1 Thessalonians 2:13-3:13 - What You Can Give To Other Christians
Main Idea: Your life is intended by God to bless your spiritual family.
WHAT YOU CAN GIVE TO OTHER CHRISTIANS
1. Proof that God’s Word changes lives.
2. A pattern to follow when they don’t know what to do.
3. Someone to celebrate for eternity.
4. Strength and comfort in hard times.
5. A joy-filled ministry.
6. Increasing and overflowing love.
7. Caring oversight from loving discipleship.
SERMON TRANSCRIPT (AUTO-TRANSCRIBED BY APPLE PODCASTS)
we are in the book of 1 Thessalonians. The series is entitled Finishing Touches.
Paul and Silas and Timothy had been going on a missionary journey planting churches and encouraging some previously planted churches in both Asia Minor and in Greece.
And that is where the city of Thessalonica was in kind of the Greek, Greece and Macedonia region of the world. It was a port city with a population of about 200,000. So it was a thriving metropolis for its day.
Paul and Silas and Timothy had come to the city.
They were preaching in the synagogues and discipling people for all of like three weeks before they got run out of town by a mob of people that were religiously Jewish and were jealous of what the Lord was doing with these even gentile believers.
And so Paul and Silas and Timothy had to leave this just baby church, and they had to go to the next town of Berea. Paul was very nervous about the spiritual health and like safety, vitality of the Thessalonica believers' faith.
And so he sent Timothy to go check on them. Timothy was with them for a little bit, then came back to Paul and said, they are doing fantastic. They are still declaring the gospel to other people.
They are walking with the Lord. When we're going into cities, we are hearing about the faith of the Thessalonians that they had once been serving and worshiping false gods and false idols and worshiping in those temples.
But now they have turned from those idols to serve the living and true God. And so Paul writes this letter of first Thessalonians to the church to say, I'm so, so happy. I am relieved in my spirit.
Also, there's some things that you guys gotta know if you're going to continue in your faith.
And so what we're gonna see today in chapter two and verse 13 through chapter three and verse 13 is what you can give to other Christians, what you can give to other Christians.
Most of the time, as we get into church, we tend to think of church, religion, as what can God do for me? If I pray these specific prayers, can I encounter more health or more wealth? Can I have ideal relationships with people?
Like, is that what I get out of this religion thing?
But what God tells us in his word is that the point of our relationship with God and the Holy Spirit living inside of us and him giving us his word and giving us his body, the church, is that we are intended to be an agent of good, an agent of change
and help and assistance to one another as believers. If you will, becoming a Christian is less about what can God do for me, though he does so much for us. It is much more often in the day to day about how can we care for other people.
Paul, in these verses that we'll see today, outlines here is what the Thessalonians did for Paul and Silas and Timothy. And he's saying, I thank God for the blessing that you are to me.
And so I want us to see today, what can we do for other Christians? If you will, this could also be phrased, what you should give to other Christians. But this is what the Thessalonian believers did in the life of Paul.
The main thought that we're going to see today is that your life is intended by God to bless your spiritual family. Your life is intended by God to bless your spiritual family. Let's do this first.
Let's pray. We'll dive into the verses and then see, I think I have seven points today, because I might be Baptist and do some things in threes, but I also rebel sometimes and I do things in sevens. So let's pray together and ask for God to bless.
Dear Lord, thank you for today. God, I pray that you would be with my spirit. Lord, I pray that you would be with each person that is here.
Lord, may you be glorified in us. God, we accomplish nothing if we are here out of mere duty. Lord, we need to be here in order to experience your presence at work.
And so, God, I pray right now that you would help us to hear from you. Lord, may the words that I say be the words that you want said. Lord, put a guard on my mouth that I would communicate your word clearly.
Lord, I pray for the ears of everyone that's here, including my own. May we be sensitive, Lord, to receive your instructions for us today. I love you, God, and I pray all of this in your name.
Amen.
5:04
Receiving Godʼs Word
Let's begin reading in verse number 13.
It says, this is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you welcomed it, not as a human message, but as it truly is the word of God, which also works effectively in you who believe.
