Message summary: Genuine conversion involves expectant waiting for Christ’s return as our heart’s affections are heightened to things above instead of things bound below. Are you looking up expectantly as you live out your Christian life down here below?

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“You turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:9,10).

An old gospel song comes to mind as I prepare today's message that I haven't heard sung in church for many, many years yet the tune and words are deeply instilled in my memory. It begins:

In the course of our chaplaincy I visit with a quiet spoken man who has an interesting distinctive at least in regard to people I normally meet in the course of life. He's from Thessaloniki which is spelled Thessalonica in the Bible.

On his 2nd missionary journey recorded in Acts 17 Paul established a church in Thessalonica. The Scripture informs us that some were persuaded by Paul's message and became believers in Christ. But overall, due to troublemakers, Paul had a bad experience in that city and was essentially run out of town. But that's not the end of the story!

The New Testament has two letters written to this church from Paul. Today's text is a wonderful description of what happens when we believe and turn to Christ. “You turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:9,10). If it had been written at that time they just might have sang, “Since Jesus came into my heart!”

The Thessalonian believers had “turned to God from idols”. The idols that Paul referred to are likely our stereotype image of idols; figures fashioned with wood, metal or stone. But in turning to God the Thessalonian believers turned from worthless, lifeless and powerless idols “to serve a living and true God”. That’s the healthy norm in genuine conversion!

Essentially an idol is an object of worship, or that which we attribute worth to. Worship is derived from the Old English "worthship", meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something.

The Apostle John ended his first epistle by calling on his readers to “keep yourselves from idols”. Today in our modern western world idols may be fashioned differently than the idols mentioned in the Bible but they’re still very much present. We have them in abundance and in such variety that, should I begin to list them, it would result in too lengthy a message. In addition, an object that might be an idol to me may not be to you, and vice versa.

Genuine conversion involves turning away from any idol that competes with or robs our heart’s affections from the one true and living God. We make this turn “to serve the living and true God". Everybody is serving someone or something. Genuine conversion involves devoting ourselves fully to the living and true God consistently and faithfully. Are you doing so?

“And to wait for His Son from heaven.” Clearly, at the heart of Paul’s preaching was a reminder that we wait expectantly for the return of His Son, Jesus Christ, while we faithfully serve God during our earthly journey. The Precept commentary states, “To wait for the Lord’s return is a sure characteristic of a true believer. The present tense can be rendered ‘keep on waiting’. Waiting for the return of their Lord and King was their lifestyle, the habit of their life, the truth that colored all their daily activities and afflictions.”

“Whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus.” In our daily encouragement often use texts that reference the resurrection of Jesus Christ. A careful reading of the entire New Testament following Christ’s resurrection reveals how often the Scripture writers refer to the resurrection thus teaching and reinforcing it. On the whole we may not consider the focus of our daily Scripture portion to be on the resurrection but it certainly is foundational.

“Who rescues us from the wrath to come” Let us consider this phrase “the wrath to come”. Some commentators feel it is the general wrath in the sense of eternal punishment, others consider it a specific period of wrath in the tribulation period. As I watch events taking place right before my eyes I really wonder if we are entering into a period known as the Great Apostasy as expressed in 2 Thessalonians 2. There is such a rapid hastening in discarding time-honored Biblical teaching.

Genuine conversion involves expectant waiting for Christ’s return as our heart’s affections are heightened to things above instead of being bound to things below. Are you looking up expectantly as you live out your Christian life down here below?

Be encouraged today!  Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber