| 1 Thessalonians 1 |
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you.b
Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians’ Faith
2We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 3We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
4For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9for 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, 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath
A few days ago, I started studying the book of 1 Thessalonians. I've been thinking about the first chapter a lot, and so I thought I would share with you some thoughts on it. After the writer Paul gives the initial greetings, he starts off the letter by telling the Thessalonians how thankful he is for their faith that they have. Now, faith is an intangible thing to a lot of people. You can't see faith, you can't touch it, its all in the mind. Many people claim to have faith in different things, but how do we know that they do? In verse 8, Paul tells the Thessalonians that their faith in God has become known everywhere. How is this possible if faith is something that is just inside of our head? Well, according to this passage, everyone knew that the Thessalonians had faith in the gospel because of their actions. It says that they became imitators of the Lord and the church leaders, following their example of how to live Godly lives...and everyone could tell! Actually, in chapter 1 verse 7, Paul tells them that they were doing so well that the Thessalonians had become an example of how to live to other believers around them. Everyone knew that the Thessalonians had faith, because of how they lived their lives. If we want to have assurance that somebody really is a Christian when they claim to be, we should look at the lives. What do they spend their time on? Are they devoted to themselves and to the people that make them feel good or important? Or are they putting aside their own desires and sacrificing to meet the needs of others? That's what the Thessalonians were doing. However, not only were they acting lovingly to the people around them, they were putting aside their idols(vs.9) that they had worshiped before becoming Christians. People could see their faith not only because they were being nice to other people, the Thessalonians had set aside their idols and begun to preach the gospel of Christ! People had no choice but to see that the Thessalonians were different because not only did they set their own desires aside to serve others, but they were also preaching the gospel to those around them and telling them that Jesus was the only way to heaven.
So, I guess I just want to leave you with a couple of thoughts. First of all, faith is not something that you do all in your head. You can't just say you have faith in something; you have to live it. Our culture is big into having faith in ourselves, in the government, in human nature, in our entertainment, our money, our jobs, our cars, our possessions, our influence. What are you going to do when that stuff goes away? When your health is no longer good, or you lose your job, or your parents get a divorce, what then? You can have all the faith in yourself that you want, but you aren't going to be able to control your own life and actions, let alone the people around you! However, there is someone who can, and that's God. He is not just some bystander watching people live and die. He is sovereign, meaning he has control over every situation, every action that we take, every decision we make, and every event(natural or human caused). This should not scare Christians, rather, we can take comfort that there is God is in control, and that he is set on leading us and acting in our best interests. This is not to say that God will try to make your life comfortable or easy. If you are not a Christian, you need to put your faith in Christ's power to save you from God's wrath. Meaning, you need to repent of your sins, and set them aside as undesirable and focus on loving God and loving others and striving to live a life that is worthy of the grace that God has dumped on us.
Secondly, for Christians, the main idea of this chapter is to encourage believers to live out their faith. This means that everyone around us should have no choice but to notice that we are Christians because of how different our lives look next to other people's. The Thessalonians served God through two methods: through their actions and through their words. That's your whole life! You have to CONSTANTLY be working to serve God through the manner in which you interact with people, the way you talk, and how you act when no one is looking. Even our thoughts are of the utmost importance, because it is in your thoughts that your sanctification process should start! So, in closing, live like Jesus, talk like Jesus, and you'll be good. That's impossible, but that's the goal. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. There's nothing that you shouldn't be turning over to Jesus when you become a Christian. He has complete control anyway, so it will make you much more joyful if you give him total control over everything in your life. Make everyone see that you have outstanding faith. Soli Deo Gloria.
