WHY ARE WE HERE?

“Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy:

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace to you and peace.

We always thank God for all of you, remembering you constantly in our prayers.  We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work of faith, labor of love, and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, knowing your election, brothers loved by God.”  (1 Thessalonians 1:1-4 HCSB)

A little orphan girl was placed on a jet to travel to America where she would be adopted.  She had been given all her important documents, but somehow she misplaced her birth certificate.  When she realized this, she began to cry.  The stewardess came to console her and asked, “What’s wrong?”   Her tearful response was, “I’ve lost my excuse for being born!” 

That could be said of a lot of churches!  Why are you here and what difference does it make?  If your local church suddenly disappeared, would it matter?  Have we lost our excuse for being born? 

On the authority of God’s Word, I’m going to share with you the only reason a church should exist and the only way it is going to make any difference.  This is serious and we ought to respond like the Thessalonian church:

“This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the message about God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the message of God, which also works effectively in you believers.” (1 Thess.2:13)

From this Book, with God’s help, I’m going to show you what God wants us to be and what he wants us to do.  Since what we do is rooted in what we are, that’s where we’ll begin.

WHAT GOD WANTS US TO BE. 

“We always thank God for all of you, remembering you constantly in our prayers.  We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work of faith, labor of love, and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ…” (1:2-3). 

Faith, hope and love form the holy trinity of Christian virtues.  A careful examination of the New Testament finds Paul, and other writers, continually returning to this theme.  What does God want us to be?  Clearly, He wants us to be people of faith, hope and love.  Without these marks, we may be many things, but we are not a New Testament  church.

Let’s explore what it means to be PEOPLE OF FAITH.

In this book we find faith mentioned eight times:

First, Paul wrote of “your work of faith” (1:3a).  Here it is a faith that produced works, and genuine faith always does.

Then Paul noted that “in every place that your faith in God has gone out. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything” (1:8b). The presence of faith in them was indisputable and clearly visible—no false advertising here!

“And we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker to strengthen and encourage you concerning your faith” (3:2).  Faith, then, needs to be established and encouraged.

Three more occurrences are found in 3:5-7,

“For this reason, when I could no longer stand it, I also sent [him] to find out about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you and that our labor might be for nothing.

“But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love and [reported] that you always have good memories of us, wanting to see us, as we also want to see you.  Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution, we were encouraged about you through your faith.” 

These staccato references underscore that faith proves the reality of our Christian experience.

Shortly, after writing this, the Apostle says, “as we pray very earnestly night and day to see you face to face and to complete what is lacking in your faith” (3:10).   Faith needs to mature.

The final reference tells us that faith is part of our spiritual defense as we “put the armor of faith and love on our chests” (5:8b).

Eight mentions emphasizes faith’s foundational importance to the Christian life individually and to the church corporately.  How important is faith?

Weigh these words: “Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.” (Heb.11:6). 

We are to be people of faith and we are to be PEOPLE OF HOPE.

Faith, hope and love is the typical Pauline sequence, but in this case he rearranges them as, “work of faith, labor of love, and endurance of hope.” (1:3c). The order is a bit different in this epistle because the Thessalonians had their hope shaken, and it needed to be strengthened, “so that no one will be shaken by these persecutions.  For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this.  In fact, when we were with you, we told you previously that we were going to suffer persecution, and as you know, it happened.” (3:3-4)  These believers considered their persecution and concluded that they had missed the Rapture and were in the Tribulation Period.  They needed correction.

That’s why Paul stresses the Blessed Hope—the return of Christ in 4:13-5:11.  Go back and thoughtfully read that passage.  The Apostle reminds us, “and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” (1:10)

Hope is mentioned four times:

The first occasion is in 1:3 as “endurance of hope.”  Hope generates spiritual stamina.

Secondly, it is the fruit of Christian ministry, “For who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? Is it not you?” (2:19)

Thirdly, it is our source of comfort, “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.” (4:13-14)

Finally, hope defends us from Satan’s attacks, “put on a helmet of the hope of salvation” (5:8).

Hope is crucial to Christianity.  Why would this be so?

Consider, “We have this [hope] as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure.” (Heb.6:19)

Do you have an anchor that gives stability in the storms of life?  Do people who are in such storms find an anchor of hope within the walls of your church building?

