1 Thessalonians 1.2-3

In the greatest television comedy that has ever been produced, NBC’s The Office, the regional manger of Dundee Mifflin paper company, turns to one of his employees, who is challenging his ridiculous idea of inviting local children from the community to a casino night of gambling and drinking in their company warehouse, and says,

“Why are you the way that you are?”  

The regional manager, frustrated with the employees push back, ends with the statement, 

“I hate so much about the things that you choose to be.”

I want to ask you the same question this morning,

“Why are you the way that you are?”

To make the question more specific,

“Why do you think the way you think?”

“Why do you speak the way you speak?”

And,

“Why do you do the things you do?”

When you ponder those questions, another question that has to be asked is, “What is the driving force behind the life you choose to lead?”

Do you think, speak, and act the way you do because of the way you were raised?

Do you think, speak, and act the way you to to fit in at work or school?

Do you think, speak, and act the way you do to avoid conflict with your spouse?

Do you think, speak, and act the way you do to gain praise and recognition and pats on the back from your peers?

What is your motivation to be the way that you are?

In our text for this morning, as we return to the New Testament book of 1 Thessalonians, we are going to hear the authors of this book, or more specifically, this letter, point out the very clear patterns of thought, speech, and action that the Thessalonians have become known for as well as the driving force behind those patterns that are life-changing and world-changing.

So, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy let us know why the Thessalonians are the way that they are.

Let’s hear from verses in 1 Thessalonians that we are up to.

1 Thessalonians 1.2-3 says this:

[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. (ESV)

If we remember from last week, the New Testament Biblical book of 1 Thessalonians is a letter written from three of the first Christian leaders (Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy) to some of the very first people in the Greek city of Thessalonica who had found themselves believing in Jesus Christ as the One and Only sin-forgiving, life-giving, Lord and Savior. 

In typical Pauline fashion, Paul and his companions begin their letter to the Christian Thessalonians by letting them know that they are thankful for them and why he is thankful for them.

So, why are Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy thankful for the Thessalonians?

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are thankful for the way that the Thessalonians are.  Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are thankful for the Thessalonians because they are actively living out the Christian life.

The Christian life is often Biblically defined by the trio of faith, hope, and love.

First, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are thankful for the faith of the Thessalonians.

Faith is defined in the dictionary as complete trust, confidence, or reliance in a person, entity, or doctrine.

The definition of faith in clarified in the Bible when Hebrews 11:1 says that,

[1] …faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (ESV)

The Thessalonians faith was founded in the conviction that,

[16] … God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16–17, ESV)

Second, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are thankful for the hope of the Thessalonians.

Hope is defined by the dictionary as the desire for a specific, positive outcome combined with the expectation or belief that it is attainable.

The definition of hope is clarified by the Bible , once again in the New Testament book of Hebrews, when the author says,

[17] So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, [18] so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. [19] We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, [20] where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever… (Hebrews 6:17–20, ESV)

That being said, what was the hope of the Thessalonians?

Well, that question is answered when we look down a few verses to verse 10 in chapter 1.  

Verse 10 of this current chapter says that the hope of the Christians in Thessalonica has two parts.

Part one of the Thessalonians hope comes from placing their trust and hope in the promise of Jesus’ return.  

Part two of the Thessalonians hope comes from placing their trust and hope in Jesus’ promise to rescue them from God’s wrath.

I want to point out that it is easy to fall into the trap of believing in a domesticated God.  

A domesticated God is a God removed from the Bible and placed into the context of our own beliefs.  Many call this false version of God a “god of your own understanding.”  And, because we shy away from wanting to have a backbone and standing on real truth which is often hard to do, so we are only willing to say that God is loving.  

In our unBiblical attempt to be politically correct, we remove the other half of God’s character which is 100% Biblical.  We are often quick to brush God’s promise to judge the Sin of those that don’t repent and trust in Jesus under the carpet or, completely openly deny it because we don’t want to be offensive.

Well, I want you to know, not from me, but from this morning’s text, that God has very clear standards of right and wrong and those that choose to ignore and/or reject God’s offer of forgiveness for Sin through faith in Jesus and in turn ignore and/or reject God’s rules for life and love will be rejected by God and punished eternally for their unbelief in God’s goodness and grace.  

However, the Thessalonians knew the Good News!

The Thessalonians have hope because they fully trust that in Jesus, God has already punished their sin and therefore they are free from being punished themselves when Jesus returns to judge all men and women and set up God’s eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

And finally, the third thing that Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are thankful for the love of the Thessalonians.

