1 Thess. 1:1-10 When the Word Sounds Forth

Introduction: [ Acts 17] 1 Thessalonians is written to a young Christian congregation planted by Paul over a short period of time 3 weeks in the local synagogue and then he was driven out of town for the sake of the gospel turning gentiles from Idols and scandalizing the Synogogue. Paul now writes back to this congregation with thankfulness for their growth in the gospel of grace and to answer throughout the body some issues surrounding the second coming of Jesus and the nature of his ministry. This section before us is part of his thanksgiving prayer. Let us now turn out attention to the reading of God’s Holy Word which is given as a gift that we might Know God, our need, and his redemption in Christ.Read: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10THANKSGIVING IS MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY. Why?A) – It reminds me that every good thing that I have comes as a gift from my Father’s smiling ProvidenceB) – It reminds me that everything I have suffered comes from my Heavenly Father’s frowning Providence.C) – It reminds me to take a day to have the Joy of family, to be thankful for immediate family, for Church family, for the body of ChristD) – Yes it’s the food, but its more.E) Thanksgiving is like new years but better. New years is all about us, what we will do differently, and our resolutions. Thanksgiving is about God, what he HAS been doing IN us and AROUND us.a. So also, in Paul’s prayer today he is taking the time to say how he is THANKFUL for what God has done through his ministry and in the Thessalonians. And it all flows from the WORK of God the Father, of Christ, and the HOLY SPIRIT and this work of God in them is bearing fruitToday we will see #1 The Fruit of the Word (vv. 2-3)#2 The Power behind the Word 4-5a#3 Godly Imitation verses 5b-10.#1, When we see Fruitfulness produced by the Word of God we must remember that It is all Thanks to God that there are things to give thanks to God for.Look with me at verses 2-3, 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 ChristA) Praise God for each and every one of you. That’s what Paul says, praise God for the work he has done through his word, the gospel preached by Paul over just 3 weeks. which has produced fruit and life. Produced a new gathered body of Christ in Thessalonica and churches springing up throughout all of Macedonia.a. All letters, all epistles, have thanksgiving sections in Paul’s day but Paul’s thanksgiving and prayers are always special and never there just to be there. In them, he previews his main themes and rejoices in the salvation he shares in Christ with the dear, beloved saints he writes to.b. Even though he only briefly knew them, he is meeting people and churches founded because of the fruitful gospel witness and community that is lived out in the Thessalonian Church.B) What specifically is Paul praising them for, he is praising: The Fruitful Christian life, the cardinal virtues, as we call them, for Paul throughout his letters are Faith, Hope, and Love.a. But post-reformational protestants can hesitate, balk at the pairing of words like work…labor…steadfastness or endurance with the words Faith, love, and hope.b. But we should not shy away from this but rejoice in the exact way Paul phrases his praise for the Thessalonians. Because they are Justified believers in Jesus who are being Sanctified and bearing, living-active-fruit.c. My thanks to Dr. Benjamin Gladd for how he phrases this. Paul is saying, the believer in union with Christ lives out an Obedience of Faith, that is work produced by faith. A Labor of love or labor prompted by love, and Endurance inspired by Hope.i. This is the opposite of monasticism, or mysticism. Where the Christian life is only an internal, contemplative, disembodied life.ii. Or our own culture where We look within affirming faith in ourselves and our own resourcesiii. No, true Faith hears the word of Christ, believes the word of Christ, entrustsitself to Jesus himself and all that he accomplishes in the gospel and such a faith is a gift that is given along with spiritual life, a new heart, and new energies that produce FRUIT. That produce transformation. Paul is thankful that trusting in Jesus has transformed the Thessalonians.C) It has also given them a Labor of love, that is a labor prompted by lovea. The Christian - rooted in the gospel of Jesus - is Rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. And this love does not remain a mere feeling, no. Love when actively lived out can be a laborious, grueling thing. Christian Love demands much of us because believers in Jesus you have received much.b. We love because he first loved us.c. We Forgive because we’ve been forgiven.d. We Seek and promote others’ good unconditionally because we have had the love of Christ declared to us, and then actively because we love the Lord Jesus, we Love his commands, and we love his will and desires and affections revealed to us in the entire bible.i. Jesus sought our good while we were enemies and as our creator wisely gave us all we need for life and life with him. We in turn promote the good of others unconditionally with the free offer of the gospel and invitation into the fellowship of the Church. Into the life of the Church.ii. Now, there is a trap here right? Our culture says, Love is love, by this they mean a feeling of affirmation and permissiveness to other perception of truth & their perception of what is good and true and beautiful even if it may be harmful, evil, and destructive.e. Our Labor of Love is controlled, channeled, and directed by the moral law, molded by the character of God, and seen in the life & ministry of Jesus. …Then Love will seek the other’s highest good, ultimately.f. We need a labor of love in the 21st century whose content is the very character of God declared to us from every page of scripture and not emptied down to a few slogans or culturally captivated, love emptied until it is mere approval.i. Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.ii. Are you glad that Paul sees in the Thessalonians a labor produced by loveand not merely felt love, or love signaled, or love re-invented, love shattered into a thousand opinions and a millions desires heading in every direction and impulse of mankind under the sun?1. In the internet age of connectivity, americans broadly speaking are less connected to real HOMES, real direction telling us where to channel and express our love and how it works when its not just a Disney love story.2. You must make your home centered on your heavenly Father, live by his word in the household of faith with brothers and sisters. Not as orphans.iii. Christian love is not the rudderless American youth, dazed, angry and confused by a world with suffering and no hope.1. No, it is wise, weighty, and directed by Faith in Christ and a Love labored and directed by Christ.2. This labor of love is anchored and held enduring and steadfast because it has a fixed and solid Hope.D) Endurance inspired by Hopea. Hope in Christ is attested in scripture and inspires the fruit of endurance.i. Colossians 1:5 - because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,Hope is what holds us steady in the face of suffering because we have a future, a resurrection, and a savior seated in Heaven who is returning to bring us home.b. We live in a Hopeless society. There is nothing beyond our own resources. So every day when people scroll twitter or their favorite news site every hit of suffering closes in on us and makes us feel small.i. One solution is to withdraw, to be hopeless, to be cynical, and to speak down on everything to see through everything in a negative and cynical, but ultimately passive way.ii. Or, perhaps, we see the only solution is to lash out at everything wrong and, in our own strength, attempt to fix everything here on earth in a Restless activism, but the weight of the thousands of causes needing thousands of solutions is crushing. We cannot endure without the Hope of heaven, a heaven, with a risen king seated on the throne.c. Paul does not despite the Thessalonians suffering, encounter a hopeless, loveless, faithless people. Nor has he seen them retreat to a spiritualized faith, hope, and love. But instead, he is thankful for a faith, hope, and love that produces a Church community that is living and active, rooted in Christ Jesus!Look with me at verses 4-5a, 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.#2, vv. 4-5a The Power Behind the Word, what lies behind the fruitfulness of the gospel word spoken to the Thessalonians?A) Paul responds to the faith, hope, and love of the Thessalonians by speaking a word of encouragement. And there is nothing more encouraging and assuring than the doctrines of grace grounded in God choosing, unchanging, electing Love.a. Now I say that slightly tongue in cheek because we know that this is often a divisive doctrine, a mysterious doctrine, one which the Westminster Confession calls for ministers to treat with care, which is why these verses deserve their own separate sermon. – Which I will find for you from a Pastor Jim Roberts who I team preached this with a couple years back.b. What I will do is keep the movement going from God’s choosing to the fruit and result of it in the church and allow Pastor Roberts time to slow down and unpack and trace old testament parallel passages and enjoy reflecting on God’s gracious choosing.what do we see in verses 4-5B) We are Loved by God in Electiona. God loves his Church. God has chosen out of fallen humanity a people to belong to himself and Paul says, he knows this because of the fruit of the faith hope and love because the POWER of the Holy Spirit is evident in the Church.b. Why is it evident? Because the WORD is accompanied with POWER, with vitality given by the Spirit producing conviction. A conviction that is public in the face of suffering and is dispersed as suffering pushes the Thessalonians throughout Macedonia.c. The Word takes root because of the Holy Spirit, which makes the Word Sound Forth and in turn that word takes root with conviction and so on throughout Macedonia and the whole world and through the centuries until we inherited it here today in Coeburn, VA. Let’s follow that Logic a little more closely.C) The Gospel goes forth in Worda. Throughout 1 Thessalonians and Acts 17 there is an abundance of words related to the Preaching of the Gospel the word of God to us.b. Words such as: [Slowly] Declare, Speak, Proclaim, Exhort, Charged,c. it’s the Received Word, people are Persuaded by the word, in Acts 17 Paul: Reasons, Explains, Proves…What? that Christ suffered & Rose. The Gospel declaration of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ who is seated in power in the heavens and will (v. 10) return from Heaven.i. Word based ministry is necessaryii. And The content must be the Gospel of Jesus Christiii. But Not only in word…though that is the Necessary precondition. How can we believe if we have not heard (Rom. 10) but how is it believed once heard? The gospel is foolishness to natural man.iv. Its received why? How?1. Jesus says, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.a. Only the Holy Spirit, Spirit of truth, can take the word of truth and press it into our lives.2. Apart from the Spirit we are dead idolators worshipping dead idols…This must be overcome if we are to receive God’s word.v. If you have received the truth of the Gospel it is Not some special goodness in you. It was not some special goodness of the Thessalonian believers, Acts 17 says only some believed, the rest were busy driving Paul away and hauling a man named Jason into court. Because Their idols and idol selling businesses were threatened. But those who received the Power of the Holy Spirit coming in regenerating hearts, giving new life, and the gifts of faith, hope, and love…these experienced FULL conviction. Conviction that produced fruit.Conviction of sin is a special ministry of the Spirit in the heart of those under the preaching of the word.a. The Holy Spirit according to Jesus from John 15 & 16.i. Is sent from him and “when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;2. What is Conviction? Conviction is The full acceptance of the truth and importance of the gospel. Which is both the conviction of sin and conviction of mercy in Christ, which produces Joy.3. If we receive the word with full conviction then we will become imitators of those who also value the Word proclaimed and have suffered because of the gospel. Look with me in verses 5b-10.