Many of you from my generation and others can recall the exploits of the daredevil motorcyclist "Evel" Knievel. Known for his attempts with a motorcycle to jump the most impossible things, "Evel" Knieval isn’t doing much jumping any more due to age and the severe injury’s he has sustained in his career. He had spent most of his life daring the impossible and living a life that even though he believed in God, he couldn't walk away from the gold, the gambling, the booze and the women. But this past March something changed. Knievel knew people were praying for him, including his daughter's church, his ex-wife's church, and the hundreds of people who wrote letters urging him to believe. And then something indescribable happened during Daytona Bike Week.

"I don't know what in the world happened. I don't know if it was the power of the prayer or God himself, but it just reached out, either while I was driving or walking down the sidewalk or sleeping, and it just—the power of God in Jesus just grabbed me. … All of a sudden, I just believed in Jesus Christ. I did, I believed in him! … I rose up in bed and, I was by myself, and I said, 'Devil, Devil, get away from me. I cast you out of my life.' … I just got on my knees and prayed that God would put his arms around me and never, ever, ever let me go. I don't know why I fought it so hard," he said. "I just did."

On Palm Sunday, of this year "Evel" Knievel told his story Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral. Speaking alongside the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, Knievel told the congregation in Orange County, California, how he had refused for 68 years to accept Jesus Christ as Lord. What happened next was only the work of God. Pastor Robert A. Schuller, who took over for his father last year, looked out on the church and noticed most people were sobbing. He couldn't simply continue with the service's script and proceed to the offering. He offered the opportunity for people to commit their life to Christ and between 500 and 800 people responded. ("Evel Overcome With Good: Daredevil Knievel's testimony triggers mass baptisms at Crystal Cathedral. CT Online. Brad A. Greenberg | posted 4/13/2007)

That event from only weeks ago is evidence that the "gospel" of Jesus Christ has the power to change lives. Two thousand years ago a missionary named Paul, dared to believe that the shear raw power of the gospel of Jesus Christ could change lives. He told that "Good News" to the people of the city of Thessalonica and they were never the same. Months later he wrote to this new congregation, expressing his overwhelming gratitude at the difference the gospel of Jesus Christ had made in them. The message made a difference in their lives both inwardly and outwardly.

Do you believe today in the shear raw power of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do you believe that it still has the ability to transform human lives? Do you believe that it makes a difference in our church? What difference has it made in your life? What I want us to see today is the necessity of measuring the difference the gospel has made both inwardly and outwardly in our lives and in our church.

When I use the word "gospel" what am I talking about? Well, the word was important enough to Paul to use it six times in I Thessalonians. He said in verse 5, "For when we brought you the Good News…" Paul came to these predominantly non-Jewish people, who knew nothing of the story of Jesus and his death on the cross and told them that this message was something that would change their lives. For Paul it was something that is said and the content of what was said. It was a specific message that was declared: that Christ died for our sins, was buried, raised from the dead and that he appeared to persons who were still alive. (I Cor. 15 1-5) As a result of this message, God’s free grace, his offer of an eternal relationship with him, was extended to all people. It was the news of a historical event but the implications of that event went beyond history. It was then and is today a message of living power. Paul would declare that the gospel "…is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…" (Rom 1:16). The gospel is a message that has the power to transform the lives of all who believe the truth contained in the message. It was this message that totally and eternally changed the lives of those in Thessalonica who received it and believed it!

The question for us today is to what degree has the gospel transformed us? What difference has it made in you? When you compare the transformation and the difference that this message made in the lives of these people 2000 years ago to our often-anemic version of Christianity it makes you wonder. You may feel that that is overly negative but the truth is that unless you fully understand the changes that the gospel made in them you can’t appreciate the contrast to our lives today. The truth is that the gospel is of no use to us or to anyone else if it doesn’t change us or to say it another way, if Jesus doesn’t change us, then why bother? Why bother with anything that we call church if Jesus isn’t changing us and changing the world through us.

Where does this difference begin? Where does it start? It starts with communication. Before the gospel can make a difference it must be communicated. How did that gospel come to the Thessalonians? Paul stresses that what he said and how he said it were equally important. (I Thess. 1:5-6) He reminds the Thessalonians that this gospel did not come to them, "only with words" or "in word only" (v. 5). He is contrasting himself to professionally trained speakers that were popular at the time who spoke for the entertainment value. It would be like a talk show host today who uses the TV, Radio or Internet who convey their ideas for the sake of entertainment. He is saying that his message had more than words behind it. There was something else. What was that?

Paul said, "…it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true." Paul communicated his message in the power of God’s Holy Spirit. The word "power" is the word we use for dynamite. His message was dynamited with the strength of God’s Holy Spirit! Now one thing that will be evident as we study this book is that these believers were engaged with the presence and power of God’s Spirit at a level with which we are unfamiliar. I think some of that has to do with the need at the moment to establish the church but I also think it was evidence of their openness to the shear raw energy of the Spirit that we are lacking. It causes me to ask, "How much of what I do and what we do is done with the Holy Spirit’s power?" Does what we call "church" have the touch of God’s Holy Spirit power upon it? We wonder why nothing seems to happen, why nothing seems to matter. Perhaps the reason is there is no power!

