Encouraging The Thessalonians - And Us! (part 1)

Heavenly Father, we ask this morning that as we come to your Word, that as Paul prayed for the

Ephesians, that you would enlighten the eyes of our hearts, give us the

Spirit that dwells in us to illumine us. We pray that you would illumine us with the

Spirit of wisdom and revelation as we look at your Word, that we would be encouraged if we need to be challenged, that we would be challenged.

We need to be simply edified to see Jesus. We pray that that would be what we see this morning through your

Word. We ask in his name. Amen. I'm going to be with you a couple of weeks and I want to look at the letter,

Paul's letters to the Thessalonians during that time. Don't know whether we can finish.

Actually, I think we can't, but I'm going to be with you a couple more weeks. Sometime in September.

And so what we'll do is practice the bailout school of homiletics and bail out when it's time to quit.

And not get into, well, we have to have an introduction and three points and then a summary and application and forget all that.

The application of the Scriptures is that we would see Jesus. And we come each week to see him in the

Scriptures. And I pray that that will be our situation as we look at these letters to the

Thessalonians. I'm going to start out just reading the first chapter and then we'll use that as a springboard to get to the background and answer the question, so what's going on here with these people in Thessalonica?

I understand that Thessalonica rolls off of our gringo tongues really nicely.

It's kind of like kilometer, which should be kilometer. But let me assure you that Thessalonica is correct.

I think the emphasis is not on the I syllable. In any case, that's what I'm going to say.

All right, 1 Thessalonians 1. Paul, Silvanus, that would be

Silas, and Timothy. To the church of the Thessalonians, in God the

Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers.

That little sentence alone says something and that is that Paul had concern for them and it may have been, it looks like it was concern that was beyond the ordinary concern, although he always said that he prayed for all the churches, they were always on his mind, but he had a particular concern for the

Thessalonians and we'll look at that as we look at the background. We're constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our

God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our

Lord Jesus Christ. So he commends them for their faithfulness and their steadfastness.

And you say, well, that's kind of standard operating procedure. If you're going to write a letter to the churches, you commend them for their steadfastness and their faithfulness, but it has particular meaning in the case of these people as we will see.

For we know, brothers, loved by God, that He has chosen you. Now how would

Paul know that? That's a little statement about election. We're not going to launch off into election from this.

But Paul says, I know that you are chosen. And it's not that he knows that they are chosen because he has, particularly he has the doctrine in mind and all of that.

There's a knowing that Paul knows about these Thessalonians that tells him, indeed, you are chosen of God.

You are part of the elect, although those words were not formalized until further on in church history.

But we know that He has chosen you. Here's why. Because our gospel came to you, not only in word, you didn't just listen to it, but also in power.

Something happened when it came and you listened, and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

Conviction of the Holy Spirit. Immediately your computer -like minds race to the gospel of John.

Jesus says, when the Spirit comes, He will convince of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Also translated in some

English versions, He will convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Paul says to these

Thessalonians, when we came to you with the gospel, it came with full conviction of the

Holy Spirit. One, conviction of sin. That my sin is truly an offense against the true and living

God. Two, that there is a righteousness that I must have in order to live in His presence and to be in His presence when

I die. And three, if I do not have that righteousness, judgment will follow.

All of those things are going to be addressed in these letters. And you'll see more clearly as we leap in to the background in a few minutes.

You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

And you became imitators of us, you became believers. And of the Lord. For you received the word in much affliction, that's important for these folks, with the joy of the

Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

Now if you have a Bible that has a map in the back with Paul's second missionary journey in it, it wouldn't hurt for you to look at that.

Those maps are not there just to make it a little thicker. Those maps are there so that you can get a handle on the geography of what's going on.

So when Paul says, your testimony came throughout Macedonia and Achaia, he's talking about the northern reaches of the

Greek peninsula and Achaia, Greece proper. Macedonia is north of there.

So all over the Greek peninsula, your testimony has become an example and has been made known.

For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere so that we need not say anything.

You remember, I think it's in 1 Corinthians 8, that Paul commends the churches of Macedonia for contributing to his needs and to the needs of the poverty -stricken in Jerusalem.

He says they gave out of their poverty. It is an example of the way that we ought to give.

