Part 1 of Standing Firm: A Study of 1 Thessalonians
July 7, 2024, Glynwood Baptist Church, Prattville, AL
James Jackson, Pastor
Big Idea: The gospel is meant to come to you, work in you, and flow from you.
Good morning! Please open your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians, as we begin a new series called “Standing Firm.”
What does it mean to stand firm?
- Paul told the church in Corinth to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Cor. 15:58).
- One chapter later, he says, Stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong (1 Cor. 16:13).
- To the Galatians, Paul wrote, “It was for freedom that Christ set you free. Stand firm then and do not submit yourselves again to a yoke of slavery.(Gal 5:1).
- In Ephesians, Paul said we stand firm when we take up the full armor of God (6:13).
- To the Philippians, Paul said “Stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the sake of the gospel (1:27)
Over and over, Paul says stand firm. Stand firm in unity. Stand firm in adversity. Stand firm against legalism. Stand firm on God’s Word.
Why is it so important to stand firm? Because there are so many forces at work in our world that seek to knock us off balance. To compromise and water down God’s word so it doesn’t interfere with whatever lifestyle choices you want to pursue. To discredit ministers and to diminish the power of the gospel. Just this past week, two more high profile mega church pastors stepped down over allegations of moral failure. It seems like if there is one thing the world hates to see, it is a sincere Christian standing firm in his or her faith.
This morning, as we begin a series on Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, I want you to think about a very simple but challenging idea:
The gospel that comes to you is meant to work in you, and then flow from you.
And my concern for the church—not just our church but for Christians everywhere, is that somewhere, the gospel is getting clogged. Either it isn’t getting to people, or it isn’t transforming people, or it isn’t flowing from people. So I hope this morning you’re going to ask yourself if you are somehow stopping up the unstoppable gospel.
let’s begin with chapter one of 1 Thessalonians. I’m going to ask you to stand, if you are physically able, to honor the reading of God’s Word. Normally I read out of the English Standard Bible, but this morning I’m reading from the Christian Standard Bible.
[READ CHAPTER 1]
May God bless the reading of his Word. Lets’s pray
Fast Facts on Thessalonica
Since we are going to be spending a few weeks in Thessalonians, let’s get some orientation to both the city of Thessalonica and Paul’s ministry there. Thessalonica was a booming city in the Roman empire, with a population of more than 200,000 Romans, Greeks, and Jews.
It was a bustling port city on the Aegean Sea, and it literally at the crossroads of the ancient Roman world. There was a highway called the Via Ignatia—The Way of the Nations—that ran from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea.
Let me pause for a minute and suggest that Prattville is a lot like Thessalonica in this way. We are on “the way of the nations.” I know you’re thinking “no we don’t. We are on I-65. The only think people know about Prattville is that it’s where the Bass Pro Shop is. It’s where you stop for lunch on the way to the beach.
But think again. Because of Maxwell, and because of employers like Hyundai, people come to Prattville from all over the world. On one street alone in my neighborhood, there are around 30 Indian families.
And our people go from Prattville to places all over the world. I think about families that have left here to go to countries like Japan, Germany, Poland, Washington DC… We are on the Way of the Nations!
Ironically, as strategic as it is, Paul never actually intended to go there. Turn to Acts 16. Paul had been intending to go to Asia, for whatever reason the Holy Spirit had other plans for him. One night, Paul had a vision of a man in Macedonia saying “Come to Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16:9). So Paul and his companions Silas and Timothy took a 100 mile detour. On the way, they planted a church in Philippi and then wound up in Thessalonica.
Here’s what we read in Acts 17:
1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
Notice the time period. Three Sabbath days: As far as we know, that was the only time he was there. But it was enough to plant the church.
Before we go any further, can we stop and consider the fact that one of the greatest New Testament churches wasn’t even on Paul’s radar when he set out on his second missionary journey? He went that direction because the Holy Spirit directed him that way.
I wonder if sometimes we don’t overthink what it means to start a church. We think it involves feasibility studies and demographic analyses and capital campaigns and seed families and site visits and any number of man-made plans. But what we see in Thessalonica was that all it took was obedience to the Holy
Spirit and a faithful gospel witness. God did the rest.
Paul went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews why it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead. Then he said, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim, is the Christ.” And that was it. Acts 17:4 says that “And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.”
So 1 Thessalonians is the letter Paul wrote to encourage this little baby church. It was most likely written from Corinth around AD 51, not too long after the church started.
Look at verse 4:
4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you,
How could he be so sure? Apparently, just in those three weeks, Paul had seen three things. He had seen work produced by faith, labor motivated by love, and endurance inspired by hope.
Work Produced by Faith Notice the order. It isn’t a faith produced by works. It’s a work produced by faith. Genuine conversion produces visible results.
