Standing Fast in the Lord

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2026 – DAVID ANDERSON

1 THESSALONIANS 3 – STANDING FAST IN THE LORD

 

Now, when you come to Paul's first epistle to the church of Thessalonica, First Thessalonians, one of the major themes that that flows through this whole epistle is the coming of the Lord. And you'll see that in each chapter, you'll see that Paul refers to the coming of the Lord right through the epistle. Chapter 1 verse 10, he talks about “waiting for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come.” Chapter 2 and verse 19 “Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?” Chapter 3 verse 13 “At the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” Chapter 4, it talks about the return of the Lord. There's that great section from verse 13 through to verse 18 about the coming of the Lord.  Then in chapter five again there is reference to the coming of the Lord in the opening verses of that chapter. So the whole way through 1 Thessalonians, there's an emphasis upon the coming of the Lord.

But whenever you come into this central chapter, chapter 3 of First Thessalonians, I think it's important to recognize not just that setting, not just that overriding theme that there is through First Thessalonians, but also how Paul structures the letter in a practical way to the believers. The coming of the Lord, there's a prophetic truth there. It's also practical because we're to live our lives in light of the coming of the Lord. But there's a practical structure to the letter. In chapter one, the emphasis is upon encouraging the church in Thessalonica. In chapter 2, there is a focus upon exhorting the church. And then in chapter 3, Paul returns to encouragement for the Thessalonian believers. And that's the chapter that we have read. We have read a chapter which focuses upon how they are to be encouraged and how he desires that they would be encouraged. It sort of flows out of the end of chapter 2. At the end of chapter 2 verse 18 and verse 19, Paul makes two very clear statements in those verses. in chapter 2 verse 18 and verse 19. First of all in chapter 2 verse 18 Paul reminds them that there is a spiritual enemy and that that spiritual enemy is powerful. He says “even I Paul once and again but Satan hindered us.” So there was a spiritual enemy and that enemy was able to hinder the apostle Paul. Even though Paul was being led by the Lord, the enemy had power certainly in one level to put obstacles in the way of the believer. And Paul's emphasizing that point that there's a spiritual enemy and that spiritual enemy has power. But then verse 19, as we've touched on, Paul deals with a second reality. And the second reality is this that as believers our hope is in the coming of the Lord. He says, "What is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" What is Paul saying to the believers there in verse 19 of chapter 2? Paul is saying that his joy, his hope is bound up in the fact that when the Lord returns, the Lord will be taking Paul to be with himself. But he's also emphasizing this great joy that you, ye, the church in Thessalonica, you will be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming. Paul would be there, but so would they. And that brought joy to the heart of the apostle. And so there's a point that's being made at the very start, I suppose, of what we're trying to say as we are flowing in then to chapter 3. And the point is this, that the apostle Paul had a heart for the church. Do we have a heart for the church? We all should have that heart for the church. Yes, there's a there's a personal element to the fact that we are redeemed and there's a personal element to the fact that the Lord is coming again and we will be with him. But the apostle Paul here as he's thinking about this great truth and thinking about the fact that the Lord will come and Paul will be with the Lord. But he then says, "For ye are our glory and joy." There's this joy that they would be there too. And so in light of that then that's where Paul brings us into chapter three where he starts then to encourage the believers.

