To Encourage You

2 Thessalonians 1:4 “Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.”

If someone were to describe your church, what would they say about it?  What is it about your church that really stands out?  Is it known for its programs and all of its ministries to various age groups?  Is it known for the size of its membership?  Maybe it’s your worship band and your exuberant times of singing.  Or maybe it’s your pastor and his good sermons.   Perhaps it makes you feel good almost every time he speaks.  Perhaps it’s your wonderful building program and all the things your church has to offer – maybe a bookstore, or a coffee shop, comfortable seating, or beautiful architecture.  And while any of these things may be well and good in and of themselves, I would challenge you to find any such things mentioned in Scripture as commendable for a church.  What you will find, however, is commendations regarding faithful Christians that make up a body of believers. It’s always the lives of the people to which the writers of Scripture point.

In Rome it was the church’s strong faith (Romans 1:8).  In Corinth, in spite of their many shortcomings, Paul was thankful for their knowledge of God and their spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 1:2-7).  In Ephesus it was their “love toward all the saints” (Ephesians 1:15).  In Philippi it was their “partnership in the gospel” (Philippians 1:5) and their generous giving (Philippians 4:14-16).  And then there were the Thessalonians.  Of this church we see in the verse above that Paul was telling everyone about their “steadfastness and faith” in the face of persecution and affliction.  Here was a church that was upsetting the status quo of the society in which they lived by faithfully preaching and living out the Word of God. This inevitably led to very negative pushback from those who held to the pagan philosophies that were in clear conflict with the Way of Life.  And despite this, they endured. 

We are told nothing about the size of this church, the kind of place in which they met, the kinds of songs they sang, or any suggestion of teaching about how they could be “healthy, wealthy, and successful” if they would just sow their financial “seed.”  No, the reputation this church had in the community led to persecution and abuse.  They were seen as a problem. They were seen as those who those in leadership in the city could just as soon do without. But among other believers and to the great apostle Paul, this church was held up as a model, one he couldn’t stop telling others about. 

May our prayer be that our local church be all that God would have it to be.  May we be known as those who give, love, and demonstrate what we believe by our obedience to the Word of God in the face of hardship and the opposition of the world.  May we be people whose faith endures in the face of affliction.  May we follow the model of the churches commended in the Scriptures, for it is those things that describe the church as God intended it to be, rather than the characteristics that are so often used today to commend a church, but which are so often foreign to the Word of God.