1 Thessalonians: 3 Pillars of a Biblical Church | Guest: Speaker Sam Rapp

Uh well again, yeah.

If you have your Bibles, we will be camped out in 1 Thessalonians 3, so y'all can flip there.

We're gonna be bouncing a little bit back to chapter 2, kind of like we did last week.

Um, when I was in seventh grade, my dad took me to a Dave Matthews band concert.

Uh and if you know anything about Dave Matthews, he has like 48 concerts a year.

Uh, so it's like very common to go to a Dave Matthews concert.

But it was at Lakewood Amphitheater, which, you know, down by the airport, and it was a weird group of people at that concert.

Uh if you've been to a Dave Matthews concert, you know like that's a that's a culture of people uh at that concert.

It's a funky uh group of Atlanteans uh that we were all around.

And so you know, Dave Matthews comes out and there were like 47 people in his band.

Okay, so here's a picture.

This is like the best I could find on Google.

You can see from left stage to stage left to stage right, I mean there's like every inch is a person, uh, you know, instrument, uh, yeah, uh microphone, everything.

So there's a you know, a 15 guitarist, uh, you know, a saxophone guy, piano guy, a brass section uh at this concert that I went to, there was a section of brass.

Um, and then you know, like 15 percussionists, each one with a different instrument.

I don't know, there were 15 percussion instruments in the world, but each one had a different instrument.

And what one of my favorite things, I couldn't find a picture of this, so forgive me, but y'all know what bar chimes are?

It's like, you know, a bar with like chimes that you kind of like, you know, tinkle with like a little metal thing.

You know what I'm talking about?

So there's this one guy who he was the chime guy, okay?

And it was my favorite, it was like my favorite thing of the whole concert.

Like every sixth measure, this brother would take his little metal stick and just all the way across the chime.

And it was like, man, every sixth measure, I was like, I'm about to be taken on a journey right here, right?

Like it was that was my favorite.

Um but one of the weird parts about a Dave Matthews concert, and if you've seen him, you know this, he only plays like two songs that you know, right?

Like when you go see somebody in concert, you're like, man, they're playing the new album, they're gonna play all the hits.

Brother Dave plays like two songs that you've heard of, right?

And the rest of the time, him and his 47 uh band members are up there, they're just vibing.

Like they go, you don't know when the song starts, you don't know when the song ends, each song's pushing 12, 15 minutes, right?

So all of a sudden he's playing eight songs, you're there for three hours, and you haven't heard a song that you know yet, right?

Like that's what a Dave Matthews band concert looks like.

And the weird thing is, it worked somehow, right?

Like for those three hours, like I was on a journey with Dave, right?

He he was taking me places I'd never been before musically.

I I was there for the ride.

And the thing is, is this concert was like weirdly chaotic, but also like really organized.

You know what I mean?

Y'all hear what I'm saying there?

Like it was really chaotic, but at the same time, really foundationally organized, right?

Because they all were playing different instruments, all on different kinds of beats and measures and paths.

Chime guy, you know, throws himself in there every now and then.

But you know, like they're all in that thing together, right?

Like they had the same goal, which was to play good music under their fearless leader Dave Matthews, right?

Like that was their whole goal to make good music.

Now, last week we looked at the planting, the origins of the Thessalonian church.

We're on this series through this book, and we saw that last week this church was planted in the middle of persecution, like planted while persecution was knocking on their door, how Paul and Silas were literally dragged out of, like physically dragged out of the city right after planting it.

And then lastly, how this church received the word of God as not just the words of Paul and Silas, but as what it really is, the word of God that's alive and active among his church.

And last week, my my goal was one thing, which was to instill courage and confidence in you and that God is at work in his church, right?

Now, this morning, we have a little bit different of a goal, but similar to last week.

It's gonna kind of build on last week.

And this is this is where we're going.

So for my type Aer people in here, that this is where we're going, okay?

