In 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul begins his letter with a warm greeting, assurance of prayer, and a joyful recounting of the amazing work of grace and conversion God has worked in their hearts and lives.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys podcast. We’re so thankful that you’ve taken the time to join us today and want you to know that this is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, you can head over to twojourneys.org. Now on to today’s episode.
This is episode one in our Thessalonians Bible Study podcast. This episode is entitled, thanking God for the Genuine Conversion of the Thessalonians, where we’ll discuss 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses we’re looking at today?
Andy
What an incredible chapter this is, and this answers some of the deepest, most profound questions about the marks of regeneration or what does it look like when someone actually is born again: when someone actually receives the gospel and is justified by faith? What kinds of things can we expect to see in that person’s life? So we’ve got the mystical, invisible spiritual realms, which has to do with election, and he’s going to talk about that in verse 4. And also the Spirit’s working in someone. You can’t see any of that, but as Jesus said to Nicodemus, “The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you can’t tell where it comes from, where it’s going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). When the wind moves, you don’t see the wind, you never see the wind, but you see what the wind does. And so we’re going to see what the powerful Holy Spirit does in the lives of individuals when they genuinely repent and believe in the gospel, 1 Thessalonians 1.
Wes
All right, well, I’m going to read 1 Thessalonians 1, so that we have a sense of the context for our discussion today.
Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace. 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. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 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 prove to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you receive the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 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. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turn 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 who delivers us from the wrath to come.
This Epistle is from three people, Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy. But three times in the letter Paul speaks in the first person. So in some ways the letter was from Paul, yet he uses we 62 times, us 20 times ,and our 26 times in the letter. Why do you think Paul included the other two in the writing of this letter when he could easily have written it himself?
Andy
Well, I think he wants the Thessalonians to know that they’re part of a family, the family of God, the body of Christ. He wants to elevate Silas/Sylvanus – Silas and Timothy. Paul’s older than them and so they’re the next generation, and he wants to establish their authority and their ability to speak into the Thessalonian situation going forward. So he puts them on the same pedestal as him, but it’s pretty clearly that the letter is from him. So, he is including them again and again, and does it not just once or twice, but many times throughout the Epistle. But it’s really his authority, it’s his voice. He’s speaking as the apostle of Jesus Christ.
Wes
Now as usual, Paul begins this Epistle with the greeting, “Grace to you.” Why do you think that greeting is so dear to Paul and what does it mean?
Andy
Well, I think we’ve noted in the past that Epistles begin with “Grace to you” and then they end with “Grace be with you.” So, I almost look on it like – and I’ve used this analogy before – like a car wash of grace, where we go into the car wash and we get hosed down, and cleansed, and buffed up, and shining, and all that, and then we go out with the effect of the car wash still with us. And so, the Epistle has a powerful effect of God’s grace on us. And I think also it feeds the conception that we’ve had, biblically the right conception, that our salvation’s not completed yet. We still have a process to go through. We’re in the process of sanctification. And so, these Epistles, the New Testament Epistles from Paul, are essential to our ongoing salvation. We need more grace as it says in 1 Peter 5:5, that “…God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” He gives us more grace. We need more grace. So, this Epistle, just like all of Paul’s Epistles, is a vehicle of God’s grace in our lives as we read it.
Wes
Now, Andy, what’s the theological basis for thanking God for other Christians, and how does a life of faithful prayer for them that is constant and sweetened by overflowing thanksgiving keep those relationships healthy?
Andy
Well, at the end of Romans 11, in this beautiful doxology, he says, one of the most powerful things we could ever hear, and it’s so vital, concerning God, almighty God, the creator and sustainer of all things, “For from him and through him and to him are all things” (Romans 11:36). So, when we thank God for other people, first of all, we’re thanking God for the fact that they just exist. If it hadn’t been for God’s will and God’s creative purpose, they wouldn’t even exist. But then, how much giving thanks to God for them as Christians as saved by his grace, they would not be born again if it weren’t for the sovereign grace of God. And so, there’s a very strong theological principle when Paul thanks God for the conversion or salvation of others; he’s giving God the credit and the glory. You thank the one who’s responsible.
So think of it this way, on Christmas, you’re together with your family, extended family, brothers and sisters, parents, your wife, your kids, tons of people in the room, and you get a gift. You look at the tag and you see, well, who it’s to should be clear because it’s being handed to you, but who is it from? And why do you want to know who it’s from? So you can thank that person. So you can thank them. And so, imagine if you opened up something from your wife and thanked your brother. How would your wife feel? That would be not a great moment, I’m thinking, and your brother would be confused.
Wes
That’s true.
Andy
Because you thank the one responsible. So Paul is making a theological statement whenever he thanks God for the salvation or for the faith of another. And the clearest example of this I think is in Romans 6:17 where Paul says, “Thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed that form of teaching to which you were entrusted.” Let me keep it real simple, thank God, concerning the Romans, thank God you obeyed. So he’s giving God credit for the Romans’ obedience. So, here in Thessalonians, he’s giving God credit for their justifying faith in the life transformation that’s happened in them.
Wes
In verse 3, what does the fact that Paul thanks God for the Thessalonians work and endurance teach us about the relationship between God’s work in us and our work for God?
Andy
They’re absolutely linked. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance. Also, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:10, very powerfully, he says, “But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” And so the energetic work we see in Paul’s life, and it was overwhelming, came from a power that worked in him by the grace of God.
And so here he’s thanking God for their “work of faith” or, as one translation put it, the “work produced by faith,” their faith in Christ has resulted in work. Now, this also brings us to one of the deepest theological issues of Christianity. We’re justified by faith, not by works. We are forgiven of our sins and made in a right standing with God by faith, not by works. But we need to understand whenever that justifying faith comes, it always produces good work. So, James makes it very plain that “faith apart from works is dead” (Paraphrase of James 2:17). It’s not real faith. And so here, there’s that strong linking.
He says, “We are constantly remembering before God in our prayers” (1 Thessalonians 1:2 paraphrase). And by the way, I love that continual praying language. Paul was a man of prayer, just constantly praying and thanking God. He was just walking in the presence of God, in prayer constantly. But whenever he thought about the Thessalonians, he thought about how hard they were working for Christ. He believed that that work came from their faith in Jesus.
Wes
Now the three couplets in verse three are interesting as well. They’re, “Work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope” (1 Thessalonians 1:3) How would you understand the links between work and faith, labor and love and steadfastness and hope?
