1 Thessalonians 1-3: Growth you can't see

We read 1 Thessalonians 1–3 and listen to Paul’s relief when he learns the Thessalonian believers are still standing strong under persecution. We connect Paul’s long-distance concern to our own relationships and remember that God, not us, brings real spiritual growth. 
• Paul’s rushed departure from Thessalonica and why it worries him 
• Encouragement for new believers enduring pressure and affliction 
• The Thessalonians’ faith, love, and hope as visible fruit 
• Paul’s ministry integrity, refusing flattery, greed, and people pleasing 
• Gentle spiritual parenting, sharing the gospel and our lives 
• Timothy’s role in strengthening faith when Paul cannot be present 
• Letting go of the pressure to control someone else’s growth 

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Transcript

Setting Up Thessalonica And Paul

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hey, this is Mike, and this is the Out Loud Bible Podcast. We've been reading through Paul's letters here in the New Testament. After reading Acts and the missionary journeys of Paul, we've been getting into some of the letters that he wrote now that we've been introduced to some of these cities and some of the people that he's going to be referencing and writing to in these letters. We read Galatians the past few episodes, and now we're going to not the next one as it appears in the Bible, but the next one on Paul's missionary journeys. We're going to be reading the letter to the Thessalonians. And this is a church in the city of Thessalonica in Greece. If you want to go back and read or listen to this part of Paul's missionary journey, then you can go check out Acts 16 through 18 that details some more stories of Paul's interactions in the city. And as we saw, and as Paul will recount here, uh Paul had to leave Thessalonica a little earlier than he intended to or wanted to, because there was a lot of pressure and persecution from the authorities. And that worried him a little bit because he wasn't sure if the work he had done was going to stick. You know, like I didn't have as much time as I wanted to build up and really establish this church in the faith. So some time passed and he heard some good reports. Okay, good. This church in Thessalonica has stuck and they've endured persecution and they're actually growing, they're doing okay. So Paul wants to write this letter to encourage these new believers and just make sure that they're staying on the right track, also to kind of clear up uh some misunderstandings, especially regarding the coming of Jesus. So we're gonna see that pan out here in 1 Thessalonians. We're gonna read chapters 1, 2, and 3, fairly short chapters. Of course, Paul didn't write chapters, he just wrote a letter, and we've broken it up since then. So we'll read about the first half of this book in Thessalonians 1 through 3, and we're gonna read it as we do in the New English translation. From Paul and Sylvanas and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you. We thank God always

Faith And Hope Echo Outward

SPEAKER_00 2:20

for you as we mention you constantly in our prayers, because we recall in the presence of our God and Father your work produced by faith and labor motivated by love and endurance, inspired by hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we know, brothers and sisters, loved by God, that He has chosen you, and that our gospel didn't come to you merely in words, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. Surely you recall the character we displayed when we came among you to help you. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord when you received the message with joy that comes from the Holy Spirit, despite great affliction. And as a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you the message of the Lord has echoed forth, not just in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place. Reports of your faith in God have spread so that we don't need to say anything. For people everywhere report how you welcomed us and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, our deliverer from the coming wrath. For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, about our coming to you. It's not proven to be purposeless. But although we suffered earlier and were mistreated in Philippi, as

Paul’s Integrity And Gentle Care

SPEAKER_00 3:52

you know, we had the courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of much opposition. For the appeal we make doesn't come from error or impurity or with deceit. But just as we've been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we declare it, not to please people, but God who examines our hearts. For we never appeared with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed. God is our witness, nor to seek glory from people, either from you or from others, although we could have imposed our weight as apostles of Christ. Instead, we we became little children among you. Like a nursing mother caring for her own children, with such affection for you, we were happy to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. For you recall, brothers and sisters, our toil and drudgery by working night and day so as to not impose a burden on any of you. We preached to you the gospel of God. You're witnesses, and so is God, as to how holy and righteous and blameless our conduct was toward you who believe. As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his own children, exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you live in a way worthy of God who calls you to his own kingdom and glory. And so we too constantly thank God that when you received God's message that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human message, but as it truly is. God's message, which is at work among you who believe. For you became imitators, brothers and sisters, of God's churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, because you too suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they in fact did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us severely. They are displeasing to God, and are opposed to all people, because they hinder us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. Thus they constantly fill up their measures of sins, but wrath has come upon them completely. But when we were separated from you, brothers and sisters, for a short time, in presence, not in affection, we became all the more fervent in our great desire to see you in person, for we wanted to come to you. I, Paul, in fact tried again and again, but Satan thwarted us. For who is our hope or joy or crown to boast of before our Lord Jesus had his coming? Is it not, of course, you? For you are our glory and joy. So when we could bear it no longer, we decided to stay on in Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and fellow worker for God and the gospel of Christ, to strengthen

