To the church [Gr. ekklesia] of the Thessalonians in God our Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: ·Grace to YOU, and peace, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ… ·Beloved ones under [Gr. hupo] God…, ·…YOU observed the lifestyle we adopted among YOU…, ·and became imitators of us and of the Lord—having received the Word…with joy in the Holy Spirit. ·YOU became examples to all…; ·for from YOU the word of the Lord resounded and has spread, not only throughout Macedonia and Achaia… ·…how YOU turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God ·and to wait for his Son from heaven. (2 Thes.1:1-2; 1 Thes.1:4-10 PH)

We are bound to thank God always for YOU, brothers and sisters, …because YOUR faith is rapidly growing, and because the love YOU all each have towards each other is overflowing, ·such that we ourselves boast about YOU in the churches [ekklesiais] of God: for YOUR patience and faith in all YOUR persecutions and in the troubles which YOU endure. ·…May YOU be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which YOU also are suffering... ·Therefore we always pray for YOU...: that our God might…powerfully fulfill all the delightfulness of goodness and every work of faith—·such that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in YOU, and YOU in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ… ·Brothers and sisters, beloved ones under [hupo] the Lord, God has chosen YOU as first fruits to salvation, through the sanctification of the Spirit and YOUR belief of the truth. ·…He called YOU towards the possession of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. …·May our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father—who has loved us and in grace given us eternal encouragement and good hope—·comfort YOUR hearts and establish YOU in every good word and work. …·The Lord is faithful; he shall establish YOU and guard YOU from evil. ...·May the Lord direct YOUR hearts to the love of God and to the patient endurance of the Messiah. (2 Thes.1:3-5,11-12; 2:13-14,16-17; 3:3,5 PH)

We charge YOU, brothers and sisters in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that YOU withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the ordinances received from us. ·YOU know how…we did not walk disorderly among YOU. ·We never ate anyone's bread for free but engaged in labor and toil that we might not be an expense to any of YOU —·not because we did not have the authority, but to make ourselves an example for YOU to follow. ·We gave YOU this charge: If anyone will not work, neither should he eat. ·For we hear that there are some among YOU walking disorderly, not working at all but being busybodies. ·Such people we now charge and encourage by our Lord Jesus Christ, that they work quietly and eat their own bread. ·…Do not tire of doing what is good. ·If anyone does not obey our word…do not keep socializing with him that he might be ashamed. ·Yet do not count him as an enemy but admonish him as a brother. ·May the Lord of peace…give YOU peace…; the Lord be with YOU all… ·(His) grace…be with YOU all. [2 Thes.3:6-16,18 PH]

Paul wrote most of his letters to groups of believers, which he called ekkleesiais. In English this word is translated as ‘churches’, but in most ‘Christian’ cultures, a ‘church’ has become associated with either a religious building, or with a religious sub-group of people in a broader society. In Paul's day, however, ekkleesia referred to an ‘assembly’ of the citizens of a whole society (Act.19:32,29). ‘Churches’ in this letter are thus ‘assemblies’ of the citizens of the ‘kingdom of God’ in the urban centers of ‘Macedonia and Achaia’. So Paul is speaking here to ‘assembly’ of kingdom citizens in the city of Thessalonica about the nature of their relationships with each other as they together bear witness to others about the kingdom of God—a kingdom that they already represent even though it has not yet come in its fullness. This kingdom, however, is different from any earthly kingdom because it is a family kingdom—one in which we are sons and daughters of it and not just its subjects. God (Med.#17), to whom this kingdom belongs, is ‘our Father’ (Med.#13). And the Lord over this kingdom is ‘his Son’—the Eldest Brother in a family of ‘brothers and sisters’ (Med.#5). Though ‘under’ [Gr. hupo] their authority, we are ‘beloved’ family members to both our Father and to Jesus. Further, our life and witness as a group, as an assembly of citizens, is ‘in our Father’ as well as ‘in our Lord Jesus Christ’. Paul speaks a lot about us being ‘in Christ’, but notice again: we too are ‘in our Father’, even as he is in us (Med.#51)!

