Sermon: Live-Giving Good News

Add my greeting to Pastor Jason's and echo that it is a delight to get together together with you, worship God tonight and to hear from his word. I want to invite you to turn in your Bibles to First Thessalonians chapter three. Find that on page 9 86 and the Bible's in the pew. If you're using uh, your own Bible, it's in the New Testament, in the tease along with the Timothys and Titus. If you hit Hebrews, you've gone too far.

If you, uh, hit first or second Corinthians a little further and if you get to Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, you're super close. Keep going. Um, it's a little, little book in the New Testament and we are going to consider part of that tonight. But before we read God's word, would you please pray with me,

Father, as the psalmist says, would you deal bountifully with your servants that we may live and keep your word? Would you open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of your law? We are sojourners on this earth. Would you hide not your commandments from us? Would you help our souls to be consumed with longing for your rules at all times? Would you open our eyes tonight? Would you stir our affections that we might love you?

Worship you love one another to the praise of your name. It's in the name of your son Christ that we pray. Amen.

Hear now the word of God from one Thessalonians chapter three verses six through 10.

But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us as we long to see you. For this reason, brothers and all our distress and affliction, we have been comforted about you through your faith. For now we live. If you are standing fast in the Lord for what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake

before our God as we pray most earnestly night and day, that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith.

Before we dive into these verses, I want to remind you of where we are at in this book. In the first verse, we learn that Paul and Silas and Timothy are writing this letter to the church in Thessalonica. Just wanna make a quick side note here. Uh, Paul and Silas and Timothy is a lot to say over and over again. So often I am going to just refer to Paul, but I want you to understand that is in reference to all three. The, the book is almost entirely written in the plural.

We our us at the very end. Paul does seem to to write a couple things with I, uh, as the representative. So we're gonna do that. He's the representative for all three of them. Uh, but all three of them have written this book.

Paul and Silas had visited Thessalonika on Paul's second missionary journey and you can read about it in Acts 17, their preaching was met with a fair amount of success. In Second Thessalonians, they'll ask the church to pray that the word of Lord of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored as happened among you. So among them the word of the Lord sped forth and was honored. However, Paul and Silas also met with some pretty hostile opposition

and jealousy and they had to leave quickly at night. They have gone on now to other cities and they've continued to preach, but they have not forgotten about the Thessalonian church and they continue to carry a burden for this church and for their young faith. In Matthew 13, Jesus tells the parable of the sower, a sower scatters seed which lands on various types of grounds, various results. One of the places where the seed falls is on rocky ground.

The plant sprouts up quickly but lacks depths of root and withers. When the heat of the sun comes out and Jesus tells his disciple that this represents those who hear God's word, they immediately receive it with joy. But when the heat of tribulation or persecution arises, they fall away immediately. I don't know if Paul knew this parable, but it was this reality that made him nervous. For the thessalonian Christians, the seed

of the word had sprouted in the Thessalonian church, they had been persuaded that Jesus was the Christ that he had died and risen for the forgiveness of sins and they had put their trust in him. But we learn in chapter two and earlier in chapter three that they were facing persecution and suffering for their faith. And it is too soon to know if their faith can endure the heat of these trials to grow into maturity or if they will fall away as quickly as they had

accepted God's word. And so in order to put his mind at ease, we saw last week that Paul sent Timothy to Thessalonica to learn about how their faith was doing and to seek to strike them in that faith. And now tonight, Timothy has returned and as we look at these verses tonight, I want us to consider three questions. What is Timothy's report? What is it that he learned about the church? What is Paul's response? And finally, what do we learn about Christian relationships?

