If you would, take your Bibles and turn to 1 Thessalonians, and we're gonna be looking mainly at verses one through 10. Again, I'm not gonna try to be long-winded today. And the title of my sermon, if you see from the bulletin, is Faithful Examples, Faith, Love, and Hope in Action. And when we think of those three words, faith, love, and hope, we usually go to First Corinthians 13, which is the love chapter. It's here at a lot of weddings, perhaps it was used at maybe all of our weddings if you're married. And then when we think of faithful examples, we think of Hebrews chapter 11, the faith chapter, where you have a lot of the greats mentioned throughout the Bible that God has used in very many powerful ways in the story of redemption. And you might not think of Perhaps when you think of faithful examples, your mind might not go right directly to the church at Thessalonica, but that is what we have recorded in this first letter to that church from Paul. Now, with me doing home improvement stuff, and I'm not one of those super creative people with certain things. Late last night, I had a friend from college message me and said, hey, are you able to build a loft bed? Is that something that you're skilled in? I've never built a bed before. I know how they're built. I have a two-by-six bunk bed for one of my boys that we grew up with. It was store-bought, but it's very simple. And I didn't immediately have a whole bunch of images coming to mind, so of course, I do what everyone else does. I go to Google Images and I type loft bed, and I'm trying to get into her brain and say, waiting for her to message me back, what do you like? I needed examples. I needed good, clear examples of Okay, well, these are what loft beds look like, but what do you want? Can you draw me something? Give me ideas. Do you want a basic square bed that can be framed out of 2x4s and 2x6s? Or do you want something more decorative? Is it going to be painted? Is it going to be stained? So that affects the type of wood that you would use. Something could be painted. You could use something as simple as, you know, sanded down and finished pine to poplar. And if you wanted to show off the wood, you would use something more like a mahogany or cherry, you know, hickory, something of that sort, a more expensive wood. So that affects the price on it. But I'm not one of those people that might just be able to draw something up. And here's an idea I have. The only good idea I had, she said, well, here's a picture. I like this one. I'm like, okay, that's a picture I saw while searching. I like all this, but I don't necessarily want the dresser that goes underneath. That can get scratched. And a loft bed usually has something underneath that could be a full-size loft bed that you can walk under. And you have a desk set up underneath it. A medium-size loft bed would be something that has a little more waist level or chest level. You can get up on it, but it has dresser storage underneath. Most of them have a ladder on it. I said, I think it'd be pretty fun to have a slide coming down. So you didn't have to go down the ladder, risk falling off that. have a slide on one end, like the kids' beds. You see loft kids' beds where the slide looks like a tractor. I don't know, as an adult, I think that could be pretty fun. But anyways, I'm a person who sometimes needs examples. There's other times where I don't, where I can be creative and come up with something off the top of my head. And someone might ask, well, how'd you even think of that? I just kind of brainstormed in it. I thought about it. When it comes to the faith, we really need good examples, and the church at Thessalonica had three good examples, two especially that we're more familiar with, and they're introduced in the first part of the letter. And just to give an overview of the letter to Thessalonica from Paul, we know from the Book of Acts that Paul preached at least three consecutive Sabbaths at the church in the city of Thessalonica, and he was preaching at the Jewish synagogue. For a period of time after that, he probably stayed a short while to continue to minister to the people. But he had, he wound up coming up against opposition where the Jewish community was not thrilled about him converting Gentiles and Jews. So he was persecuted for it. And so due to that opposition, he left the city probably earlier than expected. And he was left in fear. And some of this is brought up in the book of Thessalonians. And we're not going to read through the whole book today. But as you read through the book of 1 Thessalonians, you see more of the reasons why Paul left the church body there earlier than he had kind of wanted to. He was afraid that the people were going to be, the new believers were going to be persecuted in harsh ways such as Paul was for their newfound faith and for sharing the gospel. And in the letter, Paul brings forth his desire to come back to the people and I want to see you again. I want to come and minister to you. I want to see how you're doing. I want to see how you're growing. And sickness, unfortunately, prevented him from doing that. So in his stead, Paul sent Timothy to the city to check in on the believers. And he checked in on them, saw how they were doing, ministered to them. And I'm sure in the word, faithfully as Timothy was known to do and Paul urged him on to do in the letters to him, And then he returned to Paul and gave a positive report. And it was this positive report from Timothy that spurred Paul's first letter to the church in Thessalonica. He said, Timothy's come back. I've got a great report. And that's great. I still want to come see you. But you're doing good. He did have a couple qualms with them. But the first 10 verses are going to be broke down into