MODEL BY EXAMPLE (1 THESSALONIANS 1)
Seeing her two sons fighting over the last piece of pizza the mother said, "You boys should be acting more like Jesus, if He were here He would give His brother the last piece"
The older brother looked at his younger sibling and said, ""Marty, you be Jesus"
Thessalonica was Paul's second Macedonian stop in his second missionary journey. Today Thessalonica or Salonica is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the Greek region of Macedonia. Thessaloniki was considered the second city in the Byzantine Empire, or the eastern half of the Roman Empire, after Constantinople, both in terms of wealth and size. Manufacturing, shipping and trade were the most important components of the city's economy during the Ottoman period. The Jewish population in Greece is the oldest in mainland Europe. Until the turn of the 20th century Jews made up of half of the population. The Sephardic Jews nicknamed the city "Israel's mother" and "Jerusalem of the Balkans." In Acts 17 Paul spent three weeks at the synagogue where he reasoned with the Jews out of the Scriptures (Acts 17:1-2). The congregation was a diverse and cosmopolitan church. In the church were Jews, a great multitude of devout Greeks and not a few chief women (Acts 17:4).
What qualifies us to be models? Why does God want us to not merely be ministers but also models of the gospel? How should we model the message of the gospel?
Be Inspirational in Conduct
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 and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We 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. 4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.
When native converts of the island of Madagascar used to present themselves for baptism, it was often asked of them, "What first led you to think of becoming Christians? Was it a particular sermon or address or the reading of God's Word?" The answer usually was that the changed conduct of others who had become Christians was what first arrested their attention. "I knew this man to be a thief; that one was a drunkard; another was very cruel and unkind to his family. Now they are all changed. The thief is an honest man; the drunkard is sober and respectable; and the other is gentle and kind in his home. There must be something in a religion that can work such changes."
What is unique from Paul's salutation in this letter compared to other churches is the thanksgiving for ALL the Thessalonians. Paul usually gave thanks to God and rarely for all readers or recipients. His effusive praise was unique and understandable, but not unfounded. The justification for Paul's thanksgiving is the impact the gospel to the Thessalonians, as underlined by four "IN" Greek prepositions - not "in" words alone (monos), but also "in" power, "in" the Holy Spirit and "in" deep conviction (v 5).
The noun "power" (v 5) is also translated as "mighty works" (Matt 11:20-21), miracle (Mark 9:39), strength (1 Cor 15:56) and might (Eph 1:21) in KJV. What is power to you? In politics it is the ability to influence or control the behavior of people. Scholar Kenneth Boulding said it is "the ability to change the future." For us, power is the turnaround, transformation and testimony that Christ offers in life. The change is from the inside to the outside and to all sides. Our power is top down and inside out, from the first to final day. Theologically we call it the transformation from death to deliverance, from sinfulness to sanctification and from delusion to direction. Instead of control over other people and future events, the power of gospel results in the change in one's mind, behavior and attitude, person and life.
The second "Holy Spirit" (v 5) has to do with the upside, the source, the person. True joy is joy as a result of one's conversion, not of circumstances. Joy is not happiness in English. Happiness relies on "what" is happening, but joy remains from "who" we have - the person of the Spirit governing, guarding and guiding us, giving us peace, purpose and perseverance. For this reason power is not the force of Star Wars. Our power is bound in the person of the Spirit, not an object, entity or a thing, a personable, present being.
The noun "deep conviction" (v 5) is a single Greek word and is often translated as "full assurance" (Col 2:2, Heb 6:11, 10:22), with the emphasis on "full" rather than "deep" in NIV. It literally means carry out fully, completely and entirely. However the Thessalonians "full assurance" is very rich, resourceful and rewarding because Paul adds another "much" to it in Greek, to be translated technically as "much full assurance." Full assurance is qualified and quantified by the word "much," which means more, multiplied and matchless, not moderate, meager or muted. It means nothing lost or lacking. It is good for today, tomorrow and thereafter.
The enduring qualities of faith, hope and love, as espoused by Paul (1 Cor 13:13) is exemplified by the Thessalonians (v 3).
Be Imitators of Christ
6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
One day an out of work mime is visiting the zoo and attempts to earn some money as a street performer. Unfortunately, as soon as he starts to draw a crowd, a zoo keeper grabs him and drags him into his office. The zoo-keeper explains to the mime that the zoo's most popular attraction, a gorilla, has died suddenly and the keeper fears that attendance at the zoo will fall off. He offers the mime a job to dress up as the gorilla until they can get another one. The mime accepts.
So the next morning the mime puts on the gorilla suit and enters the cage before crowd comes. He discovers that it's a great job. He can sleep all he wants, play and make fun of people and he draws bigger crowds than he ever did as a mime. However, eventually the crowds tire of him and he tires of just swinging on tires. He begins to notice that the people are paying more attention to the lion in the cag e next to his. Not wanting to lose the attention of his audience, he climbs to the top of his cage, crawls across a partition, and dangles from the top to the lion's cage. Of course, this makes the lion furious, but the crowd loves it. At the end of the day the zoo-keeper comes and gives the mime a raise for being such a good attraction. Well, this goes on for some time, the mime keeps taunting the lion, the crowds grow larger, and his salary keeps going up.
