In Jason Dohm's sermon titled 'The Team Greets and Blesses a Church,' the focus is on the greeting and blessing provided by Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the Church in Thessalonica. Dohm explains how these three figures function as a team in spreading the Gospel, emphasizing Paul's leadership and transformation from a persecutor to an apostle. The sermon delves into the meaning of the greeting 'grace and peace,' explaining its deep theological implications and its roots in both Greek and Hebrew traditions. Dohm highlights the term 'ekklesia' to describe the Church as a gathering of believers united in God the Father and Jesus Christ. He underscores the transformative power of grace and peace in the lives of the apostles and the early Church, encouraging believers to seek similar transformation. Additionally, the sermon covers the significant roles of Silvanus as a trusted leader from the Jerusalem Church and Timothy as a spiritual son nurtured by Scripture and faith, illustrating their contributions to spreading Christianity.

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. You may be seated. The title of the sermon this morning is, The Team greets and blesses a church.

Sort of strange to think of Paul and Silvanus and Timothy as a team, but they have co-authored this letter. And They are acting as a team. They did in the evangelization of Thessalonica. And they do in the ongoing support and care for this church act as a team. With Paul leading the team, certainly.

And they're greeting this church, this gathering, assembly of believers in Jesus. The greeting includes this wonderful blessing of grace and peace. The title really says it all, but I won't stop with the title. Last week the title was, The Good News Comes to Thessalonica, and I gave a brief history of this city that had swelled to maybe 200, 000 in population, the capital of Macedonia. And I gave you the political and religious environment into which Paul and Silvanus and Timothy come with the Gospel, with the good news.

But the point of it all is that something wonderful is happening. That's the whole point here. Is that God is keeping His promises that His goodness and His compassion and his mercy wouldn't be largely isolated to the nation of Israel forever. But that there would be a grafting in of the Gentiles. And that those who had not sought God and never had any appetite for Him would become the objects of His grace along with His people, the Jews.

And So this is what we see. This is the whole reason for Paul and Silvanus and Timothy going to Macedonia at all. Remember his vision by night. A man from Macedonia saying, come over and help us. We who have been millennia without the good news, need the good news.

So they immediately sail from Macedonia and then they're in Philippi and then they're in Thessalonica and they're preaching the good news. Something wonderful is happening. The gospel is coming to places where the good news has never been before. And this is simply God keeping his promises. This week we're beginning our exposition of the letter, and we are down to a single verse.

But believe me, there's plenty there. When I counted up the number of sermons you could preach out of this single verse, it's something like four or five if you were just to preach on Paul, who Paul is, and then Silvanus, and then Timothy, and then if you were to isolate on church, and the Greek word ekklesia, and how that's used in the New Testament, and then if you were to talk about grace, you could certainly do a sermon on that. If you were to talk about peace, you could certainly do a sermon on that. If you were to talk about what it means to be in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have lots of content to go through.

And I'll leave many things unsaid as I always do in this sermon. On the surface, you have a normal form from the time for a letter. In other words, this is very consistent with even secular letters, letters from Roman rulers you would rulers you would find very similar greetings. From, to, greetings. In other words, me to you, hi.

Or you to me, You're writing a letter to me and you say hi, and then you get on with what you wanted to say in the letter. But these are far from throwaway words. It is rich in theology. Rich in the study of God and how he relates with his people. And so even though we have sort of a normal greeting for a letter from the time, not so different from our letters today, right?

It's from me, it's to you, and hello. I send you my greetings and now onto the content. So this is not unusual to us at all. Even though it fits a general form, these are not throw away words just to get to what he wants to talk about. It's rich in theology.

So as we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. Father, I pray that You would help us. I pray that grace and peace would reign in our hearts through the work of Jesus. That The kind intentions of your will towards your people expressed through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ would be pressed on us. Through this verse, thank you for bringing us to these letters.

Thank you for raising up Paul, for snatching him from the flames, and then making him a mighty man of faith who was such an ambassador of the Gospel. And even now we are benefiting from his life and how you used him. We praise you for that and we pray that you would help us. You would use all these things to conform us into that image of your son Jesus. In His name we pray, Amen.

So I have a very simple outline for this morning. I want to talk about the authors, I want to talk about the recipients, and I want to talk about the greetings. And then apply it. So number one, the authors, Plural authors. Paul is a part of writing 13 different letters in the New Testament.

Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philithians, Colossians, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, 1st and 2nd Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. That gets you to 13. Nine of those 13 are to churches. Four of those are to people. There's two to Timothy, one to Titus, and one to Philemon.

