and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians and God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you making mention of you and our prayers remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father knowing brothers beloved by God your election. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power in the Holy Spirit and with full assurance. Just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake, you also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. for the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything, for they themselves report about us, what kind of an entrance we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. Let's pray to our Lord. Father God, Lord God, you are the king of this church, our country, and overall creation. Who can we lift our prayers to higher than you? There is no one above you nor beside you. You alone are God and king. I know, according to James 3.1, not many of us should be teachers because we will be judged much harsher and much stricter than others by you for what we say. I know I am going to be judged harsher and stricter for everything I'm about to say to this beloved congregation concerning your word. They are your people. Please, Lord God, help me preach your word correctly, clearly and courageously to your people today. Please help me preach in such a way that when we enter your judgment, that we would be greeted with reward rather than rebuke because of this particular Lord's Day. Apart from you, we can do nothing like John 15 5 says. Help us abide in you so we can be fruitful and an exemplary church. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Amen. So, today's a special day. We're gonna be starting the book of 1 Thessalonians. It's a great book. I've had the privilege to meet some of you already, and I can't wait to meet some of the rest of you as well. We're starting a new book of scripture, which is Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, the first one. You know, some interesting facts about this epistle. You may or may not know this, but according to scholars, this was actually the first epistle that the apostle Paul wrote. you know, not Romans, not even 1 Corinthians, but 1 Thessalonians. So, yeah, Scholar's Theory was the first epistle that he wrote. Another interesting fact about this letter is that it opens with a greeting unlike any of the other epistles, except for 2 Thessalonians because it opens the exact same way, which is just three names, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. In all of Paul's other letters, he introduces himself as either an apostle, a slave, or a prisoner of Jesus Christ. But here he does something completely different. Instead of presenting himself as someone in a particular position, here he mentions no position at all. Instead, we just get his name and the names of his companions. It's sort of a strange way to open a letter when one thinks about Paul's other letters. which we might ask, how come? That's kind of weird. Why does Paul open his letter merely stating his name and the names of his companions? To answer this question, we must get the backstory behind this letter, which is in the book of Acts. You know, for the duration of this sermon, I need you guys to help me out. I need you to be in two areas. So if you want to just put some bookmarks in Acts chapter 17 and then where we're already at in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. We're going to be kind of in those two general areas between Acts chapter, really it's Acts chapter 15 to 17 and then here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, so just kind of giving it away. First, we look In verse one, so we're going to keep those areas bookmarked, we're going to start our passage with just looking at verse one, Paul, and Sylvanus, and Timothy. When you're reading the Bible for yourself, your Bible study, you might look at this passage and think, okay, Paul, Sylvanus, and Timothy, moving on, I want the meat, I want the good stuff about this passage. like election, or the faith, love, and hope, and all that, and those are certainly great things, but there's a tendency sometimes when people read scriptures, we can look over these small little details and miss their significance. Why? Why bother stating who this letter's from? I know Paul's an apostle, but I mean, if we're honest with ourselves, how many of us really know who Silvanus is? Who's that guy, you know? I mean, I know Timothy, because there's a book, like two of them after his name, and Silvanus, I have no idea who that guy is. I had a coworker named something else, but that's about it. So let's get into the text. First, we look at who these men were. It's easy to read these names. So let's look at the first name mentioned, Paul. Who was Paul? Maybe you already know who that guy is. You're like, oh man, I already know who Paul is. I've heard Pastor Seymour preach and probably a lot of other guys from the Master's Seminary. We already know who that is. And if I could just gently and lovingly remind you, and myself too, as Christians, a part of being an exemplary church, like the Thessalonians, who we'll get to know a little bit better, an exemplary church is a church that's always looking to learn, always looking to grow. in God's word and looking to see what God's word says. And so we'll look at the first name, Paul. So who is Paul? According to Acts chapter six, so if you go, well, sorry, no, that's not 15, but you know, I'm gonna, I'm just, this is gonna be kind of like a learning from a fire hose. I'm gonna mention a lot of scripture. I'm kind of like a baby rattlesnake, you know? So for those of you who don't know, I'm in my second year of seminary. And so I, like a baby rattlesnake has a lot of venom, but they don't know how much to put out all the time, you know, because they, you know, they're still learning. And so, For me, I've just been marinating on this passage. And so there's so much I want to share with you that I just, I might share a lot. And so I appreciate your patience with me on that, but it's gonna be great. We'll see what happens. So according to Acts chapter six, verse five and chapter seven, verse 58, Paul's Hebrew name was Saul, the same Saul who guarded the clothes of those who murdered Stephen. Stephen was a deacon in the early church. According to Acts chapter six, verse five, You know, the church had physical needs in the church, like they had apostles like Peter, and the other apostles like, great, we love the preaching, but hey, like, we have widows in the church, there's actual physical needs in this church, and they're not being met. Not only that, I mean, like, the Jews, they're getting their needs met, but the Greeks, us Gentiles, not really us so much. Can you help us out with that? And so the apostles appointed deacons, and one of those men, who was a spirit-filled man, was Stephen. And this same Stephen was martyred to death for proclaiming the true gospel to his own people, the Jews. And one of those men who was guarding the close as he was being murdered was Saul. You know, a little known fact about Saul, you know, Saul, some people think Saul changed his name to Paul when he became a Christian. Rather, it's just the case that his name still stays Saul. Saul is just his Hebrew name. Paul is his Greek name. And we'll get in a little bit why that matters. Moving forward into Philippians chapter three, verses five to six. In that passage, we learn a little more about the apostle Paul. He was a circumcised Jew, circumcised on the eighth day, according to the law, according, you know, that's from Genesis chapter 17, verse 12, and Leviticus chapter 12, verse three, which is the law that states if you were a part of the nation of Israel and you had a son, On the eighth day, to follow the law, you have to circumcise your son on the eighth day. And so Paul volunteers this information to the Philippians, like, wow, thanks, Paul, for letting us know that. Why would he mention that? He's mentioning that to say, in other words, he's a law-abiding man from a law-abiding family. In the context of Philippians chapter 3 verses 5 to 6, he's trying to say, hey, I have more reason to boast than anyone here. I was circumcised on the eighth day. I was of the tribe, or I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. I'm a former Pharisee. I'm a former persecutor of the church. Like, I have all this zeal. Like, I have more reason to boast than any of you. But then after that, in verse 6, he says, but I'll count it as loss. for the sake of knowing Christ. He counted all these things as lost, but the reason I mention it right now is to give you an idea, just as a reminder, who are we talking about when we say the name Paul? You know, he was circumcised on the eighth day, he was of the tribe of Benjamin, you know, we might suspect that he was potentially named after King Saul. In the Old Testament, when the nation of Israel became a nation, their very first king, before King David was a man by the name of Saul. And it's probably not by accident that he was named Saul after him. They come from the same tribe, the tribe of Benjamin. Paul also volunteers that he was a Pharisee. So he was someone very knowledgeable in the Old Testament. He knew the law extremely well. And then he was a former persecutor of the church. In fact, in his gospel, in his testimony in Acts chapter nine, verses one to 19, we see that Christ miraculously converted Paul to Christianity by himself through a vision in which he tells Paul, like, hey, Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting me? In that same passage, we see that Christ, even at the very beginning of Paul's life in Christ, already had a plan for him to use him as an instrument to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. And you know, you and I are fruits of that. I mean, I don't know, maybe some of you are Jewish in here and I just don't know, and that's great. But most of us are probably Gentiles. I am very thoroughly Gentile. We have benefited through that encounter that the Apostle Paul had that fateful day. Moving forward, we see that he was set apart from ministry to the Gentiles by Christ at his conversion, so that's Acts 9-1-19, and a second time by God, the Holy Spirit, in Acts 13-2. Let's read Acts 13-2 real quick, just to get into God's Word. So, Acts 13-2. says, I'll just go ahead and read it. And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then