If you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open them to First Thessalonians. And if you need a copy of God's Word, there are some Bibles over there on the rack, still to be claimed. And there's a giant hulking ESV study Bible as well, should anyone want a tank in your lap. We're going to be starting a series tonight on First Thessalonians, and we'll be in chapter one, verses one to five. And I want to start just by asking a really simple rhetorical question. Who are you? Who are you at your core? That's a really prevalent question in the world today. And there's a lot of ways that one could answer that question. I could say, I am, a Christian. I could say, I am a husband. I am a father. I am a pastor. I am a son. And you have your own answers for that question. You have various ways that you could answer it. And the world, of course, would I encourage you to have all sorts of answers to this question in so many different categories and so many different ways that it can be dizzying to try and keep up with all of the boxes that they've created and all the potential categories that they have created to fill those boxes with. And what this does, is it creates a great deal of confusion and frustration because nobody can agree on all the different categories that could rightly answer that question. And there's a bunch of disagreement about the variations within each of those categories. But what if there was someone who could speak authoritatively to answer that question? In his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul is writing to a group of relatively recent converts to Christianity. By all accounts, this church has only existed for about a year. He ministered to them for about six months, and he got run out of town, and we'll read about that shortly in the book of Acts. But they've been on their own for about six months. And you all, Looking around the room, the best I can tell, the overwhelming majority of you have been raised in the church. As someone who came into the church as an adult, I can tell you it's very confusing. And it can be very frustrating and difficult to realize things that I have believed my entire life about who I am and God and the world and all of this were absolutely wrong. And you're told, that Jesus is the answer to every single one of your problems, which is true, but then you have to wrestle with the fact that even though I know the answer, I still have a ton of problems. And you can start to wonder, maybe I'm not really cut out for this, or Maybe, in this case Paul, but whoever it was that brought you in, maybe they were a fraud. And so Paul writes this letter in large part to clarify both who the Thessalonians are, and who it is that they follow and where it is that they have placed their hope. G.K. Beal writes of this opening verse, this fits into one of the main purposes of the letter, to reassure the readers about the genuineness of their faith in God and Christ as well as the genuineness of the apostolic party as ambassadors of the true God. In other words, he's writing it to say, y'all are the real deal. And myself and my ministry team that taught the word of God to you are also the real deal. The deal goes on. The Thessalonians have turned from the old false idolatrous world in which they were spiritually located and have entered into God's kingdom. They have exchanged the citizenship of one country for another, a better one. so that whether you are awake or asleep, you may live with the Lord Jesus. And so tonight we're gonna look at this text under three headings, who you are in verse one, who made you that way in verses two to three, and then how do you know in verses four to five. So who you are, who made you that way, and how do you know? I'll start with reading the text and then we'll go under each of those headings. 1 Thessalonians 1, beginning in verse 1. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians, in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers, loved by God, that he has chosen you. because our gospel came to you, not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction, you know what kind of men we have proved to be among you for your sake. And thus ends the reading of God's word. So let's look at this under those three headings. First of all, who are you? Our passage begins with the standard Pauline greeting or introduction. And it's really the standard introduction to letters written at this time, from person A to party B, which is a little different than we do it today, and I would say actually is a little bit more sensible than the way we do it today. We do letters today, dear so-and-so, and then there's the whole body of the letter, sincerely, insert name here. And if you're like me, you actually skip and read the sincerely part first, so you know who the body of the letter is from. Nonetheless, no further commentary is needed on our current letter writing practices. The letter is from Paul, and it is to the Thessalonians. It's listed as from Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. Silvanus is almost certainly Silas, the companion of Paul in the Book of Acts, just a longer name for him. And so this letter is essentially from the founding ministry team, the team that planted this church. But while it's from all of them, it's not co-authored by them. Paul wrote this letter. It's more co-signed than co-authored. And we do this kind of thing all the