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Thanks, Bill.

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Tonight I want to share with you some of the things that I've done over the last few weeks,

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just to fill you in a little bit about the sabbatical.

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For this morning, let's open our Bibles together to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1.

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We find this letter written by the Apostle Paul to the church in Thessalonica.

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Paul was a people person. It's difficult to be effective in ministry or in any kind of public work for that matter,

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without being a people person and having some human skills.

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Perhaps the number one human skill that we can have is the ability to say, I love you.

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Perhaps skill number two when it comes to human skills is the skill to be able to say, I hear you.

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The Apostle Paul both loved and heard the Thessalonians.

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And in response to that, he wrote them two letters.

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Paul was a team person. You will notice the letter begins by saying,

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Paul in Silvanus or Silas and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians,

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in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace.

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We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers,

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constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope

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in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father.

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Paul was a team person. The team that Paul traveled with shared the same heart of commitment that he had.

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They bought into the same goals. They served the same master, Jesus Christ.

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Silas or Silvanus was a respected Christian of the Jerusalem church.

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He had been sent by that church to the church at Antioch as a delegate

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to help mediate some of the sensitive issues between Gentile and Jewish Christians.

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Later when Paul left from the Antioch church on this second missionary journey,

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Silas was appointed to accompany him.

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And Timothy. Timothy was Paul's son in the faith.

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Timothy joined the team as they came through Lystra in Asia Minor.

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He was the son of a mixed marriage.

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He was converted two years before this during Paul's first missionary journey.

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They went through that same area.

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He had been discipled by the elders of the church in Lystra and had been recommended by them to Paul.

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And so Paul had him join the team.

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And so that was Paul's team, at least for this time.

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One of the things you notice about Paul is that his team changed from time to time.

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And maybe that's a good thing for us just to note in passing this morning

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as we see some of the team here changing.

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That that is not an unusual thing.

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That that in fact is a healthy dynamic in ministry relationships that occurs from time to time.

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A critical moment in world history had actually just passed a few months before this letter was written.

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That was when the apostolic team was directed to cross the Aegean Sea to the European continent.

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Up to that point, it was an Asian ministry.

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But now Paul is in the continent of Europe and the whole of world history has been changed

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because of the direction that God led him.

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He ministered in Thessalonica for about a month.

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There were a number of people who were converted, but things did not go well with the Jewish population.

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They stirred up the city and ran Paul out of town.

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In the course of time, over a few weeks or months, Paul went on to the city of Corinth.

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And it is from the city of Corinth that he writes back now to the church in Thessalonica

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to express his love and concern.

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Precious memories fill the heart of the apostle Paul as he took up his pen to write to them.

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His heart overflowed with gratitude to God.

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He and his team gave thanks to God for the genuine evidence of spiritual life which was in them.

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Without fail, folks, genuine life from God shows itself.

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Without fail, genuine life from God shows itself in the life of the Christian.

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You and I can give thanks to God today for that evidence of his life that is in us.

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Paul recalls here for us three visible evidences of genuine spiritual life in the Thessalonians.

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They are found in verse 3.

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He titles them the work of faith, the labor of love, and the steadfastness of hope.

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You will notice those words faith, love, and hope.

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This is the first chronological occurrence of that triad of graces to be found in Paul's writings.

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Faith, hope, and love are mentioned a number of times in the New Testament together.

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For they come together as sort of a package.

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Paul is saying that of the Thessalonians there was faith that produced work.

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He says there was love that prompted them to labor.

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And there was a hope that inspired endurance in them.

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Three evidences of God's genuine life in them.

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The work of faith undoubtedly looks back initially to that point of their conversion.

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In fact, I believe that this is confirmed in the context of chapter 1.

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You will find in verse 9 a reference to the work of faith in their lives.

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For it says in the last part of the verse, Paul remembers how you turned to God from idols.

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That, my friend, is the work of faith.

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At the point of their conversion there was a turning.

