SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Um begin a new study this morning, and that will be in the book of First Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_00: I hadn't had no intention of going there this year, let alone today.
SPEAKER_00: I think I had even mentioned that we would uh most likely be in Romans 7 after we finished up 1 Samuel.
SPEAKER_00: But one thing I typically do is that I seek God's guidance through the church calendar.
SPEAKER_00: And with Pentecost coming up, kind of abbreviated as it may be for us, I I decided that I wanted to have a sermon on the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And we've already covered Acts this year, and I'm I looked at Romans 7, and that it really was not great for that type of sermon.
SPEAKER_00: And then I didn't really want to start it and then not get back to it for you know however long that's going to be, three weeks or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00: And it just came to my mind for whatever reason to check 1 Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_00: I knew I'd never preached through it.
SPEAKER_00: I preached through 2 Thessalonians, but not first.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I thought, well, I'll just see how the first chapter reads.
SPEAKER_00: And I couldn't remember the slightest how it began.
SPEAKER_00: And if I had been a gambling man, I would have probably bet I'll not find what I'm looking for.
SPEAKER_00: But lo and behold, there are references to the Holy Spirit in verses five and six, which landed great for a second sermon, which that will be for me, and as far as Pentecost.
SPEAKER_00: Because I can definitely get a sermon out of a few verses, especially when we start a book, because I like to give you some background on it.
SPEAKER_00: So there we were, and that's how we got here, and now we're off.
SPEAKER_00: Um I am going to spend a little bit of time on the historical background, so um I don't know that it's as much preaching as it is giving you a little history, but hopefully it'll uh resonate with you to some extent.
SPEAKER_00: You you will likely know there were two letters, of course, written to the Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_00: Both were sent under the name of not one but three people, namely Paul, Silas, and Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: There is a consistent use of the words we and us in both letters.
SPEAKER_00: So I think that indicates all three were involved to some extent.
SPEAKER_00: That's in contrast to Philippians, where we're it indicates that Paul and Timothy are the authors, but the book is written in the first person singular.
SPEAKER_00: Not true with 1 Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_00: The order is Paul first, which reveals, I think, that Paul almost certainly was the primary drafter of the letter.
SPEAKER_00: Some have speculated that Silas wrote it while Paul dictated it, and then Timothy ultimately delivered it.
SPEAKER_00: That is speculation.
SPEAKER_00: We know this for sure.
SPEAKER_00: The church very early on considered 1 Thessalonians to be a Paul's authorship when they started putting the Bible together.
SPEAKER_00: So there was really no doubt about that.
SPEAKER_00: As far as the city of Thessalonica, it remains today with the name of Thessaloniki, I believe is how they pronounce it.
SPEAKER_00: In biblical times, the city was the largest and most important city in Macedonia.
SPEAKER_00: Macedonia had become part of the Roman Empire in the second century BC.
SPEAKER_00: Thessaloniki today is Greece's second major, second biggest and major economic city.
SPEAKER_00: I guess Athens is probably the first.
SPEAKER_00: And you probably understand this, but let me clarify it.
SPEAKER_00: The Acts of the Apostles is the history book of the church.
SPEAKER_00: So when you read through Acts, you get a detail, some detail, of how the church was developing.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're reading in the epistles that Paul wrote or Peter wrote or James or whoever, and you start wondering about, well, when did this happen or what happened there?
SPEAKER_00: You can often find out by looking at Acts.
SPEAKER_00: And what we discover when we turn back to Acts is that the existence of the church in Thessalonica was directly related to Paul's obedience to a vision, which Luke records for us in Acts 16 and beginning in verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm actually going to start there.
SPEAKER_00: Acts 16 and beginning in verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: And they are actually in Troas at this point, and I'll explain where that's at in just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: But during the night, Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him.
SPEAKER_00: Cross over to Macedonia and help us.
SPEAKER_00: After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So at the time of the vision, they are in a place called Troas, which is really a modern day Turkey.
SPEAKER_00: And um, and it's Turkey's right there, it's part of Asia, it's considered Asia Minor.
SPEAKER_00: If you read Acts 16, it's really interesting.
