Introduction to First Thessalonians: 1 Thessalonians Lesson 1

Introduction to First Thessalonians

 It is good to be back. I appreciate the opportunity to get a break from time to time and it was nice to be off last Sunday. Thank you, Matthew, for wrapping up our study of James. I didn’t leave you with an easy task. There were some interpretational challenges in that passage. Despite the interpretational challenges the message is clear. We are all called to the ministry of reconciliation. Sinners, both inside and outside the church, need to hear the truth. They need to repent and turn to avoid death. Reconciliation of sinners truly does cover a multitude of sins.

 Now that James is behind us, I told you that the letter to the Thessalonians was the book we would study next. I think it will be beneficial if we study them both while we are here. The first question we need to address is “why study these letters next?” To answer that question I want to explain a little about what goes into the decision of what we will study. We won’t go wrong with the study of any part of the Bible. It is all God’s word and worthy of our attention. But different parts have different emphases. The letters to the Thessalonians have a specific emphasis and a very relevant message. So, why these letters now.

 I make the decision about what to teach by asking myself a question. That question is, “What does Grace Bible Church need now by way of instruction from the Bible?” As an elder and pastor of this church, it is my responsibility to know the answer to that question. Elders provide spiritual oversight. We are responsible for the spiritual well-being of the flock. As an under-shepherd, following the leading of the Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ, it is my duty to know well the condition of the flock. My decisions regarding what to teach is based on what I see regarding the needs of the flock. That is what a shepherd does. He knows well the condition of the flock and feeds them what they need to remain healthy.

 The responsibility of the shepherd is to know the condition of the flock collectively as well as individually.

 When I find individual members of the flock who are sick, or hurting, or wandering, I have a responsibility to try to minister to them. They need truth that is individualized to address the specific needs they have. This is done through biblical counseling and one on one interaction where I try to encourage, admonish, exhort, and help individuals walk in truth.

 When deciding what book to teach, I am considering what I see from the bigger picture than on an individual basis. This was the case with the book of James. There are so many people here facing trials and tribulations and difficulties that I felt it would be beneficial to learn what the Bible teaches about considering it all joy when we encounter various trials. As Matthew pointed out last week, James instructs us on how to walk wisely as followers of Christ. James also does a good job of testing the validity of our faith and there is always the potential that there are some here whose faith is not genuine saving faith. I was hopeful that if that was the case, it would come to light in the hearts of any who are deceived. 

 We have gone through 1 John recently. John is so black and white. He leaves no room for straddling the fence. You are in the light or you walk in darkness. You love like God loves or you are full of hate. You love and live according to the truth or you are not truly born again. We need that kind of confrontation sometimes to make us look carefully and honestly at the condition of our hearts and the true nature of our faith. It is important to see evidence of the work of salvation in our lives. I will give an account to God for how well I have performed my duties as a shepherd of God’s flock. I want to stand before the Chief Shepherd and know that I have done everything in my power to provide what the flock needs and protect any from deception.

 Sometimes I choose a book because it is just so helpful in teaching us the doctrines of the faith and how we are to live in light of the salvation we have received through faith in Christ. That was why I choose the book of Ephesians. I choose to teach through 1 Peter because of the direction things are going in our world. The world, which lies in the power of the evil one, is growing more and more intolerant of truth and biblical Christianity. We needed the instruction from 1 Peter to know how to live in the face of intolerance and persecution that will inevitably come because we stand with Christ and for truth.

 I told you all that so that you would understand that there is a lot of consideration that goes into the needs of the body of believers when I decide what to teach next. I have chosen to teach through the letters to the Thessalonians at this time because those letters were written to a good church. We know it was a good church because Paul does not mention any rebuke to these Christians anywhere in the letter. Paul was concerned about the condition of this church and sent Timothy to find out how they were doing. The report was very encouraging to Paul. They were standing strong. They had remained faithful. There was a little confusion on some issues, but no division, no major doctrinal error, no sin being tolerated, no strife among the members. It is hard to find anything wrong in this church based on these letters from Paul. To show you this let’s read 1 Thess. 1 and 2 Thess. 1:1-5. Paul was obviously impressed with the work of God in the lives of the people of this church. There is just commendation and compliments.

