Introduction: Let’s take our Bibles and turn to the passage just read, 1 Thessalonians 2:9-16. We are continuing our series “Kingdom Called” in the book of 1 Thessalonians. And last week I finished my message with an illustration from a MercyMe song—a song entitled “The Best News Ever.” Today, I want to begin my message with a MercyMe song. 

MercyMe sings a song entitled “Heaven’s Here” in their album “Lifer.” And here’s what they say.

Thought I knew, how this all goes

By the way, have you seen the movie “I Can Only Imagine” about Bart Millard’s life? Bart Millard is the lead singer for MercyMe. If you haven’t seen that movie, you should.

Anyways, back to the song:

Thought I knew, how this all goes 

Tryn' to get through life // Till you get called home 

Then came you // Heaven has begun 

Eternity is now // Not when this life’s done

Now what’s he saying in that song? What’s the change in his mindset that he’s writing about? Well, he used to think that you just hurry up and get through life until you get called home. You just put up with this miserable life until your new life in heaven begins. But God has showed him something different. Heaven has begun already. Eternity is now. Not when this life’s done.

Now some of you astute thinkers might say, “Pastor Tony, is that a good mindset to have? That sounds like over-realized eschatology!” I know some of you are thinking that right now! Aren’t you? “Doesn’t that lead to error, Tony!” Well let’s keep going and see what he says. Here’s the second verse:

Make no mistake, trust me I know

There's a place waiting // That we’ll call home

So just to be clear, he knows there’s a future hope for us. He knows that we all are awaiting eternity. But he says this…

But there ain’t no hurry // It’s all been prepared

Life is much sweeter // Knowing I’m already there

In other words, we don’t have to find the first exit ramp out of this world. We can live in this world as presently constituted with purpose and with meaning and even with joy, even as we anticipate the future. And here’s the chorus. He writes…

Hallelujah, sing like the angels do // We don’t have to wait 'til this life is through

No separation, He has raised us up // We don’t have to wait, heaven’s here with us

I said, we don’t have to wait, heaven’s here with us

The title of this message today is “What are Christians Called to Do?” And what I want to show you in the text is that the Kingdom of Jesus Christ has already started. It has already begun. And we as representatives of Christ’s Kingdom can be a part of it, even now. And in fact, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are already part of the kingdom. You are “Kingdom Called,” as I’ve talked about already. That’s the title of this series. You are called to represent him and his kingdom. 

In verse 12 Paul tells us to 

walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. 

That verb “calls” is a present tense verb in Greek. We are already called into his kingdom and glory. We are already experiencing his kingdom and his glory. We are already representing his kingdom and glory. It’s partial, I know. It’s not fully experienced until Christ returns. But it has already started. 

You might say, “Ok Pastor Tony. Heaven is here. The Kingdom has already come, at least in part. What does that look like in my life? How should I live my life differently in light of that?” Well Paul is going to help us with that in this passage, 1 Thessalonians 2:9-16. 

And let me structure the message for today like this. Write these down in your notes:

Three things that [Kingdom-called] Christians are called to do in this world:

Live godly lives (2:9-10) 

9 For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 

Now the example here for us of a “godly life” is Paul. The example for the Thessalonians whom Paul is writing to is also Paul. And not just Paul, you can add to that equation Silas and Timothy. Because Paul uses “first person plural” language here. “We worked night and day.” “We proclaimed to you the gospel of God.” You remember “our labor and toil.” 

We know from elsewhere that the Macedonian churches suffered from extreme poverty (2 Cor 8:1-2). So that might have influenced Paul and his friends to not be a financial burden to the church. They worked hard and weren’t onerous to the church. 

Verse 10 says, 

10 You are witnesses [Thessalonians], and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. 

Remember what I said last week about “gospel sincerity”? Paul, Silas and Timothy didn’t just believe the gospel; they lived out the gospel in front of the church. Paul and his friends didn’t just share the gospel with the Thessalonians; they shared their own lives with them (2:8)! Their “own selves” as it says in verse 8. Why? Why did they do this? Because “you had become very dear to us,” says Paul in verse 8. 

So, let’s ask this. What does a godly life look like in this world? What does that look like? Well let’s point out some things here in these verses, and see if we can’t draw some applications for our own lives, here in San Antonio. 

