The Supernatural Nature of the Church
This is a transcript. It may contain small inaccuracies.
Last Lord's day, we began to look at verse 1, and we considered the senders being Paul the Apostle, a display of the grace of God in sovereign election towards undeserving sinners. We considered Silas, Silvanus, who is really an example where we see the display of the grace of God shown in his willful willingness to submit and to do the bidding of God's servant Paul to the glory of God, and we saw the grace of God in Timothy on display in his timidity and weakness. Having considered the senders, we want to begin to look at the recipients this evening. And Paul begins verse 1 with how he regards them, and what he writes in verse 1 really reminds us of the supernatural nature of the church.
Beloved, we are living in times where there is a very deficient view of what the church is. You'd agree with me, don't you? A deficient view of what the church is. And as we begin to look at this first verse, I want you to think about your own thoughts concerning the local church. As you sit here, as you consider this together, think about your own thoughts concerning the local church. I want you to think about how you think about the church, particularly this church, this church that you're a part of. What are your thoughts about the church? How do you regard the people of God? In what terms do you think about Christian people as they gather together, as they assemble together to carry out the will of God, to carry out the Great Commission?
How do you think about the church? And compare how you think about the church with how Paul thought about the church and how he describes the church here in verse 1. That's the standard. We don't come up with our own evaluation, right? Verse 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." And beloved, Paul's greetings were not wasteful. They were not wasteful. Oh, well, this is a classic traditional greeting back in the day. No, no, they were not wasteful. This is under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Every word is inspired, inerrant, infallible. This is God's Word.
I don't know if you ever sometimes just fly by the greeting, but let us not do that because there's meaning here. There's a depth of meaning here. How does Paul describe the church? Well, first of all, he describes the people of God here. He describes those who assembled in the local church. How does he describe them? He describes them, first of all, as a separated group of people. This is how he views the church, a separated group of people. You say, where do you get that from? It's right within that word, translated "church." The word translated "church," this word itself, ‘ekklesia,’ is the Greek word, emphasizes the electing choice of God when it comes to His people, when it comes to His saints. What is the church? It is a group of people who are chosen by God for salvation. A church is a group of people who have been literally called out by God, ‘ekklesia.’ This word, ‘ekklesia,’ is related to the word ‘ekkaleo.’ It's a compound word, ‘ek,’ out of, ‘kaleo’ is to call, therefore, it is “to call out of.” The church is made up of called out ones, elected ones.
Notice verse 4, how he describes them, "knowing, brothers beloved by God, your election” or His choice of you. His choice of you, your election. That's the church. People who have been chosen by God, called out by God. You say called out from what? Called out of what? Well, called out of the world, called out from the kingdom of darkness, called out of the realm of the unbelieving, called out unto faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, called out from to, to be set apart. They are a separated group. That is the ‘ekklesia’ of Christ. That is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are the called out ones. They are a separated group of people.
He reminds them of the true nature of salvation, that out of this international city, thousands upon thousands and thousands of people, there existed a group of people, an assembly of people, and in that large city, there existed an assembly of people who had been called out of the world and brought into the true spiritual union with God through Christ. I want you to think about the city we assemble in. I want you to think about the 353,000 people who live in the city, the largest city in York region, and then realize that gathered into local assemblies all over the city are people who do not belong to the same world system that the majority of the population belong to. But in these local assemblies, if they are indeed true churches made up of true believers, you have people who have been called out by God, elected by God, chosen by God for faith in His beloved Son. That means that the church is not simply or just a crowd. It is not just a gathering of bodies. It's not what the church is, oh, look at the crowd of people on Sunday morning. No, no. That means the goal is not just to see how many seats we can put in this room, how many chairs we can fill in. That means, in fact, if we've got a large crowd but few believers, and we refer to the large crowd as the church, and we don't think about true conversion, true salvation, true faith, then we have completely misunderstood what the church is.
If we take the common mindset about church growth movement that exists in our generation, what do you think is most rejoiced in or more rejoiced in? Do you think there's more joy over how many people showed up on Sunday or how many people are actually walking with Jesus in the midst of the crowd? What's the goal? What's the aim? Just to say we had 200 people or 300 people show up on a given Sunday, that's the goal? Because guess what, if that's the goal, if that's the aim, then let's do whatever it takes to have two or three or four or 500 people show up, and isn't that what basically has happened again and again? Let's do whatever it takes to have so many people show up, and then we'll rejoice in it and we'll call it the work of God, forgetting that there are 20,000 people who show up every time for a hockey game. They must be doing it better, right? If the goal is just how many people show up, where there are large crowds at all kinds of events, and beloved, the church is not a crowd. The church is not a crowd. The church is an assembly of the called out ones, the called out people who have been redeemed, joined to God. That's the church. And anything else, anything else is a mirage if we're calling it the church.
They were a separated group of people. But secondly, look how He thinks of them. He thinks of them as well, not only a separated group of people—He thinks of them as a strategically placed group of people. Because He notes that they are the church of the Thessalonians, right? They're the church of the Thessalonians, the assembly of God's people that are identified as existing in a particular city, in Thessaloniki. Saved out of the population of that city. Saved to exist at this particular time in that city to be a witness to that city and reverberate the gospel and their testimony throughout. There's the church that gathers in Rome, there's the church that gathers in Ephesus, there's the church that gathers in Philippi, the church here gathers in Thessaloniki. This is the people of God who are Thessalonians.
Beloved, do we understand, do we believe that we're not here by accident right now in this city, in this place, at this time, gathered together in this assembly, at this point of our lives? Do we realize there's a strategic purpose to where we're placed, where we are right now, that this is not by happenstance? We've been placed here by God for a purpose, for a reason that has to do with ministry. Do we think in those terms? Why are we here right now? What does God mean to do with us right now? He could have placed us anywhere, but He placed us right here, right here in this place, right now. It's a separated group of people—they're the church. It's a strategically placed group of people—they are the church of the Thessalonians. And thirdly, look how He regards the church, how He thinks of them: they are a supernatural group of people.
They are a supernatural group of people, and this is really the heart of the text, because He describes His church as being—look at the language—"in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
How is the church formed? The church is formed “in” God and Christ. This is the way you're separated out of the world—if you're brought into a spiritual union with God, with Christ. Wherever you find this title—excuse me—this little word translated in English "in" is the Greek word ‘en,’ with reference to Christians being in Christ, or in God, or in the Spirit.
Generally speaking, it refers to union with. This is a good way to put it. You can translate it "union with" every time you see it. In fact, you'll find it helpful to translate it that way here in our text. Let's do it in our text. Look at this: "The church of the Thessalonians —in union with— “God the Father, and —in union with — “the Lord Jesus Christ." A beautiful picture of what it means to be a Christian—to be a Christian and to be part of the church—to be in union with, in union with God, in union with Christ. Powerful ramifications.