Andy
Okay, well work and labor are synonyms, but maybe just a matter of intensity. So there are people that work and then those that labor. So it’s doubling down on work. So they’re synonyms, but more of intensification. So we’ve already covered a moment ago, work of faith or work produced by faith. Faith makes you want to be energetic and go do something. You want to find some way to serve. Isaiah 6:8, “‘Whom shall I send and who will go for us?’… ‘Here am I. Send me.’” I want to do something. And isn’t it an incredible grace from God that he gives us eternally consequential works to do? And so faith, the ability to see the invisible spiritual realm – past, present, and future – to look back at all that God has done in creation and redemption and all that, and understand that whole history from the Bible, to look around presently and to look up and to see the invisible God, almighty God and Jesus at the right hand of God and the activity of the Holy Spirit around the world.
And you look future to judgment day and the world beyond, should make you want to work. Say, “Lord, while I have time, while I have a healthy body and spiritual gifts, I want to do something for you.” So faith produces work and then love produces labor. So I would say at least simply a synonym. So work comes from both faith and love. But let’s say it’s an intensive work. You’re going to work really, really hard based on love. The more you love somebody, the more you’re willing to sacrifice, the more you’re willing to pay a high price for a gift or lay yourself out late at night working hard to bless somebody.
There’s a tremendous link between love and work. You think about the story about Jacob and how much he loved Rachel and how much he yearned to have her as his wife. And the price was to work seven years for Laban. But it said that “the seven years that he worked for her seemed like it was nothing like it was a week because of his love for Rachel” (paraphrase of Genesis 29:20). And then Laban swindled him. And that’s a whole different other story-
Wes
Whole different story.
Andy
A whole different other story. But at any rate, the fact was when you really love someone, you want to labor for them. And then the third is endurance, inspired by hope, or is that-
Wes
Steadfastness and hope.
Andy
Steadfastness or endurance? Perseverance. The fact that as Jesus just said very plainly, “but he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13). The fact that after a period of time you’re still a Christian. And yet more, you’re still a Christian and endurance is a mark of genuine Christianity. And frankly, if you talk about marks of regeneration, how can I know that I’m a Christian? Probably the number one proof is endurance. The fact that after many testings, after many temptations, after many persecutions, you still love Jesus, still believe in him. That is something that’s not true of the rocky soil seed that immediately springs up but is shallow. And as soon as the sun come up comes up, the plants are squirts and they wither because they have no root, because they are those that, “…hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes … they fall away” (Mark 4:16-17).
So, Jesus says, “He who stands firm or endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13). Well, what causes endurance? Hope. And what is hope, but a feeling, a sense in the heart that the future is bright based on the promises of God. So you’re like, “I’m not going to give up. Jesus is coming back. I’m not going to give up. We’re going to win. I’m not going to give up. Every good thing that I ever do will be rewarded eternally.” So hope gives you energy and that causes you to stand firm through every testing.
“What causes endurance? Hope. And what is hope, but a feeling, a sense in the heart that the future is bright based on the promises of God.”
Wes
Yeah, I love that definition of hope that you’ve given before as well. How can we strengthen our hope to become an even more vigorous people in our endurance in the trials we face in the world?
Andy
That’s one of the great gifts of the ministry of the Word of God. So I would say saturate yourself in the Bible and your hope will increase. You’ll have a vivid sense of what the future looks like. The Bible is a supernatural book in that it speaks about the future. It’s prophetic. It tells us things that are coming, that are not here yet. And, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1). The more that you are in God’s word, the more vivid that hope will become, the new heaven and new earth, the new Jerusalem, judgment day and beyond.
The fact that we’re going to be in these glorious resurrection bodies, you can just see it. Your hope gets strong and vigorous when you are meditating on, immersing yourself in the scripture. I think also it says in Romans 15:4, “For everything that was written in the past was written to instruct us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.” And so, scripture feeds hope. So you want to grow in hope, just saturate yourself in the Word of God.
Wes
That’s great. And one thing that’s helpful for us as we saturate ourselves is to meditate on scripture as well. How is it helpful for us to meditate on the fact that Paul’s certain that God chose the Thessalonians as he plainly asserts in verse 4?
Andy
Well, meditation is just deep thinking and you start to see some connections. Parenthetically, it’s one of the number one benefits and one of the number one reasons I advocate extended memorization of scripture. When you memorize whole books of the Bible, like memorizing 1 Thessalonians, which is, I forget, something like 105 verses long, something like that – it’s not that long – or maybe less, I don’t remember. But when you memorize a short epistle like this, you’re going to meditate on it. You’re going to be chewing it over and just working on the words and insights are going to come to you.
One of the insights that came to me when I memorized this book was that this is talking about election. And so we’ll talk about this in a minute, but I think when you meditate on scripture, insights come and you start to learn some things that you never noticed before. So I would just commend that to you, whether you memorize or not, you can meditate. And meditate is just a kind of a slow chewing over the words. What is he saying? What does this mean for me? How do I understand this? Et cetera. So there’s that sense of meditation.
Wes
Now, according to verse 5, what’s the basis of Paul’s certainty that the Thessalonians were chosen by God? And what does this teach you about good evidence of conversion?
Andy
Right. And we don’t see the word election here, but we do see the verb chosen, that God has chosen you. And so now we come to the great mystery of election, and we believe that election scripturally is taught, that election happened before the foundation of the world for he chose us in Christ before the creation of the world. But the question is how can I know that someone, a person is elect? And according to this verse, we can know. We actually can know. Now we can’t know with absolute certainty because of the Judas principle. Judas looked really, really good to the outside so that none of the apostles knew that he was the one. So it’s actually not all that hard to fool somebody. But all other things being equal, when you see the way someone’s living, “…out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45), you hear how someone talks, you look at their facial expressions, their demeanor in certain situations, you see what they give themselves to you see what their works are, you can evaluate someone’s works and know the nature of the tree. By their fruit, you will know them. This is a consistent biblical teaching. Look at the fruit. You’ll know what kind of tree it is. Do people pick grapes from fig trees or from thistles, et cetera? Jesus said, “By the nature of the fruit, you know what kind of tree it is” (paraphrase of Matthew 12:33). And so, it is here. Paul says, “We know brothers loved by God that he has chosen you” (1 Thessalonians 1:4).
How? Because of how the gospel came in your life. What happened when you received the gospel? So here’s the thing, we actually can know, though not perfectly, but we can know that another person is elect. One thing we can never know is that somebody’s reprobate and election and reprobation are the two aspects of predestination. That there are some that are elect. Everyone that’s not elect is reprobate. But we cannot know in this world while someone’s alive that they’re reprobate. We always have good hopes. We pray for them, we reach out even if they’ve resisted the gospel again and again and again. We still don’t give up on them and we still can pray for them and seek their salvation. We just cannot know in this life that someone’s reprobate, but we can know in this life within a certain measure of security that another person is elect.
Wes
Now, you talked a little bit about how the gospel comes to someone. What does it mean if the gospel comes to someone in power as we see here, and what role does the Holy Spirit play in our conversion?