Here Paul starts off by saying, one of the things that we are so thrilled about, about your faith, is that when you heard what would later become the New Testament, the gospel message and the writings of the apostles and prophets, that as these
Thessalonian believers heard the word of God declared to them, they received it not simply as, this is what this guy Paul or this guy Timothy said, but he says you received it as it is in truth, the word of God. The message from the divine mind of
our triune God spoken to you. It is one of the great swirling question marks in my mind, as I think back on my life's history and how many times my life has been radically affected through the word of God being spoken into my life.
Whether as a child, I can still remember verses and times when someone spoke, and I heard not just some guy or some Sunday school teacher tell me something, but where I heard God speak to my soul.
Literally even this morning downstairs in our Sunday school Bible study on the Ten Commandments, there was one person that said something, and I in that moment, like vividly felt the Spirit speak to my heart and say, here's what I need you to hear in
this moment. Anytime that we come to the Word of God, whether it's in your personal devotional reading time, whether it's in a time like this, where you're under preaching, listen to the Word of God, not because some person has like, you know, five
hacks to better financial peace, but because you are hearing from God himself. But that does mean, let's listen and let's hear it for what it truly is. There were many people in Thessalonica that did not receive God's Word that way.
When we read through the verses a couple weeks ago of this portion of the book of Acts, we read that after Thessalonica, Paul and Silas and Timothy went to the city of Berea, and it says, these, the Bereans, were more noble than those in Thessalonica
because they studied the scriptures to see if those things were true. And so may we have a heart to say, God, I want to hear from you through however your Word comes into my life.
8:01
Imitating Faith Amidst Affliction
Then in verse 14, he says, For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God's churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. He says, You, there in Macedonia, you started acting like the Christian churches that are in Israel.
He says, Since you have also suffered the same things from people of your own country, just as they did from the Jews.
That as Christianity started off there in the land of Israel, you had those that were following the Old Testament laws that rejected Jesus as the Messiah, and just as they killed Christ, they killed many of the disciples and even some of the apostles
as well. And Paul encourages them saying, Yes, you're being attacked, Thessalonians, by some of the other people around you.
He says, But you are just following in the footsteps of Jesus and in the footsteps of all of these other churches and what they have gone through as well. He says, Who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us.
They displease God and are hostile to everyone by keeping us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. As a result, they are constantly filling up their sins to the limit, and wrath has overtaken them at last.
Here, even as Paul is saying, Thessalonians, like, I'm so proud of you guys.
You received the word and even in persecution, you started modeling what Jesus's life entailed and what the other Christians where Christianity started, you are experiencing all of those same things.
But then he takes a moment to say, there is genuine wickedness and evil that is in the world. And here, though Paul is highlighting specifically, here's what the churches in Israel in the first century were going through.
This is not stating a, like, uniform racial or religious animosity that, unfortunately, I've seen many people take online. Here, what Paul is highlighting is, there are people who do not want others to hear the gospel.
There are people that do everything that they can to make life hard for believers, that they would be unable to share their faith with others. And those that pursue that path will be under the wrath of God.
I want to encourage us, then, if we're going to be believers, if there is wrath appointed for those that reject God and try and keep people from hearing the gospel, then we should be the people that are sharing the gospel.
May we not be the people that know Jesus, that know what it is to be forgiven, to have a home in heaven, to have the Holy Spirit, to have Christ's body, the church, with us, and yet do not share it with any other person.
It says in verse 17, as for us, brothers and sisters, after we were forced to leave you for a short time, and then I love here, in person, not in heart, we had to leave you bodily, but we were still with you in spirit.
It says, we greatly desired and made every effort to return and see you face to face. It says, so we wanted to come to you, even I, Paul, time and again, but Satan hindered us. I do want you to realize that in your life, your soul has an enemy.
Your soul has someone that wants to stop you, if he can, from discipling and caring for and praying for other people, from following God. Do not let him. Realize that the circumstances that you go through, it is not just happenstance.
There are moments that God divinely ordains so that we have opportunities to share, to love, to evangelize, to be kind, to forgive.
