First Thessaloinans. Chapter 1

1 Thessaloinans Chapter One

1 Thess. 1;1, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul begins in the traditional way of opening a letter in that day, which is different than the way we do it today. If you were to receive a ten page letter today you may have to read through all ten pages before you know who the letter is from because we sign off with our name at the end of the letter. Back in Paul's day they did it, I believe, in a more practical way, they identified who wrote the letter at the beginning of its writing. So you know immediately who the letter is from.

Who is Silvanus? It is the Latin name for Silas. So Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians. So we know who it is from and who it is to. Even though it is addressed to the Thessalonian church its truths are for churches from that time until the time that Jesus comes.

Paul is writing to this church, but where was their building, where was their auditorium, where was their Sunday School? He wasn't writing to a building, he was writing to a group of believers. The word church, biblically, has nothing whatever to do with a building. Most people today associate a church with a building, but they had no building. First Paul went to the synagogue, then when he got thrown out of there for teaching the truth, they met in homes. So he was writing to people scattered through the city in various homes, because it is people that are the church.

What happened in time was that the church grew to big for the home, so a building was built and the church then went to the building. With the passing of time the place where the church became known as the church. But Paul is not writing to a building, he is writing to a group of people, the church.

Notice that this church is in God and the Lord Jesus Christ. What is portrayed here is a union, an intimacy, a relationship, these people had a relationship with God through Jesus Christ their elder brother. They not only knew about Christ, they were in Christ.

Grace to you and peace, this is a familiar expression of Pauls, he uses it in almost every one of his Epistles. This is one of the greatest blessings we can have from God, it is because of His grace that every blessing from God is ours. And if we have His peace then we are applying the Word of God to our lives and no matter what the circumstance we are victorious. You will never find in the Bible this phrase reversed, you will never read peace to you and grace. Grace is the vehicle, grace is the instrument, grace is the vessel that brings you the peace. You can never have peace if you don't appropriate grace. Grace is God's Riches at Christ's Expense. The benefits of grace is appropriated to our lives by Faith which will lead us to peace.

1 Thess. 1:2-4, We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God.

What we have here is a prayer of thanksgiving for the church's faithfulness and steadfastness and by their remaining true and going on in God. There are three things that stand out in Paul's mind about this Church: First, is their work of faith. Second, is their labor of love. Third, is their patience of hope in Jesus Christ.

Church if you want to be all that God wants you to be and do all that He wants you to do, you are going to have to work by faith because anything you do that is not of faith is sin. You are going to have to labor in love, the Agape love of God. You are to love those who hate you, use you, abuse you, say untruthful things about you. You can only do this by partaking of God's love and then sharing God's love to others.

Also your patience and hope must be in Jesus Christ because if our hope and patience is in somebody else we will soon run out of patience and hope and we will not stay true to the task. Paul is not saying that we are saved by works, what he is saying is that a saving faith will always work. Work is the fruit of salvation not the source of salvation.

Verse 4, knowing beloved brethren your election by God.

Who is it that is elected by God Paul refers to here? Is it the whole nation of Israel? No! It is the ones to whom the letter is written, the church, which is made up of a few Jews who believed in Paul's message that the Messiah must die and rise again, but the majority of believers are Gentiles in this church. So the election by God are all those, whether it be Jew or Gentile that is in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Some people tell us that the elect of God in the N.T. is the Jewish nation of Israel. But no, according to this verse the church is the elect of God which is made up of Jew and Gentile. Therefore, when the N.T. talks about the elect, who is being referred to? The church!

1 Thess. 1:5, For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.

Here Paul is talking about himself. He preached in power and the anointing and it was the power of the Holy Spirit. Also he had the assurance that the people knew he was preaching a message that he received directly from God, the people knew that he was a praying man, they knew he was a man of the Word, they knew he would preach the Word of God and not the beliefs, of a denomination or the traditions of men.

