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1Thessalonians Intro

Calvary Chapel Bible College

September 1, 2021

Class Introduction

About me

I came to know Jesus in 1970 at a Baptist Church.

In 1974 I sensed God was calling me into the ministry.

I was married in 1978 to my beautiful wife.

I’ve got three grown sons, two daughter-in-laws, and the cutest granddaughter and grandson in the world.

I graduated from CSUF in music in 1978, and got my M.Div. in Bible Exposition from Talbot Theological Seminary in 1981.

I was a youth pastor for six years at a Baptist church, an assistant pastor for eight years at Calvary Chapel Anaheim.

In 1994 we started Calvary Chapel of Fullerton, which I pastored for 25 years.

In January, 2020, I turned the church over to one of my spiritual sons in the faith, and I am now one of his assistants.

Classroom introductions

Let’s introduce ourselves…

Share your name, where you were born, where you go to church, and why you are in Bible College.

How to take the class …

Have a Bible in front of you.

Notepad.

Computer or device to watch the screen/powerpoint

PLEASE turn your cameras on so I can see you during class.

I will upload my full notes after each class – you’ll find them under “files”.

Requirements for the class

Book Reading (20%)

I want you to take time to read through both letters to the Thessalonians once each week. I remember that Chuck used to say he’d read through a book 50x before teaching it. You’ll only get about 14 times.

You are going to read it each week with a different version (as assigned). If you want, you can listen to it being read, but be sure to keep the text before your eyes as you listen.

If you don’t have access to one of the translations I’ve assigned, you can get them all for free on the YouVersion Bible app.

Each week there’s a “test” where you will check a box online telling me if you’ve read it. Be truthful. Don’t cheat yourself.

This week you will read it in the NKJV

I will be teaching out of NKJV

Bible Memorization (20%) (part of the syllabus has this wrong, I upped it to 20%)

1&2Thessalonians are filled with verses you ought to have tucked away in your head, but I’ve only picked out some of them.

I’d like you to memorize each week’s verse in NKJV.

Since our class is small, each week I will ask you to recite the verse out loud.

Don’t wait until the last minute to memorize. Please try to learn it in the first day after class and then keep reviewing it so you can chew on the verse.

Class Participation (30%)

That partly means attendance, which I will record each week.

Each week I also want you to fill out a prayer request online (it’s a “test” in Populi), one thing you’d like me to pray for. That counts towards participation.

Each week I will post a “Quick Quiz” online after the class. There will be two simple multiple choice questions to answer (and I will give you the answers during the class if you pay attention). There will also be a third question – Is there something from class today that you can apply to your life?

You’ll have all week after each class to take the quiz, but don’t wait too long to take it.

Pericope Project (10%)

A pericope is a short title/summary of a section. I prefer that they be three words or less.

In my PowerPoint, each paragraph that we are teaching through will have the Pericope at the top of the page. If you want to do things the easy way, write those down.

If you want to do a little more work on your own, then learn to develop a short summary of each paragraph.

Do you know how to find “paragraphs”? Hopefully you Bible divides up the chapters into paragraphs. Some of your Bibles already have pericopes, but I want you to use your own words.

You will then want to come up with a pericope for each chapter, as well as the major sections of Romans.

I want you to learn your chapter and section pericopes, as well as hand in your complete pericopes. I’ll give you a sample to look at a few weeks into the class.

My goal is for you to learn the layout of 1&2Thessalonians.

When I was a freshman in college, I learned to do this with the Gospel of John. It’s stayed with me ever since.

Recording Project (10%)

In the same vein as the “Reading” assignment, on your final week you will submit an “mp3” file of you reading the entire epistles of 1&2Thessalonians. I wouldn’t start this project until we are most of the way through the letters – I want you to have the blessing of “reading” with understanding.

Class Presentation (10%)

I want you to present the equivalent of a five-minute devotion on a passage of your choice in 1or2Thessalonians. You are only allowed to speak for 5 minutes (I will cut you off). We will do this on our final Wednesday. In a few weeks I will ask you to choose which passage you want to work on. I do not want more than one person on a passage. I want you to present the text, explain the text, and talk about how we should apply the text to our lives. You can use PowerPoint if you want, but don’t have to.