when they had fasted and prayed, they lay and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. This is the beginning of Paul's missionary journeys. But the reason I mention this is just to say Paul is someone who's been set apart for gospel ministry, particularly to the Gentiles. And then we see his name, I mentioned, yeah, Paul, his name didn't change. It was Saul was his Hebrew name, and then Paul was his Greek name. And so the next time we see Paul in relation to our own passage, in Acts chapter 17, which we'll get into shortly, but all I want you to know now is just that Paul, you know, he starts his missionary journey back in chapter 13 of the book of Acts, and He eventually makes it to Thessalonica. We'll get the backstory a little bit later, but what we know about Paul is he's an ex-Pharisee. He came from a very law-abiding family. His former name was Saul, but Christ converted him to Christianity. He was miraculously saved by Christ. He is called to be an apostle. This is the author of our letter. But then there's a second name named Sylvanus. You know, again, if we're honest with ourselves, most of us probably, like, I don't know, I've read it, have no idea who that guy is. Maybe something you might not have known is that in the Book of Acts, you will not find the name Sylvanus. Instead, you'll find the name Silas. Silas is a short version for the name Sylvanus. Like, my name is Matthew, but people call me Matt. Timothy, like a short version of the name Timothy, is Tim. And so, for Silvanus, maybe for those who are closer to him, they might call him, hey, Silas. I know your name's Silvanus, but you're my boy. You're my friend Silas, you know? And so, in the books of Acts, he's called Silas, which is a shortened version of Silvanus. He first shows up in Acts chapter 15, 22 to 23. Let's go there together. We're going to spend a lot of Philippians and Acts. It's going to be a great time. So in Acts chapter 15 verses 22 to 23, just to give a little context, this is the Jerusalem council. There's Christians in Jerusalem. They're trying to figure out, hey, there's these Gentiles who are Christians too, but it's kind of weird because we're the chosen people of God, not them. One of the earliest issues in Christianity was, hey, could You'd be saved if you weren't an ethnic Jew. Could you be a part of the people of God? Could you be full of the Holy Spirit? You know, which, you know, the evidence of that is not so much speaking in tongues, but a holy life, a holy life, the fruits of the Spirit. And so in this council, They, you know, they realized, you know, through the various testimonies of men like Peter and James, and of course Paul and Barnabas, that yeah, clearly the gospel has gone to all people everywhere for all time. And so it's always been God's intent to save the nations, including in the Old Testament. But going to our particular verses in verse 22 and 23, it says this. This is after they've come to their conclusion. It says, then it seemed good to the apostles and elders with the whole church to choose men from among them, Judas called Barsabbas and Silas leading men among the brothers to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. So, and they sent this letter by them, the apostles and the brothers, who are elders, to the brothers in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, who are from the Gentiles in greetings. So we learn in verse 22 that Saul, along with Judas, these are leading men from among the brothers. So Silas, or Silvanus, he's not just an ordinary guy, he's a leading man. So he's some kind of leader in the church. We also find this is a council, according to verse 22, of apostles and elders. We already know who the apostles are, you know, of the original 12. The apostle Paul, even Barnabas was an apostle in a sense. But we know that Silas wasn't, and so we can deduce that he was most likely an elder. He was a pastor, in other words. And so he's a leading man, he's an elder, he's a pastor in the church. And then what else we find about him is in this same chapter in verse 32. Moving on to 32, if you scroll down or look, turn the page perhaps, It says, and both Judas and Silas, also being prophets themselves, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with a lengthy message. You know, so we find out that Silas, or otherwise known as Silvanus, in addition to being an elder, a leading man, he was also a prophet of God. So these are some, this is a little bit about his backstory, you know? And moving on to verse 40, in Acts chapter 15, verse 40, it says this. But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. A little back story there. You know, so Paul, the apostle, had a disagreement with his close ministry partner, Barnabas. And a part of that argument is they ended up separating and going two completely different directions. The occasion for the argument was John Mark, who was the cousin of Barnabas, had abandoned them on a previous missionary journey, and Barnabas wanted to give him a second chance, like, hey, let's go, let's bring John Mark with us. Paul's like, absolutely not, we're not bringing Mark with us. I'm not going with you if you're bringing John Mark, and so that's the occasion for their separation. Now Paul, you know, he's already well known in the church, he could really bring whoever he wants with him, and of all the men he could choose to bring with him, he brings Silvanus, or otherwise known as Silvanus. And for the remainder of the Book of Acts, next to a man like Luke, the beloved physician, who writes the Book of Acts, Silvanus is right there with him. He's enduring the same hardships. They even go to jail together in the city of Philippi. This is the man, the second name listed in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 1. You know, Silvanus, along with Paul, was also a Roman citizen according to Acts 16, 37, 38. They were beaten and imprisoned and then They reveal, hey, we're Roman citizens. Is it lawful for you to be a Roman citizen? And the Romans freak out like, oh my gosh, no, it's not. I can't believe it. Please don't tell. Pretty please. And so we find out that Silvanus was a Roman citizen. And forgive me for mentioning, but it was also likely that he was a Jew. Being in the Jerusalem Council in the context of what was going on, Again, the Jews are trying to figure out, the Jewish Christians that is, hey, could a non-Jew be a Christian? Could they be saved too? And so it's very probable that Silvanus was Jewish. And another way we know that too, like when we read Acts chapter 17 together, he is going into the synagogue with Paul. Non-Jews could go outside in certain parts, but to be inside the synagogue itself, you have to be a Jew, you have to be Jewish. And so by that, we can deduce that Silvanus was also likely a Jewish person, just like Paul. And lastly, we find out he was a literate man, according to 1 Peter 5.12. And 1 Peter 5.12, maybe I'll go there real fast. In 1 Peter 5.12, we see this. So this is Peter talking, not Paul, but the apostle Peter, a different apostle. Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I regard him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and bearing witness that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. Why am I reading this to you? I'm reading this to say this. There's two things we learn about Silvanus in this passage, and he's also called Silvanus here, his full name. He's a faithful brother. So not only is he a leading man, not only is he a prophet, not only is he a Jew or a Roman citizen, but he's a faithful man. In other words, he's a trustworthy guy. And he's literate. Peter has written this through Silvanus. Silvanus is the one transcribing the letter as Paul is declaring the word to him. And so Silvanus is an educated guy. He knows his letters. That is who Silvanus is. Moving on now to a name you probably know a little bit better is Timothy. We first get introduced to Timothy in Acts chapter 16. So you guys are in Acts if you'll join me there in Acts chapter 16. This is where we meet Timothy for the first time in Acts chapter 16 verses 1 to 3. Now Paul also arrived at Derbe and at Lystra and behold a disciple was there named Timothy the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek and he was well spoken of by the brothers who were in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted this man to go with him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. So we learn a couple things about Timothy here. First in verse one, we learn that he was a disciple, which is to say he was a Christian. Back in those times, people, I mean, they were called Christians in Antioch, but the general way to think of fellow Christians was you're a disciple of God. I mean, that would be an awesome trend to bring back. Like, what does it really mean to be a Christian? It's to be a little Christ. It's to be a follower of God, a disciple, a student, someone who's learning from Christ. Which is to say, if you aren't learning God's word, if you're not learning what it is to be a godly person, you're probably not a Christian. A Christian wants to learn about their master and learn about his word, and this is what characterized Timothy. He was a disciple of God. We learn that he was the son of a Jewish woman, who was also a believer. Later on, we find out who she was, but all we know is that his mother was a Jewish woman and that his father was a Greek, so he comes from a mixed background. Having a Greek father, he wasn't circumcised, so for myself, I'm Mexican-American. I wasn't born in Mexico. I love hamburgers. I love tacos, too, but I very much love the red, white, and blue. Mexico's cool, too, but this is my home and I'm very grateful for it. I love this country. This is where God decided to be born and grow. Me and Timothy would probably have a lot in common in that way. He had a Jewish background, but he was probably more Greek. I mean, he wasn't circumcised. And so for that reason, in verse three, we find that Paul decides to circumcise him because of fear of the Jews, because of their strictness to follow the law. Not because they love God, but really because they loved the law, for the law's sake. So these, and a little bit more about Timothy, in 1 Timothy 1, verse 2 and 18, and 2 Timothy 1, verse 2, Paul considered Timothy his true child in the faith. He was someone very dear to Timothy. He was someone that Paul cared a lot about. Maybe you have someone like that in your