Strong Faith-Good Reputation: The Model Church (Part 1)

"...Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father...."
1 Thessalonians 1:3

In 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul commends the church at Thessalonica to the Father in heaven, for three things:

1) Work of faith;
2) Labor of love;
3) Patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (v. 3).

Later on in chapter 1, Paul tells the church that they are examples in the entire regions of Macedonia and Achaia.

I believe that is what God wants for our church...to be the model church; to be the example to the community and surrounding area. Not just in word only, but as we live our lives in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit, that our church can turn the world upside down, just as Paul and Silas and Timothy were accused of doing, in Thessalonica, in Acts 17.

We might say to ourselves, "I could NEVER turn the world upside down. He is the great apostle Paul, and I am just "lil' ol' me." But Christian, know this: That in our own strength and power, we cannot do it, to be sure. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we accomplish anything for the kingdom of God.

You see, Paul thought the church at Thessalonica was a model church, a mature church, the example, so he commends them to the Father for their work of faith. What does that look like in our lives? Individually? Corporately? In John 6:28, the disciples were asking Jesus, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" And in v. 29, Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe Him whom He sent."

A mature church says, "We believe in Jesus Christ, and the work that He did for us on the cross. And we believe that it is the love of Christ that compels us," just as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:14.

What does the work of faith look like in my daily life? First of all, I DO believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, and the work that He did on the cross was the atonement for my sins. Secondly, because He first loved me, I get up in the morning, and start my day with Him, by spending time with Him, and with His Word. Thirdly, because He first loved me, and because He forgave me of my sins, when I was still a sinner, running around living a life that was far from glorious - because of that debt that I owe - His Word says, that we are to forgive one another. And get this. I am to love people. Not only Christian people, but all people. Do you know why? Because every person I come in contact with today, is someone for whom Jesus Christ came to die. Did you get that? Every person I come in contact with today, is a person that Jesus Christ came to the earth, for whom He died on the cross. You know that person who cut you off in traffic today? Christ died for him or her. The work of faith? It is believing in who Jesus Christ really is, and why He came to this earth, and then living like you believe it. Jesus came to the earth to be the atoning sacrifice, the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. My sins. Your sins. The sins you committed yesterday, the sins you commit today, and the sins you will commit tomorrow. And He gave us some pretty good promises to hang our hats on, if we believe. If we really believe, in Jesus Christ the Son of God.

Paul says that the mature church, the model church, the church at Thessalonica, had the work of faith. And he praises them for it to the Father in heaven, in his prayers. The model church, Paul tells them, has the work of faith. Our church can be the model church in this community, by having the work of faith...by believing Jesus Christ was the Son of God, by believing that Jesus is who He says He is, and that the work on the cross was for us, and then, the key: living our lives like we believe it.


Coming next time...the Labor of love that Paul speaks about in this chapter.