The Manifestations of a Good Church: Part 2 - 1 Thess Lesson 6

Imitating Christ/Receiving the Word

1 Thessalonians 1:6

The more time I spend with the Thessalonians the more intrigued I am by them. We know from the historical record of Acts, along with what Paul writes to them in these letters, that remarkable spiritual results were produced in a short amount of time. God’s hand was all over this church. There was a radical transformation of idol worshippers who turned from idols to serve the living and true God. So radical was the transformation that these Christians were examples for everyone else in the region to follow. This church is a shining example of what can happen when the gospel is preached in the power of the Holy Spirit and it is modeled by faithful men who exemplify what the gospel can do in people’s lives.

 This first chapter reveals so much about this church. We have seen the marks of a good church. We have seen the making of a good church. We are looking now, in verses 6-10, at the manifestations of a good church. Please stand together with me as we read 1 Thessalonians 1.

 When people are looking for a church, what are the things they look at to determine whether or not they have found a good church? I’m talking about the typical church goer in America today. They evaluate the facilities (playgrounds for the kids, coffee bar, comfortable seating), the type of music, the personality and preaching style of the preacher, the programs available for the children, and the worship time options. Everyone is looking for a welcoming, friendly environment where they are comfortable.

 How much of this would be found at the church in Thessalonica? There would have been nothing in this church that would have appealed to the average church attendee today. Yet, this was a good church. So what is it that makes a good church? If it isn’t those things people are looking for today, then what is it. I ask this because I want to know. I ask this because I want this church to be a good church. We don’t have all those things and that is why people don’t flock to this church in droves. But listen, not having these things doesn’t make you a good church either. We are not a good church just because we don’t have these things. 

 I am going to ask you to be patient with me as we unpack the truth of 1 Thessalonians because we are not going to make a lot of progress. In fact, we are going back to verse 6 again today. We will be back to verse 6 again next week. We are looking at what I believe are the most important factors to understand about being a good church.

Last week we started digging into verses 6-10 where we find the manifestations of a good church. When we say “manifestations” we are talking about things that are revealed, things you can see, things that show us the reality. Jesus had a lot to say about manifestations or reality. Speaking of the need to beware of false prophets in Matthew 5:15-20, Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruits.” In the middle of that passage He said, “Every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.” Therefore, you will know them by their fruits. In other words, the reality will shine through. The reality will be evident.

 Last week we saw the first two manifestations of a good church. Paul said, in verse 6, that as a result of what God did to save those who heard the gospel and in whom the Holy Spirit had worked in power, the Thessalonians had become imitators of Paul and his companions, and of the Lord. The first manifestation of a good church is that it is made up of people and pastors who are imitators of Jesus Christ. If you ask most people what kind of people go to church, the answer is “believers.” There are believers in the church. Paul described the Thessalonians, not as believers only, but as imitators of Christ. To be a genuine Christian is not to simply “believe” in Jesus. To be a genuine Christian is to be a follower of Jesus Christ. It is to mimic Jesus. It is to follow His steps. We only scratched the surface of what that implied last week.

 In fact, I did not adequately explain what it means to be an imitator of Jesus. I focused a lot of time last week on the importance of the church having a leader whom they can follow because the leader is following Christ. That is what Paul wrote here. He commended them for becoming imitators of “us and the Lord.” I talked a lot about the need for accountability in our walk as imitators of Christ. But I did not adequately explain what it is to become an imitator of Christ. I want to come back to this and define this biblically. The Bible has a lot to teach us about being an imitator of Christ.

 As we define this biblically, lets turn to the words of Jesus in Luke 9:23-26. “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”

 To become a Christian is to become an imitator of Jesus Christ. To become an imitator of Jesus is to deny self. This self-emptying of Jesus becomes the same expectation for us. Paul told the Philippians to have the same attitude in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God…

 We must deny ourselves. We lay aside our own desires, plans, ambitions and goals. We understand that we are bought with a price. We do not belong to ourselves. We are His purchased possession to do with as He pleases. Just as Jesus took up a Cross and bore our sins, we take up our own crosses and die to self that we might live for His glory. This is what it means to imitate Jesus. Jesus existed to do the will of His Father. Jesus did everything for the glory of His Father. If we are to imitate Jesus, we too must do the will of our Heavenly Father. We must live for His glory and His glory alone.

 Some would argue that Jesus isn’t talking about the issue of salvation in Luke 9:23-26. I don’t understand how He could be talking about anything else. I would ask you to look closely at the verses. Immediately following this clear call to follow Him, denying self and taking up our cross daily, are words that clarify His meaning and provide some context for these words. What do “save his life” or “lose his life” mean if they do not mean eternal salvation. Lost people live only for themselves with the end goal of gaining the whole world, thereby forfeiting themselves. What does it mean to forfeit one’s self if it does not mean to miss salvation? All of this is put on the same level as being ashamed of Jesus and His words. The result of this is that Jesus will be ashamed of these at His coming in judgment. These are clearly instructions on salvation and the work of salvation produces Christ followers, not simply those who “believe in Jesus.”

