In The Lord - 3:8

I served as a pastor in a small church for just short of 12 years.

In that time my wife and family and I had people we poured our lives into.

There were a few times when we poured our lives into someone, only to have them walk away.

That hurts.

However.

There was no joy greater than watching someone grasp a new Biblical truth, graft it into their life, and be transformed by it.

I will never forget a day I was in our local grocery store when I happened to run into someone who had moved that was back in town for a visit.

In the course of the conversation, they proceeded to tell me how much a particular part of a message I had preached 3 years previously had meant to them.

I had no recollection of saying what they remembered. None at all.

What I will tell you though is this. The fact that God’s Word had made such an impact on their life brought me immense joy.

Today we are going to look at one short, but powerful, verse in 1 Thessalonians.

1 Thessalonians 3:8 ESV

8 For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.

This might seem like an overly dramatic statement at first.

So, let’s break it down and see what Paul is talking about.

Paul is writing to this church because they are facing persecution.

He was worried that their suffering and the temptation of Satan would lead them away from Christ.

To find out how they were doing and to provide encouragement, Paul sent Timothy to them.

Timothy returns and gives Paul a good report of the Thessalonian believers.

Paul told them in v. 7 just how comforted and encouraged he was by their faithfulness.

He continues that theme here.

Paul is not just encouraged.

He says that this news of the faith and love evidenced by the Thessalonian believers gives life to him and his companions.

Now, obviously Paul did not mean that had they been unfaithful to Christ he would have physically died.

So what is he saying?

I like how Charles Wanamaker puts it in his commentary.

“Paul derived a sense of strength from the endurance of his converts that enabled him to continue his missionary work in the face of opposition and oppression.”*

The fact that the Thessalonian believers were standing fast in the Lord gave Paul strength and endurance!

God provided encouragement just when Paul needed it most.

Opposed, oppressed, afflicted, and then he hears of how faithfully the Thessalonians are following Jesus.

*breath* that’s what it is like. A breath of fresh air.

Paul says they are standing fast in the Lord.

They are holding their ground. Standing firm and unwavering. Their feet are steadfastly rooted in Jesus Christ!

What does it mean to be “in the Lord?”

Only those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for Salvation are in the Lord.

The Thessalonians are standing fast, not in worldly wisdom and the fickle fancies of the flesh.

They are standing fast in the Lord!

It is Christ who enables us to stand!

If we want to stand fast, we must stand fast in the Lord.

We must be firmly rooted in Christ and His Word.

In this verse I believe Paul is echoing the words of John in 3 John 1:4

3 John 4 ESV

4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Do you want to have joy?

Disciple someone. There is so much joy that comes to our lives in seeing someone we have discipled, walk with Jesus.

Do you want to bring someone else joy?

Be discipled by them.

And then.

Be a faithful follower of Jesus.

We have the ability to bring life, to being joy to others as we pursue a daily walk with Jesus.

No matter what life throws our way, we must stand fast in the Lord.

*Charles A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1990), 136.