Thank God for Faithful Disciples (Pt.. 2)
I. Introduction
A. Illustration: After a distinguished performing career, virtuoso violinist Jascha Heifetz accepted an appointment as professor of music at UCLA. Asked what had prompted his change of career, Heifetz replied: “Violin playing is a perishable art. It must be passed on as a personal skill; otherwise it is lost.” We should learn from this great musician. Living the Christian life is a highly personal experience. We don’t pull it off merely by watching skilled veterans “perform.” We need hands-on instruction and we need to seek to imitate those who have received the traditions of the faith and who are passing them on to us.
B. I’ve entitled this section, “Thank God for Faithful Disciples.” This is what Paul is doing in this section. He is commending the readers for their faithfulness to follow his instruction, even in the face of his absence and their persecution.
C. Recap of last time
1. Two sections in vv. 2-10
a. Paul Mentions His Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians (v. 2a)
(1) We said that it was typical of Paul to begin his letters with thanksgiving for his readers.
(2) Then, in the next section:
b. Paul Explains His Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians (vv. 2b-10)
c. Read vv. 1-10
d. We saw that Paul expanded on this idea of giving thanks for them by explaining three aspects of it.
(1) We covered the first two aspects of their thanks for the readers—the manner and the timing (or the how and the when).
(2) He said that they gave thanks by praying for the readers (making mention of them . . .) and that they did it whenever they were remembering them before the Lord.
2. Last time the main focus was on three principles of genuine faith that Paul and the others constantly remembered about the Macedonian church:
a. Their work of faith, their labor of love, and their steadfastness of hope.
b. We learned that genuine faith produces works, and that Christian love for God and one another produces strenuous sacrifice for one another, and that biblical hope produces perseverance through trials and difficulty.
3. This week, we are going to study the third and final aspect of Paul’s thanks for the readers: the cause of their thanksgiving.
a. We find this in vv. 4-10
b. Here, Paul states that the reason he and the others constantly give thanks for them is the choosing, by God, of the Thessalonians.
c. Proposition: This morning we are going to study the three proofs that he gives for knowing that they are elect, so that we can see what an exemplary church looks like and emulate it ourselves [Rephrase].
II. Paul States the Cause of Their Giving of Thanks (vv. 4-10)
A. They Were Chosen by God (look at v. 4)
1. He begins the verse stating that they know that the readers are elect
a. This is the third “–ing” word or phrase in the paragraph.
(1) Making mention
(2) Bearing in mind
(3) Knowing
(4) These three clauses support the main clause – “We give thanks”
b. This term is used by Paul to indicate his and the others’ complete confidence that the readers were truly saved.
c. This would be such a word of encouragement to those who were enduring persecution from their own countrymen, probably even their own family members.
2. See how he addresses them: brothers, beloved by God
a. Brothers is a term carried over from the OT
(1) It indicates a close association of persons with a common interest and a well-defined membership.
Exodus 2:11: now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
2 Chronicles 28:8: The sons of Israel carried away captive of their brethren 200,000 women, sons and daughters; and they took also a great deal of spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.
(2) It indicated membership in the covenant nation
(3) Here, it refers to a familial relationship with God and others who are a part of the family
(a) Christians call God, “Father” (Matt 6:9)
1. Through repentance, faith, confession, and justification, we have been adopted as His children
Romans 8:14-17: For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
2. Only two families on earth – God’s and the devil’s:
John 8:43-47 “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”
(b) Christians call Christ, brother (turn to Romans 8:29)
Romans 8:29: For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
1. He became a man, the perfect man and was obedient to the Father’s will, even to the point of death on the cross.
2. We are in the process of being conformed to that image
a. He is the perfect man, the Second Adam
b. We are the antitype
c. This is sanctification which ultimately results in our glorification
3. Let’s not minimize the fact that He is Lord
(4) Paul considered those in the Thessalonian church to be a part of God’s family
b. Beloved of God further describes their endearing relationship to God
(1) Only time this phrase is used (though similar in 2 Th 2:13 [Beloved of the Lord]; Rom 1:7 [all who are beloved of God])
(2) Look again at Romans 8:29
(3) Those He foreknew
(a) Not those who He knew would choose Him
(b) Those He knew He would place His saving love on
1 Peter 1:20: For He (Christ) was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you
(c) The tense indicates that they have been loved in the past, and that action has a present result (having been loved by God).
(d) As one has said, “embraced once for all by the Divine love.” (Lange)
3. Let’s return to the main idea in this verse: Knowing His choice of you
a. The word choice can be translated election
b. It refers to a choosing
(1) Some see it as meaning the point in time when they were saved, when Paul and the others preached to them.
(a) This is because know one can know for sure whether someone else is elect.
(b) However, Paul would have said, “His calling you”
(2) This is the term for choosing, which would refer to God’s eternal choice of them for salvation
(a) Not a popular doctrine, but biblical nonetheless.
(b) God has chosen out of the sinful world of men, some who will be saved.
(c) This is known as divine election.
(3) As I said last week, the only person that I know for certain (and that is the key phrase) who is saved in this room is me. The rest of you are suspect.
(a) However, I can observe your conduct and compare it to the Scriptures and get a pretty good indication of whether or not you really love the Lord and are one of His children.
(b) This is the kind of confidence Paul has regarding the Thessalonians.
(c) It is a confidence based on what he has seen and heard about their response to his preaching.
