Work, Labor, and Endurance

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS

WORK, LABOR, AND ENDURANCE

1 Thess 1:1-3

1:1 Paul, Silas and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace and peace to you. 

2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

NIV

Although many think this is strictly a Pauline Epistle, we wonder why he included Silas and Timothy as persons having something to do with the content of this letter. What seems to be the main reason for their inclusion is both of them were with Paul when they visited Thessalonica and were well known by all the people there. Paul gets right into an encouragement to these believers. We do wonder just how much time Paul spent in prayer as it seems he mentions in his other letters to various churches that he is praying for them. However, from his words, it would seem his prayer is that of thanksgiving for them rather than for God to do something in their lives. Paul says that he always remembers them in his prayer before God for three aspects of their lives. He mentions their work that is produced by faith and their labor prompted by love. It is interesting the choice of words of work and labor. Many times we associate work with doing good deeds because of our faith, as James has said that works without faith is dead. However, the Greek word that is translated as work may not mean specifically good deeds, as it has the meaning of an effort of occupation, but only has an implication of an act. On the other hand, the word translated as labor has a direct meaning of a beating and can be used as a beating of the chest, as in sorrow or trouble. So then how do we take these words of Paul to the believers in Thessalonica? It is generally thought their faith produced good works in promoting the gospel and their labor of love was in the giving of themselves in showing the love of God toward others. That would make the most sense within the context of the other scripture. However, it is interesting that general thought comes from our understanding of the English words' works and labor, rather than the actual meaning of the Greek words. Certainly, because we have faith we are diligent in our employed work or occupation. We do not slack off or are lazy. In the gospel of Mark, we find Jesus telling a parable about the kingdom is like a man who goes away and leaves his servants in charge, each with his assigned task. When it comes to our labor prompted by love, this too may well be applied to our attitude in serving our Lord, but also can be seen because of being a believer we might have trouble, but it is due to the love we have for God. Then we also see that endurance is inspired by our hope. We are to be steadfast in our faith and labor because we have hope in Christ Jesus. There seems to be no other reason to do anything unless we have hope in our Lord. All the works, all the labor is worthless if it is not grounded in hope in the Lord Jesus. All work and labor if not inspired by Christ are useless, it is nothing but vain efforts for self-glorification. So then we come to the understanding that because we love the Lord, we work as onto him, as we are instructed, and we humble ourselves, as beating our chest, laboring, glorifying our Lord, and we wait, we continue to hope, never quitting, but always waiting for that day he comes for us.