1 Thessalonians 1:3-4

1 Thess 1:3 "Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; 4 Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.”

In 1 Cor. 1:13 We read: “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” Faith, hope, and charity are the three things Paul referred to in our above text. James said: James 2:20 “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” James also said: James 2:18 “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.” You cannot show faith without works. Works is the evidence of one’s faith. Likewise, labor is the evidence of one’s love, and patience is the evidence of one’s hope.

What Paul remembered about the members of the church at Thessalonica is their works, their labor, and their patience. He equated these things to their faith, their love, and their hope.

In studying the subject of an individual’s faith, we find that Christ is the author and finisher of our faith: Heb. 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” It is also one of the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit: Gal. 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Having faith is an evidence of one’s spiritual birth. We know that someone has faith when we can see the evidence of that faith. The evidence of that faith is works.

Next, we often hear people tell us that they love us. While we like to hear people tell us that, yet if there is no evidence of their love towards us we cannot be sure that they truly love us. Love is an action verb. When there is no action then it is simply reduced to an emotional feeling. Notice the following two scriptures that speak of the activity of love:

1. Eph. 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;”

2. John 15:13: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

In both of the above verses love is manifest by the actions. Christ showed his love by give himself for it. Likewise husbands are taught to manifest their love for their wives by giving themselves for their wives. Moreover, the greatest love we can manifest is to unselfishly live our lives for others.

Additionally, our hope is manifest by our patience. Our hopes rest in the promises of God. We manifest our hope by waiting on the fulfillment of those promises. When we are faced with troubles and we know the Lord has promised that he will not forsake us in our troubles, then when we patiently wait for the Lord to deliver us in the midst of those troubles we are manifesting our hope in the promises of God.

Paul said that he remembered without ceasing their work of faith, their labor of love, and their patience of hope. This teaches us that this is what we should remember about one another. Too often we remember negative are bad things about others, when often if we would consider, we would also see these good things about them. We need to remember these good things.

Paul said that he remembered these things, but he also pointed out that he was not the only one who saw these things in the members of the church at Thessalonica: “in the sight of God and our Father.” God also saw these things and takes note of these things in his children. Moreover, even if no one else remembers these things about you, God see and remembers these things about you.

Paul concluded this text with the statement: “Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.” Now we do not elect God, but rather God elected his people. Paul believed the members of the church at Thessalonica to be a part of the elect family of God because he saw the evidence of their election, i.e., their work of faith, their labor of love, and their patience of hope.