Then one terrible day when he is dangling over the furious lion, he slips and falls. The mime is terrified. The lion gathers itself and prepares to pounce. The mime is so scared that he begins to run round and round the cage with the lion close behind. Finally, the mime starts screaming and yelling, "Help, Help me!" but the lion is quick and pounces. The mime soon finds himself flat on his back looking up at the angry lion and the lion says, " Shut up you idiot! Do you want to get us both fired?"
The next two verses extol the Thessalonians' example, exhibition and extension of Christ to anyone, anywhere and anytime. The word "imitator" (mimetes), from which the English words "mimic," "mime" and "pantomime" are derived, is to take after a person, to be similar but not the same, to reveal, resemble, reflect and represent a person. Chaplin was arguably history's most well-documented mime, which was a big hit in the era of silent movies. A Greek mime artist is an imitator or actor who acts out a story without words.
The Thessalonians' joy came out of "severe suffering/much affliction." The word "suffering/affliction" is tantamount to "tribulation" in the Bible, except this is not the great tribulation in the end, but the "many trials" in the present. The Greek version is "in much affliction with joy." Technically this is unlike the great (mega) tribulation suffered in Egypt (Acts 7:11) and predicted in Matthew and Revelation (Matt 24:21, Rev 2:22, 7:14), but the many trials/tribulation disciples such as Paul (2 Cor 2:4, Acts 14:22) and the Thessalonians (v 5) went through. The believers there were not a proponent of prosperity gospel. Through affliction, adversity and animosity the church prospered morally, grew spiritually and positively. Joy that is pain- and persecution-free does not mature faith.
The purpose (infinitive) in verse 7 ("SO THAT ye were ensamples") was to be models (plural) to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia. From mime (imitators) we now turn to types (models). A type is different from a mime in that the type (model) is a model forged by repetition (Biblehub.com).
Another website (sermonindex.com) says a type (typewriter) means strike, smite with repeated strokes. It literally refers to a visible mark or impression made by a stroke or blow from an instrument or object. What is left after the stroke or blow is called a print, a figure or an impression. Stated another way "tupos" properly means a "model" or "pattern" or "mold" into which clay or wax was pressed ( for molds into which molten metal for castings was poured), that it might take the figure or exact shape of the mold. A mime is a person, but a type is a pattern. An imitator is a being, a type is a behavior. It begins with Paul to Thessalonians, but the beneficiaries were Macedonia and Achaia.
In a sense the tupos must be representable, repeatable and recognizable. The goal was not to make entertainment but to model behavior that influences believers in Macedonia and Achaia, another way of saying the whole of Greece (Acts 19:21; Rom 15:26; 1 Thess 1:8), according to ISBE. Macedonia is capital and nearest city to Thessalonica and Achaia is the coast and farthest south of the Macedonia region. It must be transferable, transmittable.
Be Instruments of Conversion
8 The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia--your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Once, when Mr. Moody was in New York to raise money for the homeless and a new church, he was helped tremendously by R. K. Remington, who gave him a check for a large amount of money. The new friend took him in his carriage to the houses of other rich men in the city. When they parted at the train, Mr. Moody grasped his hand and said, "If you ever come to Chicago, call on me and I will try to return your kindness." Mr. Remington replied, "Don't wait for me; do it to the first man that comes along." (D.L. Moody - A Life: Innovator, Evangelist, World Changer)
Paul's point has not reached its climax yet. The model behavior had spread far and wide to everywhere (v 8). The message or "word" of the Lord (v 8) "rang out" everywhere and their faith towards God went out. Both verbs "rang out" and "become known/went out" come with the prefix "ex" (out), as in "Exodus," attached. The first verb (execheomai) is fascinating because it is not found elsewhere in the Bible. The verb "rang out" is derived from the noun "echos" (loud noise) and verb "echeo" (make a loud noise/reverberate). It is literally echoed out. It is more than a ring; it is a roar. It is not tiresome noise, but traveling noise. The verbs come with the preposition "ex" (out) because mileage, momentum and message abroad. Paul continues to say he need not to speak, which corresponds to verse 4's "not with words only" (v 4) and mime (imitators) theme.
The report (v 9) is from the people from Macedonia and Achaia, not the Thessalonians themselves. The verb "report" is also translated as bring word (Matt 2:8), tell (Matt 8:33), show (Matt 11:4) and declare (Luke 8:47). The message had now gone full circle reaching Paul's ears. The phrase "reception YOU gave US" is far removed from the Greek and KJV version of "entering/entrance in WE had unto YOU," reversing the pronouns to make more sense of the impact, influence and impression Paul made in their lives near and far.
The second thing of the report is their turning to God from idols for two purposes, of which the first was to serve the living God (v 9). Another translation for turn is convert (Matt 13:15). The phrase "turn to God" previously was a favorite expression for Gentile conversion (Acts 15:19, 26:20), probably in reference to the great multitude of devout Greeks converted there (Acts 17:4). The purpose is to serve the living God. Not were they converted or saved, they were committed to serve. The purpose of their salvation is service, not stagnation.
The second purpose of turning to God is to wait for His Son from heaven (v 10). To wait (anemeno ) is the rarest word and the first of its kind in the Bible. It is derived for the verb "remain" (NIV) or abide (KJV) as espoused in John 15:4-6, with the prefix "ana" or "again" added. It means remain repeatedly, stay on. In suffering lots of people abandon hope, act helplessly, and lose faith , but not the Thessalonians.
