1 Thessalonians 2:1-6

A Gospel Motivation

INTRO

Good morning church! I am excited to be diving into the next part of 1 Thessalonians with you today. If you have your Bibles and would like to go ahead and be turning, our text for today will be in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-6 and our title for todays message is “A Gospel Motivation.”

We spoke last time of the church at Thessalonica and how they were one of the first churches that Paul planted and that this letter is considered one of the earliest letters to the church that we will find in the New Testament. In the first chapter we got a look at Pauls role as evangelist and church planter as we understand the process with which he endeavored to plant the church at Thessalonica. We were shown the marks of a healthy church and the function and reputation the church should have. Now as we move into chapter 2, we transition from Paul the Evangelist, and we get a better look at Paul as a Pastor, or Elder. John Stott when writing of 1 Thessalonians 2 - 3 tells us that:

The Message of Thessalonians Introduction

Part of the abiding value of

As we move from chapter 1, to the second chapter, we need to understand the context. Paul had been forced to leave the new church that he had planted in Thessalonica, and people who were against him and the spread of Christianity were beginning to spread rumors that questioned and even slandered Pauls character. Between being compared to travelers that used religion to get money from people, to being accused of sexual immorality, after the habits of many of the pagan religions, there was a concerted effort to tarnish Paul’s reputation, and in doing this damage the further spread of the Gospel message that he preached. The question of Pauls motivation, behind the message he preached, was being lied about and rumors were being spread among different people.

These false motivations are something we see in today’s society as well. We spoke of this in James, when James wrote that not many should be teachers, because the motivation behind their teaching was wrong. In today’s world we see many who are only teaching for the fame that they have obtained, or the famous televangelists that are after the private jet and the multi million dollar home. Stories that come out time and time again of a celebrity “pastor” that is caught in some type of compromising or immoral position whether it be money, lifestyle, sex, or simply how they treat others. These same type of people were around during Pauls time period as we see today, just in different forms. The reputation that these people created was trying to be placed on Paul. The leaders knew if they could destroy the reputation of Paul’s character, and paint Paul as just another one of the many that took advantage under the name of some sort of religion, that they could try to stop the spread of the Gospel message. Paul was not going to allow this though.

Here at the beginning of Chapter 2 we see Pauls response to these accusations and questions. It is what might be called his “aplogia pro vita sua” which is a legal term that would translate as “A defense of one’s life”. Paul puts on the role of the pastor, to defend the sheep against lies that are being spread, and protect them from being led astray through false accusations. What we will read is Paul defending his motives, and his life to the church at Thessalonica and reminding them of what their motive and message should be in their own lives. Just as Paul told the Corinthians, to imitate him as he imitates Christ, the reminder of Paul as to the motivation behind the Gospel message, is something we should strive and seek to imitate and follow within our own lives and ministries.

Many would say this is more closely aimed at those that are within the office of an elder or pastor, but I believe there is application here for every believer. It is not the responsibility of the Pastor alone, to spread the Gospel. It is the responsibility of every blood bought, born again, saint of God to stand against the lies that satan has spread within our culture and our people, and to take a stand for the truth of the Gospel. It is the responsibility of every believer to share the Gospel message with any and every person every time they receive the opportunity. It is the responsibility, even the mandate of God, that we share the good news with everyone from friend to foe, in order that God be glorified through our actions, and He use the proclamation of His Word and His Gospel to draw all, through the work of the Holy Spirit, that He would call to repentance and adoption into His family.

As we dig into the next section of this letter I pray that God opens our hearts as well as our ears and mind to what He has to say to us. That through the power of His Word and His Holy Spirit that He would raise us up as people that proclaim His truth everywhere we go, and to everyone we meet. That we have a desire and a passion to see others experience the same beauty and wonder of salvation and adoption that we have received in Christ. That we seek to glorify God and that we remain sensitive to His Holy Spirit and the leading that He provides.

I pray that we look deep within at the motivation in our lives for our actions. Are our actions and our words motivated by the truth and the power of the Gospel, or are we being motivated by an idol or a false God, that we put above the truth found in Scripture?