And Satan will want to use those same opportunities to say, okay, listen, you went through this hardship, you should run away from God now.
You encountered this thing, so you should build up walls all around you and not get close to any other believers. This happened, so yeah, you should just stay away from church.
I want you to realize, Satan wants to hinder you from walking with the Lord and from walking with God's people. Do not allow him to do so.
Then he says this, for who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.
I think I have this in my notes later, but I don't care, I want to say it now. When I get in front of my judge and my creator and my savior and my Lord, I'm not going to be thrilled or be happy about, listen, God, here's how many sermons I preached.
Here's how many podcast episodes I recorded. Here's how many Bibles that I gave away. When I stand before my king, the thing I'm going to be most excited about, the thing that I want to show him is you guys.
The people in my life that I've been able to pray for and care for and disciple, those are the most important things.
We can have lots of good pursuits in our life, but the most important pursuits are the relationships that we are building with other believers.
Here, Paul and Silas and Timothy, Paul could be like, Hey, God, I wrote 13, 12 or 13 books of the New Testament. We're still iffy on Hebrews, but that's a side note. You could say, listen, I wrote these 12 or 13 books of the New Testament.
I went through all of these hardships, and look at all the persecution I went through. But what Paul doesn't say is my knowledge or my abilities are our glory and our hope and our crown of boasting at the appearance of Jesus. He says, it's you.
And I want you to know that your life has immense value and purpose in the kingdom of Jesus and that those that truly love Jesus will view their relationship with you as incredibly important.
And I hope and pray that as your pastor, that that is something that is always clear in my heart. The goal is never what big goals can we hit. It is who can we love and disciple as Jesus has loved me and put people in my life to disciple me.
You are our glory and joy.
14:49
Paulʼs Concern and Timothyʼs News
He says, therefore, when we could no longer stand it, we thought it was better to be left alone in Athens. And we sent Timothy, our brother and God's co-worker in the Gospel of Christ. Also, I love that phrase.
Timothy is God's co-worker in Christ. You can co-work with God as you accomplish his will. It says to strengthen and encourage you concerning your faith.
They needed to be strengthened because there were going to come some more hard battles, and they needed to have strength for the fight. They needed to be encouraged because life can drag you down and depress you and dishearten you.
And people need both strength and encouragement. He says, so that no one will be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this.
In fact, when we were with you, we told you in advance that we were going to experience affliction. And as you know, it happened. He says, we go through hard things all the time.
On their missionary journeys, they were constantly thrown out of town. Paul was stoned once. He was shipwrecked once.
You know, have snake bite him. Just all sorts of terrible things kept on happening to Paul. And so he let them know even while he was there, those that live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
It is a recurring truth in life. Says, for this reason, when I could no longer stand it, I also sent him to find out about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you and that our labor might be for nothing.
I love the phrasing here of when I could no longer stand it. I couldn't bear not knowing how you were any longer.
And here Paul's fear, his anxiety was that Satan will have drawn you away and that all of the work that they had done in Thessalonica would be for nothing. Can I ask you, whose spiritual walk do you care about like this?
Who are you this invested in that you would say, I have put so much time and labor and love and prayer in for this person? I want them to win. I want them to get to that moment before Jesus and for everything to have been worth it.
I just love the way that Paul phrases that there. He says, but now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love.
He reported that you always have good memories of us and that you long to see us as we also long to see you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and affliction, we were encouraged about you through your faith.
Whose life are you blessing? Are you an encouragement to through your walk with Jesus? Who knows when you're going through the hard times but you're retaining faith in Christ?
Who knows the temptations that you've been fighting that you've begun to see Jesus getting victory in? You are not meant to be isolated as a Christian. You are meant to live your life such that your faith is an encouragement to others.
He says, for now, we live if you stand firm in the Lord. I love this Greek word, understand firm, is the Greek word, staco. It's like, stake in the ground.
And I was like, staco. If you stand firm in the Lord, if you are that tent peg that you're not going to anywhere, you're holding it down, he says, we can breathe easy if we know that you are secure in your faith with Jesus.
