The Good Church Connects the Gospel to Everyday Life | The Church God Calls Good | Pastor Joe Coffey

first Thessalonians

41-12 finally then Brothers we ask and

urge you in the Lord Jesus that as you

received from us how you ought to walk

and to please God just as you are doing

that you do so more and more for you

know what instructions we gave you

through the Lord Jesus for this is the

will of God your

sanctification that you abstain from

sexual immorality that each one of you

know how to control his own body and

Holiness and honor not in the passion of

lust like the Gentiles who do not know

God that no one transgress and wrong his

brother in this matter because the Lord

is an Avenger in all these things as we

told you beforehand and solemnly warned

you for God has not called us for

impurity but in holiness therefore

whoever disregards this disregards not

man but God who gives his holy spirit to

you now concerning brotherly love you

have no need for anyone to write to you

for you yourselves have been taught by

God to love one another for that indeed

is what you are doing to all the

brothers throughout Macedonia but we

urge you Brothers to do this more and

more and to aspire to live quietly and

to mind your own affairs

and to work with your hands as we

instructed you so that you may walk

properly before Outsiders and be

dependent on no

one hey everybody Welcome to Christ

Community Chapel I am uh I'm really glad

you're here so thanks for coming uh

before I get started I I just want to

tell you that I feel like uh God is uh

doing something uh special right now

here at CCC and I I tell you that

because uh I don't want you to to miss

it you know the the Bible is full of

examples of where God uh shows up in a

special way at a particular time in a

particular place and I really feel like

uh that could be happening uh right here

right now and I just want to just

encourage you don't miss it whatever

that means uh don't miss the opportunity

means that if you're on the fringes take

a step deeper in wherever you are uh

lean into all that's going on here so

that you don't uh Miss what God's doing

in the church or what God may want to do

inside of you all

right okay uh let's get into the message

today we are in our 10we Series where

we're looking at first and 2

Thessalonians those are two letters that

the Apostle Paul uh wrote to a church uh

in a city called

thessalonica the church was doing

extraordinarily well and that uh Paul is

encouraging them uh about how well

they're doing and so we are calling this

series the church God calls good the

church God calls good and we want to be

that kind of church we want to be a

church that God calls good so we're

trying to learn all that we can from the

Thessalonians

uh Christianity swept across the Roman

Empire and it swept across the Roman

Empire not just because of what

Christians believed but how they lived

their lives the way Christians lived was

completely different than the way the

people around them thought and lived I

mean if you uh lived in a neighborhood

in thessalonica and you had a couple of

Christians in your neighborhood you knew

it uh they stood out

they could not blend in it was such a

contrast there was like a contrast

between light and darkness Jesus came

saying that he was light and life and

that life and light was shining out of

the Thessalonians and of course the

darker someplace is the more the

stronger the contrast is when light

comes to that

darkness and what I'm saying to all of

us is as our world gets darker as our

nation gets darker it's on us as

Christians to shine bright it's on us as

a

church to shine bright the question of

course is how how do we do that the

Thessalonians did it by connecting the

gospel to their everyday lives they

connected the gospel to their everyday

lives there were actually four areas

where they were radically different than

the previl culture four ways that people

had never seen other people a group of

people approach these four areas the way

Christians did and the four areas are

these sex money work and

death sex money work and death no one

had ever seen

anyone who uh approached sex the way

Christians approached sex

no one had ever talked to

anyone who handled their money the way a

Christian handled their money no one had

ever seen anyone talk about work the way

Christians talked about work and no one

had ever seen anyone approach death the

way a Christian approach death now I

don't want to steal Zach's Thunder Zach

preaches next week and he's going to

preach on the the passage that covers

how Christians approach death but I I

will tell you this I mean it was pretty

astounding uh and Christians got this

reputation of how they approach death

with with a peace and a joy that people

had didn't really understand there's a

quote attributed to a centurion uh whose

Duty was in the Coliseum he was one of

the ones that led Christians into the

center of the Coliseum where they would

be eaten by lions or attacked by other

animals and after a couple of months of

doing that this is the quote that was

