Tag: first thessalonians

Thankful for Your Faith (1 Thessalonians 1:1-10)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

Paul, Silas and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace and peace to you.

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.

For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 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. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 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, 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, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. (New International Version)

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Thessalonica, essentially saying, “I really can’t say enough good about you!” I also echo the same about your faith. Paul had plenty of reasons to express thanks for them in his prayers. He was thoroughly convinced of God’s work in them, and acknowledged the good work of God in their spiritual transformation.

The background of Paul and the Thessalonians

Paul visited Thessalonica on his second missionary journey (Acts 17). Thessalonica was the capital of Macedonia, located on an inlet, and so, was a port city along an important trade route. Thessalonica was a very religious city, with a host of various deities that were worshiped. It was also a politically prominent city that prided themselves on embodying the ideals of the Roman Empire, including bravery, loyalty, piety, seriousness, respect and authority.

When the Thessalonians heard Paul’s message and accepted its call to worship the God of Israel exclusively, they faced rejection and possibly persecution from their polytheistic families and neighbors. To accept and worship Jesus took some solid faith, hope, and love, because to be a Christian was costly within the culture.

God loved and chose the Thessalonians

Paul could praise their faith because it lifted and upheld the gracious work of God on this earth. Before the Thessalonians chose God, God chose them. God didn’t have to do that. But the Lord was gracious, merciful, and kind, extending salvation and deliverance from an empty way of life to a group of people who didn’t deserve it. In fact, none of us do. God’s grace chooses to grant us faith and salvation. To be included amongst God’s people is an incredible privilege.

The good news of Jesus Christ came to the Thessalonians with power, assurance, and the Holy Spirit. They turned from their idols to God. Jesus redeemed and rescued them from darkness and judgment. The Thessalonian believers turned from their previous religious expressions in order to serve the living and true God. As a result, they began imitating Jesus and his apostles. And because of their Christian way of life, the Thessalonian Christians then became worthy of imitation themselves.

Because of God’s merciful intervention in their lives, Paul was grateful for the work of God for three specific elements and expressions about the Thessalonians’ Christian lives:

  1. Their work produced by faith
  2. Their labor prompted by love
  3. Their endurance inspired by hope

Indeed, for every Christian, the Christian life is lived with the essential tools of faith, hope, and love.

Endurance inspired by hope

It’s a standup quality to be characterized as people of hope. The Thessalonian believers were anticipating and waiting for the Lord’s return; they had no doubt Jesus will come again. The Christians just needed some reassurance about those who have already died without yet seeing Christ – which is why Paul wrote his letter to them. And the believers were good at encouraging each other with the hope of Christ’s return.

Labor prompted by love

Paul didn’t really even need to teach the Thessalonian Christians about loving each other because they were good students of God as their teacher. They had a reputation of hearing the Word of God, then doing it. Specifically, they learned to love, not only one another within their local church, but the whole of the family of God throughout Macedonia. So then, the Thessalonians excelled at expressing their faith through love. (Galatians 5:6)

Work produced by faith

The Thessalonian believers became well-versed and practiced in the Christian elements of hope and love. And their faith became known everywhere. Paul was thankful for their work produced by faith. Yet, as the rest of the letter bears out, along with the second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul will have much to say to them about the nature of faith.

Paul reminded the Christians of his example to them and the gospel which he proclaimed. Several times, Paul talked of the work he put into them on their behalf (1 Thessalonians 2:9; 3:5; 2 Thessalonians 3:8). On the topic of following godly examples, Paul also admonished them to respect those who have authority over them, who labor and work among them (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13).

The Apostle encouraged the Thessalonians to continue in their work, so that every need would be met within the church; and so that there would be a good witness to those outside the church (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12). Paul let them know that a very practical way they can express their love is by working with their hands so that none among them have any need.

Faith and work are not mutually exclusive. Even though the Thessalonian believers were transformed by their belief in Christ, they still needed to remember that they must carry on in their regular daily lives until Christ returns.

