Sermon26-23 "True Christian" 1TH1 Guide

1Thessalonians 1:2-10 theme verse 1 Th 1:3,4

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

In this eighteenth Sunday of the year 2026, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life.  Last week, on the fourth Sunday of Easter season, through Gal 5, we mediated on the life by love. Yet this fifth Sunday of Easter season, we would like to learn few lessons by meditating on the life of Thessalonian church whom Paul consented by living in faith, love and hope together.

1)    Like as other Pauline letters, the first Thessalonians consists of four sections, I mean, opening, thanksgiving, main body, and conclusion and today’s text falls within the thanksgiving section.

I mean, first, in verses 2–5, Paul thanks God for the Thessalonian believers’ “work produced by faith, their labor prompted by love, and their endurance inspired by hope in Jesus Christ,” saying that their faith, love and hope is the evidence of God’s election and also it is because the Gospel was proclaimed to them in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with deep conviction.

And even in verses 6–7, he gives thanks since even despite of much affliction they received the Word with the joy of the Holy Spirit and also, by imitating the Lord and also Paul, Silas, and Timothy who had set an example before them, they became examples to all believers throughout Macedonia and Achaia.

Then, in verse 8, he expresses gratitude again because, through their ministry, the Lord’s message has been proclaimed to all over the world.

And finally, in verses 9–10, he gives thanks because upon receiving the Gospel, they turned away from idols and return to God and serve the living and true God, while waiting for the coming of His Son in hope.

2)    As such, even though Paul did not provide enough education on the doctrine of eschatology due to his short ministry there so that they were suffered with some erroneous eschatological views, and also they were experiencing severe external persecution, the Thessalonian church stood out as an ideal church compared to other churches of the first century.

For the reason how it happened, Paul identifies the primary one was God’s election. In other words, he testifies that their abundance of faith, hope, and love was rooted on God’s election.

Since God’s election saves His people with God the Son’s vicarious atonement ministry and the sanctification ministry of the Holy Spirit, as 2 Thessalonians 2:13 says “God chose you from the beginning to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth” and as Eph 1:4 says, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.”

And also because this divine election cultivate the faith with the God’s word of the Gospel as Romans 10:17 says "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” and also ultimately transforms the elect into the life of faith, love and hope which makes the elect wait for Jesus’ second coming.

3)    Secondly, Paul says that what makes the Thessalonian church become such an ideal church was none other than the power of the Gospel, saying “the Gospel did not come merely in words, but arrived in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction.”

In other words, the Gospel as the Word of God which possesses the power to create the heavens and the earth and to govern His creation through His providence, also has the power of transformation.

Furthermore, since the Gospel came in the Holy Spirit as God promised in Ezekiel 36:27, the Holy Spirit provides an "inner calling” and regenerates the elect and sanctifies them, as remaining with them forever.

So that believers with full conviction can walk the path of faith, love, and hope, obeying to God’s pleasing will of love, because faith works in love which God poured to us and also compels us to love and also it produces hope in which we can endure the persecution, waiting for His second coming.

4)    And then, we would like to meditate two very outstanding behaviors of the Thessalonian church.

I mean, as the Lord always taught His disciples with exemplification as John 13:15 says "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you,” and also as Paul taught other disciples through exemplification, as Philippians 4:9 says "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice," the Thessalonian believers also by becoming "imitators of the Lord and of them, I mean, Paul, Silas, and Timothy, exemplified to all other believers."

As such, the very essence of Christian discipleship is the "exemplification.” Therefore, I believe that we, as the Lord's disciples, have also to live the life of exemplification when we entrust what we have heard from the Lord to other faithful people, so that they, in turn, may continue to make His disciples through the exemplification.

5)    Furthermore, one more thing I wish we could learn from them, I mean, it is said that they were eagerly waiting for Jesus’ second coming with faith which enabled the Thessalonian believers to endure even amidst extreme tribulation.

I mean, since when Christ will come again, they believed that the believer’s body will be resurrected and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away and they will reign with Him forever,  they could endure present suffering seeing the joy that set before them.

