What is the Price of My Faith
1 Thessalonians 1:2-10
What is the Price of My Faith?
We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by 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 simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell 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 rescues us from the coming wrath.
That which cost nothing is held in low esteem. This appears to be a law of human nature. It should not therefore be surprising if the strongest examples of faith seem to be found most frequently within those countries in which the people of God endure the greatest testing. Among those peoples who have never submitted their faith to the challenge of open hostility or to animosity, the expression of Christian Faith tends to be a caricature of that presented as the norm in the pages of the New Testament. As one example, consider the assessment of the First Century Church in Thessalonica. As Paul begins his letter to these hard-pressed saints he reviews his perception of their brief history. Let's compare ourselves to this commended church in order to discover how we may value the things which truly matter.
The Cost of Faith In Terms Of Reorganisation [vv 2,3] - The Apostle said of the Thessalonians, We always thank God for all of you. Wouldn't you like to know that you or that your church merited a commendation from Christian leaders such as this … that you elicited such praise from godly individuals such as the missionary band which travelled with Paul? We continually remember, the Apostle immediately writes again in the following verse. We might well ask what it was that so firmly fixed the name of the Thessalonian saints in the Apostle’s mind? What characteristics were so prominent in their lives as to preclude any prospect that they might be forgotten? What aspects of their common life propelled them into a position of prominence in Paul's memory? What qualities of life seemed to constantly recommend them to Paul's prayer life?
According to Paul's own words, three factors functioned to insure that they should never be forgotten in his prayers to God: work; labour; and endurance. You may conclude that these attributes sound somewhat similar, if not indistinguishable, and that they are thus easily confused in the popular mind. Yet these separate qualities each reveal distinct traits worthy of our sincere emulation. According to the Word, work reveals faith; labour reveals love; and endurance reveals hope. Work, labour and endurance are practical expressions of faith, love and hope, a triumvirate familiar to every Christian with even a passing familiarity of the Word.
Faith, hope and love are a recurring theme throughout the Word of God. Nor are these virtues confined to Paul's observation. Peter [1 Peter 1:21,22], and the unnamed author of the Hebrews letter [Hebrews 6:10-12], likewise unite these graces. Recall a few of the times Paul mentions this desirable trio in the Word of God. 1 Corinthians 13:13 remind us that these qualities are pre-eminent Christian characteristics. Ephesians 1:15-18 interweaves these characteristics into the Apostle's prayer for readers of that encyclical. Colossians 1:3-6 likewise reveals the apostolic commendation of the evidence of these graces in the life of the Colossians. 2 Thessalonians 1:3,4 again acknowledge and approve these expressions of Christian character in the common life of the Thessalonians.
It is certainly possible to understand that Paul is praying that these particular graces will be expressed in practical fashion in the collective life of the Thessalonian Church; but it is more likely that he is stating that he sees these qualities being constantly expressed and that such evidence serves both as the motivating force and the basis for his prayer. Whether the former or the latter is the preferred meaning is of no consequence to our consideration today. We may safely leave that discussion to the theologues. Whatever the meaning, it is evident that faith, hope and love are graces which are to be actively cultivated in each Christian life, and that the evidence such graces are present is seen in our work, in our labours and in our endurance.
The first virtue and its expression is work produced by faith. It is significant to note that it is faith which produces work and not work which produces faith. The popular sentiment, frequently brought even into evangelical churches, is that work produces faith. "If I will but join the church, be baptised, read the Bible, say prayers, do some meritorious deed, I will create great faith," runs the popular concept of the relationship of faith and works. In other words, the popular thought is that doing deeds, being religious, merits God's grace and creates faith. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In our text Paul notes that resident faith results in work … work which can be recognised even by casual observers. We have turned matters around in our fallen minds, and that topsy-turvy view has seriously infected the church of this day! Underscore in your mind this truth – true faith produces work. Whatever you do for God, if it will be found acceptable before God, must arise from faith. In fact, Paul states in one place: everything that does not come from faith is sin [Romans 14:23].
Permit me to demonstrate this truth from the Word and make application to our lives. From earliest days as believers in the Risen Christ we Christians recognise, memorise and readily cite to anyone willing to listen Ephesians 2:8,9: it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. Blessed truth though these verses present, the following verse is often neglected to our permanent hurt: For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do [Ephesians 2:10]. We are saved in order to do good works, although we do not do good works in order to be saved. The order is vital! Our work is the product of our faith; never does work produce faith.
Labour, as employed in this instance, appears to our eyes to be so similar to work as to preclude distinction. However, even to our ears, there is a difference in intensity between the terms work and labour. While work speaks of the individual deeds we might perform, labour speaks of unhesitating and unceasing hardship experienced and toil performed because of love. A true love for Christ or for people leads to labour; otherwise it is mere sentimentality.
