1 Thess 1:1-9; They responded to God’s plan, and we? (1 Thessalonians 1); Patrice Berger

1 Thess 1:1-9; They responded to God’s plan, and we? (1 Thessalonians 1); Patrice Berger

They responded to God’s plan, and we?

Context of the creation of the Church of Thessaloniki

Acts 17.1-14

1 Paul and Silas passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where the Jews had a synagogue.

2 Paul entered as usual.

For three Sabbaths he discussed with them from the Scriptures explaining and demonstrating that the Messiah was to suffer and be resurrected.

« This Jesus whom I am announcing to you, he said, it is he who is the Messiah. »

4 Some of them were convinced and joined Paul and Silas, as well as a large number of God-fearing Gentiles and many important women.

5 However, the Jews, who remained unbelieving, took with them a few rascals who were hanging around the squares, caused a crowd and thus caused trouble in the city. Then they went to Jason’s house and looked for Paul and Silas to bring them to the people.

6 When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brothers before the magistrates of the city, shouting, “These people who have turned the world upside down have also come here, and Jason has welcomed them. They all act against the edicts of the emperor by claiming that there is another king, Jesus.

8 With these words they disturbed the crowd and the magistrates, who did not release Jason and the others until they obtained bail from them.

10 Immediately the brothers sent Paul and Silas to Berea by night.

As soon as they arrived, they entered the synagogue of the Jews.

11 These latter had nobler sentiments than those of Thessalonica. They received the word with great eagerness, and they searched the Scriptures daily to see if what they were told was correct.

12 So many of them believed, as well as many prominent women and men among the Gentiles.

13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica heard that Paul was speaking the word of God also at Berea, they came there to agitate [and disturb] the crowd.

14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul away to the sea side, while Silas and Timothy remained at Berea.

Reading/Text of the day

1 Thessalonians chapter 1

1 From Paul, Silvanus and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be to you and peace [from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ]!

2 We constantly express our gratitude to God for all of you by mentioning you in our prayers.

3 We constantly remember the work of your faith, the work of your love and the firmness of your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before God our Father.

4 We know, brothers and sisters beloved of God, that he has chosen you 5 because our gospel has not been preached to you in words only, but with power, with the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know indeed how we behaved among you because of you.

Model

6 You yourselves have become imitators of us and of the Lord by accepting the word in the midst of great difficulties, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.

7 So you have become a model for all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

8 For not only has the word of the Lord resounded from your homes in Macedonia and Achaia, but also everywhere your faith in God has been made known, so that we do not need to talk.

The tenor of this faith

9 In fact, it is said about us how we were received by you and how you turned to God, leaving idols to serve the living and true God 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised up, Jesus, the deliverer from the wrath to come

Paul thinks of the Thessalonians

Memory well present in

thoughts,
the heart,
prayers
of the missionary team led by the apostle Paul about all the people of the church of Thessalonica.

XXL quality of their faith

Their faith is real, not just a philosophy.

Their love is much more than a feeling but pushes them to take concrete, committed actions that do not save their strength.

Their faith looks forward to the final act planned by God: the return of Christ, kicking off the restoration of all things.

No wonder God has chosen a people

In view of what this church demonstrates, the apostle recognizes that God had chosen these people for His people to bear witness to Him.

in Thessaloniki,
in the surrounding areas
and throughout the Mediterranean basin.
God at the helm by the Holy Spirit

The apostle remembers the action of the Holy Spirit,

when preaching the gospel,
when He worked in hearts to understand Him and the Gospel
and how He worked to bring about a radical transformation in their lives.

God had a people

God knew that there were people who were just waiting for the time when the gospel would be announced that they would really turn to Him and really become His people and radiate Him all around.

God rules over His people in His territory

The whole Bible shows us that God has a very clear purpose:

reign (in a good way)
on his people
in the excellent territory which He has reserved for him.

Example Adam and Eve

God administers (reigns over) His people, Adam and Eve, in the original paradise (territory He reserves for them).

Same goal despite sin

Following the entry of decay on all things by the rebellion of man, God does not change his plan.

The Hebrews and Canaan

God chooses a people (the Hebrews) to lead them and reserves for them the land of Canaan where milk and honey flow.

The purpose of this people is that they radiate the Eternal, something they do when the Eternal really reigns over this people.

By Christ, Christian, Heaven

With Christ’s victory through His resurrection, God does not change His plan.

Through Christ, God redeems a people that He leads and reserves for them eternity at His side, as territory.

God in initiative

What we see is that in this project, God, who knows everything, chooses men, such as

Abraham,
Moses,
David,
etc
to carry out His project.

