Progress in assembly condition

First Thessalonians, please, chapter one. Pleasure to be back in this territory again. First Thessalonians, chapter one.

Jim has been reminding us of a progress that was made in the life of Abraham and the things that contributed to what he was later in life. And I've been thinking somewhat along that same line, and perhaps my thoughts just now will fit best at this point. But I'm thinking more in terms of an assembly, more of the gatherings of God's people, more of our condition generally than I am specifically, and I trust that you'll join with me as we read this passage from the Word of God.

Most people will know that W.C. Fields, a star in times past, was a drunken, rascally character, just like the part that he played. So what you saw was what you got. But as he lay dying, a friend came to visit him, and they were surprised to see this man reading the Bible.

And the friend said, what are you doing reading the Bible? Are you looking for answers? He said, no, I'm looking for loopholes. Brethren and sisters, I think as the Word of God is presented to us, most of us are experts at looking for loopholes, a way out, an excuse, some way to diminish our importance in the great scheme of things that God has planned for his people. And I trust as we read this passage, we'll be reminded again of a God who was a God in ages past.

Two thousand years have passed since these believers lived, and oh, that we could get another glimpse at the reality that they manifested in those days, and that we might take a few pages out of their book and apply them in our own lives. Let's read then 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus. Unto the church of the Thessalonians, in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God always for you all. You see that picture that Paul is giving us here? That picture of them as a company of God's people, as a community that God has established there in their presence.

Of the reality of a people who are responsive to heaven and are living for God. They varied undoubtedly in their abilities and in their accomplishments. But as Paul speaks of them, he speaks of them as a group of people, male and female, regardless of gender.

They were a vital organism, a reality for God. He speaks of them all. Every believer counted, every believer mattered, every believer addressed.

And no one, no one had a loophole. No one could wiggle out of it. He was speaking of them, everyone.

So let's look again at verse 2. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering, oh remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight or before God and our Father. Knowing brethren, beloved. You say, well isn't he just talking to the brethren? Is he just talking to those who are elders? Is he just speaking to those who are men? No, he's not.

And 19 times over, this word is used. Regardless of gender, males and females, godly people, all. He's addressing them.

He says, knowing brethren, beloved. Every one of them loved of God and loved to this brother. He says, knowing your election of God for our gospel came not unto you in word only but also in power, that dynamite authority even in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance as you know what manner, you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.

Can't you imagine their minds going back over those days, those nights that Paul spent with them and the manner of his teaching and as he speaks later on developing that, of his care and his kindness and his interest in them, his longing for them. He says, you know, don't you remember what manner of men we were among you for your sake? And ye became, you became, is this progress? Is this development? You became followers of us and of the Lord having received or welcomed the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost and in much assurance as you know what manner of man we revealed ourselves to be among you for your sake and ye became followers of us, he says. So he speaks about how there was much affliction, affliction, pressure, adversity with joy.

Some of those don't seem to fit together, do they? With joy of the Holy Ghost so that ye became in samples, models, a pattern to all that believe right through until right here. They're still models though it speaks of Macedonia and Achaia, Turkey and Greece. For from you sounded out the word, the word of the Lord.

They weren't proclaiming themselves, but it was the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God word is spread abroad so that we need not to speak anything for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you what an impact their lives were for God to be replicated, to be duplicated, to go on in the lives of others who were teaching them and strengthening God's people. He says you know and you can see what manner of entering in we had unto you and how you turn to God from idols. What a change to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son.

Are we still waiting for him? Are we still anticipating his return? Are we still looking forward day by day to that moment when he that shall come will come. Will we be ready? Will we be waiting? Will we be watching and await it says verse 10 for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead. The world might have thought they destroyed him but he lives.

Wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead. Even Jesus was delivered us from the wrath to come. Now you say were they all alike? Well he tells us a little further down in chapter five as he speaks here verse 12.

We beseech your brethren to know them that labor among you and are over you in the Lord and do us esteem them very highly. So he was trying to lift their gaze and their understanding. Notice verse 15 he says 14 pardon me.

Now we exhort your brethren warn them that are unruly. Could it really happen amongst a group of believers so on fire for God? Warn them that are unruly. Comfort the feeble mind.