own life. Some of you are parents. I'm a parent. Maybe you're not, but maybe you've had someone in your life who's not your child, but you care a lot about. That was Paul's relationship with Timothy. He saw Timothy as his own child, someone to invest in, to love, and to care about. Maybe the father that Timothy didn't have. having a Greek father. The text kind of implies that Timothy's father probably wasn't a Christian. He probably didn't believe the Lord. He was probably lost. And so, in God's sovereignty, he blessed him with the Apostle Paul to guide him, to lead him, to prepare him for pastoral ministry. Unlike Silas, who was Salvanus, unlike the Apostle Paul, Timothy was not a prophet. He wasn't an apostle. He was none of those things. Instead, he was a pastor, which is what we see in 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy. He was a man declaring the Word of God, and he got trained by the Apostle Paul. So, that is verse 1, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. That's our first part. So, we're still left with a question, though. Why did Paul open this letter of 1 Thessalonians with just the names of his companions? Well, we get the answer in Acts 17 1-9. If you'll go there with me, Acts 17 1-9. Let's read it. Now, when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And according to Paul's custom, he went to them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and setting before them that The Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead and saying this Jesus who I am proclaiming to you is that Christ and some of them were persuaded and join Paul and Silas along with a great multitude of the God-fearing Greeks and not a few of the leading women, but the Jews being coming jealous. taking along some wicked men from the marketplace and forming a mob, set the city in an uproar and attacking the house of Jason. They were seeking to bring them out to the assembly, and when they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brothers before the city authorities, shouting, these men who have upset the world have come here also, and Jason has welcomed them. And they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. And they disturb the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things, and when they had received the bond from Jason and the others, they released them. This is a part of the backstory that gives us the occasion for Paul's writing to the Thessalonian church. In this passage here in chapter 17, verse one to nine in Acts, we see that Paul and Silas, most likely with Timothy, but we just see Paul and Silas mentioned, they arrive here after being in jail in Philippi. What happened in Philippi? When they were in Philippi, they were given the gospel. There's a girl who falls in who's possessed by a demon. Paul cast the demon out. The owners of this slave girl are upset because they were using this slave girl to Make money basically because she was demonically possessed and so when she can't do those things anymore They're angry like hey, you just got rid of my money maker man and they incite a riot against Paul and Silas and so they go to jail and they're singing hymns and they're you know, they're miraculously left down to give the gospel to the jailer and the jailer saved and Things are great, and they have a great time there, and then they move on their missionary journey to Thessalonica. Thessalonica was a very important place. It was kind of a main trade route between northern and southern Greece, or Achaia, or Achaia, that's basically what we think of as Greece, and then Macedonia, it's a country to this day, is the north, basically. When I say Macedonia and Achaia, when we read that in the text, basically think about this. There's this place in the north, Macedonia, and there's this place in Greece, in the south, or Achaia, as it is. And so that's where Paul and Silas are now. And so the first thing that they do is they go to the synagogue. This is kind of their custom. When you look at the book of Acts, when Paul goes to give the gospel, his first action to do is to go to the synagogues, to go to his own people and try to give them the gospel, showing them that, hey, this Jesus who was crucified, he is the Messiah. He's the one we've been waiting for. He is the Lord. And unfortunately, we see in the book of Acts, and even mentioned oftentimes in his letters, is that there wasn't always a lot of success with the Jewish people, that they had hardened their hearts, like we see in Romans chapter 10, against the gospel, but in accordance with the plan of God, so that the full age of the Gentiles can come in, so that people like you and me could be saved. You know, I mean, obviously, he still cares about his people, Israel. He hasn't forgotten them. Don't you forget that. He's a faithful God. He will not forsake his people, Israel. But because he won't forget his people, Israel, he will also not forget you. You know, he thinks about you like he thinks about them. Because he loves them, And if you look at the Old Testament, you see, you know, hey, the nation of Israel, they weren't that great all the time, you know? And I'm sure if I knew you better, you're probably not that great either. No offense. If you knew me better, you'd be like, man, that guy, Matt, he's not that great either. But what a great God we serve that he would love you or me despite your shortcomings, your faults, your sin. You may be surprised by your sin, but God isn't. You know, he knew exactly what he was saving you from when he saved you. Again, you might be surprised by your sin. Other people might be surprised by it, but God is not. It's not to say you should continue on your sin. We're commanded as Christians to put to death the deeds of our body in Romans 8, 13. But as you put to death the deeds of your flesh, as you fight sin in your life, Be encouraged, you're saying, that you worship an all-powerful God and that there's nothing too difficult for him, that he promised in Philippians 1.6 that he who began a good work in you will carry it out to the day of completion. I'm sorry, I'm getting a little ahead of myself. I know I'm doing kind of a big introduction, but I just want to interject with that to remind you this is the God we serve, and this is the God that Paul and Silas are proclaiming in the synagogue. He is a great God. Unfortunately, The Jews were pretty jealous. They were angry because of what the success we see in verse four and some of them were persuaded. There are people who believe they actually they heard the gospel and said, yeah, I met praise the Lord Paul and Sylvanus, or whatever you're called, Silas, you know. Yeah, praise the Lord. They were persuaded, they joined Paul and Silas, along with a great multitude of God-fearing Greeks, and not a few of the leading women. This is an important detail to, you know, one of the themes we see in the book of Acts is that the church is going from being a predominantly small Jewish church to being a church of the nations, of the Gentiles. I mean, that's what Gentiles really just means. It just means nations, peoples, peoples from all over the place, you know? Kind of like us, you know? That has been God's plan, and that's His emphasis right now, to save the nations. It's not that He didn't care about them in the Old Testament. We see that He still cared about them. There are people like Ruth, who was a Moabitess. She wasn't a Jew. Tamar, we don't know if it became her, but she's in the line of Christ in Matthew chapter 1. We see various other people who were Gentiles and saved, or Rahab, who was a prostitute. She was saved. became a part of the nation of Israel. She believed God. And even thinking about Ruth, when she follows her mother, Imani, I mean, she says, you know, your God is my God. You know, she we see that she follows Yahweh, the one true God, you know, the great I am or the way I like to think of it, the way Jesus presents himself. I am the one who was the one who is and the one to come. He's saying, I'm Yahweh. I'm Yahweh. I'm God. You know, don't be mistaken about that. The God we serve in the New Testament is the same God of the Old Testament. And so, going back to our text here in Acts chapter 17, verse four, we see that Paul and Silas have, you know, through their proclamation of the gospel, many are saved and come to saving faith. But the Jews become jealous, and so they basically, they attack them, they persecute them. They don't like them and you know they have to send Paul and Silas out and so we see in the next passage in verse 10 to 15 that they go to Berea and then they can't stay in Berea because the Jews follow them from Thessalonica. And so they have to send Paul to Athens, but what happens for the people left behind? They're still there. It's like, you know, like we're here in Los Alamitos. It'd be like, I don't know, or I mean, I'm in Panorama City. It's like me showing up one Sunday and preaching, and then everybody here in Los Alamitos hates all of you. Like, hey, we want to kill those people. Like, we don't like those Christians at that Grace Community Church, Long Beach. We want to hurt them. And you know, it's kind of scary. I mean, we were sort of heading in times like that, Paul and Sylvanus and Timothy, they have a heart for these people, they love them, they don't wanna abandon them to a dangerous fate. And so that gives us the context for our letter in 1 Thessalonians, that they wanted to encourage these saints, despite the persecution, despite the hate, despite the attacks, they wanted to encourage them to endure an affliction, to endure an affliction. Moving forward, One thing I wanna mention before we move on in Acts chapter 17 verse one to nine is just this. It's a very simple observation, which is that Paul and Silvanus and most likely Timothy, these were men that the Thessalonian saints knew. They became familiar with them. They weren't strangers, in other words. And because they weren't strangers, they have no need. Paul doesn't have to say, I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ, I'm a slave of Jesus Christ, I'm a prisoner. Instead, he just says, I'm Paul. or Sylvanus or Timothy. These are people that they know they're familiar with. Why does that matter? Why should you care? Like, okay, that's a lot of time on verse one, man. I can't, how are you gonna get through the rest of these nine verses, man, you know? It's just to say this. Exemplary churches require, you know, it tells us that Paul