Amen. All right. So this morning we're continuing our sermon series in 1 Thessalonians.
! We've covered most of the first two chapters so far. Today we're going to be picking it up in chapter 2,
! Verse 17, which will be on page 1173 of your Pew Bible. If you want to follow along in the Pew Bible,
page 1173, we're going to go chapter 217 through the end of chapter 3. And what we'll be encountering
in the text is something of an emotional roller coaster as the Apostle Paul shares the anxiety
that he has felt over the state of the church at Thessalonica. And it's an anxiety that's driven by
his deep and abiding love for the men and the women of that church. So as I've been in the text
this week, I've really been moved by Paul's affection for the believers that he's writing to
in this letter. So here's the plan for this morning is I'm going to start by setting the scene
just a little bit, setting up the drama so that we're all on the same page, if you will, of the
narrative. Then we're going to ride that narrative roller coaster together that Paul takes us on in
this passage. And then finally, I'm going to share some applications from the text that I hope are
going to be helpful for you. Sound good? Okay, good. Well, if it doesn't, this is what we're doing
anyway. So, all right. So a couple of Sundays ago, Pastor Mike, he framed the context of this letter.
So I'm just going to give you a bit to remind you of what's happened up until this point.
The Apostle Paul and Silas, who also went by Silvanus, by the way, that's how he describes
himself. He went by Silvanus and Silas. I'm going to call him Silas, had visited Thessalonica while on
one of Paul's missionary journeys. They had shared the gospel there over the course of several weeks,
and the Lord had done just this awesome work through their evangelism. You can read about this
in Acts 17 if you're interested. Luke, the author of Acts, he reports this in the chapter. He says,
some of them, some of the Jews that they had shared the gospel with, were persuaded. They were persuaded
that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. And Paul and Silas, or I'm sorry, and joined Paul and Silas,
as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. That's Acts 17.4.
So, Paul and Silas were preaching the gospel, and God is graciously rescuing Jews and Gentiles
through their evangelism, and they're starting to do the work of discipling these new believers,
because that's part of the Great Commission, right? Jesus said, you make disciples, baptize them,
and then teach them to obey everything that he commanded, Matthew 28, which means that new believers
need to be taught, that they need to be shepherded. They need to be built up in their faith as they begin
the lifelong work of following Jesus, and that is exactly what Paul and Silas had begun to do.
But, tragically, they did not get very far, because the Jews in Thessalonica, who did not accept that
Jesus was the Messiah, began to oppose Paul and Silas, okay? And eventually, they worked up a crowd
that formed into a mob, and this mob dragged Paul and Silas before the city council. They accused them
of treason, saying that they're teaching that Jesus is the true king, not Caesar, which is kind of true,
but how they're representing it, not quite. And the church, this brand new church of new believers,
they end up somehow convincing the city council to let Paul and Silas go. But this is not good,
right? Getting accused of treason in a major Roman city, this is starting to look pretty dangerous.
For Paul and Silas. So, the Thessalonian believers, they send Paul and Silas away under cover of night
to get them out of the city. Now, the text doesn't say this, so this is my guess, okay? This is me
surmising, this is not Scripture. But my guess is that the Thessalonians have to fight Paul on this
a little bit, because my guess is that he wants to stay. Because Paul knows that this is not how you
plant a church, right? This is not how you establish a church. Paul knows that he and Silas should be
there with these new believers. They should be teaching them the Scriptures. They should be
building them up in their faith. And instead, they have to flee in the middle of the night,
and they've got no clear plan on when they're going to be able to come back. So, however that
conversation went down, the Thessalonians convince Paul and Silas that they need to leave, and Paul and
Silas do so. Now, if you're part of the church at Thessalonica, if you're one of those new believers,
how would you feel about things at this moment? You can go ahead and put yourself in their sandals,
so to speak. Paul and Silas, they had come to you. Maybe you were a Gentile. Maybe you believed in many
different gods. Thessalonica was a proud Roman city of about 100,000 people, same population as
Kenosha back then. This would have been a huge, huge city. And you'd been living probably under the
belief in Zeus and the other Roman gods. There were also some prominent Egyptian cults in Thessalonica
at this time, so maybe you're worshiping Egyptian gods. And then Paul and Silas show up on the scene,
and they tell you, no. The fickle, harsh, unloving gods that you worship, they are not real.
