Series: Marks of a Healthy Church Text: 1 Thessalonians Message #4 Introduction
1.We began our journey a few weeks ago to look at the marks of a healthy church. The general outline (the specific marks) I have taken from Mark Dever and his book Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. I am sure these are not the only marks of a healthy church, but it would be hard to maintain spiritual health without them.
2.Dever writes, and I wholly agree, that a healthy church will be marked by expositional preaching. That which is communicated must be the Word of God, not just the preacher’s own ideas attached to a Bible verse. Further, a healthy church must have a Biblical theology. What we believe about God and salvation and the various other areas of theology must be what the Scripture teaches. We all have a theology. Healthy churches have a Biblical one, with a congregation that is willing to form and conform their views according to the Scripture. Today we turn to the Gospel. A healthy church is clear on the Gospel.
3.In view of the fact that the first two marks are often missing in the church, it should not surprise us that there is considerable confusion concerning the content of the Gospel. Our understanding of the Gospel is often shaped by our practice and our traditions, rather than by the Scripture. That fact that there is much confusion should alarm us. If the Gospel is the Good News about Christ and if the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and we get the Gospel wrong, then we remain separated from the Lord Jesus and condemned to a Christ-less eternity! Do you see the necessity of getting the Gospel right? That must be of utmost importance.
4.Our salvation and the salvation of the world are connected to the Gospel. We better be clear about the good news! Let’s get started.
I. THE GOOD NEWS BEGINS WITH GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS (A few weeks ago, as we were in the midst of the “Foundations” series, we talked about the Gospel. I gave you an abbreviated copy of “Gospel Affirmations and Denials” written by a significant number of leading evangelicals. I gave you ten. There were actually 18 entries. I refer to three of them here and then I will make an effort to support them, showing the Biblical position behind each of these statement)
A.Good news! It is the Gospel of God (“The Gospel entrusted to the church is God’s Gospel. He is the author, revealing it to us in and by His Word. Its authority and truth rest in Him alone.”) (1 Thessalonians 2:1-8)
1. As Paul was speaking with the Thessalonians, he reminded them that in boldness and in the midst of great persecution he proclaimed to them the “gospel of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:2).
2. This gospel of God was entrusted to Paul and to his co-workers with the assignment “to please God” by proclaiming the message accurately and in a manner worthy of God Himself (1Thessalonians 2:3-4)
3.As the Thessalonians embraced the gospel of God, they were endeared to the hearts of Paul and his co-workers. It was the gospel of God that moved the missionaries to give of themselves, to bear the burden of hard work and much affliction in order that the Thessalonians might walk in a manner worthy of God! (1 Thessalonians 2:5-12) We must never forget that the Gospel is the Gospel of God. It belongs to Him
B.Good news! It effects salvation in all who believe. (“The Gospel effects salvation in everyone who believes, without distinction. Its efficacy is by the power of God Himself.”)
1. The Thessalonian church was predominantly Gentile, yet in hearing the Gospel, proclaimed by a Jew, the Holy Spirit brought about conviction and these came to understand that it was indeed God who had called them to Himself (1 Thessalonians1:4).
2. These people were idol-worshiping pagans (1:9), but they believed the gospel, tuning from their sin and embracing the grace and mercy of the Lord!
3. There is no distinction as to our pedigree or our past. We are all sinners, unholy, separated from a holy God without hope apart from His Gospel! But to all who believe in Him, we have eternal life! Without His direct intervention, we would be lost. But He has determined to effect salvation on all who believe! Is that not good news!
C.Bad news! It diagnoses the universal condition of sinful rebellion against a holy God. (“The Gospel diagnoses the universal human condition as one of sinful rebellion against God which if unchanged, will lead to eternal loss under God’s condemnation.”)
1. Paul was not shy about speaking of the wrath to come on all who reject Christ. He speaks of it in 1:10, 2:16, 4:6, and 5:9.
2. He makes clear that those without the Gospel will not be delivered from the wrath of God (1:10); they will “fill up the measure of their sins” (2:16); they will experience the avenging hand of the Lord (4:6); they will be without hope in regard to facing death (4:13); they will continue to do what they do in the darkness all the while moving toward their destiny with judgment (5:3-8).
3. There is no Gospel without an understanding of sin and the deserved wrath to come. To present a Gospel of love without a Gospel of holiness and wrath and repentance and faith is not the Gospel. In the Good News there is some bad news. But because of the bad news, the good news is even better news!
II. THE GOOD NEWS IS THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION (For the Thessalonians, the Gospel resulted in their turning to God from idols (which certainly implies repentance and faith). It resulted in their receiving the gospel as from God and not from man. It resulted in their refusal to give into the tempter’s temptation to abandon the faith in the midst of great persecution. It resulted in their faithful obedience to the Word of God in the middle of a crooked and perverse society. In a word, the Gospel was the power of God to change the Thessalonians from dead in sin to alive in Christ!) What follows is what you have heard before in the Foundations series.
A.Romans 1:1-17 and the Gospel – Consider verses 16-17. The Gospel itself is the power of God unto salvation in that God applies His righteousness to sinners through the vehicle of faith, thus declaring what was not righteous to be righteous before Him based wholly on the righteousness of the life and death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ! This is accomplished through the Holy Spirit and the Word. This righteousness of God is revealed in Christ and received by faith. So, at least we can say in regard to these verses, that the Gospel is about the righteousness of God (which is in Christ both intrinsically and achieved by perfect obedience to the Law), that such righteousness is available to the sinner through faith in Christ. Thus the Gospel is the power of God to change the unrighteous sinner by the righteousness of Christ. Often in this generation the message of the Gospel and the method of presenting the Gospel become confused. It is the Gospel itself that is the power of God unto salvation, not the method. (Three objections (quotations to me) which reveal this confusion)
1. “They were obviously under conviction. If only you would have given an invitation, they would have responded and would have been saved. Because you failed to do that they walked out of here lost.”