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When faith was placed in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation,

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they found themselves turning to God and away from the idols or the false religion

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that they had been a part of in the past.

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Now it is true that salvation is not by works.

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There is no merit that we can earn.

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There is no effort that we can produce that will earn us salvation.

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For by grace you have been saved through faith.

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Ephesians 2, 8.

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And he says, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God not as a result of works,

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lest any man should boast.

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So salvation comes as a gift.

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It comes to us in response to our faith placed in Jesus Christ.

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But salvation is a work, believing in fact is a work in the sense that it is a definite act.

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We do not inherit a relationship with God from our parents.

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We do not gain a relationship with God by osmosis, by rubbing up against people who are Christians.

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We gain salvation by the work of faith, by the definite act of our placing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Now the work of faith involves three aspects.

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The first aspect of the work of faith is responding to what the Holy Spirit has already begun in the heart.

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The point I'm making is that it begins with God.

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The first aspect of the work of faith is that it is a response to what God has already initiated in us.

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The second aspect is that it involves choosing to place trust or reliance in Jesus Christ

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and his work at the cross on our behalf.

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It is a responding to what God initiates and then it's a choosing on our part to place our faith in Jesus Christ

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and what he did at Calvary for our sins.

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Turn over to 2 Thessalonians, the second chapter, and you see these two aspects linked together in verse 13.

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2 Thessalonians 2.

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We should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord,

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because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation.

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How is that going to be accomplished?

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He says, through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

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Those two things go together.

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It is an acknowledgement that salvation begins by a work of the Spirit within us to which we respond.

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And it involves on our part faith or choosing to trust Jesus Christ.

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Then the third aspect of the work of faith is what Paul mentions at the end of verse 9 of chapter 1 of 1 Thessalonians,

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that turning, the turning to God alone and away from all else as a basis for our faith.

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What is the evidence of genuine spiritual life?

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What is the evidence that God is truly working?

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It is the work of faith.

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Has there been that work of faith in your life?

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Has there been that definite act on your part whereby you responded to the Holy Spirit's wooing of you?

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You responded to the conviction of the Spirit of God when he showed you your sins?

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And you placed your faith in Jesus Christ and you turned to God away from what you've trusted in the past?

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Has there been that work of faith?

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The apostle Paul may also have in mind here the work that came forth from them because of their faith.

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Their lives were changed, you see.

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The good works came out of their lives as a fruit.

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But we must not mistake the fruit for the root.

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The root is that act of receiving Jesus Christ and because of that root there are good works that are produced.

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The work of faith.

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Now there's a second genuine evidence of spiritual life in the labor of love.

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Remember that only three months had passed since Paul had been there.

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Yet a radical change had taken place in these Thessalonians.

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A whole new dynamic was at work in their lives.

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It's the dynamic of agape, the Greek word for love.

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God's kind of love.

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This love originates with the Holy Spirit.

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Romans 5 and verse 5 says,

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The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

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Paul remarks with gratitude about the love that he saw in the Thessalonians.

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Before there was that innate selfishness.

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There was that kind of love that exists for the benefit of the lover, not the one who's loved.

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A selfish kind of love.

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But now there's a whole new dimension in their lives.

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It's the kind of love that flows out of self-sacrifice.

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The kind of love that gives to others whatever the response may be.

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It makes no difference.

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It's the kind of love that is more than a feeling.

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It's a kind of love that is known for its labor.

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And that's what Paul saw in the Thessalonians.

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The labor of love.

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The word labor is not totally unrelated to the word work.

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But it adds a new thought to the word work.

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Labor refers to extraordinary effort connected with the work.

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It means to toil until fatigue or exhaustion.

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There is strenuous exertion in this word labor.

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He thanks God for the labor of love.

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And once more the apostle comments about this later in verse 9 when he says,

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How you turn to God from idols to serve a living and true God.

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They were serving God.

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The living and true one.

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This is the labor of love.

