04.06 | Crucible
1 Thessalonians 1:1-2:16
‘We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.’
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
If there was one subject at school I really struggled with, it was chemistry.
Physics worked for me—the combination of maths and logic and force and space, somehow just clicked. Biology also, labelling cell walls and dissecting frogs, made some kind of sense in relation to the world around me. But chemistry was another matter: I could never quite get the hang of balancing those equations. I knew that when you put elements in a crucible and heated it, stuff happened. But predicting what would happen or understanding why it did continually evaded me.
Today we’re starting Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. The city of ancient Thessalonica (modern Thessaloniki) was a coastal city with around 100,000 residents, a vibrant and noisy centre of trade and philosophy. Paul and Silas (called Silvanus in this passage) had a short mission trip there of less than a month, planting a new church in a hostile environment. And yet the local population rose up quickly against this new movement, accusing Paul and Silas of challenging the reign of Caesar, in their proclamation of this new King, Jesus of Nazareth.
Paul and Silas left that night, moving onto Athens and then Corinth. But Paul, concerned about the Thessalonians, sent Timothy back from Athens to find out how they were getting on.
The report was positive. The church had been birthed in a crucible, but in this struggle and fire and opposition and competing ideologies, something beautiful was growing. They had a few questions (which Paul comes onto), but in the crucible life was emerging.
I wonder how it felt for the Thessalonians. Paul had showed up for just a few weeks. He’d loved them deeply, among them ‘like a nursing mother’ or ‘like a father with his children.’ He had ‘worked night and day’ to earn his own bread, making sure that he came among them only to give and bless, and not to drain and take. And yet, after this stunning interruption to their lives, Paul and Silas suddenly moved on. My guess is that this could have felt discouraging. It would have felt vulnerable. They could have felt aggrieved and critical, overlooked and abandoned.
And yet, this doesn’t come across in this letter at all. Rather, they had continued—their faith working and their love labouring and their hope enduring—in the crucible of Thessalonica, growing in strength and impact. Their small community had nurtured something so countercultural and resilient and defiant in the face of all the opposition, that their story was being told right across ancient Greece.
Christianity isn’t about making life comfortable. In fact, when the world has welcomed Christianity easily, it has usually led to the dilution and corruption of the feisty heart of the Gospel message. Faith is often lived out in the context of suffering and opposition, grief and exclusion, being misunderstood and misrepresented. Any assumptions that we had, that Christianity would make our lives more comfortable, tend to be quickly dismantled. We soon realise that, rather than joining a luxury cruise that escapes the world, we’ve found ourselves in a crucible.
And yet, the crucible is a place of extraordinary potential. The crucible is where the countercultural Way of Jesus shines most brightly in a confused and noisy world. Because when Christians in the crucible continue with faith that acts and love that gives and hope that endures in the face of every single narrative of negativity and nihilism, the Gospel cause advances and we find ourselves part of a story worth telling.
Does it feel like a crucible? Take heart; it always has. Crucible and crucifixion come from the same word. For it is from the crucible that stories emerge that are told across nations.
Reflect:
What things right now make life feel like a crucible?
How might the distinct community of Jesus look different in this moment? Dream with the Spirit this morning, consider your part, and turn this to prayer. If an idea forms, share it with your community and give it a go.
Pray:
Father,
I want to be able to share stories worth telling.
I don’t want my life to be
Mediocrity and comfort;
The banality of suburbia;
Fifty shades of magnolia.
I want to love in a way that shines;
I want my community to stand distinct in this city;
I want our trials to be a crucible for the forging of something beautiful and eternal.
For Father,
I see that,
While this city resists you;
It also deeply needs you:
It needs your love;
It needs a way of being that is greater;
It needs the healing vision of Jesus Christ
To be raised high above all other narratives.
And so, Father
Forge among us a Church of power and purity and vision,
Flooded with your Spirit,
That we may live and move in this place,
In such a way
That the story is told
Of the God who
Beautifully, peacefully, irresistibly, mightlily, and relentlessly
Breaks in.
In the Name of the true King of all kings,
Jesus Christ,
Who endured the original crucible
Unto the unleashing of the inbreaking life of the
Resurrection age.
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
2 Kings 1-2 | Proverbs 16:1-9