First Sunday of Advent 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

Increasing Our Love While We Wait

Introduction

There are two significant ways in which waiting is central to our passage today. First, there is the waiting to be reunited with the apostle Paul and the fledgling church in Thessalonica. Secondly, there is the apocalyptic waiting, that is the waiting for Christ’s return, in which the faithfulness of the church will be rewarded. Both will be discussed in this guide, but let’s start by setting the larger context in which the first letter to the Thessalonians is written.

Ancient Lens

What can we learn from the historical context?

Thessalonica’s Context

If you stroll across the seaside in modern day Thessaloniki (also called Thessalonica), about 5 hours north of Athens, you will find a statue of a man wielding a sword astride a rearing horse. If you don't recognize him straight away, you will learn from the inscription or your guidebook that it is a monument to Alexander the Great.

This statue tells us something about historical Thessalonica.

Cassander of Macedon, the founder of Thessaloniki, knew the importance of allegiance to a Great Lord, sticking close to Alexander during his lifetime. But even after the conqueror's untimely death, he secured his own grip on his fragment of the Macedonian empire by association with the (now) "divine" Alexander. Thessaloniki was named for Cassander's wife Thessalonike, Alexander's sister. He knew his allegiance to Alexander was key to his worldly power.

By the time of the New Testament, Thessaloniki was under new management. It was the capital of the Roman state of Macedonia. But the relationship between the city Cassander founded and Rome was similar to Cassander's relationship with the late Alexander.

The Kingdom of Rome vs The Kingdom of God

As the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia, Thessalonica was closely tied, politically, militarily, and economically to the Roman state. As Abraham Smith writes in the New Interpreter's Bible commentary:

one critical historical context is Paul’s work among the Gentiles. Equally important is the context of the city of Thessalonica itself, especially the city’s ongoing dependence upon Roman patronage and the role that dependence likely played in the relations between Paul’s church and the larger Thessalonian society.

The founding of a church preaching a different kyrios to Caesar was going to run into opposition. We know that Christian refusal to participate in emperor-worship was eventually a source of sharp persecution. The degree to which this opposition to the prevailing pagan order even earned them the label "atheists." (See an illustration on the emperor Julian's distaste for these "atheists.")

Despite this reality, Paul was able to bring the gospel to Thessalonica and begin a fruitful ministry there. We first hear of Paul’s missionary journey to Thessalonica in Acts 17:1-9. It must have been exhilarating to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ delivered for the first time—to hear about not the gods, but one God—who loved his creation, and desired to be in a relationship with his children. This was a very different message from the one those Thessalonians would have grown up with or heard in their temples and the agora—stories of gods whose vanity, greed, and lust were, if anything, more pronounced than their own.

As life-changing as the promise of salvation, eternal life with the one true God was, it must have also been confusing—and potentially dangerous. Paul, we are told in Acts 17, preached in the synagogue for three successive weeks. Eventually, he was eventually thrown out by a riotous mob, along with Silas and Timothy, who had been traveling with him. Paul was forced to flee the city, never to return.

With Paul gone, the church in Thessalonica had a choice. They could continue steadfastly to follow Jesus, risking the loss of political and economic benefits, or they could vacillate, become lukewarm in their faith, with one foot in the world and one foot in the church. Either way, the choice will not be easy. Following Jesus in the Roman world meant counting the cost—not the least of which could be following Christ in suffering the cruelty of Roman execution.

Ultimately, 1 Thessalonians is an exhortation by Paul to stand firm in their faith, even if that means suffering and losing the benefits of being one of Rome’s most successful cities.

Waiting to be Reunited

At the outset of our text (3:9), Paul muses over the gratitude he has for the small house church in Thessalonica,

For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God...? (ESV)

Paul is so grateful to God for the relationships established and the faith exhibited by the Thessalonians that he’s not sure what offer of thanks he should give to God.

When you compare Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, versus some others (most notably the Galatians and the Corinthians), you get a sense for why he is so grateful for the Thessalonian community. Even with such a short time in their midst, they have continued gathering together, continuing to worship the one true God.

Then he states how his own prayers, offered “day and night” are made so that they may see you “face to face.” Paul desired deeply to be in the physical presence of the Thessalonian church. He is both grateful for the faith kindled at his visit, but he recognizes that there continues to be a need within the community (v. 10). That need is undoubtedly tied to the persecution the Thessalonians experienced due to their faith. Hints throughout the letter indicate that these young Christians may be experiencing various forms of oppression. They may have family and friends who have chosen to disassociate with them due their decision to join the church.