time, even in our own day. This past Saturday was Mrs. Early's birthday, and she got a card from me, Brooke, James, and Lynn. And I'll give you one guess on who actually wrote the card. Me, not Brooke. She would have liked to. but I wrote it, but it's from all of us. It's that kind of idea. This is Paul's writing, but it's from all of them. It's endorsed. It's felt by all of them. And so the same idea is going on here. It's from all of these men who planted the church, but it's addressed to the church of the Thessalonians in God, in the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The founding of this church is recorded for us in Acts chapter 17. and verses one through nine. And in fact, let's go ahead and read that so we can get kind of a baseline for what this church is like. Can I get a volunteer to read Acts chapter 17? We'll split it in half. Somebody do one to four, Mr. Duncan. And then somebody else, I need five to nine. Miss Duncan. So Ford and then Francis. Acts 17, one to five, or excuse me, one to four, and then five to nine. And when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, This is Jesus, whom I proclaim to you as the Christ. And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas as in a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. All right, let me pause there before we change over to Francis. So we've got Paul as is his way. He goes into the local synagogue and he, he, uh, preaches from the old Testament scriptures, all these things concerning Christ about how he was to come and to die for the sins of his people. And he's saying, this one, he's probably using texts like Isaiah 53, probably several things from the prophet Daniel as well, he's saying, this one is Jesus. And we see that some come to believe this. Go ahead, Frances. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities shouted, these men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. And Jason has received them. And they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. And the people in the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Thank you. So who have we got? Who is part of this church? in according to verse four. We've got three different groups that joined, uh, that, that, that he did Paul's teaching. Great Greeks, right? Lots of Greeks and so well, Silas is with Paul working. Yes. Jews, Jews, a few, right? A few Jews, it says. And then, uh, not, not a few. So a good number of the leading women, that's actually, Just an interesting bit of trivia for you. One of the distinctive things about Christianity in the early church. was the high number of women that converted very quickly. It was held in high regard because it's a religion that honors women better than any other faith and treats you all as dignified and valuable. But that's not really the point we want to make right now. It's just to recognize that's kind of the cross section of the church. And it's largely Gentile, but there's also Greeks. Now what happened shortly after the church was founded? The Jews get jealous. There's a mob and they rush into this guy, Jason's house, who's presumably the place where they're meeting. They're looking for Paul and Silas and Timothy, but they've escaped. And so they take Jason and they bring him before the officials and say, these men are turning the world upside down and they have him thrown in prison. and the Christians that are able to post bail. But that's a pretty traumatic start to this church. And you can see where they would be frustrated and confused. And so Paul sends Timothy, we read about this later in the letter, to visit them and get a report on how they're doing. Now Timothy comes back to Paul with the report and Paul now writes them this letter. That's kind of the sequence of events. But just so we have kind of an idea of the dynamics of the church. And this is, again, some pretty wild stuff for a brand new Christian to have to deal with. They're being accused of being traitors and treasonous, not submitting to the government, being public enemy number one. Am I a traitor? Am I disloyal to Caesar? Who am I? And Paul cuts through all of that. He's not concerned with the ethnic background of anyone in this church. We know it's a mixed church according to Acts 17. He's not concerned with the gender of anyone in this church. We know they're both men and women. He's not concerned with anything except this, that they are the church of the Thessalonians. And what's the big deal? What makes that significant? They are in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a unique construction for Paul. In fact, he normally speaks of being in Christ. The only other passage I'm aware of where he refers to being in the Father is Colossians 3.3. So this is an unusual construction for him. But I think the reason he lists both here is for emphasis. He's emphasizing that above all, this church, this community of people, are intimately connected with and united to and communing with the living and true God. That is the most important thing about somebody, whether that's true or not. Are you among that group? Earlier this month, my family and I, we took a vacation, and we went back to Richmond, and I got to visit a lot of my old friends, guys that I've known since high school, who I have a lot of shared history with, have a lot of shared life experience, lots of fun stories, lots of all that stuff. And it was good to see them. But for some