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You don’t need me to tell you that life in church can be pretty messy. Like our natural families, life in the family of God, the church, sometimes gets complicated. Relationships can be tricky, decisions can be divisive, circumstances can be challenging. It’s like that in basically every church, everywhere. But not in the little church in Thessalonica that Paul writes to in this letter. Things are just brilliant in this church. Why? Because it had only been going for a couple of months! This letter is written to a brand-new church, made up of people who had just become Christians where things have started really well!
As we saw last week in Acts 17, Paul has just made a high-impact three week visit to this Macedonian city. Some Jews, lots of former idol-worshipping Gentiles including some prominent business women have become Christians. It caused quite a splash in the community. In fact, things in Thessalonica were a bit tense. All the action in the New Testament takes place in the Roman Empire. And in Greek cities like Thessalonica, here’s how that worked. If you weren’t any trouble to the Romans, they basically left you alone to enjoy all the economic privileges and peace of the Empire. But if you were a nuisance? They came in hard and made life miserable for everyone. The same basic principle applied to the Jewish population of Thessalonica – if they didn’t annoy the other citizens, they let them get on quietly with being Jewish. But then Paul arrived and started preaching in the synagogue, and it all kicked off!
Paul preached, and all heaven broke loose! God started bringing people to new life through the gospel. First some Jews became Christians, and then a load of Greeks. This took everyone by surprise – it was shocking, disruptive! And lots of people said, ‘this has got to stop!’ The Jews organize a mob to try to put an end to the uproar. This causes mayhem, and the city authorities jump in to restore order before word got back to Rome. They throw Paul and his friends in jail, at least until the new Christians came up with money for a bail-bond. The Jews won’t let up, and chase Paul to Berea, and then hound him until he flees to Athens. It’s all very dramatic. And it’s when Paul gets to Athens, perhaps a month or two later, he sits down, takes a breath and writes this letter to the newborn church in Thessalonica.
Now just think about this for a second. Imagine we’re part of this brand-new church. Back in June, we heard a guy called Paul speak. He was only around for three or four weeks, but lots of us weren’t even around for all of that. We heard him explain the message of Jesus once or twice, and were persuaded to trust Christ. Then we had a couple of hours with Paul sketching out the basics, and then he was gone! Suddenly we’re on our own…
And when I say on our own, I mean it. No-one in church has been a Christian for more than a few weeks. We don’t have the New Testament because none of it has been written yet. There are no Christian books. We probably don’t even have a copy of the Old Testament, because copies were pretty expensive, and those folks back in the synagogue were hardly going to say ‘Oh – take our scrolls with you why don’t you!‘ All we’ve got is what Paul said and what those of us who were Jews knew of the Old Testament. Paul had quickly explained that the Spirit has moved into our lives, and that God won’t let us go, and will provide for us… . But even so – we’re feeling a bit vulnerable. Which is why Paul sits down and writes a warm, passionate and straightforward letter.
Paul is so excited about what God had done in them and deeply grateful to the new church for literally bailing him out. But he is worried about them. He had so little time with them. Sure, he’d given then a crash course in Christianity 101, but there was so much he just didn’t get to say! So he writes to these brand-new Christians to walk them through the basics of living for Jesus Christ in a challenging world. And beautifully, he starts in chapter 1 by doing everything he possibly can simply to encourage them. To strengthen them, spur them on, reassure them. So come with me this morning and slide into this warm bath of a chapter as Paul gives the Thessalonians and us at least 7 reasons to be encouraged.
When Paul sits down to write this letter (presumably with Silas and Timothy in the room with him) he addresses it to the ‘church’ of the Thessalonians who are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Church is the word routinely used in the Greek OT of God’s people Israel. Now their little group in this Macedonian city is part of the unfolding, sweeping plan of God to gather one people across time and space to bring glory to Jesus – Paul thanks God that the church in Thessalonica is part of God’s new Israel, that they have been caught up in his new covenant plans. And Paul thanks God that they are ‘in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ‘.
It would be really easy to skip over that phrase, but I want you to see how important it is. Paul says we are ‘in’ God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He uses this ‘in’ language to make sure that we get the fact that our relationship with our God, Father, Son and Spirit is as close as it possibly could be. Paul wants us to see that Jesus comes so that we can share in HIS relationship with the Father and the Spirit. Jesus becomes one of us, lives a flawless life for us, dies in our place, rises for us, pours out his Spirit on us, so that we can know the Father like him! As we trust Jesus (in the strength he gives us) he moves into our lives through the Spirit, and we are brought to real life, eternal life as we somehow share in the life of the Trinity. Or as Paul says we are ‘in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’! He then adds Grace and peace to you. It’s astonishing. God has shown them (and us) his grace – his undeserved kindness to bring us into relationship with him so that we can enjoy the peace – the relational security and satisfaction which is to be found with the Father through union with Christ.