If you're taking notes and you want shorthand, Timothy's report, Paul's response, Christian relationships or what we're gonna spend some time thinking about as we look through these verses. So what is the report that Timothy brings back to Paul? In verse six, Timothy conveys what he has learned about the state of the Thessalonian church. They have faith and they have love and they always remember Paul and Timothy and Silas kindly

and long to see them faith and love. These two together, faith, working through love is a summary of the Christian faith. So in short, Timothy is reporting. They have stayed in the faith, they have faith and they're acting in love. He reports that the Thessalonians believe in Jesus, that they're living out that faith, loving God and loving others. This is a very encouraging report. These thessalonian Christians still believe

what they had heard from Paul. They are staying true to the faith and they are living that out. In addition, they share for Paul a warm affection, the same affection that Paul has for them. They remember him, not simply they haven't forgotten him, but they think of him with kindness. They long to see him again just as he longs to see them. There is a mutual warmth and fondness between this missionary and this young church.

It is a good report. It's hard to imagine maybe a better report that Paul could have received given the anxieties that he had. And Paul acknowledges as much when he writes that the report that Timothy has brought is good news. This term for good news is used almost exclusively in the New Testament and is exclusively with this one exception used by Paul to speak of the good news of the message of salvation of sinners through Jesus.

Paul is literally writing. Timothy has brought us the gospel of your faith and love. The report of the faith and love of the Thessalonians is so encouraging to Paul that it is likened to the news of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus for the forgiveness of sin. Paul sees in this report not simply the faithfulness of the Thessalonians, but the faithfulness of God and of his word. The news of the faith and the love of this church comes to Paul as testimony

of the reliability of the gospel message that they had been and we're still preaching. So Timothy's report, he brought back a very good report of the Thessalonians faith and love and of their remembrance and of their longing for Paul and Silas. It it's now moved to consider Paul's response to this report. There are three things that Paul receives in response to this report and three things that he does. First, Paul receives comfort.

See this in verse seven. For this reason, reason being the good news of your faith and love and affectionate longing for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction, we have been comforted about you through your faith. So even in the midst of his own affliction and distress, Paul is comforted by the faith of his brothers in Thessalonica. He is encouraged, his own faith is strengthened. To know that they are continuing in the faith eases Paul's

mind about them and brings comfort. I want you to notice that Paul's comfort comes because of their faith. He is not simply comforted to know that they are alive, that their jobs are going well, their families are healthy. Those are all very good things. But his concern for them and his comfort in them is regarding their stance before God. Their faith is what weighs on his heart and mind and their faith is what brings him comfort.

In the next verse, we see the depth of this comfort expanded upon when Paul says that he receives life in response to the report from Timothy verse eight For now, now being now that I've heard this news we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord, other translations will say, now we really live.

It seems like a lot, it's you are my life. But Paul is saying that he is revived. He has a new lease on life that he breathes again. It is though he has been holding his breath on behalf of this young church and now he can exhale, he can breathe again By implication, if the faith of the Thessalonians would've faltered something in, Paul would have died along with it Instead. The opposite is true. The news of their faithfulness has breathed new

life into him.

Finally, we see that Paul receives joy in response to Timothy's report. Verse nine, what thanksgiving can we return to God for you? For all the joy we feel for your sake before our God. Paul rejoices in the faith and love of the Thessalonians and he rejoices abundantly. His joy is so great that it surpasses all the gratitude that he could bring to God for the gift of this good news. It is joy in expressible.

So we see that Paul has received comfort, life and joy in response to hearing about the steadfastness of the Thessalonian church, he also acted in response to this news. So what did he do first? This may be so evident that we we miss it, but first he writes a letter, the very book that we are reading, one Thessalonians is written as a response to the report that he has received. Look at the way that verse six starts. Now that Timothy has come to us from you, it seemed

that Paul is writing this letter shortly after Timothy has returned and even the structure of the book would point us towards this. So far everything has been a reminder or a giving thanks. A reminder of the Thessalonians faith giving thanks for it of Paul's ministry of his longing and sending Timothy to them. In these verses, we turn from recounting to the present tense for just a short minute and then to the future tense in verse 10,

and for the rest of the book. So moving forward, Paul will move from reminding and recounting to instruction as he urges them to continue to live out their faith. Paul has received this report and what he does is he responds to them. This letter is Paul's report and response to the Thessalonians having heard and learned about how they were doing. Next we see that Paul gave thanks. In verse nine, he asks that rhetorical question

that we looked at a minute ago stating that there is no amount of Thanksgiving he could return to God for the joy he has received. But it is clear that while it feels inadequate, he still brings his gratitude to God. It is important here to see that there is a direction for his joy and thanksgiving. He is rejoicing not in a personal triumph that his own laborers somehow brought about this faith and love. He is not giving thanks to himself.

