1 Thes Part 2

Last time we looked at “The Lord is Coming Back! A Saving Truth.” We saw that Jesus is coeternal, coequal, and coexistent with the Father. And we also looked at the million dollar theological words of election and foreknowledge. We ended with Paul bragging on the Thessalonians’ faith and boldness. Chapter 1 closed with the promise that we shall be delivered from the wrath that is coming upon the world by the return of Christ.

Now in Chapter 2 Paul begins with a brief visit to recent history:

1 Thes. 2:1 “For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain.”

It is a wonderful thing to realize that our labors in Christ are not in vain. Vain means ineffective, foolish, worthless, hollow or empty. The idea is that of futility. It’s the picture of the mouse on the hamster’s wheel, running but getting nowhere.

When God judged His people, He turned them over to futility, meaning that their lives would no longer be fruitful.

Ps. 78:32-33 “In spite of this they still sinned, and did not believe in His wondrous works. Therefore their days He consumed in futility, and their years in fear.”

On the other hand, the blessing of the Lord brings fruitfulness and success! Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica, even in the presence of red hot persecution, was met with great success.

He next reminds them of his condition at the time of his arrival at Thessalonica:

2:2 “But even after we had suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict.”

He had come marching into town bearing in his body what he described to the Galatians in another letter as the “stigmata,” the slave brands of Jesus Christ. “We had suffered!” said Paul.

They arrived from Philippi having beaten, imprisoned, and unjustly accused. They had been manhandled and mauled; hounded out of city after city. They were knocked down but never knocked out. They arrived at Thessalonica filled with power and joy.

“We were bold,” Paul reminds them. The word “bold” includes the idea of speaking without reserve. Boldly Paul had spoken to King Agrippa. And boldly he testified to Caesar Nero.

Paul was utterly unintimidated by the pomp and ceremony that surrounded him. We are told in Eph. 6:18-20 that his boldness came from prayer. No matter what the circumstances were, Paul and the other Apostles always spoke freely with great boldness.

Next, Paul addresses his integrity:

2: 3 “For our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit.”

The word “exhortation” means “to call aside” or “to appeal to” by comfort, consolation or instruction. Paul’s former colleague, Barnabas, had been named “the son of consolation” for his ministry of comfort and encouragement.

Paul lets us know that his sole purpose was to win souls to Christ. His life had been totally free from anything deceitful, defiling, or doubtful. He never resorted to miserly manipulation, dastardly deceit, nor was he impure in his motives.

So often today we see sordid tactics of manipulation used by some in order to wrest money from the gullible for their own selfish gain. They will answer to God for such deceit. But not Paul. His ministry was not “in deceit.”

Next, Paul talks about a sacred trust:

2:4 “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.”

The word “approved” means “to be tested.” Paul was no novice. He had been saved for around ten years before Barnabas first sought him out at Tarsus prior to his first missionary journey (Acts 11:25-26). He had years of discipleship, study, prayer, and humble service behind him before first being launched into missionary work.

The Bible teaches that ministry is a trust. It is beset with perils and pitfalls. Critics abound. Discouragements are plenty. True friends are few. It is no task for the novice. It must be taken seriously and with great resolve.

The Bible clearly commands not to place a beginner into a top ministry position because they likely can’t handle it. 1 Tim. 3:6 “An elder must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall.”

Paul had been tried, tested, and proven to be the real deal. Not only was his integrity undoubted by those that knew him; it was also undaunted. Paul was not a man afraid of men. He was not a man-pleaser. The great Apostle was never intimidated by a crowd, or by the furrowed brow of disapproving men.

When he preached in Thessalonica, he was not concerned whether or not his message pleased men. Compromise, so beloved by the politician, has no place in gospel preaching. The gospel is not presented to us in accommodating shades of gray; it is presented in stark black-and-white.

People are either saved or lost. We are either going to heaven or hell. Something is either true or false, right or wrong, of the flesh or of the Spirit, good or bad. Jesus is the way, not just a way. The gospel is concerned with the truth; anything that contradicts the gospel is a lie.

