Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

What is the Price of My Faith?

 

/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/.

/For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.

You know how we lived among you for your sake.

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.

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

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, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us.

They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath/.

That which cost nothing is held in low esteem.

This appears to be a law of human nature.

It should not therefore be surprising if the strongest examples of faith seem to be found most frequently within those countries in which the people of God endure the greatest testing.

Among those peoples who have never submitted their faith to the challenge of open hostility or to animosity, the expression of Christian Faith tends to be a caricature of that presented as the norm in the pages of the New Testament.

As one example, consider the assessment of the First Century Church in Thessalonica.

As Paul begins his letter to these hard-pressed saints he reviews his perception of their brief history.

Let's compare ourselves to this commended church in order to discover how we may value the things which truly matter.

The Cost of Faith In Terms Of Reorganisation [*vv 2,3*] - The Apostle said of the Thessalonians, We *always* thank God for all of you/./

Wouldn't you like to know that you or that your church merited a commendation from Christian leaders such as this … that you elicited such praise from godly individuals such as the missionary band which travelled with Paul?

We *continually* remember, the Apostle immediately writes again in the following verse.

We might well ask what it was that so firmly fixed the name of the Thessalonian saints in the Apostle’s mind?

What characteristics were so prominent in their lives as to preclude any prospect that they might be forgotten?

What aspects of their common life propelled them into a position of prominence in Paul's memory?

What qualities of life seemed to constantly recommend them to Paul's prayer life?

According to Paul's own words, three factors functioned to insure that they should never be forgotten in his prayers to God: work; labour; and endurance.

You may conclude that these attributes sound somewhat similar, if not indistinguishable, and that they are thus easily confused in the popular mind.

Yet these separate qualities each reveal distinct traits worthy of our sincere emulation.

According to the Word, work reveals faith; labour reveals love; and endurance reveals hope.

Work, labour and endurance are practical expressions of faith, love and hope, a triumvirate familiar to every Christian with even a passing familiarity of the Word.

Faith, hope and love are a recurring theme throughout the Word of God.

Nor are these virtues confined to Paul's observation.

Peter [*1 Peter 1:21,22*], and the unnamed author of the Hebrews letter [*Hebrews 6:10-12*], likewise unite these graces.

Recall a few of the times Paul mentions this desirable trio in the Word of God.  *1 Corinthians 13:13* remind us that these qualities are pre-eminent Christian characteristics.

*Ephesians 1:15-18* interweaves these characteristics into the Apostle's prayer for readers of that encyclical.

*Colossians 1:3-6* likewise reveals the apostolic commendation of the evidence of these graces in the life of the Colossians.

*2 Thessalonians 1:3,4* again acknowledge and approve these expressions of Christian character in the common life of the Thessalonians.

It is certainly possible to understand that Paul is praying that these particular graces will be expressed in practical fashion in the collective life of the Thessalonian Church; but it is more likely that he is stating that he sees these qualities being constantly expressed and that such evidence serves both as the motivating force and the basis for his prayer.

Whether the former or the latter is the preferred meaning is of no consequence to our consideration today.

We may safely leave that discussion to the theologues.

Whatever the meaning, it is evident that faith, hope and love are graces which are to be actively cultivated in each Christian life, and that the evidence such graces are present is seen in our work, in our labours and in our endurance.

The first virtue and its expression is work produced by faith.

It is significant to note that it is faith which produces work and not work which produces faith.

The popular sentiment, frequently brought even into evangelical churches, is that work produces faith.

"If I will but join the church, be baptised, read the Bible, say prayers, do some meritorious deed, I will create great faith," runs the popular concept of the relationship of faith and works.

In other words, the popular thought is that doing deeds, being religious, merits God's grace and creates faith.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

In our text Paul notes that resident faith results in work … work which can be recognised even by casual observers.

We have turned matters around in our fallen minds, and that topsy-turvy view has seriously infected the church of this day!

Underscore in your mind this truth – true faith produces work.

Whatever you do for God, if it will be found acceptable before God, must arise from faith.

In fact, Paul states in one place: everything that does not come from faith is sin [*Romans 14:23*].

Permit me to demonstrate this truth from the Word and make application to our lives.

From earliest days as believers in the Risen Christ we Christians recognise, memorise and readily cite to anyone willing to listen *Ephesians 2:8,9*: it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast/./

Blessed truth though these verses present, the following verse is often neglected to our permanent hurt: For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do [*Ephesians 2:10*].

