Your Work in Faith
Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of our God and Father. - 1 Thessalonians 1:3
There’s a wonderful story about a little girl named Mary who survived a hurricane in October 1991. A small boat carrying a man named John, and Mary, his six-year-old daughter, were caught in the storm. John had not checked the weather report, when he and Mary sailed off the Jersey shore. Six miles out, he was shocked at how fast the winds changed. Soon the boat capsized, overturned, and they were in the water. While the boat was being swept out to sea.
John realized there was no way he could swim the six miles back to shore while holding his little girl. To save them, he would have to swim alone. “Mary, you can float on your back as long as you want,” he told her. “Float on your back, Mary. I’ll swim to shore, and I will be back for you.”
Three hours later the Coast Guard found John. For the next hour and a half as darkness came on, they looked for the little girl, miraculously, the spotlight found her. She had been floating for nearly five hours.
The guardsmen later asked her, “Mary, how did you do that?” She said, “Well, my daddy said I could float on my back as long as I wanted to, and that he would come back for me. My daddy always does what he says.” Mary kept floating and kept trusting her father regardless of what waves were around her.
The Apostle Paul had seen the same kind of faith in the church at Thessalonica. The church at Thessalonica became one of Paul’s success stories due to the faithfulness of the converts there. So Paul begins his letter to the church with high praise for the Thessalonians. He says he “always thanks God” for them. Paul praised them for their “work produced by faith,” their “labor prompted by love,” and their “endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” That’s a good formula for our christian faithful life. Amen. Let’s begin by considering their “work produced by faith.”
I. Work Produced by Faith:
Here, Paul remembers the Thessalonica church believers' work of faith. Today, Thessalonica is the second-largest city in Greece and is the capital of Macedonia, the nation’s largest region. But even in Paul’s time, it was a prominent and prosperous city. It had two synagogues and many Roman temples. Idol worship was strong there, and it was not an easy place to plant a church.
However, Thessalonica played a significant role in Paul’s ministry. He and Silas worked hard and established a Christian community there. There was a large Jewish presence in Thessalonica, which gave them an opportunity for converts, but also caused them problems with the authorities. The leaders of the synagogues said, “These men . . . have turned the world upside down . . .” because, according to the leaders of the synagogue, they were “saying that there is another king, Jesus” (Acts 17:6-7). This was rebellion and treason, of course, to say that there was another king besides Caesar.
Obviously, their faith in Christ was critical. Little Mary was able to keep floating because she knew her daddy would come back for her. Like that, the Thessalonians were strong in their faith that Christ would not forget his own people. This is essential in any setting where we are trying to maintain our faith in the midst of a hostile pagan environment or when we are trying to carry on in the midst of a deep personal crisis. After all, we all have our storms to face.
Effective work of Faith:
The word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. - 1 Thessalonians 2:13
The church of the Thessalonians believed that the word of God did not come from men but from God and heaven. Jesus said in John 6:29, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Jesus again said to them I say to you Moses did not give you the bread from heaven but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Believing the Word of God and applying the Word of God by effectively working in you will set you free.
How many times have you heard someone who has come through a time of crisis say, “I couldn’t have made it without my faith.” We are no different from the members of the church at Thessalonica. They had their challenges; we have ours. The key to being victorious, regardless of the situation, is to trust Christ.
Do you have that kind of faith, the faith of little Mary? James 2:17 says What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? And in verse 17 says, Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. That kind of faith will bring you through any crisis. The Apostle Paul praised the Thessalonians for “work produced by faith.”
II. Labor Prompted by Love:
Paul also praised them for “labor prompted by love.” Writing first about work produced by faith, Paul now turns to labor prompted by love. Labor is a much more intense word than work.
We have corrupted the word 'love' in our culture. In our culture, love is supposed to come easy, particularly romantic love. But real love never comes easy. It requires commitment. It requires hard work. It requires labor.
Paul is speaking in this letter about the labor of the believers in Thessalonica for the sake of the Lord Jesus. It was not easy to be a Christian in this city. Great opposition arose against the believers, so Paul was afraid they would give up their new life in Jesus. However, Paul heard that they had not given up their faith, but instead carried on in their labor for Christ because of their love for him. This love was so great that they refused to give up. They continued to labor for the gospel so that, “in spite of severe suffering they welcomed the message of the gospel with joy,” (1:6) and “they became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.” (1:7) Because of their love for him, they never became tired of speaking to others about their Savior. Their love for Christ energized them daily in their labor for the Lord.
They took as their motto the words from I Corinthians 13: “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” We all understand that. Love takes loyalty. Love takes labor.
After Albert Einstein’s wife died, his sister, Maja, moved in to assist with the household affairs. For fourteen years she cared for him, allowing his valuable research to continue. In 1950 she suffered a stroke and fell into a coma. Thereafter, Einstein spent two hours every afternoon reading aloud to her from Plato. She gave no sign of understanding his words, but he read anyway. [What did Maja understand from Einstein reading to her every afternoon?] If she understood anything by his actions, she understood that he believed that she was worth his time.
God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. “Work produced by faith” and “labor prompted by love.'' It is understandable and undeniable that the church in Thessalonica was special to Paul.
III. Endurance Inspired by Hope:
Finally, Paul praised the Thessalonians for their “endurance inspired by hope in Jesus Christ.” The Thessalonians had staying power. Don’t give up. Keep working, keep loving, keep believing, keep floating on their back. This kind of endurance is possible, of course, only if you have a reasonable hope that things will get better. Our work is produced by the faith we have been given. Our labor is prompted by the love and acceptance we have experienced. And we endure in this work because we are inspired by our hope that God will one day bring complete renewal to this broken world.
Wait for His Son:
I Thessalonians 1:10 says, to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
The church of Thessalonians waited patiently for the coming of our Lord Jesus. And they believed that he would deliver and save them from the wrath to come. Now think about Paul’s phrase: “endurance inspired by hope in Jesus Christ.” The early church suffered waves of persecution. You know the story. Imprisoned, thrown to the lions, burned in the emperor’s gardens they experienced their own suffering. But they endured. Because they hoped in Christ. They trusted that nothing could defeat them because Christ was with them and would never forsake them. And today 2,000 years later we, like Paul, give thanks for them. They preserved the faith for us.
Not only, this church people turned toward God from idols to serve the living and true God. 1 Thessalonians 1:9 says, For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. This church people turned to God from their idol worship and started to worship the living and true God.
Recently, I read about another person who also floated and trusted. He was an older adult. His name was Alex Gaines. When he was in the hospital and was dying. Gaines said that “at 84 years old he felt only gratitude to God for his long life, because he had almost died as a young man.”
During World War II his plane had been shot down over the English Channel. He also floated, though his experience lasted a full day and a night before he was rescued. He had come to know and believe that every day thereafter had been a pure gift.
“How did he survive that long in the water?” Gaines answered that all he did was recite Psalm 46 over and over again. “I hung on to some piece of the downed aircraft,” Gaines said, “but it was the Psalm that got me through the night. ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam . . . The Lord of hosts is with us . . .” Amen.
Conclusion:
Paul gave thanks for their “work produced by faith,” their “labor prompted by love,” and their “endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” That’s a good formula for whatever heartache or hardship life sends our way faith, hope and love. He writes that he continually remembers their “work produced by faith,” their “labor prompted by love,” and their “endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” That’s high praise for any group of believers. It is something we intend to do. In a sea of idolatry, they were floating on their backs, serving as an example to others because of “work produced by faith,” “labor prompted by love,” and “endurance inspired by hope in Jesus Christ.” Amen.
