1 Thessalonians 1.1-10

In the movie The Poseidon Adventure, the ocean liner S.S. Poseidon is on the open sea when it hits a huge storm. Lights go out, smoke pours into rooms and, amid all the confusion, the ship flips over.

Because of the air trapped inside the ocean liner, it floats upside down. But in the confusion, the passengers can’t figure out what’s going on. They scramble to get out, mostly by following the steps to the top deck. The problem is, the top deck is now 100 feet under water. In trying to get to the top of the ship, they drown.

The only survivors are the few who do what doesn’t make sense. They do the opposite of what everyone else is doing and climb up into the dark belly of the ship until they reach the hull. Rescuers hear them banging and cut them free.

Our human instincts often calculate situations wrong.  What we swear is up is actually down.  And, what we fully believe is down is actually up.

In the case of the passengers on the fictional S.S. Poseidon, when they refused to believe that turning their life upside down was the correct positioning, they were led on a path to death.  Only those that were willing to have their understanding of their lives and the world around them turned upside down lived.

Over the next ten weeks, if my ADHD doesn’t get the best of me, we are going to hear from 1 Thessalonians in it’s entirety.  

I have never preached though this New Testament book so this series of sermons will be new to all of us.

In this morning’s text, from the first couple of verses of this Biblical book, we are going to hear and find comfort in the truth that what the world around us considers a life turned upside down by believing and following Jesus is actually a life turned right-side up by God’s grace for our ultimate good.

Let’s hear from the beginning of 1 Thessalonians now.

1 Thessalonians 1.1-10 begins like this:

[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.

[2] We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, [3] remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of 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 only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. [6] And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, 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 not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. [9] For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, [10] and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (ESV)

To begin this morning, we have to understand that the Biblical book of 1 Thessalonians is a letter from some 1st Century AD Christian leaders to some of the very first Christians following Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

In the Bible, a large percentage of the books that make up what we call the New Testament are letters, or, using the fancier word that you will sometimes hear, epistles.

Now, a little bit about the form of these ancient letters.

In an ancient letter, we have to recognize is that the authors of the letter put their name first so that you know who is speaking to you.  This is different than our letter writing style today in that we put the name of the person or people that we are writing to first and then reveal our name, as the sender of the letter, last.

In verse one, we hear the names of the Christian leaders who are writing this letter.  Their names are Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy.

So, our first question should be, “Who are these writers?” 

Let’s take them one by one.

First, we have Paul.  

We hear a lot about Paul when we study the Bible because Paul, or, the Apostle Paul, is responsible for writing many of the letters that make up the New Testament section of our Bible.  However, Paul wasn’t some life-long committed follower of Jesus.  No, the exact opposite is true.  For a large part of Paul’s life, he was an active opponent of Jesus and God’s work in Jesus. 

However, after coming face-to-face with Jesus and His forgiving grace, Paul’s life was turned upside down (which is right side up to God) after believing in Jesus.  Paul went from imprisoning and murdering those who believe in Jesus to believing in Jesus and leading others to believe in Jesus for grace, peace, and hope. (See Acts 9 for the whole story)

Next, we have Silvanus.  

In other parts of the Bible, Silvanus goes by the Greek form of his name, Silas.  Silas was one of the leading members of the church in Jerusalem.  He became a traveling ministry companion of the Apostle Paul and they preached the Good News of Jesus together all throughout the Mediterranean region.

Silvanus’ life was turned upside down (which is right side up to God) after believing in Jesus.  Silvanus went from having no great purpose outside of seeking his own fickle happiness to being a traveling preacher and church planter.

And, the last name on the list of those that penned this letter is Timothy.  

Timothy was a young man whose Jewish mother found herself believing in Jesus as the Christ/Messiah when Paul had visited their city of Lystra to preach the Gospel.  Later on, Paul met up with Timothy and took him on as a mentee.  Paul’s affection for Timothy led Paul to write two personal letters to Timothy to help him with his budding ministry.  We have these two letters as part of our New Testament as well—they are named 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy.

After living in a Greek/Pagan and Jewish household, Timothy’s life was turned upside down (which is right side up to God) after believing in Jesus.  Timothy went from worshiping many false gods to believing in the one true God who lived, died, and rose for the salvation of those who believe.  He then became a traveling church planter and eventually a pastor.

The next questions we have to ask, in order to get a full understanding of the Good News of Jesus Christ in this text are, “Who are the recipients of the letter?” and “Who are the Thessalonians?”

Well, the Thessalonians are the people who live in the city of Thessalonica.  Very helpful, I know.  That’s like someone asking you to tell them about Long Islanders and you responding, “Long Islanders are the people that live on Long Island.”

To be more specific, in the context of this morning’s Biblical passage, the Thessalonians were the Christians living in the Greek city of Thessalonica, which was the capital province of Macedonia—the largest city on the Greek peninsula.  These Christians, in this city, experienced immediate threats and persecution from the Jews and the government after having their lives turned upside down by faith in Jesus (which is right side up to God). 

I know we often talk about all of these Biblical cities from at least 2000 years ago.  Just so you know that these aren’t fantastical lands from a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, here is a map to show you where Thessalonica was and still is today (renamed to Thessaloniki):

Now, to get a fuller picture of how the Good News of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of Sin and eternal life got to the city of Thessalonica and what happened when it was preached, we can turn to the Biblical book of Acts.  