Is it possible that amongst a group of believers there would be those who would be struggling, would find it difficult, would be facing challenges that threatened overwhelm. He says comfort, comfort the faint-hearted, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that nobody renders evil for evil.

Ever follow that which is good both toward one another both among yourselves and to all men. Well that better be enough for reading today. May the Lord bless his word.

I want you to think about these Thessalonians. I have just been thinking about them again and just considering them again and I have to admit that sometimes I feel like I miss them. How would you? Sometimes it seems as though I'm just outclassed.

Sometimes you meet a believer and the reality of Christ is so stamped upon them that it's embarrassing and their love for the Lord Jesus is just fresh and keen. It's so alive and precious that you feel like you don't even want to open your mouth. Standing next to this group of believers, standing next to these Thessalonians, I feel exposed.

I feel shallow and just a wee bit scared too because after all, brethren and sisters, if we were to be what they were we would encounter the things that they've encountered and we would likely have to suffer for our faith. We might have to endure criticism. We might have to bear our hearts to the whole truth.

Sometimes, you know, we look back on our life and our early desires and our purposes and our yielding to God and some of us aren't what we thought we would be by now, are we? And some of us, we kind of slip back from things that we thought were really precious then. And those quiet times alone with God, they faded at times, haven't they? And the power that we once sensed in our testimony, sometimes it seems to be missing. And we make our excuses.

Well, look at the world. I'm afraid we're looking too much at the world. And we make those excuses and say, well, nobody else is seeing any great success either.

And we keep looking for loopholes and sometimes we miss out on the plain, unvarnished truth of the Word of God. Just for a moment, would you come and stand beside me, so to speak? Would you take a moment and close your eyes to all that you know and think just now and look into the faces of these believers and try and grasp what they revealed to us in their life and in the scriptures that were given here. God is real to them.

You say, well, he's real to me too. And he is. Thank God he is.

And salvation is so precious. And I have always admired many of the believers here in Iowa who love the gospel. Don't know if we love it just the way we did love it, but thank God there's still those.

And you can tell even in its proclamation, there's a response to his truth. There's a smile that seems to well up right from the very depths of our souls. And that's a wonderful thing.

And there was a heavenly joy that filled their hearts. No one, no one had taught these believers how to spend their time majoring on the minor stuff. You were to take a stalk of your life today.

Oh, I know some of you have health concerns and you can't do the things that you used to be able to do. And I'm with you there. I know I need a nap every once in a while.

But take stock. What is our time spent in? What activities do we major in? What kind of thing thrills us? Gets us excited? Is it the stuff of life? Is it the things of time? Or is it because you get a grip on eternity? No one had told them that this exemplary Christian life that they were living wasn't normal. You know, we've tried to kind of adjust our lives so it fits better into our world.

And I'm not saying that we don't need to reach our world. And I'm not talking about some kind of exclusivism or monkism that kind of takes us to the distance and withdraws us from general society. No, I'm talking about a life that stands in direct contrast to the world, because our hope is in the living God.

And he is our God, not only from ages past, but he is our God for today as well. No one had informed them about mediocre Christian living. Yes, getting by, taking all God's blessings for granted as though we deserve them.

Nobody told these believers that stuff. Nobody showed them how to be cool. I'm on Facebook.

Some people might question or criticize it. I'm there, so go ahead. Do you know what I see sometimes? I see some lifestyles portrayed and it gets me.

And I know we tend to put the fun stuff up, but it makes me wonder, is that what matters? Is that what counts? Is that what we think Christian living is all about? No one had implanted the idea to these believers that they could just fake it. You know, we come to a meeting, we nod in the right place. We agree with what's being said.

And, you know, you can do that quite honestly. You can agree with what's being said. But God is not so interested in what we agree with, but in what we practice.

They were living as if they had someone worth living for in their lives. They were living as if they'd taken a hold of something that was so priceless that they were never going to let it go. So, brethren and sisters, stand with me beside them for a moment and ask yourself, what have I forgotten? What side routes have I taken? What loopholes have I fallen into? And how much of my life is like theirs? I want you to think about these people.

And the first thing I want to mention is the thing that's really been driving me, and that has to do with their amazing oneness. Their amazing oneness. I don't know how you brethren would feel if your tractor, I don't know anything about tractors, so you can tell me.

