After finishing up our study of the book of James last week, we are beginning a new study in the first letter to the church at Thessalonica. I felt led to look at this book primarily because of it’s heavy emphasis on eschatology. As we are finishing up our study of Revelation in our bonfire Bible studies on Wednesday nights, I have referred to 1 Thessalonians a number of times. And so I wanted to study this book to get a more in depth look at Paul’s perspective on the second coming of Christ as a parallel to the emphasis that John gave us in Revelation.
But since we don’t do topical preaching here at the Beach Fellowship, we are going to look at the whole letter by way of exposition, and not just the eschatological part. Because it’s important to look at scripture in context, and not just cherry pick texts that would seem to support a particular topic that a pastor might want to deal with.
That being said, let’s first consider the deeper background of this book as a means of putting this letter in it’s rightful context before we get into some of the opening remarks Paul makes. The historical background of this church in Thessalonica is found in Acts 17. In that account, Luke gives the details of how Paul and Silas and Timothy came to the city on Paul’s second missionary journey.
Thessalonica was a large, major city in Greece that had a large port on the Aegean sea. At that time it had a Jewish community which had a synagogue there. As was customary with the apostles, they began their missionary work at the synagogue. Some of the Jews were converted as a result of Paul’s preaching for three consecutive weeks, as well as a larger number of prominent Greeks who had been regular attendees at the synagogue.
The Jews weren’t happy over the fact that Paul and his fellow workers had converted many of the people there, and so they started a riot, and arrested one of the converts, and basically were trying to shut down the spread of Christianity in that city. And so it seemed best for Paul and his fellow workers to leave town. Paul ended up eventually in Corinth which is where he wrote this letter from.
In the time between his visit and his letter, Paul had sent Timothy back to the church, to see how they were doing and to encourage them and strengthen them. Timothy returned to Paul and gave a good report about the church, and perhaps conveyed some concerns and questions that they had, and thus we have the basis for this letter. And by the way, this letter is thought by many scholars to be the first of the Pauline epistles. Though it’s possible that Galatians may be. But in any respect, it’s fairly certain that the date of the letter is around 51AD. So a very early letter to a fledgling church in Greece.
Notice the authors of this letter. Paul, Silvanus and Timothy. Paul of course we know. He is more than likely the actual author inspired by the Holy Spirit. Silvanus or Timothy might have taken dictation from him and did the actual writing. This missionary team was the result of a breakup that Paul had earlier with Barnabas and John Mark. Barnabas went his way with John Mark, and Paul took Silas, who is also known by the Latin version of his name which is Silvanus. And then somewhere along the way Paul took along Timothy, the young apprentice. It’s also apparent from Acts that Luke the physician is part of the group as well.
So as is typical of such letters, it begins by stating who it’s from and then who it’s addressed to. It says, to the church of the Thessalonians. The word church there in the Greek is eklesia. It means a gathering of people called out from their homes to a public assembly. It’s clear from the account in Acts 17 that these are people that have been converted. Paul is addressing the congregation of people who make up a church. It’s not a reference to a building, nor an denomination, nor a particular race, but a people called out of the world by God to be the people of God. Notice he says, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s a witness to their understanding of equal divinity of Christ to the Father.
I believe in this first chapter, Paul reveals several godly characteristics of the church which I think should be an example for us today. This church Paul says in vs 7 that they were an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. They were an exemplary church. We will find out as we go along that doesn’t mean that they were perfect. There were some areas of sin in the lives of some of them that needed to be done away with. But for the most part, I believe we can learn from these characteristics that Paul says they are exemplary in, as a template for what constitutes a godly, healthy church.
The first characteristic that is fundamental to a church is it’s made up of the saved, the converted. These people are the church, a called out, converted assembly of believers. Notice in vs 10 Paul says that they were “turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God.” That’s a characteristic of a person who is saved. They are converted, turned, changed. It’s a change from idol worship to worshipping the true God.
Also notice that Paul says they were called, and chosen. Vs 4, “knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you.” The scripture says that salvation is of the Lord. And if that is true, and of course it is true, then it should not be a surprise that salvation is initiated by the Lord. That is the doctrine of election. God sovereignly chooses people to be saved. That doesn’t mean that you don’t have a choice, that you don’t have to believe, to have faith in Christ, but it means that God has given spiritual sight to your eyes, God has convicted your heart of your need for salvation, and He has loved you with an effectual love, called you to Himself, and He has provided all the means by which you are saved.