This is the Word of the Lord to His people:

1 Thessalonians 2:1–6 ESV

1 For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. 2 But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. 3 For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. 5 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. 6 Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.

This is the Word of the Lord, Amen.

There are three motivations that are pointed out in this section by Paul, as to why we should pursue Gospel ministry in all things. These three motivations are:

The Need of Humanity

The Approval of God

The Glory of God

The Need of Humanity (vs 1)

The first motivation we see for the Gospel is the need of humanity. Paul tells us in the very first verse that their coming to the people of Thessalonica was not in vain. The people had a need, to be turned from idols, we see this in verse 9, and to know the one, true, sovereign God for their salvation and their hope. The need of the people of Thessalonica was the same then as the need of all of humanity is now, to be turned from their idols and to know the living God and receive salvation through Him. There are many different things that are idols in our culture. While some still worship statues of false gods, as they did back then, we have turned many other things into idols. Whether it be our job, our favorite sports team, our favorite TV show, the new car, even good things such as serving and helping others can be made an idol in our lives. So many of us have either intentionally or unintentionally made these things idols in our lives. Things that in and of themselves are not bad, but can turn into something that is an idol.

An idol is very simply put, anything that replaces or takes precedence over our relationship with God. Anything that we put before God is an idol. Our world needs to be saved from idols and be born again into salvation. As many put their trust in their own personal idols we see a downward path of destruction in their lives. By focusing on continually trying to achieve more, watch more, get a better feeling in whatever we have made an idol, we are continually trying to fill the void that is left by not placing God first in our lives. We are all born into sin. We are all born spiritually dead and without Christ that is how we will stay. The message of the Gospel is that God brings us life. That the work of the Holy Spirit breathes life into our dead souls and that we are not just given life but Jesus told us:

John 10:10 ESV

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Christ came to give us an abundant life. Not one that is filled with material wealth, but one that is filled to overflowing with spiritual wealth. The life that Christ gives, that humanity needs, is one that satisfies the soul. This is what Jesus meant when He told the woman at the well in Samaria:

John 4:14 ESV

14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Pauls life and ministry was motivated by the power of the Gospel. Paul was someone who at one point was killing Christians for their beliefs, but He had an encounter with Jesus. If you have an encounter with Jesus you will never be the same. This is the power of the Gospel, the power of a risen Saviour who came to take away our sins and pay the price that we were sentenced to pay. Paul’s heart burned with fire to share and bring others to Christ. Paul said when speaking of his people:

Romans 10:1 ESV

1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.

How simple this statement is, but at the same time how powerful it is. My one desire is that they are saved. I have no other motivation than to see the word of God, the Gospel message preached. A motivation that was so strong that Paul reminds them in verse 2, we were already shamefully treated at Philippi. This was not just shameful treatment as we would consider it, it was being beaten and ridiculed, and run out of the city, for the sake of the Gospel. We see this time and time again in the life of Paul and our early church brothers and sisters. The motivation of the Gospel message was so great that they were beaten, ostracized, robbed, and even put to death, and they still would not stop sharing the good news.

Paul tells them that they had boldness in God that allowed them to declare the Gospel. How powerful is that statement. It was nothing of our own doing that allowed the Gospel to be proclaimed, but it was only boldness that was given by God. The boldness of the Holy Spirit at work in the heart of the believer, that drives them to declare the Gospel. There should be a fire in the heart of every Christian to do the same. We are called to go and deliver the message of the Gospel. We are not called to sit where we are, we are not called to wait on our Pastor to do it, we are not called to pray privately and hope that someone else shares the Gospel with our friend and families. We are called to go and we are called to share the Gospel with everyone we meet.

There should be a fire in the heart of the believer, the person that has encountered Jesus, the person that has been saved from sin and given new life in Christ, that through the power of the Holy Spirit at work, we are given boldness to shout the goodness and the glory of God from every street corner and every roof top.

