GOD'S CHOICE OF YOU - PART 2 (1 Thessalonians 1:1-10)
INTRODUCTION:
We began our journey through 1st Thessalonians last week as we looked at Paul’s salutation to the church in Thessalonica. This salutation contained a prayer of thanksgiving by Paul for the Thessalonian believers. Paul thanked God for them and thanked God for their work of faith, their labor of love, and their steadfastness of hope which all pointed to the fact that God had chosen them as His own people, He had chosen them for salvation. This choice was seen in the fact that the Gospel had come to them not in word only but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.
This morning’s message will resume in verse 5, and we will see that their salvation that took place while Paul was with them and what had taken place from that time on was also proof of God’s choice of them. Let’s pray, and then we will read this chapter again.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to 1st Thessalonians 1:1-10, we are going to read the whole chapter again, but my message will begin in verse 5. Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
1st Thessalonians 1:1-10,
“Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you; for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.” (1 Thessalonians 1:1–10, NASB95)[1]
GOD’S CHOICE SEEN IN THE RECEPTION OF THE WORD (1st Thessalonians 1:5)
Paul proclaims that the first sign of God’s choice of the Thessalonian believers was seen in the power revealed in the preaching of the Gospel to them. When Paul says that the Gospel came to the Thessalonians not in word only but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction, he is not just describing for us the Thessalonians’ experience, but also the experience that he had and that Silas and Timothy had as they spoke the Gospel to the Thessalonians. They so deeply identified with the message they were sharing with the Thessalonians that Paul describes it as our gospel even though it was given to them from God and dealt with the atoning work of Jesus Christ on man’s behalf.
Paul first says that this divine power was seen in the fact that the message did not come in word only, in other words, it was not just the words that mattered, although any message, even the gospel, consists of words, which is how the message is communicated. Faith, as Paul declared in Romans 10:17, comes through hearing the gospel message, but the transformation that takes place in the life of one saved involves so much more. It does not matter how cleverly the gospel is presented, or if it is given with compelling logic, or how eloquently the words are spoken; if the truth of the gospel is not accompanied by the power of God, it accomplishes nothing. But when empowered by God as it enters the prepared soul, the gospel message saves.
Jesus, when speaking to Nicodemus in John 3, spoke of the inability of all sinners to believe the truth when He said, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” (John 3:19–20, NASB95)[2] Paul told the Corinthians in 2nd Corinthians 4:3-4, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:3–4, NASB95)[3] Words of truth alone, no matter how well presented, cannot penetrate the spiritual blindness and deadness of sinful man. God has to powerfully awaken the dead soul and open spiritually blind eyes so that the truth can transform.
Such power to awaken the spiritually dead and open the eyes of the spiritually blind comes from the Holy Spirit. True soul-transforming power along with gospel preaching is the work of the Holy Spirit energizing both the preacher and the hearer. Jesus alluded to this truth just before His ascension when He promised the apostles in Acts 1:8, saying, “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, NASB95)[4] Paul knew that the preaching that he and Silas, and Timothy did in Thessalonica was empowered by the Holy Spirit because of the full conviction they had as they preached it, they preached with conviction that what they were saying was true because they were convinced that it was and that conviction was empowered by the Spirit of God. Paul and his companions were Spirit-empowered, confident, assured, and bold men who depended on God’s power working through them and in their hearers to bring about salvation.
To ensure that his readers understood this power with which these men preached the gospel to them was from the Holy Spirit, Paul reminds them of the kind of men Paul, Silas, and Timothy proved to be among them for the sake of the Thessalonians. Paul was telling them that the power of the Holy Spirit that was seen in his life and in the lives of Silas and Timothy confirmed the accuracy of their preaching. Paul and his companions were truthful, humble, selfless, gentle, caring, passionate, and compassionate toward the Thessalonians. We will learn in 2nd Thessalonians that Paul worked with his own hands to support himself and his companions so that he would not be a burden to the Thessalonians. The Thessalonians not only heard the gospel preached to them in the power of the Holy Spirit, but they saw it lived out in Paul. Paul’s life was a rich example of the power of the gospel which he preached to transform a dead sinner into a living saint chosen by God.
GOD’S CHOICE SEEN IN THE THESSALONIANS’ IMITATION (1st Thessalonians 1:6)
Another indicator that the Thessalonian believers were chosen by God was their imitation of Paul, Silas, and Timothy and their imitation of the Lord Jesus. They began imitating Paul and his companions and the Lord at the moment of salvation when they became new creations in Christ. Patterns of holy living began to replace their old sinful, pagan lifestyles. The Thessalonian believers lived in the middle of a very pagan environment, and Paul and his co-laborers were the first contacts they had with Christians; they had no veteran church leadership, and they had no one already on hand to lead them in Christian living. So, in the power of the Holy Spirit, Paul writes that they became imitators of Paul, his companions, and imitators of the Lord. This was the only way they knew how to live the Christian life by doing what Paul was doing, and doing what Paul had told them about the Lord. This is how the Holy Spirt begins the work of sanctification in us. The lifestyles of the Thessalonian believers became far different than the lifestyles they had before salvation, they came from a life of evil, idolatrous paganism or from the legalistic, self-righteous life of the Jews in their city. But now to look at their lifestyles they were more like Paul and his companions, more like Jesus and Paul says this is just another evidence that God has chosen you.