The book of Acts is the second part of the book of Luke.  The book of Acts tells us what happened after Jesus resurrected from the dead and ascended back to Heaven.  Specifically, the book of Acts tells us the history of the message of Jesus being spread in different cities, the lives that were changed by faith, and some of the rejection and persecution that Christians faced in the very early days of the Christian Church.

In Acts 17.1-9, we are told about Paul and Silas’s ministry (remember Silas is Silvanus from 1 Thessalonians) in Thessalonica.  Let’s hear from Acts 17 now:

[1] Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. [2] And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, [3] explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” [4] And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. [5] 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. [6] And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, [7] and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” [8] And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. [9] And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. (ESV)

The Thessalonians who found themselves believing in Jesus as their personal Savior had their lives turned upside down (which is right side up to God).

They went from being selfish and self-seeking in all of their motives, never finding rest or peace because what they could accomplish on their own never brought true fulfillment or satisfaction, to having the ability to rest and find peace knowing that the love of God in the life of Jesus completed the requirements of righteousness for them, the love of God provided the forgiveness for their life of self-centered Sin, and the love of God defeated the power of death to condemn and kill by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.  They also went from having a obsession with loving themselves to having a Godly love imparted in their hearts that led them to have compassion and concern for the people around them.

When the Jewish religious leaders and the politicians saw this change, they made the right call when they recognized that the preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ turns the world upside down.  The world says bow down to the human authorities in all areas of your life and seek after your own good only.  The Gospel says, that God, the ultimate universal authority chose to serve you in doing everything you need done to be restored into a right relationship with Him.  God did this instead of demanding you serve Him until He considers you worthy of His love and care.

This caused unrest for the religious leaders and the politicians because they knew the real sheriff was now in town and those who believed the truth wouldn’t see the need to bow down to them in their positions of authority that they selfishly loved.

So, the Jewish religious leaders, often with the backing of the politicians, tried to eliminate and even exterminate the Christians and the message of Jesus from the world.

The next question we ask of this text is, “Why are Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy sending this letter to these people at this time?”

There is a story told of an eccentric English evangelist who took the text from Acts 17 which we heard from a few minutes ago for one of his open-air sermons in a new place. He began by saying, “First, the world is wrong side up. Second, the world must be turned upside down. Third, we are the men to set it right.” In the man’s quaint phrases, this is really the purpose of the gospel. It is God’s way of making things right.

Knowing that rejection and persecution have been a part of the Thessalonians’s God-fearing, Christ-exalting faith, from very second that they found themselves praising and thanking Jesus for His death on the cross, which is the only thing that forgives their Sin and reconciles them to God the Father in Heaven, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy want to provide some encouragement to keep hope alive for these brothers and sisters in Christ.

So, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy start their communication by reminding the Thessalonians that with faith in Jesus Christ both Grace and Peace are a daily reality for them.

This week, I was listening to one of the newer album’s in Rush’s 50 year catalog of music.  While I was driving, I was struck by the lyric, “No one gets to heaven without a fight.”

This is the world’s way, and the way that some churches look at as the path to God’s Kingdom.

The world says, “You can do it!  Work harder! Try again, and again, and again, until you make it!”  There is no grace with the world.  You succeed with your own blood, sweat, and tears”—tears from failure to ever arrive at a place of comfort and peace.  This is right side up to the world.

However, God says, “You can’t do it! You can’t succeed in finding comfort and peace with me on your own because of the Sin that corrupts you.  So, I did it all for you!  Through Jesus, I made you a success in my eyes!”  This unconditional love is upside down to the world, but this unconditional love for you is right side up to God.  

And, this leads you to rest and peace because in Jesus, all you need to be right with God is finished.  You don’t have to struggle daily with thinking you owe God more good works to gain His approval and acceptance.  In Jesus you are always completely loved by God—regardless of how you perform today.

The second-century Greek philosopher Celsus captures well just how upside-down the Kingdom of God is—and just how confusing that can seem to unbelievers. In an attack on followers of Christ, he writes:

Those who summon people to the other mysteries [i.e. other religions] make this preliminary proclamation: “Whosoever has pure hands and a wise tongue.” And again, others say, “Whosoever is pure from all defilement, and whose soul knows nothing of evil, and who has lived well and righteously.” Such are the preliminary exhortations of those who promise purification from sins.

But let us hear what folk these Christians call. “Whosoever is a sinner,” they say. “Whosoever is unwise, whosoever is a child, and, in a word, whosoever is a wretch, the kingdom of God will receive him.” Do you not say that a sinner is he who is dishonest, a thief, a burglar, a poisoner, a sacrilegious fellow, and a grave-robber? What others would a robber invite and call? Why on earth this preference for sinners?

Be honest right now.  You are a sinner.  You are unwise.  You are a wretch.  

But know this, in grace alone, God is calling you just as you are to find peace and rest in Jesus right now.

To close, I will leave you with a verse that sums all of this truth up.

Proverbs 16:9 says:

[9] The heart of man plans his way,

but the LORD establishes his steps. (ESV)

In Sin, you make as many plans as you can for your life, thinking that your world is right side up.

However, in Jesus, you quickly find out that all of the plans you were making were being made with selfish motives to lead you to the be the king of the hill.  And, that road that you placed yourself on would ultimately lead to death and separation from God.

So, through faith in Jesus and the hope and love that you receive from God your Father in Heaven, your life is turned upside down (which is right side up in God’s eyes) and you are placed on the correct path that leads to forgiveness and life eternal with your Creator and Redeemer.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

This is the Peace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

May 3, 2026.