Imitating the faith and patience of solid believers

And we are all still responsible to be faithful, every day, no matter what the situation or circumstances are. We must carry on in our faith, hope, and love through obeying and living into the words and ways of Jesus. We do this through imitating the faith and patience of trusted Christians, like the Apostle Paul.

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

Hebrews 13:7, NIV

People can only experience the fullness of their humanity when they are in deep, trusting relationships with one another. Even more, relationships have more depth when experienced and centered in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Imitation then becomes an outgrowth of this strong relationship.

Far too often we seek excuses, or to find loopholes, in order to avoid the vulnerability that a close mentoring relationship demands. We may look for ways to justify not getting close, or simply distance ourselves from other believers.

Maybe we do not want to do the work — desiring to avoid being hurt. It could be that we are tired of doing the relational work necessary for closeness and walking with Christ and one another. Relationships get messy and they take lots of energy. But our spiritual growth is completely tied to relational growth. The Apostle Paul himself was vulnerable:  

Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 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. 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. (1 Thessalonians 2:7-9, NIV)

This imitative relationship is important for the advancement of the gospel. The faith is passed on from generation to generation, from disciple to disciple, in one long progression stretching all the way back to Jesus and the original twelve disciples. For our own faith, hope, and love to be effective, it requires following the example of Paul, and of committed faithful believers in your own life, through close relationships with them.

God of all faith, hope, and love, we praise and give you thanks for the resurrection of your Son, Jesus Christ. We celebrate the joy of life in you, and are grateful for the privilege and opportunity to live into the reality and power of the resurrection.

Inspire us, by your grace, to live the life of intentionally following Jesus. We surrender ourselves to the life of Jesus, who called us to be faithful servants of God. We commit to living for Christ, our Savior and Lord, in whose name we are bold to pray. Amen.

Encourage One Another (1 Thessalonians 3:1-5)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain. (New International Version)

If life were always a bowl of cherries, we would not continually need to be encouraged. But, as you well know, we all need encouragement in order to keep going, be patient, and persevere through the hard slogs of this life.

The Apostle Paul, although sometimes coming across as a driven Type A sort of personality in Scripture, was nonetheless sensitive and attentive to the spiritual and emotional needs of the churches in his care. And because of that concern, he sent his young protégé, Timothy, to encourage the believers in Thessalonica and support them in their efforts to live a faithful life.

Encouragement is a vital practice for all people; it isn’t optional. To need encouragement is not a sign of weakness, any more than needing food is. Ideally, encouragement happens daily, just as much as we need three square meals a day. (Hebrews 3:12-14)

The church is to be a community of mutual support for one another. The world can be a tough, unfriendly, and lonely place. It’s easy to get hurt.

The word “encourage” is a beautiful word (Greek: παρακαλέω and English transliteration: parakaleo). It is actually two words smashed together (compound word) to communicate a wonderful truth. “Para” means to come alongside. It’s a word found in many of our English words (i.e., parachute, paramedic, etc.). The other half of the word, kaleo, means “to call out,” that is, to exhort someone to do something. 

When we put those two words together, parakaleo means to exhort someone to do something by coming alongside them and helping them to do it. Therefore, we do the dual work of saying helpful words and backing it up with helpful actions.

We are to do the patient work of building up and strengthening the faith of each other. Not everything goes according to plan in life; there are unforeseen delays and issues and problems which causes us to find creative work arounds. At other times, we just have to submit to the wait and not become upset or discouraged about it.

When it comes to faith, we are not to give up when things don’t go as we think they should, or as planned. In stressful situations, we must avoid tearing down one another. And we are not to look at other people as objects to be “fixed” when they don’t perform, or do, or say, what we want them to. 

Everyone needs a continual stream of encouragement to keep going so that we do not lose heart or lose hope. If we are in the habit of only pointing out things to others we don’t like, or consistently feel the need to correct people, then we really must say at least five encouraging things for every single complaint. 

