Paul couldn’t stand it any longer. He had to know how the church in Thessalonica was doing.
After all, he had poured himself into that congregation and sacrificed deeply to teach its members the gospel. But now Satan was attacking it with persecution, doubt, and trial.
Were the believers maintaining their faith, or had they abandoned Paul’s teaching?
Desperate to hear a report, he sent his young protégé Timothy to check on the Thessalonian believers. When Timothy returned, his report brought joyful relief. They were indeed keeping the faith, and they longed to see Paul.
However, they also had some questions that needed answers from the apostle’s inspired pen. [NIV Storyline Bible Intro to 1 Thessalonians]
Welcome to the launch of our teaching series on Thessalonians. For the next number of weeks we will be exploring this book, an early letter from the Apostle Paul to the church in Thessalonia.
The letter was written in love. The tone is one of encouragement. It is never patronizing.
Paul wanted this young church to thrive in the midst of a culture around it that presented a lot of challenges for the Christians there. He loved them like a parent.
Unable to physically be with the new believers, Paul encourages their faith and strengthens their hope in view of Christ’s imminent return.
Paul probably wrote 1 Thessalonians by AD 50, roughly 20 years after Jesus’ execution and resurrection. This may actually be the earliest of Paul’s letters.
A quick overview: The Church’s chief point of confusion was Christ’s second coming. Indeed, Paul mentions it at least once in every chapter.
Some Thessalonians apparently believed that Christians who had died would miss out on the second coming. So Paul famously explained that at the Lord’s coming, the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then those who remain will be caught up with Him in the air, and all of His people will then live with Him forever (1 Thes 4:13–18).
There also may have been confusion as to the timing of the second coming, for Paul warned that it will come unexpectedly, “like a thief in the night” (1 Thes 5:2).
In the meantime, believers are to be vigilant and godly, abstaining from sexual sin (1 Thes 4:1–8) and working for a living rather than being lazy (1 Thes 4:11; 5:14). [NIV Storyline Bible Intro to 1 Thessalonians]
Paul, Silas and Timothy established the church in Thessalonica on Paul’s second missionary journey (Ac 17:1–9). Here’s the account from the book of Acts:
Acts 17:1 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.
5 But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.[a] 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
Because of persecution, Paul and Silas fled from Thessalonica to Berea. From there Paul wrote to the Thesalonians.
Sometime later (perhaps AD 51/52) he sent 2 Thessalonians in response to further information about the church there.
Thessalonica was a bustling seaport city at the head of the Thermaic Gulf. It was an important communication and trade center, located at the junction of the great Egnatian Way and the road leading north to the Danube.
It was the largest city in Macedonia and was also the capital of its province.
Recent converts from paganism were thus left with little external support in the midst of persecution Paul’s purpose in writing this letter was to praise the new converts for their perseverance and to encourage them in their trials, to give instruction concerning godly living and to give assurance concerning the future of believers who die before Christ returns.
He wrote it with Silas and Timothy, 2 faithful companions in his missionary ventures.
With that little bit of background, let’s get into the book of 1st 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.
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.
In some of his letters in the New Testament, after a brief introduction, Paul spends a lot of time correcting the churches that he had planted. He had strong words for the church in Galatia and for the church in Corinth, for example.
He wrote more bluntly to them because they had bigger issues in a sense.
The Galatians struggled early on with false teachers who were attempting to sway the early church there from the gospel of Jesus back to a form of legalism that had no power.
The Corinthians struggled from being so deeply culturally enmeshed in the pagan world of ancient Corinth that they were failing to be transformed in their lifestyle.
They were doing a lot of really gross and disturbing things – in some cases worse than those in the pagan culture around them were doing.
They were deceived, thinking it was fine to carry on with the immorality they lived with before coming to Christ.
And their leaders were being ineffective training the new church to honour God with their minds and bodies - with their whole beings.
But, it was different with the Thessalonians. Even though they faced lots of pressure from the outside world that viewed them as a strange, they lived in a way that brought honour to God.
They were seen as strange. Many in the ancient world, who worshipped statues of false gods, considered the early Christians to be atheists.
That’s because while their gods were viewable as statues, Christians worshipped Jesus, who had returned to heaven.
Because Christians worship God who is a Spirit and God the Son Who has returned to heaven, others considered us atheists. Funny how that is.
