The Egnatian Way was a millstone road spanning 20 feet wide and 700 miles long! Completed around the second century BC it bears the name of its builder Gnaeus Egnatius and connected the entire region of Ancient Macedonia which was located in modern day Northern Greece. It joined the Western shore of Greece with the Eastern most parts of the Roman Empire (at that time) and if you stood on it on the We

stern shores of Greece and threw a rock Superman style, you’d hit Rome.

It was the road built by Rome that led to Rome and in that day, everybody hit that highway! It was not only a major trade route, commercial crossway, but it was also the route by which Rome sent and received news of the empire and its provinces. An economical and political artery of the Empire! Almost directly in the center of this most important highway, the Egnatian Way, passing literally directly through it’s walls, was a city called Thessalonica.

Thessalonica was the largest city of Macedonia. It served as the hub of political and commercial activity in Macedonia, and became known as “the mother of all Macedonia.” It has been estimated that during Paul’s time its population was as high as 200,000 people! The majority of the inhabitants were Greeks, but there was also a mixture of other ethnic groups, including Jews (according to Acts 17:1-10).

That’s where we can read of Paul’s time there in Thessalonica during his second missionary journey and there are some clues there that are relevant to our study of his letter back to them shortly after he left…Turn over to Acts Chapter 17 and look with me at verses 1 – 15.

Acts Chapter 17 Verses 1 – 2

• So we are told that there was there a Synagogue of the Jews. Not that this was a Jewish controlled province of Rome because it wasn’t. Oddly enough, this city actually enjoyed freedom of sorts…The city had been a help to Octavius Agustus during Rome’s second civil war and so in return his reward to them was to make them a “free city.” Almost entirely self-governed by a popular assembly and what the Bible calls, “rulers of the city,” later in this chapter. And so there was a synagogue for the Jews and there were temples to the gods of the Greeks…but notice, there was no So Paul evangelizes.
• For three Sabbaths, or three weeks, Paul was constantly in the Synagogue…now that doesn’t mean three days…they would be in the synagogue most likely every day and the people would gather at a minimum, three times a week. So at a minimum, he preaches 9 times to the Jews there in the synagogue…but watch what happens…

Acts Chapter 17 Verses 3 – 5a

• Notice, the gentiles hear…the Jews do not…

Acts Chapter 17 Verses 5 - 15

• So we see what happened to Paul during his time there…how a great multitude came to faith and yet he was driven from that city rather quickly, only three weeks…Now here we are, most scholars believe less than a year later, around 51, 52, 53 AD (they didn’t date their letters, I mean didn’t they know APA formatting!?) and Paul hears most likely from Timothy that things are tough back in Thessalonica…
• Paul had gone ahead of Silas and Timothy after preaching in Berea and he had most likely spent the winter in Rome. He didn’t reunite with Silas and Timothy until Corinth in the Spring where he stays for about a year to a year and a half…so Timothy says “Yes, its established…but just as soon as the Word takes root, its challenged…” Not just by the Jews there in Thessalonica…but by all the ideas that travel through there! Remember, the church there is predominantly Greek and the Greeks love what? Knowledge!
• Being the main communication, commercial and political artery of the Roman Empire and being primarily Greek, ideas flowed from east to west here…and Paul had heard some concerning news…no doubt tough on him. He remembers the folks, not a year ago, so simple and alive for the first time in Jesus and man it’s discouraging to know that folks are faltering…I was discouraged the other night praying with Link before bed…we were praying for him to be more respectful and as we prayed, my eyes closed, he puts his finger in my ear…! UGH! My prayers changed to, “Lord help me not tear this boys butt up!” HA!
• So Paul sits with Timothy and Silas and pens this magnificent piece…being inspired by the Spirit of God Himself…God reaching out to His little ones through His servant Paul just as He is today (I wonder do you know that? Or are you still just so upside down?). Many argue about this but most scholars will tell you this is Paul’s first Some lean more towards Paul’s letter to the Galatians…either way, this is one of the first, if not the first…

1 Thessalonians Chapter 1 Verse 1

• Grace and peace…always in that order. Just like we saw in Colossians 1:2 and Romans 1:7 as we studied those Pauline letters verse by verse. Paul gets it and the habit of folks that get it…they give it! Peace with God cannot come until you have the peace of God within your heart…and there’s even more in this discussion on peace…there’s the peace that Jesus speaks of in John 14 which is peace of salvation, yes, but also the peace of sure footing and steadfast faithfulness in this life as he said to them, “Peace I leave with you! My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give it to you; let not your heart be troubled!” What Jesus was talking about is the grace of the gospel in your understanding and CPU (the head/heart handshake we talked about last week) results in a peaceful heart!
• Why is peace so important? Just thinking on this in my time with God with this week…peace is power, man. Without peace with God over my own sin my mind remains constantly on me…my needs, my thoughts, my image, my salvation, my knowledge, my day, my walk, my my my…but when grace enters and peace proliferates…man I move on from me…and the power to be His witness instead of my own witness arrives.
• Today you may rock the badge of Christian but are you His witness? Do your conversations honor God? Do your text messages? Does your work product at work honor God? Your attitude towards your in-laws? Does that honor God? Your Facebook wall, your movie collection, do they honor God? Grace and peace…power and witness…might be time to let the Word turn you upside down…or should I say, right side up…

1 Thessalonians Chapter 1 Verses 2 – 4

• There is much to correct in Thessalonica. Strange doctrines had crept in. Political plays for power along the communication artery there in Thessalonica brought orator after orator…and Paul had heard that they were stumbling. But notice what he does…he doesn’t jump right into it does he? He begins with a wonderful exhortation to them. “Man, you guys, your heart…you’re all about faith, hope and love…and I know that,”…he connects with them. So very important. I want no ministry from someone who doesn’t care about me. How can you bring Jesus to me when you don’t have His heart for me? You can’t…
• And Paul’s exhortation to them is awesome! He says we pray for you and when we think about you, we think about this…your faith, love and hope in the Lord…but notice he qualifies each doesn’t he?! This is so cool. He says, “Your work of faith!” The word in the Greek speaks of their “enterprise,” or their, “CPU.” That God is their business and in their business and man that is what faith is…not knowing…but doing…Spurgeon said this, “If you have a behavioral problem, you have a belief problem…”
• He says, “Your labor of love.” Man love in our culture and thinking has become so Borrowing from Piper, “We are taught in a thousand ways that love means doing what will make others feel good especially about themselves. Love is giving someone a mirror and helping them like what they see. That is not what the Bible teaches us on love. Love is doing what is best for someone to bring them into right relationship with God, Jesus’ way. Paul says, “Y’all are at work with love in that city.”
• And finally, their “patience of hope.” The fact that they have endured in hope! That is how you take hold of hope and install it…you endure, man. Simply that. (HUGE THOUGHT ALERT) Long obedience in the same direction starts with doing old things in new ways! Combining faith, hope and love into one and redefining everything constantly just to be closer to God! And God rewards you with increased faith, and increased faith, and increased faith… (You say I’m too far gone, or too much just how I am…How does a river run through a desolate area? It has a source!)
• God has called each Christian to image forth what He really is…what He really is like…I pray we install that as we leave today…