So he's writing to churches and to specific individuals. Of these 13 letters, 8 of them have co-authors with Paul. He was always the first name in these 13 letters. He was always the leader of a collaboration to write these letters even when they were co-authors. But in 8 of the 13 there are other authors of the letter working alongside Paul, collaborating with Paul.

So what we're seeing in 1 Thessalonians is not unusual at all. More often than not you see elsewhere what you see here. That Paul has partners in the Gospel. They write letters together. He is co-authoring.

So I want to spend a minute or two on each one of the three co-authors, beginning with Paul. We encounter Paul for the first time at the end of Acts chapter 7. He is Saul at this point. He is not even called Paul in Acts chapter 7. He is Saul.

He is standing there as a witness. A witness to what? A witness to the martyrdom of Stephen. Stephen is being stoned to death when he suggests that the Gentiles are being grafted in and the grace of God is going to them. They were sort of tracking with Stephen's sermon up until the time where Stephen began to talk about the grace of God going to the Gentiles.

And that was too much. And that was the beginning of the end for Stephen. And there stands Paul guarding the garments and approving. The text is very clear that he was approving of the death of Stephen. Stephen being stoned to death.

Then in Acts chapter 8 verse 1, right on the heels of Stephen being stoned, Acts chapter 8 verse 1 says, A great persecution arose against the church. And then Acts chapter 8 verse 3, just two verses later, talks about Saul's participation in this great persecution. Listen to chapter 8 verse 3. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. So this is how Saul is occupying himself at this time.

He is going into homes of Christian men and women and dragging them out and having them committed to prison. In the mind of Saul, Jesus Christ was the greatest blasphemer that ever was and his followers need to be dealt with so that this plague of the way doesn't spread and he's acting accordingly. Then in Acts chapter 9, Paul is on the road to Damascus to do more of the same. In Acts 9 verses 15 and 16, after he has been blinded and confronted by Jesus, who says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he sends him blind into Damascus.

And Paul is praying and God speaks to Ananias and Ananias sort of argues with God giving him good reasons why he shouldn't get tangled up with Saul the persecutor. And God says this in chapter 9 verses 15 and 16, Acts chapter 9, Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine, to bear my name before the Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. There are two things here in Acts chapter 9 that are very relevant to Paul being a co-author of this letter to the Thessalonians. The first is this, that God had said to Ananias that Paul would bear his name before the Gentiles.

Paul was going to be the apostle to the Gentiles. He was going to be instrumental to the good news, going to those who had never encountered the good news ever before. And secondly, that his ministry very often was going to be a ministry of suffering. And so it is when you study the book of Acts, you cannot miss that. Paul has a ministry of suffering more often than not.

We see both of these things in his ministry to the Thessalonians. We see that he is under intense persecution almost from the time that he enters Macedonia. It continues in Thessalonica. The whole reason he is there is to help the man from Macedonia. Come over and help us.

And there they go, from Macedonia. Listen to how Paul describes himself in his letter to Timothy. This is 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 13. Paul says, I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man. And then a couple of verses later in verse 16, this is 1 Timothy 3 verse 16, he says, For this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all long suffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting.

In other words, Paul says, I was a wicked man. I was a blasphemer. I was a persecutor. I was an insolent man. Why did God show mercy to me?

He showed mercy to me to make me a pattern, to make me an example of the grace of God. In other words, if God can save me, a blaspheming, violent, insolent man, God can save anyone. If God is long-suffering enough to bear with me and my pattern of life, then it's an example for those who will believe. Here's what we get out of Paul being a co-author of this letter. The Acts is not about the exploits of great men.

The book of Acts is not about the exploits of great men. It's about the exploits of a merciful God who delights to capture the hearts of wicked men and make them useful for His glory. That's what we have. That's the beauty of Paul's name being in verse 1. It's not that he's a great man and isn't he ever a great man, but It's easy to think of Paul and the breadth and the depth and the beauty of his theology in these 13 letters and just skip past Acts chapter 7, 8, and 9, his history, what he was.

Just to see him in his letters and all the things that God has taught him and say, this is a great man, no. The beauty of Paul's name being listed here is to see what God can do with wicked men, with blasphemers, and violent men, and insolent men. How he can reach into their lives and change them so that they are unrecognizable. Paul in his 13 letters is unrecognizable and irreconcilable with the Saul that you see in the early chapters of Acts. This is about God and how he loves to capture the hearts of wicked men and make them useful.

