Five Ways Members Build a Strong Church Week 4

So, given a little bit of a background, first Thessalonians is a letter from Paul to the church of Thessalonica. And it was written around AD5051. And let me give you a little bit of background before we actually get into our text. Thessalon Thessalonica is a city right on the port and at that time it's one of the busiest cities you can ever have and there is a lot of uh commerce happening there and there's a lot of as a matter of fact that city alone is sort of like one of uh the Roman Caesar's uh favorite places that are very dedicated to the Roman folks and the people there not just the Romans but the people there even the Greeks are still really into their Greek gods.

And so during that time it was, you know, Paul comes into this city and he finds this Jewish synagogue and he went there and he started to preach and he got some believers there and that's how the church started there. As a matter of fact, he spent not much of a time there, but he was able to create the church of Thessalonica. And from that, we have our our kind of uh text for tonight. And I'll explain a little bit about that. But have you ever heard someone say, "Oh, that's a very powerful church." Or, "That's a great church." Right? Uh I I've heard people comment about other churches, how great it is.

And let me ask you this. What do you think makes a great church? What do you think makes a great church? You know, some people believe that it's all about the size. The greater the number of people, the greater the church is. Some people believe that, you know what, it has to be a small church in order to be great to make a difference. Really doesn't matter what size. A great church is not dependent upon the size. Every church that is in love with Christ and obeys his doctrines is what makes a great thriving powerful church. Now, you can kind of look at our church here and kind of come up with your own conclusions on whether Ohana Baptist Church is a great church, but I wanted to since we're talking about church, we've been studying about the the church and its makeup and its government.

I wanted to talk a little bit about and spend some time talking about what you and I as members of this church looking at the members of the church in Thessalonica. What can we do to ensure that not only do we are part of a great and and thriving and powerful church that it it continues on. And so there are certain things that I want to share with you. five different points tonight I want to share with you on what we can do as members of the church to make sure that we are in a thriving and great and powerful church that the Lord uses. And so that in mind the first the first point I want to share with you and you can find it in verse 23 and 24 of our our passage.

Let me read that again. And the very God of peace sanctify you holy. And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calle it you who also will do it. You know how often do we see people from different churches especially the dying churches. If you examine the members there, they're probably not living a godly life. They're probably not living in a pure life. They're probably not obeying what the Lord is saying. So, let let's kind of consider how people may live godly lives. Because if you live a a godly life like Paul is recommending in verse 23, if you live a godly life, then that's one of the things that we can do as members to make sure that we have a strong, thriving, and viable church that can be used by others who need.

So the possibility of godliness verse 23 again talking about let me let me just back up and explain a little bit about our text. Okay the the first parts of the the letter the epistle to the Thessalonians is about really calling to remembrance who God is who Christ is and all the things that he wants us to do how to stay uh pure. How to stay and then at the end in in our text this is where Paul closes that letter. And so he's he's he's saying in the in these verses his final exhortation to the members of Thessalonica. Okay. And so he talks about how the good news that is possible for us to live a godly life is to honor the Lord and enhance the testimony of the church.

See a lot of times in verse in this verse Paul prays that the very God of peace sanctify you completely. You know, it's not just about obeying the rules. It's not just about obeying what God tells us, but there is a play a role that God plays in our lives. He actually does the change. He actually has the power to change us. And let me ask you this. How does God change you? When you were saved, what happens when you accepted Christ? What happens? Talk to me. Yes. When you got saved, when you accepted the Lord, the Holy Spirit indwells in you. And through the Holy Spirit, that's how God changes us.

Okay? And so what Paul is talking about here, he's saying, "And the very God of peace sanctify you holy, and I pray God that your whole spirit and your soul and body be preser preserved blameless until the coming of our Lord Christ Jesus." By the way, this and I think uh first Corinthians are the only uh New Testament that really specifically talk about uh how we are going to be caught up into heaven and meet Christ in the air. Okay? And so if if you haven't had that chance, you can read that on your own. Uh so Paul comes to the close of this chapter. He now commits the the Thessalonians to God who is the only one that can make them holy.

He's the only one that can make them live a godly life through the indwelling of the spirit. So we now move on to the power of godliness. See in verse 24 it says, "Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it." Godliness or holiness or sanctification can be a reality because of the fact that God can perform it in our lives. As I said earlier, it's not just about obeying the rules. The the Lord empowers us to live a godly life. See, so many times we we as members tend to forget that the Lord is is doing everything in our lives. We we tend to fall back and say, "Oh, I I need to go to church and it's because I I I or your efforts and not really relying upon the power of the Lord."

