Sunday School: Comforted By Your Faith (1 Thessalonians 3:6-13)

The Comfort of Faith and Love in Thessalonica

You're listening to the teaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on this podcast, we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a New Testament book. On Thursday is a study in the Old Testament, and then we answer questions from the listeners on Friday.

Each Sunday, we are pleased to share our sermon series. Here's Pastor Gabe.

Reading 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Let's come to the scriptures this morning. We are in 1 Thessalonians chapter three. We're gonna be finishing up 1 Thessalonians three. 1 Thessalonians chapter three, beginning in verse six, and going to the end of the chapter.

And I'm going to be reading here this morning out of the English standard version. 1 Thessalonians three, starting in verse six. But now that Timothy 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.

For this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction, we have been comforted about you through your faith. For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. 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. 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.

Let's pray again briefly here this morning. Heavenly Father, as we look into this word today, I pray that we would be encouraged by what we read. We would be strengthened by these words, and we would draw all the more near to Jesus Christ, our Savior.

That we like the Apostle Paul would pray for one another, and encourage one another in this faith, as we grow in love toward each other, and love toward God, holding steadfastly to the promises of God that have been given to us through Jesus Christ.

It's in his precious name that we pray, amen. Now as Becky and I navigate parenting together, there are some things that I try to do to help my wife, especially since she spends a lot more time with the kids on a daily basis than I do.

So by the time I get home, she's usually pretty frustrated. She's done, she's dealt with all the drama, she's taken care of it. It's kind of like, now here they are, it's your turn. One thing I try to do to help her out with how much she has to stress over the kids, is I try to tell her, hey, if there's something that they've done that's particularly bad, and you've just kind of had it up to here, you've punished them enough, and your punishing is not seeming to have any effect, you just simply use this line on them.

You say, just wait till your daddy gets home. Just use that line, and then you go carry on about your business as you need to do it, and you leave the ultimate punishment that they're gonna receive up to me.

Even sometimes it's like, they do something disobedient, they get a spanking from mom, well that was bad, I didn't enjoy that, but now I'm gonna get a spanking from dad too when he gets home, so they know it's kind of a double whammy.

But anyway, so she just uses that line. You keep your head cool, but you just leave it to me when I get home. So you just say, wait until daddy gets home, and then they're living in fear the rest of the day, and hopefully that straightens them up, and they're being obedient to mom.

Because when it comes down to it, the kids understand, and you remember this about growing up with your parents as well. Mom is always the comforter, she's always the nurturer, dad is the one who doles out the punishment.

When you spill, you scrape your knee, when you get hurt or something like that, you don't run to dad, because he just says rub some dirt on it, you're gonna be fine. You run to mom, who's gonna kiss your boo-boos, and rub the ointment on it.

Now I didn't do that with my mom, because she would put hydrogen peroxide on all of my scrapes. That hurt. So I just kind of abstain from either parent. If I take a spill, I'm just gonna run to mom and dad, and it's gonna hurt worse than it already did.

So I'll deal with it, I'll find the Band-Aid, I'll patch it up. No, my mom was much better than that. But anyway, we think of mom as being the nurturer, and dad is the one that is giving out the punishment.

But the way that we give instruction is also different. Becky is very informational in the way that she educates the kids. Our children are all homeschooled, so they're receiving a homeschooling curriculum.

My instructions are a little bit more exhortational. So she's more informational, and mine's more exhortational. What do I mean by exhortational? We've talked about exhortation in previous weeks. There's something more imperative, right?

There's more of a do this. So I've taught you how to do this, and now you need to do it. And if they don't do the right thing, how do those reprimanding or rebuking talks go? It's usually something like, I've told you the right way that you should go, but you're not choosing the right way.

You're choosing instead to do the wrong thing, and so you're gonna be punished because you're doing wrong, and you even know that you're doing wrong. So sometimes that punishment is even a little more severe when they're deliberately rebelling.

But you see the difference in the parenting aspects. Mom is more the comforter and the nurturer. Dad is more the instructional guy and someone that would even apply exhortation to that instruction. It's not just giving information.

It's not just downloading information to my kids. It is telling them that they need to do something. Even when I lead my kids in devotionals, I don't just wanna tell them a story. So right now we're going through the Old Testament.

That's a lot of narrative, right? So we're in the book of Joshua, and we're going through stories about Jericho, and then the men losing at AI, and they lost because somebody had taken of the sacred things which God told them not to take.

