The Church That Moves Ahead

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 

Adapted from a Sherm Nichols series

http://www.sermoncentral.com/print_friendly.asp?SermonID=162319

1 Thessalonians 1:1 ESV Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the

Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and

peace. 2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our

God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in

our Lord Jesus Christ.

4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our

gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for

your sake.

6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in

much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in

Achaia.

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. 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, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to

come.

I want to begin with 3 stories that each make the same basic point…

Story 1- In his book, Masterplanning, Bob Biehl visits behind the scenes at an

Arizona circus with a man who trains animals for movies.

He’s curious how a 10-ton elephant could be tethered to the same kind of stake that was used for a baby elephant of only 300

pounds.

The trainer tells him. 'It’s easy.When they are babies, we stake them

down.They try to tug away from the stake

maybe 10,000 times before they realize that they can't possibly get away.

At that point, their 'elephant memory' takes over and they remember for the rest of their lives that they can't get away from

the stake.'

Biehl writes:"Humans are sometimes like elephants.

When we are teenagers, some unthinking, insensitive, unwise person says, 'He's not

very good at planning,' or 'She's not a leader,' or 'Their team will never make it,' and zap, we drive a mental stake into our

minds.

Often when we become mature adults, we are still held back by some inaccurate one sentence 'stake' put in our minds

when we were young.

I want to suggest to you that these wonderful organisms we call “church

congregations” can be much like those big circus elephants -- tied down by the

stakes of the past, with powerful elephant memories - hindered from doing the great

things the Lord knows they could; but never moving away from some of their unnecessary stakes driven long ago.

Then there are people and churches who move…just not in the right direction…

Story 2

New Year's Day, 1929, Georgia Tech is playing UCLA in the Rose Bowl.

In that game a young man named Roy Riegels recovers a fumble for UCLA.

Picking up the loose ball, he loses his direction and runs 65 yards toward the

wrong goal line.One of his teammates, Benny Lom, chases him down and tackles him just before he

scores for the opposing team.

Several plays later, the Bruins have to punt.

Tech blocks the kick and scores a safety. It demoralizes the UCLA team.

Riegels had made progress. He just made progress for the wrong team!

Not so in Thessalonica.Their progress in Christ was encouraging to Paul, and he was encouraging them in

this letter we call 1 Thessalonians.We read chapter 1 earlier.

Paul was pleased.They’ve brought him all sorts of

happiness because they’re a congregation, in spite of pressures, that’s

moving ahead for the right reasons.

Story 3John Claypool - The Future and Forgetting - years ago a thunderstorm blew through the southern KY farm where the Claypool

family had lived for 6 generations.

It blew over an old pear tree that had been there as long as anyone could remember.

His grandfather was grieved to lose the tree – he’d climbed in it as a boy and eaten

from it all his life…

A neighbor came by and said, "Doc, I'm really sorry to see your pear tree blown

down."

My grandfather said, "I'm sorry too, it was a real part of my past."

The neighbor said, "What are you going to do?"

My grandfather paused for a long moment and then said, "I'm going to pick the fruit

and burn what's left."

That's such a wise way of working with the past. We need to pick its fruit.

We need to learn its lessons.

Amnesia is a sickness, not an asset, but having learned what the past can teach

us, we need to pick the fruit, burn what's left, and go on. We need to move on

ahead.

These 3 stories remind us of the need to be progressive; to make progress,

forgetting some of the past, and to move in the right direction.

I’m talking about being a Church that is making progress – moving forward.The believers at Thessalonica were

moving ahead.

Thessalonica was founded in about 315 B.C. by Cassander, who resettled the site with inhabitants from 26 villages that he

had destroyed.

He named the city after his wife, the sister of Alexander the Great and daughter of

Philip II of Macedonia.

On his second missionary journey, Paul preached in the synagogue here, the chief

synagogue of the Jews in that part of Macedonia, and laid the foundations of a

church.Jealous Jews rounded up a bunch of no-accounts and incited a riot against Paul

and the other believers.Paul and Silas ended up making a

getaway at night.

So, a young church got underway, right in the middle of a hotspot, and it grew into a

solid family of believers.

