1 THESSALONIANS 2:17-3:13 - Enduring Love

Introduction

On October 1st 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong announced the creation of the People’s Republic of China, resulting in wide-scale repression of any religious expression. During the 1960s into the 1970s, the period known as the Cultural Revolution, all temples, mosques and churches were closed, and all religious leaders (priests, monks, pastors) were subjected to re-education camps. Possession of any religious material such as Bibles was made illegal, and any contact with religious groups outside of China was strictly prohibited.

There are records of Christianity in China that go back as early as the 8th Century, but there was no real establishment of Christianity until the work of Catholic missionaries in the 16th Century. The most well-known Evangelical work in China was established by Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission starting in 1854. By the end of World War II and before the crackdown of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, there were estimated to be about 700,000 Christians in China, scattered across various mission compounds and cities and villages around the country. The missionaries who had worked with them and discipled them and supported them were driven out of the country, and had no way of keeping in touch with their Chinese brothers and sisters in Christ.

Throughout the 1950s, religious expression in China was met with varying degrees of regulation, prohibition or State-mandated control. From 1966 to around 1976 however, a particularly severe repression of any religious expression of any kind took place in China, making any religious expression or possession or religious items such as Bibles completely illegal. Violations of those laws were punishable by imprisonment or death. When the economic reforms of 1979-80 began to open the country to the outside world again, Western Christians were able to get news about the fate of their Chinese brethren—they had expected to find that the church in China had been wiped out by the fierce repression it had suffered, but they found that the number of Chinese Christians had grown to over six million! (Retrieved fromchinasource.org; cfr.org/backgrounder/christianity-china. Accessed 1/18/2023)

In many ways the story of the church in China reflects what the Apostle Paul and his co-workers experienced in their relationship with the church in Thessalonica. They were torn away from the church during a time of strong opposition and persecution:

1 Thessalonians 2:17 (ESV)

17 But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face,

they had no way of knowing what was happening to them while they were away:

1 Thessalonians 3:5 (ESV)

5 For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.

and when they did manage to make contact with them again they found that they were growing and thriving:

1 Thessalonians 3:6 (ESV)

6 But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you...

We have seen so far in our study of 1 Thessalonians what it means to have a regenerate church membership—a church that cannot hide its light from the world, a church that does not labor in vain, a church that welcomes the Word of God into its life. Here in our text this morning, Paul describes his anxiety over whether they would survive the storms they suffered, and his joy upon his discovery that they have endured the persecution and trials they suffered.

This is another characteristic of a regenerate church membership; a church body that is made up of born again individuals—it is a church that endures trials, a church that not only survives but thrives when the winds of adversity howl around it.

This isn’t just an academic discussion today, is it? Because the upheaval and turmoil of the past three years in our nation—COVID lockdowns, race riots, scorched-earth politics, economic collapses—have revealed that a lot of churches weren’t as solid as they thought they were. Far too many “Evangelical”, “Bible-believing” churches have seen their attendance plummet, their giving tanking, their memberships declining since March of 2020. Some are limping along with a fraction of their pre-2020 numbers, and some have closed down entirely. And there’s no sign that those upheavals and turmoils are going away any time soon.

So what does it mean to be a church that endures in times like these? How can we know that we will be like the Thessalonians, that when the winds blow and the trials come and the opposition comes along that our fellowship here at Bethel will endure? If the Word of God is welcomed into our lives and is at work in our congregation, making us more and more into the image of Christ, how will that prepare us to be resilient in the face of these upheavals and uncertainties?

What I believe is set forth for us here in our text this morning is that

A RESILIENT church FERVENTLY LOVES one another.

If, as we saw last week, the Word of God is powerful to reveal Christ to us and make us more like Christ in our daily walk, then the result of the Word’s work in our lives will be revealed in a growing and abiding love for each other:

John 13:35 (ESV)

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

And at the end of this morning’s text, Paul summarizes his prayer for the Thessalonians in the same terms:

1 Thessalonians 3:12 (ESV)

12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you,

So what does that love look like? There are at least four characteristics of this kind of love demonstrated for us in our text. First, when we fervently love one another,

I. We will WALK Together (1 Thessalonians 2:17-20; 3:8-9)

Look with me at verse 17:

1 Thessalonians 2:17 (ESV)

17 But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face,

The word translated “torn away from you” is a piercingly descriptive term—it is used elsewhere in Greek literature to refer to a child being orphaned by its parents’ death, or of a mother whose child has been “torn away from her” by death. This is the kind of bond Paul had for the Thessalonian believers—he wasn’t being melodramatic; he really was a spiritual father to them (cp. 1 Cor. 4:15), and he was grieved that he did not get to spend more time with them, walking with them as they grew in their faith.

