Sermon Tone Analysis

Recently I watched a video where a parent was asked the question, “if you could see into the future and find out just one thing what would it be?”

Without hesitation that parent replied, “I would want to know if my child’s life turns out OK.”

They did not say, “I want to know the winning lottery numbers” or “I want to know the cure to cancer.”

What was foremost on their mind was the well being of their child.

I have six boys and not a day goes by where I don’t think about their well being.

Often times I think about, and I wonder, and I pray for their futures.

What kind of men will they become?

What kind of families will they raise?

What kind of impact will they make for Jesus?

What kind of impact will they make for the gospel?

The older I get, the more I realize that I have so very little time to spend with my kids.

I have such a short time to influence their lives in such a way that they actually become mature in their faith and in their walk with Christ, so that they are ready to go out into the world and replicate their own faith in the lives of others, not least of which, hopefully, their own families.

In other words, my heart longing is to impact not only my generation for Christ, but my sons generation, and their sons generation.

I want a lasting impact, a lasting legacy for the gospel.

How in the world does one go about doing that?

One of my greatest fears is voiced by Moses in Deut 4

Eventually, my children will leave the nest, they will venture out on their own.

What happens if they corrupt themselves?

What happens if they allow a spiritual idol to creep into their lives, and they waste their lives away?

How do you prevent that from happening?

What I want instead is a Deut 6.1-2 outcome.

What I want is an Eph 3.21 outcome

Dads, how do we reach our kids generation, and their kids generation, and for generations to come?

How do we have that kind of impact on our families?

How can we ensure that, should the Lord tarry, our great-great-great-great grand children will be passionate disciples for Christ?

These questions for dads lead to similar kinds of questions for our church:

Faith Baptist Church, how do we reach our Jerusalem, how do we reach our current generation?

How do we ensure that for generation after generation after generation, should the Lord tarry, that God will be glorified in this church?

How do we ensure that we leave behind a multi-generation impact for the gospel of Jesus Christ?

In other words, how do we become the kind of disciple-makers that God wants us to be?

Paul explained to the Thessalonian believers that what enabled him to be so successful a disciple-maker was genuine relationships as a father with his own children.

Fathers and fellow believers of Faith Baptist Church, if we are to be successful disciple-makers, then we must cultivate genuine relationships as a father with his own children.

What needs to take place for that to happen?

What would we need to do, practically, to put into place that kind of disciple-making into place in our homes and in our church?

I. Every believer needs a Christlike spiritual mentor to pattern their lives after (v.

10)

If you remember back to mother’s day we looked at the passage just before v. 10, where Paul credited the success of his gospel witness to the tender caring heart of a nursing mother.

I think one of the key ideas in v. 9 is that as they labored and travailed along side of the Thessalonians, working night and day, they developed relationships with the people, and out of those growing relationships God gave Paul and his associates the tender loving heart of a nursing mother.

Eventually, as they worked alongside of the Thessalonians and in the midst of the Thessalonians, all the while Paul was preaching unto them the gospel, and eventually, these people trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior.

They became believers.

This transition seems to take place from v. 9 to v. 10.

In v.9 Paul is preaching to them the gospel.

And in v. 10 he is talking to those that believed.

So think about this, Paul wins these people to Jesus.

And he did it in such a way that he has already developed deep personal relationships with them.

Now, how does Paul’s ministry toward these believers progress?

Does he say, well your saved now, my work is done.

See ya later!

No way!

He continues to teach them, he continues to work with them, actual doing the work of making disciples.

What does Paul’s disciple-making ministry look like?

In v. 10 Paul talks about his behavior.

Why does Paul talk about his behavior?

Because it provides measurable evidence of Paul’s own growth toward Christlikeness.

10 ὑμεῖς μάρτυρες καὶ ὁ θεός*,

You are witnesses and so is God,

ὡς ὁσίως

how devoutly (holy)

καὶ δικαίως

and uprightly (justly)

καὶ ἀμέμπτως

and blamelessly

ὑμῖν τοῖς ⸀πιστεύουσιν ἐγενήθημεν*,

we behaved toward you believers,

Paul uses three descriptive words/adverbs to help us get a picture of behavior .

Holily- This is not the normal word for holiness.

This word speaks to the way people conformed to what was ordained or permitted by deity.

Probably the best way to translate this word is that Paul acted piously.

There was true genuine spirituality within Paul that caused him to live exactly the way Christ wanted him to live.

Paul was the real deal.

He was a genuine mature disciple of Jesus Christ.

That genuineness about Paul came from an inward disposition of delight and conviction and eagerness to spend his life for Jesus and for the gospel.

One person recently described exactly what living piously feels like.

Think about the new believer in Christ as a small candle.

It is burning, but left on its own it will dwindle and flicker and never grow beyond a small flame.

Now think of someone like Paul, a mature believer in Christ.

If a new believer is like a candle, Paul would be like a raging bonfire.

All you have to do is get close to him, and naturally you fell like you are on fire for Christ and for the gospel.

There is an inner piety that can’t be faked.

I have also heard of this described as an intoxicating aroma.

You get around someone who is a mature believer in Christ and there is a pleasing aroma of the gospel and of Jesus Christ.

In other words, there is a genuineness to their testimony, there is a depth to their relationship, there is strength to their testimony.

There is inward devotion to God, that is inward piety.

It is something that only God can cultivate and only comes from genuine growth toward Christlikeness.

It is a result of the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit called sanctification were-by one actually practically becomes like Christ.

That person is like a bonfire because they radiate Christ because they have become practically more like Christ.

They give off an aroma of Christ because they personally have become just like Him in some small way.

Paul said, you are witnesses, you and God- how we behaved- holily/devoutly/piously.

Justly- to quality of character, thought, or behavior, correctly, justly, uprightly

This is a justice term, a legal courtroom term-

The thief on the cross uses this term for himself:

Suffering correctly or deservedly, our suffering is upright or just.

God is said to judge uprightly or fairly.

Here when Paul uses it to describe his behavior, the idea is everything about his life had become upright or correct or that which was deserving of the inward transformation that had taken place.

Because there was genuine Christlike practical transformation taking place, because there was really spirituality in Paul- his behavior became transformed to such a degree that its quality was nothing less than upright.

Not perfect.

But there was a genuine notable difference in Paul’s character, his thought, and his behavior.

As there should be an any believer who has grown unto some level of maturity.

Again, not perfection!

Nobody is perfect.

But because of Jesus Christ and the work of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit there was a difference in Paul and justifiably so.

Unblameably: blamelessly.

Used esp. in the Gr-Rom.

world of people of extraordinary civic consciousness-Fill the role of an office blamelessly.

Paul’s behavior in his role of fulfilling the great commission in the lives of the Thessalonians was so complete that he was blameless/ above reproach.

No one could save of Paul that he was not disciple of Christ, nor could they save that he did not strive to make disciples of Jesus Christ.