Uncharted Waters - 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

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Introduction

Our church has had 42 pastors in her 136 years, not including various interims. 36 of them have served for four years or less. Until 2021, the longest tenured pastor in our church’s history was seven years. Lord willing, we will complete our first decade together this year. I point all of that out only to say that we’re in uncharted waters here. We’ve sailed past the map. You’ve never had a pastor this long before, and I’ve never pastored a church this long either. None of us really know what we’re doing, and we’re figuring it out together.

(Show picture of bulletin from installation Sunday) When I came to Iron City in 2013, I felt strongly that a generational pastor was needed, a pastor that could take the baton from one generation and hand it over to the next. I’ve prayed many times that the Lord would give me a 40 year ministry here, something that can only be prayed because you were crazy enough to hire me so young. As milestones often lead us to do, I’ve spent a great deal of reflection over the last six months on where my ministry is, where we are, and what God would have for me to do. I’ve asked the Lord to make it clear if He’d have me to be here or somewhere else. And, I sense from the Lord a strong, continued call to remain right here with what I believe is a beautiful ambition — to pastor one church for a lifetime.

God’s Word

So, I’m going to attempt — by God’s grace — to map out the direction that I believe God would have us to go in the second quarter of our ministry together. But, before I get to the next ten years, I want to take this week to talk about what God has done in the last ten years. And I want to use Paul’s words 1 Thessalonians 1 to help me say it. Paul is filled with thankfulness toward the Thessalonian church, and I want to you to see two anchors of Paul’s thankfulness of them, which are the same Two Anchors of My Thankfulness for You (Headline):

You are a “demonstration” of God’s “power.”

We’re tempted to disbelieve miracles today. Miracles can appear to us as the cheap explanations for seemingly inexplicable phenomena witnessed by unscientific, unenlightened generations. Today, we think, there are no miracles. Yet, “power” in verse 5 is the word used to describe the miracles of Jesus in the gospels. And, it’s used to describe how God has worked in an ordinary, local church. If you love God and hate your sin and want to see others as more valuable than yourself, you are nothing short of an eating, breathing, walking miracle. So, one of the reasons that we are meant to gather with our local church every week is for a reminder of the supernatural, miraculous power of God.

That’s what I’ve seen in you. The miraculous! I’ve seen...

God’s power “exerted.”

1 Thessalonians 1:3-5a “remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.”

How do you know when God is doing the work or when people are merely pretending? That’s an important question we should ask. True works of God cannot be contrived. People may manipulate your emotions or your experience or your conscience so as to imitate a movement of God. But, manipulate and imitate as one may do, true works of God can never be duplicated. So, how do we know? Paul tells us: The gospel and the word come “in power.”

You can glimpse God’s “power” here from two different perspectives to really understand it and to make sure that what you’re a part of is real. First, you can see the effect of God’s power when it’s exerted upon a person. You’ll notice that the “power” coming to the Thessalonians is equated with the “Holy Spirit” coming to them. And, what effect does the Holy Spirit have upon a person? He has an inside-out effect, doesn’t He? Verse three describes the very effect I pray for God to bring about in my ministry. It’s not just work, but “work produced by faith (CSB)”. It’s not just labor, but “labor motivated by love (CSB).” It’s not just endurance and perseverance, but “endurance inspired by hope in Jesus (CSB).” Do you see the power of God here? Guilt and shame can compel you. Hype and emotion can excite you. These are things men can produce. But, only the Holy Spirit can so change your heart and nature that you love it, that you lay down your life because of your faith, that you keep going because of your confidence in Jesus. Guilt may compel you and hype may excited you, but it’s only God’s grace that can sustain you.

But, we don’t just see the effect of God’s power upon a person, but we also see how that person experiences God’s power.

God’s power “experienced.”

That is, Paul describes God’s power from God’s perspective by pointing us to the Holy Spirit and saying, “This Spirit did it!” But then, he describes how it looks from man’s perspective by saying, “They did it because of their full conviction.” Both are true. They did it because God did it. AND, they did it because it was their conviction to do it. This “full conviction” is what they really felt of God’s “power.” This word is usually translated as “assurance.” So, it’s their resting in Christ and their security in Christ. So, here we focus on the first word of the phrases from verse three, and we look from how they would see it at the ground level. Why would they work so hard? Because they were so well-rested in Christ. They knew it didn’t depend on them. Why did they stand steadfast? Because they were so well-secured in Christ. They knew they stood by his strength, not their own.

The Christianity that many of us grew up with was often closely associated with feelings of guilt, shame, and fear. But, those are terrible, lazy motivators. They only exist in the world because sin does. I remember saying on one of my first Wednesday nights here that my goal was to never compel you by guilt to do anything, only grace. It was confusing to a lot of people. And, honestly, I didn’t know if I was just being overly idealistic again. But, my conviction was this: Grace sustains faithfulness in a way that guilt and shame never can. Guilt burns out; grace fuels passion. And, when I see Vivian and Ann working their fingers to the bone to provide meals for broken people, I see Spirit-wrought passion. It’s hard work, but sustained by Christ. When I see John and Keitha serving the homeless and John Hall and Sharron Mellon ministering to the detention centers, I see passion. Hard work motivated by love. I think of Brittany Cofield telling John a few weeks ago the breakthrough she’d experienced as one of our nursery leads seeing the light bulb go off for kids. Passion.

We have bold steps to take going forward, but they’re no bolder than the ones we’ve already taken. We’re going to need God’s power to accomplish what He’s set before us in the next ten years, but all we have to do is look back to the last ten years to know that He’s able!

You are an “example” of God’s “goodness.”

Many today disbelieve God’s goodness even more than they disbelieve God’s power. It’s not difficult to find people who believe in a higher power or some mysterious great force of the universe. Mysticism is peaking today. But, people look at their misery and see child abuse and cancer and racism and wonder how a truly good God could allow it. Again, this is where the church is supposed to step in. The sex abuse scandal and the abuse of power and the profiteering of supposed men of God have clouded this, but the church is supposed to be where we’re reminded again of how good God is through our hospitality, kindness, generosity, and love for one another.

And, when I think over the last ten years, that’s what you’ve been to me. When I was in the hospital, Tony and Robyn stayed with my kids. When I couldn’t take care of myself alone, Betty Duncan stayed with me. Alan helped me see how okay it was for me to go to counseling. I’ve had two different health issues that took me away for at least a month, and I never wondered if I would be paid. On top of it all, you’ve stayed with me! Through so many mistakes and missteps and immaturity. You’ve stayed with me. In some of my lowest moments as a pastor, often on the back of tremendous failure, senior adults have dropped by my office or sent me a text of encouragement that kept me going. You’ve been an example of God’s goodness to me.

It’s because of...

What God’s “word” has done “in” you.

1 Thessalonians 1:6 “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,”

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 “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, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”

One of the major points of thankfulness for Paul — and it comes up again and again — is how they’ve received God’s word. That’s all a minister of the gospel has. Personality and charisma and a great sense of humor can’t save anyone — only the gospel can. Hype can’t build healthy churches — only the word can. So, you mark a movement of God by the response to the word of God. He says it in verse 5 “the gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power;” in verse 6 “you received the word of God in much affliction;” in verse 9 that they had become known for “for the kind of reception” they had to the apostles and their teachings.

So, that’s what led them to be “imitators” of the apostles. They believed the word of God! The word of God had penetrated their hearts! The apostles had suffered because they believed the gospel and so the Thessalonians were willing to do the same. The apostles had expended all of their energy and resources so that one more city, one more village, one more person might hear the Good News; so, they would too. They believed it! So, it led to imitation because it flowed out of transformation. That’s what’s outlined in verses 9-10 — a complete, whole-person, whole-life transformation. Their lives had done a complete 180. They used to bow down to the gods everyone else loved, but now their hearts were turned to God. They used to live for themselves, but now they live for the living God. They used to hope in their dreams and ambitions, but now their hope is found in Jesus alone! Their past was forgiven. Their present was offered. Their future was entrusted. That’s what salvation looks like.

