1 Thessalonians 1
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INTRO
INTRO
Good morning, Church!
Welcome back and glad you’re able to join us today AND hello to those online this morning!
We’re gonna continue our series today in 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 1- last week we did an overview of the book.
Before we do I want to throw up our theme verse for this book study.
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let’s keep this passage in the back of our minds each week as we prepare our hearts.
READ 1 Thessalonians 1
PRAY
Wouldn’t it be great to wind back the clock and start 2020 all over again?
I mean, it seems like 2019 ended and 2020 just kinda, slapped us in the face, drug us through the mud and stole our last chocolate chip cookie.
And I like chocolate chip cookies.
But among all the hype, chaos, and confusion there has been stuff happening behind the scenes, some good things and some bad.
Here’s my hypothesis, among all the chaos churches are either losing their identities or reevaluating them.
3 months ago, for most churches, there was forward motion and decent growth happening.
Up until now many churches have closed, been too busy with complying, allowed division to takeover, lost staff or been distracted from their original mission.
Here’s the reality, we’ve fallen in that category from time to time as well, and that’s why I believe 1 Thessalonians is the perfect book for us right now.
Many churches today need to get back to their identity and mission right away or they will be stagnant, irrelevant or swallowed up by worldly patterns.
Right in verse 1 and 2 we discover that what Paul is doing is helping the Thessalonian church be reminded of their identity and mission.
Aside from their earthly circumstances “in God” and “in Christ” was their true identity.
How does a church get off track?
How does it survive and thrive in the midst of social, religious, cultural and political conflicts?
A church is strengthened as they become confident in their identity, live and serve in it.
And Paul’s greeting is what we need to be reminded of today, “grace and peace”.
The Thessalonian church needed grace to endure and they longed for peace to ease conflict.
As Paul shares his testimony with the Corinthian church, and talks about his present sufferings he writes,
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
I will be the first to admit that I have overworked myself when this whole pandemic started and I should’ve slowed down and prayed more.
Read my Bible more.
I should’ve searched the Scriptures and listened to what God was trying to teach me before I went into action mode.
As bad as things are around us I believe the Lord is teaching us that His grace is sufficient for us as believers.
He is telling us that His power is made perfect in our weakness.
And whatever hardships, weaknesses, insults, persecutions or difficulties we face, as believers and as the church, we should boast in Christ and rely on His strength to sanctify us.
You know what is happening today?
Christ is refining and preparing His church.
As Paul writes the words in verse 2 we get a sense that he is of course thankful for his relationship with these people.
We would like to forget some people that we’ve met in our lives, but for those that leave a positive impression, especially Spiritual, we remember them.
I remember when I was about 15 we had a missionary couple stay with our family from Ecuador (I believe), and one night we were sitting in the living room when the man asked me if I knew how to play guitar.
I said, no I have this older guitar but I haven’t learned how to play it.
That night he taught me some about the guitar and 22 years later I am still playing and consider it one of my favorite ways to grow closer to the Lord.
I will always remember Joseph Querfield for taking the time to show me my first couple chords.
We wouldn’t have time to talk about the many people in my life who have made an impact, but there have been many.
For Paul, we can clearly see that the Thessalonians made an impact in his life and I’m sure it was mutual.
Paul, Silas and Timothy constantly prayed for that church.
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Paul wrote those words later in his letter but showed his thankfulness for them throughout.
A big part of getting back to our identity is being thankful to the Lord and the people that He’s put in our lives to shape and form us.
Verse 1 acknowledges where their identity lies.
Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord- The title given to God’s son that He is Lord over all as Paul details later in the book of Colossians.
Jesus- Jesus’ earthly name that was given to Him to signify His humanity.
Christ- The title He received as He fulfilled OT prophecies and rose from the dead.
Forming a solid foundation for an identity goes back to these three names.
We as a church and individual believers acknowledge that:
1) Jesus is Lord over all creation and principality.
2) He lived among us in flesh, died and took the punishment (that we deserved), and made a way for forgiveness from sin, and way back to the father.
3) He is risen and sits at the right hand of the Father, one day coming back for His church.
