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Welcome to our look at 1st Thessalonians Together and Daily Drive Time
Devotions. We began a look at chapter 1 yesterday. This is day 2 of our look at
that chapter.

We're going to be focusing in on verse 3. Let me just remind you of the
circumstances that surround the writing of this book as we begin today. Timothy
and Silas, two co-workers with the Apostle Paul, had gone to Thessalonica and
found out what was going on in this church and they had come back and brought
Paul some good news.

It was Timothy's message from Thessalonica that led Paul to write to them from
Corinth where he was. Paul responded to some questions that the church had on
doctrinal and practical issues, some questions that Timothy had brought back
from this young church. But he also responded because he was excited about what
was happening in this church, about what God was doing in their lives.

You see, after Philippi, Thessalonica was Paul's second stop in the Macedonian
ministry that he'd had. And he started a church, but he'd been chased out of
town after only about two weeks. So he had to be asking, "How did this young
church do?

Did they make it? Was there even still a church there? " Paul sent Timothy to
find out and the news was good.

He found out that there was a thriving church. And this letter is a response to
the news that Paul had heard from Timothy about this church. In hearing about
this church, Paul immediately praises them for allowing Jesus Christ to do a
work in their lives.

First Thessalonians chapter one verse three is at the center of what he has to
say about what Jesus has done in them. First Thessalonians one three says this,
"We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith,
your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in the Lord
Jesus Christ. " He talks about building on the right foundation.

And when he talks about work produced by faith, labor prompted by love,
endurance inspired by hope, you hear those three words that Paul comes back to
again and again and again inspired by God throughout the New Testament, faith,
hope, and love. The most famous verse about those three concepts, those three
decisions in our lives is First Corinthians 13 13, "But now abide faith, hope,
and love," Paul wrote. These three, but the greatest of these is love.

And Paul says these three that now abide, I see them evidenced in your life. I
am excited by what's happening in your life. You have a faith that produces
work.

You have a love that prompts labor. You have a hope that inspires endurance.
That's the kind of way that I want to live out the Christian life.

I want to have a faith that produces work. My beliefs result in actions. If what
I say I believe is not changing the way that I act, I don't really believe it.

And Paul says what you believe about Jesus is resulting in an action of work.
Now the Greek word there is ergon. It's the idea of your business, your
employment, that which your life is engaged in doing.

Your life work, he's saying, is motivated by faith. How is your life work
motivated? Is it motivated by the money that you might earn?

Is it motivated by the abilities that you might have? Paul reminds us here that
true life work, the kind of work that God has given us to do, can't be motivated
by those things. It's motivated by faith.

Now it's okay to earn a salary, and it's good to work in the area of your
abilities. But don't confuse the tools that you might use, your abilities, or
the benefits that you might gain, your salary. Don't confuse those with the only
motivation for work that God says will last, and that is faith.

That's the only kind of motivation that will cause you to do the work that will
truly last. And Paul says I see that in you. You have a faith that produces
work, not just words, not just ideas, but you do something.

It changes your life work. Do you have that kind of faith? That's the question I
have to ask myself as I read this.

Do I have that kind of faith? Is your faith just something you talk about, or
has it changed the direction, the life work of your life? That's the goal as we
grow in Jesus Christ, a faith that produces work.

And then he says also you have a love that prompts labor. Now that phrase, a
labor of love, many of us have heard that all of our lives. What does it mean?

Labor, what does that word mean? It's the Greek word kapos, and it doesn't mean
just like a job or a work, something you do one time. It has the idea of an
intense labor combined with trouble or grief, the idea of carrying this burden
with your all.

And this is a reminder that love isn't a feeling, it's an action. Now love can
be a feeling. We define it that way sometimes, but as Paul talks about it here,
as the New Testament talks about it, it's not a feeling, it is an action.

And it's an action that's able to work itself to exhaustion because you deeply
care. The idea of labor here has with it not just the work you do, but the
compassion you have. Those two things married together, and that can only grow
out of love.

That kind of labor can only grow out of love. Paul says, I see that in you. And
as I read these words about the people in Thessalonica, I have to ask myself, do
I have a kind of love that prompts labor, compassion, and hard work put
together?

Or is my love just words? There's a challenge here. Let's get back to the
basics, the basics of faith, love, and then he talks about a hope that inspires
endurance.

Now endurance here, the word here doesn't mean just putting up with problems. It
means not giving up and continuing to move ahead in spite of the problems. It
means the ability to keep on keeping on.

As I was getting ready for this study today, I've been praying for a couple in
our church who had a baby they knew was not going to live long in this world. In
fact, their baby lived only an hour after birth. They were able to hold their
baby for a few short minutes and then watch that baby slip off to be with Jesus
in heaven.

When you face those kinds of things, what gives you the strength to go on? Only
hope. Only hope.

This world is not all there is. They will be together again with that baby
someday. They have the hope of eternity.

They have the hope of God's love for that child. And only that kind of hope can
inspire endurance. The kind of endurance that allows you to keep serving and
keep making a difference in other people's lives even though you've been through
difficult times.

A faith that produces work, a love that prompts labor, a hope that inspires
endurance. Here is the big question. Here is the big question in this verse.

Are you trying to live life backwards? Are you trying to work your way into
faith? That's backwards.

Faith produces work. We don't work our way into faith, so that's backwards. Are
you trying to labor your way into love?

That's backwards. Are you trying to endure your way into hope? That doesn't
work.

It's trying to live life backwards. The encouragement in this verse is that God
wants to give you a gift, a gift of faith, a gift of hope, a gift of love. I
know a lot of people who are living life backwards.

And honestly, I'd have to say to you there are many times in my own life when I
try to live life backwards. I get up in the morning and I'm tired and I think,
"Okay, I'm going to labor my way into actions of love today. " It never works.

It always ends up in discouragement. I found that when I get up in the morning
and I take a few minutes, even just a few minutes to remember that God has given
me the gift of love to prompt my labor. He has given me the gift of faith to
enable my work.

He's given me the gift of hope to inspire endurance. When I start the day
recognizing that gift, it changes everything. So let's talk to him right now.

Let's take a moment to recognize his gifts. God, thank you for your gifts, your
gift of faith, your gift of love, your gift of hope. I want to grow in faith and
hope and love, but I realize that that growth is not going to come based on my
own effort.

Oh, you have work for me to do, you have labor for me to do, but it doesn't
start with my labor or effort. It starts with your gift, and so I thank you for
the gift. I want to change, Jesus.

I don't want to stay the same. I want my faith to increase. I want my love to
enlarge.

I want my hope to strengthen. And so I put my trust in you. I put my trust in
your gifts.

You have given me the gift of faith, hope and love for today. You want to build
into my life and you want to work through my life. Release me from the burden of
trying to somehow design and build the gift myself.

Help me instead to receive the gift, to start with the gift, to enjoy the gift
today. Thank you for faith, hope and love given to inspire and prompt and
produce and strengthen in me all that you want me to be. Jesus Christ, I receive
your gifts right now in your name.

Amen. Well, tomorrow we're going to take a look at verse four. We're going to
talk about the assurance of your faith.