Queen Vashti Deposed (Esther): 2,500 years ago, in the Kingdom of Persia, King Xerxes hosted an extravagant party as a lavish display of his power and wealth, but instead revealed his foolish pride and insecurity. He demanded that his wife, Queen Vashti, entertain his guests, but she refused and was deposed. This sets the stage for Esther to become the queen, but also points to the need for a better King. Recorded on Jul 6, 2025, on Esther 1 by Pastor Nate Huber.
This sermon is part of our series, For Such A Time As This, from the book of Esther in the Bible. Twenty-five hundred years ago, a courageous young Jewish woman named Esther became queen of Persia. Far from home, Esther and her cousin Mordecai had to navigate palace politics, power, and danger to prevent the annihilation of their people. They needed humility, wisdom, and extraordinary courage. Esther’s story is dramatic, inspiring, and surprising. Because while God’s name is never mentioned, His fingerprints are everywhere. In our series, we’re reminded that God has faithfully worked behind the scenes in a lot of messed-up situations with messy people for a long time now. He did it then. He can do it again. But will we have the courage to do the right thing, whatever the cost?
7 Final Instructions for a Faithful Church (1 Thessalonians): Of course, we must be faithful as individual Christians. But what does a faithful church look like? A faithful church will pay close attention to how we treat one another, the attitudes we share, and the kind of people we’re becoming together in Christ. Isn’t this the kind of church you’d want to be part of? Recorded on Jun 29, 2025, on 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28 by Pastor David Parks.
This sermon is part of our series on 1 Thessalonians called Faithful to the End. Being a Christian in the Greek, first-century city of Thessalonica was tough. Thessalonica was a big and prosperous city, but it was full of idols. The Apostle Paul and the first Christians there faced fierce religious persecution and tremendous political pressure to conform. But despite their suffering, they remained faithful. Our culture is different today, but following Jesus can still be very costly. Will we be faithful to the end?
Sermon Transcript
Well, we’ve come to the end of our sermon series on 1 Thessalonians called Faithful to the End. As I’ve said, I’m very excited to start a new sermon series for July and August called For Such A Time As This from the book of Esther in the OT. Esther is a wild story. Have you ever been in a messed-up situation and wondered, “What is God doing here? Where is God in this story?” Esther teaches us that God has faithfully worked behind the scenes in a lot of messed-up situations with messy people for a long time now. That will start next Sunday. But today, as we bring this series to a close, the Apostle Paul closes his letter to his dear friends with a series of rapid-fire bullet points that I’m calling “7 Final Instructions for a Faithful Church.” Is this a good idea? Probably not. It’s usually best to only have one big idea for a sermon, not seven. But here goes. Throughout this series, we’ve said that the Greek first-century city of Thessalonica was a tough place for Christians. The big city was full of idols, there was fierce religious persecution, and tremendous political pressure to conform. But thankfully, the early Christians there remained faithful. Of course, our culture is different today, but following Jesus can still be very costly. Will we be faithful to the end? How can we stand firm regardless of the cost? Well, we’ve considered a number of lessons from 1 Thessalonians about that. If you missed any of those sermons, you can always go back and watch or listen online if you’d like. But today, as we bring this to a close, I’d like to remind you that if you say yes to Jesus, it’s not just you and Jesus; you get the church, too. And we can’t only think about being faithful as individual Christians. We must be faithful as a church! And a faithful church is going to pay close attention to how we treat one another, the attitudes we share, and the type of people we’re becoming together in Christ. If you have your Bible/app, please open it to 1Th 5:12.
1 Thessalonians 5:12–13a (NIV), “12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work.” Now, Paul isn’t writing this because he’s fishing for compliments, or because he felt unloved in Thessalonica. He’s talking about the local leaders of the church. Lesson 1: A faithful church has faithful leaders. Now, we’re not sure if these elders/overseers were appointed by Paul before he left, which we see in places like Acts 14. Or if perhaps Timothy appointed them when he went back to check on them. Paul had Titus do that for the church on the island of Crete. Nevertheless, Paul asks the members of the church, his brothers and sisters in Christ, to acknowledge/recognize them for their work. He says these faithful leaders work hard among you. They care for you in the Lord. And they admonish you. Faithful ministry is hard work. Spiritual growth is painfully slow. Life can come at you quickly, and sometimes the needs of even a small church can be overwhelming. But a faithful pastor or elder or ministry leader takes on this hard work because they care. They are motivated by their love for people and their desire to see people come to faith in Jesus and grow in their faith in Jesus. As the Apostle Peter wrote, “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.” (1 Pe 5:2–4). Whether it’s through being an example to the flock, as Peter says, or through admonishing the flock, as Paul says, we see that the primary work of ministry is teaching or instruction — this is what admonishing means, to exhort or instruct by the word of God. This is the ministry of the word. This primarily comes through the preaching of the word during worship, but it can also come through pastoral counseling, teaching in a class setting, in a community group at someone’s house, or through writing. Paul wrote letters; I write emails. Either way, we’re trying to admonish you. You won’t find a healthy, faithful church without pastors, elders, and other ministry leaders who are faithful to God’s word. Paul encourages the Thessalonian church not only to have faithful leaders but to hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. The author of the letter to the Hebrews writes, “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.” (Heb 13:17). Now, we’re not to do this because every pastor or ministry leader is a perfect leader or is the smartest or the funniest leader, but because they work hard, they care, and they admonish you, because they are faithful. A faithful church has faithful leaders.
1 Thessalonians 5:13b-15 (NIV), “Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.“ As I said, a faithful church is going to care about how people treat one another, both how the leaders treat the members of the church and how the members of the body treat one another. Paul says to live in peace with each other, which leads us to Lesson 2: A faithful church is a place of peace. Now, this might sound easy until you actually try to live at peace with other human beings. This is tough! I don’t believe you can lose your salvation once you are saved, but some of you seem to be trying to test that theory. (I’m kidding!) But we all come into the body of the church from different places. Some of us grew up in church and have a lot of built-in Bible knowledge. Others of us didn’t and came in with very little Bible knowledge. That’s ok! But it takes years to learn and many more years to apply what we know to be true to our lives. Also, different people struggle with different things. Paul wisely urges the church to be thoughtful about how they treat different people. The church members who are idle and disruptive need to be warned. This probably goes back to the client-patron relationships that were common back in that day in Thessalonica that we talked about back in chapter 4. But those who are idle and disruptive need to be warned, not coddled. You need to mind your own business, work with your hands, and not rely on others unless you need to. On the other hand, those who are disheartened don’t need a warning. They don’t need a threat. They need to be encouraged. They need hope. They need someone to walk with them; they need a friend. For those who are weak, they need help! They don’t need to be told to pick themselves up by their bootstraps. But they might need to be gently shown how to do that if they are able. But if they are not able to grow in strength, then they just need patient help. In fact, Paul says to be patient with everyone. Let me ask you this: Is it easy or hard being patient with other people? It’s hard. At least it’s hard for me at times. I barely have patience for myself, much less for others. This is one of the things the Lord has been working on in me over the years. “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.” Being a place of peace means being patient, helpful, and willing to forgive when someone sins against you. A faithful church has faithful leaders. But a faithful church is also a place of peace, love, and unity for the sake of the gospel.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV), “16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Ok! This is like the lightning round. Lesson 3: A faithful church is a joyful church. Listen, when you’ve gone from death to life in Jesus’ name, you’ve got a source of joy that can sustain you no matter what your circumstances are, amen? When you find out you’ve been loved by God from before the creation of the world, that he sent his one and only son into the world to seek and save you when you were lost, and who died and rose again so that you could be forgiven and freed from sin and adopted into his family for all eternity, it ought to change your attitude. How could it not?!? Christians ought to be the most joyful people on the planet. And a faithful church is a joyful church! It’s why we sing loud. It’s why we can’t wait to worship together. It’s why we love seeing people come to faith in Jesus. It’s the best! Lesson 4: A faithful church is a praying church. Rejoice always, pray continually. A faithful church is a praying church because a faithful church actually believes in God. We believe that God is alive and active in his world. We believe that God cares for us and hears us when we pray. We believe that God actually wants to talk with us and work for the good in our lives. We believe that God cares about the injustice and the evil of this world. He cares for our needs and loves to provide for us. For all these reasons and a million more, we pray. A faithful church starts everything in prayer. A faithful church ends by thanking and praising God in prayer. When we’re sick, we pray for healing, go to the doctor, and either thank God in prayer when we recover or trust him with our souls if we don’t. A faithful church is a praying church. Lesson 5: A faithful church is a thankful church. If we have been saved, loved, cared for, provided for, protected, and led every day of our walk with Jesus, we’re gonna be joyful, we’re gonna keep praying, but ultimately, we will be thankful. This isn’t so much about how we treat one another, like the first two lessons. This is more about our attitudes in response to the gospel. If you have an entitled mindset, you’ll never be satisfied. But if you have a grateful mindset, you’ll thank God for every blessing in your life, no matter how great or small. You’ll look for the good, even when goodness is hard to find. You’ll assume the best of others. And worship will come easily for you. Tears might even come easily for you. A faithful church is a joyful church, a praying church, and a thankful church. Isn’t that the kind of church you’d want to be part of?
1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 (NIV), “19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.” Only two more lessons, friends. Lesson 6: A faithful church is a discerning church. One of the most important responsibilities of the pastors and other ministry leaders of a church is to protect the flock. Protection most often isn’t against a physical threat, but against theological or doctrinal threats. False teaching has always been a threat to the church. The Lord Jesus warned us about the wolves of false teachers, false prophets, and even false messiahs. He said we will know them by the fruit of their lives. But what happens when someone comes to you or to us claiming to have a word from the Lord? Paul says we’re not to quench the Spirit. We shouldn’t reject someone who believes the Lord spoke to them outright. But instead, we must be discerning and wise. We should test so-called prophecies, hold on to what is good, and reject every kind of evil. How do we know if a word is not from the Lord? The best test is to see if what is shared agrees with God’s word already revealed in the scriptures. God will not contradict himself. If someone teaches something from the pulpit or shares something in a small group that disagrees with God’s word, they are wrong. But if someone teaches or shares something, especially if it’s helpful in applying God’s word to a particular part of life, it would be wise to consider the message. If it is true, take it to heart and try to obey it. One of the truly great distinctives of the EFCA is that we try to major on the majors and minor on the minors of Christian doctrine. But there are plenty of secondary matters that mature, Bible-believing Christians might disagree on. That’s ok! Those things shouldn’t divide us. But that’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about testing and accepting or rejecting a word that supposedly is coming from the Lord. Of course, this is also true for things in our culture. We must be thoughtful and discerning about what we accept and what we reject from our culture. Either way, a faithful church is a discerning church.
