Sunday 19 October 20141 Thessalonians 1 A bit of background After leaving Thessalonica Paul went to Athens. From Athens

he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to see how the church was doing and he

(Paul) went on to Corinth alone. Timothy eventually reported back to Paul

regarding the state of the young church.

Timothy mentioned to paul that the church was doing well but under pressure to

give up. A few rumours were also running around against Paul because he had to

leave so suddenly. Paul want to return to deal with the doctrinal and moral

problems but just couldn’t get there so he wrote a letter of encouragement to

this young church. This letter is the book we call 1 Thessalonians.

Couple of a facts about 1 Thessalonians:

1. This is one of the oldest books in the New Testament. Scholars date it at

approximately 50-51 A.D., meaning that it was written only 18 years after Jesus’

life and death. Gives us a good picture of an early Christian Church. 2. With 79

verses its one of the shortest books in the New Testament

3. It is one of the easiest books to understand. Unlike Romans, there is no

complicated theology to ponder. Everything Paul writes is simple, clear, and

direct. It is a short letter to a young church.

4. Its practical. In five short chapters Paul deals with true conversion, integrity,

compassion, the Word of God, heavenly rewards, suffering, prayer, moral purity,

hard work, the Second Coming of Christ, the role of spiritual leaders, dealing with

difficult people, and testing spiritual gifts..

The letter begins this way:

Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and

the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you. We always thank God for all of

you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God

and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your

endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

These are encouraging words to a congregation of new believers . . They had

experienced the grace and peace of God. Paul prayed for them. He thanked God

for them always.

With that as introduction the next few verses deal with the subject of their

conversion. Step by step Paul tells us how these former pagans became fully

devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

So here are the questions. How is a Christian defined? And how can you tell the

difference between a Christian and a church member?

I. 4-5

“What must happen first?”

“For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you.” ” The answer is,

God must choose you., This is the doctrine of election, which simply means that

God chooses those who will be saved. I get stuck here because we know Jesus

died for every single human being, yet God elects those whom he will save. It

seems unfair. Not so. The Bible teaches that election flows from the love of

God. That’s why Paul calls these new believers “brothers loved by God.” One

commentator said this, Election is not a device for sending people to hell but for

rescuing them from hell.

I don’t understand the mysteries of this doctrine but it teaches us two

things for sure: 1) Salvation is a work of God, not man, and 2) all true

believers are eternally secure. I wonder how many of you have read the 39

articles recently. Not me either, but I did remember vaguely a part

mentioning this. So here it is

XVII. OF PREDESTINATION AND ELECTION

PREDESTINATION to Life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before

the foundations of the world were laid) he hath constantly decreed by his

counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he

hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to

everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour. Wherefore, they which be

endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to God's

purpose by his Spirit working in due season: they through Grace obey the

calling: they be justified freely: they be made sons of God by adoption: they

be made like the image of his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ: they walk

religiously in good works, and at length, by God's mercy, they attain to

everlasting felicity.

As the godly consideration of Predestination, and our Election in Christ, is full

of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons, and such as

feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of

the flesh, and their earthly members, and drawing up their mind to high and

heavenly things, as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their

faith of eternal Salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth

fervently kindle their love towards God: So, for curious and carnal persons, lacking the

Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God's Predestination, is a

most dangerous downfall, whereby the Devil doth thrust them either into desperation, or into

wretchlessness of most unclean living, no less perilous than desperation.

Furthermore, we must receive God's promises in such wise, as they be generally set forth to us in

holy Scripture: and, in our doings, that Will of God is to be followed, which we have expressly

declared unto us in the Word of God.

“full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort.”

Conversion begins with the work of God in eternity that the divine part

But there is also . The Human Side 5

Because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with

the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. Interesting point, Paul adds in here the

human element, the call of the evangelist . God’s election was made effective

through the preaching of the gospel to the Thessalonians. The gospel preached

created the conviction in the heart of the Thessalonians.

Have you ever wondered why two people can hear the same message and

respond in opposite ways? It is the Holy Spirit who takes human words in

preaching and makes them “come alive” inside the human heart. I have seen

this time and time again. For one person a particular message touches them in a

way that doesn’t move the other 99%.

II. What to look for 6-8

So , “What should we look for?” verse 6-8 give us the answers and they all

revolve around how you respond to the Word of God.

A. Receiving the Word 6

You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us

and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the

joy given by the Holy Spirit. Notice the little phrase “in spite of severe suffering.”

The word literally means to be “pressed to the limit.” It has the idea of being

under the thumb of another person, In this case it means that the Thessalonians

were so glad to be saved they couldn’t be stopped, not even by persecution.

In the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come

and die.” True conversion means that you continue to follow Christ even when

the going gets rough.

