“Good News”

1 Thessalonians 3.6-10

But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always think kindly of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you, 7 for this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith; 8 for now we really live, if you stand firm in the Lord. 9 For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account, 10 as we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith?

            The last few weeks, as you know, we have paused in our study of 1 Thessalonians to zero in on the passion of the apostle Paul to see the Thessalonians strengthened in their faith.  You see that zeal of the apostle oozing not only from the pages of this book, but also from many chapters in the letters that he wrote to other churches.  It was the great passion of his heart to see the people who had come to faith through his ministry constantly growing more and more like Christ. 

            And as we move into chapter three, verses six through ten this morning, I want you to put yourself in the shoes of Paul.  I want you to understand what a profound impact this passion had on his life.  As we have seen in our studies into the background of the founding of the church at Thessalonica, it didn’t come about without opposition and persecution.  Even before Paul arrived in Thessalonica, he had experienced a severe beating, public humiliation and imprisonment in Philippi (2.2; Acts 16).  And such persecution and opposition had simply been par for the course virtually everywhere he went as a minister of the gospel. 

            Probably the most comprehensive list of his suffering is given to us in 2 Corinthians 11.23-27:

 Are they servants of Christ?-- I speak as if insane-- I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. ²⁶ I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; ²⁷ I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

 This is just a sampling of the kind of suffering and persecution that Paul endured.  He could truly say, “I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus” (Gal 6.17).  But there was more than this external duress.  Notice what he says back in 2 Corinthians 11.28-29: “Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.  Who is weak without my being weak?  Who is led into sin without my intense concern?”  Paul often referred to his converts as his own children.  They were his spiritual offspring, and like a mother feels the weight and burden of everything her children endure; as she is filled with a loving concern for their well-being and growth and nourishment, so Paul was constantly overwhelmed with a passionate aching to see that his spiritual children were safe, secure, and sanctified in Christ. 

            When you begin to see what Paul endured for the sake of the churches; when you realize that he was persecuted by the Jews, persecuted by the Gentiles, abused by the Roman authorities, attacked by false teachers, criticized by people within the churches, and physically exhausted and spent all in his efforts to win people to Christ, then you can see why he had a dominating concern for the spiritual well-being of the churches.

            And just to review a little bit: when Paul came to Thessalonica he was probably still nursing his wounds from the severe beating he had received in Philippi (1 Thess 2.2).  Opposition was soon to come in Thessalonica and it was so severe that he was forced to flee to Berea (Acts 17.5-10), where the same Jews came and stirred up the crowds and forced his departure again (vv. 13-14).  He then went to Athens where he did much of his ministry alone (vv. 15-34; cf. 1 Thess 3.1), and finally came to Corinth (Acts 18.1).  And he told the Corinthians, “And when I came to you, brethren . . . I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling” (1 Cor 2.1, 3).  It was not easy to be the apostle Paul!  I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to face the struggles that he did on a daily basis.  He told the Corinthians, “We who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor 4.11).  He said, “We are afflicted in every way … perplexed … persecuted … struck down … always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus” (vv. 8-10). 

            And all of this was for the sake of the Gospel.  It was Paul and his teammates putting themselves out there in the face of all the opposition and persecution so that people might be brought to faith in Christ for the glory of God.  So as we come back to 1 Thessalonians chapter three, verse five, we hear Paul saying, “For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you and our labor would be in vain.”  His greatest fear and concern was that after his premature and forced departure from the believers in Thessalonica, their initial profession of faith would prove to be false and all of his labor among them would therefore be fruitless. 

            And now you can picture it all, right?  Paul is in the city of Corinth, where he said of his initial arrival “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling” (1 Cor 2.3).  He’s had little but persecution and opposition in the past and he expects more of it in the future.  He was forced by that persecution to leave Thessalonica and he has no idea how the new converts there are doing.  Now if you were in his shoes, it would be pretty easy to be discouraged, right?  I mean you could say, “My body hurts, I’m exhausted, my own countrymen, the Jews, reject the message I preach, to them it’s an offense, and to the Gentiles it’s foolishness.  I’m breaking my back working night and day making these tents (Acts 18.1-3) so that I can preach the gospel free of charge to so many people who reject it and scoff at me.  I poured my very life into the people of Thessalonica (1 Thess 2.8), and then I got kicked out of that city and now I don’t even know how those people are doing.”

 TIMOTHY’S REPORT: GOOD NEWS

             “But now,” Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 3.6, “But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and had brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always think kindly of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you, for this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith; for now we really live, if you stand firm in the Lord” (vv. 6-8). 

            What a shot in the arm this report from Timothy was to the apostle Paul!!!  Acts 18.5 tells us that Paul was in Corinth when Timothy and Silvanus returned from Macedonia, and that was the time when Timothy brought this report about the Thessalonians.  Paul called this report “good news.”  That’s actually a translation of a participle that comes from the verb euaggelizo.  It’s the word from which we get “evangelize.”  And everywhere else Paul uses it for preaching the gospel.  It means, I bring good news, I preach the gospel, or I evangelize.  And it is as if this report from Timothy is so wonderful that Paul puts it on the same level as gospel truth itself. 

 I.  The Content of the Report

             And it was that wonderful!  A.  It was about their faith and love—their faith toward God and their love for the brethren.  It was intact, it was real, and it was active and evident.  B.  Furthermore, their recollection of Paul and Silvanus and Timothy was always good.  When the Thessalonians remembered Paul’s ministry among them it was an affectionate recollection, and (C.) the result of that is that they were longing to see Paul just as he longed to see them.  You will recall Paul’s description of his separation from them: “But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short while—in person, not in spirit—were all the more eager with great desire to see your face” (2.17).  That was Paul’s passionate longing to be reunited with the Thessalonians, and for him to find out that they had a similar passion to see him was overwhelming.