1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 (NIV), “23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” Here we have our final lesson. Lesson 7: A faithful church is a holy church. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross was the ultimate sacrifice we needed once and for all to pay the price for our sins. In Christ, we can be forgiven and freed from the power of sin. When we believe the gospel and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are declared righteous before God in an instant. However, this is just the starting line for a race that takes the whole rest of our lives. And we saw this unfolding work that God is doing in our lives, helping us grow, mature, and become holy, helping us become the men and the women he intended us to be, especially back in chapter 4. This process is called sanctification, and we said that you can be saved in a moment, but sanctified over a lifetime. We can help or hurt this process. We have the ability to say yes or no to the way of Jesus. We can listen to the Spirit or ignore him. But ultimately, sanctification is a work of God. Sanctification is the process that God the Father is working in the lives of his children, transforming them into the likeness of his Son, by the truth of his word and the power of his Spirit. Here, at the end of his letter, Paul gives us his third prayer. He started his letter with a prayer. He had a prayer serve as the middle turning point in the letter. And here he ends with a prayer. And his prayer is all about their holiness. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wants them to be sanctified in every way as whole people. May God sanctify you through and through! A faithful church is a holy church. Sin must be repented. Evil must be rejected. And any tiny part of life, including every thought, that is not aligned with the gospel must not be swept under the rug, but it must have the bright light of truth shone on it, and it must be brought to obedience in Christ. A faithful church is a holy church. This isn’t a harsh or oppressive truth; it’s a freeing/liberating truth! If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed! Holiness is freedom. Holiness is life. But maybe you’ve been trying to be faithful, but you’ve been struggling. You’ve let sin win more often than not. Don’t forget, my friend, “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” You can trust him, lean on him. He will carry you home if he has to. We can be faithful because he is faithful first. Let’s finish this letter with v. 25.
1 Thessalonians 5:25–28 (NIV), “25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us. 26 Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss. 27 I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” This is God’s word. Do you think Paul knew this letter would be read and studied some 2,000 years later? I wonder. Well, my friends, it is my prayer that we, too, would be a faithful church. That no matter who the pastors are or who the elders are or other ministry leaders are around here, they would be faithful. That no matter what the needs are or whoever walks through those doors, this would be a place of peace. That no matter what our circumstances might be, even if we face persecution one day, we would be joyful, we would keep praying, and we would be thankful. That no matter what we might hear or might be shared, we would be a discerning church. And, finally, that God would finish what he started and would transform us in every way into the likeness of his son, that we might be holy and sanctified through and through. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Isn’t this the kind of church you’d want to be part of? I think so. Well, guess what? Let’s make this church that kind of church! By the grace of God, the truth of God’s word, the power of His Spirit, and for the glory of his name. Let’s be a faithful church. Oh, Lord, may it be! For your glory! Let us pray.
Faithful to the End of the Age (1 Thessalonians): The Day of the Lord is coming, along with the resurrection of the dead, judgment day, and the beginning of the age to come. But our destination ought to shape our journey. Our future ought to shape our present. The hope of our future in Christ ought to help us remain faithful, even to the end of the age. Recorded on Jun 22, 2025, on 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 by Pastor David Parks.
This sermon is part of our series on 1 Thessalonians called Faithful to the End. Being a Christian in the Greek, first-century city of Thessalonica was tough. Thessalonica was a big and prosperous city, but it was full of idols. The Apostle Paul and the first Christians there faced fierce religious persecution and tremendous political pressure to conform. But despite their suffering, they remained faithful. Our culture is different today, but following Jesus can still be very costly. Will we be faithful to the end?
Sermon Transcript
After today, we only have one more week of 1 Thessalonians in the Bible in our sermon series called Faithful to the End. As I shared last week, I’m very excited to start a new sermon series in July called For Such A Time As This from the book of Esther in the OT. But we still have a few more lessons to learn from 1 Thessalonians before we’re ready for Esther. Since 1989, Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has sold millions of copies because it’s a great little book. To start this morning, I’d like you to consider a little thought experiment Covey includes in the book. “Picture yourself driving to the funeral parlor or chapel, parking the car, and getting out. As you walk inside the building, you notice the flowers, the soft organ music. You see the faces of friends and family you pass along the way…As you walk down to the front of the room and look inside the casket, you suddenly come face to face with yourself. This is your funeral…All these people have come to honor you, to express feelings of love and appreciation for your life. As you take a seat and wait for the services to begin, you look at the program in your hand. There are to be four speakers. The first is from your family, immediate and also extended—children, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents who have come from all over the country to attend. The second speaker is one of your friends, someone who can give a sense of what you were as a person. The third speaker is from your work or profession. And the fourth is from your church or some community organization where you’ve been involved in service. Now think deeply. What would you like each of these speakers to say about you and your life? What kind of husband, wife, father, or mother would you like their words to reflect? What kind of son or daughter or cousin? What kind of friend? What kind of working associate? What character would you like them to have seen in you? What contributions, what achievements would you want them to remember…What difference would you like to have made in their lives?” (Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change (pp. 103-104). (Function). Kindle Edition.) Isn’t that powerful? This little thought experiment helps illustrate Covey’s second habit, which is to “begin with the end in mind.” That’s very helpful. Well, in our series, we’ve been considering being faithful to the end, so a thought experiment like this helps us envision what this faithfulness might look like by the end of our lives. But today, we’re considering not just how to be faithful to the end of our lives, but what it might mean to be faithful even to the very end of this age. To be faithful until that great and cataclysmic day of the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, judgment day, and the beginning of the age to come. In both cases, of being faithful to the end of our lives or until the return of Christ (or, frankly, whichever comes first), it helps — to borrow the phrase — to begin with the end in mind. Or, in other words, our destination ought to shape our journey. Our future ought to shape our present. But what does the Bible teach about the end of the age and all these cosmic events? And how might that shape our lives today? Well, if you have your Bible/app, please open it to 1Th 5:1. Let’s find out together.
1 Thessalonians 5:1–3 (NIV), “1 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” This is intense. But what the Apostle Paul is doing is found throughout the Bible. He is saying the age we are living in right now will one day come to an end. The OT prophets said the day of the Lord would come in a smaller way in times of judgment against certain nations or kingdoms, including Egypt, Babylon, or even Israel at times. But even then, the prophets promised a future greater Day of the Lord where it wouldn’t be just one nation or kingdom, but the Lord would judge the whole world. When Jesus arrived on the scene, he taught a lot on this in his ministry, too. He taught plainly and in parables on this Day. Let’s look at one teaching from Luke 12:35–40 (NIV), Jesus said, “35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” So, what’s the point? What was Jesus saying? We need to be ready. And there is honor or some kind of reward for the servants who are ready for the return of their master. Right! Isn’t this what Paul is saying? “…you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” (No doubt Paul had heard the parable from Lk 12!) But Paul’s point is the same. We need to be ready. But this will be confusing, in some ways, because not everyone believes this. Not everyone believes in the Day of the Lord. Paul says, “While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly.” Like a thief in the night. Or, as Paul says, “as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” Unless you have a planned C-section, you don’t really know when that baby’s coming. You can have a due date, but the baby might come early or late. You just don’t really know. Paul says that the end of our age, the return of Christ, the great Day of the Lord, will be like that. We won’t know exactly when this will happen, but it will happen. Now, we saw last week that Jesus told his disciples that we won’t know the exact day or time of his return. But it’s coming. It’s sure. Ok. So, what do we need to do to be ready? How can we be good servants of our master, Jesus, until he returns?
1 Thessalonians 5:4-8 (NIV), “4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” So, Paul is writing to the church here. He started both v. 1 and v. 4 with the same address of brothers and sisters. This family language means these are Christians, and as such, they should not be surprised by the return of Christ. They should be ready! And here, Paul uses the common metaphor in the Bible of darkness and light to represent moral goodness and evil. The Bible says this world is a kingdom of darkness, influenced by the spiritual forces of evil, and filled with people who often choose deeds of darkness over light. The Apostle John wrote, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (Jn 3:19). But what happens when someone is saved, when someone becomes a Christian? A number of things change, but one is that God removes your heart of stone and gives you a heart of flesh, with new capacities and desires. Then he gives you his Holy Spirit to dwell within you, to write his law on your heart, and help you obey it, and strengthen you when you are weak. Being filled with the Spirit means you are united with Christ, who is the light of the world. Being united with the light means that you become the light as well. Paul is reminding these believers of their identity when he says, “You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.” This is about who you are in Christ. This is your true identity. But does this mean that Christians will never sin? Or that if a Christian does sin, they aren’t really a Christian? No, but living or walking in darkness is acting out of character for a Christian. That’s not who you are. This is why, in v. 6, Paul says, “So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.” Commentator Gene Green writes, “…in the NT [the word translated being sober] always carries the metaphorical sense of exercising moral self-control or self-restraint and having clear thinking in the face of adversity or danger, especially as Christ’s revelation and the end of all things approaches.” (Green, Gene L. The Letters to the Thessalonians. W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos, 2002, p. 238.) Again, we must be ready. Being asleep or drunk means you’re not ready. Now, we need to actually sleep. This is a metaphor for being morally prepared, morally awake. We must be thinking people, not careless, careful to do and say what is right, to walk in the light. This is why Paul says in v. 8, “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” What does being sober/ready/walking in the light look like? It looks like this: to put on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. We’ve already encountered faith and love in 1 Thessalonians. This is what Paul rejoiced over back in chapter 2, that Timothy told him he saw when he returned to Paul. We said that these are the two main marks of a true believer and of a true believing community in the church. Faith in God and love for one another. Now, here, Paul adds one more aspect of the Christian life: hope, the hope of salvation. This can’t be the hope of being saved through hearing and believing the gospel, which is needed to become a Christian. These are Christians! So what salvation is Paul talking about here? The hope of final salvation that the people of God are waiting for, including the return of Christ, salvation from this kingdom of darkness, salvation from these bodies of death, and salvation from the influence of sin. In Christ, God has saved us, is saving us day by day through the work of his word and Spirit, and will one day return to finally save us, just as he promised. Praise God! But do you see how these three, do you see how faith, hope, and love, protect us? Faith in God and our love for one another serve as our breastplate; these things protect our hearts. And the hope of salvation serves as our helmet; it protects our head. Faith, hope, and love are what faithfulness looks like for the Christian, but also, faith, hope, and love help us remain faithful. This is a way of thinking and believing, it’s a way of life that is in the light. This is what it looks like to walk in the light as he is in the light. But the stakes couldn’t be higher. This teaching on being ready for the Day of the Lord is not so that our lives might be a little better or easier. It’s life or death.
