SCRIPTURE: I Thessalonians 1:1-10

INTRODUCTION:

Jeremiah the prophet asked, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?

Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil"(Jeremiah 13:23)

This may sound cynical, but it’s true.

People may learn how to rearrange their behavior and become more socially acceptable, but only God can transform the human heart and enable real change for the better.

Paul was writing to the Thessalonian church struggling to survive in an extremely dangerous world.

Within 20 years of their writing, the whole of the ancient East was convulsed in warfare and rebellion.

In AD 70, the armies of Titus surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Following a bloody siege, the city was overrun, the temple was destroyed, and the Jews were taken captive.

Thus it is clear that the Thessalonian Christians were facing perilous times.

WE TOO ARE LIVING IN DANGEROUS TIMES.

It has been said of this centuries the 20th is most like the first.

Many today sense an approaching world crisis.

A nervous, jittery stock market; a growing sense of cynicism and distrust of the political process; and increase in drug and alcohol dependency, with the resultant physical and mental toll in human lives;

Scientists tinkering with our genetic makeup and actually developing a business of selling fetal (baby) tissues---all these portend a frightening crisis looming on the horizon of our times.

Add to this the now familiar threat of AIDS, the spread of famine in many countries, and , of course, the ever-present threat of nuclear warfare, and it is clear that something terrible is about to happen.

WE ARE LIVING IN A WORLD IN CHAOS.

Paul gives us some hope in this letter to the Thessalonians are for me very encouraging.

Paul was not speaking of mere FAITH, HOPE and LOVE.

He was very careful to be specific : A FAITH THAT WORKS, A LOVE THAT LABORS, A HOPE THAT ENDURES,

The great motives of the Christian life.

If you have true faith, if you have love born of the Spirit, and if you have hope in coming of Christ, you will be motivated to live as you ought today.

I. TRANSFORMED LIVES

The Work Of Faith (v. 3-5,9)

A. First: WHAT IS THE "WORK OF FAITH" THAT PAUL MEMTIONED IN (V.3)?

He summed it up himself in verse 9.

There he recognized that the Thessalonians had "Turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God."

That is faith at work. Faith is not merely belief; FAITH WORKS.

It has the power to change.

Faith enables us to turn from what is wrong to what is right, from dark and hurtful things to bright and helpful things, from the worship of idols to the worship of God.

B. Second: NOTICE THE DIRECTION OF THIS ACTION: TO GOD, from IDOLS, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

You do not leave your idols for some reason and then painfully try to find God.

What happens is that you discover something of the beauty, the glory, and the greatness of God; and SEEING THAT AND WANTING IT, you are willing to forsake the cheap and tawdry things you once believed could satisfy.

C. Third: MODERN AMERICA IS SURELY ONE OF THE MOST IDOLATROUS CONTRIES THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN.

SELF IS THE TRUE IDOL WE WORSHIP. Too many people spend far too long glued to a staring eye that feeds all types of ideas and emotions into their minds. Television IS NOT AN IDOL, but it is an altar where we spread offerings and sacrifices to the great god of self. It panders to OUR LUST FOR LEISURE and ENTERTAINMENT. It lures us to think always of our own comfort, Our pleasure, our fear of boredom, our desire to be either thrilled or terrified by watching some spectacle or event IT ENCOURAGES US TO FOCUS ON OURSELVES.

AMERICA WORSHIP THE GOD OF SEX. Baal, The erotic deity associated with fertility rites. Baal worship in the ancient world promoted degenerate practices of the most licentious kind and is behind many of the loathsome practices in our country today. Baal Worship is manifested in the rise of HOMOSEXUALLY as an acceptable lifestyle. It is behind the PORNOGRAPHY that pervades almost every aspect of modern life.

AMERICANS ARE WORSHIPING MOLECH. The terrible furnace god into whose fiery mouth parents in ancient times threw their children, destroying them to relieve the guilt of their own consciences.

The evidence for it today is rampant in the sky rocking cases of child abuse and child molestation, not to mention the abortion murder mills.

D. Fourth. PAUL ADDRESSED THE THESSALONIANS AS LOVED BY GOD (V4).

The answer to idolatry begins with an acceptance of God’s love.

Everything starts there.

(John 3:16) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son."

HE SEES US AS VICTIMS, deluded and deceived.

Alluring philosophies have throttled our love and captivated and gripped our minds.

Almost in total ignorance we pursue the things that destroy us.

(Romans 5:8) It is in the Scripture that we learn that He calls us.

