What Do You Live For? 1 Thessalonians 1-3

1 Thessalonians 3:8 (ESV)

For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.

What do you live for?  How do you measure the height of your accomplishments in this world?  How do you spell success?  How do you define life and living?  In the above verse Paul has defined for us his answers to those questions.    To set the stage we need to know the context of the book of 1 Thessalonians.    Paul had visited the Greek city, Thessalonica, on his second missionary trip.   At this time, this city was the capital of Macedonia.   It was on a major trade route and from a strategic point of view, Thessalonica was a major get for the work of spreading the Gospel in the region.    But the Jewish opposition had forced Paul to abandon the work far earlier than he would have liked.  He planted the seed of the Gospel and wondered if it had grown and grown into what?   He sent young Timothy there to investigate their growth in Christ. Upon his return Paul learned they not only still had faith in Christ, they were growing in Christ.  Here is how he opened this letter to them:

1 Thessalonians 1:8 (ESV)

For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.

Timothy had brought good news of their faith and that caused Paul to leap in his heart in joy.   His joy was tied to their growing in the Gospel.  In fact, as the above verse states, his very life was connected to their growth in Christ.   We can tie our lives to many things and most of them, if not all, would be foolish, dangerous and contrary to God’s desire.  We tie our significance to our work, our family, our physical appearance and many more earthly connections.   But our real life should be tied, as Paul shows, to the impact of the Gospel in the lives of those we impact for Christ.   Our children might be successful in education, athletics and/or occupation.    But we really only live in life if we can see them walk in the Gospel. The growth of the Gospel in the Thessalonians was life to Paul. No, he was not replacing them with his own walk with Christ.    But he was defining for himself, for Timothy, for this body of believers and for us, what should be the rubric for the defining of a life well lived.   We rejoice and live when the Gospel lives in the hearts and lives of those we sew the seed of Jesus Christ.