attributed to this Centurion he said

behold these Christians die well behold

these Christians thy well Christians

were known to sing hymns when they

approached death and we still do I've

been privileged to be in hospital rooms

or hospice rooms where

a a group of Christians are gathered

around a family member who's also a

Christian and they're holding hands and

singing as their loved one passes into

the presence of

Jesus it's astounding it's moving it

reminds me of uh there's a story in the

book of Acts where Paul and Silas have

been thrown in jail after being beaten

and it says that they were singing hymns

and then it says that all the other

prisoners were listening

and I wrote in the margin of my Bible no

kidding of course they were listening

because no one had ever encountered

anyone who'd been beaten unjustly thrown

into prison and responded by singing

right but I'll leave that to Zach that's

all the Thunder I'm going to steal from

him uh I want to concentrate on the

other three

areas because the way Christians

approached these three things sex money

and work uh created an an

alternative that was so attractive to

people that it actually changed the

world for these Christians children and

grandchildren and great-grandchildren

and that's what we want to do all right

so let's take a look if you have your

Bibles go ahead and turn to first

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

Thessalonians chapter

4 we're looking at verses 1-2 if you're

going to use one of our Bibles in the

Hughes or if you're over in East Hall in

the back of East Hall those Bibles it's

on page

928 page 928 or you can just wait for

the verses to come up on the screen all

right let's start with sex this is uh

let me read the first three verses he

says F finally then Brothers we ask and

urge you in the Lord Jesus that as you

receive from us how you ought to walk

and to please God just as you are doing

that you do so more and more for you

know what instructions we gave you

through the Lord Jesus for this is the

will of God your sanctification that you

abstain from sexual immorality let me

stop

there uh he's talking he's about to talk

about how they're going to live and he's

saying you need to keep living the way

you're living in a way that is pleasing

to God and then he he talks about the

result of that the purpose of that is

your sanctification that's the word he

uses that's a great word

sanctification it means the you you have

always wanted to be the you that you

were created to be and I know I use

those two phrases a lot uh but I want

you to know that I'm not talking about

the you you want to be like you you want

to be a little thinner or a little bit

nicer or a little bit Kinder that's not

it uh it is to be radically different

than you the way you were created to be

you you and I aren't even close to what

we were created to be I still remember a

professor in college saying that if if

Adam and Eve walked into the room we

would have to fight the urge to fall

down and worship them and what my

professor was saying was that Adam and

Eve were created in the image of God and

before sin entered the world they

reflected that image very

clearly that Adam and Eve that you were

created to be radiant to be glorious to

be joyful to be

beautiful I mean you you were created to

be

stunning right and that's what Adam and

Eve were and what what sin does and and

Adam and Eve were like a mirror that

reflected the image of God in a very

clear way I think uh I am more like one

of those Funhouse mirrors that you go in

and and your head's really big or you're

super wide or you're super but you're

all distorted see I I used to think that

I was like a mirror that had dirt and

smudges on it and that that's not it's

deeper than that I mean there's dirt

smudges and all that but there's a

distortion that goes on and so we do not

reflect the image of God the way we're

intended what Paul says is what when God

gives us

instructions about sex and money and

work and any any of those instructions

is for our sanctification it's the it's

to help pound out those

distortions in your soul

so that you reflect his

image because you were made to be

radiant to be glorious to be joyful to

be

beautiful so that's the first thing all

right then he says uh verses

3-8 he says for this is the will of God

your

sanctification that you abstain from

sexual

immorality that each one of you know how

to control his own body and holiness and

honor not in the passion of lust like

the Gentiles who do not know God that no

one transgress and wrong his brother in

this manner because the Lord is an Aven

Avenger of all these things as we told

you beforehand and solemnly warned you

for God has not called us for impurity

but in

Holiness therefore whoever disregards

this disregards not man but God who

gives his holy spirit to you all right

for me to talk about this first point of

how Christians were different in regards

to sex it's probably easiest for me to

break it into three sub points like how

the Greeks viewed sex how Christians

viewed sex and then kind of the