How do I know that He has called or is calling me to Salvation. The answer is, you began to be drawn toward God, to sense for Him.

The calling of God means the Spirit awakens to a hunger within.

The second factor in God’s call is the Holy Spirit power.

For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power(v.5)

The Word becomes real, compelling, gripping. The gospel has the ability to compel because it is no mere legend or myth.

Jesus was indeed born in Bethlehem. The shepherds did come to worship Him. The angels did sang their great promise of hope. A flaming star lit the heavens with glory.

All this did happen. Jesus did live, He did move among men. He did die on the cross. He was raised from the dead.

He is alive, and because He lives we shall also live in Christ Jesus.

The Thessalonians believed this and because they did, and the power to transform their lives they were a different people.

II. TRANSFORMED LIVES

The Labor Of Love (vv6-8)

A. First: A CHANGED ATTITUDE. (v.6)

The first sign that love is at work is a changed attitude. Instead of wearisome complaining about their afflictions, the Thessalonians found "JOY OF THE HOLY GHOST" (v.6)

These young believers were ostracized at their work, hounded out of their homes, arrested, and put in prison because of their newfound faith.

Paul said, they had learned to see these afflictions in a new way.

They saw them as privileges, given to them for Jesus’ sake.

The result was JOY!

They responded to God’s love by loving Him in return and welcoming the opportunities to suffer for His name’s sake.

When trails, pressures, and hardships come along, we are able to see ourselves what kind of solution only God can work out.

The Thessalonians had stopped complaining and started rejoicing because they saw God working through their trials.

B. Second: SHARING, THE SECOND MARK OF LOVE’S LABOR IS SHARING.

The Thessalonians believers shared the good news throughout Macedonia and Achaia (v7)

They simply told their neighbors and friends what God had done for them.

They explained the new joy and peace that had come into their hearts.

When friends began to ask questions, they invited them over and opened the Scriptures.

C. Third: TRUST, THE THIRD PROOF OF LOVE’S LABOR WAS DISPLAYED BY THE TRUST IN GOD’S CARE.

Your faith in God has become known everywhere.

Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, (v.8)

They believed that God was their Father and would take care of them no matter what happened.

(ILLUSTRATION) Two missionaries in Guatemala wrote of an incident that had encouraged them greatly.

A poor widow in one of the congregations in Guatemala was without food and down to her last 20 cents.

She began to pray about her problem. As she was praying, she felt a deep conviction that God was telling her to go to the large supermarket in town the next day and fill up several carts with groceries and take them to checkout stand number 7.

This was not just a vague feeling on her part but a deep, Spirit-born conviction.

She went to the supermarket the next morning, loaded enough groceries into carts to last 2 or 3 months, and took them to checkout stand no 7.

Just as she got there, the cashier the stand to go out for lunch. She suggested that the woman take her groceries to another stand, but the woman said, "NO, I cannot.

My Father told me to take these through stand number 7. So she waited while the clerk went to lunch and came back again. The clerk was surprised to see the woman still there, but started check out her groceries just then an announcement came over the loudspeaker, "SINCE THIS IS OUR SEVENTH YEAR OF BUSINESS, WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT WHOEVER IS CHECKING OUT AT CHECKOUT STAND NUMBER 7 WILL RECEIVE FREE GROCERIES.

I am not telling you to do what this woman did, but I am telling you to trust God. To believe that He cares for you, that He is a loving heavenly Father, and that He has a thousand and one ways to meeting your needs.

III. TRANSFORMED LIVES

The Endurance of Hope (v.10)

A. First: THEY BELIEVED WHAT THE ANGELS HAD SAID TO THE DISCIPLES ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.

This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11)

It was the ever-present hope of the early church, and that hope became the dominant theme of the Thessalonian letters

Their answer to the threat of personal death was a firm belief in Jesus’ resurrection.

Jesus had said, "Because I LIVE, YOU WILL LIVE ALSO. (John 14:19)

B. Second: THEY WERE CONFIDENT OF THEIR VICTORY OVER DEATH.

and they did not fear what Paul called wrath to come" (v.10)

He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

They learned from Paul that they would not face the judgment, or the day of the Lord, that is coming upon the earth.

(Joel 2:31) It is a time when God’s judgments will rain down on the earth. Jesus described it as the " THE GREAT TRIBULATION such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no , nor ever shall be (Matthew 24:21)

IV. CONCLUSION

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO US TODAY?

That Christians need to keep their focus on the Lord and not on the problem that we face.

God is greater than our problems

We need to go back to the fundamentals of the Christian faith where God is calling.