Good morning, today we’re going to read from the book of 1st Thessalonians. If you’ve been reading the past few posts, I’ve been writing about Philippians for quite some time, and there was a certain event referenced in the end of Paul’s letter to the Philippians in Philippians 4:16. I referenced this last post, but didn’t expand about it’s history, but doing so will introduce us to this next letter I wanted to write about. So here’s the excerpt from Philippians 4:16

15 when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need.

So let’s get a context for this letter to the Thessalonians, and the events that led to it. We’re back to Paul’s second missionary journey, and then he visited a city about 100 miles east of Philippi called Thessalonica.

Some scholars think that his time there could have lasted somewhere around 3 months, since the Philippian church had the opportunity to give to him, sending aid on more than one occasion according to Phil 4:16. But we can read a lot more about this trip in the first half of Acts 17 to see Luke’s account of what happened. Lets read Acts 17:1-4

17 When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.

Paul and his team were in Thessalonica for at least 3 sabbath days, but it doesn’t say they were three consecutive sabbath days, so somewhere between 3 weeks and a month is the bare minimum time Paul spent there. We read that Paul spent some time in the Jewish synagogue teaching and reasoning with them to explain that Jesus was the Messiah. From the account in Acts 17, we also understand that while there were some Jews who were persuaded, the success of Paul’s ministry extended to a larger number of Greek Gentiles. The other noteworthy aspect from Acts 17:4 is that there were many prominent women who believed, so they were rather progressive with giving women similar status to men.. So what type of place was Thessalonica? It was prosperous and strategic with a port to the Aegean sea and was a city along the Via Egnatia, which connected the roman world into Byzantium (which became Constantinople, or present day Istanbul). It was a link in a chain of Roman colonies.

There were some Jews there who believed but most of his success was among Gentiles. The problems arose because the Jews who didn’t believe became jealous and caused a large amount of trouble.

As we read more of Acts 17 (verses 5 through 15) we find out the jealous Jews who didn’t believe started mob riots by rounding up bad characters. They had the man, Jason, who they believed Paul and Silas were staying with, thrown in Jail. They told city officials that the missionaries were trying to overthrow Caesar, defy his decrees, and place Jesus in the position as king. Eventually it got so bad that Paul and his group had to leave for Berea. Sometimes it’s tough to keep track of which riot or imprisonment happened where. But they left Thessalonica and went to Berea, and Acts 17 is the place in the Bible that says that Barean Jews were of more noble character than the Jews in Thessalonica, because they received Paul’s message with eagerness and studied the scripture to confirm what he was saying. So Barean Jews were more scholarly and less impulsive and responded to disagreement with further study instead of violence. The Thessalonian Jews on the other hand, wanted to start riots and trouble, and they wanted that so much that they left Thessalonica and went ~45 miles away to Barea to stir up trouble there and persecute churches and messianic synagogues friendly to the Gospel. Paul actually had to be sent out of Barea, but Timothy and Silas stuck around longer to teach the Barean church. All this to say that while the tone of the letter to the Philippians and the Thessalonians were BOTH of encouragement, Paul’s letter to Philippians was like writing to a group of trusted old friends that he missed, but this letter to the Thessalonians was written to a group he had suffered with and his note of encouragement was in the face of real struggle with and persecution by a known group of ignoble troublemakers. Scholars think this is the very first epistle written by Paul, and it’s interesting because it doesn’t talk much about justification by faith alone or Jew/Gentile relationships or doctrine controversy that had sprung up later in the church history. So with that background let’s start 1 Thessalonians.

1 Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.

They extend a greeting of grace and peace to the church, in God the Father and Lord Jesus Christ.

