1 Thessalonians 1--The Thessalonians' Faith and Example

1 Thessalonians 1
English Standard Version

Greeting
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace.

The Thessalonians' Faith and Example
​2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 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, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 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, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

---

It's been a while since we've been in the New Testament, but that's because we covered such a large percentage of the New Testament already that I wanted to spend some time covering a major part of the Old Testament before returning here to the books of 1 & 2 Thessalonians.

For some context on the church in Thessalonica, go back and look at Acts 17 (and they are also mentioned briefly in Acts 27).  It was at Thessalonica that there was a riot against Jason (one of the people hosting Paul and Silas) and the accusation was made by the crowd, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus."  The men sought to lay hands on Paul and Silas and their team to kill them, so Paul had to leave quickly and did not get to teach the Thessalonian church everything he wanted to.  It is clear they had some questions for him still and wrote him a letter (or multiple letters) and that he responded with this letter that we know as the book of 1 Thessalonians to answer some of those questions and to give them assurance and hope, but also to establish good doctrine, and, when necessary, to correct error.

The book was written by Paul, but with the assistance of Silas, called Silvanus here, and Timothy, who were with Paul.  Paul, Silas and Timothy all sent their common greetings to the church.  They also made it clear that the Father, Son and Spirit were the original authors of what Paul was going to tell them.  The church gathered in Thessalonica belonged to God and this was His message to them.

​While this letter was specifically to this church in this time, we know that these letters were taken to other churches and read to them as well because they were the words and teachings of one of the apostles, and we still read from these Epistles in our churches today to learn from them, even though we are in a different place and time.  God's will for the Church universal is still revealed through the teachings He gave to the Early Church.

Even though Paul and Silas didn't get to spend much time with the church with the Thessalonians, they were hearing good things about them, and Paul attributed this to the way in which he fervently prayed for them.  This prayer is a great model for us as we pray for our churches and for other churches around the world. "We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."  Paul was thanking God for what he knew that Lord was doing in and through them even before he heard the updates, and then the news he heard was consistent with what he had been praying.

Paul also reminds them that their Election is sure and secure.  God chose them and nothing is going to make Him change His choice.  They, of all people, should be convinced of the truth of the gospel and its power to save because they saw the signs and wonders that accompanied Paul's message that validated what he was saying.  They also saw the way that Paul and Silas were persecuted and tortured for the sake of the gospel.  Would anyone go through that for a lie?  Certainly, no sane person would, and Paul, Silas, and Timothy were not insane (though Paul will be accused of this by many people of the world who say that the gospel doesn't make sense to them, and that Paul is speaking "crazy talk.")

The Thessalonians became imitators of Paul, Silas, and Timothy so as to say, "We will follow you, as you follow Christ."  While it's not great to follow men who we know are going to stumble and fail from time to time, we should know that as we go out and share the gospel that people will look to us as spiritual parents and babies learn to do things by imitating what their parents do (both good and bad things, but here, we want to focus on the good things they learned by imitation).  Paul says that they are now the ones who have become an example that everyone else in the region and even the surrounding area wants to follow their example.  This is another level now where the follower has become a leader and needs to walk circumspectly so that those who follow him do not stumble and fall along with him.

What is it exactly that people have learned from them both in that region and everywhere else that Paul and Silas go?  First, they were hospitable towards Paul and Silas, even at the risk of their own lives--again, see Acts 17.  Second, they were quick to get rid of all their idols once they learned about the True and Living God.  This is really the reason for the riot in Acts 17 because the people giving up their idols was going to put the idol-makers out of business, and they were upset   They were rich and had a lot of political influence in that city, and they thought they could stage a lynching and get away with it (they didn't).

Now Paul gets to the issue that we will be more fully covered in this book--something he wishes he had been able to teach them in-person before getting run out of town, but it was God's plan for him to teach them through this letter so that we all could benefit from Paul's teachings, even thousands of years later.  They are now patiently waiting the return of Jesus, the Son of God, who will take them to heaven and will set up the New Heaven and the New Earth as a place for them to live with the Father and the Son forever and ever.  In this, we will be delivered from the wrath to come which is meant for those who are not in Christ.  It was one of their big questions, "Are we going to have to go through the end times and experience the wrath of God along with the enemies of God, or will God take us away before He pours out His wrath on the ungodly?"  People today still argue about this, but 1 Thessalonians is one of the main places that people that believe in a pre-Tribulation rapture will point to as their reason for believing that the next thing that we are waiting for is the Rapture of the Church.  Nothing else seems to need to happen prophetically before that can happen (there are things that need to happen before the end of all things, but Jesus could come back for us anytime now).  This means we need to live with expectancy, but we still also need to live on-mission that we are to be in the world, but not of the world.  We are to still be ambassadors and witnesses for Christ, and we are to live our lives and take care of our responsibilities but do so in a way that when Jesus returns, he will say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."