Entrusted with the Gospel

I grew up going to a very small little church in south central Pennsylvania, where if we hit 70 people on a Sunday morning, we were feeling like maybe we needed to go to two services – and if we ever hit a 100? Couldn’t tell you. Don’t think that ever happened except for special events on Sunday evenings. So there’s something special to me about small churches.

But we had a guy in our congregation who worked at a music store, and he got wind that a Steinway piano that was made specifically for the 2002 Olympics was on tour, and if he wanted to, he could have it brought to our church and set up for us to use on a Sunday morning. I don’t know what it was worth at the time, but it went on sale 5 years later for $365,000.

I don’t know if anyone ever paid that much for it, but for one Sunday morning, this piano was entrusted to a tiny little church in Manheim, Pennsylvania as it toured around the country to various music stores and concert halls. We all took turns playing it and just enjoying the gift that it was for a short moment.

And you know what’s wild?

I asked AI where this piano is today, thinking it’s probably in an art museum or something – Here is AI’s answer: The piano is not currently in a publicly accessible location, and its current whereabouts are not widely known.

In other words – we don’t know where it is. It’s disappeared. I’m assuming that means someone bought it and it’s in their home somewhere – who knows?

If you think that’s wild, one of the most expensive instruments ever sold was The Vieuxtemps Guarneri (voo-tom Gwar-NAIR-ee) Violin. This violin was handcrafted in 1741, and is considered one of the finest violins ever made. It brought somewhere in the neighborhood of $16 million in a private sale, and rather than be locked away in a room somewhere, the person who bought it gave it on a lifetime loan to Anne-Akiko Meyers, one of the most esteemed violinists in the world. I can’t even imagine holding a $16 million dollar instrument, much less having it entrusted to you for life. Can you imagine how carefully you would hold that? How gently you would put it in the case and take it out? This thing is 275 years old!

I don’t know if the person who bought it even knows how to play violin, but they understood – hey, putting this instrument in a safe somewhere isn’t the way you honor the guy who made it. He built it to be played, so give it to the best violin player there is.

Today, Paul is going to write to the Thessalonian church to tell them about something that’s been entrusted to them that is much more valuable than the Guarneri Violin, and guess what – if you are a follower of Jesus, it’s been entrusted to you too.

Before we dive into this, let’s once again go to the Lord in prayer and ask him to speak to us through his word here today.

PRAYER

There’s a phrase that maybe President Trump coined during his first term, and for the next couple of years, there were meme’s going around with him weirdly saying “fake news.” It’s fake news. Well, just remember – there’s nothing new under the sun, and neither is fake news.

Back in the 1990s when I was growing up, there were preachers doing fake “healing” services, where they would have disabled or sick people come on stage to be healed. The news everyone heard and saw was that a whole bunch of people had been healed of some pretty crazy things. But we all found out later that the folks who came up front were planted. They were in on it. It was all a show. No one was actually disabled. Now the offering that was taken during the event was not a show. That was very real. But the whole thing was a scam.

That kind of thing happened in Paul’s day a lot. People rolled into town with big claims, looking to pad their pockets and their reputation, boasting some new product or method that maybe brought instant change but nothing lasting. It was empty. Vain. Hollow.

As Paul starts into chapter 2, he’s thinking back to how he ended up in this city of Thessalonica. And he starts off by saying, you guys know we weren’t fake news. We weren’t in it for the cash grab or the reputation or the show – we didn’t show up with empty promises or snake oil to sell you. He says in 1 Thessalonians 2:1 “For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our visit with you was not without result.” Or a better interpretation is the ESV, which says our visit was not in vain. It wasn’t “empty.” “On the contrary, verse 2, after we had previously suffered and were treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, we were emboldened by our God to speak the gospel of God to you in spite of great opposition.”

If you go back to Acts 16, you can read the story of how they were treated in Philippi. They were arrested because they cast a demon out of a slave girl who could predict the future. The owners lost their source of income, so they had Paul and Silas arrested. They were stripped of their clothes, and without a trial or lawyers or even a chance to defend themselves, they were beaten with heavy rods and thrown in prison. This was the kind of punishment reserved for foreign criminals – in fact, it was illegal to for the authorities to treat Roman citizens like this – which Paul was! When they found that out, they tried to release them all hush hush and casual like nothing happened. That’s what Paul is referring to when he says they were treated outrageously in Philippi.