First of all, write this down as 1a, there’s…

a) Love for God’s people

Let me read all of verse 8 for you. I know verse 8 was part of last week’s message, but I can’t help myself, this is so good! And this deserves a second pass to extract all of its goodness. Paul says, “So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.” 

Some of you might say, “affectionately desirous of you.” “That’s a little too syrupy sweet for my taste, Pastor Tony. That’s a little too awkward and sentimental for me.” Yeah, I get that. Keep in mind just before that, that Paul had described himself as a nursing mama who was breast-feeding the new believers in Thessalonica. That’s a little awkward too.

But however you slice it, Paul had a deep, affectionate love for the church. How about you, Verse by Verse Fellowship? Do you love the church? Do you love believers in Jesus Christ like Paul loves believers in Jesus Christ? Do you love believers in Jesus Christ like Jesus loves believers in Jesus Christ? 

By the way, when the Bible describes the church, what metaphor does it use? The bride of Christ. You can’t love Christ and hate his bride! You got to love who Christ loves. You can’t represent the King and be part of the Kingdom if you hate the King’s bride. You can’t love King Arthur and hate Guinevere!

Here’s another way that Paul and his friends demonstrate godly lives. They worked hard.

b) Hard work 

Paul says,

9 For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day , that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 

Paul worked hard as a tent-maker, or more broadly speaking a leather-worker. He was a blue-collar craftsman, and he worked diligently at his trade—night and day! You know Paul could have taken financial support from the Thessalonians. He did that at other times in his ministry. Jesus took financial support from people during his ministry. Paul even wrote in 1 Timothy 5:17 that preachers and teachers are worthy of double-honor (i.e. financial remuneration) for their ministry. But he didn’t do that in Thessalonica. I don’t know why. Maybe Paul wanted to separate himself from the greedy hucksters who would come to town and preach their philosophy for money? Maybe Paul didn’t take money, because he wanted the church to financially support someone else as their pastor? Maybe the church in Thessalonica was financially struggling because of the persecution and the difficulties they were enduring? I don’t know. But I do know this. Paul was a hard worker, and he wanted the church in Thessalonica to follow his example. 

And I know that for sure, because Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” Not unable to work! I think that’s an important distinction. Not unable to work, but unwilling to work. “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”

Why is that so important to Paul? Why is Paul so adamant about this for himself and also the church? That he work hard and that people in the church work too? I had a conversation with my brother-in-law once, and he was sharing with me how poor the work-ethic is in some parts of his company, and in some parts of Croatia as a whole too. In some parts of the country, unfortunately there’s still a socialistic mindset when it comes to work and to the government. There’s a mentality in some parts of that country that the government should provide and take care of you as a nanny state. 

And you might say, “O thank God, our country isn’t like that!” Well no, not historically. But there’s a lot of talk right now about “democratic socialism,” which is a contradiction in terms, as far as I’m concerned.... Anyways, back to my brother-in-law. He said that one of the best ways that he represents Christ in his workplace and in his country, is by having a strong work-ethic, and by working for his employer “as for the Lord” (Col 3:23). And he said that he even shares that with coworkers and his managers when they ask him, “Why are you working so much harder than the rest of us?” He answers, “Well I’m not just working for you. According to the Bible I’m working for the Lord.” “Sorry to hurt your feelings, but I’m not just working for you. I’m working for the Lord.” I’m working for King Jesus. 

So how about you, Christians? Would your employers know based on your work-ethic that you are representing King Jesus? And keep in mind that we need to work hard, but we need not work obsessively like work is our god instead of the LORD Jesus. We’ve got problems with that in this country too—becoming workaholics and making an idol out of our work. Paul exhibited godliness before the Thessalonians with hard work! And we should be doing that too.

And as part of that, here’s another way Paul and his friends lived godly lives before the Thessalonians. They also demonstrated…

c) Virtuous conduct

Paul says in verse 10: 

10 You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. 

We preached the gospel, but we also lived the gospel. “You are witnesses,” says Paul. “You saw it with your own eyes. We were holy among you. We weren’t like those philosophical hucksters that came to town to preach the latest philosophies and fleece you financially and sexually exploit those in your community.” 

By the way, that happened in Paul’s day. That happens in our day too. Unfortunately sometimes, that happens in the name of Jesus Christ. I can only imagine how the Lord Jesus feels about that. But it wasn’t true of Paul and his friends, and it shouldn’t be true of us. Our conduct should be described as “holy and righteous and blameless.” Not perfectly. It’s not possible for us to live that way perfectly. Not on this side of eternity. But increasingly. 

