Now we're turning this morning to the book of 1 Thessalonians. Paul's letter to the Thessalonians we read in Acts chapter 17 of this city. And I'd like us to consider this morning the second half of this chapter and particularly verse 6 and the verses that follow which we shall read now. And ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that we were ensembles to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place Your faith to Godward is spread abroad so that we need not to speak anything, and our subject this morning is living only for Christ, living only for Christ. This is very often considered to be the first epistle of Paul written in the New Testament. It was written around AD 50 to AD 52 and he writes to this young church who held great affection in Paul's heart. He had much joy at their faith and of their steadfastness as believers. They were young believers in the main and it was a very young church. Now today Thessalonica is the second biggest city. In Greece, in ancient Rome, it was also a large city. It was the Roman capital of the province of Macedonia and it had many advantages. It was given by the emperor the ability to make its own decisions. The citizens were free. They were not ruled by Rome. They were able to make their own leaders and choose them. They had a form of democracy. And it was probably in around about AD 50 that Paul and Silas and young Timothy went to this city. to preach the gospel to them, as we read in Acts 17. Paul had started, as he always did, going to the synagogue to preach to the Jews, and three Sabbaths in a row he stood up and he reasoned and he contended and he argued with them and he showed them that that Messiah of the Old Testament that was promised long ago was the Christ, but to many of them this seemed like a strange dogma, a strange doctrine. What is he talking about? It was revolutionary teaching to some of them, but many believed. We read that there was important, posh, wealthy people, men and ladies who were converted as well as some of the common folk, Jews as well as Gentiles. But what he did had an effect also on those who were against the gospel. The truth always causes a stir. It always generates enemies. If you have no enemies in your workplace, if you have no enemies in Bulldog, I don't mean enemies that you choose, but people that are opposed to you, then there's no truth. If you have those that oppose, it's a good sign that the truth is being held full. And there, Paul and Silas continued to teach. But there started to be a riot. Those who were against the Gospel, they gathered round this man Jason's house where they'd been meeting together and they were like the local mafia, the local riff-raff. They got together and they were intent on causing problems. They blamed Paul for claiming that he was more important than the emperor and they accused him of turning the whole province upside down and so it was with this threat and the danger probably to Paul's life that the believers there said to him you must leave immediately this night and he went And this letter is written when Paul goes away. He'd wanted to stay because he had such affection for these young believers and for this church and he sends Timothy back and he says, go and see how they're doing. Go and see and come back with a report and let me know. His purpose in the letter seems to be to encourage them, to reassure them, He wanted to know that they were going on quietly, working in the midst of suffering and affliction and persecution. And he tells them, you must live pure, sanctified, earnest lives. And then in chapter 4, we won't cover this this morning, he moves on to some of the problems that had developed. So this was a young church. I think this is still a young church here, when you've been going for more than 10 years, is that still a young church? I think it is. Young believers, a young church, and Paul has some instructions to them. His words are encouraging, his words are exhorting them to do something, and he wants to hold an example up to them, and he wants to teach them to live only for Christ. Who are you living for? this morning. Do you live for yourself? Do you live to please your parents? Maybe that's a good thing. Do you live to please your boss? Or do you live for Christ? All those other people will disappear. But your love for Christ and your living for Him is eternal. So we have three main headings this morning. They come so neatly out of the verses. The first is that Paul commends this church. The second, he holds them up as an example to follow. And then third, we shall see that he exhorts them as believers and encourages them. So first this morning in verse six, we notice that Paul commends them. He says, you, you became followers. Followers, he commends them and says, well done, you heard the gospel, you repented, you came to Christ and you became followers. This word followers doesn't quite mean what we say the word followers is today. The word we get from this is the word mimic. It means to imitate. Sometimes we use the word mimic when somebody's taking the fool out of someone. They're just copying them to jest and to tease. This is different. It means to imitate very, very closely. And you became imitators of us. Paul, Silas, Timothy, we came to you, we preached to you, we taught you, we showed you how to live, and you imitated, you mimicked, you copied, you