Paul’s message was not just empty words but it was filled with supernatural power. Yet there was a highly personal aspect to what he said. He said, "And you know that the way we lived among you was further proof of the truth of our message. (v.5) The proof of what he said was seen as well in their own lives. The Thessalonians could look at Paul and his friends and see by their example that what he said was real. One thing that we will have to admit is that our witness to the truth of the gospel is often diminished and dismissed because our lives are void of the example of Christ they should be. For Paul the gospel and his lifestyle were inseparable. For us on the other hand what we say we believe and the way we live is often separated and considered meaningless by those around us.

Paul goes on to say that this message came with a price for him and for them. "So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord." (v.6) The word that is used here meant extreme suffering or pressures. We don’t know of the specific suffering that Paul is alluding to here. However early Christians understood that believing in Jesus and suffering went together. The conflict the Thessalonians experienced created an identity with Paul as well as with Jesus. It is a call for us to remember that when the true gospel is communicated or when it is received that there will be cost and resistance. I realize that this idea is so remote to us but that has more to do with our casual understanding of what it means to be Christian than it does with the truth of the gospel. It will never be easy or convenient. The gospel when it is shared or received will always come with a price. It will always be costly.

What changed these people’s lives was not mere "words" alone. There was power, personal influence and a very real price to both those who shared the truth and received the truth. When that Gospel is communicated it must be received. When it’s received, it makes a dynamic difference! The gospel we share must have this life changing power to it or we have nothing worth saying.

The first thing that Paul points out is that their belief in the gospel was seen in the deliberate actions of their lives (v. 3-4). There were three actions of the Thessalonians that Paul called to mind: "faithful work", "loving deeds", and the "continual anticipation" of the return of Jesus. In this verse he uses the three key elements of a Christian’s life and that is faith, love and hope. What is important is that the way this was written by Paul it means the work which faith produces, the labor which love produces and the anticipation that hope produces. Their faith, love and hope were not idle but active and evident in their lives. My friends, when the gospel of Jesus Christ has been genuinely received by a person they will naturally and deliberately begin to act on that experience. Their life will not be idle when it comes to Christian living. They will have energy about them concerning spiritual things that can’t be duplicated anywhere else. There will be a compelling to get involved in the world in a way that will make a difference. This doesn’t just mean getting involved in or serving in the church but through the leading of the Spirit you and show the difference that the gospel has made in the world in which God has placed you!

Another thing that Paul highlights is that they became an example to other Christians of what being a follower of Christ meant. (I Thess. 1:7) He says, "As a result, you yourselves became an example to all the Christians in Greece." That word "example" was used for the imprint that is left on a coin when it is minted. He is saying that they became the standard by which all the other Christians could be measured. These new Christians so received the message, so followed the Lord to imitate his life that other believers were using the Thessalonians to measure their own quality of Christianity!

Can you imagine that being said about our church? Can you imagine that being said about your life or mine? Can you fathom such a connection to Christ that is exemplified by our church and our lives that people would say, "All of Northeast Arkansas measures its type of Christianity by the kind of people that you find in First Baptist Church." "If you want to know what it means to be a Christian then just look at the members and leaders of First Baptist Church!" Can that be said of us? Sadly that would be hard to say about any church anywhere but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a valid question. You say, "Bruce, you are using such extreme examples we can’t relate to it." That is my point! The very reason we are uncomfortable measuring ourselves by this standard is because it is so unlike anything we know but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. When the gospel of Christ has fully impacted our lives then other believers should be looking at us and measuring their quality of Christian living by ours!

One last thing that Paul was impressed by about the Thessalonians was their effective sharing of their own experience with Christ. (I Thess. 1:8). He recalled, "And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Greece, for wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God." The idea is of a loud trumpet blast that rings out and is heard everywhere. He was so overwhelmed by their sharing of their faith in Christ that it was as if he didn’t need to tell anyone else, they had already done it. From the very beginning they were a church that was missionary because the people were that way. They had so effectively communicated their faith that there were few areas that had not heard of their faith in Christ. So great was that communication that Paul had no instruction for them.

Again can you grasp the power of this statement? They had contact with Paul and his instruction for only less than a few months and now they were so effective in their sharing of their faith that everyone was talking about it. Do you realize what a contrast that is to us today? Think how long we have been here as a church and all of the resources we have available to us and then how few adults we ever see saved here at our church. Phill Hall from the ABSC was here recently and told Richard Crawford and I that it takes almost 29 members in a church in Arkansas to have one convert! That doesn’t mean that 29 of us are out there working it means that there is such little sharing that it takes nearly one whole Sunday School class to just see one person saved!

