A little while ago, I produced a verse by verse series in Philippians. I really enjoyed that exercise and have been wondering if I should take on another book. Well it turns out that 1 Thessalonians is the victim of my machinations, and hopefully, the thoughts produced by this fantastic book will edify and encourage the reader.

As with Philippians I am going to limit each post to one verse, and hopefully produce a short, succinct read for my friends who follow.

1 Thessalonians 1:3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s remember that this letter to the Thessalonians is the first of Paul’s many letters to churches and individuals that have become identified as Scripture.

In his career as an apostle, Paul would end up writing at least 13 books of the 27 in the New Testament.

Those books would be Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. I did not add Hebrews to the list as there is disagreement over the author of Hebrews!

I mention this fact due to the multiple times we will trip over seed thoughts of Paul’s in relation to the Christian life, church truths, end time discussions and general direction for the believer in this letter to the fledgling church.

Such is the case in this verse. The triad of Christian virtues is laid out for us in this verse.

Faith love and hope. It turns out that this was a very present theme on Paul’s mind and heart as he aged through the Christian life. Here we find the seed thought in 1 Thessalonians – twice, for he speaks of this again in 1 Thessalonians 5:8 but it is expanded for us in 1 Corinthians.

He doesn’t provide the expansion as he does in 1 Corinthians, but let us consider each on thier own.

Work of Faith

Faith without works is dead. James would coin that phrase for the church to be challenged by years later as he wrote his letter, but the truth for our ears was spoken by the apostle, the apostle of grace, the same apostle who wrote that by grace we are saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

We often consider faith to be an internal gift from God, and for many we gravitate to verses such as Romans 3:28 to support the sense that faith is apart from works, as spoken by the same apostle Paul.

Romans 3:28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

How are we to relieve the tension between faith apart from works, and the work of faith?

Consider that the work of faith springs from a faith that was from works. The order is critical, and the work of faith is simply the response of the believer to the tremendous grace Jesus Christ has offered us.

To those who believe not, but are considering following the Master, a word of note. If you truly believe, if you truly repent and believe, you will receive life, an amazing life, and from that life you will desire to know Him first, and to serve Him always. The natural outcome of knowing His will be to produce a work of faith as the Thessalonians did.

LAbor of Love

Again, Paul settles on the concept of work, or labor. A different word here though. As the word “work” in our previous clause was the Greek word ἔργον érgon, meaning to toil or to work, our verb “labor” is κόπος kópos, and it brings into the message the idea of intense labor combined with trouble, or even in combination with a beating, or the voluntary acceptance of trials and pain in the work.

Will not love drive you beyond the efforts your would expend for a simple paycheck, even for a distant friend? To Labor is to push yourself, sacrifice your time, treasure and talent for the sake of someone else, maybe even an enemy. This is so reminiscent of the Master Himself, for He labored for us.

Steadfastness of hope

As I lay in bed this morning, my mind wandered onto this verse and prior studies I ventured into years back. For you see, this steadfastness is a word I have looked at previously and found it to be fascinating.

For those who are interested in the concept of patience and endurance, I spent a period of time considering the concept and its importance in the Christian life in an 8 part series titled Patience. The first in the series is Patience – A Component of Hope

The term is our verse is ὑπομονή hupŏmŏnē, and speaks of a cheerful endurance, a “stick to itiveness” that is not dismayed by trials or tribulations. The term literally means to “remain under”, for the Greek word is made up of “hypo”, meaning under, and “meno”, meaning to remain. To remain under. When pressure becomes intolerable, remain under. When other’s walk away from the faith, remain under. When all the world is yelling at you to concede, or to give up, remain under. Be patient. Endure. Stay the course.

Though I spoke of a “stick to itiveness” above, this characteristic we are to exercise has an object of motivation. It is not simply a “grind your teeth and bear it” type of mentality, a state of stubbornness, but a standing of hope, or of expectation. It isn’t to be fueled by a stubborn heart, a heart that refuses to move out of shear pride.

This abiding under pressures or trials is to be maintained because of the One who led the way. He has endured, “stayed under” the suffering of the cross, for the joy that was set before Him.

Hebrews 12:2-3 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Is not the hope we have that we will experience joy in the future. Our hope is the amazing future ahead, to know Him better, to be with Him in the future. This hope is the anchor that motivates us to “stay under” to remain for His sake.

May the Lord give us the heart of expectation, that we may stand our ground with joy, to “stay under the pressure” and be faithful unto death.

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.