Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION:

Interest:

I almost wondered this morning whether I should ask Mark to introduce the guest speaker today.

That is a bit what it feels like to stand here after over a month away.

I must say, it is good to be back.

I am looking forward to giving you a report on my trip to Myanmar tonight in our evening service.

As we begin this morning, let me ask you, What gives you joy?

For some of you I know a few things that give you joy.

For example, I know Pastor Aaron gets joy from a fantastic golf drive.

My wife gets joy in finding a piece of Polish pottery on sale somewhere.

Several of you find joy in teasing Carl Gray.

We find joy in children and grandchildren, in good meals, in hobbies, and countless other things.

Involvement:

This morning we are going to be looking at another source of joy; a common source of joy that comes from our union with one another through the Gospel.

That is why I have entitled this message, “The Gospel Joy.”

Context:

As you all aware, it has been several weeks since we last opened the word together in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians; we are finally coming back to it this morning.

In fact, we will be picking up right in the middle of Paul’s thoughts, starting with verse 6 of chapter 3 this morning since the last time we were in the book in October we looked at the first 5 verses of the chapter.

One obvious concern that I have as we prepare to do so is that we may not all remember what was going on when we last opened this letter together.

In order to dust off the cobwebs that may have accumulated in our memories this morning, I want to begin by backing up and reading the first 5 verses of the chapter again before we look at the verses for this morning.

<read 1 Thess 3:1–5>

Maybe pulling up a map for just a moment will also help to jog your memory.

Hopefully you are beginning to recall that during his second missionary journey, Paul, along with Silas and Timothy, had proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ in Thessalonica and saw a small group of new believers form a church in that city.

Before that church could get very well established, though, Paul and the other men were forced to flee from the city under severe threat by a number of hostile Jews.

Those Jews actually went on and followed the men to Berea and forced Paul to flee on to Athens.

It was in Athens, as we just read, that Paul decided to send Timothy back to Thessalonica to check on the young believers they had left behind while he made his way on to Corinth.

We are picking up our passage with Paul in Corinth at the bottom of the map and Timothy in Thessalonica.

Preview:

As we will read in just a moment, Timothy has now returned and joined Paul, bringing a good report, a report that produces great joy in the apostle.

You see, because of the Gospel message, Paul’s life was intertwined with Timothy’s life and the lives of the Thessalonians; the gospel had linked them permenantly together.

A good word from them brings joy to Paul.

As we prepare to look at our verses this morning, the idea that I want to set before you for you to be thinking about is this: Gospel joy is produced by sharing our lives with others.

Gospel joy is produced by sharing our lives with others.

Let’s go ahead and read the verses that make up our text for this morning.

The approach we are going to take this morning is real simple; we are simply going to ask ourselves three questions.

These are not deep questions; this is not a deep sermon.

They are basic questions though that should help us think about our verses.

We are going to ask first of all, what is happening in our verses, and then we will ask two questions as to how we can benefit in our lives by understanding what was happening in these verses.

Transition from introduction to body:

Gospel joy is produced by sharing our lives with others.

Let’s begin by asking our first question,…

BODY:

I. What is happening in our verses?

We should probably start answering that question by reading our verses…<read 1 Thess 3:6-10>

On the surface, the answer to this question is not too difficult.

In fact, if you have been part of this series from the beginning you already knew the answer because I have talked about the situation several times to help us understand earlier sections in the letter.

Timothy has just rejoined Paul after his check-up trip and reported that the young believers in Thessalonica are doing great; they have not walked away from their faith in Jesus Christ at all.

In fact, other sections of the letter have already told us that this was not all; these young believers had actually expanded the gospel message from Thessalonica to others throughout a wide region.

This is the report that we are reading about in our verses that caused Paul to respond with great joy.

Transition:

Yet, I believe it is important for us to push a bit deeper and ask why this report generated such a strong response in Paul.

In order to do that we need to first of all recognize that…

A. Paul has faced a string of discouragements.

Paul’s missionary journey has not been an easy one.

He had survived a beating and night in prison in Philippi.

He faced life-threatening hostility from the Jews in Thessalonica which followed him to Berea.

He experienced loneliness in Athens.

He had spiritual oppression there as well as he saw the incredible hold that idolatry had over the people.

From the record in Acts, we know that he has not had any significant level of success in Corinth to this point either.

So far, all he has experienced in Corinth is hard work trying to earn enough money to survive through his tent-making trade.

This has not exactly been glamorous ministry.

Paul has experienced a string of disappointments.

The only minor successes he has seen in places like Thessalonica have been cut short before he ever had the chance to ground the new believers fully in their faith.

He even made the point in the last verse that we read that he wishes to see the Thessalonians again so that he could make up what was still lacking in their faith.

Until Timothy returned he had many reasons to suspect that what Timothy might find when he got back to Thessalonica would be more discouragement to add to the large pile he had accumulated; Timothy could find that the young church had disappeared back into the idolatry of the city.

Application

Folks, we need to remember that ministry is always hard and is filled with discouragement.

I find that truth talking to every person in ministry, regardless of where that person in serving in the world.

There are countless disappointments that come with the task.

And I’m not just talking about vocational ministers.

Many of you have experienced disappointment as you minster here in our church as well.

Transition:

The first thing we can observe is that Paul has faced a string of discouragements.

But, let’s also consider a second point from these verses…

B. Timothy has brought word of enduring faithfulness.

Enduring faithfulness.

Nothing is sweeter than words that the gospel seed has taken root and grown and has produced fruit in the lives of those you have ministered to.

As John says in his final letter, Third John verse 4 “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.”

That is the joy that Paul is experiencing in our verses.

Timothy has told him that his spiritual children are continuing to walk in the truth.

Not only that, but they long to see Paul again.

They have not forgotten him; they long for him with genuine affection.

This is why we find Paul overflowing with joy…gushing over himself with joy-filled emotion.

Illustration

I am sure many of us have experienced this kind of overwhelming joy.

A loved one is undergoing surgery.

We hope everything will be fine, but we also have a genuine concern that it might not be.

And we wait… Finally, the doctor comes out and tells us that all went perfectly and our loved one will be just fine.

The release of emotion causes joy to gush from us.

Paul is gushing in this fashion, but I want to make sure we notice that he is not just gushing in this letter back to the Thessalonians.

No, he tells them in verse 9 that he has gushed first and foremost in his joy to God.

After all, it is God who has allowed them to stand firm.

It is God who has given and preserved their faith.

It is God who deserves the praise and adoration for the report that Timothy has brought.

God is the ultimate focus of Paul’s joy…and he wants God to be the focus of their joy as well.

Transition:

What is happening in our verses?

Well, Paul has faced a string of discouragements, but Timothy has brought him word of enduring faithfulness in the people making up the young church in Thessalonica.

And Paul is filled with joy.

Remember: Gospel joy is produced by sharing our lives with others.