Download A model church: A church shaped by the gospel

A model church: A church shaped by the gospel
19th August 2007 – Martin Groth
1 Thess 2 v1-16 – Magdalen Road Church, Oxford
Introduction
 - I’d like you to imagine a long-living scholarly visitor from another planet – a sort of
Professor of Inter-Galactic Comparative religion who has decided to study Christianity. He
decides to visit Earth to do his field study, to discover the practices, habits and concerns of a
representative sample of Christians. Being so long living, and not bound by concerns of
funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, he decides to make his observations
over the centuries.
His first visit is to a group of the original Jerusalem Christians in around AD37. He notes that
they are all Jews, indeed they meet in the temple where only Jews can enter. They offer
animal sacrifice, they keep the 7th day free from work, they circumcise their male children.
They delight in reading old law books – they actually look much like the many
“denominations” of Judaism - their distinguishing feature is that they equate the figures of
the Messiah, the Son of Man, and the Suffering Servant found in these old books with a
recent prophet teacher called Jesus of Nazareth. They live normal family lives, they are
socially tight knit, they eat together often. Law and joyful observance strike our spaceman
friend as keynotes of the religion.
His next visit is made in around 325AD. He attends a meeting of the great church leaders of
the time – perhaps the council of Nicea. They come from all over the Mediterranean world,
but hardly any are Jewish, indeed there is quite a bit of hostility to Jews. They are horrified
by the idea of animal sacrifice, when they talk about sacrifices they talk about bread and
wine rather like that which was eaten in the houses in Jerusalem. They do not have children
– church leaders are expected not to marry – but if they did they certainly would not
circumcise them. The 7th day is an ordinary working day – now the 1st day has special
observances. They use the same law books that the Jerusalem Christians used but they give
equal weight to another set of writings – mostly letters - which were not even composed
then. Their current passionate preoccupation is with another document – the debate hinges
over a single letter iota in Greek and is about whether Jesus was “the same substance ” or
merely “similar substance” as the Father. Our spaceman professor notices a great deal of
concern for metaphysics, theology and philosophy as part of the Christian Religion – he thinks
back to the Jerusalem Christians and wonders.
Three hundred years later and it’s time for another visit. This time he lands on the coast of
Ireland – a number of monks are gathered, some are standing in ice-cold water up to their
necks reciting the psalms. One is receiving six strokes of the lash for failing to answer “Amen”
when grace was said. One or two are sitting in dark caves as hermits. Others are going off in
a small boat in doubtful weather with a box of beautiful manuscripts and not much else to
visit islands off the West Coast of Scotland and persuade the inhabitants to follow their
religion. Our professor establishes that these books are the same writings that the Greek
fathers used – he notices that the monks recite the same formula agreed at Nicea, but in
general they do not seem very interested in theology or metaphysics. They seem mostly
interested in holiness and heroic austerity.
Our spaceman delays his next visit until the 1840’s – he comes to London’s Exeter Hall – a
large and excited assembly are debating the desire of promoting Christianity, Commerce and
Civilisation in Africa. They are proposing to send missionaries, armed with Bibles and
cottonseed, four thousand miles to do this. Large numbers at the meeting are carrying a
small black book – inspection proves this to carry the same writings as the Irish books but in
English translation – they also accept without question the Niceaen creed. They use the word
“holy” a lot, but would not associate that with standing in cold water or living in a cave.
Whilst the monks seem to try to live on as little as possible, this lot look well fed. What most
impresses our observer is their activism and the involvement of religion in all areas of society.
In 1990 he returns again, to Lagos, Nigeria. A white-robed group is walking the streets
announcing that they are the Cherubim and Seraphim and inviting people to experience the
power of God in their services. They claim God has messages for particular individuals and his
power can be demonstrated in healing. They say they accept the creed of Nicea but display
little interest in it, they carry and quote from the same book as the Exeter hall gentlemen, but
are not politically active. They fast like the Irish but only on specific occasions. Our professor
principally notes their concern with power as revealed in preaching, healing and visions.
This set of scenarios, for which I am indebted to the Church historian Andrew Walls, *
illustrates a real set of problems for our spaceman academic to untangle – how can all of
these groups be Christian when so much is so different in what they do, even contradictory?
