A MODEL CHURCH FOR A MODERN WORLD

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

INTRODUCTION

1. Paul spoke of the church at Thessalonica as being a pattern for

all churches to follow. In fact, he said of that church in v17 that
they were 'examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe.''
The word example is the word that gives us our word type, it
literally means pattern. This church was a model church. It was a
church that set the pattern that set the mold.

2. That is the kind of church that I want us to become. I want us to

set patterns, not just follow them. But the first thing we must
decide is, what is our mission? Why are we here? Where are we
headed? And how do we intend to get there?

3. One of the greatest military generals of all time was General

George Patton. Whenever General Patton was given an
assignment to carry out, he would gather together his men, he
would train each man in what he was to do, and then just before
they would embark on their journey, he would ask the men this
question: ''What is your mission?''

4. Many churches today are floundering rather than flying. They

are limping rather than leaping. They are standing still when they
should be surging forward because they do not know where they
are headed. They are like the airplane pilot who came on the
speaker and said to the passengers on board, ''Ladies and
gentlemen, I want you to know that our navigational instruments
are malfunctioning. We do not know where we are. We do not
know where we are going. However, we are making excellent
time.''

5. We have been told very clearly in the New Testament what the
mission of any church ought to be. In a nutshell, our mission is the
great commission. Jesus gave to every church the commission in
Matthew 28 to go and make disciples and baptize those disciples
and then teach those disciples to observe his commandments.
And any church that is not carrying out the great commission is
out of commission. Now it is one thing to define your mission. But
it
is another thing to decide how that mission is to be carried out.

6. We are going to adopt a mission statement. Stated simply it is

that our mission is to carry out the great commission through a
program of evangelism, Bible teaching and worship that will reach
our community and the world beyond. Now the amazing thing is,
the way we intend to carry out our mission is the same way this
church carried out its mission. They fulfilled the great commission
in three ways:

I. THE PRIORITY OF GOSPEL WITNESS (v. 8)

1. This church had a reputation for winning souls to Christ. Paul

said in v.8 ''For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth,
not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your
faith toward God has gone out so that we do not need to say
anything.'' This church had made the main thing the main thing. It
had the reputation of being a soul-winning church. Now there are
only two kinds of churches: churches that win souls and churches
that don't.

2. Now the reason why they were a soul-winning church is

because they were following Jesus. Paul says in v.6, ''You
became followers of us and of the Lord,'' Jesus said, ''Follow me,
and I will make you to become fishers of men.'' Wayne Dehoney
hit the problem on the head with many churches when he said
''Too many churches have become content to be the keepers of
the aquarium, rather than fishers of men.'' Quite frankly, no church
has the right to say it is following Jesus if it is not an evangelistic,
soul-winning church.

3. The number one priority of the New Testament church is

evangelism. Now that is almost a ridiculous statement to make.
Vance Havner said, ''For a church to say it is going to major in
evangelism is like a railroad to say it is going to major in
transportation.'' Now we are to make gospel witnessing our
number one priority, now there are two compelling reasons for
this:

A. The Condition of the Lost

1. We live in a world that is in dire need of a savior. Even if the
Bible did not teach we were to be soul-winners, even if the Bible
did not teach that our number one priority was to be evangelism,
all I would have to do is just pick up the newspaper and read it,
and I would
know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the business this church
ought to be about, and any church ought to be about is the
business of winning souls.

2. It is said that Dr. W. A. Criswell has a very strange hobby. One

of his hobbies is that as he travels around the country he loves to
go to cemeteries and read the epitaphs on gravestones. The story
is told that one time he was in Garland, TX. And he came upon
the gravestone of a certain man whose name was at the top of the
gravestone, and underneath it was this epitaph: ''I told you I was
sick.'' Well this world is telling us today that she is sick and in need
of a savior. I was interested to read in the paper the other day
where the valedictorians of all of the different high schools in our
area were asked this question: ''What is society's greatest need,
and what can you do to help meet that need?'' The valedictorian of
one of our high schools said this: ''The greatest need of our
society is Jesus Christ, and the thing I can do to meet that need is
to tell others about him.''

4. This world is truly in a deteriorating condition. In the next 60

minutes 7,000 people will die, with 6,000 never having heard the
name Jesus one time. It is estimated that 125,000 lost people die
every day. That is 5,210 every hour, 87 every minute, and 1 1/4
every second,

5. I was reading just the other day that there are ten times as
many people living today who have never heard the gospel as
was the entire population of the world when Jesus gave the great
commission.

