Faithful While We Wait for Jesus to Return

Paul begins with the question everybody has to answer: what are they waiting for? The Christian life is lived in the tension between what God has promised and what people experience right now. What people wait for shapes how they live while they wait, and waiting for Jesus should change everything.

Paul writes to a young church in Thessalonica that had received the gospel, faced opposition, and kept going. The Thessalonians had heard more than words. The gospel came with power, the Holy Spirit, and deep conviction. The power of the gospel is displayed through the life of the saved. A Christian life is not perfect all the time, but it does take on certain characteristics more and more.

Faith changes behavior. The Thessalonians became imitators of Paul and of the Lord because they recognized that Jesus is King. Jesus being Lord means obedience is not an optional add-on that gets filtered through a cost-benefit evaluation. Faith that treats Jesus’ words as interesting information, but never changes direction, is powerless faith. The image of a crowded theater makes the point: somebody who believes the building is on fire gets up and moves. Real belief changes what somebody does.

Love costs something. Paul calls it “labor prompted by love,” a kind of effort so exhausting it feels like a physical beating. The Thessalonians welcomed the gospel in severe suffering, even when following Jesus brought social pressure, relational loss, accusations, and danger. Love that never costs anything probably is not doing very much. Love that walks toward pain, forgives when holding a grudge would feel easier, and gives up time or comfort becomes a message that rings out.

Hope fuels endurance. The Thessalonians turned from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven. Christian hope does not lean mainly on the past, personal strength, or old accomplishments. Jesus’ return gives a sure future: he will set things right, deal with injustice, heal what is dying, and rescue his people from coming wrath. The call is not “don’t get your hopes up,” but “get your hopes up.”

Paul does not call powerless Christians to simply do better. The answer is to turn from idols, serve God, and wait for Jesus. An idol is anything whose loss would leave somebody with nothing left to wait for. Jesus has already paid the price, so faith, love, and endurance flow from devotion to the King who is worth serving and worth waiting for.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Faith must change actual behavior [00:45:15] Faith is not merely agreement with facts about Jesus. Faith recognizes Jesus as Lord, which means his authority reaches every part of life. A person who truly believes the warning of God does not remain seated as though nothing has changed. Obedience becomes not a grim payment, but the fitting response to a King who is good. [45:15]
• 2. Love becomes costly in real life [00:53:58] Love that only appears when life is convenient has not yet been tested very deeply. Christian love spends time, energy, money, comfort, and sometimes reputation for the good of others. Love walks toward another person’s pain when distance would feel safer. That kind of love makes the gospel visible, not merely audible. [53:58]
• 3. Hope gives strength to endure [00:59:44] Christian hope is not wishful thinking about better circumstances. Jesus’ return gives believers a future that is secure enough to carry present suffering. Christ will restore what is broken, confront evil, and bring justice where injustice has lasted too long. The future does not make present faithfulness unnecessary, but it makes endurance possible. [59:44]
• 4. Idols steal hope from Christ [01:05:01] An idol can be a good thing that has become the thing holding all hope for the future. A relationship, career, amount of money, dream, or even an addiction can become a false savior. The loss of such a thing may hurt deeply, but it cannot be allowed to become the loss of all hope. Jesus alone can bear the weight of a person’s future.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [29:34] - What Are You Waiting For?
• [31:23] - Waiting Shapes How People Live
• [32:11] - Kingdom Come and Thessalonians
• [33:03] - The Church in Thessalonica
• [37:06] - How to Wait Well for Jesus
• [38:37] - What Does Christian Life Look Like?
• [43:12] - Gospel Power in Saved Lives
• [47:14] - Faith That Changes Behavior
• [53:26] - Love That Costs Something
• [59:44] - Hope That Fuels Endurance
• [62:54] - Turn From Idols and Serve God
• [68:16] - Jesus Is Worth Waiting For

Bible Reading

1 Thessalonians 1:2-10
“We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 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. 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.” [43:30]

Acts 17:1-9
“Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, 'This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.' And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, 'These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.' And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.” [33:15]

2 Timothy 2:6
“It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.” [54:24]

Observation questions

1. In 1 Thessalonians 1:2–3, what three marks of the Thessalonians’ Christian life does Paul remember and thank God for? [43:30]
2. According to 1 Thessalonians 1:5–6, how did the gospel come to the Thessalonians, and what did they do even in severe suffering? [43:52]
3. What kinds of opposition and pressure did the believers in Thessalonica face according to Acts 17:1–9 and the description of their situation? [55:06]
4. In 1 Thessalonians 1:9–10, what did the Thessalonians turn from, whom did they begin serving, and for whom were they waiting? [59:13]

Interpretation questions

1. Paul connects faith with work, love with labor, and hope with endurance. Why do these three qualities belong together in the life of someone who follows Jesus? [44:03]
2. What does it mean that Jesus is Lord rather than merely a source of interesting religious information? How would that understanding shape the way a believer responds to Jesus’ commands? [48:51]
3. The Thessalonians received the message with joy while experiencing suffering. How can joy and hardship exist together without pretending that pain is not real? [54:45]
4. Paul says the Thessalonians turned from idols in order to serve God and wait for his Son. How can a good gift, such as a relationship, job, or future dream, become an idol when it carries a person’s ultimate hope? [01:05:27]

Application questions

1. What are one or two specific ways faith in Jesus has changed a person’s behavior over time—something they have stopped, started, or begun to handle differently? Where might God be inviting further change? [52:53]
2. Is there an area of life where obedience to Jesus is still being weighed mainly by convenience, cost, or personal preference? What would it look like to trust Jesus as King in that area? [50:26]
3. Who is someone nearby whose need or pain may require costly love this week? What might it look like to move toward that person through time, forgiveness, practical help, or presence? [57:23]
4. When life feels uncertain, what does a person tend to lean on most: past accomplishments, personal strength, finances, relationships, or something else? How can the promise of Jesus’ return give steadiness in that uncertainty? [01:00:36]
5. Is there anything whose loss feels as though it would leave a person with nothing to hope for? How can that reveal an idol, while still honestly acknowledging that losing good things can hurt deeply? [01:05:27]
6. Jesus has already paid the price for his people. How does that truth change the motivation for obedience, love, and endurance—from trying to earn God’s favor to serving the God who has saved them? [01:07:32]