He tells the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6, you're united, you’re joined to Christ, you're in union with Christ. How can you join yourself to a harlot? And you enter into that spiritual union by virtue of the indwelling Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit indwells those who have true saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll talk more about this in a moment, but notice this is not vague. The church is not made up of people who have some vague faith in God. These are people who are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, in union with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. There is this biblical view of God that has been revealed by God Himself. The church is formed in God and Christ. The church exists in God and Christ. And He describes them in this way, not just to tell them or remind them of how they were formed, but also to remind them how they were now living as a result of this. The church exists in union with God, in union with the Father, in union with the Son. We live our lives with Him as the source of our life, for He is—He is our life.
It's a union that involves the whole person—the entirety of the person: the mind, the affections, and the will. All of me. To be in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ means that my mind has believed and embraced the truth about the Father and about the Lord Jesus Christ. And it also means, as well, that my affections have been drawn out to love this God and to love His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it means to be in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ means that my will has been brought subject to God and to His Son, my Lord and my Master.
To be in union with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ is to have the totality of my being—my mind, my affections, my will, and it goes without saying, my body— to be brought captive, subject to Him, following Him, honoring Him, doing His bidding, and obeying His commands. That's what faith is. Genuine faith is the bond by which we come into this union. That's what faith is. Faith is the activity of the mind embracing the truth revealed, as well as of the affections being drawn out to the One revealed, and the will being brought subject to the Word of God who is revealed.
All three are part of coming into union with Christ. You can't have the first one. You can't have the mind embracing truth, but my affection drawn somewhere else—after something else, after other idols—and the will not being brought subject to the Word of God and being, you know, picky and choosy in terms of, I'll obey this but not that. No, no. It has to be mind, heart, and will. All three. All of me. Anything less than that is not biblical faith. Don't say you believe in Christ unless mind, affections, and will have been brought captive to Him. All of my life brought captive to Him. Anything less, anything less is a pseudo faith. It's a sham faith. It's something less than biblical faith. And will you notice that this union is with God the Father? Now, why does he use the term, the expression, "God the Father"? The concept of God as Father was hinted at in the Old Testament, but as far as its coming out into full revelation, it had to await the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work. It was our Lord Jesus who taught His disciples to pray, "Our Father Who art in heaven." This is a distinctly New Testament concept—that God is our Father.
First John 3:1, "See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we would be called children of God; and we are." All that is bound up in the Father concept of God is that which Paul says was distinctly made known to these people so that they were in union with mind, affection, and will—subject to and drawn out towards God as Father. And we all remember Galatians 4:6, "And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'" And it is the peculiar work of the Holy Spirit to unveil to the broken, penitent, believing soul that He can approach God in that filial freedom of a son to a Father.
Though He is holy, though He is just, though He is sovereign, though He is above me, transcendent, high, lifted up, blessed be God in Jesus Christ, I can come, draw near and call Him Abba, Father. Paul says that distinct position and privilege of this church in Thessaloniki is that they were in God the Father, in union with God the Father. They recognized Him as the One out of whom all good flowed and unto whom all should flow in praise, adoration, and thanksgiving.
Also in this description, this description of them as a supernatural group of people, there's this description of the true nature of Jesus also here. He's described as being one with the Father, and will you please notice with me, and the English really captures it as well, the translation, Paul uses one preposition to modify the statement. Notice how it is, God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, he uses the word in, "in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," not "in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ," but "in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," reminding us that the Son is essentially equal with the Father, one in essence in terms of nature, one God existing in three persons. And also as you walk through the chapter, he then refers to the Holy Spirit more than once. So what we have here is we have a Trinitarian view of God, and this Trinitarian view of God emerges right off the bat in this chapter. Look at verse 5 for example, "for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit with full assurance." Look at verse 6, "You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the Word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit." So we have God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and these people have been joined to God, to the Lord. They're in union with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And also in that description, the full redemptive nature and work of Jesus Christ is also described. There's so much here in this verse because He's described as the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider the name Jesus. Consider the name Jesus, Isous, Isous, Savior. He's truly human. He's the One who took to Himself a sinless humanity and lived on this earth, Jesus of Nazareth 2,000 years ago. Isous, Yahweh, saves, but not Yahweh above us, not Yahweh outside of us, but Yahweh here among us, one of us, bone of our bones, flesh of our flesh, yet sinless.
God of very God, Emmanuel, God with us, weeping, sighing, crying, bleeding, dying, standing among us, tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin. And Paul says to the Thessalonians, listen, you're in union with One who is Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. They had lovingly and firmly embraced the doctrine of the two natures in the one person, Jesus of Nazareth. Not Yahweh simply up there outside of us, above us, and beyond us, but standing among us in His true humanity.
He says, you are in union, you are in union with Jesus, that Jesus is the Lord, that Jesus who lived on this earth is the Christ, the Christ, ‘Christos,’ the anointed one, the Messiah, that Jesus is the promised Messiah. He is Jesus, but He is also the Christ, the Messiah. He's the promised One who would fulfill God's redemptive plan. And Paul tells the Thessalonians, you are in union with the Christ who binds old and new revelation together. Oh, dear Thessalonians, you are in union with Christ, the anointed One, the true prophet, priest, and king. But He is not only Jesus, God with us. He's not only Christ, the anointed, promised Messiah, but He is ‘Kyrios.’ He is the Lord, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Sovereign Ruler, King over all. He is the highly exalted One, given the name which is above every name. He is the I Am. And Paul says, you Thessalonians, do you know what your position is? Do you know? Do you know concerning your supernatural nature as a church? It's not only one of loving, receiving, embracing Emmanuel—God with us—Christ, the anointed Prophet, Priest, and King, but you are in union with the One who sits upon the throne, the sovereign, triumphant King, Lord of lords, and King of kings. Your minds have received that truth about Him. Your hearts have been drawn out to that kind of a Christ, and your wills have been brought subject, willingly from the heart, subject to Him—a supernatural group of people.
So their position is one of union with the Father and the Christ of Christian theology. Imagine with me, imagine what this would have meant sitting there in the assembly of God's people in Thessaloniki on the Lord's Day morning, and one of the elders stands up to read this letter that has come to them from the Apostle Paul, and it's addressed to the church of the Thessalonians. What is he going to say next? What is he going to say next? They're waiting eagerly. I mean, this is the one who had to leave, torn away from them, and now he writes them this letter to the church of the Thessalonians, and they're eager, sitting on the edge of their seat. What is he going to say next? How is he going to describe them? And he says, "In God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." What a position. What a privilege. A supernatural group of people. This is the ‘ekklesia.’ This is the church. People have been called out. People have been strategically placed. People who were formed by virtue of their union with God the Father through salvation and exist in union with God the Father and the Son. Not God in some vague sense, but God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ with the joy of the Holy Spirit.