And that's these guys that we're talking about here. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among 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,

Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. Now that little verse there, verse 10 of chapter 1, wraps up a whole lot of things.

And it wraps up a major emphasis in both of these letters that we're going to have to have a little look at.

And that's the matter of Jesus is coming again. And you say, well, why did it concern the

Thessalonians? After all, it comes up in other places. What was the problem? So the question to be answered as we read chapter 1 here is, so what's going on here?

Why did Paul write this? These letters to the Thessalonians probably are the earliest letters written by the

Apostle Paul. Why to the Thessalonians? Why not to the Ijumeans?

Why not to the people at Lystra? Why to the Thessalonians? I think we cannot get a grip on that really unless we look at the background that took

Paul to the Thessalonians. And to do that, of course, we're going to have to get to the book of Acts.

So, put a bookmark or something in 1 Thessalonians. I'm going to go over to Acts. And I'm going to begin at chapter 15 to keep it short.

But you need to see, and I think it's edifying for us always to see how these things hang together.

Otherwise, we come to these letters of Paul often, and we just go, oh yeah, okay, grace and peace from God our

Father and Lord Jesus Christ. That's how he writes to everybody. So, what's the deal?

Well, here will be the deal. At Acts chapter 15, we have the account of the great council at Jerusalem.

But that doesn't come in a vacuum. You remember that on the day of Pentecost, Peter preached and 3 ,000 people were baptized.

Jews. They were Jews for the feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem, for that feast, and they were

Jews. From all over the world. They left after the feast of Pentecost, and I think what we're going to read here in a bit will demonstrate that some of them went even to Rome, where they were believers and where they founded a church.

Alright? So, everything was hunky -dory. We read there at the end of chapter 2. The church was growing daily.

Everybody was having good fellowship. They were listening to the apostles' doctrine. They were meeting for the breaking of bread.

Oh, it's just great. We're having a great deal here. Now watch it. We're having a great Jewish deal here.

Alright? And then, persecution broke out, and Stephen was martyred.

But even before that, some Gentiles had begun to pick up on the gospel of Christ.

But after the martyrdom of Stephen, and the church was scattered, then things began to happen which are a shocker in Jerusalem.

We read that Philip went to the Samaritans, the half -breed dog Samaritans, who were maybe not even as good as Gentiles, the leftovers of the ten northern kingdoms of the tribes of Israel.

And the Samaritans believed and received the Holy Spirit even as we have.

And then later in Acts chapter 10, Peter goes to the house of Cornelius, a

Gentile, and do I need to say this? I don't need to say this in this church, do I?

In the world, as far as the Bible is concerned, there are two categories of people. Jews, chosen of God, and the rest of us,

Gentiles. Okay? The chosenness of God felt by the

Jews and understood by the Jews, particularly at this time was, that we are the chosen people, the rest of you people are on the outs, and you're not getting in.

And then, of course, were the Samaritans, who were a little of each. Alright? So, Philip evangelizes in Samaria.

Peter goes, and this Gentile, Cornelius, a Roman soldier, a

Roman commander, Cornelius believes, and he and his household receive the

Holy Spirit, and every time that happens, it's like throwing a fox into the chicken coop in Jerusalem.

What? The Samaritans have believed, how could that be? It couldn't possibly be. You've got to send a committee.

So they send a committee, to see if the Samaritans really have believed. Well, sure enough, they have believed.

And then, what? The Gentile, Cornelius, he's believed, and Peter's had the vision about the unclean animals, and all of that stuff.

You're familiar with that. What? They've believed? Got to send a committee. So, they send a committee.

Sure enough, these Gentiles are believing. And so, the Gospel, as the

Old Testament said it would, the Gospel becomes, is becoming now, a blessing for the whole world.

For the whole world. The Jews were not interested in that, some of them. Even the believers, the disciples, couldn't believe, that this could be anything, but a

Jewish exclusive club. This business of salvation, and of Jesus being

Messiah. In any case, then we have Paul converted.

He is sent to preach to the Gentiles, and some Gentiles believe. In the scattering of the church, as far as Antioch, they first of all shared just with Jews, then some

Gentiles began to believe, up at Antioch, that was far enough away, so they couldn't get too excited, back in Jerusalem, about that.