The way in which Christianity reached the Thessalonians is the way Christianity will reach the world today. It was a model of a balanced but full-orbed practice of effective preaching. The apostolic preaching of the gospel consisted of four essential elements:

(1) The apostles proclaimed, articulated, verbalized, the word of God (2:8) and of Christ (3:2) to others.

(2) They preached the word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit, (Matt. 3:11; Acts 1:5-8; 2:4). This meant that they were men of prayer and obedience. This power resulted in conviction of sin, deliverance from satanic bondage, and the performing of miracles and healings.

(3) The message was proclaimed with deep conviction, they believed what they preached and followed that by acting on what they preached. Because of their faith in Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit in them, they possessed in their hearts the full assurance of the truth and power of their message.

(4) Those who believed the message obeyed the Word of God and lived it out in their lives; they were holy and righteous before all.

Without these four elements accompanying the preaching of the gospel, the full redemption of Christ will not be experienced in the churches!

1 Thess. 1:6-10, And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to 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, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Paul's description of the elect of God is found in these verses. They are those who follow Christ, endure afflictions with joy in the Holy Spirit, and become examples to others of faith and righteousness. They have turned from sin, serve God, and are waiting for God's Son to return from heaven.

With much affliction, here is the first introduction to this word that we are going to repeatedly see. Affliction is translated from the Greek word: THLIPSIS (thlip'-sis); it means pressure (literally or figuratively): afflicted (-tion), anguish, burdened, persecution, problems, tribulation, trouble. Throughout the Bible this word is most often translated tribulation. This word was used when a man was tortured. When a man was taken and tied up and put to the ground prone on his back, then a number of men lifted a heavy bolder and put it on the man's chest, this torture was known as THLIPSIS. Jesus said that in the world you will have THLIPSIS. This THLIPSIS is common to all believers throughout the history of the church and it will be a part of our lives until Jesus comes back, especially if we live godly in Christ Jesus.

Who were these Thessalonians receiving the affliction from? Most of it was coming from the religious people of their day, I mean, they gave Paul and those that believed the doctrine he preached so much affliction, he had to get out of town. Even that did not satisfy these so called godly people, they then chased him to Berea and gave him so much affliction that he had to leave that town.

Did these believers get down in the mouth and testify to the fact that the devil was giving them a hard time? No, they received their much affliction with joy in the Holy Spirit! No matter what the circumstances these Thessalonian believers expressed the joy of the Lord, this was an example to the people of Macedonia and Achaia.

If Christians today would express the joy of the Lord in their adverse circumstances it would be a positive witness to the people who observe them. By the way a lot of Christians act, it is no wonder the world do not want any part of what they have. Because they had the joy of the Lord, the true word of the Lord went forth from them and their faith in God was such that Paul did not need to teach them in that matter. They served God in word and in action, they did not talk one way and walk another. They walked their talk, their lives were in line with the word that they talked about. Because of this, they were not only examples in Macedonia and Achaia (v.8), but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, what a testimony. Would to God, that could be said of all Bible believing churches.

If we tie v.9 and the first phrase of v.10 back to v.3, we will see what their work of faith, labor of love, and their patience of hope are. Their work of faith of v.3 is the turning to God from idols in v.9. Their labor of love in v.3 is their serving the living and true God in v.9, in contrast to serving the false dead idols. Their patience of hope in v.3 is their waiting for Jesus to come from heaven V.10, to deliver them from the wrath to come. Verse 10, tells us to wait for the Second Coming of Jesus. That word wait does not mean to settle back and do nothing, but it means to wait with excitement, with anticipation, it means to wait while being active in the Father's business. In the midst of all the affliction, tribulation, we are to wait with expectation for Jesus to come back.

While we are waiting there will be tribulations to endure with joy, but the wrath which is to come, which is not the same as tribulation and is still in the future, we will be delivered from at His coming. The wrath to come, comes after the Great Tribulation is cut short by God for the elect's sake. The elect, the called out ones, the ones who were elected by God (v.3), the church will be caught up, then the wrath of God begins.