The Good Imitators of the Lord
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
April 24, 2022

Thessalonica’s Background:

Thessalonica was originally an ancient town named Thermai, meaning Hot Springs. … In time it became an important city because of its strategic location. Cassander, the Macedonian king, founded the more modern city in 315 B.C. and named it for his wife, who was a half-sister of Alexander the Great. Thessalonica became the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia, and it stood on … the Roman highway that led from Rome to the East. In Paul’s day it was a self-governing community with enough Jews in residence to warrant a synagogue (Acts 17:1). … (Constable)

After being released from prison in Philippi, Paul, Silas, and Timothy visited Thessalonica during his Paul’s second missionary journey. “For at least three Sabbath days Paul reasoned in the synagogue with those present, and many people believed the gospel (Acts 17:2, 4).” [Paul chased from Thessalonica >> Berea >> Athens] However he probably ministered elsewhere in Thessalonica for a longer time than just three weeks in view of what he wrote that he had done there and what had happened since he left (cf. Acts 17:4; 1 Thess. 1:8; 2:9; 2 Thess. 3:8; Phil. 4:15-16). (Constable; see Thomas citation)

Today Thessaloniki [Thess-a-la-nE-kE] is the second largest city in Greece.

In this passage, we are going to see an example of a church getting it. A church whose testimonies of their Christ-like character was testified to further than two regions! The character they displayed for such testimonies are written for us here in this passage.

Pray

1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

• “In God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”
  • Areopagus in Athens: Acts 17:28, “for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said … .
  • Speaks to the spiritual closeness that Christians have with Gog
  • Dialectic natures of the kingdom: we are in God, He is in us.
• Grace to you.
  • Grace - Peace

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 Christ.

• His prayers involved three elements:
  • Thanks for all of the church
  • Consistently, Constantly
  • Remembering
    • Work of Faith
    • Labor of Love
    • Steadfast Hope

APPLICATION

• Thanks for people.

Work of Faith

• FAITH TAKES WORK!
• Without faith, it is impossible to please God.
• The unbeliever and the believer.
• The beginning point for the Believer.
• But it is also a necessary ingredient for our daily lives
• We must involve God.
• We must see God’s work in our lives even as live throws it’s curve balls.

Atmosphere of Thessalonica

There is work which is inspired by faith. Nothing tells us more about a man than the way in which he works. He may work in fear of the whip; he may work for hope of gain; he may work from a grim sense of duty; or he may work inspired by faith. His faith is that this is his task given him by God and that he is working in the last analysis not for men but for God. Someone has said that the sign of true consecration is when a man can find glory in drudgery. (Barclay)

• In the midst of ungodliness—faith!
• In the midst of persecution—faith!
• Faith must stay directly rooted in God’s love and purpose.

Labor of Love

• κόπος (kop’-os) [of Love]=
  • a beating,
  • a beating of the breast with grief, sorrow
  • labor
    • to cause trouble, make work for another
    • intense labor united with trouble and toil

• Calvin wrote, The Church was marvelously pressed down by a great multitude of afflictions: … many were stripped of their wealth, many were fugitives from their country, many were thrown destitute of counsel, many were tender and weak. … The condition of almost all was involved. So many cases of distress did not allow love to be inactive. (Calvin)

• In this situation, love must act in community.
• Community is all the rage in most cultures.
• Galatians 6:2, Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
• When we show love, we take a beating!
• "Peter Tanchi said, “One intentional act will get more done than a thousand hopes and dreams.” (Tanchi)

Steadfastness in Hope

ὑπομονή (hoop-om-on-ay’) =

• Slight variances in English translations
• It means: steadfastness waiting for, endurance, patiently, sustaining, perseverance
• resolute
• Hope must contain these things or it is corrupted.
• Hope is built on the future.
  Hope placed
• False Sources of Hope¹
  • Material things
  • Human expectations
  • Methods
  • The war horse
• Hope must have a proper object.
  • God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are our hope
  • Scriptures for hope
  • Christ’s return is a device of hope
• “in our Lord Jesus Christ”
  • What is to come
  • Trials here—blessings there
  • Suffering here—rewards there
• Building on what Rick Franklin said, Our hope should be “anchored in our identity—God’s truth about us, reinforced through our relationships” with Him.

