1 Thessalonians 1: The Gospel in the Midst of Trials

Introduction

"The Church in Thessalonica is the Church of suffering." Samuel Bouix, Europe director of the mission Global Recordings Network (GRN), preaches at Église Nouvel Impact Liège on a theme he admits is "not that easy": the Gospel in the midst of trials.

He chose this text because he studied it with his children, one or two verses a day: nine months to work through the letter to the Thessalonians. Each of Paul's letters has its own color. Corinth needed to be set straight. Philippi was so generous that it impoverished itself so the Gospel could advance. Thessalonica, for its part, is marked by opposition and hardship.

Starting from 1 Thessalonians 1:4-10 and 2:1-4, the preacher develops three aspects: receiving the Gospel in trials, living it, and sharing it. He then reminds us what the Gospel is, leans on God's faithfulness, and finally introduces the mission he serves, which tells the story of Jesus in the heart language of every people.

Outline of the Message

1. Thessalonica, a Church Born in Opposition

For Samuel Bouix, the Greco-Roman society of the Thessalonians looks a lot like how ours is evolving. This text is "so relevant for us today."
On his second missionary journey, Paul leaves Antioch with Silas, after parting ways with Barnabas. Along the way, he takes a young man with him, Timothy. A vision calls him to Macedonia.
In Philippi, a Church is born, but Paul "took a beating": he was struck, flogged, and thrown into prison. The three men arrive in Thessalonica still bearing the marks of those blows.
They spend only three Sabbaths there, perhaps a month, and they leave a Church behind them. The former church-planting pastor marvels at it: a Church planted in three weeks.
In Berea, people check in the Scriptures what they are being taught. A delegation from Thessalonica comes and stirs up trouble there, and Paul has to leave very quickly for Athens, leaving Silas and Timothy behind.
Worried about Philippi and Thessalonica, they send Timothy. Together with Silas, he then joins Paul in Corinth with good news: they are doing well (1 Thessalonians 3:6).

2. Receiving the Gospel in Trials

Paul writes to the Thessalonians that they became imitators of him and of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 1:6). "By imitating us, you imitated Christ."
God has placed people on your path who are Christlike in the way they live out their faith and their trials. "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20).
At 13, as a boarding student, the preacher spent his weekends at the home of a church elder. This man got up at 6 a.m. to read his Bible for an hour in the attic, where he could not even stand upright. At breakfast, he came downstairs whistling, radiant. "That guy made me dream."
At 16, at youth group, he confided in tears that he could not manage to get up in the morning. The answer: "You know, when I get up, I'll call you, you put your phone on, we pray, and you spend your time with your Lord." For 18 months, every day, without vacations, at 6 a.m., this brother prayed with him and then hung up. "That guy marked my life."
His question: which brothers and sisters has God placed around you that you want to imitate, so that by imitating them you imitate Christ? "Don't imitate what is evil, but what is good," says 3 John 11.
The Thessalonians welcomed the word "in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit." Today too, accepting the Gospel has a price: your spouse may disagree, your parents or children may not understand you, your friends may reject you.
But this word is at work (1 Thessalonians 2:13). "When you accept Jesus into your life, you are no longer the same." He is the one who does the work in us.

3. Living the Gospel: Caring for One Another

The way Paul, Silas, and Timothy live out the Gospel is by caring for others. They stayed only a few weeks in Thessalonica, but they carry a burden: how are they doing?
They pray for them without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3). Their desire is to see these brothers and sisters grow with the Lord. So they take a risk and send Timothy.
According to the preacher, the expression "one another" appears four times in the letter. "If you want to live the Gospel in this church in Liège, live out the 'one anothers.'"
What struck him most at Église Nouvel Impact are its "Loulas," these gatherings in homes. That is where you can ask: "Brother, are you growing right now?"
Paul writes: you are already doing it, keep progressing (1 Thessalonians 4:1). The trap, when you are already doing something, is to think you have arrived and to look for "the deck chair."
"Living the Gospel is worrying about your brother": how is my brother doing? Is he growing in his faith? How can I pray for you?

4. Sharing the Gospel in Trials

Paul and his companions took blows, and they shared the Gospel anyway. After they left, the Thessalonians faced opposition in their turn and stood firm, because they had good models. They even imitated the persecuted Churches of Judea (1 Thessalonians 2:14).
The question is not first "how do I become a model?" but "whom do I want to imitate?" "If I imitate Christ, if I imitate brothers who want to imitate Christ, I become a model."
The impact went beyond the city: the word of the Lord rang out through all of Macedonia and Achaia (1 Thessalonians 1:7-8). "They lived the Gospel so fully that it snowballed."
"We all go through difficulties." The preacher does not know those of the congregation, but God knows them and wants to use them so that the Gospel is shared: you will become a model for many because you live the Gospel in trials too.
His wish for the Church, which meets in a movie theater: "I would love for this movie theater to be too small."