“Do you see how everywhere Paul puts the health of the community into the hands of each individual?  Encourage one another and build each other up. Do not then cast all of the burden on your teachers, and do not cast everything on those who have authority over you. You are able to edify one another…. If you are willing, you will have more success with one another than we (pastors) can have. You have been with one another a longer time and know more about one another’s affairs. You are not ignorant of one another’s failings and have more freedom of speech, love, and intimacy. You have more ability than we do to reprove and exhort. I am only one person. You are many. You will be able to be teachers to one another.”

Saint John Chrysostom, 4th century Bishop of Constantinople

We encourage and edify one another with Christ – who is both our example and our substitute. Jesus is our example of leaving the comfort of heaven and coming alongside us in our human condition; he lived the holy life we could not live, and so, is our substitute. 

Jesus came alongside us and taught us how to live by showing the way of love and taking care of the sin issue once for all. After rising from the dead and ascending to heaven, we now have the hope that Christ will return.  Then we will no longer have to deal with the world, the flesh, and the devil dogging us at every turn, seeking to discourage us. 

The three indispensable elements of the Christian life are faith, hope, and love. We need all three in order to be encouraged and strengthened in faith.

For faith to be strong, it needs exercise through continual repetitions of handling hard and challenging circumstances.   

For hope to flourish, we need the confident expectation that God will make good on all divine promises.

For love to abound, it needs to become the very air we breathe. Love is to be so common and routine for us that we put it on every day just as we put on our clothes. We love one another by encouraging each other through meeting needs. We love each other enough to say what needs to be said, and back it up with help so that they will not become discouraged but will persevere and keep going.

The Holy Spirit of God is referred to by Jesus as the Paraclete – the noun form of the word for encouragement.  The Spirit is the one who comes alongside us and teaches us all things by helping us. The Spirit’s work is to sanctify us and make us holy. 

God does not shout commands from heaven; the Lord comes alongside us by means of the Spirit to help us live the Christian life. And that is how believers are to function – pointing one another to Christ, exhorting and helping and edifying each other until the Lord Jesus comes again. 

Almighty God, by your Word you laid the foundations of the earth, set the boundaries of the sea, and still the wind and waves. Surround us with your grace and peace, and preserve us through all the vicissitudes of this life. By your Spirit, lift up those who have fallen, strengthen those who work to rescue or rebuild, and fill us with the hope of your new creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Whole Person Love (1 Thessalonians 4:1-12)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

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. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that 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; 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. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.

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. 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, 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, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. (New International Version)

Everyone intuitively knows that love is supremely important. Yet, what some may not realize is that love is designed to effect the entire person – body, mind, emotions, and spirit.

Love is spiritual. It involves receiving love from a spiritual source and using it to give love to others. (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:29-31)

Love is emotional. It is a matter of the heart and must felt deeply. (1 Peter 1:22, 4:8)

Love is thoughtful. The human brain requires love in order to mentally mature and operate with efficiency. (Philippians 2:2; 1 Peter 3:8)

Love is physical. The body is our means of putting hands and feet to love. (1 John 3:17-18)

A true Christian spirituality is an embodied spirituality which puts both mental and emotional energy into loving God and one another.

Consider for a moment some of the things you have done today… For me, I arose early, had a workout, ate breakfast, showered, went to work, etc. Yeah, typical stuff we are familiar with. These things I just mentioned all have to do with the body – and those things are good and holy.

Sometimes we may get a misguided notion that purity and holiness only has to do with activities that take place in a church building; or special works like serving at a homeless shelter; or, that the meeting of physical needs is merely a means to reach the soul.

Yet, there is neither a secular/sacred dichotomy nor a dualism of body and soul anywhere in Holy Scripture. Love demands the whole person, not part of the person.

