1 Thessalonians 1:4-10
The message of Christianity, that Jesus Christ is God and that we are a redeemed people, a changed people, mere sojourners in this life, serving our Lord and looking toward and waiting for our heavenly destiny, these things seem to be out of fashion in the church today. It would seem as if it is all about right now, a better life, a better situation, and the kingdom of heaven come to earth, but without any suffering, without any changed life, without any real credible witness. The message of hope in heaven, which brings faith and love for today, falls on deaf ears today. It isn’t enough, we are told. But it always was back in Paul’s day, and in some places on earth, it still is enough. The Christian life is about the power of endurance that stems from hope in Christ, and finding joy unspeakable and full of glory despite the troubles of this world, it is not about the joy of excitement or entertainment. It is about being convinced and living convincing lives. You may have received Jesus Christ as savior, but the mission of your life continues.
We are seeing a lack of fruit in Christians today, and a lack of fruitful ministry, evangelism, discipleship, hunger for biblical understanding and the knowledge of God, biblical holiness, and a lack of preachers who exposit the word of God. We settle for mere stories and are swept away by any and every fad that comes down the pike. We are trying any and every new method to bring forth fruit, but a strict focus on people and the “right now” to the exclusion of Christ and the hope for tomorrow isn’t what gets it done. The more we focus on our heavenly destiny the more we will see and experience the fruit God wants to bring forth from us. This does not make us a bunch of monks living in a Christian ghetto, with an “us four and no more” mentality. On the contrary, such a hope is not to the exclusion of being active on earth, but to motivate us to action on earth. We as Christians are to be living for today with an eye for tomorrow.
Of course there is a reason for this. If the bombs were dropping and people were dying and disease was spreading and pestilence, pollution and pilfering were proliferating and food and water were scarce and it was a crime to be a Christian, then hearing the message of “hold on I’m coming back to get you and you will see it was all worth it”, this message would be well received! It would be fresh and a comfort to hear it every week, every day, every moment it would be the one thing we would be able to cling to. Hebrews 13:8, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 and verses like it would be our call to each other as we would have no other choice but to hold fast.
As it is we can see that it is not that things are so bad that the message doesn’t resonate, it is that things are so relatively good that we become complacent to this news. We grow bored with hearing this same thing every week, we don’t want to wait, and we want something more, now. We are so spoiled, so used to getting or being able to get what we want, and not used to having things take us completely out of any comfort zone that we have gotten used to. We have settled in, and settled for a less than robust Christianity. Any honest look at the contemporary church, especially here in America, reveals that we haven’t handled out supposed success very well.
The truth is that we value something more when we need it to sustain us. That is why Job says God’s word is more valuable than bread and so does Jesus. Food will keep you alive on earth, but God will keep you alive for eternity. His eternal life needs to be our sustenance right now. Even if things are relatively well, when we continue to realize the horrors of sin and the beauty of Christ we will continue to cling to Him and to be purified and we can continue to be stoked into lives of living flame for our Lord. If not, God must send suffering and persecution our way to help the light of Christ to shine through. That is the case with the church today.
Prosperity and popularity are not what produce fruit in the church; they produce make believers who aren’t born again. Persecution does not stunt growth it stokes it. The fires of persecution cause the fire of the Spirit to fan into flame, it causes us to rely on Him more, and look to Christ, and it stirs us up to stand strong in the Lord and the power of His might. No we aren’t supposed to pray for persecution but pray for those who are being persecuted, and pray to stay humble that we might remain useful in the stewardship of all the good graces God has bestowed upon us.
Some brief background to this letter. It was during Paul’s second missionary journey. They were much persecuted in Thessalonica, and it followed Paul to Berea (Acts 17:12). This persecution actually caused the faith to be more precious to these people, as is always the pattern for true Christians. This is by the power of the Holy Spirit, and it comes about simultaneously while encouragement from other believers goes forth. We can see a parallel in Peter’s first letter to the persecuted people he was writing to.