Faith always leads to works. According to the apostle James, “faith without deeds is dead” (Jas. 2:26). But rather than debating the nuances of the lordship/salvation issue—whether a person can belong to Christ and do little, or how much believers should work for Christ—we should first be sure of our own hearts.
Second, their “labor” was motivated by love. Labor involves cost, fatigue, and exhaustion. In Paul’s day, just as it is now, the word labor was associated with giving birth. Paul would even tell the Galatians, “I labor as in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” (Galatians 4:19). It’s hard work making a disciple! Getting Christ formed in someone else is a labor intensive activity. But notice Paul says it is labor motivated by love. This is the Greek word agape, meaning unselfish, sacrificial living for others. Love, along with faith, drives us in our faith.
Believers would do well to check their lives and schedules and notice what they do for others out of pure love. The church is not a club we join, a retirement plan we subscribe to, or a competition we enter to win a trophy. It is a family of love where we serve one another. This is possible only because of our relationship with God.
The third commendation given to the Thessalonians was for their endurance inspired by hope. The Thessalonians believed 100% that Jesus was going to return. This is actually a major theme of the letter which we will get to in a couple of weeks. And because they had such an assurance, it gave them the strength to endure their present challenges.
Hope always looks forward, beyond now, to a future. For the Thessalonians, as for all believers, hope rests in God’s promised eternity. And this assured future makes faith, work, suffering, and love possible Hope looks to something that is sure, but just not here yet. It is coming.[1]
Glynwood, let me ask you something: As we go about the day to day of “doing church,” are we looking forward to something? Do we have an end in mind?
So back to verse 4. Because Paul had seen the Thessalonians faithful work, their dedication, and their endurance, he was confident that they had been chosen by God.
Beloved, you can be confident, too, that you are chosen by God. This whole idea of being chosen by God, or divine election, or predestination, can really mess with somebody’s head. We can get a wrongheaded idea of divine election, and think that if God hasn’t chosen you, it doesn’t matter whether you think you are saved or not. But understand that if the gospel has come to you, and you have responded to it, then you are chosen by God. You are part of the elect. You can rest in that. Paul tells us why we can rest in that in the very next verse:
5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction
When the gospel comes to someone, it comes with the power of salvation for all who believe (Romans 1:16). It comes with the Holy Spirit Himself, and with full conviction. So you don’t have to doubt in your mind whether or not you are really chosen by God. If you have responded to the Gospel, then you have been saved.
See there’s a normal flow to the gospel: it comes to you, it works in you, and then it comes from you. So the gospel comes to you, the gospel works in you, and the gospel goes from you.
Look again at verse 5:
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 doesn’t come in word only, but it does come in word!
One of the biggest obstacles to people coming to know Jesus is this idea that all we have to do is be a “living witness.” Sometimes I hear Christians saying things like “you know, I’m not really gifted in evangelism,” or, “I get nervous talking to people. God has just called me to be a “living witness. It’s like that old saying, “Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.”
Yeah… that old saying isn’t in the Bible. Yes, you need to live a winsome Christian lifestyle that will lift up Jesus and draw others to Him. Paul goes on in verses 5 and 6 to say, “You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake, and you became imitators of us.”
Charles Spurgeon said, “We are to seek our neighbor’s conversion because we love him. We are to speak to him in loving terms God’s loving gospel.” So, the message came to the Thessalonians from the lips and from the life both together.
It came to them in word, but not in word only.
So absolutely, lifestyle evangelism is a thing. But Scripture is clear:
- Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation (Mark 16:15)
We’ve reduced the word “preach” so that all It means is what I do on Sunday mornings. As a result, we’ve wasted way too much energy as Baptists on the question of whether women can do it.
But the word preach simply means to proclaim, or to herald. Every king had a herald who would announce the king’s coming. Who would go before the king and proclaim the news of his victory and his reign. And that’s what a herald does.
Paul asked in Romans 10 how people would hear if the gospel wasn’t preached to them. He wrote, Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of God (Romans 10:17).
In other words, what the Thessalonians heard from Paul was convincing because of what they saw in Paul. The message and the messenger were one in the same.
And when preaching lips are backed up by personal character, the gospel is unstoppable because it’s convincing. It can’t be separated from the people giving it. It doesn’t mean you have to be perfect, but you do have to be saved and changed. As the old axiom goes: “People will follow your example quicker than they will follow your advice.” So, we need to witness with our lips; we need to witness with our lives. if you just witness with your lips, but not your life, you’re a hypocrite. But if you just witness with your life and not your lips, you’re cruel.
That’s like a doctor who has the cure to a disease but doesn’t tell the rest of the world how to get better. You’re just going to live a healthy life in front of all the people dying. So it has to come from the lips and it has to come from our lives.
So that’s the first movement: the gospel comes to you, the gospel is received.
The second movement is this: once the gospel comes to you, the gospel works in you.
Look at verse 6, please:
6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
Verse 9:
9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. [2]
Once the gospel came to them, once it was received by them, it then transformed their lives.