and his company were very familiar with the saints they were ministering to. They knew them and the saints knew them. They weren't strangers, they weren't distant, they weren't cold. And I share this with you to give you an expectation One of the characteristics of an exemplary church is an expectant church enough for Christ's coming, but it's also a church with expectations of the leadership and of the laity themselves. With Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, they were people who loved the people they ministered to. And so, for that, and they were familiar with the people they were ministering to, which is to say, any man who gets behind the pulpit should have a heart for God's people because God loves his people. And so if a man is to be an under-shepherd and to love God's people, he needs to love God's people. And, you know, it kind of sounds like a no-brainer, like, well, obviously, duh, but not every church is like that. You know, there are churches, you know, the pastor wants to get in there and, you know, hey, I preached my sermon, adios, I'm getting out of here. I'm gonna do what I really want to do now. But I share this with you to say, to have an expectation of the people, or the men, the qualified men, hopefully, who get behind this pulpit. Are they people who love the congregation? Are they people who care about you? Because that's one mark of a godly minister. But to move forward, Paul presents himself and his company the way he does because they need no introduction. They are familiar with their audience and their audience is familiar with them. Why does this matter? It matters because it gives us a glimpse of what a good relationship looks like between church leadership and church laity. which is loving familiarity, and that kind of just summarizes what I just said. Instead of a cold distance, there ought to exist warm closeness between the pulpit and the pews, which we can see in 1 Thessalonians 7 and 8, and if I, I'll go back to our main passage to read that, in verses seven and eight of chapter one, it says this, so that you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia, for the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. Forgive me, I should have read verse six, oh no, verse five, sorry. It says, for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and the Holy Spirit with full assurance, just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. or you know even looking in chapter 2 verse 7, but we prove to be gentle among you as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children in this way having fond affection for you, we were pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives because you had become beloved to us. Just a long way of saying that Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, as leaders in this church for a time, they loved the saints there. So next, we see this letters to the Thessalonians. So going back to verse one, we read Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians. They are the audience of this epistle. This letter was written and directed to them. We should ask ourselves, why did Paul take time to write this letter to the Thessalonian saints? I suspect the reasons for his writing to these saints can be found in 1 Thessalonians 2.17 and 3.15. Let's go there. 1 Thessalonians 2.17 says this. So this is 1 Thessalonians 2.17. Brothers, having been taken away from you for a short while, in face but not in heart, were all the more eager with great desire to see your face. For we wanted to come to you, I, Paul, more than once, and yet Satan hindered us. And then I'll look at chapter three, verses one to five. It says this. Therefore, when we can endure it no longer, we were pleased to be left behind at Athens alone. And we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith so that no one would be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. "'For indeed, when we were with you, "'we kept telling you in advance "'that we were going to suffer affliction, "'just as it happened, and as you know, "'for this reason, when I could endure it no longer, "'I also sent to know about your faith, "'lest somehow the tempter has tempted you, "'and our labor be in vain.'" And so, I think we get the big clue in verse four, in chapter three, it says, "'For indeed, when we were with you, "'we kept telling you in advance "'that we were going to suffer affliction, Just as it happened, as you know, they were suffering affliction. We saw in chapter 17 that the Jews, they didn't like them. They incited a riot. They even took a Christian like Jason, who was hosting the saints like Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, and they took him out, they beat him, and then they required a ransom, a bond, in other words, for them to get out. This is a church that has been persecuted. They've had trouble. And so Paul, he's concerned for them. He doesn't want them to be discouraged by this suffering, by this affliction to think, man, why on earth did I become a Christian? This was a terrible idea. No one likes me. People are mean to me. I might lose my job. Bad things are happening to me because I've decided to follow Christ. But Paul wants to encourage them through this letter to remind them Don't give up, keep following Christ. Keep following Christ. In fact, he's really not so worried about them, because as we read chapter 1 of 1 Thessalonians, we see that this same church of believers, their faith is renown in all Macedonia in the north, all of Canaan in the south, and everywhere their faith has gone. In other words, their faith is public, it's well known. These Christians, they have certainly continued in their faith despite three Sabbaths. In a short amount of time, this is a mature church. They understand that following Christ comes with a cross. Or, yeah, it comes with a cross, it comes with a cost. In other words, Christianity requires a price to pay and they were willing to pay that price. They were willing to follow Christ despite the suffering and Paul wants to encourage them and he gives thanks to God for them always. because they have continued their faith. And he sets them up as a model later on, because they've imitated them. And so I wanna give you the outline of the sermon now. And forgive my fumbling there. you know the the outline for the sermon is this you know the main idea or the title of the sermon is that uh the dna of an exemplary church or the dna of an exemplary church you know like what what's dna dna is basically what your physical body is you know it's it's a genetic code that determines you know everything about you how tall you are how big your nose is uh the size of your cheeks or whatever you know uh here we get the dna of what an exemplary church is what makes You know in the same way DNA is what makes your physical body what it is what makes a good? Exemplary church what it is. I would wager to you. It's three things I'm gonna give you two different lists The first list is this an exemplary church is number one an elect church. It's an elect church Number two, it's an evangelistic church. Number two, it's an evangelistic church. And number three, it's an expectant church. An expectant church. Next to elect church, if you would put, an elect church is a church where it has a faith that works. a faith that works and next to an evangelistic church. I would have you put a love that labors a love that labors and then number three and expectant church has a hope that perseveres a hope that perseveres. So let's get into it. So verse two we give thanks to God always for all of you. Don't miss this. This is a small detail, but Paul, he gives thanks not to the Thessalonians themselves for later on, we'll see their faith, their hope and their love. He doesn't even give thanks to himself or to his company, but rather he thanks God. He thanks God always for them. As I was preparing the sermon, I was listening to a video on YouTube. It's like this Lofi thing and I I looked at it, and it was like Catholic glophia. I'm like, oh, how did that get on there? I'm like, turn away. And I looked at it, and there's a picture in the background of a big church with light coming out the windows, and there's darkness everywhere else. And I thought, oh, that's kind of a cool little picture. And as I was going to change the music, I thought, you know what? that kind of captures what the problem is with the Roman Catholic Church. Where's the light coming from? And again, I'm not sure this is what their intent was, I don't want to read into that, but I think it serves as a good illustration what's wrong with the Roman Catholic Church. And if you're Roman Catholic, you're welcome here, but I want to tell you this right now, that the faith of the Roman Catholic Church is not the faith of Scripture. They don't believe what the Bible teaches, or even what the early church fathers believed. and I would exhort you to believe in the true Lord of the one true Catholic Church, the one universal Church. But the problem with the Roman Catholic Church is that the light and the hope of the Roman Catholic Church, despite what they say about Christ or Mary or the saints or all that stuff, is in the church itself, and for that reason, they venerate, that's the term they use, they venerate the saints like Mary or Joseph or whoever, you know? Their hope is in the wrong place. Their thanks is in the wrong place. But for Paul, he makes it explicitly clear that our thanks is not to the Thessalonians, which is to say it's not to the church itself, it's not to him himself, it's not even to his company. It's to God he gives thanks. He gives God the glory, he gives God the thanks, always for all of them. and he says, making mention of you in our prayers, so he prays for them, remembering without ceasing their work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope and our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father. These are the three things I ask you to remember, the first one being a work of faith. What are we talking about here? We're talking about the three things, if we were to boil down what it means to be a good church or to be a good Christian, to be a godly Christian, to be a godly church, requires a work of faith. What does that mean? I've reworded that to say it's just a faith that works. If you'll join me to James chapter two, verse 14 to 26, James chapter two, verses 14 to 26, it says this, in James chapter two, verses 14 to 26. What use is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warm and be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead by itself. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works, show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one, you do well. The demons also believe and shudder. But you are willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac, his son, on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected, and the scripture was fulfilled, which says, And Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." Main idea, faith without works is dead. He says, in verse 19, show me your faith without works and I will show you my faith by my works. This is to describe what Paul is talking about when he says a work of faith. This is what characterized the Thessalonian church. You could see their faith. Their faith wasn't something merely conceptual, wasn't something merely intellectual or emotional. But it was something that you can point at and say, wow, that man or that woman has faith in God. Maybe you've met someone in amongst your friends or your family, and you can just tell, wow, that person is a Christian. They really love the Lord. This is what Paul, Silvanus and Timothy are saying about the Thessalonians. We know. In fact, he says we we have assurance of your election. That's kind of a big statement. He's saying we know you are predestined by God. We know you are saved. How could he know that? Because he looks at their outward living. He looks at the way they live their life. you know amongst themselves or you know the time that they spent with them maybe at home or you know or eating a meal somewhere and he could sell he could tell I know you are a Christian. I know you are a saint. You're someone set apart. How come because your faith is backed up by works. It's not to say that we're saved by works. If we look at Ephesians 2, eight through 10, which I'll look at right now, you're welcome to join me, Ephesians 2, verses eight to 10, it says this, this is Ephesians 2, verses eight to 10. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. You know, maybe you've heard this verse before, like, yeah, man, I've heard that a million times. And yes, there's a part about it which we never wanna forget, that timeless truth that we're not saved by works, we're saved by grace. We're saved by grace, not by works. But what often gets missed is verse 10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, for what? For good works. which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. You see, you're not saved by your works, but you are saved for good works. The cause of your salvation is not your works, but a consequence of your salvation, if you are a true Christian, if you're a genuine Christian, if you are elect, is there should be good works in your life. Your good works don't save you, but if you are saved, there ought to be good works in your life. I don't know if I'm here preaching one Sunday and then I go home and beat my wife or I'm just a terrible husband or a terrible person, you could tell what I really believe. There's a saying, actions speak louder than words. You can tell what a person really believes by the way they act. And that's all Paul's trying to communicate by when he says a work of faith. You can tell what a person really believes by what they do. They what they do will verify it will either prove or disprove what they say moving on John 15 1 and 8 I'm gonna go ahead and read that John chapter 15 1 to 8 says this I Am the true vine and my father is the vine grower every branch in me that does not bear fruit is He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, he cleans it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up, and they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples." The purpose for reading this passage is just to say two things. One, apart from Christ, you can do nothing, John 15, 5, which we just read. Our life, your Christian life, apart, divorced from Christ, there is no life. You're a dead man, still dead in your transgressions, a dead man, a dead woman. So the genuine true Christian life is a life that's dependent on God, but if you really are dependent on God, if you truly are a saint, if you really believe in God, according to verse eight, Jesus said, my Father has glorified this, that you bear much fruit. that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. You see, Jesus said in another passage that you'll know a tree by the fruit it bears. Good trees bear good fruit. Bad trees bear what? Bad fruit. to be on the lookout. You know, we're not called to be undiscerning Christians, like, oh, well, that guy says he's a Christian, so he must be. You know, I know he beats his wife and he swears like a sailor, but he said he's a Christian, so I ought to believe him. You know, by no means we were called to be discerning, to look at these things. And Paul was one such one. But fortunately for the Thessalonian Church, he can tell these people are elect. They are Christian. Why? Because of the work of faith. Or in other words, they have a faith that works. And my original outline that I gave to you, I said they're an elect church. What do I mean by that? Which is, you know, the doctrine of election in scripture is just this, that God predestines people for salvation. In this same book of John, I'll just go to John chapter one. I mean, there's a lot of passages we could look at this. But in John chapter one, I'll go 12 to 13, it says this. In John chapter one, verse 12 to 13, it says this. But as many as received him and to them, he gave the right, this is God, God gave them the right to become children of God. who gives the right to become children of God, not man, but God, even to those who believe in his name. Verse 13, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. This is to say that you becoming a Christian isn't because of what family you were born into. Some of you were born into Christian families, but just because your mom or your dad or your grandma or your grandpa's a Christian, that doesn't make you a Christian. Some of you are very little here, and I'm so happy that you're here with us today. But just because your mom or your dad's a Christian doesn't make you a Christian. You yourself must submit to the Lordship of Christ to be a Christian. Furthermore, it's not the will of the flesh. It's not something you could do yourself. You just can't try it. Harder, you know, some people just say do better. Well, you know what? You just can't do good enough to be welcomed into God's kingdom No amount of human effort will reconcile you to a perfect God because you're not perfect You don't have to be a Christian to know that, you know atheists know that too. You're not good enough for God's kingdom, you're not perfect. So you cannot be saved because of your family, that is the will of the blood, nor the will of the flesh, by trying harder, and nor the will of man, like yourself. Man can't make you a Christian. So who can make me a Christian? My blood can't do it, my will can't do it, my flesh can't do it, the will of man can't do it. Only God can do that. Paul is saying, this is what he means when he talks about election. We can even look at Romans chapter nine, which I'll just summarize real briefly, but Romans chapter nine, it just says this, God has predestined people for salvation, to fulfill his good purpose of election. Maybe I will go into it, just for fun, because it is fun. But in Romans chapter nine, just to look at the doctrine of election real quick, that God has predestined people for salvation. Let's see, it's kind of a long passage, but we will look at starting verse six. I'm just gonna read a little bit. In Romans chapter nine, Uh, it says in verse six, but it is not as though the word of God has failed for they have not all for they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel, nor are they all children because they are Abraham seed. But through Isaac, your seed will be named. That is the children of the flesh are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are considered as seed for this is the word of promise. At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a sign. And not only this, but there was Rebecca also when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac for, though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that the purpose of God according to his choice, for some translations say election, would stand, not because of works, but because of him who calls. Why did I read that? I read that just to say, if you look back at verse 11, it says, for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that the purpose of God according to his choice would stand, not because of works, but because of him who calls. What am I talking about? It's like, whoa, you're talking about twins. I have no idea where you're at, man. Here's the background. In the Old Testament, Isaac and Rebekah, Isaac was the son of Abraham. Abraham's the progenitor of the people of Israel. He's their forefather. In the United States, our forefather would be someone like George Washington. I don't know for other countries, but the quintessential American is George Washington for the United States. He's our founding father. For Israel, it's Abraham. It's not George Washington. It's Abraham. He's the quintessential Jewish man. And his son was Isaac, and Isaac had two sons. He had twins. Esau who was his firstborn and then he had Jacob and What it's talking about verse 11 Before they were born and before any one of them had done good or bad so that God's purpose of election or choice could stand You know he he says in verse 12. It was said to her that The older shall serve the younger, just as it is written, Jacob I love, but Esau I hated. God decided to save Jacob. If you know anything about Jacob, he wasn't a great guy. He was a liar, he was a deceiver. He wasn't a great guy. Neither was Esau. Esau was bad too. He wanted to murder his brother because he stole his birthright. The reason we read this is just to say, who's in charge of salvation? It's God, not man. Now, some might say, well, if that's true, isn't God culpable? Because if God chooses people for salvation, why doesn't he just save everybody? That means if someone goes to hell, then that makes God guilty. How could God say he desires that none should perish like it says in 1 Peter? And then there's people who go to hell. Like, what's the deal with that? Well, here's