three basic sections, with a salutation, an area of thanksgiving, and then a commendation. And this first chapter really gives a little bit of a broader outline for the rest of the book. And these three things, the faith, love, and hope that I've included in the title of the message today, they're addressed throughout the rest of the book. Not necessarily in order, but they get more in-depth. And this is just a style of Paul's writing. At first, we find who the book was written, who it was written by. It was Paul, but he addresses in the beginning in his greeting, he says, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the Church of the Thessalonians, in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace. Classical Paul greeting, but it says who he's writing from, from the three of them. Obviously, Silvanus is helping minister with Paul. I'm not entirely sure if he was familiarized with the people in Thessalonica, if he was involved in the ministry there. But we know that Paul and Timothy both were. So it's addressed from these three to the church in Thessalonica. And so this is the greeting that we have. Then we have the section of thanks, which is verses four through seven. Well, probably two through, Really two through six, I guess, would be better. But it says, we give thanks to God for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers. Here we have the first faithful example, and it's not one so much of faith and hope and love, which we will address. Those are my three main areas I wanted to look at. But we do have the faithful example of prayer. A faithful prayer by Paul, who essentially was the one who came and brought the gospel to these folks, and continued to pray for them, mentioning them always in prayer, continuing in prayer, and remembering them before God. And so in the prayer, Paul mentions in verse three that they're mentioning them always in their prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith, your labor of love, and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. So faith, hope, and love are all mentioned, but they're defined a little bit more. Two of them with the words work and labor. And then steadfastness can also be translated into the patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. These things are expanded on, and we're gonna expand on those a little bit this morning quickly. Paul continues on, for we know brothers loved by God, and this word brothers implies siblings. It's not just men, it's brothers and sisters. It implies that there's a family connection. For we know siblings in the Lord are 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 were. We prove to be among you for your sake. So Paul brings forth in verse five that because the gospel came to them not only in word, but it was witnessed with power and the Holy Spirit and in full conviction. So they were sure, Paul was sure of of their calling in the Lord because of these things, because of these witnesses of the Holy Spirit. And you could tell that the people were saved, that they had truly came to believing knowledge in who Christ were. And it continues to commend them later on in this chapter, at the very end, that they had changed lives. Again, another evidence that they had been changed by the Holy Spirit and that they were born again believers in the Lord. Paul brings out in verse six, he says, and you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction and with the joy that's produced by the Holy Spirit. So Paul, and probably Timothy as well, and perhaps Silvanus, but at least Paul we know was a faithful example while he was ministering to them in Thessalonica. The people had someone to look at and say, what we should be modeling. But it's not just Paul. We don't just want to scratch his back, but it says that you became imitators of us and of the Lord. That they were becoming more like Christ. And obviously the apostles, the twelve and then also Paul, had the most faithful example of following God that any of us could have, and that was the Lord Jesus. So the example If you want to say it could be essentially carbon copied a little bit, maybe not exactly because we still fall short of the righteousness that Christ exemplified in his life while he was here. Because he was fully God and yet fully man, and we're not fully God. Continuing on in verse 7, From verse 6, they became imitators of Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, and imitators of the Lord. They received the word in much affliction, and with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that these people became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. So they themselves, it's brought out that they have become examples to these surrounding areas. Continuing verse eight, for not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you, this would be referring back to, we see these first few verses, if you wanted to write down an outline, with their work of faith, that would be pretty much verses four through six, would be their work of faith, that Paul saw them come to faith, they've been faithfully growing, ministering to one another, they've been sharing in the word, they've been afflicted, and that they're still imitators, they're still becoming better examples. So they were faithful and their work of faith was commended by Paul. With their work of love, this is explained a couple different ways in the book. Work of love, later on in the book is explained that it's the work of ministering to the brethren and showing the hospitality and caring for one another. That's part of it, but also, too, on a broader picture, it's the work of sharing the gospel. We know that John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And that is a message of love. It's a labor of