Again, the two chapters are linked together by one word, and it's the opening word of chapter 3, the word “wherefore.” Why is that word there? Well, it's there to link chapter 2 and chapter 3 together. It's a conjunction. It’s linking what is about to be said with what has just been said. So we might say if we were thinking about this word “wherefore” if we were saying it today we might say “well because of this because of this truth this is what I'm going to say to you next.” It presents the reason for what is about to be said. Paul says in chapter 2 verse 20 “ye are our glory and joy wherefore when we could no longer forebear.” And so what Paul has at the very start here of chapter 3 and the end of chapter 2 is there's this positive message about how he feels for the church, how he has a desire for the church, how he has a joy about the church. He has encouraged them in chapter 2 to keep pressing on in their faith. He has encouraged them to hold on to God's word, the word of God that they had received. And Paul now continues as he has exhorted them and encouraged them to hold on to these things. He now continues to encourage them. And there's three things in these nine verses of chapter 3 that we can draw out of this which I hope will benefit you, which I hope will be a blessing to your heart and perhaps even encourage you to press on whether things are easy, whether things are difficult. And we don't always get it easy. Sure, we don't. Life's not always easy. Sometimes there's challenges, sometimes there's difficulties, there are trials. But the Bible tells us about that and the Bible encourages us that even in those times, even in those difficulties, that the Lord is there and that we can depend upon him and we can hold on to his promises. And that's what Paul is getting across here.

So the first thing we notice here in verse one and verse two of 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 is that there's an encouraging message for the believers. He says, "Wherefore, when we could no longer forebear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow labourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith." So notice here in this opening phrase that it's not just Paul who has this hard attitude towards the believers because Paul talks in the plural in verse one and I want you to see there's a we contrast here in this section whenever we read it and I'll point it out when we come to it. And in verse one, Paul says, "Wherefore, when we could no longer forebear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone and sent Timoththeus, our brother and minister of God and our fellow labourer." So, it's not just Paul who has this hard attitude towards him. Paul is with Silas. Paul is with Timothy. And Paul and Silas and Timothy together, they're reflecting upon what's been happening in Thessalonica. They're reflecting upon their time there. Paul had been in Thessalonica after the church had been planted. He'd been there for at least 3 months teaching the believers and then he was run out of the region. He's now in the city of Corinth. And you read about his experiences in the city of Corinth in Acts 18. But here he speaks in the plural in verse one “when we could no longer forbear.” But run your eye down to verse five. And after Paul has outlined all of this, then he says, "For this cause when I could no longer forebear, I sent to know your faith." So there is the sense that Paul has this heart attitude towards him. But there is also the picture, the truth that it's not just Paul, but it's also those who are with him. It's Silas and it's Timothy in the city of Corinth. And they're concerned about the believers in Thessalonica. Paul had left the city of Berea. He had gone to Athens. Timothy and Silas had been with Paul, but they had remained in Berea for a short time. Paul had to leave Berea. He had to leave Macedonia because they were constantly harassing him. He was essentially forced to leave Macedonia. And he was a forced to leave Macedonia because of his devotion to the truth of God's gospel. So Paul has gone to Athens and then he sent for Silas and Timothy to leave Berea and to come to him in Athens and they've come to that place and there they are fellowshipping together and they are reflecting during that season of time upon the work that has been done in Macedonia and Thessalonica is one of the places that they were in in Macedonia. But then after a period of time, when you read in Acts chapter 17 and Acts chapter 18, you see that Paul sends Timothy and sends Silas away again. Scripture doesn't tell us explicitly where Silas was sent. Some commentators believe that he went to Philippi, but I can't see for certain that that's the case. So, I'm not going to say that he went to Philippi. We can't be definitive about it. What we do know is that Paul sent Timothy to Thessalonica because that's what Paul tells us here in the letter in verse two. He says, "And sent Timotheus or Timothy our brother and minister of God." So Paul here has sent Timothy away. He sent him back to Thessalonica. Timothy could still come. There wasn't the same threat upon his life as there was in Paul. And so Paul has sent Timothy after their discussions and with their concern and with their heart towards the church. Timothy has come to Thessalonica. And Paul has reasons why Timothy has come. And those reasons are important. Paul's appetite for the gospel hasn't changed just because he's been run out of Macedonia and he's in Athens. You know the story in Acts chapter 17 where Paul goes