He says, how can we thank God for you in return for all the joy we experience before our God because of you, as we pray very earnestly night and day to see you face to face and to complete what is lacking in your faith, if you will, to put the
finishing touches on. He says, now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you, and may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we do for you.
May he make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Amen.
19:20
Proof Godʼs Word Transforms
What can we give to other Christians? Well, what we see in these verses, first, as I saw in verse number 13 of chapter two, we can give other Christians proof that God's word changes lives.
We live in a world where we are constantly told that Christianity and Jesus are primitive myths to be discarded in the light of science's progress and sociological advancements.
We're told that God is not real, the Bible is not true, and that the only useful religion is love of self and love of only others that don't commit specific societal atrocities.
However, when you allow God's word to actually change you, this is in that verse 13, the word of God, which also works effectively in you who believe.
When you allow God's word to actually change you, when the cruel and unforgiving become loving and patient, when the sexually immoral become committed and loyal, when the timid and apathetic become invested and befriending, we see God at work in the
lives of real people through the instruction of his word. You can be one of the greatest assurances for others who are going through crises of faith if you choose to allow God's word to actually change you from the person you are right now into the
person God wants to form you into. You can give other people proof that God's word changes lives.
I love even knowing some of the testimonies and stories in this room that those that had suffered with addiction, those that had formerly wanted nothing to do with God. Today, they sit here as they have for decades, loving and following King Jesus.
I know that God is real, because I know these people. Will you and I allow God to use us to be that assurance in someone else's life?
That someone goes, okay, well, I knew Bryon five years ago, and I know Bryon today, and I know that this wasn't just him, you know, going on, what do they call that? Something 75, it's like 75 fast, or 75 hard, or whatever it is.
It's not just self-discipline. God moved in and changed him so that who he was once, he's not that same person anymore. So we can give other Christians proof that God's word changes lives.
21:49
Christian Model Faith, Eternal Hope, Strength
Secondly, we can give other Christians a pattern to follow when they don't know what to do.
There in chapter two in verses 14 through 16, this is the imitators of God's churches, that this church began imitating the other churches that had started first. Christ modeled a pattern of living for the apostles.
The apostles modeled it for the churches in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. Those churches modeled it for Paul, and then Paul modeled it for the Thessalonian believers. All of the Christian life is, if you will, monkey see, monkey do.
If you are one that doesn't know what to do yet, I want to encourage you, monkey see. See what other people, other Christians, other believers are doing in their walk, and then do it.
If you know what to do, then model it so that some other monkey can see. Not sure how to navigate your job in a Christ-honoring way? I know some awesome disciples at Tabernacle who you could learn from.
Do you need to know how to handle a relationship situation or choose who to be romantically involved with? I've got amazing friends here in this church who could give you invaluable advice, because I've heard it from them.
When we need to know the way to go, God has given us brothers and sisters we can imitate who are imitating Jesus' life here in 2026. That doesn't mean they're going to be perfect.
But each of us have strengths in areas where we have followed Jesus, and where hopefully someone else can imitate and follow us as well. Can I ask you today, what areas of your life would people be better for if they imitated you?
Would a person be a better husband if they acted like you do towards your wife? Would they be more humble in their words if they talked like you? Would they be more self-controlled if they responded, ate, drank, and had the patience that you do?
We can give other believers a pattern to follow when they don't know what to do. We can also give fellow believers someone to celebrate for eternity.
The biggest prize that I have waiting for me in heaven outside of Jesus is not a most podcast episodes recorded trophy or a most books of the Bible preached. It has nothing to do with church attendance or how many people I served.
In heaven, my biggest earthly prize is going to be seeing you there. I can't wait for that day.
When we said goodbye to our church in Washington five years ago, one of the things that God just, it wasn't five years ago, three years ago, sorry, one of the big things that God encouraged my heart with was I'm going to get to spend eternity with
these friends. And so even though I have to leave them right now, it's not forever. And actually, I get to spend forever with them. And I'm looking forward to that day.
Can I also encourage you, if you don't know the Lord today, you've never turned your life over to King Jesus, do that. Do it today. I want to see you there.