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They loved God.

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And out of that love for God they were willing to labor to exhaustion for his sake.

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We periodically need to remind ourselves that we are not saved to sit.

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But we are saved to serve.

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And an evidence of genuine spiritual vitality is a willingness on our part to be devoted

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and faithful in our service for Jesus Christ.

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The idea that salvation is a gift merely to be consumed upon satisfying our own desires

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is a twisted idea.

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We are saved in order that we might give to others.

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That we might minister and serve others.

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What an opportunity we have as a church today to find out how to do that.

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For out here in the hallway are scores of ideas as to how you can labor out of love

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for Jesus Christ.

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I recognize that there are many of you who are already involved in ministry.

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But I'm talking to not a few who are sitting and not serving.

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And today is a great opportunity for you if you've been wondering what to do.

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To find out what's available.

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There are opportunities for various kinds of time commitments.

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There are opportunities for various gifts and abilities.

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I encourage you to investigate the ministry fair to find out what you can do in laboring

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for Jesus Christ.

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Chuck Colson in his book Against the Night reminds us that God calls his people to, quote,

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duties beyond themselves, close quote.

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Colson is contrasting the current notion of merely living for self interest.

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And he says that we as God's people in this age of barbarism and darkness need to come

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to the point of doing duties beyond ourselves.

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According to others in the love of Jesus Christ, Paul says, I thank God for this precious memory

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that I have of you Thessalonians.

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That not only was there the work of faith, but there is the labor of love that evidences

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genuine spiritual life in your church.

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The poet has written, I would not work my soul to save that work God hath done, but

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I will work like any slave for love of God's dear Son.

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The labor of love.

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There's a third evidence of genuine spiritual life and that is the patience of hope.

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These Thessalonians had come to faith in Christ in the face of very intimidating circumstances.

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Paul talks about that in verse 6 and we'll look at that next week.

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They received the word with much tribulation.

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He talks again in chapter 2 and verse 14 about the fact that they were persecuted by their

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own fellow citizens, their fellow countrymen.

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Great pressure was placed upon them to return to the traditional ancestral worship of idols.

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But they were steadfast.

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They were steadfast in their hope.

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There was an unswerving loyalty about them.

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They were determined.

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They were deliberate.

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The foundation of their patience or their endurance was their hope in Jesus Christ.

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In chapter 2 and verse 15, Paul reminds them that the Lord Jesus likewise was persecuted

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by his fellow countrymen and ultimately killed by them.

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The one in whom their hope had been placed experienced the same persecution that they

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endured.

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And it is the same Lord that he tells us in verse 10 of chapter 1 who is coming again.

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And in fact he gives us here the secret to their patience of hope.

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He says that they had turned to God, to serve God, and in verse 10 to wait for his Son from

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heaven.

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You see they not only realized that Jesus had suffered for them and that they could

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suffer for him, but they realized that Jesus was coming again from heaven.

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That he was their refuge.

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And whatever they experienced in terms of suffering and persecution for his name now

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would be worth it then when he comes again.

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The validation of their steadfastness was found in the fact that they bore up under

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intense pressure to pitch over their faith and to succumb to the pagan majority around

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them.

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It's not unlike what you face and what I face in our world today.

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It is the pressure to accommodate our faith to fit a pluralistic so-called culture.

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It is the pressure to compromise our faith in a world that is turning increasingly pagan.

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It is the temptation not to go all in all out for Jesus Christ, but to hold back so

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we're not seen as some kind of a radical or a fanatic.

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To the Thessalonians, the apostle Paul writes, I thank God for this evidence of his life

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in you.

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You are steadfast in your hope.

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You do not allow your loyalty to Jesus Christ to be changed.

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You do not swerve from the faith when you meet an obstacle.

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When persecution comes, you are determined.

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You are loyal to Jesus Christ because of the hope of his return from heaven.

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Some of you who are students face this kind of pressure intensely in the classroom.