This is the church. A separated people. A strategically placed people. A supernatural group of people. Also, we can say in verse 1, they are a specially cared-for group of people. Because what he does is he prays for them. What does he pray for them? How does he bless them? "Grace to you and peace." There's so much here, and I'm going to leave that probably for next week. But he ends the letter, by the way, the same way when he says in chapter 5, verse 28, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." And earlier in verse 23 of that chapter, he says, "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely." The God of peace. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.” God's grace. God's peace. Peace. What kind of peace? Peace with God and peace of God. The peace that surpasses all understanding. This is what the church is able to know and experience and live in. This is the ‘ekklesia.’ This is the called-out ones.
Now I want to move on to some of the specific implications of this at this point, beloved. First of all, there are several doctrinal implications. Doctrinal implications. And number one, number one of the several doctrinal implications: wherever there's a forsaking, wherever there is a forsaking of the revealed truth about God, you cease to have a true church. Mark it down. Wherever there's a forsaking of the revealed truth about God, you cease to have a church, a true church.
He says to the church of the Thessalonians, "In God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," and you Thessalonians never forget it. The minute you begin to cast off the Father as revealed to you in Scripture and your mind no longer embraces the truth revealed concerning Him, your affections no longer go out to Him, your will is no longer subject to Him—the minute that happens, the minute you cast off what the Scripture reveals about the Lord Jesus Christ so that your mind will not embrace it, your affections will not be drawn to it, your will will not be subject to it—you're no longer the church. You can have an empty building. You can have a full building. You can have a packed building. You're not the church. You're no longer the church. And beloved, if there's anything that I would want to cry from the housetops this evening, it's that truth that there's no church, no church where we forsake the doctrine of the Father and of the Son. That's the Word of God. That's not being narrow-minded. That's the Word of God standing in judgment over the church.
Second great doctrinal implication of this, and it is this: wherever God is rightly worshipped, wherever God is rightly worshipped and served, it will always, always, always, always, always, always, always, always, always be as Trinity in unity and unity in Trinity, always, always. John 4:24 says, the Father seeks men to worship Him, how? "In spirit and truth," right? What does it mean to worship God according to truth? It means to worship Him as He's revealed in Scripture.
So the Thessalonians sat there that morning, and they got this letter, and they were reminded that they are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and if the two are not one in the triunity of the Godhead along with the Holy Spirit, that's blasphemy, blasphemy. Imagine saying to Grace Chapel of Markham, "In God the Father and the archangel Michael." Absolute nonsense, absolutely ridiculous. So when Jehovah's Witnesses are trying to tell us that our Lord is nothing but the highest created being, sort of a chief angel, don't listen to their blasphemous words. It's just that—blasphemy. The church is a people in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and this was a people who worshiped God as God was revealed in Scripture. How? Father, Son, and Spirit—Trinity in unity, unity in Trinity—and wherever He's rightly worshiped and served, it will always be this way, always. First John 1:3, John says, "What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed, our fellowship is," — where? Where, John? Tell us. —"with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." You can't have the one without the other. And so 1 John 2:22–23, "This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also."
Third doctrinal implication: wherever a church is truly born, it's always, always, always the result of the work of God, always. It's God's doing, not man's doing. To be called at once at Thessaloniki—how did that happen? How did that church get formed, get born when He says, "To the church of the Thessalonians"? How did they come to be that church? Not because a few people got together and said, you know, we ought to have a church. No, no. The very word ‘ekklesia’ forbids such an interpretation; forbids it. The town Crier, as it were, came to the city of Thessaloniki. Oh, you mean Paul? No, no. He was just the instrument through which the true town Crier did His work. And he tells them about it later on. He says in verse 5, "For our gospel did not come to you in word only,” —but as it were, the true town Crier called you together, we read, —"but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full assurance." That's how they came together.
Have you heard the voice of the town Crier with the ears of the heart? Why are you here this evening? Some may be here because, well, it's a thing to do, to be here. Even Sunday morning or Sunday evening, it doesn't matter. Some may be here because your husband is here, your wife is here, your mom is here, your dad is here, your friends are here. Maybe because you've heard the voice of tradition, you grew up in that and you're here. Some of you are here because you've heard the call of conscience. The only ones who truly belong to the church are those who have heard the voice of God with the ears of the heart. You can say in the words of the hymn writer, "Vain world be gone from me to depart. The voice of God hath reached my heart." And the question is, has God reached your heart? Is that why you're here this evening? Because you heard God calling you out of darkness, out of sin, out of selfishness, and He brought you into a living relationship with His Son. And you're here this evening because you are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are the doctrinal implications. And I want to hurry to conclude with several practical implications for us. And first, what we have here is a word of instruction. A word of instruction under the heading "several practical implications." And the first one is this: one's views of God, one's views of God are the acid test of spiritual experience. They're the acid test of spiritual experience.
Beloved, the acid test of spiritual experience is not how you feel. But it's your evaluation and judgment regarding Jesus Christ and God the Father. Chapter and verse, here it is, 1 Corinthians 12:3. Paul says, "No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit." It's our confession of Christ that is a test of the validity of our experience.
1 John 4:1–2: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." Well, how are you going to test the spirits? Notice what he says: "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God." You test the spirits by what? A doctrinal standard. You evaluate the professed experience by objective truths about God, about Christ. Don't forget that. You don't start with the experience and then draw a conclusion as to spiritual truth. You evaluate the experience by the biblical standard. Paul writes to them and he says, you are a church in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And that which makes you a true church is that you confess God as Father, you confess your Savior and Redeemer as the Lord upon the throne, the long-promised Messiah, Christ Emmanuel, God with us. And all that theology is bound up in that confession.
Second practical implication, and this is now not only a word of instruction, but there's a word of exhortation—more than a word of instruction, a word of exhortation. And I hope that we listen very carefully. Here it is: Beloved, be content with nothing less. Be content with nothing less than being in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And we must accept and receive people into this local assembly on the basis of a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But mark it down, God accepts none into that true church except on the basis of a possession of God and of Christ. If that's you here tonight, don't be content that you're in this local church if you're not in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Has your mind been opened to see the glory of that God? Has your heart been drawn to love Him? Has your will been brought subject to Him? That's the word of exhortation this evening: be content with nothing less—nothing less than being in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, well, how do I get into Him? How do I get into Him? It's only as the Spirit of God is pleased to unite us to Him. Well, how does He do it? By enabling us to see our sin and repent of it, turn away from it, and to see the Savior and embrace Him. Not see Him with these eyes, but see Him with the eyes of the soul. And then the last implication is a word of encouragement. And I believe there are some who need this this evening.