So the Thessalonians had a response to the gospel that was very sincere and genuine.
Though facing the very same pressures of others in the early church, they thrived in the midst of those challenges. Paul talks in verse 3 about their:
Work Produced By Faith
Labour Prompted by Love
Endurance Inspired by Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith, hope and love? Does that ring a bell? Actually, faith, hope and love is a triad that is found often in the New Testament.
Galatians 5: 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Colossians 1:4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel
1 Cor 13: 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Work Produced By Faith:
Genuine faith produces action. James “Hallelujah” Davis was the founder of the Yonge Street Mission.
He was a businessman from Florida who would often travel up the East Coast of the United States on business, often stopping in Toronto. This was in the late 1880s and early 1890s.
Anyone want to guess why he was called Hallelujah Davis?
He was a true worshipper of God, and the word of praise to God – Hallelujah – was often on his lips.
He was a man of deep faith. Although he spent a lot of time in a lot of cities on the East Coast, many of which struggled with poverty, he was somehow deeply moved by the particular property that he saw in Toronto.
He thought it was wrong. He thought it was wrong that there was nobody helping the poor people there was nobody helping people who are struggling.
The church at that time what is often not invested in their communities.
It would have been a status symbol to go to church back in those days, so the motivation of those who went to church was more social and cultural than spiritual.
As hallelujah Davis prayed and as he got to know the people here, he decided that he had to put his faith into action.
It was no good having faith alone, if that Faith did not result in change.
Hallelujah Davis was a man who read his Bible. And he most certainly would have been moved by what we find in the book of James, chapter 2:
James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
So while of course we are not saved by our works, we are saved only in completely through faith in the shed blood of Jesus; while we are not saved by works, our faith, as it is genuine, will produce good things.
A healthy plant produces good fruit. It will produce works that bring order to God.
Because Hallelujah Davis took that passage of scripture seriously and understood the whole counsel of the Bible which emphasizes faith in salvation, Hallelujah Davis was moved to share the gospel and to feed and clothe poor.
Very quickly that became the work at the Yonge Street Mission. We are here today because faith produces works that bring glory to God.
Labour Prompted by Love
The word “labour” here means ‘intense labour united with trouble and toil’. Paul was impressed by the way that the faith of the Thessalonians showed itself. It showed itself in good works, for the benefit of others.
The truth is that living a life of blessing toward God and others, while it sounds great and is great, it is not easy.
Pastor Arleen, before she began serving at the mission, ministered to women leaving the sex trade in India. Pastor Arleen, was that easy?
No. of course not. If we are going to make a difference, if we are going to challenge evil, if we are going to lift others up,
if we are going to invest ourselves in people’s lives enough to make a difference, it will be tough, there will be trouble and toil, hard work involved.
But when this effort is prompted by love, when it is rooted in loving God, we can do it because all things rooted in the love of God also possess the power of God.
Who is God calling you to love? That’s a good question to ask. The first answer will always be...who? Those around us! Our neighbours. We’re called to love God and to love our neighbour as ourselves.
That’s where it starts, and for most of us, that will always be our calling.
For some of us, that may entail going elsewhere.
Ben Bowser, who grew up in this congregation, is serving with his wife in Schengen, Guangdong Province in China.
But do you know where Ben first learned to love others? Here at the mission, working with Julie Maclean, serving our youth and children. Volunteering and sometimes working with the mission.
As our faith in Jesus transforms us and produces good work, labour prompted by love, that work will challenge us, it will grow us.
Hebrews 6:10 is encouraging: God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.
Endurance Inspired by Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Endurance means steadfastness, constancy. It is characteristic of a person who is not swerved from their deliberate purpose and their loyalty to faith even the greatest trials and sufferings.
Paul celebrated the fact that the Thessalonians did not back down when they faced struggles. He wanted to reflect back to them something they may not have seen in themselves.
That’s a funny thing humans do. We generally only notice the things we fail at, not the things we do well at.
Paul wanted this young church to know that its steadfastness through hardship was inspiring to others BECAUSE it was inspired by their hope in Jesus.
A modern word for endurance through hardship and struggle is “grit”. Do you know that word? A simple definition is that grit is the power of passion and perseverance.
Let me ask: how’s your grit? As you serve God, as you grow in Christ, as you learn to love others, are you keeping your love for Jesus and your faith in the gospel always in front of you?