2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is a group and church who faced danger and persecution, so much so that Paul and his companions had to leave for their safety. They protected him and bore great discomfort because of Paul’s teaching. So he is thanking God for them. Sometimes when I write a note of thanks, I will say “thank you.” Paul says it a bit differently, “I thank God for all of you”, and mention you continually in my prayers. I realized reading this that my thanks are human glorifying, but Paul’s are correctly God glorifying. Paul says they remember the church’s work produced by faith, their labor prompted by love, and their endurance inspired by hope in the lord Jesus Christ. He explains the deed he’s thankful for, and the divine cause of the deed. Their work (an action) was produced by faith (a gift from God). Their labor (the hard effort and actions) was promoted by love (another gift, or grace, divine fruit of God’s character). The church had endurance (a stamina or steadfastness of keeping up a work), which was inspired (a word that means spirit given) by hope (another grace or unmerited gift of God. These three graces or gifts should sound familiar.
In 1st Corinthians we read Paul writing about gifts of the spirit, (this is the part that’s usually read at weddings) Paul had written: “now these three remain, faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.” We can get kind of flaky with the idea of spiritual gifts, kind of wishy washy. It’s a gift from God, I do nothing to earn it, and nothing I can do adds to it. Yes, but..! What is the result of that gift of God? Faith, Hope, and Love. These three things lead the Thessalonian church to work, endure, and labor. This church didn’t hesitate to get their hands dirty and work hard. The Thessalonians did not fear hard work, and weren’t afraid to face persecution or difficulty as a result in doing the right thing. If Paul’s letter to the Philippians was like writing to old friends, this letter to the Thessalonians should be like writing to fellow laborers, fellow soldiers, a group of people who together narrowly made it out of a really bad and dangerous situation. When Paul thinks of his Thessalonian brothers and sisters, he thinks of their character. Their diligence and work ethic. Let’s keep reading.

4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

Paul is confident that the Thessalonian Church was God’s elect, chosen and predestined to share in God’s love. Why? The Gospel sank in, and produced fruit. Jesus taught about how the seeds were sown in different types of soil, and some grew quickly with no root, some grew among weeds and got choked, but some produced a large harvest. Paul can recall their willingness to hear the gospel, and not just respond in words, but in action, power, and conviction. Deep Conviction. Spurgeon said preachers must labor to produce this Deep Conviction. I’ve heard people say the right thing, but continue as if nothing happened. The message of the gospel is that we’re sinners. The message of the Gospel is NOT: “well sin’s not so bad, Jesus loves you anyway and God forgives.” The message is we were dead to sin, the wages of our sin was eternal separation from God, no matter how hard we try, we couldn’t help ourselves, we needed to be saved, and Jesus died in our place. The first wishy washy gospel brushes away sin and kind of ignores it. The true Gospel should convict us, it should identify us with the dead sinners, and it should leave us feeling hopeless in our own power! We should be left feeling desperately in need of God’s power, God’s spirit, and God’s Grace. Jesus shouldn’t feel like a buddy, he should feel like a life line. He should feel like that gulp of air that we involuntarily take when we have held our breath as long as possible. He’s our savior. The Thessalonian church felt deep conviction for their sins. Many of them had come out of idolatry, but anyone who receives Jesus should do so feeling a deep sense of sorrow for their sinful past. Paul didn’t come out of idolatry, but he came out of a history where he persecuted churches like the Thessalonian Jews! How humbling must that have been. Paul, Silas and Timothy had demonstrated what it looked like to be forgiven of the sins that deeply convicted us, reconciled to the God who we had made ourselves enemies to. And adopted into servanthood and a heart for obedience to God. The church didn’t just look and say, “wow, what a servant of God!” They looked and learned and imitated Christ’s servanthood, they mimicked the change they saw in Paul, the servanthood of Timothy, and they welcomed the message of the gospel in the midst of severe suffering. Not just enduring that suffering, but facing suffering with Joy, given by the Holy Spirit! This is supernatural, and this is evidence that God was at work in their church.

