Paul's Defense

1 Thessalonians 2:1–5 CSB

For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our visit with you was not without result. On the contrary, 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. For our exhortation didn’t come from error or impurity or an intent to deceive. 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. For we never used flattering speech, as you know, or had greedy motives—God is our witness—

1 Thessalonians 2:1–5 CNVT

弟兄們，你們都知道，我們進到你們那裡，並不是白費工夫的。我們從前在腓立比雖然受了苦，又被凌辱，可是靠著我們的　神，在強烈的反對之下，仍然放膽向你們述說　神的福音，這是你們知道的。我們的呼籲，不是錯謬的，不是污穢的，也沒有詭詐。相反地，　神既然考驗過我們，把福音委託給我們，我們就傳講，不像是討人歡心的，而是討那察驗我們心思的　神的喜悅。我們從來不說奉承的話，這是你們知道的，　神可以作證，我們並沒有藉故起貪心，

INTRO

In 2005 I got invited to a business meeting by my brother. People say never do business with family, but I went anyway. My brother said this business was an opportunity for us to make a lot of money. We drove up to the house and I walked into a living room, not full of business men, but regular people and a nicely dressed guy writing on a whiteboard. He was passionate. HE was explaining how we all have an opportunity to make a lot of money. If we would sell these products, like energy drinks, but then recruited other people to sell them too, then the more people we would recruit the more money we would make. I looked around the room and everyone was getting so excited. This is what is called a pyramid scheme. Where it’s only good for the people at the top. Everyone else loses. Paul is being accused of doing similar. People are accusing Paul of only coming to Thessalonica to get something the church. They are accusing Paul of using the Gospel and Jesus for his own profit.

As reach chapter 2 Paul begins to defend his character. This important for us to hear, because the church has been accused of doing this many times. Of using people just for our own profit, of abusing our power for own benefit. Paul comes and shows us what it looks like to be people above reproach. He is going to defend himself in two ways. In regards to his message: he was a faithful steward. In regards to his actions: he was a faithful servant.

Let’s jump in.

A Faithful Steward忠實的管家

God has done something for us that enabled us to be a faithful steward. Number 1.

A FAITHFUL STEWARD忠實的管家 IS:

1. Emboldened BY GOD放膽述說

Emboldened by God to speak

To speak what?

The Gospel: Paul says that God gave them a supernatural boldness to speak the Gospel. Sometimes we need all the boldness we can just to speak. Scott was sharing this recently and noted how Paul says later in Ephesians, he asks the church to pray that he would open my mouth, there are times moments where we need the boldness of God to just open our mouths. That’s one of the hardest things to do is to start the conversation! Going out to share the Gospel, any excuse seems like a good one at the moment.Satan gives us so many reasons why we shouldn’t open our mouths and talk. Our fears tell us so many reasons why we shouldn’t. Satan doesn’t want you to share the Gospel! He wants us to stay silent. How many of us have thought about sharing the Gospel or talking with our friends about Jesus and we get pumped up excited thinking through all the things we are going to say, but then when we see our friend, we freeze. It’s like the “Words just won’t come out”.

I don’t know one person who doesn’t have some sort of fear when it comes to sharing the Gospel. The bible is full of people like us. Abraham was afraid to confront the king, Moses was afraid to confront Pharaoh, David was afraid running from Saul, Elijah was afraid to confront the Queen. Paul himself struggled with fear. But praise God, God emboldens the weak, He strengthens the strong, He comforts the weary! There is a supernatural boldness that God gives us to speak the Gospel. We need this! God gives us the boldness we need.

Paul defends the message.

Our message did not come from these 3 things

1)error 錯謬的

Our Gospel wasn’t false. There are false Gospels. There are message that might be about Christ, but are not the Gospel. Any Gospel message that doesn’t put forth a sinless Savior, dying in our place for our sins, rising again bodily victorious over death and is coming again is a false Gospel. Paul says this about people who preach a false Gospel:

Galatians 1:8 CSB

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him!

