The Practice of Affirmation (1 Thessalonians 1:2-10)
“A young man showed up a little early for his date. When his girlfriend answered the door, her hair was teased in a hundred different directions. To take the awkwardness out of the situation, she asked, “What do you think of my hair?” The boy hesitated and then said, “It looks like it’s about to become something wonderful!” (Lasting Legacy: Making a Difference with My Life, Life Connections, Leader guide, pg. 71) The point of this story is clear: Christians need to see beyond the mess people are in, to what they can become in Christ. This is where the practice of affirmation comes in. To affirm someone is to declare something positively or firmly about them; to support or uphold the validity of a person; to confirm them. Affirm comes from the root of a Latin word which means, “to strengthen.” With love as our motivator, we should be used of the Lord to strengthen our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus doesn’t look at our imperfection but our potential. And we should be in the habit of doing the same. After all, it is God that worketh in us to will and do his good pleasure. Therefore, there is much truth to the phrase: “Do not judge me, God is not through with me yet!” Don’t be critical be Christlike! See the potential not the imperfections! The Apostle Paul gives us the reason for this in Philippians 1:6: “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Listen to these encouraging words of affirmation from 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10 as if someone were saying them to you:
“2. We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; 3. Constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, 4. Knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you; 5. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6. You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7. So that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. 9. For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, 10. And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.”
Many people of my generation (the Boomers) were taught to say anything affirming about themselves was egotistical and saying anything affirming about someone else might give that person “the big head.” However, these attitudes are not biblical. In this text and every letter Paul writes, with the exception of Galatians, he starts the letter by affirming the people of the church to which he is writing (see Romans 1:8; 1 Cor. 1:4; Eph. 1:15-16; Phil. 1:3; Col. 1:3; 2 Thess. 1:3). Paul seemed to realize people work best when they feel good about themselves and what they have accomplished. And this belief still holds true today. People work best when they feel good about themselves. Do you feel good about yourself and what you have accomplished for the Lord?
George Barna, founder of a Christian marketing research company, has studied what he calls “turn-around churches” – churches that had been going downhill in ministry and attendance but turned things around and thrived. He found a variety of factors that helped these churches turn around. One principle that he drew from this study was, “When people perform true ministry, they should be applauded.” More specifically, he writes, “A successful ministry is one in which people are recognized for their accomplishments, not to place someone on a pedestal, but because human beings need to be recognized for their good works. Put in proper perspective, a bit of celebration and appreciations regarding true ministry can help maintain an active and happy congregations.” [George Barna, Turn-Around Churches (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1993), 104.] It is important we learn the practice of affirmation as outlined in Scripture and reclaim Paul’s ministry of affirmation and continually exercise it in our everyday life.
There are three practices Paul points out in this passage for us to live affirming lives. First, the practice of affirmation involves OUR AFFIRMING RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD (vv. 2-4; 9-10). How does one affirm God who has everything? After all God remains completely God without our words of affirmation and is not dependent upon them. But the Lord welcomes our affirmation. Doesn’t a parent like to hear their children affirm them with words such as “I love you”, or “You are the best mom or dad ever”? There is no difference with our heavenly Father. Understanding this, Paul affirms God first by being FAITHFUL to which he was called to do. Don’t parents feel affirmed when their children are faithful to obey and grieved when they are not? I wonder if we are as faithful to our high calling from the Lord? The Scripture says, “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” (1 Cor. 4:2). Paul could say at the end of his life, “I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith;” (2 Timothy 4:7). Our prayer should be that we too can do the same.
Second Paul affirms his relationship to God by being THANKFUL. Do you have an attitude of thankfulness? This week I read in Our Daily Bread a story of Scottish minister by the name of Alexander Whyte, who was able to look at the bleakest situation and yet find something to be thankful for. On a dark Sunday morning when the weather was freezing, wet, and stormy, one of his deacons whispered, “I am sure the preacher won’t be able to thank God for anything on a day like this. It’s absolutely horrible outside!” The pastor began the service by praying, “We thank Thee, O God, that the weather is not always like this.”