How in the outer chaos of the world and through the inner chaos of the church body, with our brokenness, our sin, the staff, the elders, all of you guys, the spirit of the living God will promote unity in the church, strengthen the church through trials, and lead the church to stand in victory as we await the coming of Jesus.

Alright?

That's where we're going today.

So with that said, let's dive in.

Point number one the church is knit together by love.

Knit together by love.

The letter to the Thessalonian church was permeated with Paul's love for the church and his desperate desire to see them face to face again after he was dragged away from them.

And he makes it clear that even though he was separated from them physically, as he says, Satan pulled me from you, he says, I'm still with you in heart.

So he had left physically, but he was still there in heart.

He loved them.

And we can assume also that he's praying for them constantly.

And in John 17, Jesus prays something which is known as the high priestly prayer.

And it's known as that because uh he is the high priest in uh our faith, and also because he's praying.

And so it's called the high priestly prayer.

And this is his last prayer before going off to be crucified, that is recorded in the scriptures.

Um, and in this, he's praying, one, for God to be glorified, for the Father to be glorified through him in his ministry, in his closing moments of his life, and lastly, he's praying for the church today.

Like, not just vaguely, but he is praying for you and I specifically.

I have to believe by name today.

And there's one thing that he prays, and these are just like some of the most powerful words I think Jesus ever says about the church specifically.

And he says, these five words.

He prays that they may be one.

Talking about us.

He's saying that they may be one.

And then he finishes that with as we are one, talking about him and the Father and the Spirit, saying, Man, like I want unity in my church to the same level that me and my Father and the Holy Spirit have.

And y'all, that's like tight-knit unity.

So, in other words, Jesus is praying again for us to be unified, to the same character, the same ways, the same uh culture as the Trinity.

Now, the question I think we have to ask is what does it look like for the church to be knit together by love?

To have this kind of unity, to have this kind of oneness that Jesus asks for and prays for.

See, I think the scriptures are very clear that there is an enemy working to destroy the church, to kill the church, and to split it end by end.

And this enemy wants to lead the church specifically away from Jesus and towards destruction.

That the powers and principalities of the darkness are seeking to, again, destroy the church as we know it.

And so this enemy of ours, I have to believe, is going to do whatever he can to stir within his church and globally uh bitterness, frustration, anger, envy, jealousy in us.

I have to believe that that is a scheme that he's going for.

And so my plea for us is to believe that people are not the enemy.

As hard as that is to believe, that that person, no matter how mean or gross or vile or upsetting they might be to you, that person is not the enemy.

And so I think for us, what what my plea is from the word is that, man, we we would see again that we don't have a human enemy, but that we have a spiritual enemy who is trying to disrupt and disarm our church.

That is what he's going for.

And I think that when we recognize this, that when there's not a human with a name that's our enemy, that we actually have an enemy who is uh spiritual, when we see that, I think the Lord is going to invite us into greater freedom to be able to love people better, to be able to speak kindly about one another, to love one another, to forgive one another freer.

And I think that's what the Lord is inviting us into.

So I think for a church to be knit together by love, we have to recognize one, who our enemy is, and then two, who our enemy's not, right?

Alright, point number two the church is strengthened by faith.

Now, if you remember, this is a personal letter that Paul is writing to this church, right?

I think that we learned that it's just even a couple months, if that, after he planted it, that he wrote this letter back to them.

And it's written to them at this point in time, in their context, and in light of their specific situation.

Now, if you remember from Acts 17 last week, Paul was literally torn by his ankles from them, right?

Maybe not by his ankles, but he was torn out of town from this church almost immediately after planting it.

So let's talk for a second, all right?

Let's let's be human and let's let's bring this into our context for just one minute, right?

So our church, Redeemer, was planted seven-ish years ago, right?

Uh in a dentist office.

Like it was small at the beginning, right?

Like that's that's where we were from.

And our desire was to be a grace-filled Christ-preaching church.

So, our senior pastor, Russ, wife, Christy, right, and several other couples began meeting together to pray and see what the mission of this church was going to look like.

Now, let's just imagine this, all right, for a second.