Once again returning to the dictionary for help, love is defined as a profoundly tender, passionate affection or a strong feeling of personal attachment, often directed toward family, friends, or a romantic partner. Love is characterized by deep caring, self-giving concern for another’s well-being, and can be shown through actions of commitment, intimacy, and passion.

The Bible, in 1 Corinthians 13:4–7, clarifies what love is by telling us how love looks in action.  In these verses, we hear that,

[4] Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant [5] or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [6] it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. [7] Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (ESV)

In December of 2016, a ride at Knott’s Berry Farm in California became stuck 148 feet in the air. There were 20 people on board, including seven children. Firefighters tried to reach the stranded passengers by using a massive ladder, but it was too short. Fire crews had no choice. They would have to lower each passenger from 148 feet in the air, harnessed to a single rope.

Fire Captain Larry Kurtz said, “It sounds scary, but … we have very, very strong ropes that have 9,000 pounds of breaking strength on them.” He was building the faith of those who were trapped. He was giving them information that, if believed, would dissipate their fears. It was up to each person to believe what he said and place their trust in the firefighter.

One of the youngsters was named Luke. He was seven years old—old enough to feel terror as he looks at the ground 148 feet below. The fire­fighter looked Luke in his eyes, and with a steadying voice said, “Trust me, Luke. I won’t let you go. Your life is very precious to me, and I will have you safely down before you know it.”

7 year old Luke listened to the firefighter and thought about the “very, very strong rope.” Luke believed the firefighter’s reassuring words and trusted him completely. This was his only hope of getting to safety. If he didn’t have faith, then he didn’t believe that the firefighter cared for him. Luke would then lose his only hope of reaching the ground. Faith, hope, and love are bound together.

As the promised was fulfilled, Luke and all 20 passengers were lowered safely to the ground just before 10 p.m. that night.

The end of 1 Corinthians 13, verse 13, says this, 

[13] So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (ESV)

Love is why we are the way that we are.

Love is the reason why you are the way that you are.

God’s love is the driving force behind the faith that we have and the hope and love that is produces.

God’s love imparts faith in his love for you into your heart.

Faith is shown and known in the hope it produces.

And, faith is shown and known in the love it produces.

1 John 4:7–21 tell us this life-transforming good news when it says,

[7] Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. [8] Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. [9] In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. [10] In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. [11] Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. [12] No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

[13] By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. [14] And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. [15] Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. [16] So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. [17] By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. [18] There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. [19] We love because he first loved us. [20] If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. [21] And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. (ESV)

By watching the Thessalonians and by hearing the reports from others about the Thessalonians, the Thessalonians faith in Jesus Christ is undeniable because their faith in Jesus Christ has done what it promises to do—given them hope and caused them to love.

Before we end this morning, I will ask you one more time,

“Why are you the way that you are?”

Now that you have heard the Good News of God’s love for you, you can answer, 

“God hated so much the things that I chose to be because of my Sin that He gave me faith in Jesus Christ, His One and Only Son, who lived a perfectly righteous life for me, died a sacrificial death on the cross in my place, taking all of my sin and the punishment that I deserved, rose from the grave for me three days later to defeat the power of death which would separate me from God my Father and His Kingdom, and who is now seated in the heavenly realms, preparing a perfect and painless place for me.  I have the hope that Jesus will come back one day and bring me to the place where God and the Son and the Holy Spirit dwell eternally.”

This morning, as you prepare to approach God in prayer, remember that even thought God the Father in Heaven has promised to hear you and respond to you and give you what you need (and sometimes want) in this life, He is not Santa Claus and He is not a genie-in-a-bottle.  Ask Jesus to teach you how to pray just like the disciples did.  Let your prayers be more than a wish list of things you want.  Remember to thank God for His grace, mercy, and love which saved you from being destroyed by Sin and separated from Him forever.  Remember to thank God for the Christians around you who walk alongside of you with support and encouragement in this broken world.  And, remember to thank Him for the faith you have, asking Him to allow that faith to work itself in your daily life by empowering you to love as you have first been loved and to have hope in His promises for a peaceful future in His never-ending Kingdom of Heaven.

Back in the late 1900s, as the kids say, in the year 1990, Christian prog-rock band, King’s X, released their 3rd album titled, Faith Hope Love.  The title track, Faith Hope Love spoke these truths:

We’ve all seen the evil of this world

And we feel so helpless with all the lies

You see the word brings no lies

I believe it has a name

I believe he is alive

Listen to me very closely

There is more heaven than hell

Faith, hope, love

This is the Word of God of you today.

This is the Faith of God for you today.

This is the Love of God for you today.

This is the Hope of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

May 10, 2026.