Just let that sink in for a moment. Take a look around you for a second – the people we are looking at are people who like us have been brought to life and included and bound up in the stunning God of the universe. We are people who are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. People who have received his kindness and so get to relax into his peace. That’s the foundation of everything else Paul says to them and about them in this letter, and is the first reason Paul gives them to be encouraged. And the second?
Look with me at how verse 2 begins – We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. Please notice that this is not Paul thanking them – nor is this is actually a prayer – it’s Paul telling them that he thanks God for them, and he prays. We’ll come to why Paul thanks God for them in a minute, because that actually fills most of the chapter. But before that, we need to get the fact that Paul makes a point of telling them that he’s praying for them. Why? Because he wants them to be encouraged.
It’s easy to read this verse and say “Oh – Paul prays all the time – I really should pray all the time too“. And it would be great to pray more, but it’s not why Paul says this! He doesn’t want the Thessalonians to face their prayerlessness – he tells them this so that these precious new believers would be encouraged by knowing that he, along with Silas and Timothy, regularly sit down and thank God for what he’s been doing in them and for them and through them.
There are few things more encouraging that knowing that other people are praying for us. Being asked ‘How can I pray for you this week?’ is a beautiful thing. Being asked ‘How did that go? We were praying for you‘ is an even more beautiful thing. Last Wednesday night I was stuck in a meeting which ran way over time, making a significant decision about an appointment at QTC. At 8.55 I realised I wasn’t going to make growth group. I quickly texted our leader explaining, and got one straight back saying ‘how can we pray?’, so I told them, and they did. Simple, natural and deeply encouraging.
Thanking God for other people and telling them; asking each other how we can pray and then doing it – this is the bedrock of encouraging one another as we live for the Lord Jesus in our challenging world. This is how it should be for all of us in the church of the Lord Jesus. And it’s actually our shared responsibility to make sure that this is how it is for every single person in our church family – so that every one of us can be confident that other people thank God for us – with all our quirks and flaws – and are praying for us. That’s the second reason to be encouraged. And the third? Paul says…
Now I know that at the end of the day, we are to live before an audience of one, and there is only one Master who can say ‘well done good and faithful servant”-the whole Bible makes it clear that pleasing the Lord Jesus and his Father are ultimately all that matters. He gives us the energy we need and we do what we do for him. But gee it’s encouraging when someone notices the effort we put in, isn’t it? So Paul writes We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
A few weekends ago, Fiona was speaking at a women’s event in New Zealand, and, admittedly after many hints and pleas, I cleaned out the tall larder cupboard beside our fridge. I made a marvelous job of it, if I say it myself. When I picked Fiona up at the airport, I was very restrained and didn’t announce it when she got into the car. Or even as soon as she set foot in the house. But I confess, I was bursting for her to notice, and may even have casually and randomly opened the cupboard door for her to see… I wasn’t expecting a song and dance, or a medal – I just wanted Fiona to notice – and she did, and said a heartfelt thanks, and we moved happily on with life. Being noticed matters.
And whether we admit it or not, life in church is like that too. It’s made so much easier when people notice. We don’t need trumpets, but sometimes we do need someone to see, to reassure it that we’re not wasting our time. And when they don’t, it can very quickly run to resentment. And so Paul tells the Thessalonians, that he notices: in particular, he says I can see your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
They work and labour and keep going. Why? Their work, labour, and endurance all ultimately flow from Christ, the one they trust, the one whose love moves them and the one who holds out a future hope which enables them to keep going. The Thessalonians have got the fact that the Christian life is all about trusting Jesus, loving Jesus and looking forward to being with Jesus. He is the one who enables us to live for him, and that really is a beautiful thing. But that’s not actually where the focus is here. Unusually for Paul, the emphasis is actually on their hard work – their work, their labour, their endurance. commitment. He notices and says, “I know you’ve been doing hard yards with God’s help, and I thank God for it.” And even that must have been so encouraging.
Work. Labour. Endurance. Dependability. Consistency. Hanging in there. Showing up every week. None of it is all that glamorous. None of it necessarily attracts a lot of attention. But the apostle Paul values it and deliberately encourages this kind of understated commitment. And it so encouraging when people notice the normal stuff we do – from just showing up, to bringing the sign in from the road, to sitting at the sound desk , to looking out for newcomers, to sitting on the bench with people who just need a listening ear? We don’t do it for them, and we know that God notices, but how kind is he to give us people to cheer us on along the way too. Which brings us to reason number 4 to be encouraged, which really is next level… .
