This summer we’re going to look at a couple of letters from Paul to the Church in Thessalonica.  Paul had left the church before it was established, because Paul left in fear of his life.  Timothy is sent a year later to see how the Church was faring.  After the visit, Timothy returns to Paul with a report, and this is Paul’s response to Thessalonica.

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 (NIV)

¹ Paul, Silas and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace and peace to you.

² We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.  ³ We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by 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 simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.  You know how we lived among you for your sake.  ⁶ You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.  ⁷ And so you became a model to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia.  ⁸ The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere.  Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, ⁹ for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us.  They tell 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 rescues us from the coming wrath.

Paul writes to the Thessalonian Christians about how they become Christians.

How do I know if I’m a Christian?  If I am helping people become Christians, what do they need to know and believe?

I’ve noticed with people thinking about faith or not interested in faith and things of God, is they have presumption that one getting in their way.

These people have presumed they know all about Jesus and God when in fact they have made innocent assumptions.  Or they have their opinions on one person, as a group that said or did something they found offensive and think all Christians think this.

Even people who are not interested in Christianity think they understand what Christianity is all about.  Someone cannot be a Christian unless they understand the basis of Christianity.

Paul tells the Thessalonians about the Gospel and what that means.

The Gospel is simply a message, words, sentences and ideas, some assertions.  It’s a message we don’t become Christians through the preaching or hearing about love in general, but love specifically from God, is the Gospel.  We cannot be Christians unless we understand what the center core message of Jesus actually is.

How do we know we’ve become a Christian through the Gospel?

We know you belong to God because the Gospel comes in word and power.  A Christians believes the word is the message of the Gospel and in whom the Gospel has become a power.  A power to live on, and to thrive.

In Romans 1:16, Paul tells the disciples that the Gospel is the power of God – the Gospel doesn’t bring power, or results in power, or leads to power – it is power.  In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul tells the church in Corinth that “I gave you life through the Gospel.”  Later in the same chapter Paul says, “The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ has shone into our heats.  The Gospel is the light of the glory of Jesus.”

At some point in early Christian life, you think you are still investigating, and likely you are you yourself start to be investigated.  Something is searching for you.  (The Gospel is searching for you.)  That is the power of the Gospel.

Before you became a Christian, something came to you.  If you search for God, it is because you were called.  If you want to love God, it is because God first love you.  Something comes from the outside and takes you in.

Life no longer is about being comfortable but figuring out what really matters.

The Gospel is the glory of God.  Glory means weight when we are cruising through life, then all of a sudden, the weight of these important questions start pressing in on someone.  What is the meaning of life?  Why me?  What is my purpose in life?  Does life have meaning?

All of a sudden, we understand there is no half-way with God.  Being in Christ is to bow before Christ and ask to be commanded.  We need to bow to God.

C. S. Lewis paraphrased the Gospel “Jesus says”:  No one can reach ultimate reality except through me.  If you try to retain rights over your own life, inevitably it will be ruined, but only if you give your life away completely to me will you be saved.  If you’re afraid of me when you hear this call, I will look the other way when I come again as God without disguise.  If there’s anything keeping you from me, whatever it is, throw it away.  If it’s your eye, pluck it out.  If it’s your hand, cut it off.  Nothing, nothing is worth losing me.  Come to me, whatever your load, even your sin.  I will take it off you.  I am life.  I am resurrection, I am recreation.  Don’t be afraid.  I’ve overcome the universe.  Eat me, drink me, I am life itself.  Apart from me there is none.

C. S. Lewis finishes his thought “What are we to make of Christ?”  That is not the issue.  The issue entirely is, “What does He intend to make of us?”  This is the heart of the matter.

You know the Gospel is in your heart when you stop asking, “What am I going to do with Jesus?”

Jesus lived the life we should have died the death that was for us, He substituted Himself into our place, took on the consequences of our sin and humans look back in our life in order to follow Him.

We all have a sense that there is a coming wrath, everyone carries a sense of condemnation.  Coupled with this, we have a need to prove our story as good, we are unable to pronounce ourselves good, what we need is someone to rescue us.

The Gospel is what is means to be a Christian.  The Gospel has become a power for us, which by our own choice to save ourselves, or we can trust Jesus to rescue us.

We must turn to God and admit we have been chasing after other things to save ourselves.

Follow Jesus and allow the Gospel’s message in Thessalonica to give us the power and freedom in our lives.  God bless you in your transformation as the Gospel works in your heart.