Preached February 3, 2008 at Longview Missionary Baptist Church

Everyone has opinions on what “church” should look like and be like. There are several categories where people have strong opinions:
Architecture– imposing Cathedrals to traditional colonial meeting houses to doing the best you can in the jungle with a simple lean-to made with sticks and leaves to very simple frame building

Interior– very ornate and formal to informal and casual, some even with no walls

Pulpits– some are massive works of art and others simple and rugged.

Music style– classical, southern gospel, traditional, contemporary

Order of service– liturgical high church, to low church informal, to no liturgy at all

Style– traditional style, contemporary, formal, informal

But ultimately, none of those things have anything to do with church.

Churches are like cars. When you buy a car, you have many choices when it comes to features and accessories. From the paint color to power windows and locks to electric seats to leather or cloth interior, many options for people. The paint doesn’t fundamentally change the car. It is just a preference. The fundamental thing is that it has an engine, and a frame, and wheels and runs.

Unfortunately Christians today are fighting over the color of the car and could care less about the car itself. In other words, we fight over preferences but neglect the substance of church.

Definitions:

Church– a congregation of Christ’s baptized disciples, united in belief of what He has said, and covenanting to do what he has commanded. So we are talking about people committed to Christ and to one another.

Gospel Church– or a New Testament Church, as opposed to “so-called” or false churches, is committed to Jesus Christ in spirit & truth. Many cults and false religions that claim the name church but really are not because they do not submit and worship Christ.

5 Essential Marks of a Gospel Church – 1 Thess. 1:1-8

1. A Gospel Church is founded by God’s loving choice. (v 4)

a. This is where it all begins. Salvation and church and the Christian life and our hope doesn’t begin or even end with us. It begins and ends with God.

b. Election is a word we understand in our day to day lives. ILL– Electing a president. But it is horribly misunderstood when it comes to God. So let me try to explain it.

c. Election means God initiates and completes our salvation.

d. ILL– in adoption, a person goes to an orphanage or to an agency and selects a child to adopt. That child is chosen and brought into a new family.

e. God’s election of us is based on love and mercy in action.

f. Many questions that Scripture doesn’t shed a lot of light on for us like what about those not elect and can we resist God’s election. I don’t know about those areas. But one thing I do know, is if it were not for God’s gracious act, no one would be saved and none of us would be here.

g. John 6:44 (NKJV) No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

h. John 15:16 (NKJV) You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

i. Ephes. 1:3-6 (NKJV) 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, [4] just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, [5] having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, [6] to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.

j. A Gospel Church is populated by people God has lovingly drawn to himself and redeemed.

2. A Gospel Church is committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. (vv. 1, 3)

a. The life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of our lives and our church. Without Jesus, nothing matters.

b. To quote the grand hymn: “Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”

c. In v. 3, we see that Jesus is the focus of our faith. A Gospel church will be Christocentric or Christ Centered and Christ Focused. It is all about Jesus!

3. A Gospel Church is empowered by the Holy Spirit. (vv. 5,6)

a. In Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the church in a new way. He empowered the church to fulfill all that Christ commanded and purposed for us.

b. In verse 5, we find the Holy Spirit enables us to receive the Gospel.

i. The Holy Spirit illumines the Gospel or makes the Gospel understandable.

ii. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1 that the Gospel is foolishness to those who do not believe.

iii. John 16:8-11 (NKJV) And when He (Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: [9] of sin, because they do not believe in Me; [10] of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; [11] of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

iv. John 16:13 (NKJV) However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

v. 1 Cor. 2:12-13 (NKJV) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. [13] These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

c. The Holy Spirit enables us to rejoice in the Gospel (v. 6)

i. The gospel came to the Thessalonians in affliction. Yet they rejoiced.

ii. Though the Holy Spirit we are able to find joy in Christ no matter what happens.

4. A Gospel Church is characterized by Christian Virtue. (v 3)

a. Faith, love, and hope are the three cardinal virtues of every believer, and the virtues of every Gospel church.

b. These virtues are active.

i. Faith is Expressing trust in what God has done.

ii. Hard working love (working to the point of weariness).

iii. Enduring hope in Christ that does not erode with time.

5. A Gospel church bears witness to the Gospel. (v. 8 )

a. A Gospel church has been transformed by the Good News, the greatest news and a gospel church is compelled to spread it abroad.

b. At home– we share with our neighbors and family

c. And abroad– through the whole world.

Conclusion – This is what a Gospel church is and what it looks like. And remember, a church is composed of people. So, when we look at these essential characteristics of a church, we have to analyze our personal lives in view of them.

1. Are we a people established by God’s loving choice? In other words, has God worked in our lives to save us and adopt us?

2. Are we committed to the Lord Jesus Christ above all others?

3. Are we living in the power of the Holy Spirit day by day to be and do all God want us to be and do?

4. Are our lives marked by active faith, love and hope?

5. Are we bearing witness to the world around us of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which alone is their only hope?

We must embody the Gospel (relationship with Triune God & our lifestyle) & pass it on (message).