Then they actually executed that man, and then God's presence was with them again, and they were able to conquer the men at AI, and so things like this. So it's more than just giving the kids a story, but actually telling them, now what do we need to learn by this?

Or even helping them to see, though we're in the Old Testament, how does this point us to Christ? What does this say about Jesus? And the relationship that we have with God through him? So as a parent, I'm a little more exhortational with my instruction.

Becky might be a little bit more informational. Now, Paul kinda does that even here with the Thessalonians. This is why I bring this up. Now, we've talked about this previously because in 1 Thessalonians 2 .7, Paul said, we were gentle among you like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.

And then in verse 11, he says, for you know how like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you, gave you instructions to walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

Now, Paul said that in chapter two, but you actually see these themes over and over again through 1 Thessalonians. There will be sections where Paul is very comforting. He's very encouraging, very nurturing, just like a mother with her children.

There's not a lot of do this in those particular sections. I'm gonna tell you to do this. You guys need to be more like this, grow up in the Lord, you know. He doesn't do that there. In those sections where he's being very comforting, he's exercising that nursing mother kind of tone.

But then he'll flip the script and it's not bipolar in any way. It's still very loving and affectionate, but he goes from being nurturing and encouraging to boom, now we're getting into exhortation. Now I'm telling you to do something.

So in light of this, here's what you need to do. Here's the action that needs to follow in the faith that you have. What does this look like this morning? What we've read through here, 1 Thessalonians 3, 6 through 13.

Does this look exhortational or does this look encouraging? Yeah, look at that. The title, if you have the ESV Bible, there's even the word encouraging right there over the section. Timothy's encouraging report.

So what might be the theme here that we're looking at in this section? It's more encouraging, right? This is more that nurturing aspect of it. Now let's look ahead. Let's look to the next section we're gonna look at next week.

Chapter 4 verses 1 through 8. Just look at the first line. Does that sound more encouraging or does that sound more exhortational? That sounds exhortational, right? So he's gonna go into the exhorting father mode in the section we're gonna look at next week, which is verses 1 through 8.

So you'll see how he goes back and forth like this throughout the letter. There will be times where he's like that encouraging, nurturing mother, and then there's times when he's gonna be like that exhortational, imperative father.

Now it's not that he's being disciplinary. I made the distinction between the way that Becky might discipline and the way that I discipline. That's not necessarily the tone because the Thessalonians don't seem to be doing anything wrong that needs stern correction, unlike the tone that Paul has in his letters to the Corinthians and to the Galatians.

That's not with the Thessalonians. Now there may need to be some behaviors that need to be corrected, and we see that a little more strongly in the next letter in 2 Thessalonians than in this one. There's certainly gonna be a list of imperatives that comes in chapter five, but where we see kind of the tonal switch through 1 Thessalonians is between being encouraging and being exhortational, from going to being a nurturing mother to being an exhorting father.

Timothy's Encouraging Report

So this section is very much encouraging. Look again at verse six. But now that Timothy 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, verse seven, for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and afflictions, we have been comforted about you through your faith.

So remember, once again, how we had kind of finished up last week. In chapter three, verses one through five, Paul said that we couldn't bear it any longer. We had to find out how you were doing. And so we sent Timothy to find out how you were.

Now in chapter two, verse 17, Paul said, since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time in person, not in heart, we endeavored all the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face.

Remember the word that's used there for being torn away from you is the same word for orphan. So we see those continual parenting themes that come up through 1 Thessalonians. And on several different occasions, especially in chapter two, nurturing mother, exhorting father, we've been orphaned from you because of the persecution that they had received there in Thessalonica and Paul and Silas and his missionary brethren had to be rushed out very quickly because of that, they felt orphaned from the Thessalonians or that the Thessalonians had been left abandoned.

Their spiritual parents had been torn from them. These who had taught us the gospel, we had never heard it before. We had just come to faith and suddenly the missionaries who had been teaching us about Christ aren't with us anymore.

And so Paul's distress and his concern was what's happening to the Thessalonians right now while we're where we are. He had gone on from there to Berea and then had gone on to Athens and now was in Corinth at the time that he sends Timothy back to find out how the Thessalonians are doing.

He's been in several other cities by the time Timothy goes and sees how they are and then comes back with his report. Now, Timothy was sent out while they were in Athens. He was in Corinth by the time Timothy came back to him and gave him the report of what was going on.

So Paul was willing to be separated from Timothy for a time, a very trusted servant, one that he needed in his company and yet sent Timothy to the Thessalonians so that Timothy could encourage them. Remember, we read that last week, that he would establish and exhort you in your faith.