SPEAKER_00: They are trying to preach in Asia.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to look back up just in verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: They went through the region of I don't know how to say that, for Phargia and Galatia.
SPEAKER_00: They had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
SPEAKER_00: When they came out of Mycia, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.
SPEAKER_00: So it really is interesting that they are forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
SPEAKER_00: In effect, the Spirit steers them away from Asia to go to Europe.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul becomes the first known Christian missionary to preach the gospel in Europe.
SPEAKER_00: And people have made note of this.
SPEAKER_00: I never really thought about it, but if you think about it, that set the whole course of Christianity westward rather than eastward.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what that means exactly, but if you think about it, it's it is quite staggering.
SPEAKER_00: We're all beneficiaries of the fact that the Christian movement moved westward.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, we know the eastward eastern religions are what they are.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it is interesting to think about that.
SPEAKER_00: So the the first place in Europe that Paul and his crew go to was actually Philippi, another town in Macedonia.
SPEAKER_00: And they end up in jail there because Peter cast out a demon.
SPEAKER_00: Um sorry, Paul cast out a demon that was helping a girl with fortune telling.
SPEAKER_00: And so the girl's owners were really mad about it.
SPEAKER_00: That's how they were making their money.
SPEAKER_00: And so they got mad, and it says that they got them severely flogged and thrown in jail.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul and Silas, maybe Timothy, had arrived in Philippi.
SPEAKER_00: They preached with great effectiveness, and the next thing you know, they're having all their clothes torn off of them, and they get a sound beating and they're thrown in jail.
SPEAKER_00: I thought about that.
SPEAKER_00: You just imagine some of the comments that might have come from somebody else, at least from me, if I'd have been with them.
SPEAKER_00: I've been like, Paul, are you sure you understood that vision correctly?
SPEAKER_00: And uh maybe it wasn't Macedonia, maybe it was Cappadocia, which is in Turkey.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe you got your sias mixed up.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, after their arrest, there's this great story in Acts 16.
SPEAKER_00: I won't read it, but um, you may remember it where there's an earthquake, their chains fall off, and they can run, but they see the jailer there is about to kill himself because he knows he's a dead man if they escape.
SPEAKER_00: And so what they do is they stop him and they say, Hey, we're not gonna leave him to stay in jail, basically.
SPEAKER_00: And so he becomes converted.
SPEAKER_00: They um after shortly thereafter, they are released, but then the officials beg them to leave town.
SPEAKER_00: So they go and visit the church members that have uh sprung up there in Philip in Philippi, and then they head off and they end up in Thessalonians, in Thessalonica.
SPEAKER_00: Um, scholars are somehow able to pinpoint the year that they get there.
SPEAKER_00: They seem to be pretty convinced it was A.D.
SPEAKER_00: 49, which places the writing of 1 Thessalonians anywhere from A.D.
SPEAKER_00: 49 to A.D.
SPEAKER_00: 51.
SPEAKER_00: They probably stopped in Thessalonica because there was a pretty large Jewish community there, apparently, and there was a synagogue there.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to read what happens in uh Acts 17 so that you can see this.
SPEAKER_00: Acts 17, and I'll read verses 1 through 10.
SPEAKER_00: After they passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
SPEAKER_00: As usual, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: So you understand what he was doing, is taking the Old Testament, and they would have opportunity, and Paul especially as a learned Greek a learned Jewish scholar, they had opportunity to basically, it was like preaching or teaching within the synagogue.
SPEAKER_00: And as you all probably understand, the Jews did not normally think that they had a suffering and dying Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: They thought the Messiah was going to set up the kingdom immediately.
SPEAKER_00: So what Paul is doing is taking passages, no doubt like Isaiah 53, and saying, look, it was always prophesied that the Messiah was actually going to die.
SPEAKER_00: And so he's and he's dying for the sins of the people.
SPEAKER_00: So he's explaining that, and he said, explaining and proven it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a large number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number of the leading women.
SPEAKER_00: Now, it's not entirely clear here if uh some of these folks appear to be um not Jewish, and I'll mention in just a moment how that probably came to be.
SPEAKER_00: But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city.
SPEAKER_00: Attacking Jason's house, they searched for them to bring them out pup to the public assembly for Paul and Silas.