Answers

It is wonderful to see that the answer to this project is faith in God and trusting submission to Him.

A life of wonder

This response of faith enables these men

to enter into the events that God has planned to carry out His project,
to see all the value of their lives
to be amazed and grateful to God for what He is and does (examples, in the Psalms).

Same Messiah and Jesus

This is what God does with men and shows the same example with the Messiah. In this marvelous project, God redeems a people through the Messiah, all of whose acts and deeds are designated in advance in the prophecies of the prophets who speak of Him.

This Messiah, Jesus, follows in the footsteps of all these prophecies, in a confident submission to God the Father.

The fruit of this obedience to God’s plan written in advance is the saving forever of a multitude of people who are the people of God.

God chooses people from Thessalonica

In this crowd of people, today’s text tells us that there are people from Thessalonica whom God has chosen.

For that, they had to hear the gospel, to be able to accept it with the help of the Holy Spirit and for this people redeemed by Christ to radiate from God with the help of the Holy Spirit, too.

Same for us

There are no accidents for us too,

God chooses a people,
it is possible through Christ
and it is the Holy Spirit
who makes us understand
and which helps us to reflect this new identity.
Difficult balance between choice and free will

We struggle to reconcile the fact of God’s choice and sovereignty with our responsive agency, the problem is that our fallen understanding fails to make the connection.

The problem is neither God’s choice nor our response, but our limited and sin-affected reasoning.

The choice drives me adoration Testimony

On the other hand, the choice of God pushes us to two things:

adoration, thanking Him again and again for having chosen us in His grace and His love;
discover in a confident submission how to reflect Him by our life, by the proclamation of the gospel.

To action and not to passivity

In fact, God’s choice leads us more to discovery than to passivity!

What has God planned for me and for His people?

Where are the people He chose for Himself?

Luke 10.2

He said to them (mission for 70 disciples): “The harvest is great, but there are few workers. So ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers into his harvest. »

Here in today’s text we see that the Thessalonians,

the people that God has chosen radiates regionally and throughout the Mediterranean basin with an idolatry proven to be sterile and dead. They have discovered the Eternal, the living and true God and their attitude to life is quite different.

Life turnaround

Turned to God through Christ.
Abandonment of idols.
Exactly like when you do a conversion on skis (turn around on the spot)

The Thessalonians have the same experience as Paul

They had the same experience as Paul, Silvain and Timothée

who by the Holy Spirit have understood the salvation of God through Christ,
who, under the illumination of the Holy Spirit, accepted this rescue,
who, with the help of the Holy Spirit, grow into the likeness of Christ.
Paul and his team are ahead of them and are therefore their role models

The apostle and his team are ahead of them in time and are logically

models of God’s action, through the Holy Spirit, in their lives,
human examples to follow,
just as Jesus was for the apostles.

When we read today’s text

1 Thessalonians chapter 1. 1-9

1 From Paul, Silvanus and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians

which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace [from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ]!

2 We constantly express our gratitude to God for all of you by mentioning you in our prayers.

3 We constantly remember the work of your faith, the work of your love and the firmness of your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before God our Father.

4 We know, brothers and sisters beloved of God, that he has chosen you 5 because our gospel has not been preached to you in words only, but with power, with the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know indeed how we behaved among you because of you.

Model

6 You yourselves have become imitators of us and of the Lord by accepting the word in the midst of great difficulties, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.

7 So you have become a model for all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

8 For not only has the word of the Lord resounded from your homes in Macedonia and Achaia, but also everywhere your faith in God has been made known, so that we do not need to talk.

The tenor of this faith

9 In fact, it is said about us how we were received by you and how you turned to God, leaving idols to serve the living and true God 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised up, Jesus, the deliverer from the wrath to come

Understand and question

God left us this text for us to understand Him, to question our lives and to ask ourselves the question: “What would the apostle Paul have said of our assembly? » ; would he have remembered the work of our faith, the work of our love and the firmness of our hope?

Meditate and reflect

Personally, this text encourages us to meditate and reflect (with the help of God and for Him) on several subjects.

To be his child

Awareness of the privilege of being His child.

Does it make me wonder at His willful action?

Does it push me to recognition?

Stock

Am I motivated, curious, excited

to find out what God has in store for me?
to see those He will put in my way to discover the gospel?
to be the example to follow for someone to progress in Christ?

Action of the Holy Spirit in me

This text shows us that in His resolute action, God, through the Holy Spirit, has worked for me to salvation.

What about His action now?

What influence does He have on my life?