“The Example of Youth Faith”
We are resuming our series on Lessons from the Book of 1 Thessalonians. We will be going through the book and extracting lesson that we can take home with us and apply to our life. That is exactly what we are supposed to do with the word of God, to “extract” truth. To pull out what God wants us to know and to apply for our life.
Background Review
Last week we learned about:
• The ancient city of Thessalonica (Thessaloniki)
- Located in modern day Greece
- Sat between major trade routes like the Via Egnatia (5,972 miles connecting Europe and Asia)
- The capital and largest city in Macedonia at that time (200,000 people)
- Major city that attracted people from all walks of life through it’s gates
• The account of Thessalonica in Acts 16-18
- Paul’s second missionary journey
- Arrived in Thessalonica around AD 51
- Paul reasoned with the Jews and some came to faith in Christ
- They were mistreated and ran out of town
- Paul sent Timothy back to check on the church in Thessalonica
- Timothy brings back a good report
- Paul pens the first letter to the Thessalonians during his time in Corinth
• The letter of 1 Thessalonians
- The book can be broken up in to two main sections:
• The first half being personal & historical (chapters 1-3)
• The second have being practical & informative (chapters 4-5)
• An underlying theme is faith, love, and hope.
1 Thessalonians 1:6-10 (NLT)
“6 So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. 7 As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece—throughout both Macedonia and Achaia. 8 And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia, for wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God. We don’t need to tell them
about it, 9 for they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God. 10 And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment.”
Faithful in Persecution
Here in chapter 1, Paul is writing to praise them for their steadfast faith in God. They were standing on God’s word faithfully, even in the face of “severe” or intense persecution (we do not know what that persecution was). They were standing strong on the word of God, not allowing the current circumstances of that day to allow them to waiver back and forth. They were faithful to obey the word of God and to do all that Paul had taught them. They persevered through the trials that stood between them and the walk that God had called them to. They were productive as a church in sharing their faith with others and sending the word of God out from Thessalonica. They did now allow the moment to divide them, but stayed united as a local body.
Setting an Example
They were so faithful that the towns surrounding them began to hear about it. Believers in far-off towns were amazed and encouraged by their devotion to Christ. So much so that the other believers were talking about it, sharing about it, texting about it, posting about it. It became a talking point in the day-to-day conversation of their local gatherings. It encouraged them! They thought, “if the Thessalonians can stand strong and be faithful in what they are facing, then we can too!” This had a profound effect on the believers around them and near and far-off towns. It was amazing!
You would think the Thessalonian church was a seasoned group of believers. You would think they were veterans in this thing and knew how to walk it out. You might think they had been doing this for a while. Well, that is not the case. Instead, this group of believers were only 6-9 months old in the faith when Paul began writing to them. They hadn’t even been saved for an entire year yet! They were young in the faith, yet they were having a profound effect on other Christians who most likely had been saved longer than they had! That says a lot.
We too Set an Example
This shows us something. This shows that we too are being an example to somebody else. More specifically, people are watching “you.” they are watching “your” life. People are watching how you live your life. They are watching how you approach your trials. They are watching how you interact with other believers, how you raise your family, how you handle hardship, how you treat your spouse, how you engage in church, etc. People are watching! No matter what, someone is watching. No matter what, someone is always listening. No matter what, someone is going to emulate you! Someone is watching you and is going to do what you are doing. (Wow!) They are saying to themselves that if “so-and-so” can do it so can I….whether its good or if it’s not. That will make you think!
We were reminded this past Wednesday by Pastor Ron that every decision we make is being recorded. We must live expecting that people are going to watch what we are doing and they are going to do what we do. They are going to do imitate us with the belief that what they are doing is okay. Whether it is the right thing to do or not. That puts a lot more weight on the decisions we make! And it should…
Our responsibility is to leave an example worth following.
Today, we are going to look at the example the Thessalonians set and see how we can model a faith for others to follow.