APPLICATION
Hope!
Romans 8:18, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

TRANSITION
Their character continued to be commended by Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. Look in v.4.

• 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,
  • The Thessalonians were loved by God; we are loved by God.
    • No greater love…
  • The Thessalonians were chosen.
    • ἐκλογή = Ek-log-A = may be translated “election” or “choice;”
    • ESV: “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you.” [“that he has” is not in the Greek].
    • KJV: “Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.” [is much closer to the Greek].
    • Translations vary:
      • God’s choice of the audience [humOn (pl)] or the audience choosing.

How did Paul know that the Thessalonian Church was chosen?

5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

• The gospel must come in words.
• BUT contrasts the idea of just hearing.
  • 1-Power
    • Due to the Holy Spirit’s indwelling power is enabled.
    • We have the ability to respond to God with holiness because of HIS power God.
    • “God is looking for people through whom He can do the [humanly] impossible. What a pity that we plan only the things we can do by ourselves.”—A. W. Tozer
  • 2-Full conviction (our depravity)
    • = understood themselves deeply; understood their need
    • Our depraved need must be before us to respond to God
    • Get them to be a sinner first…

ILLUSTRATION

John Wesley wrote the following letter from his deathbed to William Wilberforce to encourage him in his prolonged fight against slavery in England: 'Unless the divine power has raised you up… I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that [abominable practice of slavery], which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? Go on in the name of God, and in the power of His might. (Snyder)

APPLICATION

• With full conviction there is a gratefulness that fills a person’s intellect and heart that drives his soul to God.
  • We may begin to take this for granted.
• As we grow in our relationship to God, we shall see evidence of His character at work in us.
  • Christian character is evidenced based—Powered by God Himself
  • When we don’t look like God we are not walking in the AVAILABLE POWER!
  • God’s character is attractive, infectious.

TRANSITION
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy were impressed that the Thessalonian’s church had taken on Christ-like character. Next they pause to remind them of their behavior while they were in the city. Look at v.5b.

5b You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

• That is bold—isn’t it!
• When one may point to his character as being “proven” in a crowd, one must have done well.
• “for your sake” = The character was selfless.
• Christian ministry is selfless at it’s core.
  • Counterfeits abound.

6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord,

• imitators of us AND of the Lord:
• Discipleship is about following life patterns that the Lord has already clearly shown to us.
• for you received the word in much affliction,
  • “affliction” = θλῖψις = thlip-sis = constriction, pressing, pressing together, pressure
  • used metaphorically and translated in the NT: “affliction,” “tribulation,” “trouble”
• The world put its pressure on the church.
• They didn’t break.
• Instead. they had, joy of the Holy Spirit,
  • God meets us with special joy from the Holy Spirit in our affliction.

ILLUSTRATION

A Russian countess accepted the Lord Jesus as her Saviour and was open about her testimony. The Tsar was displeased and threw her into prison. After 24 hours with the lowest level of Russian society, in the most miserable conditions imaginable, he ordered her brought into his presence. He smiled sardonically and said, “Well, are you ready now to renounce your silly faith and come back to the pleasures of the court?”

To his surprise, the countess smiled serenely and said, “I have known more real joy and more real happiness in one day in prison with Jesus than I have known in a lifetime in the courts of the Tsar.” She found out what was really the easy way. (Author Unknown)

APPLICATION

1. We must live a life where we can be afflicted firstly
2. We must stay ready for affliction; not for prison yet, but …
3. We must walk through doors of affliction to experience the resulting joy of the Holy Spirit.

TRANSITION
The church at Thessalonica were afflicted, but they way they handled themselves so as to became widely known, v.7.

PURPOSE: 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
- 1st Century area of Macedonia and Achaia = roughly 70,000 sq miles, about the size of the State of Oklahoma.

Verse 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.

• Their affliction, faith, love, hope, joy, and power (via the Holy Spirit) were a visible, physical witness to the believers in the regions surrounding the Thessalonians.