Part of that imitation came in the way the new believers responded to persecution, they imitated how Paul and his companions responded to it, and how Jesus responded to it. Remember Paul and Silas came to them still bearing the wounds they had received in Philippi when they were beat with rods and thrown into prison. Even so they came boldly proclaiming the message of the gospel with joy even though they knew they might face opposition in this city as well. Paul says that this is another mark that you have been chosen by God “having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit…” (1 Thessalonians 1:6b, NASB95)[5] Even though they were being persecuted and afflicted because of their faith, because they had received the word and it had changed their lives and those associated with them and those around them could not miss this change in their lives and this brought tribulation upon them, but the circumstances no matter how bad they were could not take away the joy that they had from the indwelling Holy Spirit. Just as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise in their prison cell in Philippi, these new believers were rejoicing in their new salvation even in the midst of persecution. The word translated “tribulation” means severe suffering. This began while Paul was still in Thessalonica as some jealous, unbelieving Jews launched an attack against Paul and his co-laborers. Remember Jason and some of the new believers were brought before the city authorities. This persecution did not stop when Paul, Silas, and Timothy left the city because the new believers continued to proclaim the message of the Gospel in the city and continued to suffer from the Jews and from their own countrymen. But even under intense persecution the salvation of these new believers proved to be genuine as seen in the fact that they never lost their joy in the Holy Spirit. In the New Testament we often see joy as the response to persecution, this is also true if you read the stories of those who suffer for their faith in Christ, their lives are often full of joy. This should not surprise us since joy is a divine benefit of the Christian’s position in Christ, one of the spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Paul declared in Romans 5, from our Scripture reading this morning that our salvation should cause us such joy that we lift our voices in joyous praise. He writes in Romans 5:1-4, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;” (Romans 5:1–4, NASB95)[6] Mere human joy will die under persecution, the joy of the Holy Spirt will transcend it and grow.
GOD’S CHOICE SEEN IN THE THESSALONIANS’ EXAMPLE (1st Thessalonians 1:7-9a)
Paul gives a third sign that God had chosen the Thessalonians as His own, and that sign was their behavior which became an example to all. They went from imitating Paul and Christ to becoming examples themselves worthy of imitation. Paul writes that the church had become an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia, a model for even older, more mature Christians to follow. The word translated “example” is a Greek word that means “exact reproduction” from which we get our English word “type.” The Thessalonian believers became like blueprints for others throughout the area to model their lives after. Macedonia was the northern part of present day Greece and included the cities of Philippi and Thessalonica. Achaia was the southern part of present day Greece and included the important cities of Athens and Corinth.
To illustrate this example that the Thessalonian Christians had become, Paul later uses them as models for giving and financial stewardship in his second letter to the Corinthians. The Thessalonian believers were in deep poverty most likely due to the severe persecution that they suffered, and still they gave liberally and sacrificially to help needy believers in Jerusalem. They demonstrated a pattern of godliness, and again in this sacrificial way showed God’s choice of them.
Not only was the example of the Thessalonian believers commendable, but another indicator of their being chosen by God was their proclamation of the Gospel. Paul declared that the word of the Lord sounded forth from them, not only in their own city and province but also in the neighboring province of Achaia and everywhere where there faith in God had gone forth. The word translated “sounded forth” means to “blast forth” or “to sound forth very intensely” as if a blast from a trumpet. This use shows us the church’s boldness as they continually heralded the Gospel message.
Because Thessalonica was a hub for travel, people coming through Macedonia from east to west on the Egnatian Way, or coming to Thessalonica by ship heard the word of the Lord, the Gospel message from true believers. But also through their own travel from the city, these believers carried the message with them and took it and proclaimed it everywhere they went and so their witness even reached beyond Greece. Paul’s words are a picture for us that this proclamation of the Gospel from the Thessalonians was constantly sounding forth, increasing and echoing into a wider and wider circle as the church made the most of a strategic location from which to proclaim the truth.
Paul said that their influence and the witness of their faith toward God was so extensive that Paul had no need to say anything. Their salvation and powerful witness was so well known that Paul did not have to tell others what God was doing in Thessalonica because they were telling Paul how the Thessalonians welcomed Paul and responded to his message of the Gospel. What God had done and was doing in the church in Thessalonica was becoming commonly known everywhere. Every church could wish for such an impact and reputation.
