The sermon by Jason Dohm, titled 'The Good News Comes to Thessalonica,' explores the impact of Paul's missionary work in Thessalonica as described in the books of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Dohm begins by highlighting the importance of the public reading of scripture, as exemplified in 1 Timothy and Nehemiah, to emphasize its role in corporate worship. He provides historical context, detailing Thessalonica's strategic location and prosperity due to its natural harbor and position along the Via Ignatia. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy brought the Gospel to Thessalonica, facing a diverse population with a rich religious tapestry, including Greek, Roman, and Egyptian gods. Dohm discusses the political autonomy Thessalonica enjoyed as a free city and the implications of the Gospel's exclusivity in a polytheistic society. The sermon underscores the transformative power of the Gospel, which broke into a context steeped in pagan worship and offered hope and salvation. Dohm concludes by challenging the audience to rekindle a passion for evangelism, inspired by Paul's example of spreading the Gospel to new territories.

Listen to what Paul writes to Timothy in 1st Timothy chapter 4. In 1st Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 Paul says that he writes to Timothy in order that he might know how to conduct himself in the house of God. That really is a good summary statement for all of 1st Timothy teaches us how we ought to conduct ourselves in corporate worship in a number of different ways. It says this in 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 13, till I come give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine." The NASB and the ESV render that, give attention to the public reading of Scripture. The translators of the ESV and the NASB believed it was appropriate to add the words public to reading and also of Scripture to reading based on the context.

Those translators say it so strongly implied that what Paul is exhorting Timothy to is the public reading of Scripture that it's warranted to add those words to give the full meaning of what Paul is saying. It was not a new thing that Paul is exhorting Timothy to. When Paul says give attention to the public reading of Scripture, he's talking about something that's very old and something that we've encountered very recently. It would have been 500 years earlier in the book of Nehemiah. And so I wanted to go back there and just read a few verses from Nehemiah chapter 8, beginning in verse 1.

And all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the water gate. And They told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday before the men and women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.

Now skip down to verse 6. In Jeremiah chapter 8 verse 6, And Ezra blessed the Lord the great God and all the people answered amen amen while lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. So something where the thing that we're engaging in today is something that's very old. It's always had a place of honor among the Lord's people which is the reading of an extended portion of Scripture. And as we saw in verse 6, it should cause us to worship.

Okay, this is the end. This is the objective today. Not that we just hear and say wasn't that interesting and go home, but that it causes us to say amen in our hearts and maybe with our voices and to bow our heads and worship the Lord. So please be seated and open to 1 Thessalonians. First Thessalonians, chapter one.

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the Church of the Thessalonians and 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. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place.

Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turn 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 even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. Chapter 2. For you yourselves know brethren that our coming to you was not in vain. But even after we had suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict.

For our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit. But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel even so we speak, not as pleasing men but God who tests our hearts. For neither at any time did we use flattering words as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness God is witness, Nor did we seek glory from men either from you or from others when we might have made demands as Apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. So affectionately longing for you we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives because you have become dear to us.

For you remember brethren our labor and toil for laboring night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you we preach to you the gospel of God. You are witness and God also how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe. As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father does his own children. Yet you would walk worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom in glory. For this reason, we also thank God without ceasing.

Because when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which also effectively works in you who believe. For you brethren became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen just as they did from the Judeans who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and have persecuted us and they do not please God and are contrary to all men forbidding us to speak to Gentiles that they may be saved so as always to fill up the measure of their sins but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire. Therefore we wanted to come to you, even I Paul time and again but Satan hindered us.

For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy. Chapter 3 Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith that no one should be shaken by these afflictions for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this for in fact we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation just as it had happened and you know for this reason when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you and our labor might be in vain. But now that Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, as we also to see you.

Therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress, we were comforted concerning you by your faith. For now we live if you stand fast in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for the sake before our God, night and day praying exceedingly that we may seek your face and perfect what is lacking in your faith. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus Christ direct you direct our way to you and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all just as we do to you so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Chapter 4.

Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus for this is the will of God your sanctification that you should abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God, that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man but God who has also given us his Holy Spirit. But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another, and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more, that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Therefore comfort one another with these words. Chapter 5. But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, peace and safety, then suddenly destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.

And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore Let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober.

For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Therefore, comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake.

