Title: Message of the Church: Communicating the Gospel

Text: 1 Th 1:1-5

Date: 4-15-07.am

1 Th 1:1-5

1 Paul and 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 give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; 3 constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, 4 knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you; 5 for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

NASB

Introduction:

The ministry of the church is a partnership - every believer working together with each other and with God, exercising the gifts they have been given by the Spirit of God, to instruct and encourage others believers and reach out to the unsaved for Christ. That's the only way the ministry of the church can be accomplished. It’s not about the pastor, although you rightly expect the pastor to be able to communicate the Word of God effectively and accurately and to share his faith. It’s not about the deacons, although we elect men we trust and who we believe are seeking to follow the will of God. The ministry of the church is about every member working together to honor and glorify God. God has given to each of us a place to serve and that place is Bethel Baptist Church in Lincoln.. That doesn’t mean our ministry is confined to this location, but God has placed each of us here together to be a part of the local ministry here – not all of us have the same gifts, the same position, the same assignment but we work together for the building up of the those who meet here, for the spreading of the gospel in our community and our city and for ministering globally through prayer and giving and going.

God has given the church, both the universal church and the local church a message we want to talk about this morning, what it is and how it is communicated. The church engages in a lot of different kinds of ministries a lot of different kinds of activities, but the message is the same and every church must be faithful to that message.

I. The Message of the Church

Let’s look together at 1 Th 1 particularly verse 5. When we say the message of the church we are specifically referring to the gospel. That is the "good news" of Jesus Christ and the message of salvation found in Christ and Christ alone.

Paul said it this way in 1 Co 15:1-4

1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand,

3. . .Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, NASB

This in no way minimizes the rest of Scripture. Paul wrote Timothy, “All Scripture is God breathed, and all Scripture is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” 2 Ti 3:16-17 NASB

We are commanded to teach the whole counsel of God, all of God’s Word, that men and women might live right before God. But, before people can live right before God they must first become right with God. I can't really live like a Christian until I first become a Christian. If I try the process will sooner or later break down. When we refer to the gospel we are talking about becoming right with God.

A person might say I'm a good person, I don't drink and I don't cuss and I don't beat my wife, on and on whatever you might want to add to the I don’t list. I work hard and I give to charity and I even help out my elderly neighbor that lives next door. Why do I need to become right with God? We are all sinners.

The Bible explains the why in Genesis chapter 3, what Christians refer to as the “fall of man.” When Adam and Eve defied God and ate of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. By our standards they weren’t bad people. They hadn’t killed anyone, they didn’t steal anything, but they disobeyed God. God created man and woman in perfection. He gave them everything they could want or need. Every tree in the garden He gave them for food. They could eat from any tree except one. God gave them the ability to make choices by giving them a choice. He even spelled out the consequences of making the wrong choice. God told Adam in:

Ge 2:16-17

16 . . ., "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die." NASB

You are aware of the rest of the story the serpent tempted Eve who took the fruit and shared it with Adam and the world was opened to sin and it’s destruction.

Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned--

Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

We can’t really explain the mechanism of how that happens, but because of what we know as “original sin,” the sin of Adam and Eve, everyone born into this world has a corrupt sinful nature.

Salvation is not a matter of being a good person, or a bad person, or doing good things as opposed to bad things. Salvation is a matter dealing with sin. Rom 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. Original sin brought not only physical death into the world but spiritual death as well. Everyone born into this world faces physical death, unless the Lord returns. The cost of sin to an individual is eternal separation from God.

So how do I deal with sin. The Bible says in Heb 9:22 without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Because I myself am a sinner, that means I can't deal with the problem on my own. Because all men are just like me they can't deal with the problem. There is only one solution and that is for God Himself to remedy the situation, and that's just what He did through Jesus Christ - Rom 6:23 . . . but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus Christ is the one who justifies or vindicates us so that we have new life and a new relationship with God (rom 3:26, 4:5. 8:33).