up to Mars Hill and he has the debate with all the great minds and the thinkers in the city of Athens and he talks to them about the statue that they have to the unknown god and he talks there and he opens up the gospel  beginning right back at Moses and bringing it right through to the birth and the life and the death of Christ. And so Paul points the listeners to Christ alone. But while he's preaching the gospel in Athens, he still has a heart for the church in Thessalonica. He wasn't able to visit them. And because he wasn't able to visit them, he still could pray for them. He still could cons be concerned about them. Paul loved them. He loved the believers. He loved them wherever they were. And he was concerned for their growth. And he was concerned about the danger of no growth in their individual lives. And that is seen in these opening words when it says, "When we could no longer forebear," he couldn't hold it back any longer. Maybe Paul and Silas and Timothy had been discussing the different places that they visited in Macedonia. Maybe they were discussing how much of a difficulty had come whenever they were in Thessalonica. and as you read through Paul's ministry when he was in Thessalonica, there had been trouble from the synagogue in Thessalonica. But not only had there been trouble from the synagogue, within the city of Thessalonica, there was a cult. And that cult was involved in emperor worship. It was worshiping the emperor of Rome. And so therefore, that was really a big thing in the city of Thessalonica. So the church, a small church, a new church was operating and functioning in a place where there were difficulties, in a place where there were challenges, in a place where all around them there was opposition. And Paul really had this burden on his heart to know what the church was doing and how the church was doing. He wanted to know, are you continuing in your faith? Are you holding on to the faith? Are you holding on to the things that you've been taught? Do you remember the truth? And so because of this burden on his heart that they would grow in their hearts and in their lives, that they would grow to know that they were grounded upon Christ, Paul sends Timothy. Why did he send Timothy? He sent Timothy because he loved the church of Jesus Christ. He had a concern for their spiritual life. 3But in verse two here, we see who Timothy was. He says, "Timothy, our brother and minister of God and our fellow labourer in the gospel of Christ." Paul knew all about Timothy. Timothy was his son in the faith. And Paul gives this wonderful description of who Timothy is. He's a brother. He's a minister of God. And he's our fellow labourer in the gospel of Christ. Paul didn't see Timothy as a rival. Timothy was gifted, but Paul didn't see him as a rival. Paul didn't see Timothy as someone who was getting in his way in the ministry. Paul saw someone Timothy as someone who was a fellow labourer. And he sent Timothy because Timothy could still go to Thessalonica. And he sent him because he loved him and he loved the church. Timothy was willing to go. He was a servant of God. That's the implication of the word translated as minister there. The word is translated as minister of God. It literally means one who carries out the commands of another. So in Timothy's case, he was willing to go back to Thessalonica, a place where there was trouble, a place where there were challenges, a place where they had been run out of in the past. He was prepared to go there and he was prepared to serve God and serve the church. Paul sees Timothy as a fellow labourer. The word is synerg. It's where we get the word synergy from today. It's a joint labour working together for the sake of the gospel. Paul might not have been there, but Timothy knew when he went there that Paul would be praying for him. He knew that he would have him on his heart. He knew that he would have a concern for him and he'd be bringing him before the throne of grace and prayer because this labour was for the sake of the gospel. And as Paul has put this in the letter, Paul's encouraging the believers about labouring alongside one another. You see, there's a deeper meaning here than just the fact that Paul and Timothy were fellow labourers. The underlying point that Paul was making here was that in the work of God, in the church of God, as we work alongside one another, there ought not to be preference to one of the other, putting one above another, but there ought to be this sense of being fellow labourers, labouring alongside one another for the sake of the gospel. Yes, there is an order in the church. Yes, there is a structure for with regard to church government, but in terms of the everyday ministry and function and preaching of the gospel, there is a need to labour together for God. Timothy had two roles to fulfill. He was to establish them and he was to comfort them.  