difference that it made first how Greeks

viewed

sex uh Greeks were very casual with sex

uh uh the average uh Greek man uh was

expected to have uh three relationships

with three different women the average

Greek man uh had a wife and the wife uh

usually brought money and Status into

the relationship so you'd marry for

status then uh your wife kind of managed

your Affairs and was responsible to Bear

your legitimate children and heirs

that's the wife's responsibility

then the average Greek man had a

mistress uh and the mistress was this is

interesting the mistress was his

intellectual equal and uh that would be

the woman that he would have

conversations with that he would uh have

Recreation with and that he would also

have sex with right that was his

mistress and then the average uh Greek

man also had what was called a pacus

which was like a concubine usually a

female slave or servant and she was only

for sex so that's the average Greek man

now Paul comes along and he says oh no

listen for Christians it's different God

has given the gift of sex to be enjoyed

in the midst and this is what's

interesting in in the midst of a single

relationship between a husband and a

wife a committed relationship called

marriage inside of that sex can work for

your sanctification can work to help you

get less distorted more clearly image

God inside outside of it Christianity is

very very simple when it comes to sex

inside of that yes outside in no matter

in any way outside of that Covenant no

it will distort you further it will do

more damage to you and here In this

passage and also in other passages what

what Paul especially in Ephesians 5 Paul

ends up saying to husbands husbands to a

Christian husband love your wife as

Christ loved the church and gave himself

for it and what Christian husbands would

do is that they would wrap all three of

those women into

one and that one would be their their

wife was their friend their conversation

partner the one they recreated with

their lover all of that into one now I

want you to

imagine what it would be

like to be a Greek woman in a

neighborhood and meet a Christian woman

in that neighborhood and begin to talk

about your husbands and the Greek woman

finds out from the Christian woman the

Christian woman says oh no my my husband

doesn't have a pacus my husband doesn't

have a mistress I am all those things

for my husband he he loves being with me

he loves loves me and the Greek woman

was just going are you kidding me one of

the reasons that Christianity swept

across the Roman Empire is because women

because the way Christian husbands

treated their

wives it should still be like that for

us the word that Paul uses for immoral

sexual immorality is the word

pornea which is where we get the word

pornography one of the reasons that

pornography is so

destructive is because of the flow of

the human

heart the way a Greek man approached

women is he used different women for

different things he used his wife to

bear his legitimate Hees he used his

mistress for conversation and sex and he

used his pacus for sex he used women for

himself Jesus comes along and says no no

no no no that's not the way I created

human being to work I didn't create a

human being to use people I created a

human being to love people because I

created you in my image and I came not

to be served but to serve and to give my

life a ransom for many what happened was

that Jesus gave birth to a group of

people where their the flow of their

lives became From the Inside Out In Love

that's why Paul says husbands love your

wives

what Paul is saying what God is saying

is you are much more in my image when

you love somebody and not when you use

somebody with pornography it changes

that every time you look at an image you

are using somebody you are changing the

flow you know I know that Zach if you

were here last week Zack talked about

rewire and I was thinking about that

like if uh if one of them man who is now

going to rewire is out mowing his lawn

in a rewire shirt and a neighbor comes

over to that wife and says what what is

rewire and the wife goes oh yeah that's

my husband's commitment to stay away

from

pornography it's

amazing and that woman that neighbor

would go are you kidding me I know my

husband's into porn he we just you talk

about that we still have the opportunity

to be so different in a

neighborhood that we cannot hide that

everybody in that neighborhood knows

oh they're

Christian and that's one of the ways we

know the way the husband treats his wife

the way the wife treats her husband and

the way they treat the gift of sex that

God has given okay that's one way uh the

second way is uh the way they handled

money uh this is what he says verse 99

and

10 now concerning brotherly love you

have no need for anyone to write to you

for you yourselves have been taught by

God to love one another for that indeed

is what you're doing to all the brothers

throughout Macedonia but we urge you

Brothers to do this more and

more one of the things that Christians

were known for from the very beginning

