The Evidence Of Spiritual Maturity Series

1 Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you. 2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today, I would like to share with you the message from the book of first Thessalonians. This book was written by Paul. First of all, let us look at the background of the church and the city of Thessalonica. There are about 200,000 people in this city. It is a very important port.

Paul established this church around 51 AD. If we look at this picture, it is the church that Paul established during his second missionary journey. He left this city because he faced many challenges, pressures, and persecution caused by opponents. After he left this city, he still remembered his brothers and sisters, and kept them in his heart and prayers. He continues to love the brothers and sisters here. Around 52 AD, he wrote this first letter to the Thessalonian church, and a total of two letters were sent out.

What is the purpose of his letter? As mentioned in verses 1-3, the first purpose of his letter is to give thanks to the Lord for brothers and sisters, for their faith, love and hope. This is a good example for the believers. The second purpose is to comfort them. He knew that believers suffered a lot of persecution, so he wrote the letter to strengthen their faith. In the letter, we see that Paul continues to encourage them to stay firm. Encourage them to look upon God in the midst of difficulties. The third purpose is to encourage them to live a holy life. When we face many challenges, pressures, and temptations, we can easily start to leave God, forget that God has a plan on us, forget that God wants us to live for him, and forget that God wants us to look to Him and rely on Him for everything. So, Paul continued to remind them and encourage them.

Finally, Paul explained the truth and hope about the Lord’s second coming. In chapter four, Paul encouraged them and told them what will happen when someone fall asleep, because at that time they are waiting for the second coming of the Lord. But the Lord has not yet come. Pastor Stephen Tong once said that we often hope that the Lord will come soon, but the Lord has not yet come, and finally we went to see him. It was the same at that time. Many brothers and sisters thought that the Lord would return during their lifetime, but unfortunately, many brothers and sisters, instead of seeing the return of the Lord, they went to see the Lord. These people have passed away and the Lord has not yet come. And many believers who are still alive was confused and asked, what will happen to them? On another hand, Paul knew that the people had been exposed to errant teaching from those in opposition to the way of Jesus Christ and the grace of God. And Paul also understood that unless the young church continued to mature in its faith, the danger would only increase over time. With that in mind, Paul gave them a good explanation in Chapter 4. Help them to understand correctly, so they will not panic and grief like those unbelievers, help them to have real hope.

Today, from 1 Thessalonians 1:1-3, we are going to talk about the evidence of spiritual maturity.

Paul started his letter by mentioning that this letter was written by him, Silas and Timothy. Here Paul emphasizes a spiritual and ministry teamwork. Teamwork is very important to the ministry of the church. Because with teamwork we can do a lot of ministries that we can't do alone. Mother Theresa once said: I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot, together we can do great things. So, the ministry Paul showed us is not his own ministry. He said he has himself, and Silas and Timothy wrote this letter together. They are serving the Lord together as a team.

Then, Paul greeting them in in God the Father and the Lord Jesus. What is his greeting? He said grace and peace to you. What is grace? Grace is “the very center and core of the whole Bible is the doctrine of the grace of God.” –J. Gresham Machen. Grace is the most important concept in the Bible. It is most clearly expressed in the promises of God revealed in Scripture and embodied in Jesus Christ. Grace is the love of God shown to the unlovely; the peace of God given to the restless; the unmerited favor of God. “Grace is free sovereign favor to the ill-deserving.” (B.B. Warfield) “Grace is love that cares and stoops and rescues.” (John Stott) “[Grace] is God reaching downward to people who are in rebellion against Him.” (Jerry Bridges)