Genuine Christianity
1 Thessalonians 1 (Jan 2018)
(all Bible quotations from NIV 1984)
Purpose: To show what Genuine Christianity looks like
One of the greatest joys I have in my job is seeing God at work in the lives of people up close and
personal: Saving, changing, transforming, moulding, shaping. It’s wonderful seeing it happen - whether
its through my own personal ministry but even more when I get to see people changing as a result of other
people’s ministry to them. As I look around this room today I can see all sorts of people who are not what
they were 10 years ago.
Some of you have become Christians in that time, some of you have put to death things you’d struggled
with sometimes for years, some of you have made radical decisions after hearing God’s call on your life
which has altered your direction, or the way your family operates, or your financial plans, or how you’ve
given yourself to God and trusted him in ways you’d never dreamed of. Some of you have come through
some very bitter and difficult times of struggle with life circumstances, or of opposition from family, and
you’ve been made stronger as a result and your confidence in God has only grown. Some of you have
become incredible bold about your faith and you’re having conversations you never have dreamed of about
Jesus, and some have even had the most wonderful privilege of leading someone else to the Lord - which is
truly the most exciting thing for me to see that happening through you.
And I thank God for you all, and its right to thank him rather than ourselves because its all a testimony to
the power of God who works through his word.
God says that his word will never return to him empty and as you look around this room you can see
people who are not the same, who have changed - some radically and suddenly, others gradually as God’s
spirit has taken his word and planted it deeper and deeper in your hearts.
And as we open up the letter of 1 Thessalonians today you can see how excited and overjoyed Paul is
because he can see God at work in their lives: They are completely different from what they had been.
And as Paul thanks God for them and gives the evidence of their changed lives we really do get to see what
genuine Christianity is.
Background
Now by way of background: We heard in the Acts reading about how the gospel had come to Thessalonica
which is a city in Macedonia - just north of Greece. And it’s absolutely astonishing the effect the gospel
had especially since Paul and his fellow missionaries were there only three weeks. And in just that short
time we heard ‘some of those in the synagogue were persuaded, and a great many of the devout greeks
and not a few of the leading women of the city’ and that’s how the church started. But we also heard how
at the end of that third week there’d been riots in the city over this new religion, some of the leaders of this
new church had been arrested and Paul, Silas and Timothy had been run out of town.
But the trouble hadn’t stopped there. Paul moved on to Berea but his enemies from Thessalonica pursued
him across the country and he’d had to escape there too and made for Athens.
And its from Athens, in chapter 3 verse 1 that he sends Timothy back to get news of the Thessalonians.
And according to 3 verse 6 Timothy has just returned, and he’s got good news, they’re still alive and
kicking and going on remarkably in the faith despite incredible opposition and difficulty from those
around.
And so he writes to encourage them and to assure them that they are on the right path, that their faith is
genuine and that they haven’t been led astray by some charlatan who was only out to rob them blind as the
rumour mongers were starting to put around. And so this is all about what genuine Christianity and what
genuine Christian ministry looks like.
Genuine Christianity defined (1 Thess. 1:2-3)
The letter begins with a fairly standard opening to the letters of the day. Whereas we start dear Margery
and then we write that we’re breaking up with her or whatever it is, and then we write our name at the
bottom. That’s how we do it. But in their day the person writing always put their name up the front so it
says, Paul, Silas and Timothy, then who he’s writing to - the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father
and Jesus Christ and then there’s a greeting which is a fairly standard pattern. Grace and peace to you.
But then he starts the letter proper with a prayer of thanks to God. He says we always give thanks for all of
you, continually mentioning you in our prayers.
And what does he remember before God and thank God for above all else: Three things: Have a look at
verse 3
We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith,
your labour prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus
Christ.
That’s what he thanks God for - that’s the primary work God has done in them, and that’s the primary work
God does in anyones life. A great theologian by the name of John Calvin said this verse basically a
definition of true Christianity - this is what its like when people turn to Jesus.
So let’s just take it apart: There’s three aspect: First thing Paul thanks God for is their work produced by
faith. Their faith is alive, it’s producing fruit in their lives. Now I don’t think its work in the sense that
they are working really hard at their homework their job or whatever. And when he’s talking about work
here its different to the labour which he mentions in the next bit - which is about their hard work serving
Jesus in their church and community. But here I think he’s talking about how they’ve put their faith in the
Jesus having heard the gospel. They have absolutely taken Jesus at his word. You might remember when
Jesus was once asked, “What work do you have to do to do the work that God requires?” (John 6:28).
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” And that’s what the
Thessalonians had done.
And then he says second of all, we thank God for “your labour prompted by love.” They actively served
one another continually, sacrificially, deeply. They put themselves out for the needs of the others - which
is what true love is - giving yourself for the good of the other. In a few weeks we’ll come to chapter 4
where he says in verses 9 to 12 - that they love one another so deeply that they don’t even need any
reminder of how to do it because its so obvious and natural to them now. They look around and see needs
in the lives of each other and think instinctively, “How can I meet that need?”