So, Paul says, you guys know we showed up in pretty bad shape, but we but we weren’t there trying to get something out of you – although, verse 7, as apostles of Jesus we certainly could have asked for some special treatment. Instead, we rolled into Thessalonica still sore from the beatings we got in Philippi, still nursing our wounds, and God gave us the strength to bring the message of the gospel to you. Two things I want to focus in on here –

We were emboldened by God – It’s one thing to get beat up, then go lay down for a couple of days to recover. But to get beat up then forced to leave town, and walk 66 miles to Thessalonica? That’s from here to Burlington, by the way. You’re not working with a whole lot of your own strength at that point. They didn’t parade into town – they limped into town.

How many of you would agree that it’s often when we’re the most tired that we get the most tested? Right? So many of our moments of temptation and spiritual testing come when we don’t bring much of our own strength to the table. Jesus in the wilderness with Satan. Peter after pulling an all nighter fishing. Us right after work, or right before bed when all of a sudden no one in the house has had a drink of water in a month or hears a noise, or when things just aren’t going like we thought they should. That’s when we are so quick to get irritable. We’re tired, we’re not in the mood to talk right now, we’re walking on thin ice, the fuse is short – however you want to frame it. But that’s often where the test is: Are we going to give in to the flesh, or are we going to put sin to death and lean into the power of the Holy Spirit?

These guys are quick to give credit to God for giving them the strength to keep ministering to people, even though they were in rough shape. It’s like he’s admitting, I don’t have what it takes here in this moment. So we were desperate for God to give us strength, and he answered.

I don’t know – I’m reading this, I look at Paul and I think, my goodness we Christians have become pretty soft. At least I have. Someone hurts my feelings a little bit or things get a little tough, and I’m ready to quit pastoring, pull the plug, and go back to framing houses where life is just a lot easier. I wonder how much we miss out on, in terms of experiencing the power and presence of God, when we just turn to complaining instead of going, okay Lord. I’m desperate for you to embolden me right now. Fill me with more of YOU. If you’ll fill me with courage and strength, I’ll stick this out. I’ve got nothing in the tank, but you’re here and that’s enough for me right now.

What were they emboldened to do? Whenever this word “emboldened” is talked about in the New Testament, it is always used in reference to proclaiming the gospel. Which is the second part of the verse.

We were emboldened by God to speak the gospel of God to you.

Romans 10 says everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can people call on the name of someone they haven’t believed in? And how can they believe if they’ve never heard? And how can they hear unless someone speaks!? It was true in Thessalonica, and it’s true in Riverside: The only way people were going to receive Christ and be transformed by his saving grace at a heart level is if someone proclaims the gospel of God to them.

Now if you go back to verse 5 of chapter 1, Paul says it a little differently. He calls it “our gospel.” So which is it? Is it Paul’s gospel? Is it God’s gospel? And does it really matter?

One commentator points out that in some ways, it is totally appropriate to say that something is “the gospel of one preaching it”, because it means that preacher has taken the message into himself – it’s completely his, and when they speak, they speak with conviction because it’s his story. He’s lived it. Paul can say “this is our gospel” because a) the gospel has completely changed them inside and out. He preaches with conviction because he has fully believed the good news. He’s lived it. He’s fully in it.

But on the other hand, this is not a worldly message that we call the gospel. This isn’t something invented by humans to try and win awards, grow organizations, or inspire a new genre of music/books/conferences/etc. This message we call “the gospel” is a divine message. It is the gospel of God. It’s his message. As ambassadors, we don’t get to pick the message we proclaim. We don’t get to make up our own version of the story. The gospel is the good news of what God has done here on the earth to reconcile sinners to himself. The gospel invites people of every race, every language, every tax bracket, every background, every status of any kind to God’s way of salvation through faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and the coming of the Holy Spirit – and Paul would say, that’s God’s gospel, and that’s my gospel. You can receive it, you can refuse it. You can beat me up, you can mock me, you can wrongly accuse me and treat me illegally and kick me out of town – I don’t care – I’m not preaching anything other than the gospel I got from him!