SPEAKER_00: When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too.
SPEAKER_00: And Jason has welcomed them.
SPEAKER_00: They are all acting contrary to Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same playbook that the Jews continue to use to say Jesus was trying to upend the kingdom of the Roman Empire, and so you need to deal with these people because again, the Jews have this place, they've established this place with the Roman Empire, and they don't want to be threatened in any way as far as losing people or that the Old Testament being reinterpreted under a New Testament understanding.
SPEAKER_00: So the crowd and city officials who heard these things were upset.
SPEAKER_00: After taking a security bond from Jason and the others, they released them.
SPEAKER_00: As soon as it was night, the brothers and sisters sent Paul and Silas away to Berea.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Paul and the others, Paul and Silas in particular, had been successful in forming a church.
SPEAKER_00: That's clear enough in the three-week time that he was there.
SPEAKER_00: We know from 2 Thessalonians that Paul set up shop there making tents.
SPEAKER_00: So he wasn't just preaching, he was also working.
SPEAKER_00: And no doubt he was using that as a place of outreach.
SPEAKER_00: And that's very likely where some of these God-fearing Greeks came to better understand what was going on, although some may have been at synagogue.
SPEAKER_00: I think there were possibilities for them to be at the synagogue in different areas.
SPEAKER_00: So in any case, what happens here with Jason is probably the reason they left.
SPEAKER_00: It says that Jason and the others had to post a security bond.
SPEAKER_00: And what that meant was if there was any more trouble, Jason and Jason and those fellows that had to post that bond would be responsible for it.
SPEAKER_00: So kind of get that.
SPEAKER_00: So that's very likely why they left town.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 17 of chapter 2 of 1 Thessalonians, they write, We were forced to leave you and made every effort to return and see you face to face.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul even personally interjects in chapter 2 and verse 18 that he, he uses his own name there, he says he wanted to come again, but Satan hindered them.
SPEAKER_00: Now he doesn't say how, but it was clearly very frustrating to him.
SPEAKER_00: And from this and the way the letter is written, it's apparent that Paul had a couple of main concerns about the church in Thessalonica.
SPEAKER_00: First, as a young congregation, he was concerned they might collapse in the face of all this hostile external pressure that they were experiencing.
SPEAKER_00: He warned them this pressure was going to come.
SPEAKER_00: They were going to have to deal with it, but as we all know, uh theory and reality are two different things.
SPEAKER_00: You can hear about something and know it's coming, and then when you have to actually deal with it, it's a whole nother ballgame.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, Paul appears to be concerned that the Thessalonians would feel the message that he and Silas had brought was ultimately not trustworthy.
SPEAKER_00: Now, why that is, commentator Michael Holmes surmises, it's likely because they had had to slip out at night.
SPEAKER_00: Not all the Christians obviously would have been there with them.
SPEAKER_00: Some people may have felt like when it got really tough, and some of them have been arrested and had to postbone and those sort of things.
SPEAKER_00: So when it got tough, they got going and maybe did not fully understand, or at least Paul was concerned they didn't fully understand why he left as he did.
SPEAKER_00: In any case, while in Athens, Paul decides to send Timothy as his designated representative to strengthen and encourage the Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_00: Again, he says he can't he couldn't get there himself, but he sent Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: While Timothy was dispatched to Thessalonica, Paul ends up going to Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: And it was while he was in Corinth that Timothy, and they must have coordinated this, while he because they didn't have phones, you know, back in the day.
SPEAKER_00: So while he was in Corinth, um, Timothy comes back to Corinth and he comes back with good news, really good news.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul writes about that in chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: Not only had the church stood faithful in the face of persecution, the church was genuinely growing in faith and in love, so much so that Paul considers them a model for other believers.
SPEAKER_00: You can just you can just sense the relief in his book and the joy that he felt upon getting the news of how they were doing.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so with that little bit of church history, let's move into the first three verses of chapter three, and I'll go ahead and read those in 1 Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 1 and I don't know if I said chapter 3, the first three verses of chapter 1, sorry.
SPEAKER_00: All right, Paul, Sylvanus, and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace.