So Paul asserts, “…we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.”

Next, Paul tells the Thessalonians what he shunned:

2: 5 “For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness—God is witness.”

What we see in Paul was that he shunned all guile, all gain, and all glory—the three things that religious deceivers most commonly seek. First, he used no flattery. We use flattery when we tell people complimentary things in order to get something from them. It is a form of manipulation. Paul refused to “butter people up” this way to gain a foothold in their life.

Paul goes on to reveal that flattery in a religious setting is often like a cloak that hides ones true intent. The NLT puts it this way. 2:5 “And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money!”

The covetous person that flatters treats other people as though they were mere things to be exploited. Such a person has no god but himself and his desires. Again, they will one day answer to God for it!

Paul goes on to say:

2:6 “Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ.”

We weren’t with you, he says, to gain your admiration. We weren’t out to impress you with ourselves. We didn’t throw around our degrees, pedigrees, credentials, or accomplishments. We wanted instead for Christ to be glorified among you.

Furthermore, we could very well have demanded money and goods for our ministry. The Bible clearly teaches, “You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the corn” (Deut.25:4). The laboring ox has a right to eat some of the corn from the field of his labor.

But, says Paul, we didn’t even take advantage of what was lawfully right when with you. “We might have been burdensome to you,” he says. But he wasn’t. He labored in making tents when among them.

Paul moves from reminding them of what he had shunned to remind them of what he had shown—his love and his life.

2:7-8 “But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.”

Paul was a multi-gifted man. He was a superb scholar, first class theologian, had a giant intellect, and a stellar organizer. People with these kinds of gifts tend to be neglectful of people, or worse, use people. But Paul loved people. He loved the lost, which made him an excellent evangelist. He loved saved people, which made him a warm-hearted pastor.

Paul tells them that he cherished the church. Cherished comes from a word meaning “to warm.” The word is used of a bird’s gathering its young under its feathers.

But beyond that, Paul gave his life for them. He says, “…we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.”

People can give without loving, but they cannot love without giving. Paul loved, so he gave. His was not a selfish life, nor a self-serving motivation concerning ministry. He wasn’t in it for what he could get out of it. He genuinely loved the church to the place of being willing to die for it.

Does that sound like Jesus? Yes! Paul emanated the very life and character of the Lord Who gave His life for the world.

Paul moves on from what he had shunned and what he had shown to what he had shared:

2:9 “For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.”

As already mentioned, Paul liked to pay his own way. When he was short on funds, he resorted to the trade he had learned when young—that of a tent maker. The word he uses for “labor” means “to beat, as, for instance, the beating of the chest. It suggests the weariness of laborious toil.

The word for “travail” carries the idea of painful effort, tiring labor, and difficulty. Taken together, we know that Paul and his entourage worked hard. They went to bed tired. There was no laziness among them.

Finally, we see Paul’s conscience:

2:10 “You are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe;”

Think of these first six words—the Thessalonians had observed him, and so had God. This is the root of a genuine fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom (Prov.1:7).

The fear of the Lord is the continual awareness that God is watching and weighing every one of my thoughts, words, actions, and attitudes.

The word holily means “to be pure from all crime, religiously observant of every duty, careful to fulfill every obligation.” Particularly, the word pertains to the discharge of one’s duties toward God.

Paul lived in the fear of the Lord. He knew that one day he would give an account for his life. Thus, Paul and his friends lived holy lives. They behaved devoutly and justly and blamelessly.

In our present age we see a tragic lack of any fear of God at all. Men behave as if there is no God, no eternity, and no divine Observer of their actions. This, says the Bible, is the life of a fool (Ps.14:10).

The word for “justly” means “straight dealing.” It has to do with the careful discharge of our duties to men. Paul worked hard to keep a clear conscience toward both God and man (Acts 24:16).

Paul’s integrity revealed in the things he shunned, showed, and shared have all been covered in the first half of Chapter 2.

Next time we will look at:

“PAUL’S CROWN OF REJOICING AT CHRIST’S RETURN”

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