The message is that salvation is not earned by good works and hoping that the good will somehow out weight or overcome the bad. That's the good news. It's not a complicated message, it is a very simple message. Christ Jesus died in our place on the cross at Calvary to atone for our sin and make us right with God through faith. But the message must be communicated. Which brings us to what Paul's says about how the message is communicated.

I. The Gospel is communicated Verbally.

This message of good news Paul's says didn't come in word only, but it was communicated to them verbally i.e. spoken. God has given us language to communicate. The Bible says that in the fullness of time God sent forth His son. One of the things that made the time right was that through the conquests of Alexander the Great the Greek language was spoken virtually all over the world. It is one of the things that aided the apostle Paul in his spreading of the gospel. All that we do as a church, preaching, teaching and witnessing presupposes the use of the spoken word to communicate the gospel. We may be living the finest Christian life possible, but without verbally communication others would never know the gospel.

Ro 10:14-15

14 How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

NASB The word translated preacher means “to herald” or “to proclaim” it’s not the word for the office of pastor or preacher. The TEV reads, how can they hear if the message is not proclaimed? Proclaiming the message applies to the pastor, but isn’t limited to the pastor.

When Jesus says let your light shine before men, He doesn't expect you to make them guess where the light comes from. Lifestyle evangelism is not just a portrayal, it is also a proclamation.

Listen to what Luke writes in Acts 17 about Paul's communicating the gospel in Thessalonica.

Acts 17:1-4

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ." And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.

Look at the elements of Paul's verbal communication of the gospel:

         1. "...he went to them..." The Great Commission says “Go” and make disciples. That’s what the church has to do. There are lots of ways we can do that. Raceway ministry that I’m involved with in KC is one way, the Equestrian ministry that Kaleidoscope is about this year is another way. Mission trips like we did to Ark last year is another way. There are lots of ways we can be involved in going to the world we just have to plug into them. That can include sharing with neighbors and co-workers friends inviting them to church with you.

         2. "...reasoned with them from the Scriptures..." This is what Paul wrote about his ministry in Corinth

1 Co 2:1-5

1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. NASB

Paul had a story about what happened in his life, but his story was about God’s story why things happened and how they had changed him. Paul’s story and your story are about what God did in your life through Christ.

         3. "...explained..." As he read the Scriptures, he explained how they referred to Jesus.

         4. "...giving evidence..." This word means "to lay before someone." Paul laid the Scriptures out in an orderly manner and showed them how Jesus brought them into harmony.

         5. "...this Jesus..." He made sure his message was about Jesus. He came to Thessalonica to build a church, but he didn't preach church, he didn't preach Paul, he preached Jesus.

He reasoned, he explained, he gave evidence, he preached Jesus - and the result was that some of the people in Thessalonica became believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. But Paul couldn't have done what he did in Thessalonica without verbalizing the gospel. In Rom. 10:14 he says, "How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" The word translated preacher in this passage does not refer to the "official" position we refer to as preacher, but to anyone who heralds or speaks the gospel. IE. how can they believe unless someone tells them.

The gospel must be communicated, that's the imperative of Matt 28 to every believer, and in order to make disciples it must be done verbally. If Jesus has done something in your life, that something is worth sharing with others and I'm convinced that all of us who have been saved can tell others about it. You may not think you can do it, but you can.

You might say, but you don't know how I am, I can't talk to people about that, or I just get so nervous. But you see it doesn't depend on you because the word is not communicated in word only.

III. The Gospel is communicated with Power

I want you as a church to be witnesses, to share with others the good news of Jesus Christ. I want you to be comfortable sharing your faith with other people understanding we’re not in a contest where the person with the most notches on their Bible wins, and t what people do with what you share is not your responsibility, it’s Gods. So if you share your faith and someone and they don’t respond they don’t believe you don’t have to be upset or guilty or discouraged and walk away saying that was a flop I’m never going to do that again. What happens after you share you faith is God’s work, you just have to be willing to share. But when you share you share in the power of God. Look at what Paul says about his ministry in Thessalonica in 1 Th 1:5 for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; NASB

The verbal communication of the gospel in Thessalonica was accompanied by power ("dunamis" in Greek). It means that the verbal proclamation of the gospel was dynamic. As Paul proclaimed the gospel, it was empowered by the Holy Spirit so that Paul was aware of God's involvement in the message, its presentation and the response. It doesn’t mean Paul was a dynamic speaker or preacher, but he was a powerful preacher because of the power of God.