followed our example. It's a bit like a child growing up with older brothers and sisters. And the younger one, they always like to follow, when they're younger, the example of the older ones, for good and for bad. Perhaps it's like children who go home after they've just started going to Sunday school and they go home and they arrange the chairs out and they put the hymn books on the chair and they have Sunday school at home. They're copying, they're imitating what's gone on at the Sunday school that they've just attended. well we should do the same, we should be those who imitate and copy the example that's been set for us from Paul and Timothy and Silas. But their example also was of the Lord because of course Paul's example wasn't of himself, he wasn't expounding his own opinions and ideas, he was just expounding the Word of God. So you became followers of us, the band of believers that went to teach, but also of the Lord, our ultimate pattern. Do you imitate the Lord Jesus Christ? So many ways that we could consider this. We shall consider this evening. Those two words, consider him, in Hebrews 12. But we could consider how he lived, his humility. Do we imitate? his humility? Do we imitate his priorities? I must always be about my father's business, he said to his earthly parents. Do we imitate his purpose, his manner of life, his way of living as Paul said that we should copy in his life? Is that the way we live? Are we imitators of Paul? and of the Lord and verse 14 in chapter 2 gives the same word. Just look at that carefully. Chapter 2 verse 14 says, you brethren became followers, same word, imitators, of the churches of God in Judea. So there's three exhortations. We're to follow Paul, we're to follow the Lord, and we're to follow and imitate those other churches, role models, churches that were more developed and established. And no doubt they followed them, they listened on the every news, the every word that was coming from them, and they pursued and followed their example. So, we must be imitators. But then notice secondly, it says that they were receivers, imitators and receivers. They received, having received the word. The word receive, it's a bit like the soil, when you tip some water on the soil. If you tip water into sand, it disappears immediately. If you tip water onto glass, none of it is absorbed. And when we come before the word of God, it's why we don't have discussion groups. It's why God's word isn't really to be debated. Yes, we can understand it and ask questions, but the word of God is to be received. It's to be understood. It says in chapter 2 that we don't hear God's word as man's word, we're to receive it. Like water going into the soil, just taken in and understood. Because this is the truth of God. It's not my opinion, you're not listening to me, you're listening to the Word of God and we should receive it. And these young believers, they were receivers, they took it in. Paul preached, he taught them, he warned them and they took it in. Receivers of the Word and in chapter 2 if we refer to it, it also says they were receivers of the truth in verse 13. They were receivers of the Word and of the truth. They were absorbing like a sponge, just taking it in. And then the word of God is understood, not as man's word. but as the word of God. But then we notice thirdly, under this first heading, that they were also sufferers, imitators, receivers and sufferers. Verse 6, you became followers of us and of the Lord having received the word in much affliction. Do you know the New Testament church suffered much? That may be an obvious statement to make. It's not the case with us, is it? We don't really suffer much, not yet. Maybe things will change in the years ahead. But they suffered much, and they suffered much from their own people, the Jews, stopping them from preaching the Gospel, forbidding them from spreading the Word. Chapter 2, verse 16, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles. that they might be saved. The gospel is always the thing that people want to stop. They want to stop us preaching it. They want to stop people being saved. They want to stop its voice. That's the cause of most affliction, persecution, oppression. Stop the voice. Stop the word. Stop the preaching. And that's why there is persecution in so many lands. We prayed for believers this morning and it goes on. You read news every week. Countries all over the world where there is persecution and oppression. We hear terrible things of people being tortured for their faith. Well, we don't have to have that cost yet for our faith. But these believers did. They suffered much, they were afflicted, they were persecuted by their own. You know, we should always be glad of persecution. We should actually want to be persecuted, not that we seek it, but if we're persecuted, if we suffer, we will be stronger. The church is always stronger. Believers are always stronger when they have opposition. because it makes them think more carefully about their faith. They're sure about where they stand and they learn to lean harder on the Lord. So, first of all, our heading was that Paul commends this church and these believers, but secondly, he upholds, he lifts their example up And he says, look at these believers, and he's telling us to look at them too, because of the example that they set. And this is down here in verse 8. Verse 7, you