Our scripture reading and sermon text this morning is 1 Thessalonians 1, verses 1 through 5a. I see the bulletin is 1 through 5b. I'm sure that's my error. That's the worst error this morning. That's not a big one. There is a sentence break halfway through verse 5. That's why it reads that way. So we will read the first four and a half verses of 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Hear now the word of God. Paul, 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, constantly mentioning you in our prayers. Remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. This ends our reading of God's word this morning.
If I was to ask you for your favorite or maybe the epistle of Paul that you knew best, probably many of you would say Galatians, maybe some Ephesians, maybe for some of you who like your Pauline letters short and intense, you might say Galatians. Probably most of you would not say First Thessalonians. First Thessalonians is different from those other Pauline epistles that are perhaps most familiar to us. What epistles like Romans and Ephesians and Galatians have in common is that they begin the first part of those letters with doctrinal material: teaching us what we ought to believe about God and his work for us in Christ. And then the latter part of those epistles contain mostly moral instruction, instructing us how to live in ways consistent with the doctrines that we believe. 1 Thessalonians is not like that. In fact, the majority of 1 Thessalonians is simply Paul talking about his relationship with these Christians in Thessalonica. The first three out of just five chapters. Paul is just talking to them on a personal basis about this relationship that they have.
And as we read this, perhaps we think to ourselves, "It's really wonderful that Paul and the Thessalonians had this relationship, but we may wonder what this has to do with us, why we need to hear this, why this was preserved in the New Testament canon." And if we're thinking that, you might consider it this way: that Paul is giving to us this little snapshot, this short depiction of the communion of saints. So every time we confess the Apostles' Creed, one of those small number of items that summarize the Christian faith, One of those items that we confess is the communion of saints: this fellowship or bond that we have with each other as believers in Christ. All of us as Christians, as individuals, we have fellowship with the living God. We are united with God through Christ. And because all of us share that communion with God, we also share this communion with each other. This is one of the greatest gifts that God has given to us as Christians. And Paul here in 1 Thessalonians shows us what this communion looks like. It is for our instruction and it is for our encouragement that we might grow in our appreciation for the communion of saints and to live more faithfully in this fellowship that we have with each other.
And we see this already in the first four and a half verses of this epistle. Now, as we look at these opening verses, please keep in mind how utterly improbable this communion between Paul and the Thessalonian believers was from an earthly perspective, from a human perspective. Now, we know from the book of Acts that Paul went through Thessalonica on one of his missionary journeys, and he preached the gospel there with great success. He made a number of converts. This church was brought together. But after only three weeks, a great persecution rose up against this church, and Paul and his colleagues were driven from this city. Now, of course, Paul and these Thessalonian Christians, it's not as if they could keep up with each other. They couldn't text each other, see how they were doing. They were separated from each other.
And can you imagine becoming a Christian, having your church just put together, and then after just three weeks, you fall under a great persecution and you are separated from those who brought the gospel to you? The odds would have said, "There's no way this church survives. There is no way this relationship between Paul and these Christians could possibly endure, and yet here is Paul at summary move, writing to these Christians, and we see that by the grace of God, the Lord has preserved this fellowship among them. It is an amazing testimony to the power of God's grace.
And so we begin with the introduction, the greeting to this letter in verse 1. And it sounds a lot like other greetings with which Paul begins his letters. But I want to point out two things already here in verse 1 that give us an initial glimpse into the communion of saints. First, note who wrote this letter. I've been referring to Paul, but actually there are three authors of this letter: Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. Now, Silvanus is another name for Silas, the name by which he is more commonly known in the New Testament. So, when we think about this, these three authors of this letter, we might wonder, "Why didn't Paul just write this by himself?" Of these three, Paul alone was an apostle. Apostles were but they had a special office. There were very few apostles. These are those who had seen, they were eyewitnesses of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. And they had authority to speak infallible words from God. They had authority to write books that would be included in the New Testament. But Silas and Timothy weren't apostles. I mean, we know that Timothy was just he was just an ordinary minister of the gospel, like me or Pastor Contreras. We don't have authority to write books of Scripture. And yet we think about this: "Why would Paul write this along with these two colleagues?" And there's a pretty simple answer. Silas and Timothy were with him when he went through Thessalonica on his missionary journey. These two men ministered to the Thessalonians. They loved these brothers and sisters. They cared about this church even as Paul did. And so Paul brings them along and they too offer these greetings and offer this instruction and encouragement to these saints.