1 Peter 1:6-9 –
Vs.6 ("in this" is verses 3-5)
Vs.7 (2 Peter 1:1 – like precious faith)
Vs.8 – 1 Thessalonians 1:6
Vs.9 – 1 Thessalonians 1:10
Vs.4 – Paul and his ministry companions know that God has chosen them because of how the word went out (vs.5), how it was received (vs.6), how it was modeled (vs.7), how it spread abroad (vs.8) and how it was reported back (vs.9). If you are a Christian you will spread the mission. To you your words may seem weak, but to others your life will truly speak.
Vs.5 – The word was made alive with power; it was not simply words. Although words are needed, those words need power behind them. I am not talking about a demonstration of some kind to back the words up, I am talking and Paul is talking and God is talking of power within the words themselves. A divine unction, the divine authority given to the word of God preached. The truth of the word is manifest through preaching (Titus 1:3). The word comes with the Spirit, not apart from the word but within the word. That doesn’t mean that there cannot be any other divine manifestations when the word is preached, it means that apart from the Spirit the word will have no power when it is preached. We need genuine manifestations of the Spirit of God in our midst, but it all starts by the manifestation of the word of God in power. The word of God is where the power is, when the Holy Spirit brings it, and then people’s lives change, and that my friends is the sign of power. Falling down today is no good if you fall away tomorrow. Yes I want you to have a power encounter with God’s Spirit through the preached word today, but I also want you to have a joy encounter with God’s Spirit when the affliction comes tomorrow.
Paul and his companions proved what type of men they were, and the Thessalonians proved to others what type of people they were. People should be able to identify us as Christians, and Christians should be able to identify other Christians. They were convinced and if you are convinced your word will be convincing. The Holy Spirit convinces us of truth, and we live that truth, and then our words have the ring of truth and they are convincing. The power will be there, even if the ones we are delivering the message to are suffering affliction, and especially so.
Sometimes the preacher and the people sense that the word has been given a particular power, that peculiar unction, and they know and see that people are responding. Now I am not really speaking of isolated incidences, like during one sermon everyone started weeping, although there is that, I am rather referring to something happening over a period of time, that is what Paul is speaking of, the word was being engrafted into the peoples hearts it was getting through and it was being rooted in them. Yes short term in the moment results can be wonderful to behold, but more wonderful to behold is when they hold on to that word. It is like with our missionary friends; those that are long term know that often short-term groups come in and sometimes they see dramatic results, sometimes not. But it is the six months later, the years later, the many years later when the village has come to know Christ, and the leaders worship God, and the people sing praises daily, this is when we know the word of Christ had been brought with power and received in joy, all by the Holy Spirit, and to the glory of God. When suffering continues but Christ reigns in their hearts, this is when a missionary has the most satisfaction in the work done. Of course they are there to be faithful no matter the outcome or temporal results, but it is a special blessing when they see joy in Jesus changing situations and making spiritual lives better.
This is what we see in the following verses: Persecution (vs.6) / Pattern (vs.7) / Proclamation (practical words and deeds) (vs.8) / Produce (vs.9) / Perseverance (vs.10)
Vs.6 – Acts 14:22 / Philippians 1:29-30 – Now look carefully at this truth about the word. The word comes in the power of the Holy Spirit with conviction, and it must be received in the joy of the Holy Spirit with affliction. Do you see that? Comes with conviction, received with affliction. Comes in power, received in joy. The Holy Spirit gives you someone who is convinced of the truth proclaimed and it gives you joy despite the circumstances you hear it in. That is the pattern. Isn’t that the way, friends? How many times have you been downcast or under some stress, and you needed a word, and someone who seemed convinced about what they were saying brought you a word from the Bible that had the ring of authority to it? You sincerely follow the word, you do it, you are an imitator of it, because although you are in a crisis that word seems to have a touch of joy to it, like it is the thing you need to be able to endure. Having much affliction but still having joy is a supernatural thing of the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:48-52).
