WWUTT 487 Mentioning You In Our Prayers?

What a joy it would have been for the Thessalonians to have received a letter from the

Apostle Paul. So encouraging as the start of this letter is. So we must be encouraging to one another when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

Thank you, Becky, my wonderful bride with whom we are celebrating our anniversary today.

Looking forward to many, many more wonderful years with this woman that I love so much.

We are going to continue our study of the book of First Thessalonians today. I'm going to read through the whole first chapter and then pick up where we left off yesterday.

So the Apostle Paul, along with Silvanus and Timothy, wrote to the church of the

Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace.

Verse two, we give thanks to God always for all of you, 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. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the

Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake.

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you receive the word in much affliction with the joy of the

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

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.

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. So we go back here to verse two, where Paul says, we give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers and remembering before our

God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness and hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

I wonder if one of the reasons why Paul expresses such a high thanks for the

Thessalonians is because of the negative experience he otherwise had there in Thessalonica.

And I mean from maybe the narrative standpoint. So Paul was there preached in three

Sabbaths in the synagogue. Then he went out to the Gentiles and maybe preached for another three weeks.

We're not really told. We just know that his time there in Thessalonica was very brief before the

Jews rose up against him and drove him out because of this gospel of Jesus Christ that he was proclaiming, that their sacred

Old Testament texts were pointing to Christ as this Messiah whom they crucified in Jerusalem.

So they're going, no, no, no, no, no. This is blasphemy for Paul to be saying that this man is God. No way.

And so they sought to do Paul harm. And it was late at night that Paul and Silas, who is

Silvanus here mentioned at the start of the letter, we talked about that yesterday, had to be smuggled out in the middle of the night.

And so the Thessalonians may have been left wondering, what if Paul just forgets about us? Because, boy, that just was not a pleasant thing that he went through here.

His life was threatened. Our lives are being threatened as Christians. Would Paul ever even come back to us?

Would he ever even reconsider Thessalonica again after all that he went through?

And yet Paul writes to them with such great joy in his words. We thank

God for you. I'm thankful for you. I don't regret the time that I had there in Thessalonica. It was all worth it because you came to know the

Lord. Furthermore, the testimony about you is going out through Macedonia and Achaia.

There are other people who are coming to the faith because of what they have heard about you. You repented from idols.

You worship the true God. You received the the gospel with much affliction.

So just as there are others in the surrounding area who are being persecuted for their faith, they are holding steadfast and strong by the example of you.

If the Thessalonians can do it, so can we. And there are others who are remaining true to the faith that is being proclaimed because the

Thessalonians tested everything. Paul commends them in that in chapter five and tells them to do it all the more.

And then we read about that also in Acts 17, when after Paul went from Thessalonica, he went to nearby

Berea. And of course, I mean, the Bereans are famous for always testing what it was that Paul said.

So they didn't just automatically accept the word of a person who claimed to be an apostle of Jesus Christ.

They tested it according to the scriptures. And it's by the word of God that they affirmed that what

Paul was saying was true. And he was indeed an apostle of the Lord. And so the

Thessalonians did this. But then when you read about it, read about the Bereans in Acts 17, it says that they were even more diligent than the

Thessalonians to test all things. So that's to suggest that the Thessalonians were very testing of the words of Paul and the

Bereans even more so. So by that example that the Thessalonians set, there were others that came to know the word of God more fervently and hold fast to it more strongly by the example that was set forth by them.

So this is a way that Paul means to encourage very jubilantly the faith that the

Thessalonians have, the camaraderie that he has with them, how fondly he thinks of them.

He's not forgotten about them. In fact, he'll even come back and see them again. He sent Timothy to them.

That was a show of love in itself, since Timothy was such a favored student of Paul's, his his protege,

Paul would send Timothy to someone who he truly deeply cared about. If Paul could make it himself, it was like Timothy was the next best thing.

So that in itself was a show of affection to the Thessalonians. And for Paul to include these names at the start to say, hey, there are people praying for you, like our entourage of missionaries associated with the

Apostle Paul. We are praying for you, Paul, Silas, Timothy, others in our company.