And I'd suggest to you that we see here something about the communion of saints as it applies to the Christian ministry. The Christian ministry is not about some people lording it over others, some people gaining all the honor or the credit, but the Christian ministry is about bringing others along, encouraging others in their gifts, supporting others in their work, and we see a little glimpse of that in Paul bringing along Silas and Timothy in composing this letter.
And the other thing to note here in this greeting in verse 1: Did you note that Paul addressed this to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ? Everything he says is against this background of this great identity they have of belonging to God the Father in Jesus Christ. And this fellowship that they have with each other that he's going to speak so much about in this letter. It is grounded in their fellowship with God, as I mentioned a few moments ago. You know, in this world, we understand that we Christians can have friendships with unbelievers. We know that unbelievers have friendships and bonds of communion with each other. And sometimes outwardly, the bond that we have as Christians looks a lot like the bonds that non-Christians have with each other. But there is no communion of the saints that is not grounded in our communion with the triune God. This is what makes our fellowship with each other unique. This is what sets it apart from all other earthly friendships, all other earthly associations. And so we should keep that in mind as we consider what Paul says about our communion with one another in these verses to come.
So we turn now to the beginning of Paul's letter per se, beginning in verse 2. In the very beginning of verse 2, Paul makes a brief statement. And this brief statement is the main point of the text. It is this is what Paul wants to communicate and the rest of these verses just elaborate on this one main point. So I guess you kids here, if your parents ask you on the ride home, "You know what the sermon is about, it's really easy. Because what the sermon is about is this: at the beginning of verse 2, "We give thanks to God always for all of you." That's the point. We give thanks to God always for all of you. It's about gratitude for the saints.
Now, it's pretty clear if we read through the New Testament, or the Old Testament too, that gratitude is to be one of the leading characteristics of believers. And yet we also understand that it is not easy to be thankful. Life is filled with many anxieties, with a lot of stress. There are many disappointments, many discouragements in life, and when things pile up against us, it is difficult to be thankful. And yet, we need to remember, we who are Christians, we are the most blessed of people. I mean, there are Christians in this world who suffer horribly. Even this day, some of our brothers and sisters endure the most intense persecution for the sake of Christ, and Christians throughout the world have innumerable burdens that weigh them down. And yet the Christians in this world who suffer the most? They are the most blessed of people. Every one of us as Christians, our sins are forgiven. We are right with God. We are heirs of a kingdom that cannot be shaken. We are citizens of heaven. We are the most blessed of people. And thus how fitting that we abound in thanks to God, even in the midst of the trials, the very serious trials to which he calls us in this life.
Now, one of the interesting things about gratitude in the New Testament is that in the entire New Testament, as far as I can tell, there is not a single example of one Christian giving thanks to another Christian. There's no commands for Christians to give thanks to other Christians. Now, by the way, that doesn't mean it's a bad thing to do that. In fact, it's probably a good thing for us to do on a regular basis. But do you have any idea to whom is thanks always given in the New Testament? Well, it's always to God to God the Father or to the Lord Jesus Christ. thanks is always given to God. And that is a reminder that even when other people are instruments giving us good things, good gifts always come ultimately from God. He is the giver; as James says, the giver of every good and perfect gift. And it's a great reminder our thanks always should abound to God.
And yet, in the New Testament, even though there's no example of a Christian giving thanks to another Christian, there are innumerable examples in which Christians give thanks to God for other Christians. And this is an example of that here in verse 2: "We give thanks to God always for all of you." And this puts something very clear before us: that our fellow saints are among the greatest gifts that God has given to us in Christ. We have many gifts in Christ, but our fellow believers are among the greatest gifts that God has given to us. And you'll note here at the beginning of verse 2 that Paul says that he gives thanks always for all of you. All of these Thessalonian saints. Now, we can be pretty sure that there were some Christians in this church who were hard to get along with. There were probably some who always said the wrong thing at the wrong time. Probably those who were grumpy and needy.
Now, it's relatively easy to be thankful for Christians who are always cheerful and always helpful, always encouraging, but you see, Paul instructs us: we are to be grateful for all of our fellow believers, not just the ones that are easy to like. Brothers and sisters, there are probably some Christians that God has put in your life to teach you patience, to teach you forbearance, to teach you forgiveness. And we should be grateful even for those fellow believers as well. We should be grateful for all of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
So after putting that before us this one initial statement that summarizes his his main point here at the beginning of this letter paul mentions three ways that he gives thanks. He gives thanks always for all of them. Now there are three ways that he does this, and so let's look briefly at each of these.
