The Gospel-Afflicted Church

Intro story: the rapture

If you knew Jesus was definitely coming in your life time, what would you do differently?

This was the case for the Thessalonian Church

The Church in Thessalonica was a church born in the midst of trial, persecution and public opposition. It sprung up and held fast to the Gospel that was preached to them. So much so, that they didn’t simply survive or exist but they became so well known for their faith in God, love for one another and others, and a hope that was steadfast in the promises of their Saviour.

I’ve entitled this sermon “A Gospel-Afflicated Church”, because the effects of hearing the Gospel never seemed to ease on the Thessalonians. It never became boring, or old or outdated- but instead it was urgent and necessary- penultimate. And as we ask the question in our series, “how do we have hope for uncertain times”? Paul writes to encourage us, if you want to have hope in uncertain times, be a Gospel-afflicted believer.

1 Thessalonians 1:1 “Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.”

Paul’s 2nd journey picture

Paul and Silvanus (silas Gk.) and timothy, context

Acts 17:1–10 “Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.”

timothy sent roughly 20 months later to encourage and report back to Paul.

Paul writes a letter of encouragement, praise and exhortation. It was one of Paul’s most beloved churches as they were genuine in their faith, unified in their love for the Gospel and each other and steadfast in their hope for the coming of Jesus Christ.Ultimately, Paul was thankful for their genuine faith and salvation, that they had been established as a genuine church.

A Genuine Church v2-5a

1 Thessalonians 1:2–5 “We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. ”

Paul has a deep affection for this church. Despite only being with them for a few short months he is always, constantly thanking God for all of them. He has a love for this new church. He sees the triune God is at work: that’s the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Paul says they have faith, love and hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, they were chosen by God and that choosing is demonstrated by the outpouring of the power of the Holy Spirit and the evidence of their full conviction.

Paul highlights the genuiness and authenticity of their faith. He has no doubts over their faith, he isn’t questioning it- even though given the short time he was there he has every right to be uncertain! They proved that those who came to faith weren’t sort of half in, non-committed but were fully convicted. He’ll expound upon that in the next few verses. They had genuine faith from a genuine salvation. What does that look like though? We don’t have the ability to look at someone’s heart, but scripture tells us we can determine it by someone’s fruit. Paul describes that fruit as three things; a faith that works, a love that labours and the steadfastness of hope. A genuine church has a faith that works.

A faith that works

Paul describes this three times in our reading for today. He celebrates that the faith of the thessalonian church is working so that; the word of the Lord sounded forth; your faith in God has gone forth everywhere; and that they (meaning the wider macedonian church) could tell Paul and others how great their faith was. That’s awesome! Faith at work.

Their faith showed. People knew they were Christians. Your faith doesn’t have to “be active” for you to be saved, we know that fiath is a gift of grace in that it is freely given, however, the way their faith was known is a testimony of the salvation they had recieved, the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, and as Paul says- the joy that brang to them. The Thessalonians were different, and people knew about it and talked about.

To hear about that faith is a joy to me. I hope that people will talk about us like this. Both as a church and our vision and mission here in Ipswich, but also individually. We are in a time that I don’t think any us could have predicted- people are interested in hearing about your faith. Barna, a research org. in the U.S, found in a 2022 study that of 2,000 U.S. adults, three out of four (74%) say they want to grow spiritually. Additionally, the same proportion (77%) say they believe in a higher power. Nearly half (44%) say they are more open to God today than before the pandemic. People are incredibly open, many of you I have personally spoken with arew actively exploring faith. Something has shifted for you and you’re looking for the Truth. Now is the golden moment for our faith to sound forth and set an example for the generations to come.

Lastly, regarding a faith that works. If you are a Christian, God has not saved you to simply give you a free pass ticket to sit in the bleachers. Everyone has a role to play in God’s Kingdom, according to how he has equipped you- and you’re expected to do it. A church that is full of complacency and laziness won’t be known as a church who’s “faith sounds forth”.

Paul writes for us in Ephesians 2:8–10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Paul’s point is that the genuiness of the faith of the Thessalonian Church is proven by it’s productivity, shown through it’s unity for the church’s central purpose and function.

A Unified Church v5b-8

Reading on from verse 5b and the next few, 1 Thessalonians 1:5–8 “You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.”

Paul keeps saying “you, you, you”, who is he talking about? The Thessalonians, but notice ho wit’s the whole church “you became examples”. It’s not “some of you” are doing pretty well, “we are so proud “of some of you” and there’s no “some of you are coming up in my staff meeting with Silas and Tim this week”. Often in scripture there’s the explicit and implicit meaning, the implicit meaning in this text is a church that is unified, Paul says their unity is a result of a love that labours.

A Labour of Love

Not just unified in where they gather for services and prayer meetings, or happy to put up with each other- but a church that is moving forward together, standing together and striving together. Paul uses the Greek word kopos when he says they have a labor of love. Kopos means to sweat, fatigue and grow weary. That is the love with which they demonstate to one another.