This is what God’s word had done in them. But, when God’s word comes in “power” to you, it keeps going through you. That’s how good He is.

What God’s “word” has done “through” you.

1 Thessalonians 1:7-8 “so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 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.”

And, this is cool. This gets to our vision as a church. Our vision is to make maturing and multiplying disciples to the ends of the earth. And, that’s our vision because I’m convinced that’s the vision of Biblical Christianity. Paul looks at the Thessalonians and he praises God because he sees the pattern of Biblical discipleship evident in them. Notice the pattern we see. Their imitation of the Apostles leads to their incarnation of the Gospel themselves. They “became imitators” in verse six, and because they “became imitators” they “became an example” to others. They incarnated, embodied the gospel themselves. Then, their incarnation of the gospel led to the reverberation of the gospel. “Sound forth” pictures someone hitting a gong and then the sound reverberating out in wave after wave — like Bugs Bunny. You see, when you are in a place where the gospel comes in “power”, you’re at ground zero for a firsthand encounter with the goodness of God. And, when you experience the “power” of God and are convinced of the goodness of God, the shockwaves will reach the nations. People who see how mighty and good God is just can’t be quiet about him.

When I was wrestling through whether God was calling me to Iron City, my Bible reading took me to Exodus 33. Because of Israel’s unfaithfulness, God tells Moses that they can enter the Promised Land, but they’ll go without his presence. Iron City was for me a Promised Land of types. It’s home. It’s where Jesus found me. It’s my church. But, I feared that it was just my ambition or my desires, and not God’s call. So, I adopted Moses’ prayer in Exodus 33 as my own: “Lord, if your presence will not go with me, I don’t want to go.” What I was asking for was the power of God and the goodness of God. Ten years ago, our church had split and attendance had declined by 150+. When word got out that I might be coming here, I had at least three different well-meaning pastors encourage me to reconsider. Since then, we’ve changed almost everything. The preaching has changed. The music has changed. That’s enough to get most people fired. We became the first elder-led baptist church in our association in at least a half a century, raising more than a few eyebrows. We’ve changed our ministry philosophy. We’ve focused on discipleship more than events. We’ve hired a new staff and initiated a new family-equipping approach to family ministries. And, y’all, look around you. We grew by 100 last fall, and it’s not because of hype. It’s not because of charisma. It’s because we’ve experienced the power and the goodness of God! I’m convinced of it!

This is what it has done in us, and now it’s what must be done through us! Our schools are filled anxiety-plagued children. Our neighborhoods are filled with hopeless parents and broken marriages. Our workplaces are filled with the type of disorder and lostness that only Jesus can solve. And, we know him! We’ve seen what He can do! We know how mighty He is! We know how good He is!

1st Quarter: Foundation — 2nd Quarter: Expansion

(Show slide of 4 quarters) Here’s how I want us to think about this. I want to think of our time together in the context of four decades — four quarters. The first quarter was about developing a foundation. I’m here to tell you by the witness of God that I’m convinced that the foundation is strong. And, as we look toward the second quarter, I believe it’s to build upon this foundation in an era of expansion. The word of God has come to us, and now it must move through us. As I’ve prayed and meditated upon our ministry here: I see the first quarter as foundation. The second quarter as expansion, the third quarter as innovation, and the fourth quarter as succession. These are uncharted waters for all of us — I know that. But, let’s pray to God that He would show us the way. Let’s pray to God that He would let us experience his power. Let’s pray that He would lets us see his goodness.

I want to close this morning by reading the dream that I wrote for Iron City ten years ago. As I read, I want you to praise God for how much of it we’ve seen become reality. AND, I want you to pray with me as you hear how much is left for us yet to do.