1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 (NIV), “9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” This is God’s word. Now, Paul is intense in this passage because he doesn’t want people to be confused or led astray on this point. There were some people in Thessalonica who were claiming “peace and safety,” but, Paul said, destruction was coming. Wrath is coming. This is the just wrath of God against all the evil, wickedness, oppression, and abuse in this broken world. God is the perfect Judge. He sees all and understands all, including the thoughts and motives of the heart. And he has promised to bring justice to bear on the evil of the world. In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul describes it this way: “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2Th 1:8-9). This final separation from God is hell. Paul doesn’t play around here because this is serious. However, he doesn’t end this passage by using the fear of judgment as our main motivation to walk in the light. Paul actually points to the good news of Jesus as our motivation. He reminds these believers that Christ died for us so that, “whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.” Here, Paul is referring to what we looked at last week, of using the language of sleep to refer to a Christian who died before the return of Christ. In other words, whether we are alive when Christ returns or have already passed away, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins is the only sacrifice we need. His death pays the price of justice for our sins. His death allows us to be forgiven and freed from the power of sin. He suffered the wrath of God for all the sins of the world so that we do not have to. He suffered our death so that we might receive his life as a gift of God’s grace. And it is this grace that is the best motivation for us in walking and living in the light as he is in the light. Want more power to experience more faith, hope, and love? Don’t look to the wrath of hell. Look to the love and grace of heaven! Look to the grace and the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And if you do believe, then you should walk in the light because that is who you are in Christ. Flee sexual immorality. Mind your own business, work with your hands, be generous, and respectable. Tell the truth. Protect life. Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Learn the way of Jesus. Why? Because God loves you so much, he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. The gospel not only saves, it sanctifies, in fact, it strengthens our faithfulness. Because in the gospel, and only in the gospel, do we see the depth of God’s faithfulness to us. But part of the good news is yet to come. Jesus will return, the dead will be raised, judgment will come, and eternity will begin. Are we ready? Are we awake? “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Ro 13:12). We started with the thought experiment of what we would like people to say about us at the end of our lives. What about the Day of the Lord? What do you want God to say on that great and glorious day? Paul is trying to help us begin and continue with the ultimate end in mind, the end of the age and the return of our Lord. Our destination ought to shape our journey. Our future ought to shape our present. The hope of our future in Christ ought to help us remain faithful, even to the end of the age. And this should be an encouragement to us today. Things may or may not get easier today or tomorrow. Certain times may be quite difficult or painful. But these times will not last forever. This age will not last forever. Evil will not last forever. Death will not last forever. Jesus will return, and the best way to live, the best way to walk in the light, is to be awake and ready, quick with faith, hope, and love, and remembering our end is sure. Thank you, Lord. Let us pray.
Hope in Life and Death (1 Thessalonians): The sad reality of this broken world is that every one of us will one day walk through the valley of the shadow of death. How will we face it? How should we mourn the death of other Christians? Will we be consumed with fear or despair? The good news is that if Jesus died and rose again, then there is hope even in death. Recorded on Jun 15, 2025, on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 by Pastor David Parks.
This sermon is part of our series on 1 Thessalonians called Faithful to the End. Being a Christian in the Greek, first-century city of Thessalonica was tough. Thessalonica was a big and prosperous city, but it was full of idols. The Apostle Paul and the first Christians there faced fierce religious persecution and tremendous political pressure to conform. But despite their suffering, they remained faithful. Our culture is different today, but following Jesus can still be very costly. Will we be faithful to the end?
Sermon Transcript
After this week, we only have two more weeks of 1 Thessalonians in the Bible in our sermon series called Faithful to the End. I’m very excited to start a new sermon series in July called For Such A Time As This from the book of Esther in the OT. Esther is such a wild story! But we’re not quite there yet. Well, for the last few months, we’ve said that the early church in the Greek city of Thessalonica faced persecution and social/political pressure to deny Christ. It was tough, but they remained faithful. We’ve been trying to learn all the lessons we can from these ancient brothers and sisters to help us remain faithful today. Over the last few weeks, we considered two unique aspects of the way of Jesus that help us remain faithful, including our commitment to sexual holiness and our ambition to lead a quiet life. If you missed either of these sermons, you can always go back and watch or listen to the audio podcast if you’d like. Today, we’ll start the first of another little two-part series focused not as much on our moral conduct (work/sexuality), but on our hope. We’ve seen over and over that following Jesus may not make your life easier. In fact, as the Thessalonians learned, sometimes it makes life a lot more difficult. But what if the worst-case scenario happens? What if you have to give your life for your faith? Men and women have been martyred in the past. Well, the Apostle Paul doesn’t play here. He’s not talking about hoping things might get a little easier for the Christians in Thessalonica. He’s talking about a strong enough source of hope to sustain us in the face of death, even beyond death! We may not be in the same situation that the Thessalonians were in all those years ago, but every one of us will one day walk through the valley of the shadow of death. How will we make it? How will we face it? Will we be crushed with fear, or will we have the hope and the courage followers of Jesus ought to have? If you have your Bible/app, please open it to 1Th 4:13. As we usually do, we’ll read through it and unpack it as we go.
1 Thessalonians 4:13–14 (NIV), “13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” The practice of describing a believer not as dead but as asleep is found throughout the Bible, including with Jesus. In at least two different situations in the gospels, Jesus used this language. In Mt 9, a man named Jairus asked Jesus to heal his daughter, but before Jesus could get there, she died. Jesus came anyway, and when he saw her, he said, “The girl is not dead but asleep,” and then, “…he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.” (Mt 9:23-25). Or in Jn 11, when Jesus’ close friend, Lazarus died, Jesus said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” (Jn 11:11). And Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave, even after he had been dead for four days. Now, it’s possible that someone who has died might look like they’re sleeping. But the language of sleeping in death in the Bible reflects more of a belief about death than the appearance of death. Sleeping implies that death is not the end. Someone sleeping can wake up. So at this point in the letter, Paul wants to teach on this subject of death and grief, and the hope that Christians have. Now, we might ask, did someone in the Thessalonian church die? Did Timothy bring back as part of his report that they were in a state of mourning over one of their own? There are a number of theories about the context in Thessalonica that Paul was addressing. Some have wondered if there had been false teaching about life and death, the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and so on. We do know from Paul’s second letter to Timothy that there were false teachers leading people astray on the resurrection. Without more details than what we have here, it’s hard to say. What we can say is that Paul felt it was necessary to either teach (or remind them of what he had already taught) about these things because some believers had died. We don’t know if they were martyred for their faith or if they had passed away from more normal causes, but the Thessalonian church was grieving a real loss. And Paul says he doesn’t want them to be uninformed about Christians who have died. Why? Because Christians do not have to grieve like the rest of mankind. Why? Because Christians have hope. We’ll see a number of reasons for this hope as we continue, but the first reason is given in v. 14. “For (because) we believe that Jesus died and rose again,” these historic events, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, are at the heart of the good news of the gospel. The gospel is the good news of who God is and what he has done through his Son and Spirit to bring salvation to all who would believe. And the central work of salvation was the atoning death of Jesus on the cross for the sins of the world. His sacrifice means we can be forgiven and freed from the power of sin and restored in relationship with God. But then, on the third day, Jesus rose again, fully alive, fully God and fully man, never to die again. “…and so” Paul says, if the gospel is true, and if Jesus died and rose again, then “we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” God will bring these Christians who died where exactly? He will bring these believers back to us when Christ returns.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-16 (NIV), “15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” Jesus taught on his return in a lot of places throughout the gospels. Just one example is found in John 14:1–3 (NIV), “1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” That Jesus would return and would take us to be with him to live in his Father’s house is a clear promise in God’s word. This is why Paul says that “according to the Lord’s word,” the believers who passed away before the second coming of Christ will not miss it. And maybe this was the situation that had affected their grief. Maybe this is why they were grieving without hope. They thought some of their loved ones were going to miss out on the return of Christ and life everlasting. But Paul says, on the contrary, not only will the dead in Christ not miss out, they’ll have a front-row seat! The dead in Christ will rise first. The Lord himself will come down from heaven. (Can you imagine that?) In Acts 1, when Jesus had ascended into heaven, two angels told the disciples that Jesus “will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Ac 1:11). So the Lord will come down from heaven, not because heaven is in outer space, but because heaven is transcendent, it is outside time and space. And Paul envisions the return of a victorious king when he says that Jesus will return with a loud command (probably the command to raise the dead) with the voice of the archangel. In Jude, we’re told the archangel is named Michael. But along with Michael will sound the trumpet call of God, typical of an approaching king, and the dead in Christ will rise first. This is called the first resurrection in Revelation 20. But if the Christians who have died before the return of Christ will rise first, when will the believers who are still alive be resurrected?
1 Thessalonians 4:17–18 (NIV), “17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.” This is God’s word. So, after some period of time, either immediately after the first resurrection, or after a longer period of time, “After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with those who died to meet the Lord in the air.” This verse, along with a few others, is where the idea of the rapture comes from, that believers will be caught/snatched up either during or before the return of Christ. Different believers today have different theories about the timing of the rapture, this catching up. But the focus of this passage is not to give details about a rapture so much as it is focused on the reunion of believers at the return of Christ. Remember, the context is a teaching on Christian grief and the hope that we have for those who have died. And Paul expects the believers who are still alive to encourage one another with these words. In other words, this teaching was to be immediately helpful, not just helpful for some future day. Even if that day was very soon. We see that Paul expected the return of Christ to happen soon when he says, “…we who are still alive.” Now, it’s not that Paul was mistaken. Again, Jesus taught in several places to be ready, be expectant, for his return. Now, he also explicitly taught, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.” (Ac 1:7). Even though every generation has some self-proclaimed prophet who says they figured out when Jesus will return, according to Jesus we won’t know — it could be tomorrow or another 2,000 years from now. However, the best way to live is as if Jesus will return very soon. We’ll come back to this thought next week (that is, unless the Lord returns). But for now, if we are alive when Christ returns, or if it’s some future generation, what will happen when we are caught up and reunited with those who have died and with Christ himself? In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he describes it this way: 1 Corinthians 15:51–53 (NIV), “51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep [in death], but we will all be changed—52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.” So, the dead in Christ will rise first, but then we who are left alive will be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye. Our moral bodies in this broken world full of sickness and sin and death will be changed to be immortal and imperishable. And our Lord will dwell with us and we with him and one another forever and ever in the new heavens and the new earth. Just as our bodies will be re-created, so all things will be renewed and re-created. The return of Christ will change everything. If you notice, every chapter of 1Th has a reference to the return of Christ. Why? Well, first of all, this is such a big piece of news, and it’s so different from the world’s expectations for the future; it’s no wonder that Paul refers to it so often. But second, remember how tough it was to be a Christian back then in Thessalonica. The more you feel that this world isn’t our home, the more you long for the world to come. And the closer you get to death, the more you long for the life that is promised beyond the grave. This teaching would’ve been so helpful, so encouraging for the Thessalonians in their grief. But what about us? How might we apply this teaching to our lives?
How can we face the reality of death without losing hope? The resurrection of Jesus is proof that believers we know who have died are not lost forever. They will return with Christ when he returns, and we will be together forever. Big idea: If Jesus died and rose again, then there is hope even in death. The death of a loved one can be sad or even tragic, but it is never hopeless. But why do we have hope even in death? Paul mentions four reasons here. We have hope in death because, first, death is not the end of the story. At funerals, I always say it this way, “It’s not that our experience of loss today isn’t real. And it’s not that we won’t have sadness and grief when we think about this loved one and miss them in the days and years to come — it’s just not the end of the story.” Some modern people believe that death is simply nothingness. Consciousness simply ceases. There is no awareness, just something like a dreamless, eternal sleep. Now, that is truly hopeless — there’s no hope of salvation, no hope of justice, no hope of life, and no hope of reunion in the future. But if there is life beyond death, then there is hope because death is not the end. Second, we have hope even in death because death itself will come to an end. Death is only temporary. One day, Jesus will return. And he will bring an end to our current age and will usher in a new age with a new heaven and a new earth. When Jesus returns, “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev 21:4). So, we not only have hope for life after death, but we have hope for the death of death itself, the death of mourning, and the death of grief. He will wipe every tear from our eyes. Even death will come to an end. Third, if Jesus died and rose again, then there is hope even in death because the separation between the living and the dead will be no more. No longer will there be people alive on the earth and souls alive in the immediate state after death and before the resurrection of the dead. We will be reunited with our loved ones in Christ and will live with them forever after in the kingdom where Jesus is King. “For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” (v.14). Therefore, “…we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” (v.17). Finally, if Jesus died and rose again, then there is hope even in death because this means that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Not even death. Jesus told the criminal on the cross, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Lk 23:43). Today, not at some point in the future. Paul wrote to the Philippians, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Php 1:21), because if he did die, then he’d be with Christ, which would be far better than even the best part of life here and now. This is our hope. He is our hope. Without Jesus, there is no hope. But with Jesus, and if Jesus did in fact die and rise again, then there is hope even in death. Therefore, we do not have to grieve like the rest of the world, without hope. We can have hope no matter what. Come what may. So we say, “Come quickly, Lord.” Let us pray.