7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,

In verse 4-6 Paul explains that the Thessalonian church’s labor and their Joyful and Enduring spirit in completing that work has demonstrated to him that they were chosen by God. But in verses 7-8 Paul is saying that their actions have been widely observed and recounted among churches in the area. It’s a miraculous thing to have a personal relationship with God! It’s even more miraculous when your love for God is observed and becomes contagious. Remember, you’re constantly being observed, even if you don’t want to be observed, people are watching. Live as a model for others. The next generation will look to us and will either emulate us or disregard us. They will choose to imitate us or reverse our course. The Thessalonian church became more than just people, and became legendary. In a movie called the Sandlot, Babe Ruth said “Heroes are remembered, but legends never die” Tupac said that “People die but legends live forever.” These modern quotes are a retelling of an ageless concept found here. This church in Thessalonica was full of humans, who had varying degrees of imperfection, but by the power of God’s Holy spirit, they did heroic things in a way that was joyful and god glorifying, and their church became a model to believers in Macedonia and Achaia. Because of the zealous obedience of members of that church, this group had become elevated to an almost legendary status. Their faith in God, and the resulting works had been a vehicle or means that the Lord’s message rang out. Verse 9 says how a bunch of ragtag misfits, idol worshippers, sinners, un-churched people came to believe. They didn’t just believe, but obeyed, outrunning the Jewish establishment in righteousness. And they faced adversity with a supernatural amount of joy and perseverance, which can only be explained by God. -Not just explained by the fact that God exists, but that there is a living and true God whose Grace and his Work is demonstrated in their lives. A God who is willing and able to turn them to a people who gave Paul, Silas, and Timothy a reception that will be remembered forever. This was God’s will (which should be no surprise if you believe in God’s sovereignty). But it’s still cool to think about, since God breathed out scripture, and inspired Paul to write this epistle to this church, to explain how their obedience has been widely known to believers in Macedonia and Achaia. But Paul also explained that their faith in God was known to all believers everywhere, which sounded like an overstatement.. But it’s Scripture now, so it is true, since all believers will (or definitely should) study this letter and come to know about the Thessalonian church’s model behavior. This story continues to be told about how they left their idols, turned to God, and verse 10:

They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,  10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

This church has become a model, with people who turned from false idols and come to serve the true and living God. The church is hard working, active, and diligent, but Paul says they are waiting. Waiting for God’s son from Heaven. That’s interesting because when we say we’re waiting, it’s kind of implied that we’re kind of lounging around or idly just kind of in a holding pattern until we get the go ahead. That’s not the type of waiting that God commands. Paul will talk more about this in later chapters of this letter, but the church should be actively waiting. They aren’t idling or conserving energy. They are waiting for Jesus who God raised from the Dead. There’s a certain eager expectation here. The moment we’ve been waiting for. The God who does miracles, the God who has every reason to pour out his wrath for our idolatry will return. It’s like waiting before a coming storm. The news shows people wait out this event, but they are getting prepared, what will it be like? Nobody really knows. But the day will come. Are we ready? Have we put on Jesus Christ? The Thessalonian church is waiting for their salvation to arrive.

They wait to be saved from coming wrath. How do we prepare in our waiting? Pray. Meditate, Study the Word of God. Understand who we are, what it means to be a sinner. Cultivate a deep conviction for our wrong, but also know the conviction for sin doesn’t need to result in condemnation from sin! In Christ, we’ve been made reconciled. Cultivate a deep gratitude for our forgiveness. Study to know and understand where our salvation comes from. We are saved from the wrath of God caused by our sins. We are saved by the works of Jesus Christ, who God sent to die for our sins. We believe and treasure this truth because God sent his powerful Holy Spirit to raise our hearts from the dead. We were dead in those sins. When we have the right mindset, while we continue to wait for God’s return, we should act! Imitate the believers in the past like Paul, Silas and Timothy, who showed us what it means to obey. Imitate our Lord and Savior Jesus. Imitate the legendary churches, like this one in Thessalonica, who threw off their idols, turned course, and followed the true and living God.