And so, we need to remember that. And so as as a church member, you can live a godly life through the power of Christ through a uh obeying his what he wants, his commandments. And when we do that, we are living a holy life. We are living under holiness. We are sanctified and being sanctified, living apart from the Lord, I mean from the world. And when we do that, part of that our actions as a as a member of the church makes this church a thriving, strong, powerful church. When you go to the other churches and you see that there's only a few members and they don't come on on a regular basis, they don't come to Bible studies and whatnot, you're probably going to find that that that kind of church is going downhill.

because they're not living a godly life. Now, the other thing that we can do as members is we need to pray for our spiritual leaders. When was the last time you actually got down on your knees and pray for pastor surface? God had appointed him to be the leader of this church to to be your shepherd, if you will. But he needs our prayers. He really does. See if the members don't pray. That could be a problem. Praying members are essential, critical for a a strong and thriving church. One particular area again I was talking about is praying for your pastor, praying for your leaders, praying for your church leaders.

Now, in verse 25, there's a statement of request that Paul kind of wrote in here. Verse 25, and I'm going to break it down for you a little bit. Brethren, pray for us. Paul was asking the Thessalonians to pray for him and his team. But the important thing that you want I I want you to understand is that the placement of or the word brethren is the first word which really emphasizes some kind of expression of affection to his Christian brothers and sisters. He's actually he's actually addressing those believers in that church to pray for him. Paul requested the praying for him to be motivated by the ties of Christian brotherhood.

I remember when I was reading this studying this some time ago there was there was this gentleman who walked in one of the ushers said hey welcome brother and he looked at that brother and said that usher and said why are you calling me brother? I'm not your brother. See different perspectives people are I'm I'm not trying to call them out. Some people come in with with different points in their life in Christianity. But at some point when you understand and you're saved and you accept the brotherhood, that's what Paul is talking about. That's what Paul is appealing to that you pray for him. And the in the same way we ought to be praying for our pastor.

We ought to be praying for him. Let's let's look at the substance of his prayer. You know, sometimes I I find it that when even the shortest verses when when you consider the words and the placements of it and some of the things that is done in other areas of the Bible, you it kind of gives you the picture that you need. Turn to Romans chapter 15 for example. Romans chapter 15 30 and 31. And the Bible says here, "Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints."

Paul again was was really asking the the members o of of of this church uh to pray for him how he needs their prayer to be protected from those who are not believing in what he's trying to teach as well very critical very critical and and and I know I'm praying to I mean I'm preaching to the choir because you're probably you all look like you're really prayer warriors but if you are, keep going. But if you're slacking off, come back, pray. You've never really focus on praying. This is a good time. This is a good reminder for you to pray because we need your prayers. We need you to pray for your pastors and your leaders so that this church can continue to strive and be used by the Lord for others.

The third thing that members can do is you are to be friendly toward one another. In verse 26 of our passage, the Bible says, "Greet all the brethren with unholy kiss." You know, earlier I was thinking about this. But when you when you have clicks, different groups within the church, and they're separated and they're just within the clicks, that could be dangerous, especially when it comes to how we're supposed to be united, how we're supposed to uh be friendly towards one another, the importance of friendliness. You know, the word salute, when you salute, you know, you military guys know what I'm talking about.

means to greet to bid welcome. It conveys the thought of extending friendly greetings to others. Now this holy kiss during that time frame was a form of acceptable greeting in that culture. You kiss someone on the cheek is just as good as today when we extend our hand out for to to shake someone's hand. Holy denotes that it is to be an expression of Christian love toward fellow Christians. So it was important that we be friendly to one another. And then notice the uh the inclusiveness of that statement. He says, "All brethren, we are to give extent to all brethren." Let me ask you this. When you go down the aisles or the chairs on Sunday or wherever we're gathering and you you shake hands, do you skip other people?

Because they're saying, "Oh, brothers, we're supposed to greet everybody, include everybody in how we greet one another. All the members of the congregation are to be greeted in a friendly and loving manner. You know, pastor from time to time he would be up here and he talk about how friendly Ohana Baptist Church is. But I wonder, are we really friendly? Especially for the person who's sitting down and nobody greets them. I remember some years ago there was a gentleman that sits right way in the back there in that in that seat there. young guy in the military, total introvert. He doesn't like to speak to people.

And he sit over there and I extended my hand. He wouldn't want to shake. He didn't want to shake my hand. I introduced myself. He didn't want to talk. I gave him the notes for for this study on Wednesdays when he comes in. He doesn't want a note, but he sits there. He doesn't like people, doesn't talk to people. But I kept including him in my greetings whether Wednesday night, Sunday night and it went on for a long long time. I almost fell back the day he actually gave me his hand to shake. Okay. But that happens when we are friendly all the time. So the impact of friendliness growing churches are known for their warmth and genuine concern for people.

You know there are these kind of uh type of greeters that hey how you doing and then that's it. No conversation happen they're moving on to the next one. Okay. And then there's those people who are really they want a one-on-one sit down and talk Find a medium. You don't have much time on Sunday mornings or after service, but you know what? Be intentional and be genuine in your care and your greetings. And that really impacts what Christ wants us to do. In John 15:12, the Bible says, "This is my commandment that you love one another as I loved you." It's not an option. is a commandment by Christ.