The practical implication of instruction may not be, perhaps, right now relevant to you. The word of exhortation, maybe. But will you listen to the word of encouragement? Put yourself back in that assembly again in Thessaloniki, persecuted. And we're going to see that later on as we read on. They were just babes in Christ, didn't know too much, didn't have too much experience in their walk with the Lord, yet they had the fires of persecution burning. They were an afflicted church. Imagine sitting there and being told that you, part of that little, despised, afflicted group whom God, the great town Crier, had called out—you're told you are in God the Father. Think of it. God the Father. You're in union with God the Father, Creator, Sustainer of the universe. I am in union with Him. "To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father." We nobodies were called out. Babes in Christ, persecuted, rejected. We're in God. I imagine they broke into some hallelujahs before Paul got to grace and peace. Beloved, we too are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about this: infinite resources. Infinite resources. Ephesians 1:3, right? "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” Jesus. Infinite resources. The mighty God, the mighty Savior. Deliver and conquer.
Oh, what word of encouragement. What word of encouragement. All that I can ever need. Every problem that I can face. Every perplexing situation. Read Philippians 4:19 back into 1 Thessalonians 1:1: "My God will fulfill all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Oh, dear child of God, if you're in that true church, if you're in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, why are you living the way you're living if you're downcast? Why are you going around destitute, downcast, defeated? Why are you going around with, as it were, holes in your pocket and with shabby shoes—going around like a spiritual pauper? You are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Infinite resources. And God have mercy on us if we don't face collectively and individually the problems, the needs that we face in these days with a holy confidence. If we don't do that, God have mercy on us. Has God called us out and called us together as a church? Has He? Are you convinced of that? Are you convinced that we are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ? This is the Lord's doing. If we're convinced that this is the Lord's doing, then let's have the spirit of a David who can look at all the Goliaths. We've got a whole regiment of them as we look at the days ahead in our culture, in our world, in this broken world.
What are we going to do? Are we going to be like Saul and his crowd, stand in the corner and shake? Or are we going to say, who are these uncircumcised Philistines to defy the armies of the living God? We're in God the Father. Do we understand that? We're in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We're joined to One whose resources are limitless, whose panoply for the battle is sufficient. Do we limit Him with regards to time and location and ability as we saw this morning?
God grant that we shall, as an assembly of God's people, be filled with that kind of encouragement that ought to be ours when we realize who we are in Christ. "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." A separated group of people. A strategically placed group of people. A supernatural group of people. A specifically cared for group of people.
And then we've looked at the implications theologically. Only as we maintain the doctrine of God, God the Father, of God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, are we a true church. And wherever God is rightly worshipped, always He will be worshipped as Trinity in unity, unity in Trinity. And wherever there's such a people, it is God's work, God's doing. He is the great town Crier that has called out His people, as Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9, "So that you may proclaim the excellencies,” —not of your little puny men who made a decision, no, but— “of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." May God give us the language of the Bible. May God give us the language of the Bible. Let me say this, when we give our testimony, we don't tell what we did, we tell what He did. He calls us out of darkness into marvelous light.
And then the practical implications. A word of instruction. The test of spiritual experience is, what does it do with my understanding of God? Is it scriptural? Then the word of exhortation: be content with nothing less than being in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And then a word of encouragement. If we're in God and Christ, all that we could ever need is there. May we reach out—and I say this reverently—tap into that infinite supply by faith.
Let me ask you as I finish this evening, what about that description? What about that description? A separated group of people? A strategically placed group of people? A supernatural group of people? A specifically cared for group of people? What about that description would not be true of this church, Grace Chapel? What is there in that description that would not be true of this church? You know the answer to that. The only thing not true of this church is the fact that they were in Thessaloniki, and everything else equally applies to us 2,000 years later. It applies to us here in this city and every other church that has existed throughout the church age. Is it true to say that we are called out, a called out group of people? Is it true to say that not only we are called out, but we have been formed by virtue of union with Jesus Christ and the Father? Are we a supernatural group of people in that sense? And is it true to say that though they were placed in Thessaloniki, God has saved us right where we are? Or we may have been saved some other place in times past, but He's moved us together so that right now we are the church of the Markhamians? Or however you want to put it. You see, this is still true of us, but do we think of ourselves that way? And then I wonder, what will we do with our reputation? Back to last Sunday's message, right?
Sometimes it's difficult to hear what people find wrong with this church—what they object to in this church, what bothers them about this church. And what I don't get to express as much as I really would like to and want to is what I see in this fellowship that I know for certain only the living God could produce. And, beloved, permit me a few more minutes. I see a lot of that. I see a lot of that. Through the years that God has given me here, I've seen the Lord do things in you, through you, around you that could only be explained by the living God. And sometimes, if I am away and people ask about this church, I tell them about this church. I tell them what a loving church this is, what a giving church this is, and more than anything else, what a faithful church this is. And the ways that you have loved us as undershepherds in this church, the ways that you've expressed love for one another when there are times of crisis and bereavements and challenges, the way that this church has exhibited the love of Jesus Christ—soli Deo gloria. And that ought to encourage us, but not in a way that we rest on it. In a way, rather, that stirs us up to continue in it and excel still more. I mean, that's who we've been. But what are we going to be by the grace of God moving forward?
Do we imagine we can live off of what we've been by the grace of God? Beloved, we can't. We can't live off of what we've been. Obedience is for today. Faith is for today. Walking with Christ is for today and tomorrow and the day after. You can't live off of what you were. I can't live off of what I was. And so what we have to ask is, is our reputation still up to date? We are known for these things, but are these things still true of us? Do we have a name that is different from the reality? Do we have a name that we're alive, but in fact, there are things that are dying? And what do you do if you have a name that no longer reflects where you are or who you are? Here's what you do. You brokenheartedly repent. You brokenheartedly repent. And you ask the Lord to make it as fresh today as it was yesterday. And you do that every single day you walk with Jesus.
May I ask you on a personal level, what is dying in your life right now? What is dying in your life right now? Where have you abandoned the principles that you were once known for? I'm talking to individuals now. I'm talking about your own walk with God. Beloved, we are just a corporate gathering. Though we are joined together by virtue of our union with the Lord, we are the corporate gathering of individual believers. And I'm compelled, beloved, to challenge us and say that we can't live off of what we've been. Praise God for what we've been, but we can't live off of that. In fact, what we've been is not perfected. What we've been has not been everything we could have been, should have been, want to be in Christ. So we can't live off of that. What is the Lord going to do here now? What is He going to do in the future? What are we ready to walk in?
But we also need to be protected and put on the full armor of God and be vigilant, watchful, and prayerful, because if you think that the enemy of our souls does not battle against a church that focuses on truth, we're gravely mistaken.
I read and understand it sometimes—why it is that, and I'm not talking now about anything specific, just in general—why is it that we can read the New Testament and understand and process that this was happening then, but we don't make the same connections now? You say, what do you mean? I mean this. Were there attacks on the truth then? What makes us think that there won't be attacks on the truth now? The churches had to battle through issues then. What makes us think we won't have to battle through issues now? Beloved, it hasn't changed. The ministry is the ministry, and the Word of God is the Word of God, and the salvation of souls is the salvation of souls, and the enemy of our souls, he is the devil, he has never changed and he never will until he's destroyed in hell. Are we ready, if need be, to persevere through much opposition? Be encouraged. The Lord has done good work in you, in us, but be challenged. That good work is to continue today and into the future. "To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you, and peace."
