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.
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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.
