Most recently I finished a section of 1 Thessalonians that dealt with being above reproach in our lives, message, and ministry methods. Such a life honors the Lord and ensures we are not an unnecessary distraction from the gospel. Today, I am going to share with you from 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 with an emphasis on how the Word of God changes lives. Paul writes, “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!” (1 Thess. 2:13–16).

As you hear in verse 13, Paul and his coworkers thanked the Lord continually for the response of the Thessalonians to the preaching of God’s Word. They didn’t believe a man-made philosophy or carefully crafted human rhetorical argument. They heard the Word of God and they recognized it as such. This is important to note, God’s servants didn’t herald their own wisdom or philosophy. They preached, “Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:23–24). The Thessalonians church, born again by the gospel of Jesus Christ, recognized the message wasn’t Paul’s or his coworkers’. It was God’s message. The fact that this Word of God had changed their lives and was continuing to change their lives, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, attested to its nature as divine revelation. Only the Word of God can change a human heart. Philosophy can’t do it. Psychology can’t do it. Sociology can’t do it.

Paul goes on in verse 14 to expand upon the practical evidence of the supernatural change in the lives of these Thessalonian saints. The believers in Thessalonica were transformed by the gospel, just as the believers in Jerusalem had been. One powerful evidence that these individuals had been born again was their perseverance in the faith, despite the persecution they received from their own countrymen. People are not customarily willing to suffer for something they don’t truly believe. Persecution has long been a purifying agent in the church of Jesus Christ. This was true in the first century as well.

In verses 15 and 16, the apostle points out that the unbelieving Jews persecuted the Christians in Jerusalem just as the unbelievers in Thessalonica had done. He details the unpleasant history of the unsaved Jews who had been involved in the death of the Lord Jesus and the death of the prophets who had been sent to confront their sin. In Thessalonica, the unbelieving Jews had become jealous of the great response of the people to the gospel. Their jealousy caused them to stir up an angry mob to chase the gospel preachers out of the city (Acts 17:6-11). Paul says their rebellion displeases God. You might think Paul is being a little harsh here. What you may not know is they not only rejected the gospel but also opposed it in their own city by chasing the gospel workers out of Thessalonica, when they heard that Paul was preaching the gospel in Berea they traveled there to stir up an angry mob that eventually chased Paul out of that city (Acts 17:10-15). They were not content to oppose the gospel at home. They opposed the gospel in a city they didn’t even live in. You have to hate the gospel and the messenger of the gospel to do what they did.

Yet, even though the Thessalonian church resided in a city that rejected and actively opposed the gospel, they had been saved by the gospel they heard. The Spirit of God caused them to receive the message wholeheartedly. They knew that the message they believed was God’s Word. If you know Christ this is the Word that you believed. This Word of God changes lives.