Sermon 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Evangelism

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church
October 19, 2008

This morning I would like to talk with you about a church which grew to have an important ministry in its community and region. This church was small and was part of a very diverse community just like us. One day a famous preacher and missionary came to town and began a very powerful ministry reaching out to people who were not Christian. But just three weeks later dissent within the church forced the preacher to leave. What are the odds that such a church would survive much less thrive after such an occurrence? And yet it did. The church that the Apostle Paul started in Thessalonica around 50AD grew rapidly and became one of the leading churches. What happened in those three weeks that literally turned the world upside down? We have a clue about what happened then and there. It is contained in letter Paul wrote from Corinth just months after leaving the Thessalonian church. Today we will begin looking at that letter to see how we can turn the world upside down in Eagle Rock today.

Father in heaven, we ask for your blessings to pour down upon our church this day. Help us to reach out into our community to bring the good news of your son Jesus to people who desperately need to hear it. Help us to be a welcoming community where people of all ethnic groups and income levels can worship together as we all will one day in heaven. We pray all of this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. 2 We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. 9 For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-- Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.

In the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians he gave us seven important lessons that we need to learn to be effective in following Jesus’ command to “go into the world and make disciples”. Let’s look carefully and prayerfully at each of these. Here is the first.

Pray for the people in the community

The first lesson we learn from Paul is that effective evangelism starts with prayer. We need to pray for the people in our community. And we need to be thankful for everyone that comes into our doors. I have heard of a church that goes into the community and knocks on doors offering prayer for whatever concerns the family inside. They use no sales pitch to get people to come to worship. Rather they just want to pray for the community and they keep doing it. If we prayed for all the people in Eagle Rock, if we prayed for our neighbors, we would quickly become the most powerful church this community has ever seen. I urge everyone here to join us each morning at 6AM as we pray for this church and this community, it is the most important thing we can do. So prayer is where we start. Let’s now move to the second lesson.


Accept everyone and focus on the strengths of the church

In this second lesson the Apostle teaches us to always remember the virtues of the people who come to our church. Too often people in church are concerned about how someone looks or what kind of job someone has. We naturally want to be with people who dress like us and have incomes like us. Sometimes this leads to a condescending attitude when someone unlike us comes to church. When this happens we criticize people for how they appear or the kind of job they have or where they live or how much money they make. But Paul always focused his attention on the strengths of his community. No matter what obstacles Paul faced or the dissension he found in the church Paul always focused on their great faith, works and hope in Jesus Christ. So when we talk about this church to others don’t talk about our problems or the obstacles we face. Rather always talk about the faith of its members, the love we have for one another, and our hope in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That way people will be drawn to our church and the church’s ministries can grow. This leads us to the third lesson that Paul gives us.

Proclaim to our neighbors the good news that they have been chosen by God.

The third lesson we learn from Paul is to proclaim the good news that we have received: that we have been chosen by God. Too many churches reverse this when they do evangelism. They demand that people choose God. Some Christian even threaten others that failure to choose God will lead to eternal damnation. But Paul tells us that God has already chosen us. And therefore all we need to ask others to do is to respond in gratitude. We can proclaim this good news to our friends and neighbors without fear and threats. All we have to do is to invite people to enjoy the blessings of God and respond in gratitude. And this takes us to our fourth lesson.

Focus on the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit

The reading and proclamation of God’s Holy Word is essential in any evangelism effort. That is why it is so important to read scripture every day, attend Christian education classes, and listen as the Gospel is proclaimed every Sunday. But just reading and studying scripture is not enough. For us to engage in evangelism we must not only be firmly grounded in scripture, but we must also be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers us to do evangelism and precedes us into the community where it is already preparing the hearts of people who live in our neighborhood. All we need to do is to share with our friends and neighbors the good news we have heard and the blessings we have received. The Holy Spirit will do the rest to convict people of their sins and give them the desire to respond to the forgiving love of Jesus Christ leading us to our fifth lesson.

Be a people filled with joy

Even though we experience obstacles, problems, lack of money, and dissension we must always be a people of great joy. Others will be attracted to this church only when they see that we are a joyous people. Our joy comes from the good news of the Bible where we read of our salvation in Jesus Christ. And this joy is ours because of our faith which is a gift of the Holy Spirit. So whenever we talk to others about this church always tell them about the great joy you experience when you come here. Your experience of joy is the magnetic force that will attract people in our community to our fellowship. Now, we just have two more lessons to learn from Paul. Here is number six.

Be a model for other churches to follow

When we follow these lessons that Paul has given us we become a model of faith for others to follow. The Presbyterian Church has had declining membership for forty years because we have forgotten these basic principles. We need to follow the simple strategy that Paul developed two thousand years ago. If we, in this church, follow these seven simple steps of evangelism then we will not only grow, but we will be the model for other churches to follow. It is already happening. In the last year we have doubled attendance at this church. Our evening service now has as many people as we have in the morning. We did this by following these simple steps. As we continue doing these things our church will continue to grow, and we are already being noticed by other churches in our presbytery and across the country. And this leads to our final lesson from Paul.

Bring the good news we have heard to our family, friends and neighbors

Our seventh and final lesson is that we have to take all of this outside of the walls of the church. We have to offer others a personal relationship with our loving creator God though Jesus Christ and our hope of eternal life through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So with the power of the Holy Spirit and truth of Gospel go out into your world, your family, your clubs, your neighbors, your associations, your friends and tell them of the joy you have found in Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church. Invite people to our worship and Bible study. Tell them about our ESL programs and Sunday evening worship service and dinner. Each of you is empowered to be evangelists for this church. Though you, the Holy Spirit will work bringing others in our community to salvation in Jesus Christ. You are the chosen ones of God selected to bring the good news to all people in Eagle Rock.

Conclusion

So what are the seven step of evangelism that caused the Thessalonian church to grow and become a significant church in its city and region?

Pray for the people in the community
Accept everyone and focus on the strengths of the church
Proclaim to our neighbors the good news that they have been chosen by God.
Focus on the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit
Be a people filled with joy
Be a model for other churches to follow
Bring the good news we have heard to our family, friends and neighbors

Holy Spirit, empower us as we go out into world as your apostles. Fill us with joy and the assurance that you are already at work in our community. Allow us to assist you in this work to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to the people in this community. And we pray this in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, amen.