1 Thessalonians 1:2-5

1 Thessalonians • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented 3 years ago

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2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

Target Date: Sunday, 5 December 2021

Word Study/ Translation Notes:

2 - Thanks – eucharistomen – the Greek word where we get the term “Eucharist” for the Lord’s Supper – an expression of thanksgiving to God.

2 - Constantly – unceasingly, without stopping.

3 – work of faith – ergou – common word for work, esp. in James 2. This phrase is in the genitive (possessive) case or ablative (source, proceeding from) case, as both are indicated in the suffix change of on to ou. In either case, the phrase could easily be translated “faith’s work” or “work produced by faith”, implying either the possessive or the ablative idea as both would be consistent with Scripture.

Both work and faith are SINGULAR, indicating a singular work of their common faith, since the “your” is plural.

The word “your” is likewise genitive or ablative, the faith possessed by them that produces work originating with their faith.

Thoughts on the Passage:

This triad of faith, hope, and love are found in several places in the New Testament:

The frequent use of these three as the identifying characteristics of believers should make us take note whether we have these things springing from our relationship with God.

But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. – 1 Thessalonians 5:8

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. – Romans 5:1-5

But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. – 1 Corinthians 13:13

For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. – Galatians 5:5-6

since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel - Colossians 1:4-5

who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, - 1 Peter 1:21-22

let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds - Hebrews 10:22-24

Faith is based on the assurance that God has acted for his people’s salvation in Christ; love is the present (and continuing) relationship between God and his people through Christ; hope is bound up with the conviction that “he who has begun a good work” in them “will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6).

3 – your work of faith – “faith’s work”

Their faith was in God. The work of their faith was the outpouring through His Spirit through them.

For their faith’s work, as with the other two great graces, the evidence of the grace is not hideable – cannot be hidden.

Because this work proceeded from faith, it was compelling to these works:

Faith is NEVER portrayed in Scripture as a mere passive belief.

It produces extraordinary works that proceed from faith in God.

Love (agape) is NEVER portrayed in Scripture as a mere emotional affection.

In this passage, we see that there is great labor in love – extraordinary labor. It is toilsome.

Hope is NEVER portrayed in Scripture as mere wishful thinking or anything less than CERTAIN.

The hope that is mentioned is a hope that stands in spite of everything to the contrary, in spite of all opposition and persecution.

There is a climax here; faith manifests itself by its works—its active exertion; love by its toils—its works of self-denial; and hope by its patience—its endurance amid trials and discouragements. “Remembering, the apostle would say, your faith, hope, and love: a faith that had its outward effect on your lives; a love that spent itself in the service of others; and a hope that was no mere transient feeling, but was content to wait for the things unseen, when Christ should be revealed” (Jowett).

That, says Lightfoot on the passage, is the natural order. “Faith rests on the past; love works in the present; hope looks to the future.”

We are not told what their “faith’s work” had been, but it would have been (likely) a body of work pouring from the same source that could have come from nowhere but their faith.

It is not the work produced by faith that saves you:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9

But it is that faith’s fruit IS good works:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. – Ephesians 2:10

True faith changes you:

Removing self-righteousness in favor of the righteousness of Christ.

Removing sin in favor of obedience.

YOUR is plural, while the work of faith is singular. There is an inherent unity in this state, even in the midst of withering persecution.

They were not merely “like-minded”; they were of the SAME mind. Striving for the SAME work through the SAME FAITH in the SAME GOD.

Sermon Text:

Please allow me to begin this week by expressing my gratitude to God for my brother, Aaron, in whom I have full confidence as a fellow elder of this congregation.

I thank you for the extraordinary efforts you made to preach the word of God last week.

We come again this week to the opening paragraph of Paul’s first letter to the church of the Thessalonians, and we shall be looking specifically at verse 3.

remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

My plan for this morning is to look at this verse in general, and then next week to focus specifically on the first of these evidences of salvation – the work of faith.

We will, in the coming weeks, the Lord willing, proceed to the other items in detail – the labor of love and the steadfastness of hope.

We see in this verse the very first chronological instance of the list of the three Christian graces: faith, love, and hope.

Faith, Hope, and Love – these three graces, more than anything else, provide evidence to the conversion of the heart from one of fallen humanity to one made alive in Christ Jesus.