SPEAKER_00: We always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers.
SPEAKER_00: We recall in the presence of our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father in heaven, thank you so much for your word.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that uh give us a record of the history of the church, but also, Father, just give us your word and um encourage us by how you have worked through the years and how you have led and led other believers and how you reach out, Father, and we praise you.
SPEAKER_00: We don't always understand why you go right or left, but we trust, Father, ultimately we know you want all to be saved, and we praise you for that as well.
SPEAKER_00: So we ask as we study together, Father, that we would uh uh learn more and grow closer to you in Jesus' name, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Alright.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul and your version may say Silas in Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: The CSB actually translates it Sylvanus.
SPEAKER_00: I'm always uh curious about why when they decide to use a literal translation, which they do there.
SPEAKER_00: Silas is actually the Greek version of Sylvanus.
SPEAKER_00: His name actually was Sylvanus.
SPEAKER_00: He is uh prominent in Acts, and particularly Acts 15.
SPEAKER_00: Acts presents him as a Jewish prophet who was delegated to provide the decisions of the Jerusalem Council that we read about in Acts 15.
SPEAKER_00: He took that information to the church in Antioch.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you don't remember the Jerusalem Council, um I don't know, I can't remember where we're at are in Acts, but I would definitely want to get there at some point.
SPEAKER_00: That's where they determine that grace does not involve the new covenant.
SPEAKER_00: I mean the old covenant.
SPEAKER_00: There is a new covenant, it's not the old covenant, and they dispatch then different individuals out to go to different churches to make sure they understand you don't have to keep the law of Moses, it's no longer applicable.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's one of the main passages that helped me as we came out of uh the worldwide church of God and the things that they had taught previously.
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, Saul had become, or sorry, Silas had become Paul's co-worker after Paul and Barnabas had a tiff about Mark.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if y'all remember that, but they got they had a very the Bible says a huge dispute about Mark, and that is the Mark that broke the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And so they parted ways over it.
SPEAKER_00: They couldn't, they couldn't uh work it out.
SPEAKER_00: And so Silas then becomes Paul's main partner in going out.
SPEAKER_00: Um it's possible, based on uh a passage in chapter 2 of 1 Thessalonians, that Paul viewed Silas as a fellow apostle.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we'll not agree.
SPEAKER_00: Explore that, but it is interesting.
SPEAKER_00: We might look at it when we get over to chapter two.
SPEAKER_00: As far as Timothy, Paul refers to him as a son in a number of places.
SPEAKER_00: So there's clearly this strong bond that Paul and Timothy have.
SPEAKER_00: And yes, that's the same Timothy for which Paul sent letters to was 1 and 2 Timothy, where he was pastoring.
SPEAKER_00: And that became, of course, part of Holy Scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: The recipients here, of course, it says, is the Church of Thessalonians, of the Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_00: And we've already talked about that a little bit and we'll come back to it in just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: As far as the salutation, grace to you and peace from God.
SPEAKER_00: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: One of the commentators says, helpfully, I think, that grace is the fountain and peace is the stream that issues from it.
SPEAKER_00: As far as specifics, the word grace in Greek is spelled similar to the word as hello in Greek.
SPEAKER_00: It also sounds similar.
SPEAKER_00: And so it ended up that grace became the typical salutation for Christians.
SPEAKER_00: It fundamentally means that which causes joy.
SPEAKER_00: It came more to mean favor or kindness from God.
SPEAKER_00: And that's probably how Paul is indicating it here.
SPEAKER_00: So it's really God's kindness to man and providing for his spiritual needs in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Peace, of course, is referring to the peace we have with God through Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The Thessalonians will probably not experience a lot of physical peace per se.
SPEAKER_00: And that may be true with any of us.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what you've had going on the past week, what you've been dealing with, or what you're looking forward to this upcoming week.
SPEAKER_00: But we can say peace to each other nonetheless, because this is a peace that is a spiritual peace, once in it since it transcends human understanding, because it's a real peace from God and a real peace with God.
SPEAKER_00: The way that Paul uses the combination here of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, that unites the two in a way that places them on an equal basis.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's one of the earlier indications of Paul's conviction that Jesus is actually divine.