My outline for the class will go something like this –

This week is strictly background to the letters.

Next week we start in 1Thessalonians.

We will take a break in chapter 4 and take two weeks to talk about eschatology.

Then we will finish the letters.

Background to Thessalonians

The Thessalonian letters are different from most of the epistles in that they were written during the timeline of the book of Acts.

They have a historical context that we can examine in the book of Acts.

For today, open your Bibles to the book of Acts.

Paul’s missionary journeys start in Acts 13, when the church in Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas out to preach the gospel.

Play First Missionary Journey map video

They spent their trip traveling through the island of Cyprus, then making their way through some of the cities of Asia Minor and Galatia as far as Derbe…

Then they backtracked until they came back to their home church at Antioch.

(Acts 15:36–41 NKJV) —36 Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.” 37 Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. 38 But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. 39 Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God. 41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

So there’s a big split in the missions team.

Paul and Barnabas can’t agree on whether or not to take John Mark (who would eventually write the Gospel of Mark). Mark had been a flake and Paul didn’t want a flake on his team. Barnabas saw potential in Mark.

The great Paul and Barnabas go their separate ways.

I’ve heard many sermons about this split over the years.

Some guys want to put a little spin on it and say, “Hey, now there’s two teams going out!”

Keep in mind, we don’t really have any kind of indication in the Bible whether it was a good thing or not.

Be careful about putting your own spin on the Scriptures where the Scriptures are silent.

Personally, I can’t but think that God’s heart was grieved that they couldn’t figure out the solution.

But God would not be done with John Mark.

In Paul’s last letter, he says to Timothy,

(2 Timothy 4:11 NKJV) Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.

God was not finished with Mark.

But back to our Missions Trip with Paul…

Paul would now begin his “Second Missionary Journey”.

The beginnings of all his Missionary Journeys were in Antioch. This was the “sending” church.

Play “Antioch to Lystra” map.

Paul starts his second missionary journey with his new pal Silas, traveling from Antioch through Asia Minor (modern Turkey) where he and Barnabas had planted churches on the first trip.

(Acts 16:1–5 NKJV) —1 Then he came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. 2 He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek. 4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.

While in Asia Minor, Paul adds a third person to his team, a young man named Timothy. This was Paul’s second time through the region, initially visiting the same churches he had planted on his first journey and this time they will wind up traveling across Asia Minor and end up in Troas.

Video: Map – Troas to Macedonia

So they are making their way across modern Turkey, or Asian Minor to Troas, or ancient “Troy”, and then take a boat to Macedonia. Luke tells us why Macedonia…

(Acts 16:6–10 NKJV) —6 Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. 7 After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. 8 So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

How did the Holy Spirit “forbid” them to preach in Asia? (answer??)

We don’t know.

But we get a sense that Paul and his team are concerned about allowing the Holy Spirit to lead them.

How did the Holy Spirit lead them to go to Macedonia? (answer??)

This time we know, Paul had a “vision”. A vision indicates he was awake and perhaps meditating when he “saw” something in the shape of a man from Macedonia.

Do we know if this was a specific person?

No. It could have been one of the people that they are going to reach with the gospel in Macedonia.

Note: It’s at this point that the pronouns change. Luke is no longer saying that “they” did this and that. Now it’s “us”.

It’s at this point in the record that Luke has joined the team of Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

Some have suggested that the “man of Macedonia” was Luke. But again, we really don’t know.

Paul had never been to Macedonia before. Today, we think of Macedonia as the northern part of Greece.

The first city they stopped at in Macedonia was Philippi.

The first convert in Macedonia wasn’t a man, but the woman Lydia, who was a merchant from Thyatira.

Then we hear the story of the demon-possessed slave-girl.

(Acts 16:16–24 NKJV) —16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” 18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour. 19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. 20 And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; 21 and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.” 22 Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. 23 And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

Lesson

Jesus is powerful

Let me introduce you to another element in our classroom – the “application”.

Learning and teaching the Bible is about making observations in the text, explaining them, and applying them to our lives.

Many people skip that last step – applying God’s Word to their lives.

When you see a RED BAR like this on your screen, this is the challenge to apply something.

With a simple phrase, “in the name of Jesus Christ”, the demon came out.