They are false gods. Let us tell you about the one true God who came in humility and died the death that
you deserve. Or maybe you were a Jew who had been waiting for so long for the Messiah to come,
and Paul tells you the Messiah has come. His name is Jesus Christ. He's the one that you have been
waiting for, and he shows this to you from the Scriptures. So, Paul and Silas are teaching you,
you believe with great joy, the Holy Spirit. He opens up your eyes to see how your sin has separated
you from a holy God, and he has made a way through Christ for your sins to be forgiven. You experience
the love of God for the first time. You're starting to learn from the Scriptures. You're eager to learn
about your Savior. And then one day, there's a riot. And it's a riot to falsely condemn these men that you
have grown in this short time to love and to trust. And you watch them get dragged before the city council
and accused of treason. So, your church decides that night, we've got to get them out. This is not safe.
Paul and Silas, we love you so much. We are so grateful for you, but you're going to end up dead
if you stay. And we know that the Lord has more gospel work for you to do. There's more people like us
that need the gospel. You have more work to do. You've got to go.
And so, the next morning, you wake up, and the men who have been functioning as your pastors are gone.
And you're a brand new believer.
So, what's going through your mind at that point? Are you doubting? Are you questioning God's
goodness? I mean, why would He allow this to happen? Those questions might be going through
your mind. And also, by the way, you do not live in the most tolerant city. You just watched Paul and
Silas drag before a city council for preaching Christ. You know what's at stake if you share the
gospel and you live out your new faith. So, this is a very difficult position to be in if you are a
new Christian. And what about Paul for that moment, for that matter? What's he thinking after all this,
being separated from this church that he loves? Well, Paul actually, he shares much of his thoughts
with us in the passage today. So, let's take a look starting in chapter 2, verse 17.
Paul writes,
But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time in person, not in heart, we endeavored
the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face because we wanted to come to you.
I, Paul, again and again, he says, we were torn away from you. They all remember that night when
Paul and Silas had to leave so quickly. And the word that Paul uses, the Greek word, it's the word
that you would use to describe a child being separated from their parents. Literally, we were
orphaned from you, which maybe reads a little bit different than you might expect, especially since
earlier in chapter 1, Paul had actually referred to himself as their mother. He says,
But we were gentle among you like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.
And then in chapter 2, verses 11 through 12, Paul says,
For you know how like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you
and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God.
So, you would expect Paul to talk about them, the church, being orphaned from him as this spiritual
parent, but he actually describes it in the opposite way. He says that we were orphaned from you,
which I think gives us a look into the intensity of affection that Paul feels about this church.
His anxiety over them is less like a parent being separated from their child and more like the
child's feeling of losing their parent, that sense of being lost, that hopelessness. There's a direness
in how Paul describes how he feels about being taken away from these brothers and sisters in Christ.
But Paul makes clear that this is temporary. He says,
We were orphaned from you for a short time in person and not in heart, that we were taken from you,
but our hearts are still with you, right? My affections for you have not gone anywhere,
which is why we've tried again and again to come to you. He says,
With great desire to see you face to face because we wanted to come to you. I, Paul,
again and again, you could just hear that desperation in his words that they've been wanting so badly
to get back to the Thessalonians. It's like he's saying,
If you're wondering why we haven't made it back from you, it is not from lack of trying. Like,
we so want to be back with you. Which begs the question of why. Why haven't you come back yet?
If we mean so much to you, you would have come back by now, right? And that's probably what Paul
is fearing that they might be thinking. So Paul explains, and he uses four little words. He says,
But Satan hindered us. We tried coming to you again and again, but Satan hindered us.
So let's pause for a moment and let's acknowledge something. We want to be careful about over-blaming
Satan for spiritual opposition in our lives. Paul, throughout this letter, he spends very little
time mentioning or discussing Satan compared to the other things that he prioritizes. He doesn't go
into all the details about Satan's activity. He's not morbidly fascinated with Satan, demons, and
spiritual warfare. And if you're not careful, you can end up wasting a lot of time becoming obsessed
with those spiritual realities. But they're still spiritual realities, right?