SPEAKER_00: But the overall greeting here would not be far from the standard greeting, albeit with the Christian, you know, lingo interspersed.
SPEAKER_00: But the letter, that what all that's indicating is that this letter was not written as a theological treatise.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, it was written really out of the situation we spoke of earlier.
SPEAKER_00: It was a personal letter that Paul was writing.
SPEAKER_00: He was really concerned.
SPEAKER_00: And it's also believed, first Thessalonians, it's believed to be either the first or second letter that Paul wrote that made its way to the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: The other one would be Galatians, and there's some debate about which one was written first.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 2 makes clear Paul's heart is filled with gratitude whenever he thinks of the Thessalonians, or at least the three of them.
SPEAKER_00: He had constantly prayed for them, or they had constantly prayed for them.
SPEAKER_00: And if I use the word Paul, it's just for um convenience sake.
SPEAKER_00: Again, generally, they and you see there they use the term we.
SPEAKER_00: So he he was filled with gratitude.
SPEAKER_00: He constantly prayed for them.
SPEAKER_00: History has told us why.
SPEAKER_00: He prayed because he had been run out of town and he was concerned about them.
SPEAKER_00: Um, been run out basically after only three weeks, it would appear.
SPEAKER_00: But he was thankful because the church had become stronger and the church was full of life despite his absence.
SPEAKER_00: And I guess it's because I'm retiring.
SPEAKER_00: It just made me think this week.
SPEAKER_00: Am I going to am I happy if they're doing well in my absence?
SPEAKER_00: Or do they want them to really miss me and want me to come back, you know?
SPEAKER_00: Uh well, I I really do want them to do well, especially my people.
SPEAKER_00: And I I was thinking about it, and I and I thought I I wanted to mention it just to say this.
SPEAKER_00: We should never worry about some idea that we aren't needed, you know, and us retirees start thinking about things like that.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but the truth is we are all unique.
SPEAKER_00: And God created us that way.
SPEAKER_00: So whatever role we are in, we are fulfilling it in a way that no one else can, whether that's work-related, relationship-related, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00: And we should always want what is best for people with or without us.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul, of course, just wanted what was best for the Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_00: And so this letter again is to those Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_00: Specifically, it says the church of the Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_00: The word here for church, as some of you may remember, is the word ecclesia.
SPEAKER_00: And the Greek, that was the Greek word used at that time for the assembly of any people.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't meant necessarily for a religious assembly.
SPEAKER_00: For example, in the city of Athens, all those who were registered to vote and could come out in public in the public thoroughfare as free citizens were regarded as part of the Athenian ecclesia.
SPEAKER_00: When the Old Testament was translated into Greek, the word ecclesia was used to refer to Israel, to the company of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And so when you read the New Testament, you discover that the ecclesia is the word that is used as a reference to those who are in assembly in God's service or in the name of God.
SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to read 1 Peter 2 9, just because he he gives a very apt description of the church.
SPEAKER_00: And he calls, he says, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
SPEAKER_00: Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.
SPEAKER_00: And so the word ecclesia, translated church in English, that came to represent you who are God's people.
SPEAKER_00: It's also a word about the nature of the church that when we speak in terms of the Church of the Thessalonians, we're not just talking, of course, about a group of people who went into a building.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, there probably was no building for them to go into.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they met at someone's house, probably more than likely.
SPEAKER_00: We're also not talking about people who were maybe vaguely religious and like to sing hymns.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking specifically about an express group of people.
SPEAKER_00: If you let your eye go down to verse 4, it says whom God has chosen.
SPEAKER_00: Whom God has chosen is the same terminology that Peter uses.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we won't come to that till next time, but we will come to it.
SPEAKER_00: So we'll deal with it more then.
SPEAKER_00: But you at least have that knowledge there that it says God has chosen his church.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what we uh will do today is take a few more moments to consider verse three.
SPEAKER_00: The the ministry team in this case, Paul, Silas, and Timothy, give three reasons for their thankfulness as far as the Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_00: They are thankful for their work produced by faith, they are thankful for their labor motivated by love, and they are thankful for their endurance inspired by hope in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now, did you catch the big three there?
