This verse began with talk of how the Macedonians and Achaians reported about the Thessalonians' reception of Paul and his missionary team. Word of these believers' faithfulness spread fast, so much so that Paul didn't have need to say much of anything when entering the cities of these regions. Now, as Paul continues, he goes into some of the details of what was spoken of them by these other believers. It is these details that comprise the remainder of the chapter, which we will now look at starting with the second half of verse 9.

1 Thessalonians 1:9 (NASB) - For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God (emphasis added)

One of the first things that the Macedonians and Achaians spoke of concerning the Thessalonians is that they had turned from idol worship to serve something altogether different. Great, they turned from idols, let's move on. That's likely the thought of a lot of people who read this verse, but let's pump our brakes and take some time to see what this meant for these new converts. As you meditate on this for a minute, you quickly come to the realization that this is really a big deal. These people were literally forsaking and turning their back on worshiping a god that they had likely worshiped their entire lives and that their families had worshiped for generations. Given that the city of Thessalonica was known worldwide as a center for idol worship, this is truly newsworthy. Not only did they simply forsake the worship of their idols, but they turned to worship a new god, the true and living God, Jesus Christ. If we backtrack to verse 3, we will remember that Paul spoke about keeping in mind the Thessalonians' "work of faith." Well, this is what that work of faith is, it's their turning from idols to serve Christ. They exercised positive volition and responded positively to the gospel, which is indeed a work of faith.

It was one thing for the Thessalonians to put away their idols, but it's another thing entirely for them to begin serving a new God. Let's take some time to investigate this further, starting with the infinitive "to serve." This comes from the Greek word douleuō (Strong's G1398), which carries the meaning of "to act or conduct oneself as one in total service to another, perform the duties of a slave, serve, obey." In Scripture it's usage generally focuses in two directions: 1) service to humans (Mt. 6:24; Lk. 15:29; 1 Tim. 6:2; Gal. 5:13), and 2) service to God (Mt. 6:24 [again]; Acts 20:19; Rom. 14:18; Col. 3:24; Eph. 6:7). Clearly, the context of this passage tells us that their service was toward God. In other words, we're talking slave talk; these believers were not only following this new God, but they were ready & willing to obediently serve Him dutifully in a slave-like manner. Just picture it, leaving a lifelong worship of idols to worship a God in complete submission to Him. That's a total 180 degree turn from what they were used to.

Moving on, we see that Paul is placing a heavy emphasis on their worshiping a God that is living and true. This is an important distinction to be made, although in the eyes of most it may not make much sense. With that in mind, let's compare this God and idols. First, idols are dead; they are either not real or inanimate, or a fallen angel/demon that is being worshiped that is spiritually dead with no power to save. Next, idols are false; there is no truth in them, having their root in Satan, the father of lies, & the fallen angels (Rom. 1:18-23). Now, concerning the true God, He is living and has always existed from eternity past to eternity future; He is the only living God (Deut. 5:26; 1 Sam. 17:26, 36; Ps. 42:2; Jer. 10:10; Dan. 6:26; 1 Tim. 4:10; Heb. 12:22). There is of course more than can be said, but the simple fact of the matter is that these believers turned from a satanic system of worship to worship & serve the true God who is the God of all higher creatures (holy & fallen alike).

In closing today's devotion, let's take one final look at their service to God. Much like their turning from idols parallels the "work of faith" from verse 3, their worship of God parallels their "labor of love" in the same verse. It was their service and worship of God that became a labor of love, as well as all of the other ways we looked at when we studied that verse. There is one final parallel from verse 3 that we will take a look at next time when we begin our look at verse 10, the final verse of this chapter. Until then, go serve your King!