So Paul, he makes clear that their repeated attempts to visit the Thessalonians, those attempts were
thwarted by Satan, that Satan himself prevented their return. And we don't know exactly what that looks
like, but the fact remains that Satan hates Christians. He hates God, and he will do whatever he can
to prevent God's kingdom from growing. So Satan is a real enemy, and we do well to acknowledge that.
But he is not stronger than our God. And all that he does is under God's authoritative hand. And so
Paul's focus, it turns very quickly back to his brothers and sisters in Christ, back to his Lord Jesus,
after he explains that Satan is hindering him from coming to them, from returning to them.
He says,
For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming?
Is it not you?
For you are our glory and joy.
You, brothers and sisters of Thessalonica,
when Jesus Christ returns in his glory,
Do you know what our greatest boast before Christ is going to be?
It's going to be you.
Which is an incredible statement from the Apostle Paul.
The depth of affection that he feels for this church is amazing.
And because of that affection,
eventually it got to a point
where Paul just, he couldn't take it anymore.
It says,
Therefore, when we could bear it no longer,
we sent Timothy.
The suspense was killing him.
He's going,
I just, I gotta know.
I just gotta know how they're doing.
Are they staying strong?
Are they enduring the persecution that I know that they're going to face?
Are there, God forbid,
are there false teachers that are starting to creep in
and make them question things?
And he goes,
Timothy, you've,
you gotta go to Thessalonica.
Brother, you,
you gotta go.
We gotta send somebody
to build them up
and to strengthen them.
Which is exactly
what they do.
So, chapter 3,
verse 2,
Paul writes,
And I think he means all Christians
in that we
are destined for this.
which echoes
2 Timothy 3, 12,
which Paul also wrote,
which says that all who desire to live
a godly life in Christ Jesus
will be persecuted.
And that was exactly his message
to the Thessalonians.
He says,
For when we were with you,
we kept telling you beforehand
that we were to suffer affliction
just as it has come to pass
and just as you know.
So, Paul doesn't need to be there
in person
in order to know
beyond a shadow of a doubt
that this young church
is facing persecution
for sharing the gospel.
In their short time
with these believers,
one of the things
that Paul and Silas
knew
that they needed to hear
over and over again
was,
You're going to take heat
for this.
If you commit to Christ,
you are going to take
heat for this.
This is what you're
signing up for.
So, the Thessalonians,
they went into this
eyes wide open.
But, knowing that you're
going to face something
and then actually facing it,
those are different things.
Right?
And Paul doesn't want
a single believer's faith
to be shaken
by what they're experiencing
as they take heat
for following Jesus.
He wants everybody
to make it through.
And until he knows
what's going on with them,
his own heart is fearful
by his own admission.
So, he says again
in chapter 3, verse 5,
he says,
For this reason,
when I could bear it
no longer,
I sent to learn
about your faith
for fear that somehow
the tempter had tempted you
and our labor would be in vain.
So, here once again,
Paul, he acknowledges
Satan's power.
Right?
This time,
his power to tempt Christians
away from Christ.
He knows that Satan
can use persecution
to the point that
Paul admits that he is fearful
that his labor amidst
the Thessalonian church
had been in vain.
Paul is afraid,
in other words,
that Satan's temptations,
that they may have exposed
a terrifying possibility,
which is that their faith
was not actually genuine.
Maybe when push comes to shove,
maybe the Thessalonians
weren't true believers in Christ.
So, Paul's fear is that the Thessalonians
are like the seed
that's sown on the rocky ground
in Jesus' parable of the sower.
If you remember that parable,
there's a farmer
and he scatters seed.
And some seed gets eaten
by the birds
and some of it falls
on shallow soil
where the sun scorches it.
Some falls among thorns
and gets choked.
And some falls on good soil
where it produces
a huge crop,
a harvest.
And Paul's fear
is that the Thessalonians
turn out to be the seed
scorched by the sun.
In Matthew 13, 21,
Jesus says,
As for what was sown
on rocky ground,
this is the one
who hears the word
and immediately
receives it with joy.
Yet he has no root in himself,
but endures for a while.
And then what?