Make them worshippers. Sylvannus, long A, that's how you say it. I looked it up this morning. Thanks for the internet. Sylvannus.

We meet Sylvannus in Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15 is the Jerusalem Council. The question before this council is do you have to be circumcised to be saved? And the verdict is no. You do not have to be circumcised to be saved.

This council is going to write a letter and send it out to the Gentile churches so that they know of the verdict of the council. And this is where we meet Silvanus in Acts chapter 15 verse 22. Listen, then it pleased the apostles and elders with the whole church to send chosen men from their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas who was also named Bar-Sabos and Silas leading men among the brethren. So Silas and Silvanus are exactly the same person. Silas is the Greek form of the name, Silvanus is the Roman form of the name, but they are the same person.

In Acts chapter 15 verse 22, we are introduced to a leading man among the church in Jerusalem. So this is the flagship church, right? This is where all of the apostles prior to Paul are residing and they're leading this church and when it's time to send a letter they're going to choose two men and they're leading men among the brethren and send them. Silvanus, or Silas, is one of them. One of the things we need to know about Silvanus is that he's an insider.

The flagship church in Jerusalem, led by the apostles and other elders, And this is a trusted man among them. So he is a leading man from the leading church in the small Christian world of this time. Listen to this fact about Silvanus late in his life. This is from 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 12. 1 Peter 5 verse 12, by Silvanus our faithful brother as I consider him I have written to you.

So 1 Peter chapter 5 was either carried by or written by as dictated by Peter, one or the other, or some combination of it. Silvanus had a part in the writing or the carrying of 1 Peter. So he has a time period where he is with Paul and co-laboring beside Paul, but the same is true with the Apostle Peter as well. He is a trusted man from this church. In Acts chapter 15 later, verse 32, it says that Silas is a prophet.

So he is a chosen man from that church, He is a leading man of that church and he is a prophet. Acts 15 verse 32. Who exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words. In other words, he is not just the delivery boy for this letter that comes out of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. He's not just coming and dropping it off and leaving.

It comes with a leading man, a prophet from this church, who comes and delivers the letter in person and then explains it. He's exhorting and strengthening the brethren with many words, having delivered the letter. And then at the very end of Acts chapter 15, there is a sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas. And Barnabas chooses John Mark and goes in one direction to strengthen the churches where they had been on the first missionary journey. And Paul chooses Silas or Silvanus and goes in another direction on the second missionary journey that now has them in Macedonia in Philippi and at Thessalonica.

So that's Sylvainus, this trusted man, a leading man from the leading church. Now Timothy, we meet Timothy in Acts chapter sixteen. The very beginning in verse one we read that he's from Lystra. And it says in chapter sixteen verse one that he's the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed but his father was Greek. Timothy was the son of a believing Jewish woman but his father was Greek and the implication by the contrast is that his father didn't believe.

So he's got a believing Jewish mother and an unbelieving Greek father. Paul calls Timothy my beloved and faithful son in the Lord in 1 Corinthians 4, 17. My beloved and faithful son in the Lord. He calls him a true son in the faith in 1 Timothy 1, verse 2. He calls him a beloved son in 2 Timothy 1, verse 2.

So he's a spiritual son in the faith. Paul had a physical father, an unbelieving Greek, and he had a spiritual father, the apostle Paul, who would come to his city and evangelize and he's got a believing mother. Listen to what we learned about Timothy in 2 Timothy 1 verse 5. Paul writes, I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. So in Acts 16 we find that he has a Jewish mother who is a believer.

In 2 Timothy chapter 1 we find out the name of that mother. It's Eunice. And we find out the name of his mother's mother, his grandmother. It's Lois. And they had a genuine faith which abided in them.

So Timothy didn't come into contact with the Scriptures or with the faith for the first time through the ministry of Paul. Though he might have been converted under his ministry, We don't know for sure. We do know for sure that Paul calls him the son and the faith. We know that he had a faithful believing mother and grandmother. Here's what we learn in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 15.

Paul writes, From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. From childhood Timothy had known the Holy Scriptures and it primed the gospel pump as it were. We don't have pumps, but you prime the pump. You get it going to get water coming up from the bottom of the well, coming through the pump. You've got to prime it.

From childhood he knew the Holy Scriptures, which was able to make him wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Knowing the Old Testament Scriptures made him ready for the Gospel. It primed the pump. So he had a believing mother, a believing grandmother, and they taught him the Scriptures. They made sure that He learned the Holy Scriptures from his childhood.

