Scripture Reading: 1 Thes. 1:1-3
The two Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians may be considered the earliest of Paul’s writings. Thessalonica was a city of the Roman Empire in the province of Macedonia, north of the province of Achaia. After the Macedonian call, which Paul received on his second journey of ministry, he and his co-worker Silvanus visited first Philippi and then Thessalonica (Acts 16:9-12; 17:1-4). The apostle stayed and worked there for only a short time, probably less than one month (Acts 17:2).
The two Epistles to the Thessalonians were written in the early days, while Paul was still on his second journey of ministry. In the course of this journey, Paul stayed in Thessalonica for less than a month. According to Acts, Paul worked there for three Sabbaths, for about three weeks, not long after his visit to Philippi. The Epistle to the Philippians, a wonderful book, was written much later, during Paul’s imprisonment.
No doubt, when Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, the church in Thessalonica was still very young. I doubt that the believers there had been in the church life for even a full year when these two Epistles were written. Thus, in 1 and 2 Thessalonians we see certain points that are not covered in Paul’s other Epistles. Because the church in Thessalonica was so young, Paul’s Epistles to the Thessalonians are more or less to those in a childhood stage. Some of what Paul says to the Thessalonians is different from what he says to other churches that were more experienced. It is worthwhile for us to study 1 and 2 Thessalonians in order to know the situation and condition of a young church. By reading these two books we can know the young Christian life and the young church life. If we keep in mind this aspect of the background, we shall be helped in our reading of these Epistles.
The books of 1 and 2 Thessalonians were not written to experienced Christians. They were written to young believers, to those who had been saved for less than a year. Most of them had been typical Gentiles. Therefore, in writing to them, Paul surely viewed them as young believers. These Epistles are very precious, for they render us particular help concerning the young Christian life and church life.
First Thessalonians 1:1 says, “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.” This Epistle and the second were both addressed to the local church in Thessalonica, composed of all the believers in Christ in that city. Such a local church is of the believers and is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This indicates that such a local church is born of God the Father with His life and nature and is united with the Lord Jesus Christ organically in all He is and has done. Hence, it is of men (such as the Thessalonians), yet in God and in the Lord organically. Such an organic union in the divine life and nature is the vital base for the believers to live a holy life for the church life, which is the theme of the two Epistles.
In his opening word to the Thessalonians Paul speaks in a plain manner. He does not say, as in Romans 1:1, that he is “a slave of Christ Jesus, a called apostle, separated to the gospel of God”; neither does he say, as in Ephesians 1:1, that he is an “apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God.” The opening of Romans and Ephesians is more complicated than that of 1 Thessalonians. Because this Epistle was written to young believers, in 1:1 Paul simply says, “Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians.”
It is a particular characteristic of Paul’s writing to emphasize the organic union of the believers with the Triune God. In fact, the emphasis on the organic union with Christ is an outstanding feature of Paul’s writings. In his Epistles Paul again and again speaks of being in Christ, in the Triune God. Although 1:1 is written in a simple way, it nevertheless includes Paul’s characteristic reference to the organic union. In this verse Paul speaks of the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The preposition “in” here is very important; it indicates that the church is in the Triune God. The church is composed of human beings, but they, the believers, are in the Triune God. On the one hand, the church in Thessalonica was of the Thessalonians; on the other hand, this church was in God the Father.
Paul does not merely say that the church is in God; he says that the church is in God the Father. Unless God is our Father, we cannot be in Him. We were not created in God; however, we were regenerated, born again, in Him. We were created outside of God. This means that in creation we did not have any organic union with God or any life relationship with Him. Instead, there was only the relationship between the creature and the Creator. As a result of creation, we are God’s creatures, and He is our Creator. Hence, there is a relationship of creation, but no relationship in life. God’s life was not created into our natural being. As God’s creatures, we did not have the life of God. We had only our created life, our natural human life.
When we were regenerated, born of God, our life relationship with God began. This rebirth brought us into the organic union with the Triune God. At the time of our regeneration, our rebirth, we obtained God’s life. Now God is not merely our Creator, our God; He is our Father, the One who has begotten us. God is no longer merely our Creator — He is also our Begetter, for He has begotten us with His life. Therefore, He is God our Father.