Paul had spent time teaching them and they were exceptional in their faith after such a short time. It's believed Paul was only there about 3 months so he only had 3 months of ministry teaching. They were a young church and it was small yet they were pressing on. As you read on through these verses and First Thessalonians, you'll see that they were pressing on. But the point that Paul is making or maybe it's better to say actually the point that God is making through his inspired word. Paul's a human author, but the Holy Spirit is the one who has authored the text. And if we want to get to the intent of the author, the point is this that the Christian life and being built up in the Christian life in our faith is an ongoing process. It wasn't enough that they had Paul there for 3 months and then that would do them for the rest of their lives. That wasn't what it was all about. They needed to keep growing. We all need to keep growing in our faith. What they needed now was stability in their walk. That's why Timothy was there - to be established, to be built up. Why? Because trouble's never far away. We live in a world that's full of trouble. We live in a world with many challenges. And we live in a world where things are getting darker and darker. We see the legislation that's being passed, the things that are being debated. Just this past week, we had this legislation about the conversion therapy and that's a cover up for putting pressure upon Christians and stopping the preaching of the gospel. And we've seen the legislation that thankfully last week in the houses of parliament, the assisted suicide bill was voted down, but not by much. We are in a country which once was blessed with the gospel, which once was blessed of God, which once had churches that were bunged. That's not the case anymore. Why? I wonder. Is it because the church wasn't built the way it should have been and believers weren't built and they weren't established in their faith and just went through the motions? Paul sends the church in Thessalonica, Timothy, why? To establish you, to build you up. Literally, the word means to set fast. I think if we want to look for a biblical example of this or a picture of this word in in Psalm 51 and verse 12. We know that great psalm of David where he confesses his sin. and he confesses his backsliding and he calls unto the Lord in Psalm 51 verse 12 and he says to the Lord, “Lord uphold me.” Well, that little phrase uphold me in Psalm 51 verse 12 is the Hebrew equivalent of this word to establish. In Exodus 17, there's another similar picture. Aaron and Hur are on either side of Moses and they hold up or they stay up Moses' hands. It's the same word. And if they hadn't have been upheld, do you remember what happened? Every time Moses' hands would have fallen, the enemy would have taken control of the battlefield. But when the hands were stayed up, the children of Israel, they had control and they would win the victory. They were in a battle. They needed that support. They needed to stand fast. They needed to be steadfast. Paul sends Timothy here to the church in Thessalonica. He's been sent to set fast their faith. How's he going to do that? Is he going to do that by all sorts of programs and activities? No. He's going to do that by teaching them the word of God. That's how our faith is set fast today. We ought to be people who love the word of God, who know the word of God. He's going to do that by praying for them, by leading them in prayer. He's going to uphold them before the throne of God because that is how our faith is set fast today. Are we a praying people? Timothy hadn't been sent back by Paul to set up a secret sensitive movement. He hadn't been sent by Paul to satisfy the world. He'd been sent by Paul to establish the church. And as the church is established in the church's power and as the church has power, then the gospel has power. He wasn't just to establish them, but he was to comfort them. Verse two, “concerning your faith. “This is a practical matter now. This is a practical need. He was assuring them of the reality of their faith. That's really the point here. He was really there to establish them in their faith and to comfort them, to assure them that what they believed was sure, what they believed was true. That what they believed would carry them through the difficulties that they would face. They were being persecuted. They were a small church in a large city, a major trading city. Thessalonica, now today known as Thessaloniki, sat right on the Thermaic Gulf. It was one of the major trade routes that ran from east to west across the world, the known world at that time. And Thessalonica sat right on that trade route. A major trading city, a melting pot of religions, a melting pot of sin. And here's this small church just established. Paul has sent Timothy to comfort them that even in their difficulties that God was with them. William McDonald, the commentator, says this was a critical time for this young church, Satan was probably dropping subtle suggestions that maybe they were wrong in becoming Christians. And perhaps to some of them as they looked around, it looked like the enemy had won. Think about this for a minute. Paul has come in, he's preached the gospel, Timothy and Silas have then come and they've been there and they've preached and people have believed and the church has started to be built up. Remember now in those early days that it was a house church. It was meeting in someone's home. But then Paul is chased out of the city and Silas and Timothy follow him and they wonder if there's power in this, why is this happening? And then at that time of doubt struggle, as they are pressing on here comes Timothy and he's come back with an assurance that God's gospel is true, that God's word has power and that God's Holy Spirit is present to bring them through everything. There was assurance here for them as the children of God. Whatever challenges we face, there is still assurance for us. There's encouragement for us to know that we can be established in our faith, that we can be comforted because of our faith because our faith is in a God who answers prayer. So the first thing was the encouraging message. 

