1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

hey hey good morning friends good morning good morning good morning welcome to coffee and devotions this is where every day you and I we get together we have a little bit of coffee we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together and this year 2022 we'll make it from the book of Acts through second Thessalonians I'm so glad to be with you today why don't we have some coffee we'll pray and we'll start first Thessalonians let's pray father we thank you so much for this day a day to praise you a day to rejoice in you a day to remember that you are our God father we pray for your Holy Spirit to be working in our hearts this morning that you would teach us that we might have faith in Jesus name amen all right so we're at first Thessalonians chapter 1 first Thessalonians chapter one and we're going to read verses 1 through the end of the chapter it's only ten verses so we can get through this together here we go Paul sylvanus 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 we give thanks to God always for you making mention of you in our prayers remembering without ceasing your work if of Faith labor of love impatience of Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and the sight of our God and Father knowing beloved Brethren your election by God 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 and you became imitators of us and of Our Lord having received the word in much Affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Ikea who believe for from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and and in Ikea 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 deliver us us from the Wrath to come well we need to ask ourselves a what's this about B what's the best verse that summarizes and see it what are we called to do in our lives in response to this so a what is this about what we have a greeting and a prayer so two things this morning a greeting and a prayer the greeting is Paul sylvanus and Timothy the Church in thessalonica now when we went through the book of Acts we read about the church in thessalonica this was in Macedonia and they received the gospel there and they turned from their idols and they worshiped God and it was Paul and Silas sylvanus is another word another name another way you can say Silas uh same person but Paul and Silas had ministered to them and they received the gospel and believed it and then in Acts chapter 17 verse 7 or sorry verse 14 Paul left and Timothy and went down to Greece and then to Corinth and now while he's in Corinth he's writing to them and so he's he's writing to them having received them back and and he's telling me about the good news that he's heard about their faith so he wants to greet them he tells them to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the father and of the Lord Jesus Christ notice that the church doesn't exist on its own but notice that the church exists in God the Saints exist as a assembly within their identity as the people of God and what is the greeting he gives to them the apostolic reading is the summary of the gospel Grace to You and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ God's unmerited favors upon them and he has made a way of peace between himself and Men And So It starts off with this gospel message Grace and peace to you and then so this is the greeting so we know who it's from we know who it's to and he's greeted them with the apostolic reading of Grace and peace now we get into his prayer this is a very typical what's called Pauline so anything that's written by Paul is a Pauline message so he goes and he talks about his thanks for them we give thanks to God always for you making mention of you in our prayers so he's telling them I pray for you and I thank God for you and now here is a substance after this of what he thinks God for them that they he remembers right or they remember without ceasing your work of Faith labor of love and patience of Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God our Father so a few things here what are the things that they remember as they pray for first without ceasing your work of Faith right their faith is actually living out in their lives it's not a dead Faith it's not just an intellectual Faith but it changes the way they live it changes the way they love it changes the things they do so ceasing your work of Faith he also remembers their labor of love the work that they are doing is motivated by love the things that they are doing is motivated by love of God and love for others and their patience of Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ right so they have patience he remembers them in his prayers because their hope is not fleeting it's not fickle it's not small it's not Transit it's there and it's patient they're waiting for the lord they're waiting for God's will to happen and they're finding contentment in that and so he says knowing beloved Brethren your election by God he's sure that they are the chosen ones of God he's sure that God has decided that they would be Those whom he would pour out his grace upon and so he says that he is he knows their election by God how does he know that they are the elect of God well the things that he had just said but he also describes that in verse 5 for Our Gospel did not come to you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit in much Assurance as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake so it didn't just come out of Paul and silas's mouth to tell them the gospel but they also saw the apostolic signs of the Holy Spirit it came with power to them and their hearts were changed and there was much assurance that they had and they knew they knew what type of men Paul and Silas were as they were there in thessalonica they weren't peddling the gospel they weren't being cheap philosophy shows but they were working and so there was this this trust that hey these men are telling us the truth these men are doing what is right these men are doing what they ought to do and so we can believe them we can trust them and so as they were doing this work the church in thessalonica was believing was trusting them and they were doing these Works in love and then how else did he know for certain that they were the elect of God and you became imitators of us the new King James version there's his followers but uh the the better Greek translation would be imitators and you became imitators of us and of the Lord having received the word in much Affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit so they they started to imitate Paul right they started to imitate Silas they didn't just hear these things but they started to do them it wasn't just an intellectual absorption of facts but it actually changed the way they lived and so they said okay he's living this way we ought to also follow him he says he's of Christ and we are and he lives this way because of it we ought also to now live our lives walk our lives in the pattern of holiness and so he says that they also receive this word with much affliction see their Affliction was could have been used to dissuade them used to persuade them to go another way oh you know this isn't really worth it I'm I'm you know ever since I received Jesus it's just ah my life is horrible