He goes on through verse 20 to describe one of the characteristics of fervent love:

Genuine CONCERN for one another (vv. 17-20)

1 Thessalonians 2:18–20 (ESV)

18 because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. 19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 20 For you are our glory and joy.

When Paul could not be face to face with his brothers and sisters in Christ, he felt it, didn’t he? When he writes in verse 17 that he endeavored “with great desire” to see them, he uses a word that is elsewhere used to describe lust (Gk., epithumia)—the idea is of a powerful, unquenchable desire to be with his brothers and sisters in Christ, to know that they are going to be OK.

A resilient church is one that fervently loves one another—they walk together in genuine concern for each other, and they walk together in

Mutual ADMIRATION for one another (3:6, 8-9)

In verse 6, Paul says of Timothy’s visit:

1 Thessalonians 3:6 (ESV)

6 But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you...

And a few verses further on, he writes:

1 Thessalonians 3:8–9 (ESV)

8 For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. 9 For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God,

What a picture of a church that loves one another! We joke about “mutual admiration societies”—where people go back and forth flattering each other, but in the case of Paul and the Thessalonians, it was a real mutual love. Paul was delighted to see the love they had for one another, and it filled him with joy to know that they missed him as much as he missed them.

That is a rare relationship in this sorry old world full of isolation and suspicion, isn’t it? How many of you have this kind of genuine, mutual respect and admiration for the other people in your workplace? How many of you have this kind of climate in your school or co-op? How many of you belonged to a 4H club that felt like this?

The key difference is in verse 8 there—the Thessalonians were standing fast in the Lord! When a group of people are standing firm in their love for Jesus, then their relationships with each other will be marked by genuine concern and real admiration for each other. That is a church that is resilient in the face of trials; that is a church that fervently loves one another.

A church that fervently loves one another is resilient in the face of trials—we walk together, and in our text here this morning we see that

II. We SACRIFICE Together (1 Thessalonians 3:1-2a)

Look at the first two verses of Chapter 3:

1 Thessalonians 3:1–2 (ESV)

1 Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, 2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith,

Now, if you remember the account from Acts 17, Paul and Silas and Timothy were basically run out of Thessalonica under threat of arrest if they came back. From there they went down to Berea (Acts 17:10-15) until the Jews from Thessalonica came down and chased them off again. Silas and Timothy stayed in Macedonia, but Paul was sent by boat over to Athens to wait.

So remember, Paul is there alone at Athens, still deeply concerned both about the fate of the church in Thessalonica and missing his companions. But then, as soon as Timothy gets to Athens, Paul immediately sends him back to Thessalonica to check up on the church!

This is another characteristic of the kind of fervent love that creates a resilient church:

We lay down our PLANS for one another (3:1)

Whatever else Paul had been planning to do once Timothy and Silas got back to him, he was willing to put it on hold for the sake of God’s people! When we live in that way, when we are willing to put our own plans to death in order to look after one of our fellow members, we are exhibiting this kind of fervent love.

And not only our plans, but also see here how

We lay down our COMFORTS for one another (3:2a; Philippians 2:6-8)

Paul was alone in Athens, but when Timothy arrived he was willing to lose his companionship so that the Thessalonians could be comforted! One of the most telling marks of Christian love is its sacrificial nature. We point back to Jesus’ example over and over again, that He loved us by giving up His glory and taking on our shame so that we could have His glory! He gave up His comfort and took on our pain on the Cross so that we could be comforted by Him! Beloved, when you put your comfort to death in order to go and comfort your brother or sister in Christ, you are exhibiting the very essence of Christlikeness:

Philippians 2:6–8 (ESV)

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

That is the kind of fervent love that makes for a resilient church—sacrificing our plans and our comforts for each other, just as Jesus did for us on the Cross. We walk together, we sacrifice together, and in verses 2-7 of 1 Thessalonians 3 we are shown that

III. We SUFFER Together (1 Thessalonians 3:2b-8)

Look at verses 2-3:

1 Thessalonians 3:2–3 (ESV)

2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, 3 that no one be moved by these afflictions...