It might have been instantaneous, but the text says it was within “that very hour”

There are many things that frighten us today, but we need to remember that Jesus is greater.

Illustration

Over the summer our church has been watching season one of “The Chosen” together.

I love this free TV series. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s free.

Go to “thechosen.tv” on your browser, or download the free app. You can even cast it to your smart TV. Amazing stuff.

The first three episodes might make you wonder where they are going with it, since the first three episode are primarily aimed at character development before they get into the actual gospel stories.

The first episode is about developing the character of Mary Magdalene.

The Bible doesn’t tell us much about her, except that Jesus cast out seven demons from her.

In the episode you see her first as a young girl being taught by her father to memorize Scripture, including this verse,

(Isaiah 43:1 NKJV) But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.

Yet while she is young, her father dies, and her life disintegrates into abusive men, alcoholism, and demon possession.

People no longer called her “Mary”, but “Lillith”, perhaps the names the demons gave her.

Religious men have tried casting out the demons, but failed.

And then she meets Jesus.

Play Video: The Chosen 1.1 – Mary’s Deliverance

Jesus is powerful.

You may have things in your life that are terrorizing you.

Jesus is stronger.

He knows you by name. You are His.

Lesson

Gospel consequences

We might think that it was a wonderful thing that this young slave girl was set free from her demons.

But her masters didn’t think so.

I wonder if this was one of the reasons Paul was slow to confront the demon.

The pagan townspeople and magistrates of Philippi didn’t think it was such a good thing.

Paul and Silas had a serious price to pay, being beaten and thrown into jail.

We need to realize that when we choose to follow Jesus and share Christ with others, there may be negative consequences.

That’s NOT a reason to shy away from letting God use you.

It’s about being ready and willing to follow Jesus, no matter what.

Right now we have two different missionary couples connected to our church who are trying to get out to the mission field – both into Muslim countries that are closed to the gospel.

One couple was just turned away in Russia as they were trying to pass through Russia into their destination.

The other couple has also faced all sorts of roadblocks, but are trying to get into their country this month. We keep their names and destinations quiet to protect them.

Paul wrote to Timothy –

(2 Timothy 3:12 NKJV) Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

Paul wrote to the Romans,

(Romans 8:35–37 NKJV) —35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

Illustration

“Ready for Either” is the significant wording on the seal of the Baptist Missionary Union, which presents an ox standing with a plough on one side, and an altar on the other.

Ready to plow a field, or be sacrificed on an altar.

Sometimes it’s under the harshest conditions that we will flourish:

Illustration

Where in the world will you function best for God? The story is told of a distinguished botanist who was exiled from his native land and obtained a job as a gardener in the United States. One cold winter day his employer received a valuable plant. Unfamiliar with the plant and its needs, he placed it in the greenhouse under the glare of the sun. When the plant began to die, the man asked the gardener to look at it. Quickly identifying its origin, he explained, “This is a plant which thrives in cold weather.” He immediately took it outside and exposed it to the frost, heaping pieces of ice around the flowerpot. Before long the plant became healthy and flourished again.

This is how a gospel-centered Christian thrives.

Don’t be quick to run from difficulty.

After Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into jail. At midnight, Paul and Silas were singing to God when an earthquake occurred. The jailer thought the prisoners would have all escaped, but when he saw they hadn’t, he asked Paul how he could be saved. And he was.

The next day Paul and Silas were released, and asked to leave town.

Their next stop would be the city of Thessalonica.

Video: Map – Philippi to Thessalonica.

About Thessalonica

The city of Thessalonica was built by one of Alexander the Great’s generals, Cassander, in 315 BC. He built it near a natural hotsprings and named it after his wife, Thessalonica.

When the Romans conquered the Greeks, they eventually made Thessalonica the capital of all of Macedonia.

Under Octavian, Thessalonica became a “free city”, and were allowed by Rome to rule themselves without Roman troops in the city. They ruled themselves under a group of five or six “politarchs”, a senate, and a public assembly.

Thessalonica was the chief seaport of Macedonia. It was also located on the Egnatian Way, the main road that connected Rome through Byzantium (Istanbul), on to the east. It was a great center for trade. And not to sound crass, but where there was great commerce, there would be a large Jewish population. The Jewish synagogue in Thessalonica was quite influential.