Verse three through to verse 5. Paul maybe turns it around a little bit here because there's an encouraging message but then there is the expectation of suffering. “That no man should be moved by these afflictions; for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass and ye know. For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.” So in verse three and verse four, Paul really emphasizes the point that look, we told you there's going to be trouble. "It's not always going to be easy. You're not always going to get it your own way." As Paul was with them for those three months God was moving and souls were coming to faith in Christ and the church was being built numerically at least and there was growth and things looked good. Whenever those things were looking good then of course the enemy came and Paul had to leave. Following on from that Silas and Timothy had to leave and they've gone to Berea. And then they've gone on from there and the word will have come back from Berea that Paul has had to leave Macedonia. And maybe some of them are thinking to themselves, ‘well, if this is all happening, it doesn't matter about the short-term growth. Things are all going to fall apart now. We're not really on the winning side, are we?’ Maybe these thoughts are going through their mind. That's against this context that Paul is writing these words in verses 3 to 5. A context of affliction. But I want you to think about the main point in these three verses - that while there would be trouble, it's against the backdrop of that trouble that Paul has sent Timothy back to them. Timothy has come back with a message of hope and he's come back with a purpose and that purpose is to encourage them and to build them up. The language used in verse three paints a picture by one word. And there's one word that's translated here “as should be moved.” It's the word sino. It's only found this one time in the whole of the Bible. It speaks about the subtlety of the enemy. ‘That no man should be moved really by the subtlety of the enemy.’ The picture of this word is like a little dog wagging its tail. It's like a friend. It's like something that comes alongside and is very friendly. But in this context here, the picture is warning the Thessalonian believers of those who have come in with apparently innocent intent. They came in with the right words, flattering them, fawning over them, making them feel good about themselves. But their true intent really as time would go by would be to undermine the faith of the believers, to move them and to shake them. Maybe in the lives of some of the believers, their defences were down a little bit and maybe these enemies came in and said "Look, maybe we don't need to be so forthright. Maybe we don't need to stand on that. Maybe we can let this go a little bit. Maybe let's just take a softer approach. Let's be a wee bit quieter and keep our heads down." And Paul has sent Timothy to ensure that that doesn't happen, that no man should be moved by these afflictions. You know, afflictions sometimes come through being undermined. The reality is that trouble is always near in the Christian life. But the way that we respond to trouble and the way that we handle our troubles and our difficulties is by being established, by being comforted that even in trial our faith stands because our faith is in the God who's in control. Paul has experienced this. He's the one who's been chased out of the region. Remember who Paul was. Paul was one who had who had persecuted believers. Paul was one who had who had ravaged the church in the very early days. And then he'd met the risen Christ on the Damascus road and as he's met the risen Christ, then everything has changed in Paul's life. And now Paul's in a sense on the receiving end of what he used to do. He's been told to leave. and they're coming after him seeking his life. When Paul was in Thessalonica as verse 4 tells us, he told them to expect trouble. He told them to expect problems. But again, the heart of the apostle comes through in verse five when he says, "For this cause, because I know the trouble will come, because I know there'll be challenges. Because I know that you will face difficulties, you'll face tribulation. Because I know these things, when I could no longer forebear, I sent to know your faith.” And so Paul personally wanted to know how they were doing. He was anxious about them, anxious about their walk, anxious about their growth, anxious about their testimony. Isn't that a good thing to be anxious about? We can be anxious about many a thing, can't we? We can be worried and shaken and moved by all sorts of things that go on in this world and we can suffer from anxiety about all sorts of things. Here's what Paul was anxious about. He's anxious about believers that they're pressing on, that they're walking with the Lord and they're not being easily led astray by the tempter. Do you know there's a reference here about the devil. The word translated as “tempter” here in verse 