love. It's sharing the gospel with the people around us. Any of us would want, I would hope, would want to share the gospel with any unbelieving friends, family, because we love them. Not because we think we're better than them, but because we know that we were just like them. And they were just like we were. So their labor of love, they're commended for that. And their labor and love of sharing the gospel and sharing their faith. because it not only sounded forth from them in Thessalonica, but it sounded forth in Macedonia and Achaia. And then it said in second half of verse eight, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere so that we don't need to say anything. We don't need to say anything about your faith. Your faith is speaking for itself. Your work of love, your work of faith is speaking for itself, and that's explained more in verse nine, for they themselves, and I'm not sure who they themselves are, I'm assuming from the passage it's referring to the people in Macedonia Kea, the people surrounding the believers at Thessalonica, they're reporting, and we've heard things from them concerning us, the kind of reception that we had among you. When we came to you and ministered to you, you received us in such a way that the people outside of here said, Wow, look at the way they're treating those folks. Again, commending towards the labor of love for the brethren. And then it says that they turned from God, from idols, to serve the living and true God. Again, this is the evidence I mentioned earlier in regards to their work of faith. Not that just they started going to church, they started ministering to one another, and then just kind of came this little closed community, but they were sharing the faith, but they had a changed lifestyle, that they turned to God from the idols that they were serving before, and to serve the one true and living God. And again, in evidence of the work of faith in their life, the work of the Holy Spirit, and they're commended for this. And then in verse 10, last verse in the chapter, This would be, we have the work of faith, the labor of love, and then this would be referring to the patience or the steadfastness of hope. It says that they were also waiting for his son from heaven, from whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who deliver us from the wrath to come. In chapter two, verse 19, Paul continually throughout this book, but chapter two, 19 and verse 20, is he brings up this idea of the Lord coming again. He says, And then again in chapter 3, verse 12, Paul spends a lot of time in chapter 4 and chapter 5 addressing the idea of the Lord's return. This was one area where the Thessalonican church could have probably been a little bit stronger and needed encouragement. It was, according to commentators, the way he addresses this that maybe perhaps the folks at Thessalonica thought that we don't know when Jesus is coming back. But we believe he might come back in our lifetime. And there's a lot of people, I'm sure, sitting here today, and even myself, that he could come back in our lifetime. Because things are getting bad. And it's stated that before all this happens, there's supposed to be a great falling away, and things are getting bad. People here were under persecutions, and getting run out of town for sharing the gospel. And we know that things in our world today are bad as well. seemingly continually getting worse from a moral standpoint, which God frowns upon, obviously, because usually he lets that stuff go so long, and then he puts the hammer down. But it was thought that maybe, perhaps, the people at Thessalonica were starting to doubt whether or not God was going to come back, whether Christ was going to come back. And that's where Paul addresses, don't be worried about those who've fallen asleep, those who have already passed away. Because maybe perhaps some of those people who had passed away thought, well, he's going to come back, he's going to come back. And then they passed away. And then maybe someone else passes away. And then the people start to doubt, well, maybe Paul was wrong in this, perhaps? Maybe if he was wrong in this, was he right in the other things? So maybe that's perhaps why Paul addresses them in this issue more so than anything. And he encourages them and says, continue on in the faith. Continue doing what you're doing. Continue ministering to one another. And it even got so bad that where some people, even perhaps, just stopped working and said, it's not even worth working anymore because he's coming back soon. And Paul addresses them and says, continue to work with your hands. Continue to do what's good. Work hard. Do what you're doing. And be faithful and wait and hope because he will come back. It's going to happen. So we see these three things. We see the labor of faith, the work of faith, the labor of love, and the perseverance of their hope that they would continue on in these things. We see these things addressed throughout the rest of the book. And towards the end, in chapter five, Paul gives some final admonitions. This is right after he gets done in verse 10, talking about those who have fallen asleep, and he says, whether we're awake or asleep, we might live with him. Therefore, because of these things, encourage one another, build one another up just as you're doing. We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idol, Encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. I believe these are probably things that they were all doing and he's just, he's kind of in repeat mode. Keep doing these things. You're doing a good job. Don't be discouraged because he hasn't come back yet. The people around you see your faith. They're commending your faith to us. You're changed lives that you're