R. L. Lightfoot said that without this inward power, the proclamation of the gospel is hollow and heartless rhetoric. This means when we preach, teach, sing or witness, we have get the message itself right, but without the power of the Holy Spirit the message is has no meaning to those who hear. It’s foolishness Paul said.

Sometimes we believe communicating the gospel is nothing more than the right words and the right delivery. The right words are essential and good delivery is important in effective communication. But, whether we're preaching the gospel, teaching the gospel, singing the gospel, or witnessing one on one, there's always more to it than organization and delivery. There must be that inward dynamic in which God manifests His presence in the gospel message and in it’s presentation. That power comes from the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, as well as in the message.

The Holy Spirit works in two ways when the gospel is communicated. One He works within us as we speak, using us as a as an instrument and providing Divine involvement in the process. Second and just as important the Holy Spirit working in the life of the listener or listeners, giving them a sense of Divine reality.

The gospel must be communicated verbally, but words alone are not enough, regardless of how well-chosen they are or how wonderful our delivery is. It must be done "in power and in the Holy Spirit." Not everyone we preach to or sing to or witness to will accept and believe, they didn’t for Jesus, they didn’t for Paul and they won’t for us. But, our responsibility is not their acceptance. Our responsibility is witnessing in obedience to God and be confident that God is responsible for the outcome.

IV. The Gospel is communicated with confidence

When Paul, Silas and Timothy brought the gospel to Thessalonica they did so as Paul says, "in much assurance." This means that had complete confidence in the truth and effectiveness of their message. They already believed with all their hearts what they were asking the people in Thessalonica to believe.

If God is to use us to bring others to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus, we must first be convinced ourselves. As someone said, you don't have to be the greatest salesman in the world, but you do have to believe in the product." You must yourself believe that it is true, that it is effective, and that it is sufficient.

Paul says in Rom. 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." Paul never met a man or woman whose life he didn't believe could be transformed by the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He learned that the gospel was enough, it didn't need to be add to, it didn't need anything taken away, it didn't need to be camouflaged or sugar-coated. Under the power of God it was enough.

V. The Gospel is to be communicated honestly and lovingly

Paul writes, "you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake." First it must be communicated honestly.

When Paul and Silas and Timothy came to Thessalonica, the people not only heard the gospel, they saw it at work in their lives. They were living examples of what believing in Jesus could accomplish in human life. They not only believed the gospel, they lived it.

We must live what we profess to believe and if we don’t live it we need to examine ourselves and determine why we are not living what we claim to believe. We lose credibility and others will not listen to our message if we profess one thing and practice another.

The other thing that is important is we need to have the right attitude in our witness. This is what Paul refers to with the words "for your sake." This describes an attitude which is so critical in Christian work - the loving attitude of total unselfishness. Where does it come from? It comes from denying ourselves and following Jesus. Paul wrote the Philippian church in Ph 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; NASB

Paul, Silas and Timothy went to Thessalonica for the sake of the Thessalonian people, not for their own sakes. Selfishness binds us and limits us in our service, but unselfishness sets us free to take the gospel anywhere at any time to anyone, as the Lord puts people on our hearts and gives us opportunity to witness. Unselfishness sets us free to be faithful to our calling as Christians and our profession of faith, even when the cost is great, it allows us to be servants.

That's what the church is about. It's not a gathering of consumers, it's about a family of servants. The New Testament motivation for going and sharing isn't guilt, or self-exaltation, or self-gratification. It is about the Lord who called us and the people to whom we are sent. We share of ourselves and share the good news for their sake, not ours and we share because we love the Lord and want others to know Him like we do. Are you willing to become this kind of a Christian and proclaim this kind of a message? It begins at the cross where faith finds its resting place.