Furthermore, a distinction of this church is that they were recipients of God’s grace and peace. In Paul’s greeting in vs 1 he says, “Grace to you and peace.” Notice that peace comes after grace. God reaches out to us in grace, that we might have peace with God. We who were formerly enemies have been brought near to God, have been given peace with God, which results in the peace of God which guards our hearts and minds. Many people seek the peace of God as a antidote for tribulation. But you will never have the peace of God until you make peace with God, and you cannot have peace with God until you have known the grace of God which is the atonement provided through Jesus Christ on your behalf.
For those who are converted, who are the living church of God, Paul gives thanks in vs 2. “We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention [of you] in our prayers.” Notice Paul gives thanks for all of them. That’s a pretty special pastor who is able to do that. It’s easy to give thanks for those who are strong in the faith, who are pillars of the church, who are faithful and true. It’s another thing to give thanks for everyone else. But that is the ministry of the pastor, to pray constantly for the church. Prayer must always be accompanied by thankfulness. We can be thankful that they have believed unto salvation. We can be thankful that they have been delivered from captivity to the dominion of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of Jesus Christ. They may not be the most faithful of His servants, but they belong to Christ, and we should be thankful for that.
When the apostles sought to establish deacons in the first church in Jerusalem, they said as for themselves, they would devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. If you take that literally, then half of the pastor’s job description is being devoted to prayer. That’s a pretty convicting statement for me to consider.
Paul continues on that subject of praying for the church in vs 3, “constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father.” In this verse we find three other characteristics of a godly church. Faith, love and hope. These attributes are common to all believers. They should be common for all churches.
Paul gives thanks for their work of faith. This reminds us of what we learned in our study of James. Faith without works is dead. I don’t think that Paul is talking about their faith so much as he is the works that come as a result of faith. Saving faith produces action. It’s not just an intellectual assent to the truth, but deeds that are in keeping with a new nature, a new heart, a desire to serve the Lord. It’s a new way of living, working for the kingdom of God.
Paul said in Eph. 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” The faith of the church in Thessalonica produced good works, a work of faith.
Then he is thankful for their labor of love. Once again, Paul takes a concept that implies on it’s own a feeling, an attraction, and puts work to it. It’s a labor of love. It doesn’t mean that you don’t have feelings about the church, about the Lord, but it means that you realize that you aren’t going to always feel like doing it. I think of my mother who loved her family, and worked very hard to keep us fed and clothed and clean, day after day, year after year. She didn’t always feel like it. She might not have always acted all lovey dovey. But she did what she did because she loved us. And if the truth is known, particularly my brother and I made her life miserable more often than not. But she still did her best for us, whether we always deserved it or not. That’s a labor of love. When we love one another in the church, it’s not always going to be because we feel like it, or because they deserve it. But because Christ loved us when we were sinners. So sacrificial love that worked was another characteristic of the church.
And then Paul is thankful for their steadfastness of hope. The word hope on it’s own has a transitory sense to it, doesn’t it? Hope rises and falls quickly sometimes. But Paul is thankful for their steadfastness of hope. That means that their hope doesn’t waver from day to day. Their hope doesn’t wane when things don’t happen when they wanted it to happen.
What is that hope, by the way? What are they supposed to be hoping for? I’ll tell you what it is in Paul’s own words found in Titus 2:13 “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” Hope is speaking of the second coming of Jesus Christ. And as we learned in Revelation, there are a number of corresponding elements that are tied to the second coming of Christ. Not the least of which is the resurrection. Paul is going to speak considerably about the resurrection towards the end of this letter, but for now he is alluding to it, by the phrase steadfastness of hope.
Peter speaks of this hope in the resurrection as a living hope, in 1Peter 1:3-5 saying, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to [obtain] an inheritance [which is] imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” So hope is not a nebulous, ethereal kind of wish, but a firm expectation of something that has not yet been realized, but which you firmly expect to happen.
Listen, our hope is rooted in the second coming of Jesus Christ. Our hope is not found in the things of this world. Our hope is not in politics, or in science, or in financial freedom, or in finding true love. Our hope is in Christ and that hope will be fulfilled when He appears for the second time to claim His church, His bride.
Paul said in 1Cor. 15:19 “If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.” And then he goes on in that passage to talk about the resurrection and the promise of Christ’s return being a certain hope that gives us assurance and takes away fear of death.
The next important characteristic of this godly church is that they are a church that preached the gospel. There are a lot of churches today that have all the outward trappings of a church, they have a building that looks like a church, they have people who claim to belong to the church, but they don’t preach the gospel.
But the church at Thessalonica was a true church because they preached the gospel. Notice three things about the gospel they preached. First it is a gospel that is powerful. Secondly it is a gospel that was imitated by the church. And thirdly it is a gospel that they have proclaimed throughout the region.