He makes it clear any thanksgiving is due to God for the joy that he feels before God. The direction of both the joy and the gratitude well on behalf of the Thessalonians is God word. So he writes a letter, he gives thanks. And finally in verse 10, Paul prays, we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith.

We're gonna touch on prayer tonight. I want to encourage you to come back next week here from verses 11 through 13 as Paul fleshes out this prayer. But tonight we see in verse 10 that Paul prays most earnestly. He is praying abundantly and exceedingly during the day and during the night. In chapter five, Paul is gonna exhort the Thessalonians to pray without ceasing. And here he is doing for them what he is going to ask of them.

Timothy's report is an answered prayer. As Paul has been anxious for the church in Thessalonika, it is certain that he has been praying for them and now he has heard that those prayers have been answered. What does he do? He responds with more prayer. He writes that he is praying that he would get to see them face to face.

In verse 18 of chapter two, Paul recounts that Satan has hindered him from coming to them here. He prays that he would still be able to make it to them at some point prays that he would be able to see them and to supply what is lacking in their faith.

This may seem a little bit like a strange thing to write after such an encouraging report may feel a little bit like an insult, but it should not be taken too negatively. Remember the situation in which Paul encountered this church. He had to leave abruptly soon after they had received his teaching. A couple cities later in Ephesus. He will spend two years teaching in Corinth. He will spend a year and a half we're told in Thessalonica he had three weeks.

There is so much that he didn't get to explain to them. So many questions that he didn't get to address.

As we look through the rest of the book, seems likely that they especially had some questions or some misunderstandings about the death and the return of Christ.

Many of you will be familiar with Paul's trio of virtues, faith, hope and love. He heard about their faith, he heard about their love. He's gonna exhort them in hope as he moves forward. Word As we think about this lacking of faith in the Thessalonian church, John Kelvin points out that this is a good reminder that while the heart of the Christian faith can be communicated and received in a matter of minutes, growing maturity and teaching is not a matter of hours or days,

but months and years. And Paul desires and ask God to be able to help finish what he had been able to start to equip these Christians in thessalonika to supply and to complete what they are missing. Even as he rejoices in their faith, he desires and prays that they would continue to grow and to mature. So Timothy brings life giving good news to Paul and Silas. His report results in comfort life and joy. And it moves Paul to reach out

to the Thessalonians in writing, to give thanks to God and to pray.

Having considered the good report that Timothy brought and the response that it prompted in Paul and his companions, I want to spend the rest of our time together tonight thinking about what we can learn about the relationship between Christians from this interaction. And we're gonna focus on one major principle that is illustrated in these verses. Here's that principle. Those who are mutually united to Christ through faith

are also intimately connected to one another. Paul's interactions with the Thessalonian church demonstrate the interconnectedness of Christian relationships.

This interchange provides an example of what the New Testament teaches about the church. The church is described as a temple. Many stones being built up into one building. It is described as a body being made of different parts. The Christian life is not a solo life, but a corporate life in which we are impacted by one another. Paul will describe this in one Corinthians 12, when he uses the image of the body to say that those

who are in Christ the head are also part of the diverse and united body of Christ. And in verse 26, he will conclude, if one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. This is true of Paul and the Thessalonian church. His wellbeing is tied to their wellbeing. Their wellbeing is tied to his wellbeing. If they are standing firm, then he is revived. If they have faith, then he is comforted even in the midst

of afflictions because of them, he has experienced great joy. Their faith strengthens and encourages his faith. I need to think about that for a second. These three week old Christians are able to comfort, encourage and strengthen the apostle Paul. Now they've had a little bit of time since then but but they had three weeks to learn to learn this from Paul before he had to leave and, and they're able to write and encourage, uh, the one who wrote much

of the New Testament.