SPEAKER_00: Faith, love, and hope.
SPEAKER_00: And what's interesting about it, Herbert says, here, for the first time chronologically, in Paul's writings, we have this famous triad, faith, love, and hope.
SPEAKER_00: And he says chronologically, again, because 1 Thessalonians is known to be one of the first books that Paul wrote.
SPEAKER_00: He certainly wrote it before 1 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: And 1 Corinthians 13 is where we tend to think of that more, that you know, the love chapter where Paul says, faith, hope, and love abideth, but of these three, love is the greatest.
SPEAKER_00: He talks about that there.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so Paul clearly was thinking about that earlier.
SPEAKER_00: And what's interesting here is his stress is not on the virtues alone, but rather upon what they produce.
SPEAKER_00: So, if these virtues are commendable, and they are, we we want to be a church that has this kind of fruit.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm just gonna mention them briefly in terms.
SPEAKER_00: We won't spend a lot of time on them.
SPEAKER_00: But first, the work produced by faith.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we know we're not saved by works, Paul is often emphatic about that, but we also know that the faith that saves produces works, and Paul is thankful that the faith of the Thessalonians has resulted in works.
SPEAKER_00: I'd say our faith, to some extent, can be confirmed by our works.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's statements indicates mature faith does result in works.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, this is interesting, I think.
SPEAKER_00: Given what Paul writes in other books, the fact that he doesn't feel the need to stress faith is the only way of salvation, as he does numerous places elsewhere.
SPEAKER_00: It must be that he felt pretty confident they already have a good grasp on faith, that they're saved by faith, but it is faith spurring them along to do good works.
SPEAKER_00: We need that grasp.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we talk about it quite a bit, we try to express it quite a bit, probably most often with the Protestant mantra that I've mentioned.
SPEAKER_00: Not infrequently, we're saved by grace alone through faith alone, but the faith that saves is not alone.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning, with genuine faith that Jesus died for my sins, with that faith comes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, that we are born again, born from above, and the Holy Spirit is going to move us to do good works.
SPEAKER_00: Good works to serve God, good works to be a help to others, good works to reach out to people and be there for them.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, faith will issue an action.
SPEAKER_00: The writers are indicating they know what the Thessalonians are doing is stemming from their faith, stemming from their trust in God.
SPEAKER_00: It is in understanding all that God has done for us and all that God is to us that prompts us to share his goodness with others as we are able.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, the writers are thankful for the Thessalonians' labor prompted by love.
SPEAKER_00: Now, these are somewhat related, I think.
SPEAKER_00: But here it's not the result of their love that's in focus.
SPEAKER_00: It seems to be more the cost of it.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll explain that.
SPEAKER_00: The love here is agape love, which you're familiar with.
SPEAKER_00: It came to be known as the love of God.
SPEAKER_00: The Christians kind of took that word from the Greek and made it uh a really self-sacrificing love.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, it's the love that God had to give his son for our sins.
SPEAKER_00: This is the love that stirs us up.
SPEAKER_00: And once we catch hold of this love that God has for us, then we can deal with life.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, yeah, things are bad at times.
SPEAKER_00: Things are horrible.
SPEAKER_00: All of you are dealing with different things in life, whether it be health-related, relationship related, work-related, whatever it may be.
SPEAKER_00: But this much I know.
SPEAKER_00: God loves me.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus loves me, this I know.
SPEAKER_00: God sent his son to die for me.
SPEAKER_00: That is the love that will move an unbeliever to repentance.
SPEAKER_00: It is the love that will move a believer to want to share what we can of it.
SPEAKER_00: We you hear the phrase labor of love.
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking that.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that's used a little bit trivial, I guess.
SPEAKER_00: Because I I usually I usually get up before my wife, and so I bring her coffee of the morning.
SPEAKER_00: I say, that's a labor of love.
SPEAKER_00: But you know, it's not really laborious.
SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting.
SPEAKER_00: There's two Greek words that are used for labor.
SPEAKER_00: One is ergon and one is kopos.
SPEAKER_00: Ergon is thought of as a love that a labor that may be pleasant and stimulating.
SPEAKER_00: And we do things like that for our loved ones that uh we actually enjoy doing it.