Living a Quiet Life (1 Thessalonians): What could it look like to “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life”? Whether in the ancient client-patron relationships of first-century Thessalonica or the rush of modern life, the Apostle Paul reveals that there is a way to slow down while still being productive, respectable, and generous. This Christ-like way of life reflects Christian love out into a world of busyness. Recorded on Jun 8, 2025, on 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 by Pastor David Parks.
This sermon is part of our series on 1 Thessalonians called Faithful to the End. Being a Christian in the Greek, first-century city of Thessalonica was tough. Thessalonica was a big and prosperous city, but it was full of idols. The Apostle Paul and the first Christians there faced fierce religious persecution and tremendous political pressure to conform. But despite their suffering, they remained faithful. Our culture is different today, but following Jesus can still be very costly. Will we be faithful to the end?
Sermon Transcript
For the rest of June, we’ll be working through 1 Thessalonians in the Bible in a sermon series called Faithful to the End. The early church in the Greek city of Thessalonica faced persecution and social/political pressure to deny Christ, but they remained faithful. There are many lessons here for us in how we can remain faithful today. Last week, we started the first of a little two-part section of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians with Living a Holy Life from 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And we asked, “Why can’t you just look at someone and tell that they’re a follower of Jesus?” Well, one answer is that there are many things that Christians and non-Christians do pretty much exactly the same way. We said, there isn’t a Christian way to wash your car or fill out a spreadsheet. However, there are some areas of life that are going to be very different. Last week, we saw one area that will be different and will look different is in the area of our sexuality. The Christian sexual ethic challenged Roman culture 2,000 years ago, and it challenges our culture today. Remaining faithful means remaining faithful to the way of Jesus. And this includes our sexuality, our holiness, and, as we’ll consider today, our motive for and the way we do our work, finding that we too can lead a quiet/generous life. If you have your Bible/app, please open it to 1Th 4:9. This is a short passage, so we’ll read through the whole thing, and then we’ll go back and unpack it.
1 Thessalonians 4:9–12 (NIV), “9 Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10 And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, 11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” This is God’s word. Ok! So, this is a very positive passage. It’s similar to the start of chapter 4, where Paul reminded them of the instruction he had given them when he was with them, praised them for following his instructions, and encouraged them to do so more and more. Paul has used this kind of tone throughout the whole letter. Something like, “You’re doing great! Keep going!” Again, this would be so helpful to encourage their faithfulness when they were getting so much opposition and trouble from other people in their community. We see this positive encouragement again in vv. 9-10.
1 Thessalonians 4:9–10a (NIV), “9 Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10 And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia.” Wow! Most people love somebody. You people love everybody! I can’t think of a way to make a bigger deal out of the way people are treating one another than to say that they have “been taught by God to love each other.” Back in chapter 1, Paul said, “We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Th 1:2-3). I think the work/labor that Paul mentions is their ministry for one another, which, Paul says, was produced by faith and prompted by love. Paul knew the Thessalonians were loving each other well because of the “good news” Timothy brought back about their “faith and love” (1 Th 3:6). He could see it. It was evident. And the Christians throughout the whole region could see it, they could feel it, too. Paul says, “And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia.” Now, Macedonia was the region of which Thessalonica was the capital. And we might ask, how did the Thessalonians love other believers outside their city? Paul doesn’t say explicitly. But we know from the other places in the NT what these works of love might’ve included. They could’ve been seen in the evangelistic work of bringing the gospel out from Thessalonica to other parts of Macedonia. This happened in the city of Ephesus, so that over the course of just a few years, Luke writes in Acts 19 that “all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” (Ac 19:10). Love could’ve led to gospel mission. Or, these works of love could’ve been seen in providing financially for the poor and those in need. Perhaps the Thessalonians gave some of their resources to provide for people in need throughout Macedonia. This happened in a lot of places, but one place was the city of Corinth. The Corinthians gave above and beyond what they had to because the Jerusalem church was desperately poor. But from OT gleaning laws to the NT teaching of Jesus on serving the least of these, you can’t read the Bible and miss God’s heart for the poor and the most vulnerable among us. Love could’ve led to care for the poor. Or, these works of love could’ve been seen in their willingness to embrace people from all sorts of different backgrounds. The difference between Jew and Gentile back then was huge. But the gospel “is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (Ro 1:16). Or maybe they did any number of things to love one another beyond the borders of their city. Let’s keep going and see if we can get any clues about what kind of love Paul is talking about. Let’s pick up the second half of v. 10.
1 Thessalonians 4:10b-11a (NIV), “Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, 11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life…” This is so countercultural for us today. But I would guess this would not have been common advice for people back in Thessalonica almost 2,000 years ago, either. Remember, Thessalonica was a big city. It was also a port city, and it was located on the famous Via Egnatia, the main east/west road used for trade. There were all kinds of businesses happening there. Lots of goods and services, and people flowing in and out. But remember, it was also the capital of Macedonia. This made it a center for politics as well. None of this sounds like the background for a quiet life. But I think Paul knows what he’s asking of them. Did you notice the word he uses to encourage them to a quiet life? Ambition. Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. Ambition? It just doesn’t seem to fit, unless Paul was being ironic. However, commentator Gene Green writes that what was going on is that Paul was addressing the common cultural practice of the client/patron relationship. He writes, “Clients were attached to patrons of higher status and economic solvency, hoping to receive from them benefits such as food and representation, while they gave their patrons honor and augmented their status in society by showing up for the morning greeting at their home and giving them public support. The more clients a person would have, the more important he or she would appear to others. Honor was the name of the game.” (Green, Gene L. The Letters to the Thessalonians. W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos, 2002, p. 208.) This practice just doesn’t fit with the way of Jesus. It’s not that we can’t show honor to others, we certainly can! It’s that we shouldn’t base our work or our worth on taking advantage of others. If God doesn’t show favoritism, then we shouldn’t either. We are all one in the church because of our faith in Christ, not because we all belong to the same group or class. But back then, it would be easy to see how you could have the ambition to gather more and more clients in order to boost your own status or ego — to get a better seat at the table yourself. All you had to do was keep your clients happy, and they would serve your purposes. But this is really the opposite of Christian love and honor. We love because Jesus has loved us first. And how did Jesus love us? He died on the cross for our sins. He served our needs long before we could do a single thing to boost his status or ego. He served us, he came for us, he died for us because he loved us first. Period. This wasn’t a transaction; this was an act of unconditional and undeserved love. This was Jesus’ ambition. This is what he set his face to do. This is what he wouldn’t be distracted from, no matter how great the temptation was, even by Satan himself. And if this was Jesus’ ambition, maybe, then our ambition shouldn’t be as much about us as it is about others. And about loving others. But how can you best love others in such a hostile environment? How can you love people when you’re fighting to stay faithful yourself? Lead a quiet life. What does that mean? Like, don’t be talkative? Don’t play loud music? Look back at v. 11.
1 Thessalonians 4:11b-12 (NIV), “You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” What does it mean to live a quiet life? Two things. First, it means you should mind your own business (MYOB). I’m pretty sure I heard my elementary school teachers say that more than once. (To others, not to me!) It’s so easy to focus on other people’s flaws, isn’t it? We all have blind spots. The problem is not everyone is blind to them, only we are! It’s easy to see what other people struggle with, but it can be pretty difficult for us to see or understand these things for ourselves. Without a mirror, it’s easier to see a pimple on someone else’s face than on your own. Nevertheless, you should mind your own business. Now, this doesn’t mean we are never to teach someone or gently correct them or confront them if they are doing real harm to someone else. There are other passages that teach us how to do those things. But against the backdrop of the cultural practice of client/patron relationships, I think what Paul is talking about is minding other people’s business so as to boost someone else’s status or ego, or expecting others to do the same for you. So first, MYOB. Second, work with your hands. Do something meaningful. Don’t be idle, expecting others to take care of you. Go build something new. Go fix something that’s broken. Go create something people need. Go heal someone. Go grow something important. Now, this is good advice for many reasons. During the pandemic, like many people, I built two big raised bed garden boxes in my backyard. I bought a book called “The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible” (which is mildly sacrilegious) and some grow lights for my tomato plants that I’m pretty sure were made for people who wanted to grow weed at home. I promise I’ve only used them for tomatoes. But I made it my ambition to lead a quiet life. Some people learned to make bread, others started gardening (remember that time?). With all the anger and anxiety flying around the world and around our social media feeds during that time, I don’t know about you, but it really helped me to do something helpful with my hands, to work with my hands. And to see/enjoy the fruit of what my hands and my hard work produced. That was good; it was a better way to live. And I’ve kept it up ever since. Minding your own business and working with your hands is good for your mental health. But Paul doesn’t mention this benefit. He says the Thessalonians should do this for two reasons: First, because then their daily life might win the respect of outsiders, and, second, so that they will not be dependent on anybody. These early Christians faced intense persecution for their faith. The Jewish believers were thrown out of the synagogue and were ostracized by their fellow Jews. The Gentile believers were accused of teaching unlawful practices in the Roman Empire and of undermining the authority of Caesar, both very dangerous accusations. They surely lost friendships and relationships in their families and in the community. Some might’ve lost businesses and even their very lives for their faith in Jesus. The last thing these Christians needed was to unnecessarily cause people to be against them. Mind your own business and work with your hands. This is a good life. This is a respectable life. You don’t need a bunch of paid clients to pump up your ego or boost your status. That’s an artificial form of respect. Being helpful and reliable and honest leads to true respect. Remember, you represent Christ and his church, even in your daily life. Second, they should live like this because then they won’t be dependent on anyone. Now, there are seasons of life where every single one of us, no matter how strong/successful/wealthy we might be, will be dependent on others. When we are born, we are totally dependent on others. Very often, before we die, we are again totally dependent on others. And this is a broken world. Sometimes, because of illness or injury or for some other reason, you may not be able to work with your hands or provide for yourself. Paul isn’t condemning those situations or people with special needs. Again, I believe he’s addressing the client/patron relationship there in Thessalonica, where the clients were working like crazy for their patron so that the patron could sit back and enjoy the good life at the expense of others. This was not good. And it was not compatible with the Christian commandment to love one another just as Christ loved us. Now, just like last week with sexuality and holiness, this text has so many applications for us today. What does it look like to make it our ambition to lead a quiet life in the age of social media, where self-promotion is normal and you can get rich just by being famous for any reason (good or bad)? It seems that this would lead us to a different way of acting on social media. But what about real life? Paul’s teaching would enable us to live not only a holy life, but also a life of generosity, the generous life. If we pay more attention to our issues than others, and if we work hard and do something meaningful with our time and maybe with our hands, and if we win the respect of others and are not reliant on others unless we have to be, then we will have the capacity to be generous. We will have the capacity for generosity. And generous people truly represent Christ and his love and his works of love at the heart of the gospel. Is this our ambition? To be holy and generous? Is this the ambition of our church? May we be people whose work is produced by our faith, and our labor is prompted by our love, and our endurance is inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray.
