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Heavenly Father, thank you that you speak to us through the Bible. But we need the help of your Spirit if our minds and our lives are to be changed by what we hear. So please give us that help now. In Jesus name. Amen.

We’re looking at 1 Thessalonians 1.1-10. Please have that open in front of you. And ‘The Making of Disciples’ is my title. The risen Jesus said to the disciples that he had made:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

That’s Matthew 28.18-20. Being Christian is not just about sitting in a pew for an hour on Sundays. We are called to be disciples – mature disciples who have learned to believe and obey all the commands of Jesus. And we are called to make disciples, and so to reach the whole world with the good news of Jesus and the teaching of his living word. We can only do that by the authority of Jesus and in the power of his Spirit with us. Without him, it won’t happen. But he is with us, so it can and it will.

So what does making disciples look like? Of course it’ll work out differently for each of us. It’s not something we do in isolation – the whole church works together to make disciples where God has put us. We all have different roles to play in the process. But we do need a picture in our heads of what that process looks like. And what we have in 1 Thessalonians 1 is like a case study. Here is a vivid, powerful and inspiring example of what making disciples is all about. The situation in Thessalonica is one of joyful faith standing firm under trial. Hard times did not quench the joy of the Thessalonian Christians. In fact, their joy was born in suffering. 1 Thessalonians 1.6:

…you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit…

And there immediately is a good test of the reality and the depth of discipleship, not least our own. Is ours fair weather faith, crowd following faith? Or is it faith founded on the rock of Christ, unshakeable, immoveable and joyful, however atrocious the spiritual climate? This letter from Paul is written only a relatively short time after the church began, as a result of Paul’s pioneering preaching of the gospel. You can read about in Acts 17. The extraordinary sequence of events that resulted in the planting of this church includes Paul’s preaching and teaching, conversions, mob violence, and the expulsion of Paul and Silas from the town by the city authorities. What happened next? To cut a long story short, Paul made his way to Athens. While he was there, he asked Silas and Timothy to go back to Thessalonica to see how the young church was doing under severe pressure. Silas and Timothy went to Thessalonica, and then travelled to meet up with Paul again and report to him. In response to what he heard from them, Paul wrote a letter to the Thessalonians to encourage and strengthen them in their discipleship. And we have that letter here. This is how it starts (1 Thessalonians 1.1):

Paul, Silvanus [that’s Silas] and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

So this letter comes from the front line of Paul’s disciple-making activity. It’s an amazing window right into the minds and hearts of those engaged in spreading the gospel in those early years. The rioting in Thessalonica and the conversions he saw are fresh in Paul’s mind. In this letter there’s a glorious sense of excitement about what God is doing. There is also here a tender anxiety for the Thessalonians in case they lose sight of what they learned from Paul. He’s all too aware of the pitfalls that they’re facing as Satan tries to destroy the work of the Holy Spirit in them. Timothy and Silas have just alerted Paul to some potential problems. But basically the news is very good. The church is faithful, and growing. Paul wants to make sure they stick with it, through all the opposition and hardship. That’s why he is writing.

It’s important for us to realise that persecution is nearly always easy to avoid. All you have to do is one of two things. Either keep quiet about Jesus and the gospel. Or compromise the gospel in order to remove its offence. Shut up or change your tune, and you can lead a quiet life. And the progress of the gospel will stop dead. No disciples will be made. But stand firm in Christ and amazing things will happen. 1 Thessalonians 1 speaks of three keys to the making of disciples. First, disciples are made by the power of the gospel. Secondly, disciples are made by the power of faith. And thirdly, disciples are made by the power of example. Paul talks about all three of them as part of his strategy of encouragement.

1. Disciples are made by the power of the gospel

Look at 1 Thessalonians 1.4-5:

For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

And then on to the second half of 1 Thessalonians 1.6:

…for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit…

The whole process of making disciples is compressed into those verses. This is the way God is gathering his people from every corner of the earth, and in every age. First century Macedonia, or Tyneside in 2021 - the process never changes. It is God himself who took the initiative. The Father loved his people and determined to save them from condemnation. He sent his Son to die in their place and opened the way for them to be forgiven. He raised Jesus from the dead and set him on the throne of heaven. He explained what he is doing to his spokesmen the apostles – not least Paul, the apostle to the gentiles. He poured his Holy Spirit into their lives, transforming them from within, empowering them to live for him whatever the cost, convincing them in every fibre of their being that the Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of the world. They were God’s primary agents for making disciples of all nations. They defined the gospel for all time, on God’s authority.

