He is my light, my strength, my song. His cornerstone, his solid ground, what he fears is ground and stone. What hides above, what depths of peace, ♪ Jesus, fill these shining seas ♪ ♪ I come to tell, I love thee all ♪ ♪ Hear what the Christ has said ♪ And once he came to say, Till on that cross that Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied. He was laid, near the death of Christ I lay. There in the ground His body lay, light of the world by darkness slain. In mercy for Him, Lord, I'll stay. After the grave He rose again, and as He stands, me. For I am his, and he is mine, one with the precious blood of Christ. No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the path of Christ to me. From life's first cry to the final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. Have a seat. Go ahead and open your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, and we'll be covering verses 6 to 10 tonight. Does anyone else need a Bible while Mr. Leathers is up? I'm going to volunteer him to get one for other people. All right. Very good. 1 Thessalonians 1, beginning in verse 6 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received in the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Acacia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Acacia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that they need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come." So we started this study of Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, I want to say three weeks ago, because There was Easter week that we missed, and then I was gone last week, and so yeah. It would be three weeks ago, and I just want to do a little bit of recap information at the start to make sure that we're on the same page, because three weeks is a long time, and I know y'all got a lot going on. So just to set kind of the context for where we're at, Paul planted this church in Thessalonica and was almost immediately run out of town. You can read about this in the opening verses of Acts chapter 17. It's so bad that even after Paul and Silas and Timothy leave, they actually go into the home of this man, Jason, whom we believe was the host of these church meetings. They drag him out and throw him before the civil magistrate. Essentially, he has to pay a pretty significant bond just to get out for the crime of hosting church meetings in his house. So this is a community that is hostile to the faith. These Christians are living in a hostile environment, and so Paul is writing to them to encourage them, to strengthen them, and he starts by reminding them exactly who they are. They are those who are in Christ Jesus, and they have been made such by God himself, and Paul says in verse 5 that he knows this is the case because Our gospel came to you, not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit with full conviction. That idea of the word, the gospel coming in word and power is, I think, helpfully explained by Gordon Fee, that the word they received is the gospel, and so verifying that it is not in word only is not downplaying the message, but rather it's emphasizing that it was accompanied by the spirit of power. Maybe I could illustrate it this way. It's like, if you're several of you are musicians, several of you are athletes. And it's one thing to practice your instrument or to run drills at a practice, maybe with friends or by yourself or something like that. And you get some level of profit out of that, but you get so much more when your coach or when your teacher is there and is explaining to you why you're doing it this way and what this will lead into and how it all fits together. It's that same idea that there is profit in merely hearing or reading the word of God. But there is powerful profit, there's an exponentially more profit when it's accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so Paul is writing to them, commending them, that he knows that they have received his message with the accompanying power of the Holy Spirit. And he's saying, don't forget who you are in the midst of your hostile culture. Don't be deceived, don't be led astray. And we know that you are those who are born again. We know that you are those who are in Christ because we can see the Spirit of God at work in your life. And so he's going to give in here three evidences by which that testimony is confirmed, right? And notice here, he's not saying that these three things he's going to talk about are what makes somebody a Christian. What makes somebody a Christian is the work of God in their hearts. uniting them to Christ by faith, crediting them with Christ's righteousness, taking their sins and crediting them to Christ and having paid for them. That's what makes someone a Christian. But how do we externally know or verify that? That's what he's talking about. I think often of the teaching of Jesus in Luke chapter six. Would somebody actually please read that for us? Luke chapter six, verses 43 to 45. Luke six, 43 to 45. Ms. Babington. For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. So you're saying what you see externally is evidence of what's going on in the inside, right? And so that's the important relationship to keep in mind with these evidences we're talking about here. These are not things that you do to become a Christian, but they're the natural result of being one. And so there's three things that I've pulled out here. The first is in verses six to eight, he talks about what you've become, what you've become in verses six to eight. Then he talks