When tribulation
or persecution arises,
on account of the word,
immediately it falls away.
So the question is,
is that what
the Thessalonian church is?
Are they the seed
that is sown
on rocky ground?
And the answer
that Timothy
finally brings back to Paul
is no.
They are not the seed
that is sown
on rocky ground
because the Thessalonians'
faith is strong.
Look at chapter 3,
verse 6.
But now,
Timothy has come to us
from you,
and commentators say
this is like,
this just happened,
right?
This probably just happened.
Timothy just got back.
Um,
where am I?
Oh, here I am.
Okay, sorry.
I'm just so excited
for Paul
and what he's doing.
But Timothy now
has come to us
from you
and has brought us
the good news
of your faith
and love
and reported
that you always
remember us kindly
and long to see us
as we long to see you.
And Paul,
he is just overjoyed
at this news.
The Thessalonians'
faith
and their love
remain strong.
Their affections
for Paul
and his fellow apostles,
those affections
are still burning.
If I was Paul,
I would say,
huzzah!
That would be my response.
This is the best news.
It is better news
than the Brewers
beating the Cubs
last night
in the playoffs.
It's even better than that.
As I was studying
this part of the passage
this week,
my mind kept going
to A Christmas Carol
where Ebenezer Scrooge,
he rejoices
over his own salvation.
He says,
I'm as light as a feather.
I'm as happy as an angel.
I'm as merry as a schoolboy.
Except that Paul's joy,
it's not over
his own salvation.
His joy is over
the good news
of someone else's faith.
The faith of his brothers
and sisters
back in Thessalonica.
This is a man,
he is just bursting
at the seams
with Timothy's
good report.
And here's what
that joy does
for Paul and Silas
and Timothy.
If you look at verse 7,
it says,
For this reason,
brothers,
in all our distress
and affliction,
in all of the anxiety
and the persecution
that they are facing,
we have been comforted
about you
through your faith.
Knowing that the Thessalonians
are standing strong
brings them comfort.
It brings them comfort.
For now we live,
Paul says,
if you are standing fast
in the Lord.
So as Paul and Silas
and Timothy,
as they face
their own opposition
to the gospel,
the faithfulness
of the brothers
and sisters
in Thessalonica
spurs them on.
It comforts them.
It brings them
new life.
Because faithfulness
is contagious.
Amen?
And I want to have
a contagious faith
like that.
Don't you want
your devotion
to Christ
to inspire
your brothers
and sisters
like that?
Yeah.
So with Paul's heart
filled to the brim
at the good report
from Timothy,
he turns his focus
very appropriately
to the living God.
In verse 9,
he says,
For what thanksgiving
for what thanksgiving
can we return
to God for you?
For all the joy
that we feel
for your sake
before God
as we pray
most earnestly
night and day
that we may see you
face to face
and supply
what is lacking
in your faith.
at the end of the day,
God is the one
who gets the glory
for the Thessalonians'
faithfulness.
Which is why
this good report
ultimately results
in Paul
feeling this
overwhelming
sense of gratitude
to the Lord.
And Paul,
he also recognizes
that the journey
of faith
is not yet over.
Right?
He still aches
to go
and see
the Thessalonians
in person.
Even though
they have this
good report
from Timothy,
he says he wants
to get back
to them
so that he can
supply
what is lacking
in their faith.
And that's because
the Thessalonians,
they still need
to be strengthened.
They still
need to be
taught.
As faithful
as they've been,
there's more
work to do
in building
them up
and maturing
them as
disciples.
So Paul has
still got
every intention
of getting
back to them
and he knows
that he needs
the Lord's help
in order
to do so.
Because Satan
has hindered him,
right?
Satan has hindered
him from
returning to
the Thessalonians.
So his response
is to pray.
He says,
we pray
most earnestly
night and day
that we may
see you.
That is the
constant desire
of this man's
soul.
He's been
praying,
he will continue
to pray
and his
desire for them,
it runs so deep
that he actually
overflows
into a written
prayer
right then and
there,
like he just
can't help
himself.
Which takes us
to the final
verses in this
passage,
verses 11
through 13.