We are to be people of faith, hope and PEOPLE OF LOVE.

The word “love” is used seven times:

There is the “labor of love” (1:3b). It isn’t just talk or emotion—it is action.

Love isn’t static and so Paul prays, “may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone” (3:12).

“About brotherly love: You don’t need me to write you because you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.” (4:9) It is the core characteristic of Christianity.

Love guards our heart as we, “put the armor of faith and love on our chests” (5:8b).

“Now we ask you, brothers, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you, and to regard them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.” (5:12-13) These words remind us of the need to love our leaders in the church.

We could not overstate the significance of love.  How important is love?

It is the greatest of these three virtues (1 Cor.13).  It is the fulfillment of the law and the Great Commandment (Matt.22:36-40).  It demonstrates we are disciples (John 13:35).  Love inspires our obedience and proves our devotion to Christ.  Devotion leads to duty.  Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commands.”  (John 14:15).  

Out of what God wants us to be, there arises WHAT GOD WANTS US TO DO.

The Christian life is about work, labor and endurance: “your work of faith, labor of love, and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:3).  Faith without works is dead.  Love without labor is shallow sentimentalism.  Hope without endurance is mere wishful thinking. 

Based on who we are in Christ—people of faith, hope and love—there are things God wants us to do.  We can take all the activities of the New Testament church and boil them down to five areas of responsibility, as seen from Acts to Revelation: evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and worship.  We can see these behaviors in the church at Thessalonica. 

God expects us to EVANGELIZE THE SINNER (1:5-10). 

Paul had a missionary heart and the Thessalonians caught his contagious concern for lost souls.  They were saved because someone shared the Gospel and they wanted to share it with others.  This is the Great Commission. Let it not become the Great Omission!

The church is to EMBRACE THE SAVED (2:1-12). 

Once born into the family, Paul saw the need to nurse them and care for these babies.  Too often we Baptists have been good at obstetrics and poor at pediatrics!  Part of the Great Commission is to “baptize them.”  It is symbolic of our connection to Christ and His church.  We embrace them and bring these new believers into the fellowship circle.

Another church duty is to ESTABLISH THE SAINTS (3:1-13). 

Paul saw the need to help them mature in their faith.  This is discipleship and also part of the Great Commission, “teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.”  The church is a disciple factory.  A factory may have a beautiful building, the latest in equipment and technology, and highly skilled workers, but if they don’t produce anything, they will soon be out of business!  That is true of the church that doesn’t produce disciples.

A fourth activity demanded of a New Testament church is that we EQUIP THE SERVANTS (4:9-12). 

The church is never to be a self-service organization.  We are called to serve one another in love.  Members need to discover, develop and deploy their spiritual gifts.  This is the pastor’s primary responsibility—he doesn’t do the entire ministry, but his ministry is to for you for your ministry! (Eph.4:11-12) 

This is why the Apostles wouldn’t neglect the ministry of the Word and prayer to wait on tables.  That’s your job! We all have an assigned duty from Jesus, the Head of the church.

When a church does these things, and they come together to celebrate, what a day of rejoicing it will be!  That leads us to EXALT THE SAVIOR (5:16-20). 

These are all elements of private and public worship.  What is God seeking?  Jesus told the woman at the well that the Father is seeking worshippers, whose worship is characterized by being in spirit and truth.  Worship must be our passion; God our magnificent obsession!

Hall of Fame Coach, the late Vince Lombardi, would always open training camp for the Green Bay Packers with these words, “Gentlemen, this is a football.”  He underscored the basics of the game—blocking and tackling. 

Ladies and gentlemen, this is our mission.  The Bible is our playbook.  We’ve got to return to the fundamentals.  Any church, anywhere, any size can. 

Is there any reason you and your church cannot be a people of faith, hope and love?  Can you find any excuse for failing to evangelize the sinner, embrace the saved, establish the saints, equip the servants and exalt the Savior?  It is a choice and it begins with you, and with me, as individual members. 

Go, kneel down on the sidewalk. Take a piece of chalk and draw a circle around yourself and pray, “Oh God, make everyone in this circle a person of faith, hope and love who will evangelize, fellowship, disciple, minister and worship.”  If you mean it, you will never be the same.  If several members do that, the church will never be the same.  If enough churches do, then the world will never be the same!  This is why we are here.