That’s exactly what Paul says in verse 4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you. Just sit with that for a moment. Ultimately, Paul thanks God for these new Christians, because it is God himself who has broken into their lives and shown them the truth and brought them to life in Christ. But even more basic than any of that, God has chosen them. God loves them.
I don’t think there is any more astonishing reality than this. No matter how long we have been following Jesus, I don’t think this gets any less astounding or any less encouraging. As human beings, there is no more affirming experience than being known, being seen for who we really are, with all our quirks and flaws and weaknesses, and then being loved. But if that’s what we long for at a human level, that the way in which God treats us is off the scale. The God of the cosmos, the God who made us, the God who knows us and sees us like no-one else ever will, looks us in the eye and says ‘I love you. I choose you. I am taking you to be my very own.’
For Paul, this glorious reality, that the sovereign God has picked you and me, is what means all of life can be lived in a key of thankfulness. Whatever we’re facing , wherever we are, if we belong to Christ, then we can take encouragement in this – our God says that we are his, and he never mis-speaks, and he never ever lets go. Isn’t that encouraging?
When I first became a Christian, I struggled with this. In fact, to my embarrassment, when I was a teenager, I used to argue passionately with my friend’s Dad, our next-door neighbour, that I had definitely contributed a significant amount to my salvation. But eventually, God graciously showed me how wrong I was and allowed me to start to bask in the incredible, counter-intuitive, fact that the God of the universe has chosen me. Freely. Without there being any benefit to him. Without there being any positive reason for him to do it. He has chosen us out of sheer sovereign generosity. This is sometimes called the doctrine of predestination. And although it’s impossible to fathom, don’t let that stop you from allowing this truth to set you free. This is of the most heart-warming. motivating, empowering, encouraging truths contained in the whole Bible. But Paul isn’t finished yet. Here’s reason number 5 to be encouraged.
Paul thanks God the way in which the message of the gospel impacted them, verse 5 , because our gospel came to you not only with words, but with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.
Paul preached words, the message of the gospel, which is the tool God uses. Through these words, the Spirit worked powerfully, and it produced deep conviction. It’s so obvious to Paul that God was at work in the church, and he thanks God for that, and reminds the Thessalonians of that for their encouragement – God’s Spirit is powerfully at work through the gospel. But what’s so good about this is that it isn’t just a Thessalonian thing… this is just what God does in his church!
You know we have every right to expect this to be a regular thing here at MPC as the message of the gospel is unpacked and proclaimed and held out every week. When that happens, God’s Spirit works powerfully, gradually, relentlessly producing a real, solid conviction, a confidence which isn’t just wishful thinking but is built on the very words of God himself. This Spirit-produced, gospel-shaped conviction puts Jesus Christ at the centre of everything, the ruler of the cosmos, the judge of all, and the one who saves us by faith. This Spirit-produced, gospel-shaped conviction drives us to share this peerless message with our families and our friends and our communities and our workmates. This energising process is normal in the church, and we have every right and every reason to expect this conviction, even this passion to be the tone of our family life together. And when it is, it’s so encouraging to be a part of.
I do wonder if, right now, that is one of the stand-out features of MPC? Can we say that we are encouraged because God’s Spirit is powerfully at work in us, producing deep conviction? Perhaps that’s something that we should pray specifically for, knowing that our God is poised to do this for us.
I have an old commentary on Thessalonians written by a young Scottish Presbyterian minister at the start of the 20th century – listen to what he says about this: ‘In the church of today emotion needs rather to be stimulated rather than repressed. The passion of the New Testament startles us when we chance to feel it. For every person among us who is using up the powers of his brain in broken ecstasies, there are thousands who have never been moved by Christ’s love to a single tear or a single heartthrob. They must learn to love before they can labour.’ Perhaps we need God to encourage us by working among us through the word in power, by the Spirit, producing this deep conviction
So Paul says be encouraged that you’ve been swept up into the life of God, that we thank God for you and are praying for you, that we know the effort you’ve been putting in, that you are loved and chosen by God, and that God’s Spirit is working in you by his power to produce a deep conviction. Five down, two to go
In the middle of verse 5, Paul goes back to his visit to the city in Acts 17. And what he says is fascinating : You know how we lived among you for your sake. 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. How did Paul live among them? Mostly by keeping trusting Jesus with a Spirit-given smile on his face as he was being attacked and run out of town!