It is imperative that we grasp that as a church we are here with a missionary purpose in our community. We can’t expect people to wait to find us. We can’t have a mindset that says, "Oh they know where we are." No they don’t and they really don’t care! I believe that God is calling us to find new creative ways to penetrate our community so effectively that it would be said, "…the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Northeast Arkansas"! Where the gospel is received by a church and its people we will tell it! It will become our trademark in our community. How we must be a people who ring like a bell, who are as piercing in our communication as a blast of a trumpet!

Has the gospel made that kind of difference in us? When it does there will be action, living examples of Christ and a missionary purpose that will be undeniable.

When the gospel has been communicated, received and begins to affect our lives, others will recognize the difference as well. That is what Paul mentions in these last two verses as he recalls what others are saying about the dramatic impact that the gospel made in the lives of the Thessalonians. (v. 9-10) What did others say about them?

They said there had been a bold break with their former life. He notes that they "turned away from idols". (v. 9a) Something so radical had occurred within them that they were willing to suffer the consequences of forsaking the expectations of their culture to worship idols and follow Jesus Christ. They were leaving some thing to follow Someone. I know that we don’t have man made idols that command our spiritual attention but are there cultural chains that are just as restricting from which we should turn away? I believe that when the gospel grips the heart and mind of a person who wants to deeply follow Christ that there will be a break with their former life as well as a break with what the culture commands as normal and accepted. Has the gospel done that for you? Is it still doing that in you? We are so filled with the world’s influence that we want the best of both worlds. There will be a change when the gospel makes a difference. Do your friends say that of you?

They also said that it was evident that there was a new purpose for their lives. They were known to "…serve the true and living God." (v. 9b) They now had a new allegiance that laid claim to their lives and that was to serve God and no one else! It was evident that their break with their former life led them to active ministry to God and for God! They would now be known as devoted only to the real God and not the empty idols of their past. Whenever the gospel transforms a life there is a new purpose that is seen, a new reason for living. There is not only a break with the past but there is a new allegiance and devotion that captures us fully. What service are you involved in? What ministries are you performing that is service to God and for God? What are others saying about your service?

Again this is not just ministry and service in the church, but even more so outside the church. It is not just how long have you been serving in some area of a church ministry which is obviously a good thing, but what are you we doing in the world to bring people to Jesus? We are all called to do this, like it or not! I wonder how many non-Christian friends most of us in our church have? We certainly need each other because we draw strength and support from each other but strength and support for what? I believe it is to tell the story of the gospel to the 29,000 people in our community and the world.

Others said, as well, that their view of the present was shaped by what they were expecting eternally. (I Thess. 1:10) "And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God's Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment." Many times in this letter you will see how that Paul, inspired by the Spirit, was moved to tell the Thessalonians much concerning the second coming of Christ. This letter is full of that word of hope. He told them in many ways that this was not the end but only the beginning! Whatever uncertainty about eternity they lived with before they now knew that they had an assurance that the Jesus that had saved them was returning for them. This knowledge shaped their life daily and gave them hope eternally.

What do people say you’re expecting? Do they say about you that your life is so captured by the promise of Jesus return that it is an ever-present reality for you? I am not talking about being drawn in by the speculations of those who profit from this promise. I am describing an attitude of life that just lives for that moment of our Lord’s return. We forget that all too often because we are too much citizens of this world and not enough citizens of heaven.

Do you live like you believe that our Lord could return any moment? Is your daily life is riddled with such expectation? I know for me that this expectation is rarely on my horizon. I, like you, am so consumed with the daily living that I don’t raise my vision to what is to come. I use the excuse that I don’t want to be like others who are always intrigued by some new event in the middle east as evidence that the return is just days away. These Thessalonian believers didn’t have anything other than what Paul told them and it was to them a word of life that gave them hope. Oh what if it did that for us!

What others say about our lifestyle as a Christian matters to God and should matter to us. The hard question is, "What are they saying?"

Pastor Juan Carlos Ortiz wrote about his fascination with a trapeze performance at the circus, "Watching a trapeze show is breathtaking. We wonder at the dexterity and timing. We gasp at near-misses. In most cases, there is a net underneath. When they fall, they jump up and bounce back to the trapeze.

"In Christ, we live on the trapeze. The whole world should be able to watch and say, ‘Look how they live, how they love one another. Look how well the husbands treat their wives. And aren't they the best workers in the factories and offices, the best neighbors, the best students?’ That is to live on the trapeze, being a show to the world. What happens when we slip? The net is surely there. The blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ, has provided forgiveness for "all" our trespasses. Both the net and the ability to stay on the trapeze are works of God's grace. Of course, we cannot be continually sleeping on the net. If that is the case, I doubt whether that person is a trapezist. ("As I Have Loved You." Leadership, Vol. 5, no. 4)

When it comes to the gospel it isn’t about what we say we believe or what we claim to know, the issue is what difference has it made in our lives. The difference should be dramatic and obvious. Do we fail? Of course but the question comes if we are comfortable with our failures it may mean we have never experienced the difference that the gospel makes for ourselves. We may discover we really aren’t a Christian at all.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org