Now back to Acts 16 about Timothy. In Acts chapter 16 verses 2 and 3 we read this, He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to have him go on with him and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region. For they all knew that his father was a Greek. So did Timothy need to be circumcised to be saved?

No. That got settled a chapter earlier in Acts chapter 15. Did Timothy need to be circumcised in order to have a meaningful gospel ministry among the Jews? Yes. So he had the freedom to never be circumcised.

It was not needful to salvation at all. And yet, Paul was finding it to be an obstacle to the advancement of the good news and so if it's an obstacle he removed the obstacle and he circumcised Timothy, his spiritual son, so that he could have a fuller, more accepted ministry among the Jews. And as we saw when Paul and Silvanus and Timothy get to Thessalonica, where do they start first? The synagogue for three Sundays. Their reasoning from the scriptures.

Jesus was the Christ and He had to suffer and die. So this is the team. Paul the persecutor turned apostle. Silvanus, the leading man from the leading church, who Paul chooses to go with him. And Timothy, the son in the faith, who is growing, learning, being brought along, and as a trusted partner in this ministry.

How do three authors even write a letter? Is that how you write letters? You get together and you just jointly write a letter? Well the answer for me is yes. Oftentimes when I'm writing something important, I often write it with my co-elders.

And there are three of us. This makes perfect sense to me when there is something important that we need to write about. One of us takes the lead and drafts and the other two have input and we go through a few revisions of it and then we send it out and we send it out under all of our names. So this is not unusual. This is not an unusual practice at all.

And in fact, that's exactly what you see in Acts 15. In the letter that is the output from the Jerusalem Council, You have Peter as a leading voice in that debate and discussion. And then you have James as a leading voice in that debate and discussion. And then almost exactly what James says ends up being the content of the letter, but the letter comes from the apostles, the elders, and the brethren. It's a collaborative effort that has had leading voices in it.

So we have an example in Acts 15 of a letter being co-authored. That was number one, the authors. Now number two, the recipients To the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're trying to talk fast, Thessalonians is a nightmare. To the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The recipient is the church. The Greek word is ecclesia. It means gathering. It means assembly. It means called out to assemble.

You've probably heard wonderful words about how we're called out of the world, called out of darkness to be the Lord's people. And Those are wonderful sermons, but it might be a stretch on the word. It's used very broadly, very generally. It just means assembly. It just means meeting.

You're called out to meet. What kind of assembly? Paul is very specific on what kind of assembly this is. It's God the Father's assembly and it's the Lord Jesus Christ's assembly. He owns this gathering.

He owns this assembly. It's His. It's in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Which speaks of the union of the Lord's people with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are joined together.

We are in Him. Not separate, but in union with. Turn in your Bibles to John chapter 17. John chapter 17 is the high priestly prayer that Jesus prays at the end of His life, very likely at the Last Supper. But in any event, at the end of His life, Jesus as the high priest prays to God, His Father, and he prays certain things for his people even in the future.

And I think it explains this phrase to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. What it means to be in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. John chapter 17 I'll be reading verses 20 through 23. Jesus prays, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word that they all may be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you. They also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.

And the glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one. I in them and you in me. That they may be made perfect in one. And that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. All this is an expression of the love of God.

Our union with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus being in the Father and we accepted in the beloved as it said in Ephesians 1, are joined together. What Jesus was praying for as the high priest in John chapter 17 is what Paul is saying has happened with the believers in Thessalonica. So that union is the source of communion with God and with each other. In other words, they're a gathering. They cease to be just individuals and they have become a body there in Thessalonica of those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and that has unified them with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and that has unified them with one another.

Jews and Gentiles reconciled with God. Isn't that what we saw when we studied Acts chapter 17 and Paul and Silvanus and Timothy and their time in Thessalonica that he started with Jews in the synagogue there were Jewish converts there were more Greeks and that these Jews and Gentiles both having received Christ have been reconciled with God and then reconciled with other and they're now not part of the synagogue they're now part of the assembly of the Lord's people. God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The first time we see the word ecclesia or church is in Matthew chapter 16. This is right after Peter's great confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

And in Matthew chapter 16 verse 18, Jesus says, And I also say to you Peter, that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. That's the first occurrence of this Greek word in the New Testament. Jesus saying that he's going to build an ecclesia, a church, a gathering, an assembly on the rock of the confession that he is God and that he is the Messiah that God had promised. Paul is connecting these believers in Jesus with that. Listen to what a note from the Nelson study Bible says.