And then Paul is converted, and he becomes the apostle to the Gentiles.

Well, you can imagine, what was going on at this point.

At this point, as they sent the committees, and as other Jews came along, some of them not believing

Jews, I'm sure, as they came along, they were saying things like this, to these

Gentiles. Well, if you Gentiles want to really be spiritual, if you want to really be saved, if you want to be saved at all, in some cases, well, particularly, you men need to be circumcised, and then you need to start following the dietary laws of the

Jews. And they started bringing the Old Testament law, to the Gentiles, who knew nothing about the

Old Testament law, for the most part. You see the testimony there, about the

Thessalonians was, they turned to God from idols. Well, the idols were the polytheism of Rome.

They didn't know anything about the Old Testament laws, dietary restrictions, and all of that kind of thing.

And so there began to be a conflict. The conflict goes back, as far as the church in Antioch, when the

Greek widows were complaining, that they were not, this is in a church, say, wait,

I thought Acts chapter 2, everything was hunky -dory. But a little later on, we end up with Jews and Gentiles in the same church, and the

Greek widows are saying, hey, we need the equal distribution of the food, and all of that stuff that's going on.

Here in Antioch, the apostles said, we cannot be administrators of a food program.

We need to be devoted to the teaching of the Word of God. And so they selected the first deacons, and if you look at that,

I'm not going to look at that today, but if you look at that, those are Greek names. Smart apostles.

Okay? So already the Jewish -Gentile conflict had begun in the church.

Finally, the apostle Paul and others say, wait a minute, we've got to get this hashed out.

What do we expect of these Gentile believers? And so that is why the council at Jerusalem is called in Acts chapter 15.

They hash this out. The debate is going on. You can read all about that. I'm not going to read that. But here's the conclusion of the council at Acts chapter 15, verse 19.

My wife tells me, you don't always tell people where you are. I'm at Acts chapter 15, verse 19.

Alright? Therefore, my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the

Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them a letter to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.

Now you say, why is that? Maybe I have to not eat meat offered to idols in order to be saved.

Maybe I have to abstain from sexual immorality. We're not recommending that, by the way. Alright?

But maybe abstaining from sexual immorality is a condition of salvation. No, that's not the point.

The point is given here in the last line. For from ancient generations, Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him.

The Judaizers had been coming saying you have to follow the law of Moses. Now the church council says, no, they don't really need to follow the law of Moses.

But they could make some concessions in order to have peace in the church. For Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he has read every

Sabbath in the synagogues. So they write the letter. I'm editing here for time's sake.

I'm going down to verse 30. After they write the letter, which says the things in it that I just read to you, at verse 30, they were sent off.

Paul, Barnabas, others were sent off. They went down to Antioch.

And having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. The congregation at Antioch by this time had a large number of Gentiles.

It was not just a Jewish operation. And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.

And here was the encouragement, wasn't it? The encouragement was that you are saved by grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone.

It didn't have anything to do with Jewish rights regarding food, regarding circumcision, or anything like that.

The letter was a great encouragement. Are you and I not encouraged that we are saved by grace alone, faith alone,

Christ alone, and we don't have to do a lot of muggus in order to be saved?

Well, the people in Antioch were encouraged by that. I'm skipping ahead now to verse 36.

After some days that they had been there in Antioch, and understand the relationship of the apostle

Paul and the church at Antioch was the relationship of Bethlehem Bible Church to Judy and I.

The church at Antioch was Paul's sending church. When he goes out on his missionary journeys, he comes back, and he always comes back, wants their

Jerusalem to be sure, but he always comes back to the church at Antioch to report to them what has happened.

Why? They were the sending church. Bethlehem Bible Church and at least one other, two others, were the sending churches when we went to Bolivia.

That is the relationship that missionaries need to have to churches. No lone rangers.

Okay? Verse 36, After some days Paul said to Barnabas, Let us return and visit the brothers in every city.

They had already been on one missionary journey. Every city where we proclaim the word of the

Lord and see how they are. Now you get a little insight into why Paul writes in these letters that he remembers this church, that church, the other church, the church at Thessalonica, and all of that, and is concerned about them, remembering them always in his prayers.

Here they say, Okay, we preached the gospel once in a missionary journey.