5, “lest by some means the tempter have tempted you.” It's only used about the devil. It's only translated that way twice. You'll find it here and you find it in Matthew 4 verse 3 where the devil tempts Jesus in the wilderness. And he says, "When the tempter came to him," and Paul here says, "Lest by some means the tempter have tempted you." Do you know what that tells me? It tells me there's nothing that we go through that our Lord hasn't already been through. We can be tempted. Our Lord was tested. He was tested in the wilderness, but he was able to answer. How did Jesus answer the devil? He did it by the word of God. He did it by the word of God. That's where our ground is. That's what Paul wants us to know here. Paul knows all about the ways of the devil. Paul knows that the devil is the father of lies. Paul knows that he uses many snares and many nets to trap the believer and to cause them to fall and to cause him to slip and to cause him to step back and Paul was concerned here that if the trial came it would it would cause those who were walking with the Lord to fall back, to backslide, to lose hope. Not every trial comes from the devil. But some do. Whether they come directly from him, whether they come from another source, the believer's faith is not only tested, but the believer's faith is displayed for how we respond to trial. How we respond to trial shows us the depth of our walk with Jesus Christ. How deep is our faith in Christ today? There's the encouraging message and then there's the expectation of suffering.

Finally, verse 6 to verse 9, there's the expression of thankfulness. “But now, when Timothy came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that you have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you. Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all affliction and distress by your faith. For now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God again for you? For all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God.” What a blessing it must have been for Paul when Timothy reached him in the city of Corinth after having been back to Thessalonica. What's he saying here? Paul says, "I'm glad that you're not giving in. I'm glad you're pressing on. I'm glad you're seeking to stand for the Lord." In Proverbs chapter 25 and verse 25, we read these words  "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." That's exactly what Paul got here from Thessalonica. Good news from a far country. This report from Timothy would have brought that sort of experience to the apostle who had a love and a care and a concern for the church in Thessalonica. We all know what it's like to receive good news, to really receive that news that causes us to have joy, causes us to be happy. I was trying to think about the different things. It's a feeling of buying your first house, perhaps getting the keys in your hand, getting the keys for your first car. Maybe it's the joy or the blessing or good news of being successful in a job interview when you thought you had done terribly. Maybe it's a feeling that you hear about a birth of a new baby in the family. Maybe as believers, the great news is when we hear of someone coming to faith in Christ. That is news that's worth rejoicing about. There are many things that can bring good news, many things that can make us happy or joyful. The Apostle Paul had a heart for the gospel. He had a heart for those who had received the gospel. He had a heart for those in Thessalonica who he had ministered to for a short period of time, but he'd had to leave in a hurry. Yet, even after just a short time with them, he had them on his heart. Now, as he hears this news, it's a blessing to him. They were a burden to his heart. “But it was great to hear good tidings of your faith and charity, and that you have good remembrance of us always.” Do you know whenever you look down to verse eight here, you can see how Paul has moved from perhaps that concern in his heart for them towards this great truth in verse 8. “For now we live if you stand fast in the Lord.” You can see whenever you begin to look into those words what Paul meant, it was a bit of a burden on his heart because he wasn't sure how they were doing. And maybe he felt the weight of that because he was detached from them and away from them. Yet he wanted to know that things were going well with them. Now because he has heard this, he's comforted. It is a weight off the shoulders. Look back at chapter 2 verse 20. What does Paul say about the church in Thessalonica? “Ye are our glory and joy.” Now he knows that they're pressing on. Timothy has brought this amazing news, encouraging news, and it blessed Paul's heart as he reflected upon those people who he had been with, who he had seen come to faith in Christ, who he had taught the word of God, and they have taken the word of God to heart and have grounded their faith in Christ. But they have fond recollections of the man who's brought them truth. “Ye have good remembrance of us