Let's pray.
Beloved, we are living in times where there is a very deficient view of what the church is. You'd agree with me, don't you? A deficient view of what the church is. And as we begin to look at this first verse, I want you to think about your own thoughts concerning the local church. As you sit here, as you consider this together, think about your own thoughts concerning the local church. I want you to think about how you think about the church, particularly this church, this church that you're a part of. What are your thoughts about the church? How do you regard the people of God? In what terms do you think about Christian people as they gather together, as they assemble together to carry out the will of God, to carry out the Great Commission?
How do you think about the church? And compare how you think about the church with how Paul thought about the church and how he describes the church here in verse 1. That's the standard. We don't come up with our own evaluation, right? Verse 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." And beloved, Paul's greetings were not wasteful. They were not wasteful. Oh, well, this is a classic traditional greeting back in the day. No, no, they were not wasteful. This is under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Every word is inspired, inerrant, infallible. This is God's Word.
I don't know if you ever sometimes just fly by the greeting, but let us not do that because there's meaning here. There's a depth of meaning here. How does Paul describe the church? Well, first of all, he describes the people of God here. He describes those who assembled in the local church. How does he describe them? He describes them, first of all, as a separated group of people. This is how he views the church, a separated group of people. You say, where do you get that from? It's right within that word, translated "church." The word translated "church," this word itself, ‘ekklesia,’ is the Greek word, emphasizes the electing choice of God when it comes to His people, when it comes to His saints. What is the church? It is a group of people who are chosen by God for salvation. A church is a group of people who have been literally called out by God, ‘ekklesia.’ This word, ‘ekklesia,’ is related to the word ‘ekkaleo.’ It's a compound word, ‘ek,’ out of, ‘kaleo’ is to call, therefore, it is “to call out of.” The church is made up of called out ones, elected ones.
Notice verse 4, how he describes them, "knowing, brothers beloved by God, your election” or His choice of you. His choice of you, your election. That's the church. People who have been chosen by God, called out by God. You say called out from what? Called out of what? Well, called out of the world, called out from the kingdom of darkness, called out of the realm of the unbelieving, called out unto faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, called out from to, to be set apart. They are a separated group. That is the ‘ekklesia’ of Christ. That is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are the called out ones. They are a separated group of people.
He reminds them of the true nature of salvation, that out of this international city, thousands upon thousands and thousands of people, there existed a group of people, an assembly of people, and in that large city, there existed an assembly of people who had been called out of the world and brought into the true spiritual union with God through Christ. I want you to think about the city we assemble in. I want you to think about the 353,000 people who live in the city, the largest city in York region, and then realize that gathered into local assemblies all over the city are people who do not belong to the same world system that the majority of the population belong to. But in these local assemblies, if they are indeed true churches made up of true believers, you have people who have been called out by God, elected by God, chosen by God for faith in His beloved Son. That means that the church is not simply or just a crowd. It is not just a gathering of bodies. It's not what the church is, oh, look at the crowd of people on Sunday morning. No, no. That means the goal is not just to see how many seats we can put in this room, how many chairs we can fill in. That means, in fact, if we've got a large crowd but few believers, and we refer to the large crowd as the church, and we don't think about true conversion, true salvation, true faith, then we have completely misunderstood what the church is.
If we take the common mindset about church growth movement that exists in our generation, what do you think is most rejoiced in or more rejoiced in? Do you think there's more joy over how many people showed up on Sunday or how many people are actually walking with Jesus in the midst of the crowd? What's the goal? What's the aim? Just to say we had 200 people or 300 people show up on a given Sunday, that's the goal? Because guess what, if that's the goal, if that's the aim, then let's do whatever it takes to have two or three or four or 500 people show up, and isn't that what basically has happened again and again? Let's do whatever it takes to have so many people show up, and then we'll rejoice in it and we'll call it the work of God, forgetting that there are 20,000 people who show up every time for a hockey game. They must be doing it better, right? If the goal is just how many people show up, where there are large crowds at all kinds of events, and beloved, the church is not a crowd. The church is not a crowd. The church is an assembly of the called out ones, the called out people who have been redeemed, joined to God. That's the church. And anything else, anything else is a mirage if we're calling it the church.
They were a separated group of people. But secondly, look how He thinks of them. He thinks of them as well, not only a separated group of people—He thinks of them as a strategically placed group of people. Because He notes that they are the church of the Thessalonians, right? They're the church of the Thessalonians, the assembly of God's people that are identified as existing in a particular city, in Thessaloniki. Saved out of the population of that city. Saved to exist at this particular time in that city to be a witness to that city and reverberate the gospel and their testimony throughout. There's the church that gathers in Rome, there's the church that gathers in Ephesus, there's the church that gathers in Philippi, the church here gathers in Thessaloniki. This is the people of God who are Thessalonians.
Beloved, do we understand, do we believe that we're not here by accident right now in this city, in this place, at this time, gathered together in this assembly, at this point of our lives? Do we realize there's a strategic purpose to where we're placed, where we are right now, that this is not by happenstance? We've been placed here by God for a purpose, for a reason that has to do with ministry. Do we think in those terms? Why are we here right now? What does God mean to do with us right now? He could have placed us anywhere, but He placed us right here, right here in this place, right now. It's a separated group of people—they're the church. It's a strategically placed group of people—they are the church of the Thessalonians. And thirdly, look how He regards the church, how He thinks of them: they are a supernatural group of people.
They are a supernatural group of people, and this is really the heart of the text, because He describes His church as being—look at the language—"in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
How is the church formed? The church is formed “in” God and Christ. This is the way you're separated out of the world—if you're brought into a spiritual union with God, with Christ. Wherever you find this title—excuse me—this little word translated in English "in" is the Greek word ‘en,’ with reference to Christians being in Christ, or in God, or in the Spirit.
Generally speaking, it refers to union with. This is a good way to put it. You can translate it "union with" every time you see it. In fact, you'll find it helpful to translate it that way here in our text. Let's do it in our text. Look at this: "The church of the Thessalonians —in union with— “God the Father, and —in union with — “the Lord Jesus Christ." A beautiful picture of what it means to be a Christian—to be a Christian and to be part of the church—to be in union with, in union with God, in union with Christ. Powerful ramifications.
He tells the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6, you're united, you’re joined to Christ, you're in union with Christ. How can you join yourself to a harlot? And you enter into that spiritual union by virtue of the indwelling Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit indwells those who have true saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll talk more about this in a moment, but notice this is not vague. The church is not made up of people who have some vague faith in God. These are people who are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, in union with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. There is this biblical view of God that has been revealed by God Himself. The church is formed in God and Christ. The church exists in God and Christ. And He describes them in this way, not just to tell them or remind them of how they were formed, but also to remind them how they were now living as a result of this. The church exists in union with God, in union with the Father, in union with the Son. We live our lives with Him as the source of our life, for He is—He is our life.
