A Healthy Church: 1 Thessalonians 1:5

 

"Our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction."

 What made the church in Thessalonica so healthy and successful? Paul describes the reasons in the sentence above. Let's go through them one at a time:

1. Power

A healthy church has power. Paul was the first to admit he had no power of his own. The only way a ministry can have power is if it points to, and draws from, the ultimate source of power, which is God. In this context, ‘power’ means things that happen which are impossible without God in the equation. Miracles. I think that’s why God uses such imperfect people. A healthy church knows the true source of their power.

2. Holy Spirit

When Jesus ascended to Heaven, his disciples were freaked out. They didn’t know how they would grow the church without the physical presence of their Lord.   But Jesus told them that something even better was about to happen. After Jesus left, every believer would be filled with the Holy Spirit.  So at any moment of the day, in any place, you could have an immediate and up-close communion with God. If the believers in the Old Testament had any idea then I think they would have been jealous of the opportunity we have to be indwelt by God's presence. So really, for a healthy church to have the Holy Spirit means that a healthy church is aware of this up-close presence of God in their lives.



3. Full Conviction

What "full conviction" means is being sure of your beliefs. And how do you become sure? Well, over time you see the solid and lasting changes that following Jesus has made in your life. You become convinced that God has transformed you into a new person. And you know that nothing in this world could ever undo the love that God has for you.

When you think of this on the level of community, it has some really powerful implications.   One implication that pops into my mind is that genuine faith will outlast inauthentic faith, every time. All those bitter people who have taken their eyes off of Jesus, can’t outlast the love and hope that is being built up between followers of Jesus. Just can’t be done.