As Paul gets into verse 3 he begins to get into specifics as to why he’s so thankful.
Have you ever taught someone something and then left them on their own to do the job and the person has done a pretty good job, sometimes doing it better than you??
Well here, Paul remembers the Thessalonians work ethic, their faithfulness to:
Their work produced in faith
READ JOHN 6:25-29
Unlike the confused characters in this passage that were only thinking of physical and earthly sustenance, the Thessalonians understood that they were working for the Lord realizing their eternal perspective, not earthly.
2. He then notes that their love has been driving their work ethic.
May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.
He later encourages the Colossian church in this when he writes in Colossians 3:17,
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
The Thessalonians were known for their faith, love and also,
3. Endurance inspired by hope
Paul doesn’t just say they have endurance or they’ve worked hard and finished their job.
He says their endurance is inspired or fueled by their hope.
He doesn’t quite tell us what that exact hope the Thessalonians are so inspired by, until we get to verse 10.
But in verses 3-9 we gain some good insight into what exactly the Thessalonians have been up to and what they’ve been known for.
In our minds we often think of faith, hope and love as unseen qualities but in Paul’s mind they were physically manifested by these believers in Macedonia.
Over a month ago our family took on what I think was one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever done and I’ve done quite a bit of grueling jobs over the years.
We put up an above ground swimming pool.
If you’ve done it, you know the struggle is real!
Talk about the pastor’s conference in India and ministering to the different people, Moses and Jessie.
Though we spent such a short time there in India it was life changing and I have formed a lifelong friendship with Moses and Jessie.
I know the pastors are being ministered to and the gospel is being preached, because it was before we got there, but I see how hard it was for Paul when he formed such a close relationship with the Thessalonians and then had to leave.
For Paul, he spent a short time teaching and discipling Thessalonians but did not have the privilege to enjoy the fruits of his labor by watching them live out what they’ve been taught.
It was hard for him to just write a letter, he wanted to be there.
When Paul would preach the gospel, he didn’t just preach and move on forgetting about those people, he poured everything he had into them and became an example, he became family to them.
He didn’t just enter people’s towns, synagogues, or homes, he entered their lives and made many friends.
He made some enemies along the way, but among the believers he made many friends.
He writes,
For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 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.
Paul refers to them as brothers and sisters and reminds them that they have been chosen by God to serve.
As churches today reevaluate where they are at and get back on mission, we would do well to remember Paul’s words that we have been chosen by God to serve Him.
As the church we did not create ourselves, we didn’t earn our spot in the kingdom or society- God put us here.
God’s love, purpose and plan for our church and the church at large is His, not our own.
We have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and our identity is hidden in Christ alone, not in this world or anything that try's to define or buy us.
The church cannot be bought, it was already purchased by Christ’s blood, yet often times churches sell out their values and core beliefs to the world’s ideologies.
This shouldn’t happen!
Paul was led to Thessalonica while at Philippi by the Holy Spirit in a vision. (Acts 16:6-10)
It wasn’t his own plan or dream, the Spirit led him there and he acknowledges this in verse 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.
The church today MUST live in its convictions by the Holy Spirit through God’s Word, not by the changing tide of cultural debate or conflict.
The easy way out is to be like the world around us, the hard and narrow road that we are called to travel on is difficult but in the end, the best path.
Have you ever been influenced by someone so much that you began to dress like them?
What do I mean, well have you ever purchased a sports jersey when you were younger and played that sport pretending to be like that person?
Have you ever played an instrument or at-least pretended to and tried to be like the singer in your favorite song?
How about when you were little, did you put on your mom or dad’s clothes or imitate them?
I don’t know what it is but as married couples get older they start to look like each other, what’s up with that?!
We can and will imitate people that we look up to and that is not completely all bad.
For the Thessalonians, they had the privilege to be taught and discipled by Paul, Silas and Timothy.
They learned all they knew about the gospel and living the Christian life from them and they were hungry for it.
The Spirit is moving inside of you if you are being spurred on to live a more spiritual life and fulfilling life, in Christ.
And that’s how it was for them.
Verse 6 says that they were imitators of Paul, Silas and Timothy.