The pattern is quite simple – Jesus went through suffering joyfully for us. Paul followed in his steps, obeying and proclaiming the word of Christ joyfully through suffering. Now the Thessalonians are doing the same thing. They are following Jesus joyfully through the trauma of making a clean break with idolatry in a city with 25 separate Temples, rocking the social fabric to the core. Now they are a great example to believers all over Greece by taking suffering for the gospel in their stride as they continued to delight in Jesus. Paul is so thankful to God that he has enabled these young Christians to do this – and encourages them by pointing out what God is doing in and through them.
It is one of the utterly unique things about our God that he helps us to suffer well. The NT underlines that over and over again –
Romans 5:3 … we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance…
Phil 2:17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me…
Jas 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds…
1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed…
We could keep going, but you get the point. It isn’t simply that suffering is absolutely normal and to be expected for Christians – it’s that we can take encouragement from the fact that whatever comes our way, God is absolutely committed to helping us to suffer with joy because we are being made like Christ and he suffered with joy. As CS Lewis said in his book Mere Christianity, God is in the business of making us little Christs who aren’t whingers, but who are learning what it means to suffer with joy.
Whatever happens this week, however we suffer, our God promises to guard and protect and grow our joy in him. He guarantees it. This week I am having cataract surgery on both eyes. I know, I am far too young for that, but it’s because of an old football injury. I don’t know about suffering, but there is at least some minor discomfort ahead of me. Naturally, when it comes to pain, I am a bit of a whinger. But the great news is that God is committed to enabling me to suffer with joy. You can ask Fiona next week how that went. So be encouraged – God is committed to enabling us to suffer with joy. Which brings us at last to the seventh reason…
In verse 8, Paul says something very surprising: The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia-your faith in God (probably referring to their conversion) has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it. Why didn’t Paul need to say anything about it? Because they had already told their story to anyone who would listen and so word of the huge turnaround in their lives had already spread far and wide, even beyond their own province and even beyond the rest of Greece.
News of events in Thessalonica had basically gone viral – they welcomed Paul, and more than that, embraced the gospel: 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, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. Isn’t that a great description of what it means to live a gospel shaped life? They turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus rescues us from the coming wrath.
There are some things that get you noticed. In North Brisbane, it might be replacing your fence, or repainting your house/ If you wanted to get noticed in Thessalonica, then opt out of all idolatry! Turning from idols to serve the living and the true God, with the massive disruption to every part of your life – the way you did business, and where you ate out, and who you hung out with, and how you related to the city council – that packed a real punch. But that’s exactly what they had done. And they made no secret of the fact that they had done it because of Jesus, the one who has defeated death and who will rescue us from the wrath of God which we deserve to face because of our rebellion against him.
I would be very surprised if many people in Mitchelton, and McDowall, and Everton Park, and Ashgrove will give a moment’s thought to the coming wrath this week. I think there are two reasons for that. I think most of us in Brisbane like to pretend we’re going to live forever, and I think we either don’t know that God is rightly angry at our rebellion against him or choose to block it out. Either way, people need to know. And how does God get that message out? Through his people. The Thessalonians had got that, and God was using their words and their actions to spread the good news of the kingdom. And we need to get that too.
We need to face the fact that we are mortal. I turned 58 a couple of weeks ago. I have somehow moved unnoticed from the age where my death would be a tragedy – ‘Oh – he was taken so young’, to raised eyebrow country – ‘he was only 58’. But that too will soon fade, as I creep towards the current life expectancy for an adult white male. I am mortal. And whether you are years behind me, or years ahead of me, sorry to break it to you, but so are you. We all walk the same road. It can only lead to death – and to the terrible reality of coming face to face with the personal anger of the God who has been rejected every one of us who has ever emerged from a womb. We can’t avoid this awful confrontation any more that we can avoid death. But praise God that Jesus rescues us from this coming wrath. We are mortal. We are exposed. But Jesus rescues us. We need to embrace this. People need to hear this. And God uses us to tell them.
This church in Thessalonica may not have had much teaching, they may have been under pressure, but God was working through them to get the good news of Jesus out to the world. And brothers and sisters, this is how God is determined to work through us. God works through us the church, to bring people to know the Lord Jesus. Why wouldn’t we fall into step with him and throw ourselves into reaching our community, our city and our world for Christ, as this soaring little passage encourages us to do?
Paul piles up all these 7 reasons for them to be encouraged because of all that our great God, Father, Son and Spirit, is doing in and through them by the gospel. Let’s ask him this morning to encourage us, that we might take hold of, and rest in, and proclaim and live this message, for the glory of Jesus. And the sake of those who have not yet grasped the power and beauty and reality and awesomeness of the living and true God, nor of the wrath to come, so that they might turn from idols to know and serve and delight in him. Amen.
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