GOD’S CHOICE SEEN IN TRANSFORMATION AND ANTICIPATION (1st Thess. 1:9b-10)
Paul continues and gives another indicator of the Thessalonians being God’s choice and that is seen in the total transformation of their lives. They have submitted to a new Master. Salvation for many of the Thessalonian believers meant a decisive break with pagan religion and a redirecting of one’s whole life. Polytheism was rampant in Thessalonica and salvation meant abandoning all of that and embracing only God; and giving full allegiance to Him. Paul explained this as their having turned to God from idols. This word translated “turn” indicates a turning in the absolute opposite direction. Such a salvation requires repentance, a turn away from idols and in faith submitting to the Savior alone. Such turning is far more than changing one’s belief about who Christ is. It is a complete reversal of allegiance, from idols to serving a living and true God. Paul used a word for serve here that means to serve as a bondslave, the most demanding form of servitude. Paul knew that the Thessalonian Christians had turned from devotion as slaves to false, dead, demonic idols to a new welcome slavery to the one living and true God.
The final indicator that Paul gives us that shows God’s choice of these Thessalonian believers was there waiting for God’s Son to return from heaven. This is the Savior who died on the cross for them, that their sins might be forgiven. Paul make undeniably clear that the One who ascended into heaven is also the One believers wait for, the One whom God raised from the dead, that is Jesus. Paul’s reference to the resurrection establishes the ground for the return of Jesus Christ. God raised Him from the dead because He was pleased and satisfied with His sacrifice for sin and because He wanted to exalt Him to His heavenly throne from which He will return to exercise His sovereign right to rule as King of kings. The word translated “wait” here refers to expectant waiting, sustained, patient, trusting waiting. To have an expectant looking for Jesus return from heaven is just one more aspect in this first chapter that defines a Christian. We will see this as a theme in these two letters.
The true believer looks eagerly for Christ’s return because he knows it brings to fulfillment and satisfaction God’s eternal purpose, which Paul states that the return of Jesus rescues us from the wrath to come. What is this wrath that is coming that Jesus rescues us from? It is God’s wrath against those who refuse to believe that Jesus Christ died for their sin, those who refuse God’s offer of salvation and continue to live in their sin. God wrath is reserved for them, but Jesus Christ rescues or delivers those who have put their faith in Him from this coming wrath against sin. When will this wrath come? It will begin when the Tribulation begins which will be sometime after Christ returns in the clouds to take those who have put their faith in Him to heaven to be with Him. Sometime after that a treaty will be signed with Israel that will signal the beginning of the Tribulation and God will begin to pour out His wrath on the earth, then at the end of the seven years of Tribulation Jesus Christ will return bodily to the earth to set up His millennial kingdom and God’s wrath will be poured out on those who lived through the Tribulation but oppose Christ’s rule. God’s wrath will be poured out again at the end of the 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ against those who Satan gathers to revolt against Jesus Christ. God’s final act of wrath will come at the Great White Throne judgment when all who refused Christ’s offer of salvation through all of history are judged for their sin and thrown into the lake of fire to be tormented forever for their sin. John in Revelation calls this the second death. I believe the wrath that Paul is referring to here in the end of chapter one is all of God’s wrath that will begin at the Tribulation and will finally be finished at the Great White Throne judgment. If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ He will rescue or deliver you from all this coming wrath.
CONCLUSION:
Paul in the second half of this first chapter of 1st Thessalonians gives us several signs of someone chosen by God as His own, chosen by God for salvation. These same signs should be evident in our own lives that we have been chosen by God. It should be evident that we have received the word of the Lord delivered to us in the power of the Holy Spirit and received it as the power of the Holy Spirit spiritually raised us from the dead and opened our spiritually blind eyes to the truth of the Gospel message. God’s choice of us is seen as we imitate Christ, as the Holy Spirit begins His work of sanctification conforming us to the image of Christ. God’s choice of you should be seen in your example, are you being a witness to those around you that you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, are you proclaiming or sending forth the Gospel message by your words, actions, and attitudes. Finally, is God’s choice of you seen in the complete transformation that has taken place in your life where you have turned completely away from your old life to serve the living and true God? Are you waiting expectantly for Christ’s return that could be at any time. Are you eagerly looking for His coming for the church to rescue us from the wrath to come? If these signs are evident in your life, then you know that God has chosen you and you have been adopted into His family by your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If these signs are not evident in your life maybe today is the day to discover God’s choice of you. Tell God that you are a sinner that you have not believed in Him or obeyed Him, but you want the forgiveness of sins that He offers through faith in His Son’s death, burial, and resurrection. Put your faith in Him and your sins will be forgiven and you will know that you are God’s choice and you will know that He will rescue you from the wrath to come.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.