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Written by Jim Stern
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
What if you could see what God is doing in the world at any given moment? What if you could see what He is doing in your community? What if you could see the actual work the Creator of the universe is carrying out in the lives of people around you?
How incredible would that be?
Today, we begin a new series in The Overflow. Over the next few months, we will work through 1 and 2 Thessalonians. What we will discover is the extent to which our Father is at work in a community and in the individuals who make up that community.
Seeing Him at work in others can help you recognize Him at work in your own life. And learning to cooperate with what the Creator is doing in you can transform your days from being filled with strain and stress to being filled with rest and power.
So what do we learn from Paul’s letter to this first-century gathering of believers?
He begins in 1 Thessalonians 1:1:
“Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.”
Right away, we are introduced to three men: Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. Each has a powerful story that explains why he is involved in writing this letter.
The Apostle Paul was dramatically drawn to Jesus while traveling from Jerusalem to Damascus (Acts 9). We do not know much about Silvanus’s background, but he was a prominent leader in the early Jerusalem church (Acts 15:22, 40) and ministered alongside Peter (1 Peter 5:12). Timothy’s faith was shaped significantly by the influence of his mother and grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5).
These men were not related. They were not business partners. Yet here they are, serving together as a team and doing Kingdom work in the Thessalonian community.
Often, if you want to see what our Father is doing in your life, you need to look at the people He is bringing around you. Because God exists as one God in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, He is deeply relational. The remarkable ways in which He brings people together are evidence of His work. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy would never have formed this ministry team apart from the intervention of the Holy Spirit.
After identifying themselves, they address the recipients as “the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Greek word for church is ekklesia. Literally, it means “called-out ones.” In everyday usage, it referred to people called out from their homes to gather in a public assembly.
In the Kingdom, to be part of God’s ekklesia means belonging to those who have been called out of the world and its ways. The Thessalonian ekklesia was a gathering of people who had rejected the world’s systems, accepted Jesus, and committed themselves to living Kingdom lives.
One way to see our Father at work is to notice how He is separating you from the patterns and priorities of the world. If you expect Him to help you succeed according to the world’s standards and methods, you will be perpetually frustrated. If you have no desire to live a distinct life in the way you view yourself, others, success, work, marriage, family, and everything else, you will struggle to recognize the Spirit’s work.
Thessalonica was a busy and cosmopolitan Greek port city. People from many different cultures, backgrounds, and traditions lived there. When Paul first entered Thessalonica and preached the gospel (Acts 17), many people abandoned their former allegiances and turned to Jesus. Whatever their backgrounds and former ways of life, those identities were laid down so they could become the called-out people of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The letter continues in verses 2-4, where Paul and his team commend the Thessalonian believers for the vitality of their faith:
“We always give thanks to God for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly keeping in mind your work of faith and labor of love and perseverance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, knowing, brothers and sisters beloved by God, His choice of you…”
The ekklesia is a gathering of people alive in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Both individually and collectively, they are actively engaged in their faith. This is not a congregation of spectators. The leaders are not merely grateful that people showed up on Sunday morning. Instead, the people are known for their work of faith, labor of love, and perseverance of hope.
This is not a church where 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work.
Paul first preached the gospel in Thessalonica around AD 49-50 during his second missionary journey. He wrote this letter about a year later. He was thrilled to learn that what had begun so powerfully was still thriving.
Examine your own life. Is your faith growing? Is your love increasing? Is your hope deepening?
These are the areas where the Holy Spirit works. If you are too busy to pay attention to them, or if they are not priorities in your life, you may become blind to what the Spirit is doing in you. And if you cannot recognize His work in your own life, you will struggle to recognize His work in others.
And the work He does is incredible to experience and behold.
Paul then turns to recounting his team’s experience of the Thessalonians’ conversion. Verses 5-7 say:
“…for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word during great affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.”
This is a picture of genuine conversion. A group of people responded to Paul’s life and message, died to the world, and came alive in the Kingdom. As Paul preached, the Holy Spirit moved. He brought conviction, conversion, and joy in the midst of persecution and loss.
Conversion is a supernatural act carried out by a supernatural Being, the Holy Spirit, through ordinary people like Paul to create supernatural communities.
We must learn to see through the eyes of the Spirit. We must allow Him to free us from our fixation on the physical world and its values. We must remain open to encountering Him every day.
Notice that the Thessalonians changed whom they followed. They became imitators of Paul and his companions because they were imitating Jesus. Jesus became their model for life. He was the One they followed and the One they desired to become like.
Life in the ekklesia is life among people who share a common desire to become like Jesus in every area. We have surrendered our earthly heroes. We do not seek to imitate those whom culture celebrates. We are a community that exalts Jesus and longs to reflect His character.
Along the way, we fail and experience conviction. Yet because of our love for Jesus and our confidence in His patience with us, the Spirit’s conviction is not condemnation. In fact, we welcome accountability from others who can help us grow more like Him.
The opening chapter concludes with Paul and his team celebrating the impact of the Thessalonians’ faith:
“For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves report about us as to the kind of reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is, Jesus who rescues us from the wrath to come.”
The fire God started in the Thessalonian ekklesia was already influencing surrounding regions. Macedonia and Achaia had heard what God was doing, and they were celebrating it. Kingdom stories were spreading from town to town. Impact was producing more impact.
What God has done in you, He desires to do through you.
He wants to use you to love, bless, and minister to others. You may lead a Bible study at your golf course or workplace. You may start a prayer group in your neighborhood. You may ask God to bring people into your path with whom you can share Jesus and your testimony. You may gather others from the ekklesia to disciple and encourage.
Whatever the expression, our Father is at work, using your story to impact others through the power of the Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus.
Allow Him to transform your heart and redirect your passions. Let Him open your eyes to the opportunities He places before you each day. Ask Him to show you what He is doing in your faith, your love, and your perseverance of hope.
As you learn to recognize His work in your own life, you will become better able to recognize His work in others.
God is actively at work in the world, creating local ekklesias filled with people who have been restored to Him.
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 beautifully demonstrates how God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit take the initiative in all things so that we, the ekklesia, can join Him in His work and run His race in the overflow.