Their wellbeing is also tied to him. He introduced them to Jesus and the Christian faith. He is continuing to be a source of exhortation and equipping through Timothy, through his prayers, through this letter that he writes to them and hopefully through a visit to them.

Now, there are a number of reasons as I was thinking this through and kind of working through this a little bit, that some of you may not love this idea as a western culture. Independence is held in pretty high regard. You may not want to be tied to other people's experiences or decisions. You may not like needing help or being needed by others. You may think you are better off by yourself. Some of you will know the pain

and sorrow that this type of interconnectedness can bring. And you may not like the vulnerability that comes with something outside of your control being able to have that kind of impact on you.

Paul knew this vulnerability in Colossians four. He closes his letter by adding greetings from Luke and Demis in Philemon one, he again refers to Demis in his final greetings, including him in a list of people he describes as his fellow workers. But then in second Timothy, at the end of his life, he describes the loneliness he feels and specifically mentions that part of this is that Demis in love with this present world has deserted me.

So here we see a very positive view in Thessalonians, we see a very positive view of this interconnectedness. But Paul also knew very painful side of that equation. And it's important to note here with with Paul that this interconnectedness does not go so far as to make your faith dependent on the faith of your brothers and sisters. Dimas can walk away to go after the world and Paul does not lose his faith. He does not lose all comfort, does not lose all joy.

Your ultimate comfort and your ultimate joy are secure in Christ. Nothing in heaven or earth can separate you from his love. However, there is a very real manner in which our experience with fellow Christians can impact how we live through this life. Afflictions can be lightened by fellow Christians or they can be deepened. Joy can be compounded or it can be tempered. Paul will experience both the positives and the pain of Christians being bound to one another.

And yet in light of this, Paul recognizes that this is not a choice for the Christians, but this is a reality and it is a good reality which his relationship with the Thessalonian church reflects.

As we think about this, as we think about the fact that those who are mutually united to Christ through faith are also intimately connected to one another. I want to ask a couple of questions. Might be better to say a a couple series of questions. First, do you have these kind of relationships? Do you engage with fellow Christians in such a way that when they suffer, you suffer when they rejoice or are honored you rejoice?

Are there relationships where others suffer and rejoice with you?

The specifics of how it looks may vary person to person, personality to personality. But is the faith of fellow believers a comfort to you? Is the faith of fellow believers of concern to you? It should be. When you hear about brothers and sisters standing firm, do you experience joy and give thanks to God? Do you breathe easier when a young Christian doesn't get led astray? You should. Does the work of God in the lives of others land on your ears as gospel?

Good news? Does the work of Christ continues to transform lives and bring them to maturity? It should. Do you view your brothers and sisters in Christ as annoying and inconvenience, infuriating or embarrassing? Or do you simply ignore or neglect them? Or do you see them as part of the same body as yourself? One who's suffering or victories have a direct bearing on you and on your life. Do you share encouragement with fellow Christians?

Do you bring those you love and rejoice in before the Lord in prayer? Do you long for your own faith and the faith of your fellow Christians to grow and for what is lacking to be supplied? Should, do you feel threatened when someone wants to learn about your faith as though they're judging you? Or do you see it as an opportunity to encourage and to strengthen them or to be encouraged and strengthened by them? Do you seek to check in how others are doing in their faith?

Are you like Paul and his companions ready to share not only the gospel but their own lives with others?

Paul and the Thessalonians offer a picture of what the interconnected nature of Christian relationships can and should look like. What being bound to one another can be at its best. It is something to pray toward and to strive for. And I want to close tonight by thinking about how you might strive towards this kind of Christian community. How we as a church may seek to foster this.

Here are some ideas. First, Paul was separated from the thessalonian, so I wanna speak for a minute to those who we are separated from. This church has some opportunities in that area. Most of you have come from other places at some point and we regularly send people out. Do you stay in touch with those you who have gone out from here? Do you stay in touch with those that you have gone out from? Do you ask about faith

or do you share with them what is going on in your own faith? Do you pray for them and do you ask them to pray for you? Or is it out of sight, out of mind?