were in samples to all those that believe in the other churches round about. Why? Three things it says, because you sounded out the word of the Lord. That's what the oppressors wanted to stop. But these young believers, they sounded it out. The word sound means to echo. You stand on a mountaintop. You ever done this before? And you shout your name or you shout some other name. And it comes back. It's just a sounding. That's what preaching is. Preaching isn't really about one man's thoughts. It's sounding the Word of God out. Explaining it, amplifying it, but sounding it out. That's what they did. They echoed the Word of God. They repeated it and amplified it as clearly as they possibly could without distorting its message at all. They didn't need to make it more contemporary. They didn't need to jazz it up. They didn't need to dilute it, they just sounded it out clearly. They echoed it forth. That's why they were commended. That's what we should be doing as a church. Echoing out the word of the Lord. There's something about preaching which is just genius. There is no other system like it in the world. I can talk to you this morning impersonally. And yet, the Holy Spirit can talk to you personally. In a congregation this size, when you're preaching, nobody thinks that actually the preacher is speaking just to them. But the Holy Spirit can take the Word of God and go directly to the heart. I can speak impersonally and personally. But also preaching is divisive. It cuts a congregation into two. Just like that, you have those who are inside the kingdom of heaven, those who are outside, those who are in the church, those who are out, those who are with Christ for eternity and those who won't be. That's the genius of preaching. It divides and if you take away that knife from preaching, there's no division, there's no offence and there's no separation. of one group from the other. Or preaching, sounding out the word of God. It's inspired. Proclamation, sounding out the truth, should be at the centre of every ministry that we have as a church. Yes, there's caring ministries. We need to extend help, perhaps to the elderly. We need to give encouragement to the young. We need to get alongside them, but essentially, Sounding out the Word of God, that should be at the centre of everything we do. That's the first thing that they were commended for. But then secondly, their faith was spread abroad. We have truth in the message, now we see their lives. The way they lived their lives, people watched and they saw there's a difference in the way those people lived. in the way they think, in the way they speak. They don't worship the dumb idols. They live their lives in a simple way and people were watching them and their faith was spread abroad. Faith in actions that everybody could see. There's a lovely example of this in Sri Lanka just at the moment where there's great poverty. and affliction in the famine area in the East. And the believers, because of funds from churches like this, they have care and they have food that they can extend. They don't just give it to the believers, they give it to the Hindus and to the Christians. And the oppression has gone down. There was a Hindu man near one of the churches and he was blaring out his music, stopping, the church from preaching every Sunday morning. And poverty came and he didn't have any food and they went to give some to him. And now the oppression has just eased slightly. That's our faith in action. We don't discriminate. No, our Christian lives are to be shown to all people. But then thirdly, they are commended and they're held up as an example for us to follow because in verse nine, they turned fully from idols. This was a place where idolatry was everywhere, where there was the worship of the creature and not of the creator. And they didn't half turn, they fully turned. Their idolatry and their worship practices They were all changed and they didn't go back. We see often today the churches and the meetings they have are almost indistinguishable between what's a church and true worship of God in a holy, pure, reverent way and what we might do in any other part of life. But not for these people, they've turned fully They wouldn't have anything to do with even the meat that had been sacrificed to the idols. Do you know it's one of the greatest dangers of this age that we live in? We hear these siren voices. If any of you have studied Odysseus, the sirens, they were on the rocks, usually pictured as being two ladies that had very attractive voices and they were singing over the waters. And they were trying to get the sailors to come by. That's how we get the word siren voices. It's the sirens. And that's what the world does to each one of us. It says all the time, come here, come here. I'll entertain you. I'll satisfy you. I'll give you a pick me up. I'll give you some pleasure. but that's not what they did. They turned fully from their idols and they were given only to the Lord and he was their satisfaction. Well, our third heading this morning. He exhorts them in verse 10 with one very clear instruction. It says, and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead. He commends them, he upholds them and now he exhorts them. He exhorts them with very clear instruction. And this word here, to wait, it's the only time it appears in the whole of the New Testament. It actually means