Andy
Well, back then things were a little different than they are now. When the gospel came to a new area, sometimes the people would receive the outward visible baptism of the spirit in that sense. That would be speaking in tongues and prophesying. There would just be an immediate effusion of what we call sign gifts. So you’re not going to immediately see the fruit of the Spirit. How can you? You have to watch the way someone lives to see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and we’ll get to joy in a minute and some other things. But I think what happened was there were outward visible manifestations of the powerful moving of the Spirit similar to Pentecost. So, early on you have some Pentecost moments that happened. The Holy Spirit comes, Cornelius’s House, Acts 10. And I think back then same thing, Thessalonians, the Holy Spirit would descend and the people would speak in tongues and prophesy and all that.
Now in our day and age, I think you need a little more time. The gospel comes, the people are joyful, they’re energetic, they’re excited. Well, that’s good, but based on the rocky ground here that I just said, they were too, they once received the word with joy. So, joy is not a certain proof, but it is a good indication. If people receive the word and they’re angry or bored, they’re probably not Christians, but if they receive it and they’re happy and they’re excited that they’re forgiven and they’re tears coming down their eyes and all that, that’s good indication. But you still have to slow down and just wait.
So in that case, the word power is a little bit different. It has to do with what we’re going to see later in the same chapter. The power of a transformed life. They start living differently. Their marriage is different. Their parenting is different, their conversation is different. They stop frequenting the pagan temple, they stop living a drunken immoral lifestyle. Changes happen, and that only happens by the power of the Spirit. So the Spirit’s power now apart from the sign gifts, the Spirit’s power now is different. It’s more a transformation into a holy life.
Wes
Now, verse 5 also mentions conviction or assurance. What’s the difference between them and how are these evidences of genuine conversion as well?
Andy
So, I think there are two ways of understanding deep conviction. One is deep conviction of sin, and the other is deep conviction of the truths of Christianity. So I think both of those could be in view here. One is that you are utterly, completely convinced that if Christ had not died for you, you would deserve hell. You are a violator of the law of God. You’ve broken God’s laws, you have transgressed his commands. You deserve to be condemned. You feel the sentence of death in yourself. Martin Luther said, “It is not education or academics that makes a man a theologian. It’s dying and being condemned to hell that makes him a theologian.” So he doesn’t mean literally dying and being condemned to hell, but feeling yourself as though you had died and been condemned to hell. Then you’re all of a sudden extremely interested in theology, and you want to know is there a way to escape?
So the idea is the Holy Spirit comes and brings conviction of sin. It basically like Nathan the prophet pointing his finger at David after Bathsheba saying, “You are the man. I’m talking about you.” So you’re convicted of sin, and it’s not just one time. It’s the rest of your life. You realize the rest of your life, Romans 1-3, those chapters, especially the culminating part of Romans 3, “There’s no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:11-12). You read those words and you’re like, the Holy Spirit is saying, “I’m talking about you. You are the sinner. You need a savior.” Even if I’ve been a Christian 30, 40 years, I still feel that the impact. So deep conviction.
Or along with that, not different from that, but related deep conviction that Christian theology is true, that Christ really is the son of God. He really did die on the cross. He really did rise from the dead. I’m utterly convinced of these things and all the details of Christian theology, deep conviction. We hold the truths of the faith with a clear conscience and deeply as it says of deacons in 1 Timothy 3, where you have that sense of a deep holding onto Christian theology.
Wes
Paul next addresses the way he and his team were role models to the Thessalonians and how they then became role models for others. Why was this such a big part of the success of the gospel in Thessalonica and around the world?
Andy
Well, I think this is part of God’s plan. Jesus came, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14) or pitched his tent among us, tabernacle with us. And you see in John 1, the beginning of the Christian Church, as John the Baptist pointed at Jesus and said, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). The next day he says the same thing again, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:36). And two disciples of John, John the Baptist’s disciples, follow Jesus along the road, following where John pointed, and they want to know this man that John the Baptist said was the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. “And Jesus turned and said, what are you looking for? And they said, ‘Rabbi, where are you staying?’ And he said, ‘Come and see.’ And they went and saw where he was staying and they spent that day with him. It was about the 10th hour” (paraphrase of John 1:38-39).
So, late in the day they had a meal, probably. Doesn’t say so, but they probably did. They sat down and ate with him and talked with him and just spent time with him. And you’re like, you wonder why did the apostle John put that in the Gospel of John when so many other things never made it in the gospel? Because I believe that was the first time that John saw Jesus, and this is his gospel and he is going to tell his story. And it’s all about fellowship. It’s about spending intimate time with Jesus for all eternity, sitting at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, fellowshipping with him for all eternity. And so fundamentally, the idea is what we call incarnational ministry, that Jesus came to live with us, God with us, and to immerse himself with us.
Well, then the apostles and missionaries, evangelists go out and do the same. We follow the same pattern. You live with the people you’re seeking to lead to Christ. You immerse yourself in their culture. You learn their language. You live with them. And then there’s that imitation aspect. Then we see also in 1 Timothy and also in 1 Thessalonians, we’ll talk about it, or 2 Timothy, a pattern of discipleship, a pattern of sound doctrine, 2 Timothy 1:13 and Philippians 3:17, which is life learning and book learning.
So, the book learning is sound doctrine, and the other is imitation, role modeling. And we get very strong role modeling here. We lived among you, you watched how we lived and you started to imitate us. You started to imitate how we prayed. You started to imitate how we ate meals. You started to imitate how we talked to each other, how we’d embrace each other with a Christian kiss of friendship, something like that. How we really liked to be together, you started to imitate us. So that’s just proof. The whole chapter is about proof that you Thessalonians really came to Christ when you heard the gospel. So that’s all the things we’re talking about. Now, they are imitating the messengers and starting to live new kinds of lives.
Wes
Andy, at FBC, we’ve been thinking a lot about trials and suffering and affliction lately, as we’ve made our way through the Book of Job. How did trials put hope on display and what role does the joy of the Holy Spirit play in this?
Andy
What happens in Act 17 is they come and within, after just three weeks, the jealous Jews that were persecuting Paul started a riot in the city. And Paul and Silas snuck out at night and got out of there, but the new little Thessalonian church was still there, and they had to deal with these hostile opposers of Christianity. And so severe suffering was immediately a part of the Thessalonian’s Christian faith. And despite the fact that they immediately had the fire of persecution, they continued to persevere. So, they right away had their stony ground test and they passed it. Persecution came and they still believed in Jesus.
And not only that, but they were filled with joy. As it says in Hebrews 10, where it says, “Remember those earlier days when he first received the gospel, how you actually received persecution with joy and even the confiscation of your property and incarceration because you knew that you had a better possession and a lasting one in heaven,” (Paraphrase of Hebrews 10:32-34). So, these Thessalonians had the same thing, “Convinced of the joy of eternity and of rewards, you suffered very well.”