Now let's go and see how those people are. It might be called a discipleship kind of program.

Then they have a little fight over John Mark who had left them before. You say,

What? Paul and Barnabas had a little fight, a little disagreement? Yes, they did. In fact, it was so intense that they separated.

Paul chose Silas, verse 40, and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the

Lord. And Barnabas took John Mark. Barnabas, if you were a John Mark, kind of a screw up.

Sorry, that's a colloquialism. Not doing too well.

You would be glad to have a Barnabas. Barnabas said, Hey, I'll take the kid. Okay, and we'll go.

Paul said, I don't want to take him. Paul is driven. I don't want to take him.

He left us before. Okay, I'll take him. Everybody needs a Barnabas in their life as John Mark did.

But Paul, driven, chose Silas, and they departed. Now you read there in 1

Thessalonians at the beginning, it's Paul, Silvanus, Silas. Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

Alright? Chapter 16 of Acts, Timothy joins

Paul and Silas. That's how it comes when you get to 1 Thessalonians. It's Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

I'm at verse 4 of chapter 16. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.

So everywhere they went on this journey where they were going to see how people were doing, everywhere they went, they read this letter about the relationship of Gentiles to salvation and to the

Jews. And the relationship basically was you're saved by grace alone, faith alone,

Christ alone, but don't flaunt that. And so you can observe some things that will not offend the

Jews among you because in almost every church there was a Jewish faction for a very good reason.

When Paul went to a city to evangelize, he went first to the synagogue. Often he got beat up and thrown out, but he went first to the synagogue and some

Jews believed. So they delivered these letters to all the churches along the way.

And the conclusion, verse 5 of chapter 16, is the churches were strengthened in the faith and they increased in numbers daily.

And by the way, I know this is a Sunday school class. Not a church service. So if you have a question or a comment or something like that, just stick your hand up.

And I may see it. On the other hand, I may not. Well, anyway, I may see it. And we'll try to answer questions as we go.

So they went through the region they had gone through before. And when they had come up to Mycenae, they attempted to go into Bithynia.

Now if you're looking at that map, you will see that Bithynia is starting north. But the

Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night, a man of Macedonia.

Now you can see Macedonia over there just across the Aegean Sea and Thessalonica at the head of the

Aegean Sea. There's a bay there at Thessalonica. A man of Macedonia was standing there urging him and saying,

Come over to Macedonia and help us. And this will be the first entrance now of the

Gospel into Europe. Up to this time, it's been Asia, Israel, and surrounding environs.

Now this is the first entrance into Europe. Come over to Macedonia and help us.

And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the

Gospel to them. So they set sail from a place called Troas. They went across that little piece of the

Aegean Sea and they arrived at Philippi. I'm not going to go through all of that.

You know the story of the conversion of the Philippian jailer. And you know what happened in Philippi.

They went over to Macedonia and things did not go particularly well. And here,

I'm skipping down now to chapter 16, verse 20. And here we find

Paul and Silas and Timothy in trouble already in Philippi. And here's the nub of the issue.

These men are Jews and they are disturbing our city. Disturbing the peace.

They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice. This is in Philippi now.

The crowd joined in attacking them and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.

And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.

Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in stocks. And you know the story of the

Philippian jailer. He sees them. The stocks fall off of the prisoners and the jailer is going to kill himself because that was the penalty.

It's not like what we're doing now in Washington, D .C. A centuries long investigation.

It was just you let the guys go, we kill you. That's how it went. So he was going to kill himself and Paul says to him, don't harm yourself.

What must I do to be saved? What was the answer to that by the way? What must I do to be saved?

Believe. That's what I must do to be saved. So in any case, and by the way,

I might say this. A lot of things to say here. The jailer and his household were baptized at once.

They were baptized before sun up apparently. Those of you that are thinking that baptism is kind of an optional good thing to do, you need to understand that baptism cannot save anybody, but the

New Testament knows nothing of unbaptized believers with the exception perhaps of the thief on the cross.

And so that was the signal. To be baptized was the signal that placed you in conflict with the

Romans. That will be important in Thessalonica. And placed you in conflict with your

Jewish roots if you were a Jew. So, when we're going to have a baptism here in a week or two,

I understand that is the signal. That is the signal. That I belong to Christ.