Be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you brethren warn those who are unruly. Comfort the faint-hearted. Uphold the weak. Be patient with all.

Seeing that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good, both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophecies, test all things, hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, that you and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. Paul's second letter to the Thessalonian church, chapter one. Paul, Sylvanus, and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer. Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who believe because our testimony among you was believed. Therefore, we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter 2. Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know that what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And when the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all the unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure and unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or epistle, by whether by word or our epistle. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. Chapter 3. Finally brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified just as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.

And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you. Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. For even when we were with you, we commanded you this, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.

For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all but are busy bodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all. The salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is a sign in every epistle so I write, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. What a great way to start our nine months in these two great letters.

As with all Paul's writings, you have really compact content. And so we're going slow. In some cases we'll go verse at a time. I think two of the three first sermons in 1st Thessalonians will be one verse sermons, which is, as you know, really unusual for us. But I thought the denseness of the content warranted that, so that's what we'll try.

We'll see how that goes. The title of the message this morning is The Good News Comes to Thessalonica. That's really the point of 1 and 2 Thessalonians is the Gospel beginning to penetrate places in the world where it had never been before in any sort of a meaningful way. God has restricted his testimony largely to the Jewish people until this time, but from hundreds and hundreds of years back he had promised that a time of the Messiah was coming which would break those boundaries, would break through those boundaries and the gospel would go to the Gentiles and that's what we see in the life of Paul and Silvanus and Timothy. Last week we were in Acts chapter 16 verses 6 through 10 which was the man from Macedonia.

He's not a physical man, he's a vision that God sent to Paul where he was trying to figure out where he should go. He tried to go into Asia, the Holy Spirit said no. He tried to go north into Bithynia, the Holy Spirit said no. He winds up at Troas and he has a vision at night of a man from Macedonia who says come over and help us. So immediately right away they sail to Macedonia.

Then last week we looked at Acts chapter 17 verses 1 through 9 which was Paul in Thessalonica and his preaching in the synagogues there. After encountering opposition, he leaves the synagogue and continues his ministry there. There are many converts. Then there is a ruckus. There is a near riot.

Paul is driven out of town. And then we looked at Acts 17 verses 10-15 where after leaving Thessalonica he goes to Berea. They are noble minded people who don't just take his word for the things that he's saying it but they go home and they open up their Bibles and they check everything that he's saying. And we're commended to be like that by Scripture. But trouble follows him from Thessalonica.

The Jews that had stirred up the multitude in Thessalonica when they hear that he's having success in Berea, which is not too far away from Thessalonica at all, they follow him there, they cause another ruckus or near Riot in Berea and he has to leave again and he ends up in Achaia. In the Book of Acts we normally see Macedonia together with Achaia. That's because they're right next to each other regionally and throughout history, and I'll touch on this today, throughout history, they're joined and then they're separated and then They're joined and then they're separated and then they're joined and then they're separated multiple times This week I'm going to touch on three things number one a brief history of Thessalonica number two the political environment that Paul finds himself in when he visits. And number three, the religious environment that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy find themselves in Thessalonica. The good news of Jesus Christ is coming into a context.

In other words, Thessalonica isn't born on the day that Paul rolls into town. It's been going for hundreds of years and people have been born and died there. People have been educated there. People have been participating in religious observances there for a long time and so it is with the people that Paul encounters when he gets there. When Paul brings the good news that Jesus has died for sinners, there are people that have a lot of inertia.

There is a lot of motion behind them. They already have patterns of life. They've already been educated in many different categories. And the Gospel is breaking into that. So it's useful to look back and see what the context of the time was.

And it answers the questions. Who are these converts? Who is Paul writing to here? God sends his spirit and he breaks into hearts that were without God and without hope in the world before Paul comes into town with his companions. And It would help us to know something about these people that Paul ministers to, evangelizes, and then writes letters to after he's been chased out of town to see that they're established in sound doctrine.

What specific pressures did they face? What specific issues were in play, as Paul writes to these people? So I want to begin with two comments that seem to be contrary to each other, but they're not really. The first is this. Context isn't everything.

There are particularly modern scholars who think that context is everything. In other words, unless you go back and study every dot of the I and every cross of the T about the Thessalonians in this instance. You can't possibly really understand what Paul is saying. I don't believe that. I don't think you believe that.

