To Listen ‘Open Message from Title’ and click on Listen Now or To Save: Right Click and ‘Save Target as’. I hate to be the bearer of bad news for some and good news for others, but school begins soon. When you think of school what comes to mind? What if I were to ask you about the 3 R’s? What do they make you think of? Reading, wRiting and aRithmatic, right? Why are the 3 R’s so important when it comes to schooling? They are the foundation of all our education to follow and the things we will use most in life ahead.
One could say they are the foundation we will build the rest of our education and life skills upon. Without these basic foundational principles we will struggle through life and there will be trials that come because we don’t have the basic tools to overcome them.
It is the same for our walk as Christians as well. There are foundational principles that we will need to help carry us through our Christian walk helping us to be victorious and mature believers. I call them the 3 R’s of our Christian walk, Raising our hearts before the Lord in love because He loved us 1st and made a way for us to enter into relationship with Him. The 2nd R is to Raise our minds to Him so we might learn and grow in our faith through our knowledge of Him and the 3rd R is Raise our hands to Him in praise, which includes adoration, confession, thankfulness and supplication. These 3 R’s will help ground us in the faith so we can face the trials of life head on with the Lord on our side. We get these through discipleship, when someone is willing taking the time to disciple us, teaching these foundational principles. This is what Paul, Silas and Timothy did for the new believers in Thessalonica that helped carry them through their trials.
Vs 1 Paul was concerned for the new believers in Thessalonica. He did not know how well he had laid the foundation of discipleship amongst them because he had to leave abruptly. His situation prevented him from returning to find out personally. So, he sends Timothy back to them to encourage them and find out how they are doing. They had been forced to leave Berea separately and came together again in Athens to decide to spread out again to see how the churches were doing and then for Paul to wait for them to return in Corinth. Timothy heads off to Thessalonica, Silas, most likely to Philippi while Paul investigates Athens before he moves on. They were all to meet in Corinth at a later date. Acts 18:1-5
The spiritual well being of the new believers in Thessalonica mattered greatly to Paul, he wanted to make sure they had a good foundation in the Lord.
Vs 2 Timothy may have been sent to them because he would have had the least notoriety of the group. Even though he was young he had been discipled by Paul and was capable of the task. 2 Tim. 2:2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. Paul considered Timothy well equipped to serve the Lord in the work they were called to. Timothy’s mission was to strengthen and encourage the Thessalonian believers, making them more firm and solid in the faith. He was to strengthen their wills so to fight the good fight of the faith, both individually and as a body. 1 Tim. 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. One part of the mission of the apostles was not only to win converts to Christ but also to ground them in the faith, discipling them so they could then disciple others as Jesus directed. What happens when people are saved and not discipled?
Vs 3 Timothy, by further discipling the new believers, would help them be able to stand through the trials they were facing. He would help them trust the Lord through the trials by teaching them more about who God is and what He wants for us. Too often when trials come our way we begin to doubt if we are in God’s will. Jesus warned us that we could be in God’s will and still face trials of many kinds. John 15:18–19 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 2 Tim. 3:12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, Live fire exercises in military. Timothy would try to help these new believers understand that God will use these trials to build them up in the faith. Then He would be able to use them in greater ways. 1 Pet. 1:3-9
When we disciple others we must help them understand that trials will come and the reason they come is to help us grow in faith. If we are doing something wrong then it is up to God to show us and He will.
Vs 4 Paul had taught the folks there that persecution could come, that they should expect these trials, and it turned out that way. His reminding them of his teaching would stir their memories of those instructions and help them not be anxious about them. John 16:4 I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you.
Vs 5 Paul gets back to his point, he sent Timothy because he was very concerned for the new believers’ spiritual welfare. He did not know how well they had been able to face the persecution. Would they walk away from the Lord and return to paganism? Were they standing firm in the faith or did Satan tempt them away by putting doubt in their minds as he tried to do with Jesus or even as he did with Adam and Eve? Paul saw Satan using the persecution of these new believers as a way to lure them away from the faith and God’s will for them to persevere on through the trials.
Vs 6 “But” What Paul had feared is not what happened. The 3 R’s they received from Paul and his companions in discipleship had taken deep root in their souls. Col. 2:6–7 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Timothy comes with wonderful news of their faith in Christ, standing firm in the faith. In fact, they don’t doubt Paul’s love and concern for them at all but they themselves long to see Paul as much as he longs to see them. When they think of Paul, Silas and Timothy they have fond memories of them.
Vs 7 What Paul had intended Timothy to do for them what they had done for him, Paul is strengthened and encouraged by them. What a relief for Paul to know that the time spent discipling was worth all his efforts and they had formed bonds of love that would last. Vs 8 Paul had achieved what he had started out to do; not only did they have a relationship with Christ but they were standing firm in the faith through his efforts to disciple them. 2 Tim. 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. This kind of faith built through discipleship will continue to carry them through the trials ahead in life.
Vs 9 Paul raises his heart up to God in praise for the faith and perseverance of these new believers. Only God could do this work in them. Phil. 2:12-13 Paul knew he could only plant the seeds of faith in them, it was up to God to make them grow. 1 Cor. 3:6–7 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. But someone needs to plant them.
Vs 10 Even though things were going well with these new believers Paul still wanted to return to them. He not only wanted to see them but also continue the work of discipleship he had begun. They still needed more instruction to grow further in the faith.
His desire was to supply what was still lacking in their knowledge of God. 2 Pet. 1:3–4 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. Paul goes on in his letter, as we will see, to teach them some of the things they are still lacking.
One thing they lacked was a mentor who could come along side of them to teach by example. One whom they could witness the 3 R’s of discipleship active in his life, where they could see the devotion and faithfulness to God in praise, thanks, instruction and prayer.Still, Paul sets the example of one who prays with a sincere heart for them night and day so that they would grow in Christ.
Paul had laid a foundation in their faith through discipleship that would help them grow and stand firm in the faith for years and years to come. We all need to realize that this is something we need in our lives as well, to learn and grow in our faith through discipleship and then to disciple others as well so they can stand firm in the faith through the trials that come in this world.
To set the example of faith before others as mentors and to be humble as learners as well to grow up in Christ.
Benediction: 1 Cor. 3:10-15