reason, I felt much closer and much more connected to the pastor of the church that we worshiped with on that Sunday and the elders that I had the chance to visit with that I'd never really met before. Why is that? Because we share the most important thing in common. We are in Christ Jesus together. I love my old buddies and I love the memories and the experiences that we got to share, but the members of the church of God, that's my primary identity. And I shared that with these brothers and I hope that's yours as well. Because if that's yours, if that's true, then the really wonderful news is you will be able to find family virtually anywhere you go. As long as you can find a solid church, you will find family. In reflecting on this, Dr. Bob Cara explains, this church is wonderfully connected to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And this connection exists both individually and corporately. And it provides all manners of blessings and responsibilities. Which is to say, that your relationship with God is yes, your relationship with God. but it's also your relationship to everybody else who's in relationship to God. And then Dr. Karrick quotes the Heidelberg Catechism as he's one to do. And he says, the catechism expounds upon these blessings and responsibilities. First, that all and everyone who believes being members of Christ are in common, partakers of him and all of his riches and gifts. And secondly, that everyone must know it to be his duty readily and cheerfully to employ his gifts for the advantage and salvation of other members. In other words, we are duty bound to all those that we're connected to in Christ. We're duty-bound to love one another, to be kind to one another, to look for opportunities to edify and build up one another. And so my first challenge to you all tonight from this text, especially the upperclassmen here, don't forget who you are in your relationship to God. And don't forget what implications that has for your relationships with one another. Don't forget that. Secondly, who made you that way? This is verses two and three. Paul, as is standard, begins the letter with a thanksgiving to God. So who made you part of the church? Who brought you into union and communion with God? Well, of course, as good Reformed kids, you all know the answer to that is God, right? He is sovereign over all things, including and especially your salvation. But let's resist the urge to just blow past this portion of the letter. Much can be learned from listening carefully to Paul's thanksgivings, especially since it's so easy for us to limit thanksgivings to things or to blessings that people receive. But Paul points out a couple of things here. First, that he actually tells the people for whom he is praying what he is thankful for about them. It's not just, dear God, thank you for James. Dear God, thank you for Chase. Dear God, thank you for Harris. Dear God, thank you for Ford. There's nothing wrong with being thankful for those people, and especially Hanuel. But to be specific in what are you thankful for about those people. Paul highlights for us how to do that here. And he also is praying for what he hopes that he'll see continued in their growing relationship with God. He thanks God for the very things that they will also need correctives in. This is instructive for us. If we take this to heart, it will improve our own prayer lives. And in turn, it will improve our spiritual life, and our relationships with one another. Because prayer is not just a list of requests. And that's in part my own fault and my own bad influence on you guys, because I always ask for prayer requests. Prayer is also a time to give praise. For Paul, Thanksgiving goes with prayer. Thanksgiving is part of prayer. One A helpful acronym that some of you might be familiar with for how to structure prayer is ACTS. A-C-T-S. Adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplications, which is requests. And if you pay attention to my pulpit prayers, you'll actually notice I try and follow that pretty rigidly. Begin with adoring God, then make confession of sin, give thanksgivings and requests. Um, so here's, here's the point though. Don't just thank God for specific people, but thank him for specific things about them. List details of things that you're grateful for and why. That's what we see Paul doing here. And you'll notice in verse three, he thanks God specifically for your works of faith. for your labor of love and steadfastness of hope in the Lord Jesus. And this is Paul's famous triad of faith, hope, and love, which he uses all the time in the New Testament in no specific order. It's changed up all the time, but he uses it in Romans 5, 2-5, 1 Corinthians 13, 13, Galatians 5, 5-6, Ephesians 4, 2-5, and several other places. And these virtues are applied to various, various things in all of those passage. But in our passage, it's something like this. I'm thankful to God for what you do in faithful obedience. I'm thankful that you do these things from a heart of compassion and love for your community. And I'm thankful that you're consistent and committed to these things because of the steadfastness of your hope in Christ, which does not fade away. And Paul has been paying close attention to these Christians, and he's got catalogs of these things that he's praying for them. And specifically in this case, he's got lots of things that he has to be thankful for, to praise