I don't think we should believe that. I think you cannot know a thing in the world about Thessalonica in the year 50 AD and read these letters and benefit from them. Why is that? Well because the human condition is fundamentally the same in all generations. This is the lesson of Ecclesiastes is that there is nothing new under the sun.

The things that were true of people in Thessalonica and 50 AD are true of people in the United States of America in the year 2015. So fundamentally, things haven't changed. Man is still man and God is still God and we can come to 1st and 2nd Thessalonians not knowing any historical background and get a wealth of wonderful doctrine and really understand it. So context isn't everything. The second thing I want to say is context is something.

Meaning a lot historically has changed. Man's not different, God's not different, but the context in which they lived is somewhat different. So to the extent that we can look back and see what life was like for them, we'll have a deeper and better understanding of the things that Paul writes to them. Context isn't everything, but context is something, and we're well served, I think, to begin our study by going back and looking at the history of this place and time, so that we have some insight into why Paul would write on certain things that he did. And actually having read a lot of background, okay, I've been soaking in background of Thessalonica for a number of weeks now.

I've read probably ten times or twenty times the material on background than the actual letters contain. There is some danger in that actually. You lose sight of what Paul said in all the historical background. But I think it really has given me an appreciation for why Paul is writing what he's writing and to understand it more fully so I hope I can pass that along. Let's pray.

God I thank you for bringing us here. At the end of our study of Matthew, how grateful we were that you brought us to the study of that gospel. At the end of 1 and 2 Peter, how grateful we were that you showed us about life under persecution, life facing false teachers. It was good that you took us there. It was so much that helped us in our current lives.

God, as we end our study of Ezra and Nehemiah. I look back on that as such a rich time. Now thank you God that you brought us to 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. It's a joy to be embarking on this study. God I pray that you would help it not to just be an intellectual exercise for us, but that you would change us.

That you would press us into the precious mold of the Lord Jesus Christ and that we would come out the other side of having studied 1st and 2nd Thessalonians more like your son Jesus. How we need this. How little like Him we are. How much like Him we need to be and want to be when we see his image in the gospels. Please help us Lord.

Help us. We study these precious words that are a gift to your people. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Number one, a brief history of Thessalonica.

If you're taking notes on the handout and filling in the blanks, it's a brief history of Thessalonica. I want to begin in the years 356-336 BC, before Christ, before the time of Jesus. 356-336 BC. This 20 year span was the reign of Philip II. Philip II united Macedonia in independent Greek city states.

So when you think independent Greek city states, you're thinking Sparta, and Ephesus, and Corinth, and, and, and. They were always fighting each other, but they were independent city states. Philip II came along and he united them under his own rule. He joined Macedonia into that, and then in the year 336 BC, the end of his reign, it was ended by his assassination. And when he was assassinated, he was succeeded by his son Alexander III, we know as Alexander the Great.

So Alexander the Great or Alexander the Third inherited a kingdom from his father which was the United Macedonia and the Greek city states. And from that base, he essentially conquered the known world. He conquered Europe, he conquered Egypt, he conquered the Persians. In the year 315 BC, this is after the death of Alexander the Great, in the year 315, So the numbers are getting smaller as we come towards the birth of Jesus. One of his generals after his death, a general named Cassander.

This general who had married Alexander's half sister, So that tells you how close he was. He was in the family now. Cassander marries Alexander the Great's half-sister. And he's one of his great generals. And after Alexander the Great's death, he becomes the king of Macedonia in 315.

And he needs a port. He's developing the kingdom of Macedonia. He's the king of it. He needs a port, and there's a perfect spot for it. You remember back to the map from last week, there's a finger of the Aegean Sea that goes up and it's the most wonderful natural harbor.

And Cassander recognizes that This is the place where he needs a port for commerce, a harbor. And this is naturally the best place for it. And so there are 26 surrounding villages. And he takes the populations of those 26 surrounding villages. And it's good to be the king he says you're now part of this harbor city this port city and it's named Thessalonica after my wife Alexander the Great's stepsister and that's how Thessalonica became Thessalonica as a king needed a port city and this was the best natural harbor in the region, maybe ever, geographically.

It's a perfect natural harbor. That's how Thessalonica came into being in the year 315. About 150 years later, long after the death of Cassander, Rome is rising and there are some smaller conflicts between Rome and Macedonia. In 168 BC, Rome utterly defeats Macedonia at the Battle of Pydna. Utter defeat from a Macedonian standpoint.

