Responses

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 2 (page 1835 in the red pew Bible). If you are able and willing, please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word.

1 Thessalonians 2:13–16 NIV

13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. 14 For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews 15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone 16 in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.

This is the Word of the Lord! Thanks be to God!

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The gospel—the Good News about Jesus—had come to the Thessalonians through the witness and ministry of Paul and Silas and Timothy.

Paul writes that he and his fellow missionaries had preached the gospel of God to the Thessalonians (1 Thess 2:9).

This gospel preaching is the basis of verse 13, the first verse of our text this morning.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 “And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.”

What the Thessalonians received—the gospel—they accepted as the word of God. The gospel that Paul and Silas and Timothy preached is the Word of God.

When we read the phrase “the word of God” in this text, we should think “the gospel.”

The gospel, that is the word of God, was preached/proclaimed to them. And they responded to it.

The message came from God through the apostle to the Thessalonians. And the message was changing them.

The message (the very same gospel) has come to us through some non-apostolic messenger; the word of God, the gospel came to us and it does its work; it has changed us and is changing us.

When we read the Thessalonian’s story, we should be struck with the fact that, even through persecution and hardship, they joyfully received the word of God.

The Word of God Received

Notice the word “received” in verse 13. It’s used most often of the receiving of a tradition that has been handed on; Paul uses it of his own reception of the Christian message:

1 Cor 15:3-5 “3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.”

The word received there in verse 13 is a technical term for the reception of the message preached by Christian evangelists.

This is precisely what took place in Thessalonica: the gospel, the word of God, was received.

1 Thess 2.13 “13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.”

The Thessalonians reception of the word of God is cause for thanksgiving—constant thanksgiving, unceasing thanksgiving.

It is a joyful thing when people receive the message; it’s cause for thanksgiving. Ask any preacher, teacher, missionary.

My sister smuggled Bibles into China about 20 years ago and served undercover as an English Teacher in order to take the gospel to people who hadn’t heard.

She would still, all these years later, count the reception of the gospel by those Chinese college students to be one of the most profound moments in her life.

To watch the word of God do its work in the life of a person is awe-inspiring and worship-inducing. It’s cause for ceaseless praise.

The Thessalonians received the Word in a different way than they would have received another human message.

Received means they connected with it intellectually. It made sense to them.

When Paul and Silas arrived in the city, we read: Acts 17:2 “Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,”

He dialogued with the Jews about the gospel; he sought to engage them with the gospel.

Paul spoke the word of God to them. Silas proclaimed the gospel to them. Timothy preached faithfully.

And the Thessalonians received it. But it didn’t stop there.

The Word of God Accepted

We understand what it means to be accepted. I was, many moons ago, accepted into college; that is, they welcomed me there. They probably soon regretted doing so, but by then it was too late.

The message, the gospel, the word of God, made its way to the Thessalonians, but it didn’t stop there. They received the word of God intellectually, yes, but they also “welcomed” the word.

Accepted in verse 13 is the word usually used for the reception of a guest. It would probably be best translated as welcomed.

The Thessalonians received the word of God hospitably; they welcomed it in, asked it to take a seat, offered it a cup of coffee.

It was received and accepted/welcomed.

When the word of God is embraced, when the gospel is welcomed, it works effectively. It accomplishes its purpose. God’s Word has the power to accomplish what no human message could ever do.

Twice Paul insists that what the Thessalonians heard was of God. The second time is particularly emphatic: ‘you accepted no word of men, but, as it truly is, God’s word’.

Paul could preach with certainty and power because he had the profound conviction that what he said was not of man’s devising; it was the word of God, a conviction at the heart of the church’s message.

And there’s something about the word of God—its distinct message and its divine source—that sets it apart from all other messages.

The gospel exposes the hypocrisy and emptiness of every man-made attempt to find fulfillment, meaning, and purpose apart from God.

We can see why the Thessalonians were drawn to the gospel. It came with power and it was so dramatically different from every other message they had heard.

The pagan gods and goddesses were fickle and temperamental. They could be outdone by one another; what they did could easily be undone. The gods and goddess were not supreme, even in the estimation of the people who dreamed them up.

Jesus, on the other hand, is constant and loving. He is never outdone. What He does can never be undone. Jesus is supreme and steady and saving.

Give me Jesus.

In the Jewish religious system, it’s an endless obedience to a set of 613 commandments and regulations. It’s all on you —100% on you—to live rightly. Sure, there’s a sacrificial system, but as a system, it can never and will never take care of sin.

Jesus, on the other hand, obeyed all the commands and regulations for us—and perfectly. He lived rightly, perfectly, where we could not. And His sacrifice—His body broken and blood poured out on the cross—paid the price for sin, once for all time.

Give me Jesus.

Every other religious system requires endless doing. Christianity, conversely, says, “It’s done.”

“Buddha's dying words were "Strive without ceasing." Jesus’ dying words were "It is finished." Give me Jesus.” -Scott Sauls

The gospel, the word of God, received a warm welcome from those in Thessalonica the Lord had called. They accepted the message; they welcomed it as the word of God.

The Thessalonians accepted the gospel they heard from Paul and Silas and Timothy, not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God...

That is an incredible distinction. They welcomed not the mere words of men, but words from God.

This is the understanding of what the gospel actually is: not some cleverly devised scheme of man, but the very words of Almighty God.

2 Pet 1:16-21 “For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

They welcomed not the mere words of men, but words from God. They welcomed the word of God, but they didn’t stop there.

The Word of God Believed

The mention of “believers” here is certainly intentional. Paul is known for his focus on faith as the proper response to God’s grace, which brings someone into true Christian fellowship with God.