I follow Him. And that sets you wherever it sets you with regard to your old life.

Well, the problem there in Philippi was that Paul is a Roman citizen. And he pulls the

I am a citizen card at this case. And the magistrates sent the police, verse 35, saying, let those men go.

If you beat a Roman citizen without a trial, that was not a good thing.

It could be the beginning of your trial if you were a magistrate. Again, without the centuries long investigation which we're familiar with.

And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, the magistrates have sent to let you go. Oh, that's good.

Therefore, come out now and go in peace. Alright? But Paul said to them, they have beaten us publicly, uncondemned men who are

Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison. And do they now throw us out secretly?

Well, yes, if they can. Alright? But Paul is not going to let them. No, let them come themselves and take us out.

The police reported these words to the magistrates and when they were afraid, and they were afraid when they heard that they were

Roman citizens. So they came and apologized. Probably not going to happen with what we're experiencing.

And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. So they went out of the prison and visited

Lydia. You can read the rest of that story yourself in chapter 16. And when they had seen the brothers, there were some believers there, even though there had been big trouble in Philippi, they encouraged them.

What did they encourage them with, you ask? I think they encouraged them with a letter from the church of Jerusalem that said, you're saved by grace alone, faith alone,

Christ alone. And they encouraged them to hang in there and departed. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, you may see that on the map that you're looking at, they came to Thessalonica.

Now, let's say a word about Thessalonica that makes it an important place. It was on the famous Enation Way, which was the road from the

Adriatic Sea all the way to the east in the Roman Empire. It was the

I -95 of the day. Thessalonica was right on the Enation Way.

And it was the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia.

Not only that, it had been granted free city status for a lot of reasons that came before all of this, including the

Macedonian Wars by which Macedonia became a Roman province. Thessalonica was the naval base for the

Romans as they subdued Macedonia. And then later, those of you that have been through Julius Caesar, either in junior high or high school, and you probably were thinking, why are we doing this?

Well, there was a civil war. There was a civil war between Julius Caesar and the

Roman Senate. And the winner of that civil war was Julius Caesar, at which point

Rome was no longer a republic, and we entered the period of the crazy emperors.

In the meantime, Caesar, of course, is assassinated by what's left of the

Senate, you know, et tu, Brute, and all of that. Thessalonica was very important in that whole deal.

It had become a free city because it had sided basically with the winners except in the

Julius Caesar case, and even had their own coinage in Thessalonica.

And it was the capital of that province. So, I think the

Apostle Paul had sense enough to know if there are believers in Thessalonica, the word's going to get out all over because they're right on I -95 there, alright, they're right on the

Anation Way, and things will proceed on. Not only were they on the road that went east and west, they also were the intersection of the roads that came from the north and the roads that came from the south up from Achaia, all great trading routes.

Now, the Anation Way originally was a military route in order to get the troops to the east in the

Roman Empire. Same as our interstate highway system, you probably are aware of the fact that the interstate highway system, which we enjoy or don't enjoy, depending on what time of day it is, alright, the interstate highway system was conceived by President Eisenhower because as a young army officer, he had taken a, a,

I don't know what it would have been, a battalion or whatever of army guys from the east coast to the west coast, and it took them more than 30 days.

And he thought to himself, this is not good. If something happens on the west coast, we cannot move troops and all the things that we need.

And so in the back of his mind from that point on was the idea we needed to improve that. That's why it is the

Eisenhower interstate system. Now aren't you glad you got here to hear all of that this morning?

Okay. But the Anation Way, the Anation Way is the same deal. And so it was set up to be military, but God set it up to be the

I -95 by which the gospel would go east and west and finally to Rome. I think the

Apostle Paul probably knew that. So they came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the

Jews. Now this was Paul's strategy, his evangelistic strategy. First you go to the synagogue.

Paul went in and as was his custom, I'm at verse 2 of some chapter, 17, went in and as was his custom and on three

Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the

Christ, the Messiah, to suffer and to rise from the dead and saying, this Jesus whom

I proclaim to you is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded and joined

Paul and Silas as did a great many of the devout Greeks Oh no! Gentiles that are going to be believers and part of the church and they heard the gospel apparently at least in part in the synagogue.

Oh no! These Gentiles came to Christ and not a few of the leading women.