Though imperfect, the following situation illustrates the difference between these two terms. A child running into our presence with a shoe untied may elicit our compassion and even our help if that child should request that we tie her shoe. It is a deed performed once and then we are free of responsibility for the child. That same child will elicit virtual slavery from another adult – her mother or her father – because of a different relationship based on love. The child for whom we may tie a shoe, or briefly comfort, or for whom we may momentarily provide care will receive undivided attention from her father or mother. A parent will sit up all night to stroke the fevered brow. A mother will wipe her runny nose and bathe her besmeared face. A father will sacrifice to provide for the child's welfare and future. These are responses growing out of love. By the same token, faith will prompt us to do deeds as required by the circumstances, but love will impel us to continue working even to the point of personal sacrifice.
A parent loves his or her child, not because that child merits love, but because the parent has chosen to love. Likewise, our labour for Christ, the characteristic of staying at tasks, however menial or however unglamorous, is prompted by love – love for Christ and love for His people. It is not so much that we chose to love one another, but it is rather that we can do nothing other than love one another as Christians; and love prompts us to toil for one another.
There is yet a third virtue named and prized, one arising out of hope. Hope, in Christian theology, is neither an expression of wishfulness nor of wistful longing, nor even optimism (a matter of temperament, not theology); hope speaks rather of anticipation or expectation. When the Christian says, for example, that he lives in hope of the resurrection, he speaks not of some nebulous, undefined event which may or may not occur in the future, but rather that Christian speaks of an event as certain as his own salvation. Having been saved by the Risen Christ, the believer expects to see that Lord coming in great glory. With ancient Job, the Christian speaks in confidence of his hope: Though He slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to His face [Job 13:15].
Hope insures that the believer exhibits endurance in both work and labour. If Christ is coming again, and if the presence of the Holy Spirit is the divine deposit for the redemption of my body, and if Christ has promised that I shall reign with Him, then I can stay at each task assigned however difficult it may prove and whatever opposition may be faced. If my hope, if my expectation, extends beyond this life, then I anticipate that the final accounting is not yet available. It matters little how others judge me; I live in hope of Christ the Righteous Judge.
Every Christian is a believer, a lover and one who hopes; and the evidence that these rather abstract sounding qualities are part of each Christian life is seen in outwardly productive lives demonstrating work, labour and endurance. If you would have a brief definition of true Christianity, this is it! The Christian Faith consists of faith, hope and love, and the Faith is revealed in work, labour and endurance by those who know Christ.
The Cost of Faith In Terms Of Responsiveness [vv 4-6a] - I confess a thrill whenever I read the biblical statements revealing the lives of apostolic saints. I admit that I await the day when we shall see, not occasionally nor incidentally, but routinely and integrally, this situation prevail in our day. Paul continues: We know … that [God] has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction [verses four and five].
I would that there would be in this day and in our town a church known to be Christian … not because the members affirmed they were Christian, but because their very life revealed Christ. I would that there should be a church in this day which had received the Gospel with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. I would that this church be that church.
We seem content to come to faith with an "Ah, shucks," sort of attitude. We anticipate no dramatic, dynamic change in our lives, no evidence of the power of the Gospel at work among us; and our expectations are met. Where is the Holy Spirit? Not the excess and superstition which many have sought to substitute for Him, but the holiness and determination to honour Christ which marks His presence? Where today do we see men and women turning to faith with deep conviction? We see instead a sort of repent (after a fashion) and believe (such as it were) or be damned in a measure expression of the Faith. It is heresy!
We know, brothers loved by God, that He has chosen you, wrote Paul. Can anyone know that another is saved? Can any truly know the election of another? Though I cannot tell you the transaction which has occurred in your heart, nor am I capable of discerning the operation of the Holy Spirit in your life, I can see the evidence of His work in the lives of redeemed men and women. Where the Gospel attends your life in power, where the Holy Spirit works in your being, where deep conviction attends your life, I can speak with authority that you are among the ranks of the elect. This is not speculation, but certainty.
Where the Spirit of God dwells in power and with great conviction; a strange thing begins to occur; those believers live in anticipation of the return of their Lord. Though having never seen the face of this Jesus, the believer eagerly awaits His return. The Thessalonians turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven [verse ten]. Turning to God is something more than a mere profession that one believes Him. Turning to God speaks of desire to so live as to please Him. John, in his first epistle, speaks of this same purifying effect. Dear friends, now are we children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as He is pure [1 John 3:2,3]. Of what hope does John speak? The hope of Christ's return! Living in anticipation of Christ's return has a purifying effect in the life of the believer.