about in verse nine, whom you serve, And finally, what you look forward to in verse 10. So what you've become, whom you serve, and what you look forward to. Those are the three evidences that Paul is going to point to to verify this testimony that they are Christians who have the Spirit of God at work in them. The first is what you've become, and there's two things that Paul refers to them having become in this passage. First of all, they have become imitators of us, he says in verse six. As a rule, earthly children imitate their earthly parents. This is true especially of young children. It's just a natural thing that they will look to mom and dad for how to act, how to respond, what to pursue. We would often do our best to, if one of our kids fell, don't act like it's a big deal. Because if we act like everything's fine, they don't freak out and cry. That's a normal behavior. As you get to y'all's age, maybe it's less likely you're going to look directly to your parents, though that's not necessarily appropriate. It's just admitting reality is what it is. You have somebody that you look to to get cues from. You have somebody that you admire. If you're an athlete, perhaps you have an athletic role model that you want to mimic their training program. You want to mimic their attitude on the court, or whatever. If you're a musician, you have somebody that you look up to, someone that you take cues on, that you want to be like, so you try to emulate what they do. And Paul is saying that's part of how he knows these guys, these Christians in Thessalonica, are the real deal, because they are seeking to imitate Paul. Now, as my former New Testament professor, Dr. Carey, explained it, there are two aspects to their imitation of Paul, and the emphasis is on their following his example in preaching. In other words, he doesn't mean, hey, I see you dressing like me, and so I'm encouraged that you're trying to be more Christ-like, or I know you like the same, I don't know, hobbies that I do. You are also avid tent makers and so I know you're growing to be more Christ-like or whatever it might be. No, what he's saying is, when I preach that you ought not to do this and you ought to do that, I then see that you try not to do this and you do try to do that. You're conforming your behavior to what's being preached and the godly example that I'm trying to model for you. And that's the role and the responsibility of a good pastor. And I'll be honest with you guys, Mrs. Early's not here, but she could attest to this. I very staunchly resisted God's call on my life to go into gospel ministry for about three years before we moved down here because of things like this, because I know that's the expectation. And also because of passages like James chapter three in verse one that says, not many of you should be teachers, my brothers, for you know, those who teach will be judged with a greater strictness. or Jesus' teaching in Luke 17, it would be better for the false teacher that a millstone were tied around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Why does God take the character of preachers and teachers and pastors, why does he take that so seriously? Because the way it's set up, we are examples for you to follow. And so we need to be careful. because whether I'm qualified or not, God has put me in this position in your lives and I am supposed to act as an example. And that is something that I do take very seriously. Now, of course, that doesn't mean I expect you're going to like the same music I like or watch the same shows that I do. Although if you don't, you are missing out, but that's on you. But cards on the table. These are the things that I am conscientiously trying to model for you to imitate. There's probably more that I could list, but these are the big ones. The Word of God is serious business. I come in here with a pretty full manuscript, just like I do when I'm preaching, because teaching the Word of God is not something that should be done as flippantly or lightly. I quote commentators so that you know I've done the diligence and the work to study these passages out, because it matters. It's not something to be taken lightly. Prayer is essential. That's another thing I'm trying to model for you guys to the best of my ability. I write out my prayers often on Sunday morning because I want to have put thought into it and do more than just the bare minimum. And that's why I'm also asking you guys to help pray on Wednesday nights to train you all how to do the same thing. We're trying to model that, that singing is essential. We are going to be singing God's praises around the throne forever. One day we may as well practice at it now. And then also family really matters because we're in a culture that tries to tell you all that matters is you. And that's simply false. That's why I try and incorporate my family with as many of our ministry activities as I can. That's why I bring them to the beach. That's why I get them involved. Bethany tries to be here on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. That's why I bring my kids to the fellowship sometimes. So y'all see another example of a family besides your own. Not that there's anything wrong with yours necessarily, but multiple influences, multiple examples are a good thing. I'm trying to model those things for y'all because that's my job. But there is a second thing that these Thessalonican Christians have become. They're not only imitators, but what's verse seven say? So that you became an example. to all the believers. You