5/28/10 Colossians 4 & 1 Thess 1 &2
(1 Th 1:3)3constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father,
A Gospel Response
The church at Thessalonica was a church that had a gospel response. The gospel can be briefly summarized as follows; God, Man, Christ, Response. If the gospel is proclaimed faithfully then the message must accurately describe God, speak of Man’s plight and current condition, share the person and work of Jesus Christ, after these truths there are two options; to be a recipient or a rejecter. Some individuals in Thessalonica had definitely received the good news found in Jesus Christ.
The evidence of this reception is threefold in 1 Thess 1:3. First Paul mentions their work of faith, then their labor of love, and lastly their steadfastness of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. These characteristics are evidences of the work of the Holy Spirit. Remember also of all the gifts the three that remain are faith, hope, and love (1 Cor 13:13).
When this group of individuals heard the gospel message it came not in words only, but with power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. (Father, I pray that when I and my brothers and sisters in the faith share, proclaim, describe, or tell the gospel message that it will be with power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction.) They responded and their response was to imitate those who brought the message and of the Lord. They responded and became imitators of the church in Judea. They responded joyful because of the power of the Holy Spirit in the face of much tribulation and suffering just as the churches in Judea. They responded to serve the living God and rejected their dead idols. There response was so noticeable and their work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness in hope was so exemplary that a testimony and witness went out in their region and beyond.
When there is a gospel response there is thankfulness and the word of God performs its transforming work in those who have believed or responded. (1 Th 2:13)13For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.
Prayer: Almighty, Holy, Gracious, and Glorious Father, thank you for the gospel. I praise you Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Give me the boldness to proclaim the gospel amidst opposition. All the earth is yours and there is nothing greater than you in the entire world. Father I pray that the power of the Holy Spirit would fall upon me and those who share the gospel message. God, I plead that the Holy Spirit might again blow upon the American churches so a testimony will go out into all the world to every nation, tribe, and tongue. Father, so much of what the American church has become should not be imitated. Visit us again mighty Spirit and may the word of God produces it’s transforming work that our churches would be something to be imitated and people again would come to you with fear and trembling as they hear the gospel message with power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction. Oh, Lord we need you desperately, for Your Kingdom and Your glory on earth as it is in heaven, for the cause of Jesus Christ, in His name I pray. Amen.