Our Hope Is Tied To Our Service - 1 Thessalonians 1-2

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 (ESV)

For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.

What do you hope for?   Hope is a powerful and practical motivational tool.   Those who have no hope look down and are often diminished in spirit.   Those who have hope look up and are dynamic in spirit.  This is what Paul is writing about to the Thesalonian believers.  He is hopeful.  But his hope is not in his own successes, as defined like most men. He is not hopeful because of his wealth, his rank or his power and/or fame.   Paul has great hope for Christ’s return because the fruit of his labor was the faith of the saints; in this case at Thessalonica.   In those days the winners of Olympic Games would receive a crown of some sort.  Each game had a different arrangement of flowers with the award.   The “crown” or “wreath” would eventually die, of course.    But Paul is talking about an imperishable wreath.   He says the crown or wreath for him running the race well and finishing the race well is the believers in this church.   They are the reason for his boasting.  He is not beating his chest here.  He is saying that when Christ comes the evidence of him having run the Christian race well will be that these believers are strong in the faith.  He is honoring their walk in Christ and pointing to their walk as evidence of his own faithfulness in the ministry God gave him to steward.    Let us not forget that God has given us all the ministry to serve each other.  The evidence of our good stewardship of God’s gifts to us will be the fruit of those we serve.   We will certainly be rewarded for our own walk with Christ.  But when we pour our lives into others in Christ, we are equally rewarded for their growth and walk.   Our wreath or crown is not only our walk, but the walk we help improve for others.   That is our hope.  Our hope is tied to our faithful service.