We in the western world have inherited a long tradition of Platonic thinking. It undergirds a lot about how we think of the body. Plato (c.427-327 B.C.E.) embraced a dualistic nature of people – an existence of body and soul in which the spirit is trapped within physical flesh. Plato considered the soul to be the true nature of a person and tended to denigrate the body as an earthen vessel which will eventually be discarded. Our physical existence was nothing more than a necessary evil for Plato.

The problem with Plato’s anthropology is that it fails to discern the holistic nature of body and soul and the need for integrity with these human dimensions. Historically, Plato’s view has tended to come out sideways through lack of care for the body and seeing bodily actions as insignificant.

Thus, sexual immorality is common with a dualistic idea because our physical selves are less significant, temporary, and disposable. In all fairness to Plato, he did not encourage misuse of the body or sexual immorality, yet his philosophy opened-up to generations of people in neglecting their own bodies and inflicting harm on other bodies.

When we exalt the soul as supreme over the body, we are living out platonic thought, and not biblical love.

All of life is sacramental – the body is sacred, and, so, ought to be treated as holy – with great care and careful attention to breath, movement, exercise, eating, sleeping, playing, and, yes, even sex. The body is to be celebrated as our means of glorifying God on this earth.

And, at the end of the age when Christ returns, we will be reunited with our bodies to live forever as embodied creatures. So, what we do with our bodies now matters to God.

Inattention to the body God has given us will inevitably lead to a lack of boundaries in which others are open to violate us and we are unaware of violating others. We end up running roughshod over each other, spiritually and physically.

In other words, disregard for the body creates a disregard for love. An embodied and grounded spirituality helps us clarify what holiness and sanctification looks like in relationships and everyday life.

God has called us to holiness in all of life, in every physical activity we do. We have been designed by our Creator to walk the road of purity and peace. 

The way in which we use our minds, wills, emotions, and bodies – aligned and in agreement with the whole person – are of much interest and great concern and interest to almighty God. 

God cares about:

  • Food and whether I eat to his glory and give thanks; or, whether I have no interest in those that are hungry but just stuff as many groceries as I can in my distended stomach. 
  • Rest and Sabbath; or whether I compulsively work every waking moment of my life. 
  • Vocal chords and the content of my conversations with my family and friends – whether I am using my tongue for encouraging and building-up others, or whether it is slanderous, gossipy, and unhelpful.

Everything in all creation belongs to God – including me, you, and everything we do. God cares about all of life’s activities and leisure time because God is the Lord of Love.  

Whether tying our shoes or teaching a Sunday School class, it is all to be done with a sense of holiness and connection to the God that makes it all possible. 

Christian spirituality is an embodied spirituality. So, let us engage in all kinds of good loving works for the benefit of the body, whether little or large, with the time and talents God has graciously given us. 

Lord God, I belong to you – set apart and sanctified so that I may always walk in holiness and please you in everything I do. Help my life today to reflect the purity you have given me through your Son, the Lord Jesus.  May he be glorified through me now and always.  Amen.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 – Give Thanks

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment

Brothers and sisters, we ask you to respect those who are working with you, leading you, and instructing you. Think of them highly with love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are disorderly. Comfort the discouraged. Help the weak. Be patient with everyone. Make sure no one repays a wrong with a wrong, but always pursue the good for each other and everyone else. Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in every situation because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Don’t suppress the Spirit. Don’t brush off Spirit-inspired messages but examine everything carefully and hang on to what is good. Avoid every kind of evil. (Common English Bible)

A lot of problems would resolve themselves if gratitude was a default way of life. Giving thanks in all circumstances creates peace; causes encouragement to flow freely; warns those who are busybodies; builds patience; and spreads goodness.

It can be easy to give thanks when things go our way. It’s another matter when circumstances are difficult, and we experience missed expectations. The Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Thessalonica was written to people caught between a rock and a hard place. In fact, it was so hard that the believers focused completely on the return of the Lord. 

When times are tough, Christ’s second coming comes bursting from the recesses of our minds and straightaway to the forefront of our thinking. Gratitude is typically not a first response to trouble and hardship. Instead, we may look to escape. We long for Christ’s return as a way out of trouble.

