There is something very beautiful in the condition of soul in which we find the Christians at Thessalonica. There is something so fresh, and bright, and happy in the whole tone of their life, and walk, and ways. Paul’s letter to them is not so much a grand doctrinal essay, as some portions of his epistles; as the joyous outflow of the heart of one who looked upon them as a father does his children (Chapter 2:11); or a nurse her charge, whose growth and wants she had watched over, and whom she had cherished.
One sees this state of soul sometimes in a young Christian, or a young assembly of saints. There is such freshness, and earnestness, and love; and the things of Christ are so dearly prized. The Spirit of adoption is so strong, and the confiding love of children so marked, that even an older saint, while he can truly desire a deepening knowledge of Christ Himself, to possess the soul, cannot but feel his heart warmed and encouraged when he beholds it. How sad, too, is the reverse, or the declension from this state. When the heart grows calculating and cold, and the freshness of the things of Christ have lost their power; when the truth is feared, and the world is not overcome. Faces that the laborer was strengthened when he saw them drinking in the truth, and, regularly as the hour came, were at their accustomed place in the meeting-now but seldom there. And when he meets them, there is no longer the old warm welcome, and the bright intelligent look when Christ is spoken of; but the heart filled with other things, and open to the charge, “Thou hast left thy first love.”
It is the only epistle in which Paul addresses the assembly as “in God the Father.” It was their characteristic feature. As little children, the Spirit of adoption filled them, while they waited for God’s Son from heaven (Chapter 1:9,10). And this, their blessed hope, is much dwelt upon, and inwrought into the very texture of their whole life here below. The coming of the Lord Jesus for His own, was what they awaited (Chapter 1:9,10); and then Paul would see the fruit of his labor, as Paul’s Master, too, would His. (Chapter 2:19) To be established unblameable in holiness, and the time when holiness would have its true value would be at that day. (Chapter 3:13) Those who had slept in Jesus would not lose the blessing of such a, hope; and those who mourned their loss, for the moment, would see them again at that day. (Chapter 4:13-18) And lastly, God preserved His people to the time when Christ would come for them. (chapter 5:23.)
How heartily, then, could Paul give thanks about them, and ever make mention of them in his prayers—not as though they needed something, but that they might be preserved in the freshness and true-heartedness of this beautiful condition of their Christian life. “Remembering, without ceasing,
your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.”
All the graces of Christian life which ever abide—faith, hope, and love-the “three-fold cord,” binding together all that they did, were there. If they wrought, it was a work of faith. The soul counted upon God, and was sustained in doing His work, that He would be with His servants, and own their service as His own. Their labor was not a mere routine or duty, but it was a labor undertaken in love. And the Lord Jesus was the object before the heart, and the affections were centered on Him He was coming, who had identified Himself with His people; and while the labor went on, He sustained the heart, and the heart waited patiently for Him The conscience, too, was kept right—each one walking before a God and Father’s eye, and in His presence nothing was allowed contrary to His nature and will. Thus heart and conscience were filled and directed. Nothing can exceed this beautiful picture of the freshness of the first blush of Christian life in the world.
Surely, then, it did not need that the apostle should see into the counsels of the Book of Life, to know if they had been the objects of God’s election. He saw that in their lives, which was as plain to him as day; “For our gospel,” he says, “came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance.” And they became followers of Paul and of the Lord, “having received the word in much affliction.” How, indeed, could the enemy permit such a bright testimony in his domain without persecuting and afflicting those who bore it?
What can you do? what can he do with those who, if they are beaten before the council, depart, rejoicing that they are counted worthy to suffer shame for His name (Acts 5:4141And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. (Acts 5:41)) What can be done to those who, if imprisoned, with their feet made fast in the stocks, fill the prison courts with praises sung to God! (Acts 16:2525And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. (Acts 16:25)) When put to prison and in chains, could lift up a triumphant head, and desire that their captors might have what they had, the joy which filled their hearts, the helmet of salvation covering their heads, excepting the bonds? (Acts 26:2929And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds. (Acts 26:29)) What can you do to people who, if the enemy kills them, go to heaven praying for their enemies, unmindful of the stones which disfigured the earthly tabernacle? (Acts 7:6060And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:60)) And such, in its truest sense, is Christianity. And God filled the hearts of these beloved ones “with joy of the Holy Ghost,” if the enemy case them into the fire of affliction. God was seen in these beloved people, and His word had produced in them what the world had to bear testimony to a power that was above its malice, and, do what it would, it could not take away.
Paul had no need to speak of his loved children in the faith. The world took knowledge of them, in spite of itself, and their faith to God was spread abroad. Happy state! when the enemy is forced to bear testimony to such a state of the children of God, instead of having to point at them with the finger of scorn, when they are not in their practice, what they profess to be in their faith. One can enter in some weak measure into the deep anxiety of his heart, when he would know how they were enduring these afflictions. And the joy he had when he had learned how they had endured; and how they had held him in the affectionate remembrance of their hearts. “Now,” says he, “we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.” (Chapter 3:1-8.)
The Lord give His beloved people to know, in their inmost heart, that He has never changed—that they may count upon Him with all the confidence of these first children in the faith. And energize their hearts to a more earnest devotedness, in view of His still nearer coming—a more true-hearted following of Him; that they may be “steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
F.G.P.