The Work of the Gospel

Paul & Company had visited the city of Thessalonica on Paul’s second missionary journey. They preached to the Jews in the synagogue and shared the Good News with the Gentiles (the non-Jewish population) living there.

There was a great reception to the message they preached and shared; the gospel took root in the lives of the Thessalonians and many of them were saved—by grace through faith (as people are always saved).

But this angered some of the Jewish residents of the town. Paul and Friends (and all the new Christians in the town) were labeled as traitors guilty of sedition against Caesar. All this because they dared to say “Jesus is Lord” instead of giving allegiance to the Roman Empire.

This caused an uproar from an angry mob and led to the departure of Paul and Silas and Timothy.

So, a few months later, Paul sends a letter (the very letter we have before us) to the church of the Thessalonians—this newly formed group of new Christians who are living in a difficult place, facing opposition and persecution as they try to live out their new life in Christ.

“Paul is a spiritual parent to the Thessalonians, and just as children are never far from the thoughts of their parents, so Paul is continually mindful of his children, the Thessalonians.” - G.K. Beale

Paul has a deep love and a hearty concern for his spiritual kids. I’m sure Paul longs to be with them. He’s praying for them and thinking about them.

What’s more, Paul thanks God for the Thessalonians gathered as the church there.

Paul and Silas and Timothy give thanks to God always for all of the Thessalonians. Like the Philippians, the Thessalonians seem to have been a continual joy to Paul.

Thank God for your brothers and sisters in Christ. This, we must do. We have a good example here of what that looks like. Paul is thankful to God for these believers.

Paul is thankful for a lot of people and a lot of churches in the NT, but not every church.

His thanksgiving isn’t merely something he says to start the letters he writes; it’s not mere formality or ancient letter writing convention.

For instance, Paul doesn’t have a word of thanksgiving for the Galatians.

But here, where the Thessalonian church is concerned, Paul is thankful to God for them, always. There’s something about these believers. Something about their faith and hope and love. Something about their example. Something about their story. Something about how God is using them.

After his initial greeting (last week’s sermon text), Paul writes to the Thessalonians some further introductory thoughts—thoughts which will be instructive for us here today.

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do) please turn to 1 Thessalonians 1. If you are able and willing, please stand with me for the reading of God’s Holy Word:

1 Thessalonians 1:2–10 NIV

2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 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, 9 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, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

May God add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!

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The Work of the Gospel…

Paul is rehearsing the work of the gospel in Thessalonica. If you stop and think about it, it’s a little strange to be writing to a group of people about what happened to that same group of people.

“Uh, yeah, Paul. We were there. That was us. That’s me, buddy.”

He’s rehearsing the work of the gospel in their lives in order to remind them of the gospel’s work.

Sometimes we need that reminder. Sometimes we’re blinded by circumstance; sometimes we simply forget.

I’m sure it was encouraging for the Thessalonian church to read about and remember the work of the gospel amongst them; to be reminded about what Jesus had done for them would have been bracing and incredibly helpful for the new believers.

In these 9 verses, Paul writes about what the work of the gospel does in the lives of believers and then describes the normal/expected pattern of life for the believer.

The Work of the Gospel is Triune (vv. 3, 5)

So we don’t get lost in the language, the Christianese, let me explain: “Triune” means consisting of three in one, almost always referencing the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

For our purposes here today, we don’t have to fully understand the Trinity (as if that’s even possible); we do however need to see how the Trinity is involved with the work of the gospel.

And it’s pretty clear.

In verse 3, both God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are mentioned in connection with the Thessalonians faith and love and hope.

And then, in verse 5, the Holy Spirit is said to have accompanied the gospel Paul and Silas and Timothy preached.

The essence of the gospel—the Good News—is that God the Father saw our lowly estate, our deep sinfulness, our separation from Him and sent His one and only Son to save us, to redeem up, to reconcile us to Him.

There is no faith except that God grants us faith. We only love because God first loved us. We are hopeless apart from Jesus.

He is the source of our hope—hope for salvation, hope in the midst of this present evil age, hope for life after this life.

For there to be Good News, there must be a God who loves us and a Savior who seeks us and a Holy Spirit who empowers the message of the gospel to go forth with truth and power and conviction.

“Without [the Holy Spirit’s] witness, ours is futile.” - 1974 Lausanne Covenant

The work of the gospel, the effectiveness of the gospel, the origin of the gospel is Triune—Father, Son, and Spirit. It’s from Him and through Him and for Him.

