How the Church was Born

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An Elect Group

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To form a church (congregation) there must be a group of people "called out" for this purpose. Unless the people are "called out" of God, the church will not be successful. But even with a "called out" group, it will still be made up of sinners, saved by Grace, and subject to problems when they become "back slidden", depressed or led astray by false teachers. Our first study shows that Paul truly believed that these people were called out to start this church in spite of their problems.

Note the letter was written by Paul, but sense Silas and Timothy were instrumental in starting the church and were probably with him at Ephesus, Paul mentions them as "those from whom the letter came". Notice that Paul wanted only the best for them, "Grace to you and Peace." Grace, the free and unmerited favor of God is ours through faith in His Son, and it alone will bring us "peace and happiness".

Then Paul establishes for us the characteristics of the people that started this church. First, they were people who worked in the faith and who labored in love. Secondly, they were steadfast in the labor of love. Their faith was a true and living faith because it was a working faith and thirdly, they loved the work that they were doing. They did not complain, nor did they seek recognition. Their reward was the joy that they got in working for the Lord. Fourthly, they were dependable. If they said they were going to do something, they would do it. This also implies patience which is a very desirable characteristic.

But then he gets to the most important characteristic about these people, "They were chosen by God." The Doctrine of Election says, "The election of God is of His own good pleasure, not for the sake of any merit in those who are chosen." We do not know why God chooses nor how He chooses, we only know that until and unless He does, we are at a loss. In reading the account in Acts 17, we see that "some were persuaded", this is simply another way of saying that some were called of God and some were not. God called these people and equipped to worship, witness and work for Him.

So because of this, Paul knew that he had not worked in vain but he also knew that whatever success that they had experienced, was the work of the Holy Spirit working through these people. Paul was not born a humble person it was persecution and his "thorn in the flesh" that made him that way. He constantly gave thanks unto the Lord for these people.

An Exemplary Group

These people were not only an "elect" group they were also an "exemplary" group. Notice how they had imitated Paul, "they received the Word in much affliction, with joy and inspiration by the Holy Spirit." Lets break that down into every day language:

1. They were serious about being followers of Christ.
2. They did this knowing that it would bring persecution.
3. They were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

These credentials surly made them imitators of Paul and as imitators of Paul, they became an example for all believers. So we have seen that these people were an "elect" people, an "exemplary" people and now we see that they were an "enthusiastic" people.

An Enthusiastic Group

Like radios, there are two types of Christians, receivers and transmitters. In verse 5, Paul says that these people were "receivers of the Word". Here in verse 8, he says that they are "transmitters of the Word". The Word went out from them and sounded like a trumpet.

This did not mean that they were "tooting their own horn", that is not the kind of enthusiasm that the Lord wants. They were sounding out the "good news" of salvation and wherever Paul went, people were telling him about the Thessalonians and how they were spreading the Word.

In the Bible, election always means responsibility. God chose Israel for a purpose, He chose these Thessalonians for a purpose and they were fulfilling that purpose enthusiastically. As the result, they became an "expectant" group.

An Expectant Group

Many a well-planned, well financed, well advertised Christian adventure has failed because no one expected anything. This is the power of negative thinking. The other side, of course, is positive thinking, or simply faith. Faith, coupled with patience, are the tools of the successful Christian.

Notice what these people were expecting. Two things:

1. Success on the part of their labors. They believed they were doing what the Lord had called them to do, so why wouldn't it be successful.
2. They were expecting the Second Coming of Christ.

Their enthusiasm was responsible for these expectations. These people had left the worship of idols from which they could receive nothing and from which they expected nothing. Now they were involved in a religion that gave the assurance of eternal forgiveness and salvation and it filled them with joy and great expectations.

They also believed, as Paul did, that the Lord was coming back very soon and he would take them home to be with Him as He had promised. This, they took to extreme and quit their jobs and waited around for His return. This, they believed, was their escape from the "wrath" that was to come. Paul spoke quite often of this. There is no hope of escaping this for those who do not know Christ.

We cannot understand the worship of idols of stone, for we believe in a "Living God". In the Book of Romans, Paul calls believers "Children of a Living God." We are "Temples" of this Living God for we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we should earnestly await and expect the coming of our Lord.

There are two aspects about the Lord's return that we should know about.

1. On His Second Coming, He will come in the air for His church.
2. He will return after a 1,000 years of tribulation, return to the earth with His church, to establish His Kingdom. We will look further at this in chapter 4.

What should we do in the mean time? Paul says in verse 20, "Wait". Well that would mean different things to different people, and it did. Paul meant that we should wait with patience and confidence, expectantly, and do this with activity and endurance. We do not always have to set down when we "wait" as some did at Thessalonica. We are to be busy while we wait for His coming, using whatever time He gives us.

Wiersbe says that a church that truly lives in expectation of seeing Christ at any time, will be a vibrant and hard working bunch of people. So we are to be waiting expectantly with enthusiasm. To do this, a church needs to be nurtured. The next chapter tells us how the church at Thessalonica was nurtured.

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