It's a union that involves the whole person—the entirety of the person: the mind, the affections, and the will. All of me. To be in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ means that my mind has believed and embraced the truth about the Father and about the Lord Jesus Christ. And it also means, as well, that my affections have been drawn out to love this God and to love His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it means to be in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ means that my will has been brought subject to God and to His Son, my Lord and my Master.
To be in union with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ is to have the totality of my being—my mind, my affections, my will, and it goes without saying, my body— to be brought captive, subject to Him, following Him, honoring Him, doing His bidding, and obeying His commands. That's what faith is. Genuine faith is the bond by which we come into this union. That's what faith is. Faith is the activity of the mind embracing the truth revealed, as well as of the affections being drawn out to the One revealed, and the will being brought subject to the Word of God who is revealed.
All three are part of coming into union with Christ. You can't have the first one. You can't have the mind embracing truth, but my affection drawn somewhere else—after something else, after other idols—and the will not being brought subject to the Word of God and being, you know, picky and choosy in terms of, I'll obey this but not that. No, no. It has to be mind, heart, and will. All three. All of me. Anything less than that is not biblical faith. Don't say you believe in Christ unless mind, affections, and will have been brought captive to Him. All of my life brought captive to Him. Anything less, anything less is a pseudo faith. It's a sham faith. It's something less than biblical faith. And will you notice that this union is with God the Father? Now, why does he use the term, the expression, "God the Father"? The concept of God as Father was hinted at in the Old Testament, but as far as its coming out into full revelation, it had to await the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work. It was our Lord Jesus who taught His disciples to pray, "Our Father Who art in heaven." This is a distinctly New Testament concept—that God is our Father.
First John 3:1, "See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we would be called children of God; and we are." All that is bound up in the Father concept of God is that which Paul says was distinctly made known to these people so that they were in union with mind, affection, and will—subject to and drawn out towards God as Father. And we all remember Galatians 4:6, "And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'" And it is the peculiar work of the Holy Spirit to unveil to the broken, penitent, believing soul that He can approach God in that filial freedom of a son to a Father.
Though He is holy, though He is just, though He is sovereign, though He is above me, transcendent, high, lifted up, blessed be God in Jesus Christ, I can come, draw near and call Him Abba, Father. Paul says that distinct position and privilege of this church in Thessaloniki is that they were in God the Father, in union with God the Father. They recognized Him as the One out of whom all good flowed and unto whom all should flow in praise, adoration, and thanksgiving.
Also in this description, this description of them as a supernatural group of people, there's this description of the true nature of Jesus also here. He's described as being one with the Father, and will you please notice with me, and the English really captures it as well, the translation, Paul uses one preposition to modify the statement. Notice how it is, God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, he uses the word in, "in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," not "in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ," but "in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," reminding us that the Son is essentially equal with the Father, one in essence in terms of nature, one God existing in three persons. And also as you walk through the chapter, he then refers to the Holy Spirit more than once. So what we have here is we have a Trinitarian view of God, and this Trinitarian view of God emerges right off the bat in this chapter. Look at verse 5 for example, "for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit with full assurance." Look at verse 6, "You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the Word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit." So we have God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and these people have been joined to God, to the Lord. They're in union with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And also in that description, the full redemptive nature and work of Jesus Christ is also described. There's so much here in this verse because He's described as the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider the name Jesus. Consider the name Jesus, Isous, Isous, Savior. He's truly human. He's the One who took to Himself a sinless humanity and lived on this earth, Jesus of Nazareth 2,000 years ago. Isous, Yahweh, saves, but not Yahweh above us, not Yahweh outside of us, but Yahweh here among us, one of us, bone of our bones, flesh of our flesh, yet sinless.
God of very God, Emmanuel, God with us, weeping, sighing, crying, bleeding, dying, standing among us, tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin. And Paul says to the Thessalonians, listen, you're in union with One who is Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. They had lovingly and firmly embraced the doctrine of the two natures in the one person, Jesus of Nazareth. Not Yahweh simply up there outside of us, above us, and beyond us, but standing among us in His true humanity.
He says, you are in union, you are in union with Jesus, that Jesus is the Lord, that Jesus who lived on this earth is the Christ, the Christ, ‘Christos,’ the anointed one, the Messiah, that Jesus is the promised Messiah. He is Jesus, but He is also the Christ, the Messiah. He's the promised One who would fulfill God's redemptive plan. And Paul tells the Thessalonians, you are in union with the Christ who binds old and new revelation together. Oh, dear Thessalonians, you are in union with Christ, the anointed One, the true prophet, priest, and king. But He is not only Jesus, God with us. He's not only Christ, the anointed, promised Messiah, but He is ‘Kyrios.’ He is the Lord, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Sovereign Ruler, King over all. He is the highly exalted One, given the name which is above every name. He is the I Am. And Paul says, you Thessalonians, do you know what your position is? Do you know? Do you know concerning your supernatural nature as a church? It's not only one of loving, receiving, embracing Emmanuel—God with us—Christ, the anointed Prophet, Priest, and King, but you are in union with the One who sits upon the throne, the sovereign, triumphant King, Lord of lords, and King of kings. Your minds have received that truth about Him. Your hearts have been drawn out to that kind of a Christ, and your wills have been brought subject, willingly from the heart, subject to Him—a supernatural group of people.
So their position is one of union with the Father and the Christ of Christian theology. Imagine with me, imagine what this would have meant sitting there in the assembly of God's people in Thessaloniki on the Lord's Day morning, and one of the elders stands up to read this letter that has come to them from the Apostle Paul, and it's addressed to the church of the Thessalonians. What is he going to say next? What is he going to say next? They're waiting eagerly. I mean, this is the one who had to leave, torn away from them, and now he writes them this letter to the church of the Thessalonians, and they're eager, sitting on the edge of their seat. What is he going to say next? How is he going to describe them? And he says, "In God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." What a position. What a privilege. A supernatural group of people. This is the ‘ekklesia.’ This is the church. People have been called out. People have been strategically placed. People who were formed by virtue of their union with God the Father through salvation and exist in union with God the Father and the Son. Not God in some vague sense, but God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ with the joy of the Holy Spirit.
This is the church. A separated people. A strategically placed people. A supernatural group of people. Also, we can say in verse 1, they are a specially cared-for group of people. Because what he does is he prays for them. What does he pray for them? How does he bless them? "Grace to you and peace." There's so much here, and I'm going to leave that probably for next week. But he ends the letter, by the way, the same way when he says in chapter 5, verse 28, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." And earlier in verse 23 of that chapter, he says, "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely." The God of peace. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.” God's grace. God's peace. Peace. What kind of peace? Peace with God and peace of God. The peace that surpasses all understanding. This is what the church is able to know and experience and live in. This is the ‘ekklesia.’ This is the called-out ones.