 So, I have chosen these books because they were written to a good church. What does that have to do with us? Well, I am convinced that Grace Bible Church is a good church. I think you are here because, by and large, you think GBC is a good church. At least I hope you think this is a good church. I’m confused if you don’t. Why are you here? Don’t be like the guy who marries a woman and then complains to his buddies abut his fat, ugly, lazy old lady. When I hear a man disparaging his wife like that I always ask, “What does that say about you? You are the one who picked her out to marry?” So, I’m sure you think Grace Bible Church is a good church or you wouldn’t be here.

 A claim to be a good church must be a defensible claim. Paul considered the church at Thessalonica to be a good church and we know that because of the evidence of these letters written to them. We must be able to give evidence why we are a good church. What are the evidences that GBC is a good church? I often tell people who ask about our church that it is an amazing assembly of godly, committed, faithful followers of Christ. And it is. We are not perfect. Some of us have our problems. By and large, God has assembled here a very solid group of people who love Him, love His Son, love His word, and love one another. For the most part, God has brought together people who walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called.

 I believe we are a good church because, for the most part, people here are grounded in the truth and know what they believe and why they believe it. This is a group of people grounded in the doctrines of the faith. We may not all share the same convictions on some of the debatable doctrinal positions, but on the essentials we are all on the same page. And in those cases where there are differences on debatable doctrines, even those of you who are slightly mistaken, you know what you believe, and why you  believe it, and you can vigorously defend your position from the Bible. We are not going to be tossed back and forth by every wind of doctrine. We are a church of sound doctrine.

 We are a good church because we are a unified church. There is not perfect uniformity, but there is unity. We are a good church because we have a good fellowship. Fellowship is not the meal we eat together. Fellowship is living life together. Fellowship involves being there for one another, helping one another, ministering to the needs of the saints, doing good to those of the household of faith. We are not perfect, but we are good at this.

 We are a good church because of our commitment to the Great Commission. We support the work of the spread of the Gospel locally, nationally, and internationally through our support of ministries and missions activities. About 35% of everything you give to this church goes back out to support the spread of the gospel. Very few churches do that. I don’t know of any. We are not just paying others to do the work of evangelism, we are involved personally at the jail, the GRM, the Pregnancy Resource Center and other places.

 Grace Bible Church is a good church because we are committed to the New Testament pattern for a church. We haven’t gone the way of pragmatism, embracing methods and messages that attract “seekers.” Saints, not seekers, are the only ones who want to be a part of what we are. We haven’t gone the way of emotionalism, embracing music and worship styles that appeal to the flesh. We haven’t gone the way of easy believism. We preach a biblical gospel that teaches that Jesus came to save us from our sin, not a meaningless, purposeless, empty life.

 We are not a perfect church. We are not a perfect church because we are not perfect people. I am far from a perfect pastor. That’s ok. We are continuing to strive to be all that God has called us to be. Being far from perfect is evidence that we still need the teaching of the Scriptures, in copious amounts, regularly. We need biblical truth proclaimed accurately, boldly, and authoritatively. We need to know what God tells us.

 Being a good church does not make us immune from threats. In fact, being a good church makes us a church that Satan would want to destroy. So what is the threat to a church that makes the claim, and firmly believes itself to be a good church? There are many threats. In addition to the threat of pragmatism, turning to tactics because they draw numbers of people, and emotionalism, appealing to the feelings and felt needs of people, and easy-believism, which distorts the gospel, there are other threats to a good church. There is the threat of false doctrine. This has always been a threat to any church. Satan loves to deceive by distorting the truth of the Bible. The best defense against false doctrine is a thorough understanding of the Scriptures.

 There is the threat of distraction. It is easy for churches to get off track and begin to make all kinds of social issues the focus of their mission. There is the threat of division where some controversy divides the fellowship. Many are the churches that have split over the color of the carpet to be replaced. There is the threat of hypocrisy, when a member begins to live in a manner inconsistent with the Christian faith. One person who lives a fraudulent spiritual life can damage the reputation of a good church.

 The answer to all those threats is the same. We just stick to the Bible. We do church the way the New Testament says church is to be done. As long as we continue to remain faithful to the word, we will not succumb to any of these problems.