Jesus Lens

How do we point to Jesus?

The Apocalyptic Waiting

And while persecution can sow seeds of division and discouragement among the young believers, it also provides an opportunity. That opportunity is to cling ever closer to their savior. It’s also an opportunity for the church to come together, united both in their faith, but also the shared experience of persecution. Undoubtedly, this was a central feature of many of the earliest Christian communities, throughout the Roman empire that suffered for their faith.

Thessalonians in the Forge

It is in this place that the Thessalonians had entered into the forge of faith. Their waiting, both for the return of the apostle Paul, and for a resolution to their suffering, most likely melted their faith away or made it stronger. So it is with anyone who goes through a crisis. Ben Patterson puts it this way,

What we become as we wait is at least as important as the thing we wait for. To wait in hope is not just to pass the time until the wait is over. It is to see the time passing as part of the process God is using to make us into the people he created us to be.” [1]

(View more of the quote)

As this young community centers its life and faith on Jesus Christ, they have both the means (the Holy Spirit) and the model to remain faithful, no matter what is thrown in their midst. And as they go about living out their faith, they place their trust that Jesus came, not merely once, as a child, but will come again. This future reality is their hope as they continue experiencing worldly setbacks–the loss of a friendship, the loss of a contract, due to their faith in Christ. 

Modern Lens

How does this touch my heart, life, emotions, thoughts and relationships today?

The Importance of Reunions

As I contemplated the deep longing Paul demonstrates to be reunited with the Thessalonians, I couldn’t help thinking about some of the videos that went viral towards the end of the COVID pandemic.

At the outset of the Pandemic, families and friends were suddenly separated. After months—sometimes years—they were finally reunited. I remember one video in particular, of a sports star whose parents had been providing childcare for their children, allowing both parents to work. They were very close. When the Pandemic lockdowns began, the grandparents couldn't see their grandkids because of pre-existing conditions which made it very dangerous for them to catch the virus.

After about a year, the grandparents greeted their grandchildren at the threshold of their home. There was a torrent of tears. Everyone–the kids, the parents, and grandparents was crying. The grandparents embraced their beloved grandkids as they wiped away tears, tears of joy, but also, one can imagine, the tears of lost time. (I was unable to find the above video online, but here is another video of families reunited after a long separation due to COVID.) 

This seems an apt comparison for Paul's desire for reunion, who, like a loving parent, wanted to “supply what is lacking” in the Thessalonians, so that they might “increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do” (3:10, 12). When the church embraces its role of loving and caring for its members, a different kind of community is available to us. This is something we can all aspire to.

Maintaining Integrity amid Persecution 

One of the realities that the Thessalonians were dealing with was the pressure to conform to the religious and social norms of the Roman world in their home city. And while the Roman world and the contexts in which most of us in the West live are a distant cry from those of the Thessalonians, there remain subtle (and overt) ways in which we may experience pressure to conform to the World rather than the way of Christ.

I write this from an American perspective. Pressures to silence the gospel take many forms in cultures across the globe—in some cases taking the form of outright persecution and violence. We should not be unaware of the spiritual dimension of opposition to the gospel. Paul, here in 1 Thessalonians and elsewhere, notes that the forces of darkness are always trying to bring down forces of light. We ought not ignore the spiritual dimensions involved in attempts to keep the Holy Spirit from bringing light and life to the world.

References

[1] Ben Patterson, Waiting: Finding Hope When God Seems Silent (InterVarsity Press, 1990). 

1. How can public monuments like the statue of Alexander the Great teach us to rely on earthly "lords" rather than the one Lord, Jesus Christ?

2. The guide discussed the difference between the kingdom of Rome and the kingdom of God. How would you compare them to each other? In what ways might the Thessalonian community have felt torn between the two kingdoms?

3. Continuing with the analogy, how do we get torn between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world? What does allegiance to the kingdoms of the world look like compared to allegiance to the kingdom of God?

4. How do you, personally, handle seasons of waiting? How has waiting pushed you closer to God or pushed you farther from him?

5. Describe a specific time when you felt stuck in a season of waiting? What was that experience like?