 Jesus is Lord, and Jesus alone has the right to determine the criteria for His own. He said that to come after Him is to follow Him. To follow Him is to become an imitator of Him. Too many people have convinced themselves that they are Christians because they have “believed in Jesus.” Every genuine Christian has believed in Jesus. Not everyone who “believes in Jesus” is a genuine Christian. Experience has shown me that there are many who believe in Jesus who never become imitators of Jesus. But imitators of Jesus prove themselves to be genuine believers. 

 Not only does experience show me the reality of a difference between “believers” and “followers” or imitators, the Bible is clear, and that is really what matters. My experience does not make something true. The Bible is truth. My experience is never reliable unless it is consistent with what the Bible reveals. There were many “believers” in the Gospel of John and Jesus was not necessarily impressed with them. According to John 2:23-25 there were many who believed in His name because they were observing the signs which He was doing. John tells us that Jesus was not entrusting Himself to them because He knew all men and the truth about what was in them. He knew their hearts. Jesus knew that their interest was only self-interest and that they would never be willing to deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Him. They were not saved because they “believed.”

 I do not preach a works based salvation. We do not earn our salvation by following Jesus. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The genuine work of faith, that work for which Paul commended these Thessalonian Christians, is the work of salvation by which spiritually dead sinner is transformed and made alive spiritually. Spiritual life is imparted by the Holy Spirit who regenerates and causes the sinner to be “born again.” He or she is “born of the Spirit” as Jesus described it to Nicodemus. They are born spiritually. They are born of the Spirit of God. New birth produces life. Spiritual birth produces spiritual life. Spiritual life brings with it, change.

 In describing this work of salvation, Ezekiel 36:26 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” This describes a radical transformation. This describes something that only God can do. Imagine a human statue carved out of stone. You can do whatever you want to do to that stone statue and you will not ever get a response. But if, by some miracle of transformation, that stone statue were to be made alive, and given new human flesh, that would be a different story. Healthy living flesh has a high degree of sensitivity. It can feel and it can react. Healthy flesh can respond to stimuli.

 This is what the work of faith does to stone hearted unbelievers. The Holy Spirit makes them alive and He takes out the heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh that responds to divine stimuli. Everything God does in the life of one with a new heart of flesh will make them to become more like Jesus.

Why doesn’t God put this new heart in everyone? Before this happens, and if this doesn’t happen, the unbeliever is responsible for his own hard heartedness because he hardens his heart. Paul explains this in Romans 1. Every person has the capacity to acknowledge the existence of God and the will of God. God has made Himself known through creation and the existence of his own moral compass, or conscience. But he refuses to acknowledge God so he has been given over to a hard heart, or a heart of stone. Because the sinner will not believe, he is given over to his lusts. Because he exchanges the truth of God for a lie, and worships and serves the creature rather than the Creator, God gives him over to degrading passions and all kinds of perversions. Because he does not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gives him over to a depraved mind.

 But those in whom God’s Spirit places the heart of flesh, these become the children of God and genuine children of God become imitators of Jesus Christ. This does not mean we will be perfect. This does not mean we will not struggle with the flesh. This does not mean we will be immune completely from the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. The desire will be to follow Christ. The direction of one’s life will be moving toward Christlikeness. The genuine Christian will love what God loves and hate what God hates. God loves people and hates sin.

 Imitating Jesus requires a new heart, which is given to us by the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation, or regeneration, or spiritual birth. This always produces results. The first result is repentance. Imitating Jesus begins with repentance. But listen, Jesus didn’t need to repent because He was sinless. But for a sinner to imitate Jesus, the first step is repentance.

 If the gospel call is anything it is a call to repent and believe. We cannot imitate Jesus if we will not turn from our sin. There can be no genuine work of salvation that does not involve repentance. Mark 1:14-15 tell us clearly, “…Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” Those who repent and believe in the gospel will turn from a life lived for self and become imitators of Jesus Christ, denying self, taking up their cross daily, and following Jesus.

 It is impossible to imitate Jesus if we do not turn from our sin. This is why Paul wrote in Romans 6:12-14, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

 Being an imitator begins with the work of the Holy Spirit by which we are regenerated with spiritual life and given the will, the desire, and the strength to respond to God’s word. The first step is an about face. We repent of those things in our lives that do not please God. We carefully examine our attitudes, words, and actions and walk away from all that Christ would not do or say. If we are doing or saying things Christ would not do or say, we are not imitating Him.

