"Gospel"_I Thessalonians 1_Sep 13 2020

I Thessalonians 1 (ESV)

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1 Thessalonians 1:1–10 ESV

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

Pray...

Gospel

Here we are - Paul’s first letter recorded in the Bible

And we barely get to the third sentence of his first letter and Paul mentions the word “gospel”

Verse 5 -

English Standard Version Chapter 1

5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

In this book, he mentions “gospel” six times - and twice in II Thessalonians

I don’t want us to miss this word and what it means to all of us - in fact, the title of my message is “Gospel”

Paul is fond of this word “gospel” - in all of his letters, I count that he used this word 69 times

When you first read I Thessalonians, you may not see that the gospel is a centerpiece to this chapter - but think about it -

So as Paul is addressing this church -

He gives thanks to the Lord for them & specifically and continually prays for them (v. 2)

Look at verse 3 - he offers praise and in a sense, a tribute to these people. He recognizes their good works - he talks about their “work of faith,” their “labor of love” and also their “steadfastness of hope”

And in verse 8, he acknowledges that they themselves proclaimed God’s word - that it “sounded forth,” or “rang out” from them

And what’s the reason for this?

Look at verses 4 & 5 -

English Standard Version Chapter 1

4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

The gospel is not just a doctrine - it’s not just words to ponder - the gospel is not a methodology or some clever argument or sales pitch

The gospel comes to us “not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction”

When we hear the gospel, we hear it in the true power of the Holy Spirit

The gospel means the good news of Jesus Christ, who suffered & died for us and now lives - so that we can have new life

The gospel means that through Jesus, we can turn from our sins and turn to him - so that God can completely forgive us and heal us

It means that God, who requires us to be redeemed & sanctified, offered himself as our Redeemer - who takes away our sins and who gives us his own righteousness so that we can have peace with God

Our response should be to trust in Jesus, and turn from our sins, and live our lives for him

You don’t need to be a great orator to share the gospel - you just need the Holy Spirit

Paul is saying that all these good works from these people in this church came about because they received power of the gospel. He’s saying that this church in this important Roman city of Thessalonica began because of the gospel

But notice that God chose them first, before they did any good works - God loved them and chose them, while they were still pagans

In the ancient Greek world, if you were “chosen” by the authorities - (for political or military position), it was because of your merits. You had to prove yourself - much like today

The pagan gods had little to do with their love of mankind - back then, you needed to placate to your gods to solicit favors from them

The idea of God’s love for us wasn’t just a different idea - it was revolutionary! It’s still revolutionary

And that God loved us, even when we were his enemies?!? That sort of love is unheard of

“For those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose?” That just doesn’t make sense

In the pagan world, it’s always about your purpose -what do you need to do to get something from your gods

The gospel says that:

1)He loved us first & provided a way for us

2)We receive his love and trust him

3)We serve him for his purpose

In I & II Thessalonians, Paul refers to the gospel as “our gospel,” or the “gospel of God,” or the “gospel of Christ,” or the “gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ”

Did you know that Caesar Augustus had his own gospel? He was known as their savior to bring order

These were not Jewish people - they were once pagans. They didn’t know the first thing about how to serve the Lord - but look at verse 6 -

English Standard Version Chapter 1

6 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

They became imitators of the Lord! And then it says that they themselves became examples to the believers in Macedonia and Achaia - all because of the gospel

But this all came at a cost - notice that they received the word in much affliction

We’re going to look at this in more detail next lesson, but just know that this city in Macedonia was very much under the rule of Caesar - and if you proclaimed that Jesus is Lord, you were proclaiming that Caesar isn’t - and that could get you in trouble

Rome accepted any and all gods - except the one, true and living God.

But the starting point for everything is the gospel - it’s the catalyst for your faith . You are a believer today, it’s because someone sounded forth the gospel to you - and by the power of the Holy Spirit, you received it

Turn with me to Acts 16:7

English Standard Version Chapter 16

7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

That’s talking about Thessalonica - look at Acts 17 - this is how the Church at Thessalonians was planted

Verse 10

English Standard Version Chapter 16

10 And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

I & II Thessalonians is a letter to the church in that city within Macedonia.

Without the gospel, that church would have never been planted - those people, who were once pagans, would have never become believers - they would have never set an example to other believers - and we would never have these two epistles in the Bible…if it weren’t for the gospel being preached

All great stories have one thing in common - the inciting incident...