It is a bloodbath from a Roman standpoint. It's the greatest of victories. So there had been some smaller conflicts that led up to this, but at the Battle of Pidna there is a more than decisive victory of the Romans over the Macedonians. And 150, 000 Macedonians are taken into slavery. That tells you the nature of the defeat.

You are done fighting when 150, 000 of your people are taken into slavery. And the plunder was so great that Roman citizens are exempt from direct taxation for a century. Did you hear that? This tells us something about the prosperity of the region. Because it was a perfect harbor, all this commerce is going through there.

There is so much prosperity that when the Romans plunder the Macedonians, after their great victory at the Battle of Pydna. Roman citizens are exempt from direct taxation for a hundred years. That's how prosperous they were. In 146 BC, again the numbers keep getting smaller, in 146 BC Thessalonica becomes the seat of Roman government for Macedonia. So Macedonia is the region, Thessalonica is the city, and it becomes the capital city in 146 BC.

And it becomes known by this phrase, the mother of all Macedonia. The Romans have made it the capital city and Thessalonica becomes known as the mother of all Macedonia in 146 BC. In that same year, they begin construction on the Via Ignatia. This is really important to the whole region, but for Fessel and Ike specifically. The Via Ignatia or the Ignatian Way or the Ignatian road goes from the west coast, where is the Mediterranean, which you would from Macedonia.

You go to the west coast of Macedonia. You sail west, and you hit the heel on the boot of Italy, right? Thinking back to last week's map. So if you were to come from Rome and you were to sail from the high heel of Italy over to Macedonia, when you landed, you would land at one of the termination points of the Via Ignatia, or the Ignatian Way, or the Ignatian Road. And then you could travel east all the way to Byzantium.

Byzantium is modern day Istanbul in Turkey. So the whole point of the road was to connect Rome with Byzantium, or modern day Istanbul. And The whole point of having a road, though it was good for commerce, though it was good for travel, the whole point of the road was to get the military from one place in the empire to another place in the empire fast. It was for fighting wars. It was for moving armies.

And so from Byzantium, or modern day Istanbul, going west, you could travel from that end of the Via Ignatia to the other end, the western coast of Macedonia, sail across. As soon as you got into Italy, you picked up the Via Apia, which went to Rome. There were two main roads from Rome all the way across the empire there. And a messenger could travel from Rome to Byzantium, which is about 2, 000 miles away or something like that, in 21 days. So it's a good road that provides for fast travel east across the Empire.

Because Thessalonica was a perfect natural harbor and a great port for commerce and because it is situated right on the Via Ignatia, this east-west road that is also good for commerce. At the time of Paul, Thessalonica is one of the wealthiest trading centers in the Roman Empire. There's 200, 000 people living there. As a point of reference that's comparable to Raleigh. Within the city limits of Raleigh you have about 250, 000 people.

So a town about the size in population is what Raleigh is now. Very wealthy, lots of commerce, 200, 000 people. Listen to what Gene Green says. He's one of the three book length commentaries that I've acquired for 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. I've really enjoyed his in particular.

Here's what he says. The great success of Thessalonica was due in grand parts to the union of land and sea, road and port, which facilitated commerce between Macedonia and the entire Roman Empire. No other place in all Macedonia offered the strategic advantages of Thessalonica. The prosperity of the city was also drawn from the tremendous natural resources that surrounded it. Fertile soil and abundant rain and rivers, with hot summers and cold winters suitable for growing grain and continental fruits.

Grazing land was abundant, and fish filled the nearby rivers, lakes, and the Thermae Gulf. An abundant source of timber for the construction of houses and boats. The surrounding region was also rich with mines of gold, silver, copper, iron, and lead. Thessalonica has it all. That sums up what Gene Green was saying.

Thessalonica has it all. It has access to trade by sea and by river. It has access to the main trade corridor in the Via Ignatia in the Empire. It's surrounded by tremendous natural resources including mines of gold, silver, copper, and lead. It's good for farming.

It's got lots of timber. What more could you ask for? And This is where the prosperity of this region comes from and it's consolidated in the mother of all Macedonia, Thessalonica. It's perfectly situated geographically plus with an abundance of natural resources. So this is what Paul is coming into.