The first of these is in verse the second part of verse 2. He says that they constantly mention them in their prayers. They constantly mention them in their prayers. So in a way, this is the most obvious of these three ways that Paul and his colleagues give thanks for them. I mean, if you're really grateful for a fellow believer, what is the most natural thing to do? It's to pray and to express your thanksgiving to God. But I want you to note here, in Paul's brief statement here in the second part of verse 2, this adverb that he uses. He says that they are constantly mentioning you in our prayers. Now, this adverb, translated here "constantly," it actually appears several times in 1 Thessalonians. Remember, 1 Thessalonians is not a long letter, but Paul uses this adverb several times, the last of which is in chapter 5, verse 17, where he tells the Thessalonians, "Pray without ceasing." Now, it's translated with a different English word here for some reason, but it's the same adverb that Paul uses in the original Greek.
And Paul sets forth here an important general command for us as Christians. We are to pray constantly. Our lives are to be characterized by praying. We are a praying people. You might remember at the beginning of Luke 18, before Jesus told the parable of the persistent widow, Luke makes the comment that Jesus taught this parable so that we would pray and not give up, that we would pray and not lose heart. This is who we are as Christians. We just keep coming back to God in prayer. We don't stop. But now if we go back to the beginning of 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse 2, we see that it's not sufficient simply to be a constantly praying people. We are to be a constantly thanking God for others' people. And we ask ourselves: in our prayers, how often are we giving thanks for our fellow believers? If someone could see into your secret prayers, what would they say about you? Would they say, "Wow, he's really obsessed about himself"? Or would they say, "Wow, she really loves her fellow believers. She is so grateful for her fellow Christians"? This is how our prayers ought to look. We should abound in thanksgiving. We don't just pray for each other, pray that our sick fellow believers would get healthy and our mourning fellow believers would be comforted. Of course, we pray for those things, but we should not forget to pour out thanks to God for the fellow believers that he has given to us.
So that's the first way that Paul and his colleagues give thanks for these Thessalonians: constantly mentioning them in prayers. The second thing, there's a second way that they give thanks for these Thessalonian Christians is in verse 3, where Paul speaks about how they remember before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. They remember, I'm sorry, they give thanks by remembering. Now, memory, of course, is a very powerful thing. I guess as we get older, it becomes not quite as powerful as we'd like it to be, but we know that memory is one of the things that that shapes us as human beings. We are a remembering kind of creature, and what we remember and how we remember it has a big effect on the way we think, on our attitude towards life. If we remember good things that have happened to us, if we're really focused on those good things that have happened, well, that's going to shape us. Whereas if we've had very traumatic things that have happened and we're constantly remembering those things, well, that too is going to have a big shape. It's going to shape the way we think and feel.
And so when Paul speaks about remembering these Thessalonians, we're curious: how does he remember them? What does he remember about them? Now, we know that these Thessalonians were a sinful people. I mean, of course, we're all sinful, so that's no surprise. But we know from later in this epistle that there were some in this congregation that struggled with sexual sin. We know that there were some who struggled with laziness. And we know that there were some at least who had they had very mistaken ideas about eschatology, about Christ's second coming. And Paul in due time is going to address all of those questions. But did you notice what he remembers about them here? Not their sins, not their mistaken theological ideas, but he remembers their work of faith, their labor of love, and their steadfastness of hope. He remembers the good fruit that God, through his Spirit, has been bringing forth in them.
Their work of faith he remembers. Now, it might when we first hear the phrase "the work of faith," it might maybe sound a little odd to us. If we read a lot of Paul, right, we know that Paul sometimes contrasted faith and works. And we know when it comes to justification, it is faith or works. It's one or the other, but it can't be both. We can only be justified by faith alone, not by works of the law. But it is also true that for those of us who have faith, who are trusting in Christ alone, that the Lord brings forth from that faith good works, and that is what Paul is talking about here. Paul is thankful for that work which comes forth from their faith. Paul remembers that good fruit that the Lord has brought forth from them, and he is so thankful for that. And then he remembers their labor of love. Now, "labor" and "work" sound very similar to us. They're basically synonyms, and yet I would imagine that for most of us, "labor" sounds a little more laborious than "work." You hear about people sometimes who say, "You know, I love my work," but do you ever hear people say, "I love my labor"? Labor just sounds a little harder. And there is something about the Greek term that Paul uses which does suggest something that could be a little more burdensome.
