FRIDAY 27th
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
NIV (vv2-3) – ‘We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.’
ESV (vv2-3) – ‘We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.’
Continuing with the same verses today, Paul continued to say that they remembered the work of faith, labour of love and steadfastness of hope that the Church had in the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the triplet of words, faith, love, and hope, which we will recall is found at the end of the great chapter of love, but in a different order, ‘So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.’ (1 Corinthians 13:13) All three virtues were evident in the Church at Thessalonica and caused Paul to rejoice and give thanks to God.
The three corresponding words that Paul attaches to the three virtues are, work, labour, and steadfastness (ESV) The NIV puts it this way:
Work produced by faith
Labour prompted by love
Endurance inspired by hope
They as a Church, a body of believers were working and labouring in the gospel because of their strong faith and love, and the hope that they had received from the gospel which was anchored in the Lord Jesus Christ caused them to endure or to persevere in all that they were doing. Work and labour seem to be similar words, it is important to understand that the labour or work was not to produce faith or to save them, but it was an outworking of the saving faith they had already received. The gospel had changed them, and it also influenced them, and caused them to make their salvation not only personal and saving and an inner experience, but it was practical in service, or it’s outworking as well. James talks of this in his letter, ‘But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works’ James 2:16. May our relationship with the Lord Jesus not only be an inward experience, but may it be evident by who we are and by what we do. May our faith produce work for Jesus, prompt labour out of love for others and our hope inspire us to endure, whatever may come against us.