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Paul’s Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians’ Faith

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Key Verse 1:3 “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.

1 Thessalonians is the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the believers in the Thessalonian church. Paul wrote this letter around AD 50, while he was staying in Corinth during his second missionary journey, in order to encourage the new believers in Thessalonica. Paul and his companions, Silas, and Timothy, left Philippi escaping persecutions, and arrived in Thessalonica, the largest city in Macedonia, located around 100 miles southwest from Philippi. Paul and his companions stayed in Thessalonica for around three weeks and preached the gospel in a Jewish synagogue. There was a great work of the Holy Spirit in Thessalonica. According to Acts 17:1-9, some Jews, a large number of God-fearing Greeks, and quite a few prominent women accepted the gospel and joined Paul (Ac 17:4). All these people laid a foundation for the Thessalonian church.

Paul had deep compassion and affection for these people. So he sent Timothy to Thessalonica in order to see how they were doing. Timothy brought back a very encouraging report about their faith. Paul was so thankful for their faith and wrote this letter to encourage them to continue to keep their faith and stand on the truth of God. In chapter 1 we learn about Paul’s thankful topics for their faith. We also learn what kind of faith the Thessalonians had. In another word we learn the characteristic of their faith. The spiritual situation with which the church people were confronted was not much different from ours. These days our faith is challenged as theirs was. Our Christian life is threatened as theirs was. May God give us wisdom and faith through this passage so that we can overcome these challenges.

Paul was so thankful when he remembered their faith. How did Paul describe their faith? He said in verse 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.” First, work produced by faith. Paul stayed in Thessalonica for only three weeks. It was not easy for the Thessalonians to accept Paul’s message about the gospel. According to Acts 17:2,3 Paul went into a synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. Paul said, “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Co 1:18) From human point of view believing the gospel is foolish. Christianity is to believe a condemned Jewish criminal who were executed by the Roman law. Nothing about this seemed to be attractive, honorable, and reasonable to the intellect. The story of his resurrection seemed to be more unrealistic. How could the dead rise again? In human history there had been no one who had risen from the dead. Greece is the birthplace of philosophy and logic. To these Greeks the message of the cross could have been unreasonable and ill-logical. Still, the Thessalonians believed the gospel message. Paul said in verse 5, “because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.” We believe that the Holy Spirit worked mightily in transforming the Thessalonians.

What happened to them after they had accepted the gospel message? They turned to God from idols and served the living and true God. Look at verse 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,…” There were 12 gods in Greek mythology, starting with Zeus, the king of the Greek gods, Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love, Apollo, the god of art and music, Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and childbirth, and so on. They believed in these gods, built temples to them, and worshiped them. But when they heard the message of the gospel through Paul, they believed in the living and true God. They turned from these mythological gods to the living and true God, who created the heavens and the earth, and raised Jesus from the dead. When they came to believe, they put their faith into action right away. Paul was thankful for their work produced by their faith.

God hates idol worship. God does not like his people, who were created in his own image and likeness, to worship stones or the images of animals. We have the living and true God, who loves, cares, heals, restores, saves and judges. He is the First Cause of the whole universe and the Creator of all lives on earth, in heaven and under the sea. He is not a mythological and impersonal god, but the living and personal God. He is worthy of being worshiped, honored, praised, and glorified by all creatures of the world. We are children of this living and true God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of Adam’s Fall men lost paradise and became slaves to sin and Satan. But God restored us to become his children through Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again from the dead. Anyone who is in Christ Jesus has become a new creation because the old has gone and new has come. The Thessalonians heard this message through Paul. They became children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, not slaves of sin, not objects of God’s wrath any more. They began to serve the living and true God.

Today in America people don’t bow down before stones or the images of birds or animals. But they have many idols in their hearts and in their lives. Spiritually speaking, if we love someone or something more than God, they are idols. Timothy Keller spoke about ‘Counterfeits of God’, which are the empty promises of money, sex, power, and about the only hope that matters. He meant that the pursuit of these counterfeits is deceitful desire. People are deceived by these empty promises. In the past the Thessalonians followed these counterfeits of God. But now they turned from them and worshiped the living and true God. Let us pray that we may not be deceived by these idols and turn from them to serve the living and true God. Let us pray for our children and students to turn from idols and serve the living and true God. The theory of evolution is one of many theories. Science classes teach students about the origin of life based on the theory of evolution. This theory is not the truth. Even though school teaches us the theory of evolution, we must believe in God’s creation and serve him only. One of the German philosophers said that God is dead. But this philosopher is dead, and God is alive. Our God is living and working even this moment by loving, caring, healing, and saving this world.