B. Living the Word 7

And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

Tupos is the Greek word for model. , which literally refers to the impression left

by a piece of metal when pressed into clay. This is the secret of evangelism. You

can win others to Christ by the example of your own changed life. Remember the

Samaritan women at the well , the word was preached by Jesus, the heart was

touched, then the change in life style and the result whole village converted

because of a change in the Samaritans women, living arrangements! Too easy ;-)

The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your

faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say

anything about it.

When Paul says the message “rang out,” It means to strike a cymbal. As the

Thessalonians shared Christ, the message reverberated throughout the entire

region. In the words of one commentator, Here, then, is the evidence of

conversion clearly explained. First you receive God’s Word gladly, then you live it

on a daily basis. As you do, the message of the gospel reverberates in every

direction. And those around you begin to sit up and take notice.

Verses 9-10 answer the all-important question: “How does it happen?” This is

where truth must become personal for you and me.

A. In the Past

B. For they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell

how you turned to God from idols. In the case of the Thessalonians this

was literally true.

They had been idol-worshipers before coming to Christ. Suddenly their lives were

dramatically and utterly transformed. The “turned to God.” This is what

conversion means. The Bible sometimes uses the term “repentance” to describe

this act. In the New Testament there is one word you need to know—the Greek

word metanoia. Meta means “to change the mind.” You’ve been thinking one

way, but now you think the opposite way. Its a complete u turn in your thinking.

A Decisive Change of Mind

Repentance is a decisive change in direction. It’s a change of mind which leads to

a change of thinking which leads to a change of attitude which leads to a change

of feeling which leads to a change of values which leads to a change in the way I

lead my life.

And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who

rescues us from the coming wrath.. We turn, we serve, and we wait for Jesus to

return. This tells us that the Second Coming is not some esoteric doctrine which

we may believe or not depending on our preference. It is the fundamental

motivation for the entire Christian life.

An Exchange of Gods

Conversion begins when you turn to God. It is nothing more or less than “an

intentional turning of oneself to God.” Because it is intentional it does not

happen by accident or automatically. Nor can anyone else turn for you. So often,

I have people say to me, well I’m not a Christian but my uncle is a minister, or my

grandmother went to church or. The implication being that they have somehow

inherited a conversion or that they are right with God Doesn’t work that way

You! must decide to turn to God. No one can make that decision for you, or do it

on your behalf.

It means chucking out whatever idols you have created. Think about it To the

Thessalonians this was literally true since Greek religion was what they knew

and part of their culture. . The religion built upon these idols permeated every

aspect of society.

For a Christian to reject all that and follow Jesus Christ meant rejecting the very

foundation of society itself. Yet that is what Jesus calls men to do and that is

what the Thessalonians had done.

wood /metal or stone. are morally neutral. Even the carvings or images

themselves were not sinful. But the meaning or value attached to them that

becomes sinful. In that sense anything good may easily become and idol.

Either you are converted or you aren’t. You have turned or you haven’t. Unless

you are converted you will never go to heaven.

How can you be converted? The answer is simple. You must transfer your trust

away from yourself and place it fully upon Jesus Christ. and him alone as your

Lord and Savour.

The Christian life begins with conversion! Without conversion there is no

Christian life. And if you are not converted, you are not a Christian at all.

A Slave trader’s Conversion

He was born in 1725, the son of an English sea captain. At the age of 11 he went

to sea for the first time. He was forced to join the Royal Navy, tried to escape but

was arrested in West Africa. He became the slave of a white slave trader’s black

wife. For two years he lived in hunger and destitution.

He eventually became a slave-ship captain, taking black Africans to the

Mediterranean and the West Indies. In 1747 he boarded a ship for England but a

violent storm in the North Atlantic hit the ship, which began to fill with water.

The timbers broke away from the side. An ordinary ship would have gone to the

bottom immediately but they were carrying a local of beeswax and wool which

were lighter than water.

In the midst of the struggle to save the ship, the young man said to himself

almost without thinking, “If this will not do, the Lord have mercy on us.” By his

own word it was the first desire for mercy he had felt in many years. That was

the turning point of his life.

He left the slave trade and later entered the ministry in Olney, England. He soon

became known as a great preacher who attracted enormous crowds. He wrote

nearly 300 hymns—most of which have long since been forgotten. But some we

still sing—"Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken,” “How Sweet the Name of Jesus

Sounds,” and the one hymn that is perhaps the most famous hymn of all time.

Around the world millions sing it in dozens of languages:

Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me I once was lost, but now am found

Was blind but now I see.

Before he died, he prepared his own epitaph, which reads this way: John

Newton, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the

rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned,

and appointed to preach the faith he had long laboured to destroy.

That’s what God can do. That’s true conversion. That’s what some of us need

right now.To turn to God. Turn from our sin. Turn from our past. Turn from all

that is evil. Turn to God and say, “Lord Jesus, I trust you as my Saviour and

Lord.”