God for about them. This is what a good and faithful pastor does. This is what I try to do to the best of my ability for you guys. I've got a spreadsheet in my office that's got every single one of your names on it, and all the middle schoolers, and all the college kids. And I pray for all of you guys each at least once a week. And I try and be specific, as specific as I can. What am I thankful for? What do I want to see God work more in you? What do I know of that's going on in your life that I can ask him to help you with? This is what a faithful pastor does. I particularly like the opportunities I get to brag about you guys in prayer. Paul is bragging on them. He's so proud of how they're doing. I think I probably annoyed a lot of my friends at RTS with how much I talked about you guys. But I don't care, and I'm not sorry about it. One of my favorite parts of my job is when one of you guys comes to me and says, I'm applying for a job. I'm applying to this college. I'm applying for this scholarship or whatever. Can you write me a letter of recommendation? because then I get to tell other people how much I think of you guys. It's seriously a delight to do that. The challenge for you guys then is twofold. One, it would really help if you gave me material to work with, which you do, keep it up. Two, Look for those things that you can praise God for in one another, and lift one another up in similar types of prayer. And one last key thing to notice in this passage is Paul not only prays specifically for these saints, but he lets them know about it. It's a huge encouragement to other people if you let them know, hey, I'm praying for you about this thing, right? You know, follow up with the Cansinos next week. What's the deal with the air conditioning? Are you guys going to be able to take care of it? Is there anything we can do to help you guys? Whatever. Pick something that you know and follow up on it. It's a huge encouragement just to know that other Christians are praying for you. And time is escaping us, so we'll move on to the last section. How do you know? So we've got, who are you? Who made you that way? And how do you know? Finally, how do we know that these characteristics and these qualities that Paul is praising God for in these people, how do we know that they're genuine? How do we know that their faith, hope, and love isn't just politeness, right? There's lots of very polite non-Christians out there. How do we know someone is in God and in Christ? Well, the rest of this section runs through verse 10, and Paul actually gives three answers to that question. And we'll cover all three of them next time, but we'll focus our attention just briefly on verses four and five. He says, for we know, brothers loved by God, so he's bringing election into this, that he has chosen you, how do we know? Because our gospel came to you, not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit. Our gospel there is shorthand for the whole of Paul's teaching to them, which of course centers on the person and work of Jesus Christ. And it came in word, of course, right? Paul is a preacher. They heard the word preached. They heard it expounded. But that word was not alone. It was accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit. So we know that you're the real deal because the Holy Spirit has blessed the preaching of the word and has made it effective in your life. And so my closing admonition then is to seek this every time you study God's word. It ought to be that when you do your personal devotions, you begin with prayer. It also ought to be that before you come to church on Sunday morning, or on Wednesday night, or on Sunday night, or whenever, pray for the person preaching or teaching, pray for God to give them skill and wisdom and insight, and pray for God to give you a heart to receive and believe what is true. And I'll just leave you guys with this citation from Larger Catechism 160, because I cannot not do some part of the Westminster Standards on Wednesday night. It just wouldn't be right. Larger Catechism 160. What is required of those that hear the word preached? You guys. It is required of those that hear the word preached that they attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer. Preparation is much easier for you guys, because you happen to be in a Reformed church that believes in expository preaching, so you always know what passage is coming up next, give or take a couple of verses. You can prepare beforehand. Examine what they hear by the scriptures. Don't just take my word for it. Look back at the text. Does what I'm saying match that? receive the truth with faith, love, meekness, and readiness of mind as the Word of God, meditate and confer of it, hide it in their hearts, and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives. How does Paul know that they're the real deal? Because they attended to his preaching, and he saw the seeds that he planted in his preaching bring forth fruit in their lives. And that's what we all need to pursue when we sit under the ministry of the Word of God. Let's pray. God in heaven, we give thanks to you for your word. And we thank you for the Holy Spirit that accompanies it with power. And I pray that you would work powerfully in the lives of these young people, that they would bring forth much fruit for the glory of your name and the good of one another. We ask it in Christ's name and for his glory. Amen.