How do we choose God? Do we just reach out hands to the sky? In contemporary Christianity, raising our hands to God is a common worship practice. Is that what God wants us to do to show him that we choose him? Or is their something else?
Paul saw evidence of God choosing the Thessalonians, and he saw evidence of the Thessalonians choosing God. Look at 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 5. We see both.
First, the evidence of God’s choosing the Thessalonians is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Paul didn’t just preach words. There was also spiritual power at work. The presence of the Holy Spirit’s power is clear evidence that God was at work, God was choosing the people. But he wasn’t forcing them to choose him.
Second, there is also evidence of the Thessalonians’ decision to choose God: deep conviction. They responded with deep conviction to Paul’s preaching and the outpouring of the Spirit. They were not robots. It was not as if God said, “I am going to overpower them and possess them, so they have no choice in the matter.”
Instead, when the Thessalonians heard Paul’s preaching that Jesus is the Messiah they had been looking for, and then when they saw the power of the Holy Spirit, they concluded that was evidence enough for them. What’s more, they did not simply believe. Notice how Paul describes their belief. It is not intellectual agreement with ideas. It was not just thoughts in their minds. They chose God with deep conviction.
What is deep conviction? The word conviction indicates certainty. When you add the word deep to it, you get the idea of a high level of certainty. The people in Thessalonica are deeply convinced of what they heard, saw, and experienced.
And when you are deeply convinced, you give your life for it. Did they give their lives for the cause of the Messiah, Jesus Christ? Look at verse 5,
“You know how we lived among you for your sake.”
Is that a clear description of how the Christians in Thessalonica were so deeply convinced about Jesus that they gave their lives for the mission of his Kingdom?
No. It’s not a description of the Thessalonians at all. After describing how God chose the Thessalonians, and how the Thessalonians chose God, Paul seems to change the subject to himself. Why would he now talk about himself? Let’s examine what he says.
In the last phrase of verse 5, he reminds them of his pattern of life. He says, “You know how I lived.” Yes, they knew how Paul lived. But we don’t. This is a place when it becomes very obvious that we are reading other people’s mail. Paul didn’t have to describe how he lived among them, because they lived it. They watched him.
He does write one brief comment that gives us a clue about how he lived. Look at the last few words of verse 5, “For your sake.” However Paul lived, it was for their sake. While I wish he would have described a lot more of precisely what he did, those three words tell us a lot. For your sake.
The words “for your sake” could be a Christian anthem. Think about how those words, in a very concise way, describe the entire mission of Jesus. What Jesus did was for our sake. He became a human for our sake. During his three years of ministry he showed us what life in the kingdom of God looks like for our sake. He died for our sake. He rose again for our sake. He offers us new life for our sake.
It’s right in line with what Paul says earlier, “loved by God,” (which we studied in this post). It’s a powerful combo. The Thessalonians are loved by God. And Paul lived for their sake.
Connect “loved by God” and “for your sake” with what Paul says in verse 6, “You became imitators of us and of the Lord.”
Paul first says that the Thessalonians are loved by God, and that Paul lived for their sake, and then he says that the Thessalonian Christians did likewise. This is how they showed their deep conviction in their response to the Paul’s preaching and the work of the Holy Spirit. They imitated Paul and the Lord. The Thessalonians loved others and they lived for the sake of others.
Imitating Paul and the Lord by living for the sake of others sounds like the Golden Rule in action. Remember the Golden rule? “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That’s a great rule. I have heard that the Golden Rule is not enough. Not enough? It sounds wrong to say that the Golden Rule is not enough.
But I would argue that Paul here in 1 Thessalonians 1:6 has just taken a needed step beyond the Golden Rule. Others have said that there is a rule that is superior to the Golden Rule. That superior rule is called the Platinum Rule. Why platinum? Though it is not the case when I writing in early 2025, platinum is usually more expensive than gold. So if the Golden Rule is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” the Platinum Rule is superior because it says, “Do unto others as God would do unto them.” You are loved by God, now you love others like that. Imitate God.
The Thessalonian Christians also imitated Paul. When Paul says he was with them for their sake, they imitated him by being with other people for their sake. Think about that.
When you are with other people, you love them and are with them for their sake. That is a uniquely Christian viewpoint of relationships. It is all about the other person.
Are you imitating God? Are you loving people like he does? When you are interacting with other people, is your mindset “I am going here for their sake”?
Photo by Jeremy Perkins on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 