Living a Holy Life (1 Thessalonians): What is God’s will for your life? To be sanctified, or made holy, including in the area of our sexuality. Sexual immorality leads to all sorts of problems in life, marriage, parenting, and society. However, avoiding sexual immorality can be very challenging. But God not only calls us to live a holy life, but also gives us the Holy Spirit to heal us and help us remain faithful. Recorded on Jun 1, 2025, on 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 by Pastor David Parks.
This sermon is part of our series on 1 Thessalonians called Faithful to the End. Being a Christian in the Greek, first-century city of Thessalonica was tough. Thessalonica was a big and prosperous city, but it was full of idols. The Apostle Paul and the first Christians there faced fierce religious persecution and tremendous political pressure to conform. But despite their suffering, they remained faithful. Our culture is different today, but following Jesus can still be very costly. Will we be faithful to the end?
Sermon Transcript
Well, we’re working through 1 Thessalonians in the Bible in a sermon series called Faithful to the End. And we’ve said that Thessalonica was a tough city for Christians. But thankfully, despite persecution and severe suffering, the early church there remained faithful. And there are many lessons for us in how we can remain faithful from this brief letter from the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonian church. We’ve learned a number of lessons so far, including last week when we saw both what faithfulness looks like (faith and love), and we considered a big reason why we should stay faithful — that is, that faithfulness is contagious; our faithfulness encourages others to remain faithful as well. If you missed any of the sermons in our series so far, you can always go back and watch or listen to the audio podcast if you’d like. Let me ask you this: Have you ever worked with someone, or gone to school with someone, or met someone at some event, and then found out later that they were a Christian? (Oh! I didn’t know you’re a Christian! Wait, you’re a Christian, too? I didn’t know that either!) It can be a fun surprise. But why is it a surprise? Why can’t you just look at someone and tell that they’re a follower of Jesus? Well, because the way of Jesus is a different way in many ways than the ways of the world, but it’s still a way of life in the world. There are many things that Christians and non-Christians do pretty much exactly the same way. There isn’t a Christian way to wash your car or fill out a spreadsheet. But today, as we start chapter 4, we’re going to consider the first of two examples of how our lives do need to be different, how the way of Jesus is different than the ways of this world, especially in the areas of sexuality and our work. If you have your Bible/app, please open it to 1Th 4:1. We’ll unpack it as we go.
1 Thessalonians 4:1-2 (NIV), “1 As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.” Paul had already reminded the Thessalonians about how he lived and ministered when he was there among them (the “how” mattered). But this wasn’t for Paul alone; this was a pattern or an example for the Thessalonians. This was part of his discipleship. You see, Christianity isn’t just a set of truths that need to be learned and believed. It’s a way of life; it’s a way to walk through life that we call following Jesus. It’s this way of life that is pleasing to God. Now, some think that Paul is bringing up their way of life and then moving on to give some instructions on sexuality, work, and reputation because there was a problem that needed to be corrected in Thessalonica. That was certainly true in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. There were some in the church who were not living in a way that pleased God. They needed a gentle but forceful correction. While that might be the case here, I don’t think Paul is addressing a problem. I think he’s reiterating a teaching that he had already made — the instructions in vv. 1 and 2, Paul says he gave them by the authority of the Lord Jesus. If he were writing to correct someone, that is not in view here. What he says is that they are pleasing God with how they are living, and that they should only do this more and more. To continue along the same path that they are already on. But what does Paul have in mind? What does this way look like?
1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 (NIV), “3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.” Do you want to know what God’s will is for your life? What is God’s will for my life? Paul says, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.” What does that mean? To be sanctified means to be consecrated, set apart, made holy. It is God’s will that you would be made holy. But this sanctification is a process; it doesn’t happen overnight. Let’s define it. Sanctification: The process that God the Father is working in the lives of his children, transforming them into the likeness of his Son, by the truth of his word and the power of his Spirit. You can be justified/saved in an instant. But it takes the rest of our lives, learning to follow Jesus, to be sanctified. Paul had already heard from Timothy that the Thessalonians were staying faithful; they were displaying faith in the Lord Jesus and love for one another. This was so good and encouraging, but Paul knew their sanctification wasn’t done. He knew they still had room to learn, grow, and mature in their knowledge, in their unity and love for each other, in reaching the lost, in the fruit of the Spirit, and so on. I’m sure Paul was confident that God would continue his pruning/sanctifying work among them, just as he was confident about this for the Philippians. “that he who began a good work in [them] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Php 1:6). But he knew they still had further to go. And one area of life they needed to think about was what holiness meant for their sexuality. Paul says, “…you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God.” The Greek word for sexual immorality, porneia, formally means having sex with someone other than your spouse. However, in Paul’s day, it came to refer to any sort of sexual sin, from lust to adultery. Today, it would include pornography, sexting, and any sort of unfaithfulness to your spouse. These practices are not ok for Christians. Now, it’s not that sexuality is inherently sinful; sexuality isn’t dirty and shameful on its own. It’s a beautiful thing. It’s a powerful thing. But it’s just that sexuality was created by God and was designed as such only for one context: a marriage covenant between one man and one woman for life. Moses writes in Ge 2:24, “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” Both Jesus and the Apostle Paul quoted this passage when they taught on marriage. But, “one flesh” here speaks of the physical intimacy of marriage, which represents the whole-life oneness that marriage was intended to be. I tell couples who are preparing to be married that the two becoming one means everything becomes one. God wants oneness in your emotional/financial/family life, just as he wants oneness in your sexual life. If you leave parts of your life out of the union of your marriage, if there are things that are hidden in your marriage, that is not good for your marriage. Sin always separates. Sin drives a wedge between us. It’s especially true in marriage. This is why repentance and forgiveness are so important. But, and it’s probably for many reasons, nothing can leave as deep a scar as sexual sin. We must understand this and be aware of it. We must avoid sexual immorality, for our sake, for our spouse’s sake, and for the Lord. Now, another reason this matters, and another reason why sexual immorality is so harmful, is that God intended for human beings, made in his image, to multiply and fill the earth. Sexual holiness is not just vital for the health of your marriage; it also has the power to impact (for good or bad) any children who might come from a sexual relationship. Now, kids are a blessing. But having and raising kids is hard enough by itself, even when you have two loving parents who are trying to follow Jesus! But when you have children born into sexual or relational dysfunction, it is not good. It not only negatively impacts the parents, but also those kids will have a hard life. It’s not that kids can’t grow up and overcome these problems; in many cases, they can and will. And our God is a redeemer; he can take things meant for evil and use them for good. I know sexual sin is part of many of our testimonies. But still, the less sexual sin, the better — especially in the church. In v. 6, Paul says, “…that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.” Sadly, sometimes sexual immorality happens in the church, even between brothers and sisters in Christ. Certainly, there have been wolves among the flock who use the church to find people to abuse and exploit. Whether that’s a pastor or priest preying on a member of their church, a community group leader preying on a member of their group, or a parent preying on one of their own children. And some of these people are not real believers. But again, sadly, sometimes a follower of Jesus can fall or slip into even gross sins. Remember, what unites us as a church is not our perfection, it’s our shared need for a savior. We all need Jesus precisely because we are not perfect. We become Christians when we hear and believe the gospel, the good news that God has already accomplished everything we need for salvation through his son, Jesus. And it is by faith that we go from death to life in Jesus’ name, our sins are forgiven, and we no longer have to fear the judgment of God. This starts the process of sanctification in our lives. But on this side of eternity, Christians are still able to sin. We can still become confused or have blind spots. Or, sometimes, and to our shame, we can knowingly run in the wrong direction. Paul says, “The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.” This might seem intense, but this is a helpful warning if it’s true. And besides, if there’s something that is harmful to people, marriages, to children, and to the church, would God be good if he simply turned a blind eye to it? Absolutely not. God is good, which is why he will bring justice to bear on those who have committed such sins. This is a consistent part of the message of the apostles. One day, Jesus will return, the dead will be raised, and all will give an account of their lives to God. In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote, “God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.” (Ro 2:6–8). For those who endure by faith in Jesus Christ, our process of sanctification will finally be complete. And we will be the perfected men and women that God intended for us to be from before the creation of the world. Now, our sexuality is only one aspect of life that needs to be sanctified; it’s an important aspect, but it is only one. We see this in the final verses of our passage, but Paul also reveals our greatest source of help for our sanctification.
1 Thessalonians 4:7–8 (NIV), “7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.” This is God’s word. So first, God doesn’t just call us to holiness in our sexual life, he calls us to holiness in all of life. All of our lives should be consecrated, set apart for the Lord. All of our lives should be holy. “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” This is God’s will for your life. Holiness, especially in the area of sexuality, is what God wants for your life. God doesn’t just want you to be happy; he wants you to be holy. Of course, true and lasting joy is found in a holy life. This isn’t a commandment against fun. But this is part of the unique way of Jesus. If you follow this way, you will be different than people who are following the ways of this world. The Christian sexual ethic challenged the norms 2,000 years ago in the Roman Empire. And it challenges our culture today. Modern sexual ethics seems to rely solely on mutual consent. So long as all parties consent and no one is harmed (safe!), then anything goes. But this doesn’t work for a number of reasons. First of all, no one can agree on what constitutes harm. Second, consent isn’t the best test of right and wrong. Two people who consent to do something wrong doesn’t make it right; it just means they’re both wrong! A few years ago, the “Me Too” movement highlighted the complexities of consent when varying power dynamics are present. Third, the main test of consent seems to be desire. Are you attracted to someone? Are they attracted to you? Then go for it! But the heart is deceitful. And the desires of our hearts are very often more destructive than healthy and helpful. Have you ever been to the Cheesecake Factory? You know how they put the huge display case of cheesecakes right when you walk in? I’ve eaten there many times over the years. Never once, after walking past that display, have I not had a desire for cheesecake. In fact, never once have I only wanted one small piece of cheesecake, just a bite. Every single time, the only limiting factor on my desire, besides my wallet, was the higher belief/value that unlimited cheesecake might not be the best thing for me. I value my long-term health more than I want four different pieces of cheesecake at once. My point is that all of our desires have to answer to higher beliefs/values. Desire must be run through the filter of an ethical understanding of how we ought to live. If we are only guided by our desires, with no higher story or transcendent values, how quickly will we fall into a destructive pattern of life? Almost immediately! It’s worse, though, because of the power of the flesh. In contrast, Christianity says that there is a higher law, from which higher values come. There’s a higher law because there’s a higher Lawgiver — a divine and transcendent Creator who will hold his creatures accountable for their moral actions in his world. Now, as we close, I want to take what seems to be maybe a negative teaching, or at least a stern warning, and I want you to see that we are not left with just a warning, but with an invitation. What is our greatest help in our sanctification? Who is there to help us with our sexual holiness? It is the Spirit of holiness, the Holy Spirit. Paul says that the same God who warns us, the same God who instructs us on his way that he has designed us to live, the same God who gives us instructions so that we might know how to be holy and how to please him with our lives — that same God gives us what to help us? He gives us himself! His own Holy Spirit! He has poured out his Spirit. He had promised that he would do this through the prophets of the Old Testament, prophets like Ezekiel, who wrote, “And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleanness.” (Eze 36:27–29a). Friends, I know there are things that some of us have done in this room that make us feel unclean to this day. But there is hope and there is healing and there is forgiveness offered and there is new life on the other side, because God is with us. He has poured out his Spirit so that we might become the people he intended from the beginning. Let us pray.
