{"id":3563,"date":"2012-04-19T03:30:37","date_gmt":"2012-04-19T10:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=3563"},"modified":"2012-04-18T21:12:29","modified_gmt":"2012-04-19T04:12:29","slug":"1-thessalonians-13-hang-in-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/1-thessalonians-13-hang-in-there\/","title":{"rendered":"1 Thessalonians 1:3 – Hang In There!"},"content":{"rendered":"

remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Christian life requires hard work and patience.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

“Without ceasing<\/span>” is translated from adialeipt\u014ds<\/em><\/span>, made up of a<\/em><\/span>, meaning “without,” dia<\/em><\/span>, meaning “through” or “between,” and a form of the verb leip\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to leave.” Thus, adialeipt\u014ds<\/em> <\/span>literally means “without leaving space between.” In other words, it means doing something without pausing or stopping.<\/p>\n

Ergon<\/em> <\/span>is the Greek word translated “work<\/span>.” It refers to “toil labor, or work.” It doesn’t necessarily refer to “hard work,” but any kind of work, any act, or any deed performed.<\/p>\n

The word “labor<\/span>” is from the Greek word kopos<\/em><\/span>, which is derived from the verb kopt\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to cut” or “to beat on one’s chest in grief.” Kopos<\/em> <\/span>refers to the pain of toil or hard work. By analogy it refers to wearisome labor.<\/p>\n

“Patience<\/span>” is from the word hupomon\u0113<\/em><\/span>, which is made up of hupo<\/em><\/span>, meaning “under” or “beneath” and a form of the verb men\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to remain” or “to stay in place.” It is a picture of a beast of burden remaining under a heavy load instead of shaking it off. Therefore, it carries the meaning of being steadfast or patient.<\/p>\n

“Hope<\/span>” is from elpidos<\/em><\/span>, which means more than just a wish. It implies a desire for some good thing with the full expectation that it will come to pass.<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Yesterday we learned that Paul and his partners were persistent in praying for the people to whom they had been ministering. They cared so much for the Thessalonians that they prayed for them regularly. Here we learn that the prayers weren’t for God to help the Thessalonians; Paul and his companions gave praise to God for the way they lived-out their faith.<\/p>\n

In their prayers they remembered and praised the work of faith that the Christians in Thessalonica were engaged in. Being a committed Christian is not easy. It involves persistence because our work of spreading the gospel and building up our fellow Christians is constantly under attack from those who oppose us. The members of the church in Thessalonica apparently were undaunted in their efforts. Paul referred to it as both a work of faith and labor of love. Note the distinction between work of faith (our works will follow us into heaven where we will get rewards for them) and the labor of love (in heaven we will have rest from our hard labor).<\/p>\n

Paul also praised the Thessalonians for their patience. The Greek word hupomon\u0113<\/em> <\/span>is a very descriptive word. Remaining steadfast in our faith is difficult at times because we can’t see God, we can’t feel His hand of comfort, and we can't hear His words of encouragement except by faith. But in spite of that we have a hope (a firm expectation) that we will be eternally in His presence one day, and that helps us remain under the load.<\/p>\n

Application<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Be steadfast and patient in your good deeds and hard labor for God. He sees all that you do, and He will reward you for everything you do to bring Him glory. Hang in there! You will receive the rewards of your labor one day.<\/p>\n

In God's service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copyright © 2012 Will Krause. All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, Truth to Learn The Christian life requires hard work and patience. Behind the Words “Without ceasing” is translated from adialeipt\u014ds, made up of a, meaning “without,” dia, meaning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[2567,2570,1274,38,975,2569,2312,372,2568,1833],"class_list":["post-3563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-adialeiptos","tag-elpidos","tag-ergon","tag-hope","tag-hupomone","tag-kopos","tag-labor","tag-patience","tag-without-ceasing","tag-work"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-Vt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3563"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3565,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3563\/revisions\/3565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}