Wes
Yeah, it’s a powerful thing when we see others suffer well, especially for the gospel. Why is that? Why is it easier to suffer when we see others go before us and suffer?
Andy
Well, Paul says this in Philippians 1, he says, “…I want you to know that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result of me being incarcerated … as a result of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly” (Philippians 1:12-14). Well, how’s that? Well, they see Paul. I mean, he’s the one that sings in the Philippian jail. He’s the one that’s rejoicing and trusting, and so people don’t lose their faith in persecution because they see a role model their captain, their leader, flourishing spiritually, even while he’s being beaten physically. And they’re like, “You know, I actually want to follow him, and he’s a mentor, a role model to me.” And so, they became an example to everyone to not fear persecution.
Wes
How does verse eight show the effectiveness of joyful hope-filled evangelism in the midst of suffering?
Andy
Yeah, it says, “The Lord’s message,” my translation says, “rang out from you.” What do you have there in verse 8?
Wes
Verse 8 says that, “…has gone forth. Your faith in God has gone forth everywhere.”
Andy
Yeah, it’s just like the Romans as well. He says, “Everybody knows about your faith. Everybody knows about you.” And so, there’s this reputation. It’s like this church is exploding. And I think the fact that the gospel was prospering, the fact that the gospel was succeeding, led to further success. If it’s just failing everywhere, nobody wants in on that. But if people all over are believing and coming and are thriving, that has a momentum to it. And so, as they had received the gospel and their lives were being transformed, they started evangelizing others, who are so excited about Jesus. And people ask questions. And many of them came to faith. And so it started to roll.
Wes
Consistent even with what we studied not that long ago in 1 Peter, right? Giving “a reason for the hope that is in us” (Paraphrase of 1 Peter 3:15). When people see that and are thinking, man, how can you be that way in the midst of this kind of suffering and affliction?
Andy
And he says that, “It wasn’t just Macedonia and Achaia, their faith in God has become known everywhere” (paraphrase of 1 Thessalonians 1:8). So that’s all over the place, not just in the Greek world, but also maybe Asia Minor and other places. And that’s the commerce, that’s the Roman roads that united the Roman empire, and so, there’s a lot of coming and going. And so, people get on ships and they’d go to distant ports. They’d go to Alexandria, Egypt, or other places. “Hey, by the way, I was just in Thessalonica, a bunch of people following a new religion up there,” and then the message spread.
Wes
That’s amazing. How is verse nine a clear description of repentance and why it is it essential for us to understand idolatry in our day?
Andy
So the keyword on repentance here is turning. When you think about what is repentance, both in the Greek and in the English, it’s thinking newly or thinking differently. You’re turning away from a certain kind of thinking to a new one, and the thinking leads to living. So, thinking plus living, going from in one direction. And then as some have said, it’s a U-turn. So, you see the turning language here. They tell how you turned to God from idols. So that’s repentance. You’re turning away from, and you’re turning to. And so, there’s a negative repulsion and a positive attraction. And so, we are drawn to the glory of God and repulsed now by the ugliness of paganism.
So, they turned away from these wicked evil idols, and the idols were disgusting. These are the Greek gods and goddesses, and they’re immoral beings like Hollywood movie stars living just lavish, weird, immoral lives. Talking about the gods and goddesses as they were projected.
And then they would build little statues, the goddess of love, the god of war, the king god, Zeus or Jupiter. They would make these shrines and all that, and then they would lead to corrupt worship practices, very immoral drunken orgies, and all that sort of stuff. And that was popular. It was very alluring, very sensual. It appealed to all of the senses of our bodies: a full stomach filled with meat, sacrifice to idols, sexual pleasure – as much as you want – drunkenness – to be elevated through wine. I mean, what else could the carnal body want? And that was at the temple.
The Thessalonians stopped doing all that. They didn’t go anymore. They were done with it. It’s ugly and dark and evil, and they turned away from that. Instead, they turned to the one true and living God, and he is the living God. You turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God, the others aren’t alive; they’re impersonated by demons. The demons are God and goddess impersonators, but they weren’t real gods and goddesses. But there is a God, a living God, and they turn to him and he’s holy and pure, and they yearn to serve him. That is repentance, a radical change in their lives.
Wes
It’s a powerful juxtaposition of turning from these gods, who are no gods or are, like you said, demons impersonating gods and goddesses to the one true and living God.
Andy
Yeah. That’s awesome.
Wes
How important is it to eagerly await the second coming of Christ?
Andy
So, we have all these demeanors in this chapter. We have joy. We talked about that. They’re filled with joy; and they were gloomy and depressed and angry and just pagan before Paul came to town, and now they’re filled with joy. Some of them were Jews, so they weren’t pagan, they were following Judaism. But it was a bondage, it was a yoke. Peter said that, “…neither we nor our fathers had been able to bear” (Acts 15:10). So, they were trying to earn their own salvation by keeping the law, and that wasn’t working. It was just a gloomy, burdensome life. And then when the gospel came, and they were set free. “It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Stand firm then,” (Galatians 5:1) he said. And so, there’s all this beauty, and so they’re filled with joy, they’re filled with delight.
But they’re also filled with longing. We don’t have the thing we’re waiting for. It hasn’t come yet. That’s what hope is. It’s, “Who hopes for what he already has? But (if) we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently,” Romans 8:24-25. And so, they’re waiting for his son from heaven, Jesus, the second coming of Christ. They’re yearning. They say, “We’re waiting. The best things for us are yet to come. We’re looking forward to a coming king and a coming kingdom and to eternity in that kingdom.” And so, they’re always forward-looking. They all know even to their death, to their dying day, best things are yet to come.
Wes
What does verse 10 teach us about Jesus Christ? And what final thoughts do you have for us today?
Andy
It says that, “Jesus, (in the second coming will rescue) us from the coming wrath” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). We’ll read about that in the Book of Revelation. The coming wrath refers to the destruction of the world by fire, as we studied in Peter, 2 Peter 3, but also even more significantly personal destruction, “Depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:24). Eternal conscious torment. That is the wrath to come. Jesus rescues us from that.
So, by faith in Christ, we will not suffer eternal wrath. So, we’re waiting for Jesus to come to establish his glorious kingdom. And we are also waiting, knowing that we will not be condemned for our sins, but we will be delivered. So, this chapter, this little 10-verse chapter, talks very powerfully and clearly about what happens when the genuine gospel comes to a heart genuinely prepared by the Holy Spirit and is received with genuine faith: a radical transformation of life filled with joy, filled with holiness, filled with hard work, and service, and filled with hope.
“By faith in Christ, we will not suffer eternal wrath. So, we’re waiting for Jesus to come to establish his glorious kingdom.”
