Woes to the Teachers of the Law

Scripture Reading

Luke 11:45–54 NIV84

45 One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.” 46 Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them. 47 “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them. 48 So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. 49 Because of this, God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’ 50 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all. 52 “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.” 53 When Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, 54 waiting to catch him in something he might say.

Introduction

This week, we turn our attention to the words that Jesus brings to a “Teacher of the Law”, or an “Expert in the Law.” You will recall from our study in Scripture last week that Jesus had been invited to visit with a Pharisee in his house. Jesus had accepted the invitation, and went in and sat down for the meal, but hadn’t washed his hands according to the Jewish ceremonial requirements. Those were no God-given requirements, but rather they formed part of the traditions that were handed down by the Jewish Elders.

This shocked the Pharisee, but when he expressed that shock to Jesus, Jesus responded to him by pronouncing a series of woes upon the Pharisees. Jesus certainly didn’t mince his words. Rather, he outright told the Pharisee that him and those like him were in serious danger, since they did much of what they did in pride of heart. They cared little for people around them, espeically for those who were needy. They placed burdens on these people.

It’s that precise context that introduces our current passage. Jesus has just finished saying these words, pronouncing these woes upon the Pharisees, when a Scribe takes offense at what he’s saying, and decides it’s best to let Jesus know that he’s actually upsetting them by what he’s saying.

Luke 11:45 NIV84

45 One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”

It’s almost as if the Scribe thinks that by confronting Jesus, he can help him to see that his words are out of place, and that he must think a little more carefully about what he’s saying.

Now, we need to understand that this person that confronted Jesus was an “Expert in the Law.” That’s the NIV rendition of the word there. Some translations have it as a “Lawyer.” But the fact is, this man was well trained in reading and writing, and that would have been applied to the study of various subject matters.

The Experts in the law were not limited to Jews.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Background

Unlike the Pharisees or the Sadducees, scribes were not confined to Israel. The scribal tradition in Israel has its roots in the ancient Near Eastern civilization. Scribes worked in a variety of realms, including religious, political, judicial, economic, and social. Jewish scribes may have been employed in additional occupations, including:

• copying manuscripts;

• teaching and interpreting the Torah and other Jewish literature;

• working in the temple, royal court, or administration;

• being a political advisor or diplomat;

• working with ancient sciences;

• functioning as wise sages, elders, judges, or as members of the Sanhedrin;

• writing letters and documents for the kingdom, businesses, and private households.

In summary, these men were highly regarded, highly educated members of society. They would have been well respected among their peers.

In this sense, the Scribe probably felt the sting of Christ’s words against the Pharisee, because the Scribes also liked the kind of things the Pharisees liked, and probably sought the same kind of praise of man that was typical of the Pharisees.

But coming back to our text, we find that the restrained rebuke of the Scribe toward Jesus didn’t achieve his expected goal. Instead, Jesus used this as an opportunity to pronounce a series of woes upon the Scribes themselves. And once again, Jesus pronounces three different woes upon this group of people as a whole.

The first woe relates to the fact that these men were…

1. Creators of Burdens (v.46)

In verse 46 we read…

Luke 11:46 NIV84

46 Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.

Jesus here denounces the Scribes / experts in the law because they would load the people of Israel with burdens that were exceedingly heavy to carry.

These burdens that are spoken of here were quite simply the various man-made rules and regulations that they would put in place. While they certainly claimed to have taken these requirements from God’s law, they were in fact never required by God. These religious leaders had taken things too far. They had thought out, considered and then applied practical expressions of God’s law as they saw good, but then made their own practical outworking of the law of God the standard by which everyone had to live.

Thus it was no longer the law of God, but the rules and regulations of men. Some examples of this are found in Scripture.

Luke 6:1 NASB95

1 Now it happened that He was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath; and His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating the grain.

Now, because this was done on the Sabbath, these experts in the law had said that this was reaping and threshing, and thus was to be considered work. Jesus denounced this way of thinking. It certainly wasn’t what they claimed it to be.

On another account (found in Luke 6:6-11) we find that Jesus healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath, and he was rebuked for doing work on the Sabbath day. Their rule and regulation was that you were not allowed to heal someone on the Sabbath day, unless their life was in danger. If you healed them, it was considered work, and you were breaking the Sabbath law.

These were the various kinds of things that the Scribes and other religious leaders put in place, and they placed heavy burdens on the people. And Jesus says to them here that these burdens ought not to be placed ont he shoulders of His people.

