Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction:
We live in a world that loves to produce leaders.
If you go by one of our local elementary schools you will see a huge sign in the fence that says growing leaders.
It sounds good doesn’t it?
But the real question that comes to mind is - what kind of leaders are we growing?
What kind of leaders are we producing?
And are they worthy of being followed and emulated?
Today we are going to learn how the best leaders are also the best followers.
Let us pray.
Prayer.
Before getting into our points today, I want us to look at this greeting from Paul:
We start off here with Paul and his traveling companions on his second missionary journey.
For the record, Silvanus is another name for Silas.
We see him mentioned as one of Paul’s traveling companions throughout his second missionary journey.
We see Paul plant the church of Thessalonica in Acts 17 on that second missionary journey (see the map that shows this second missionary journey).
It is notable that he doesn’t start off this letter with any background about himself or his companions.
This is likely because they knew them well.
They had spent time together as they worked to share the Gospel and establish the church there.
It also is likely because this letter was written not too long after Paul had started this church.
Most scholars think that this letter is the earliest of Paul’s letters in the Bible.
1 Thessalonians 1:1 (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.
Moving forward in verse 1, Paul calls this group the church of the Thessalonians in God.
I love that phrase ‘in God.’
The don’t just know about God, they are in Him.
It reminds me of a great parallel passage in 2 Corinthians 5:17:
This church is in Christ.
They are a new creation.
Paul reminds them of this from the beginning of this great letter.
1 Thessalonians 1:1 (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.
Next he wishes them grace and peace.
He reminds them of the relationship that they have with God.
They have peace with God because of the grace given to them through the sacrificial atonement of Jesus Christ.
In verse 2, Paul starts off his thanksgiving for this beloved church:
Letters in the time of Paul usually consisted of an opening which contained a greeting, a body, and a closing.
Paul adds an area of thanksgiving after his opening in his letters.
And his thanksgiving in this letter goes on for 9 verses (ranging from verses 2-10) and will finish out our chapter!
Something that we can learn from Paul here is how important thanksgiving is for our prayer life.
Thanksgiving helps us grow in contentment and joy as it reminds us of the blessings in our lives.
Paul knew what it was like to suffer persecution.
After he had planted this church in Thessalonica, he got thrown out of the city.
But he had a lot to be thankful for because of the word that Timothy brought to him later - The the church was doing well (1 Thess 3:6).
1 Thessalonians 3:6a (ESV)
But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith...
Paul had a lot to be thankful for when it came to the church in Thessalonica.
As we go through this section of thankfulness, we are going to see four ways that we are encouraged to follow in their example.
The first is:
Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 Thessalonians 3:6
I. We, as the Church, Should… Be Living Well (3-5a)
1 Thessalonians 1:3–5a (ESV)
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.
We have three different phrases in verse 3 that show us how we should be living in Christ.
They are the threefold signs of a believer - faith, love, and hope.
1. Work of Faith
The first is work of faith.
This should not be misunderstood as salvation through works.
It means that true faith does work.
And this true saving faith works itself out in acts of love as we see in Galatians 5:6.
Galatians 5:6b (ESV)
....but only faith working through love.
This verse in Galatians brings us right into the second phrase:
2. Labor of Love
The Greek word for labor here, kopos (koe-pose) is a bit stronger of a word than the word work, ergon (err-on) that we saw in relation to faith.
The reason for this should not be overstated but likely stems from the fact that the Greek word for love here is agape - which is sacrificial love.
Per theologian Jeffrey Weima -Thus, the labor of love means that there is an element of discomfort and hardship.
I am sure that we can all agree that loving the unlovable can feel like hard labor at times!
But as true believers, we can do just that by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us.
Finally we see...
3. Steadfastness in Hope
This word steadfastness also means to persevere.
The only way we can really persevere is when we do so in hope for an eternal reward with Christ in heaven.
We can remain steadfast when we know that the war has been won, death has been defeated, the grave has been overcome - and this all completed by the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross.
I’m sure most of us have some difficult things going on in our lives right now.
Some are obviously harder than others.
Some may have lost a loved one.
Some may have been hurt by someone.
Some may have lost a job.
Some may have gotten a difficult medical diagnosis.
And the list goes on.
But the way that we can stay steadfast in hope is focusing on the one thing that never changes - more accurately the One Who never changed - namely Jesus Christ.
We can focus on Him and the hope and assurance that we have in the cross.
We can remain unmoveable only by His strength and power.
The next verse and a half gives further confirmation and assurance for believers:
1 Thessalonians 1:4–5s (ESV)
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.
Paul calls these believers ‘brothers loved by God.’
This is actually the only place in the Scriptures that we see this intimate phrase used.
And he goes on to remind them that they have been chosen by God Himself.
This election, or choosing, has been confirmed by the Holy Spirit and with the conviction that comes through the Spirit.
There is a lot to unpack here but I think it is great to go back to Acts 16:6-10:
We know that all believers are chosen by God and that this has been done before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-5).
We also know that God died for the sins of the whole world (John 3:16) but that only those who put their faith in Christ will be saved (Acts 4:12).
This difficult understanding of God’s sovereign election and man’s responsibility has been debated for centuries.
But in the case of this church in Thessalonica we have a very amazing account of God sovereignly working!
In Acts 16, we have seen God literally change Paul’s direction (twice!) and give him a vision to go to Macedonia.
For those of you may not be up on Biblical geography well - check out this map that we looked at earlier again:
In Acts 16 we see Paul go to Derbe and then to Lystra (where he met Timothy).
He then goes on to Iconium and moves toward Phyrgia (because he was forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia).
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