When our lifestyle in this new kingdom clashes with the social powers among whom we live—and with the powers of evil that are present—we can expect suffering. Not only from persecution, but sometimes in other forms too: like hardships, sleeplessness and hunger (2 Cor.6:4-5), travel dangers, exposure to the elements and constant pain and disability (Med.#34); pressures and having to carry huge life threatening burdens greater than our own strength to endure (Med.#35); and the failures of close co-workers and friends (2 Tim.4:10; Mat.26:50) . Yet in this midst of such suffering, we can also expect to receive ongoing grace, peace, love, eternal encouragement, good hope and comfort to establish us in our life and work for this family kingdom. It is through our faith in these gifts from our Father, and from Jesus, that as we are able to persevere as we live and work in his presence. And so we bear witness to those around us that through Christ, the Father's love and the ‘delightfulness of (his) goodness’ is also for them. The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is also for them; for we are only the ‘first fruits’ of God's saving power in the society where we live.

Secondly, our witness to his goodness needs to be reflected in a lifestyle of ‘good hope’, ‘good deeds’ and ‘good words’ (2 Th.2:17). Notice, though, that Paul speaks more about our witness in our work and lifestyle than in our words. Someone once said: ‘Always bear witness to Jesus, sometimes with words.’ The actions of these disciples, in their radical response to the Gospel, were a witness to both believers and to non-believers—in how they turned away from serving the very visible idols in their society and began serving the living and invisible God—whose power in the Holy Spirit they had indeed observed, but whose resurrected Messiah they would only meet in the future. In spite of the suffering they experienced as a result, they responded in faith by grounding themselves: in ‘the Word of the Lord’, in the ‘joy of the Holy Spirit, and in love for each other.

Finally, maintaining a good witness as part of a family kingdom sometimes requires family-style confrontation. Some believers have stopped working and have begun to live off the others. They justify their idleness as evidence of their faith that Jesus' return has in some spiritual way already taken place (2 Th.2:1-2). Teaching such things, Paul says, is not ‘spiritual’ work but rather the actions of ‘busybodies’ promoting a false spirituality. As their brother, he reminds them all how he himself taught and demonstrated that working at a secular job to support oneself is just as ‘spiritual’ as the teaching ministry of an apostle. And when they confront those who are being ‘idle’, they must still treat these as a ‘brother’ (or sister): with words of warning and actions which stop enabling them—like severely reducing any regular contact ('not keep socializing') with them, yet not ostracize them completely. In another letter, Paul tells the believers in Corinth to minimize contact with a sexually promiscuous brother in the same way (Med.#69).[i] When I am suffering from major stresses in my own life, I can easily take out my pain and frustration on the adult family member whose bad choices and weird ideas are adding to my stresses—let alone to my household's food bill!

In addition to not imitating the world's ideas about high status and low status work, we must also not over-spiritualize our present reality. While the glory of Jesus is indeed for us now (Med.#84), it is also something we have not yet fully obtained (Med.#32). So as we live in hope, we are called to imitate Jesus' own endurance through suffering, as well as his dependence on the loving presence of the Father (Med.#41). For Jesus, this also meant patiently working as a carpenter to support his mother until he was about 30 years old (Mk.6:3; Med.#25). I have ‘worked’ in Christian ministry all of my adult life in the presence of my Father. Yet for the first twelve years, my main ministry was serving as a bookkeeper—first with Mission Aviation Fellowship, then with Youth With a Mission, and finally with a Christian bookkeeping service for the year that I was on leave from YWAM. Only at age 31, when I returned to YWAM did I begin to minister primarily out of my teaching gift—in evangelism, training, leadership and writing, over the next forty years.

In your life and witness are you walking by faith with your Dad and receiving all that he and your Eldest Brother have to give you? Is your church life governed by being ‘in our Father’ as well as being ‘in Christ’?

God our Father, we receive your grace, peace, eternal encouragement, good hope and strength today: so that we may direct our hearts to your love, and to the patient endurance of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Eldest Brother; so that in every good word, good work of faith and labor of love in your presence—in employment, in troubles and suffering, in the power, joy, and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in us, as the ‘first fruits’ of the salvation that is for all—the word of our Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified in others just as it has been in us. 

(drawn from 1 Th.1:2-6,10 and 2 Th.1:2-5; 2:13,16-17; 3:1,5,10-12)

[i] The Greek word for not ‘keep socializing with’ [sun-ana-mignusthai] (2 Th.3:14; 1 Cor.5:11) implies that the other believers should not ‘repeatedly [ana] mix [mignusthai] with [sun]’ such an unrepentant 'idle' or promiscuous brother or sister.