1 THESSOLONIANS 1:1-10 the Gospel Received in Much Assurance and Much Affliction the Vitality of a Living Christian Faith
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1 THESSOLONIANS 1:1-10 The Gospel Received in Much Assurance and Much Affliction The Vitality of a Living Christian Faith Thessalonica was a Roman colony located in Macedonia and not in Greece proper. The city was first named Therma because of the hot springs in that area. In 316 A.D. Cassander, one of the four generals who divided up the empire of Alexander the Great took Macedonia and made Thessalonica his home base. He renamed the city in memory of his wife, Thessalonike, who was a half sister of Alexander. The city is still in existence and is now known as Salonika. Rome had a somewhat different policy with their captured people from what many other nations have had. For example, it seems that we try to Americanize all the people throughout the world, as if that would be the ideal. Rome was much wiser than that. She did not attempt to directly change the culture, the habits, the customs, or the language of the people whom she conquered. Instead, she would set up colonies which were arranged geographically in strategic spots throughout the empire. A city which was a Roman colony would gradually adopt Roman laws and customs and ways. In the local department stores you would see the latest things they were wearing in Rome itself. Thus these colonies were very much like a little Rome. Thessalonica was such a Roman colony, and it was an important city in the life of the Roman Empire. It was Cicero who said, “Thessalonica is in the bosom of the empire.” It was right in the center or the heart of the empire and was the chief city of Macedonia. Even though many Greeks looked down on the Macedonians as semi-barbarian, Greek mythology recognized that the Macedonians were related to the Greeks as “cousins”. By the time of Alexander the Great, who was himself Macedonian, the Macedonians had largely become "Greek" in culture and religion. [Refer to APPENDIX A: THE GODS OF THESSOLONICA ]. Paul found himself in Thessolonica because in a night vision he saw a man of Macedonia who stood and pleaded with him, “ Come and help us !” { Acts 16:9 }. Paul was there for only three weeks (Sabbaths) but an energetic church was started there and he taught them some vital doctrines. He rejoiced for the Greeks in Thessalonica who had accepted the gospel and had become models for all of Macedonia and Greece by turning " from idols to serve the living and true God " ( I Thess. 1:9 ). Turning from idols meant they had abandoned their former religions and gods and that they had embraced Christianity. Many non-believing Jews and Greeks in Thessalonica would have reacted to these conversions with hostility because they saw the gospel as having " turned the world upside down " ( Acts 17:6 ) and as a violation of Caesar's decrees. The Jews because they viewed Christianity as a heretical sect and the Greeks because they threatened the very existence of their pagan society. As a result nonbelievers persecuted the early church and forced Paul to flee the city. He went first to Berea but the Judeizers followed him there, stirred up more trouble and forced him to flee way down south to Athens 1. Eventually Paul found himself in Corinth from where he wrote this letter. v. 1 PAUL ’S GREETING TO THE CHURCH AT THESSOLONICA [1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ] This introduction is typical of Paul’s other epistles, but there are some differences to which we need to call attention. Paul joins Silas and Timothy with himself in his greeting. Remember that Silas and Timothy had just returned to Paul with their report from Thessalonica. By joining their names with his, the Thessalonians would know they are all in agreement concerning this letter. 1 Thessalonica was located fifty miles west of Philippi and about one hundred miles north of Athens. 1 1 Thessalonians Chapter 1 Klaus G. Schiessel Dec 2008 Also, Paul reveals his humility when he joins these men with himself. Silas and Timothy would have been unknown had not Paul associated himself with them. This is a very noble gesture on the part of Paul. He is always identifying himself with the brethren. He was not aloof, separated, and segregated above all the others who were working for the Lord Jesus. This is something we need to remember today in regard to the ministry. Don’t put your preacher on a pedestal; let him be right down among you. According to the Word of God the difference between clergy and laity is a false distinction. God has a very high standard of living for all of us. “Unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ .” They may have a little different life–style and have different problems from the church in Philippi, but, just like the church in Philippi, it is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. “Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ ” is a formal introduction which Paul uses in all of his epistles. Grace comes first {this was the traditional Greek greeting}, followed by the peace of God {this was the traditional Jewish greeting}. Both the grace and the peace come from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ and it has brought Jew and Gentile together { Eph. 2:13-18 }. v. 21 THANKSGIVING & PRAYER FOR OTHER BELIEVERS [2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, ] Paul prayed for all of the churches that he had founded. Paul had a tremendous prayer list, and it would make an interesting study for you to find all the people who were on that list. You would be surprised how many different churches, individuals, and groups of people Paul prayed for. “We give thanks to God always for you all .” Paul gives thanks for this church because of many things, and one of the most important was because they were a good example ; it was a model church. APPLICATION : When was the last time you heard someone expressing thanks to God for another believer? When was the last time you thanked God and/or prayed for another believer? The next verse is one of the most remarkable in the Bible, and it follows a pattern of the apostle Paul which we find in his writing. He emphasized the number three. v. 3 THE THREE GRACES OF A VIBRANT CHRISTIAN LIFE [3 remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, ] “Remembering without ceasing your [1] work of faith , [2] and labor of love , [3] and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 1 Thessalonians Chapter 1 Klaus G. Schiessel Dec 2008 This is a very important verse of Scripture and contains a wealth of meaning. Paul associates the three Christian graces: FAITH and LOVE and HOPE . In 1 Corinthians he also brought these three graces together. “ And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love ” ( 1 Cor. 13:13 ). It is important to see what these three attributes are associated with for we learn the practical side of the Christian life. It is interesting to note that the physical universe, in its most fundamental forms, can be classified into triads—a ‘fingerprint’ of the triune nature of God! The universe is divided into time, space and matter. Time is divided into past, present and future. Space is divided into length, width and height. Some speak of a ‘4 th dimension’ but it does not appear in our physical universe. And matter is divided into gas, liquid and solid. Have you ever noticed that you need at least three legs on a chair for it to be stable and stand upright 2? You can see that this universe in which you and I live bears the mark of the Trinity. The interesting thing is that the Word of God says the same thing about man. Paul speaks of man bearing the mark of the trinity. We will discuss this specifically when we get to 1 Thess. 5:13 : “… and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ .” This tells us that man is a trinity also. In this verse Paul actually gives three graces of the Christian life : The past is the work of faith. The present is a labor of love. The future is the patience of hope That is supposed to be the biography of the Christian and the abiding, permanent, and eternal features of the Christian life. Faith, hope, and love are abstract nouns. How can we get them out of space and theory into the reality of life down here? How can we make them concrete instead of abstract qualities? So the question here is how we are going to get these words down into something concrete and tangible. McGee says that Paul takes these three words from the “beautiful isle of somewhere” and puts them into shoe leather. He gets them down to where the shoe leather meets the sidewalks of our hometown. He fleshes up these abstract qualities by taking them out of the morgue of never–never land.