1 Thessalonians 1:9-10

For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

 

The Gospel changes everything about our lives in the present and the future.  When we come to Christ through faith, we are given a living hope, and we are set free from enslavement to sin.  The ministry Paul had was bearing fruit because the reputation of the believers in Thessalonica was one of complete transformation.  These same changes should be evident in the lives of all believers.

 

TURN TO GOD FROM IDOLS: Repentance literally means to turn, and that is exactly what Paul describes as being the reputation of the new believers in Thessalonica.  There were worshiping idols and they turned from that to worship the one and only God that had been revealed to them in Christ.  Idols take on all different shapes and sizes.  We don’t see much of the iconic worship of images and statues that we typically associate with pagan idolatry in today’s more modern society.  Our idols today are much more subtle and, therefore, often more difficult to identify and often even more dangerous.  Perhaps the most common form of idolatry in today’s society would be the worship of “self.”  Personal autonomy, self-esteem, identity, realization, and many other inward focused desires and all symptoms of idolatry in our hearts.  Our insistence on our “right” to prosperity, power, popularity, and pleasure demonstrate just how deep our idolatry runs.  We complain, become anxious or depressed any time our comfort, health or circumstances are not aligned with what we think we “deserve.”  God calls us to turn from the worship of these false and unsatisfying idols to rejoice in fulfilling the purpose for which we were created: worshiping God.

 

TURN FROM WRATH TO WAIT: The sad thing about the worship of idols is that it is not only completely dissatisfying in the present; it also brings eternal condemnation under the wrath of God.  When we are saved and liberated from our idolatrous ways, we begin to experience a joy that is independent of our present circumstances, and we are given an eternal hope as we wait for the return of Christ.  Those without Christ will ignorantly speak of living a “hell on earth.”  This is delusional.  The only heaven those without Christ will experience is this fallen world.  Eternal condemnation suffering endlessly under God’s holy wrath will be so much worse than anything they or we can currently imagine.  Congruently, the joy believers experience as they grown in conformity to Christ is only a small appetizer of the feast of eternal jubilee that will be our reality for ever and ever.  This is our hope and the hope of the Gospel and that for which we eagerly await as the God who raised Jesus from the dead will send Him back to raise us from the grave and establish an eternal New Earth where only righteousness dwells.

 

APPLICATION: Turn from any vestiges of idolatry that cling to our hearts and rob our rejoicing.  Hope in the joy of the resurrection and eternal life.