How We Behave, Part 1

You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the Word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit.

That is a loaded, phenomenal statement. In other words, even though the pressure on you in Thessalonica was to disbelieve, even though the pressure is on you to not follow Christ, you follow. The Thessalonians were welcoming the Word and effectively inviting the Word into the home of their heart. Have you ever been pressured to compromise your Christian standards and disobey God? Have you ever been in a situation where standing for Christ was hard because the people there were ambivalent or maybe even hostile to the Christian faith?

The early church at Thessalonica faced that kind of pressure. So when Paul wrote to them, part of what he wanted that church to know was how they were to behave in the midst of their culture. We need to hear the same lesson from Paul, and today we're going to do just that. This is Wisdom for the Heart.

Stephen Davey is in a series called Upon This Rock, where he's looking at some key principles that the church is supposed to live by. Today's lesson is called How We Behave. Let me ask you a question. How do people know you? What do they think of when they think of you? What do they think of when they think of this collection of people called colonial?

It might not be a funny, laughing matter. My wife found this recently and showed it to me. A group of fish is called a school. A group of clams is called a bed. A group of bats is called a colony. A group of deer is called a herd. A group of sheep is referred to as a flock. A group of bees is a swarm. A group of hyenas is a clan. A group of lions is a pride. A group of wolves is a pack. A group of baboons is a congress. I'm actually getting to the next point.

Get this. A group of alligators is called a congregation. Isn't that terrible? Lots of teeth. We eat people.

Alligators. What a terrible use of this word. Well, what does our world think of us? Frankly, that has a lot to do with how we behave, doesn't it? In our series on the church, we've discussed so far who we are, why we belong, why we exist, and let's begin talking about this particular subject, how we behave. Turn in your New Testament letter from Paul to the Thessalonians, his first letter. This is the only New Testament church, by the way, where Paul actually says their behavior is commendable to every other church.

I find that intriguing. In fact, whenever I think of the way a church ought to behave, and Christians certainly, I cannot help but think of this church in Thessalonica. So let's go back here and take a look as we take another step toward this understanding as a church family of how we behave. As we work through and expound on just a couple of phrases, let me outline our study by giving you three characteristics of how a church ought to behave, not just in the first century, but in the 21st century. And the first characteristic is simply this, and I'll show you.

It's this. We mimic faithful role models. We mimic faithful role models.

And let's just sort of drop into, for the sake of time, at verse six. And notice he says of this church, You also became imitators of us and of the Lord. That word to imitate comes from the Greek word mimetes, which transliterated gives us our word mimic or imitate or mime.

You can almost hear that, can't you? In mimetes. The word originally referred to somebody following someone else's lifestyle or following someone else's teaching. They were mimicking. So here the Thessalonians are known for following, mimicking the lifestyle of the apostle Paul and of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now a little later on in this paragraph, Paul is actually going to tell these believers, and he's going to commend them for becoming examples themselves for others. So they're imitating faithful role models, and they are being imitated.

By the way, that's a principle that's more true than we probably know. You are perhaps unconsciously or maybe consciously following someone else. It's talking about stalking them. I'm talking about just watching them. You notice them.

Maybe they're in the assembly. Maybe they're a believer you work with it and you find yourself watching their behavior and it's commendable to you and it's encouraging to you. You're challenged to imitate their demeanor or perhaps their spiritual disciplines, their testimony in front of others in the workplace or in the neighborhood.

Well, the truth is that's a wonderful thing, by the way, and he's commending them for doing that. But there are people watching you, too. There are people following you. Children certainly follow their parents. They learn by imitation.

The more I learn from reading, it's an amazing learning curve for little babies. And as they study your face, they're actually learning to imitate you and sound like you. And that's why they not only learn how to talk, but they talk with your accent, don't they? They sound like you. Someone calls your house and your daughter answers and they think it's your wife or your son answers and they think it's you, fathers. It's remarkable.

They learn in such a way that they mimic. Here's a question worthy of asking from time to time. If if someone is potentially and I think it's more than we recognize following you, where are you leading them?