Martin Luther said once that we as Christians are “Simul Justus et Peccator.” We are simultaneously “saint” and “sinner.” We are justus, meaning “just” or “righteous.” And we are peccator, meaning “sinner.” R.C. Sproul said once that this little formula summarizes and captures the essence of the Reformation. Yes, we are sinners saved by grace. But we are also sinners that are being transformed into the image of Christ a little bit at a time. And God tells us to “Be holy for I am holy” (1 Pet 1:16). The Bible tells us to live lives of holiness and righteousness, not in order to be saved, but because we are saved. The Bible tells us to “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt 5:16). 

So, three things that Christians are called to do in this world. #1 is “Live godly lives.” Let’s keep going here. Write this down in your notes as #2. We are also called to…

2) Maintain a Kingdom Mindset (2:11-12)

Paul says in verse 11: 

11 For you know how, like a father with his children, 

Last week Paul said, “I was like mama to you, nursing and nourishing you.” Today Paul says, “I was like daddy to you.” And to that you might ask, “What’s Paul going to say next?” “What’s Paul going to liken his fatherly activities to?” “Is Paul going to say, ‘For you know how, like a father with his children… I spanked you! I disciplined you! I lectured you and told you to grow up!” No. 

Maybe Paul disciplined and lectured the church. But that’s not what he emphasizes here. And sure, fathers should do those things as part of being a good dad. But noticed how Paul likens his actions to the actions of a father. You fathers in the room, listen up and hear this!

11 For you know how, like a father with his children, 12 we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you 

Some of you might say, “Encourage! My father never did that to me!” Ok. Well shame on your father for that. Forgive him and do differently in your life. But fathers should do that. This is a fatherly task. They encourage. They exhort. And here’s a third thing they do. Look at verse 12. 

like a father with his children, 12 we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you 

That’s a big part of parenting right there. That’s a big part of fathering. You charge! You charge your children! You charge them lots of money when they get older, right? Just Kidding. 

No “charge” here means “urge” or “implore.” Like a coach you charge them. “Da da da da da da! Charge! Now get out there and fight!” That’s a lot of what a father does with their children. You coach them up. And by the way, that’s what a pastor/elder does with his flock. 

The Greek word here for “charge” is μαρτύρομαι, which etymologically is linked to the word which means “witness” or “testimonial.” And I think that’s key because a father doesn’t charge a child to do something that he’s not doing. He never says, “Do as I say, not as I do!” That’s not good coaching. That’s not how you charge someone. You charge someone from a position of authenticity. “Do like I do, son. Do like I do, daughter.” 

I was listening to a podcast recently called “Ask Pastor John,” and John Piper was talking about how to raise Children in a pornographic culture. He said, “I’m sure many of you as parents are wondering how to do that. How to protect your children and navigate this world of ubiquitous pornography. And Piper gave this caution. He said, “[Yes] establish, in your home, protections on all your electronic devices so that the child is subject to the same scrutiny as Mom and Dad, or vice versa. [But] don’t treat them as untrustworthy while you pretend to be above scrutiny. Let them know that the whole family understands the dangers of pornography and its easy accessibility. Let them know that Mom and Dad share in the same concern, the same burden, the same susceptibility, and the same accountability [as the kids].” 

And also, Piper was saying as an alternative to pornography, “Seek to be utterly authentic in your own love for Christ, your own joy in him, and your own delight in his ways. You can’t force upon a child satisfaction in God when it does not look as if he’s satisfying Mom and Dad.” So, don’t just tell them what to do. Lead them in what to do. Lead from a position of honesty and humility not hypocritical authoritarianism. 

And Paul here in 1 Thessalonians 2, using the metaphor of fatherhood says, “do like I do, church!” “I exhort you,” Paul says. “I encourage you. I charge you…” To what, Paul? What do you charge us to do? Look at verse 12. 

we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, 

Virtuous conduct, right? Living godly lives, right? We’ve covered this already. Love for God’s people! Hard work! Holy, righteous, blameless conduct! 

walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. 

Listen, God’s kingdom and glory is an already/not yet reality. God has already called you into his own kingdom and glory! If you are a saved follower of Jesus Christ, you’ve already been called into his kingdom. And you are currently being called to represent him before the world. 