Encouraged Because of Your Faith (1 Thessalonians): Despite persecution, Timothy brought the good news that the Thessalonian church stood firm in faith and love. This encouraged Paul to persevere despite his own hardships. Why stay faithful? It strengthens others! What does faithfulness look like? Faith in Christ and love for one another. Let’s be a church known for both. Recorded on May 25, 2025, on 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13 by Pastor David Parks.
This sermon is part of our series on 1 Thessalonians called Faithful to the End. Being a Christian in the Greek, first-century city of Thessalonica was tough. Thessalonica was a big and prosperous city, but it was full of idols. The Apostle Paul and the first Christians there faced fierce religious persecution and tremendous political pressure to conform. But despite their suffering, they remained faithful. Our culture is different today, but following Jesus can still be very costly. Will we be faithful to the end?
Sermon Transcript
Well, today, we’re continuing a sermon series called Faithful to the End from 1 Thessalonians in the Bible. Thessalonica was a tough city to be a Christian in. But thankfully, despite persecution and severe suffering, the Christians there remained faithful. There are many lessons for us in how we can remain faithful to the end from this brief letter from the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonian church. So far, we’ve seen that being fully committed to Christ helped them, turning away from idols as they turned to Jesus. Second, the way Paul did his ministry there helped them remain faithful. He treated them like family with great care and concern; the “how” mattered. Last week, we considered the possibly surprising news that following Jesus doesn’t necessarily make life easier. In fact, sometimes it makes things much more difficult. But when you expect times of suffering, it does help you remain faithful. Today, we’ll answer two important questions about faithfulness: “Why should we remain faithful?” and “What does faithfulness look like?” Paul gives us two definitive marks of a faithful Christian and a faithful church. And throughout this part of the letter, we see one of the best reasons to remain faithful, even today. So, let’s get into it. If you have your Bible/app, please open it to 1Th 3:6. We’ll unpack it as we go.
1 Thessalonians 3:6–8 (NIV), “6 But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. 7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. 8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.” So, we’re kind of coming into the middle of a thought here. In the previous section, Paul had been telling the Thessalonians how he felt orphaned from them when he was forced to leave them. Though they were physically separated, he never stopped thinking about them or praying for them. He wanted them to know he had an intense longing to see them, but he couldn’t come back to them. But when he could stand it no longer, he sent his younger protege, Timothy, back to them while Paul remained in Athens. So Timothy probably traveled by boat back to the north to Thessalonica, he saw how they were doing, and brought the good news back to Paul. And this is what prompted Paul to write this letter, which made its way into our Bibles almost 2,000 years later. Despite fierce religious persecution and despite tremendous political pressure to conform, they remained faithful. They still loved Jesus. I bet Paul wept for joy at the news. Now, as I said, one of the questions this passage answers is “What does faithfulness look like?” and we can confidently say the answer is not that everything is going smoothly and everybody in our town loves us and appreciates our dedication to following the way of Jesus. That can’t be it. They crucified Jesus, and we’re following his way. Now, not every day is miserable, and not everyone will persecute us. There are many times of joy in the Christian life. But we have been warned that we will need to die to ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus. Ok! Well, if a life of prosperity here and now isn’t proof of our faithfulness, then what is? How do we know if we’re being faithful? Put another way, what was Paul hoping to hear from Timothy about the Thessalonian church? What was Timothy looking for when he returned to them? Two things: Faith and love. Timothy saw it. He told Paul about it. And Paul rejoiced because they were standing firm in the Lord. Faith and love are the two most important marks of a Christian and, by extension, a community of Christians in a church. These two attributes reflect both the vertical and horizontal aspects of the Greatest Commandment of Christ. One day, Jesus was asked, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Mt 22:36-40) You see, faith, for Paul, is never faith in yourself. It’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s the vertical aspect of our relationship with God. You don’t have a relationship with God unless you believe what he has revealed to us about himself in his word, unless you have faith. And this faith is the result of hearing and actually believing the gospel, of having the seed of the word take root and grow to a supernatural harvest. But then, this harvest is best seen in the love one has for other believers, the horizontal aspect. Jesus taught his disciples, “34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (Jn 13:34-35). Therefore, real, sacrificial, Jesus-shaped love in the church is the defining mark of authentic faith. A church that loves without faith is no church at all (and cannot really love anyone). This is a problem in a lot of places, but especially in certain mainline churches that pick and choose what they want to believe from the Bible. But the other condition isn’t any better. A church that has faith without love discredits the gospel and is in real danger. Again, this is a problem in a lot of places, but it is probably more common in the evangelical church world. A church that is cold or puffed up in pride or that gossips about each other or spreads malicious rumors about its leaders or has leaders who ignore the needs of their members or use people for selfish gain or abuse their members in some way, not only isn’t a healthy church, they should have no confidence in their salvation. There’s no proof of their faith in God. Without love, it doesn’t matter how many people come to worship or how big your buildings or budgets are or how many Bible studies you do. Satan loves that kind of church. He doesn’t need to do anything to oppose them. They are doing a good enough job of discrediting the gospel on their own. This is why Paul was in such great distress. He was worried that, because of how quickly he was forced to leave Thessalonica, these people he loved so much would not have authentic faith in God or genuine love for one another (faith and love). Paul said, “I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain.” (1 Th 3:5.) But (and thank God!), Timothy brought a little gospel back to Paul. The word Paul uses, which is translated “brought good news” about their faith and love, is normally used for preaching or proclaiming the gospel of God. Nothing is more precious to Paul than the gospel. He uses this language to communicate his love for them. Paul was overjoyed that they remained faithful, even after he was forced to leave, and even after all they had suffered — they were standing firm in the Lord. Praise God! Literally, praise God. Paul can’t help but turn to God in thanks for this great news.
1 Thessalonians 3:9–10 (NIV), “9 How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? 10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.” Paul hadn’t given up the hope of returning to them himself. He was continually praying in Athens that he would be able to see them again. But I love how he says that their faithfulness gave him joy “in the presence of our God” because of them. This is consistent with the loving concern we’ve seen from him throughout this letter. Back in v. 7, Paul said, “…in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith.” Paul was experiencing persecution as well. He was suffering. He was distressed. He was afraid for them. He didn’t want them to suffer. He also didn’t want his labor to be in vain. Paul had so much on his mind, and he only had a few friends traveling with him. Sending Timothy back was a hard decision because it would’ve meant that Paul had less help and support for himself. But, and here’s the second lesson from this passage, the faithfulness of the Thessalonians served to encourage Paul to remain faithful. He was trying to encourage them, and they encouraged him. There was a mutual benefit to their relationship. Even the mighty Apostle Paul could get discouraged; he could be knocked down; he was only human. And at this point in history, it looked very unlikely that Christianity would prevail through all this opposition. But it did. And this gives us the answer to our second question of the day: “Why should we remain faithful?” There are many reasons to remain faithful, but here, we see that if we remain faithful, it encourages other people to remain faithful as well. Faithfulness is contagious; it spreads. Hearing about a brother or sister in Christ who refused to give in to some immoral or corrupt business practice encourages other Christians to have the same integrity in their workplace. Seeing a family prioritize worship and discipleship week in and week out encourages other families to have the same commitment to Christ in their homes. When you are faithful, it encourages me in my ministry as a pastor, as I hope my faithfulness is an encouragement to you. “Why should we remain faithful?” Because our faithfulness is not only good/right for us, but it can strengthen the faithfulness of others as well. Faithfulness is contagious. It can be a real blessing to others. In fact, it’s one way we can love one another. This is so necessary because we all have times when we feel how Paul was feeling in Athens — distressed, discouraged, and knocked down. (We’re only human, too!) Nicky Gumbel once said that encouragement is verbal sunshine. It costs nothing, but it warms hearts and enriches lives. And one thing that is so encouraging is hearing the good news of someone you love being faithful to God, even when it’s costly. “What does faithfulness look like?” Faith and love. “Why should we remain faithful?” Because this faith and love can spread and strengthen and grow. As Jesus told Peter, “…on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Mt 16:18). The church was tiny back then and seemed very vulnerable. But Jesus said the kingdom of God was like a tiny seed that would grow into a huge tree. This is the way he did it — through the faithfulness of regular people who demonstrated faith in God and Christ-like love for one another. This was contagious. And it did spread and grow. And today, again, almost 2,000 years later, Jesus is still building his church. Will we remain faithful? Will we be people of faith and love? Will our church be known for faith and love? If so, then we will encourage others who will encourage others. And this great tree will continue to grow into a tree of life for all eternity. I’d like to close today by reading the prayer that Paul shares as a prayer for you and for our church. Paul organized his letter with three prayers. One at the beginning, one here, in the middle, and then one final prayer at the end. This prayer serves as a turning point in the letter; Paul goes from what he and they had experienced and how thankful he is for them to some additional instruction that he felt they needed to keep going in their faithfulness, which we’ll see in the weeks ahead. Paul will go on to write about living a holy life and a generous life, as well as the hope we have in death and in the return of Christ.
1 Thessalonians 3:11–13 (NIV), “11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. 12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.” This is God’s word. Let us pray.
Suffering for God’s Word (1 Thessalonians): It was tough being a Christian in Thessalonica. But this was nothing new. Jesus faced persecution, just like the prophets before him, the apostles after, and many Christians down through the years. Nevertheless, it can still be startling to realize that following Jesus doesn’t automatically make life easier. However, the truth of God’s word and the company of God’s people help us stay faithful — even in severe suffering. Recorded on May 18, 2025, on 1 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5 by Pastor Nate Huber.
This sermon is part of our series on 1 Thessalonians called Faithful to the End. Being a Christian in the Greek, first-century city of Thessalonica was tough. Thessalonica was a big and prosperous city, but it was full of idols. The Apostle Paul and the first Christians there faced fierce religious persecution and tremendous political pressure to conform. But despite their suffering, they remained faithful. Our culture is different today, but following Jesus can still be very costly. Will we be faithful to the end?