In fact, the church of Thessalonica grew into a model that we can use for the kind of

church that moves ahead.

If we were to ask “What kind of a church moves ahead?” (and we ought to) one

answer would be “a Thessalonian kind of church.” Paul highlights some reasons

they did so well.

So, we’ll talk about how you can be a part of the church that’s moving ahead.

What kind of people are in it?

What about the Thessalonian church made them so worthy of praise and

recognition?

What would we need to do, what changes might we need to make to receive such a complimentary letter if Paul were to write to the Lindley Christian Church today?

The marks of a church that is progressing were there.

Let’s highlight 5 of them:

1. They were Mimics

6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in

much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

The word used here is where we get our word “mimic.”

A couple took their daughter and son-in-law out to eat, and after stuffing

themselves, both the daughter and her Mother leaned back with a sort of half-

yawn, half-stretch, with both hands behind their heads.

They didn’t realize they were both doing exactly the same thing at exactly the

same time.The Father looked at them and said, “Are

you 2 related?”Without realizing it, we mimic the lives of

influential people around us.

Every man should seek to have 3 individuals in his life: a Paul, a Barnabas,

and a Timothy. A Paul is an older man who is willing to

mentor you, to build into your life.Not someone who's smarter or more gifted than you, but somebody who's

been down the road.Somebody willing to share his strengths and weaknesses, everything he's learned in the laboratory of life. Somebody whose

faith you'll want to imitate.

A Barnabas is a soul brother who will just be honest with you.

A Timothy is a younger man into whose life you are building.

This is what Paul did, the mentor, building into the life of his protégé Timothy affirming, encouraging, teaching,

correcting, directing, praying.(Howard Hendricks)

There’s nothing wrong with imitating...depending on who it is.

There are at least 6 other places in the NT where Paul said "follow my example.”

Do you realize what that means?It means Paul was confident that if they followed his example they’d be in good

behavior!How many of us could wish that for the

people we care about?

These people held to the gospel under real pressure because they followed the

example of good teachers!

Being a good imitator of the right person can be a good thing.

Paul said they were imitating Paul and Jesus.

Here’s where it gets real personal: What if your friend, your neighbor, were to come here this morning and become a member

of this congregation?

Oh, that’d be great – I’ve been praying for that to happen for quite some time now.

I’ve been praying this person would come here and become part of this church

family.

OK.

What if that person became a member just like you?

Go ahead. Ask yourself: “What would happen if that person were to become the

kind of member I am?”

Find a good example and follow it.

And set a good example along the way.

In fact, that’s the next mark of a progressive church:

2. They were a Model

7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.The Greek word translated example

indicates an impression made in a piece of wax or clay when someone places a seal in

it. The Thessalonian church bore the imprint of Jesus. Everyone could see it. So

they had become a model for other congregations to follow.

A well-disciplined High School band on their way to a competition used another

band’s room along the way.

You would think the resident band director would want to make sure his students were all cleared out and not

there to bother them.

Oh no! The director made sure they were all there. He had them watch the well-

disciplined band.

He wanted them to see their attention to detail.

He wanted his students to see how each individual took responsibility for being

able to play their part.

They were an example to follow, so the director wanted his students to see them.

Paul encouraged the Thessalonians just by telling them:

“Hey, you’re a help to other Christians because you’re being a healthy church.”

Don’t you hate when you hear news about another church congregation that’s going

through a split or some other tough event?

Doesn’t it dishearten you to hear when other congregations are having

problems?

On the other hand, don’t you like to hear the good reports of churches that are

doing well?

When we do well, and that news gets around to other churches, it’s an

encouragement to them.

Won’t it be something when we have people from other congregations coming to see how we’re doing things at Lindley Christian Church, visiting us, asking us

what we’re doing?

Along with the tasks we carry, we need to remember that we’re to set a good

standard for others to follow!

Let’s make this a little more personal, again.

What if every church congregation were like ours?

What if every other congregation were to take on the same attitudes and mindsets, the same level of participation, the same

fervor?

What would be happening to the church worldwide in outreach?

Staff?Ministries?Learning?Giving?

We need to consider what it means to be a model for other churches to look at.

3. They were Missionaries

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.

“word of the Lord sounded forth from you ” Same root word as:

Luke 21:25 - roaring of the sea and the waves

Acts 2:2 - the sound of mighty rushing wind

1 Co. 13:1 – a noisy gongHebrews.12:19 - the sound of a trumpetThe Word of the Lord was not coming

from them soft as a whisper, it was LOUD!

Do you see the point of v8?

Everyone had heard of them!

As he traveled to Berea, Paul didn't need to say “You should see the faith of the

Christians in Thessalonica.”

Everyone already knew!

This was during a time when it really wasn’t always smart to make a lot of

noise about being a Christian!

Paul told how dangerous it was to be a servant of Christ in 2 Corinthians 11. How

many times was he whipped, beaten, stoned, jailed or had to sneak out of town

to escape death?

It was dangerous proclaiming Christ!

I want to dispense with a couple of missionary myths:

Myth #1: a missionary is only someone in a faraway country.

That’s just not true.

The irony is that now, America needs them sent here.

The widely discussed American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), released in

2009, marked an alarming increase in “nones” – nearly doubling from 8 percent

to 15 percent. This made those who claim no religion at all the third largest defined constituency

in the United States, eclipsed only by Catholics and Baptists.

Further, “nones” were the only religious bloc to rise in percentage in every single

state, thus constituting the only true national trend.

It is difficult to think of America as a mission field, having been the exporter

of faith for so many generations, but that is precisely what it has become.

http://www.crosswalk.com/blogs/dr-james-emery-white/missionaries-to-america.html

Myth #2 - if a church becomes too outwardly focused, too missions-minded, we’ll neglect ourselves and lose ground

because of it.A church can’t be moving ahead and be

self-centered!It will be world-focused!

Churches that are doing a good job at focusing outside the walls are typically

doing well inside as a result!

I can just hear God now: “Well, there goes that Lindley Christian Church again,

going overboard on outreach and missions.

I was going to bless them, but I don’t think I will now!”

Once again, let’s make this closer to home.

Ask yourself, “What if the world were depending on this congregation for it to

ever hear the gospel?”What if it was up to Lindley Christian

Church for people to hear the gospel in places both far off and far removed from

our usual comfortable settings?What if? It does! It is!

4. They were Ministers of God

The Thessalonians were missionaries -- and that’s a mark of a church that moves

ahead.

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,

If you serve you are a servant. The word translated “minister” in the NT

is the same word that’s translated servant.

It’s not reserved to some particular group of Christians – it’s what happens when

you become a Christian:

You become a minister of God’s work.

2 Corinthians 3:5 ESV Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter

kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Apparently, the Thessalonians had taken that seriously!

They’d given Paul, Silas, and Timothy such a good reception, they had been so kind and hospitable, that even the news

of that had gotten out!

That news wasn’t just that people in Thessalonica were hospitable people, the news was that Jesus had transformed the

lives of people there, and now the way they were living was showing it!

They’d made a change of loyalty in their lives.

v9 says they had “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” These are people who have made their choice. They have spent the first part of

their lives as servants to gods that are no god at all.

They were enslaved to stone and wood.Now they’ve become servants for the

Lord.

The Thessalonians had made their choice, and it made a difference in their

lives. They turned from an old way of life to

become servants for God!There’s a big difference between idol

worship and God worship.The Thessalonians had turned.They were different from before.

To make this a little more personal, ask, “What if everyone in this church served

with the same attitude I have about serving?

What if everyone volunteered their time and abilities just like I do?

What would it be like?

If we’re serious about reaching people for Jesus here, that’s going to take people

being ministers for the Lord.

That’s going to take making yourself available where there are needs to be met

in this church family.

When you signed on with this team, you signed on to be a servant.

That’s what makes the church move forward – the lack of it will keep it from

moving forward.

In Thessalonica, they were ministers for God. The idea that every member of the

church is a minister is nothing new!

5. They were Migrators (to heaven)

10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who

delivers us from the wrath to come.Think about folks we call “Snowbirds” who

don’t live here year round. Some of them are starting to get ready to leave for the

winter. They’ll take off for Arizona, Texas, Florida – you know, places where it’s warm.

