Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

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“We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of 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 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.
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, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
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.
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, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”[1]
One year ago, we held our first service as a congregation of believers seeking to serve the Risen Son of God.
We did not know precisely what the future might hold, but we were confident that God was blessing us as we sought to fill a void in the religious life of the communities about us.
It was not then, nor is it now, our intention to condemn the state of religion in our communities; however, there remains a great work before us.
We have much in common with the Thessalonian Christians.
In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul spoke of their character and how they were viewed throughout the world.
Reviewing that letter, I see much of what characterises our own congregation reflected in Paul’s assessment of the Thessalonians.
Consequently, the Apostle was moved to thanksgiving upon reflection of what God had accomplished among these early believers.
Similarly, I am moved to thanksgiving by what I witness in the work God has performed among us.
*What Has Been Accomplished* — In our text, Paul gave thanks to God for the Thessalonians.
In particular, he writes of their “work of faith,” of their “labour of love,” and of “the steadfastness of hope” that he saw evidenced in their congregation life.
He writes that these saints had received the Gospel in word, in power and in the Holy Spirit with full conviction.
Believing the Word, they became imitators of what they saw lived out by the apostolic band.
Thus, they were commended for standing firm in the face of opposition and expressing joy despite the hardship they endured.
The Apostle speaks with pride of how they aggressively evangelised throughout Macedonia and Achaia, even serving as a source of encouragement to fellow believers found throughout the entire world.
When Paul would later write the Corinthian Christians, he would teach them that the hallmarks of the Christian life were “faith, hope and love” [see *1 Corinthians 13:13*].
Therefore, it should not be surprising that the Apostle anticipated what he would teach the Corinthians because he had witnessed these sterling qualities in the Thessalonian congregation.
Faith, hope and love are evidence that a congregation gets it!
These graces are evidence that the people truly understand who they are and that they are aware of the power that is at work among them.
Before looking at what God has done among us, focus on what the Apostle has said concerning these Thessalonian Christians.
First, their lives were characterised by faith, love and hope.
Paul knew they were people of faith because they worked.
We are not saved by faith plus works, but we are saved by a faith that works.
People who continue to live as they once did, with a mere pious nod to Christian service, effectively deny that they are saved regardless of what they may profess.
Faith results in work.
The individual who fails to serve, or who serves only when it is convenient, effectively reveals his or her lack of faith.
One of the hard sayings of Jesus that is frequently ignored within modern evangelical Christendom is that which baldly states, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” [*John 14:15*].
Many Christian memorise *Ephesians 2:8, 9* soon after being born from above.
That passage testifies, “By grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
However, we fail to fully instruct those who profess Christ if we fail to insist that they must also memorise the tenth verse: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” [*Ephesians 2:10*].
An old saying among the saints instructs the faithful, “Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone.”
Real faith results in work for the cause of Christ.
It was not only that the Thessalonian Christians had faith demonstrated through work, but they demonstrated their love through labour.
To our ears, work and labour sound suspiciously similar.
However, while work speaks of the individual deeds an individual might perform, labour speaks of the 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 her fevered brow.
A mother will wipe her runny nose and bathe her besmeared face.
A father will sacrifice to provide for her welfare and for her 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.
The Thessalonians were also marked by hope, which was demonstrated through steadfastness.
Hope, in Christian theology, is neither an expression of wistfulness 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.
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.
Also, the Thessalonian Christians had received the Gospel in power and in the Holy Spirit with full conviction.
Paul wrote, “We know … that our Gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit with full conviction.”
He was confident that God loved the Thessalonians and that He had chosen them because the Good News the missionaries had preached impacted the listeners with evident */power/*, with demonstration of the blessing of */the Holy Spirit/*, and with */full conviction/*.
In short, Paul saw the impact of the Gospel in the lives of these men and women as they heard that Good News.
Underscore in your mind that the Gospel reveals */God's Power/*, demonstrates the presence of */The Holy Spirit/*, and is received with */Deep Conviction/*.
In this way we see God at work in listeners.
As an aside of no small consequence: what is the impact of the Good News of Jesus Christ in your life?
If there is no change in your life, it is likely because there is no Good News in your life.
The great tragedy of the twenty-first century is that the message of Christ in this day is not presented in demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit.
We find our way to a modern profession of faith as though we were making a routine business transaction.
In modern church life, there is no repentance over sin.
The plough does not run deep enough; the soil is left undisturbed.
Where the Gospel is presented in power, lives are changed and those who experience its power need not prove they possess new life through appeal to an analytical lexicon.
The evidence of divine transformation is plain to all who know them.
Perhaps that is the reason many Christians today question their salvation and many churches are driven to seek dramatic signs as evidence that God is among them.
Were we convinced that we are great sinners we would acknowledge that we require a great God.
But having convinced ourselves that we are but little sinners, we need only a little God.
We seem to have adopted the position that we have aberrant behaviours, character flaws, personality quirks—anything but sin ruling over us and ruining our lives.
Thus we join the church instead of being placed within the church by Him to whom we claim allegiance as Lord.
One of the great criticisms of the preaching of this day is that so many seem able to listen without giving evidence of any impact resulting from what is preached.
When did we last witness deep conviction resulting from the preaching of the Word?
When did we last see religious sinners convicted of sin?  Churches are filled with religious people who are obdurate, refusing to permit the Word to do its perfect work.
Convinced that we are just fine living as we have always lived, we refuse to change even in the face of the preached Word.
Because the pews are filled with unconverted people who think they are just fine as they are, few coming into the Faith are converted to Christ, being converted instead to a church or to a philosophical position.
Paul spoke on behalf of the missionary band concerning the faith, love and hope of the Thessalonians.
Beginning with verse 6, he becomes quite deliberate in detailing how that faith, love and hope were expressed.
In particular, the Thessalonians embraced the Word of God, determining that would fulfil the Gospel demands.
Therefore, they exemplified what it means to be Christians rather than merely adopting Christianity as a cultural adjunct to the lives they were then living.
They were truly transformed and eager to let others witness their transformed lives
The Christians of Thessalonica chose to model their lives after those of the Apostles.
Note Paul’s emphasis, “You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.”
These saints saw the way the missionaries lived and they determined that they would imitate their lives.
Consequently, they turned from idolatry, even though the transition invited great affliction.
They endeavoured to live holy lives in fear of God rather than continuing in the arrogance that had previously marked their way.
They were convinced that morality and righteousness were superior to worldliness.
All this was accompanied by great joy.
It must have especially heartened the Apostle to learn that the Thessalonians had proven aggressive in evangelism.
Paul praised the Thessalonians because “the Word of the Lord sounded forth from [them] in Macedonia and Achaia,” and their “faith in God [had] gone forth everywhere” [*verse 8*].
In short, the Thessalonian Christians were not content to live as many of the professed saints in this day who claim to be saved, but fail to reach out to anyone else.
They refused to treat salvation as a sort of celestial fire insurance policy, treating their redemption instead as an obligation to save as many others as possible.
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