Why must we receive it with affliction? Because we need to remember that it is true in spite of the world, the message is overcoming the world. We receive it under such circumstances because then we truly need it; we receive it in spite of what our world looks like at the time. That word is right and then overcoming the world in our lives. We receive it and if we keep receiving it and believing it this will keep us overcoming the world (1 John 5:4). That doesn’t mean the bad stuff always goes away it means that even if the heat increases our purity will too. The fires of persecution only serve to stoke the fires of God in our lives, if we will believe.
Mark 4 describes the fact that we will receive it under stress because the world the flesh and the devil want to steal the word but these same circumstances, instead of stealing the word, they can be sealing the word. We will receive a newfound joy, one with deep roots.
The word also causes affliction because it challenges us at our heart level. There are always some things we just don’t want to change, but we cannot simply pick and choose which areas we are comfortable changing in. We are still our own authority if we do that. We cannot have the Master be our joy when we are still the masters of our own joy.
In speaking of receiving the word, Vern Poythress says this – Acknowledging Christ as Lord implies believing his instruction and obeying his commands. Confession of lordship becomes meaningless if we choose what we will believe and what we will obey. If we choose, we are, in the end, only obeying our own will. By contrast, discipleship implies having a clear word from the Lord, a word other than what we invent for ourselves.
Vs.7 – The word in your bible for example (vs.6) means they were transformed, the word means a model. That can only be done in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is where the religion is, not simply as we speak words on Sunday morning, but as we live lives unto God during the week. It is a wonderful thing to behold us all in unity and worshipping Christ, hearing His word and singing praise to His name and fellowshipping with people of like precious faith as we gather together as a church family. No doubt this is true. But it is also wonderful thing for other people who do not know Christ to behold our faith and life and devotion to Christ when they see us out in the everyday world. That is what makes it real to them, friends. When we have joy in affliction, when we have joy despite the mundane existence it might seem like we are in, when we truly become examples of what Christ can do through an ordinary life, when we do that God will anoint our words with power and our lives as praise.
Vs.8-10 – The word of the Lord here is both subjective and objective, the Lord’s word that He gives to be preached and the word about Him.
Their lives spoke the testimony of God working. They don’t have to say anything, kind of like I see someone I know from outside our church and they say something about a member of our church they met somewhere else; third person proclamation is beautiful. Your faith speaks even when you aren’t able to be there (Romans 1:8). You become the echo of God’s voice. Others see the truth and report it (Matthew 5:16). They see you burn and then they learn, they know you really believe what you say you believe. It is a manifest difference from the lives they lead.
How does it sound out? Most want to see the word power and then use that thought to conjure up scenes of healing and miracles and exciting demonstrations. But look what Paul says the power was for, for pressing on despite persecution, for enduring with the enduring word.
How does your faith sound out, by carrying placards decrying sins that sinners cannot help but commit? Or does it sound out in sweet melody amidst a world of sorrow, including personal sorrow, yet bearing witness to the marvel of Jesus Christ risen again and living in your hearts? Is it mere words or is it lived out in the world? Do people know it just by you saying it, or by their seeing it? Yes we should be saying it, but the only way they will hear it is if they are seeing it too. The life gives credibility to the words. Jesus said I am the Way the Truth and the Life, and the only way they will believe the truth is if they see the life. Do they see the Way in you? Do they see the Truth in you? Do they see the Life in you? Do they see the way, the truth, and the life of Jesus Christ when they see you? Have you been born again?
When unbelievers whom God is calling to be believers see true believers suffering and still having joy in God, it is the wake up call for them that this is real. It is the manifestation of the fact that these Christian people are dead to themselves and alive to God and God raises them from the dead in sin to be alive in Him.
Jesus delivers us (rescues) (continual, present tense), from the wrath to come (future). Why the different tenses? Because we are always being saved from God’s wrath (Romans 1:18 / 2 Corinthians 1:10).
This is the word to you today, are you receiving it, do you believe you are being delivered even though you are down and out right now, do you believe you need to be delivered even though you are high and dry right now? Receive the word of your deliverance. Receive the word of your salvation. Receive the word of Jesus Christ today (Isaiah 40:8). The word is still going out, it is still being received, and it still brings hope. Jesus Christ is still saving souls, and still delivering us from sin, death, and hell. The mission continues.
“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©