 But there is one threat that is subtle, and severely debilitating to a church. That is the threat of complacency. A good church can fall victim to the threat of becoming satisfied with a certain level of achievement. We can develop a false sense of security. We can become content with life and comfortable with the way things are. If we think too highly of ourselves we can become smug, maybe even arrogant. All we have to do to realize that these things are possible is to look at the messages to the seven churches addressed in Revelation 2-3. These were churches that did not recognize the threats. They started out as good churches and quickly fell victim to various issues.

Our Lord’s message to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2 was to commend them for their deeds, their toil, their intolerance for evil men, their commitment to testing those who called themselves apostles, and their perseverance. But He condemned them for drifting away from their first love. They were so focused on the right things that they neglected the main thing, which is a love and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. Complacency regarding our Lord Jesus Christ is a dangerous thing.

 The church at Sardis had a name that they were alive, but they were dead. Jesus challenged them to wake up and strengthen the things that remain because He had not found their deeds complete in the sight of God. This sounds as though they had become complacent and were nearly dead. The church of Laodicea had grown lukewarm, not something that was acceptable to the Lord. Growing lukewarm is the result of complacency going unnoticed and unchecked.

 The threat to Grace Bible Church is that we grow complacent, content, and completely satisfied with who we are, where we are, and what we are doing. This cannot happen. I have a confession to make. I am at risk of allowing this to happen. All of us are potentially at risk of complacency. We have been doing this a long time. For 33 ½ years I have been stepping into this pulpit to preach God’s word. I am at the point where I should be better than ever. I have the experience. I have to guard against complacency and becoming satisfied with what has been accomplished here. I must remain devoted to dying with my boots on.

How do we safeguard our hearts from the threat of complacency? What is the best motivation to keep fervent, diligent, and disciplined in our duty as a church? What truth do we need to keep at the forefront of our minds so that we do not grow weary and lose heart? What is it that the New Testament, and really the Bible as a whole, continually puts before us to remind us that we must keep going, teaching, discipling, baptizing, and working? Our motivation is the imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not want to be found asleep when the Lord comes back. We want to be found as faithful stewards who were diligent until the end. We want to be found as faithful virgins with lamps oiled and wicks burning brightly. We want to be found as those who persevere.

 We are going to see that the church at Thessalonica was a good church. We are going to see how it came to be a good church. We will understand that Paul acknowledged them to be a good church. For an example of this acknowledgement, look at 1 Thess. 4:1 and 9-10. These believers were doing well at walking in a way pleasing to God. They loved one another as they were taught by God. Paul’s challenge – excel still more. Don’t grow complacent. Don’t get satisfied. There is no room for contentment. Keep pressing on.

And we are going to see that Paul’s challenge, found in chapter 5, reminds this good church to stay focused on the inevitable reality of our Lord’s return. Let’s read this in 5:1-11. The letters to the Thessalonian Christians are called the eschatological epistles. They will teach us much about the doctrines of last things. They will teach us that the imminent return of Christ is our primary motivation to excel still more.

 Now, has Grace Bible Church grown complacent? Are we satisfied? Are we content? No, we are not. Nor will we become complacent. By God’s grace we will excel still more in our love for God, our love for Christ, our love for His word, our love for one another, our service and ministry to one another and others in need, our outreach to the community, and our devotion to the mission – the Great Commission.

 This we will do because Jesus is coming back. My friends, all we have to do is look at the things going on in this world and we must believe that His return can’t possibly be that far away. If you look at the Middle East, it is easy to see how the stage is being set for things prophesied in the Scriptures. If you look at the wickedness of our world, you can see the stage being set for the Antichrist. If you look at the condition of the church you can see the conditions exist that will lead to a great falling away, or apostasy. Jesus said that when He comes back in judgment it will be just like it was in the days of Noah. Everyone will be eating and drinking and marrying and carrying on just like no judgment will come. But it will.

As a good church we must excel still more. We must keep on keeping on because there are children here who need salvation. There are friends and family members who need us to love them and compel them to consider the gospel. The darkness of our culture is growing darker and darker and we must shine as light into the darkness. There is less tolerance for truth so we must remain bold in our proclamation of God’s truth.

 There are hurting people all around us. There are people all around us who need help. There are lost people all around us. There are deceived people everywhere we turn. Those people need a good church. The letters to the Thessalonians will help us focus on remaining the church that God has called us to be. The church is only as good as its members.

 Let’s pray.