1,000,000 Chapters – Part 4Sample

Today we are starting 1 Thessalonians and in a few days we will read 2 Thessalonians. They are 2 different letters written by Paul to encourage the a group of Christians in Thessaloniki in their faith and lifestyle. The Thessalonian Christians remained consistent in their “faith and labor of love” even though they were under persecution and moral challenges of their day. Thessalonica was the home of two mystery religions that were found everywhere throughout the Hellenic and Roman Empire. Both of them were fertility cults, expressing themselves in phallic symbols and sexual indulgences. It was a city that was under attack and the Christians were needing guidance from Paul and Timothy.

The beginning of the letter speaks highly of the success of the people in spreading the Gospel. They were such great imitators of Christ that they became models to believers in Macedonia and Achai. They were definitely doing something right in their faith that cities around them were being encouraged by their faith in Christ. Paul goes on to encourage them because he knows they also had some struggles from the Jews because they were trying to interfere with them spreading the gospel to Gentiles. The Christians of Thessalonica were on the right track in how they were living out their faith and maintaining the truth about how to live like Jesus in hard times. Paul even sent Timothy to help them. Timothy came back to Paul to report how well they were doing.

In the last 2 chapters of Paul’s first letter, he focuses on exhorting the Christians in purity and love. Paul is connecting their beliefs to how they should be living. They are called to live out their Christian morals because of their relationship with God. This isn’t about following rules – it is about our relationship with God and what he wants from our lives.

The second letter from Paul to the Thessalonians comes as a follow up after getting an update on what this community of Jesus followers were facing. They had an increase in the persecution and started attaching to some teachings about the end of time that Paul need clarify. In the second letter Paul assures this church that they had not missed the return of Jesus and gives them guidance on how to live faithful for Jesus despite their difficult situation. 

As you read these letters be thinking about how your morals match up to your faith. Are there things in your life you have let slip because it has become “normal” in our culture now? Are there things you need to change that don’t match up with what Jesus teaches? Are you modeling a Christian lifestyle for all to see?