was they were very quick to share uh

anything they had

with other people very

open-handed uh and that started right at

the beginning in Acts chapter 2 Peter

Acts 2 · chapter mention

preaches the very first sermon after the

resurrection 5,000 people uh become

Believers in Jesus and then it says and

they had all things in common and no

everyone who had a need had that need

met right it was astounding what one of

the things that's uh interesting is

there are three uh archaeological

discovery

uh that kind of give an Insight uh into

the way Christians handled money uh the

first is a letter uh from a man named

diones diones was a Christian and uh he

wrote this he said uh we share our table

with all but not our bed with all we

share our table with

anyone but we don't share our bed with

anyone that was the exact opposite of

the way the Greeks lived the Greeks were

very casual about sex they were very

casual with their bed anyone in their

bed but their money was sacred they were

very very careful with their money

Christians come along and go oh no no

we're stingy with sex because that is

sacred but we let anyone have our money

all right

the second uh archaeological Discovery

is a letter uh from a guy uh an emperor

named Julian who's actually called

Julian the apostate but Julian hated

Christians and he was afraid that

Christians were gaining more and more

kind of uh momentum and he was writing

some Pagan priests and he was saying

listen these Christians they uh care for

strangers they take care of their own

poor they even take care of our poor

those blasted Christians he's really mad

and then he says to them you need to

teach to the Pagan priest you need to

teach people to imitate Christians or

they're going to take over the

world right and that's what ends up

happening right the last letter uh I

really like because it seems like the

last letter that was discovered was from

a con man uh who was just giving a tip

and he was saying listen if you want an

easy Mark go to Christians all you have

to do is present any need and they give

to you right which is a crackup I think

uh which is good because Christians have

always been easy to take advantage of I

was actually rebuked one time in India

uh I was on a mission trip to India and

had a team there uh we were in the city

and every time we would get out of our

vans uh in the city you know Beggars

would come and flock to us and uh there

was one woman and she had an obviously

deformed uh baby and so uh a lot of

people a lot of our team gave her money

and we went someplace else and uh

somehow she uh found out where we were

and she showed up again and then we went

to a third PL and got more money and

then we went to a third place and I saw

her again and I saw her walking up to

one of our team members and I said I

stepped in and I said hey hey she's had

she's gotten enough and this guy looked

at me and he goes she's about to get

more right I thought good an you yeah

who am I to say oh we have been generous

enough to her right that that's not what

Jesus would want that's

crazy you know one of the things you

need to know if you if you struggle

strle with giving if you struggle with

generosity generosity is one of those

things the the the act of giving is one

of those things that will actually help

uh remove some of the

Distortion in your soul it will make

them you able to reflect the image of

God better because God is a giver God is

generous the the generosity of

Christians can hardly be

overstated because as the Roman Empire

declined economically and the need grew

greater Christians filled that need and

that's what happened if you were in need

in the Roman Empire and somebody reached

out to help you in that need they were

almost

undoubtedly a

Christian and no one had ever seen

people hand Le money quite like

Christians did and the final area is

work this is what it

says let me uh well I'll read verses 11

and 12 he says and to aspire to live

quietly and to mind your own Affairs and

to work with your hands as we instructed

you so you may walk properly before

Outsiders and be dependent on no one uh

that sounds like a really a kind of

churchy thing to say to me it's like uh

mind your own business work keep your

head down work be quiet right uh

actually Paul is saying quite a bit here

about

work uh the way the Greeks approached

work was um they worked as little as

possible made to make as much as

possible to retire as early as possible

which kind of sounds like our

culture they wanted to work as little as

possible to make as much as possible to

retire as early as

possible but Christians came with a

different attitude toward work what Paul

says here he he actually says three

things about work here that became uh

what Christians were known for one is he

connects work uh to love like it's

really a runon sentence when Paul says

for that indeed is what you're doing to

all the brothers throughout Macedonia

but we urge you Brothers to do this more

and more and he's talking about loving

them and to aspire to live quietly and

to mind your own Affairs and to work