Notice Paul’s words, “We give thanks to God always for all of you… Constantly bearing in mind…” Paul was not only faithful to his calling from the Lord but also THANKFUL for those people and ministries entrusted to his care. Paul was faithful to remember that every good and perfect gift comes from above from the Father of Lights. Paul with a heart of thankfulness learned to be content in whatever circumstances he was in. He told the Thessalonians: “We give thanks to God always for all of you…” Paul did not say, “I thank you for you” but “I thank the Lord for you.” Paul was constantly going to the source and thanking the Lord for the people and ministry opportunities sent into his life. Paul later in this same letter affirmed the Thessalonians with this same practice of affirmation: “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
Notice Paul’s affirmation is specific in nature. He thanks the Lord first for His choice (election) of the Thessalonians and uses this same truth to affirm (strengthen) them. Paul thanks the Lord for the Thessalonians’ “work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father.” Paul realizes that one may plant and another may water but God causes the growth. Paul thanks the Lord for how the work of faith in the Thessalonians caused them to turn to God from idols. Paul praises the Lord for the labor of love which caused the Thessalonians to serve the living and true God. And Paul expresses gratitude to the Lord for the steadfastness of the Thessalonians hope in Our Lord Jesus Christ which gave them the strength and perseverance to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. This leads me to ask, “Have you thanked the Lord lately for your growth in Him or the growth of others in the Lord?” Like the boyfriend’s response to the girlfriend whose hair was teased in a hundred different directions, we are all about to become something wonderful.
Paul also affirmed the Lord by his consistent PRAYER LIFE. What kind of prayer life do you have? Paul was faithful to pray for the Thessalonians and have others pray as well. Paul knew you couldn’t genuinely affirm your love for God without expressing your love for others in prayer. Paul said, “We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers… we continually remember before our God and Father…” Does the Scripture not say we should pray without ceasing? Joseph M. Scriven penned these words, “O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” Where is prayer on your priority list this morning?
Second, the practice of affirmation involves OUR AFFIRMING RELATIONSHIP TO THE WORD OF GOD (vv. 5) Listen again to verse 5: “For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.” Do you welcome the Word of God today? “WELCOME” as used hear means the “hearing of the heart.” I recall my years in the jail ministry how many of the men welcomed the Word of God with eyes full of tears while many in church hearing the same Word welcomed it with eyes full of sleep and disinterest. Does your heart desire to hear from God’s Word today? Does the Word pass through your mind to your heart so it can be lived out through the soles of your feet?
Do you receive the Word of God for what it is as the Thessalonians did – as the power of God? The Lord said through the prophet Isaiah, “So shall my word be, it will not return unto me void but will prosper where I send it and accomplish what I please.” Do you not only welcome it but also ACCEPT it as the Thessalonians did with full conviction? Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” I recall the story of the contractor who was without children often talking to a man with children about how much he love children until one day on his construction site he noticed several children walking in his wet concrete. He became irate and screamed at the children to get out of the wet concrete while the man with children observed. Seeing the contractor’s reaction, the man with children replied, “I thought you told me you loved children?” The contractor replied, “I like them in the abstract but not in the concrete.” The point of this humorous story is clear: If you WELCOME the Word of God and ACCEPT the Word of God, then you need to LIVE the Word of God in the concrete not just in the abstract.
Third, the practice of affirmation involves OUR AFFIRMING RELATIONSHIP TO OTHERS (vv. 6-8) Listen again to verses 6-8: “You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, So that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything.” Paul understood “the power of the good example” and strived to be this in his own life for others by being consistent in WORD, DEED AND WITNESS. He knew his affirming relationship to others involved both “talking the talk” and “walking the walk”. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1: “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”
The Thessalonians through the affirming relationship of Paul became imitators of Paul and the Lord (vs. 6). Are you affirming your relationship with others by “the power of the good example”? Are you yielded and submissive to the leaders of the church and the Lord? Do you take the time to encourage others? Like the boy seeing his girlfriend with her hair teased in a hundred different directions, do you say, “It looks like you are about to become something beautiful in the Lord!” Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
Finally, are you affirming your relationship to others by winning souls? There is no greater way to affirm a lost person than by leading him to safety in Jesus Christ. The Thessalonians like Paul were motivated to win souls? They were missionary minded. It has been said, “Faith is the outward movement of an inner work.” The Thessalonians did not remain in their inner circle. They reached out in an affirming way to their world. The Lord’s message literally rang out from them like the sound of a trumpet. Studies have shown that personal contact brings the harvest: “70 to 80 percent of church growth is the result of friends witnessing to friends.