the deal with that. You know, I think R.C. Sproul has a good way of wording this. You know, everyone has wronged God. You, me, everyone, for all time and existence. All of us deserve to go to hell. We all deserve the wrath of God. But God, in his kindness, has decided to save some. Why has he decided to save some? In this same passage of Romans chapter 9, we see that he's created some vessels, some for honorable use in some, for dishonorable use in verse 19 to 22. Scripture answers this own accusation of why election? Why does God predestine some and not others? It says in verse 19, you will say to me then, why does he still find fault? For who resists his will? That is God's will. On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? Will the thing molded say to the molder, why did you make me like this? Or does not the potter have authority over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? And what if God, wanting to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath, having been prepared for destruction, and in order that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory? What is this talking about? This is just to say God has created everyone for their purpose. In Proverbs, it says the same thing. It says that God has even created the wicked for their own purpose. Why do we exist? We exist for the glory of God. Whether you're saved or unsaved, the good and the bad, God uses everything to accomplish his good purposes, even the wicked. In the book of Genesis, you find a man by the name of Joseph who was beat up by his own brothers, he was sold into slavery by his own brothers, and then he was falsely accused of sexual misconduct by Potiphar's wife, and then he helps a guy out and that guy totally forgets him. A lot of bad things happen to Joseph, but at the end of his life when he's in a position of authority and he's looking at the same brothers who sold him into slavery and who did him bad, he tells them this, what you intended for evil, what you intended for bad, God intended for good. What is this to say? God is sovereign over everything, everything good and bad, but this is to communicate a larger statement, which is that God works all things for his glory. That is the purpose of our existence. And so is God in just for not saving everyone? No, like God gets to decide whom he shows mercy on. Some get mercy and some get justice, but no one gets injustice. That's actually a quote from Martin Cicero. I didn't invent that. Don't want to get accused of plagiarism. Just in case one of my professors watches this, they're like, oh, no, I know who said that. That was Martin Cicero. That was not mad. Some get mercy and some get justice, but no one gets injustice. God is a just God, he's a merciful God, but he's not an unjust God. So let's go back to our passage in 1 Thessalonians 1. We saw now that the first mark of an exemplary church is that it's an elect church, it's a believing church, it's an elect church. And what does an elect church do? It has faith that works. The evidence of your election is that it has works to back it up. You know, Martin Luther is credited with saying that You know, we are saved by faith alone, but faith is never alone. We're saved by faith alone, but faith is never alone. You know, again, if you're truly a Christian, there should be works in your life. And so, if you are an elect church, there's gonna be works. And I lastly say, concerning this point, why is this, why did I mention this is a mark of an exemplary church? Well, you see, not every church is an elect church. There's churches, you know, that are full of unbelievers. You know, you look at a lot of the churches that Paul even wrote to, you know, there were certainly Christians in those churches, but you have people like the Judaizers, you have false teachers, you have false converts who are all about the super apostles and stuff. My point to communicate is just this, not everyone in the church is a Christian. And if you are going to be an exemplary church and exemplary church requires that that church focuses on being a safe church that focuses on the sheep and not the goats, you know, you know, you're at a church like this. that's focused on the preaching of God's word instead of a church that's focused on, hey, I'm gonna come in on a zip line with a smoke machine, I'm gonna kick the Bible like a football, I don't know, we're gonna have this great, amazing time, sort of, but then it'll be sacrilegious as well. Why are you here and not there? Such churches, they're not there for the sheep because they don't really care about the shepherd. A church that doesn't care about the sheep doesn't care about the shepherd. A church that doesn't care about the sheep does not care about the shepherd. A church that cares about the goats rather than the sheep is not doing what God intends to be done for his church. When Jesus commissioned, when he recommissioned Peter at the end of the book of John, he said, love my sheep and feed my sheep. He didn't say love the goats, feed the goats. It's not to say that we don't love non-Christians. But the purpose of the church, we don't exist for the goats, we exist for the sheep. We should be investing our efforts and our love in God's people, his sheep, not the goats. So moving on, we go to the next point, an evangelistic church. The second mark of an exemplary church is an evangelistic church or a church that is, in other words, obedient. If you would go with me to Matthew chapter 28, 18 to 20. Matthew chapter 28, 18 to 20. in Matthew chapter 28, 18 to 20. This is a great commission. Jesus is about to descend into heaven. And Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to keep all that I commanded you and behold, I am with you always even to the end of the age. So why are we reading this? I mean, we, you know, people will say this when they're preaching a sermon on going to all the nations, you know, go or make disciples. This is our call to be an evangelistic church, and it certainly is. We should be an evangelistic church. We should be a church that is giving the gospel and making disciples. That's our real call. It's not just to, it is to proclaim the gospel. It does require the proclamation of a verbal message, but the full gospel proclamation involves making disciples or little Christs, or in other words, Christians. But the reason I ask us to look at this passage here in Matthew 20, 18 to 20, in relation to what does it mean to be an exemplary church, is to say what Christ is commanding here is a command. I think that's a very basic observation. It's not a recommendation. It's not a suggestion. He's commanding. And the theme of the Gospel of Matthew is that Jesus is King. He is our friend, he is our father, but your father in heaven is a king. Your friend is a king. I don't know, I'll be your friend. I work for a seminary company and I go to seminary. You don't have to call me Lord or anything, and you shouldn't, by the way. But he is king, he is Lord, and we should revere him as such. He's not a friend or a peer at our level. He is greater than we are. And so, An exemplary church is a church that wants to obey God. And we see that to obey God is to love God. You know, which relates to that love that labors. If we look at John chapter 14 verse 21, John chapter 14 verse 21 says this, Jesus was speaking and he says, he who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him. and will disclose myself to him. And verse 23 and 24, it says this, Jesus answered and said to them, if anyone loves me and he will keep my word and my father will love him and he will come to him and make our dwelling with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words and the word which you hear is not mine, but the father's who sent me. What does it mean to love God? It means to keep his word or to obey his commandments. It says in verse 24, he who does not love me does not keep my words. So if you don't keep God's words, if you don't obey God, it's because you don't really love God. You see, there's no such thing as a Christian who says, oh, I love God, but I don't really want to live the Christian life. I don't want to do what God's Word says. There's no such thing. You can... I mean, Matthew 7, verses 21-23 talk precisely about that kind of Christian. They say, Lord, Lord, didn't I do all these amazing things in your name, like cast out demons and do all this other stuff? And Jesus can say, depart from me, you evildoer. I never knew you. It's not to say that he didn't have intellectual knowledge of who they were, but it's to say, we didn't have a relationship. It's like trying to get into a place with the big bouncer guy. It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Who are you? Are you on the list or not? I mean, the bouncer man, who they are, but it's like, hey, if you're not on the list, you're not getting in. If you would be on God's list, if you are one of his elect, You must love God. You must love God, and to love God is to obey God. And again, remember, we're not saved by our works, but the evidence that you truly are saved is that there will be works. Again, the first mark of an exemplary church is a faith that works. And the second mark of an exemplary church is a love that labors. It's to say that they labor to obey God, they labor to do what pleases the Lord. And, you know, a small detail I don't want to miss out on is the words work and labor are both used. I mean, we kind of hear them in English and it might sound synonymous. But, you know, you don't really need to know Greek to know that there's a difference here, but in Greek it's kind of nice because the word for work is eragon, it just means like normal everyday work, just a normal task. The word in Greek for labor, it's kupo, I believe, kupo, it's like very difficult, strenuous work, work that is very, very hard to do. Why would it say that about love? Have you ever tried loving someone? I mean, it's easy to love someone until it's not, right? You know, I don't know, some of you are married, some of you have kids. I have a, I'm married and I have a kid, you know? And I love them, but sometimes, oh man, it's hard. I mean, you know, thank God I'm the one preaching, you know, because maybe my wife will tell you later, like, oh, that man is so hard to love sometimes, you know? But, you know, love is hard. And imagine, what's it like being in a church? You know, I'm sure, like, we love each other right now. Like, hey, this guy, he's okay. You