Galatians 1:8

Galatians 1:8 CNVT

但無論是我們，或是從天上來的使者，如果傳給你們的和我們以前傳給你們的福音不同，他就該受咒詛。

Paul was being accused of sharing a false message. But 3 times in this text, Paul describes the Gospel as God’s Gospel. Did you know that the Gospel is God’s message? It is not a message that we came up with. It is not man’s message. Praise God for that, because there is no way that any human would come up with a message as incredible as the Gospel! A divine message that declares mercy for the guilty, forgiveness for the sinner, and a Savior who suffered for us.

Paul says listen critics, our message was not false, because it’s not our message, as stewards, we speak God’s Gospel.

A FAITHFUL STEWARD忠實的管家 IS:

1. Emboldened BY GOD放膽述說

2. Approved and Entrusted By God考驗，委託

“just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak” 相反地，神既然考驗過我們，把福音委託給我們，我們就傳講，不像是討人歡心的，而是討那察驗我們心思的　神的喜悅。

Approved means to be tested. Every disciple will be examined, ever leader in the church will be examined by God. In God’s kingdom there are no self-appointed leaders.

The word entrusted means: to have someone place something in your care. God has put something put in Paul’s care.

2 Corinthians 4:7 CSB

Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.

2 Corinthians 4:7 CNVT

我們有這寶貝在瓦器裡，是要顯明這極大的能力是屬於　神，不是出於我們。

What is that treasure that Paul is talking about? What has been entrusted to Him by God? The Gospel! The knowledge of Christ. The power of the Gospel.

What is Paul saying? He doesn’t speak flippantly about God, HE doesn’t use the Gospel for his own selfish advantage, he doesn’t speak falsely about the Gospel. He doesn’t try and sew doubt into people’s hearts and minds. Paul doesn’t play games with the Gospel. (There are some leaders and christians who do. They like to be on this “process” you we are always learning more and more and more and more, and we want greater revelation other than the Gospel. These are people who the bible describes as “always learning but never arriving to the truth”. To Paul, the Gospel is a treasure he has been entrusted with.

I’m not sure how many of you have seen TV shows like “Fixer Upper” or “Flip This House”. Shows where people take a house that needs fixing. They go in and gut the walls, and rip out the plumbing, and the buyers will sit and explain what they want here, or they like this color better, or they would rather have wood floors, or something else. How many times have treated the Gospel this ? God has given us this treasure, and churches have gutted the cross out of the Gospel, people have added something else to the Gospel. But Paul says the Gospel is not a fixer upper, it is not a DIY project, it is a treasure, that we’ve been entrusted with. The Gospel doesn’t need us to dress it up or to take things out, we need to speak the Gospel and let is display the power of Jesus! Do we see the Gospel as a treasure? We’ve been entrusted by God with this treasure.

So Paul says because he had been emboldened by God and entrusted by God, he spoke to please God. Not man.

A FAITHFUL STEWARD忠實的管家 IS:

1. Emboldened BY GOD放膽述說

2. Approved and Entrusted By God考驗，委託

3. Speak to Please God 不像是討人歡心的，而是討那察驗我們心思的　神的喜悅

“we speak NOT TO PLEASE PEOPLE BUT TO PLEASE GOD!”

1)Paul reminds the Thessalonians when we stood before you and we shared the gospel with you, we didn’t speak or share stories primarily to please people, we were first concerned with how does God feel about this? Not what will people think, but what does God think? Our first priority is pleasing God.

In any sermon you hear, in any book that you read, your number one concern is NOT how does this make you feel, or what do I think about this, BUT WHAT DOES GOD THINK ABOUT THIS BOOK, WHAT DOES GOD THINK ABOUT THIS SERMON, THIS MESSAGE.

A.W. Tozer said

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us”. Ask them this.

What is meant to drive our lives is not thoughts about what people might think, but what does God think? What does God say? Our world now is obsessed and is getting rich by living for the approval of man. People live and die to gain approval from people. People compromise their beliefs to be accepted.

“If you live for people's acceptance, you'll die from their rejection.”

You’ve been given boldness by God, entrusted a treasure by God, not to live your life in the fear of man or to please people, but to please God.

