A Closer Walk
"We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father," 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 NASB. The Apostle Paul in his epistle to the church at Thessalonica commended them for their work of faith, their labor of love, and their steadfastness of hope. Who was the work of faith for? Who was the labor of love for? Who was the steadfastness of hope in? The Lord Jesus Christ.
A Pastor pointed out recently that the two books of Thessalonians are the only Epistles of Paul where the apostle has nothing bad to say about the church to whom the epistle is written. So what is the work of faith? Perhaps the Thessalonians were doing what Jesus had commanded by sharing the gospel and making disciples. What was the work of faith? Maybe teaching these new disciples to do the things Jesus had commanded. Making disciples is a worthwhile endeavor but is not complete without teaching them the things that Jesus commanded us to do. (Both answers provided for the questions offered are not definitive. Feel free to give some thought to what you believe the work of faith and the labor of love might be.) Whatever the undertaking was that the Bible refers to as the work of faith and the labor of love, the church at Thessalonica was doing them well. Hence Paul's commendation of them for doing these things.
How about their steadfastness of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ? The word steadfastness is defined as: “the quality of being resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering.” Another place puts it this way: “The word steadfast is actually made up of two other English words: stead and fast. Stead means to place something and fast means to be immovable. Therefore, when the Bible tells us to be steadfast it's telling us to stand firmly in place.” (Source: misfitministries.org) The use of the word stead in the word homestead illustrates this. The Thessalonian church had the quality of being resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering in their hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Said another way, the Christians in Thessalonica were standing firmly in their hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.
How about us, you and I? Do we have a work of faith? Do we have a labor of love? How about our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ? Are we standing resolutely and firmly and being unwavering in our own hope in the Lord Jesus?
“Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ; so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, and one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,” Philippians 1:27 NASB.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful,” Hebrews 10:23 NASB.