Oh, they’ll be back in the spring, but come next fall, they don’t live like they’re

going to stay here.

They winterize their homes.

They get their vehicle ready to travel.

They pack their shorts and T-shirts.

You can tell they’re migrators - Travelers, nomads, pilgrims itinerants, wanderers,

aliens, sojourners.They’re here now, but they’re not staying

forever!That’s another quality of the church that

moves ahead.The people of that church don’t live like they have every reason to stay around.

Hebrews 11:13 ESV These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that

they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a

homeland.

15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a

heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he

has prepared for them a city.

How about you?

Do you admit to being a stranger and an alien on earth?

Are you longing for a better country – a heavenly one?

2 Peter 3:11 ESV Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of

people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will

be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!

Doesn’t sound like a place I want to stay in!

That climate sounds a little warm for me!I want to go north from that – Waaaaaay

north!I’m a migratory creature!

I’m made to be somewhere else.So, if you look into the suitcase of my life, you’ll see that it’s packed as if I expect to

live somewhere else.

You won’t find everything I hold valuable in a safe deposit box.

What you will find is that I expect to one day be leaving this place to go to the

place where I really belong.

The only way the Church moves ahead is if the people of the church are of a

mindset to move at all.

When we become too content with life like it is here, we cease to move ahead.

The next to the last verse of the Bible ends with these words,“Come, Lord Jesus!”

Why is that?Because things here aren’t good enough!

We’re ready to leave it all!Beam us up, Lord!

That’s the attitude of the church that moves ahead. They’re migrators.

Ask another question of yourself:

“If Jesus' return depended on how much I’m anticipating it, would He ever come

again?”

This one doesn’t depend on us, because, ready or not, He’s coming!

Are you ready to go?

Conclusion

History is being made all around us.I wonder, what will the books show about

our generation?What will our grandchildren think of the

world we shaped?I’m asking a similar question: what will mark this time in history as the time the Church was progressing to where God

wanted it? What will it take?

Imagine Paul writing: Dear Lindley Christian Church:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank God every time of think of you, because

you are imitating the things you have seen in me and in Christ. I’m encouraged,

because you have become an encouraging model for the churches

around you.

Now they have something to strive for and aspire to. Your reputation for being a people who are spreading the gospel is

well-known. People speak of you, because you aren’t just looking inwardly, you’re looking outside as well. You’re like

a loud speaker in Dallas County, with God’s word blaring through you.

When people become a part of the Lindley Christian Church family, the

change in their lives is obvious. You’re all servants - servants of God whose care for other people is obvious. Still, you manage

to not be tied to this world. You live like the aliens you are, with your feet not

bound to the earth.

Remember “Wrong Way Riegels”?That wrong way run was during the first

half of the game.

At halftime, the UCLA players filed off the field and into the dressing room.

Others sat down on the benches and the floor, Riegels put a blanket around his

shoulders, sat down in a corner, and put his face in his hands.

Usually a coach has a lot to say at halftime. That day Coach Price was quiet. He was trying to decide what to do with

Riegels. The timekeeper came in and announced that there were 3 minutes before playing time. Coach Price looked at the team and said, "Men, the same team that played the

first half will start the second."

The players got up and started out, but Riegels didn't budge.

The coach looked back and called to him. Riegels didn't move.

Coach Price went over to where Riegels sat and said, "Roy, didn't you hear me? The same team that played the first half

will start the second."

Roy Riegels looked up, with tears.

"Coach," he said, "I can't do it. I've ruined you. I've ruined the university's

reputation. I've ruined myself. I can't face that crowd out there."

Coach Price reached out, put his hand on Riegels' shoulder, and said, "Roy, get up

and go on back. The game is only half over."

Riegels finally did get up. He went onto the field, and the fans saw him play hard

and play well. All of us have run a long way in the wrong

direction. But because of God's mercy, the game is only half over. It’s time to

move ahead now. Not just this congregation, but you, personally, who

have been running the wrong way.Get back up today. Move ahead!