In verse 6 Paul says: 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. 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,
“At one time we too served dead idols. We idolized people or money or power or status, whatever it was. We may have come from a different religion or belief system.
“We may have come from no belief system except self-preservation. Our idol may have been alcohol, drugs, gambling, food, sex or some other addiction.
These are dead and can offer nothing but temporary satisfaction. It's when we turn away from them and embrace the living and true God that we find joy and fulfillment.
“And then, we will be an example like the Thessalonians were. They reflected the character of Christ.
And it wasn't superficial, it was genuine; otherwise it wouldn't have lasted. When going through a severe trial you can only fake it for so long before you cave in under the pressure.
“You can only serve for so long before your real motives shine through. You can only fake love so long before your true heart is revealed.
“The Thessalonians were legitimate and it showed. They didn't put on a show; they showed what they were all about. Paul was thankful for their example, which became known everywhere.
They were an inspirational model for other believers. They led by example. How do we lead by example?
“"When Ben Franklin wished to interest the people of Philadelphia in street lighting he didn't try to persuade them by talking about it; instead he hung a beautiful lantern on a long bracket before his own door.
Then he kept the glass brightly polished and lit the wick every evening at the approach of dusk.
“It wasn't long before Franklin's neighbors began placing lights in brackets before their own homes, and soon the entire city awoke to the value of street lighting and took up the matter with interest and enthusiasm."
“Ben could've talked about the lighting and perhaps have been successful in moving people to give it a try.
But he was most convincing when they saw his example themselves and could see his proposal in action.
“Not that we should stop telling others about Jesus and just simply live out our faith. But living out our faith will be the most persuasive thing we can do to bring others to faith in Jesus Christ”
There's an English Proverb that goes, "example is better than precept". The teaching is good but when it's shown along with being spoken it's more impactful and convincing.
Jesus didn't just talk about washing one another's feet, he set the example by doing it himself; he showed his teaching in action-as he did with everything else.
What about us? Do we show Jesus to others? William Barclay said, "A saint is someone whose life makes it easier to believe in God."
A boy was consistently coming home late from school. His father told him, "if you come home late again, you'll be punished".
The next day he came home late. He went past his mother, who said nothing and then he saw his father, who said nothing.
That night at dinner, the boy sat down to a piece of bread and a glass of water. He looked at the plates of his parents and they were full of meat and potatoes.
He knew this was his punishment and he felt terrible. The father waited for the full impact to sink in.
“Then, he took the boy's plate and exchanged it with his own. That made a lifelong impact on the boy.
He said, "All my life I've known what God is like by what my Father did that night." He saw his father take his punishment upon himself giving him glimpse of what Jesus did for him.
Thanks to Pastor Derrick Tuper for the above comments (https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/setting-a-good-example-part-four-derrick-tuper-sermon-on-examples-of-faith-235051?page=4&wc=800)
And our passage today points to the big reason behind Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians.
10 “...to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath”.
Paul was profoundly encouraged by the Thessalonians. After he planted the church with Silas and Timothy, he left it to continue planting churches elsewhere.
He sought news about how they were doing as a young church, a young gathering of believers, and he received the report from Silas and Timothy, and he was greatly encouraged.
And even as he praised the Thessalonians for doing so well, he wanted them to remember the big picture. That big picture was that Jesus was going to return.
Jesus, the Saviour of the world, the one who had saved them from their sins; the one who inspired them to live so very differently; the one they served with all their heart and soul - this same Jesus was going to return.
How about you? As you grow in Jesus, as your life bears fruit in the form of actions of blessing toward others, as you work, sometimes with toil and hardship for the blessing of others, are you remembering the hope you have?
Are you remembering that Jesus will return one day? Jesus could literally return any moment. Have you ever wondered why He hasn’t returned yet?
Jesus hasn’t yet returned because God wants to give everyone an opportunity to know about Christ and turn to Him in repentance and faith.
The Bible says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise (that Christ will return)…. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
Be encouraged! Your hope is alive because Jesus is alive! May we live with the hope of encountering Jesus front and centre in our hearts.
May we live so as to bring blessing to others. May we be quick to share the hope we have in Jesus Christ, and may we be bold to believe and bold to love. In Jesus name, amen.
