GOSPEL TRUTH: More than a “Face-Lift”

God’s power at work in Thessalonica….. 

– a look at 1 Thessalonians 1. 

 

Scanning through the advertisements in the free paper delivered to our home each week, I happened to notice a rather unusual offer. The advert that caught my eye encouraged people who were disappointed by their own appearance to make themselves more attractive by going in for a “face-lift”.

 

Many of us, no doubt, would love to have our wrinkles removed and be made to look years younger. Special oils and cosmetics can certainly work wonders! But the Bible speaks about an “operation” that can change an individual beyond recognition. The life-changing power of the Gospel works, not from the outside, but from within! For this reason, the person who receives the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour is described as a new creation (1).

 

Anyone who undergoes a “face-lift” may well be greeted with the words, “My! How you’ve changed!” It ought to be the same with the Gospel. If we have trusted Christ as Saviour and received Him as Lord, then our lives should be completely different from what they were before. The Christians at Thessalonica, to whom Paul wrote, had certainly been changed! Everyone knew how they had “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven” (v.9-10). The Gospel really had transformed their lives!

 

 

THE RESOURCE OF THE GOSPEL

Paul wrote: – “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power” (v.5). However, although the message was not “in word only,” it did come to the Thessalonians in audible, comprehensible terms! For the background we need to refer to Acts 17.

 

With his companion, Silas, Paul had entered the synagogue in Thessalonica (present-day Greece). For three Sabbath days he reasoned from the Scriptures and proved to all that Jesus was the Christ. Although there were many who responded to the message, the Jews of the city became intensely hostile and attacked Jason’s house. They deeply resented the message which, they said, had turned the world upside down (2).

 

Neither the Gospel nor the power of God has changed. Evangelistic preaching today must, like Paul’s, be soundly Scriptural, and must be centred in the Person and work of Christ. (See Acts 17:2-3.)

 

Paul’s preaching was authoritative. Unlike the Athenians who loved to spend all day discussing the latest fashionable ideas (3) Paul spoke with power (v.5) as he proclaimed the Gospel which is “the power of God unto salvation” (4). Our word dynamite is derived from the Greek dunamis, translated here as “power”. What dynamite there is in the Gospel! The Holy Spirit controlled Paul and Silas and worked through the preached word – convicting, convincing, and converting. Knowing their authority, Paul and Silas had absolute confidence (“much assurance” v.5) in the message that they preached.

 

However, the message brought by Paul and Silas to Thessalonica was not only something spoken by their lips; it was also shown in their lives. Looking back to those exciting days, Paul could remind them that they knew “what manner of men” (v.5) he and Silas had been. Their lives were open for inspection. Renouncing secret and underhanded ways, they had acted honestly and honourably (5). Although endued with this heaven-sent power, they had been gentle in manner; their service had been willing and devoted, and their lives had been holy, righteous, and blameless (6).

 

What an example for ourselves! Like those first-century evangelists, those who bear the Good News to others today must still commend the message of the Gospel by the way that they live.

 

 

THE RESPONSE TO THE GOSPEL

 

In verse 6 Paul describes how the new believers in Thessalonica had responded both to the message and to the messengers. It must have thrilled the Apostle’s heart to recall how they had “received the word” (v.6) – deliberately and readily. Turning again to Acts 17 we can see how they made their response.

 

1. They heard (v.3). In their own synagogue Paul had proclaimed the truth about Jesus. 

 2. They were persuaded (v.4a). Some who listened were convinced by what they heard.

3. They joined Paul and Silas (v.4).  This meant leaving the crowd and taking their place in the fellowship of God’s people.

Such a decision was no “soft option” for them. The severe suffering which followed their initial faith in the Lord is described in Acts 17, as these new-born believers were hauled before the authorities. But God is no man’s debtor, for in return they experienced an incomparable joy that originated in the Holy Spirit (1 Thess.1:6). Have you responded, like they did, to the Gospel message?

 

The Thessalonians had also responded to the Gospel messengers. “Ye became followers of us, and of the Lord” (v.6) Paul says. Paul and Silas were not only able communicators of the truth; they were also commendable ambassadors for their Risen Lord. As the Thessalonians looked at Paul and Silas, they saw a model they wanted to copy. Having witnessed, first-hand, the apostles’ diligence and zeal, they knew that they should become like these exemplary messengers of the Gospel. Within a very short time “the word of the Lord” sounded out from their city – and not just in Macedonia and Achaia either. “In every place” (v.8) their faith in God was made known. Far and wide, others heard of the dramatic changes which the Lord had brought about in their lives.

 

This was not all. The Thessalonian saints themselves had also become models “to all that believe inMacedonia and Achaia” (v.7). If Paul ever wanted a “model church” in Greece to which he could point, he would have had no hesitation in drawing people’s attention to the Thessalonians.

 

Perhaps we should ask what sort of models we are. Paul could encourage others to follow his own example, just as he followed Christ (7). The Thessalonians did just that. Like them, we should be “imitators” (in the best sense of the word) of those whose lives most resemble our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 

THE RESULTS OF THE GOSPEL

 

For the Thessalonians it was more than a “face-lift”; it was an absolute transformation! They had “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (v.9b). Once their lives had been marked by disobedience, for God had decreed that no other gods should be worshipped and no idols should be formed (8). But now they had turned around. Idols had been rejected, and the True God had been enthroned. This was real conversion!

 

One clear result of the Gospel was that they were now working for the Lord. No longer were they in bondage to idols; they were free! Yet, in this new liberty, their greatest joy was “to serve the living and true God” as willing, loyal slaves. Their “faith” (v.3a) was producing the good works which, according to Ephesians 2:8-10, God intended. A real love for the Lord Jesus caused them to “labour” (v.3) and toil for Him.

 

Another feature of their lives was that they had become a waiting people who were expectantly looking for the coming of God’s Son from heaven (v.10a). Since their conversion to Christ some very real trials had come their way, and their faith could well have been shaken (9). Yet, in their difficulties, they were sustained by “hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (v.3). What was this “hope” that kept them going? It was the sure and certain knowledge that the Lord Jesus would come again from heaven to deliver them (v.10).

 

This has always been the great hope of the Church, and with patience and confident expectancy Christian believers still await the moment described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 when our Lord will return from heaven to claim His own. Of course, this is not to be idle waiting – a kind of expectant escapism. It is possible for someone to be so heavenly-minded that they are of no earthly use! The Thessalonians had the correct balance: they were waiting and working. This must be the attitude of the Christian today.

 

There can be no doubt that God’s wrath will soon fall upon this sinful world (v.10b). Only the life-changing message of the Gospel can save lost sinners. If we are saved, we need to show the world by our changed lives that the Gospel really “works”. We need to emulate those believers in Thessalonica – gladly serving the Saviour as we await His return.  

 

END NOTES:- (1)2 Corinthians 5:17.  (2)Acts 17:1-6.  (3)Acts 17:21.  (4)Romans 1:16.  (5)2 Corinthians 4:2.  (6)1 Thessalonians 2:7-10.  (7)1 Corinthians 11:1.  (8)See Exodus 20:3-4.  (9)1 Thessalonians.3:1-5.