 The next thing that involves imitating Christ is to obey His commandments. It is to live a life in submission to His word. To imitate Jesus is to live a life of obedience to the will of God. Jesus said in John 6:38, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”  “I always do the will of My Father.” “I do nothing on My own initiative. I only do what My Father tells Me to do.” “The words I speak are not My words, but the words of My Father. He has revealed to Me what to say.” Jesus always obeyed the will of God the Father. To imitate Jesus is to do the will of God. It is to walk in the path of obedience.

 Jesus occasionally asked hard questions. In Luke 6:46, He asked, “Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?” He went on to teach a parable about two builders. The wise builder was the one who built his spiritual house by hearing and acting on the words of Christ. To act on the words of Christ is to obey them. We learned in our study of 1 John that obedience is the mark of a genuine Christian. Imitating Jesus means living a life of obedience to the will of God and God has revealed His will in His word.

 Imitating Jesus requires humility. Humility is a proper understanding of who God is, and who I am in relation to Him. He is God. I am not. He is the Sovereign. I am the subject. He deserves glory. I exist to glorify Him. Humility means that I will not fight against His sovereignly ordained plan for my life. Being humble means I will live in subjection to His will, trusting in His divine work, depending completely on His faithfulness, and praising Him for all that He ordains. Jesus demonstrated this humility when facing separation from God as the sin-bearer for mankind, praying “Father, if it be Your will let this cup pass from Me.” But yielding obediently to the will of His Father, saying, “Nevertheless, not My will, but Thy will be done.”

 The humility of Jesus is revealed in His self-emptying incarnation. He who was God the Son, took upon Himself the form of a man. He did not become a man who sat on a throne as a king. This was man as a slave, a bond-servant, a servant to all. The Humble One did not regard equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself and became obedient even to the point of death on a Cross. Imitating Jesus means imitating His humility. This humility will manifest itself in two other important aspects, serving others and loving others.

 Imitating Jesus means serving one another. Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. This was the Greater bowing Himself low to serve the lesser. This was love in action, being demonstrated toward even those who did not get it. Jesus said, “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and Teacher washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.” Could Jesus have made it clearer? Could He have made it easier to understand? What does it take to imitate Jesus? “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.” 

Does this mean that we should get a towel and bucket of water and take off our shoes and wash one another’s feet? No. That would be the easy way to follow His example. If we did a foot washing here, we could go home having convinced ourselves that we were following the example of Jesus. Then, this afternoon when that inevitable text comes down the prayer chain that someone is sick, and a meal might help, we can dismiss that need saying, “I just washed their feet. They will be ok.”

 Imitating Jesus as a humble servant of others means we will do what others will not do. Eating the meal with His disciples was different than today. They reclined at the table. They did not sit in chairs. This meant that the feet of one would be very close to the head of another. Washing feet would be more than a courtesy. It would almost be necessary if you were going to enjoy your meal, and make sure the guy whose head was next to your feet could enjoy his meal. Yet, no one in that group was willing to wash even his own feet, let alone the feet of others. Washing feet was the duty of the lowest slave. These guys were too busy arguing about who was the greatest among them. As they argued over who was the most important, the Most Important One among them took a basin of water and a towel and washed their feet. See, foot washing is a symbolic gesture of humility. It is a command to be willing to do what others are unwilling to do.

 One other aspect of imitating Jesus is that of loving one another. True humility will manifest itself in humble service and genuine love for others. Jesus commanded us to imitate us in this regard. He told His disciples to love one another just as He had loved them. John 15:12 says, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” His love for them was the love of one who would lay down His life for them.

 The real manifestation of a good church isn’t the facilities, the worship services, the fun stuff for kids to do, the availability of coffee and donuts. The real manifestation of a good church, or the good fruit that will be produced on the good tree of a good church, is imitators of Jesus.

 Is Grace Bible Church a church of imitators of Jesus? All through this study I have emphasized that the Thessalonian church was simply an assembly of genuine Christians. Genuine Christians are imitators of Jesus Christ. Grace Bible Church is a good church only if those of us who individually make up the fellowship are all imitators of Christ. 

 So, the obvious question for each of us is, “Am I a faithful imitator of Christ?” Have you truly repented of sin, all sin? Are you obeying what you know to be the will of God? Are you walking in humility? Are you serving others? Are you loving one another as Christ loves us?

Last week we also said that a good church was a church that received the word of God. We talked very little about what it means to receive the word of God. We talked about the tribulation amongst which the Thessalonians received the word, and how they received the word in the joy of the Holy Spirit. But I don’t feel like we went far enough into what it means or what is involved in receiving the word.