following the one true God. and that you are resting and living in a lifestyle that portrays that you believe he's coming back. If we stop believing that he's coming back, I'm sure some lifestyles might change and people would backslide. If you knew your boss was coming back from wherever, well, you make sure that you're doing what you're supposed to be doing. playing Minesweeper on your computer, or making memes or whatever on the office computer, or maybe at a job site, instead of making a baseball bat out of a 2x4 and hitting coils and nails across the house, you'd come back and he'd faithfully find what you're doing, that you're doing what you're supposed to. So in belief, in hope of the future salvation when Christ comes back, If that's lost, if that hope is no longer there and it's dwindled, these people's lifestyle, some of these things would probably not be happening. They wouldn't be admonishing one another, encouraging the faint-hearted, helping the weak, and being patient with people. Seeing that no one repays anyone evil for evil in verse 15 of chapter 5. But always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoicing always, pray without ceasing. Again, he brings forth that example from the first chapter, just as they're praying without ceasing, that these people will continue praying without ceasing, and giving thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. And then he finishes out with, now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. who he who calls you is faithful and will surely do it. Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." And he finishes the letter. So, here in 1 Thessalonians, we don't have a great list of names, of well-known names of people. No one's really mentioned by name specifically. There's no Moses, there's no Abraham, there's no Rahab, there's no Lot, but these were just a community of young believers who heard the word, who believed the word, and their hearts were changed through the spirit, and they faithfully followed the example of Paul, and they faithfully continued the work. They replicated it. It was essentially a carbon copy for the most part, that they had developed a love and a joy through the spirit to go share the gospel with people around them, to minister to brothers and sisters in the Lord, and to continue on hoping, continuing on in the hope and living a life that was reflective of their trust that Jesus was gonna come back. And these folks can be an example to us, too. And we're not a young church, perhaps, as far as a building goes, but we know that a church is more than just a building, it's a body of believers, and there are some here who are older believers who have been saved for a long time, and there are some who are very young in their faith. But we have here an example of a community of young believers who, amongst turmoil and persecution, they faithfully followed the word, they heard the faithful preaching of faithful people, by a man or men who lived by a faithful example. And they in turn became examples. And my hope and prayer is that we can look at this and see the church at Thessalonica and we need to do these same things. That hopefully if a work of faith has been started in us, that people around us can see the evidence of our faith in Christ. They can see evidence of our labor of love for one another. And that also too, that we don't lose hope in the fact that Christ will be coming back someday. So might we be encouraged by these words and by these examples that we have. I'm gonna close in prayer, and you guys have a safe trip on the way home, and be safe over the next couple days, and we'll see you, Lord willing, if not before next Sunday, on the next Lord's Day, so let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for these few verses, Lord, just this short letter, Lord, that you inspired Paul to write down. Lord, thank you for his example of being someone to faithfully share the gospel despite what was happening around him. Lord, to have a joy produced by the Holy Spirit. Lord, to be an example to the folks here at Thessalonica who in turn were examples to other people, who in turn were examples to other people, and so on and so forth. Lord, and there's no telling what chain of people before us here today, and their faithful examples, led us to where we are, sitting in these very seats. Our only hope and prayer can be that we would be counted as faithful examples as well in your sight, at your coming. Lord, that we would be found faithful in doing what you've called us to do, and that is to live a life of faith, to labor in love for one another, to have a love for the brethren that when people walk through the doors or see us fellowshipping, that they can tell something's different, Lord, because we possess your Holy Spirit. Lord, and it's a love that is not maybe perhaps often seen in the lives of those people. And we also be steadfast and patient in our hope, Lord, in your return, because it is easy to get discouraged when even now, when this book was written, they thought that perhaps you could come back. And now it's been about 2,000 years, and that's a long time as far as we're concerned. But Lord, it's not in yours. It's only not even a blink of an eye. as far as your timetable goes. But may we be encouraged to continue on faithfully that, Lord, when you decide it's time that Jesus should return and to gather his people together to yourself, Lord, that you would find us faithful in what you've called us to. Lord, may we be sure of our faith. Lord, help us to encourage one another and build each other up in love and in hope and in faith. We ask your blessing now as we go from this place. Keep us safe and bring us safely together again. We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.