know, he's a sweet dude, whatever. But then maybe we'll get to know each other like, oh, that Matt Garcia guy. He's just something. He's so hard to love. Maybe if I got to know you more, maybe I'll feel the same. I won't know him, you know? And so what is this to say? It's like loving labors, true love labors. Love is hard labor. work, guys. But an exemplary church, a church that would be an example to other people, like the Thessalonian church, to where Paul could say, I give things to God always for all of you. You know, your faith is proclaimed in Macedonia in the north, and Achaia in the south, and everywhere your faith is gone, that type of Those type of people, the way that that faith is known is through a love that labors. It does work. It's not a love that just says, hey, I love you, and that's it. Peace out, guys. It's love, hey, let me talk to you. Let's get to know each other. If you have a need, I can immediately help. Or maybe if anything, I can just pray for you to care for each other. That kind of love. And I pray that you would be that kind of church. I had the privilege to speak to Pastor Seymour before coming here, and I'm sure he would agree with me I mean, you know, he spoke very fondly of all of you, you know, and I wouldn't be surprised if he would say, you guys are very much like that. And we always want to be growing into that, becoming an exemplary church. I mean, the Thessalonian church was a great church, but it wasn't a perfect church. We didn't read verse 10 and onward in Acts chapter 17, but we found out that the Berean church They looked up everything Paul was saying. The Thessalonian church didn't. So they got caught like, oops, you guys weren't checking everything Paul was saying. So no church is a perfect church, but we always want to be striving to become an exemplary church, which requires a faith that works and a love that labors. Moving on to our last point, an expectant church. An exemplary church is an expectant church, which is to say it's a church that's expecting something, it's looking forward to something. What do I mean by this? Let me, and forgive me, I'm just gonna read the rest of our passage here going on from verse four. Knowing, brothers, beloved by God, your election, we talked about election already, for our gospel did not come to you in word only. It still matters that we proclaim the gospel verbally. Romans chapter 10 says, how will they believe if no one goes and preaches? In a beautiful way, the feet that bring the good news. This is to say the gospel does require verbal proclamation. but it requires more. It's not less, but it requires more. But also in power and the Holy Spirit and with full assurance. This is the manner in which, in Acts chapter 17, when Paul and Silas are in the synagogue proclaiming the gospel to God's people, some of them at least, this is the manner. They are proclaiming it in power. They're proclaiming it in the Holy Spirit. So what does it mean? What does all that mean? Probably miracles. I mean, that was going on in the book of Acts. And the Holy Spirit's to say that this message is a message that's approved by the Holy Spirit. I don't know if I'm up here saying like, hey, I don't know, we should all, I don't know, you know, like the Pride Month. Let's do it, guys. Like, no, that's not something approved by the Holy Spirit. That's not something. And how do I know it's not approved by the Holy Spirit? Because it's not approved by God's word. The Holy Spirit is the author of scripture, according to 2nd Peter or 2nd Timothy to 316 all scriptures God breathe we see the same in 1st Peter Chapter 1 verse 20 22 that all scripture. It's it's a it comes from the work of the Holy Spirit and man wrote it as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit and And so this is the kind of message that Paul, Silas, and Timothy are preaching to them and with full assurance. So they're confident in this message because they know it. Moving forward, just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake, you know, they had an example for the believers. We talked about that in verse one when I mentioned Paul, Silas, and Timothy. You know, these were not strangers. These were people, these were men that the congregation knew. They knew what they were saying was true because they looked at their life. They could say, I know what this man is like. And it's only been three weeks, but I could see the life that this man leads. And the works that he does, he has a faith that works. His faith is backed up by what he does. and the love that he laboriously shows to us. You know, later on we'll see in the letter of 1 Thessalonians that he labors day and night to work for the Thessalonians, not to be a burden to them. They could see his love, they could see his faith. Moving on, verse six, you also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything." So just to summarize that real quick, they, you know, they imitated Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, you know, in the same way they were imitating Christ. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1, when Paul is ministering to the Corinthian church, I mean, I didn't mention this actually it's believed that Paul wrote Thessalonians when he was actually at Corinth, but that's besides the point He tells the Corinthians in chapter 11 verse 1 in 1st Corinthians imitate me as I imitate Christ Imitate me as I imitate Christ Why do I share that with you? I share that with you to communicate you as a congregation have a responsibility. You have a duty, not just to sit in the chairs of abuse, but to have an expectation for myself or any man who gets behind this pulpit that they be the sort of men that are qualified, that are seeking to imitate Christ. If any man behind this pulpit doesn't live a life that imitates Christ, he has no business behind this pulpit. And you have a responsibility as a congregation to say, no, we cannot listen to such a man. We cannot put up with that kind of teaching from such a man because a man who doesn't care to follow Christ doesn't care ultimately about his word and ultimately will not care about you either because he doesn't care about God. If he doesn't care about the shepherd, he's not going to care about the sheep. And so I share that with you to say you're a part of this just as much. You have a role to play You need to have an expectation with me to imitate Christ. Have an expectation of your leaders that way. Moving on in verse 9. For they themselves, this is the people, the other Christians in Macedonia and Achaia, for they themselves report about us what kind of an entrance we had with you and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God. And I know I said I'd get on the last point, I apologize, but I want to reiterate the first point again. What was the first mark of an exemplary church? It has a faith that works. They weren't Christians in name only or in word only, but their faith had works to back it up, which is to say they turned to God from idols. They left their idols behind. In the book of Acts, we see a different church, the church of Ephesus. When they became Christians, they took all their magic books. Something you learned about the church of Ephesus, they were really into the cult of Diana or her other name, Artemis. It was a culty town. So, I mean, I don't know, maybe it was like Utah or something, the Mormons, you know? We love, you know, Utah, they're great, you know? But, you know, we don't like Mormons, I'm sorry. If you're a Mormon, you're welcome. Believe the true gospel, the true Christ, but, you know, moving on. It was a culty town, but the way their faith demonstrated, the way they knew they were Christian, is they took their magic books, their culty, wicked books, and they threw them into the fire, they burned them, they turned to God away from idols, and we see the same thing happen here with the Thessalonians. They turn to God from idols. And maybe I'd ask the same question to you. Have you turned to God from idols in your own life, whatever they may be? I don't know, lying, cheating, stealing, lust, idolatry, pornography, whatever it is. The evidence of a true Christian is basically repentance. That's what repentance means, to turn away from your old life, your old sinful life, and to turn to Christ. Have you turned from your own idols and turned to Christ? And then verse 10, this gets into our last point, the expectant church. And to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. So we end this chapter in verse 10 with Paul's exhorting the saints. He's saying, you know, hey, you guys are looking forward to God, the son from heaven, whom God the Father has raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. You're looking forward, you're expecting Christ to come back. That is the last mark of an exemplary church. They're looking forward to him coming. Why does that matter? Why does an exemplary church have to be an expectant church? It's to say, an expectant church is a prepared church to endure suffering and affliction. You see, a church that's not looking forward to Christ coming, that has no expectation of Christ to fulfill his promises, is a church that cannot endure. It cannot, or in other words, persevere. There's another doctrine you may have heard called perseverance of the saints. It's to say that if you are a Christian, truly, you will continue in the faith until you die. There are people who go to church, they call themselves Christians, and later on they say, I reject Christ, I don't believe Him, they reject the faith entirely. According to 1 John, the Apostle John says, they left us because they were never of us. Which is to say, they were never Christians all along. Which is to say, we need to be discerning. There's a lot of people, maybe even in this church, that claim the name Christ but are not Christians, you might even be one of those people. I, when I became a Christian, was one of those people growing up in the church, believing myself to be a Christian. Other people in the church saying, yeah, we think you're a Christian. But in reality, I wasn't. It was the Lord who saved me. In my case, it was the case that I I didn't have a faith that worked. The works in my life were the works of the flesh, not the works of God. Which is why I share the marks of an exemplary church, because this will help give you discernment to know, hey, well, number one, are we being an exemplary church? But also, hey, am I