This very faith in the Second Coming that empowers also us to walk our pilgrim journey of life with faith, hope, and love.

6)    In summary, God’s election, the redemptive work of Triune God, and the power of the Gospel transformed the Thessalonians and made them to live a life abounding in Christian virtues of faith, love, and hope as they awaited the Second Coming, while exemplifying Christian life to others.

In other words, "faith" which led them to salvation, made them live faithfully and also as faith works through love, they could live the life of love since they cannot but love, because "God’s love has been poured out into their hearts through the Holy Spirit" (Rom 5:5), and also "Christ’s love compels us" (2 Cor 5:14). And also as faith produces hope, this hope made them endure all the persecutions, waiting for His second coming.

As such we Christians have to possess these virtues of faith, love, and hope.

7)    Then, we have a question of how we can cultivate these virtues of faith, love, and hope.

Every religions, philosophies, and world ethics pursue their own specific set of "virtues." I mean, for Buddhism, they pursue "compassion" and "enlightenment”, while Greek philosophy pursue "wisdom" and world ethics pursue the "Golden Rule" so that they all strive their entire lives to attain these virtues, as Christianity pursue virtues of faith, love and hope.

Yet, the problem is that while we live in this side of the world, we cannot achieve "perfect virtue” by our own effort. I mean, even though we strive to pursue these virtues throughout our lives, yet we cannot reach the perfection of these virtues as the Bible clearly teaches that "by works of the law, no human being can be justified before God; rather, through such works of the law, one gains only the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:20)

In this sense, some people argue that all religions—including Christianity—are climbing up the same mountain yet via different path so that all religion can achieve the salvation.

But for this inability, Christianity provides different solution. I mean, in response to God’s sheer grace of salvation, Christians try to live in God’s pleasing will every day, yet, only realizing the shortness to the perfect requirement of God’s law due to the weakness of our flesh, we become more and more humble before God and rely more and more on Jesus’ grace and ask for the help of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, for this reason, Calvin says in his book “Institutes of the Christian Religion” that after assigning "humility" as the core virtue of the Christian faith, he declares that Augustine does not consider it humility when a man, aware that he has some virtues, abstains from pride and arrogance; but when man truly feels that he has no refuge except in humility. So when anyone realizes that in himself he is nothing and from himself he has no help, the weapons within him are broken, the wars are over and we know that we are nothing. By God’s mercy alone we stand, since by ourselves we are nothing but evil.”

Furthermore, that’s why Paul, introducing the "fruit of the Spirit" as "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,” in Galatians 5:22 & 23, yet uses the singular form of “the fruit” because this fruit of the Spirit is not something we produce one by one through our own will, effort, or self-discipline, rather, the Holy Spirit who has this nine virtues will manifests it in our lives when we submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

And also because this fruit of the Spirit is the foundation for the Christian virtues, since, if we are grouping these virtues in threes, I mean, in the first group—love, joy, and peace, in the second group—patience, kindness, and goodness and in the third group, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, then we can know that the first virtue of each group, I mean, love, patience which results from hope, faithfulness, is the primary virtue in which two other virtues flow out so that we can know that this fruit of the Holy Spirit is the foundation of  the Christians virtues of love, hope, and faith.

8)    Because of this dynamics, our Lord, in Matthew 11:29, said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart”—adding that, in doing so, “you will find rest for your souls.” Therefore, I pray that this year, we may all learn His humility and gentleness as taking up the Lord’s yoke and we may live the life abounding in the true Christian virtues of faith, love, and hope, to glorify God.

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q1 Through today’s text, we became to know that Christian virtues are faith, love, and hope. So after reflecting our life and checking where we have abundant fruit of Christian virtues in our live, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Q2 And also, we became to know that this Christian virtues can be cultivated when we live to obey to the leading of the Holy Spirit after we learn Jesus’ humility and gentleness. So after reflecting our life and meditating whether we are learning His humility and gentleness, and also where we are living to obey to the leading of the Holy Spirit, I hope we can share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or  even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized   ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon                                    )

Please help me to live in that (  learned way of life                                                )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.