A FAITHFUL STEWARD忠實的管家 IS:

1. Emboldened BY GOD放膽述說

2. Approved and Entrusted By God考驗，委託

3. Speak to Please God 不像是討人歡心的，而是討那察驗我們心思的　神的喜悅

4. Examined by God

“who examines our hearts”

God is a God who not only only examines what we say, but why we say it. He doesn’t examine what we do, but why we do it. There is someone who sees and knows not only everything we do, or everything we say, but even the motives of our hearts. Paul says as a faithful steward of the Gospel God isn’t just looking at what I say, that’s important, but WHY I AM SAYING IT! He sees the message and he sees the motive.

God sees it all. God knows right now, that my motives even as I stand here are not perfect. I wish they were. But God knows that there is part of my heart that does seek approval, He knows that as much as I desire to come and speak for Him alone, I’m often tempted to speak for the praise of man.

THE DANGER ABOUT this is that, You don’t see it, you don’t notice it, people don’t see the motives of our hearts, but God does. You can trick people but you can’t trick God. To be a faithful steward means being examined by God. This is a good thing.

There is a story of man who was changing and his wife noticed this little spot on his back. He had seen it several times but didn’t think much of it. Just brushed it off. So he went to the doctor and as the doctor examined it, they found out it was skin cancer. A serious type of skin cancer. This is the examination process of God. He examines dangerous areas of our hearts that we make excuses for or are just simply not aware. We are being examined by God.

Paul reminds us that we’ve been given boldness by God, entrusted by God, to please God, and are being examined by God SO that we can be a faithful steward of God.

Paul continues and says I was not only a faithful steward of the Gospel, but I was also a faithful servant to you. MY actions backed up my words. He’s telling everyone, listen I practiced what I preached.

A Faithful Servant忠實的僕人

As Christ’s apostles: Paul had the right to claim authority over this church. He had authority to throw his weight around. The word “burden” here means the importance that bears heavily on people. We didn’t come and throw our weight around. We didn’t come and say “roll out the red carpet, welcome us the apostles of Christ” we didn’t make you call us “bishop this or bishop that”. I have know ministry leaders who would not accept a speaking invitation unless the church would fly them first class. That’s being a burden.

Paul said, as Christ’s apostles, we could have been a weight to you, instead we were:

1)gentle as a nurse nurtures her own children. Any of you have newborns? What happens? Your whole life changes. You are on their schedule, basically your life has to bend towards their need. Let’s be honest it’s not always awesome. It’s late nights early mornings, one step forward then two steps backwards. Basically you have the stronger one making all the effort to accomodate to the weaker one, the one in need, SO THAT THEY MIGHT GROW, so they might mature! This is what Paul is saying, that in our strength we became weak and gentle to serve you.

Now why would Paul do this? Why would a man who used to be a tyrant to the church who used to drag off men and women to prison, now describe himself as “gentle, like a nursing mother”. I don’t know any guy who would describe himself like a mom who nurses her own kids.

“we cared so much for you” “you became dear to us”. God had done a miracle in Paul’s heart so that.

“What is dear to God became dear to Paul. “what God loves, Paul grew to love.”

“because you became dear to us”.

Church let me ask you, is what is dear to God, dear to you? This word dear means beloved. The church is God’s beloved. As broken and as sinful as the church may be, which is all of us, the church is still God’s beloved. I hear people say all the time, I love God, I love Jesus, but I don’t love the church. If we truly loved God, then what is dear to God, would be dear to us! I bet if I talked about my wife the way we talk about the church sometimes, there would be some serious issues! The bible says that the church is God’s bride. His beloved. You right now, if you are in Christ, in all of your flaws, in all of your sins, God sees it all, are still His beloved. What was dear to God became dear to Paul.

Because of this, we served you, not just by sharing a message, but by sharing our lives.

“their very souls”. Really intimate.

Some of us in here we see that and it scares us to death. Some of us in here see that and say oh yes I love sharing my soul with people. We have people who it takes a long time before they share anything with you and we have people who are sharing their souls with the cashier at family mart! What does it look like for CityLight to share our lives together? Faithful servants:

Let’s see:

FOR, you remember and you witnessed. You remember and you witnessed. Witnessed what?