We give thanks to God always for all of you constantly mentioning you in our prayers.

How much does it mean to you when you hear that somebody is praying for you?

And they've prayed for you by name. This isn't just generic prayers. God, I pray for all my friends.

God, I pray for my family. But you received a message from somebody saying, you know,

Jan, I was thinking about you today and I prayed for you and was thinking about the circumstances that you're going through and praising

God that you're holding steadfast in the midst of all the the struggles and the trials that you are facing.

And that is a testimony to me. And I'm thankful for the witness that you are that you are giving others in Christ, even in the midst of your circumstances.

How much does that mean to you to hear that somebody is praying for you?

Not just some generic, hey, I'm I'm praying for everybody this week or something like that, but somebody has said that they are praying for you.

That's what that would have meant to the Thessalonians. I I would even imagine that is this letter was being read in the the assembly of the

Thessalonians gathered together for church. They're going, hey, we've got a letter from the Apostle Paul.

And they're kind of even wondering, oh, what what can we expect? Did Timothy come back to Paul with a good report about us?

You know, there was there was this problem also going on among the Thessalonians that some of them weren't working and they knew that.

So it was like, where are we all going to get rebuked now? Because some of us are not being faithful to our our labor and the work of our hands that we're supposed to be doing.

Instead, there are some of us that are mooching off of others. Is this going to be a rebuke? I almost wonder if that may have been in the minds of the

Thessalonians. Boy, we went through such tough things when Paul was here. We we are doubting some of the things that he talked about.

We're not real clear on the whole day of the Lord thing. So is Paul going to write to us with a rebuke? And yet when he opens this by talking about how thankful he is for the

Thessalonians, constantly mentioning them in their prayers and and talking about being chosen by God, that they are among the elect.

This is coming from the apostle. And he even gives examples. We're going to talk about this. He gives examples as to how he knows that they're elect.

This isn't some declaration he's making as an apostle. I have the authority of Christ, so I can say that you're elect.

He gives the evidences so they can even see it among themselves. Here's how you can know that you are among the elect of God.

I have to say, especially considering the persecution they were going through at this time,

I think that there were tears just in the introduction. The Thessalonians listening to this and just weeping with joy to hear the friendship that was coming from Paul and his missionary brethren and the encouragement that he offers to them to remain steadfast and also to affirm for them that they are truly

Christians in this work and their steadfastness in the faith is bringing others to the faith.

That's one of the evidences that we know that the fruit of the spirit is at work in your lives.

You have been called by God. You have been chosen by him and you are among his kingdom people.

We're kingdom brethren here. And that would have been so warm to the Thessalonians to have heard that that kind of friendship from the apostle

Paul. This is this is moving like this is awesome friendship language. This is one of my favorite letters to open with and consider the kind how

I should be as a pastor when it comes to showing friendship and endearment.

Is that a word being endearing toward others within my own congregation, how

I can be an encouragement to them? I think of the first chapter of First Thessalonians, how warm Paul was.

And there are some things that he needs to address and even correct among the Thessalonians.

There may have been some resistance in their own church to even submitting to the authority of eldership.

We'll see that when we get to chapter five, the instruction that Paul gives to being submissive to elders.

So there may have even been some of that. Yeah, there was some things to correct there, but they were going through serious persecution and enduring.

This isn't like the Corinthians who were I mean, they were they were even denying essential doctrines.

They were divided. There was segregation. They were acting like pagans and trying to adopt pagan customs and Christianizing them in the church, still being able to do the stuff that we did when we were worshiping in idolatrous temples, misusing the

Lord's Supper, suing brothers and sisters in Christ, sexual immorality, which was one of the biggest things in the church in Corinth.

And so and yet Paul did open that first letter or at least the first letter that we have in canon, first Corinthians with praise and thanks to the

Corinthians because they were brothers in the Lord. Nonetheless, some big, big things that needed to be addressed on the misbehaviors that Paul had heard about in the church.

So he's very brief on his thanks at the beginning of the letter. He's thankful that they have heard the gospel and believe it.

They haven't totally abandoned the faith, but unless they correct these things, they're in jeopardy of apostasy.