Now may
our God
and Father
himself
and our
Lord Jesus
direct our
way to you
and may the
Lord make you
increase and
abound in
love for one
another and
for all
as we do
for you
so that he
may establish
your hearts
blameless in
holiness
before our
God and
Father
at the coming
of our Lord
Jesus
with all
his saints.
Paul knows
that his
return to
the Thessalonians
and their
continued
faithfulness
and growing
love in his
own heart
towards them
that all of
that is under
God's hand.
Okay,
he needs the
Lord to
reach out
with his
transforming
grace and
establish the
Thessalonians
in holiness
and as a
matter of
fact,
if they
don't make
it back
as planned,
if the
Lord is at
work in
the hearts
of these
young believers
then they
actually have
all that they
need,
that everything
is going to be
okay.
His grace
will be
sufficient
until Christ
calls them
home or he
returns.
So now
that we've
experienced
the drama
of Timothy's
good report
back to
Paul,
I'm going
to close
with four
applications
that I hope
will be helpful
as you think
through how
this relates
to your
life right
now.
So first,
faithfulness
is rooted
in love
for one
another.
Faithfulness
is rooted
in love
for one
another.
As I
studied this
passage this
week,
I felt
convicted
more than
once about
how strong
Paul's
affections
are for
his brothers
and sisters
in Thessalonica.
You can
hear it in
his kind
of gushing
eagerness
that he,
with the
phrases that
he uses.
We were
torn away
from you
in person,
not in
heart.
We
endeavored
the more
eagerly
and with
great desire
to see
you face
to face.
You are
our glory
and our
joy.
You can
just hear
the affection
spilling out.
You can
also hear
it in
his anxiety
over the
state of
their faith
as he's
been waiting
for Timothy
to come
back with
the news.
We heard
it before.
When we
could bear
it no
longer,
he uses
that phrase
twice.
When I
could bear
it no
longer,
I sent
to learn
about your
faith for
fear that
somehow the
tempter had
tempted you
in our
labor would
be in
vain.
And what it
shows us is
that Paul
just loves
this church.
That he
just, he
loves these
people.
He doesn't
just love the
idea of
them.
he loves
these people.
He wanted
Timothy to
go to
them, to
strengthen
them so
that no
one, not
a single
one of
you, would
be moved
by these
afflictions.
So as I
read these
verses I
had to ask
myself, do
I feel
that way
about
others in
my church?
And if
I don't,
does it
bother me
that I
don't?
Do I
want to
love the
people in
our church
like Paul
loved the
Thessalonians?
Is that
how you
want to
love your
brothers and
sisters?
Do you
regularly think
about the
faith of
those in
our church
and how
they're
standing and
how they
are navigating
the trials
of life and
keeping their
eyes on
Jesus?
Are you
asking your
brothers and
sisters with
a heart full
of care,
not of
gossip, but
a heart full
of care,
how is your
walk with
the Lord?
How can I
be praying
for you
right now?
So if you
are feeling
some conviction
this morning
about a
lack of
care in
your heart
for your
church family,
I would
invite you
to press
into that
this week
to ask
the Holy
Spirit to
help expose
the root
that might
be there
of a
lack of
love
and ask
questions like
am I
simply too
preoccupied
with
myself and
my
circumstances
and my
calendar?
Is
Jesus not
functioning as
the controlling
center of my
life right
now such
that the
well-being of
other people's
faith is just
not even
something that's
showing up on
my radar?
Ask the
Lord for help
in that.
Which brings
me to my
second
application.
Faithfulness
is rooted
in prayer.
Faithfulness
is rooted
in prayer.
In this
passage we
see a lot
of opposition.
Right?
We see
Paul and
Silas
torn away
from the
Thessalonian
church against
their will.
Satan is
actively
preventing
Paul and
Silas
from returning.
There's fear
and anxiety
gripping
Paul's heart
as he worries
about the
faith of his
brothers and
sisters.
and what
does all
of this
culminate in
at the end
of our
passage?
It all
leads up
to a
prayer.
It all
leads up
to a
prayer of
gratitude
for what
God has
done.
And a
prayer of
request
asking God
to work
in both
circumstances
and in
hearts.
Paul is
absolutely
confident in
the power of
prayer.
