1 Thessalonians - 2 Thessalonians

The B-I-B-L-E • Sermon • Submitted 3 months ago • Presented 3 months ago

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Paul wrote this letter to encourage new believers in their faith, to exhort them to godly living, to give them assurance about the eternal state of believers who had died, and to defend the integrity of his ministry as an apostle. Thessalonica (present-day Thessaloniki, Greece) was the capital of Roman Macedonia. It was on important trade routes. Paul, twice identified as the author (1:1; 2:18), visited Thessalonica on his second missionary journey but was forced to flee because of Jewish opposition. He sent Timothy to work with the largely Gentile church there, and Timothy brought him good news of their faith (3:6). This is one of Paul’s first letters, probably written about A.D. 50–51.

A healthy church is:

1 Thessalonians 1:3 “remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Faithful

Laboring in Love

Steadfast in the Hope we have

Studies the Word 1 Thessalonians 1:6 “And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,”

Endures through tribulation

Lives in joy

Rejects the Old Man 1 Thessalonians 1:9 “For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,”

Watches for the return of the King 1 Thessalonians 1:10 “and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”

Sets an example for other believers and churches 1 Thessalonians 1:7 “so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.”

English Standard Version Introduction

This letter from the apostle Paul was probably written shortly after his first letter to the church in Thessalonica. He had been boasting of them to other churches, telling of their faith and their love for each other in the face of persecution. Paul reminded them that God will repay their persecutors. He also addressed two recurring problems in this church. First, they were concerned that the Lord had already returned. Paul urged them not to become “shaken in mind or alarmed,” fearing that “the day of the Lord” (2:2) had already come. Second, he admonished them not to be idle, commanding them that, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” (3:10).

A healthy church can still fall prey to:

Fear 2 Thessalonians 2:2 “not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.”

Idleness

2 Thessalonians 3:10 “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”

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