So the next time you come, let's say on Sunday, as a matter of fact, you know what? I'm gonna here's what I'm going to do. I'm not just going to talk. I want to you to take time right now, stand up and read one another. If you know the other person, then you can move on to the next one. But please do stand up because I want you to actually practice what I'm talking about. Take time to greet one another, especially the one that you don't know. Okay, we need to get together. We're We're not quite done yet. We're not quite done yet. You can go ahead and have a seat. I hate to cut this out, but that's okay if you're taking a little bit longer, but you know, at some point you're going to have to sit down.

Thank you so much. Now, let me ask you this. How did it feel? Did you meet someone that you didn't know? That's the whole idea is you greet one another because the Christ commands us to be friendly to one another. So we can do that as a church. Now every Wednesday night we come in here. Most of us, you know, some of the pastoral staff we greet, we try to greet everybody, okay? But some of you just sit there and and and don't know the other person. But the other person might might be a really great person to know. But let me ask you this. When you meet your church members at Walmart, for example, are you greeting them or you just walking passing by them?

Because this goes beyond church. Caring for one another goes beyond church, goes beyond hours and stuff. So whenever you meet your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, greet them. offer a handshake. The fourth thing that members can do, and I think all of you know this already, is study your Bibles. Bible study. We got B I have a Bible study. We're on in the book of John and we used to do it on Thursday nights. We're now doing it on Mondays. Uh right here at the church, there are different other kinds of uh Bible study groups that are out there. Find out which ones are there that you can go to.

Get involved in studying the Bible during Sunday school hour. Be here. Listen. Don't just come on the main service and Wednesday nights. I got to tell you, I've been coming to the church for many, many years. Most of my spiritual growth was right here on Wednesday nights. You know how many times I've actually heard the study of the church? I think I'm going around somewhere in the neighborhood of eight times already. But I tell you, every time pastor teaches, I learn something new. When you when you hear somebody teaching on Sunday school, remember that it's not just the person is if if they're preaching or they're teaching the word of God, you've got something to learn.

So members, if we go to verse 27 of our passage as an example, uh Paul said, "I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren." Everybody in the church is supposed to hear this letter. I can tell you no congregation can be uh what it should be apart from studying and knowing the word of God. You cannot have a strong church. You cannot have a strong membership who love one another if you do not know what Christ's words are. It's a must. The propriety of Bible study. Paul puts these Christians under a solemn duty to read the epistle to the entire congregation. When we come together, whenever we come together as as a body of believers right here at Ohana Baptist Church, you can bet you one thing, the word of God will be taught.

The word of God will be preached. Come together, worship and learn together and study the word of God. every church the priority of Bible study must be there because without learning through Bible study without learning through the different groups we cannot have a growing church we cannot have a powerful great church and then finally the last point you and I members can appropriate or take or use the grace of God in our lives If you go to verse 28 of our passage, the bi the Bible says, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." Amen. The grace of God is not only essential for salvation, but is it it is essential for Christian living.

Let me repeat it. The grace of God is not essential for salvation only, but for Christian living. It enables us to continue in Christ. Salvation comes from through uh through faith. Ephesians 2 uh Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 and 9. But let me talk specifically about this grace that I'm talking about in this verse. It is a specific grace. It is the grace of our Lord Christ Jesus. That is this grace has its origins. The grace that I'm talking about comes from Christ and it's a sustaining grace. It's a sustaining grace. The Lord gives grace for every trial to those who are who humble themselves before him.

Go to James chapter 4 verse 6. James chapter 4:6. The Bible says, "But the but he giveth more grace. Wherefore he said, God resisted the proud but giveth grace to the humble." When I first before I got saved, the army taught me be all you can be. Right? Pride. That's how I was taught. Maybe maybe you're a better soldier. I don't know. I came into be when I came when I first came to Ohana, I was so full of pride. And you know when when I started learning about the Lord, he he he taught me by allowing some humbling stuff to happen in my life really quick. And what I learned is do a selfch check because if you're having difficulty, maybe there is a lesson there that the Lord wants you to know.

The longer it takes you to learn, the more difficulty you're going to get. And then somewhere along the line, I figured out this. If I just humble myself, put me all the way down and accept what the Lord wants me to do, it works better. It really does. And then we also need to remember that the grace that I'm talking about is sufficient to all. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, the Bible says, "And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Three times Paul had an issue. Brought it up to the Lord. That's what he got. My grace is sufficient for thee. Humility.

Be humble. And then he provides. It's not easy. I'm telling you, it's not easy. I know this for a fact because I came from a very high pride kind of life. It's not easy. But you know what? If you humble yourself and you be with the Lord and pray, he's going to allow you to thrive. To thrive. So we must use the grace of Christ on how we live not just for salvation but that's how we move forward with it as well. So members can live godly lives. Members can pray for their spiritual leaders. We can be friendly to one another. And then we can do some serious Bible learning, Bible studies and learn from it.

And the members can use the grace of God. We put all these five things in how we live. we're going to have a very great powerful church. So, as we study church and the aspects of church, we did a lot of this in this ecclesiastic study, continue to learn, but remember that there are things that we can do as individuals as well to to really make sure that we have a thriving church that we can that we can be part of. So, I hope this has been helpful to you.