#3 5b-10 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.D) IMITATORS of What of Who?a. Paul says, they became imitators of him, Silas, and Timothy. I believe this is an aspect of discipleship good spiritually minded evangelicals have shied away from. It feels somehow earthly to literally become like another living person who isn’t King David, or Jesus, or just a Devotional quite time model of piety.i. Paul says, “Follow me as I follow Christ.”ii. The ultimate goal of discipleship is to be renewed in the image of Christ. But the Pathway that discipleship takes according to Paul is to be more like other disciples in the Church.iii. We know this, People start to sound like others in their prayers, how they ask questions, have conversations, do hospitality or our reaction to seeing other Christians happy or sad or struggling with sin.iv. We mimic Favorite phrases and responses. We do not follow an ethereal set of behaviors learned from devotionals… No, we rub shoulders with brothers and sisters from different generations, income levels, backgrounds, job, and areas of the world. Paul is not ashamed to say in so far as I am like Jesus follow me.v. Because we have the same spirit, we have the same faith, hope, and love working in us, and we learn the toolbox, the life skills of Church from others.1. Are you gifted at hospitality you learned it from a Brother or sister and THEY learned it from a brother and sister who learned it ultimately from Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit in the scriptures. Are you an evangelist > it was caught not taught and ultimately back to the Holy Spirit teaching through the Mind of Christ.2. Prayer. Mercy. Counseling. Parenting skills all are imitations done in the body of Christ, we embrace this when we long to fellowship together and mimic each other.3. But what specifically were the kinds of men Paul has in mind for the Thessalonians.b. They were the Kind of Men who had 6 things:First, Received the word with affliction that is Men who suffer for the sake of the gospelSecond, Men who had the Joy of the Holy Spirit, that is an assurance of belonging to God as a redeemed and forgiven child.Third, Men Who speak of the gospel, in such a way that the name of Jesus spread through all of Macedonia and AchaiaFourth, Men who Who turned from idols exercised repentance.c. To repeat last week, repentance is Having a true sense of sin, and the mercy of God in Christ, hating and grieving sin and turning from it to God in new obedience.d. Idols & Sin are lifeless and death-producing. Rejoice when you see someone turn from sin and learn how to do the same. Parents, speak in appropriate ways to your children about how you are actively turning away from sin and idols in your life, ways you are finding life in God but death in sin.e. Weep over sin with grief in our culture. I think we often express our anger at sin but rarely our grief at what sin does to us and to others. Children need to see our grief at sin and its effects on individuals, families, and society. Not just anger.Fifth, they were Men Who serve the living and true GodE) Idols are dead and bring death. God is the Lord and giver of Life. He is living and he gives life, vivification, and he blesses us with the life-giving communion of the saints.F) If we serve the living and true God we will draw our life from those appointed places that God has given us to find life. Such as in Prayer, communing with Christ by his Spirit. IN worship. IN the body of Christ, around the Lord’s table. Our whole life if it imitates Paul will be consumed with a love for the Church that flows out of a love for God. It is impossible for Church to be a secondary and tangential part of your life if you have turned from idols to the Living God.a. Examine your hearts is anything in your life an idol you serve instead of the living God.b. IF there is anything cast it aside and look to Christ, ask for the Holy Spirit to give you FULL conviction and Full Joy and assurance in Christ alone, in fellowship with the body of Christ.Sixth We are imitators of those Who Hope in Heaven meaningG) We Hope In the Risen Christ, the risen and seated Lord. We speak of death as conquered, defeated, we hold our funerals to dead saints with Hope. We do not entrust ourselves to lesser hopes. Because only in the Hope of Christ seated in heaven do we have deliverance.H) Deliverance from the Wrath to come.a. Praise be to God that he has loved us and shown mercy in sending his only begotten son into the world not to condemn the world because it stood condemned already but that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.b. Is this your all controlling CENTER of your very life, identity, your controlling thought and passion???c. Let this be our prayer, that we can say the word of the Lord hasd. sounded forth from Coeburn Presbyterian Church, and our faith has gone into our neighborhoods, our work, and the report of us is that we are joyfully filled with the hope of Heaven and the love of Christ.Prayer & Benediction This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesensley.substack.com