Paul’s Loving Care (1 Thessalonians): When the Apostle Paul brought the gospel to Thessalonica, he was very careful to model a life aligned with his message. He demonstrated the kind of loving care found in a healthy family. This helped those early believers learn what it meant to be part of the church, and it helped sustain them, especially when times were tough. In life and ministry, the “how” matters. Recorded on May 11, 2025, on 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 by Pastor David Parks.
This sermon is part of our series on 1 Thessalonians called Faithful to the End. Being a Christian in the Greek, first-century city of Thessalonica was tough. Thessalonica was a big and prosperous city, but it was full of idols. The Apostle Paul and the first Christians there faced fierce religious persecution and tremendous political pressure to conform. But despite their suffering, they remained faithful. Our culture is different today, but following Jesus can still be very costly. Will we be faithful to the end?
Sermon Transcript
Well, today, we’re continuing a sermon series called Faithful to the End from 1 Thessalonians in the Bible. And we’ve said that being a Christian in the Greek, first-century city of Thessalonica was tough. Thessalonica was a big city full of idols; there was fierce religious persecution, and tremendous political pressure to conform. But thankfully, despite all this, the Thessalonians remained faithful. Last week, we saw that one thing that helped them stay faithful was their commitment to Christ alone. They not only turned to Jesus in faith, but they turned away from idols. Everyone heard how they turned away from putting anything or anyone else in the place of God. This helped them, and this will help us as well. Today, we’re going to consider how the Apostle Paul ministered while he was among them. And we’ll see that the kind of loving care, the kind of care you would receive in a healthy family, is not only nice to have, but it’s vital, it’s especially necessary, when times are hard, when we are suffering, and when it becomes costly to be a Christian. If you have your Bible/app, please open it to 1Th 2:1. We’ll unpack it as we work through it.
1 Thessalonians 2:1–2 (NIV), “1 You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. 2 We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition.” Two weeks ago, when we started this series, we looked at the story in Acts 17 of when the Apostle Paul and his coworkers, Silas and Timothy, arrived in Thessalonica. It was a wild story! But the drama didn’t start in Thessalonica; it followed Paul almost everywhere he went. In Acts 16, before Thessalonica, Paul and his friends were in the Greek city of Philippi, about a 4-day hike up the Via Egnatia. What happened in Philippi is about the same story as Thessalonica. Some people heard the gospel, believed, and became Christians, while others didn’t. However, Paul had the audacity to heal a slave girl who had a demonic spirit. This angered her slave masters, who made money off her supernatural ability to predict the future. These slave masters whipped up a mob, accused Paul and Silas of teaching unlawful practices, had them arrested and severely flogged, and threw them into prison. As Paul says, they were treated outrageously in Philippi. Thankfully, the Lord intervened and freed them from prison. Of course, he did so in such a way that the Philippian jailer and his whole family had an opportunity to hear the gospel and believe. He and his whole household got baptized. God is good, right? Even though Paul and his friends were asked to leave the city and were escorted out, God was still at work there and bearing the fruit of faith and of the Spirit. In the same way, he reminds the Thessalonians that his “visit to [them] was not without results” either. But it wasn’t through Paul’s towering intellect, it wasn’t because Paul had the power/approval of the Roman Empire, it wasn’t because Christianity was so cool, it was “with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition.” The gospel is God’s story. Paul had been called into God’s mission. And he was empowered and sustained through it all by God. This would be an important reminder for the Thessalonians as they considered their own severe suffering, their own times when they were being treated outrageously. If the mighty Apostle wasn’t immune, they wouldn’t be either. We’ll talk more about this theme of suffering for God’s word next week. There are many lessons to learn about that. For now, let’s continue.
1 Thessalonians 2:3-6 (NIV), “3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. 6 We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority.” Paul reminds his friends that his motives for ministry were not selfish or for self-gain. This wasn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. The gospel isn’t some sort of trick. And Paul wasn’t there because he just couldn’t say no to people. He wasn’t a people pleaser. He was there to please God, who had rescued him, called him to be his child, given him spiritual gifts for ministry, and sent him out as a missionary and apostle to the Gentiles. Paul was approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. This was a divine calling; he wasn’t doing this apostolic ministry to get rich or to get the praises of the masses. He admits he could’ve asserted authority over them to provide for his needs, but he didn’t. As a good pastor, Paul knew that how he did his ministry among them would impact their faith long after he left. As we said last week, Paul knew the Thessalonians needed more than just words. They certainly needed words. You can’t preach the gospel without words. But they needed to hear the gospel, and they needed to see someone who was genuinely trying to live it out. They needed a teacher and they needed an example, a coach or mentor to show them the way. So, how did Paul treat them when he was among them? How did he demonstrate the gospel in his life and the way he interacted with them in the church? And how does this relate to their ability to stay faithful?
1 Thessalonians 2:7-12 (NIV), “7 Instead, we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. 9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. ” This is God’s word. So, instead of preaching for his gain, instead of flexing his authority as an apostle, instead of needing to be praised, Paul says that they were like “young children among” them. Throughout this section, Paul uses family language, right? And let’s think about what this language brings to our minds and imaginations. What do you picture when you picture a young child? Moms? Do you picture a cute little sleeping baby? Maybe Paul meant he cried a lot when he was in Thessalonica. Babies do cry a lot. No, I don’t think so. I think Paul meant that he was not throwing his weight around when he was there. He was gentle. He didn’t beat people up with the gospel. He was humble, not expecting the world from people, or even that everyone would believe his message. Jesus taught, “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Lk 18:17). There’s a beauty and simplicity in the faith of a child. There’s a humble dependence. Paul wanted to model this kind of child-like faith for them. But then, Paul moves from the image of a young child to that of a nursing mother. How does a nursing mother care for her children? With a great deal of love, concern, attention, and affection. A good mom is tender and sweet with her children, but she’s not afraid to speak the truth in love. She can correct/teach/guide as well as encourage/support/comfort. The Thessalonians needed this kind of spiritual leader, in the home and in the church, who could speak the truth in love. They needed people who could use the whole counsel of God’s word “for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” (2 Ti 3:16), but they needed someone who could do so with the gentleness of a nursing mom. Paul says, “…we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” Isn’t this encouraging? Paul isn’t ashamed to express some pretty strong emotions here. He really cared for them. We see this encouragement throughout this letter, but it flows out of his sincere love for them. “Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.” Again, they could’ve asked for financial support as an apostle. We know they were staying at Jason’s house in Thessalonica. But from this, it sounds as if Paul, who worked as a tent maker when he didn’t have outside financial support, earned his own money there. It wouldn’t surprise me if Paul insisted on paying rent for food and housing. Who knows. But Paul did not want money to get in the way of his message. He would accept the financial gifts of Christians who wanted him to continue and supported his mission. But he wanted the motives for his gospel ministry to be clear. “You are witnesses, [v. 10] and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.” This isn’t Paul being prideful. (“You remember how awesome we were among you, right?”) No. This is Paul reminding them of their conduct there, of how they lived their lives. They were extremely careful that their lives lined up with their Lord’s, that their talk matched their walk, that their way of life was aligned with the gospel. Integrity mattered. Honesty mattered. Just because we’re saved by faith and not by works, and just because God forgives sins through faith in Jesus, and just because “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love (Ps 103:8) does not mean we can be careless of how we live once we believe. It does not mean we can share the gospel in word only and expect other people to believe it and understand how to live it out. Then, to finish the family image, in v, 11, Paul says, “For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.” Despite the drama of their arrival and despite the relatively short time they were able to be together, the Apostle Paul worked to form this brand-new church into a family formed by faith in Jesus Christ. Of course, there are other images too, that the church is the body of Christ, of which he is the head. Or that the church is the bride of Christ, of which he is the groom. But the family is one of the most common images for the church in the NT. This goes all the way back to the covenant that God made with the family of Abraham and Sarah. That they would be his people and he would be their God. Israel grew into a whole nation and a kingdom, but it started as a family. However, Jesus, in his ministry, taught that your biological family, as important and good as those relationships are, is not as important as the spiritual family formed by faith and obedience to him. Jesus said, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, Jesus said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mt 12:48-50). So, whether you’re talking about 2000 years ago in Thessalonica, or in Appleton today, when you believe in Jesus, the church isn’t an optional accessory. When you believe in Jesus, you become a member of the body, you become the bride, and you are adopted into the family of God. Whether you were raised by your biological family in the church or not, whether you had a healthy family growing up or not, in Christ, you are part of a new family. You have a new Father in heaven who loves you and cares for you. You have a new heart and a new Spirit within you that is bearing all kinds of fruit, like joy and peace that passes all understanding. And you are a beloved child of God. This is why Paul uses this family language for how he ministered among the Thessalonians. They had become a family because of Jesus. It’s helpful to understand that this image runs both ways. A healthy, loving family is a great picture of how the church is supposed to work. But a healthy, loving church is a great picture of how a family is supposed to work, too. However, this is a broken world. Now, sometimes, sadly, the abuse or the evil of the world is found in the family of the church. Certain pastors or ministry leaders or church members might commit all kinds of evil deeds or have truly terrible motives for doing ministry. Churches can become toxic. Whole denominations can turn away from God. As a result, people can be deeply wounded in the name of Jesus. And some of you have experienced this kind of hurt. But friends, this should not be. Kingdom work must be done according to kingdom values. We cannot have the attitude that we must “win the lost at any cost,” for our deeds will quickly undermine and discredit our words. Now, the gospel says the power of sin and death can easily be found in the church. We are not united as a church by our own holiness, goodness, or moral perfection. We’re united as a church by our need for a savior. We need for Jesus. But still, again, we must watch our lives and our doctrine closely, both matters. And here’s the big idea for today: The “how” matters. How Paul lived there in Thessalonica mattered, how he did his ministry mattered. How he thought and felt and spoke and acted toward these people mattered. How we do ministry matters. How we follow Jesus matters. It matters because Jesus doesn’t make suggestions for us. He is the Lord of our lives. He makes commands, and we must obey him. But secondly, it also matters because others are watching. Our kids and grandkids are watching. But it doesn’t stop with our families. Our neighbors and coworkers are watching. Our friends and family members are watching. Will those Christians actually live out what they believe? Will we actually live out what we say we believe? Will our words match our deeds? Because honesty still matters and integrity still matters. How we approach people matters. How we make them feel when we’re around them matters. Today, may we be people who are sensitive and humble, thinking about our impact on the people around us. Are we committed to doing what we say and say what we do, and live lives of integrity that reflect Jesus out into the world around us? This all matters because these are the things that will sustain us, strengthen and support us, even through times of severe suffering. How can we remain faithful? We need to look to each other and learn to follow Jesus. But we also need to live those lives of integrity so others can do that as well. Will our lives strengthen them? Let’s pray.
Turning to God from Idols (1 Thessalonians): When the Thessalonians became Christians, Paul says everyone heard how they turned to the true and living God from idols. But idolatry wasn’t only an issue back then. Human beings continue to put things (even good things!) in the place of God. We must choose for ourselves this day whom we will serve. Recorded on May 4, 2025, on 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5b-10 by Pastor David Parks.