 II.  The Result of the Report

             A.  Paul is Encouraged

             Look at verse seven: “For this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith.”  This is the result of Timothy’s report; this is the effect that it had on Paul.  He says, “We were comforted.”  This speaks of instilling someone with courage or cheer.  This was a shot of encouragement right in Paul’s arm, and it came in the midst of all the distress and affliction that he was enduring.  And he says, “It was through your faith.”  After all, that’s what he sent to find out about, right (v. 5)?  He desperately wanted to know the condition of their faith, so when he found out that their faith was intact and growing he was instantly uplifted and encouraged!

             B.  Paul is Revitalized   

             In fact he says in verse eight, “For now we really live, if you stand firm in the Lord.”  This is a first class condition in the Greek.  You could almost say, “Since you are standing firm in the Lord.”  Paul is saying, “Now that we know that you are standing firm in the Lord—that you are remaining stable, that you are holding your ground, that you are standing firm in your belief, in your status as being in Christ—now we live!  Figuratively speaking you could say that we were about to die for concern over your spiritual condition, but now this good news of your faith and love and affection for us and for Christ is like life from the dead for us.  Now we are recharged; now we really live!”

            And when Paul got this report from Timothy, Acts 18.5 tells us that he “began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.”  It just charged him up!  And later in Acts 18 we find that the Lord spoke to Paul and said, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city” (vv. 9-10).

            God was doing a work through Paul’s ministry, and He used this report about the Thessalonians as a major boost of encouragement at that point.                  

             C.  Paul Gives Thanks to God

             A third result of this report was that of Paul’s thanksgiving to God.  Did you ever get a good report?  Have you ever received good news about a loved one or about a particular circumstance that just brought renewed life in the depth of your being?  What do you do when you get that news?  You rejoice, right?  The overflow of your heart is an expression of gratitude and thankfulness to God.  Often the situations about which we are most concerned are those which we have no power to change.  Maybe you have a son or a family member who has been serving in the military in Iraq or Afghanistan, and there’s nothing you can do to guarantee his safety; there’s nothing you can do to get him back home.  Maybe you have a daughter who has turned her back on Christ.  She’s going her own way and she’s starting to reap the consequences.  What do you do in these kinds of situations?  You pray; you call out to God and ask Him to do something that only He can do.

            And when the good news comes; when God graciously answers your request, you rejoice.  Your heart is filled with thankfulness to God and you know that there is no way you will ever be able to repay Him for His kindness toward you.  That was Paul’s response.  Look at verse nine: “For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account.”  Paul was at a loss for words and the one thing he knew was that there was no possible way he could render back to God the thanksgiving that would suffice to repay Him in return for the overwhelming since of joy that he and his teammates had gained from learning of the Thessalonians’ enduring faith. 

            And notice too that he was giving thanks to God, not to the Thessalonians.  God is the One who first did a work of salvation in them and He was the One who was seeing that they were established in the faith, so Paul overflows with thanksgiving to Him. 

            Now I can pause at this time to ask, “What do you give thanks to God for?  What brings the most joy to your heart?”  The thing that brings the greatest joy to your heart is that for which you will thank God the most.  For Paul it was seeing people coming to faith in Christ and growing in that faith.  I’m sure Les probably touched on this last week as he preached from Third John.  There the apostle John said it like this: “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth” (v. 4).         

             D.  Paul Prays for Further Growth

             Well, a final result of Timothy’s report about the Thessalonians was that it led Paul to pray for further growth in them.  He was so encouraged, he was so revitalized, and he was so filled with thanksgiving on account of their established and growing faith.  He was rejoicing over their work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope (1.3).  He was impressed by their joy and perseverance in the midst of tribulation (1.6; 2.14), and he was thankful that they were indeed standing firm in the Lord (3.8).  Yet he knew that they were far from perfection; he knew that they were still reasonably young in the faith and that they needed to continue growing.

            So verse ten says, “As we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith?”  This verse finishes the thought of verse nine, and it’s a rhetorical question: “How are we ever going to thank God enough in return for how much we are rejoicing over you as we night and day keep praying most earnestly …?”  It was in the context of that rejoicing and thanksgiving before God that Paul offered this petition to Him.  And notice that it was a constant request.  He says that they were praying “night and day.”  Now this doesn’t refer to extent of time (at every moment in a 24 hour period), but to kind of time (i.e., during both the night and the day).    

Notice too that this was an earnest request.  In fact Paul uses language here that couldn’t possibly be stronger.  The verb that is used here for prayer is not the typical one.  It speaks of beseeching or begging.  It is an earnest entreaty, and it’s modified by an adverb that means, quite beyond all measure.  It’s the highest form of comparison imaginable so that what Paul was saying was, “During both the nighttime and the daytime we keep praying as earnestly as possible.”  And what was he asking for?  Well first notice that he prayed so that he might see their face.  He loved them so much; he had an overflowing personal affection for them and on account of that just wanted to be with them face to face.

But his desire didn’t end there.  Secondly, he wanted to complete what was lacking in their faith.   Now when he talks about the things that were lacking in their faith he means something like a defect that must be removed so that perfection can be attained, lack, shortcoming.  So on the one hand it would be the defective elements of their faith that needed to be removed because they were impeding progress.  On the other hand the Thessalonians’ faith had shortcomings, deficiencies that needed to be filled with truth.  It was the removal of impediments and the addition new teaching that would allow Paul to “complete” what was lacking in their faith.  The word that Paul uses here means “to cause to be in a condition to function well, put in order, restore—put into proper condition.”