But notice what Jesus says further in this case. He tells the Scribe that they themselves will not lift one finger to help them. The big concern, apart from the fact that the experts in the law were burdening the people with rules and regulations that God didn’t require, was that they had no heart for helping the people of God to keep the law that he did require them to do.

In the other words these were men that were aloof and removed from the people. They set themselves up on a pedestal, placed burdens on the people, and they themselves, being experts in the law, would have easily found loopholes for themselves in order to not allow their own laws to be a burden to them. They would fail to keep their own rules themselves (cf. Mat 23:3).

Here were men, so-called experts in the law, but they lacked a love for God’s people, and burdened them rather than simply taught them the ways of God.

But notice the next woe pronounced upon them, as Christ declares them to be...

2. Killers of Prophets (vv.47-51)

In verses 47 we read…

Luke 11:47 NIV84

47 “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them.

Just a brief remark on this verse. In that day, it was common for the people to build tombs for the proper burial of various people. Or they would build tombs in memory of those people. Alternatively, they would simply redocorate and make these tombs look beautiful. Very often, they would do this as a way of claiming to honour the people gone before them.

This seems to have been the case with the Experts in the law. They would have been building these tombs with the view to honour the prophets from their history. They would also claim that they would never have done what their fathers did. We see this in the parallel account in Matthew...

Matthew 23:29–31 NASB95

29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 “So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

There was evidently some claim by these Experts in the law that they would never have killed the prophets that their fathers killed. And in order to try and demonstrate that they were innocent, they would perform this superficial act of “kindness” to the prophets in order to distance themselves from what their fathers did.

What did Jesus think of their efforts to distance themselves from the acts of their fathers? In Christ’s eyes, their acts were merely acts performed before men in order to impress them. Nonetheless, their guilt remained...

Luke 11:48 NIV84

48 So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.

Christ simply says to them that they are joining in with their forefathers. By building the tombs for the prophets, they are condoning the works of their fathers. Christ doesn’t allow them to use this superficial act of building a tomb to get them off the hook.

Note what Jesus goes on to say in verse 49…

Luke 11:49 NIV84

49 Because of this, God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’

There is a flow in into this verse from the previous verse. Verse 49 begins with the phrase, “Because of this...” or “For this reason...” The woe that Jesus pronounces upon them flows out of the fact that they join hands with their forefathers who killed the prophets. We will see some more detail on precisely why this is in a moment.

But we also see that Christ declares that this was “the wisdom of God.”

The first thing that we must note from that statement was that none of this was outside of God’s sovereign planning and will. He knew what would happen. He knew that when His prophets were sent, they would be put to death by the leaders of Israel.

In this verse, Jesus talks about the “prophets and apostles” that were sent. These were the people that were sent with the very words of God in order to declare His words to His people.

When we read “apostles” here, we shouldn’t think necessarily only of the Apostles of Christ, namely the 12. Rather, he is speaking generally of those sent by God. That’s the meaning of the word “apostle.” It is thus including all those who would be sent by God.

In Matthew’s account, it’s recorded that Jesus spoke of “prophets and wise men and Scribes.” So Christ is speaking here about having sent his various representatives in order to declare his words, and instead of these people being received, they would be put to death.

This was true through the history of Israel, and it would continue to be true in the days that yet lay ahead.

There are many records in Scripture of such murders of the prophets.

Acts 7:52 NIV84

52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him—

Luke 13:34 NIV84

34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

In terms of a more specific example from Scripture, one that could be given is in the time of Elijah the prophet, when Queen Jezebel was seeking to kill of the prophets of God.

1 Kings 18:4 NIV84

4 While Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.)

There was also this great confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, after which Jezebel threatened to put Elijah himself to death.

1 Kings 19:9–10 NASB95

9 Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

Here was a time of mass killings of the prophets of God by a very wicked Queen.

Coming back to our text, look what Jesus says in verses 50-51…

Luke 11:50–51 NIV84

50 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.

Jesus tells these Scribes that they will not be held guiltless, even though they may seek to remove themselves from the guilt of the actions of their forefathers that killed the prophets. In fact, Jesus says that they will be held responsible.

He then takes them all the way back in the history of Israel, and tells them that they are going to be held responsible for all of the killings even from the very first murder in the world… Cain murdering Able...

Genesis 4:8 NIV84

8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Recall, Cain was jealous of his brother, and the offering that his brother had offered up to God that was pleasing to God, whereas his own offering was not pleasing to God. And so what did he do? He murdered him.