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You face pressure to deny what you have been taught to believe.

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I want to encourage you today in particular to endure in your hope in Jesus Christ and

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not to allow yourself to be compromised in your witness and in your testimony for him.

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The memories that Paul had were precious memories.

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They assured Paul that the profession of the Thessalonians was a genuine one.

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It was authentic.

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Chuck Swindoll writes, these first century Christians did not hide their Christianity

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or try to live in isolation from one another.

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Instead they worked together to incarnate their faith in a disbelieving antagonistic

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world.

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I like that phrase.

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They worked together to incarnate their faith.

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To bring it down into flesh and blood where people can see it.

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It is one thing to have an ethereal creed that one professes, but it is another thing

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to bring it down to Monday morning schedule.

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To Tuesday afternoon's meeting to incarnate our faith.

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That is what our world today desperately needs more than anything else.

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A clear demonstration of authentic Christianity.

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Lived out in the school hallways and locker rooms, in offices and shops and backyards

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and in business deals.

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Authentic Christianity that is evidenced by work of faith, labor of love, and patience

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or steadfastness of hope.

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One of the difficulties we face today in general in Christianity, especially in our country,

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is the profusion of church members and professing Christians who give no evidence of God's

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life in them.

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The Gallup poll recently found that 81% of Americans identify themselves as Christians.

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If that were true, what a difference it would make in our culture.

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But there is little evidence to back up the fact that 81% are Christians.

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Those who are Christians will give evidence of the genuineness of their profession in

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things like a work of faith, laboring to exhaustion out of love for Christ, being devoted and

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swerving in loyalty and steadfastness because of the hope that they have in the Savior.

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But many Americans are apparently like Sheila, who is mentioned in Robert Bella's book,

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Habits of the Heart, who said, I believe in God.

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I can't remember the last time I went to church, but my faith has carried me a long

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way.

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It's Sheilaism, just my own little voice.

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Sheilaism.

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And that's the kind of so-called Christianity many have adopted.

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The genuine Christianity shows itself, it must, and it does, in the evidence of the

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life.

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We claim today to be Christians.

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I trust that we claim well.

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And that if Paul were writing to our church in Roseville and addressing a letter to us

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about precious memories that he would have of his visit with us, he could say, oh you

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people in Roseville, you saints of God, every time I think of you, I mention you in my prayers,

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giving thanks to God for that work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope

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that I saw in you.

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Let's pray.

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Friend, let me ask you something quite honestly that you can answer before God.

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What evidence is there in your life?

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You say, but pastor, I really am saved.

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I really have trusted Christ as Savior.

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Then why is there perhaps so little evidence?

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Perhaps it's because we have, though genuinely been saved, we have adopted a me-ism kind

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of Christianity.

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Oh God, help us today that we might turn away from that.

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And with a fresh commitment to Jesus Christ, say, Lord, I want your life.

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I want your life to be made vital in mine, to make a difference in the way I live.

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God, I pray that the evidence of your life will be seen in me.

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Dear friend who is here, perhaps without Christ, you've never had that act of faith in your

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life whereby you trusted the Savior.

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Would you do it today?

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Would you respond to the Holy Spirit and trust in Jesus Christ alone and turn to God from

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your idols to serve him?

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Father, thank you for the miracle of the new birth, the miracle of salvation, the miracle

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of your life in us.

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And today we pray that there would be this evidence that we are genuinely yours, that

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in the world we live in today and this week, people might see in us the genuineness of

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our faith, the depth and sincerity of our love, the loyalty of our hope in Jesus Christ.

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In his name we pray, amen.

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I'd like for us to sing together in closing number 536, which encapsulates our gratitude

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to God.

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How can I say thanks for all the things you've given me?

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And notice the phrase of commitment to be found in here.

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Just let me live my life, let it be pleasing, Lord, to thee.

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Should I gain any praise, let it go to Calvary.

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Let us stand together as we sing number 536.