So the way that he opens that letter, first Corinthians is much different than first Thessalonians.

The Corinthians weren't necessarily experiencing persecution in Corinth because they looked so much like the rest of the

Corinthians. There probably wasn't anything to be persecuted over. It's just, well, they're proclaiming

Jesus instead of the gods we worship. But who cares? They act just like us. You know, that's there wasn't a whole lot of there was ridicule that was certainly going on in Corinth because some of them were engaging in behaviors that, as Paul talks about in first Corinthians five is not even acceptable among the pagans.

So they were ridiculed for that. Their their witness was diminished because of that kind of behavior.

Therefore, they weren't being persecuted. Not a lot that Paul praised the Corinthians for.

But you contrast the way that Paul opens first Corinthians with the way that he begins first Thessalonians.

And this is just awesome friendship language. This is so kind and endearing and shepherding.

First Thessalonians is shepherding as well, but it's more from the angle of rebuke. This is encouraging.

This this is like a good head coach who wants to motivate his players going into the game, not bringing them down for denying and rejecting and forgetting the fundamentals.

That's not the way that that Paul is addressing the Thessalonians here. This is a wonderful, brotherly language, just as we've read in a lot of these letters is as how the word beloved gets used to show that affection for the audience that the apostle is writing to.

Just think of first Thessalonians chapter one as a great big beloved.

This is Paul taking that one word and expanding it out into like a whole chapter. Again, we give thanks to God always for all of you constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before God, our father, your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our

Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there are there are two occasions here in this first chapter where the return of Christ is mentioned.

And this is the first here in verse three, where Paul reminds them of their steadfastness of hope in their

Lord Jesus Christ. So even though he's going to address in this letter things that they're confused about concerning the return of Christ, nonetheless, they are still hopeful for the return of Christ, even if they don't quite have their eschatological doctrine right.

OK, to use a theology word on you there, even though they may not be right on that doctrine, they're not sure some different thoughts, ideas, the

Greco -Roman influence still affecting their judgment concerning the return of Christ. Nonetheless, they're anticipating the return of Christ.

They're hopeful for it, even though they might be confused about it. And so Paul commends them for that, the steadfastness of hope that they have in their

Lord Jesus Christ, that he's going to return. What hope do they have in Christ if they if they're not anticipating his return?

So that's why that language is used there. A steadfastness of hope in our

Lord Jesus Christ. Paul commends them for that, even though he's going to have to address that. And that's coming up later on.

For we know, brothers, verse four, for we know, comma, brothers loved by God, comma.

You know, this is more than just more than just referring to them as brothers. But they're they're brothers loved by God as we are, as you are.

You are our brothers because we're all loved by God. This is love.

Not that we loved God, but that he first loved us and gave his son as a propitiation for our sins, that from John.

So Paul is kind of giving that sentiment to the Thessalonians here as well.

We know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you. We know that we're talking about that, like among the missionary brethren who are praising

God for the Thessalonians and your witness to the surrounding area. We are praising

God for you being chosen. And what a comfort that was to the

Thessalonians, that this is not just a declaration that's coming from Paul, but it's being talked about among the missionaries, that they have been chosen by God.

How do we know that? How do we know, though we are so far from you? Paul is writing from Corinth when he sends this letter to the

Thessalonians. So how can he know if he's not personally with them, that they have truly been chosen by God, not just leaving them with his word on the matter, but giving them evidences according to the

Holy Spirit. Verse five, because our gospel came to you, not only in word, but in power and in the

Holy Spirit and with full conviction, not just because we came and preached, but because the transformation of the

Holy Spirit was seen among you and the fruit of the Spirit has been displayed. There's evidence of that.

And with full conviction, as he talks about in verse nine, you turn from your idol worship and began to worship the true and living

God. And so that's the evidence of the conviction that you left your former ways.

You were no longer walking in the old man. You became a new creation in Christ, the conviction of the

Holy Spirit upon your hearts to no longer be idol factories, but to worship the true and living

God. It was John Calvin who said that the heart is an idol factory. We're constantly churning out things to exalt above God.

