In-fact he even uses a redundant expression for the sake of emphasis, look at verse 9, “For all the Joy with which we rejoice…” But then look what Paul writes in verse 10 – “We’re rejoicing for you, but night and day we continue to pray for you, and pray that we might see you again so that we can encourage you in your faith and bring your faith to maturity.” And we see that here, Paul was pretty happy when he heard Timothy’s report on the Christians in Thessalonica. The most rewarding thing a pastor can see in this life is someone come to faith in Christ through his ministry the second most rewarding thing he can see is someone staying strong in the faith after time passes. So when Timothy brought back that good news I betcha’ Paul felt like celebrating. He had gone through hardship, riots, and faced the every day dangers of traveling in the ancient world, and in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 he says that even beyond all of those things, there was the daily pressure on him of his own anxiety for all the churches. Now remember Paul himself had been attacked on more than one occasion, beaten, and jailed in Philippi, and he had been chased out of town in both Thessalonica and Berea, and he had suffered persecution in Athens.
Paul says that Timothy’s good report brought him a great deal of joy and encouragement. And this is what verses 6 and 7 are all about. When Timothy joined back up with Paul he told him the good news that the Christians at Thessalonica were standing firm in their faith, despite the persecutions of the world and the temptations of the devil.
Most scholars figure that Timothy was probably gone about one month or so before he caught back up with Paul in the city of Corinth. Paul had sent Timothy from Athens back to Thessalonica, about 200 miles, probably a week and a half’s journey in those days, to see how the new believers were doing. Before we get too far into this sermon lets re-cap a little bit, so that we can get the context of this passage.