And then thirdly Paul says he remembers and thanks God for ‘you’re endurance inspired by hope in our
Lord Jesus Christ.’ These people were confident Jesus was going to return and because of that they
endured in the face of opposition. They pushed on, they stuck it out, they persevered even though their
leaders had been arrested, though there may well have been violence and sanctions taken against them as
we see taken against Christians today throughout the north of Africa and the middle east and in South East
Asia. Christians lose their jobs, their homes, their basic rights of citizenship in some cases.
But the Thessalonians Christians had preserved through it in their faith. They knew that the experience
they were in was only temporary, and that whether or not it went on for years - their true home was in
heaven where their hope was anchored. That is the hope of the gospel.
And so as he looks at them he can see this is the very work of God in their lives, this is what God has been
doing in them and amongst them - it started during the short time he was with them and ever since God has
continued to work these three things in them. They’ve stood firm in faith, shoulder to shoulder trusting
Jesus, serving Jesus, looking forward to Jesus coming back. So that’s what true Christianity looks like.
That’s genuine Christianity.
Now I don’t know who came up with the question but its a good one, “If you were arrested for being a
Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” What could the prosecutor produce to prove
you were a believer in Christ? What could they point to?
The evidence that they truly belong to God (v4-10)
Well Paul has got a ton of evidence on the Thessalonians which he wants to share with them for their own
encouragement. He wants them to continue to remain strong, and he wants them to know he’s not just
buttering them up. What’s the evidence he’s got? How does he know the truly belong to God? I can see at
least 4 pieces of evidence he lays out. The first one is in verse 4 - its the way they received the gospel.
For we know brothers loved by God we know that he has chosen you because our
gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit
and with deep conviction.”
He’s talking about the way that when they heard the gospel message they didn’t just park it to one side and
say ‘that’s interesting, might have to think on that later’, and they didn’t just treat it as an intellectual
question, they took it deeply to heart. When they heard the bad news of the gospel that they like all people
were sinners facing God’s judgement - they knew it was true. When they heard about Jesus dying for their
sins as a substitute and that they could now have peace with God - they embraced it with joy and relief.
And when things in God’s word that challenged their life style and life choices they went God’s way and
made the tough choices. In fact a bit later down it says they welcomed the message with the joy given by
the Holy Spirit in spite of severe suffering. You know someone’s deeply convicted and serious about
something when they do it in the face of fire. These were not fair weather Christians. The gospel came to
them with power as the Holy Spirit implanted it in their hearts and it sunk in - That’s the first piece of
evidence.
The second is the way they started to model themselves on those who’ve gone before them: Verse 6
6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord,
Sometimes leaders find that people start to imitate them. It’s particularly notice with youth and their
leaders.
Some of you might remember our student minister from a few years ago - JJ. I first met JJ when he was a
teenager up at Springwood Anglican church where my mate Adrian Russell had just become the assistant
minister. And JJ really looked up to Adrian - so much so that he started dressing like him. Adrian hates
long pants, wears shorts all year around even in the middle of winter in the mountains - so JJ started doing
that too. His hairstyle changed, his mannerisms changed. And even today if you’ve ever seen JJ preach
and then you see Adrian they use the same kinds of phrases, he’s got the same hand gestures.
And I’m sure most of it’s subconscious. I’ve seen female youth leaders who all the girls in the group start
to dress like so they look like Russian doll copies of their leader.
But Paul’s not talking about fashion when he says to the Thessalonians ‘you became imitators of us’, he’s
not saying you dressed like us, you did your hair like us. What he’s saying is the way they responded to
the message, the way they received it with joy in spite of severe suffering, was just like the path that Paul
and Silas and Timothy had taken. If you flick ahead to chapter 2 verse 2
2 We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you
know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of
strong opposition.
And that’s just what they were now doing: See verse 6
You also became imitators of the Lord for you welcomed the message with the joy
given by the Holy Spirit even though it meant severe suffering.
Isn’t it interesting that he says you received the message with joy even though it meant suffering - that’s a
bit weird right? But that’s exactly what Jesus did - who they also imitate. It’s easy to think of how Jesus
suffered in obedience to his father as he went to the cross for us. But what about the joy? Well, Hebrews
12 tells us that though it was incredibly painful for him, even though he wept and cried out on the garden if
there is any other way Father . . . , even though he cried out “My God, my God why have ou forsaken me”
he knew what truly lay ahead and so he did it with joy. Listen to what it says in Hebrew 12
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. who for the joy
set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from
sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
And that’s just what Jesus’ people in Thessalonica are doing. They became imitators of Jesus.
But its not just that they imitated others - they’ve become models to others to other Christians who are
looking up to and admiring them and following: Verse 7:
7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The
Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in
God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything
about it.
That’s the third piece of evidence: They are a bit like the sound desk at the back. The signal from the
microphone goes to the sound desk and the sound desk then amplifies it and sends it back out through the
speakers so that people can hear more clearly. But if the sound desk receives the signal but doesn’t send it
back out it becomes a dead end, useless, it might as well not be there.
And Paul says the Thessalonians are like a working sound desk - they’ve received the message and the
message is now ringing out from them - they are sending out God’s message and hope to the surrounding
areas to Macedonia and Achaia. You can imagine the people over in Achaia talking about it: ‘Have you
heard what’s happening up the road?” But not only locally, he says you’re faith in God has become
known everywhere. Everyone around is talking about what’s going on in Thessalonica.
And in particular what are they talking about them - what is their reputation - what are people noticing?
What is the most astonishing part of the change they have undergone? The final piece of evidence - Verse
9 and 10:
They themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you
turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son
from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the
coming wrath.
They’re talking about the complete change that has overcome them - religiously, spiritually, practically all
because they welcome Paul and his gospel. This is the heart of what the Bible calls repentance - its turning
from one thing to another - turning from an old way of life, to follow and serve God.
Now in some ways their idols were quite a bit different to the idols of today. Thessalonica was near
Mount Olympus. Here’s a picture of Mount Olympus from Thessalonica. Now Mount Olympus - was
where the gods of Greek mythology were supposed to live - Zeus and Apollos and Athena etc, 12 of them
altogether lived there. And so in Thessalonica it was no surprise there were temples everywhere to these
gods. And it was under Roman rule and so they had to worship the Roman Emperor as well - Caesar was
treated and worshipped like a god.
It would have been very difficult for the Thessalonians to turn from these false gods and the idols that
represented them to the living God. And yet they did, which was presumably the basis for the suffering
they endured in the ways we’ve already talked about - but they did it. They shifted their allegiance from
these dead and lifeless statues to the God who lives. They knew Jesus was coming back and that he was
the one whose opinion was the only one which mattered - because he is the only one who can save from
the coming wrath of judgement.
Now of course when we walk outside we don’t have a Mount Olympus with all these supposed gods on it
like they had. Though you might just want to pause for a moment and think in our increasingly
multicultural community what it might mean for say a Muslim woman to come to Christ - what might be
she be giving up or have to endure? Or what ostracism or repercussions might a Hindu man face if he gave
his life to Jesus? But even if we’re not thinking of other religions we’ve got to realise that we are
surrounded by countless other idols.
If you want to know what the idols of our community are you just have to go down to the newsagent and
look at the magazine racks.
Because every single magazine cover is someone’s idea of heaven: So there’s dog heaven, and cat heaven,
and car heaven, and clean and tidy kitchen heaven, and no weeds in our garden heaven, and perfect body
heaven. All these heavens that people aspire to.
And the gospel that’s being presented in them is that something is hell and something is heaven and if you
worship a particular saviour they will deliver you from hell to heaven. And so if being single is hell and
being married is heaven then a boyfriend is a saviour or a girlfriend is a saviour. If not having
entertainment is hell then a flat screen TV, high speed internet, speakers big enough to blow your ears
clean off your head - that’s heaven. And all you need to do to worship your saviour is open their little bible
and read the various gospel presentations they give and then give generously to their cause. It’s all
religion. It’s just called consumerism and materialism and hedonism and its all about me. Its about self.
And its all idolatry. It’s all the worship of something that isn’t God that will only let you down and which
can offer no true hope for the future. It’s all futility.
And the true believe is the one who has turned from all that - who says they will not be my god, I will not
be my own God - God will be the only god for me. The true God who made me, the wonderful God who
gave his son to save me, the God who will judge me. He is the only one I will serve. And that is the real
evidence isn’t it that you really have come to Christ?
And so as we wrap up this morning - I want to challenge you - Who do you serve? Is it actually the true
and living God or is it an idol of some sort? When you’re daydreaming what do you think about? What
consumes your thoughts when you’re drifting off to sleep? What are the things that you talk about with
people all the time - in conversations with people what keeps coming up? What are the things that you
focus on? Those are the sorts of questions that might just well expose any idol that is craving your
attention back?
Does God come first and does your life revolve around him - knowing him, growing as his disciple,
serving him? Is he the one who comes first in your life? Is your Christianity genuine Christianity?
As we look at 1 Thessalonians over the next few weeks there’s going to be stuff that’s will challenge us to
rethink the way we’re living: whether or not we’re actually living the way we should be - like the
Thessalonians are being commended for and which everyone around knew about them.
I wonder what do people say about the Christians who gather here at our church. Do people spread
rumours about us? Wouldn’t it be good wouldn’t it if our faith made such a difference in our lives so that
others noticed and people said, “their faith is incredible, their love is amazing, and they just keep going
even though the community can’t stand them or what they stand for because their hope is firmly placed in
Jesus and his return. They really do believe and live and serve as if their hope really was in him - which it
must be - for in him is the only true and certain hope, for this world, for ourselves, for our church. All else
will fail you. May God’s message of hope ring out from this church and from all its members.
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