Note that Paul addresses the believers at Thessalonica as a body and not as individual believers. In the early church, belief in Christ always led to joining a fellowship of believers in the body of Christ. Did you get that? That's what you see all in the New Testament. If you believe you're joined to the body, and That note references Acts chapter 2, the day of Pentecost when 3000 hear the preaching of Peter, the Holy Spirit moves and they say, brethren what must we do to be saved?

And they are added to the church. Those are the words of Acts chapter 2. So the Nelson Study Bible is right. That is exactly what you see. Any time someone is being born again in the New Testament, is that they're added, they're joined to the fellowship of believers.

We get more insight to this in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 14. Let's look at that briefly. So we're back in 1 Thessalonians, we're in chapter 2 verse 14. We'll study this in depth later, but it is worth touching on it now. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus.

So it is the same word, plural form. The churches of God which are in Judea. So sometimes the word is used as the universal church, the church of all believers, but often in the New Testament it's used of individual local congregations, as Paul uses it in chapter 2 verse 14. So there is more than one church. There are churches, plural, for localities.

And 1 Thessalonians is going to give us the opportunity, as we progress through the letter, to study in depth that thought about one church and yet many local churches, and how those are not in conflict at all but that has always been the design of God. So number one was the authors, number two was the recipients, number three the greeting and blessing, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have the repetition of that phrase, but last time it was from God the Father, and now in the repeated phrase it's from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. We have grace and peace. That's the greeting.

And The grace and peace comes from something. It doesn't originate with Paul. It doesn't originate with Silvanus. It doesn't originate with Timothy. It originates with God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's where the grace comes from. That's where the peace comes from. It's not well wishing. This isn't a, I hope you have a good life phrase. It's so much deeper and more beautiful than that.

It is unmerited favor from God our Father. He is our Father. Why is He our Father? Because He has given us unmerited favor. It's from Him.

It doesn't originate with man. It's a gift to man. Grace is a multifaceted word, the Greek word, charis. Grace is a multifaceted word, meaning goodwill, loving kindness, unearned favor. All that's wrapped up in this word.

Goodwill from God our Father. He has kind intentions toward His people. They are the recipients of His goodwill. They are the recipients of His loving kindness. They are the recipients of his unearned favor.

You cannot earn this. If you can earn it, it's a paycheck and he owes it to you. But no, this is completely initiated by God. You have not merited it. You cannot earn it.

He initiates it toward those who haven't earned it. Now this is a similar Greek word to the common Greek greeting. In other words, two Greeks meet each other and they would say a word that is very similar to this in greeting. That word is used in the New Testament and it's simply translated greetings. So, to us, we don't see the connection because these have been translated into English.

So we see greetings in some places and grace in other places, and there's no connection between them. They're very closely connected in the Greek language. They share the same roots in the Greek language, but grace is so much richer. It's so much more personal. And so, it's essentially an amplified version, a more beautiful, deeper version of the normal Greek greeting.

That's grace in this greeting and blessing. What is peace? The Greek word for this means a state of unity, harmony, being reconciled. This is shalom, This is the common Hebrew salutation. In Romans chapter 5 verse 1, Paul writes this.

Romans chapter 5 verse 1, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This just amplifies this and explains what Paul is saying. It's what he said in Romans chapter 5 verses 1. Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's where the peace comes from.

Being justified by faith. It reconciles us with God through Christ. This is not New Testament teaching. This is not just New Testament teaching. It is New Testament teaching.

It's not isolated in any way, shape, or form. It's not new to the New Testament. This is always what God wants pronounced on His people. Did you get that? Grace and peace is what God always wants pronounced on His people.

I want you to turn to Numbers Chapter 6. Numbers Chapter 6. Numbers Chapter 6 is something I pronounce individually over all my children before they go to bed almost every single night of their lives. And What do you find there, grace and peace? I'm going to read Numbers chapter 6 verses 22 through 27.

The Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak to Aaron and his sons saying, this is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them, the Lord bless you and keep you. Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. So they shall put my name on the children of Israel and I will bless them." What Paul is doing in this greeting is exactly this.

He's putting the name of God on them in this blessing. Grace to you, peace to you. It's right here in Numbers chapter 6. The Lord be gracious to you. The Lord give you peace.

This is to the assembly in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace, peace. I mentioned that Paul wrote 13 letters, some of them co-authored, 8 co-authored and 5 by himself. In all 13 there's a greeting, grace and peace. 13 letters, 13 times grace and peace, 100 percent.