These are mainstream, representative examples of the church across the centuries - how
much of what these groups did was actually shaped by the prevailing culture? What elements
do they actually have in common – in what way are they shaped by their faith? And this is a
real issue for us today – among the many, many ways of being and doing “church” today,
how can we be sure that we remain a church shaped by the gospel?
Rather than taking you further on my expedition into church history, I want to turn to a
church that has been described as a model church, the church at Thessalonica. We saw last
week that it was “A church that can’t be ignored”, even though it was started in 4 weeks flat
and so we continue our sermon series looking at this church and see how they became
shaped by the gospel. Please open your bible at 1 Thessalonians Chapter 2
* Andrew Walls, The Missionary Movement in Christian History (New York: Orbis Books, 2001), p5
Chapter 1 The Gospel as Prisoner and Liberator of Culture
1. A church receiving the gospel v1-12
In the first 12 verses, we get a bit of history lesson from Paul, and we learn what happened
when he visited Thessalonica. Some commentators think Paul is being a bit defensive but we
get to learn just how Paul and his team acted in those intense 4 weeks between arriving in a
new place and being kicked out by the authorities. There are a number of themes that run
through his account.
Firstly, Paul makes clear they came with good news, which is, after all, what gospel means:
v1 we dared to tell you his gospel
v4 we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel
v8 we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God..
v9 we preached the gospel of God to you
But what was that news? What did Paul and his team actually say? Fortunately, we have
Luke’s account of the visit in Acts 17 v1-9
Acts 17v3 - on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This
Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ" he said –
The establishment of the church came with the presentation of the good news about Jesus
and in particular his sufferings, death and resurrection.
Notice it was done by reference to the Scriptures, which we can take as trustworthy. And the
nascent church received this news, and accepted it and was built together by it.
Secondly, Paul reminds them that the news was brought to them at some cost.
v2 We had previously suffered and been insulted
v9 Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day
The good news of Jesus was brought to them by those who had suffered and toiled for the
sake of the gospel. When you get news, you ask about motives.
 - I want to tell you about Zakayo. When we moved to Msalato in Tanzania, he turned up
on our doorstep. He was a cathecist, a recognised evangelist of the church, who had been
put in charge of the small church at Illolo a village about 3 or 4 km away. He himself lived
the other way from us, so it was more than an hour’s walk each day from his house. He
viewed the entire village of several hundred as his responsibility – it was a very poor
village, water had to be fetched from a long way. He worked so hard – he wanted to build
a proper church building (the only concrete building n the village) and get a water pump
installed. So when Zakayo preached to the village they listened – he worked hard for
them, he suffered really, because he almost no time to do his own farming or build up his
own life. He wasn’t really much interested in that, the imperative of the gospel was
important. So when he asked us to get involved with that church as well, we were willing.
Don’t we value something more that has cost than just arrived for free?
Thirdly, Paul says quite a bit about the way the team acted
a) They were loving:
v8
We loved you so much
v7
we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.
v11-12 we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children,
encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you
into his kingdom and glory
b) They were honest:
v3
For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor
are we trying to trick you
v5
we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed
v10
You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we
were among you who believed.
c) They were not looking for human praise
v4 We are not trying to please men but God
v6 We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else
d) They were not a burden
v6-7
we could have been a burden to you, but…
v9
we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone
In short, this was a team who were motivated by a desire to please God (v4), who lived by
gospel values as well as preached them, who presented good news in what they did as well
as what they said. It’s sometimes right to wary of people who proclaim the medium is the
message. But in this case it is true, God worked through that team to “display the glory of
Jesus, in the power of the Spirit”, to show the Thessalonians the truth – both in word and
deed. Paul puts it like this in Chapter one, verse 5
Ch1 v5 our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy
Spirit and with deep conviction
God added to the words Paul preached. The gospel came as a result with power. And the
newly emerging church received it.
There are perhaps two other lessons for us from this section:
Firstly, we need to welcome those who are bringing the message to us. If people come to us
with the gospel, with new and relevant insight from the Scriptures for us as a church
community – if they come through suffering and toil but in love and with integrity, then let us
receive them well. Let us be humble enough to be receiving church. God can do great things
with us as we do.
Secondly, it’s a great reminder on how we take the gospel on to our own and to other
communities. The message we take will be heard not just by our words, but by the power of
the Spirit and in our love, honesty, modesty and so on.
2. A church living the gospel v13-16
And now let’s move onto the results of that visit. The next four verses v13-v16 are a
continuation really of the opening chapter, but now he thanks God for two things.