• 1 Thessalonians 1:8 speaks of the faith of the Thessalonians sounding forth like a trumpet; the word could also mean crashing out like a roll of thunder. There is something tremendous about the sheer defiance of early Christianity. When all prudence would have dictated a way of life that would escape notice and so avoid danger and persecution, the Christians blazoned forth their faith. They were never ashamed to show whose they were and whom they sought to serve. (Barclay)

• Needless-to-say, The Church was practicing what it was preaching.
• Paukl did no have to tell of anyone about the Thessalonica church: Look at "v.8b
  • “so that we need not say anything”
  • 9 For they themselves [that is the people of Macedonia and Achaia and elsewhere] report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you,
    • They proved their respect for the apostles with the reception they gave them in Thessalonica.
  • AND 2 …
    • how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
    • Martin said, “Persons in both the religious and philosophical communities of the first century felt that the only teachers worth a moment’s attention were those who taught with their lives as well as with their words.” (59)
    • Isn’t that still true today?
    • What idols have we not forsaken?
  • AND 3 …
    • 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

QUOTE
“This appeal well illustrates the doctrinal teaching of this Epistle. It is thus, ‘Live a holy life, that you may be prepared to meet your Lord.’” (Lightfoot, 16)

A fourth matter follows to complete this Christian biography, namely, waiting “To wait for his Son from heaven.” That conversion which is not followed up by waiting is a false conversion, and will come to nothing. We wait, dear brethren, in the holy perseverance of faith; having begun with Christ Jesus orr Lord we abide in him; we trust, and then we wait. We do not look upon salvation as a thing which requires a few minutes of faith, and then all is over; salvation is the business of our lives. We receive salvation in an instant, but we work it out with fear and trembling all our days. He that is saved continues to be saved, and goes on to be saved from day to day, from every sin and from every form of evil. We must wait upon the Lord, and renew the strength of the life which he has imparted. (Spurgeon)

APPLICATION

• The thesis statement of the church at Thessalonica; there are three governing ideas:
• 1. Love people
• 2. Serve God
• 3. Wait on the coming of Christ. (Barclay)
  • Waiting for God’s Son to make things right.
  • Wait for their resurrection like the Son’s
  • Wait for the deliverance from wrath.

Works Cited

Barclay, William. William Barclay’s Daily Study Bible [NT]. “1 Thessalonians 1,” https://bibleportal.com/commentary/chapter/william-barclay/1+thessalonians/1.

Calvin, John. John Calvin’s Commentary on the Bible. “1 Thessalonians 1,” https://bibleportal.com/commentary/chapter/john-calvin/1+thessalonians/1.

Constable, Thomas. "Notes on 1 Thessalonians.” 2022 ed., https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/1thessalonians.pdf.

Franklin, Rick. Arrow Leadership Session, Compelled Conference (Denton, Texas), Sept. 25,
2019.

Lightfoot, J. B. Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul. Reprint ed. Winona Lake, Ind.: Alpha Publications, n.d. As quoted in Thomas Constable. "Notes on 1 Thessalonians.” 2022 ed., https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/1thessalonians.pdf">https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/1thessalonians.pdf.

Martin, D. Michael. 1, 2 Thessalonians. The New American Commentary series. N.c.: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995. As quoted in Thomas Constable. "Notes on 1 Thessalonians.” 2022 ed., https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/1thessalonians.pdf.

Morris, Leon. The Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians, p. 11. As quoted in Thomas Constable. "Notes on 1 Thessalonians.” 2022 ed., https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/1thessalonians.pdf, 1.

Scripture [unless otherwise noted] is from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Snyder, James. William Wilberforce. From Ministry127.com, https://www.ministry127.com/resources/illustration/john-wesleys-letter.

Spurgeon, Charles. “Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible.” Public Domain. From Bible Portal, https://bibleportal.com/commentary/chapter/spurgeon-s-verse-expositions-of-the-bible/1+thessalonians/1.

Tanchi, Peter. Conference Session. GACX Compelled Conference Session (Denton, Texas), Sept. 26, 2019.

Thomas, Robert L. , “1 Thessalonians,” in Ephesians-Philemon, vol. 11 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, p. 230; Charles A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians, p. 7; Kenneth G. Hanna, From Gospels to Glory, pp. 313-14. Referenced in Thomas Constable. "Notes on 1 Thessalonians.” 2022 ed., https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/1thessalonians.pdf, 2.

Note

Some of this sections bullet point from Micheal Svigel’s “Hope Handout,” Dallas Theological Seminary.