more to await for something that's going to happen. It implies a sustained expectation. Something's going to happen. I'm not just going to wait here and think of nothing. Oh no, it's building. The Lord is coming back. The Lord is coming again. And I'm going to await His coming with sustained expectation. There's just one verse I'd like you to turn to in Romans chapter 2 and verse 7 which explains very clearly what this verse and word mean. Romans 2 verse 7, to them who wait or who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life. These young believers, they were held up and now he exhorts them to await the Lord's coming by patient continuance. Now the danger here When you hear the word wait, it implies inactivity and it implies that we do nothing. And that's the very opposite of what Paul is saying to them. He wants them to await with patient continuance, that's the exhortation in the book of Romans, for the Lord's coming. It's not an idle word, to await. Some people think the job of a church member is to occupy, to stand still and occupy until he comes again. Our job is just to stand here and to stand firm like a century. That's not what it says and it's not what he meant and I can prove this to you in verse 3. He says, remembering without ceasing your work of faith. There's three very active terms that he uses to describe what they were doing and what they were to continue to do. Their work of faith. This is the form of awaiting that they should extend. Their work of faith. Using their mind to take God's truth and to convert it into action. It says the faith first. Sometimes our feelings are not in sync with our faith. The faith always comes first. The feelings are up and down. But the faith, with strong conviction, always is to carry us through. The just shall live by faith, we are taught. And they were commended for their work of faith. They used the truth, they turned it in their mind into action. But then secondly it says their labour of love in verse 3. the work of faith and their labour of love. Now this is the heart, the faith is the mind, the labour of love is turning the truth into action so that the love we have for God and for his people is turned into a labour of love. Well, is that how we wait? Do we use the work of faith and the labour of love And then thirdly, in verse 3, and patience of hope. Patience is an active word, isn't it? You can't be patient without trying. Just try and tell a child to sit still patiently. They've got to work at it. And we have to wait, working at our patient continuance. Well, this isn't a vague, empty hope as the world has. This is a sure, certain hope built upon very clear convictions, built upon Christ. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, any other person, but wholly lean, on Jesus' name. So they're commended for their faith. They're upheld and they're exhorted to keep waiting for the Lord. But while they're waiting patiently to extend their labour of love and their work of faith in the gospel. Do you see the picture that's formed of this young church? It's not a church that's inactive or you could never describe them as that. It's not a church where the people just come from one Sunday to the next and there's nothing in between. They're constantly sounding out the gospel. They're constantly spreading through their lives the faith they have in God and they're waiting actively and patiently for the Lord's coming. Well, isn't this the kind of living that we should be doing? This is living for Christ. This isn't living for ourselves, that will never satisfy. This is living for Christ. This is living as we should in the day and age that we live in. And this is living in the way that Paul commends this young church and he says, well done, this is what you're doing and I like it. You're following my example, you're following the Lord's example, you're following the other churches and I commend you for that. and he upholds their faith and their example and he commends them for that and then he says keep on, keep on patiently waiting for the Lord's coming. Now, here's the thing, would the Lord say that about you? Would the Lord say that about this church? We can be churches where there's very few people that do anything that needs to be done. Now we have to wait until we're asked or we have to offer help or we have to show willingness and the leaders need to organise so that people who are correctly qualified are doing the different tasks and teaching and helping in different ways. But is there that desire there? If you know the Lord, are you living as these Thessalonians lived in their church? And are you being held up as an example by others. From what I know of you as a church, that's certainly the case. And other people see of your example and your desire and your love for the children as we shall see this afternoon. We want to have more children. How else will we reach this neighbourhood? The parents may not come, but the children might come. We want to go and win them and love them for Christ. We want them to hear that message early while they're young before their minds are fixed and before they're taken into all the follies of this world. Well, may we be inspired to live only for Christ and to live as these young believers did and may it be that one day The Lord would command our faith and our lives and our example in the way that we live only for Christ.