Now I want to move on to some of the specific implications of this at this point, beloved. First of all, there are several doctrinal implications. Doctrinal implications. And number one, number one of the several doctrinal implications: wherever there's a forsaking, wherever there is a forsaking of the revealed truth about God, you cease to have a true church. Mark it down. Wherever there's a forsaking of the revealed truth about God, you cease to have a church, a true church.
He says to the church of the Thessalonians, "In God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," and you Thessalonians never forget it. The minute you begin to cast off the Father as revealed to you in Scripture and your mind no longer embraces the truth revealed concerning Him, your affections no longer go out to Him, your will is no longer subject to Him—the minute that happens, the minute you cast off what the Scripture reveals about the Lord Jesus Christ so that your mind will not embrace it, your affections will not be drawn to it, your will will not be subject to it—you're no longer the church. You can have an empty building. You can have a full building. You can have a packed building. You're not the church. You're no longer the church. And beloved, if there's anything that I would want to cry from the housetops this evening, it's that truth that there's no church, no church where we forsake the doctrine of the Father and of the Son. That's the Word of God. That's not being narrow-minded. That's the Word of God standing in judgment over the church.
Second great doctrinal implication of this, and it is this: wherever God is rightly worshipped, wherever God is rightly worshipped and served, it will always, always, always, always, always, always, always, always, always be as Trinity in unity and unity in Trinity, always, always. John 4:24 says, the Father seeks men to worship Him, how? "In spirit and truth," right? What does it mean to worship God according to truth? It means to worship Him as He's revealed in Scripture.
So the Thessalonians sat there that morning, and they got this letter, and they were reminded that they are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and if the two are not one in the triunity of the Godhead along with the Holy Spirit, that's blasphemy, blasphemy. Imagine saying to Grace Chapel of Markham, "In God the Father and the archangel Michael." Absolute nonsense, absolutely ridiculous. So when Jehovah's Witnesses are trying to tell us that our Lord is nothing but the highest created being, sort of a chief angel, don't listen to their blasphemous words. It's just that—blasphemy. The church is a people in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and this was a people who worshiped God as God was revealed in Scripture. How? Father, Son, and Spirit—Trinity in unity, unity in Trinity—and wherever He's rightly worshiped and served, it will always be this way, always. First John 1:3, John says, "What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed, our fellowship is," — where? Where, John? Tell us. —"with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." You can't have the one without the other. And so 1 John 2:22–23, "This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also."
Third doctrinal implication: wherever a church is truly born, it's always, always, always the result of the work of God, always. It's God's doing, not man's doing. To be called at once at Thessaloniki—how did that happen? How did that church get formed, get born when He says, "To the church of the Thessalonians"? How did they come to be that church? Not because a few people got together and said, you know, we ought to have a church. No, no. The very word ‘ekklesia’ forbids such an interpretation; forbids it. The town Crier, as it were, came to the city of Thessaloniki. Oh, you mean Paul? No, no. He was just the instrument through which the true town Crier did His work. And he tells them about it later on. He says in verse 5, "For our gospel did not come to you in word only,” —but as it were, the true town Crier called you together, we read, —"but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full assurance." That's how they came together.
Have you heard the voice of the town Crier with the ears of the heart? Why are you here this evening? Some may be here because, well, it's a thing to do, to be here. Even Sunday morning or Sunday evening, it doesn't matter. Some may be here because your husband is here, your wife is here, your mom is here, your dad is here, your friends are here. Maybe because you've heard the voice of tradition, you grew up in that and you're here. Some of you are here because you've heard the call of conscience. The only ones who truly belong to the church are those who have heard the voice of God with the ears of the heart. You can say in the words of the hymn writer, "Vain world be gone from me to depart. The voice of God hath reached my heart." And the question is, has God reached your heart? Is that why you're here this evening? Because you heard God calling you out of darkness, out of sin, out of selfishness, and He brought you into a living relationship with His Son. And you're here this evening because you are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are the doctrinal implications. And I want to hurry to conclude with several practical implications for us. And first, what we have here is a word of instruction. A word of instruction under the heading "several practical implications." And the first one is this: one's views of God, one's views of God are the acid test of spiritual experience. They're the acid test of spiritual experience.
Beloved, the acid test of spiritual experience is not how you feel. But it's your evaluation and judgment regarding Jesus Christ and God the Father. Chapter and verse, here it is, 1 Corinthians 12:3. Paul says, "No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit." It's our confession of Christ that is a test of the validity of our experience.
1 John 4:1–2: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." Well, how are you going to test the spirits? Notice what he says: "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God." You test the spirits by what? A doctrinal standard. You evaluate the professed experience by objective truths about God, about Christ. Don't forget that. You don't start with the experience and then draw a conclusion as to spiritual truth. You evaluate the experience by the biblical standard. Paul writes to them and he says, you are a church in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And that which makes you a true church is that you confess God as Father, you confess your Savior and Redeemer as the Lord upon the throne, the long-promised Messiah, Christ Emmanuel, God with us. And all that theology is bound up in that confession.
Second practical implication, and this is now not only a word of instruction, but there's a word of exhortation—more than a word of instruction, a word of exhortation. And I hope that we listen very carefully. Here it is: Beloved, be content with nothing less. Be content with nothing less than being in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And we must accept and receive people into this local assembly on the basis of a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But mark it down, God accepts none into that true church except on the basis of a possession of God and of Christ. If that's you here tonight, don't be content that you're in this local church if you're not in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Has your mind been opened to see the glory of that God? Has your heart been drawn to love Him? Has your will been brought subject to Him? That's the word of exhortation this evening: be content with nothing less—nothing less than being in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, well, how do I get into Him? How do I get into Him? It's only as the Spirit of God is pleased to unite us to Him. Well, how does He do it? By enabling us to see our sin and repent of it, turn away from it, and to see the Savior and embrace Him. Not see Him with these eyes, but see Him with the eyes of the soul. And then the last implication is a word of encouragement. And I believe there are some who need this this evening.
The practical implication of instruction may not be, perhaps, right now relevant to you. The word of exhortation, maybe. But will you listen to the word of encouragement? Put yourself back in that assembly again in Thessaloniki, persecuted. And we're going to see that later on as we read on. They were just babes in Christ, didn't know too much, didn't have too much experience in their walk with the Lord, yet they had the fires of persecution burning. They were an afflicted church. Imagine sitting there and being told that you, part of that little, despised, afflicted group whom God, the great town Crier, had called out—you're told you are in God the Father. Think of it. God the Father. You're in union with God the Father, Creator, Sustainer of the universe. I am in union with Him. "To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father." We nobodies were called out. Babes in Christ, persecuted, rejected. We're in God. I imagine they broke into some hallelujahs before Paul got to grace and peace. Beloved, we too are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about this: infinite resources. Infinite resources. Ephesians 1:3, right? "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” Jesus. Infinite resources. The mighty God, the mighty Savior. Deliver and conquer.
