1 Thessalonians 1:4-5
Faith, Love, Hope and Chosen
1Thes 1:3. When Paul gives thanks and prays for the Thessalonians, he is constantly reminded of the way in which they work out their lives as Christians. Their conduct shows that they are no opportunists, but Christians in the true sense of the word: those who belong to Christ. The three major principles that give Christendom its true content are to be seen at full strength among the Thessalonians. It is the results of a true conversion. Not counterfeited, not pretended, but pure. Hence you notice so much freshness in their spiritual condition. It really is something to be jealous of. And that's not a wrong jealousy.Let’s have a closer look at the three things that are typical for Christendom, and consequently also for you and me. You find them in 1Thes 1:3. They are “faith”, “love” and “hope”. These are the sources, the motives of Christendom in the world. They are not to be found in any other religion. These three things form our character as Christians.Only, you cannot see faith, love and hope. However, they can be made visible. And that is what the Thessalonians do. Therefore you read here about “your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness [or: perseverance] of hope”. Faith is shown by works, love is shown by efforts made and hope is shown by perseverance. “Work” and “labor” and “perseverance” have to do with the outside, with what is visible; faith, love and hope have to do with the inside, which is not visible.Work and labor look similar, but each of these words really has a different meaning. Work is related to ‘faith’. Faith focuses on what is not seen. A work of faith is a work that comes from what is not seen. Faith characterizes the spiritual condition that leads to that work. This work you see for instance in all the examples presented in Hebrews 11 and in the two examples in James 2 (Heb 11:1-40; Jam 2:21-25).‘Labor’ is work, but with the characteristic that it is intensive work. There is great effort attached to it, even to the edge of exhaustion. For labor ‘love’ is needed, because only love is willing to make great effort and great sacrifices. ‘Labor of love’ is not a matter of feeling. It is a strain, an effort and care for others. Love gives itself. The Thessalonians showed that they possessed Divine love, which is a giving love.‘To persevere’ is to carry on even under the greatest trials and sufferings. An unbeliever can persevere by giving himself a pep talk or by seeing the necessity of something. That has nothing to do with biblical hope. Biblical hope is also not to be found in stoically saying: ‘You can only hope for the best.’ Biblical hope is always a well-founded hope, a certainty because it is based on God’s Word and focused on a Divine Person.For the Thessalonians, the motive of the perseverance lay in the hope that the Lord Jesus will return. That may also be the case for you and me. Just to be clear: hope is called hope because it has not yet been fulfilled, not because it is not certain. Therefore ‘hope’ brings forth ‘perseverance’ as its fruit. What is inward brings forth fruit. In that way faith produces work and love produces labor. The one cannot exist without the other. Without the inner motives there will be no fruit. But the other way around is possible. Then there is activity, but it does not come from what God has worked. But then it is not good.You see that in Revelation 2 (Rev 2:2). The Lord Jesus in His judgment of the church in Ephesus speaks to them only of “your deeds” (or: works), “and your toil” (or: labor), “and perseverance”. Concerning ‘faith, love and hope’ He says nothing. He Who knows the deepest motives of every man, notes that the Ephesians only cared about the appearance, the observable activities. The Christian motivation was lacking. They had left their first love. Therefore it had no value to the Lord and He appeals to them to repent and to do their first works (Rev 2:5).The three sources that form our character as Christians are not isolated. They need an object on which they focus. Therefore immediately the Son and the Father are mentioned again after that. Perseverance in hope only makes sense if the Lord Jesus is the object of that hope. Your heart rests in Him and expects Him. In Him is the source of all blessing for your soul. From Him you receive strength and in Him you will find what nourishes the spiritual life. It says also “in the presence of our God and Father”. That places your work, your labor and your perseverance in the presence of God. Why is that important? Because then the exercise of your conscience takes place. If you live consciously in the presence of God, you think about what you want to do or say. You wonder whether in your plans the three different characteristics of your life as a Christian may become visible.If you get anxious of the thought that God sees you always and everywhere, you may ask yourself why that happens. Do you still want to do something of which you know that it would grieve Him? And if you sincerely do not want to grieve Him, but you are still afraid of him, remember that God is your Father.That Paul is referring here to these two Persons of the Godhead, is meant as a support for