1 Thessalonians 1 Summary Verses 8-10: It’s hard to find good examples these days.
In times past, we may have looked to our civic leaders to be good examples for us. We may have been able to look at those in the sports world to serve as patterns to follow. Perhaps musicians and artists of yesteryear would have provided some types for us that we could follow.
But – with rare exceptions – I can hardly think of a single individual in any of these categories that I would point my children to as being sterling examples of how I would want them to turn out.
Politicians, athletes, artists – those whom the world holds up for our emulation – so many of them are not at all worthy of any imitation by the people of God.
And yet, patterning our lives after examples is important. In fact, God wants us to find and note examples after which we can pattern our lives.
And we don’t find those patterns in the world. We’re supposed to be able to find them in the church. Right here – among God’s people.
And so, I’d like to ask you to open your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 1. Because in this first chapter of the book of 1 Thessalonians, we’re told how these believers in the church of Thessalonica were actually serving as examples and patterns for other believers to follow. And from them, we can see how our own lives ought to be examples for other believers to follow.
We’ll see this in verses 8-10.
So, let’s read 1 Thessalonians 1:8-10.
1 Thessalonians 1:8–10 AV 1873
8 For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.
9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye 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, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
[S] So, we see in this passage 6 Aspects of Your Example to Other Believers:
1. You’re communicating the gospel to others (Evangelism).
2. You’re trusting in God in every circumstance (Faith).
3. You have received and still do receive those who proclaim his word (Spiritual Receptiveness).
4. You have a testimony of turning from sin to God (Repentance).
5. You’re now engaged in serving God (Service).
6. You’re actively waiting for Christ (Hope).
So, let’s see these in our text and see if they’re the case in your life.
1 Thessalonians 1:8 AV 1873
8 For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.
So, one way that you and I can be examples to other believers is in our evangelism.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary For … the word of the Lord … sounded out …
This is how the Thessalonians become an example to those around them. They communicated the gospel to others. They first received the word (v. 6) and then they gave it out.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary sounded out
This phrase “sounded out” is one Greek word. And it’s used only here in the New Testament.
But words related to it are translated as:
• Instruct
• Fame
• Sound
• Inform
• Teach
So, you get the sense of what those ideas have in common. It’s an audible transmission from one person to another – or to many other people.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary the word of the Lord
And what was verbally transmitted from the Thessalonians was the word of the Lord.
The word of the Lord is often synonymous with the gospel – the good news of Jesus Christ dying for your sins and being raised again (Acts 8:25).
And God expects certain responses to this good news:
• It must be testified and preached (Acts 8:25) and taught (Acts 15:35) and spoken (Acts 16:32). It should be published widely (Acts 13:49).
• Those to whom it comes are expected to give it a hearing (Acts 13:44).
• This good news then ought to be glorified and believed by those who receive it (Acts 13:48).
• We need to pray that it would “have free course” – that it would run unhindered everywhere it’s communicated (2 Thessalonians 3:1).
And this is indeed what happened to the word of the Lord in Thessalonica. It ran unhindered. It was glorified by being believed by these people.
And then they turned around and started to proclaim it to others. The word of the Lord sounded out to them… and then it sounded it from them to others.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary from you
And that’s actually the emphasis of this sentence. From where has the word of the Lord sounded out? It has sounded out “from you”.
Those two words are placed at the beginning of this sentence in the Greek for emphasis.
How do you become an example for other believers to follow as a believer? This message of the gospel needs to come from you if you’re going to be a positive example to other believers.
Now, you wouldn’t know it in English, but this is the plural form of “you.” It’s “you all.”
And here’s why that’s important to note.
Who’s responsible for the word of the Lord sounding out from this church?
• Is it our pastors’ responsibility? Well, yes.
• But does the responsibility for communicating gospel truth to others all over the place fall squarely on the shoulders of our pastors alone? Absolutely not.
Paul doesn’t say here that the word of the Lord had sounded out from “your pastors.” He says it sounded out “from you all.”
