Most church communities have something that they are known for. For example, a lot of churches in the Barossa Valley are known for having old, beautiful buildings. The reputation of other churches can be based on a particular worship style, a ministry, a musical instrument like a pipe organ, or other things they have or do.
Most Bible scholars think that the Apostle Paul wrote his First Letter to the Thessalonians during his Second Missionary Journey, around AD 50, while he was in Corinth, in the southern part of modern-day Greece. In Acts 17:1-15 we read that Paul had visited Thessalonica, which is in the northern part of modern Greece, and that the new Christian church he established in Thessalonica wasn’t received well by the local Jewish community. The Jews caused a lot of trouble for the new Christians and forced Paul and Silas, his travelling companion at that stage of his journey, to leave town.
After reaching Corinth later in is journey, Paul wrote back to the Christians in Thessalonica. He wrote, “your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us” and “how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (vv8,9 NIV). As Paul and Silas continued their journey to spread the good news of Jesus, they kept hearing about the Thessalonian Christians and the reputation they had among the believers. Paul described what they were known for when he wrote, “We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (v3 NIV).
The Christian community in Thessalonica was an active church. They were doing good for others which was grounded in and which grew out of their faith in the goodness God had shown them in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection for them. This wasn’t always easy, so Paul describes the activity of the congregation as “labour” or hard work. Despite the opposition they faced, the Thessalonian Christians were following the New Command of Jesus to love one another the way that he has loved us (John 13:34) even when it was hard or difficult for them. Everything the Thessalonian Christians were doing was the result of a hope they found in Jesus which was enduring and which helped them endure through difficult times.
We don’t know exactly what was happening to the Thessalonian Christians, but Paul describes that they were experiencing “severe suffering” (v6 NIV). This might be referring to ongoing opposition from members of the same Jewish community that had attacked Paul and Silas in Acts 17 which resulted in them both being expelled from the city. Whatever their “severe suffering” might have been, the Christians in Thessalonica had remained faithful to the gospel, and their faithfulness was showing in their “work produced by faith,” their “labour prompted by love,” and their “endurance inspired by hope” (v3 NIV).
These are the same three qualities that Paul wrote “will last forever” in 1 Corinthians 13:13 – faith, hope and love. We can see these three connected in various places across the New Testament (eg Romans 5:2-5; Galatians 5:5,6; Colossians 1:4,5; Hebrews 6:10-12, 10:22-24; 1 Peter 1:21,22) and they can be understood as the three core qualities of the Christian life. Faith, love and hope were so clearly evident in the Thessalonian church community that Paul and Silas heard about their reputation wherever they travelled in Ancient Greece.
The Thessalonian Christians found their faith, love and hope in Jesus. The good they were doing originated in the goodness of God they encountered in the message of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The Holy Spirit filled the lives of the Thessalonian Christians with God’s goodness through the gospel. That goodness overflowed from them into the lives of the people around them as they did the good that God had prepared in advance for them to do, as Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10. The Thessalonian Christians encountered the love of God in the good news of God’s self-sacrificing and life-giving love for them in the cross of Jesus. Through the gospel, the Holy Spirit filled them with God’s love, making a big difference in their lives. Trusting God’s perfect and life-giving love for them in Jesus showed through them as they laboured in his love to show his love to the people around them. The word Paul uses for “labour” indicates that loving others wasn’t easy, but it reflected the love God showed us when Jesus gave his life for us on the cross. That wasn’t easy for him, either. The good news of Jesus’ victory over sin, death and the brokenness of this world also filled the Thessalonians with a hope that endured through all the hardships and suffering they were experiencing. They could look forward to a better tomorrow with hope because they trusted that God’s love was stronger than death and no matter what they went through, Jesus’ resurrection power meant that they could always look forward to something better in him. As Paul brought the good news of Jesus to the Thessalonians, he wrote that it came “not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction” (v5 NIV). The good news had the power to make a deep and lasting difference to their lives, their relationships and their church community, just like it can for us.
There are lots of different things that our church communities can be known for, but only the gospel of Jesus has the power to make such a transformative difference in people’s lives. Because of their faith in Jesus and the good news of his life, death and resurrection for them, the Christian community in Thessalonica had the reputation for doing good which was produced by their faith, labouring for the benefit of others which was prompted by Christ’s love for them, and finding the endurance to keep going in the hope Christ gave them.
What about us? What is our church known for among the people around us? God is giving us the opportunity and everything we need to follow the example of the Thessalonian Christians and be a church community which does good work produced by faith, labours for the benefit of others prompted by Christ-like love, and finds endurance inspired by the hope of Jesus’ resurrection. By growing as a church community with faith, Christ-like love and hope at our centre, two things will happen: we will grow in the full and abundant life which Jesus promised us in John 10:10 in our relationships with each other, and the people around us will encounter God’s life-giving and life-changing love for us in Jesus through us.
More to think about or discuss:
- What is your church community known for? How is that similar to or different from the way Paul describes what the Thessalonian church community was known for?
- How did the good news of Jesus give the Thessalonian Christians the ability to do good works in faith, labour in love & endurance in hope? How might the gospel also give your church community what you need to follow Jesus in faith, love and hope?
- What are some ways that your church community might be able to witness to your faith by doing good, labouring in Christ-like love for others, or finding endurance in hope?
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