Even in more modern times, Thessalonica used to contain a large Jewish population.

In the mid-1800’s, half of the city’s population was Jewish.

WWII and the Holocaust changed all that. In the year 2000, .27% of the population was Jewish.

In Paul’s day, the overall population was somewhere around 200,000 people.

Today, the city is known as Salonica or Thessaloniki, and has a population of 300,000. It is the second largest city in Greece.

Back to Paul’s adventures

(Acts 17:1–4 NKJV) —1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.

It’s possible that Paul might have stayed longer than three weeks in Thessalonica, but perhaps not too much longer because trouble developed.

(Acts 17:5–9 NKJV) —5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. 7 Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.” 8 And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. 9 So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

Do you get the idea that there was hostility against the gospel in Thessalonica? There was.

Jason was probably a host of Paul, Silas, and Timothy, and he got into trouble for his involvement with them.

The believers would send Paul off to the next city of Berea.

(Acts 17:10–15 NKJV) —10 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. 13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds. 14 Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there. 15 So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.

During this time that Paul traveled to Athens, Silas and Timothy didn’t stay just in Berea, but we will discover they also spent some time going back to Thessalonica and perhaps Philippi as well.

We know this from our letter, where we find that Paul sent instructions that Silas and Timothy should go back to Thessalonica (and perhaps Philippi as well)

(1 Thessalonians 3:1–2 NKJV) —1 Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, 2 and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith,

So Paul would head south all the way to Athens.

Video: Map – Thessalonica to Athens.

While in Athens, Paul would engage with the Greek philosophers in both the marketplace (Agora) as well as the philospher’s hill, Mars Hill (Areopagus).

That’s all in Acts 17.

Let’s pick up Paul’s journey in Acts 18 where Paul moves on to Corinth…

(Acts 18:1–5 NKJV) —1 After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them. 3 So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. 5 When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.

Video: Map – Athens to Corinth

So initially Paul covers his expenses in Corinth by making tents, but when Silas and Timothy return from Macedonia (Berea, Thessalonica, Philippi) with news about the church, they also bring financial gifts for Paul, which allows him to go back to preaching fulltime.

Pay attention to how Paul meets his expenses. He worked.

He will even remind the Thessalonians that this was the example he always set…

(1 Thessalonians 2:9 NKJV) For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.

KEYWORD: Each week I will give you “keywords” to write down, to see if you paid attention during class. You will need these keywords to pass the “Quick Quiz” which will be available at the end of class.

This week’s first “KEYWORD is “tentmaking”. This is how Paul paid his bills in both Corinth and Thessalonica.

Paul records this reunion in Corinth with Timothy and Silas…

(1 Thessalonians 3:6 NKJV) But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, as we also to see you—

The gifts allowed Paul to go back into preaching full time, and during these early days in Corinth, Paul writes back to the Thessalonians.

If you want, write the words “Paul writes 1&2Thess” in your Bible at Acts 18:5.

Calendar-wise, that comes to between AD 50-54.

After perhaps the letter to the Galatians, these letters to the Thessalonians were the earliest of Paul’s letters.

So Paul would travel from Athens to Corinth, and it’s from Corinth that Paul would send his letters to the Thessalonians.

Even though Paul had such difficulty in Thessalonica and even though he was only there for three weeks, he had some lasting fruit there, key disciples that followed him.

A few years later, when Paul is wrapping up his time in Ephesus (Acts 19), look who is along with him as he travels…

(Acts 20:4 NKJV) And Sopater of Berea accompanied him to Asia—also Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.

As you can see, Paul collected men to disciple from all the areas where he established churches.

When Paul is later arrested, and makes his appeal to Caesar, look who accompanies him on the ship to Rome…

(Acts 27:2 NKJV) So, entering a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us.

This small persecuted church in Paul’s day would grow to become an important center of the early Christian church.

KEYWORD: I’ll ask you the question, “Was the church in Thessalonica crushed under their persecution?”

The answer is … no.

Don’t forget…

For this coming week:

Read both 1&2Thessalonians in NKJV

Memorize 1Thess. 1:5

(1 Thessalonians 1:5 NKJV) For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.

Be ready to recite it in class next week. Memorize it soon so you can chew on it during the week.