One of the pressing reasons Paul wanted to send Timothy back to Macedonia is so that “no one would be moved by these afflictions” (v. 3). As you read through the rest of the verse and verse 4, Paul says that this is suffering that “we” are destined for:

1 Thessalonians 3:3–4 (ESV)

3 ...For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. 4 For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know.

There’s no way of knowing whether Paul is saying “we” as in he and Silas and Timothy are destined for suffering, or if he is saying “we” in the sense of he and Silas and Timothy and the Thessalonians. But in any case, he is illustrating here one of the marks of a church that fervently loves one another:

We HOLD one another up (3:2b-4; cp. Job 5:7)

The Old Testament figure whose name is synonymous with suffering—Job—put it well:

Job 5:7 (ESV)

7 but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.

Whether it is the trials of persecutions for our stand on God’s Word and faith in Christ, or whether it is the troubles that everyone in this broken world must face: disease, pain, grief, loss, betrayal, abandonment—a church that fervently loves one another is a church that holds each other up through those storms. Not because we “have it all together”, and not because we are somehow as a group more protected from those storms, but because we are anchored in Jesus Christ!

I say this because of the way Paul describes Timothy, the man he sent to comfort them in their afflictions:

1 Thessalonians 3:2 (ESV)

2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith,

Earlier we saw Paul specifically refer to “the Gospel of God”, and I think he is doing something similar here: He is holding up the Thessalonians in their suffering by reminding them that their Savior also suffered! That they can endure suffering because He suffered for them! That the Good News of the Gospel of Christ is that by His wounds we are healed; that He knows our suffering, and He has promised that the trials and sorrows and griefs of this life will never overwhelm those who put their faith in the Man of Sorrows!

A church firmly grounded in the Gospel of Christ will hold one another up in those outward sorrows, and

We PICK one another up (3:5-7; cp. Galatians 6:1-2)

When we are laid low by the inward afflictions of doubts and discouragements and struggles with sin! This is what Paul is aiming at in verse 5:

1 Thessalonians 3:5 (ESV)

5 For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.

When a church fervently loves one another, it means that they are always watching each other’s backs for those attacks that come from the Enemy of our souls. Not to judge each other, or to kick each other when we’re down, but to pick each other up when we fall:

Galatians 6:1–2 (ESV)

1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Paul was anxious to help the Thessalonian church defend itself against “the tempter”, and rejoiced to find that they had indeed stood firm:

1 Thessalonians 3:7–8 (ESV)

7 for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. 8 For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.

A church that holds each other up through life’s trials and picks each other up after battles with sin is a church that is resilient in the storms of a hostile world.

We walk together, we sacrifice together, we suffer together, and starting in verse 9 we see another characteristic of a church that fervently loves one another:

IV. We PRAY Together (1 Thessalonians 3:9-13)

Verse 9:

1 Thessalonians 3:9 (ESV)

9 For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God,

Paul says that his prayers for them before God were full of thanksgiving for them—a common refrain in Paul’s writing. He opens all of his letters the same way he did in this letter:

1 Thessalonians 1:2 (ESV)

2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers,

And he reiterates that here in verse 9. When we are fervently loving one another it means that

We are THANKFUL for each other (v. 9)

Paul almost expresses a kind of helplessness here—he can’t even figure out how to express to God just how much he is thankful for them:

1 Thessalonians 3:9 (ESV)

9 For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God,

What a wonderful way to pray for one another! Paul’s first reaction when he thought about the Thessalonians was frustration at how to express to God how much he delighted in them— “How can I express how much joy they give me??” And all too often our response to God when we think about each other is a far less joyful kind of frustration: “God, what am I going to do with them?!??”

There is a remedy for that kind of frustration—Paul goes on to write about it in verse 10:

1 Thessalonians 3:10 (ESV)

10 as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?