If your tractor was only running at 50% power, I guess you have to have 50% less things attached to it. I mean, how would you feel? What would you do? Sometimes we get together to sing, and we're at about 20% power. Bothers me.

Sometimes, you know, before a gospel meeting, when God's people are just into it, and they're letting go, and they're really enjoying the gospel songs, it really is an encouragement. And sometimes it's almost sad. Oh, brethren, I know you might make the claim, oh, we don't have any really good hymn starters and all that kind of stuff, but are we putting our all into the gospel? Oh, you say, yes.

What about ministry? Are we putting our all into some part that we can play as believers? Are leaders actually showing us how and where we could develop more? Actually discipling us and getting us involved? Are we doing that? Are we just taking the loopholes, taking the detours, getting around, going along? They're amazing oneness, every believer. Oh, yes, there were some who were faint. We read about that in chapter 5. And there were some who were passing through more difficulties than others, it's true.

But as Paul addresses them, he reminds them, you are all loved of God, and you all have a significance, and you've all been blessed so richly by those who have come in the past and given you an example. And he says, remember how you became followers of us and of the Lord Jesus, and life was so real to you, and your purposes were so clear in those days, and your effect was so powerful, these believers were alive. They were alive.

I'm not talking about some kind of, I don't mean this in any unusual way, but sort of that kind of a religious fervor stuff. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about faking it.

Life was real. Their connection with Christ was so precious. You know, when we put a finger, when we put a finger on the pulse or on the heart of this chapter, we find that there is a throbbing vital vitality about these believers.

They were alive for God, once in trespasses and in sins, made alive, really, truly, wonderfully alive. They've had a good start. I had a good start, both by the example of those that brought them the message.

I've already, we've already heard Ed Doherty mentioned, you know, he had a heart for young men, and he put his finger on our lives. He was a blessing to us, an encouragement to us. He prayed for us.

He counseled us. He got us involved very early in our Christian experience. He encouraged us in those things.

I'm, I was just thinking about last night, but I'm probably not, you know, what he hoped I would eventually be, but I'm so glad for his input. And these believers, they had a good start, not only in the preaching of a clear message of salvation, but in the counseling that they received and the teaching that they were given. And blessedly, by the example of others who are living for God, he said, you became followers of us.

And the Lord Jesus had been so clearly pointed to them, pointed out to them that they wanted to follow him. Hey, young believer, do you want to follow him? Has your heart been smitten? Maybe you need to appeal to some of your older brethren who maybe need to be stirred to get at the work that God has called us to do, to actually take the reins and to develop others, teaching them, admonishing them, accompanying them, spending time with them, nourishing them. They had a good start.

The gospel truth reached their hearts with dynamite power. Something had begun. They were alive.

The Holy Spirit came in and divine energy produced real life. Was there adversity? Adversity? Yes, there was this admirable oneness, but there was adversity. The world, in all its ways, has its appeal then as it does now.

The only difference is we're given into it. Brethren, we are. We're given into it.

We're letting the world creep into our individual lives. We're letting its power. You see, and maybe there's somebody here and you say, well, you know, I stand apart from all that.

Which world? The world of stuff? We've all got it. The Lord Jesus said far more about money than he said about anything else. Powerful message the Lord Jesus gave about our possessions.

You know, these believers, they might not have had much money, but they knew what they did have. And they knew that what they had was far more worthwhile than all this stuff and all the trinkets of life. The Holy Spirit had come in and it had transformed them.

They were alive. And as they met adversity, as they met questions and concerns, of course there was adversity. They that will live godly shall suffer persecution.

And there are some in our world. They are suffering. And I am absolutely certain there are some whose cry every day to God in spite of their adversity, of their difficulty, the challenges they face as believers in some parts of our world.

Their cry is, oh Lord, just help me today to stand again, to speak the truth, to live the reality. Oh God, preserve us. And we've got it pretty easy, don't we? Enough of that.

That's too convicting. Adversity. I want you to notice not only that, but you can see these believers, they are applying themselves.

They moved on. They had a good start. They had a great example, but they're moving on.

They've discovered and they've recognized that there is truth for them to live by. That's what's found here in this book. And it's His truth.