My wife and I recently saw a television show on The History Channel titled, “The Man Who Predicted 911.” We were both moved by this hour presentation and its focus on one man by the name of Rick Rescorla. Long before September 11th, Rick Rescorla, the 62-year-old head of security at the Morgan Stanley Bank, developed an evacuation plan for the bank. The bank’s offices were situated high up in the South Tower at the World Trade Center. Rescorla was convinced that Osama Bin Laden would use jet planes to try and destroy the World Trade Center. The plan and its preparation were hugely unpopular with the Morgan Stanley staff, many of whom thought Rescorla was mad.
On September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 hit World Trade Center Tower 1 at 8:46 am. Rick Rescorla ignored building officials’ advice to stay put and began the orderly evacuation of Morgan Stanley’s 2,800 employees on 20 floors of World Trade Center Tower 2, and 1,000 employees in WTC 5. Rescorla reminded everyone to "be proud to be an American ... everyone will be talking about you tomorrow", and sang God Bless America and other songs over his bullhorn to help evacuees stay calm as they left the building. Rescorla had most of Morgan Stanley’s 2800 employees as well as people working on other floors of WTC 2 safely out of the buildings by the time United Airlines Flight 175 hit WTC 2 at 9:07 a.m.
After having reached safety, Rescorla returned to the building to rescue others still inside. He was last seen heading up the stairs of the tenth floor of the collapsing WTC 2. His remains were not recovered. As a result of Rescorla’s actions, only 6 of Morgan Stanley’s 2800 WTC employees were killed on September 11th, 2001, including Rick and three of his deputies who followed him back into the building.
The remainder of this very moving broadcast focused on Morgan Stanley Bank employees who now in tears were praising and acknowledging Rick Rescorla for saving their lives from total destruction that day. Many felt so guilty and apologetic they had thought Rick foolish to keep preaching and standing for what he believed would happen if they were not ready. Those interviewed said they would never forget Rick Rescorla. He was their hero.
Mr. Rescorla left behind a widow, Susan Rescorla, and two children that day. Since 911, a memorial stone was erected in Rick’s hometown of Hayle, Cornwall, to commemorate his life and the sacrifice he made to save others.
James 5:19-20 says, “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” As sinners saved by grace, we must have a “Rick Rescorla Attitude.” He was convinced people entrusted to his care would perish if his plan of escape were ignored. Rick Rescorla stayed the course even when unpopular and ridiculed because he believed what he was doing would save lives.
Sadly, many Christians today have a “Cain Attitude” when it comes to rescuing the perishing and having a consistent witness. Unlike Rick Rescorla, they say by their actions: “I am not my brother’s keeper.” How this must grieve the heart of Almighty God who has left us here as His Beloved Children to share the Good News of Jesus Christ so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
Christians must not respond like the young man applying for a position as an usher in a movie theater when asked what he would do if there was a fire. He responded to the job interviewer, “Don’t worry I would be able to get out of the theater.” Many Christians feel this way about the lost people around them whom are about to perish in the eternal fires of hell without those who know the way to safety to point the way.
Remember the Good Shepherd left the ninety-nine sheep and went after the one that was lost. Today ask yourself, “Am I passing the buck or the baton when it comes to affirming others in word, deed and witness?” Why deny someone the very news that saved your soul and led you to safety in Jesus? Christians must not remain in their inner circle. They must replace the “Cain Attitude” so prevalent today with a “Rick Rescorla Attitude” and reach out with the Good News of Jesus Christ to save those who will otherwise perish in the fire.
So there it is: The Practice of Affirmation in three easy steps. Our affirming relationship with God by being FAITHFUL, THANKFUL and PRAYERFUL. Our affirming relationship with the Word of God by WELCOMING THE WORD, ACCEPTING THE WORD and LIVING THE WORD for the world to see. And our affirming relationship with others by being CONSISTENT IN WORD, DEED and WITNESS. As you are used of the Lord to help others become something beautiful, be assured you become something beautiful as well.