Wes
Well, this has been episode one in our Thessalonians Bible study podcast. We invite you to join us next time for episode two, where we’ll discuss 1 Thessalonians 2:1-20. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys podcast. We’re so thankful that you’ve taken the time to join us today and want you to know that this is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, you can head over to twojourneys.org. Now on to today’s episode.
This is episode one in our Thessalonians Bible Study podcast. This episode is entitled, thanking God for the Genuine Conversion of the Thessalonians, where we’ll discuss 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses we’re looking at today?
Andy
What an incredible chapter this is, and this answers some of the deepest, most profound questions about the marks of regeneration or what does it look like when someone actually is born again: when someone actually receives the gospel and is justified by faith? What kinds of things can we expect to see in that person’s life? So we’ve got the mystical, invisible spiritual realms, which has to do with election, and he’s going to talk about that in verse 4. And also the Spirit’s working in someone. You can’t see any of that, but as Jesus said to Nicodemus, “The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you can’t tell where it comes from, where it’s going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). When the wind moves, you don’t see the wind, you never see the wind, but you see what the wind does. And so we’re going to see what the powerful Holy Spirit does in the lives of individuals when they genuinely repent and believe in the gospel, 1 Thessalonians 1.
Wes
All right, well, I’m going to read 1 Thessalonians 1, so that we have a sense of the context for our discussion today.
Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace. 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. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 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 prove to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you receive the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 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. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turn 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 who delivers us from the wrath to come.
This Epistle is from three people, Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy. But three times in the letter Paul speaks in the first person. So in some ways the letter was from Paul, yet he uses we 62 times, us 20 times ,and our 26 times in the letter. Why do you think Paul included the other two in the writing of this letter when he could easily have written it himself?
Andy
Well, I think he wants the Thessalonians to know that they’re part of a family, the family of God, the body of Christ. He wants to elevate Silas/Sylvanus – Silas and Timothy. Paul’s older than them and so they’re the next generation, and he wants to establish their authority and their ability to speak into the Thessalonian situation going forward. So he puts them on the same pedestal as him, but it’s pretty clearly that the letter is from him. So, he is including them again and again, and does it not just once or twice, but many times throughout the Epistle. But it’s really his authority, it’s his voice. He’s speaking as the apostle of Jesus Christ.
Wes
Now as usual, Paul begins this Epistle with the greeting, “Grace to you.” Why do you think that greeting is so dear to Paul and what does it mean?
Andy
Well, I think we’ve noted in the past that Epistles begin with “Grace to you” and then they end with “Grace be with you.” So, I almost look on it like – and I’ve used this analogy before – like a car wash of grace, where we go into the car wash and we get hosed down, and cleansed, and buffed up, and shining, and all that, and then we go out with the effect of the car wash still with us. And so, the Epistle has a powerful effect of God’s grace on us. And I think also it feeds the conception that we’ve had, biblically the right conception, that our salvation’s not completed yet. We still have a process to go through. We’re in the process of sanctification. And so, these Epistles, the New Testament Epistles from Paul, are essential to our ongoing salvation. We need more grace as it says in 1 Peter 5:5, that “…God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” He gives us more grace. We need more grace. So, this Epistle, just like all of Paul’s Epistles, is a vehicle of God’s grace in our lives as we read it.
Wes
Now, Andy, what’s the theological basis for thanking God for other Christians, and how does a life of faithful prayer for them that is constant and sweetened by overflowing thanksgiving keep those relationships healthy?
Andy
Well, at the end of Romans 11, in this beautiful doxology, he says, one of the most powerful things we could ever hear, and it’s so vital, concerning God, almighty God, the creator and sustainer of all things, “For from him and through him and to him are all things” (Romans 11:36). So, when we thank God for other people, first of all, we’re thanking God for the fact that they just exist. If it hadn’t been for God’s will and God’s creative purpose, they wouldn’t even exist. But then, how much giving thanks to God for them as Christians as saved by his grace, they would not be born again if it weren’t for the sovereign grace of God. And so, there’s a very strong theological principle when Paul thanks God for the conversion or salvation of others; he’s giving God the credit and the glory. You thank the one who’s responsible.
So think of it this way, on Christmas, you’re together with your family, extended family, brothers and sisters, parents, your wife, your kids, tons of people in the room, and you get a gift. You look at the tag and you see, well, who it’s to should be clear because it’s being handed to you, but who is it from? And why do you want to know who it’s from? So you can thank that person. So you can thank them. And so, imagine if you opened up something from your wife and thanked your brother. How would your wife feel? That would be not a great moment, I’m thinking, and your brother would be confused.
Wes
That’s true.
Andy
Because you thank the one responsible. So Paul is making a theological statement whenever he thanks God for the salvation or for the faith of another. And the clearest example of this I think is in Romans 6:17 where Paul says, “Thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed that form of teaching to which you were entrusted.” Let me keep it real simple, thank God, concerning the Romans, thank God you obeyed. So he’s giving God credit for the Romans’ obedience. So, here in Thessalonians, he’s giving God credit for their justifying faith in the life transformation that’s happened in them.
Wes
In verse 3, what does the fact that Paul thanks God for the Thessalonians work and endurance teach us about the relationship between God’s work in us and our work for God?
Andy
They’re absolutely linked. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance. Also, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:10, very powerfully, he says, “But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” And so the energetic work we see in Paul’s life, and it was overwhelming, came from a power that worked in him by the grace of God.
And so here he’s thanking God for their “work of faith” or, as one translation put it, the “work produced by faith,” their faith in Christ has resulted in work. Now, this also brings us to one of the deepest theological issues of Christianity. We’re justified by faith, not by works. We are forgiven of our sins and made in a right standing with God by faith, not by works. But we need to understand whenever that justifying faith comes, it always produces good work. So, James makes it very plain that “faith apart from works is dead” (Paraphrase of James 2:17). It’s not real faith. And so here, there’s that strong linking.
He says, “We are constantly remembering before God in our prayers” (1 Thessalonians 1:2 paraphrase). And by the way, I love that continual praying language. Paul was a man of prayer, just constantly praying and thanking God. He was just walking in the presence of God, in prayer constantly. But whenever he thought about the Thessalonians, he thought about how hard they were working for Christ. He believed that that work came from their faith in Jesus.
Wes
Now the three couplets in verse three are interesting as well. They’re, “Work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope” (1 Thessalonians 1:3) How would you understand the links between work and faith, labor and love and steadfastness and hope?
Andy
Okay, well work and labor are synonyms, but maybe just a matter of intensity. So there are people that work and then those that labor. So it’s doubling down on work. So they’re synonyms, but more of intensification. So we’ve already covered a moment ago, work of faith or work produced by faith. Faith makes you want to be energetic and go do something. You want to find some way to serve. Isaiah 6:8, “‘Whom shall I send and who will go for us?’… ‘Here am I. Send me.’” I want to do something. And isn’t it an incredible grace from God that he gives us eternally consequential works to do? And so faith, the ability to see the invisible spiritual realm – past, present, and future – to look back at all that God has done in creation and redemption and all that, and understand that whole history from the Bible, to look around presently and to look up and to see the invisible God, almighty God and Jesus at the right hand of God and the activity of the Holy Spirit around the world.
