Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture Reading

[~03:30]

1 Thessalonians 2:1–20 (ESV)

1 Thessalonians 2:1–20 ESV

[PRAYER]

Introduction

Sermon Title: “Let the Word Work!”

In verse 13, the Word of God is characterized as working in believers!

Question: What is a mark of a believer?

Answer: The word of God at work.

Hebrews 4:12 describes the word of God as living and active!

It is not just living, it is living and active!

So the word works!

The word acts!

God always acts on the basis of His Word!

It is possible for a human being to be in a comatose state, to be unconscious, or to be asleep where there is life, but no physical activity.

The Word of God is not like that.

The word is always living, and always active.

And such is the confidence that Paul, Silvanus (Silas), and Timothy placed not only in the word of God, but also in the God of the Word.

The two are never separated.

These men were writing to the Thessalonian believers to encourage them in their faith which (1:8) says has “gone forth everywhere.”

They want to remind them of their hope in God on the basis of His work through His word in them, because they accepted the gospel that was preached to them as being from God, not from men.

1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 invites us to consider the outcomes of both accepting and rejecting of the word of God, to either encourage us to persevere in the faith with hope, or to call us to repentance and faith in Jesus.

1.

The Word of God Accepted

Verse 13 begins with unceasing thanksgiving to God.

13 And we also thank God constantly for this…

That word “constantly” is “unceasingly.”

It is a word that belongs to the Apostle Paul’s prayer vocabulary.

In 1 Thess.

5:17 that word appears again with the command: “Pray unceasingly.”

Paul, Silas, and Timothy are thanking God unceasingly and prayerfully that God has given the Thessalonians faith to accept His Word and His Gospel about Jesus.

Only God can give that kind of faith to a person — and give eyes that can see, and ears that can hear.

Paul recognizes that as the word of God was preached among the Thessalonians, God though His Holy Spirit was using that Word to call forth faith in those who heard it.

This was God’s work, and that is why Paul thanks God unceasingly —

The word of proclamation must be accompanied by the work of prayer.

When we preach and teach God's Word, we are dealing with that which must be spiritually discerned, and we need the Spirit of God to help us!

We must never simply teach/preach God’s Word.

We must PRAYERFULLY teach/preach God’s Word…

...and then give thanks to God when He does a work among us!

1 Thessalonians 2:13 ESV

13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us…

The word of God is received first by hearing.

And the Thessalonians heard and received the word of God because Paul, Silas and Timothy proclaimed it!

That seems obvious, but listen to:

Romans 10:13–15 (ESV)

You do not have to be a called, ordained preacher to have beautiful feet.

The word of God is at work in you believers, and evidence of that work will be the word that is in you going out from you as you proclaim it.

You can proclaim the word of God as a mother raising children in the home.

As you are having lunch with friends.

As you are praying for people, you can proclaim the word in many ways as you go!

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (ESV)

Romans 10:15 goes on to say:

Romans 10:15–17 (ESV)

One of the goals I have for you as your pastor, is that every member of Southside Baptist Church would be prepared and able to proclaim the faith as a witness for Jesus with someone else! Always prepared for any moment God gives us to tell someone else about salvation in Jesus!

People are hungry and have a desire to hear from God.

You cannot hear from God on TV, or in the news, but you can heard from God where the word is preached and proclaimed.

My promise to you, is that if you can get here on Sunday mornings, I will be prepared, I will have prayed, and the Word of God will be preached and proclaimed!

My hope is that you will join in that promise with me, to receive that word and take it outside this sanctuary into the world where you walk.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 ESV

13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

First, the word of God was proclaimed to the Thessalonians.

Second, they received what they heard.

Third, the had to make a faith decision.

Will they accept what they have received as being from God, and therefore, truth?

Or, will they reject what they have received as being from men, believing it to be untruth?

Verse 13 tells us they accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God!

Think about that moment of accepting for you.

Think about the moment when the gospel made sense to you — when you believed.

When you received by faith and accepted the word about Jesus as being from God, and not from men.

Have you had such a moment in your life?

Can you remember the conviction you felt when you realized that you were an enemy of God?

When you understood what it meant to be a sinner and to fall short of God's glory?

To learn that by God's definition, you were a liar, a thief, a blasphemer, and your sin would be met with justice, and certain death.

And you did not deserve anything from God, except judgment.

Can you remember hearing how Jesus died in your place, becoming sin for you, and enduring the wrath of God on a cross>

Can you remember that he was buried and raised to life again - so that sin would have no more hold on you, so that death had no more claim on you, so that you could be reconciled to God, forgiven, and given a new life in Him and be declared righteous before God in Jesus?

Can you remember God's presence with you in that moment.

When you accepted His Word as truth?

All of this is His work, the work of His Spirit, through the Word.

The point is, you cannot just hear, and receive the Word.

You have to decide what to do with what you hear.

You are responsible for what you hear!

Think of putting a dollar bill into a vending machine.

The machine receives the dollar bill, but then one of two things happens: It either accepts the bill and you get your selection, or it rejects the bill and spits it back out.

The same is true of the way God’s word is received.

And whether it is accepted or rejected depends on the soil that that seed falls upon.

It depends on the preparation and the state of your heart.

It is in the heart where the Spirit of God does His work through the Word.

Warren Wiersbe: Receiving is the hearing of the ears.

But accepting, is hearing of the heart.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 ESV

13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

And then verse 14 gives evidence for this:

1 Thessalonians 2:14 ESV

14 For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea.

For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews,

The word of God is at work because the believers became imitators of those who live by it.

That word “imitators” is the word μιμητής (mimic).

It simply means “one who does what others do.”

(LN, 508).

The Thessalonians did not just accept the word of God intellectually, but they allowed what they heard to travel to their heart, and once in their heart, the word transformed their way of life!