B. The Commission of Our Lord

1. Do you know why you have been saved? Do you know why I
have been saved? So that we together can tell others how to be
saved. When Jesus cast the demons out of the Gadarene
demoniac this man was so grateful and so in love with the Lord,
he wanted to go with Jesus, and just travel with him. Jesus said to
that Gadarene demoniac, ''Return to your own house and tell what
great things God has done for you.''

2. Do you know why God has sent his Holy Spirit to live within us
and fill us? So that we might be his witnesses. Jesus said in Acts
1:8, ''You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon
you and you shall be my witnesses.''

3. Do you know why the church was created in the mind and the
purpose of God? Do you know why there is a church on this
earth? So that the church might be a witness for the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul was talking about the mystery of the New Testament
church and he said in Eph. 3:6 that the church was given ''that the
gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of
his promise in Christ through the gospel.''

4. Do you know why there are preachers in those churches? Do

you know why God calls men out and gives them the spiritual gift
of prophecy and preaching the word of God? He does it so that
men and women might be saved. Romans 10:13-14 say, ''For
whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How
then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And
how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher?''

5. Evangelism is to be the center and the circumference of

everything that we do. As a matter of fact, no matter what else we
do nor how well we do it, no matter how nice it looks, how sweet it
sounds or how good it smells, if we are not primarily reaching
people for Christ, it all means nothing,

6. Someone has well said that they have no fear that the church
will not succeed, but that it will succeed in those things that do not
matter. Friend, if we are not succeeding in reaching people for
Jesus Christ, every other success is an abject failure. That's why
our watchword must be evangelism.

7. Give us a watchword for the hour a thrilling word, a word of

power; a battle cry, a flaming breath, that calls to conquest or to
death.
A word to rouse the church from rest to heed the master's high
behest; The call is given; ye host arise, our watchword is
evangelize.

The glad evangel now proclaim through all the earth in Jesus'
name; this word is ringing through the skies: evangelize!
Evangelize!
To dying men of fallen race make known the gift of gospel grace;
the world that now in darkness lies evangelize! Evangelize.

II. THE PRACTICE OF GLORIOUS WORSHIP

1. Paul was extremely impressed with the worship services in this

church. In v.5 notice that Paul could tell a difference in the way
that church responded to the preaching of the word than in other
churches. Because when he preached there it was not in word
only, but in the power of the Holy Spirit and in much assurance,
they had a tremendous atmosphere of worship.

2. A. W. Tozer has said that ''the missing jewel of the modern

church is the jewel of worship.'' I believe that is true. Many
churches know how to win souls. Many churches know how to
teach the Bible. Many churches know how to pray. Many churches
know how to give. They know how to evangelize. They know how
to sing. They know how to fellowship. But I believe very few
churches know how to truly worship. Many churches do not know
what it is. They do not know what it ought to accomplish

3. What is worship? Let me give you a couple of definitions of

worship. ''To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness
of God; to feed the mind with the truth of God; to purge the
imagination by the beauty of God; to open up the heart to the love
of God; to devote the will to the purpose of God.'' That is indeed a
tremendous definition.

4. Let me give you still another definition, ''Worship is the

believer's response to all that he is mind, emotions, will and body
to all that God is and says and does.'' Probably the simplest and
most meaningful definition to me is this: ''Worship is giving all that
I am to all that God is.'' Now with those definitions in mind, I
believe that real worship must include three traits.
A. Divine in Its Focus

1. Our English word worship comes from an Anglo-Saxon term

that means ''worthship'' in other words, we worship that which is
worthy. Now the only being in this universe that is worthy of our
worship is God, not even the angels in heaven deserve our
worship, but only God. It means to give God glory and the worth
that is due his name. Now the purpose of worship is to glorify God,
but the prerequisite for worship is to focus on God. You must fix
your focus on the father before you are ready to worship.

2. I'm afraid that too many churches focus on the act of worship
rather than the object of worship. Now let me tell you what I mean,
worship involves singing. It involves preaching. It involves praying.
It involves thanksgiving. But the focus of worship is not to be on
the music, nor is it to be on the message. It is not to be on some
personality. The focus of worship is to be on God.

3. R. A. Torrey said, ''When we bring our prayers we focus on our

knees. When we bring our thanksgiving we focus on our
blessings. But when we bring our worship we focus on God.''

4. You see, true worship does not magnify the preacher. It does
not magnify the church. It does not even magnify a spiritual gift,
true worship magnifies the Lord.