And you look future to judgment day and the world beyond, should make you want to work. Say, “Lord, while I have time, while I have a healthy body and spiritual gifts, I want to do something for you.” So faith produces work and then love produces labor. So I would say at least simply a synonym. So work comes from both faith and love. But let’s say it’s an intensive work. You’re going to work really, really hard based on love. The more you love somebody, the more you’re willing to sacrifice, the more you’re willing to pay a high price for a gift or lay yourself out late at night working hard to bless somebody.
There’s a tremendous link between love and work. You think about the story about Jacob and how much he loved Rachel and how much he yearned to have her as his wife. And the price was to work seven years for Laban. But it said that “the seven years that he worked for her seemed like it was nothing like it was a week because of his love for Rachel” (paraphrase of Genesis 29:20). And then Laban swindled him. And that’s a whole different other story-
Wes
Whole different story.
Andy
A whole different other story. But at any rate, the fact was when you really love someone, you want to labor for them. And then the third is endurance, inspired by hope, or is that-
Wes
Steadfastness and hope.
Andy
Steadfastness or endurance? Perseverance. The fact that as Jesus just said very plainly, “but he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13). The fact that after a period of time you’re still a Christian. And yet more, you’re still a Christian and endurance is a mark of genuine Christianity. And frankly, if you talk about marks of regeneration, how can I know that I’m a Christian? Probably the number one proof is endurance. The fact that after many testings, after many temptations, after many persecutions, you still love Jesus, still believe in him. That is something that’s not true of the rocky soil seed that immediately springs up but is shallow. And as soon as the sun come up comes up, the plants are squirts and they wither because they have no root, because they are those that, “…hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes … they fall away” (Mark 4:16-17).
So, Jesus says, “He who stands firm or endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13). Well, what causes endurance? Hope. And what is hope, but a feeling, a sense in the heart that the future is bright based on the promises of God. So you’re like, “I’m not going to give up. Jesus is coming back. I’m not going to give up. We’re going to win. I’m not going to give up. Every good thing that I ever do will be rewarded eternally.” So hope gives you energy and that causes you to stand firm through every testing.
“What causes endurance? Hope. And what is hope, but a feeling, a sense in the heart that the future is bright based on the promises of God.”
Wes
Yeah, I love that definition of hope that you’ve given before as well. How can we strengthen our hope to become an even more vigorous people in our endurance in the trials we face in the world?
Andy
That’s one of the great gifts of the ministry of the Word of God. So I would say saturate yourself in the Bible and your hope will increase. You’ll have a vivid sense of what the future looks like. The Bible is a supernatural book in that it speaks about the future. It’s prophetic. It tells us things that are coming, that are not here yet. And, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1). The more that you are in God’s word, the more vivid that hope will become, the new heaven and new earth, the new Jerusalem, judgment day and beyond.
The fact that we’re going to be in these glorious resurrection bodies, you can just see it. Your hope gets strong and vigorous when you are meditating on, immersing yourself in the scripture. I think also it says in Romans 15:4, “For everything that was written in the past was written to instruct us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.” And so, scripture feeds hope. So you want to grow in hope, just saturate yourself in the Word of God.
Wes
That’s great. And one thing that’s helpful for us as we saturate ourselves is to meditate on scripture as well. How is it helpful for us to meditate on the fact that Paul’s certain that God chose the Thessalonians as he plainly asserts in verse 4?
Andy
Well, meditation is just deep thinking and you start to see some connections. Parenthetically, it’s one of the number one benefits and one of the number one reasons I advocate extended memorization of scripture. When you memorize whole books of the Bible, like memorizing 1 Thessalonians, which is, I forget, something like 105 verses long, something like that – it’s not that long – or maybe less, I don’t remember. But when you memorize a short epistle like this, you’re going to meditate on it. You’re going to be chewing it over and just working on the words and insights are going to come to you.
One of the insights that came to me when I memorized this book was that this is talking about election. And so we’ll talk about this in a minute, but I think when you meditate on scripture, insights come and you start to learn some things that you never noticed before. So I would just commend that to you, whether you memorize or not, you can meditate. And meditate is just a kind of a slow chewing over the words. What is he saying? What does this mean for me? How do I understand this? Et cetera. So there’s that sense of meditation.
Wes
Now, according to verse 5, what’s the basis of Paul’s certainty that the Thessalonians were chosen by God? And what does this teach you about good evidence of conversion?
Andy
Right. And we don’t see the word election here, but we do see the verb chosen, that God has chosen you. And so now we come to the great mystery of election, and we believe that election scripturally is taught, that election happened before the foundation of the world for he chose us in Christ before the creation of the world. But the question is how can I know that someone, a person is elect? And according to this verse, we can know. We actually can know. Now we can’t know with absolute certainty because of the Judas principle. Judas looked really, really good to the outside so that none of the apostles knew that he was the one. So it’s actually not all that hard to fool somebody. But all other things being equal, when you see the way someone’s living, “…out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45), you hear how someone talks, you look at their facial expressions, their demeanor in certain situations, you see what they give themselves to you see what their works are, you can evaluate someone’s works and know the nature of the tree. By their fruit, you will know them. This is a consistent biblical teaching. Look at the fruit. You’ll know what kind of tree it is. Do people pick grapes from fig trees or from thistles, et cetera? Jesus said, “By the nature of the fruit, you know what kind of tree it is” (paraphrase of Matthew 12:33). And so, it is here. Paul says, “We know brothers loved by God that he has chosen you” (1 Thessalonians 1:4).
How? Because of how the gospel came in your life. What happened when you received the gospel? So here’s the thing, we actually can know, though not perfectly, but we can know that another person is elect. One thing we can never know is that somebody’s reprobate and election and reprobation are the two aspects of predestination. That there are some that are elect. Everyone that’s not elect is reprobate. But we cannot know in this world while someone’s alive that they’re reprobate. We always have good hopes. We pray for them, we reach out even if they’ve resisted the gospel again and again and again. We still don’t give up on them and we still can pray for them and seek their salvation. We just cannot know in this life that someone’s reprobate, but we can know in this life within a certain measure of security that another person is elect.
Wes
Now, you talked a little bit about how the gospel comes to someone. What does it mean if the gospel comes to someone in power as we see here, and what role does the Holy Spirit play in our conversion?