Yes, God will someday, in the future, call you into his perfect kingdom and perfect glory where you will have a perfect body and experience perfect fellowship with your perfect God in a perfect place filled with perfect people. People who have been perfected by God’s grace and Jesus’s blood. Hallelujah! Come Lord Jesus! 

But we don’t have to sit around and just wait for that future. We are already called into his kingdom and glory. We are already called to walk in a manner worthy of God. That’s why Paul is writing this right here to the Thessalonians. That was his intent for this writing. We are already called to walk in a manner worthy of God, but it’s not perfect. Not yet. Our walk with God should be holy, but it’s not perfectly holy. It should be blameless, but it’s not perfectly blameless. It can’t be. Not yet. We live in the in-between of Christ’s first and second coming. His kingdom is already/not yet.

Here’s the thing, church. Theologically speaking, you’ve got to walk and chew gum at the same time. You got to run the earth and watch the sky. That’s what a kingdom mindset is all about. We worship King Jesus and represent King Jesus and walk with King Jesus right now. Heaven has started. 

“We don't have to wait, heaven's here with us.” 

But, even with that, we know. We know that we know that we know that King Jesus’s Kingdom isn’t fully here yet. If we’ve learned anything from the war in Ukraine recently, it’s that Jesus Christ’s Kingdom isn’t fully here yet. It’s not. The Prince of the Power of the Air is still very powerful in our world and still exercises an incredible amount of influence over our world. Just look at North Korea. Just look at Syria. Look at Russia and China and even our own country. We desperately need a sovereign, all-powerful, all-holy King to rule over our world. 

And it’s coming. Christ’s Kingdom, the fullness of it, is coming. We’ll learn all about that in this book, 1 Thessalonians, in the coming weeks. But I don’t want to wait until King Jesus comes in all his fullness to embrace his kingship or represent him before the world. By then it’ll be too late. I want to live for King Jesus now. I want to represent King Jesus now. 

Dr. Howard Hendricks, longtime professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, told this story once. He was on an American Airline flight, and they were experiencing a long delay. And a man, who probably had too much to drink, was being rude to the other passengers and demanding with the flight attendants. And Hendricks watched this one particular flight attendant deal calmly with this man. She was unruffled by him. When he was rude; she was polite. When he was uncaring; she was kind. And Dr. Hendricks went to this young lady before he disembarked from the flight and said “I just want you to know that you are and outstanding representative of American Airlines and I am going to write a letter commending you.” The lady responded by saying, “I don’t represent American Airlines.” Dr. Hendricks was confused and looked at her name badge and insignia. But the lady said “oh I work for American Airlines, but I represent Jesus Christ.” 

Now speaking of representing Jesus Christ in this imperfect, sinful world, go ahead and write this down as #3 in your notes. Three things that Christians are called to do in this world: 1) “Live godly lives.” 2) “Maintain a kingdom mindset.” And here’s the third thing. And I know you anticipated this already. You knew this was coming eventually, didn’t you?

3) Endure hardships (2:13-16) 

This is such a key theme throughout the book of 1 Thessalonians. This is such an important aspect of Christ-following in the NT and even in our day. And Paul reiterates this again and again. And it’s necessary, especially for the Thessalonians. Because they could have said, “Ok, well great Paul. God has called us into his own kingdom and glory. We represent Christ the King in this world. Okay, great! Can you tell me why Christ the King is letting us suffer? Can you tell us why we are going through all these hardships right now if we are part of Christ’s Kingdom?”

I don’t know if the Thessalonians did ask that question, but they could’ve? And maybe Paul wants to address that here. Because he says this in verse 13.

13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. 

Paul says, “Thank God that you didn’t reject our words and reject our message.” “Thank God that you didn’t receive it like people receive the latest gossip on the street corner, or the latest pitch from a traveling snake-oil salesman.” Paul says, “Thank God for that. You get it! You believe it!” “And not only do you believe it in your hearts, you believe it with your lives.” 

Because look at the end of verse 13. Paul says, “It’s at work in you as believers. It’s gotten inside of you, this gospel message, and it’s transformed you.” Paul says, “I can see the result of it in your lives.” 

Let’s keep going here. Here’s another way Paul can see that the gospel is at work in them.

14 For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews , 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind 16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!