[It’s the event which launches the story - Wizard of Oz - the tornado is the inciting incident - the 15 mins prior to that is all backstory - for the believer, the gospel was our inciting incident - everything to that point is backstory]

All of us are called to share the gospel - Paul told the Thessalonians that their faith had gone forth everywhere (v. 8)

You need to ask yourself - what version of the gospel you’re preaching - is it the full gospel?

Or are you preaching that Jesus is a nice guy and Christianity will solve your problems?

Paul acknowledges that they received the gospel in much affliction - and he says all these wonderful, positive things about these people - but before you can get too comfortable, he mentions the wrath of God which is coming - at the end of the chapter

Oh yeah, and by the way, there is a wrath to come!

But here’s the good news - that God will deliver his believers from that wrath - because that’s who he is - he’s our deliverer

The most famous verse in the Bible doesn’t say, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will have eternal life.”

It doesn’t say that! Oftentimes, we want it to say that - we wish it said that

Here’s what it really says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him SHOULD NOT PERISH but have eternal life.”

Without the believing part, there’s a perishing part

It’s a wonderful verse - and I love it - but in one sense, it’s terrifying

Every unbeliever should be asking, “What’s this perishing part?”

People tell me that they don’t like that there’s a hell and that people will go there - as if I’m okay with the idea because I’m a pastor

I’m not Mr. Hyper-Fundamentalist. There are churches that say if you don’t mention “hell” in every one of your sermons, you’re not a real church. I’m not that guy - I’ve just been reading my Bible!

And I read there’s a wrath coming - and that I will perish unless I believe in Jesus!

Here’s the main point that I’m making - at some point, we all need to understand our NEED for Jesus - if Jesus is just another philosopher who can bring good things, he’s no different from a pagan god

The gospel is the sweetest music your ears will ever hear - the fact that God is willing to forgive us and offer us eternal life?

The fact that we are allowed to repent? The sweet, infinite grace that God provides? The wonderful blood of the Lamb which actually takes away our sins?

All of that is wonderful

God makes it very clear - he loves us, but he hates our sins. At some point I need to agree with him and hate those sins also - at some point, I need to turn and repent

To not place my faith in Jesus means I defend those sins which God hates - it means I love my sins more than I love God

God’s wrath came against my sins on the cross - but there will come a day when his wrath will come down on those who never allowed their sins to be nailed to the cross

Please understand what I’m saying here - the gospel message is not about wrath - the overall gospel message is that God is the Deliverer of that wrath

Closing illustration

You…work in an office building - your job everyday is spent in a cubicle

And you actually have a decent view through the balcony window that’s next to your cubicle - which is nice because you work on the top floor of an 8-floor building

Something outside the window catches your eye one morning - it’s smoke - then you hear it - the fire alarm goes off

In the confusion, you slip out to the balcony and look over the ledge - you can see the lower floors are completely engulfed in flames and smoke is rising

You go back inside - there is general confusion and mild panic - lots of people head toward the elevator and manage to cram inside

At first, the elevator seems like such a great idea - a cozy, comfortable box which will take you down to safety - but you realize it’s a literally a trap - some people are shouting to stay out of the elevator, but it quickly fills up with people - they push the button and the door closes - you can only guess as to their fate

You stand there for a while and look at all the confusion - some people are shouting and crying - there are even a few people ignoring everything and are still sitting in their cubicles as if nothing has happened

Then you notice folks running for the stairway - but as they approach the stairway and open the door, smoke pours out into the lobby. The stairway is no better, and your office is filling up with smoke

You begin to cough as you head back to the balcony for some fresh air - as you get out on the balcony you see the fireman’s ladder come up to greet you

“I’m saved,” you think to yourself - the ladder, attached to the giant firetruck down below is being extended up to the balcony and you see one fireman coming up to greet you

But you notice the ladder is not perfectly still - it sways in the wind and to the movements of the fireman

Are you actually brave enough to swing your leg over the balcony and attempt to climb on the shaky ladder? The fireman is now at your level - “Climb on, I’ll help you - it’s the only way”

The ladder sways back and forth - it’s a long way down, and that’s a crazy idea to climb over that ledge. “I can’t do it,” you say to him

The fireman looks you right into your eyes - his gaze pierces into your soul with full conviction. His eyes reassure you that he won’t let you fall. He smiles - “Trust me” he tells you

Before you climb on the ladder, you turn to the others in the office - you sound forth, “The Fireman, the answer is the Fireman!”

That’s the gospel -the answer is Jesus

My prayer is that my message isn’t too harsh...

Some of you can’t get over the fact that God has a wrath...

For God to be God, he can never compromise who he is