5. Incidentally, this world is headed for worship. Now we cannot

make people attend worship services here on earth, but did you
know that this world is going to have to attend one worship service
in heaven the last thing that a lost man is going to do before he
enters into an eternal hell, is worship God. The Bible says in Psa.
86:9-10, ''All nations whom you have made shall come and
worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you
are great, and do wondrous things: you alone are God.''

B. Dynamic in Its Format

1. I do not know of anything that will set a church on fire like real
worship. I believe worship, if it's real, will be dynamic. It will be
exciting it will be enthusiastic. It won't be something you will
endure. It will be something you enjoy.
2. Did you know that the word enthusiasm comes from two Greek
words, the Greek word ev, which means ''in''. And the Greek word
theos, which means God. And so you put those two words
together and the word enthusiasm literally means to ''be in God.''
The only people in the world that have a right and a reason to be
enthusiastic, are God's people. Because we are the only ones
who are in God.

3. That's why I believe a worship service ought to be exciting. It

ought to be enthusiastic because we are in God and God is in us.
We are with God and God is with us, we love God and he loves
us. And worship is a time of celebration.

C. Delightful in Its Force

1. I would have loved to have been in the worship service in this

church. I see in v.6 where there was joy, there was the fullness
and the presence of the Holy Spirit. I see in v.9 where people
were being saved. I see in v. 10 where people were looking for
Jesus. Did you know that those are the results of real worship.
When a church is truly worshipping God, there will be joy in that
church. The Holy Spirit will be real in that church. People will be
saved in that church, and everybody that leaves will be looking for
Jesus.

2. You see, real worship will gladden you with joy. It will
strengthen you by the spirit. It will leave you looking for Jesus,
longing for Jesus, living for Jesus. It will put a bounce to your step,
a smile to your face, and joy in your heart.

3. I have heard people say before, ''Well I was just too tired to go
to church today.'' Dear brother, it is when you are tired that you
need to go to church, a true worship service will refresh you. It will
rejuvenate you. It will rejoice you. It will reinvigorate you. Real
worship is like a tonic to tired nerves. It is like medicine to a sick
soul. And it will be like a magnet that draws lost men and women
to Jesus Christ.

III. THE PREACHING OF GOD'S WORD

1. Now the reason why this church, I believe was a model church,
was primarily because of their relationship to the Word of God.
You see, when a church is rightly related to God's word, friend,
everything else will fall exactly into place.

A. They Eagerly Received the Word of God

1. Paul makes note in v.6 of how they received the word. The
word receive literally means ''to welcome as an honored guest''.
They received the word of God with the joy of the Holy Spirit.
These people loved the Bible. They loved to hear it preached.
They loved to hear it taught they didn't endure sermons, they
enjoyed them.

2. Did you know that there are two kinds of people that came to
church this morning? Some of you can't wait to get out of this
worship service some of you couldn't wait to get in. Some of you
can't wait until it's over. Some of you could hardly wait until it got
started. You know it all depends on your appetite when a man is
hungry, he cannot wait to be seated at a restaurant to be fed, but
when a man is not hunger he doesn't care whether he is seated or
not.

3. Paul loved to preach in this church because when he did

preach his gospel was not there ''in word only, but in power and in
the Holy Spirit and in much assurance.'' (v.5) I have been in some
churches and preached the word of God and it was like throwing a
ball up against a concrete wall.

4. I have been in churches and preached the word of God and it

was just in word only. There was no power. There was no joy.
There was no assurance. And my message came bouncing back
right into my heart. I want us to be a church that eagerly receives
the word of God, where the Bible is an honored guest and is
treated with courtesy.

B. They Earnestly Revered the Word of God

1. Notice chapter 2 and verse 13, ''For this reason we also thank
God without ceasing because when you receive the word of God
which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men,
but as it is in truth the word of God.'' If you want to know what all
of the brouhaha's about in the southern Baptist convention, there it
is in a nutshell. There are some men who are saying that this
Bible is the word of men and there is another side that's sayings
this Bible is the word of God. Friend whenever I pick up this book I
do not preach it as .a word from man, I preach it as the word of
God.

2. Now someone says, ''But men wrote it. That is true, but God
authored it. Yes, men wrote it, but men wrote ''As they were
moved by the Holy Spirit.'' (II Pet. 1:21)

3. Now to receive the word of God you believe it is inspired. The

word inspired literally means ''to be breathed out.'' This Bible has
been breathed out by God. It is not man's word for God. It is God's
word through man. That is why this book cannot be studied like
any other book. Because it is unlike any other book that has every
been written. There is a respect and a reverence that is due this
book that is not due or deserved by any other book.