Not only that but when the three left, they continued to live out their faith to the extent of being known not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but everywhere in the circle of believers.
We have been here as a church for almost 140 years and it’s safe to say that most people in the town have heard about our church.
Mainly because people say their grandma was baptized here, or they had a family member get married here once, but over the last decade or so- our reputation has gone out for being a more gospel, Bible centered, multi generational-family church.
Our mission and identity has been shaped by the Lord over they years and will continue to be.
But I would hope that over the next decade (and hopefully before) we work on not only being a gospel and Bible centered church, but known as a church that reaches out to the lost and where people are saved, baptized and launched out into the community in order to make more disciples.
Before Christ ascended to heaven He called His disciples to Go! and make disciples of all nations. (Matthew 28:19)
In Paul’s teaching discipleship involved imitation “following in the footsteps of a worthy example” (1 Thess. 1:6 and 2:14)
In his teaching, believers are to imitate Paul- he says in 1 Cor. 4:16 for the Corinthians to imitate him as a believer, and later in Ephesians 5:1, he said that we all should be imitators of God.
Paul also says that we should be examples of Christ to those around us and that we would do well to imitate the lives of faithful believers around us and those that have gone before us.
And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
The Thessalonians imitated Paul but many around Macedonia and Achaia imitated the believers in the church at Thessalonica.
As Paul makes his way through his thankfulness and reminiscing, he mentions something worth noting in 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,
Paul heard from others that the Thessalonian believers turned from "idols to God”.
This wasn’t just a small piece of evidence that they were turning to God, this is huge.
In that culture if you turned from idols and pagan worship, you did not honor the customs of the day and were often very harshly persecuted or even put to death.
Idols are what holds our attention on sin and away from God.
They come in many packages and the enemy, knows how to tailor and custom fit them to each one of us.
Idols are dangerous distractions that become second nature to us which makes it so much harder to break away from them.
But for the Thessalonians idol worship was a part of their culture and they chose to turn away from them to please God.
What are your idols today that grab our attention?
What is keeping you from your relationship with God?
According to Paul the Thessalonians lived out two purposes in their lives in verse 9:
To serve a living and true God
To wait for His son from heaven
It was these two purposes that Paul spends most of the rest of his letter addressing in greater detail.
But, overall the Thessalonians balanced their faith conversion and repentance from idolatry with their present pursuit of love, and embrace of their future hope of Christ’s return in order yo to save believers from the coming wrath. (Verse 10)
The church at Thessalonica was a lot like our church in some ways:
1. They weren’t rich
2. They were small
3. They didn’t have any famous teachers
4. But they had strong faith and an active love
5. They had abiding hope and were faithful with little
Times are certainly tough right now, but we can not give in, as a church we must continue as the Thessalonians did, to grow in our faith, love through action, and hold on to our future AND present hope that we have as believers in Christ.
So where do we go from here as we continue to pursue our identity in Christ and stay on mission to sharing the gospel and to be a beacon of Christ’s love and hope?
As the family of God we need to continue and be more intentional to love, support, encourage and of course pray for one another and those around us.
We will not always agree on everything, especially right now, but we must agree that we are on the same team and have the same hope.
We must pursue and chose to excel in works of faith, labor in love and persevere in hope.
As believers we should live as and be examples of Christ to nonbelievers.
Our actions and words will show our idols and the condition of our hearts.
They should be life, not death to those around us.
We should share and live out the evidence of God’s power in our lives and strive to be examples of what true change is, through Christ who strengthens us.
Will you pray with me?
Lord, I desire to turn from my idols.
I want your will to be done and turn from my ways, you now best.
Right now the world seems to be going crazy and falling apart but I trust your plan and purpose.
Please use me to be your vessel of faith, hope and love as you did in the Christians at Thessalonica.
Please help me to lead by Christ’s example and to share the gospel with a hurting world, starting with those closest to me.
I pray that you would use me and help me to be more active in my family, workplace and church for your glory and your purpose.
And I pray that those who are blinded by the enemy would come to know you, the true light and hope of this world so that one day when you return for your church they will see you face to face.
In Jesus name, Amen