Your Example to Other Believers #1: Evangelism
So, we have a joyful responsibility and duty to communicate the gospel to others in our community – our neighbors, our co-workers, our friends.
And to the extent that each of us accepts this wonderful privilege of communicating the gospel to others, we will be the examples to other believers that the Lord desires us to be.
The Thessalonians became examples to their fellow-believers in that they proclaimed the gospel.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary not only in Macedonia and Achaia
Well, how far did that gospel proclamation reach?
The word of the Lord sounded out into these two regions of Macedonia and Achaia.
[S] Now, we’ve talked about these two regions before, but just to hammer home the facts – these are two regions in what’s now modern-day Greece.
Macedonia is to the north and Achaia is to the south.
Macedonia contained cities like Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea.
Achaia contained cities like Corinth and Athens.
Now, in our modern day, a car ride from Thessalonica to Corinth would take about 6 hours. It’s 330 miles. If you were to take that route by foot it would take you days to get from Macedonia to Achaia.
The point is – that’s a pretty broad area for the Thessalonians to get the word of the Lord out to.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad
And yet, that’s not the widest area of distribution that Paul had in mind when it came to this matter of the Thessalonians’ sounding out the gospel.
It wasn’t limited to these two regions only – as far apart as they were.
Instead, the word of the Lord also sounded out from the Thessalonians all over the place.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary your faith to God-ward
And the primary message that was being spread concerning these Thessalonian believers was their faith in God. Their believing was an example to the believers.
So, what kind of situations call for faith in the life of a believer?
In the New Testament gospels, it’s often situations of need and deprivation and extremity that call for faith in people’s lives.
A paralyzed servant in great anguish… a paralyzed friend… a woman whose medical condition couldn’t be helped by any doctor… people who were physically blind… a daughter who was possessed by a demon and suffering… problems as seemingly-large as a mountain… being out on a lake in a storm-tossed and sinking boat in the middle of the night… being sinned against by others… suffering from incurable leprosy… even direct satanic attacks… – all of these are situations which called for faith in those who were experiencing them.
And I don’t know how you think. You might sense that you need greater faith in life. But how do you obtain it?
God’s solution to the problem of you needing more faith may very well be to send you more trials. Because it’s in those trials mostly where your faith will be made evident – where you can actually exercise faith in God.
When everything’s easy, who needs to trust God? If you could be totally self-sufficient and have no need of anything, you probably wouldn’t know your utter need of God and his help and strength and grace.
And this is likely how the Thessalonians’ faith came to be known so widely. They were suffering persecution and hardships. And they held up under the pressure. They were enduring – by faith.
You just don’t know the impact your faith is going to have on other believers. Christians often thrive on news of their brethren showing great faith in the midst of their great difficulties. This is one benefit of reading the biographies of missionaries. We can read of the faith of ordinary folks like ourselves who simply trusted in our extraordinary God in the midst of their trials.
Very candidly, one of the reasons my family came to this church is because of what we heard concerning our pastor and his dealing with his wife’s death. No doubt, it’s an understatement to say that that was a tremendous trial for him and his dear children and for many of us in this church. But his faith through it all became known to us – and I think even to many believers around the country.
We need patterns in our life – of endurance and faith through trials. Because we all have trials and we all need help to know how to respond to them in a godly way.
The Thessalonians served as that example of trusting God in their hardships. And this is one way that they became an example for others to follow.
Your Example to Other Believers #2: Faith
So, one element that makes you – and our church – an example to other believers is the testimony of our trust in God.
Are there trials in your life that seem completely overwhelming? You’re not the first and you’re not alone. If you – by faith – follow God through those trials, he will use you as an example in the lives of those who are starving for spiritual examples.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary so that we need not to speak any thing
And the result of the word of the Lord sounding out from the Thessalonians with the message of their faith in God – resulted in Paul not needing to say anything about them to others.