That’s what I hope is said about River City 100 years from now when it’s all new people in the chairs, all new people in leadership, – from KidCity to youth group tonight to discipleship groups, community Groups, and Sunday mornings – let it be so that we don’t proclaim any message that isn’t God’s message, even if we are treated outrageously for doing it.

Paul and Silas and Timothy aren’t perfect. But there’s something they kept in mind that I think we sometimes forget, or maybe it’s just me. And that is that even in their exhaustion and weariness and physical pain, they were very aware that they still carry the message of the gospel, and their character, their actions and reactions, their attitudes and outlook either gives credibility to or takes credibility away from the message they are about to proclaim. I think that’s something worth looking into and thinking about.

My character on a Tuesday afternoon at my house when I’m exhausted either supports the gospel I preach here on Sunday, or it takes away from it. What my kids see of me on Thursday nights, or Saturday mornings either supports what I say to them in family devotions or it discredits it.

Paul says in verse 3, our message didn’t come from error or impurity or an intent to deceive.” If we were trying to deceive you with some false gospel, or just hoping you’d turn out with a big offering and give us standing ovations, do you think we’d keep taking the beatings? The harassment? No way! 4 Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please people, but rather God, who examines our hearts. 5 For we never used flattering speech, as you know, or had greedy motives—God is our witness—6 and we didn’t seek glory from people, either from you or from others.

We’re not up here trying to tickle your ears, and say what you want to hear so we get a bunch of amens and a big offering. We’re not looking for your applause – we don’t care if you applaud at all – We’re just wanting to be faithful to this message that God has entrusted to us.

Let me ask you something, River City. Do you think of the gospel as something that’s been entrusted to you? If some anonymous bidder paid $16mill for a violin, and handed it to you, saying, “it’s yours until you can’t play it anymore,” it’s not hard to think of that as something that is entrusted to you. Nor does that person just hand it to any old random person. They hand it to someone who they know is going to appreciate it and handle it well.

That’s what God has done! He has handed the message of the gospel to those who have been rescued by the very words of life that can save our souls, and said here – this is for the rest of your life. Handle it well! Jesus told the apostle Peter in Matthew 16, that he was giving him the keys to the kingdom, because what opens the door to the kingdom of heaven is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus, and that message has been entrusted to the Church.

This is why we have to be discerning and alert to false gospels that weasel their way into Christian conversations. We have been entrusted with the gospel of God! We have a responsibility to guard it and keep our hearts cleared of wrong motives, flattering speech, and people-pleasing.

And look in verse 4 or verse 6 they both say the same thing: Paul says, because God has entrusted us with this gift, we speak the gospel, Not to please people, or seek glory from people, but to please God. He examines our hearts. This is the idea of continued testing. God keeps on testing our hearts to see to it that we aren’t doing this to please people, or be glory-seekers, but that our motives are pure.

I can’t speak for the other elders or the others of you who were charter members at River City, but I’ll be vulnerable with you this morning – I wrestled with why I wanted to be on a team that plants a church. Like many of you, I’ve been through some church experiences in my life that left me bitter and angry. I remember praying about that one day and sensing the Lord say to me, “Oh, you think you could lead the church better than them?” And I knew lying to the Lord was both wrong and impossible, so I was honest with him and I said, “YEAH! I do!”

A few years go by, and we’re talking with other folks about actually starting a church, and that conversation I had with the Lord comes to mind. And I really had to wrestle with that in prayer. Lord, am I wanting to start a church to prove something to someone? Am I getting involved in this because I think I can do it better, and I just want them to see it? Do I just want my dad to be proud of me? What actually are my motives here? Do I actually want to serve the Lord in this? Are we coming to Riverside because it’s a good location for a regional church, closer to home than a previous church? Are we trying to create something that fits our preferences – or is it because we genuinely care about the people of this city?