always.” There's an interesting position here that comes through at the end of verse two. There's almost like a contrast. Paul says that he had sent Timothy to comfort you. But now in verse 7, Paul says, "We were comforted over you." It's the same Greek word. It's the thought of being strengthened. It comes from the root word where we get the word comforter from paracelio. We know about the paraclete, the one who draws alongside the Holy Spirit. Jesus  told the disciples that he would send the comforter, the paraclete, the one who'll draw alongside. We know what that promise is for us today - when we struggle in our Christian life, we have the Holy Spirit who draws alongside. The Holy Spirit strengthens us. Paul here uses that same terminology to show how when he was in a season of affliction and distress, the news of their strength has strengthened him. That's the point he's making. Do we see here how as believers we can encourage one another? We can influence one another for good. We ought to have this heart towards one another. A heart to see that each one is pressing on. We ought to be those who seek to encourage each other in their faith by our faith. Sometimes our faith can help to encourage someone else. Sometimes just hearing that someone is pressing on is enough to lift a brother or sister. To know that they're pressing on in the faith and to know that they're depending upon the Lord perhaps in difficulty, perhaps in tribulation, just as these believers were facing the challenges of the world. Paul was in another godless place whenever he wrote this letter. He was in Corinth and he had met a lot of resistance in Corinth to the gospel. Whenever you read Paul's letters to the church in Corinth, 1 and 2 Corinthians, you can see that there were many difficulties in the church in Corinth that Paul was witnessing and Paul was ministering in. He had to issue many warnings and many admonishments to the church there. So it was a challenging place. But it's against that setting that Paul receives this encouragement through Timothy from the church in Thessalonica. Paul is thankful for what God has done in the lives of the Thessalonian believers. Paul has gone to them. He has been God's messenger for a season of time. But the establishment of their faith was not down to Paul. The establishment of their faith was down to the fact that God worked in them, that God had redeemed them. The joy that Paul felt was because God was working in them. Look what Paul says in verse 9. “For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God.” Who is he giving thanks to? He's not giving thanks primarily to the Thessalonian believers that they have held on to their faith. He's rendering thanks to God for them. It's the power of God working in them. Look at the emphasis of his joy. His worries, his anxiety about them, his concerns about them, the burden that he carried about them, it's all been turned into a deep joy.

Now, as we come to a finish here, I want us to pause and think just for a moment. How encouraging are we? How thankful are we for what God is doing in people's lives? Sometimes it's easy to focus upon the difficult things and sometimes it's easy to focus our attention upon those who we think aren't doing the right things and we are better than them and we are doing better than they are. But what about those who are pressing on? How are we encouraging them? Yes, we are to exhort others to press on in the faith. And yes, we are to admonish in times of failing. But what about the many blessings that God has given as we look around us at our brothers and sisters? Just as Paul has been blessed here. If we could see how God has blessed and if we would fix our minds upon that, then how much more thankful we would be towards the Lord and how much more thankful we would be for each other. There's an encouraging message here. It's set against a backdrop of suffering, but it concludes with an expression of thankfulness. That's a lesson to the church of Jesus Christ today. Everything that Paul's saying here is because these people have believed in Christ because they have come to faith in Jesus Christ. It's because salvation is of the Lord. It wasn't simply because of Paul's message. Paul preached the message, but the message was that salvation is through the work of Jesus Christ. And it's the same today. Maybe you're not saved this morning. You know, it doesn't matter how obedient you are to what other people tell you. It doesn't matter how good you are. It's salvation that you need. It's Christ. It's a recognition of your sin and a recognition that Christ died to save you. You need to come to Jesus. You need to be saved. Need to be cleansed by his precious blood. And then we can rejoice with you. And we can rejoice for you. And we can be thankful to God for what he has done in your life. Let's be encouraged that God is working in lives, even in our difficulties and even in our challenges that we can see God's hand at work in the lives of our brothers and sisters.