And you
can tell
by how
he talks
about
prayer.
He says
we pray
most earnestly
night and
day.
Right?
This is a
man who
is totally
devoted to
going before
the throne
of grace
and pleading
with his
God to
act because
he knows
who is
sovereign over
all of
this.
He knows
who holds
all of
the power.
And so
we need to
pray and
ask God
not only
to act
in our
circumstances
but to
act in
our hearts
as well
and in
the hearts
of others.
So if you
feel totally
lost at the
encouragement to
pray and
you're not
sure exactly
how to
pursue that,
there is a
phenomenal
book I
want to
recommend to
you.
I love
books,
good books
that point
me to
Jesus.
A
Praying
Life by
Paul
Miller.
I'm not
awesome like
Mike and I
don't have
like 15
copies to
give out like
he sometimes
does.
So I'm
just going
to drop
that.
A Praying
Life by
Paul Miller.
I've read
it like
twice in
the past
three years.
I am
not a
natural
prayer.
It's an
area of
ministry that
I really
want to
grow in
and that
book has
been a
significant
help to
me in
learning how
to pray,
how to
talk to
the Lord,
how to
go before
the throne.
So A
Praying
Life by
Paul Miller.
It's
fantastic.
Here's
another
simple
thing that
you can
do in
prayer if
you feel
kind of
lost in
there,
is just
go to
the
Psalms.
Just go
to the
Psalms and
use those
to pray.
They read
like prayers,
right?
Because that's
what they are.
The Psalms are
prayers.
And they
will give
you a
language of
prayer that
is so
helpful to
help you
know what
to pray for
your brothers
and sisters.
Go to the
Psalms.
And then you
can also
obviously use
the Lord's
Prayer.
Use it to
guide you.
It starts
with, we
all know it,
our Father in
Heaven,
hallowed be
your name.
And then you
can pray from
that, Father
in Heaven, I
want to
treasure you
above all
else this
morning.
I want to
honor your
name.
I've got a
lot that is
competing for
my heart.
Help me to
see you and
your glory
today.
And then you
just go and
you pray through
those phrases
of the
Lord's Prayer.
So I hope
that helps
you.
Application
number three.
Faithfulness
embraces
persecution.
faithfulness
embraces
persecution.
This one is
hard for me
as I'm sure
that it is
for many of
you.
Pastor Mike
talked about
this last
week.
In our
Western
culture, if
there's anything
that we
dislike, it
is awkwardness.
That is like
the worst
thing that we
can imagine
is relational
awkwardness to
the point that
we will
sometimes do
whatever we
can to
avoid making
things awkward.
And Jesus
has a way of
making things
awkward, right?
Because of the
claims that are
made in the
gospel.
And I can be
guilty of that
as well, of
prioritizing,
avoiding
awkwardness.
I am guilty
of that.
we can use
excuses to
justify our
silence.
We can think
I'm going to
mess it up.
I'm not going
to present the
gospel right.
I don't have
these ten
thorough arguments
for the
existence of
God in my
back pocket,
and so I
really got to
wait until I
master that,
or I've got to
master historical
arguments for
the resurrection,
and we feel
unqualified, and
so we just
never say
anything.
That can be a
temptation for
a lot of us,
or maybe we
think I'm not
an introvert,
that's not
really my thing,
I'm just going
to leave that
to other
Christians.
They can
handle the
evangelism.
But what's
often really
going on with
that is that
we're just
being fearful,
that we're
just afraid of
how people
are going to
respond.
And the
Thessalonians,
they stand as
a little bit
of a loving
rebuke to
us this
morning, one
that I've
felt this
week while I
was in this
passage.
Because the
affliction that
Paul is
talking about,
it's affliction
that's the result
of them sharing
the gospel so
faithfully.
That's why they're
experiencing
affliction.
If you look
back in 1
verse 8,
he says,
for not only
has the word
of the Lord
sounded forth
from you in
Macedonia and
Achaia, but
your faith in
God has gone
everywhere so
that we need
not say
anything.
Which is
amazing.
These brand
new Christians,
they're not
even a year
old.
They've become
this center of
evangelism.
They're multiplying
Christians right
there in
Thessalonica.