5. What the Gospel Is

"At some point, we have all disobeyed God." In Genesis 3, the devil promises Eve that by disobeying, she will be like God, able to know good and evil.
Today, many think they know better than God what is good for them. "We took the crown off the King of kings so we could say: I am the king of my life." The preacher makes clear that he is not there to condemn anyone: the question of authority comes up in the details of each of our lives.
The good news: God came in the form of a human being. The sin of humanity fell on Jesus, who had committed no sin. He died, and he rose again on the third day, victorious over death.
Becoming a child of God means agreeing that God takes the reins of your life again, pleading guilty, and believing that Jesus paid for you (John 3:16). It means handing back the crown and saying: "Lord, you know what is good for me and I obey you."
To those who received him, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12). "God calls you my child." The preacher invites anyone who has not yet accepted Jesus as Savior to do so now.

6. God Is Faithful in the Heart of Trials

The letter ends with this promise: "Faithful is he who calls you, who will also do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
To say that a Christian would not suffer, "that's not true. That's not what the biblical text tells us." But God is faithful, and he is the one who transforms us.
In 1 Corinthians 10:13, he explains, the Greek word translated "temptation" also means trial. No trial has come upon you that is not common to humans: Jesus knew them, all the way to betrayal.
In 2006, Samuel Bouix went through very difficult times. The pain was so great that he asked the Lord to come and take him. One day, as he was leaving church, a friend tapped him on the shoulder: "Sam, God will not test you beyond your strength."
The verse does not say that the trial will be proportionate to the strength you had before. With the trial, God prepares the way out, so that you can endure it. "If the trial is a 5, God in his faithfulness will give you a 6 to endure it. Not because you were at 6 before."
"What matters is not what happens before, it's what happens in the trial." If you are in a trial, count on his faithfulness.

7. Telling the Story of Jesus in the Heart Language

The GRN mission was born in 1939 with Joy Ridderhof, an American missionary who read the Bible to a small group in Honduras, translating it into their dialect. Sick and sent home, she confides to a brother who came to visit her in the hospital that the hardest thing is thinking about that community: "I left nothing behind."
That brother comes back with what is needed to record her. He imagines a very simple player: an envelope, a jeans rivet, a nail. By turning the disc with a branch, you hear the Gospel. The slogan has not changed since: telling the story of Jesus in every language.
Linguists count about 7,300 languages and 5,000 dialects, more than 12,000 in all. GRN has recorded at least the Gospel, along with an overview of the Bible from creation to the Church, in 6,700 languages. Nothing is sold: this material is royalty-free, and a free app makes it accessible.
When Google took an interest in these recordings, it told the GRN team: "You are the ones who have the same content translated into more languages than anyone in the world." What saddens the preacher: "Google knows it, and my brothers and sisters don't."
To be witnesses, we need the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). At Pentecost, everyone hears about the wonders of God in their mother tongue (Acts 2). The language you speak with your mom is the heart language.
In the boarding line in Marseille, he meets a man from Cameroon. He has him listen to Matthew 5 in his language. The man translates out loud, and the travelers ahead of them turn around to listen. He asks how to get this for his mom, who cannot read.
That man came to the service that morning and gave his testimony: he is going to give his mother "the most beautiful gift," this Bible "that she loves so much but cannot read," which she will be able to listen to by simply pressing a button. "So faith comes by hearing" (Romans 10:17).
You have in your pocket the word of God in the heart language of every people. Whatever you are going through, God wants you to share the good news, even in difficulty. Pray for the people he places next to you.

Key Takeaways

The Thessalonians welcomed the word in the midst of great difficulties, with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Trials do not stop the Gospel from working.
By imitating brothers and sisters who imitate Christ, you imitate Christ, and you become a model for others yourself.
Living the Gospel means caring for one another, praying for one another, and progressing further, even in what you are already doing.
Christians are not spared suffering, but God is faithful: with the trial, he provides the way to endure it.
The Gospel is a nugget you cannot keep to yourself. God wants to use you, even in your difficulties, to share it.

Personal Application

Which brothers and sisters has God placed around you whose faith makes you want to imitate Christ?
What does the Gospel cost you today in your family, your marriage, or your friendships? Do you receive it anyway, with the joy of the Holy Spirit?
In your house group or your church, whom could you check in on this week by asking: "Are you growing right now?"
In the trial you are going through, are you counting on your own strength or on God's faithfulness?
Whom has God placed on your path, perhaps someone from another language or another culture, with whom you could share the Gospel?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the Church in Thessalonica called the Church of trials?

For Samuel Bouix, each letter of the New Testament has its own distinctive feature, and Thessalonica's is suffering. Paul and his companions arrive there still marked by the blows received in Philippi, have to leave after a few weeks, and the Thessalonians welcome the word "in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit."

What does "living the Gospel" mean according to 1 Thessalonians?

For the preacher, living the Gospel means caring for one another. Paul, Silas, and Timothy pray without ceasing for the Thessalonians and send Timothy to find out how they are doing. Living the Gospel is worrying about your brother: how is he doing, is he growing in his faith, how can I pray for him?

What does 1 Corinthians 10:13 promise to someone going through a trial?

God is faithful: with the trial, he prepares the way out so that you can endure it. Samuel Bouix points out that it does not all depend on the strength you had before: if the trial is a 5, God in his faithfulness gives you a 6 to endure it.