see, you guys are high schoolers and I know that, but if you were at your age in the first century in Thessalonica, you would have been adults. You would have been considered the exact audience that Paul is writing to. And whether you know it or not now, people are watching your life. People are looking to you as an example. The question is not whether or not you are an example, but what kind of example are you setting? What kind of message are you putting out there? Are you primarily concerned with the things of the world or the things of the Lord? Are you easily given over to fear and anxiety and doubt? Or do you know the joy of the Holy Spirit of which he speaks in verse six, that you received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit. These are questions that you should think through. These are things that you should pray about. What kind of example am I? Because God has set it up that I will be to somebody. You're an example to one another. You're an example, especially to the younger kids in our church. I'm sure all of you looked up to some of the teenagers when y'all were younger. Y'all are those teenagers now. Your examples to your friends at your school, you have an influence. The question is, how are we going to use it? Now, lest I be thought to be piling it on here, I do want to also point out that this passage is not saying y'all are under persecution because you're messing up. What he is saying is y'all are under persecution, but keep it up. In other words, every application is not just saying, get your act together. Sometimes it's saying, keep going, keep doing what you're doing. So these are things to think through, but I think often of the passage in Galatians chapter six, where Paul writes, let us not grow weary in well-doing. It's not a matter of always, when you hear the preacher say, stop doing this, start doing that. It's not always saying that you're off the rails and get back on the reservation. Some of you might be, but it is also to be an encouragement. Keep doing the right thing. Keep it up. Make sure that you're aware of these categories. All right, so that's who they've become. Now, whom do they serve? The most obvious way to set a good example is to make it plain who it is that you serve. So Paul says, people are talking about you. I'm getting reports from all over. Yes, he says about how you've treated me, how well we were received among you. He does mention that, but primarily it's about how they have turned to God from idols. And the construction here is interesting. He says, you turned to God from idols to serve the living God. So turning to God involves turning away from idols. and turning to God. They're two sides of the same coin. It's you were facing this way and you did an about face. You were facing away from God and now you're facing to him as it were. And what happens is the people around them are taking notice and they're saying, these guys are different. There's, there's something different about them. They don't, they don't serve our gods. And that ought to be said of you all. Now, that's gonna be a little bit more difficult for some of you. To the best of my knowledge, looking around during a quick exam, I believe everyone here is either homeschooled or in some form of a Christian school. So maybe that's not quite as easy to stand out. But as relative to other teenagers, you ought to be different. I know it's an uncomfortable thing to say, but you don't want to fit in, especially Those of you that are gonna go to college, go to a secular school, you don't want to fit in. What are some ways, and this is open forum for you guys, what are some ways that you, as believers in the Lord Jesus, ought to be different than the culture? What are some ways that we ought to be different from the culture? Like standing our ground in our beliefs. Standing to what we believe and not being persuaded by other people. What are some areas that might be difficult today, especially? Gender. That's a big one. Yeah, definitely. What else? Just like other religions being like forced upon you or them not letting you believe in your religion. And like abortion too. That's a really big thing with a lot of girls and stuff. Huge. Great examples, great answers. Anything else? Mr. Johnson? I think a big thing is just having a healthy lifestyle and on a day-to-day basis just working hard and keeping up, do your work, and do it happily, or not necessarily happily, just without being complaining or anything. Yeah, do all things without grumbling. And yeah, what do you mean by a healthy lifestyle? You don't wake up every morning you get you start your day off and for us hopefully you start your day Maybe some sort of Your own Bible time or something and then you get your day going you don't wake up Late and you get to work on time or for us to get your school going sure You try to get done early and not procrastinate. Yeah, be diligent work hard be faithful so That's all very good stuff. You guys are hitting on a lot of the right answers. And here's another thing to think through with this. I'm gonna go on a limb and say I don't think too many of you guys are going to be tempted to serve literal idols, like statues that are made up of gold and silver and things of that nature. I don't see that in y'all's future. I don't think it's super prevalent. in our culture today, but that does not mean that we are not at risk for idolatry. The, and I was talking with Pastor Anderson about this this afternoon, the most prevalent idol in our culture today, and this