And it was His purpose that they realized they were saved for. And so they're all taken up with it. What is His purpose for me? What is His will for me? What is His design for me? What is His longing for me? What is God looking for from me? They moved on.

Remember Mr. Herb Harris was quoted. I didn't actually hear it, but he was quoted as being asked by somebody in a fashionable assembly about people who were less fashionable. And he says, but are they steadfast? And that would be all he'd need to get his ire up.

And he says, of course they're steadfast. He says, but the only place I know where they're immovable is here. How well do we take the Word of God? Jim's been talking about not being what we were when we came.

I wonder, brethren, is it possible for us to come to this conference, hear God's Word, maybe not as well spoken as some might be able to do it. But is it possible for us to come and listen, nod our heads in agreement, and go away without a bit of change? To say it was good to have our consciences awakened, yes. To say that we heard the voice of God, yes.

That's still unchanged. These believers, they were alive. They were applying themselves.

They realized they had been saved for his purpose, and they became models of behavior. And they'd had models to show them the way, and they're following it. They're getting involved in it.

They're not saying that's too big a price to pay. That was all they wanted, to be a follower of God. Of Jesus Christ, and of those that had given them such wonderful example.

They became such unparalleled models of believers, and of a gathering of God's people, that they affected people around them. There were others undoubtedly they wanted to be like them. They may not have wanted to pay the price, but they wanted to be like them.

Notice not only are they applying themselves, but notice as well. They were aware. They were loyal.

You look in this passage, and Lord is mentioned here a number of times. Curios. Lord.

Undisputed master. Who's your master? Who is my master? Can you look heavenward today, and say, Lord, you are truly my Lord. You speak the word.

I'll be the servant. You reveal your will, and I will yield myself to it. Lord.

Lord. If you've never made a choice in your life, and you're saved, maybe saved at a younger age. There oftentimes comes a time of crisis in life, when you have to face this issue.

It's wonderful to be saved and know you're going to heaven. It's thrilling to think that your eternal destiny is sealed forever, and it's all bright and glorious. But in the meantime, there's a Lord that needs to be served, and he deserves to be served, and he paid the price so that he could be your Lord.

To these people, they were awake. They turned to God from idols. They saw the folly of it.

They realized the foolishness of it, and they turned and made themselves available to God. You say, how do you know that? It says to serve. Can I ask you today, how are you serving him? You say, well, that's up to the preachers.

That's what they do. They're servants. So he says, here, every one of us is a place.

Everyone, by the way. Each and every one. Every believer.

Not let George do it. Not letting the elders do it. Not allowing the preachers to do it.

But every single one of us. Are we awake? Are we sleeping? To serve. Will you today yield yourself to serve? For whatever you have in mind, whatever place I can fill, whatever part I can have, whatever I might occupy myself with for the Lord, here am I, Lord.

Send me to serve the living and true God. Notice one more thing. They were awaiting.

They were awaiting. They expected the Lord to come at any moment. You say, that was 2,000 years ago.

What a waste. Oh no. I maybe told you before, but there's a man who came to fix our washing machine.

And he was a believer. And as he was fixing, he got talking about events in the world at that particular time. Must be 20 years ago.

And he said, you know, I'm convinced that the Lord Jesus is going to come this summer. He was wrong. But you know what's more important? Is to be living as though he could come today.

Have we forgotten that he's coming? You know, as I talk to older believers now, I'm thinking older now as beyond me, I know. However it might look, I'm just mature. But I'm talking about older believers.

And I hear them talking. And I hear them thinking at times. And it's expressed about the Lord coming.

And how about it? Are you waiting for him? Looking for him? Ready for him? At any moment. Even so come, Lord Jesus. They were waiting.

Nothing else mattered as much as his concerns. Nothing else mattered compared to eternity. They had taken up their cross, so to speak, knowing that even if they died, it would be worth it to die for him.

They were alive. They were so admirably one. They experienced adversity.

No question about it. No doubt. Probably far more than any of us have ever thought.

But they were truly alive for God. And they were applying themselves. And they were awaiting the moment when the Savior would return.

Brethren and sisters, let's not look for loopholes. Let's yield ourselves to be involved in all the purpose of God for his people here. We've been saved so wondrously saved.

We've been blessed so richly blessed. And we have but this little while to serve him until he comes.