Sermon Tone Analysis

What’s your secret?

I have been asked that question a lot recently.

I have been asked that question by strangers, by family members, by other pastors, and by people here in this church.

What is your secret?

Secret about what?

Well over the last year and a half I have determined that I needed to loose some weight.

And I have had some success in this area- I have almost lost seventy pounds.

And when you loose almost an entire person’s worth of weight people notice and they come up to you and they ask- “What is your secret?”

What is the secret formula that you have discovered that has let you loose all that weight?

Do you know what I tell them?

I say, “shhh... don’t tell anyone else- it’s diet and exercise.”

Who knew right?

And then people think about my answer for a second or two, and they say something like this- “You know it’s more of a lifestyle change than anything right?”

And I say, “Yes, that’s right.”

Everyone wants to know the secret formula and the next diet fad, but ultimately it really comes down to a change in your mindset, a change in the culture of your life and your thinking, it comes down to a change in your disposition.

A lot of Christians treat their spiritual life exactly like this.

They know that spiritually they are not in the best of shape, and so they desperately seek for the latest secret- the latest book, or the latest program, or the latest spiritual post going around on Facebook.

But the truth is- there is no secret formula!

It’s is really more of a lifestyle change, a change in your thinking, your culture, your disposition.

Take the Great Commission for example.

We all know we need to get into spiritual shape when it comes to making disciples in our Jerusalem.

Let me ask you this, besides Jesus, who was the best disciple maker in the NT?

Most of us would probably immediately think of the Apostle Paul?

Wouldn’t it be great if you were as good at making disciples for Jesus as the Apostle Paul was? Do you think that anyone could ever be that good again?

Some of us are tempted to think, “NO! Paul was an apostle.

I am not an apostle therefore I can never be that good.

I don’t have the same magic or secret formula for making disciples as the Apostle Paul did.” Well what does Scripture say about this idea?

Look with me at I Thessalonians 2:5-6

Now think about what Paul is telling the believers in Thessolonica.

The example of the church in Thessolonica is perhaps the greatest example of successfully doing the Great Commission in the entire Bible.

It is the model of what doing the Great Commission should look like.

Let me say that again- It is the most successful example we have in all of Scripture.

Let that truth sink it.

How was Paul able to be so successful?

Paul, “What is your secret?”

Well- Paul tells us.

First he tells us what it wasn’t.

The “secret” to his success in winning souls for Christ and making them into disciples of Jesus was NOT:

Flattering Words

Pretext of Greed

Glory of men

As apostles of Christ

Think about that last one- Paul says in effect, we did not throw our weight around as apostles of Christ.

In other words- it was not the office of apostleship that was the “secret” to their success.

If fact it had nothing to do with the Great Commission work that took place there in the church.

So what was it?

Paul- tell us your secret!

Well, there is no secret formula, there’s no pill, or program, or plan that magically produces these kinds of results.

In fact it’s really more a lifestyle change, its a change in your thinking, in the culture of your life, it is a change in your disposition.

What is this disposition?

Paul explained to the Thessalonian believers the reason for his success in making disciples, in doing the Great Commission was the mindset of a nursing mother for her own children.

Folks, I am here today to tell you that you can be just as successful a disciple maker as the Apostle Paul.

And you don’t need to know the latest secret formula, what you need is a change in your disposition- you need the mindset of a nursing mother for her own children.

How do we get that kind of mindset?

Paul tells us in vv.

7-9.

I.

We need to carefully think through Paul’s illustration (v.

7)

ἀλλʼ ἐγενήθημεν ⸀νήπιοι ἐν μέσῳ ὑμῶν.

BUT we became gentle among you

ὡς ἐὰν τροφὸς

as if a nursing mother

θάλπῃ τὰ ἑαυτῆς τέκνα*,

might tenderly care for her own child,

BUT (strong contrast)- NOT APOSTLESHIP, that was not the key to our success

What was the key?

We were- we became (state of being) / we proved to be gentle among you-

Gentle- kind toward someone

Among- in the midst of you

How exactly were you gentle?

Simile- AS IF a nursing mother, not just a nurse, but we supply the idea of mother because this nurse in the original language is said to:

θάλπῃ τὰ ἑαυτῆς τέκνα*,

might tenderly care for her own child,

So, let’s think through this simile.

How gentle is a nursing mother to her own child?

How much tender care does a nursing mother have for her own child?

Well, a picture is worth a thousand words right?

Moms- this is why we celebrate mother’s day- no one is more gentle, more tender, no one cares for us more deeply than our mothers.

And we honor you for that love.

Don’t you find it strange that the Apostle Paul attributes his success in making disciples of the Thessalonian believers to having the mindset of a nursing mother for her own children?

If Paul was here now and he was up here teaching a seminar on Biblical Disciple Making is this what you would expect to hear come out of his mouth?

You want to be successful at reaching lost people for Christ and making them into disciples of Jesus?

Well, first you need the mindset, the disposition of gentleness, tenderness, care- just like a nursing mother for her own child.

Weird right?

Folks, How do we get this kind of mindset?

How do we change the entire culture of our thinking to better model the Apostle Paul?

II.

We must carefully think through Paul’s application (v.

8)

Paul didn’t love the Thessalonians exactly like a nursing mother- that would be weird.

It’s an illustration.

It’s like the gentle tender care of a mother, but not exactly like it.

If we want to develop this kind of mindset, this kind of disposition or this kind of culture in our lives then we need to carefully think through how the love that Paul had for them actually played out in his ministry.

What exactly did this kind of mindset produce in Paul’s disciple-making ministry?

Well, Paul tells us in v. 8

8 οὕτως ⸀ὁμειρόμενοι ὑμῶν ⸁

Having so fond an affection for you

To have a strong yearning, long for τινός someone

εὐδοκοῦμεν μεταδοῦναι ὑμῖν οὐ μόνον τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ

we were willing- better delighted/well pleased

So this fond affection caused Paul to be well pleased to do what/

to share with you not only the gospel of God

ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ψυχάς,

BUT also our very lives (souls)

διότι ἀγαπητοὶ ἡμῖν ⸀1ἐγενήθητε*.

Because you became very dear (beloved) to us.

So Paul’s disposition, his mindset of the gentle tender care of a nursing mother for her own child, cause Paul to do two things in the lives of these Thessalonians.

He shared the gospel with them- Paul had such a love / or a fond affection for these people, not only did he give the gospel, but he was well pleased, he was delighted to give them the gospel.

It wasn’t a chore, it wasn’t something that someone had to twist his arm to do- we was well pleased to give them the gospel.

Do you delight in giving people the gospel?