the region and far beyond Thessalonica. What became known was the quality of their
faith, its content and its focus.
[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…,
The reference is not to the
hospitality with which Paul and company were received; it concerns how the Thessalonian Christians
embraced the gospel’s message.
In a time and place where people
welcomed almost any religion and treated almost all religions as equally valid,
they took the tougher course and “turned from idols to the one true God.”
Theirs was a deep
transformation: "...you broke with
the worship of false gods when you were converted to God and became servants of
the living and true God..."
We may not appreciate what was
involved in these Thessalonians turning away from their gods. For generations they had been taught that
these gods represented the power behind all that happened in their lives for
good or ill. Appease them and, perhaps,
the good would outweigh the bad; offend them and life would become—well—a Greek
tragedy.
At the same time, the Greeks tended
to look upon those who made such conversions as having abandoned tradition and
family values. Taking that step
sometimes led to criticism, ostracism, and persecution. Even in the face of this they, experienced
joy.
[10] and to wait for his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
They
not only turned away from a worldview which offered no solution for their
deepest needs, they turned to new worldview.
Their trust was now in Christ.
In
him, they found a Savior who would deal with their sins, a Savior who had come
from God.
As
he did so often, in his preaching and in his letters, Paul affirms the
Resurrection. That victory assures the
believer of Jesus' power to save sinners.
Jesus saves from the wrath which ought to be ours due to our sins and
will save us from the wrath to come on the whole world. The coming Judgment is part of the Christian
Creed.
The
word translated "wrath" or judgment is "orge" and suggests
punishment.
The
word translated as "wait" suggests waiting for one whose coming is
expected. In this case, it refers to
Jesus’ Return. While they were serving
God, they were to wait patiently and confidently for his Christ’s return. This was apparently a theme in Paul’s
preaching when he came to Thessalonica but nothing suggests his emphasis was
out of balance.
1. Any
church that opens itself to the gospel can become a powerful witness to that
gospel.
What is important
for such churches is not size or fame.
We might easily think that when our bookstores are filled with books by
mega-church pastors and pastors from smaller churches flock to conferences
promising to turn their churches into megachurches.
The real key to
being an effective witness—whether a church or an invidual—is being open to the
transforming power of the gospel.
That begins with
confidence in that gospel. We have to
resist the temptation to believe the gospel is no longer important or relevant.
No church can
afford to ignore the changes in its culture.
Yet, no church can hope to be effective if it believes nothing is more
important than being modern. Someone has
said there’s more hope for a church that is contented to be grounded in the
first century than there is for the church that is fifteen minutes behind the
times and desperately trying to catch up.
2. Any
church that would be a powerful witness to the gospel must remain faithful to
the content of that gospel.
The Gospel
includes affirmations regarding God, human sin, and salvation. It speaks of Jesus, his death, his
resurrection, and his return.
Every one of these
elements is challenged today—or threatened by neglect.
The notion of there
being one true God who deserves our worship and that religions that do not
worship this God are misled, is largely rejected today. Yet, only by rejecting a fundamental
principle of logic can we argue that all religions worship the same God.
The Thessalonian
Christians yearned for Christ’s return; it
was at the forefront of their thinking.
Most early Christians held that hope in their hearts, some apparently
believed that return would happen during their lifetime. There’s no surprise that it became a part of
their proclamation of the gospel. That’s
not so true today.
I don’t know that
I can say the Return of Christ is at the forefront of my thinking. There are times when I find myself thinking
about it, especially this time of year.
Winter sometimes gets me to wishing for that eternal spring. More often, I think: “If the Lord should
come, I won’t have to do my taxes.”
Because Paul will
treat this doctrine at length later in the letter, I want to suggest reasons we
might neglect the doctrine.
We know those
who’ve become obsessive. It’s all they
talk about and read about. .
We know those
who’ve hurt the cause of Christ by marking his return on their calendars and
then publicizing it.
The remedy is
balance. When the message of the church
is biblically balanced, it speaks to our greatest needs by dealing with our
concerns about the past, the present, and the future.
3. Any
church that remains faithful to the gospel will see Christians encouraged and
lives changed.
The Thessalonian
church was facing difficult times with faithfulness and joy. Other bands of believers seeing this would
have been encouraged as they faced difficult times.
That church which
remains faithful to the gospel has the message which will change lives. We need this in our world as surely as those
in the first century needed it because many we know are ensnared by idols. John Stott says,
“… the more
sophisticated idols (that is, God substitutes) of modern secular cities are
equally powerful. Some people are eaten
up with a selfish ambition for money, power or fame. Others are obsessed with their work, or with
sport or television, or are infatuated with a person, or addicted to food,
alcohol, hard drugs or sex. Both
immorality and greed are later pronounced by Paul to be forms of idolatry,
because they demand an allegiance which is due to God alone. So every idolater is a prisoner, held in
humiliating bondage.
“Then, through the gospel and the grace of
God, in many cases suddenly and completely, the prisoner turns to God from the
idols (whether superstitious or sophisticated) which have so fare controlled
his or her life. The experts call it a
‘power encounter,’ for it is a personal encounter with Jesus Christ in which
the spell of the idol is broken and the superior power of the living and true
God is demonstrated. People are amazed
and filled with awe, and they spread the good news.”
That’s what being
faithful to the gospel can do.
4. Any
church that encourages other Christians and changes lives will have an
influence beyond its narrow boundaries.
Conclusion
I’m glad St.
Paul’s Cathedral survived the vicious attacks; it’s a beautiful church with a rich
history. London’s other famous church,
Westminster Abbey is also beautiful. Pat
and I have seen both. They’re
impressive.
Almost in the
shadow of Westminster Abbey is another church, far less famous, Westminster
Chapel. The architecture isn’t as
grand. There are no royal weddings in
this church. No kings and other famous
Britons are buried there. Westminster
Chapel is one of the best-known churches in English Evangelicalism. For years, it has preached the gospel and
continues to preach the gospel. It’s a
church that has changed lives.
There’s nothing
wrong with being a church known for its architecture or its rich history. But it’s especially wonderful to be a church
known for seeing lives changed.
