1 Thessalonians 2:13

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 91:1-2, 14-16
• Hymn — Psalm 91B (Who with God Most High Finds Shelter)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Sin
• Assurance of Pardon — Psalm 28:6-7
• Hymn — Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16
• Sermon
• Hymn — How Firm a Foundation (#243)
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: Thanksgiving for the Working Word of God

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 2:13

I. Introduction: Paul's Constructive Thanksgiving as Encouragement to Endure

A. The Thessalonians face severe affliction for believing the gospel (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 3:3-4) B. Paul, like a loving parent, chooses encouragement through thanksgiving rather than mere command C. Paul's tactic: name what is true of the Believers so they might persevere

II. Thanksgiving Because the Word of God Is Welcomed by Believers

A. What the word of God is

1. It is the word from God — originating in his will, stamped with his full authority, breathed out from his mouth
2. It is not the word of men — no human eloquence or literature, however moving, is of the same kind as Scripture
3. The difference is not one of degree but of kind — like the difference between a cold lifeless pebble and a living, breathing mountain

B. How the word of God comes — by hearing through preaching

1. God delivers his word through messengers; it cannot be downloaded directly
2. Romans 10:14 — "How are they to hear without someone preaching?"
3. Westminster Larger Catechism Q. 155: the Spirit makes "especially the preaching of the word" an effectual means of salvation

C. How a person must respond — by receiving and accepting (welcoming) the word

1. Receiving and accepting was common language for a disciple taking on a teacher's tradition
2. The word must not merely be intellectually received but personally welcomed — like a transplanted organ that the body accepts as its own
3. This welcoming can only occur by the work of the Holy Spirit, who implants the word into the dead and hard heart

III. Thanksgiving Because the Word of God Is Working in Believers

A. The verb "at work" is present tense — the working is ongoing and continuous

1. Isaiah 55:11 — God's word shall not return to him empty but shall accomplish his purpose
2. Jeremiah 23:29 — "Is not my word like fire… and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?"
3. Hebrews 4:12 — the word is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword
4. Ezekiel 37 — the most vivid picture: the word preached causes dry bones in a valley to live again

B. What specific working Paul has in mind

1. 1 Thessalonians 1:3 — fruit of saving faith: work of faith, labor of love, steadfastness of hope (ongoing sanctification)
2. 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 — turning from idols to God; deliverance from the wrath to come (justification and repentance)
3. The word works justification and sanctification together

C. Evidence of the word's working: endurance under suffering (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16)

1. The Thessalonians imitated the Judean churches by enduring suffering from their own countrymen
2. Paul is not anti-Semitic — he speaks of specific unbelieving Jews who opposed the gospel; Romans 9–11 guards against misreading
3. Endurance of suffering for the word can only come by the working of the word

D. The word continues to work against forces inside and outside the believer

1. Internal forces: love of comfort, discontentment, a wavering heart
2. External forces: worldly ideas, societal pressures, schemes of Satan (1 Thessalonians 3)
3. The word does not return to God void — it works until the end for all in whom it has been implanted

IV. Conclusion: The Firm Foundation of the Working Word

A. Hebrews 10:23 — "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful" B. 1 Corinthians 1:9 — "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son" C. The believer is called to remember the welcoming of the word and recognize its ongoing working — that you may endure until the end