We are saved in order to do good works, although we do not do good works in order to be saved.

The order is vital!

Our work is the product of our faith; never does work produce faith.

Labour/,/ as employed in this instance, appears to our eyes to be so similar to work as to preclude distinction.

However, even to our ears, there is a difference in intensity between the terms /work/ and /labour/.

While work speaks of the individual deeds we might perform, labour speaks of unhesitating and unceasing hardship experienced and toil performed because of love.

A true love for Christ or for people leads to labour; otherwise it is mere sentimentality.

Though imperfect, the following situation illustrates the difference between these two terms.

A child running into our presence with a shoe untied may elicit our compassion and even our help if that child should request that we tie her shoe.

It is a deed performed once and then we are free of responsibility for the child.

That same child will elicit virtual slavery from another adult – her mother or her father – because of a different relationship based on love.

The child for whom we may tie a shoe, or briefly comfort, or for whom we may momentarily provide care will receive undivided attention from her father or mother.

A parent will sit up all night to stroke the fevered brow.

A mother will wipe her runny nose and bathe her besmeared face.

A father will sacrifice to provide for the child's welfare and future.

These are responses growing out of love.

By the same token, faith will prompt us to do deeds as required by the circumstances, but love will impel us to continue working even to the point of personal sacrifice.

A parent loves his or her child, not because that child merits love, but because the parent has chosen to love.

Likewise, our labour for Christ, the characteristic of staying at tasks, however menial or however unglamorous, is prompted by love – love for Christ and love for His people.

It is not so much that we chose to love one another, but it is rather that we can do nothing other than love one another as Christians; and love prompts us to toil for one another.

There is yet a third virtue named and prized, one arising out of hope.

/Hope/, in Christian theology, is neither an expression of wishfulness nor of wistful longing, nor even optimism (a matter of temperament, not theology); /hope/ speaks rather of anticipation or expectation.

When the Christian says, for example, that he lives in hope of the resurrection, he speaks not of some nebulous, undefined event which may or may not occur in the future, but rather that Christian speaks of an event as certain as his own salvation.

Having been saved by the Risen Christ, the believer expects to see that Lord coming in great glory.

With ancient Job, the Christian speaks in confidence of his hope: Though He slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to His face [*Job 13:15*].

Hope insures that the believer exhibits endurance in both work and labour.

If Christ is coming again, and if the presence of the Holy Spirit is the divine deposit for the redemption of my body, and if Christ has promised that I shall reign with Him, then I can stay at each task assigned however difficult it may prove and whatever opposition may be faced.

If my hope, if my expectation, extends beyond this life, then I anticipate that the final accounting is not yet available.

It matters little how others judge me; I live in hope of Christ the Righteous Judge.

Every Christian is a believer, a lover and one who hopes; and the evidence that these rather abstract sounding qualities are part of each Christian life is seen in outwardly productive lives demonstrating work, labour and endurance.

If you would have a brief definition of true Christianity, this is it!

The Christian Faith consists of faith, hope and love, and the Faith is revealed in work, labour and endurance by those who know Christ.

The Cost of Faith In Terms Of Responsiveness [*vv 4-6a*] - I confess a thrill whenever I read the biblical statements revealing the lives of apostolic saints.

I admit that I await the day when we shall see, not occasionally nor incidentally, but routinely and integrally, this situation prevail in our day.

Paul continues: We know … that [God] has chosen you, because *our gospel came to you not simply with words, but with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction* [*verses four* and *five*].

I would that there would be in this day and in our town a church known to be Christian … not because the members affirmed they were Christian, but because their very life revealed Christ.

I would that there should be a church in this day which had received the Gospel with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.

I would that this church be that church.

We seem content to come to faith with an "Ah, shucks," sort of attitude.

We anticipate no dramatic, dynamic change in our lives, no evidence of the power of the Gospel at work among us; and our expectations are met.

Where is the Holy Spirit?

Not the excess and superstition which many have sought to substitute for Him, but the holiness and determination to honour Christ which marks His presence?

Where today do we see men and women turning to faith with deep conviction?

We see instead a sort of repent (after a fashion) and believe (such as it were) or be damned in a measure expression of the Faith.

It is heresy!