arranging your life as a Christian. He does point to the Lord Jesus to give you confidence that He is coming soon so that you can be calm in the circumstances. He does point to God our Father in order that you are preserved with a good conscience in the light.Both are of great importance for lasting peace in your heart and the growth of your faith life. You could say that the two blessings are representing the two sides of the Christian life: living by faith in the Lord Jesus and being able to give account to God for everything you do. 1Thes 1:4. Paul can list all those wonderful things of the Thessalonians in his giving thanks to God and in his prayers (1Thes 1:2) because he knows they have been “chosen”. Should he have had insight into the records of God and seen their names listed there? No, of course not. Nevertheless he knows that they have been chosen. How is that possible? Because he sees their way of life.The word “knowing” indicates that this knowledge is not the result of revelation or intuition, but of observation, of seeing and hearing. Even of your having been chosen there is no other evidence than your life as a Christian. Whoever has been chosen, is showing in his life the life of Christ, and will strive for having a blameless conscience both before God and before men (Acts 24:16).The three major principles of Christendom, faith, hope and love, that are active among the Thessalonians, give proof of their having been chosen. Faith, love and hope are the result of God’s choice of them. Having been chosen itself can be called a ‘family secret’. It has been God’s purpose to adopt certain people, chosen by Him, to make them to become His children and to include them in His family circle. That you and I may belong there is pure grace. Only if you belong to the family, you can see that.Therefore the sinner has nothing to do with this family secret. To him the call is to repent. It is important not to mix these two – the grace of God and the responsibility of the sinner– to let the distinction exist.The lives of the Thessalonians are overflowing with what they have found in Christ. It is therefore no wonder that Paul could say that they were “brethren beloved by God”. God must have looked with special feelings of love at them, because in their lives so much was visible of His Son. Don’t you also long for Him to look at you like that with such feelings?Now read 1 Thessalonians1:3-4 again.Reflection: What did Paul and his companions see with the Thessalonians for which they could give thanks and pray?Followers and Examples
1Thes 1:5. You have seen in the previous section that with the Thessalonians the evidence of the new life was manifested impressively. To Paul it was unmistakable that people who live in such a way, are children of God. It provided him the clear evidence that they have been chosen. Paul will now justify that determination. That’s why he starts with the word “for”, i.e. now comes an explanation on the previous statement.What the Thessalonians revealed in their lives of faith was not due to a training where they learned how you could live as a Christian. No, the gospel had come to them, not with mushy talks like it is often preached today. In such a preaching you hear nothing about repentance and confession of sins before God. ‘That only drives people away’, is what they say. The purpose of that kind of preaching is to adopt a Christian pattern of behavior which gives you added value and enables you to become successful, better than the people around you. Words are then a big box of tricks out of which you can present what people like to hear. But that is not what Paul has taught them.He of course has used words to preach the gospel. Yet he did not do it as if it were a friendly offering that could be accepted or refused at will. Convinced as he was of the seriousness of the preaching, he preached powerfully. The power of his preaching has nothing to do with his vocal tone, producing a considerable amount of decibels. The power has also nothing to do with works of power which he might have done. That is absolutely not the case here. No, he preached in the consciousness of God's power, the power of the Holy Spirit. Only through Him hearts can be convicted. It goes even beyond that. The Holy Spirit could work through them so fully that Paul and his companions preached “with full conviction” without a shadow of doubt.And notice that he does not say ‘how we have preached among you’, but “what kind of men we proved to be among you”. He also points to his life that they had seen when he was with them. His life and teachings form a whole. His life supported his preaching. What he preached to others, he practiced himself. In all that, he did not seek his own interests, but the interests of the Thessalonians – he did it for their sake.1Thes 1:6 The effect of a preaching so full of assurance and brought by people who are fully of it themselves, is great. They had “received the word” and that “in much tribulation”. In the parable of the sower the Lord Jesus tells about someone “who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy”. The Lord explains that such ‘seed’ has no root and that with the very first opposition this ‘believer’ quits (Mt 13:20-21). That was quite different with the Thessalonians. The effect on them was not ambiguous. You did not need to wonder whether they were truly converted.There are some remarkable effects that are noticeable. First, they have become “imitators” of the preachers and of the Lord. Newly converted people first see the preacher and through him they see the Lord Who is being preached. In Acts 3 you see an illustration of that. There Peter says, with John, to the lame: “Look at us” (Acts 3:4). Then the healed lame man entered the temple with them (Acts 3:8). And some verses further it says that “he was clinging to Peter and John” (Acts 3:11).In order for you to know how to live as a Christian you must orientate yourself. You need someone as an example. It is the same as with learning in physical growth. A child learns to walk and talk by imitating. A good model or example is therefore of great importance. Do you also have good examples? Go after them, whether in your environment or in biographies of people who consistently have followed the Lord Jesus. If there is a healthy spiritual growth, the preacher will more and more disappear out of the picture whereas the Lord gets more and more attention. The preacher will never point to himself, unless he can refer directly to the Lord Jesus Himself (1Cor 11:1). The preacher will never want to bind people to himself and want to make them dependent on him. The preacher is just a man who can also go wrong. The Thessalonians know what they are getting into. They have received the Word while great pressure was exerted on them. I am afraid that many Christians in our part of the world are unaware of this and therefore so little get to a life of full dedication to Christ. Instead of succumbing to the pressure and picking up their old life, the Thessalonians had experienced the “joy of the Holy Spirit”. You see here that outward oppression and inner joy go together. These things cannot be explained well. It is something you have to experience. Have you ever experienced that joy? 1Thes 1:7. They therefore became an example themselves for all other believers in a wide surrounding area, after they had received the Word and became followers. Besides, the word “example” is written in the singular. This seems to indicate that the Thessalonians were not so much individual examples, but that they were an example as church. If you looked at them, if you looked at their whole church life, regarding their conduct and confession, their way of dealing with each other and their attitude toward the world, then you could have seen what being a Christian really meant. Being an example for other believers implies that other believers have yet to learn new things or to unlearn unwanted things. But Paul did not have to write about that to the other believers. What the Thessalonians were reflecting, said enough. I must admit that I am jealous of that. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the local church to which you and I belong had such an appearance? I think we can recognize ourselves more in “all the believers in Macedonia” to whom the Thessalonians were held as an example than in the church of the Thessalonians. Let the example be a spur for you and me to live our lives as Christians just like the Thessalonians did.1Thes 1:8. The word “for” at the beginning of 1Thes 1:8 shows in what way they had become examples. The Thessalonians did not withdraw themselves in isolation to enjoy only for themselves what they had received. After they were convicted by the power of “the word of the Lord”, they trumpeted the same Word forth. That is the meaning of “sounded forth”. The Word of the Lord – and not their own opinion about it – has done its work in their lives. There is an expression that it is applied to people who speak about the gospel but do not live accordingly in practice: your actions speak so loudly that I cannot hear what you say. With the Thessalonians it was different. Their actions spoke so loudly that everyone could hear the gospel of the Lord. I would like to conclude this section with a word about “the word”. This is already the third time that we hear about ‘the word’. In 1Thes 1:5 it is about the word of the gospel, i.e. the content. In 1Thes 1:6 it is the Word that has been received, which caused their lives to be changed and made resistant to any pressure. Here, in 1Thes 1:8, it is “the word of the Lord”. That puts the emphasis on the origin. Because of the addition 'of the Lord’ ‘the Word’ also points to the authority of Him Who is its source (Acts 15:36). You will also encounter other additions, for example: the Word of God (2Cor 2:17; 2Cor 4:2), the Word of His grace (Acts 14:3; Acts 20:32), the Word of life (Phil 2:16) and the Word of faith (Rom 10:8).We live in a time of words. Words bring revolutions in countries and histories. We have been granted the privilege to possess a Word that is more powerful than any human word. It is a Word that works powerfully. It is a Word of life. Therefore: Read the Word and live accordingly! Now read Thessalonians 1:5-8 again.Reflection: Can it be said of you that you have become a follower of Paul and of the Lord?
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