This sermon is part of our series on 1 Thessalonians called Faithful to the End. Being a Christian in the Greek, first-century city of Thessalonica was tough. Thessalonica was a big and prosperous city, but it was full of idols. The Apostle Paul and the first Christians there faced fierce religious persecution and tremendous political pressure to conform. But despite their suffering, they remained faithful. Our culture is different today, but following Jesus can still be very costly. Will we be faithful to the end?
Sermon Transcript
Well, today, we’re continuing a 10-part sermon series we started last week called Faithful to the End from 1 Thessalonians in the Bible. If you missed the series introduction last week, you can always go back and watch or listen to the podcast online. But, we said that 1 Thessalonians is the earliest letter from the Apostle Paul that we have in the NT of the Bible, written not even 20 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul was writing from Athens back to his friends in Thessalonica in the church he helped plant. Being a Christian in the Greek, first-century city of Thessalonica was tough. Thessalonica was a big and prosperous city, but it was full of idols; there was fierce religious persecution, and tremendous political pressure to conform. But thankfully, despite their difficulty, these early Christian brothers and sisters remained faithful. Paul heard this from his apprentice, Timothy, and was overjoyed. This is one of the reasons his letter is so encouraging. Paul wanted to continue to water the seeds he planted so that they would grow and flourish, bearing much fruit of the gospel. Today, we’re going to see that part of the story of the Thessalonians’ faith is that they not only believed in Jesus, but they turned away from idols (false gods) and turned to serve the one true and living God. This is our first major lesson in how to stay faithful to the end. Human beings were made to worship. We don’t become worshipers when we become Christians, or even when we get serious about our faith. All sorts of things can become the treasure of our hearts. And all sorts of things can master us in life. But if we fail to understand our heart of worship and the need for this turning, our faith will be very fragile. When trouble or persecution comes, will we remain faithful, or will we quickly fall away? If you have your Bible/app, please open it to 1Th 1:5. This passage is fairly brief, so I’ll read through the whole thing, and then we’ll go back and work our way through it.
1 Thessalonians 1:5b–10 (NIV), “You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” This is God’s word. Last week, we worked through Acts 17, which is the story of how the gospel came to Thessalonica. And how the Apostle Paul and his coworkers, Silas and Timothy, arrived, traveling down the famous Via Egnatia, had success in helping a number of people (Jews and Gentiles) come to faith in Jesus, and the church was born. But they also ran into severe opposition; a mob was formed, their host, Jason, and some others were arrested, and Paul ended up making a run for it. Paul starts this section with a reminder of their brief but meaningful time together.
1 Thessalonians 1:5b (NIV), “You know how we lived among you for your sake.” Paul’s going to come back to this theme in the passage we’ll look at next week in chapter 2, but for now, we’ll just say that as a good pastor, Paul knew that the Thessalonians needed more than just words. They needed more than an expertly preached sermon or Bible study, as important as those things are. They needed to see an example of a real person following Jesus. They needed to see what a gospel-shaped life looked like as much as they needed to hear the gospel. Paul points back to this example, but he goes on to celebrate how they responded to it.
1 Thessalonians 1:6 (NIV), “6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.” This is a remarkable statement. Not only did they look to Paul’s example, but they also became imitators of him and of the Lord Jesus. But in what way? How were they like Paul? How were they like Jesus? Paul says that it was in the way they responded to severe suffering. They welcomed the gospel in the midst of severe suffering. The gospel was good news for them, despite the fact that their lives became harder, not easier. In fact, they responded to this hardship with joy given by the Holy Spirit. Isn’t that incredible? Joy! How often do we think that if only our lives could become easier, then we would be happier? But Paul says their lives got much more difficult, but they had real joy. This joy was evidence that the Holy Spirit was at work within those believers, because how else would you account for it? In his letter to the Philippians, Paul says there’s a peace that passes all understanding (Php 4:7), but here, it seems that there is a joy that passes all understanding as well. Love, joy, peace…joy is part of the fruit the Spirit produces in your life. The church in Thessalonica wasn’t only faithful; they were joyful. But what effect would this spiritual joy have?
1 Thessalonians 1:7 (NIV), “7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.” This is exactly how the gospel would continue to spread around the Roman Empire for the first few hundred years after Jesus’ death and resurrection (not that it works any differently today). Paul learned how to follow Jesus from others. And then he taught/modeled it for the Thessalonians, and then they taught/modeled it for others. If we look at a map, we’re reminded that Thessalonica was the capital city of the proud Roman province of Macedonia. This would’ve included the city of Berea, where Paul and his coworkers went after fleeing Thessalonica. The southern peninsula was the region known as Achaia, which included the cities of Athens and Corinth. And Paul says these suffering, yet joyful Thessalonians influenced all the other Christians throughout these regions.
1 Thessalonians 1:8-9a (NIV), “8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us.” Paul goes beyond their region of Macedonia and the region next door of Achaia and says that the Thessalonians are famous. Their faith in God has become known everywhere. What an encouraging thing to hear! Everyone has heard how they received this apostolic team, how they responded to the gospel, and how they remained faithful despite great religious, political, and (no doubt) social pressure to the contrary. One of the things that helps people stay faithful in the face of trials and tribulations is encouragement. Encouragement is like a drenching rain after a drought. It brings life. It sustains life. Paul isn’t trying to flatter these people; he’s trying to help them remain faithful. He’s pointing out the fruit he sees as proof of their faith. Do you know the power of encouragement in your life? When was the last time you pointed out someone’s strengths or the good spiritual fruit you’ve seen? Your friends need this kind of encouragement. Your spouse and kids need it. Your coworkers or classmates need it too. Not to get something from them, but to give something to them. To give them life. But for Paul, this fruit of faith naturally (actually supernaturally) flows out of the gospel.
1 Thessalonians 1:9b-10 (NIV), “9 They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” The Thessalonians weren’t just extra positive, joyful, or faithful people. They were actually following Jesus. But they didn’t add Jesus to a pantheon of other gods. They turned to Jesus from the other gods, and there were many gods in their day. The Roman Empire was full of gods and goddesses who were thought to govern every aspect of life and death. The basic arrangement was that if you offered the right sacrifices and offerings to them, if you worshipped and served them, they would ensure you would provide identity, security/peace, health/wealth, and hope for the future. Basically, honor them and you’d have a good life. But according to the God of the Bible, these other gods were no gods at all. They were man-made; they were made-up idols without the power to say anything or do anything real. But what happens when you give your life to something that isn’t real? It’s not good. It’s not peace or joy that passes understanding. It’s not a path that leads to life. You need to turn and find a new path. This is the basic gospel message. There is a way that leads to life. It’s a way that is made possible through the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God sent from heaven. He lived the perfect life. He died on the cross to atone for the sins of the world. But on the third day he was raised from the dead. And anyone that calls on the name of Jesus, anyone who believes in him and in his death and resurrection, will be saved. Saved from what? From the wrath of God against all the wicked evil, the abuse, the injustice, the oppression of this broken world. One day Christ will return, the dead will be raised, and all will give an account of their lives to him. Those who trust him as Lord and Savior will live forever with him in the new heaven and earth. Those who reject him will be forever separated from the only source of life, light, and love. This is what hell is. So the way of Jesus is the way that leads to life here and now, but also and much more importantly, on into eternity. Jesus isn’t just one option among many. He’s the only way and the only truth and the only life. This is why the Thessalonians had to turn from idols and turn to Jesus. But this wasn’t easy then, and it’s certainly not any easier today. It’s not easy for multiple reasons. We’ll talk more about the external pressure of persecution in two weeks, which was really tough for the Thessalonians. But for the remainder of our time, we’ll consider the internal pressure of idolatry, which can still be difficult for us to overcome. You see, from the beginning, human beings were made to worship and serve God in all of life. We don’t become worshipers when we become Christians. But here’s the problem: All sorts of things can become the treasure of our hearts. All sorts of things can master us in life, including God-substitutes. About five hundred years ago, the Protestant Reformer, John Calvin, famously wrote, “the human mind is, so to speak, a perpetual forge of idols.” (Calvin, John. The Institutes of the Christian Religion (p. 51). (Function). Kindle Edition.) This is explained in the Scriptures by the fact that from creation, human beings were made in the image and likeness of God. We were made to reflect the glory of God back to God in worship and out into the world as his beloved children. Of course, since the fall to sin, sometimes this image is grossly distorted. Sometimes people hate God or do great evil, reflecting the opposite of the glory of God into the world and bringing the kingdom of hell instead of the kingdom of heaven. But even when people consciously reject the one true and living God, they cannot undo how they were made. People cannot stop worshiping because we were made to worship. When people reject the one true and living God, they do not stop worshipping; they simply choose someone or something (or, perhaps, several things) to worship in the place of God. A modern person might think, “Well, sure, people used to invent things to worship and maybe still do sometimes, but that’s just old code left in our brains from the olden, more superstitious days when we didn’t have such advanced science and technology to understand ourselves and the world around us. When people finally realize this, then religion is done.” Now, this faith (do you see the irony?), not in some silly ancient god but in almighty science and technology, is what led philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche to declare, “God is dead!” (Nietzsche, Friedrich. Thus Spake Zarathustra [with Biographical Introduction] (p. 12). (Function). Kindle Edition.) But is God dead? Or did we just give up the old gods for new ones? That’s exactly what many secular people have done today. How many people hang on every word of our scientific prophets who preach a message of judgment, but offer a form of salvation, if only we would obey their infallible word. How many people sacrifice time/attention, money/data — their very lives — to our technological priests who serve as the mediators between people and the transcendent and omniscient being that lives in the heavens (cloud). And for what? What is the hope offered if you give your lives to worship and serve these idols? For the hope of a life of love, joy, and peace, so long as you subscribe to their platform? So long as you consume their ads? But have these modern prophets and priests ushered in a new golden age? Have they brought us utopia? Have they brought heaven down to earth? Have they made us happier and more fulfilled? Have they delivered on their promises, or have they just done what people have always done and put something (even good things like science and tech) in the place of God? And didn’t this abandonment of the Christian religion result in the deaths of hundreds of millions of people in the last century and the two World Wars? It’s no different when politics or wealth or family is your chosen religion. A president, a billionaire, or even your kids make terrible gods. But we’re so much more advanced than those superstitious people who lived so long ago, right? Not really. People are people. And people today have the same need to turn “to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven.” So today, whom do you serve? Do you get your identity from Jesus or from something else? Do you get your security/peace from Jesus? How about your hope for the future? Even good things like health/wealth or marriage/family can become idols if they take the place of God in your life. When Jesus proclaimed the gospel, he said the right response would be to repent and believe. Repent means to turn. To turn from your old way and your old gods. And believe. Turn to God in faith. Follow Jesus by faith. Long before the gospel arrived in Thessalonica, during the time of Joshua, the people of God faced the same temptation and the same choice. In Joshua 24, before his death, Joshua made sure to warn the people about this. He assembled all the people and said this, “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:14–15, NIV). Friends, you have two paths before you today. One path that leads to life. And one that leads away from life. Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. But if you choose Jesus, he will sustain you no matter what. He will love you. He will walk with you. He will give you joy and peace that passes all understanding. His Spirit will sustain you, even in the midst of great hardship and difficulty. Praise God. Let us pray.