Notice in verse 9, “You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” This describes what the Bible calls repentance, turning from sin and trusting in Jesus.
And when a person does that things change. You are not perfect, but changes do occur. You turn from what you knew was bad stuff and you ask God to help you not turn to it again.
Not only is there repentance, but there is also anticipation. The Thessalonians repented in verse 9, then look at verse 10:
you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.[3]
The more a converted person gets to know Jesus, the more they fall in love with Him. And when you are in love with someone, you can’t wait to see them! They’re like, “You mean he’s coming back?” When?
Many of you know what it’s like to have a spouse or a son or daughter come back from a deployment. Think about how you feel and what you do when you know he or she is coming back. The anticipation, the joy, the preparation.
That’s just a foretaste of the anticipation that should characterize our lives as we wait for Jesus to come back.
Now, let me just underscore that and say, that only happens if you’re a believer. If you’re not a believer, the idea of Jesus coming back is not a very exciting proposition. “He’s coming back? Uh-oh.” I saw a bumper sticker once that said: “Jesus is coming. Look busy!”
Conversion, anticipation, and number three, discipleship.
Would you look with me at verse 6; “And you,” writes Paul, “you became imitators of us and of the Lord.”
Notice Paul didn’t say, “don’t follow me; follow the Lord. He said “Follow me as I follow the Lord.” Remember, the Thessalonians were baby Christians. They needed an example to follow. So Paul gave them one. He said, I’m going to imitate Christ as closely as I can, and I want you to follow my example.
Are you willing to do that for the next generation? To hold up your life as an example of what it means to follow Jesus? That doesn’t mean you pretend to be perfect. But it means being authentic, real, honest, and bold. It means to stand firm.
The gospel comes to you, the gospel works in you, and third, the gospel flows from you.
Notice verse 7-8 as we finish this out:
7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.[4]
So here’s Paul bragging on them: “This is what the Lord’s done in you and working in you, and you’re examples now to other people who are watching.” All these people on the Via Ignatia, the way of the nations, are watching you. Your faith has gone forth everywhere!
Paul says “we (himself, Silas, and Timothy) don’t need to say anything! You’re working us out of a job!
Some people think, “Well, that’s the preacher’s job to let the gospel ring out.” Paul says, “You know what? I don’t have to say anything. You’re doing it. The gospel has sounded forth from you.”
Very interesting word, “sounded forth.” The root word is echo. You know what an echo is, echo-o-o-o. That’s an echo. It’s a sound that reverberates over and over again.
The Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest translated it this way:
“For from you there has been cause to sound forth in a loud, unmistakable proclamation the word of the Lord, the echo
of which still rolls on with a very great sound.”
What a word picture this is of evangelism. It’s like Thessalonica was the center of a still pond, and the gospel was a big rock dropped in the middle of it. The ripples of the gospel were going out all over the ancient Mediterranean world. Wave after wave of proclamation.
The church in Thessalonica were saved souls wanting to see more souls saved. They didn’t say, “Great, the message came to me.
Good, I’m going to heaven, good deal.” It still echoed forth.
There’s lots of ways we’ve seen believers respond to living in a world of unbelievers.
First, you can isolate. You can say,
“I need to get out of this bad, evil world. I’m just going to stay at home and wait for Jesus to come back. I’m just going to mind my own business, keep my faith to myself, and pray for Jesus to just hurry up and get here.”
Or, you can insulate. You can say “I’m just going to build this whole Christian subculture where I don’t have to interact with unbelievers. We’ll have our own radio stations, our own movies, our own schools, and we’ll never have to be around any pagans at all! We’ll build us a huge megachurch with everything we need—a coffee shop, a gym with a running track, a bookstore, and we’ll just make sure we are there every time the doors are open. That way we can be insulated from all the bad influences around us.”
Not a good plan when Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel.”
But there’s a third way, and that is to penetrate, Penetrate the culture with the gospel. Go get ’em. Thebullets are flying, run into them. The battle is raging, jump into it. Be salt that makes people thirsty for living water. Be light that pierces the darkness!
For these Thessalonian believers, the gospel came to them, worked in them, and then rang out from them. They stood firm. They didn’t dare keep the good news to themselves
You might be thinking to yourself, what kind of a person would willingly withhold a message that could set someone free? But the sad truth is, the church is often guilty of doing exactly the same thing. Jesus came to preach freedom to captives and release to prisoners. But far too often, we keep that message to ourselves.
Beloved church, the gospel comes to you, the gospel works in you, and then the gospel goes from you. I want to close by asking you: Is the gospel getting stuck somewhere in that process?
[1] Knute Larson, I & II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, vol. 9, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 7–8.
[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Th 1:10.
[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Th 1:9–10.
[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Th 1:7–8.
[5] https://www.nytimes.com/1979/02/15/archives/tennessee-inmate-alleges-he-served-10-extra-years-ordered-freed-in.html
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