We must keep in our minds that Cain had been admonished by God. He had been warned by God that sin was crouching at the door, and that he should be very careful of this anger that was within him. Nonetheless, despite the warning, he had proceeded to kill his brother.

He also mentions the prophet Zechariah… how this prophet was murdered. After Israel had turned away from God and started worshiping idols, the priest Zechariah was sent by God to confront the Israelites, particularly the king at that time, and he prophesied against their idolatries.

2 Chronicles 24:20–22 NIV84

20 Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’ ” 21 But they plotted against him, and by order of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. 22 King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son, who said as he lay dying, “May the Lord see this and call you to account.”

Jesus says to these Experts in the law that from the blood of Cain, to the blood of Zechariah, this generation (those to whom he is speaking) will be held responsible.

One additional comment on the naming of Abel and Zechariah… why these two names? The importance is in the fact that they represent the first book and the last book of the Hebrew Bible. Genesis is the first book in the Hebrew Bible. Chronicles is the last book. And so these two stand as representatives - from beginning to end - all the prophets that have been put to death by Israel.

What remains important to consider is why this generation that Jesus was speaking to was to be held responsible for the deaths of the prophets that had gone by.

The first thing that we must understand is that they were not the ones that were being held guilty for the sins of the fathers.

Ezekiel 18:19–20 NASB95

19 “Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity?’ When the son has practiced justice and righteousness and has observed all My statutes and done them, he shall surely live. 20 “The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.

God never brought about punishment upon the sons as a result of the sins of the fathers. There would certainly be consequences to the children of the fathers. In other words, the natural outworkings and consequences of actions would come upon the children.

What we do in our lives, may impact our children.

But there was never guilt attributed to a son that was the fathers guilt.

But what is being said here is that even this generation is guilty and is going to be punished for their own sin. But they are living with the history of examples, and thus they have a greater responsibility.

This generation that Jesus was speaking to knew the long history of the prophets being put to death. They ought to have learned from the prophets, and then obeyed their teaching.

We must keep in mind here that these Experts in the Law were not obeying the prophets. So, they may have built tombs for the prophets as a show. They may even have sought to distance themselves from the actions of their forefathers, saying they would never have put the prophets to death. But the question really is, were they being honest.

They were not. Firstly, we must understand that they were not living in accordance with what the prophets called for. They were not doing the very things that God had called Israel to do as a nation, even through those prophets.

Just one example of this is the memory verse of the kids for last week.

Micah 6:8 NIV84

8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Christ has just told these Experts in the Law that they were failing to live in a manner that they ought to have lived. They failed in these very areas of loving their fellow man. How could they now claim any benefits for making wonderful graves for those prophets? How could they claim they would never put the prophets to death, and yet they were failing to live in obedience to what the prophets taught them?

When Christ says here that this generation would be held accountable for the blood of all the prophets, we need to recognise as a starting point that they had a long history of teaching through these prophets, and thus ought to have learned from their predecessors mistakes.

Proverbs 29:1 NASB95

1 A man who hardens his neck after much reproof Will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.

When reproof comes - in this case through many generations of the Israelites - and yet there continues to be a hardening of heart, and a failure to live in obedience, then punishment must follow.

Another example of this is King Belshazzar in the book of Daniel. This king was the son of that powerful king Nebuchadnezzar. You will recall that Nebuchadnezzar had been exceedingly powerful, and he had eventually praised himself for the greatness of the kingdom that he had developed. He failed to give glory to God, and so God humbled him by driving him out into the fields in order to live like an animal. He remained there for the duration of the time that God had allocated him, and eventually God restored him to the throne. At that point, Nebuchadnezzar gave glory and praise to God.

Now, his son Balshazzar, knew all of this about his father. But despite this, he walked in his own ways, and he refused to give glory to God. In referring to all that Nebuchadnezzar had endured, Daniel speaks

Daniel 5:22–23 NASB95

22 “Yet you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this, 23 but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and all your ways, you have not glorified.

You see, there were consequences for Belshazzar specifically because he should have known better. He ought to have known because of him watching his father.

In the same way, the Scribes, claiming to be descendants of those who killed the prophets in years gone by, ought to have known better. They ought to have lived rightly before God, particularly in light of all that had been revealed to them.

And yet, here they were, failing to live lives that were in accordance with what the prophets had taught.

But it goes further than this for these experts in the law. Because not only were they failing to do what the prophets had taught, but they themselves would become involved in murder. No matter how much they tried to separate and distance themselves from the works of their forefathers in killing the prophets, they would find that they had no grounds for this.

