We always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers. We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance. You know how we lived among you for your benefit, and you yourselves became imitators of us and of the Lord when, in spite of severe persecution, you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit. As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. For the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything, for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. —1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

Because God transforms those whom He saves, we should expect that genuine conversion will produce visible results. As we explore this passage more carefully, we will see how Paul expresses gratitude to God for how the gospel has taken root in the hearts of the Thessalonians. He will identify three characteristics of their authentic faith: it was genuine, it was dynamic, and it was contagious.

I. A GENUINE CHURCH

A Genuine Conversion Changes Our Direction

For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance. You know how we lived among you for your benefit, and you yourselves became imitators of us and of the Lord when, in spite of severe persecution, you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit. —1 Thessalonians 1:4-6

As usual, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead: “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.” —Acts 17:2-3

A Genuine Conversion Changes Our Affection

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. —Romans 13:14

A Genuine Conversion Changes Our Reflection

and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. —1 Thessalonians 1:10

II. A DYNAMIC CHURCH

We always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers. We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. —1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. —Romans 12:1-2

A Working Faith

We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. —1 Thessalonians 1:3

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast. —Ephesians 2:8-9

A Laboring Love

If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. —1 Corinthians 13:1-3

An Enduring Hope

III. A CONTAGEOUS CHURCH

For the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything, —1 Thessalonians 1:8

Contageous In Our Proclamation

Contageous In Our Passion