Firstly, they have accepted the word of God
v13 the word of God, which is at work in you who believe
What a great little sentence! The Christians at Thessalonica are being built up, are being
strengthened by the word of God - by which we can understand perhaps not just the actual
message they have heard from God via Paul but the continuation of that message as they
have come to grips with the rest of scripture in the light of Jesus. This word is at work in
them, producing the results we saw in chapter 1. Paul has already commented that:
Ch1 v 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.
And Daniel showed us last week how this faith love & hope that only God can produce, is the
secret of the reputation of the Thessalonian church.
And this is happening in you who believe. God’s mandate to us needs to be accepted by
faith, it’s not just enough to hear it. There’s an African proverb – “A stick in the swamp will
never become a crocodile” – I think the modern Christian equivalent is “sitting in a garage
doesn't make you a car and sitting in church doesn't make you a Christian”. We need to
believe. As Daniel also mentioned last week:
We desperately need the word of God to come to us with power and conviction. But
we cannot make it do so. We need God to work by the Holy Spirit.
We need to pray.
But secondly they are have also suffered for the sake of the gospel
v14 For you, brothers, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in
Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen
The church indeed had been born in turmoil, there had been rioting when some of its
members left the synagogue and they had got into trouble with the city authorities. Guys like
Jason had to post some sort of insurance against future “trouble”. Paul and Silas had to leave
under cover of darkness and clearly the persecution continued. And, as so often happened,
their faith was refined by toil and suffering. Paul includes these few verses as an
encouragement, he wants the Thessalonians to be encouraged by the church in Judea as it
joins in suffering with them.
 - This is once again uncomfortable for us. First hand suffering for our faith is rare in
western Christianity – it is dismal to equate some of the restrictions we may face in this
country with the severe persecution faced in countries around the world. In Tanzania, it
was not unheard of for a Muslim convert to be kicked out of his family, we knew one man
who would attend worship secretly in fear of his family.
3. A church shaped by the gospel
We learn from our teachers, we learn by imitation and we learn from experience. And we can
see in this passage that the church in Thessalonica has been shaped by the gospel message
brought by Paul both in word and deed, it has been shaped by the word of God working
through them and by the experience of suffering for the cause of the gospel.
In short, it has been shaped by the gospel. And, as a result, it has become not just a
receiving church but a sending church. We learn of its reputation across the whole of a great
chunk of Greece:
Ch 1 v8 The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—
your faith in God has become known everywhere.
And elsewhere we learn two or three other interesting things about the church:
a) Paul’s mission trip to them was, at least in part, funded by the believers at Phillipi:
Phillipians 4v16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and
again when I was in need.
So the Thessalonian church was, from the beginning, part of the wider international
community of believers.
b) In Acts 20v4, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica end up on mission teams with
Paul. Jason perhaps turns up in Corinth. This is a church that released good people into
ministry elsewhere.
And doubtless it used the experiences of these travellers to good effect. Based in a
cosmopolitan city, it welcomed Jews and Greeks into its membership, it worked locally with
that awareness of the known world. As a church it became a partner, a mutuality existed with
other churches.
This is a diagram that might sum up that situation.
Global Local mission matrix from: from Sheeron Kay George – local global mission: the cutting edge
Missiology volume 28 no 2 April 2000 pp187-197
So not only was it shaped by the gospel, it was shaped by the sending and receiving of that
gospel, and by the interrelationship of God’s people on a global and a local scale. And as a
result of all that, Paul holds it up as a model church:
7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
Conclusion
 Back to our spacemen academic. I think, if he looked at his available evidence hard
enough, he would find enough to conclude that the essence of the Christian faith was
there in each visit. He would have seen a continuity in such things as the final significance
of Jesus, the sense of history of God’s dealings with his people and the use of the bible.
He would also have noticed the use of water in baptism and the use of bread and wine in
communion, which we will also be using in a few moments.
But I would also hope that if he chose to continue his research by visiting us here at
Magdalen Road, he would see - perhaps a bit obscured by the cultures of 21st century East
Oxford - he would see some of the same qualities as that little church in Thessalonica.
Would he see a church receiving and giving out the same good news? Would he see a
church doing this in love, with honesty? Would he see a church living out the gospel,
toiling and suffering for the sake of Jesus? Would he see a church clearly shaped by the
gospel?
Let us pray.