Oh, what word of encouragement. What word of encouragement. All that I can ever need. Every problem that I can face. Every perplexing situation. Read Philippians 4:19 back into 1 Thessalonians 1:1: "My God will fulfill all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Oh, dear child of God, if you're in that true church, if you're in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, why are you living the way you're living if you're downcast? Why are you going around destitute, downcast, defeated? Why are you going around with, as it were, holes in your pocket and with shabby shoes—going around like a spiritual pauper? You are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Infinite resources. And God have mercy on us if we don't face collectively and individually the problems, the needs that we face in these days with a holy confidence. If we don't do that, God have mercy on us. Has God called us out and called us together as a church? Has He? Are you convinced of that? Are you convinced that we are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ? This is the Lord's doing. If we're convinced that this is the Lord's doing, then let's have the spirit of a David who can look at all the Goliaths. We've got a whole regiment of them as we look at the days ahead in our culture, in our world, in this broken world.
What are we going to do? Are we going to be like Saul and his crowd, stand in the corner and shake? Or are we going to say, who are these uncircumcised Philistines to defy the armies of the living God? We're in God the Father. Do we understand that? We're in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We're joined to One whose resources are limitless, whose panoply for the battle is sufficient. Do we limit Him with regards to time and location and ability as we saw this morning?
God grant that we shall, as an assembly of God's people, be filled with that kind of encouragement that ought to be ours when we realize who we are in Christ. "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." A separated group of people. A strategically placed group of people. A supernatural group of people. A specifically cared for group of people.
And then we've looked at the implications theologically. Only as we maintain the doctrine of God, God the Father, of God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, are we a true church. And wherever God is rightly worshipped, always He will be worshipped as Trinity in unity, unity in Trinity. And wherever there's such a people, it is God's work, God's doing. He is the great town Crier that has called out His people, as Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9, "So that you may proclaim the excellencies,” —not of your little puny men who made a decision, no, but— “of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." May God give us the language of the Bible. May God give us the language of the Bible. Let me say this, when we give our testimony, we don't tell what we did, we tell what He did. He calls us out of darkness into marvelous light.
And then the practical implications. A word of instruction. The test of spiritual experience is, what does it do with my understanding of God? Is it scriptural? Then the word of exhortation: be content with nothing less than being in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And then a word of encouragement. If we're in God and Christ, all that we could ever need is there. May we reach out—and I say this reverently—tap into that infinite supply by faith.
Let me ask you as I finish this evening, what about that description? What about that description? A separated group of people? A strategically placed group of people? A supernatural group of people? A specifically cared for group of people? What about that description would not be true of this church, Grace Chapel? What is there in that description that would not be true of this church? You know the answer to that. The only thing not true of this church is the fact that they were in Thessaloniki, and everything else equally applies to us 2,000 years later. It applies to us here in this city and every other church that has existed throughout the church age. Is it true to say that we are called out, a called out group of people? Is it true to say that not only we are called out, but we have been formed by virtue of union with Jesus Christ and the Father? Are we a supernatural group of people in that sense? And is it true to say that though they were placed in Thessaloniki, God has saved us right where we are? Or we may have been saved some other place in times past, but He's moved us together so that right now we are the church of the Markhamians? Or however you want to put it. You see, this is still true of us, but do we think of ourselves that way? And then I wonder, what will we do with our reputation? Back to last Sunday's message, right?
Sometimes it's difficult to hear what people find wrong with this church—what they object to in this church, what bothers them about this church. And what I don't get to express as much as I really would like to and want to is what I see in this fellowship that I know for certain only the living God could produce. And, beloved, permit me a few more minutes. I see a lot of that. I see a lot of that. Through the years that God has given me here, I've seen the Lord do things in you, through you, around you that could only be explained by the living God. And sometimes, if I am away and people ask about this church, I tell them about this church. I tell them what a loving church this is, what a giving church this is, and more than anything else, what a faithful church this is. And the ways that you have loved us as undershepherds in this church, the ways that you've expressed love for one another when there are times of crisis and bereavements and challenges, the way that this church has exhibited the love of Jesus Christ—soli Deo gloria. And that ought to encourage us, but not in a way that we rest on it. In a way, rather, that stirs us up to continue in it and excel still more. I mean, that's who we've been. But what are we going to be by the grace of God moving forward?
Do we imagine we can live off of what we've been by the grace of God? Beloved, we can't. We can't live off of what we've been. Obedience is for today. Faith is for today. Walking with Christ is for today and tomorrow and the day after. You can't live off of what you were. I can't live off of what I was. And so what we have to ask is, is our reputation still up to date? We are known for these things, but are these things still true of us? Do we have a name that is different from the reality? Do we have a name that we're alive, but in fact, there are things that are dying? And what do you do if you have a name that no longer reflects where you are or who you are? Here's what you do. You brokenheartedly repent. You brokenheartedly repent. And you ask the Lord to make it as fresh today as it was yesterday. And you do that every single day you walk with Jesus.
May I ask you on a personal level, what is dying in your life right now? What is dying in your life right now? Where have you abandoned the principles that you were once known for? I'm talking to individuals now. I'm talking about your own walk with God. Beloved, we are just a corporate gathering. Though we are joined together by virtue of our union with the Lord, we are the corporate gathering of individual believers. And I'm compelled, beloved, to challenge us and say that we can't live off of what we've been. Praise God for what we've been, but we can't live off of that. In fact, what we've been is not perfected. What we've been has not been everything we could have been, should have been, want to be in Christ. So we can't live off of that. What is the Lord going to do here now? What is He going to do in the future? What are we ready to walk in?
But we also need to be protected and put on the full armor of God and be vigilant, watchful, and prayerful, because if you think that the enemy of our souls does not battle against a church that focuses on truth, we're gravely mistaken.
I read and understand it sometimes—why it is that, and I'm not talking now about anything specific, just in general—why is it that we can read the New Testament and understand and process that this was happening then, but we don't make the same connections now? You say, what do you mean? I mean this. Were there attacks on the truth then? What makes us think that there won't be attacks on the truth now? The churches had to battle through issues then. What makes us think we won't have to battle through issues now? Beloved, it hasn't changed. The ministry is the ministry, and the Word of God is the Word of God, and the salvation of souls is the salvation of souls, and the enemy of our souls, he is the devil, he has never changed and he never will until he's destroyed in hell. Are we ready, if need be, to persevere through much opposition? Be encouraged. The Lord has done good work in you, in us, but be challenged. That good work is to continue today and into the future. "To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you, and peace."
Let's pray.
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