Paul says, “I can tell it’s at work in you, this gospel. Because you suffered from your own countrymen just like the church in Judea suffered from their own countrymen.” The Jews in Judea persecuted the Jewish Christians. And also, the Gentiles in Macedonia persecuted the Gentile Christians. The Jewish Christians in Judea suffered and yet held fast to their faith in Jesus. The Gentile Christians in Macedonia suffered and yet held fast to their faith in Jesus. 

And by the way, all of this is a matter of historical record. You can read all about the ways that the Christian church suffered in Judea. James the Apostle was executed. Peter and John were repeatedly threatened and put in prison. Stephen was put to death. The church was so ravaged by persecution that many Christians had to flee Jerusalem for their lives. And they were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1). In fact, that was actually the first ever church-planting strategy. The church got persecuted and threatened, so they fled. And as they fled the gospel was spread and new churches were planted. It’s almost like God used that suffering and persecution for his divine purposes!

And by the way, Paul knew all about that. He was one of the persecutors. He knew all about how the Jews in Judea persecuted Jewish Christians, because he was one of those Jewish persecutors. And he says here that the same thing happened in the Gentile regions too. In some cases, it was the Jewish population of Macedonia that caused the persecution. We read about that in Acts 17. In other cases, probably in most cases, it was the Gentile population of Macedonia that caused the persecution.    

Now just a few points of clarification here, and then I want to ask you a question. When Paul says that the Jews “killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind,” was he picking on the Jews? Was he being anti-Semitic here? No! Paul was Jewish. In fact, Jesus was Jewish, humanly-speaking. He’s not picking on the Jews; he’s just stating a fact here that they were responsible for prosecuting and executing Jesus. Keep in mind though that Gentiles (i.e. the Roman Empire) were just as culpable in the execution of Jesus. 

Some Christians have used verses like this unfortunately to enact some really hateful things against ethnic Jews. And that includes Martin Luther, by the way. I love Martin Luther; but some of his actions and his writings (mostly late in his life) are inexcusably hateful to the Jews. That’s not what Paul was saying here. 

And here’s another clarification. Paul says that “wrath has come upon them at last” in verse 16. What does that mean? Is he talking about the Roman Empire’s persecution of Jews? Is he talking about the upcoming destruction of the Temple? What’s he talking about? Well, I don’t think it’s any of those things. It’s the same wrath that comes upon anyone. If you reject Jesus, then the alternative is God’s wrath. 

Now here’s my question for you, church. Paul is commending the Thessalonians here for being faithful to Christ despite the persecution and hardships that they are facing. Paul is impressed with the fortitude of these Thessalonians. Here’s my question for you, church. How good are you at enduring hardships? 

How good are you at persevering through adversity in this world? Do you endure with fortitude and with faith in God? Or do you bellyache (like Israelites in the wilderness)! Would Paul commend you, like he commends this church in Thessalonica? If your answer to that is, “Not real good, Pastor Tony. I’m not great at enduring hardships. I need to grow in that area.” Yeah. Me too. Let’s pray towards that end. 

I read recently about a man named William Sangster, who was a Methodist Preacher in England in the 20th Century. He got saved at the age of 12 when his Sunday School teacher asked him if he wanted to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Sangster said “yes” and in his own words he, “spluttered out a little prayer,” like only a little boy could do. And he said that prayer of “[mine] only had one merit. I meant it.”      

Well later in life Sangster was told that he was dying of progressive muscular atrophy. And after that diagnosis, he made four resolutions and faithfully kept them: 1) I will never complain; 2) I will keep the home bright; 3) I will count my blessings; 4) I will try to turn [this terminal disease] to gain.  

Now that’s pretty impressive, right there. That’s “enduring hardship” as a representative of Jesus Christ. How about us, Verse by Verse Fellowship? Can we do that? Can we represent Christ in the midst of hardship like that? I think that’s what God would have us do. 

And what would be our motivation for that? Would it be, Paul? Would it be the Thessalonians? Yeah. But we can go back even farther than that. Paul alludes to it here in verse 15. 

For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets [Paul goes even farther back than the cross; he goes all the way to the prophets of the OT who suffered hardships] 

So, what’s our motivation in the midst of hardships? Who’s our motivation in the midst of hardship? It’s the Lord Jesus. 1 Peter 2:20-24 – “For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”