As Paul went along from city to city it may have been his desire to share what the Lord had done among the Thessalonians. But apparently as soon as he would start in to a discussion on that, those to whom he was speaking would stop him. “Oh, the Thessalonians? Yes, we’ve heard about their great faith in the midst of their great sufferings. Some of us actually came to faith in Christ through them sending some people here to give us the good news about Jesus. And how do you know them, Paul?”
So, the message of how the Thessalonians received God’s word came back to the very messengers who initially proclaimed to them the word.
When we’re leading an exemplary life in Christ, we don’t need our spiritual leaders and mentors to advertise that. It’s obvious – not just to those who spend a lot of time with us and have a vested interest in our spiritual success – but to all sorts of people.
… So, the Thessalonians had become an example to other believers:
• in that they were involved in evangelism – they were communicating the gospel message near and far.
• And in that their faith in God through hardships was communicated along with that message.
1 Thessalonians 1:9 AV 1873
9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
Now, why did Paul and Silas and Timothy not need to say anything about the Thessalonian believers as they traveled around?
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary For they themselves shew of us
Because – as we saw – others were telling exactly what happened when Paul and Silas visited the Thessalonians.
That word “shew” communicates the ideas of declaring or reporting or simply telling.
Paul and Silas and Timothy didn’t need to say anything about the Thessalonians because actually those to whom they would like to declare or report or tell were already telling them!
But the declaring that these other believers would engage in wasn’t only about the Thessalonians themselves. They were reporting – Paul says – “of us” – that is, of Paul and Silas.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary what manner of entering in we had unto you
And what these other believers were declaring or reporting concerning Paul and Silas related to how the Thessalonian believers received Paul and Silas.
You recall that one evidence that the Thessalonians had been chosen by God was their reception of God’s messengers. Well, by that reception and welcoming, they also became examples to other believers.
The Thessalonians received God’s messengers.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary entering in
This word “entering in” which Paul and Silas had with the Thessalonians also describes Jesus’ coming into the world. It describes our entering into God’s presence as we pray. And it’s also used of our being taken from this life to be with the Lord forever.
Paul and Silas came into the midst of those Thessalonians as was recorded back in Acts 17:1-9. And when they did, they received a warm welcome with a lot of spiritual success.
Your Example to Other Believers #3: Spiritual Receptiveness
Your warm reception of God’s word through his messengers is a part of your noteworthy example to other believers. Obviously, if you had rejected the message or messengers of the gospel, you would have no example to even mention.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary and how ye turned to God from idols
But what was this “entering in” of Paul and Silas actually like? What manner of entering in to them did Paul and Silas have?
The Thessalonians turned.
As our place on the globe emerges from night to day what’s really happening is that we’re turning from the darkness and to the light of the Sun.
And we see those same dynamics at work with the exemplary Thessalonians. They turned – not physically, but spiritually from one reality to another.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary to God
They first of all turned to God.
This kind of turning of people to God was the mission of John the Baptist. He was sent to turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. In the spirit and power of Elijah, he was to turn the hearts of parents to their children and vice versa.
This turning to God describes a person who recognizes he’s done wrong and wants to be forgiven his sins. It’s accompanied by a change of mind – or repentance. And faith is a key element in all of this happening.
This turning to God involves eyes, ears, and heart. It involves seeing, hearing, and understanding what God wants for you.
When this turning to God happens in your life, it’s like a veil is taken away and all of a sudden spiritual realities become clear to you.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary from idols
But all of this requires and is attended by a turning from idols.
An idol is anything you ascribe more worth or value to than God himself. Anything you put in the place that God alone should rightly occupy in your life is an idol. It can be made of wood or stone or green paper or bits or bytes or even flesh. Idols can be food or drink or people or relationships or money or a literal carved sculpture that you bow down to.
In order to turn to God you must be willing to turn from these other things. Whatever is greater in your estimation than God – you must be willing to turn from that, or you will never even want to turn to God. And at the same time, you need to highly esteem and accurately estimate the true value of knowing God – or else you’ll have no reason to turn from those idols which are so valuable in your mind – while God is so worthless to you.