Let's put our shoes in the Thessalonian church for one second.

Let's imagine that Redeemer gets planted.

We meet, we've met a couple weeks at the dentist's office, right?

And then all of a sudden, you get a text from Brian Robinson.

All right, y'all just imagine this with me.

So I pull this up, uh, saying, you know, this is a fake text from Brian.

So it says this Hey, Thunder Tumblin and Keisha Bottoms, who is the mayor of Atlanta, as we speak, are dragging Russ by his ankles through the Merida Square along with hundreds of angry people, and are about to send him in an Uber to Delonaga.

They say they're tired of him blaspheming our gods and committing treason against Joe Biden by saying Jesus is Lord.

Amen?

Kind of weird, right?

Kind of funny in our context.

So forgive me.

Um, but let's just think about this for a second, okay?

There's gotta be a few things running through your mind if you get a text like that, right?

First of all, I just gave a lot of tithing money to that building fund, right?

Where's that going?

If Brother Paul just got ripped out of the city.

Number two, what's gonna happen to Russ?

Right?

Our fearless leader, what's gonna happen to him after planting our church?

And then number three, if you're like me, I need to get the heck out of this church, or I'm gonna be looking like Russ in a couple days, right?

If they find out that I'm under Russ's leadership, and then, man, I'm gonna be dragging out by the ankles too.

And then for Paul, all right, let's let's let's put ourselves in Paul's shoes, right?

Because he wrote this letter to this church, he loved them, he cared for them.

So let's think about him, right?

So, Paul, let's think about some of his prayers.

Like right after he gets dragged out of Thessalonica, planting this church.

He's saying, like, God, really?

Really, God?

You're gonna you're gonna call me to Thessalonica to plant this church, to reason with the Jewish leaders in the synagogue, and then lead to conversions and planting this church, right?

And then, as soon as I plant it, you're gonna get me run out of town.

That's that's what Paul's prayer journal probably sounded like.

And then, man, like, is this church gonna die?

That's that's a reasonable question for Paul to be thinking and asking.

Is this church going to die?

And then lastly, are these people gonna just fall right back into the hands of the Jewish and pagan leaders of their culture?

Like, is that where this church is gonna head?

And so that's why, in chapter 2, verses 17 through 20, Paul writes this But since we were torn away from you brothers for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you.

I, Paul, again and again, but Satan hindered 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 our joy.

He was worried about this church.

Like in the depths of his gut, he was worried about this church.

And so, as their pastor, he sent Timothy, who was another brother, another laborer in the gospel movement in the book of Acts, he sent Timothy to go be kind of like their interim pastor.

You know what I'm talking about?

And so what he would simothy to do was to establish and exhort them in their faith.

That's what the scriptures lay out for us.

So when he says he sent Timothy to establish the church, he's basically saying that he sent Timothy back to make sure this church was standing on solid ground, that they were still believing in the gospel and the truth of it in its fullness, and they weren't sliding back into the pagan and Roman uh practices or beliefs in that culture.

Because I think Paul would believe, and what we believe as a church, is that a church that sacrifices primary gospel issues will slowly stray away from what they have called, been called to be.

It might look strong and exciting, right?

Like a church that's strong and exciting on the outside, it might look like it's growing, but when primary doctrinal issues are sacrificed, the church will stray and will ultimately die.

And I think that's what Paul would conclude from this.

And so we as a church will not be a church that sacrifices gospel truth.

I want to encourage you all in that, that we will hold fast to what the word preaches.

And hear me when I say this.

This is gonna get harder.

In the direction our world and our culture and our country are moving, it's gonna get harder to continue to preach the whole counsel of God's word.

It's gonna just get more tricky, more challenging, more polarizing.

But we have to believe that there is actually life to be found in the gospel.

There's actually fullness of life to be found in the scriptures systematically from Genesis to Revelation.

And that's where Timothy's exhortation comes to play.