I want to spend eternity with you. Can I ask you, who are you trying to win to Christ so that you will be with them forever? What else can we give, fellow Christians?
We can give them strength and comfort in hard times. The biggest encouragement in my toughest days are God's people hard at work in loving and being faithful.
When I know no matter what craziness happened this past week, that I'm going to see my brother, sister, and the Lord sitting in that seat, they're going to give me a hug, they're praying for me, goodness, that doesn't bring comfort to my soul.
You can bring strength and comfort to hurting people. Realize that your faithfulness in showing up, in loving, in walking with Jesus, makes all the difference in the world to some people around you.
If that idea sounds foreign to you, that someone else's faith could be meaningful to your own, I encourage you to begin building relationships with people you consistently see here at Tabernacle.
I know them, and they are a constant source of strength for me in hard times, and I'm certain that they'll be that for you as well.
I love when, you know, I'm going through pastoral stuff, and I see, you know, a text or a call from this person or that person at church.
When I see on Facebook someone posting something from their morning devotional, and it just brings such joy to my soul to go, they're still walking with Jesus, they're still upright, I can keep on doing the same too.
You can give others strength and comfort in hard times.
26:51
Joyful Overflowing Love
We can also give others a joy-filled ministry. In verses nine through 11 of chapter three, where Paul says, how can we thank God for you in return for all the joy we experienced before our God because of you?
Who can thank God because of how you are acting? What actions did you take this past week to care for a family member, a coworker, an elder, or a friend, that they would thank Jesus for you? And who are you thankful to Jesus for?
Who has invested in you? Who is praying for you? Who greets you warmly every time that they see you?
Who has been generous to you? Can I encourage you to thank God for them? May we be people that have gratitude in our hearts for those that love us and care for us, pray for us, and talk to God about it.
Tattle on them. Be like, Lord, I am so thankful for Denise. Lord, I'm so thankful for Seth.
God, thanks for the encouragement that they are in my life. Thank God for the people around you. We can also give fellow believers an increasing and an overflowing love.
We read that in verse number 12. I'm going to pull that up real quick, where he says, may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we do for you.
I'm going to try not to make a mess, and I won't, just work. Okay, not going to make a mess.
But I love in this picture, he says, I want to have you increase and overflow with love, but as God gives his love to people, that it goes, but it doesn't just hit, it spills over so that the love that God has placed in us, then flows into other
people as well. That went a lot better than I thought it might. So praise the Lord for that. But it was such a beautiful word picture that Paul has.
No one mess with that. It's clean water. It came from the tap, but don't mess with it.
Do you have an increasing and overflowing love for others? How are you showing love for other people in this room or in your family or for your neighbors?
In what way are you showing love for them more today or this month or this year than you were in the previous day or month or year? How are you increasing in your love for others?
29:31
Caring Discipleship
And then we can give to other Christians caring oversight from loving discipleship. Here, Paul is writing all these things to this church because he cares about him. He wants them to walk with Jesus.
He wants them to love each other. He wants them to stand firm in the face of opposition because he loves them. He has discipled them.
He cares about him. And so he wants to help them go the way that they should go. Can I ask you, whose spiritual life are you caring for?
Who are you sending verses to? Who are you spending time with talking about the Lord? Who are you encouraging to forgive, to serve, to love, to quit addiction?
We are never ever meant to be solo Christians. We are a part of the body. We're a thumb or a pinky or a knee or an ear meant to help the rest of the body accomplish the purpose that Jesus has for us.
What can we give to other Christians? Proof that God's word changes lives. A pattern to follow when they don't know what to do.
Someone to celebrate for eternity. Strength and comfort in hard times. A joy-filled ministry.
Increasing and overflowing love. And caring oversight from loving discipleship. What of these will you say, Lord, I hear you speaking to me, I'm going to do that this week.
I know the person I'm going to thank you for. I know the person that I'm going to invest in. I know the person that I am going to reach out to.
I know the person I'm going to witness to. However God has spoken to you today, I encourage you to follow and obey him in that.
