He is Coming! 1 Thessalonians 1

Intro

we are starting a new series, He Is Coming!

We will be spending the rest of summer and looking at the letters Paul wrote to the Thessalonian Church

One of the major themes we are going to see, especially in the 1 Thessalonians, is Jesus’ coming, and how our hope needs to rest on that fact.

Background

first little background information about the Thessalonian church. Thessalonica was the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia

it was a major trade centre. Because of the harbor, it connected the North to the south and the east to the west.

Due to the high volume of trade and people passing through the city, there was a high volume of religions represented. Besides the Greco-Roman pantheon, there were multiple Egyptian gods worshipped, and a large population of Jews in the city

in the order of Paul’s letters, 1 Thessalonians was the second letter Paul wrote right after Galatians

this is what we read about Paul’s visit to Thessalonica

Acts 17:1–9 ESV

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.

Chased out after 3 weeks

the Thessalonian church was born out of persecution

how many weeks did Paul spend with the people before being chased out? 3 weeks

needless to say, Paul was a little worried about the health of this very young church

that’s not a great planting strategy. I’m going to plant a church, get everyone excited, and after three Sundays take off and wish everyone the best!

But this is the origin story of the Thessalonian church.

which brings us to chapter 1

1 Thessalonians 1 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.

Three things to point out

There are three things that I want us to see in this letter Paul wrote to this young church

1. Faith, Hope, and Love

Paul starts by saying that everytime he prays for the church, he is thankful for their work of faith, their labor of love, and their steadfastness in the hope of Jesus

Faith Hope and Love

Work of Faith - Paul is commending the fact that their faith is not just words in their mouth, but actionable, something that can be seen. Their faith in God stirs them to live differently and live out their faith

Labor of Love - In the English language, labor and work are synonomous. However, in the Greek, these are two very different words. Labor actually implies hard work.

Paul is thankful because the Thessalonian church is doing the hard work of love. Which is weird because people aren’t hard to love, right?

Steadfast in hope - despite of the persecution, despite of the losing their spirtual leader, they held onto the hope of Christianity, the coming of Jesus, the son of God

the second point

2. Power of their Story

Paul goes on to share how their story is having a huge impact in the province of the Macedonia and Achia, and beyond

Power of their Story

the story of the church, and how they endured persecution despite losing Paul, was starting to spread

their salvation, their hope, their imitation of Paul, all of it was inspiring other churches, other believers to persevere in persecution and put their hope in the Jesus’ coming

Thessalonica being a major trade city enabled the story of the church to spread, not because they were telling the story, but others were telling their story

just like last week, when the teens stood up, and despite believing their story was uncircumstantial, shared how Jesus had done great things in their life, this small church with very little story to tell was having a huge impact on the world

The Pipe

which brings me to this pipe. Now to the untrained eye, this may look like an ordinary pipe. I could give this pipe to most of you and no one would notice what makes this pipe special. See this pipe is worth $4,500.

what makes this pipe so special is this little hole, right here, that looks like it was made by a nail

Now generally a small hole on a pipe like this wouldn’t mean much. But this particular pipe used to feed water to the youth centre, and this little hole was enough to flood the greenhouse next door to the youth centre

See the size of the hole didn’t matter, it was the volume of water passing through the pipe that caused the problem

Tell you Story

the same is true about the story of our salvation. By itself, the story may feel small and insignficant. But when empowered by the Holy Spirit, we give each person who hears the story the opportunity to encounter the living God.

It may not even be the person we tell the story to, but it could be the person they share it with. It may not even be the whole story, but some seemingly insignificant detail

All God needs is one connection point, one detail to peeks the curiousity, and the Holy Spirit takes care of the rest, as the person is flooded by the love of God

see you just have to be faithful to tell the story, and let God do the rest

the third point

3. Wait for the Son

Paul closes the chapter by talking about the Thessalonian’s reception of the gospel, to serve the living God, and to wait for the Son

Wait for the Son

it’s not just about waiting for Jesus to return, but to wait with anticipation

its like waiting for a package from Amazon

you can either sit back, wait, forget that it is coming, and be surprised when it arrives

Or you can watch the notifications, get the updates, and allow the anticipation of the packages arrival to build until it is finally in your hands.

One of the concerns Paul had for the early church, and something that continues even today, is the reality that many believers acknowledge that Jesus is coming back one day, but they don’t live in anticipation of it.

like the tracking notifications from Amazon, Jesus gave us very clear signs that the return of the Son of Man was drawing near. May not know the exact hour or day, but we should be excited by the fact that is it soon.

The signs are all around us, if you’re willing to see them. It should anticipation, and urgency. As Jesus’s return draws near, that means we’re running out of time to share the love of Christ with others.

Faith Hope and Love, tell your story because you never know how God is going to use it, and allow the anticipation of Christ’s return to rise in you

Let’s pray