1. Live with Joy v6 - “So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you.”
• The Thessalonian Christians experienced joy, not because of their situation, but despite them.
• There is a joy that is available regardless of the current circumstances we face
• We have a reason to smile.
• Joy comes from the holy Spirit - if we don’t see joy in our life then we may need more of the Holy Spirit in our everyday walk. We may need to surrender our current moment over to God. It is hard for us to hold worry and joy at the same time. However, we can surrender our worry over to God in exchange for joy.
• People pick up on our dissatisfaction, disappointment, and discouragements. That is life! We can’t help but get discouraged from time to time. Nevertheless, joy is available if choose to receive it.
• Let us not get bogged down by the disappointing and discouragements of life. Let us not allow them to steal our joy away.
• Let us approach life with a smile own our face and joy in our hearts.
• God is on the throne. We can trust in Him.
2. Imitate Christ (Word of God) v6 - “In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord.”
• Imitate = Mimic; To follow in on order to become
• The believers in Thessalonica were faithful in (imitating) following the instructions that were left to them. They were obedient to the things God instructed them to do in the word of God.
• We too must be led and instructed! The word of God gives us all the instruction we need.
• We must follow in order to “become.”
- Obey in order to become obedient
- Give in order to become a giver
- Love in order to become an example of God’s love
- Forgive if we want to be forgiven
- Go to God in prayer if we want to have peace
- Instruct, discipline, and love our children in order to become godly parents
- Etc.
• As we imitate the word of God, we should expect others to imitate us. You should expect for someone to imitate you.
3. Share Your Faith with Others v8 - “And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia”
• It says that the word of God was “ringing out” from Thessalonica. It was resounding out to the nearby towns in a powerful way. It was the result of the church collectively sharing with others what Jesus had freely given them.
• When we share what God has done in us, then we will have done our part. The power comes from the Holy Spirit. He will do His part.
• In verse 9, it says that people heard about how the Thessalonians had “turned away from idols to serve the living and true God.” They were sharing their testimony, that God did in their life.
• There is something powerful about our testimony. It shows that what God did in your life, He can do in mine!
• All it takes is sharing with others what Jesus did in your life that turned you away from your old way of life to now serve the living and true God!
4. Look Forward to “The Day” v10 - “And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven…”
• The believers in the nearby towns and far-off villages heard how the Thessalonians were also looking forward to the return of Christ. It was the hope that caused them stand strong through persecution, to faithfully follow
instructions that were left with them, and to share their faith with the people around them. They were inspired and motivated by the reality that Jesus was coming back soon.
• As it did for them, it should do the same for us. That great day when Jesus comes back to bring us home to heaven should motivate us to do all these things that are listed here. It will only be that way if our eyes and our hearts are looking forward to that day. Scripture is filled with exhortations, commands and instructions to look forward to that day!
• In order to look forward, we must let go of the past. The reality is that God is a lot less interested in our past than we are. God has forgiven you, so should you. God has forgotten, so should you. God is not rehearsing it, neither should you. God has moved on, and so should you. The devil wants to keep us focused on what has hurt us, harmed us, paralyzed us, etc. to keep us from being focused on the very thing that gives us power to overcome it. That is the coming resurrection!
• Let us keep our eyes focused on what is to come. Allow it to generate some excitement within us. Let it create some anticipation inside of us. Grant it the power to give us a perspective for today.
Let us leave an example worth following.
- If we are living with joy, we have done our job.
- If we are imitating Christ, we have done our job.
- If we are sharing our faith, we have done our job.
- If we are looking forward to “that great day,” we have done our job.
Somebody is watching you. Somebody is emulating you. Someone will become you. Who are they modeling? Who will they become? That is for us to decide. We don’t choose the decisions people make, but we can influence what decisions they can make. How? By the decisions we make today. If Paul the apostle can do it (who formerly was Saul), so can we.
Expect that someone is going to follow your example today. Amen!