Through regeneration the Thessalonian believers had become sons of God. According to the book of Romans, the church is a composition of sons of God. It is impossible for sinners to be components of the church. Sinners can be members of a secular organization, but they cannot be components of the church of the living God. Such a church is composed only of sons of God.
We have been predestinated by the Father to be His sons. As Ephesians 1:5 says, we have been predestinated unto sonship. At a certain time, God called us and moved us inwardly. Then we repented, believed in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and received Him. By receiving Christ, we were reborn and became sons of God. Now that we are sons of God, we are the components of the church, the Body of Christ. Because we, as sons of God, are the members of Christ, 1:1 says not only that the church is in God the Father, but also that the church is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is very significant that in 1:1 Paul inserts the title Father after God and the title Lord before Jesus Christ. It is not sufficient to speak either of God or of Jesus Christ. Rather, we need to say that God is our Father and that Jesus Christ is our Lord. If Jesus Christ is not our Lord, then we have nothing to do with Him in a practical way. But when Jesus Christ becomes our Lord, this means that we are in Him, organically united to Him.
When we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we should not just say “Jesus”; we should say, “Lord Jesus.” To call on Him only by saying “Jesus” is to call somewhat ignorantly. The Lord, however, is merciful, and He sympathizes with us. He still responds when we call “Jesus” instead of “Lord Jesus,” for He realizes that actually we are calling on Him as Lord. Nevertheless, we need the proper knowledge of calling on the Lord. Instead of saying, “Jesus, I love You,” it is better to say, “Lord Jesus, I love You.” How sweet it is to call on the Lord in this way!
Some Christians like to say, “Praise God!” But in the New Testament the emphasis is on praising God the Father. We need to realize that for us today God is our Father and Jesus is our Lord. According to 1 Corinthians 12:3, when we say, “Lord Jesus,” we are in the Spirit. This indicates that the Spirit honors the proper calling on the Lord Jesus. Many of us can testify that when we call, “Lord Jesus,” we sense the anointing of the Spirit within. The same is true of saying, “Abba, Father.” If we merely call on God, Elohim, we do not have much anointing. But when we cry, “Abba, Father,” we experience the anointing. This is not a matter of terminology; it is a reality in our experience.
We need to be impressed with the fact that the church is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. To say “the Lord Jesus Christ” implies a great deal. First, it implies that Jesus Christ is our Lord. Second, it implies that He is our Savior, for the name Jesus means Jehovah the Savior. Third, it implies that Christ, God’s anointed One, is bringing us into the riches of God and is accomplishing everything with us for God. Therefore, to say “the Lord Jesus Christ” is to utter something all-inclusive.
When Paul says that the church is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, he indicates that we have been born of God and have been brought into the organic union with Christ. What is the church? The church is a group of human beings who have been born of God and who have been brought into the organic union with Christ.
In verses 2 and 3 Paul goes on to say, “We give thanks to God always concerning you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering unceasingly your work of faith, and labor of love, and endurance of hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father.” Here we see that when Paul prays for the church he gives thanks to God for three matters: for the work of faith, the labor of love, and the endurance of hope. Faith here indicates the nature and strength of the work. Our work is our faith. This means that the nature and strength of our Christian work is faith. The strength with which we work and the nature of our work should both be faith. Our Christian work should be of the nature of faith, not of the nature of human knowledge, ability, or power.
We need to understand the difference between work and labor. Work may be something which is not very deep and which may not be very difficult. Labor, however, is both deeper and harder than work. When we are doing a work that is difficult to accomplish, that is a labor. This labor should be of love. Love is the motivation and the characteristic of our Christian labor. This means that love is the expression. Our Christian work eventually becomes a labor, something that is deeper and more difficult. For this labor, faith alone is not adequate; we also need love, a love that is lasting.
Raising children is a good illustration of a labor of love. Mothers know that caring for a child is a labor, not merely a work. After giving birth, a new mother will have a tender love for her infant. For a while she will work happily to care for the child. Eventually, however, that work will become a labor that presses and exhausts her. How good it is that the Lord has created within this young mother a mother’s love for her child! Without such a love, she would not be able to bear the burden of caring for her child over the years. This love motivates her to care for her child. It is also the characteristic, the expression, of her labor. This illustrates that in the Christian life first we have a work of faith and then this work becomes a labor of love.