Where are you taking them? As one author said, you are either a stepping stone or an obstacle in their path of spiritual growth. And by the way, don't ever use the excuse of, well, you know, I'm probably not a good example because I didn't I wasn't raised by a good example or I didn't come from a home that had good examples.

I'm you know, I'm not I'm not surrounded by by people who are good examples. Now, these Thessalonians lived in the middle of a pagan culture. They had no legacy, no heritage. They're first generation Christians. And here they are surrounded, yet committed to following the example of Paul. And by the way, many of them have never seen him. It says here that they're also imitating or mimicking Jesus Christ.

And none of them saw him. And yet they're known for their passionate, diligent mimicking of these faithful role models. Who's your role model?

Who are you following? It can be a bad thing, of course, it can be a good thing. It all depends on who they are. It's true not only by the way of individual Christians, it's true of of churches. You know, I've lived in this community long enough that if I see somebody with a bumper sticker with the name of a church, I immediately have an impression that church is either, you know, working hard for Christ and and growing and developing and maturing. I'll have those positive thoughts to mind or I'll see the bumper sticker of another church and and I'll know they actually are pastored by an unbeliever. It's true of churches. Churches tend to watch churches.

Churches tend to follow churches. Those in the pastorate, the inside story, the joke is that we use other people's stuff and we just change the logo on the front cover. I get magazines every day here at church in my box, whether I subscribe to them or not. And I actually don't.

But I get these magazines and I'll stand there in the workroom before I file them in this big gray round filing cabinet with a plastic liner. And I'll just kind of look at some of the pictures. And it's intriguing. Churches are interested in what other churches are doing, what kind of audio and lighting they use, what kind of buildings they build, what kind of what kind of ministries they're attempting, what kind of methods are they attempting? A lot of the ideas are shallow. Some are misguided, some are worthy, and they maybe pause and think that that's very interesting.

I'd like to know more about that. In fact, because of that very fact that this church is commended by the apostle Paul for effectively serving as an example to other churches, I think it's important for any church that ages and matures to do the same. God is giving opportunities to us in that arena in a number of different venues. You probably drove in and you might have noticed a blue sign that talked about a conference. We're going to have in nine days pastors from 26 different states and five continents converging here. Hundreds of them for a conference. 40 workshops are scheduled. We're bringing in speakers from around the country and the registrations pastors are paying are paying for it.

Just in case you're wondering. So many crucial issues are facing the church today. Frankly, it's a different world. And the New Testament communicates this pattern. Pastors mentor pastors, just as Paul does with Timothy and Titus. Older women mentor younger women, just as Titus is encouraged in chapter two of that letter from Paul. And churches mentor churches, just like this church in Thessalonica. This is only our second year for hosting this pastors conference, and it's encouraging to see what's happening. Listen, it's really nothing more than the responsibility of not only the believer to be an example, but the church.

The church. It's really nothing more than accepting the leading of the Lord in your own life. The apostle Paul doesn't say here, I hear that you are imitating Jesus and me. You need to knock that off and just imitate Jesus. He doesn't do that. I mean, his name is right next to the Lord's.

That would be intimidating. In fact, he writes to the church in Corinth, not out of pride or arrogance. And he literally says, be imitators of me as I follow Christ.

First Corinthians 11 one. Evidently, following a faithful role model is commendable and it becomes a responsibility for the believer. However, not only to follow a faithful role model, but to become one. Here's how we behave individually and as a church family, we mimic faithful role models. All right, let me move on.

Secondly, we model joyful responses. Look at verse six again. You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit.

That is a loaded, phenomenal statement. The word for tribulation here can be translated intense pressure. In other words, even though the pressure on you in Thessalonica was to disbelieve.

The gospel, you believed it, even though the pressure is on you to not follow Paul and Christ, you follow. And you you receive the word with that spirit, by the way, the word received. It could be rendered with a little more of a warm word. It means literally to welcome, to welcome. You welcomed the word. You effectively invited the word into your life, sort of like you open the front door when a good friend knocked on that door or a family member who came to visit you.

And and you opened it and you smiled and you said, come on in, come on in. The Thessalonians were welcoming the word and effectively inviting the word into the home of their heart and life. Here's how we behave then. We we put out the welcome mat for the word. We welcome it. We long for it. We we learn it. We memorize it. We want to live it. We're convicted by it. We're challenged by it. We rehearse it together. We're singing these songs. We're rehearsing much of what we're going to deal with in this text.

And they didn't know my text. Just love it when the Lord puts it all together. This is what we do. We we have given the word and the truth of the word and the Holy Spirit who uses the word effectively. An open invitation into our hearts and lives. Come on in. Come on in.

And don't miss this. Their response, though, is in the midst of intense pressure. They had joy in the midst of intense pressure. And that joy, the way it's constructed, is by means of or as a result of the Holy Spirit.

It isn't something they decided to do. I'm going to be joyful today. I'm going to be joyful.

I'm going to get my coffee cup with a smiley face on it and I'm going to smile at everybody today. Isn't it? It's the Holy Spirit producing the fruit that he can produce in your life, which is settled peace and joy. So did you notice the reception of the word produces joy? So they welcome the word and evidently they welcome the pressure.

They welcome the pressure. One of my commentaries mentioned the first century letter from Diognetus as he's describing in the first century the Christians. He isn't one of them, but he's describing them. I did a little digging and found a copy of the full letter. It's rather lengthy. I've edited down to a couple of paragraphs in light of this study.

And let me let me read it to you. And as I read a couple of paragraphs, ask the question, is this describing me? Is this describing us? He writes, and I quote, Christians are not distinguished from other men by country, language or custom. They don't inhabit cities of their own or use a particular way of speaking or lead a life marked out by any curiosity. Yet they display to us their wonderful and admittedly striking way of life. They live, but they do so as those who are passing through as citizens. They participate with others, yet they endure everything as if they are foreigners. They marry like everyone else and they have children.

Notice how this struck him. But they do not destroy their offspring. This is in a day when abortion was legal and rampant and infanticide after they'd been born. They didn't want them. They do not destroy their offspring. They share a common table, but not a common bed. They love all men, but they're condemned by all men.

They lack everything, but overflow in everything. They are reviled, they're insulted and repay it with respect. They do good, but are punished as evil doers. And when punished, they rejoice. As if they were raised from the dead.

End quote. How's the pressure out there? How's the pressure? It's intense and never lets up. It never gives us a break. We can't catch a break, but we have the Word and the Holy Spirit using the Word in our lives. And through us, it produces settled peace and security and joy. That's remarkable.

Now look at what happens. Verse seven, so that, in other words, here's the practical application of the Word and the work of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia. That's northern Greece. It's up north. And in Achaia, all the way down to the southern province where they drink sweet tea like we do. Right? He said to them, you are becoming an example effectively then to the entire nation, from the north to the south.

You're an example. The word he uses is tupos. We transliterate that and we get our word type. That word originally referred to a mark left by the blow of a hammer or perhaps a dye into which precious metals were poured.

And it would come out with an impression on the face of that coin. So what Paul is saying to the Thessalonians here is, and remember, he doesn't say this to any other New Testament church. He says you became a type, a tupos, an example. He's effectively saying you are making an impression on all the believers who hear about you. They were given then, as Paul gives them here, is a pattern worth following, an impression worth being marked by. Simple people, yet profoundly influential beyond what they would have known.

Well, Palmer, an author and a former pastor who lives in California, wrote about his nearby high school, Milpitas High School. He talked about their orchestra. He said for these kids, the orchestra, you know, it doesn't sound all that great, unlike what we were able to hear today, right? He said, but they work hard, but every year they perform Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Now, for you musicians, that's just not the easiest.

That's not like the birthday party you learn when you started learning piano or chopsticks. The Ninth Symphony. He said, I'm convinced their performance would probably make old Ludwig roll over in his grave.

And you might ask, why bother? Why inflict on the audience and on these kids the burden of trying to render what Beethoven had in mind? Even, he writes, great symphonies cannot attain to that perfection. I've come to understand the answer is this. The Milpitas High School Orchestra will give some people in the audience their only encounter with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Far from perfection, it is nevertheless the only way this audience will ever hear Beethoven's message. Isn't that great? I think the Thessalonians would probably be surprised 20 centuries later to find out we've been discussing them. Hey, here's an example. They would have probably said, we are an example. Oh, man, not us. Don't study us. And yet we are. We're far from perfect.