Andy
Well, back then things were a little different than they are now. When the gospel came to a new area, sometimes the people would receive the outward visible baptism of the spirit in that sense. That would be speaking in tongues and prophesying. There would just be an immediate effusion of what we call sign gifts. So you’re not going to immediately see the fruit of the Spirit. How can you? You have to watch the way someone lives to see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and we’ll get to joy in a minute and some other things. But I think what happened was there were outward visible manifestations of the powerful moving of the Spirit similar to Pentecost. So, early on you have some Pentecost moments that happened. The Holy Spirit comes, Cornelius’s House, Acts 10. And I think back then same thing, Thessalonians, the Holy Spirit would descend and the people would speak in tongues and prophesy and all that.
Now in our day and age, I think you need a little more time. The gospel comes, the people are joyful, they’re energetic, they’re excited. Well, that’s good, but based on the rocky ground here that I just said, they were too, they once received the word with joy. So, joy is not a certain proof, but it is a good indication. If people receive the word and they’re angry or bored, they’re probably not Christians, but if they receive it and they’re happy and they’re excited that they’re forgiven and they’re tears coming down their eyes and all that, that’s good indication. But you still have to slow down and just wait.
So in that case, the word power is a little bit different. It has to do with what we’re going to see later in the same chapter. The power of a transformed life. They start living differently. Their marriage is different. Their parenting is different, their conversation is different. They stop frequenting the pagan temple, they stop living a drunken immoral lifestyle. Changes happen, and that only happens by the power of the Spirit. So the Spirit’s power now apart from the sign gifts, the Spirit’s power now is different. It’s more a transformation into a holy life.
Wes
Now, verse 5 also mentions conviction or assurance. What’s the difference between them and how are these evidences of genuine conversion as well?
Andy
So, I think there are two ways of understanding deep conviction. One is deep conviction of sin, and the other is deep conviction of the truths of Christianity. So I think both of those could be in view here. One is that you are utterly, completely convinced that if Christ had not died for you, you would deserve hell. You are a violator of the law of God. You’ve broken God’s laws, you have transgressed his commands. You deserve to be condemned. You feel the sentence of death in yourself. Martin Luther said, “It is not education or academics that makes a man a theologian. It’s dying and being condemned to hell that makes him a theologian.” So he doesn’t mean literally dying and being condemned to hell, but feeling yourself as though you had died and been condemned to hell. Then you’re all of a sudden extremely interested in theology, and you want to know is there a way to escape?
So the idea is the Holy Spirit comes and brings conviction of sin. It basically like Nathan the prophet pointing his finger at David after Bathsheba saying, “You are the man. I’m talking about you.” So you’re convicted of sin, and it’s not just one time. It’s the rest of your life. You realize the rest of your life, Romans 1-3, those chapters, especially the culminating part of Romans 3, “There’s no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:11-12). You read those words and you’re like, the Holy Spirit is saying, “I’m talking about you. You are the sinner. You need a savior.” Even if I’ve been a Christian 30, 40 years, I still feel that the impact. So deep conviction.
Or along with that, not different from that, but related deep conviction that Christian theology is true, that Christ really is the son of God. He really did die on the cross. He really did rise from the dead. I’m utterly convinced of these things and all the details of Christian theology, deep conviction. We hold the truths of the faith with a clear conscience and deeply as it says of deacons in 1 Timothy 3, where you have that sense of a deep holding onto Christian theology.
Wes
Paul next addresses the way he and his team were role models to the Thessalonians and how they then became role models for others. Why was this such a big part of the success of the gospel in Thessalonica and around the world?
Andy
Well, I think this is part of God’s plan. Jesus came, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14) or pitched his tent among us, tabernacle with us. And you see in John 1, the beginning of the Christian Church, as John the Baptist pointed at Jesus and said, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). The next day he says the same thing again, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:36). And two disciples of John, John the Baptist’s disciples, follow Jesus along the road, following where John pointed, and they want to know this man that John the Baptist said was the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. “And Jesus turned and said, what are you looking for? And they said, ‘Rabbi, where are you staying?’ And he said, ‘Come and see.’ And they went and saw where he was staying and they spent that day with him. It was about the 10th hour” (paraphrase of John 1:38-39).
So, late in the day they had a meal, probably. Doesn’t say so, but they probably did. They sat down and ate with him and talked with him and just spent time with him. And you’re like, you wonder why did the apostle John put that in the Gospel of John when so many other things never made it in the gospel? Because I believe that was the first time that John saw Jesus, and this is his gospel and he is going to tell his story. And it’s all about fellowship. It’s about spending intimate time with Jesus for all eternity, sitting at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, fellowshipping with him for all eternity. And so fundamentally, the idea is what we call incarnational ministry, that Jesus came to live with us, God with us, and to immerse himself with us.
Well, then the apostles and missionaries, evangelists go out and do the same. We follow the same pattern. You live with the people you’re seeking to lead to Christ. You immerse yourself in their culture. You learn their language. You live with them. And then there’s that imitation aspect. Then we see also in 1 Timothy and also in 1 Thessalonians, we’ll talk about it, or 2 Timothy, a pattern of discipleship, a pattern of sound doctrine, 2 Timothy 1:13 and Philippians 3:17, which is life learning and book learning.
So, the book learning is sound doctrine, and the other is imitation, role modeling. And we get very strong role modeling here. We lived among you, you watched how we lived and you started to imitate us. You started to imitate how we prayed. You started to imitate how we ate meals. You started to imitate how we talked to each other, how we’d embrace each other with a Christian kiss of friendship, something like that. How we really liked to be together, you started to imitate us. So that’s just proof. The whole chapter is about proof that you Thessalonians really came to Christ when you heard the gospel. So that’s all the things we’re talking about. Now, they are imitating the messengers and starting to live new kinds of lives.
Wes
Andy, at FBC, we’ve been thinking a lot about trials and suffering and affliction lately, as we’ve made our way through the Book of Job. How did trials put hope on display and what role does the joy of the Holy Spirit play in this?
Andy
What happens in Act 17 is they come and within, after just three weeks, the jealous Jews that were persecuting Paul started a riot in the city. And Paul and Silas snuck out at night and got out of there, but the new little Thessalonian church was still there, and they had to deal with these hostile opposers of Christianity. And so severe suffering was immediately a part of the Thessalonian’s Christian faith. And despite the fact that they immediately had the fire of persecution, they continued to persevere. So, they right away had their stony ground test and they passed it. Persecution came and they still believed in Jesus.
And not only that, but they were filled with joy. As it says in Hebrews 10, where it says, “Remember those earlier days when he first received the gospel, how you actually received persecution with joy and even the confiscation of your property and incarceration because you knew that you had a better possession and a lasting one in heaven,” (Paraphrase of Hebrews 10:32-34). So, these Thessalonians had the same thing, “Convinced of the joy of eternity and of rewards, you suffered very well.”
