A Purifying Hope

 Read 1 Thessalonians 3

The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to his friends in celebration of the change in their lives as they had turned from their false beliefs to Christ. 

When he left Thessalonica, an unbelieving mob took it upon themselves to apply maximum pressure and persecution against this newly formed congregation.

How would they fare without him?  That question haunted Paul until he could stand it no longer. 

In these verses, he took them back in memory to his initial discipling of them.  He warned them about such pressures.  What a message to us as we endeavor to introduce new believers to the Christian life.   

-There will be those who reject the message.

-There will be those who reject us because of what we believe.

-There will be temptations to be quiet about our faith.

-There will be temptations to compromise our lifestyle with the culture, so we blend in rather than stand out as follower of Christ. 

The Christian life is not insurance policy against stress and suffering.  In fact, he wrote in verse 4 that we are destined for this.  When we placed our faith in Christ as Savior, we changed sides in the spiritual war. 

As it turned out, Paul’s fears proved totally unfounded.  Timothy came back with a good report of their faith.  Their trust in the Lord was unshaken.

Don’t miss the progression of Paul’s thoughts in verses 11-13.

He linked love to holiness.

Then, he linked holiness to the Lord’s return. 

1 John 3:2-3 “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” 

The key to our holiness and purity is our exciting expectancy of being with Jesus by death or rapture at any moment.