The Work of the Gospel Expresses the Love and Choice of God (v. 4)

Verse 4 is absolutely beautiful and it’s a stunning reminder of a foundational and mind blowing truth.

1 Thessalonians 1:4 “For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that He has chosen you,”

Paul is expressing to the Thessalonian church that they belong to the long line of God’s people whom He loves and whom He has chosen.

This teaching runs throughout the Bible, beginning with God’s choice and call of Abraham and God’s later choice of Israel out of all nations to be His treasured possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

The vocabulary of those calls, of those choices God made, is deliberately transferred and applied to the Christian community.

This is the doctrine of election. The Greek word here for “chosen” or “elect” is eklektos.

Election is exactly what it sounds like. When Americans hold an election, its citizens choose their leaders. The Biblical doctrine of election declares that God chooses His people for salvation.

There’s a lot of disagreement and division over this doctrine. Some wish to ignore it all together or pretend it isn’t there; but you can’t do that. What you believe about election can vary, but you must believe something about it.

John Stott says it best:

“He chose us because He loves us, and He loves us because He loves us. He does not love us because we are lovable, but only because He is love. And with that mystery we must rest content.”

That the gospel came to the Thessalonians and the Thessalonians believed is entirely due the un-earnable love and the sovereign choice of God.

As it was for the Thessalonians, so it is for everyone who believes.

The Work of the Gospel Brings About Repentance (v. 9)

If we jump to the end of our text for today, we see a clear picture of repentance.

Repentance—which the gospel brings about—is a clear turning from sin (in this case, idolatry) and a turning to God. The Thessalonians had repented from their idolatrous past and had committed themselves to serve God.

It’s so striking that people were talking about the Thessalonians’ repentance, how they turned from idols to serve the living and true God.

They’re talking about it because it is absolutely incredible.

The Thessalonians had been worshipping idols and didn’t think anything about it; it’s what they knew. A lot of people worshipped the Greco-Roman gods and goddesses (Apollo, Athena, Diana, “Hercules, Hercules”).

Nearly everyone who lived in the Roman Empire willingly bowed to Caesar and worshiped him.

But then the gospel—the Good News about Jesus—does its work. The gospel came to the Thessalonians and revealed the folly of idolatry and the supremacy of the one true God.

And the Thessalonians turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

It’s what the gospel does; it brings about repentance. This is the work of the gospel.

The Work of the Gospel Results in Faith, Love, and Hope (v. 3)

As Paul and Silas and Timothy are remembering the Thessalonians and giving thanks to God for them, they remember the three most distinguishing marks of Christians—faith and love and hope.

These three characterized their lives. Faith is directed toward God, love toward others, and hope toward the future and Jesus’ return.

These three not only mark the Christian’s life, but reorient it as well.

Faith and love and hope in the believers’ lives are sure evidence of regeneration by the Holy Spirit (none come apart from the work of the Spirit).

Faith and love and hope can start to sound like abstract qualities, something Christians talk about all the time. These three are a common triad (faith, hope, and love; faith, hope, and love).

But here, Paul makes clear that each of the three has concrete and practical results.

Faith works, love labors, and hope endures.

A true faith in God leads to good works.

A true love for people leads us to do for them.

A true hope looks expectantly for the Lord Jesus to return.

These three—faith and love and hope—are the result of the work of the gospel in the lives of the Thessalonians, and of all who believe.

>The gospel, the good news about Jesus and what He did for us, functions in the lives of believers in specific ways.

The gospel works. When the message about Jesus proceeds from us, when we are faithful in proclaiming these great truths about our great Savior, Jesus Christ, it has an impact upon others.

The Triune God—Father, Son, and Spirit—by their love and choice use the message of the gospel to bring about repentance as well as faith and love and hope. This is what the gospel does. This is the work of the gospel.

As Paul and Silas and Timothy are thinking about, praying for, and thanking God for the Thessalonians, they point out how the Thessalonians followed the normal/expected pattern of behavior in gospel life.

When the gospel came to the city of Thessalonica, there was likely no one there who was a Christian. But the gospel did its work and the Lord God brought many sons and daughters to repentance and faith.

But how is one to live in light of the gospel?

We Start By Imitating

The Thessalonians followed Paul’s example as Paul followed Christ’s example.