So, part of the message that was being proclaimed all over the place about the Thessalonians was this – that they turned to God and from idols.
Your Example to Other Believers #4: Repentance
And I trust that others would be able to say the same things about you – that you have turned your back on the worthless garbage that the world holds in such high regard. And that the God which this world is so casual about and really despises greatly – that you have come to fully embrace him!
If that’s your testimony and lifestyle, then you are an example to other believers.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary to serve the living and true God
And there are two results that Paul mentions here that stem from your turning to God from idols. One is at the end of verse 9 and the other is at the beginning of verse 10.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary to serve
First, one result of your turning to God is that you now serve him.
No one can really serve two masters. In other words, you can’t be employed full time at two different jobs at the same time – and successfully give yourself to both jobs. Similarly, you can’t serve God and material wealth – which is an idol for many. You have to choose. And you have chosen to serve God – to place his will and his desires above your own.
And that’s a pretty radical approach to life. Because naturally, everyone seeks to serve himself. Not others – and certainly not God.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary the living and true God
But you serve God because you have come to experience that God is living and true. There’s a way in which even people of the world worship “God”. They might even claim to worship the God of the Bible. But they don’t know him as living and true. It’s just a formality for them. It’s part of their doing things in order to be accepted by God.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary living
But you know him. He is living. Cash is not living. Wood and stone are not living. Even people – whom we might be tempted to idolize – they’re not living in the sense that God is. People derive life from God like the moon derives light from the Sun. If God doesn’t give life, we don’t have it. So, not even humans are living in the sense that God is. And because God alone is living, he alone deserves our service and worship – and our very life.
So, this God to whom you have turned and whom you now serve is living.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary true
And he’s also true.
The essence of eternal life is to know this true God and his Son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ himself is said to be the true God and eternal life.
Whatever mankind might choose to worship and value over God is all false. It’s all so powerless. It leaves you empty – because it itself is empty. It’s vanity.
But God is substantial. He’s real and lasting. He’s true.
Your Example to Other Believers #5: Service
So, is it your intention to serve God? Have you turned from idols to do this? Is it your conviction that God is living and true? This is all part of your example to other believers.
Imagine a professing believer who wants to be an example for others and yet, he’s still clinging to his idols. With his words, God is his life – but in practice sports (for example) is really what he’s living for. Because if it comes down to doing what he knows to be God’s will versus watching a game, he’s going to choose the latter all the time. What kind of example does that set for others who are watching him? What does that say about the value of God and of serving him? How valuable do others who see this man consider God to be – when God’s apparently not important enough to interupt this man’s pursuit of sports entertainment or whatever else it might be?
A game that lasts a few hours and the score of which hardly anyone will remember just a few weeks or months after it’s done – that’s more important than God?
That’s not the impression we want to give others. God is true and he’s living and it’s a great pleasure and joy to serve him.
So, the first result mentioned here of your turning to God is that you now serve him.
1 Thessalonians 1:10 AV 1873
10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary and to wait for his Son from heaven
The second result of your turning to God is that you now wait for his Son from heaven.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary wait for
This word “wait for” is used only one time in the New Testament. So we need to look at the Greek version of the Old Testament for some help on what it means.
And in the Greek version of Job 7:2, this word is used of how a working man feels about his pay. And typically in ancient times it seems that a person would work for a day and at the end of that day he would received his wages. So, the end of the day comes and this man is looking for his payment. Or even longing for it. He’s in great need of this payment. He has worked long and hard hours to earn it. And he wants it.
And that should be our attitude concerning Jesus’ return. We want it. We are waiting for him expectantly. We know he’s coming. It’s just a matter of time. But – oh – how we want him to come soon!
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary from heaven
The New Testament is clear that Jesus – in his first coming – came from heaven to the earth.
