1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
We gather this morning for worship on All Saints Day. This is a day set aside to remember and honor all of God’s saints, “who from their labors rest.” Although we often think of saints being holy people who do amazing things, even miracles, in reality, to be a saint is simply to be a follower of Jesus. Therefore, today is a good day to remember all this congregation’s saints who no longer walk with us, but who have made a difference in the lives of the members of this community of faith. That includes Ed, whom we will honor after this service concludes. Our reading from 1 Thessalonians reminds the believers in Thessalonika how Paul and his companions labored and toiled, working day and night to support themselves, so they wouldn’t be a burden on the church as they proclaimed the Gospel. Although they were now separated from each other, Paul still felt the calling to labor on their behalf so they might better understand the word of God they had received from Paul.
It appears that Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian church was also his very first letter, making it the oldest part of the New Testament. It’s likely that he wrote the letter in 50 CE, not long after opponents to his ministry ran him out of Thessalonika. According to the Book of Acts, Paul, Silas, and their other companions established the church in Thessalonika during Paul’s second missionary journey immediately after planting the church in Philippi. It’s possible that he wrote this letter to encourage this rather new community of faith that he had to leave before he was ready due to opposition in the larger community that forced him to flee in the night. He also wrote the letter to defend his ministry from criticism from within the community. Despite feeling the need to defend his ministry, it seems that he had great affection for this community.
Since this may have been Paul’s earliest letter, it gets us about as close as we can get to the very beginnings of the Christian movement. Although Paul wrote the letter some two thousand years in the past, it still seems to resonate with believers today.
When we read this letter, it seems like the believers in Thessalonika lived with a great deal of anxiety. Some of this anxiety was due to something Paul may have shared about the timing of Christ’s return in glory with them during his time in the city. Because some of the believers were worried about what that might mean for those who had died and for themselves as well, he uses the letter to encourage them to stay the course, knowing that however long it takes before Jesus returns, they can rest assured that Jesus will welcome them into the kingdom of God. We don’t see that concern raised in our passage, but Paul does address their concern in chapter 4. Nevertheless, Paul felt the need to fend off criticism of his ministry, perhaps because some of his critics accused him of being a religious charlatan. You know, someone like Elmer Gantry, who uses religion to line his pockets. That’s why Paul felt the need to remind the people that he and his companions decided not to be a burden on them.
While our concerns might be different from what the Thessalonians were feeling, I think we can agree that we live at a time of great anxiety about the future. If we need a thermometer to measure the current temperature in our country, we only need to look to the concerns people have been expressing as we move toward Tuesday’s election. The polls suggest people are rather anxious about the future of the country and of the world. That anxiety often filters into the church as people look for answers. That’s why Paul commends the Thessalonians for receiving their word as a word from God and not merely as a human word.
So this morning as we live through this time of anxiety about the future, what is the word from God that you are seeking to hear? When Paul commended the people for receiving the word they had shared as a word from God, he also told them that this word he shared with them was at work in their midst. My friend, theologian Bruce Epperly wrote that “embracing God’s good news involves the whole of our lives—body, mind, and spirit. It involves the transformation of the mind (Romans 12:2) and transformed actions, and faith active in love for each other” [Adventurous Lectionary].
If God is speaking to us today, which is what I think Paul would have us believe, then I have a few questions for us to consider. First of all, what is God saying to us? Secondly, how do we hear this word from God? Finally, how can we know if God is speaking to us?
We can begin this process of seeking guidance from God by turning to Scripture. When we read Scripture, we expect to hear a word from God. Karl Barth, who was one of the great theologians of the twentieth century, spoke of the three-fold Word of God. He suggested that preaching can become a Word from God when it draws on Scripture, and then points our attention to Jesus, who is the Word of God incarnate (John 1:14). When we look to Jesus for guidance, we will know what God is like and what God would have us be and do. I always come back to Jesus’ word about which commandment is the greatest. He said there are two. First, love God with your entire being, which means giving your ultimate allegiance to God in body, soul, and spirit. Secondly, love your neighbor as yourself. Now Paul doesn’t point to these two commandments in his letter to the Thessalonians, but in 1 Corinthians 13 he wrote that love is the most important dimension of the Christian life. Everything else flows from love, and without love nothing we do matters.
So, ultimately, the key to knowing when a word comes from God is to ask how this word reflects the life and teaching of Jesus, who is the Word of God incarnate, and who placed at the center of the Christian life the command to love God and our neighbor. This is what I think Paul has in mind here when he gives thanks to God that the Thessalonians received the proclamation of the Gospel on the part of Paul and his companions as God’s Word and not just a human word. It appears that Paul and his companions believed that the best way to make their point about this word from God was to labor to support themselves so they wouldn’t be a burden on the church in Thessalonika.
Regarding this word from God that is at work in them and in us, we will see its effects when we lead “a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.”
With this message in mind, we come to the witness of All Saints Day. This is a day to remember and honor all the saints of God, as we’ll sing at the close of the service, “who from their labors rest, who thee by faith before the world confessed, thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest.” Once again, to be a saint doesn’t mean being perfect. It simply means being faithful to the ways of God, whose Word and Spirit is at work in us, transforming us into the people who reflect God’s wisdom and grace.
But, if we need a reminder about what it means to be a saint, it’s worth remembering that even the heroes of the Bible weren’t perfect. Think of Peter or David, both of whom had many faults and yet were embraced by God. Elliot Rabin writes in his book Biblical Heroes that these heroes “are flawed, complicated creatures—a stew of noble qualities and assorted shortcomings.” Therefore, “the Bible seems to be telling us, people should not load their heroes with unrealistic expectations. We are to acknowledge that something, but not everything, is extraordinary about a hero” [Rabin, The Biblical Heroe, pp. 270-271]. While we are called to emulate Jesus, we might also look at other figures who sought to be servants of God, but lived imperfect lives. With that in mind, consider Abraham, our ancestor in the faith. Elliot Rabin wrote this about Abraham:
In his mix of reliance on God and self-reliance, in his being a family man whose choices sometimes alienate him from his family, in his tormented though confident and resourceful leadership, Abraham embodies the complexity characteristic of biblical heroes. [The Biblical Heroe, p. 155].
Being a saint involves the kind of complexity characteristic not only of the biblical heroes, but all of us. Nevertheless, we can seek to embody the best of the saints of God, living and dead, as we take hold of the Word of God and “lead a life worthy of God.” So, as saints of God, what Word from God are you hearing? What Word is at work in you this day?
Attribution
Herrel, Edie Mae. The Word became Flesh, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt University Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://act.library.vanderbilt.edu/artworks/59789 [retrieved October 31, 2026]. Original source: Image was donated by Edie Mae Herrel and Dan Herrel, dkherrel@hotmail.com, nancynuss@gmail.com, Patrick.herrel@hotmail.com.
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