being an exemplary Christian? Do I have a faith that works? Do I have a love that labors? And do I have a hope that perseveres? Am I enduring, am I looking forward to Christ coming? And is my looking forward to Christ coming helping me to endure my own trials and temptations or my own problems. Ever since 2020 with the whole pandemic, the shutdowns, people lost their jobs for not getting the job. For some people, there's a religious exemption. I was one of those people. I used to have a really good job working for the city back in San Diego, and I lost my job because I refused to get the job. And by the way, I'm not saying if you got the job, it's okay. I'm not saying you're not a Christian. You didn't get to wear your beans. We love you, you're okay, don't worry. But here's what's wrong. It's not wrong if you got a jab, but here's what's wrong. What's wrong is when you let the government tell you what they don't have the authority to tell you. They don't have a right over your body. Your body belongs to God. Your body belongs to God. If anyone gets to tell you what to do with your body, it's going to be God. That's 1 Corinthians 6. Honor God with your body, because guess who it belongs to? Not you. you know, like the whole abortion feminist movements like, hey, my body, my choice. No, it's I mean, it's not even their own body. It's the body of the baby. But even beyond that, it's still not their bodies. It belongs to God. Your body belongs to God. Romans 12, one tells us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. Again, just a point to make your body doesn't belong to your body belongs to God. And that's what the problem was in 2020. And but why do I bring the COVID up? I bring it up to say, Christianity is moving from a status of favor to disfavor in our own world, in our own culture, in our own country. The Thessalonian church isn't too different from maybe this church and many other churches here in the West or in America. where Christianity was not viewed, it wasn't viewed favorably then, it's becoming, it's not viewed so favorably now. And the churches that are all about the smoke machines and like, hey, you know, you got a car under your seat. I'm like, what, how'd that fit there? Hey, it's a Hot Wheel. I'm like, whoa, crazy. Not that, aw, not that car, but churches like that will not endure. Churches, when suffering comes, when trials come, They cannot stand because they're like what Jesus said, they're those houses built on the sand. When the storm comes, they will fall and wash away. If you are going to stand against the alphabet mafia that wants to force their agenda down your throat every June, and pretty much July as well, if you're gonna stand against a government that demands that you take the jab, again, I'm not saying if you got a jab, but they don't have the right to force you to do that. What I wanna say is this. if you are going to stand firm in times of trouble, if you are gonna be an example to other churches, like, wow, people look at Grace Community Church, the other one on Roscoe, and maybe to you guys too, I don't know, I just don't know you that well enough, but the one on Roscoe, when they stood against the county of Los Angeles, like, wow, they're standing up, and John MacArthur talking about, hey, Christ is king. Christ is king, guys. Governor Newsom, not even Joe Biden, Christ is king. It's not to say that we don't, honor the magistrate, we do, Romans chapter 13, yeah, we do want to submit to the government, but you know, there comes a point where if they step outside their sphere, we don't have to obey them, like, you know, I don't know, like my wife is to submit to me because I'm her husband, that's from Ephesians chapter five, I don't know, like, a random sister in here doesn't have to submit to me in that way because I'm not married to you, nor should you do that, you know, that would be wrong. You know, we relate to each other in our relative spheres and so, I just want to say this, that if you are going to stand in times of trouble, you have to be looking forward to Christ's second coming. And be reminded that in Christ's second coming, he's going to conquer this world in his power and might. You know, there's I think it was Steve Lawson who said that when when Christ first came, he came to kill sin and man. But when Christ comes back again, the second time, he's going to kill sinful man. He's going to come back in wrath. The time to repent, the time to be reconciled to God is now. I've already mentioned Philippians 1, 6 in the beginning, but I'll just quote it now again, you know, he who began a good work in you will carry it out to the day of completion. Why do I mention that? It's not just to say like we're looking forward to Christ conquering this earth and reigning over it. That is our hope, by the way, guys. You know what? The way the country is going isn't so great. And it's not to say that we throw up our hands and give up like, oh, you know, things are just going to get bad. No, we should fight, you know, you know, be involved and give the gospel, you know, create a culture of evangelism, be an exemplary church in that way. You don't know. I don't know. Maybe the Lord will turn things around. How do you know? I don't. You don't. Maybe the Lord will turn things around, but we're called to love God by obeying God. You're an exemplary church by loving God, by being obedient to God. You become an exemplary church through obedience to God. And to help you endure in that obedience, you must be looking forward to Christ coming. You must be hoping and trusting in the promises of God that he who began a good work in you will carry it out to the day of completion. He's not done with you. You know, you may look at yourself and think, man, I just blew it again. I did this sin that I shouldn't do again. Or I don't know, like my wife keeps telling me or my husband keeps telling me I do this thing and they're right. Man, like, is there any hope for me? And I just want to say there absolutely is. If you are in Christ, if you truly are a Christian, God is not done with you yet. He will carry out the good work He has planned in you until the day of completion. He will not give up on you. You may be surprised by your sin, but God is not. So now to our conclusion. I've spoken a lot. You know, one of the passages I mentioned earlier, it talked about how Paul and Silas, their preaching was very lengthy. So I probably, I think I like to think of myself like them, you know. I'll work on it though. And I appreciate your patience with me in that. But I want to conclude here. Much has been said and it's time to land the ship somewhere before time runs out. I think time probably has already run out. So here's where we end for today. Two things. There's a price to pay to be a Christian. There was a price to pay to be a Christian and Thessalonica. Are you prepared to pay the price of following Christ in the midst of a culture that hates Christ and hates his people? Are you prepared to pay the price for following Christ in the midst of a culture that hates Christ and his people? Number two, an exemplary church requires exemplary Christians. Are you living an exemplary Christian life? Will Grace Community Church Long Beach become an exemplary church next to the Church of Thessalonica because you are a part of it? Will this church be listed with the Church of Thessalonica because you are a part of this church? I hope so, I really do. If you would be an exemplary Christian, you must possess a faith that works, a love that labors, and a hope that perseveres. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, God, thank you so much for this time to preach your word to your people, Lord. I thank you for your word, God, just that we could be washed in it, God. You sanctify us in your word because your word is truth. That's what you said in John 17, 17. Sanctify them in your word because your word is truth, God. I'm a very fallible tool, God. I'm weak, but I trust in your greatness and in your power, God, that through the preaching of your word, God, that these people will be sanctified, that they will be capacitated for the work of ministry, like it says in Ephesians chapter four, God, that they wouldn't be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, but that they would do it, Ephesians 6 says, and stand firmly in the faith and be able to resist the devil and to resist the pressures and the afflictions and the trials and the persecution of this world, God. Lord, I pray for the dear saints of Grace Community Church Long Beach, God, that they would have a faith that works, a love that labors, and a hope that perseveres. God, would you, I pray, God, would you, through your power, make these saints, that their faith would be evident, that people could just look at them and say, these are a people of faith, because I could see their faith by their works. God, I pray, Lord, that their love would be known all over. Maybe, I don't know if it'll get to Macedonia or Kea, but I pray to Los Angeles, Orange County and to all the surrounding parts, God, that people would know that the people of Grace Community Church Long Beach have a love that labors, that they would be willing to love each other and other people, that they would labor, that they'd even suffer for the sake of obeying you, because to obey you is to love you, God. And lastly, would you help them to be an expectant church, to have a hope that perseveres, that they would hope, despite what's happening in our country, in our state, God, the government making moves increasingly hostile towards Christianity, even going, we saw the former president was almost assassinated, God, and regardless of the political affiliations that people may have in this room, God, something is wrong in our country, God, so much so that the parties are, I mean, we're becoming a banana republic where people are willing to assassinate people just because they disagree with them. What they want to do to Donald Trump is probably what they want to do to your people as well, Lord. We do pray for them. We pray for all the leaders, God, in government, because you command us to, God. But right now, I just want to finish by praying for these dear saints, because you love them, you live for them, you died for them, and you rose from the dead for them, God. And I pray that they'd be looking forward to your coming so that they could endure the present hardships. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.