This is where the centuries leading up to the gospel coming to Thessalonica has left this city with a tremendous amount of abundance. Number two, the political environment. If you're filling in blanks, it's the political environment. In Thessalonica at the time of Paul's visit. First, when was Paul's visit?

Either in 49 or 50 AD, so this is after the birth of Jesus, 49 or 50 AD, and his letter was written within a year. So 50 or 51 AD, almost certainly written from Corinth. So Paul gets chased out of Thessalonica, he goes to Berea, he gets chased out of Berea, he goes to Athens, then he goes to Corinth for 18 months. And that's almost certainly where Paul wrote these two letters to the Thessalonians from. So from here on out, I'm going to say he visited in 50 and he wrote the letters in 51.

And just know that there's some debate about that, but give or take a year, that is when Paul was there and wrote his letters. Now let's situate that time period. What is 50 AD? Well, roughly 20 years earlier, Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead in 33 AD. So a little less than 20 years later, the Gospel comes to Macedonia.

And a little less than 20 years After Paul is in Macedonia, he's martyred in Rome, probably in 67 or 68 AD. So it's situated right in the middle of Jesus dying and Paul dying. Right in the middle of that is the second missionary journey where the Gospel comes to Macedonia. And then of course, a couple of years later, after Paul is martyred in Rome, the Jews will rebel, and the Romans will sweep down and annihilate Jerusalem in 70 AD. So that's where this fits into history, the year 50 AD.

So, In speaking of the political environment, I want to back up to 42 BC. So 42 years before the birth of Jesus. Thessalonica was made a free city. How did they do that? The Romans had conquered them and in 42 BC they were made a free city.

Here's how. They picked the right sides in several successive conflicts. It's always good to pick the right side when there's a war. And in a couple successive conflicts, they picked the right side. And they were rewarded richly for that by being made a free city.

Not many cities in the Roman Empire were free cities. Thessalonica was one of the few. After the assassination of Julius Caesar, the whole empire is thrown into civil war with different factions fighting for control of the Empire. So Julius Caesar is assassinated and Thessalonica sided with Mark Antony. And that was smart.

And Then, when there was further conflict, Thessalonica sided with Octavian. That was smart. He won too. We know Octavian as Augustus. Octavian became Augustus Caesar, who was the Caesar at the time of the birth of Jesus.

So there were multiple civil wars for control of the Roman Empire, beginning in 42 BC, and Thessalonica picked the right side in succession and they were rewarded for it. What does it mean to be a free city? It means three things. Number one, it means there's a degree of local autonomy. So when there's the tumult in Acts 17, we're studying Paul being in Thessalonica, the mob takes Jason and some of his comrades to the rulers of the city.

This shows that the city actually had a degree of local autonomy. We'll talk about that more as we get into the study of 1 Thessalonians. But if you contrast that with Corinth, That's Acts 17, there's a tumult, who handles it? The rulers of the city. That is an indicator that this city has a degree of local autonomy.

When the same thing happens in Corinth in Acts chapter 18, who handles it? It's the Roman proconsul, Galio. That doesn't happen in Thessalonica. Why not? Because they're a free city.

And they have a degree of local autonomy. Number two, it means that they're exempt from much taxation. The major cities that aren't free cities in the Roman Empire have direct taxation from Rome. Thessalonica is a free city, is exempt from that, so a definite advantage. Number three, they're free from military occupation.

They've shown loyalty to an extent where Rome doesn't feel like they have to have a military presence in that town. So number one, a degree of local autonomy. Number two, exemption from direct taxation. Number three, free from military occupation. These are indications that you are on board with the Roman program.

That's the whole point of being a free city. You've demonstrated that I am on board. I'm part of the empire. I'm not kicking against the gods. I'm not a threat for rebellion against Rome.

And so you're given incentives to stay that way. You're recognized as being on board with the Roman Empire, and you're given incentives to stay that way. So that's the political environment. One other thing that is noteworthy is that in Acts 18 when Paul gets to Corinth He meets Aquila and Priscilla who are there because they were Jews in Rome and Claudius kicked them out. The Jews kept rioting in Rome.

And Finally, Claudius has had enough and he throws all the Jews out. That's how Aquila and Priscilla end up in Corinth with the expulsion of the Jews. That's right in the political background of Thessalonica, which is on the Via Ignatia. And so for sure, they're going to hear about this fast, because this is the main thoroughfare. This is I-40, right?