I mean – our mission statement says we want every man, woman, child in Riverside to have a gospel-centered interaction on a daily basis. Do we? I quoted that to someone recently, and they said, “Wow. Just wow. That is amazing.” Okay – is that the reaction we’re looking for? Is that response good enough to fill my cup for the day?

Or am I not happy with how my week has gone unless I’ve had a gospel-centered conversation with someone in the city because that’s why we’re here? Or if I’m not here in the city, at least asking God what he would have us step into today, and then do it? I just sort of go about my life sometimes and don’t even think about it.

Paul seems to understand that God doesn’t just care about the things we do – he cares about our underlying motives too, and he knows what they are better than we do. He examines everything about our inner lives. Hebrews 4:13 “No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.” David knew this in Psalm 139, where he says, Lord you have searched me, and you have known me. Then David invites God to test me and know my anxious thoughts. Lord search my heart, and find the things that make me anxious. Know the things that get my blood boiling. Know the things that drive me to jealousy and lust and gluttony, and see if there is any idolatrous way in me. See if there’s any part of my heart where the motives are not first and foremost to please you, to serve you, to honor you, to love you, to enjoy you – find those things, Lord, that don’t want to treasure you, and root them out. God, look for anything in me that is temporal, earthly, and short-lived, and instead, lead me in your ways that are eternal.

I know many of us are going through some pretty intense trials right now. Some deep challenges that are really testing our faith. And I know it’s easy to view those things as interruptions to life, like, ah, man, we were cooking along just fine and now this. Can’t wait to get through this and back to real life. And I’m going to suggest to you, based on Paul’s language here and David’s language in Psalm 139 – what if these tests are real life? What if they are tests from God to see if we actually hold to the gospel we say we believe or not? What if these tests are the answer to David’s prayer in Psalm 139– what if those trials are where God exposes the idolatrous parts of our hearts, so that they can be uprooted and replaced with something eternal?

Paul understood that the character of the people preaching the gospel either supports or denies the message they are speaking. And in verse 7, Paul says, even though we had some standing as Christ’s apostles, we never threw our weight around or tried to come across as important, with you or anyone else. “We could have been a burden as Christ’s apostles, instead we were gentle among you, (That word “gentle” can also be translated “infants.” We were like infants among you. Not because we were helpless and we only cried or slept all the time. It’s basically the idea that you don’t picture infants as someone who throw their weight around, or abuse authority)… we were gentle among you as a nurse nurtures her own children. In those days it wasn’t unusual for families to hire a wet-nurse who also raised and educated the child. But Paul says, we weren’t acting like hired hands – we loved you like you were our own family. We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.”

So much so, that they didn’t even want to take up an offering. Look at verse 9 For you remember our labor and hardship, brothers and sisters. Working night and day so that we would not burden any of you, we preached God’s gospel to you.

I honestly don’t know when Paul slept. He was a tent-maker, which was not a high dollar kind of enterprise. And at least in Athens, he would work during the day like everyone did, and when the sun got too hot and everyone stopped working over the noon hours, that’s when he preached the gospel. Here in Thessalonica, not only are the physically bruised and bleeding and sore – they are working night and day to make sure they weren’t a financial burden to the church.

Paul summarizes this whole section by saying in verse 10, we did everything we could to make sure that we conducted ourselves devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly when we were with you. We made every effort to make sure the gospel was the loudest message, as they, like good fathers, verse 12, … encouraged, comforted, and implored each one of you to walk worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

Man. That would be so awesome if that’s what Riverside could say about us, wouldn’t it? Those people got out of their own way. Their character supported their message. There are rumors, but the way they live what they preach – they are the real deal. Oh some people hate them. They have opposition, people picket their services. Someone takes out an article in the paper to try and trash them, but if you’ve spent 5 minutes with them, you know none of the rumors are true. Yeah, they sometimes say hard things, like I’m a sinner and need a Savior, and that unless you repent and believe in Jesus, you’ll end up in hell for eternity – but they were so patient and kind and never gave up on me. If they ever get run out of town, we would miss them.

Paul says, we showed up like infants – weak, no big show, not trying to play our apostle card and make demands that you give us special treatment. We were also like nursing mothers – nurturing you not just as a large group but giving individual attention, with care and concern for each of you. We were also like fathers – encouraging, comforting, and pleading with you to live lives of holiness - the kind of life God calls us to live.