First a gospel that is powerful. Paul says in vs 5, “for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.” Paul would say later in Romans what that power of the gospel does. He said, in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” The gospel is powerful unto salvation. It’s not a social gospel which we preach. It’s not a feel good gospel that tells you what you want to hear. It’s not a prosperity gospel that promises you heath, wealth and prosperity. It’s the good news that Jesus Christ the Son of God came to earth to offer Himself as a sacrifice for sinners, as their substitute to satisfy the wrath of God, so that they might be saved from eternal death, and by His power be given new life, even everlasting life. That is the gospel. Paul preached it, and the apostles lived it.He says you know what manner of men we proved to be. That means they lived what they preached.
And then notice Paul says the church imitated them. “You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit.” Listen, that’s discipleship. It’s living in such a way that you can say, imitate me. Because I am imitating the Lord Jesus. And so we imitate Jesus. That is growing in faith. That’s spiritual maturity. LIke the child that walks in his father’s footsteps imitates his father and grows up to become like his father. So we imitate Jesus Christ and we grow up to be like Jesus. Peter speaking about imitation, 1Peter 2:21 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.”
And Paul says that this church in Thessalonica also suffered tribulation as a result of the gospel. A hallmark of genuine Christianity is tribulation. The world is not going to love you. You will be persecuted for the sake of the gospel. In the case of this church, persecution more than likely came from the resident Jewish community who were angry that the church was making converts from among them. If you never proclaim the gospel to anyone, then you probably won’t face persecution. But the world finds the gospel offensive, and so if you proclaim it, then you should expect them to attack you and try to shut you down.
But the result of their imitation of Christ and their suffering was an example to other Christians throughout the region. Paul says in vs 7 “so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.” Listen, the most effective sermon you will ever preach is not necessarily one that is heard, but that is seen. How you live out the gospel, how your life reveals that it is different, it’s changed, is the best testimony to the power of the gospel. A life that doesn’t look any different than what it was before salvation is likely not saved at all.
So the church was a living testimony to the power of the gospel. They lived what they believed. That’s the work of faith, to live in a manner in keeping with what you profess. But not only did they imitate Jesus Christ, and live as an example of Christ followers, they also acted in love to bring the gospel to the world around them. They were evangelistic. Having been the beneficiary of missionaries, they became missionaries. Notice Paul commends them in vs 8 “For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything.”
They took the great commission seriously. But I also love the way Paul puts it. He says the word of the Lord sounded forth from you. They preached the word. Not a social gospel. They weren’t solely focused on doing good deeds for neighboring communities without presenting the gospel to them. A lot of churches are all about having soup kitchens but delinquent in preaching the word of God. They are professionals at producing Christian entertainment, but absent when it comes to presenting the cross of Christ. Once again, as Paul said, we should not be ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first and also the Greek. The word of God which is able to save souls must be the priority of the church’s ministry.
And the testimony of those people in foreign lands that had heard their gospel, who had received their message, got back to Paul and Silas and Timothy. And that report was that those people in Thessalonica really been changed. It was evident that they were truly saved, truly living out the gospel. And the contrast between their old ways of worshipping idols, and the way that they now lived as ambassadors of the gospel was evidence of their conversion. Once again, an essential characteristic of the church is that they are changed, converted. They turned from idol worship to serving God. A dramatic change that was evident to a watching world.
Listen, your life should be a living billboard to the power of the gospel to convert, to change. Unfortunately, the only thing a lot of neighbors see different about most people who claim to be Christians is that they go to church occasionally. Their life isn’t much different otherwise. I’m not suggesting that we be different just to be different. To be weird, so that we cut our hair differently, or wear clothing that is different from the rest of the world. Not those type of external things, but a change inwardly will be evident on the outside by what you do, what you say, and how you live.
Finally, as I mentioned earlier, the last characteristic of a godly church is that they have a living hope, looking for and hastening the day of the Lord, when Christ will return for His bride. Paul said about the Thessalonians in vs 10 that they were waiting “for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, [that is] Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.” When we have an expectancy of Christ’s return, then we will live differently. When we are looking forward to the life to come then we will not be enamored with the lusts of this world. When we are looking forward to Christ return, then we will be working that we might be found faithful when He comes.
And also notice in the gospel that produces hope, there is a warning of judgment. The gospel that is preached that does not include the wrath of God against sin is not the full gospel. The gospel that doesn’t warn that when Christ returns He will come in judgment is not the full gospel. The word of God that doesn’t preach about sin is not the full gospel. But the good news is God has offered Jesus Christ as the atonement for our sin, that we might escape the wrath of God. And that is our blessed hope by which we look forward to the day when Christ will come again to claim His church and to live with us forever.
As the apostle John said, 1John 2:28 “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.” Let us be found faithful when He comes. Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.
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