While We Wait - a Study of 1 & 2 ThessaloniansSample

Whether it’s waiting for the red light to turn green, the warmer weather to appear, or the doctor to deliver those test results... let’s be honest: Waiting is hard. For everyone.

In Acts 17, Paul and his companions—specifically, Silas—traveled to the city of Thessalonica and began what is largely considered to be the first Christian church. After preaching three weeks in a row about how Jesus is the Messiah they’d been waiting for, it says in Acts 17:4, “Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.”

The first church was made up of converted Jews, Greeks, and powerful women. What a beautiful thing: a group of people who believed that Jesus rose from the dead and accomplished what God had set out to accomplish from the beginning—final victory over sin and death.

But the first church caused a lot of suspicion among neighbors, friends, and family. In the Roman world, allegiance was supposed to be given to Caesar, not Jesus. If someone other than Caesar was considered king, that would be treason, and this caused unrest among the people.

A mob ensued. People saw Paul as a threat and wanted to eliminate him. But Paul narrowly escaped during the quiet of the night. He had to leave the city and church he loved dearly.

Six months later, in approximately 50 or 51 AD, Paul penned the first letter to the church in Thessalonica.

He had heard that, despite the persecution and despite his absence, the church was thriving in the face of suffering. But they were longing for Jesus to return and make things right, especially for those who had already been martyred for their faith. Would Jesus come back today and raise them back to life? Would he return and bring justice to the world? Why wasn’t he coming back...now?

Those are the questions Paul sought to answer in this first letter to the Thessalonians.