4. John Calvin said, ''We owe to scripture the same reverence

which we owe to God.''

5. Now to re this as the word of God means not only do you

believe it is inspired, it means that you believe it is all inspired. II
Tim. 3:16 says, ''All scripture is given by inspiration of God.'' You
see, we have some men in our denomination today who are
saying that the Bible is inspired in spots. And they are inspired to
spot the spots. Well I want to tell you a Bible that is only partially
inspired is totally untrustworthy.

6. You cannot trust any of it, if you cannot trust all of it. I heard an
old story about a farmer who was having difficulty with some
fellows swiping his watermelons, and he came up with an
ingenious scheme. He put a sign out in the middle of the
watermelon patch that said, ''One of these watermelons has been
poisoned.'' Well he thought that would fix them.

7. But the next morning someone had change the sign, and it said
this: ''Two of these watermelons have been poisoned. Now you
cannot enjoy any of them unless you are sure about all of them.
And you cannot enjoy any of this book and trust any of this book
unless you can be sure of all of this book.''
8. But to this book as the word of God means not only do you
believe it to be inspired. It means you must believe it is inerrant
because friend, to believe the Bible is inspired, and yet not to
believe it is inerrant, is to believe that God inspires error. But God
cannot be the author of error because God cannot lie. A man
cannot say on the one hand I believe in the inspiration of the Bible
and the authority of the Bible and yet on the other hand not
believe in the inerrancy of the Bible unless he wants to admit that
God inspires error, and if he doesn't want to do that you are back
at square one when you have to decide, well which part is inspired
and which part is not.

9. We need to be a church that stands foursquare on the word of

God. I want us to become known as a people, not only of the
blood, but of the book. A people who believe unashamedly,
unapologetically, and unwaveringly that the Bible is the inerrant
word of God.

C. They Emphatically Revealed the Word of God

1. We read in v.8, ''For from you the word of the Lord has sounded
forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place.''
The word sounded forth refers to the sounding of a trumpet. When
a man stands behind the pulpit and blows this horn, he had better
make a certain sound because ''If the trumpet makes an uncertain
sound, who will prepare himself for battle?'' (I Cor. 14:8)

2. This church fearlessly and confidently and emphatically

preached this book. They were not intimidated by intellectualism,
humbled by humanism. Subdued. By secularism, afraid of atheic
or licked by liberalism, they took their stand on the word of God.

3. More and more so called preachers and theologians and

college and seminary professors are casting doubt and ridicule on
the word of God.

5. Friend, nobody is going to believe this Bible unless they believe

that we believe this Bible.

6. A friend once met the atheistic philosopher, David Hume,

hurrying along a London street. He said, ''Where are you going?''
Hume replied that he was going to hear George Whitfield preach.
The man said, ''Surely you don't believe what Whitfield preaches
do you?'' Hume said, ''No I don't, but he does.''

7. There simply cannot be any compromise whatsoever on this

book. Those who compromise will wind up like the man who
owned the fish market. And he placed a sign over his door that
said, ''Fresh fish for sale today.'' Well the people began to flock in.
But one of his friends came by to see the new market and he said,
''Why do you have ''today'' on your sign? Everyone will know you
want to sell the fish today. So he removed that word from his sign.

8. One of his other friends came by and said, ''Why do you have
the words ''for sale'' on your sign? You wouldn't be in the fish
business if you didn't have them for sale.'' So he took those two
words from his sign.

9. Then another friend objected to the word ''fresh.'' He said, ''You

don't need to have the word fresh up there. People know you.
They know you are honest. They know your reputation guarantees
that you would only handle fresh fish.'' So he took off that word.

10. And finally another friend came by and saw just that one word
''fish'' on the sign. He said,
''Why do you even have that sign up there? People can smell your
fish several blocks away.'' The man did, and soon went out of
business.

11. The application is plain. We must not trim our message down
to suit anybody. The more you reduce the Bible, the less you have
to preach to your people. We need to put up our sign in this
church, we believe the Bible, all of it and we're going to preach all
of it, defend all of it, believe all of it, obey all of it, and stand true to
all of it.

12. That is our mission, to believe the Bible, to preach the Bible,
and obey the Bible. And when we do, our church will be a church
of worship, witness and the word.