That was in chapter three, verse two. So he's teaching them the word of God when he's there. He's not just going to Thessalonica to kind of poke his head in the church and go, well, let's see, they're still singing hymns, still preaching the word, looks pretty good to me.

So now I'm going to go tell Paul how they were doing. Now, he stayed with them for a time and probably longer than they had been with the Thessalonians in the first place, encouraging them and exhorting them, establishing them in their faith, which how did he do that?

How did Timothy establish and exhort them? Through the preaching of the word, right? So that's what Timothy does while he's with them there in Thessalonica and then comes back to Paul and says, things are going great.

They were believers holding steadfastly to the gospel that we gave them when we were there. And while I was there, I talked to them about you and they loved it. They still love you fondly, affectionately.

They love all of us. Great to hear how you're doing because remember the Thessalonians knew how they had been persecuted in Philippi before they came to Thessalonica and then even how Paul would go on to be persecuted in other cities.

And yet they rejoice to hear that you're doing well. Furthermore, Timothy says to Paul, I was preaching there in their midst and they soaked it all up. They loved every word. These are genuine godly believers that are growing in the Lord according to his word, according to the scriptures.

And so Timothy has come back with this report and he's brought us the good news of your faith, the good news of your love. And he's reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us as we long to see you.

You know, John says in 1 John that the reason why people do not receive you talking to the churches that he's addressing, the reason they don't receive you is because they didn't receive us. Talking about the apostles that came with this message.

And the reason why they don't receive us, the reason why they don't receive the message of the apostles is why? Because they don't receive Christ. Because they're enemies of God. So Paul rejoices to hear that the Thessalonians are receptive of Paul.

If they had rejected Paul, they're rejecting Christ too. Remember that previously Paul said to the Thessalonians, this is a word that comes not from us, it comes from God. And even next week when we look at 1 Thessalonians 4, one through eight, Paul is gonna encourage them to sexual purity.

And in verse eight he says, whoever disregards this instruction, disregards not man but God who gives his Holy Spirit to you. So several times over the course of this letter, he makes sure they understand the word that he is writing to them is not the word of a man.

It is a word that comes from God. And surely as the Thessalonians have received Paul, they're gonna receive God's word. If they reject Paul, then they're rejecting Christ. Because an apostle is one who is sent by Christ to preach the message of Christ to the world.

If they reject the one that has been sent by God, then they reject God himself. Remember Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, blessed are you when others persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account, rejoice and be glad for great is your reward in heaven.

For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. If they hated the prophets, they're gonna hate you. If they hate you, it's because they hate God. The rejection of God's prophet was a rejection of God himself.

The rejection of an apostle of Jesus Christ is a rejection of Christ himself. Recently, Dr. Owen Strand had a debate online with another minister whose name escapes me at the present. I didn't write it down for this example this morning either.

But they were talking about wokeness and the threat that wokeness is to the church. And this man, as he was debating Dr. Strand on this particular, it was like a live YouTube broadcast. When he was making his remarks, he said that he has a hermeneutic of skepticism whenever he listens to the apostle Paul.

So he said, I love Christ, but I'm skeptical about Paul. And I be careful about the words that come from this man. And Dr. Strand always has a really good poker face whenever he's debating these guys.

I've watched several debates and even conversations that he's had with unbelievers on YouTube. He always manages to keep a good face. But in that moment, when that guy said that, boy, he lost his poker face.

You can see he rolled his head back and it was like, whoo, you know. He made that shape with his mouth, but that sound didn't come. I'm just kind of filling in the blank of what sound he was probably making in his mind as this guy was making this comment.

He thinks that he's a pious guy. I love Jesus, but I'm skeptical about Paul. Then you're skeptical about Christ. If you're rejecting the words of the apostle Paul, you're rejecting the words of Christ.

For the apostles were appointed to take Christ's word to the world. Paul was just as credible as Peter, whose word was just as credible as Christ himself. And sometimes I think we forget this when we read the gospels.

When you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you're not actually reading words that Jesus wrote. Do you understand that? Like Jesus in his earthly ministry never sat down with parchment and pen and wrote down things that he wanted us to read.

All that we have in the gospels, if you have a red letter Bible, everything that's in red letters, all of that comes from the testimony of an apostle. Do you understand that? So even the red letters come from an apostle, not from Jesus sitting down and writing the words.

Now, of course, we know that all those words, whether you're talking about Matthew, you're talking about Genesis, you're talking about first Thessalonians, whatever, all of these words are God's words.