This word exhortation, especially in this context, specifically means that Timothy was coming to encourage the church and also to strengthen the church, to grow them, to further the ministry, to raise up elders in the church and to lead them in what it looks like to be a church.

And in verse 3, right after Paul explains why Timothy came, he says that no one would be moved by these afflictions.

Right again, Paul was worried that they would stray.

And so that's why he sent Timothy was to strengthen, strengthen and encourage them and exhort them and uh establish them.

And one more thing, I just want to say if you ever hear us from this pulpit preaching something that you do not see in the Bible, I'm just begging you to come to us and hold us accountable to that.

Because if we want to be a church that preaches the whole counsel of God's word and we ever don't, please come to us.

You are the church, not just the pastors and the staff.

Uh so we just want to invite you into that.

Now we've we've used this phrase at Redeemer before, going back into the afflictions.

And a lot of theologians throughout history have used this phrase as well, but it's this phrase that we are living in the already, but the not yet.

So if you've been around this church, you you've probably heard that phrase before.

And now when we say this, we mean that Christ has already defeated sin once and for all.

That all Christian, your past, present, and future sin is all fully forgiven, fully paid the price for of all times by Jesus.

You are now white as snow, you have been given a new heart.

That is already done.

But if you've been around, you know that it doesn't always feel like resurrection Sunday, does it?

You know that Easter doesn't always uh give you the feeling like it does every day, right?

You know that suffering is all around us, and here's the story.

The sad but the true story is that every human under the sun will suffer.

Matthew chapter 8 says that the rain falls on the just and the unjust, right?

Matthew 8 · chapter mention

Every single human will go through hardships, will suffer, will go through pain.

But the question is for us as a church, and for you, is what are you standing on?

What is it that we are standing on?

And we live in the South, right?

Let's be honest.

We live in the South, so I think all of us growing up be like, oh yeah, brother, I'm I'm standing on the rock of Christ, praise his name, right?

Like that that's that's what we would say, right?

That's the easy Christian answer, right?

But let's talk for a second, okay?

I think most of us would say on paper, yeah, yeah.

I believe that.

I believe that when the storm comes, I'll I'll be solid, I'll be on all on solid ground.

But what I'm talking about right now is like deep in your gut.

Like deep in your gut.

When the floor you're standing on falls out from under you, like what will you grab onto?

Like deep in your gut when you think about that.

I was just listening to this sermon from Matt Chandler, and if you've heard me preach, I probably talk about him every sermon, so I'm sorry.

Uh so I'm I'm only 23, I ain't got that much life yet, so I got Matt Chandler.

That's all I got, alright?

So I'm gonna keep hitting on Matt Chandler, alright?

So what he says, he was talking about this idea of suffering uh and this idea of going through pain and afflictions, right?

And so what he says is there isn't one person in this room whose life wouldn't be flipped upside down by a phone call.

Now let's be honest.

Any of us in this room, right now, our phone could start buzzing, and then everything in our world would be shaken.

Like that's how fragile our life is.

That's how uncertain our life is.

And at any moment, any one of us right now could get a phone call that would change everything.

So I just want to plead with you guys.

To search the scriptures and to be ready.

To be ready for this pain that's coming, for suffering that will happen, for death that will happen, for cancer that will come, for all these things.

I just want to plead with you all to be ready.

And that doesn't mean that you have to do more, that you have to read your Bible more or be a better Christian and white knuckle your way through.

But what that does mean is I think God is just asking us to surrender and fall back in his arms, leaving control to him.

Right?

And if you're anything like me, if you're a human, uh, that's hard, right?

Amen.

Alright, point number three.

The church stands together in victory.

Last week, we talked briefly about why Paul was so frustrating, right?

He would rejoice and praise the Lord if you threw him in jail, beat him, or threatened to kill him, right?

Like that's that brother was frustrating to the Roman world.

You could literally never win with Paul.

You could never win with Paul.

And the reason Paul was unbeatable is because he had such a strong grasp on what the ultimate reality was in his life, right?

Like he had little realities that he could see, but he knew what the ultimate eternal reality was in his life.