No Christian, no church ever gets it right perfectly. But God effectively reminds us he has chosen to use us to allow those in our audience out there to have perhaps the only opportunity they will ever have to hear his message. Here's how we behave. We mimic faithful role models. We model joyful responses to the word and to the pressure. Thirdly, Paul writes that we motivate spiritual reformation.

In fact, I think he plays off this musical idea here. Look at verse 8. He writes, for the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth. So that we don't even have any need to say anything about it.

I mean, it is just spreading. He uses this word to sound forth. It could be a reference to sounding a trumpet, to playing music on a trumpet. It's the sound, the idea here is the sound of a trumpeter who plays and it just kind of echoes. You know, I get to hear this magnificent orchestra and choir three times on a Sunday morning. I sit over here by the woodwinds, hide over back in there until it's time. And I can hear this morning Richard on the piccolo trumpet hitting those high notes. And it sounds like we're going to coronate some king. It just sounds so majestic as he plays and it just kind of echoes around. That's the idea here. The message of the Thessalonians is echoing out like a trumpeter. Obviously word of mouth, writing of letters, testimonies, business, contracts and deals, salesman, tradesman, whatever, it's spreading. And it's especially inspiring and encouraging to the believers so much so that Paul says, hey, you need to know about them and I really don't need to say much, but you need to know about them.

They're an example. I want their testimony to impress you, to mark you, to stamp your thinking and your own lifestyle. The message is echoing out and as Diognetus implies, these early believers, it was no doubt motivating the believers to press on and it was mystifying the unbelievers to want to know what this was all about.

Well, we are going to pause right here for now because we're just about out of time. You're listening to Wisdom for the Heart. And the lesson you just heard was part one of Stephen Davies' message entitled How We Behave.

This is Wisdom for the Heart. I want to make you aware of a resource that we have available called Heart to Heart magazine. It's a monthly magazine filled with resources, articles that Stephen has written on various topics. And this month, during October, Stephen has written a series of articles related to the Christian's relationship to government and politics. Stephen is here in the studio with me today. Stephen, I'm holding a copy of the October issue of Heart to Heart magazine. And you've written this fascinating article entitled Has God Abandoned America?

Well, I get asked that an awful lot. And especially around this election season, it's certainly come up and with restrictions placed on churches. That's a good question. I think, though, that it's important that we understand the right perspective regarding God's relationship with our country. Does God just sort of run out of patience and say, well, I'm done with that country? Moral decline, by the way, and for those of you listening, we're going to give you an opportunity to call in and get this magazine for free. For now, at least let me respond that moral decline is not an evidence of God's abandonment, but it certainly is evidence that mankind has abandoned God. Those are two different things. Moral decline to me is proof that our world needs God.

Our culture needs God. And the invitation remains the same. Is it fresh today as it was 2,000 years ago? Absolutely. Is the invitation to America just as meaningful today as it was 200 years ago? Absolutely. I've often said that a lighthouse never gets rid of a storm.

It shines the light for wayward travelers to find their way home. Well, in our country, Scott, this is the greatest time ever to shine the light of the gospel, as God in His grace and mercy waits for those who will respond in faith and turn to His Son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you, Stephen. Friends, we do have a few issues of the October issue of Heart to Heart magazine still in our office. And as Stephen mentioned a moment ago, we would like to get this resource into your hands as our gift to you today.

Give us a call today at 866-48-BIBLE and ask for Heart to Heart magazine. Stephen also has another resource. It's a beautifully bound, hardback book entitled, I Pledge Allegiance, Politics for the Citizens of Heaven. This book is based on a sermon series that Stephen preached on this topic. And we've put that together into a book that makes a wonderful resource to help you as a Christian navigate the world of politics wisely. This resource is available at a discounted rate this month, and we'd love to give you more information about that as well. You'll also find it on our website, which is wisdomonline.org. Stephen will have the conclusion to today's lesson on tomorrow's broadcast. Please make plans right now to be with us then, right here on Wisdom for the Heart. .