It is the Holy Spirit working through these men whom God has appointed to say what God wanted them to say. As we read about when we were in 2 Peter 1, no prophecy comes by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

So these are most definitely God's words. First Thessalonians is as much the word of Christ as Matthew is. But the point simply to make that Jesus never sat down with pen and parchment and wrote these words.

Even the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the testimony of an apostle who are recalling the words that came from Christ. Jesus said in the upper room that when I depart, I'm gonna give my spirit to you and he's going to bring back to your mind all that I've said to you.

And you will be taught further to understand deep things of God that you did not understand even in the time that Christ was with them and was teaching them. So the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth is what Jesus said.

So receiving an apostle is the same as to receive Christ himself. Receiving one another, like your brothers and sisters in the Lord right here in this room, to receive one another is the same as receiving Christ himself.

If you reject your brother or sister in the Lord, it's the same as rejecting Christ. Remember that Paul was persecuting the church and what did Jesus say to him when he appeared to him on the road to Damascus?

Exactly. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? And Saul's response to that was what? Who are you, Lord? Right? How am I persecuting you? This bright light shining from heaven that's knocked me to the ground that is speaking to me, I'm persecuting you somehow, but Christ so associates himself with his church that the persecution of his church is the same as if you were persecuting Christ himself.

So if you reject your brother or sister in the Lord, it's the same as if you reject Christ. Also in 1 John, it says, if you have the world's goods, but you see your brother in need and you don't help your brother who is in need, how is the love of God in you?

Furthermore, it said in 1 John that if you say you love God, but you hate your brother, you're a liar and the truth is not in you. So receiving one another in the faith is the same as showing our love and affection for Christ.

Paul says here to the Thessalonians, we heard and have come to know of your faith and love. It was reported to us, you always remember us kindly and you long to see us as we long to see you. Verse seven, for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction, we've been comforted about you through your faith.

This was during a time when there wasn't Facebook, there's not email, there's no text messages. It's not like they could pull up the church website and see how the church was doing there in Thessalonica.

Paul's been driven from them suddenly, he's had to go on to other places as led by the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel there. He has no idea how the Thessalonians are doing. And one of the interesting things about this too is that the Holy Spirit isn't telling him how the Thessalonians are doing, have you noticed that?

So there's among like a certain charismatic strain, there's this belief that whatever God has the ability to do or whatever Christ had the ability to do, we have the ability to do as well. And so if God is omnipresent, he's everywhere, the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, then therefore we can know everything that the Holy Spirit knows.

But even here in this moment, an apostle of Jesus Christ himself doesn't know what's going on in this other church and the Holy Spirit isn't informing him as to what's going on in that church. Now, why would that be?

I mean, God could just easily comfort Paul by saying, Paul, focus on what you're doing in Athens and Corinth or whatever else, I'm taking care of the church in Thessalonica. God could have told him that, why didn't he?

To perfect Paul in his love and his desire for this other church. If the Holy Spirit speaks to Paul and just tells him, hey, Paul, everything's going on fine in Thessalonica, don't worry about it, would we ever read this letter?

Would we ever know about it? Would Paul have sent Timothy to Thessalonica to encourage and exhort them and establish them in their faith? If the Holy Spirit tells Paul, hey, everything there is going fine.

The Lord works in mysterious ways. And this is God's plan for the Thessalonians, that they would be encouraged and grown in such a way, in such a longing, such a struggle that they were going through in the afflictions and the persecutions that even they were experiencing.

Paul and his men are afflicted by persecutions, the Thessalonians are being persecuted by their own fellow citizens. And yet they hold fast to Christ. And God is perfecting them in this. He perfects us in our suffering.

That we would continue to hold fast to Christ and we would be comforted even in the midst of our affliction. Where we are right now, keep a marker in 1 Thessalonians and turn over to 2 Corinthians 1. Turn to 2 Corinthians 1.

And whenever I've had somebody who's come to me and has said, what's a good book of the Bible that I can read when I'm afflicted, when I need comfort in the midst of affliction? And they might say, yeah, I know the Psalms are there.

I know that there's, you know, prayers holding fast to God in the midst of struggles. I've been reading the Psalms, but what else? What else can I read? I'll send them to 2 Corinthians. This is quite a book to read when you need comfort in the midst of affliction.

Because Paul talks about the comforts that he received in his afflictions in this particular letter. Not the first one, not 1 Corinthians, but rather 2 Corinthians. So look at 2 Corinthians 1, beginning in verse 3.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our what? Affliction. So that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

What's the theme going on here? Comfort, right? We're seeing that word over and over again. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. Boy, that's good news.

