South Valley Community Church

1 THESSALONIANS 3:1-13: 1 THEREFORE WHEN WE could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, 2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, 3 that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. 4 For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know. 5 For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain. 6 But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— 7 for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. 8 For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. 9 For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, 10as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith? 11Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, 12and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 13so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. AT THE PEAK OF CONCERN, Paul knows something must be done. For the one who would pen the words “do not be anxious about anything” (Philippians 4:6a), Paul certainly seems deeply anxious for his brothers and sisters at Thessalonica. When he cannot go personally he has others that can, so he sends Timothy, a trusted disciple who has learned what it means to “imitate” Paul. Here we see that Paul seeks comfort in the midst of affliction by discovering that the people he has shepherded remain faithful. Ultimately, their spiritual safety is of highest importance; not that it is unimportant, but there is no mention of their physical safety, only a recognition that they share in similar sufferings.

1 THESSALONIANS 2:13–20: 13AND WE ALSO THANK GOD constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. 14For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, 15who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind 16by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last! 17But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, 18because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. 19For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 20For you are our glory and joy. THE THANKSGIVING that started in verse 2 hasn’t finished yet. The word of God was at work within the church at Thessalonica and Paul felt that they shared the gospel bond, but he and his companions were concerned for them in their absence. Like parents sending their firstborn off to school for the first time, Paul felt the sting of the possible outcomes. Would they be bullied? Would they remember what he taught them? Unlike kindergarten, the culture in Thessalonica was pagan to the core and loved Rome. They had many gods to turn to and Caesar was lord. It was like sending your five-year-old on the first day of school directly into the principal’s office with a list of ways the school was not doing things right, and suggesting the principal should step down.

1 THESSALONIANS 2:1–12: 1 FOR YOU YOURSELVES KNOW, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. 2 But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. 3 For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. 5 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. 6 Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. 7 But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. 8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. 9 For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 10You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. 11For you know how, like a father with his children, 12we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. AFTER RECOUNTING the trials that had occurred as they passed through Macedonia on the way to Thessalonica, Paul speaks of their mission to preach the gospel to Thessalonica as if nothing could stop it. At the same time, a familial tone rings aloud in this passage. The boldness of proclamation was tempered with a mother’s gentleness, and their teaching was motivated and enhanced like a father’s caring words to children. Here lies a portrait of an apostle, a “sent one,” and by inference, the character of the Thessalonian church in Paul’s imagination.

1 THESSALONIANS 1:1–10L 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. 2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. DURING PAUL’S SECOND JOURNEY to proclaim King Jesus to the audiences in and around the Mediterranean, he and his companions met with resistance both from Jews and Gentiles. In 2 Corinthians 7:5 we hear Paul describing his travels through Macedonia (where Thessalonica was the prominent city), and he speaks of afflictions they encountered. By the time Paul reached Thessalonica, he had been run out of towns, imprisoned, and stoned. In fact, suffering affliction for the sake of the gospel is something that Paul points out as “common experience” between he and the church of the Thessalonians. To be more precise, he says that they were imitators of him and Jesus because they received the word in much affliction and were an example because of it.

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