Proper 24 (Pentecost 21) October 22, 2023 1 Thessalonians 1:5b-10
If you were to design the perfect home, what would it look like? If you were to design the perfect church, what would it look like? If you were to design the perfect pastor, what would he look like?
After years of research a profile of the perfect pastor has been developed. His sermons last exactly 15 minutes but covers all the great truths of the bible. He works from 8 a.m. until midnight, yet still spends plenty of time with family. He only draws $100 a week, but wears good clothes, lives a respectable car, and gives $75 a week to people in need. He has the energy of a 20 year old, but has 40 years experance in the pastoral ministry. He is gentle and handsome, loves to work with people of all ages, and is equally gifted in all areas. He makes 20 calls a day on hospital patients and shut-in yet is always available in his office when you need him.
St. Paul considered himself the least of the apostles and the chief of sinners, hardly a recipe for perfection. And the church at Thessalonica was not the perfect church, either! But by God's grace, these individuals were imitators of Christ Jesus himself. St. Paul writes, "You welcomed the message with joy given by the Holy Spirit and so you became a model to all the believers." Under the guidance of God's Spirit and in response to Gods grace and mercy in Christ, we too are molded and shaped to be Mimics of the Lord.
Christ and others have served as Models for us in our Christian growth. Most all of us are here today because someone in our lives modeled Christ for us. We learned how much God loves us because we had someone who loved us. We learned that Christ forgives our sins, because we had parents or loved ones that forgave the stupid things we did. We learned love, forgiveness, joy because it was exhibited to us be others.
The old model, the first Adam fell into sin. Unfortunately, he is the pattern and role model for us all, since his children bear his image (Rom 5:14). He was the one who decided that God did not always have his best interests at heart. He wanted to be God himself and decided for himself what was good and what was evil. Since that time mankind has been trying to fashion God in their own likeness.
The Thessalonians had worshiped idols, images of what they thought their particular "god" looked like or did. Often, we attempt to fashion our own idols, models of the things we regard as important or pleasurable. Then we go about mimicking them. But it all goes back to the original sin of Adam. We want to do what we want to do, and we don't want a God telling us that the things we want to do might hurt us. The results, However, bear out the fact that when we take our own advice and reject God's plan, we end up causing pain for ourselves and others. To say nothing of the eternal consequences.
Even as Christians, we daily fail and prove to be faulty "role models" of what it means to be Christian. Each of us as a Christian is a lot like a recovering alcoholic, or cocaine addict. We addicted to sin, we were born with this addiction. We know we are addicted and want to overcome it. But there is that craving deep within us that keeps pulling us back into our addiction. We are helpless to find our way our of this morass without outside intervention. We need a new model; the old Adam does not serve us well. More than a new model we need a Savior. One who will come and take away our craving after the flesh.
The new model is the Second Adam, Jesus Christ. He made up for all the faults and damages of the first Adam. Christ is the image of the invisible God, the perfect model of all God's attributes. Through his death and resurrection, he has redeemed us, and we have became the children of God. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God has removed the craving after the sinful flesh and replaced it with a craving for righteousness. This dies not however totally obliterate the craving after the sinful flesh. Any addict will tell you that once you are an alcoholic, you will always be an alcoholic. Start drinking again and you will be right back in the middle of your addiction. Those who are on the wagon so to speak, who have left their alcoholism behind are simply non-practicing alcoholics.
Imitating Christ is not merely going through the motions. Nor is it simply trying hard to live in obedience to him. We lack the strength and ability to do that. Rather, we let God himself shape and mold us through the means of grace: his Word, which empowers us to follow him rather than our sinful nature; our Baptism into Christ, so that we become members of his body; and receiving Christ's true body and blood in the Lord's Supper, for the forgiveness of sins and nourishment for our Christian life. Through those means of grace, we begin to echo and reflect him in all that we are, say, amd do. It is important to realize that without this continual strengthening we receive from God we would be right back to our sinful addiction. All of us fall off the wagon now and then. We neglect the Word of God and the Sacraments, our source of strength and we are right back in the middle of our sinful addiction. But God is gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He calls us again and again, and offers his forgiveness and strength through others who bring his Word and his forgiveness to us. As we grow in this new life called Christianity we grow stronger and we become models for others as they struggle with their addictions.
The Gospel of Christ stamps its impression on the lives and hearts of his people. We live in relationship with others. How we live also makes an impression upon others. They know we are not perfect. They know that we struggle with sin and its addiction to our lives. They know it because they are struggling with the same thin in their own lives. No one wants to admit this out loud but each of us struggles with the evil that is in us. St. Paul was no different, and neither were the Thessalonian Christians. But they had found the secret in God's power and strength.
Neighbors or friends may ask where you attend church because they see the love of Christ at work in your life and desire the same for themselves and their families. The Gospel is caught, not just taught. When we forgive one another as we have been forgiven, and when we express confidence and hope in traumatic situations, we are imitators of Christ to our neighbors and friends.
We are servants who echo the words of the Master. The children's songs about "two little feet to walk his ways, ands to serve him all my days" perhaps best illustrates our role. We serve as Christ's hands, feet and lips in the world.
"The Lord's message rang out from you ... Your faith in God has become klnown everywhere." That affirmation may have surprised the Thessalonians; it may surprise us as well. Think of the role of that Pleasant Hill Lutheran Church has had in this community over the years. To be sure it has not been a perfect one. How can the church be perfect when all of its members and its pastors are sinners. But God has overcome our sin, he has forgiven it. His power has been given to all of us and we have become models of Christ in this community. As we go to our places of work, or play, we are models. Models of what it means to be Christian.
Reflect on all those to whom you are a model of Christ: your spouse; your children; your co-workers; your friends; your neighbors. Your faith has become evident to those who come in contact with you. It is present in the way you make decisions, in the way you treat people, in the way you worship, in the person that you are.
Sermon Read By John Cox