Although we know we should be thankful, we often are not.  Envy and resentment are the twin enemies continually looking to subvert our gratitude. In our frustration of disappointments and unwanted situations, ingratitude may easily slip into our spirits.

A life of unhappiness awaits those who are resentful of what they do not possess. Those who envy shall never be satisfied because they are always dreaming about how much better life would be without their troubles.

No matter how good we have it, someone else has it better. To envy is to be overly future-oriented, like the Thessalonians, always thinking about how the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. And it squelches gratitude.

For example, according to a study by the Templeton Foundation, only 39% of people are grateful for their current employment; 74% of employees have rarely or never expressed gratitude to their bosses; and 60% have rarely or never expressed gratitude to anyone of their fellow employees. Workplace dissatisfaction is nearly a guarantee apart from gratitude.

If we desire happy contented lives, then observe the biblical exhortation to give thanks in any kind of circumstance. It can be challenging to give thanks during hard times. Yet, that might be best time to do it.

In her book, The Hiding Place, the late Corrie ten Boom tells about an incident that taught her the principle of giving thanks in all things. It was during World War II. Corrie and her sister, Betsy, had been harboring Jewish people in their home, so they were arrested and imprisoned at a concentration camp. The barracks was extremely crowded and infested with fleas.

One morning they read in their tattered Bible the reminder to give thanks in all things. Betsy said, “Corrie, we’ve got to give thanks for this barracks and even for these fleas.” Corrie replied, “No way am I going to thank God for fleas.” But Betsy was persistent and persuasive, and they did thank God even for the fleas.  During the months that followed, they found that their barracks was left relatively free, and they could do Bible study, talk openly, and even pray in the barracks. It was their only place of refuge. Several months later they learned that the reason the guards never entered their barracks was because of those blasted fleas.

Sometimes we neither understand what God is doing nor perceive that the Lord is up to anything. You may feel as if you are sitting still right now, yet, planet Earth is spinning around its axis at a speed of 1,000 miles per hour. We are also hurtling through space at an average velocity of 67,108 miles per hour. Even on a day when you feel like you did not get much done, remember you traveled 1,599,793 miles through space!

Although amazing, we do not feel it. So, it’s off our spiritual radars. When was the last time you thanked God for keeping us in orbit? I am guessing you likely never prayed, “Lord, I wasn’t sure we’d make the full rotation today, but you did it again!”

We must learn to thank God in every circumstance, both big and small. If we can trust God to keep our feet on the ground with a big thing like gravity, then we can have faith in any and every situation we experience.

Here are three simple ways of being intentional about gratitude:

  • Pray with prayers of thanksgiving. 

I am a believer in using biblical prayers for ourselves rather than just saying what is always on our minds and hearts – because we might never get around to gratitude. Scripture, however, does. The Apostle Paul typically began every discussion with gratitude. For example, when beginning his letter to the problem filled church at Philippi, he said: 

“I thank my God every time I remember you.  In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus….  And this is my prayer:  that your love may abound more and more in knowledge of depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:3-4, 9-11, NIV)

  • Write your thanksgiving.

Cards, letters, emails, social media messages, and whatever other ways are available, use them to express thanksgiving to God and others. Again, Paul ended his letter to the Philippians just as he began it, with gratitude:

“It was good of you to share in my troubles.  Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need.” (Philippians 4:14-16, NIV)

  • Keep a gratitude journal.

Identifying and writing down at least three things you are thankful for everyday has healing power. Any common fool can bellyache about how bad things are and play armchair Deity about how to fix all the world’s ills. However, it takes a wise person to find gratitude and choose to give thanks for all the good things God has done and is doing, being careful to give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will in Christ Jesus.

Almighty God, we give you humble thanks for all your goodness and kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life. Above all, we are grateful for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for grace and the hope of glory.

Give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days. We pray with thanksgiving through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.