So, when the
Thessalonians came
to Christ, they
accepted the
fact that they
were going to
be slandered and
they were going
to be persecuted
for their faith.
And it did not
stop them from
sharing the
gospel.
So, as we
pray, remember
faithfulness is
rooted in prayer,
one of the things
that we need to be
regularly asking
the Lord for is
opportunity and
courage.
Lord, would you
give me the
opportunity to
sow gospel
seeds today?
Would you give
me the opportunity
to share the
gospel today?
And would you
grant me the
courage that I
need in order
to do so?
So, that can
be a scary
prayer to pray.
But that leads
me to my
final point,
which is this.
Faithfulness is
rooted in
Christ.
Faithfulness is
rooted in
Christ.
The Thessalonians
were bold in
their faith and
they endured
persecution not
because they had
greater willpower
or because they
were more
extroverted than
we are.
they were bold
and endured
because they
were firmly
rooted in
their love
for Christ.
They were bold
because, as
Paul says,
they had received
the word of God
as God's
word.
In chapter 1,
Paul says of
them,
your faith in
God has
gone forth
everywhere.
That their
evangelism was so
effective,
not because they
had memorized
all these great
arguments for
defending their
faith, but
because of their
faith in God.
And that faith
in God
emboldened them
and strengthened
them even when
they were taking
heat for
representing Jesus.
So, if you're
feeling any
conviction this
morning, whether
it be over maybe
a lack of love
for others in
your church or
about your
prayer life or
hesitancy to
evangelize, the
answer to that
conviction is
not to sit
in shame.
Right?
The answer to
that conviction is
not to sit in
shame.
The answer is
to look at
your Savior.
The answer is
to go to your
God and to
stand fast in
Him.
It's to pray
like Paul did
and ask the
Lord to make
you increase
and abound
in love and
holiness and
continue asking
Him for that.
We should
strive to
live with a
faith like the
Thessalonians and
recognize that
that kind of
faith is
ultimately a
gift from
our God.
And that
doesn't mean
that we do
this whole
let go and
let God
theology.
We go to
our God
asking Him
for strength
and then we
act.
Right?
We stand
in the
Lord like
Paul says
and the
standing that
we do is
real and the
Lord Himself
sustains that
standing.
We have
faith in His
grace of
forgiveness and
we have
faith in
the grace of
His transforming
power.
Both of those
things are
true.
So be
encouraged
brothers and
sisters because
the God who
sustained the
Thessalonians is
the same God
who sustains
you.
Keep standing
fast.
Keep encouraging
your brothers and
sisters.
Keep your
eyes fixed
on Jesus
and let's
not do that
alone.
Let's do that
together as a
family.
Amen?
Amen.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father,
we ask that
You would
strengthen us,
the people of
Christ the King
Church, that You
would embolden
us, that You
would help us not
to shrink back
from declaring the
good news of
Jesus Christ.
Would it
register deeply
in our hearts
that what every
lost person needs
the most above
everything else is
to have their sins
forgiven and be
born again and to
know You as
their Savior and
Lord, to be in
relationship with
You, Lord God.
That's what every
person needs the
most.
Christ, and
Father, You
have graciously
provided a way
through the death
and resurrection
of Your Son.
You have made a
path of salvation.
Help us to grow
in sharing that
good news.
We thank You for
the faithfulness of
the Thessalonians so
many years ago, for
the witness that they
still are for us
through this letter
and Your Word.
Thank You for the
beauty of the
Scriptures.
We are so grateful
that we get to read
these Scriptures that
have been breathed
out by Your Spirit.
That is an amazing
thing.
Would You encourage
us, Father, with
the reality that You
are ultimately the
one who changes
hearts, that You
are the one who
brings the dead
to life, that You
are the one who
causes lost
sinners to be
born again.
And may that
confidence in You
make us more and
more faithful in
our witness.
We ask You to
work in our
hearts, O Lord.
Would You give us
a passion for the
gospel that pushes
past the
awkwardness and the
fear of shame?
And I know that
that is something
that I need in
myself, Lord.
And you are the
God who is able
to give that.
Thank you for
Your patience with
us and for Your
mercy.
It's in Jesus'
name that we
pray.
Amen.