Put it in modern terms. This is I-40 from east to west across the Roman Empire. And the Romans aren't making a distinction between Jews and Christians. It's all the same to Caesar. That was number two, the political environment.

Number three, the religious environment in Thessalonica at the time of Paul's visit. So if you're filling in blanks on the handout, religious environment. As you can guess from all the things I've said so far, Thessalonica is very cosmopolitan. It is a melting pot of the Roman Empire. You have Macedonians there, you have Greeks there, you have Romans there.

And we know that you have Jews there, because what does Paul do when he arrives in Thessalonica? He goes to the synagogue. That's because there's a Jewish population there and they've established places to worship Jehovah. So because the population is cosmopolitan, so is the worship. All of those, the Macedonians and the Greeks and the Romans and the Jews, they've all brought their god or gods.

And so you have the Greek and Roman pantheon. There are inscriptions dated to this period that talk about the active worship of Artemis and Apollo and Aphrodite and Zeus and Thessalonica. You have Egyptian gods, Serapis, Isis, Anubis, inscriptions talking about the active worship of these Egyptian gods. Alexander the Great conquered Egypt. He just brought back gods with him and people who worshiped those gods with him.

You have the city's patron god, Kibiris, which is not a famous god worldwide. Now that's a name I didn't know before I started studying background history on Thessalonica, but he was the patron God of that city, Kibiris. And then you have the Imperial cults, the worship of emperors. You have inscriptions from this time period in Thessalonica that make it clear that Alexander the Great had been worshiped in Thessalonica, that Julius Caesar had been, that Augustus Caesar had been. You have astrology, so people think that today's events are governed by the position of the stars and the planets.

There is no distinction between astronomy and astrology in this time period. It is all one and the same. You can tell whether things are going to go good or bad by looking at the position of the heavenly bodies. And you have the Jews who are worshipping Yahweh. So there's lots of gods in Thessalonica.

Take your pick! There's a lot to pick from and you can worship them all. I would describe the relationship of the people in Thessalonica with their gods as being characterized by three things. Number one, their relationships with their gods are non-exclusive. The more the merrier.

Worshipping the Greek god Zeus doesn't preclude you from worshipping the Egyptian god Anubis and throwing in the patron city god, Kibiris? Not at all. So number one, it's not exclusive. Number two, it's civic. It's civic.

There's not a real distinction between your worship and your citizenship. It's all rolled up together so that when the city sponsors games, when the city sponsors games, you'll have sacrifices and you'll open in prayers to the sponsor God of the games. So civic life, your citizenship, your duties as a citizen, and the religious activities in the city are all jumbled up. There's no clear line of distinction at all. And number three, the relationships with your God or gods are transactional, not ethical.

This is really important. Transactional, not ethical. Ethics is for philosophers in the Greek world and the Roman world. Right and wrong and trying to hash all that out and decide what's good or not good, That is the turf of philosophers. Your gods are to help you.

Right and wrong is an intellectual thing that the philosophers do. Religious worship is Religious worship is for getting me things in this life. Safety, or peace, or prosperity. So you have a transactional, not ethical relationship with the gods. In fact, if you follow the gods, you might end up in some things that the Christian ethics says is very wrong.

Aphrodite was probably the most worshipped god in Thessalonica as they excavate cemeteries from this time and they find tombs with idols in the tombs more often than not you find Aphrodite. The worship of Aphrodite was all tangled up in sexual immorality. It was actually part of the worship. This just drives home the point that worship and ethics aren't the same thing. We think of them as the same thing because they are inextricably connected in Christianity but not so in pagan worship.

So that was the relationships with their God. Non-exclusive, civic, and transactional. Not ethical. Transactional meaning You do things for the God and the God does things for you. You scratch his or her back and the God scratches your back.

You sacrifice and worship and you're doing it with an expectation that the God is going to help you for your allegiance and your worship. This is very different than the God of the Bible and the faith that is set forth there. In this environment, in the pagan environment of Thessalonica and Macedonia and the Roman Empire, adding another God not a problem. Paul, welcome. You have another God?

Great. Throw another God on the pile. But adding an Almighty God who claims exclusivity is a big problem. So Paul coming and having a gospel to preach isn't a problem in itself, but Paul saying turn to God from idols and serve the living and true God is a big problem. That's exactly what we see in 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 9.