SPEAKER_00: We like, you know, to do things for them.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's not really hard at all.
SPEAKER_00: It's just we're doing it because it's we enjoy it and we want to give and that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_00: Um for whatever reason, that made me think of this is this is an off the wall, this is not even an analogy.
SPEAKER_00: It just made me think of labor.
SPEAKER_00: We get off for Labor Day.
SPEAKER_00: That just seems weird to me.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you well, you take a day off for Labor Day.
SPEAKER_00: They ought to call it lazy day or something.
SPEAKER_00: Why are you taking off for Labor Day?
SPEAKER_00: You should be laboring me anyway.
SPEAKER_00: That's not not really the point.
SPEAKER_00: But um, the the other word is copos.
SPEAKER_00: That implies toll that is strenuous and sweat-producing.
SPEAKER_00: That labor.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the word that Paul uses here.
SPEAKER_00: So, what he's saying is when we think of the church in Thessalonica, we think of people getting after it.
SPEAKER_00: They're passionate for one another.
SPEAKER_00: They don't care to sacrifice for each other, they don't care to bend over and do things for each other.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul is saying they love with conviction, they'll put labor and effort into it.
SPEAKER_00: And frankly, this is a this passion is a prerequisite for working for God.
SPEAKER_00: And I understand, again, that we're spread out and we can't do this as much for each other as we'd like, because when we go places and have to and do those things for one another, it really is, can be difficult because we're traveling so far.
SPEAKER_00: But there are people in our community, people we know, and people that we should express this love to in a way.
SPEAKER_00: And um I don't think that we'll grasp it until we really think about the love that God has done for us or get try to get more of a hold of it.
SPEAKER_00: I have to think about it.
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's staggering when you catch a glimpse of it, but we really want to have it in our souls.
SPEAKER_00: If we if we get in a routine of, you know, just coming in here, going out, opening the Bible, closing the Bible, leaving without really having much passion or conviction.
SPEAKER_00: I would just say, you know, pray to God about it.
SPEAKER_00: Think about again what God has done for you personally.
SPEAKER_00: Think about how short our time is here.
SPEAKER_00: Take it from a retiree.
SPEAKER_00: Many of you know.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but let's think in terms of who needs real Christian love, what can I do?
SPEAKER_00: And and yeah, it may cost us something individually, it may cost us as a church if we do things that we need to be doing.
SPEAKER_00: So we need to pray about that and really think about it.
SPEAKER_00: And finally, their their hope-produced patience, which is the long-suffering endurance needed not only to survive hard times, but to triumph through them.
SPEAKER_00: They write, and we recall your endurance, which is inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That word there is not passive either.
SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a passionate word.
SPEAKER_00: It's a resolute consistency in the face of extreme difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: So I wrote it down that way.
SPEAKER_00: I I think that's accurate to say it that way.
SPEAKER_00: A resolute of consistency in the face of extreme difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: How can you do that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, as Paul says, because you have an abiding hope.
SPEAKER_00: And if all is not going well, you hope for better days.
SPEAKER_00: You believe that better days are ahead.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, many things are deeply challenging for us.
SPEAKER_00: There's problems here, heartaches there, trouble all over the place.
SPEAKER_00: The Thessalonica church had to deal with that, but they weren't hunkered down in the trenches or passively resigned to whatever dreadful fate awaited them.
SPEAKER_00: So, in that sense, it's not even a quiet hope.
SPEAKER_00: It's indicating they're up, they're active, they're moving, staring difficulty right in the face.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because they have a steadfast hope in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I I mentioned Dalen's death.
SPEAKER_00: And those of us from or in the Mitchell County community were deeply saddened by that.
SPEAKER_00: He's he was 20 years old and killed in automobiles.
SPEAKER_00: It's a truck accident, really.
SPEAKER_00: They were both in dodge round trucks, I think.
SPEAKER_00: And and I I should mention you should pray for the for the fellow that hit him.
SPEAKER_00: He's only 18, and he was, I think he'd been working a double shift and he went to sleep, and so he's crushed, I think, as well.
SPEAKER_00: Um, just a very sad situation.