As the apostles proclaimed the good news of Jesus, God poured out his Spirit on their hearers also, and transformed them from within, so that they believed that Jesus was indeed their Saviour and their King. And they gave up their hard-hearted rebellion against God’s rule, and found forgiveness and peace and an unquenchable joy. And then they in turn began to tell the gospel to others – they were God’s secondary agents for making disciples, teaching what it is to live out the gospel defined once for all by the apostles. And so more and more disciples of Jesus are made throughout the world and down the centuries. The gospel is communicated (1 Thessalonians 1.5):

…in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

If our disciple-making is to be life-giving and effective, that is what it must have. God-given words, God-given power, and God-given conviction in our hearts. We have to talk to people about Jesus. And we have to have spiritual power. Disciple-making without the work of the Holy Spirit is a contradiction in terms. That work must take place within the disciple-maker. But then it must also take place within the new disciple. 1 Thessalonians 1.6:

…for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit…

That’s why Paul is so sure that God has set his love upon those Thessalonians and saved them. The gospel was explained to them with truth, and power, and conviction. And they believed, and received Jesus, and rejoiced. That is the power of the gospel that makes disciples. It is all the work of the Holy Spirit.

2. Disciples are made by the power of faith

1 Thessalonians 1.3:

remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

God-given faith in the saving death and resurrection of Jesus inevitably brings in its wake both love for others, and hope for the future. You cannot truly have one without the other two. Hopeless faith is no faith. Loveless faith is dead faith. But loving, hope-filled faith is powerful. It inspires us to consistent hard work for the Kingdom of God. It makes disciples. So in this letter Paul’s love for the Thessalonians, and their own love, shines out. 1 Thessalonians 2.8:

So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

1 Thessalonians 3.12:

…may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you

Do you love those you seek to influence? There is no way that God will use us to make disciples of others if we don’t first love them. Without that love, we’re going nowhere. Who are you wanting to influence for Christ? Let’s be praying that the Lord will make our love increase and overflow. And what is the nature of the hope which accompanies faith and love? It is a patient longing for the promised return of Jesus. The Thessalonians turned to God (1 Thessalonians 1.10):

…to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

This is a letter saturated with faith in what Christ has done in the past, love for others in the present, and hope in the future Coming of Christ. Faith, hope, and love are the armour worn by the effective, disciple-making soldier of Christ (1 Thessalonians 5.8):

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

When those three are present in us, then our lives will have an impact for Christ. God will use us to make disciples. Paul and his team were a living example of that (1 Thessalonians 2:9):

For you remember, brothers, our labour and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

And the result? 1 Thessalonians 1.9:

…you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God…

Disciples are made by the power of faith – and the love and hope that flow from it. And what Paul says there also illustrates the third thing that is so clear from our passage. So:

3. Disciples are made by the power of example

The gospel, through faith, empowers us to become imitators. Disciples are imitators. First, we become imitators of Jesus. Paul says to the Thessalonians, you became imitators of…the Lord. His self-giving love becomes the pattern for our lives. Secondly, we become imitators of the apostles. The message they preached becomes our message. Their dedication to the gospel impresses itself on our lives. 1 Thessalonians 1.5-6:

You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord…

Thirdly, we become imitators of other believers who are more mature than us, who have been in the battle longer than us. 1 Thessalonians 2.14:

For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea.

So the lives of other Christians, and of the apostles, and of Jesus himself make their impression on the new disciple. Their example becomes compelling to us. And then, in turn, by the grace of God, we can become an example to others. 1 Thessalonians 1.7:

…so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

And the tidal wave of the gospel spreads further and further. That’s how it’s always been. That’s how it is today. I’m so grateful for the many faithful Christians around me from whom I have drawn inspiration and encouragement over the years. So the challenge to us is that we should be living for Christ in such a way that our lives make a deep impression on those who are not yet believers, or who are younger than us in the faith. That kind of disciple-making life is a life lived to the full. The gospel, communicated with truth and power and conviction, makes disciples. A faith that works, allied to love that labours and hope that endures, is powerful and makes disciples. The example of those who follow in the footsteps of Jesus is powerful, and make disciples. Let’s pray:

Lord Jesus, we praise you that through the gospel, and through challenging examples of living faith in the lives of your people, you are making disciples. Please make us into mature disciples, full of faith, who will keep obeying you and rejoicing in you in spite of whatever suffering comes our way. Deepen our love for those around us. Enable us to tell others about you. Empower us to be examples of what it means to live for you. Please, Lord, use us to make disciples. For your glory. Amen.