Women? Oh no! They're supposed to sit up there where we can't see them or hear them in the synagogue services.

You get it? When the gospel of Christ came to places like Thessalonica all kinds of liberty began to be experienced that had not been experienced before.

Then we get to verse 5 which is the second phase of Paul's evangelistic strategy.

The Jews were jealous. Oh really? And taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.

And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities shouting, these men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.

It caused a riot in Philippi. They would cause a riot in Ephesus, major cities of the empire and now they've come here and Jason, whoever he was, has received them and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar.

Thessalonica was a free city granted freedom by the Romans to rule itself.

And now these guys come in and they are preaching Christ and saying

He is King, Jesus is Lord. And we are now in the period of the crazy emperors and it was required of Roman citizens to say

Caesar is Lord and so the whole city was in an uproar.

They are saying that there is another King, Jesus. And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things and when they had taken money as security, bail, from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

But the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away. That's phase three of Paul's evangelistic strategy.

Go to the Jewish synagogue, make them mad, they beat you up, you've got to leave. That's kind of how it goes.

They sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea and when they arrived, it's a little north of Thessalonica, and when they arrived, they went into the

Jewish synagogue. We are going to do it again. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica.

They received the Word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Many of them, therefore, believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men, more

Greeks, in the church. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the

Word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds.

We are at phase two there of the strategy. Then the brothers immediately sent

Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. That's important to understand for the context of the

Thessalonian letters. Silas and Timothy remained there in Berea. Probably were in contact with the believers at Thessalonica, but Paul, got to get him out of here.

Alright, those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, down through the

Achaia Peninsula. The Achaian Peninsula. And after receiving a command from him for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

Now, we have the episode of Paul in Athens in the great sermon at the

Areopagus on Mars Hill. And, you're not going to read that.

You can read that on your own. It's great. The end of that story is of chapter 17 of Acts.

Now, when they, that is the Greek philosophers on the Areopagus, I'm at verse 32 of chapter 17.

Now, when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, well, we'll hear you again about this.

So, Paul went out from their midst, but some men joined him and believed among whom also were

Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

So, he was there in Athens. He was there in Athens because they had to get him out of Thessalonica.

Because there was so much strife. Yes, sir? Well, for one thing,

Timothy was a Greek. And Silas and Timothy were not the high profile guys.

Paul is the agitator. Paul is the proclaimer of the Gospel. Paul is the reasoner in the synagogue.

Paul, who reminded people that he was a

Pharisee of the Pharisees, a rabbi. He's in the synagogue, so he's the central figure.

If we can get Paul out of here, we'd probably be okay. Silas and Timothy, you stay.

But Paul's command to them was, you come as soon as you can to let me know how things are going.

Charlie? No, no.

He was. He was probably a teenager. Or barely a teenager. What?

Maybe even 17 or 18. But I would say not in his 20's.

Probably. Okay? Hard to say. But young. Very young.

Absolutely. Okay, we're going to get to a place now where we actually can stop before Mike starts preaching.

Alright. At chapter 18. And here's the nub of the issue as far as the

Thessalonian letters are concerned. So you're going to leave today with the background. And then next week we'll pick it up and we'll hook these things together.

Practicing the Balaam School of Homiletics. After this, verse 1 of chapter 18.

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife

Priscilla. Now that's very interesting that this should be mentioned. It's also very verifying of the authenticity of the

New Testament. He was recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius, the emperor, had commanded all the

Jews to leave Rome. You say what? All the Jews were to leave

Rome? Now there are different versions of how this happened. It was either by decree and you guys have to get out of here or it was we're going to impose extra taxes on you.

In any case, a lot of Jews left Rome. You say why? What was the problem?

They had been in Rome for more than two centuries and had been getting along more or less well.

But now they are thrown out. And here's the deal.

A historian by the name of Suetonius talks about the expulsion of the

Jews by Claudius at about this time. It's about A .D. 50. And Suetonius says, the reason has something to do with someone called

Crestus. Oh really? So here we have the

Gospel being preached in Rome apparently. People in Rome.

Paul's not there. People in Rome coming to Christ and being

Christians and just like everything we have read, the Jews are mad. They're causing an uproar.