Listen! Would you watch the same videos if you thought Christ would return momentarily? Would you listen to the same music if you thought Christ would return momentarily? Would you read the same literature if you though Christ would return momentarily? Would you permit your mind to dwell on the same thoughts if you thought Christ would return momentarily? You see, when that one thought seizes your imagination, your daily actions will be transformed. All the rules of asceticism, all the efforts at self-denial, all the rules for living man ever devised, are of no value compared to the residence of this one thought: Jesus Christ is coming again – momentarily!
Power and conviction come from words, and not simply with words. Paul does not downplay the significance of preaching; in fact, he points to the mystery of those words when employed in spreading the Gospel. The Gospel is the Word … the Word of God. Words matter. They are the building blocks of sentences by which we communicate with one another. The Gospel has a specific content. Thus, in all evangelism, whether preaching or witnessing, we must take care to choose our words wisely.
There are thus given three characteristics of all authentic preaching of the gospel: truth; conviction; and power. All three of these characteristics spring from the Holy Spirit. Our message should be recognised as truthful and our speech marked by conviction and power. These characteristics mark us as individuals and they should mark our church?
There is something further here which warrants our careful examination. These Thessalonians are commended for their imitation of godly men. I make this observation; you may do with it what you will. There was a day in which our children were raised with heroes who advocated sound morals and lived lives worthy of emulation. Who are the heroes of this day? I question our heroes, not those of our children. Scan the popular culture of the day and the heroes are those who eschew ethics, ridicule righteousness and mean-mouth morals. Today's comediennes are ribald and raucous in their ridicule of righteousness. Action heroes are vicious and vile. Songsters promote self-gratification, even at the expense of virtue and character. Isn't it about time that we, the Church of the twenty-first Century, began to imitate godly and righteous individuals? Isn't it high time that we became imitators of those who imitate Christ?
Ask yourself: Are you an imitator of Paul and Silas and of the Lord? Have you welcomed the commands of Christ with joy? Do you truly think yourself to be a model to all believers though you hesitate to openly and quickly identify as a believer? Does the message ring out from you, beginning with a life of obedience in first principles? Do you give the message of grace, the commands of Christ, a ready reception known to all?
The Cost of Faith In Terms Of Reproduction [vv 6b-10] - Two clauses vie for attention: the first clause is in spite of severe suffering; and the second is that you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. The former clause reminds us that our work, our labour and our endurance are but antecedents to the treatment we may expect from those about us and even from those whom we love; the latter clause identifies that unique commodity found only among Christians which is a settled sense of joy unaffected by circumstances surrounding the believer.
Even a casual review of Acts 17:1-9, the account of the founding of the Church in Thessalonica, provides interesting insight into this matter of suffering as part of the cost of embracing the Faith. At the least, Paul was able to minister in Thessalonica but three weeks; at the most he ministered perhaps a matter of a couple of months. Within days people came to faith and were identified with Christ, absorbing whatever they were able of the doctrines of the Faith as Paul taught during that brief period. The brief respite was rudely ruptured when jealous Jews suborned some of the town losers to start a riot. It was an instance of early political correctness as the law was employed to harass the Church. The brothers, the new believers, were forced to post bond and to stealthily send Paul and Silas away for the safety of all concerned.
The pressure of persecution apparently continued after Paul's departure. He notes their severe suffering in this letter [1 Thessalonians 2:14]; and in his next missive to these suffering saints he recognised that their suffering continued and that they were continuing to be troubled by their own countrymen [2 Thessalonians 1:4-7]. What did they suffer? According to Paul's comparison drawn between the Thessalonian church and the Judean churches, ostracism and muzzling and death were the common experiences of these believers in differing parts of the world. At the very least, these early saints were social outcasts, pariahs among their own people.
What I find intriguing in this issue of the treatment of the early church is the reason for the social stigma, the exclusion from acceptance by society at large. Had the saints been content to only attend services of worship, there might have been murmurs of dissent from their family and friends, but no open hostility would have been experienced. Had the saints merely spoken of Jesus as a good man, a teacher or even as a prophet, they would have been tolerated within their society. But they were convinced that He was very God and that as God He held an absolute claim on their lives. His command to openly identify with Him was both a bold break with tradition and a denial of the hold of the pagan world on the life of that disciple.
