2010-01-31
1 Thessalonians: Introduction - Faith, Love and Hope
Steve Lane

A. Introduction

Acts 17: 1 - 9
Paul, Silas and Timothy, through Thessalonica on the second missionary journey.
Established the church, but had to leave sooner than they would have liked.
Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians from Corinth in response to Timothy's good report

1 Thessalonians gives us a good picture of a vibrant, growing church and individual.
Themes: Missions, disciple making, evangelism, tools of ministry (gospel, relationship, prayer), eschatology.

B. Faith, Love and Hope

1 Thessalonians 1: 2 - 3 Faith, love hope.
1 Thessalonians 5: 8
2 Thessalonians 1: 3 - 4
Colossians 1: 4 - 6
1 Corinthians 13: 13
Fruit that the early church looked for in growing believers and churches.

The work of faith, or the work produced by faith.
1 Thessalonians 1: 8 Missionary work
1 Thessalonians 4: 9 - 10 Acts of goodness toward others.
Faith is a way of life. Whose mission are you on?

Labor of love - extraordinary effort.
The supreme example of self-sacrificing love:
John 3: 16
1 John 4: 10

Hospitality ( philoxenos ) (Luke 15: 2) - Open hearts, open home.

Endurance - Hope that results in endurance. Not succumbing to self-pity or self-focus.
These must be happening for the following picture of the church to be seen.

C. A Great Commission Church, Full of Great Commission Believers

1 Thessalonians 1: 4 - 10 : They immediately began to duplicate what happened to them.
Verse 4 : The gospel is more than a right argument or intellectual truth.

Verse 5 : Power
The power within the speakers.
The person of the Holy Spirit.
Deep conviction.
It takes faith to share the gospel:
Acts 1: 8
Romans 6 - 8
Galatians 2: 20

Verse 5b : "Lived among you".
2: 8 "shared our lives as well"
Hospitality was central love. Discernment without being critical. Labor of love that is self-sacrificing.

Verse 6 : Doing for others what was done for them was proof of their love.
The lives they were sharing had to be worth duplicating! There was a cost with the gospel.

Verse 7 : Their eternal perspective gave them the endurance and the joy.
Life-on-life sharing the gospel at great risk, and without self-focus or self-pity.

D. Conclusion

If we would do all that God has for us, we must: Faith... Love... Hope...