The ultimate reality for Paul and for the Christian in this room for us is that our citizenship is in heaven.

We have an eternal home with Jesus, our Savior, and that nothing, nothing can take that from us.

That's the ultimate reality.

And Paul had experienced this, he had tasted this goodness.

And he had so much security in this ultimate reality that he could go about his mission work with threats to kill him confidently and boldly.

But let's let's be human for a second.

Paul was a human.

If we think that, you know, does that mean, you know, Paul was perfect?

That he never felt anxiety, that he never was a little nervous, right, going into the synagogue?

He was definitely insecure sometimes.

If you want to know about Paul's brokenness, I just encourage you to go read Romans 7.

Paul makes it very clear that he is a brother that sins still.

But even though he was imperfect, still wrestling with sin, Paul was standing on solid ground.

He knew what his ultimate reality was, and that's why his mission, that God's call on his life could be carried out, because he knew what he was standing on.

And this solid ground that we stand on is what will lead us to be a church that Paul envisions here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3.

1 Thessalonians 3 · chapter mention

One that is knit together by love, knit together by selfless, sacrificial, sometimes hurting love.

One that is strengthened by faith through afflictions, and then lastly, one that can lead us to stand together in victory, knowing that Jesus is coming back, that this not yet that we live in is not going to be like this forever, that the pain and the suffering you're going through is not what it's meant to be like forever.

And that all your tears, Jesus in heaven is counting and ready to make right with you in heaven.

That is what the ultimate reality is, and that's what we're standing on, waiting for as a church.

Now, again, what this doesn't mean is that our calling as a church is to be perfect and to pretend on the outside like we've got it all together.

Like we said last week, the church should be full of people who are most aware of their brokenness, yet at the same time most secure in who they are as a son or daughter in Jesus.

Right?

Now, let's just let's again just be human.

We're gonna fall into gossip, we're gonna let each other down and upset each other, we're gonna blow it.

We are going to blow it.

So just take a breath.

It's okay.

We're gonna blow it.

But the good news is that our church doesn't stand on a pastor, it doesn't stand on the back of any pastor or human.

Our church stands on the back of King Jesus who is on the throne and does not scoot over for anyone.

And that's our hope.

That's where we're going.

Uh, and so I just want to invite you in this morning.

That you have a call on your life to be a part of a body, whether it's not it's this church or another church, you are called to be a part of a body that preaches the Bible, that holds you accountable, that pushes you towards Christ-likeness, and leads you in the mission of the gospel.

And that's where we're going.

Uh, but I want to close with a quote from this guy named Charles Spurgeon, who, like Matt Chandler, is my faith hero, except Spurgeon's dead.

And so he's uh he's uh one of my dead guys that I really look up to a lot.

Um but he says this about the church.

If I had never joined a church till I found one that was perfect, I should never have joined one at all.

And the moment I did join it, if I found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect church after I had become a member of it.

Amen.

Still, imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us.

Church, let's pray together.

Father, thank you, uh, Lord, for the gospel of Christ and that it is what it is, because you are who you say you are.

Um, Father, thank you for leading us each here to sit under your word this morning.

Um, Lord, I pray for each of our hearts that they would be healed and strengthened by the gospel, not by any security that we curate for ourselves.

Um Lord, I just pray, um, Lord, for the person in here who is going through a hard season, who is suffering right now, that you would strengthen them, that you would bring loving brothers and sisters around them to encourage them.

I pray for us as a church, Lord, that you would strengthen us, that you would lead us to wherever you are to be found.

Uh, Lord, and I lastly just pray that in all of us, Lord, you would stir our affections for Jesus and that, Lord, wherever uh you are to be found, that in our lives you would lead us there.

That you would lead us to the river that always satisfies and never runs dry.

So Lord, I pray that in these closing moments of worship that you would just stir our hearts for you, that we would fall more in love with the gospel, um, and that Jesus, you would just gosh, just come speak.

Uh Lord, we love you, we ask all this in Jesus' name.