The power of the Gospel at work is a healing ointment to the need of humanity for a saviour.

The Approval of God (vs 4)

The second motivation for Gospel ministry is the approval of God. It is the living and true God that motivates Paul to share the Gospel. Paul writes in verse 4 that we have been approved of God to be entrusted with the Gospel, so our entire reason we cannot stop sharing and speaking ,is because we desire to please God and not man. That the approval of God is first and foremost the desire of the believer, and we do not get ensnared by the desire to please men.

Paul wrote about the approval of God being given multiple times across his letters.

Ephesians 3:8 ESV

8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

Titus 1:3 ESV

3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;

““This is a motivator because it made Paul - as it should make any true minister - stand in sheer wonder and say “God has set his approval on me of all men!” Paul was persecutor, now he’s a preacher. Paul sought righteousness under the law, now he sought it in Christ. Paul was an enemy, now he was a friend. Oh, this is why Paul sat back and reveled in the Gospel saying, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost.” (1 Timothy 1:15)”” (From the Pen of Pastor Paul, p76)

We do not let our past, that God has rescued us from, define who we are. We do not define ourselves by our past addictions, by our past sins, by our past mental conditions, we define and find our identity wholly and completely in Jesus Christ alone. We do not let our past define us, but we do let our past remind us of the mighty work God has done in our lives. If we look as the holiness and righteousness of God and how great and good He is, and then look at how bad even our smallest perceived sins made us in light of comparison to Gods holiness, we must fall to our faces in awe and amazement at the great love that God has shown us. At the amazing work that God has completed in us.

The life of the believer, who was once an enemy of God, and is now a son or daughter of the king, stands as a testament to what God can and will do. When Paul says that God “approved” him, the greek word is Dokimazō.

The Message of Thessalonians a. A Steward (2:3–4)

Dokimazō can mean both to ‘put to the test, examine’ and especially, as a result of the examination, to ‘accept as proved’ or ‘approve’ (BAGD). More simply still, it means to test and find genuine, and was used of both coins and people. Milligan refers to its technical use to describe ‘the passing (of somebody) as fit for election to a public office’.6 Just so, God had tested Paul and found him fit.

Paul has been tried and tested of God, and God had entrusted the Gospel message to him to share. The testimony of those who were an enemy of God, who God saved with such mercy and grace, and has tested and now uses these same former enemies to proclaim His name. How great of a testimony is that to the mercy of our God. How great is the testimony that those who were enemies of God. Who stood against the very holiness and righteousness of God with their evil deeds, are now used by God to declare His greatness and goodness. That Paul could cry out I once killed and persecuted those that believed in Christ, but I have now experienced the very mercy and grace they preached about, and I want to share that message with you. I once was blind, I could not see the truth of God’s providence in the messiah, Jesus Christ, but now God has opened my blinded eyes and I testify of the great things He has done!

God has given each of us different gifts in how we serve Him. We each serve different roles within the body of Christ to make up the entire body, whether we are a hand, or a foot, or a mouth, or a ear, we are all called as part of our role to use those gifts to share the Gospel. God gives us different talents and opportunities all to bring glory to Him and Him alone. Jesus told us in the sermon on the mount, in Matthew 5, that a city that is up on a hill cannot be hid, neither do men light a candle and hide it under a basket but they put it on a stand and it provides light to the house. This is Jesus telling us of our lives after He has redeemed us. That we have the light of God now inside of us. That our souls that were once dark and lost are now full of light and that light is to be shared with everyone. We are to stand out and testify of what God has done. God has approved of us to be privileged to share the Gospel with both our words and our lives.