In the context of this letter, they serve that very purpose.

Paul is telling the church at Thessalonica that it is those very graces, evidenced throughout their lives, that causes him and his companions to thank God.

Throughout the New Testament, we see these three graces standing side-by-side:

But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. – 1 Thessalonians 5:8

But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. – 1 Corinthians 13:13

It is no accident that these three things are found so often together. They represent the defining characteristics of a Christian.

They also represent the defining aspects of the doctrine and teaching of the early church.

It is rare to find any teaching of Scripture that is not linked to one of these graces.

Even more than that, that does not directly proceed from one or more of them.

When Paul and his companions taught in Thessalonica, they taught these very things:

Because the life of a Christian begins with FAITH, operates in LOVE, and lives for the HOPE of eternity with Christ.

It does not even go too far to say that this is a very rough outline to this epistle itself:

The remainder of chapter 1 through 3 revolve around the FAITH of the Thessalonian church.

The first verses of chapter 4 describe the work of LOVE.

And the remainder of chapter 4 into chapter 5 talk specifically about the HOPE we have at the return of Jesus Christ.

The remainder of chapter 5 is taken up with practical applications proceeding from these graces.

Now, as you read this verse, you will also notice he is not simply commending their faith, their love, and their hope.

He speaks of their “work of faith”, their “labor of love”, and their “steadfastness of hope.”

And it is vitally important that we understand as followers of Jesus Christ that these graces are not MERELY changes on the inside.

Certainly, that is where the changes begin – in the heart of a person.

And for those who may not understand the reference to the heart, this does not refer to the coronary pump in the center of your chest –

When we speak of the heart, we are speaking about the depth of a person.

The heart, in this case, is the center of all the will and emotions, the intentions, and the very being of a person.

The heart is who you really are at the core.

And these graces – faith, love, and hope – live and change and proceed out from the very center of a Christian, the deepest part of your soul.

But the key to this passage, and to the rest of the New Testament, is that their effects don’t STAY there.

Faith is NEVER portrayed in Scripture as a mere passive belief.

It produces extraordinary works that proceed from faith in God.

Love (agape) is NEVER portrayed in Scripture as a mere emotional affection.

In this passage, we see that there is great labor in love – extraordinary labor. It is toilsome.

Hope is NEVER portrayed in Scripture as mere wishful thinking or anything less than CERTAIN.

The hope that is mentioned is a hope that stands in spite of everything to the contrary, in spite of all opposition and persecution.

Hope is expectation that is certain because our hope in in God who fulfills every promise.

Godly faith, love, and hope cannot BE contained and must explode into full view of the people around us – if it is real.

There are many who claim to have faith, or love, or hope, but who seem to be able, against all Scriptural instruction, to keep it as a personal belief or opinion.

How could we possibly believe that these divine graces, provided by an infinite, eternal, holy God, could even BE contained deep inside us?

A city set of a hill cannot BE hidden (Matthew 5:14).

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ” – John 7:37-38

You simply cannot contain what God has truly put inside you.

Now John tells us that when Jesus was speaking about the rivers of living water, He was speaking about the Holy Spirit.

And what is God’s Spirit putting into us? What is He building inside us?

Faith, love, hope.

Before we move into a deeper examination of the work of faith, I would ask you to look at the entire phrase around it: your work of faith.

There is something important about the construction of this phrase that is not completely apparent in English.

The word “your” is plural in this phrase, where in English it could be either singular or plural.

So when he is speaking of their work of faith, he is talking about the entire church at Thessalonica, not just speaking to the individuals.

That is important because the words “work” and “faith” are both singular.

He does not speak of their “works” of faith, but (plural) their (singular) WORK of (singular) faith.

He is not talking about the works that MANY of them have done, but the work the church has done through faith.

Likewise, he speaks of the (singular) labor of (singular) love, and the (singular) steadfastness of (plural) their (singular) hope.

You may well ask what difference this makes. After all, could it not simply be a figure of speech?

Listen to the difference:

I thank God for your WORKS of faith.

I thank God for your WORK of faith.

In the first, it is the most natural grammatically – plural all the way through.

But if we were to read it this way, this puts the emphasis on the works themselves.

It ceases being the singular WORK of the church and becomes the WORKS of the members.

When read incorrectly, this becomes a tribute to their good deeds rather than a thanksgiving to God for the FAITH that has proved itself by pouring out of them.

The same is true for the other graces and their effects listed – making any of them plural applauds the person rather than God.

Unfortunately, that kind of teaching is not uncommon in organizations that call themselves churches today.

And we must, in this church, be careful to avoid that trap as well.

Because it is easy to focus on the works unrelated to faith.

Doing things we consider good out of duty to something or someone other than God.

It is easy to focus on the labors unrelated to love.

Believing we are gaining merit by our sacrifices.

Paul rails against that thought in 1 Corinthians 13:3:

if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

And it is easy to focus on the fortitude or steadfastness unrelated to the hope of glory.

To trust our swords, guns, resources, family, friends, or country and stand steadfast simply in that hope.

It is a tragedy of our time to be a better Republican or Democrat than we are a steadfast believer in Jesus Christ.

All hopes but one will disappoint, and that One sits enthroned in heaven.

Rather than congratulating the Thessalonians on their several good works, Paul thanks God for the WORK of FAITH, the LABOR of LOVE, and the STEADFASTNESS of HOPE they had because of the Holy Spirit.

The WORK of the CHURCH was cause for celebration and thanksgiving.

Now, certainly, that WORK flowed from the efforts of the individuals, but that is where we find an important point.

In Philippians 2:2, Paul makes this urgent request to the Philippian church:

make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

Over time, I have heard many people refer to the church as a body of like-minded people.

And while I understand what they mean and would never contradict them,

I would say this morning that being like-minded is not nearly as important as being of the same mind.

That is what, in Thessalonica, turned the works of the believers into the WORK of FAITH of the church.

They were, by all indications, of the same mind,

Unified in love,

United in spirit,

And intent on one purpose.

When we speak of being merely like-minded, we might cast too wide a net in determining like-mindedness.

One of the great sins of believers today is finding a like-minded church rather than a confessional one.

Put another way, in finding a like-minded church, we might easily fall into the error of simply gravitating to a church that agrees with us.

Or looks like us.

Or is ethnically similar to us.

Or is economically similar to us.

Or has the programs and activities we crave.

If you are looking for a church, find one that has a doctrinal basis, a common confession of beliefs that are thoroughly supported by Scripture.

Belong to a church that will dive in deeply to Scripture to find the will of God, not simply one that supports your opinions.

This is why in this church we have the common confession, the Second London Baptist Confession, that has stood the test of time as a reliable summary of the vital doctrines of Scripture.

It would be unreliable and scary indeed to belong to a church that simply made up their doctrine as they go along,

Based on the opinions of the pastor,

Or the opinions of a majority of those in attendance.

That is the VERY REASON we have seen the utter failure of once-great denominations and churches in recent years,

Who have caved in to the pressure of the culture and interest groups of the world.

We will see, if the Lord is willing, in the future that Paul commends the Thessalonians specifically because they didn’t cave to the pressure of their opponents.

But before we close, please allow me to clarify that being of the same mind doesn’t mean we always agree on everything,

It means we agree on the important doctrines of the faith.

It means that we are in covenant to be unified in love.

That we are intent on making and building disciples in the power of the Holy Spirit.

It means that we are not too proud to learn or change our opinions when the Scripture disagrees with us.

And it means that even as we work disagreements out, our love for each other doesn’t fail or flag.

I would compare this to a good marriage:

It is a rare marriage indeed where the husband and wife agree on everything.

But in a marriage, they are of the same mind in that they are seeking the same thing – the glory of God through their joined lives.

Ideally also, they are each seeking what is best for the other.

They may disagree, even sharply at times, but even in that disagreement, their love for and commitment to each other does not fail.

Disagreements, even passionate ones, do not result in divorce.

Like-mindedness – where people agree on every single point – is rare and foreign to the Scriptural understanding of the church.

Where same-mindedness – where people commit themselves to each other based on faith in God, love for each other, and a common hope in Christ – is precisely the praiseworthy example we have in the healthy church.

That is the prayer of Jesus for the church, even as He spoke it on the night He was betrayed:

The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. – John 17:22-23

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