Faith, Hope, Love

The Gospel to Thessalonica Acts 17:1-9

After departing Philippi, where the first converts on European soil formed the first church in Europe, the missionaries Paul, Silas, and Timothy arrive in the city of Thessalonica.

affluent city

has a synagogue

Paul went into the synagogue for 3 weeks and preached from the Scriptures about the Messiah:

Christ = christos = Messiah (Anointed One)

Note: Christ is often used for Jesus much like a surname, and it denotes His occupation

the Messiah (Christ) must suffer

Isaiah 53 - led like a lamb to the slaughter

Psalm 22 - Specific imagery of crucifixion (hands and feet pierced), Mocking at the cross, Casting lots for His clothing, Surrounded by enemies

Psalm 69:20-21 - give him gall and vinegar

Daniel 9:26 - the anointed one will be cut off

he must rise from the dead

Psalm 16:10 - You will not allow Your Holy One to see decay

Isaiah 53:10-12 - he will see the fruit of his suffering

Typological:

Jonah 1:17 - 3 days in the belly of the fish

Genesis 22 - Abraham receives his son back from the dead (figuratively)

After pointing this out, Paul preached to them that Jesus was the fulfillment of these prophecies. “The one whom you seek has already come! Do not look for another, but believe on Him!”

Just like the Jews of old, many Christians today are looking for the future coming of a Messiah who is already here.

“I just can’t wait for the Lord to come back and establish His kingdom. Won’t it be grand when Jesus finally comes back and does what He said He’d do?”

As the angel said to the apostles gathered on the Mount of Olives after Jesus ascended, “Why do you stand gazing up into heaven?” Jesus’ kingdom is here already! Mark 3:27 “But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.”

Don’t you see? Jesus went into the strongman’s (Satan) home (the nations), and bound (restricted) him so that he no longer has blinded the nations from seeing the Light that shineth in darkness, as a city that is set upon a hill. Is all evil eradicated? Of course not! Have all of Jesus’ enemies been made His footstool? It does not seem to be so. But the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, and He has sent the Word of Truth to all the nations, and this only occurred after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why? Because Jesus defeated Satan and Death during those 3 days in the belly of Sheol, and when He rose from the grave, the blinders had been ripped away from the eyes and ears of the nations.

This is what Paul is trying to convey to the Thessalonians, and successfully so, because a great multitude of the Hellenistic Jews were converted. These were proselytes who were earnestly looking for the Messiah, and once the irrefutable evidence was presented that He had come, a large number believed.

But of course the Jews who did not believe were provoked to jealousy. Paul wrote about this to the Roman Christians:

Romans 11:11 ESV

So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.

Support the Jews? They hate Jesus, and always have

Rather than get their hands dirty, however, they went into the markets and drummed up a mob to raise a stink.

“Certain lewd fellows of the baser sort.”

In other words, rabblerousers and wicked men from the marketplace. Ne’er-do-wells. Lazy bums. Drunks. Unemployed punks. Perhaps they were given an opportunity to cause trouble, and being bored or accustomed to this type of protesting behavior, happily obliged.

They began to cause an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, where the missionaries had been staying. Apparently, Jason was of some relationship to Paul, as Scripture tells us in Romans 16:21 “Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen.”

They drag Jason and certain other brethren to the rules of the city and rather than accuse them of blasphemy, or misinterpreting Scripture, or any other religious charge, they bring up charges of treason: “they say there is another king, Jesus.” The implication is that there is a king that is greater and above Caesar, and his name is Jesus.

In ancient Rome, it was treason to say anything but “no king but Caesar.” Christians were slaughtered mercilessly for saying, “no king but Christ.” Yet the Christians boldly declared that repeatedly. Recently, the lawless people of our day declared, “no king.” But all men pay homage to a king of some sort, whether it be a ruling monarch, the prince of the air, the King of kings, or they install themselves as supreme dictator of their own lives. Paul describes such people in the “last days:”

2 Timothy 3:4 ESV

treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

No king? No, just “no king but me, myself, and I.” One of the biggest problems with this is as Jeremiah 17:9 says, “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” So any king BUT Christ will lead you astray, even if you are trusting in your own understanding and knowledge. Especially so.

Jason posts bail

After Jason promises to keep Paul under control, he posts bail and returns home with the other brethren. He immediately sends Paul and Silas away, not out of fear or embarrassment, but out of necessity. The temperature in Thessalonica was too hot, so they needed to steal away and let the city cool down somewhat. So they went to Berea, a town about 50 miles to the southwest.

Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians

Even though Paul and Silas were only in Thessalonica for about 3 or 4 weeks, the people there received enough instruction and had enough faith to continue on in the workings of the church. Not long after this, after Paul arrives in Corinth, he sits down to write his first letter to the Thessalonian church.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:3 (turn here) Paul mentions three things he is thankful for about them:

Work of faith

Labor of love

Patience of hope

Do these three things sound familiar? They should, because he says in 1 Corinthians 13:13 “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Paul commends the Thessalonian church on these three traits because these are three signs of a true believer and a healthy church.

A Faith That Works

True faith produces visible action

Faith motivates obedience and service

Christianity is not belief-only, but belief that changes behavior

A Love That Labors

Love goes beyond feelings into effort

Willing to sacrifice for others

Love is the fuel for ministry

A Hope That Endures

Hope gives strength to persevere in trials

Confidence in Christ’s return keeps believers steadfast

Hope focuses the heart on eternity

The Source of These Virtues

“In our Lord Jesus Christ”

These qualities flow from relationship with Him

Without Christ, they fade; with Him, they grow