And when we think about that, it is true, isn't it, that sometimes living the Christian life is burdensome? There are sacrifices that we have to make for the sake of our Lord. There is loss that we have to bear for Christ. As Paul put it in Galatians, we have to bear one another's burdens. And yet we do that, don't we? We are willing to suffer loss for Christ. We're willing to bear the burdens of our fellow believers. Why? Because we love them. Because we love our Lord Jesus. Because we love our fellow saints. We're willing to make those sacrifices. Paul knew that these Thessalonians, they had brought forth good labor for Christ because of their love for him and the saints. And he is so thankful for that.
And then he mentions their steadfastness of hope. Steadfastness. Perseverance. Now we know on the one hand this is a gift from God. God is the one who preserves his people through many trials and temptations. And yet that doesn't mean that we are not engaged in the fight, in the struggle. In fact, Scripture often calls us to be steadfast, calls us to be faithful in the midst of opposition, in the midst of the many things that would divert us from the straight path. What is it when we face great trials, when we are tempted to go our own way? What is it that keeps us steadfast? Well, as Paul notes here, hope is one of, is certainly one great answer to that question. We don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. We don't know what's going to happen next year. But isn't it remarkable that we know how history is going to end? We know that the Lord Jesus is already triumphant over all evil. He has already conquered the devil. And we know that at the end of history, he will make that victory evident to the whole world. And because we belong to him, we can be steadfast. We can persevere in the midst of trials. because we know that we belong to the one who is the Lord of history and the conqueror of all evil. And Paul knew that the Thessalonians believed this, that they had this hope and they were persevering even through great trials. And he is so thankful for that.
Brothers and sisters, remember your fellow saints and don't forget to remember the good fruits that the Lord is bringing forth through them and be thankful for that. And that brings us to the third and final of these ways that Paul is thankful for these Thessalonian Christians. And we see this in verse 4 in the beginning of verse 5. Paul says here at the beginning of this last statement, he says, "We know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen in you." Quite literally, Paul says here, "We know your election." Now, election, this is a doctrine that we profess as a church. By this, we refer to the fact that God, outside of time, in eternity, out of his mere love and good pleasure, has chosen those who will be his, those who will enjoy all the benefits of salvation. And one of the interesting things about this: we believe this, we profess this doctrine, and yet we ordinarily say we can't know who are the elect. We can't look out at a crowd and say, "Oh, this one's elect, this one's not." That information is not accessible to us.
And yet, isn't it interesting that Paul and his colleagues here say that they know their election, these Thessalonian Christians? How could he know that? Well, he tells us at the beginning of verse 5. He said, "Because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction." You think about Paul and his colleagues. They went from city to city preaching. What was the typical welcome they received? You read the book of Acts? Well, beatings, flogging, imprisonment, ridicule, banishment. And Paul went into Thessalonica. These Christians heard his word and they believed it, and Paul knows that there is only one explanation for that. It is because the Holy Spirit accompanied that word that he preached with power and worked conviction in their hearts. That is the only reason they believed, and Paul is so grateful for that.
Brothers and sisters, if you are here today and you are trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, there's only one explanation for that as well. And that is that the Spirit has been at work powerfully in your heart to work that conviction. It is not because you are more godly or more intelligent than anyone else. And we should be profoundly thankful for that work of the Spirit in our lives. And yet that's not quite Paul's point here, is it? Paul's point is not that we should be thankful for the Spirit's work in our own lives. Paul is grateful for that Spirit's convicting work in the lives of other believers. And so, look to your left and look to your right. Look at your fellow saints, those whom you love, who love you, whom you pray for, who pray for you, and give thanks that the Spirit has been at work in them. Without that work, they would not be your brothers and sisters; you would not have that communion of saints with them. And so do not fail to give thanks, not only for the work of the Spirit in your life, but for that wonderful work that he does in the lives of your fellow saints.
Let's pray. O Lord, our Heavenly Father, shall we not abound in thanksgiving to you? You are a God who has been so good to us. You have brought the gospel to us. Your Spirit has accompanied that word with power. You have given to us faith, hope, and love. And through that faith, hope, and love, you have produced good work and steadfastness and labor for Christ. And Father, you have given to us one another. And with Paul, Silas, and Timothy, we give thanks for the communion of saints. We give thanks for our brothers and sisters. Father, we pray that we would be a more grateful people. And we pray, O Lord, that we would learn to appreciate those fellow saints that you have brought into our lives. We pray, O Lord, that when we are tempted to find our brothers and sisters more troublesome than helpful, more irritating than encouraging, that we would stop and remember that they are great gifts to us. And so we pray, Father, this day that you would build us up in this communion and make us truly a grateful people. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.