Wes
Yeah, it’s a powerful thing when we see others suffer well, especially for the gospel. Why is that? Why is it easier to suffer when we see others go before us and suffer?
Andy
Well, Paul says this in Philippians 1, he says, “…I want you to know that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result of me being incarcerated … as a result of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly” (Philippians 1:12-14). Well, how’s that? Well, they see Paul. I mean, he’s the one that sings in the Philippian jail. He’s the one that’s rejoicing and trusting, and so people don’t lose their faith in persecution because they see a role model their captain, their leader, flourishing spiritually, even while he’s being beaten physically. And they’re like, “You know, I actually want to follow him, and he’s a mentor, a role model to me.” And so, they became an example to everyone to not fear persecution.
Wes
How does verse eight show the effectiveness of joyful hope-filled evangelism in the midst of suffering?
Andy
Yeah, it says, “The Lord’s message,” my translation says, “rang out from you.” What do you have there in verse 8?
Wes
Verse 8 says that, “…has gone forth. Your faith in God has gone forth everywhere.”
Andy
Yeah, it’s just like the Romans as well. He says, “Everybody knows about your faith. Everybody knows about you.” And so, there’s this reputation. It’s like this church is exploding. And I think the fact that the gospel was prospering, the fact that the gospel was succeeding, led to further success. If it’s just failing everywhere, nobody wants in on that. But if people all over are believing and coming and are thriving, that has a momentum to it. And so, as they had received the gospel and their lives were being transformed, they started evangelizing others, who are so excited about Jesus. And people ask questions. And many of them came to faith. And so it started to roll.
Wes
Consistent even with what we studied not that long ago in 1 Peter, right? Giving “a reason for the hope that is in us” (Paraphrase of 1 Peter 3:15). When people see that and are thinking, man, how can you be that way in the midst of this kind of suffering and affliction?
Andy
And he says that, “It wasn’t just Macedonia and Achaia, their faith in God has become known everywhere” (paraphrase of 1 Thessalonians 1:8). So that’s all over the place, not just in the Greek world, but also maybe Asia Minor and other places. And that’s the commerce, that’s the Roman roads that united the Roman empire, and so, there’s a lot of coming and going. And so, people get on ships and they’d go to distant ports. They’d go to Alexandria, Egypt, or other places. “Hey, by the way, I was just in Thessalonica, a bunch of people following a new religion up there,” and then the message spread.
Wes
That’s amazing. How is verse nine a clear description of repentance and why it is it essential for us to understand idolatry in our day?
Andy
So the keyword on repentance here is turning. When you think about what is repentance, both in the Greek and in the English, it’s thinking newly or thinking differently. You’re turning away from a certain kind of thinking to a new one, and the thinking leads to living. So, thinking plus living, going from in one direction. And then as some have said, it’s a U-turn. So, you see the turning language here. They tell how you turned to God from idols. So that’s repentance. You’re turning away from, and you’re turning to. And so, there’s a negative repulsion and a positive attraction. And so, we are drawn to the glory of God and repulsed now by the ugliness of paganism.
So, they turned away from these wicked evil idols, and the idols were disgusting. These are the Greek gods and goddesses, and they’re immoral beings like Hollywood movie stars living just lavish, weird, immoral lives. Talking about the gods and goddesses as they were projected.
And then they would build little statues, the goddess of love, the god of war, the king god, Zeus or Jupiter. They would make these shrines and all that, and then they would lead to corrupt worship practices, very immoral drunken orgies, and all that sort of stuff. And that was popular. It was very alluring, very sensual. It appealed to all of the senses of our bodies: a full stomach filled with meat, sacrifice to idols, sexual pleasure – as much as you want – drunkenness – to be elevated through wine. I mean, what else could the carnal body want? And that was at the temple.
The Thessalonians stopped doing all that. They didn’t go anymore. They were done with it. It’s ugly and dark and evil, and they turned away from that. Instead, they turned to the one true and living God, and he is the living God. You turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God, the others aren’t alive; they’re impersonated by demons. The demons are God and goddess impersonators, but they weren’t real gods and goddesses. But there is a God, a living God, and they turn to him and he’s holy and pure, and they yearn to serve him. That is repentance, a radical change in their lives.
Wes
It’s a powerful juxtaposition of turning from these gods, who are no gods or are, like you said, demons impersonating gods and goddesses to the one true and living God.
Andy
Yeah. That’s awesome.
Wes
How important is it to eagerly await the second coming of Christ?
Andy
So, we have all these demeanors in this chapter. We have joy. We talked about that. They’re filled with joy; and they were gloomy and depressed and angry and just pagan before Paul came to town, and now they’re filled with joy. Some of them were Jews, so they weren’t pagan, they were following Judaism. But it was a bondage, it was a yoke. Peter said that, “…neither we nor our fathers had been able to bear” (Acts 15:10). So, they were trying to earn their own salvation by keeping the law, and that wasn’t working. It was just a gloomy, burdensome life. And then when the gospel came, and they were set free. “It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Stand firm then,” (Galatians 5:1) he said. And so, there’s all this beauty, and so they’re filled with joy, they’re filled with delight.
But they’re also filled with longing. We don’t have the thing we’re waiting for. It hasn’t come yet. That’s what hope is. It’s, “Who hopes for what he already has? But (if) we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently,” Romans 8:24-25. And so, they’re waiting for his son from heaven, Jesus, the second coming of Christ. They’re yearning. They say, “We’re waiting. The best things for us are yet to come. We’re looking forward to a coming king and a coming kingdom and to eternity in that kingdom.” And so, they’re always forward-looking. They all know even to their death, to their dying day, best things are yet to come.
Wes
What does verse 10 teach us about Jesus Christ? And what final thoughts do you have for us today?
Andy
It says that, “Jesus, (in the second coming will rescue) us from the coming wrath” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). We’ll read about that in the Book of Revelation. The coming wrath refers to the destruction of the world by fire, as we studied in Peter, 2 Peter 3, but also even more significantly personal destruction, “Depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:24). Eternal conscious torment. That is the wrath to come. Jesus rescues us from that.
So, by faith in Christ, we will not suffer eternal wrath. So, we’re waiting for Jesus to come to establish his glorious kingdom. And we are also waiting, knowing that we will not be condemned for our sins, but we will be delivered. So, this chapter, this little 10-verse chapter, talks very powerfully and clearly about what happens when the genuine gospel comes to a heart genuinely prepared by the Holy Spirit and is received with genuine faith: a radical transformation of life filled with joy, filled with holiness, filled with hard work, and service, and filled with hope.
“By faith in Christ, we will not suffer eternal wrath. So, we’re waiting for Jesus to come to establish his glorious kingdom.”
Wes
Well, this has been episode one in our Thessalonians Bible study podcast. We invite you to join us next time for episode two, where we’ll discuss 1 Thessalonians 2:1-20. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