When he writes his two letters to Timothy and when he writes to Titus he throws in mercy. But he just mixes it in with grace and peace. If Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit was writing you a letter, how would he greet you? Grace and peace. It is the message that God has, the blessing that God pronounces over His people, over those who are trusting in Him for cleansing and righteousness.

Grace and peace. It's not just Paul either. It's Peter in 1 and 2 Peter. Grace and peace. It's John in 2 John.

Grace and peace. It's John in Revelation. Grace and peace. Paul and Peter and John all have the same greeting, grace and peace. And that's what God told to Moses to tell to Aaron to say over the people in Numbers chapter 6.

Now think about the circumstances. Brand new believers, brand new church. And Paul is whisked away, wanting to be there longer and wanting to get back there sooner. That's what we're going to see in the letter. He didn't want to leave when he left.

It was persecution and pressure that pushed him out. And he wanted to come back sooner, but has been hindered in coming back sooner. So he's writing to these new believers and what does he want them to be established in? What is it? Law keeping!

To the church. Keep the law! No. No. He doesn't start there.

He's going to get to that. He's going to want them to attend to obedience. He's coming to that, but he doesn't start with that. You don't get established in that. Doesn't mean it's not important, but it's never established anyone.

You get established in grace and peace. But it's not just the new believers that Paul addresses that way. When he writes to mature, when he writes to Timothy, who's laboring and leading the church in Ephesus, it's the same greeting. He doesn't change it for somebody who is further along the sanctification curve. Now we can talk to you about law keeping.

Now you are established in grace and peace. You need it on the 10, 000th day of your faith as much as you need it on the first. Grace and peace. Applications. That's where we've been.

The authors, the recipients, and the greeting and blessing. Grace and peace. Applications. Three. Consider what grace and peace did in the lives of these authors.

Just consider it. Think about it. Meditate on it. What did grace and peace do in the life of Paul, in the life of Silvanus, in the life of Timothy? What did it make them as worshippers?

What did it make them as worshipers? What did it make them as disciples? What did it make them as co-laborers in the Gospel? Think about Paul and what he was. Think about Timothy, this son of a Greek unbeliever.

We have some sons and daughters of Greek unbelievers around here. Do you think there's not hope? Timothy. We should look at what God has done in the lives of these co-authors and marvel at what grace and the grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ does in the life of the sinner. It's transformative.

We look at these men who God raised up. That's all that happened here. Wicked men were raised up by God. They were established in grace and peace and He transformed them. It gives us hope.

Number two, Consider what grace and peace did in the lives of these recipients. Didn't stop with the great men. In other words, God doesn't just do it in a few, establish a few in grace and peace and make a few useful. We're going to see right here in chapter one that the Word of the Lord has been sounding forth in all of Macedonia and Achaia from these new believers, these new converts, they're just like their spiritual fathers. They're just like their spiritual fathers.

They have been established in grace and peace, and they're being transformed. One of the big things that's going to come out of studying First Thessalonians is going to be challenged at how much progress there is still for us to make to make us like these new believers. I'm not sure Sovereign Redeemer Community Church is worthy of the description that these new believers get in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. I hope this eggs us on to go further faster. That makes us see those who really seek after the Lord and are firmly established in grace and peace can go further faster than we've gone and We would sort of be rebuked in in the way that makes you get in gear.

I hope that happens to me. I hope that happens to us. Number three, finally. Look at what grace and peace will do in our lives. If grace and peace did that in the life of Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, if grace and peace did that in the lives of the Thessalonians, there is no reason for us to think anything other than being established in grace and peace will transform our lives.

Make us look like we never looked. Make us love the Lord like we never loved the Lord before. Sanctification is progressive. Sanctification is progressive. You don't go from saved one day to mature the next day.

That's not how it works. God uses certain things and especially certain things in his word to light a fire under me and under us. And I pray that this will. We'll see those who have been established in grace and peace and we'll long for it. We'll want to have those results.

We'll want to be transformed in those ways. God was glorified through Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, and God was glorified through this church, Thessalonica. May God be glorified in us. Let's pray. Lord, we're embarking on a new book, and has a different emphasis, and different doctrines are held forth than the books we've been in.

God, I pray that you would use these things in a mighty way. And I do pray that you would agitate us in the way that would move us forward. I desire it so much in my own life. I see areas of my life where I've been stagnant for a long time. I really do desire that you would use your word to move me forward.

And the same for all of us. God, we look to you in all things. And I pray that you would establish us in grace and peace. We would know your grace. We would grow in your grace.

We would know being reconciled to you through Christ. And this would cause us to dwell in your presence. Pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen.