The Gospel at Work

The Annoying Telemarketer

I’ve been getting some pretty consistent phone calls lately from a particular company trying to sell me a solar battery for my house. I think I made a fatal mistake where during an early call, I showed interest, because I actually am interested. But on this occasion I made the decision that now is not the time for me. On a subsequent call when I informed them of my decision not to go ahead with it, understandably, the salesman gave it his best shot at trying to convince me otherwise - I get it, that’s his job, but when the phone call ended, I thought the discussion was over.

I was wrong.

This happened a few months ago. Since then, I must have had at least half a dozen phones calls from the same company... each time it was a different person... each time they seemed to indicate they didn’t know my decision, despite the fact that every time I was very clear that it was a no.

The last call was about a week ago, and despite being very clear I want that to be the last one, I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if they call again.

It’s annoying. It’s frustrating.

But here’s the thing… sometimes our approach to sharing the good news of Jesus… the gospel… is actually a lot like that telemarketing company.

You see, here’s the thing, many (maybe most) of us here have had an experience with the gospel. We’ve experienced how life changing it can be. We know that wonderful feeling of having our guilt taken off us and knowing that we are no longer condemened. That you are loved and nothing can separate you from that love. That we have a glorious future. That we have hope.

What’s more, we know that this is for everyone. We know that what ever your age, gender, ethnicity, political leaning, or whatever… this gospel is for you.

So knowing this, we can go up to someone and say - you need the gospel! They start to say their concerns, and we say: you have sin in your life, and you need to repent. They say: oh, I don’t think it’s for me. But we say: but you need this. Your destined for hell if you don’t. They say: I think I’ve had enough.

But this breaks our heart. How could they say no. They need this. So we keep pressuring them.

Could it be that our attempt to share the gospel is seen in the same way I just talked about that annoying telemarketer?

Could it be that not only do we end up annoying, but that we’ve failed to understand the power of how the gospel really works?

It’s this idea that I want to explore this morning… how can we let the gospel be shared on its own terms? That is to say: how do we share the gospel in such a way that we are remaining consistent with what the gospel is?

Context

Well, today we continue through our series on 1 and 2 Thessalonians we’re Paul continues to encourage the church that has only recently been established , in what is likely only a matter of months.

Last week we saw have thankful to God Paul was in the way in which these Thessalonians have embraced the gospel. Not only have they got it with a theoretical understanding, they’ve also allowed it to transform who they are and how they live.

In this second chapter, it is almost as if Paul is defending himself against some accusations. We don’t have those accusations directly recorded for us, but it is possible to look at his time there based on the book of Acts to help give us some clues.

So let me take you back to Acts 17 which we briefly looked at last week. Then we saw the God-fearing Greeks accepting the gospel in large number, along with quite a few prominent women and a few of the Jews.

I also looked at how many of the Jews were not so happy with what was going on. But let’s look at this in a bit more detail.

You see, we’re told that the Jews rounded up some bas characters from the market-place, formed a mob and started a riot in the city.

Well, in Thessalonica, there was this man named Jason. We don’t know a lot about Jason, but we do know that he was a friend of Paul’s.

It’s likely that he was a Greek who had probably been attending the Jewish synagogue prior to Paul’s arrival, and was onee of those who had been convinced by what Paul had said.

It is also likely that he was quite a wealthy person, who had a house big enough to fit many people, more than likely even being the location for the church’s worship services.

Well, Jason would have been known to this angry Jews, and these Jews would probably have a pretty good idea what is happening at his house.

So they go over to Jason’s house for a friendly visit - actually… let’s just say it was not so very friendly.

They’re on the hunt for Paul. You can imagine them barging in. Eyes darting everywhere to find him. But he’s not there.

But then they drag Jason and some of the other believers before the city officials. The accusation is that people from around the world have now come to this city and are causing trouble. It’s interesting isn’t it, the way in which you can easily frame your opponents in a negative light, when the reality is, evidence would show they were having a positive influence on this society.

Paul, by the way, is still no where to be seen.

These accusations in some ways were self-fulfilling, that is, upon hearing the accusation that they are causing turmoil in their city - well, the city goes into a turmoil.

Jason is arrested, but they let him post bail and he was allowed to leave.

It was as night time came, that Paul and his travelling companion Silas, finally come out, and they quietly sllip out of town, and onto the next town.

Possible accusations

Well, by the time our letter that we call 1 Thessalonians was written, we generally presume a few months have passed. A few months is enough time to think on what happened.

Did Paul actually conduct himself in the best way?

Could you say Paul abandoned them?

Perhaps you could say Paul lit a metaphorical bomb in the city, and the moment it exploded he ran from the mess.

You think about it even more… maybe Paul didn’t actually come with good motives. Was he trying to trick us?

When things go bad, we love to point the finger - and where better to point it then the person who was at the centre of it all, and who is conveniently absent now and can’t defend himself.

It would seem that this kind of thinking has likely taken place, as the second chapter of our letter here reads as somewhat of a defence against these ideas.

So let’s have a look at that now.

Paul’s defense

Paul starts by pointing them to the results of what has happened. If you want to know what sort of results he’s been talking about… well… I suggest perhaps refer back to the first chapter - that is, the results of their changed lives… their labour prompted by love… their ability to become models that other follow. This was not just some flash in the pan show, this was real change.

In verse 2, he reminds them of what had happened in the previous city he had visited, that is, Philippi. But more than this being a pattern of Paul causing a mess wherever he goes, it actually points to something different - something that Paul is going to expand on a lot more in his second letter to this church - and that is, that there is a spiritual battle going on, and as we enter the last days, things are going to get tough.

The lesson that Paul draws from his time in Philippi is that during these tough times, God is the one helping him through, giving him what he needs so that the gospel is heard.

In verse 3, he straight out denies any impure motives or attempts to trick them. Paul might have needed to leave really quick, but there is a bigger picture going on here.

That bigger picture is what the gospel points to.

As he says in verse 4, when Paul speaks, far from being about trickery, he’s speaking as one approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel.

The whole point is the gospel.

But let’s just be clear what we mean by the gospel… we’re talking about the good news of what Jesus has done. That he came to earth. That he established a new kind of kingdom - a kingdom unlike anything this world has ever seen. That he died, was buried, but did not stay dead - in the greatest event of all history, he broke the bonds of death and came to life.

The gospel is the message that this current way of life does not need to remain. That there is a different way. The way of Jesus.

But here’s the thing. The way of Jesus, because it is so different, when Christians live like this, it can almost have the feel of being ineffective - almost weak.

You see, we’re actually used to people using flattery to get their way. We’re used to greed being the underlining factor which guides the decisions people make.

But the gospel way is different. The gospel way means you don’t need to pretend to be someone you’re not. You don’t need to push to get things your way - because our reward is different to the rewards that this world goes after.

The gospel way recognises that I can put others before myself because I know that there is a God who is already looking after me.

Mother

Paul then offers the analogy of a mother to describe the approach he took.

There’s something special about mum’s. They care, even when it’s not logical to care. The love, even when the child doesn’t deserve love. Why? Because they are their child.

We can kind of get it when it is a mother - child relationship. But because of the gospel, we can care for others and love others just like a mother loves their child.

The gospel changes everything because we were first loved like this when we didn’t deserve it.

Paul’s saying to these Thessalonians - I love you just as a nursing mother cares for her children.

Can you say this about the way you care and love for other believers?

What about that Christian brother or sister that just constantly gets up your nerves… can you love them like a mother loves their child?

Father

Paul then shifts his metaphor, from a mother to a father.

The relationship between a father and their child is different to that of a mother and her child - although in one respect, the strength of the love is the same.

The father directs the path of his child in a good direction.

The father encourages, comforts and urges their child to live a good life.

We’ve seemed to get to a point in society where we’ll only do this for other people when it going to be something that benefits ourselves.

But the gospel shifts our focus.

We don’t do it because we’ll benefit. We’ll do it because that other person is loved by God.

Paul says - this is how we treated you - as a father deals with his own children.

The different approach

Now let’s just think of this in light of the accusations that seem to have been made against Paul - that is, that he’s abandoned them because after he’s big noted himself, he’s run as soon as there was trouble.

Paul’s reminding them that that line of reasoning is demonstrably untrue. When Paul uses these analogies of a mother and a father, they would have been reminded that yes, Paul did care for them.

Paul’s approach might have been different to all other leaders they’ve come across, but that’s because the gospel does lead us to a different kind of way.

Application

So I want you to think - how do you operate in this world?

Think about what ever sphere you operate in. If your in the work place, think about how you conduct yourself at work. Do you operate on the principles of pride and self-interest? Or the pinciples of the gospel which puts others first?

Perhaps your part of some sort of community group. Do you allow your gospel ways govern how you operate. Let’s say for example, someone’s acting in a bullish way - the tempting thing to do is to stand up to them and try to put them in their place. Have you ever tried showing them love. Encouaging them. Caring about them. You know, sometimes when you actually take the time to listen to them, you realise the reason they act in the way they do, is actually because of some deep hurt they’ve had in the past. When we try to stand up to them in a sort of power play, we actually just exacerbate the issue, whereas when we love and listen to them, we start to see things improve.

What about the church. How do we operate among our spiritual brothers and sisters at church?

Church relationships can be hard - sometimes harder than in other places - and partly that’s because in church, we come from such a variety of backgrounds. In other spheres of our lives, we’re perhaps more likely to hang around people who are more like us. But at church, we have the CEO sit next to the unemployed. The right-wing voter sit next to the left-wing voter. The retiree sit next to the school student. The art lover sit next to the bogan. And yet, despite these differences, we love and care and encourage and comfort each other.

It’a a different way of operating. We’ll often disagree on how we see the world, but we love each other.

Now, let me draw this back to where I was with the introduction.

You see, I described the way in which we sometimes share the gospel. I described the keen sense we come sometimes get that we know that the other person needs the gospel, and so we’ll do whatever we can so they hear us.

The part that I missed in that process is perhaps the most important aspect of all. That is, the love we show for that person.

If we don’t love the person, then we really are just being like the annoying telemarketer.

You see, in that example of the telemarketing company that keep calling me - they don’t really care about me… they just care about making a sale. It’s the way this world operates.

But it’s not the way the gospel operates. It operates with a love the person first approach. We love them, and out of that love, we want to share the good news. We share the good news with love. That also means if they choose to reject it, we give them the space they need. We can and should still pray for them. And we certainly keep loving them.

Some people will reject the message - in fact, many people rejected the message that Paul gave.

Conclusion

The gospel way is very different to the mode of operating that we see in the world.

The gospel ways is that because we were loved first, we will show love out of that overflow.

We will love like a mother loves he child. And we will love like a father love his child.

At times, like Paul, we might have to make the hard choice and leave - but not because we don’t love, but because these are our circumstances.

So allow yourself to experience the gospel, and let that shape how you interact with the world, and how you share with other the good news.

Let me pray...