The Glory of God (vs 4-6)

The third motivation for Gospel ministry is the glory of God. Pauls motivation at the end of verse 4 is to please God and he specifies in verse 6 that they do not seek glory from people. Paul was one of the last apostles. Someone who was a large part of the spread of Christianity around the world and Paul said I don’t need glory. Don’t look at me and say look at me and do this or that for me because of who I am. Paul says we didn’t seek glory from you or others but that we only wish to please God. Paul says in his letter to the Galatians

Galatians 1:10 ESV

10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

We should not be people that seek after pleasing man. Paul says that if we are trying to please man then we are not a servant of Christ. Its a very simple statement that condemns so many when we look at it. We see so many in the church today that everything is focused on pleasing man. We turn our worship services into huge, concert like, rock shows with fog and light shows. Our worship songs have become filled with self focused lyrics instead of putting the focus on the magnificence of our creator and glorifying God. We remove songs or we don’t preach on certain passages of Scripture because it might offend someone and we don’t want to be the reason they don’t come to church. We turn the house of God into a 3 ring circus with stage shows and acrobats and dance routines that rival any show you will see in Vegas. We have wolves, standing in pulpits, pretending to be shepherds, that seek to devour the sheep by preaching a good self help Ted talk while ignoring the truth of the Bible.

The world says I need more entertainment because church is boring. No, you don’t need to be entertained, you need an encounter with God and the knowledge of the Gospel preached. The world says church is too long, it needs to be shorter. No, you need the Gospel preached and the word of God proclaimed however long God calls it to be done. If the preacher would just throw in a couple more jokes in his sermon, if the children's ministry was just bigger so we could drop our kids off and go to a movie, If the church just offered this program or that program then it would be different. We have filled our churches with so many programs that we have lost site of the Gospel. We have turned the focus of the worship service from praising and glorifying God to entertaining the masses and providing a good experience.

“The Apostle Paul was consumed with pleasing God because he knew that only God truly examines the hearts of those who serve Him…the inner self, the real person, where thought, feeling, will, and motive converge. God scrutinizes all those factors and knows with certainty whether His servants are seeking to please Him or people.” (John MacArthur New Testament Commentary)

Are you living your life to please man, or to please God? Is your focus on the things of this earth or the things of heaven? One of the things we do as a family every night now is have a time of family worship or family devotions. We read a chapter in the Bible, read one of the questions from the Catechism, read a part from the Confession of faith, and I end with reading one of the historic Christian creeds. While I was not raised memorizing the catechism, and still have not memorized it all, there is one question that I have memorized. The very first question of the Westminster Catechism, that was formed by a council of Christians in the 1600’s, is “What is the Chief End of man?” What is the purpose of why man is here on this earth. What should our life goal be, what are we supposed to focus our entire lives on….the answer the catechism gives, and all of these questions are supported by scripture. “Man’s chief end is to glorify God,”

Romans 11:36 ESV

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 6:20 ESV

20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Revelation 4:11 ESV

11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

After we are told our chief purpose in life is to glorify God, there is a comma in the statement, because this isn’t the only part of that statement, but the answer continues, “and to enjoy Him forever”

Isaiah 12:2 ESV

2 “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”

Philippians 4:4 ESV

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

Revelation 21:3–4 ESV

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

We are not just here to glorify God, but to also enjoy Him. These to go hand in hand. They aren’t two separate statement's, but they are one command in which we find the answer to everything. We get to rejoice in His great works and the love He has given to us. If we can truly grasp this then out of the overflow of the joy of the Holy Spirit in our lives will come that motivation for ministering the Gospel. Out of that comes a heart that seeks to glorify God in all things. Whether we are in good times or bad, whether we are being lifted up or we are being persecuted, whether we are surrounded by others, or abandoned by those we hold closest, God is to be glorified in our lives.

John Piper has stated the quote, “God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him.” Where is our satisfaction found? Is it found in the things we can obtain, things that are treasures on earth, things that will fade away and fall apart ,or that can be stolen, or is our satisfaction, our enjoyment found in the God of all creation. The one who has promised He will never leave us or forsake us. The one that we are told nothing can separate us from His love. Our motivation in our lives must be to glorify God and in glorifying God we find peace, contentment, and enjoyment, that this world can never understand.