And when he had been crucified and buried and raised from the dead, Jesus went back to heaven. Stephen saw him there as he was being stoned to death. Saul of Tarsus saw him there when he was on his way to persecute Christians in Damascus. Jesus is now there in God’s presence to intercede for us before God.
So, he’s there now. But there’s coming a time when he will return from heaven. Actually, there are two times that will happen.
After Jesus had been raised from the dead, he took his disciples to the Mount of Olives to the east of Jerusalem. And as they were watching, he was lifted up into heaven. Then two angels appeared to the disciples – and do you remember what they said to those men who were still gazing up into heaven? They said basically, why are you looking up? He’s going to come back in the same way that he went up. (Acts 1:10-11) In other words, Christ will be returning from heaven to this earth some day.
And we’re even given some expectation that when he does return he’s going to come down on the Mount of Olives from the very spot he had gone up (Zechariah 14:4).
And when Jesus returns, he’s pictured in Revelation 19 as coming from heaven on a white horse and the armies of heaven are following after him on their own white horses. And at that point he will destroy the enemies of his people the Jews and deliver the Jews who will receive him as their Messiah at that point.
So, that’s one future coming of Jesus from heaven.
But before all of that, he’s coming for his church in what’s called the Rapture, which we’ll study at the end of 1 Thessalonians 4. Jesus will descend from heaven, the dead in Christ will rise first, and then whoever among the believers in Christ who are still alive will be caught up together with those resurrected believers. We’ll meet in the clouds and be with the Lord forever.
And while this teaching of the Rapture tends to generate a lot of debate, Paul intended it to be used by his people to encourage and comfort one another (1 Thessalonians 4:18). So, whatever way you might interpret the events surrounding the rapture of the church, if the end result of your interpretation is not comfort and encouragement to believers, then you’re doing it wrong!
Your Example to Other Believers #6: Hopeful Waiting
So, your waiting for Jesus Christ from heaven is one unavoidable result of your turning to God from idols. You and I are not just waiting to die! We’re waiting for Christ from heaven.
The Scottish Baptist Alexander Maclaren is quoted as having said the following…
[S] “The primitive church thought more about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ than about death or about heaven. The early Christians were looking not for a cleft in the ground called a grave but for a cleavage in the sky called Glory. They were watching not for the undertaker but for the uppertaker.” — Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910)
And this was part of the Thessalonians’ example to their fellow-believers. They were looking for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior – Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).
Is that what you’re looking for? Is he what you’re looking for? Are you waiting for Jesus as if you were a day-laborer greatly desiring – even feeling the intense need of – his wage at the end of a long hard work day?
Your confident looking for the return of Jesus is a part of your example to other believers.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary whom he raised from the dead
So, Paul has been telling us what will happen concerning God’s Son, Jesus. He’s coming back!
And then Paul reminds us of what did happen concerning God’s Son, Jesus. He was raised from the dead.
Jesus foretold this event in his life before it even happened (Matthew 17:9). Jesus’ enemies even tried in vain to prevent his rising from the dead (Matthew 27:64). But ultimately God did it – he raised Jesus back to life after he had literally died (Matthew 28:7).
As the song says, we serve a risen Savior.
https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/503
The leaders of every historical religious movement share one thing in common. They’re all dead. But not Jesus Christ. He lives – and he will live forever.
It seems that every once in a while, the world gets real excited because some archaeologists find a bone box in Israel with the name “Jesus” on it. There were a lot of Jesus’ at that time – but the bones of our Jesus aren’t in a box. They’re in heaven inside of his resurrected body! He is risen from the dead!
This was the message that Paul and Silas preached to these Thessalonians which we saw back in Acts 17:1-9. They testified that the Old Testament portrayed it as a necessity that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead. And they identified this rising Messiah to be none other than Jesus of Nazareth.
• So, believers have turned to God from idols.
• We have done that with the result that we now serve the living and true God and that we eagerly wait for his Son from heaven.