Isn’t that the way Jesus came to earth? He came without a whole lot of fanfare, showing up as an actual infant. Not a show of power for sure. Philippians 2 says he didn’t play the God card, demanding to be treated a certain way, but he took the position of servant, emptying himself. He was also like a nursing mother, gentle and nurturing with individual people – people that others had rejected or ignored, people that brought nothing to the table, and he pleaded with them to repent and enter the kingdom through faith in him and his father.

In the same way Paul was run out of town, Jesus was too. He too was arrested and beaten illegally, without a real trial, and was sentenced to crucifixion. And instead of being shipped off in the middle of the night, he stepped forward. Allowed himself to be killed, because he knew that he alone was the door to the kingdom of heaven. He alone was to the way to the Father. No one else’s death was sufficient to take away the sin of the world. Only his resurrection could solidify the deal and defeat death once and for all. Only his Holy Spirit can empower us for holiness and for mission.

I’m more convinced than ever, River City, that it’s the gospel of Jesus that transforms people. It’s the good news that sinners can be forgiven of every thing they’ve ever done – yes, even the big stuff that you hope no one finds out about. I’m more convinced than ever, that you can’t think your way into transformation or freedom. You can’t work your way onto God’s good side. You can’t pray or give or serve your way into heaven. There is only one message that really, truly is good news, and it’s the gospel of Jesus that says if anyone, anywhere, any time, and will put their faith no longer in what we do, but put our faith in what he did for you, YOU WILL BE SAVED!

It may cost you some comfort here in this life, but the glory that is coming will make the discomfort look like nothing by comparison.

Church – I don’t have some big, deep thinking point for you today. I read through this and I’m like, this feels like the kind of letter Paul would write to River City! Where he says, man you guys are like family. You encourage each other. You strengthen each other. You have some spiritual fathers who aren’t afraid to call sin what it is, and yet they are gentle and patient with people. I’m seeing some nurturing spiritual mothers who are taking the time to instruct and disciple younger women. I’m seeing teenagers who are sharing their lives with the church by serving in KidCity or on the worship team. And I’m looking at a congregation who, most of the time, gets out of their own way to help people get here to church, to help people find Jesus, to talk to others about the grace of Jesus, to call on the power of the Holy Spirit to help people get free.

We’re not perfect, but I’m so proud of this church. Not proud of what we’ve accomplished as much as proud of the people we’re becoming. I don’t know your motives, only God does. I don’t know your heart, I can only go by what I see and hear. But I pray that God continues to empower us for service here in this city. I pray that our motives stay pure, where we’re not worried about what people will say or think, we’re not worried about who is going to love us and who is going to hate us. I pray that we don’t only jump into friendships and relationships where our mindset is who can benefit us or pour into us, but that we willingly empty ourselves out for the sake of others. In chapters 4 and 5 Paul is going to give some correction to the Thessalonian church, and I’m sure he would have some for us – so I pray that we would be humble, teachable, open-handed, and quick to repent.

And I pray that we don’t brag about anything except how good is the grace of a crucified and risen Jesus. As we move into communion, God once again pours out his grace to us through the bread and the cup. This bread is the Lord’s declaration to us that our sin against a holy God is so serious, so grievous, so tragic that the Son of God – the maker of heaven and earth had to take on human skin specifically so he could die to remove the record of that sin. The cup is a reminder that our sin was so severe that unless Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath, it would be poured out on us in full.

And yet we’re also reminded that Jesus willingly took our death sentence so that anyone who believes in him will not be separated from him eternally, but will have the gift of eternal life. And on the third day, he rose again, was ascended to the right hand of God the Father where right now he rules and reigns over all the powers we can see and all the ones we can’t, and we eagerly wait for his return when he will judge the living and the dead, crush evil once and for all, and make all things new.

SOURCES

https://www.classical-music.com/features/instruments/most-expensive-piano

Leon Morris, The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co, 1991)

Gene Green, The Letters to the Thessalonians (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co, 2002)