This is a copy of a talk I gave on Wednesday 25 October 2023 at the 10.00 am service at Saint Mary Magdalen, Billericay. The Bible Reading was 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10.

Introduction

Paul commended the Thessalonians, several times, as an example to encourage the surrounding churches, vs7-8. ‘And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia … your faith has become known everywhere.’ Christians living miles away were saying: ‘We want to be like them, that is exactly how our church ought to be.’  But, what makes an ideal church? What makes a church worth belonging to? What makes a church worth inviting others too? I think we can find five principles in these few verses. They were:


1) A Supernatural Church

Just take a look at the full description Paul gives of them in vs1: ‘To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ …’ Have you ever thought about what that means? It means that by virtue of these people accepting Paul’s message that Jesus is the Lord of the Universe, they are drawn into the presence of the supernatural God they never knew. They found a supernatural God; who created the world in a supernatural way; who gave them a supernatural saviour; and who gave supernatural gifts. They found that God’s supernatural nature is grace and peace.


2) A Chosen Church

Look at how Paul describes these believers in vs1. It reads literally: ‘To a church of Thessalonians.’ There is nothing particularly religious about the word ‘church’ ekklesia. It is simply a way of saying ‘a group of Thessalonians’ as we might say ‘a group of Billericians.’

The word church, vs1, means a ‘called-out people’ – God’s chosen ones. (Acts 15:13-18). Seven times in John 17 Jesus referred to believers as those whom the Father gave to Him out of the world. John 15:16: You have not chosen me but I have chosen you. Ephesians 1:4:  He (the Father) has chosen us in Him (Jesus) before the foundation of the world. God ‘choosing us’ is known as the doctrine of divine election.


3) A Persuaded Church

Acts 17 describes how this church was brought together.  We are told how the apostle Paul and a few friends turned up in town and went straight to the synagogue. Some Jews and Greeks became followers of Jesus. But then some of the synagogue Jews turned nasty and, with rent-a-mob, ran Paul and his friends out of town. So, we are talking about a time period of no more than 3 to 4 weeks to gather a group of believers through preaching the gospel, then initiate some follow up talks on Christian basics (an Alpha Course?) and that was it – a church was formed. Isn’t that astonishing? Totally different from any model we might set up, isn’t it?

Luke doesn’t describe these Thessalonians as being converted, but as having been persuaded. This was not just an emotional experience; they became convinced of the truth. That is, their minds were engaged as they listened very carefully to Paul’s arguments about who Jesus is and what he has done when they became Christians. So, this shows us that we should never underestimate the part the mind/intellect plays in evangelism.  Intellectual evangelism doesn’t stop at the mind; it filters down to the heart and captures the whole person leading to a totally different way of thinking and behaving; a complete reordering of lifestyle and values and ethics.


4) An Enthusiastic Church

The enthusiasm of the Thessalonian church showed itself through their  faith, love and hope and in the way they received and believed what Paul and Silas taught, vs5-8, and they never lost that enthusiasm for God’s word and for sharing the Gospel with others and they were enthusiastic in their support of the leaders God had placed over them, vs6a.

Faith will always be tested and persecution is one of the tests, (Matthew 13:21; 2 Timothy 3:12) though none of us have had to undergo the persecution those in the early church and many in our world today are subject to because they refuse to renounce Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Yet, despite martyrdom and persecution, the Thessalonians continued to enthusiastically welcome God’s messengers and the message of Jesus.

They received the word, vs5-6, they proclaimed the word, vs7-8 and they lived the word, vs9. It is the responsibility, and privilege, of every believer, and every church in every generation, to receive, share and live the message of salvation with a lost and dying world.

It never ceases to amaze me how unenthusiastic Christians can be in comparison to their praise of the risen King. The German philosopher Nietzsche (Nee-chuh) said: If Christians expect me to believe in their Redeemer, they have got to look a lot more redeemed!


5) A Transformed Church

In vs9 we read that they turned from their idols to serve God.  Now an idol is anything which occupies the place of God in our lives, what we live for, eat, breath and sleep for.  It might be a sport, it might be a career, it might be a club we belong to, it might be another person, more often it is ourselves, isn’t it? In Romans 12:2, Paul says that we are to ‘be transformed by the renewing of our minds’. This was how Paul knew those Thessalonians were chosen of God. He saw a change/transformation in their lives.

It seems to me that it was God who initiated ‘extreme makeovers?’ God is in the business of transforming people. No one who put their trust in Jesus was ever disappointed. Whether it was a leper cut off from society. A prostitute spurned by the religious establishment. A broken hearted widow who just lost her only son. Jesus was there for them.

But it is not simply individual Christians that need to model the new life, whole Christian communities need to so as well. No church can spread the Gospel with any degree of integrity unless it has been visibly transformed by the Gospel it preaches.


Conclusion

These few verses certainly give us plenty to think about what it means to be: a Supernatural church; a Chosen church; a Persuaded church; an Enthusiastic church and a Transformed church. Paul commends the Thessalonians for their faith, their love, and their hope. These are often described as the cardinal virtues of the Christian life and, perhaps, go a long way to explain why Paul used them as an example to others. Were they the perfect church? I don’t think so, and this is why …

The Perfect Church

If you should find the perfect church
Without one fault or smear,
For goodness sake! Don’t join that church;
You’d spoil the atmosphere.

If you should find the perfect church
Where all anxieties cease
Then pass it by, lest joining it
You’d mar the masterpiece.

If you should find the perfect church
Then don’t you ever dare,
To tread upon such holy ground;
You’d be a misfit there.

But since no perfect church exists
Made of imperfect men,
Then let’s cease looking for that church
And love the church we’re in.

Of course, it’s not a perfect church,
That’s simple to discern
But you and I and all of us
Could cause the tide to turn.

What fools we are to flee our post
In that unfruitful search
To find at last where problems loom
God proudly builds His church.

So let’s keep working in our church
Until the resurrection.
And then we each will join that church
Without an imperfection.

Mavis Williams

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: The text contained in this sermon is solely owned by its author, Revd Paul A. Carr. The reproduction, or distribution of this message, or any portion of it, should include the author’s name.