Second, labor prompted by love. When Paul was in Thessalonica, he was attacked by angry and jealous Jews. 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. But they did not find Paul and Silas because Jason and the believers hid Paul and Silas in a secret place. As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to another city, Berea. (Ac 17:10) To the Thessalonians, Paul and Silas were the strangers. If they had wanted, they could have reported to the crowd about Paul and Silas. But Jason risked his life in order to protect Paul and Silas. Jason and the Thessalonians saved Paul’s life from the mob. Paul was moved by their genuine love and brotherhood.

How many of us are willing to sacrifice our lives in order to save others? How many of us are willing to suffer in order to protect the vulnerable and the weak in spirit? We live in an individualistic and egoistic society. People don’t care if something is not related to their own business or benefit. They are indifferent and their hearts become as cold as ice. In the past the words ‘sacrifice’ and ‘sympathy’ and ‘forgiveness’ were human virtues. Some people have risked their lives in order to pursue these virtues. Dr. Albert Schweitzer did. Eric Liddle did. American missionary Sarah Barry did. But this individual and relativistic society ignores these virtues and deceives us into becoming selfish and indifferent. But Jason and the Thessalonian believers were different. They risked their lives for Paul and Silas. They deserved to be praised by Paul.

Third, endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 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.” The Thessalonian believers received persecution from their own people when they believed the gospel. According to Acts 17 the angry mob invaded Jason’s house and made false accusations against Paul and the believers, saying, “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” (Ac 17:7) In modern legal terms Jason was accused of ‘hindering prosecution’. Jason even risked his life. But he did not mind of such accusations and persecution. Paul described this, “your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jason and the believers in Thessalonian church endured sufferings because of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul explained this hope in verse 10. Look at verse 10. “…and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--- Jesus, who rescued us from the coming wrath.” They had a hope of Jesus’ second coming (Parousia). They looked forward to seeing Jesus face to face. As you know, there were many Greek gods who deceived people to put their hope in this world. Aphrodite was the goddess of love and romance. Apollo was the god of art and music. Athena was the god of intelligence and knowledge. Dionysus (Bacchus) was the god of wine, parties, and drugs. Areas was the god of war, bloodshed, and violence, and so on. But the Thessalonians did not put their hope in these gods any more. They put their hope in the living and true God. They put their hope in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for their sins and rose again from the dead for their eternal life. They believed that Jesus would come again to save them, as he had promised. Because of this living hope, they endured suffering and persecutions.

What is your hope? Where do you put your dreams, efforts, time, and money? Many people have little hope or no hope at all. They live only with a hope for today. They hope for a better life, a better job, better education, better living conditions, better relationships, and so on. But if they achieve something, and after years go by, they come to realize that these hopes are not true hope. That is because nothing remains and lasts forever, but the objects of their hope change, spoil, perish, and disappear. The Thessalonians realized that there was no true hope in their Stoic and Epicurean lifestyle. They had no satisfaction in their souls with the things of this world. They could not escape God’s divine judgment against their sins. They found that their true hope was not in this perishing world, but in the eternal, true, living God. They discovered that true hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for their sins and rose again from the dead and brought them into God’s eternal kingdom. Because of this living hope in the Lord Jesus, they endured sufferings with joy given in the Holy Spirit.

Some endure suffering from broken relationships. Others suffer from financial difficulties. Still others suffer from the stings of sin. We endure all with joy because of our living hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. We overcome the world because of faith, love, and hope. The Thessalonians imitated Paul and the Lord Jesus Christ. Their life of faith became a role model for other Christians in Macedonia and Achaia. (7) The believers in Macedonia and Achaia imitated the Thessalonians’ faith. In this way the Thessalonian church became a blessing. Today we send Michael’s family to another city. Let us pray for them to be a role model as a Christian family who becomes a blessing to others, especially to students in SIUC. Let us pray for each of us to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ and the life of faith of Paul and of the Thessalonian by turning from idols to serve the living and true God. Amen!

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• Paul's Thanksgiving for Thessa's faith-message-final.docx

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