2.“You act as if we just communicate the message and then leave it up to God as to whether or not they get saved.”
3.More people get saved with a “proven method” than with just the communication of the message.”
B.1 Corinthians 15:1-8 and the Gospel. This text gives further details about the Gospel. We are reminded that only by the death and resurrection of Christ was the payment paid and the salvation of sinners, by faith, made possible. If there was no death and no resurrection, there could be no salvation and thus no good news. Often when people supposedly share the Gospel nothing is said about the resurrection of Christ and little is said as to the reason why Jesus died and what He accomplished on the cross and how that was accepted and demonstrated by the resurrection.
C.Galatians 1 and the Gospel - The Gospel is the Gospel of God. There is only one Gospel and that Gospel is the work of God, not in any way the work of man. Many may come with a different gospel, but it is no gospel at all, for it results in the person remaining in sin and certain of damnation. It is possible to believe a false gospel. Many do, claiming amazing origins of such a gospel. But Paul makes clear that if he, as the great apostle to the Gentiles. or even an angel from heaven, should preach any other gospel than the one true Gospel the Galatians had believed, that person was to be damned for eternity. We better get the Gospel right.
D. The record of conversions in the book of Acts (Acts 16) - Consider the conversions of Lydia and the Philippian jailer as examples of God’s Gospel. God opened the heart and the quickened person believed in the Lord Jesus Christ! Confession in the form of baptism and ministry in the form of service marked these new believers. Such is not unlike the Thessalonian believers. They abandoned their idols, and served the Lord Jesus, making Him known throughout Macedonia and everywhere, even while under severe persecution. They are affirmed by the Apostle Paul for their “work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.” (The Good News contains both good and bad news, but it is the Gospel of God. The Good News is the power of God unto salvation).
III. THE GOOD NEWS IS THE GOOD NEWS REGARDLESS OF THE RESPONSE
A.Some hear the good news and accept it as the good news
1. When Paul proclaimed the Gospel to the Thessalonians in Acts 17, some believed and some did not. Some of those who did not believe, led a jealous rebellion against Paul, forcing him to leave the city prematurely.
2. For those who hear and believe the Gospel, we rejoice in God with them that they have been granted eternal life from God, that they have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Paul’s response should be our response to those who believe the Gospel – “So being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the Gospel of God but also our own selves because you have become very dear to us.” “For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.”
B.Some reject the good news and seek to destroy it as bad news but it remains good news.
1. The good news is good news even if others do not receive it as such. We ought to want to make known the good news. Rejection of the good news does not mean that there is something wrong with the message. It remains good news to be shared.
2. The greatest motive of making known the Gospel is the glory that is given to the Lord of the Gospel. Our call is to make Him known because that gives Him glory. His work is to open hearts and minds to believe the Gospel and that also brings Him glory. But the point is that regardless of the response to the Gospel it remains good news and such news we are to make known. For in making it known we are pleasing God and giving Him glory. If no one ever responded to the Gospel, that does not excuse us from making it known. The very proclamation of the Gospel honors Christ.
Conclusion
1.I was reading this week and came across this paragraph: The acid test of biblical God-centeredness – and faithfulness to the gospel – is this: Do you feel more loved because God makes much of you, or because, at the cost of his Son, he enables you to enjoy making much of him forever? Does your happiness hang on seeing the cross of Christ as a witness to your worth, or as a way to enjoy God’s worth forever? Is God’s glory in Christ the foundation of your gladness?
2.Is God’s glory in Christ the foundation for my gladness or is it found in something else? We need to be clear concerning the message of the Gospel, but we also need to understand whose Gospel it is. It is His good news about Himself and how He is able to take lost, dead sinners and make them into new creations. And those whom He redeems will now and for eternity find their joy and satisfaction in Him! Consider these three verses together. First, Acts 26:17-18, Paul tells the story of his conversion and reveals to us what Jesus said to him, “…I am sending you to open their eyes , so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” And second, we listen to Paul’s words to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
3.If we are to be a healthy church, we will get the Gospel right and we will make the Gospel known and we will rejoice in God that we have been given the marvelous privilege to do so; for in our doing so, God is made known and brought glory! If we get the gospel right, we will be satisfied in His glory, and we will be continually transformed by His glory!
4.Sometime ago the choir sang a song that fits the story of the Gospel and declares what I am trying to say. Listen carefully to the words. I will glory in my Redeemer, whose priceless blood has ransomed me. Mine was the sin that drove the bitter nails and hung Him on that judgment tree. I will glory in my Redeemer who crushed the power of sin and death. My only Savior before the holy Judge, the Lamb who is my righteousness. The Lamb who is my righteousness. I will glory in my Redeemer; My life He bought, my love He owns. I have no longings for another. I’m satisfied in Him alone. I will glory in my Redeemer, His faithfulness my standing place. Though foes are mighty and rush upon me, my feet are firm held by His grace. My feet are firm held by His grace. I will glory in my Redeemer, who carries me on eagle’s wings. He crowns my life with loving-kindness. His triumph song I’ll ever sing. I will glory in my Redeemer, who waits for me at gates of gold. And when He calls me it will be paradise, His face forever to behold; His face forever to behold.
|