From the work of faith and the labor of love we go on to the endurance of hope. Hope is the source of endurance. All mothers know that caring for children requires endurance. It takes endurance for a mother to bear all the troubles that come with raising children.
In the church life as well as in the family life we all need endurance. We must be trained, educated, first to work, then to labor, and eventually to endure. An apostle is one who endures. As long as he has endurance, he is qualified to be an apostle. In 2 Corinthians we can see the endurance of the Apostle Paul. Such endurance is the topstone of our work. Elders, endurance is the topstone of the eldership. Likewise, in the work of shepherding others, endurance is crucial. If we would be successful in shepherding the saints, we must exercise endurance. Endurance involves suffering, not enjoyment. Shepherding always involves an amount of suffering.
In 1:3 Paul speaks of the endurance of hope of our Lord Jesus Christ. This endurance comes from the hope in the Lord’s coming, or from the hope in the coming Lord. Hope is the source of endurance.
The faith, the love, and the hope in 1:3 depict the structure of the genuine Christian life, constructed with these elements. Faith receives the divine things (John 1:12) and realizes the spiritual and unseen things (Heb. 11:1). Hope reaps and partakes of the things realized by faith (Rom. 8:24-25). Love enjoys the things received and realized by faith and partaken of by hope for nourishing ourselves, building up others, and expressing God. Such a life originates not from the ability of the believer’s natural being, but from the infusion of what God is, in whom they believe. It is carried out by their sacrificial love toward their loving Lord, who loved them and gave Himself for them, and toward His members, whom He has redeemed through His death in love. This life lasts and stands unchanging by the sustaining power of the hope that looks for their beloved Lord, who promised that He would come to take them to Himself. Such a life is the content of this Epistle.
I hope that from 1 and 2 Thessalonians we shall all see something that is helpful to young believers. We need to help the new ones to grow in faith, in love, and in hope, in particular, in the work of faith, in the labor of love, and in the endurance of hope.
It is marvelous that the Thessalonian believers could live such a life through the apostle’s short ministry of less than one month. This encourages us to preach, in full assurance of faith, the complete gospel to typical unbelievers and minister the deeper truths concerning the Christian life to new converts. Do not hold the concept that, as you preach the full gospel, others will not be able to understand what you are saying. First we must believe for others. Then they themselves will believe. If we do not believe what we are preaching, others will never believe it. Thus, we must believe that those who hear us will be able to understand, receive, and accept the full gospel. Likewise, we must go on to minister the deeper truths of the Christian life to new believers. May we all learn to preach something deeper than what we think others are able to understand.
In the two Epistles to the young church in Thessalonica, the genuine Christian life for the proper church life is revealed in a simple and brief way. It is a life of three dimensions in the light of the Lord’s coming back: faith as the beginning, the foundation; love as the process, the structure; and hope as the consummation, the topstone. Faith is toward God (1:8); love is toward the saints (3:12; 4:9-10); and hope is in the Lord’s coming (2:19). The first Epistle is for encouragement and comfort; the second is for correction and balance. The believers should live, walk, and work by faith and love in the hope of the Lord’s coming back. But we should not have the wrong concept that the Lord will come immediately, so that we need not do anything for the long run.
These two Epistles may be considered the consummation of the Christian life for the church life. They conclude the section of the Apostle Paul’s writings that begins with the book of Romans. Although these two Epistles are for the young Christian life and church life, they may also be regarded as the consummation of the Christian life for the church life.
According to the sequence of the New Testament writings, we have Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians. These nine Epistles may be considered a group. The consummation and conclusion of this group of nine Epistles are 1 and 2 Thessalonians.
In this message we have covered two basic points: first, that the church is composed of human beings in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ, those who have the life of God and who are in the organic union with Christ; second, that the church life is the Christian life constructed of the work of faith, the labor of love, and the endurance of hope in the coming Lord. May we all be deeply impressed with these two points. We need to see that the church is the composition of human beings who are in God the Father with life and who are organically in the Lord Jesus Christ. We also need to see that the Christian life for the church life is constructed of the work of faith, the labor of love, and the endurance of hope. In forthcoming messages we shall see more concerning this work of faith, labor of love, and endurance of hope.