Every spring we send graduating students all over the place, over almost 60 years. There are people all over the country and all over the world that have at times been a part of this congregation. We would do well to keep them on our hearts, to seek after them, to follow up with them, to recognize that our wellbeing is tied to theirs.

This type of Christian community is not simply for those who are at a distance, but also to be fostered here with those whom you regularly fellowship with. Here are some ways that we might go about doing that.

Talk about faith with one another. Take advantage of the Sunday gatherings and of other opportunities during the week. There are a lot of shared interests, a lot of talk about basketball the last few days there. There's a lot of talk about work is going or what sicknesses are in your home. Those are all good things. But as Christian brothers and sisters seek to encourage one another in faith in those areas and others encourage you to pray

as Paul does for this church. For specific people within this church.

Encourage you if you are not already to join a growth group. This is intentionally a, a way that you can be part of a more concentrated endeavor where you see the same people every few weeks, you know what's going on in their life. They know what's going on in yours.

Thinking about this, this week, and I was talking to Rachel in our 21 years of marriage. We have been a part of six growth groups at URCI. I don't know if that's says something positive about us or negative about us, but uh, and as we reflected on each of those groups, they have each been a sweet source of this kind of fellowship. Uh, many of those people have gone out from here to other places and we still think of them kindly

as the Thessalonians did of Paul. Some have walked away from the faith and there has been sorrow and heartbreak in that and we pray and long that they would come back. But I was thinking about this this morning knowing I was gonna preach and just looking through the, the congregation that we get the privilege of coming and worshiping with every Sunday, and how many people in this congregation, uh, we have gotten to walk through life with it various times.

And how few of you I get to do more than say hi, maybe once a month in passing on a Sunday morning. Uh, you have been this type of community for my family and I and would encourage you to seek to foster that. So if you are not in a, in a place where that is already in happening would encourage you to, to consider, uh, intentionally joining something where that can can be a little easier. And then, uh, one more suggestion as we draw to a close,

given what we're reading, write somebody a letter, maybe an email, maybe a text. If you want to get a barely passing grade there, there's something about sitting down and communicating to somebody a way that they have encouraged you. There is something about sitting down and communicating to somebody else, uh, what it is that the Lord has been doing in your life. And this may be a practice that most of you, most of us in today's world don't tend to do.

It's, it's really fairly simple. Uh, you can follow Paul's model, write a greeting,

write something that has been an encouragement to you from God or from the way that you've seen God working in this other person, and write a short prayer for them. And then you'll have written a note that, uh, I assume you all like getting letters like that and find them encouraging. And you can do that for others. So you can probably think of other ways that you could foster these types of relationships. But I want to encourage you to, to do one thing this week,

reach out to one person, write a letter, phone call conversation. You could cross this off your list in 10 minutes if you do it tonight. If you just have a conversation with somebody, ask them about their faith, what they're learning, where Christ is sustaining them, where they are, finding joy in him, or share with them a way that their faith has encouraged you.

If you are connected to Jesus, if you are one of his people, you are connected to his people, your life and wellbeing are bound up in their life and faith. You have a vested interest in helping to establish and exhort them. And as you stand firm in your faith, you are helping, strengthening, supporting the faith of others. As a Christian, you have the chance and the responsibility to be the breath of life to one another.

As the Thessalonians were to Paul, don't let that opportunity pass you by. Would you please pray with me?

Father, you know each of us, you know our hearts and our minds. You know our faith. You know what is lacking in our faith. Would you supply what is lacking? And would you use us in each other's lives to comfort, to breathe life, to encourage, to bring joy, all resounding in thanksgiving and glory to you for your good work. Would you help us to be a community that spurs one another on in faith and in love and that remembers those who we have gone out from

or those who have gone out from us, is an encouragement to them as well? Lord, would you work through us and in us that we might be complete? On the day that we stand before you, we might bring much praise and honor to your name, that your word might go forth with speed and be honored. Pray these things in the name of your son Christ. Amen.