CLOSING

The word Paul used in verse 1, for “in vain” (Greek kenos) can be used in two ways. It means that Pauls ministry wasn’t empty as it came to the Thessalonians. Paul did not go to the Thessalonians to take from them and make himself great, but to pour out and share the message of the Gospel. The second meaning of the word vain is “ineffective”. Pauls sharing of the Gospel was not ineffective but it was used by God to bring salvation to those that God had chosen.

We have been entrusted with the Gospel. We do not come to our friends, our families, our workplaces, our schools, with empty hands. We have a ministry that we are called to carry out. We are called to pour out the love of God and the message of the Gospel to everyone, and when we do this we are promised that it will not be ineffective. We are told in scripture that God’s word will never return void. That if we proclaim the Gospel it will never be for nothing. It will never not be effective. We can’t mess it up! It will go forth and do exactly what God has ordained it will do. We know that man is in need of a saviour. That the power of sin was great, but that through the power of the Holy Spirit, through the cross of calvary, the power that sin had over us was broken, and it can be broken over anyone else that the Father calls.

2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

We know that we have been approved by God, as His children, to go forth and proclaim the Gospel to all. It is the power of Christ at work in us that provides boldness and strength to proclaim the Gospel. We as believers should never lose that fire inside of us to proclaim the goodness of God. There is a term that is joked about called a cage stage Christian. Where a new believer, that has discovered the mercy and grace of God for the first time, is so on fire and so intent on sharing, that we almost need to lock them in a cage because they are that crazy. We joke about this, and while we share the Gospel with love, how great should the fire of God be at work in our lives, how great of a chasm and valley of death have we been saved from, that shouldn’t it be said of us we are that crazy for the sake of the Gospel. That as the roman people said of the early church, that they are the ones that have turned the world upside down. That the words of Jeremiah 20:9

Jeremiah 20:9 ESV

9 If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

should be the heart cry of every believer. The name of Jesus is so powerful that we cannot hold in proclaiming what God has done, that we who were just like the rest of the world, were saved from our sin, and entrusted with the power of the Gospel, to proclaim the news of salvation to all men.

All this to please and glorify God and make His name great among all men. To testify of the wondrous works of God and what He has done for us and what He will do for others.

“Oh then, that in speaking God’s word to men, we may please God! From Him alone this word of salvation came. By Him alone have we been entrusted with it. To Him alone, the all-seeing, infallible, impartial Judge, must we finally render our account. And on in His hand is the beaming crown, our exceeding great reward.” (John Lillie, Thessalonians, 74)

2 Timothy 4:8 ESV

8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

There is an eternal reward for those who have loved God and proclaimed the Gospel. The greatest treasure of the believer is that of the Gospel message, living and working in their life.

This is the power of the Gospel motivation. In his 95 theses Martin Luther said, “The true treasure of the church is the most holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God.” This is the treasure the world needs.

“May the ministry of the Word be approved and entrusted to offer it to the world to the glory of our gracious triune God.” (From the Pen of Pastor Paul, Pg 80)

PRAYER

Father, we thank you for the gift of salvation that you have given to us. We thank you that you have entrusted us with so great a prize, so great a treasure, as the Gospel message. I pray that Your Holy Spirit gives us boldness in our lives, that a fire is lit in our hearts and souls that burns so bright that no man can put it out, but that we loudly and boldly proclaim your grace and mercy to all we meet. Father, I pray that you would challenge us to walk in this, that Your Holy Spirit would set divine appointments in our lives daily, to share Your love to others. That as we go through our days, whether it be at work, the grocery store, the gas station, wherever we are that You will set people in our paths to minister to, and that we will be sensitive to the prompting of Your Holy Spirit to share the Gospel. To share the good news of Your love. Embolden us Holy Spirit. Fill us with the Word and the boldness to proclaim the Gospel. Let us lean on You and Your strength in our weaknesses. We thank You Father that You have entrusted us with such a priceless gift, that You have called us and chosen us, and that we get the honor to do everything we can to bring glory to You. Let us walk in the light of Your salvation, and the power of Your Spirit in all we say and do. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

BENEDICTION

1 Timothy 6:11–14 ESV

11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,