Sermon Tone Analysis

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)