It's all about this Christ that is being proclaimed in Rome. You say how could that be? Paul wasn't there.

He even tells the Romans when he starts that book, I've never seen you guys, but I want you to be my sending church as I go to Spain.

And all of that. And here's the Bob theory. And the Bob theory is that on the day of Pentecost there were

Jews from Rome at the preaching of Peter.

They went back to Rome. And I think that could very possibly have been the genesis of the church at Rome.

And you remember when Paul is taken to Rome in Acts 28, he is met by believers on the road at three taverns and in Puteoli.

He is met by believers as he goes to Rome. In any case, the

Jews were causing a great uproar there because of this Crestus. Suetonius didn't really know what that deal was all about, but that was the nub of the issue.

So Paul went to see them, that is Quilla and Priscilla. And because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked for they were tent makers by trade.

And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade the Jews and Greeks.

Okay? So Paul is in Athens. Then he goes to Corinth. And now we come to 1st and 2nd

Thessalonians. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, do you remember?

They had received the command, You have those guys come to me as soon as they can. That's the last thing

Paul said as they spirited him off to Athens. Now he goes to Corinth, which is just like this.

Not very far. About that far on your map. Alright? So he's in Corinth, the

Las Vegas of the day. Alright? And there he is attempting to persuade

Jews and Greeks of the veracity of the Gospel and preaching Christ to them. Verse 5,

When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, the Thessalonians, Paul was occupied with the

Word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And it's right here, spring of A .D.

50, it's right at this point that Paul writes to the Thessalonians the first letter.

In the fall of A .D. 50, he will write the second letter. The two letters are almost one letter, separated by a summer.

Alright? And so the question has not adequately been answered, but we are in the bailout school of homiletics.

The question is, What was going on up there at Thessalonica? And the answer, in a nutshell, is they were getting beaten up pretty bad.

Persecution was very intense. And you see some of that in what we have read in Acts.

Alright? The intensity of the persecution of those who had come to Christ.

And that was going on in Thessalonica. So now we understand when we read in 1

Thessalonians 1, Paul commends them for hanging in there. Things are bad.

Understand that before Paul wrote this letter, he had just seen

Silas and Timothy, and here was their report. They're doing okay up there in Macedonia.

They're doing alright up there in Thessalonica and in Berea. They are hanging in there.

They are suffering for Christ. But they are not forsaking the name of Christ.

We are encouraged, I am sure, from this to do the same thing. Let me read to you in closing what

I consider to be the summary verses of at least the first letter to the

Thessalonians. Paul is telling them about something that we'll talk about next week. And he ends it,

Therefore, encourage one another with these words. And then he tells them about something else that we might get to look at next week, but maybe not until September.

Alright? And he ends that saying, Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up just as you are enduring.

Don't forget, this letter to the Thessalonians is a pastoral letter, first of all, to encourage them to hang in in the midst of great persecution.

You know, it has not been long since we were treated to pictures of people called

Christians in the Middle East, lined up on the seashore, being beheaded.

I don't know anything about their theology. You know? Are you a dispensationalist?

Are you a covenant theologian? Forget all of that. You know? Don't know anything about that.

What I know is this, that none of them that I saw in those pictures, that none of them recanted the name of Jesus.

And I've got to think, like Paul is thinking about the Thessalonians, hearing from Timothy, they're hanging in.

I've got to think that the Apostle Paul is saying it's a real deal.

So that when he writes to them in the letter, I know you are chosen. Why? Because there you are, suffering persecution for the name of Christ.

My assessment of what I saw of those pictures from the Middle East, without knowing any of the details about their theology, is

I know you were chosen. Why? Because you did not forsake the name of Christ when that happened.

And I'd leave it at that. Now, we could have the examination. But I'm just saying, that's what

I saw. That's what Paul heard from Timothy and Silas in these

Thessalonians. Thank You, Lord, for Your Word. We pray that we would find encouragement in it.

We pray that we would find encouragement by the integrity of the Scriptures, and understanding and seeing how they all fit together, how they hang together, how they are authentic in every respect, in what is said and what is recounted, and how it all fits together and what has been written.

We praise You for that. That's why we see Jesus in the Scriptures. Because it is true.

It is the truth about Him, the true and living God. It's in His name we pray now.