When one of your fellow believers frustrates you? When they are getting on your nerves? That’s a sign that the Tempter is trying to cause division and strife in the body, and when you let even a little bit of that bitterness in, it will grow into a root that will poison you and this whole fellowship. And so you combat that temptation to bitterness by praying for each other! A church that fervently loves one another means that

We INTERCEDE for each other (v. 10)

It is impossible to stay mad or frustrated at a fellow believer that you are earnestly praying for! Paul prayed night and day that he might have the opportunity to minister to his beloved friends at Thessalonica; that he would be able to go back and “fill up what is lacking in their faith”—to continue to disciple them, teach them, train them up in their walk with Christ. There is no indication that Paul ever did get to visit Thessalonica—he never saw them face to face again for the rest of his life. But that didn’t stop him from praying for them as often as he could.

A church that fervently loves one another is a church that will intercede for each other; will come before the face of God to ask Him for His blessings on each other, to pray for one another’s needs, to see each other become more and more conformed to the image of Jesus. I am grateful for how our church family has a thriving prayer chain, and all the work that went into updating and distributing it. And it’s good to see it being used to share matters of prayer with each other throughout the week.

But let me suggest that what Paul wanted out of his intercessions was more than just prayer at a distance. He was earnestly desiring to see them face to face. Paul would certainly be amazed and eager to use the kind of communication technology that we have today, but I suspect he would look at the text list for prayer chain and say, “But don’t you ever pray face to face?? Where are your face-to-face times to pray together and encourage each other?” It’s a good question, isn’t it? Where is the place of specific, face-to-face times of prayer in the life of Bethel Baptist Church?

Do we want to have the resilience that marked the church in Thessalonica? Do we want to have the resilience of the church in China to weather the decades of persecution and continual attempts to derail or denounce the Gospel? Then let us love each other the way Christ loved us!

Instead of an attitude of frustration or apathy with each other, let us walk together with genuine concern and mutual affection. Instead of looking out for our own interests and protecting our own plans, let us be willing to put our own plans and comforts to death for one another.

Instead of awkwardly ignoring each other’s struggles, let us walk through suffering together, holding each other up through heartbreak and picking each other up after battles with sin. Instead of being satisfied with our praying for each other from a distance, let us pray for opportunities to encourage one another in prayer face-to-face, thanking God for the joy that He has given us for one another.

In short—let us love one another the way Christ has loved us, so that the world will know that we belong to Him, and so that we will endure the trials and testings of this wicked generation.

And if you are here this morning and you are a stranger to the love of Christ because you have never come to Him in faith for forgiveness of your sins, if a community of people who love each other the way these verses describe is something you’ve never experienced—consider for a moment that that is why you have come here today! When Paul writes in verse 11,

1 Thessalonians 3:11 (ESV)

11 Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you,

he is saying that God is the One Who directs our steps toward each other—He has directed your steps here this morning so that you can have this love for yourself! He has brought you here so that you can hear and believe this Good News; that Jesus Christ has died and risen again in order to free you from the guilt and shame that you carry. That even though the wrath of God is rightly aroused by your rejection of His holiness, you are being offered an escape from that wrath by fleeing to the One Who suffered that wrath for your sake.

A fellowship that fervently loves one another is resilient only because the love of Christ for us is far stronger—His love did not merely endure the wrath of fallen man; His love endured the infinite wrath of Almighty God. And He offers that love to you this morning! Don’t turn away, don’t say you want to think about it longer, don’t put it off until “someday”—He has directed your steps to us this morning so that we can make this plea to you: Come—and welcome!—to Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

1 Thessalonians 3:11–13 (ESV)

11 Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, 12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. AMEN

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

What are some of the events and circumstances of the past three years that have negatively affected church fellowships across the country? What does Paul describe about the church in Thessalonica in this passage that makes a church resilient in the face of such difficulties?

What are some ways Paul sacrificed his plans and his comforts for the sake of his brothers and sisters in Thessalonica? How does this instruct us in the way we “lay down our lives” for each other? How does this reflect the love that Christ showed us?

In 1 Thessalonians 3:9-10, Paul prayed earnestly that he might be able to see the Thessalonian believers face-to-face again (though it seems he never did see them again.) What does this teach us about the importance of being physically present with each other in prayer?