SPEAKER_00: And when it happened, you know, unfortunately at this point, it it I'm not even surprised by those things anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I was initially, you know, stunned a little, but it seems like that county has had more than its fair share of tragedy.
SPEAKER_00: And uh really, in one sense, a lot of Western North Carolina.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's just everywhere, and we know we notice it because it's here because it's here.
SPEAKER_00: But his dad, Cass, is a a preacher at a church there in Mitchell.
SPEAKER_00: It's the church Tyler's wife, Maddie, uh, attended.
SPEAKER_00: Um Maddie is related, not too close, but they're they're related some distantly to Dalen's mom, Cass's wife, Shanna.
SPEAKER_00: Shanna, as I said, is the clerk there in Mitchell, now clerk of court, and she worked for me for a couple of years, I guess.
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it's tough.
SPEAKER_00: And as I mentioned, we all know that they will go through it in faith and in hope.
SPEAKER_00: But he he was almost killed in a motorcycle accident uh when his mom was working with me a couple of years ago, and uh we were down east and we were going through one of those conversions of the new system, and I forget what county she was in, but she called and told me what was going on.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, she she came back home as quick as she could.
SPEAKER_00: And the only time I ever talked to Dalen was when he was recovering in the hospital.
SPEAKER_00: And back then, even he was laid up.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they he had all kinds because he got busted up on a motorcycle, and he was, you know, just hooked up and had casts and different things, and he was he was just joking, making fun of something and laughing, and um, you know, and he finally, finally got over that.
SPEAKER_00: He was able to he had a rough time walking through his graduation, but he finally got through that, and then two years later he dies in a car accident.
SPEAKER_00: I was looking at his obituary, and I I just wanted to read a little of something that they wrote.
SPEAKER_00: And they write this recently Dalen shared a post about his accident and recovery.
SPEAKER_00: He thanked the Lord for protected he's talking about the first accident.
SPEAKER_00: He thanked the Lord for protecting him and for the miracles so many people have witnessed with their own eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Near the end of the post, he simply wrote, To God be the glory.
SPEAKER_00: In the days ahead, there will be sorrow, anger, heartbreak, and questions that feel impossible to answer.
SPEAKER_00: Dalin did not simply talk about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He lived in a way that pointed people toward him.
SPEAKER_00: He loved fiercely, he served quietly, he stayed humble, he worked hard, he carried joy, he made room for others, he forgave easily.
SPEAKER_00: Whether he was on a trail, in a hospital bed, behind the wheel of a truck, or gathered around the crowded family table.
SPEAKER_00: Dalin reflected the goodness of God in the way that he lived.
SPEAKER_00: To God be the glory.
SPEAKER_00: William Barclay, the Scottish theologian, says it is the spirit which can bear things not simply with a spirit of resignation, but with blazing hope.
SPEAKER_00: He then goes on to quote George Matheson, who was a musician, who was stricken in blindness and we could say disappointed in love.
SPEAKER_00: As a result of his blindness, his love was unrequited with frequency, and he lived in isolation.
SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, stricken in blindness, disappointed in love, he wrote a prayer in which he pleaded with God that he might accept God's will, not with dumb resignation, but with holy joy, not only with the absence of murmuring, but rather with a song of praise.
SPEAKER_00: So what's life looking like for you tomorrow?
SPEAKER_00: Pretty challenging.
SPEAKER_00: Well let your faith produce good works, your love move you to labor.
SPEAKER_00: For others and hope with all your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Better days are coming.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ is coming.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father in heaven, thank you that we do have hope in the midst of difficulty and trial and turmoil.
SPEAKER_00: You are our hope, and we thank you that we have each other, that we can encourage one another.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, again, we just we pray for those that are dealing with such difficult things.
SPEAKER_00: And we know, Father, that your peace and comfort is there for those and for those who ask, and even for those where we ask for them if they know not to ask, Father.
SPEAKER_00: So we thank you that you are a merciful God and a loving God.
SPEAKER_00: And we praise your name.
SPEAKER_00: And we pray that you will help us just reflect your love to others.
SPEAKER_00: And we thank you again for hearing our prayer and for being with us and for sending your son.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.