 I told you that the word “received,” or “dechomai” in the Greek means to accept something deliberately and readily. It means to embrace it, approve it, and follow it. I said last week that I know you love to hear the word of God. People come to this church mostly because they want to hear the word of God taught. But listening to the word taught is not the same thing as receiving the word of God. The example that the Thessalonians became to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia did not result from them hearing the word, or even agreeing with the word that it was truth, or applauding the messenger who delivered the word. They became an example to all true believers because they took the word to heart, they embraced its truth, and they began to live by what it taught. The goal of receiving the word is never information. Receiving the word results in transformation.

 The Thessalonians were good soil hearers of the word of God. The soil of their hearts had been properly prepared. The plow of conviction had penetrated the once hardened surface of their hearts and the soil had been turned over. The rocks had been removed. The contaminates had been removed. The seed fell in heart soil that was clean, moist, deep, and fertile. When the seed fell on the soil of their hearts, it was not plucked away by the evil one. There was plenty of depth of soil that the roots could go deep and draw moisture and nutrients from the soil. There were no noxious weeds to sprout and chock out the word. The word received into the good soil of their hearts produced fruit. In some cases it was a thirty fold production. In some a sixty fold. And in others a hundred fold production of fruit.

 The Apostle Peter affirms this. Look at 1 Peter 1:22-2:3. The word received is what causes us to be born again. It is the living and enduring word of God which was preached to you. It is this word received that causes us to be born again. And, it is this word that causes us to grow in respect to salvation. Spiritual life will result in spiritual growth. All things living grow. Genuine spiritual life produces spiritual growth and spiritual growth comes from receiving the word of God. Genuine Christians will crave the pure milk of the word of God.

 Let me show you from this passage one indication of the results of the word being received. When the word is received, it becomes ours to the point that we will turn around and send it out of our mouths and share it with others. We find this in this passage. Look at verse 5. The indication is that the gospel, or the word of God, came to them. Verse 6 says “you received the word.” Verse 8 says, “For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you…”

 Not only did the word sound forth from them, but look at the next part of verse 8, “but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth.” Here is a clear indication that the word was received. It has been heard. It had its impact on their lives. Verse 9 tells us they turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God. They were sounding forth the word received. And, they were living the faith they had in God.

 And as we noted last week, the Thessalonians received the word in much tribulation and with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Think about this with me. Does simply hearing the word cause anything to happen to us that would make the ungodly culture around us react with animosity and persecution? The hard soil heart guy heard the word. The shallow soil heart guy heard the word. The contaminated heart guy heard the word. None of them received the word. The only one who received the word was the good soil heart guy. We know he received the word because it sprang up and bore fruit.

 Hearing the word is not receiving the word. Memorizing the word is not receiving the word. Preaching the word is not receiving the word. Reading the word is not receiving the word. All of these means of encountering the word can lead to receiving the word, but they are not the same as receiving the word. Receiving the word involves the word being sown in our hearts where it falls on deeply plowed, moist, clean soil. Where it falls on a heart like this, it springs up and bears fruit.

 We prepare our hearts to receive the word of God by making sure our hearts are not hard. What causes hardness of heart? Continued resistance to the conviction of God’s Spirit will cause us to become hard, calloused, and insensitive to the Holy Spirit. This renders our hearts hard and unreceptive to the word of God. We prepare our hearts to receive the word by coming in honest, careful examination of our hearts. We ask God to reveal to us the true condition of our hearts. We come before Him broken, humble, and sincere in our desire to obey all He reveals to us. If we are not willing to obey what His word says, we are hardening our hearts. Hard hearts do not receive the word. It is far too easy for us to allow our hearts to grow hard.

 We prepare our hearts to receive the word of God by making sure our motivation for receiving the word is pure. Why do you want to receive the word? You must want to receive the word because it will make you more like Jesus. We receive the word because of the work it performs in us who believe. The word transforms us. It addresses our attitudes. It confronts our behaviors. It informs our walk. We want the word in order that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that we may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Col. 1:9-10.

 The word of God comes with a warning label. It doesn’t cause cancer, like the warning label on a pack of cigarettes tells us. But it does cause trouble. If you really do receive the word of God, your thinking, your convictions, your beliefs and your behaviors will be shaped by that word. If you stand on that word you will be hated. I stood for the truth of God’s word in a difficult family issue and was accused by a family member of killing my mother. If our motivation is not to become like Jesus, when the trouble comes because we stand for the word of God, we will fall away.

 Receiving the word of God means you own it. It becomes your guide and you follow it. It becomes your compass showing you true north and you trust it, even when the chaotic world makes no sense. Receiving the word means you make it your authoritative source of truth, even when everyone else rejects it, or compromises it.