The crescendo of this passage is verse 6, where paul says “you recieved the Word (that Gospel) in much affliction, with the joy of Holy Spirit. Remember the context of this church. They had come to faith and were eager to learn and grow from their pastors, only for them to be whisked away when the authorities tried to find them. Imagine that, new to the faith with only other new believers and having to establish yourselves in a hostile city with a government who felt threatened by your faith. Likely ostriscised and alienated by family and friends.

It is that environment that that this church was forged. A couple things to point out- 1. this love and joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and; 2. it is by that same spirit that they contnued on in faith and became “imitators” and “examples”. Their faith would go out through all the region but it was their love that built the foundations for that work.

Their love for one another unified the church, and allowed them to shoulder together the trials, affliction and persecution that ccame their way. That love isn’t just an affectionate love, you may have guessed that Paul uses the Greek word Agape, to describe their love. Paul says they have become imitators of himself, silas and Timothy. This echoes the words he will one day write to the 1 Corinthians 11:1 “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” Christ set the example for us is love, by laying himself down for each of us as a sacrifice. That’s what Agape is, it is selfless and freely given. Paul imitates Christ in His love for the Thessalonians, and the Thessalonians imitate Paul by loving each other.

The last thing that I want to highlight, is in verse 9, 1 Thessalonians 1:9 “For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,”

“They” is talking about those in the regions of Macedon and Achaia (which is the greek cities and isles). They had heard about the stories regarding the founding of the church and their response to the Gospel. They highlight that they had “turned away from idols to serve God”. In other words, they didn’t just adopt a new world view, or change their spiritual beliefs. They turned away from a former life and clung to the new life they had found in Jesus.

This is what we call repentance. It means to turn away from a sinful, broken world and turning toward the faith and forgiveness in on offer from Jesus Christ. Let’s lay it out- they repented for each other. They transformed for each other. They lay down their life and risked relationships, livelyhoods and reputation for each other. It was costly for each of them, but they paid the price for each other. It was a labour of the highest love, but it founded an unshakable church.

An Unshakable Church v9-10

1 Thessalonians 1:9–10 “For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”

People knew about the story of the Thessalonian church. The trails they faced, but their faith that was pronounced and the fruit they had borne. They had given up a apst life to follow Jesus and to serve their Father in Heaven. But then these other believers are reporting thatr they know of the Thessalonians “waiting” on Jesus to return. What does that mean?

Well if there is anything we know about the Thessalonians it’s that they aren’t sitting around on their backsides, twiddling them thumbs and waiting for something to happen. They’re an active, present group of believers- doing exactly what God had planned for them to do in their community. This is what Paul meant by that last description of their faith- they are a church of steadfast hope.

A Steadfast Hope

To “wait upon the Lord” is probably a phrase you’ve heard in church before, and what in connotates is a patience that waits for God’s timing but also an expectancy- that if you’re waiting for God to do something that he said he will do, then he will do it and you should exptect him to do it. The key to that is that A- He needs to have said it and not you just hoping in your own will, and B- His timing fits into His eternal nature, a steadfast hope lingers even in the waiting. You might not see it, but will you stand steadfast yet still?

In his letter to the philippians, Paul says Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Paul longed to go home to the arms of his saviour, he had suffered significantly in his ministry in his obedience to what the Lord was calling him to do. Yet, as long as he lived, he knew he had work to do. That was his steadfast hope.

Leon Morris writes about hope, he says...

Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Thessalonians An Enduring Hope (1 Thess 1:3c)

as Leon Morris asserts, “is not a quiet, passive resignation, but an active constancy in the face of difficulties

The Thessalonians had a hope that saw their capactiy neither diminished into passivity or their demeanor shattered by difficulty. They had hope that Jesus would come soon, but they didn’t lead to them being passive or recluse- the opposite. Their hope lead to a desparation for their friends and neighbours and encouraging their fellow believers to strive on to the goal. They had hope ultimately because they were reliant not on the things of this world but the Unshakable One, King Jesus.

No wonder Paul was proud of his church and what they had grown to become, a church afflicated by the Gospel. One definition I found of what it means to be Gospel-Afflicted is this: A gospel-afflicted church is a community humbled and continually reshaped by the cross — deeply aware of sin, deeply dependent on grace, and restlessly committed to living out Christ’s mercy in a broken world.

They had become a Genuine church with a faith that works, a Unified church with a love that labours for each other and an unshakble church with steadfast hope in the coming to Jesus Christ.

Doesn’t it sound so good? Would you love to be part of a church marked so deeply by faith, love and hope? Many a generation has risen up having been sparked by youth exuberance, “we want to live like the early church!” But here’s the hard thing: a gospel-afflicted church- like what we see in the early-church, needs to be filled with gospel-afflicated people. Our hope doesn’t come from somewhere out there or in a rapture held on a Wednesday, our hope is in Jesus Christ who saves sinners like you and transforms them into the person you truly want to be.

Earlier I asked the question, If you knew Jesus was definitely coming in your life time, what would you do differently?

Let me put it this way, would you want your life to be permeated with the faith, love and hope of Jesus? Would you be willing to be a gospel-afflicted believer? If so, what needs to change? What are you hoping in, that you actually need to surrender, so you can truly have hope in Jesus Christ?