Timothy’s Report And Steady Faith

SPEAKER_00 7:05

you and to encourage you about your faith, so that no one would be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we were destined for this. For in fact, when we were with you, we were telling you in advance that we would suffer affliction, and so it has happened, as you well know. So when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith for fear that the tempter had somehow tempted you and our toil had proven useless. But now, Timothy has come to us from you and given us the good news of your faith and love, and that you always think of us with affection and long to see us, just as we also long to see you. So, in all our distress and affliction, we were reassured about you, brothers and sisters, through your faith. For now we are alive again if you stand firm in the Lord. For how can we thank God enough for you for all the joy we feel because of you before our God? We pray earnestly, night and day, to see you in person and make up what may be lacking in your faith. Well, now may God our Father Himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you, and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we do for you, so that your hearts are strengthened in holiness, to be blameless before God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his sights. The first half of Paul's letter here to the Thessalonians is encouraging for we who aren't there to necessarily see the growth of someone we care about.

Releasing The Pressure To Fix People

SPEAKER_00 8:55

We're not always there to check up on the spiritual health of someone that we love. Maybe a parent whose kid is gone off to college or grown and with their own family, and you don't get to see them all the time. You don't get to hear from them all the time, and and I don't know, maybe they're a Christian, maybe they're not. And you you just wonder, uh, is is is everything okay? It may be among friends that you haven't seen in a long time. I know Kelsey and I have some friends who are missionaries in Africa and they're there for like 10 or 11 months of the year. We barely get to see them. We miss them. And I just, you know, we are able to maybe send a message every once in a while. The technology we have nowadays is uh Paul would would marvel at. It's like, wait, you get to keep up, you get to share messages with people all the time, you get to encourage believers all the time, at the palm of your hand, and we're like, yeah, we we get to. I don't think we always do it as much as maybe we should. But uh we we miss people and and we just wonder, oh man, I I hope I I hope they haven't fallen away, I hope, hope they're staying strong. Well, this can serve as an encouragement to you who cares about someone, who loves someone, maybe on the other side of the world, or maybe the other side of the country, or just someone across town that you just haven't seen and you don't keep up with as much because you're not in each other's lives as often as maybe you'd like to be. We can rest assured that God is the one who is the good farmer. He waters, he grows, he plants seeds and harvests them in their time. And we don't have to be the ones bringing about the growth in other people's lives. We are not the ones responsible for other people's spiritual growth. Now, I know Paul and the Thessalonians, he he played a big role in in teaching them and correcting them and guiding them, and so we have the same sort of role with others as well. Like, yeah, we certainly uh don't just get to, you know, put our feet up and say, all right, well, God's got them now. No, no, I'm obviously we we want to pour into people as much as we can, but we we are not responsible for their growth. Maybe this is a call for you to to relieve yourself of that pressure and responsibility you feel. Even if you're a mother, even if you're a father, you're not responsible for their spiritual growth. God is, God will do it. But we pray, we encourage, write a letter here and there. But most of all, we trust that Jesus is the one who is bringing about health and growth in people's lives. Do we pray with that end in mind? And then, hey, if the opportunity comes up that we get to be together and pour into each other, that'd be great. We look forward to that day. Until then, what are you gonna do? Certainly not worry, right? Worrying doesn't even add a single hour to your life. But we pray. We pray that God brings the increase that he wants to see in people's lives, that he guides people, protects people, helps them grow, and we look forward to celebrating that growth with them. One of many good reminders here in the book of First Thessalonians. Next time we're going to read chapters four and five to wrap up the book and learn what it is to please God, to live a life that pleases God, and a little bit of teaching about the return of the Lord,

Next Reading And Closing

SPEAKER_00 12:25

something we're still looking forward to today. So, some really poignant and practical things to talk about next time on the Outloud Bible Podcast. We'll see you then.