Examples

And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. - 1 Thessalonians 1v6-8


What makes a church great and successful? I am tempted to go off on another pet peeve today, but I will avoid that temptation. In reality the greatness of a church has nothing at all to do with the size of the congregation, the building where they meet, or their programmes, projects, or prestige.

I don’t know the heart of any congregation, but I do know that we tend to judge a church’s greatness by temporal things. Our eyes are caught up in the things we can see, and of course we are drawn to that. We don’t often see a church in affliction as a successful church. Instead we feel sorry for them.

Paul saw the church at Thessalonica as a success. They were successful because although they had received the word of God with ‘much affliction,’ they had also done it with the ‘joy of the Holy Spirit.’ Their faith was spoken of everywhere. Everyone knew of this church that joyfully endured affliction.

No one said things like, “Wow! Have you seen the new building at the church in Thessalonica? Did you see their new Family Centre? Did you know you can get a Starbucks latte at their café? And their preacher, he is a famous speaker and author. That place is amazing!’

When word spread out about Thessalonica people said. ‘Have you how they endure affliction? Do you see how they stay full of joy in the middle of their struggles? That’s the kind of faith I want.’

Faith is easy when things are going well. Joy is simple when we have it all.

The question is, how does that joy and faith do when things get tough?’