We hear many times through the scriptures that we share in Christ's sufferings, but we also share in his comfort. Verse 6, if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. And if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.

Our hope for you is unshaken. For we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia, for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.

You ever heard it said that God will never give you more than you can handle? Yeah, that's a lie from the pit of hell. The reality is God may very well give you more than you can handle. Paul here feeling like that he's been given more than he can handle to the point that he despaired of life itself.

Keep that in mind when we go back to 1 Thessalonians here in just a moment. But what was the reason for this? Why experience that kind of suffering and hardship that he would even despair of life? Why would God give us more than we can handle?

Verse nine, indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. Why would God allow us to go through such suffering and persecution, even as his children?

Number one, we share in the sufferings of Christ, but number two, to make us cling all the more to Christ, to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. And as Paul says in Romans eight, if God is for us, who can be against us?

And we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Let me even go on from here, verse 10. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him, we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. So we would be persecuted even so that you, Paul says, would rely more on God who raises the dead.

Comfort in Affliction and the Hope of Perseverance

Let's go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter three. So remember, Paul said that we had received such affliction that we despaired of life itself. To the Thessalonians, he says, for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction, we have been comforted about you through your faith.

We were in distress, not knowing how things were going in Thessalonica, but now we've been comforted to know that you have remained steadfast in this faith that we had shared with you through the preaching of the gospel.

And now look at what he says in verse eight. For now we live if you are standing fast in the Lord. Like this news that has come to Paul about how the Thessalonians are doing, this is, it's like it's rejuvenated him.

It's given him new life. He has such strength now that he can go on preaching as he needs to preach in Corinth and is that much more comforted in his spirit to know that the sufferings that we went through when we were in Thessalonica for the sake of those Thessalonians, it's all been for a great and ultimate godly purpose.

It wasn't in vain. It wasn't empty. It didn't amount to nothing. It's turning out to be something that these believers are growing in their faith. And boy, Paul is just filled all the more with joy because of that.

And giving credit to them. You know, you think about how uplifted the Thessalonians would be to hear that. Hearing about our faith is encouraging the apostle Paul and the gospel is continuing to go to the nations because we've been able to be an encouragement to him.

It's in Proverbs chapter 18. I was reading in Proverbs just last night. Proverbs 18, there's a proverb that says that a man's spirit can endure all kinds of sickness. But when a man's spirit is broken, who can stand it?

You think about the willpower that a person has to fight cancer. And you can go through all kinds of difficult treatments, sickness, illness, whatever medications that they give you to make you feel worse than you felt when you first received that diagnosis of cancer.

Amen, right. But yet there's that spirit, there's that strength to wanna push through that and continue on. You can endure all kinds of illness if you have a strong spirit to push through that. But when the spirit is broken, you could be in the peak of health in your own physical body and yet feel like you can't go on.

How do we find strength and encouragement in those days? We have to turn to Christ. We can't sustain ourselves in the midst of any circumstance. I mean, even the good times that you experience can't sustain you.

We have to cling to Christ. And we find that new vitality, that new joy, that enlivening through the good promises that come through Jesus. To recognize that in Christ, our sins are forgiven. God doesn't hold anything against us.

That in Christ, the creator of the universe is on our side. And so though I may go through all the difficult things and circumstances that I go through in this life, yet they're not gonna destroy me. My body may fail, but I'm with Christ.

I am seated with Christ forever in the heavenly places. Amen. And when Christ who is my life appears, then I will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3, 4. We go through these things that we would rely not on our circumstances, not on our bodies to sustain us, not on good times, not on great feelings, not on good mental or physical health.

We go through these difficult times by the blessing of God that we would rely more on him who raises the dead. Paul is enlivened all the more by the good news of what's going on there in Thessalonica.

And he says to them in verses nine and 10, for what thanksgiving can we return to God for you? For all the joy that we feel for your sake before our 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.

In other words, talking about growing them all the more in the faith that they have in Jesus Christ. And certainly Paul is gonna do that even as this letter continues. Remember that in that section that we read in 2 Corinthians 1, Paul encouraged the Corinthians to participate in prayer, pray for us, that you may endure these things with us and you too would be perfected in your prayers.

And so he encourages the Thessalonians to pray as he prays for them. We pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face. Now look at this prayer, this closes out this section, but we've finished kind of part one of the letter, chapters one, two, and three.