Lesson 4
“Will you trust Me?”
The Challenge of living
the FAITH-REST LIFE
Review:
Four serious problems that work against
faith and the transformation that comes with spiritual growth.
1. We must guard against a
attitude of legalism.
(Rabbit trail)
Notice the NIV's
grammatically accurate translation of 1
Thes. 1:3.
1 Thes. 1:3 We
continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith,
your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord
Jesus Christ.
What prompted Paul's
thankfulness was not just their positive volition to BD, their desire to know
the truth, but their tenacious attitude towards the Word and its application in
their lives in the face of great adversity.
As we examine the
specifics mentioned in verse 3, we should note that the substance of what they
remembered is found in three words: work, labor, and endurance.
However, Paul was quick to
add three more words which were vital to understand these three active nouns.
To each was added one of the great words of the Christian triad — faith,
love, and hope.
These three prepositional
phrases are what are called subjective
genitives grammatically and stand to
the word they modify as root to fruit.
They point to a work
produced by faith, a labor motivated
by love, and an endurance prompted by
hope.
But, as
Scripture makes abundantly clear, each is in turn the result of the ministry of
the Spirit of God and the Word of God being lived out in the life of believers.
“Work” is the Greek ergon, which refers to “what is done or made, a
work, a deed, action, or an accomplishment.”
“Faith” is pistij,
speaks of what is believed; Our life is to be characterized by
faith.
“Labor” is the Greek kopoj,
which refers to “laborious toil; exhaustive, arduous
labor; the kind that causes sweat and fatigue.
Out of a deep love for the
Lord and His people, the work of faith extended itself into a
toil even to the point of weariness in the service of God and those He
wanted them to minister to.
Paul provided an
excellent model for us of such labor to the point of weariness (see 1 Ths. 2:2,9; 2 Ths. 3:8; and Col.
1:29–2:2).
“steadfastness” is the
Greek u`pomonh from hupo,
“under” and meno “to remain.”
The “steadfastness of hope” is a present endurance prompted by a future prospect, a hope indicated in verse 10, “to wait for His Son from heaven.”
Here in 1 Thessalonians 1:3
the object of their hope is expressed by the words, “in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father.”