people persecute me this is you know they might have lost their jobs they might have been forced out of their homes they might have been physically harmed and instead of giving up their hope they continue to hope and this gives Paul Assurance of their salvation so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Ikea who believe so all those different people you know Berea just south of that and Athens just south of that and down in Corinth as people were hearing about the Thessalonians Faith about how they suffered Affliction it encouraged the rest of the Saints I gotta tell you I meet with pastors uh over Skype and I talk with them and a lot of them are in different countries and as I talk with them they tell me about the persecution they're suffering and it Grieves my heart you know as I hear about the suffering that they have while I seem to live in the lap of luxury God is very very gracious to us I don't have people telling me that they're going to break my legs or throw me in jail or threaten to kill me I might have people who don't like me but it encourages me it encourages me to pray for my brothers who are persecuted it encourages my heart when I heard a man say that they had you know some radical Hindus had threatened to kill him and the next word out of his mouth was but the Lord has told me to take up my cross and follow him I thought that's a man of Faith right there the affliction and the faith of the Thessalonians that that reputation is going throughout Macedonia in the north and Ikea in the South these two different provinces it is encouraging the brothers it's encouraging the Christians in their faith foreign toward God has gone out so that we do not need to say anything right this their reputation precedes them for they themselves declare concerning us what matter of Entry we had to you and how you turn from Idols to serve the living and true God so the reputation goes out and so they don't Paul and Silas and Timothy don't have to go out and defend the faith of the Thessalonians you know because everybody's able to see hey you know what they once worshiped this whole Pantheon of gods instead of just taking Jesus and you know attacking him on to their whole list of gods they abandoned all of them and they worshiped the one true Living God they turned from the worship of idols and they worshiped the god of the universe the Lord revealed in the scriptures and shown in the flesh in Jesus Christ so that reputation is going out and so he's thanking God for them and he's and he says in verse 10 and to wait for his son from Heaven whom he raised from the dead even Jesus who delivers us from the Wrath to come see their hope is patient and they're hoping in that day of Jesus's return at the heart of Christianity the core of Christianity is the cross yes but also the resurrection that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and he's coming again to judge the living and the dead and so they have patient hope that Jesus is going to return we're going to come back to that in a little bit as as a you know some of them are questioning and wondering things because some people have died and Jesus hasn't returned and we'll answer that question later in the book but for now he's thanking them he's thanking God for the faith that is on display in their lives and he's thanking God that they're continuing to walk in that faith and in that hope well what are the best verses to underline in this well I would say uh well verse verse one is one verse I would understand underline you know maybe um Grace and peace to you from God our father in the Lord Jesus Christ that's the heart of the apostolic message but there's three parts to that it's kind of hard to break that up so I'll let you tell me if you would break up first one I probably wouldn't uh and then verse 2 through 10 I would underline verse two uh we give thanks to God our Father for you always for you making mention of you in our prayers uh the the rest of that portion three through ten is him saying what the contents of his things were the contents of his things can be summarized and we thank God for the reality of your true faith so what what would this call us to do right why would the Holy Spirit give us these words and how would it change our lives I think why the lord gave this to us is that we might see what faith looks like see God has given us a similar Faith the same faith a faith that can be patient in its hope a faith that can be lived out a faith that puts away the idols in our lives all the worldliness all the fleshliness all the all the things that we might turn to instead of God and it shows us what we ought to cling to to Jesus Christ and that likewise our reputation should proceed us that people might know who we were but now Who We Are but also I would say it also shows us that we can thank God and tell others what that we thank God for them let me ask you when you see somebody in the church who's living out their faith do you say it to them wait do you tell them I thank God for you I thank God for the way he's working in your heart and in your life you're such an encouragement to me thank you do you do that for others that's one of my favorite things to do I I used to be this curmudgeon who who would think you know oh I I don't want to Puff people up and stuff but it is one of the most biblical things you can do to encourage others in their faith to thank them for their faithfulness so tell the Saints if I see how you receive the Gospel and I see how it works out in your life and I'm so thankful for it I'm so thankful for the way it works out in your marriage you know a great way to do this is on birthdays and anniversaries the right people cards and just let them know a little note of how you see their faith working in their life you might be surprised what an encouragement it is to others well let's go ahead and pray father we thank you for the grace and peace that you show us in Jesus Christ Lord we thank you that you have given us a faith like the Thessalonians Lord many of us do not face the tribulation or persecution that they did but we do hope in that return of Jesus Christ that you will someday come to judge the wicked father we pray that we would be encouragers that we would give thanks for your faithfulness and for the faithfulness of your people Lord we confess to you that we are often not faithful we're fickle people and so when we see people walking by faith and they're encouraging to us Lord we pray that you and let us open our mouths to be an encouragement to them father please teach us to walk by faith teach us to walk in your ways may your Holy Spirit work powerfully in our lives conform us to the image of your son we pray in Jesus name amen oh May the hope and peace of Jesus Christ abide in you richly and I'll see you tomorrow bye [Music] thanks for listening to this week's message from God's word for you a Ministry of Sharon RP Church in rural Southeast Iowa we pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week if you'd like to get more information about us feel free to go to the website Sharon rpc.org we'd love to invite you to worship with us our worship time is 10 a.m every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue Morning Sun Iowa 52640 may God richly bless you this week foreign [Music]