is one that we are going to be susceptible to and we have to wrestle with every day, is yourself. Because we live in a world today where we are constantly being told, You get to define your gender. You get to define whose life matters. You get to define all these other things. People are being told that they can create their own assessment of reality, and that's nothing more than making yourself God. I wouldn't say it that way, but that is what that is. And so that's something to be on guard about. When you're asked, what is your view on whatever the cultural hot button issue is? The question is not, what do I think about X, Y, Z? The question is, what has the word of God said about it? And that is what's true, no matter what anyone else says. Because as soon as you start to answer, well, I believe whatever it might be, you've already, you've already smuggled it, you've already, fall in prey to the notion that I get to determine what's right and wrong about this. The question is not, what do I think? The question is, what did God say? And that is the clearest way to avoid that temptation towards idolatry, especially in our day and age. All right, so lastly, evidence that someone has been converted, and this is one that we might not think about enough, is in verse 10. Not only have you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. But also, verse 10, and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Why would we refuse the instant gratification that is accessible in our day and age? Why would we refuse the temptation to be our own arbiters of truth. Why would we endure social hardships and cultural exclusion for the sake of our beliefs? The motivating factor is right here in this verse. Because we believe that something better is coming. Because we believe that something better is coming. I say this as much as I can with you guys. And I say it every opportunity I get from the pulpit when I'm preaching. Yes, Christianity is based in historic reality. We believe that Christ literally was born of a virgin, lived the perfect sinless life, was crucified on the cross, dead, buried, raised again the third day. We believe those are real, literal historical events without which our faith doesn't exist. And yes, we believe that Christianity is about present realities, ongoing sanctification, ongoing pursuit of holiness in our lives. Yes, we believe that there's a historic and a present tense aspect. But fundamentally, we are a future-oriented faith. We are looking for something that is to come. Fundamentally, Christianity is concerned with the future. We suffer much now, but we wait for the sufferings in this present age are not worthy to be compared with what's to be revealed at the last day, Romans 8.18. We renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and live self-controlled and upright and godly in the present age while we are waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, Titus 2, 12-13. That's our goal. That's what we're looking for. That's the guiding principle of our life is that the Lord Jesus is coming back one day. Now I'm not saying you shouldn't have other goals and other things you're looking forward to and other ambitions. So far as they're godly, go for it. Be excited about high school graduation. Be excited about getting ready to go to college. Be excited about the big game. Love all of those things, that's great. But don't be ruled by them. Don't let them be the controlling force of your life. Don't let personal achievement, which is another big idol that we can fall prey to, be a controlling factor in your life. Because if you let those things control you, if you let those things be the most important, eventually you will be tempted and probably give in to compromise to get them. We're waiting for Jesus to return because when he does, all the hardships of this life, all the trials, will be done away with. Looking around the room, I believe we have an abnormally large percentage of Lord of the Rings fans. And at the end of Return of the King, after they've destroyed the ring, Sam wakes up, looks at Gandalf, and asks what question, Mr. Duncan? No, I know Frodo destroyed the ring. But isn't Sam the one that asks, is every sad thing going to become untrue? I'm pretty sure it is. We'll look it up later. The point is every sad thing becomes untrue is the statement at the end of the book. And that is in a very real sense, a picture of what we look forward to when the Lord Jesus returns. Verses that are worth memorizing. our Revelation 21 foreign Bible, and we'll close on this. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away. And he who is seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new. We look forward to a new creation when all things will be made new. Let's pray, and then I'll entertain your question. God in heaven, thank you for the work of your spirit. Thank you for the fruit that it brings forth in our lives. And I pray for my young friends. I pray that you would help them to imitate whatever good there is in my life and in the other elders and the other pastors lives as an example before them. And I pray that you would make them godly examples to one another and to the younger children in our church. I pray, Lord, that you would cause them to remember that it is you who are the living and true God, and serving anything else is foolishness. I pray, Lord, that you would help them to keep focused on their blessed hope, and that is the returning of your Son, our Lord Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.