Thus “believers” are those to whom God has given faith in Christ, which leads them to trust Him in all of life (also 1 Thess. 1:7; 2:10).

The word of God, Paul writes, is indeed at work in you who believe.

In other translations, we read the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

To believe, to be a believer, is to believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance.

It’s a matter of faith, trust, belief where the word of God is concerned.

The Thessalonians, indeed every true believer, receives the word of God, welcomes the word of God, and puts their complete trust in the truth of the gospel.

And the word of God believed does its work in those who believe.

Here again, we have a subtle clue about the nature of the word of God, the nature of the gospel.

The verb translated “at work” is almost always used in the NT with reference to supernatural activity. We take this supernatural power for granted; it’s become commonplace to us.

But make no mistake: any time a sinner sees themselves as such, any time a sinner believes the gospel, any time a life is transformed, any time one who is walking in darkness is transferred to the kingdom of light—it’s the product of supernatural power.

The work the gospel does in the life of those who believe is the work of the Triune God—Father, Son, and Spirit.

And what God purpose His word to do will always, always, always come to pass.

Since it is the word of God, from God, imbued with His power, we are not free to believe differently than what the Lord God has said. We cannot twist, alter, or ignore a single mark. It is not for us to bend or break, but to believe.

The Thessalonians received the word, accepted the word, and believed the word. And the word was at work among them.

>The Thessalonians, verse 14 tells us, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea.

This imitation didn’t come from first-hand observance. They didn’t travel from Greece to Israel to see how the churches operated. They couldn’t stream Judean church services (if you think our internet is slow…)

Their imitation of the churches in Judea was not deliberate. But all true churches of God in Christ, in spite of distance or cultural difference, display a certain similarity to one another.

If you’ve ever been to church in a different country, you know what I mean. You can’t understand much, if anything, about what’s going on, but, in some way, you’re able to understand all of it. All true churches have deep similarities.

The Thessalonian church imitates the Judean churches in their reception of, acceptance of, and belief in the gospel. Beyond that, the Thessalonians are imitators of their suffering for the sake of the gospel.

The Thessalonian Christians (largely Gentile) suffered at the hands of their fellow Thessalonians.

The Judean Christians (largely Jewish) suffered at the hands of their countrymen, the Jews.

In stark contrast to the belief and the acceptance of the word of God, Paul turns to see the other side:

The Word of God Rejected

In verses 15-16, Paul launches into what some see as an attack against the Jewish people, as if Paul is anti-Semitic.

It’s laughable, really, because Paul (a Jew himself) has a heart for his countrymen. Paul says in Romans 9:3 “For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race...”

Paul wants the Jewish people to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus, but knows they’ve rejected the word of God.

They’ve rejected the word of God. Even more so, they rejected and killed the Word of God incarnate, the Word of God in the flesh.

The Jews were against Jesus from the start. The religious leaders—the Pharisees and Sadducees, the chief priests—looked for any excuse they could to arrest Jesus and kill Him. They believed Jesus was a blasphemer; they wanted rid of Him.

In an important sense, of course, it was the Romans who actually killed Jesus, but Paul’s point is that it was at the instigation of the Jews (cf. John 18:30–31, 35; 19:10–15).

John 19:14-16 “It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.”

They rejected and killed the Word of God. And they drove out the messengers of the word of God.

The Jewish hatred of the word of God didn’t begin with Jesus; they also killed the prophets (throughout the OT and into the NT, too).

Before the Jews stoned Stephen to death, Stephen asked them:

Acts 7:52 “Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered Him—”

They drove out the prophets, and drove out Paul and Silas and Timothy from Thessalonica as well as nearly every other town they visited.

Paul & Company had been imprisoned for preaching the word of God, threatened for sharing the gospel. Nearly every apostle would lose their life for the sake of the word of God at the hands of those who rejected the word of God.

Beyond all of that, those who reject the word of God were currently doing everything they could to hinder the spread of the word of God, keeping the Good News about Jesus from the Gentiles.

This is something even some Jewish Christians had issues with. Some Jews couldn’t stand the fact that the gospel was saving Gentiles and that the Gentiles weren’t adopting Jewish ways.

As Brian Davis says, “they were tripping over their traditions.” They cared more about the way it had always been done than that people were believing in Jesus.

Of course, no scheme of man can stop the sovereign plan of the sovereign God, as is witnessed by the Thessalonians’ reception, welcome, and belief of the word of God.

His Truth goes marching on.

It’s as He said: “My word…will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

The rejection of the word of God, whenever we see it, should break our hearts and spur us on to action—to take the word, to share the word, to proclaim the word with those who need to hear the Good News about Jesus.

The believers who have gone on before us have faced suffering for the sake of the gospel. Christ Himself encountered death at the agency of His own people.

So then, we too, should be prepared to persevere in a world that is in constant opposition to the things of God.

The gospel—the word of God, the message of salvation—is worth every bit of energy and commitment from Christ’s followers…to the point of giving up our very lives for the sake of the gospel.

Any time one of our church-supported missionaries asks to come and share, I welcome the opportunity, especially young adults like Jesse and Gabe who have been called to service, who answered the summons of the Savior to make disciples, to preach the gospel where it has not been heard.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I believe there are children and youth in this church who have been called to take the gospel to people who have not yet heard.

We will stand behind them. And pray for them. And financially support them. We will, if called, go with them, proclaiming the gospel to the ends of the earth, so people would receive the good news, accept the word of God, and believe in the One who saves us by His blood.

We share the gospel, the word of God, praying for a response.

We pray more and more people would receive the word of God, welcome it, and believe it.

For the glory of God and the good of His people!