1 Thessalonians 1:6 “You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.”

The word Paul uses—imitators—is mimetai. It’s the root of our word for mimic. We mimic what we see. Think about it.

Most young boys want to be like their dad and imitate them. When I was a little boy, I wanted to shave like my dad did every morning, so Dad did what most dads do. He took the blade off a razor and capped it and put shaving cream on my face, and I mimicked him as he was shaving.

We start by imitating.

Paul repeatedly urges believers to follow his example as he followed Christ:

1 Cor 4:16 “Therefore I urge you to imitate me.”

1 Cor 11:1 “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

2 Thess 3:7-9 “For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.”

Phil 3:15-17 “All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.”

This is how we start—by imitating those who are more mature in the faith, those who are further along down the road of following Christ; by mimicking those who have walked with Christ in the details of life.

If I asked any mature Christian whose life they imitated when they were a new believer, I’d bet most could answer quickly. It’s how we learn.

As children, we watch our parents and our older siblings and want to be just like them. So it is in the family of God. We have spiritual parents, brothers and sisters we look up to, faithful followers of Jesus we can (and should!) imitate.

And then, in time, the imitators become imitated.

We Continue as a Model

By “model” I mean “example”, not the “walk the runway” kind of model.

1 Thessalonians 1:7 “And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.”

Those who imitate are eventually going to become people whom others can imitate. In time, this is what happens.

You may or may not know this about me: I love grammar.

Grammar saves lives (“Let’s eat Grandma!” vs “Let’s eat, Grandma!). But grammar also aids our understanding.

Here, in verse 7, the word model or example (Greek: typos) is singular. Paul writes: you all (plural) became a model (singular) to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

Individually, the Thessalonians might well have been models to those around them, and likely were, but Paul is commending them for their collective example.

[MAP]

This new ekklesia/gathering of Christians in Thessalonica became “a model community” to a large number of people across a large region in that part of the world.

This gathering of believers—the church in Thessalonica—became a model to the believers throughout Macedonian and Achaia.

A model of perseverance in the midst of persecution.

A model of faith and love and hope in Jesus, in spite of what they were facing.

What are we modeling? Individually? Corporately?

We need to think about our example, specifically our example to those in our gathering who need believers they can imitate.

As a church—a local body of believers—what are we modeling to the people around us?

The normal gospel pattern: Imitators. Model. Witnesses.

We Share the Gospel Until Jesus Returns

The Thessalonians were faithful heralds of the good news about Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 1:8 “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,”

Paul uses a word here that is used nowhere else in the NT. The gospel rang out from them like the sound of a loud trumpet, a great thunder.

The gospel proclaimed by the Thessalonians made a loud noise which seemed to reverberate through the hills and valleys of Greece.

The truth is, they didn’t shy away from sharing the good news, even when it got them in trouble. Even when it earned them some persecution. Even when it cost them, they shared the good news about Jesus. Boldly. Unashamedly.

Beyond that, their faith became known everywhere. Word about their faith in Jesus was shared far and wide.

It’s both the kind of life we live AND the words we speak. We don’t get a pass from telling people about Jesus. We don’t get to not share the gospel with words in favor of just living a good life.

It’s both. Do both. And keep it up until Jesus returns.

We don’t get a pass. We don’t get to hang it up after we’ve done it awhile. You don’t age out of this; as long as you draw breath, the Word of God should ring out from you.

You keep on going until Jesus returns.

And return He will.

Paul commends the Thessalonians for serving the living and true God AND for waiting for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

This is our hope. This is what we’re longing for, all the while working and serving and sharing and telling.

This is the source of our strength and endurance to make it through. Jesus is going to return. The One who has, by His death, rescued us from the coming wrath, is going to set all things right. And soon.

Brothers and Sisters, this we know: the gospel works. We have been recipients and benefactors of this good news.

Writing to the Romans, Paul says:

Romans 10:13–15 (NIV)

13 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

The Triune God, in His goodness, uses the simple preaching, the simple sharing of the gospel—the Good News about Jesus—to bring about repentance in the lives of those who were once far off.

We trust Him to use the gospel as He will. And we, with all the boldness the Holy Spirit gives, must proclaim the Good News about Jesus until He returns.

We know our job; let’s get to it.

“Lord, we ask that the gospel would ring out from us, your people whom you love and have chosen. We pray for your gospel to do its work, to bring many sons and daughters to glory, to call people to repentance, and to bring you glory. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.”