with your own hands as we instructed

you work for a Christian was a way to

serve people to show your your love for

people there was something Noble about

work um not all work serves people

but a lot of work does now when I say

serve people with work I don't want you

to confuse that and think that the way

to serve people if you're if you want to

work and you want to really serve people

you got to move to the inner city and uh

and build homes or uh be go into

ministry that's not it serving others or

doing any kind of work for the benefit

of someone else was something that was

esteemed and that's what Christians

thought it was a way to love people you

know I I drove here today in a car I did

not make I could not begin to make any

part of a car you know I'm not handy to

begin with I I drove on roads that I

have no idea uh how to do I'm in a

building where I couldn't fix a thing

I'm enjoying air conditioning that I

don't even understand how it works right

all those things are serving me

Christians looked at their work like

that and thought this is why I'm doing

it I'm not doing this just for a

paycheck I'm doing this because it makes

the world better because it makes life

easier because it's a way to serve

someone else always they were thinking

that so one of the things that you have

to know is that if you're working a job

just for money that's not the way a

Christian approached work and if you're

working a job that does not benefit

people or does not help them then that's

not the way Christians worked right that

was one way one thing that Paul was

teaching is that the way Christians

approach work was it was a way to love

people the second thing is he says work

with your own hands which was

interesting in that culture because uh

for Greeks they look down on any kind of

manual labor they were there were

prestigious jobs just like there are now

but but Christians looked at Manuel

labor differently you know

why because Jesus worked with his

hands because Jesus was a

carpenter you know I think if Jesus

lived today might be an iron worker

might be a Plummer I just think it'd be

funny I mean it' be it'd be interesting

uh how we would esteem PL plers if if we

said Jesus was a

plumber but Christians never look down

on manual labor or any kind of Labor

like that because if you were working

with your hands you were in very very

good company

right Christians looked at work so

completely different than anyone else

because for a

Christian working meant something else

working was an act of love working was a

way you were to work with your hands and

then finally he says uh work quietly

that's it was commentators struggle with

what Paul meant by that but one

commentator I read said that what Paul

was saying was do work that quiets

you that do work you are wired a certain

way find work that aligns with your

talents don't work a job that makes you

a lot of money but puts you in terrible

turmoil every night that what Christians

did they looked for jobs where they

could where it quieted their soul and

didn't always rile them

up one of the things that as we read uh

Thessalonians this church that God calls

good we' got to realize that

Christianity swe swept across the Roman

Empire not just because of what

Christians believed but because of how

they lived and how the gospel connected

with their everyday lives no one knew

anyone that looked at sex the way a

Christian looked at sex that's true now

that's true now no one knew anyone that

was more free with their money more

generous with their money than

Christians were that should be true

now and no one knew

anyone who approached work the way a

Christian approached

work my hope thing I've been praying

since I started kind of working on this

message was I've been praying every

morning God

today make me just a little less

distorted just a little

bit rub off a smudge on my soul let me

reflect you a little bit better do not

forget if you forget everything else do

not forget you were created to be

radiant to be

glorious to be full of joy to be

beautiful and every time God calls you

to obey him he is calling you to be

that what you always always really

wanted to be what you were created to be

let's do that together and be the church

God calls good would you pray with

me Father in Heaven thank you for uh

your uh love for

us

uh it's amazing you know I and I have uh

looked I've read uh your word for years

and years and so many times I read

things and I think think that it's a uh

it's a demand it's hard to do whatever

but I I don't know right now I just feel

like whatever you tell me to do I want

to

do because I know you created me to be

better than what I am right now I pray

for all of us that you would give us a a

deep desire to obey you I pray that you

would make us through our obedience uh

to be radiant and glorious to be

beautiful and joyful and I pray that we

will be able to stand in start contrast

to the the culture around us and create

an alternative that is so

attractive that we can actually change

the world starting with Northeast Ohio

we pray this in Jesus name amen