1 Thessalonians 1:1-5a
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. 4) For we know, brothers 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 with deep conviction.
Dear Brothers & Sister in Christ Jesus:
Sunday marks the beginning of another week on our pilgrimage here on earth. Some of us look forward to each new week with excitement. We get excited of the possibilities of what a new week brings and the week may have flown by. Sometimes we are so busy that a week seems more like a day.
Some of us do not because the events that have taken place this week have brought trials and hardships into our lives. The week has taken forever (or so it seems) to pass – its then it feels like that each day is as long as a week by itself.
We do not know what this coming week will bring. We don’t know today what physical or mental pain we will suffer before the week is over.
We are unaware of the joy that will come into our life during this week. Even though we do not know what lies ahead, we are not afraid to begin a new week because as God’s children we know that he is in control and that he will work out all things for our good. Knowing this allows Christians face each week with confidence.
We can’t really begin any week with confidence without first looking back over the past weeks, months and years and being grateful for all the blessings that we have received. As the Apostle Paul wrote his first letter to the Thessalonians his thoughts went back to the past. He thought about the time he began the congregation and how God blessed the Thessalonians with the gift of faith. Paul thought about how God had blessed him by allowing him to be the shepherd of his flock. And as he thought about the past he did so with gratitude. He wrote “We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.”
The gratitude Paul felt in his heart, he expressed to God in prayer. As Paul prayed for the Thessalonians, he also expressed his thankfulness to God for all the blessings God had graciously poured out on him. It is the same for me. Each day I thank God that he has allowed me to be your Pastor. Thanking God for each one of you in my prayers. Thanking God for the blessings he has given me – expressing my gratitude.
As we think back on the past events in our lives, we do so with gratitude. We are thankful for all that God has done for us in the past. We are thankful that he has provided us with all that we need for body and soul.
He has watched over us so that no harm or danger came near us. He has been with us through the good times and the sad times. He has strengthened us and encouraged us when things looked bleak and we were ready to give up. Those are but a few of the many reasons we have for viewing the past with gratitude in our hearts.
In writing to the Thessalonians, Paul mentions two reasons especially for being grateful for blessings received. The first reason mentioned is our election. Paul writes “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you.”
God has chosen us too. This is something we can have confidence in as we begin each week. Before we were born, before God created the world, in eternity he chose us to be his own. God elected us to salvation through his Son Jesus Christ. God made the choice. We didn’t. We did not influence his choice in the least. How could we? We weren’t around in eternity.
In our hymnal we have a hymn that reminds us that we were chosen by God. Hymn #380. Open up the hymn book and let’s look at this hymn. In this hymn we sing “Lord tis not that I did choose you; That I know could never be, For this heart would still refuse you Had your grace not chosen me. You removed the sin that stained me, Cleansing me to be our own; For this purpose you ordained me, That I live for you alone.”
What the hymn writer is referring to is our sinful nature. By nature we are opposed to God and to all that God has done for us. Our sinful nature wants nothing to do with God. Therefore, we would not, could not choose God. It was God who out of his great love for us, out of his grace and mercy, that he chose us to be his own. In our Old Testament lesson for today we heard how God is in control. How he used Cyrus, King of Persia for his divine purpose. Having chosen us for salvation God brought us to Faith.
He is in control of our lives as well and he saw to it that we were baptized and his Holy Spirit created faith in our heart. He had that faith nourished by his Word and Sacraments. It is our faith in God and in his Son Jesus Christ that gives us the confidence we need to face each week.
Our election is but one reason mentioned why we have for being grateful for blessings received. We have another to have confidence to face each week - Another reason mentioned is our conversion. Our text speaks of our conversion in these words “our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.”
The word conversion means a change. A change has taken place in our hearts. This change came about through the gospel. The gospel, which is the good news of salvation is very powerful. The Bible calls the gospel “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”
The gospel alone has the power to change the heart. The gospel has the power to make a believer out of an unbeliever. The gospel has such great power because the Holy Spirit is at work through the gospel creating and sustaining faith. It was the Holy Spirit who created faith in our heart causing our conversion.
The result of our conversion is the deep conviction that what the gospel says is the truth. The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts to accept what God says – in other words we have the confidence to say God says it, I believe it, end of story. No questions – Trust – the faith of a little child. We have the deep conviction that our sins have been forgiven by God for Jesus’ sake.
That conviction which Paul speaks about is made even stronger when in just a few minutes we will come to the Lord’s Table and receive his true body which is given in the bread and his true blood which is given in the wine. Hearing the words Take Eat… Take Drink… This is my Body… This is my Blood… Given and poured out for YOU for the Forgiveness of Sins!
It is knowing without a doubt that our sins are forgiven that gives us the confidence to face each week. But as we face another week, let us do so with confidence. We can face this week with confidence if we remember all that God has done for us in the past and knowing this we will find joy in being God’s children. Because of what God has done for us we know without a doubt we are his children.
What Paul wrote to the Thessalonians is also true about us. Paul wrote “To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The Thessalonians were children of God and so are we. God was their heavenly Father and he is ours. God became our heavenly Father when we were brought to faith.
Being children of God we have the privilege of coming to our heavenly Father with all boldness and confidence and bring with us all our problems and know that he will take care of them. Our Heavenly Father removes our burdens, our sin and guilt.
Carrying around the guilt of sin is like carrying a backpack full of bricks. But as God’s children we can take that backpack to the foot of the cross and Jesus will go through it. Pulling out each problem, each sin, and by the time he is done the backpack is empty.
We take all our care and worries that would prevent us from facing each week with confidence and Jesus removes them. He carries our burdens and removes our guilt so that we are spotless in God’s sight. God took away the guilt of sin and provided for our salvation when he nailed his Son to the cross. Because of what Jesus has done for us we have the confidence to face another week.
We have this confidence because of the love God has poured out onto us. And it is God’s love that fills us that pours out to those around us. Paul wrote. “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.”
We are eager to serve God and his children because of the faith he has given produces love. The love that comes from God and fills us will then overflow to the people around us. If you were at the funeral we had this week you saw that love in action. The women in our Ladies Society labored to make a meal for the family and saw to it that there was enough food on the tables, coffee, sweets, and they took care of cleaning up the dishes.
They didn’t do this for fame or recognition – they did this out of Christian love. Love for Christ and love for their brothers and sisters in the faith. Faith in Christ is not some inanimate thing that we can put on or take off, like a coat or some other piece of clothing. Faith is living force within us. It compels us to find ways of expressing itself in our daily life. It finds ways to show our gratitude to God in works that are pleasing to him. Faith will also show itself in labors of love. Faith fills us with the love of God. God’s love for us instills in us a love for others.
In the coming weeks we will taking a spiritual survey of Wood Lake. I will be asking for volunteers to show that love others by knocking on doors and asking people 10 simple questions so we can identify people in need of the love of Christ. In loving others we will reach out to those in need, especially in need of a Savior. Our love for them will compel us to do all we can not only to see to their physical needs, but above all to see to their spiritual needs.
As Christians we know God is in control and that he works out all things for the good of those who love him. We know that no matter what happens this week or the next when the week comes we can face it with confidence that our eternal salvation has been taken care of by our loving father in heaven. We are confident that while we live and work for the good of God’s children he is there providing for our earthly needs. Having the confidence to face each week no matter what may come.
As you serve your Lord this week may God find new ways to pour out his blessings upon you. AMEN