We've been reciting it every week. You turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Paul is commending them. You can believe the Poletarchs or the rulers of the city are not commending them from turning away from these idols to serve the living and true God. Paul is commending them.

You can believe the Politarx, or the rulers of the city are not commending them from turning away from these idols to serve the living and true God. They would be terribly offended by the phrase, living and true God. Remember they're a free city and they enjoy lots of benefits. They enjoy a level of local autonomy. They enjoy no taxation from the Roman Empire.

They enjoy not having Roman troops quartered in Thessalonica. So they want to guard that status. And Paul's gospel threatens that status. When someone shows up preaching that there is another king, Jesus, that's a problem. And that is the gospel that Paul is preaching.

So, in Acts chapter 17, when Paul enters Thessalonica and the Jews stir it up saying that Paul is preaching that there is another King, Jesus, they might be representing him, but fundamentally they are getting it right. Fundamentally, they they're getting it right. Jesus demands exclusive place of lordship. And that Caesar doesn't get that spot, but Jesus does. Here's the application from the background.

So that was the background. One, two, and three. Brief history, the political environment, the religious environment. Now, here's the application. Something wonderful is happening in Thessalonica.

I think we went back to the year, what year do we start in? Philip II in 356. Even in 356, before Jesus was born, there had been centuries, millennia, where the people lived and died without hearing the Gospel. Without hearing about the true God. There are lots of gods in Thessalonica and You have a very transactional relationship with you.

Your relationship playing nice, playing along, gets you lots of benefits. But the problem is it doesn't ever deal with your most profound problem. So it might help you with your tax bracket. It might give you local autonomy so that you're not under the thumb of someone 1500 miles away. It might keep troops from being quartered in your town or even in your home.

But it doesn't do anything about your sin. It leaves you condemned. It gives you all icing but no cake. There's no cake among the gods. There's nothing of substance among the gods that have been offered in Thessalonica for millennia.

And then Paul comes. Why does Paul come? Because God sent him. Because God said, you can't preach in Asia, and you can't preach in Bithynia, and here's a vision at night of a man from Macedonia saying, come over here and help us. Help us.

We've been drowning in pagan gods for millennia. We've been here with no gospel. We've been living and dying without God in the world. We've been without hope for millennia. Come and help us.

Paul brings the Gospel of Jesus and hope. That's what 1st and 2nd Thessalonians is really signaling. Listen to what Jesus says in Acts 1 verse 8. Acts 1 verse 8, You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

This is starting to be to the end of the earth. Okay, the Gospel did start in Jerusalem and did extend out to Judea and Samaria and it is continuing to extend out. This is almost 20 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And now the Gospel is hundreds and hundreds of miles away from Jerusalem. God is doing this.

This is the entry point of the Gospel into Europe. The Gospel traveling west. Where did you come from? That's where I came from. That's how the Gospel made it to us.

It didn't stay in Jerusalem. It kept going out to Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth and Thessalonica and Rome. It just kept going west And now we have it. So here's the question. Does it burn in our hearts to see the gospel reach captives?

Does it burn in our hearts to see the Gospel reach captives. I think we'll get a number of benefits from 1 and 2 Thessalonians. I'm praying this is the big one in my own heart. Like a burning desire to see the Gospel do in Thessalonica, what the Gospel did in Thessalonica, to be part of something that's like that. There are people living and dying without hope, without God in the world.

The reason Paul is writing to this church is that it is a church in a place where there's never been a church. There's a church to write to in Thessalonica for the first time ever. I pray that God would help our hearts to burn for that. Let's pray. God, I thank you that you brought us right to the cusp of 1 Thessalonians, and I thank you for what it represents.

A gospel that keeps pressing outward. Help us to learn well at the feet of this apostle of yours that you taught and you gave inspired scripture to. Now we have it and can look at it in great detail. God, please come and move not just our minds but our hearts. Give us a thirst to see happen in our day what happened in Paul's day with the steady and sometimes explosive expansion of your kingdom.

God we want to see that with our own eyes, in our own lifetime. Pray that you would cause the study of these things to just give birth to a burning in our hearts for these things. Where we've been cold to it and cared very little that the Gospel outreached people who are without it. God, I pray that you would awaken us. I sense in my own heart the need for this.

I pray that this would be pervasive among us, Lord. Please use these months ahead to make us what we haven't been, at least in the way that we should be or would desire to be. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Man, over to you.