In spite of severe persecution these Thessalonian Christians welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit [verse 6b]. What a contrast! Persecution is set against joy! The same Spirit who gave power to those preaching gave joy to those receiving the message. We should not be surprised to read of the converts joy for joy is a fruit of the Spirit [Galatians 5:22]. Wherever the gospel goes and where people respond, there is joy – joy in heaven among the angels of God [Luke 15:7,10] and joy among the people of God [Acts 8:8,39; 13:52; 16:34]. I observe throughout the long history of the Church a continuing pattern of outward opposition and inward joy. That pattern continues in this day among the saints who are vibrantly alive in their Faith.
It was not merely that they were persecuted and that they nevertheless rejoiced in the midst of trial, but it is rather that they became models for all peoples that grips our attention. The daunting trials and the infectious joy combined to create an environment in which evangelism thrived among the Thessalonian saints.
The Lord's message rang out [sounded, pealed, thundered] from you [verse eight]. The message proclaimed by the Thessalonians made an impact which seemed to reverberate throughout all Greece. The preaching was as thunderclaps, but there is yet something more here which we dare not miss: your faith in God has become known everywhere. The Lord's message was thundered out as the preachers preached; but indirectly your faith in God," though quieter, nonetheless became known.
There is an important lesson to be learned in this distinction between the two forms of dissemination of the message of faith. Although we must encourage a strong pulpit, and although we ought to do everything possible to insure sound, vigorous teaching of the Word through our church; we must not neglect the quiet, more effective spread of the Gospel through individual witness. Ours is a media-conscious age. We know the power of mass media on the public mind. Consequently, we are tempted to rely on that powerful medium to accomplish the work of God. We are convinced that it is through such means that we shall saturate the world with the Gospel of Christ.
I insist there is another way which is more effective still. It requires no complicated electronic gadgetry; it is quite simple. It is neither organised nor computerised; it is spontaneous. It is not expensive; it cost precisely nothing. It is the excited transmission of the Good News from mouth to mouth.
"Have you heard what happened to Darren? Did you know that Adrianne has become a Christian? Were you aware that Melanie now believes in God? What do you think of Elaine since she has changed so radically? Something extraordinary is happening down on Patricia Street; the people are being transformed and a new society seems to be taking shape there, with new values, new standards, characterised by faith, love and hope."
The result of such gratuitous publicity was tremendous: Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us [verses 8b,9a]. One contemporary translation [JB] states: We do not need to tell other people about it: other people tell us…” The accounts which were spreading far and wide were: the faith of the Thessalonians; the manner with which they received the apostles; and how they were converted.
Three evidences of conversion are then given which we must not neglect. True conversion, according to Paul, entails (1) a decisive break with all idolatry, (2) active service to God, and (3) patient waiting for Christ. These concepts are summarised in the trio of verbs you turned … to serve … to wait … Surely this serves as an excellent formula for conversion to this day.
A decisive break with all idolatry demands that we renounce not only superstitious idols associated with what is often denoted as dark heathenism, but breaking with idolatry demands a rejection of the sophisticated idols of modern secular paganism. To turn from idolatry is to renounce every dependence upon position, possessions, power, pleasure. It is to cease from slavery to that which can never give contentment and which can never satisfy.
But conversion is more than a mere turning "from" death; it is a turning "to" life. The claim to have turned from idols is manifestly bogus if it does not result in service to God. We are not only turning from the old life, but we are beginning a new life of service. Authentic conversion frees from thraldom of idolatry, delivering the convert into the freedom to serve acceptably. That is why baptism, the distinguishing stamp of conversion, is so important as a mark of the new life in Christ. This is also why baptism is so noted by the pagans.
That third and final evidence of conversion is being found in woeful paucity in this day. You may have noticed that "serving" is active while "waiting" is passive. If so, you perhaps wondered at the contrast between the two activities. "Serving" speaks of getting busy for Christ on earth; "waiting" speaks of looking for Christ to return from heaven. Each balances the other. However hard we may work and serve, we can never perfect society; we shall never build a utopia on earth. Perfection awaits the return of Christ the Lord. On the other hand, though we wait for the second coming of Christ, we have no liberty to be idle. We cannot be indifferent to the plight of our fellowman. We must work while we wait. Thus working and waiting belong together. In this combination they deliver us from presumption which imagines we can do everything and from pessimism which believes we can do nothing.
Are you a Christian? Do others know you are a Christian? Does our faith ring out and are people everywhere speaking of our transformation? As a community of Faith, are we known because of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit? Or is it true that not much of an impact is made on our town by our presence? If we would inherit the commendation accorded the Thessalonians, we must now determine to live solely for Christ. You and I must forsake every form of idolatry to serve the living and true God, to wait for His Son from heaven. There are no shortcuts to experiencing the power of God; and until we pay the price for such heavenly faith, we shall never see the evidence of His blessing. What was the price for your faith?