• We believe that God raised his Son from the dead – because if he was still dead and his bones are in the grave, he’s not going to be coming from heaven. But he is alive and he is coming from heaven.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary even Jesus
And the identity of this Son of God is Jesus. He is the risen Son of God.
The angel Gabriel declared Jesus to be the Son of God (Luke 1:32,35). Satan also identified him with this position (Matthew 4:3,6). Demons did, too (Matthew 8:29). As did his disciples (Matthew 14:33; 16:16). The Jewish High Priest and witnesses to his crucifixion mocked him about this claim (Matthew 26:63; 27:40,43). The centurion who witnessed his death claimed this about him (Matthew 27:54). And Jesus himself owned that title as the Son of God with his own lips (John 5:25; 10:36; 11:4). His resurrection itself declared him to be God’s Son (Romans 1:4).
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary which delivered us from the wrath to come
And this risen Son of God delivers us from the coming wrath.
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary from the wrath to come
God’s wrath is his settled, determined judgement on sin.
Wrath is an action that really only God can carry out properly. He says that vengeance is his – he will repay. So, we ought not take our own vengeance on others but let God deal with them (Romans 12:19). And then under God, he puts government in the position to exercise his wrath on evildoers on his behalf for now (Romans 13:4-5).
And so, even now, if a person doesn’t receive Christ’s free gift of salvation, God’s wrath abides on him (John 3:36). It’s revealed right now against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Romans 1:18). Ultimately, mankind’s current lack of trust in God is the source of all of his wrath toward them (Hebrews 3:11;4:3).
So, God’ wrath is a current thing.
But it’s especially a future reality. God’s wrath will come upon his unbelieving people – the Jews – in the last days (Luke 21:23; 1 Thessalonians 2:16). It will also come on hypocritical moralists who judge others for sins that they themselves commit (Romans 2:5). It will come on those who reject the truth and instead obey unrighteousness (Romans 2:8). Immorality, impurity, and greed are all things for which the wrath of God is going to come on the world (Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 3:6).
Apart from Christ, we have a tendency to dislike and take issue with this concept of God being wrathful. But, God’s wrath is completely justified and righteous (Romans 3:5). It’s only after a lot of patience that God finally demonstrates his wrath ultimately in someone’s life (Romans 9:22).
But God’s wrath will finally and justifiably fall on this world. The last book of our Bible – Revelation – tells of “the great day” of the wrath of Jesus (Revelation 6:16-17).
And so wrath is certainly something that God will unashamedly carry out. But it’s not that we could characterize him as being happy about it. God’s wrath is attended by grief in his heart concerning the hardness of the hearts of his human creatures (Mark 3:5).
So, that’s God’s wrath in everyone else’s life.
What about us?
For believers, we ourselves used to be children of wrath because we were engaged in fulfilling our lusts without any regard for God (Ephesians 2:3).
But, praise the Lord – there is a way to escape this wrath. Repentance is required in order to avoid this wrath (Matthew 3:7; Luke 3:7). And we saw already that if a person doesn’t receive Christ’s free gift of salvation, God’s wrath abides on him (John 3:36). But the opposite is true – when you received Christ, you no longer had God’s wrath abiding on you! And so, if you’re trusting Christ alone to save you, there’s no more wrath!
1 Thessalonians 1 Summary which delivered us
And that’s the key – Jesus is the key. Christ is the one who saves us from this wrath.
We are saved from God’s wrath through Jesus according to Romans 5:9.
God has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation – by our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
And that’s really the only way that you and I can be examples to other believers. This is the starting point. We need to be delivered from God’s wrath against our sins through trusting Christ alone.
[S] And from there we can move on to all these other aspects of being examples to other believers. We can evangelize. We can trust God in hard things. We can receive God’s messengers. We can truly turn to God from idols. We can serve God. And we can expectantly wait for Jesus’ return.
May the Lord help us all to be growing examples to other believers – who are in such desperate need of patterns of faithfulness in their lives.
Explaining The Book 