Their walk and their words. We want to pay attention to these two things.

1.Their walk他們的行為

1 Thessalonians 2:10 CSB

You are witnesses, and so is God, of how devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly we conducted ourselves with you believers.

1 Thessalonians 2:10 CNVT

我們對你們信的人是多麼聖潔、公義、無可指摘，這是你們和　神都可以作證的。

These three words Paul uses here, none of them mean perfection. There is only one person who perfectly lived the Christian life and that’s Jesus. But Paul says that the way we lived our life was in a way that people couldn’t bring any accusation against their character.You observed all of these things. We didn’t keep our lives hidden from you. Remember Paul was suffering, was going through persecution at this time. When it comes to sharing our lives with each other, suffering or hardship should not keep us from doing that. Suffering and hardship will either push us into isolation or push into community. I know for me, when I am going through something difficult, when I am struggling with my own sin, sometimes the last thing I want to do is call a brother up and say “hey man, this is really hard for me!” Ever since Adam and Eve we as humans are really good at hiding and covering up when we feel weak. But Paul reminds us that suffering and hardship should not keep you us from sharing our lives with each other. God wants to use you in someone else’s life even in the midst of your pain.

If the apostles of Jesus shared their lives, we need to as well! We never reach a point in our walk with Jesus where we don’t need this. This doesn’t happen in the comfort of our seats on Sunday afternoon, but it happens in the trenches of life from Monday to Saturday. Now we all have our different capacities: I’m not saying if you are a mom of 4 kids you can live your life like a single person, nor would I expect a single person to begin to….? What Scripture is calling us to is a type of love for each other that pushes us into relationship with each other. People are not waiting for gold nuggets of truth to fall out of your mouth, sometimes they just want to be with you or your family and just observe, not how perfect your family is, but how do you handle the stress and weariness of life! For us who are parents, this is what our kids need to see. What our kids need most is not a perfect Sunday school, a perfect youth group, the perfect teacher, they need to be able to remember and witness parents who love Jesus. As one pastor said once “my people’s greatest need is my personal holiness”. The church witnessed this in Paul’s walk with Christ, even in suffering.

Their words:

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 2

As you know, like a father with his own children, 12 we encouraged, comforted, and implored

聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版） 第2章

12 勸勉你們，鼓勵你們，叮囑你們

Each one of you, Paul says. No one was left out of this encouragement. This is what sharing our souls looks like. We share our walk together, but also our words. We were walking alongside of you and encouraging each of you to walk.

Last year our kids school had an olympic day. I love my kids and they are really passionate, but sometimes they sign up for events that are a little too much for them. My middle son Hudson signed up for a longer race, no training, just signed up and said I’m gonna do the longest one. Sounds like something I would do honestly. But I watched and Hannah was on the inside of the track, and as the gun blew, Hudson took off fast at first, but then he started to slow, and Hannah began to run beside him, telling him “come on! You go this!” “I’m here with you running beside you!” I was so blessed as a dad, those aren’t always the words that are spoken between them. I thought what a picture of what Pauls tells us here. Running alongside each other and when we feel weak encouraging each other, calling each other to run the good race. You can never encourage someone too much. If the thought comes in your mind, “ I should encourage that person” go do it! Don’t wait. The bible tells us to do today right now.

God wants to use your walk and your words to serve the church.

Paul says I was not only a faithful steward of the Gospel, but I was a faithful servant to the church. What I preached with my mouth was revealed in my actions. Our lives in private should not be contradictory to our lives in public.

CONCLUSION

‘walk worthy of God who calls you” 要你們行事為人，配得上那召你們進入他的國和榮耀的　神。

He who calls you. God calls you right now, messed up motives and all. He calls you in the midst of your suffering, in the midst of your discomfort, in the midst of your confusion to walk worthy for Him. To walk as a faithful steward and faithful servant! And we know that Scripture says that He who calls will finish that which He started.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 CSB

He who calls you is faithful; he will do it.

聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版） 第5章

那呼召你們的是信實的，他必成就這事

We can be faithful stewards and faithful servants because our God is faithful God.