(4) He has already mentioned three evidences of their faith (vv. 2b-3)
(a) Now he mentions three which give him and the others with him confidence that they are part of the elect of God.
(b) The first has to do with the nature of Paul’s preaching and the last two have to do with the response of the Thessalonians to that preaching.
So now Paul gives three evidences that, in his mind, prove the genuine faith of the readers. Here is:
B. The Evidence That They Were Chosen by God (vv. 5-10)
1. The Call of the Gospel Came in Power by the Preachers (v. 5)
a. “For” is connected to “Knowing”
b. Why are we confident that you are elect? Because, . . .
c. First, the gospel was preached powerfully by the apostles (look at v. 5)
(1) The apostle indicates that their proclamation was not just empty words
(a) They weren’t just spouting off some personal preference, some religion that they had concocted to gain followers or to make a profit.
(b) The proclamation was not just intellectual rhetoric or eloquent instruction.
(c) See 1 Cor 4:18-20
(2) Our Gospel
(a) The gospel, that is the content of the preaching by Paul and the others, is a message of a God who has reached down to sinful people and has made an offer of peace to them.
1. Gospel literally means, “good news”
2. He didn’t have to do it.
3. He could have simply judged the world in righteousness
a. But, instead, He offered an olive branch to the aggressors,
b. He offered terms of their surrender, and whoever will accept Him on His terms will be reconciled to Him, the debt forgiven, and they will become part of His family.
c. Difference between Christianity vs. all other religions
(b) Paul, however, is here emphasizing the preaching itself, rather than the content.
1. When he says, “our gospel,” he is not speaking of the true gospel over against some false gospel, or as opposed to a gospel that other apostles preached.
2. He is focusing on the proclamation and the manner in which it came.
3. The emphasis in this verse is the boldness, the clarity, the truthfulness, the persistence, the honesty, and sincerity, the lack of personal motive by the preachers.
(c) This is a prelude to chapter 2:1-14 where Paul will expand on this.
(d) The emphasis here is on the preachers. He will emphasize the readers’ response in the next two verses.
(3) Remember, they were prohibited from preaching in Asia Minor and Bithynia (Acts 16:6,7)
1. It was the Spirit who barred them
2. Paul received a vision to go to Macedonia.
3. Thus, the door was open to preach here.
(4) The next two phrases further expound upon what he means that it was powerful
(a) It came to them in the Holy Spirit
1. The qualities of boldness, etc. above, were only possible by the power of the Spirit of God.
2. There may be a power not from above, but they were motivated solely by the Spirit of God.
3. The preachers were so gripped by the Spirit that they were compelled to preach and to live out what they preached in the presence of their hearers.
(b) It came to them with conviction
1. This does not refer to the readers’ conviction, but to the preachers’ personal conviction and unfaltering confidence.
2. They preached a message that they themselves also believed, heart, mind, soul, and spirit.
3. This was confirmed in the manner of death of the apostles
a. Paul was beheaded
b. Peter was crucified upside down
c. James, brother of John, was beheaded
4. People don’t die for what they know is a lie.
5. These men fully believed what they were proclaiming to the hearers and, empowered by the Spirit, it had a profound effect upon their character.
(c) Illustration:
1. When I ask you, how was worship today? What generally comes to mind?
2. Speaking with co-workers this week about the content of the worship service.
3. When worship mentioned, “music and singing” is what immediately comes to mind.
4. But Paul did not bring choruses and hymns, as important as they are to worship. He brought the gospel, and that they proclaimed powerfully and with conviction.
(5) “Just as you know . . .”
(a) The last clause indicates to us that Paul is not speaking about the readers in the first part of the verse.
1. This phrase, “just as you know . . .” is attached to “with full conviction.”
2. It further emphasizes that they really believed what they were preaching.
3. So much so, that all the readers have to do is hearken back to how the preachers conducted themselves in their midst.
4. He calls on them and their memory of the preachers to bear witness as to their motives.
5. He does this frequently throughout the epistle (2:2, 2:5, 2:11, 3:4).
(b) They walked the walk that they preached.
1. Nothing will sour someone on a message more than one who fails to abide by what they hold others to.
2. We call this person a hypocrite.
3. This was not so with Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy.
4. They not only preached salvation in Christ and a holy life, but they strove to make it a reality in their own lives as well.
(c) Paul, possibly responding to charges made against him by the opposition (Jews and pagans in Thessalonica), adds that they were the way they were for the sake of the readers.
1. They were not out for profit, fame, or personal gain.
2. They preached and taught the gospel out of care and concern for the Thessalonians.
3. Though Paul and the others left the readers behind, the lasting effects of their work there are a testimony to them that they were not self-motivated charlatans or quacks, but men who truly had their best interests at heart.
III. Summary:
So how does this prove their election? Well, next time we will tie-in the response of the readers to the proclamation of the authors and it will make more sense. But for today, know that the right message, proclaimed with the right method, and inspired by the right motivation has the power to change lives for eternity.
1. The Message of the Gospel Was Received in Faith by the Readers (vv. 6-7)
2. The Report of Others about the Apostles and the Readers (vv. 8-10)
1. The transformation that the readers experienced was due to the convicting work of God through His Spirit
a. God has chosen to save men and women by the combination of preaching and the work of His Spirit in their hearts.
b. Rom 1:16 – I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek
c. 1 Cor 2:11-16 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.