And the Thessalonians were doing that quite literally in the sense of idol worship, that they had statues that they worshipped and pagan temples that they worshipped at and no longer continued in those things.

They left it full repentance, turn around about face 180 degrees in the other direction.

They were no longer walking in the old way, the old worship, but they were worshipping God with full conviction.

The definition of faith that is given for us in Hebrews 11. One faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

We are so sure in what is being proclaimed to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ that we are convicted to obey it.

So the Thessalonians did not just hear and believe, but they they affirmed that belief by their obedience.

They showed the evidence of faith in their lives by obeying the commands of Christ.

And that's what Paul is bringing to them. Like he's saying to them, look, look at the evidence of your of your sure faith in that you were convicted by the gospel when it was proclaimed to you.

You turn from your sin, your idol worship, your sinful practices, the things that idol worship produces like sexual immorality, malice, hateful speech, complaining and arguing, all the things that are reflective of a person who is not following God.

You turn from all of that, the idol worship and what is produced from idol worship, the behaviors that follow with idol worship.

And instead, you turn to God worship and exemplified behaviors that should be among Christians that come from a

Christ worshiper. So this is the proof, the evidence of the conviction of the spirit that has occurred in their lives.

And he says after the period there. So it's still verse five. You know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake.

And this is Paul saying, we believe that you're following our example. Verse six, you became imitators of us and of the

Lord. So if Paul's going to call himself a Christian, he would have to call the Thessalonians Christians because they became imitators of the the apostle, the missionaries that came and brought this word to them and became and therefore became imitators of the

Lord, as Paul said to the Corinthians, first Corinthians 11, one, the imitators of me as I am of Christ.

So this this is that same message for the Thessalonians. You imitated us and we are of the

Lord. And so therefore you're imitators of the Lord. Perhaps you've seen like a meme or a quote that floats around on on Facebook every once in a while that says

Jesus didn't say to follow others. He said to follow me. And that's true.

I mean, when it comes to following someone to eternal life, Christ is the way and there is no other.

When it comes to coming before the father, we get there by no other means but Christ Jesus, our

Lord. We cannot follow any person to the throne room of God. It is only through our high priest,

Jesus Christ, that we have access to God. Jesus said, John 14, six, I am the way, the truth and the life.

No one comes to the father but by me. So in that sense, the quote is true. But the Bible does say we are to follow the examples that have been set before us.

Hebrews 13, remember those who delivered the word of God to you and imitate their faith.

And Paul is even going to say further to the Thessalonians here to follow the examples of the elders that are among them and that they are to follow the example that they set before them as well when they were in Thessalonica.

So we do have human examples that have been set before us in God, in Christ Jesus, that we are to follow and imitate.

They are the earthly examples of our heavenly savior.

And so Paul encourages that, encourages the Thessalonians in affirming their faith, their sure salvation that they have in Jesus Christ.

So as he will go on to teach them more things in this letter that they will receive it with, you know, as though Paul is encouraging their sanctification, not saying to them, you still need to be justified, guys.

You've not yet gotten there yet. That's that's not the way Paul is addressing this. He is teaching and growing his fellow brothers and sisters in the

Lord. And so the Thessalonians are ready to receive that with great joy. And I hope also you're ready to receive more of this teaching as we'll come back to this letter tomorrow.

Let us pray. Our Lord God, we give thanks to you for the salvation that has been given, been given to us in Christ Jesus.

And I pray that we would likewise be mindful of our brothers and sisters in the faith and the things that they are going through so that we would remember them before our

God and father, their work of faith and labor of love and the steadfastness of hope that they have in our

Lord Jesus Christ. For how long has it been since that brother or sister whose behavior we observe, whose steadfastness that we can see?

How long has it been since they've heard an encouraging word from somebody?

How much do they feel like they're going through this alone? And yet I could be an encouragement to them.

So I pray that by what we've read here today, that we'll be more mindful of our brothers and sisters and encouraging of them and growing in friendship in our

Lord Christ. For God is our friend through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And what a blessing that is that we can call upon Jesus as friend.

What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear as the old hymn goes.

It's in his name that we pray. Amen. Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.