These religious leaders (including the experts in the law) would go on to kill the ultimate spokesperson of God - His Son Jesus Christ.

Acts 2:22–23 NIV84

22 “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

They were certainly not guiltless...

Even further than this, they would continue to persecute various of Christ’s sent ones.

Luke 11:37–54 Six Woes

John was persecuted (Rev. 1:9). Paul and his helpers met with fierce opposition in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:45, 50), Iconium (14:2), Lystra (14:19), Thessalonica (17:5), Berea (17:13), Corinth (18:12; 20:3), Jerusalem (21:27; 23:12), and Caesarea (24:1–9).

Pause

Consider the irony of the situation. Jesus had just rebuked the Pharisees. The Scribe approaches Jesus, and tells him that they were quite offended by his words. How dare he speak like this to them?

And yet they thought to themselves that they would never kill God’s prophets…

But ultimately they would.

How sinful and deceived man’s heart can be!! How deceived these men were in their own position.

Let me end off this section with the reminder that this was all in the wisdom of God. It was certainly by the plans of wicked men, as they refused to obey God, and even would put Jesus to death. It was by their plans. But it was all in the purposes of God.

This would ultimately lead Christ to be crucified, so that mankind could be redeemed.

God’s wisdom is profound.

Thirdly from our passage, Jesus calls these Scribes...

3. Concealers of Knowledge (v.52)

We find in verse 52 the final woe pronounced against the experts in the law…

Luke 11:52 NIV84

52 “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”

This is a very important statement by Jesus in terms of what was happening in his day. The religious leaders had the responsibility to teach the people of God his ways. That was fundamental to their responsibility within the people of God.

Example of this in OT (Jethro giving Moses counsel)…

Exodus 18:19–20 NASB95

19 “Now listen to me: I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You be the people’s representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God, 20 then teach them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do.

That was wise counsel from Jethro. And that’s precisely what God eventually called Moses to do, and what we see Moses doing…

Deuteronomy 4:1 NIV84

1 Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

Deuteronomy 4:5 NIV84

5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it.

Deuteronomy 5:1 NIV84

1 Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, O Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them.

That work that Moses did was precisely the work that the religious leaders ought to have continued doing.

But what did they do instead? They piled up their own rules and regulations, and so burdened the people of God, and didn’t allow them to see the real truth of God, his character and nature, and thus live accordingly.

The life was always to be a life of humble submission to God, rather than seeking to earn salvation through burdensome works.

Now, we also see a more immediate concern in this regard. When Jesus speaks here of the key to knowledge, what was he referring to? In a broader sense, he was referring to God’s salvation plan. More specifically, he was saying to them that they had rejected God’s messengers, both John the Baptist, who came preparing the way for Jesus, and Jesus himself.

Indeed, that is what was taking place right in that moment. They were rejecting the words of Jesus, and were leading others to reject him also. They were teaching others that to obtain favour with God, it was necessary to continue to do all these works, these heavy burdensome works that they as experts said needed to be done.

These experts in the law, as those who were meant to be leading people to Jesus, were instead leading them away. They were taking away, hiding the key of knowledge - submission to Jesus Christ.

Jesus then uses this image of a “key” to speak about them failing to enter the kingdom of heaven. Luke doesn’t specifically record the words concerning this being the door to the kingdom of heaven. But it’s clear enough even in Luke’s Gospel what he means.

Mat 23 13 makes it more explicit…

Matthew 23:13 NASB95

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

Clearly, Christ says that as a result of rejecting Him as the Messiah, they will fail to enter into the kingdom of heaven. At the same time, given their position as religious leaders, they are not allowing those who are entering in to do so.

In other words, they are standing in the way of those who would have followed Jesus Christ because they have led them astray through their teachings. They have burdened the people with loads they ought not to have carried.

As we come to the end of the passage notice…

4. Conspirators Against Jesus (vv.53-54)

While both Pharisees and teachers of the law have claimed to be seeking to honour God, Christ confronts them on their hypocrisy and failure. And this leads to them acting in such a way that it goes to prove what Jesus has just said.

Luke 11:53–54 NIV84

53 When Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, 54 waiting to catch him in something he might say.

This is exactly what Jesus has just confronted the Scribes about particularly. Killing the prophets. He’s just told them that. And so what do they do… they oppose him… they want to catch him. They will seek to bring him low because he has dared to talk against them.

Just like the religious leaders of Israel opposed the prophets, persecuted them, put them to death because they spoke the truth against them, so too the experts in the law are opposing Jesus.

Application / Conclusion

A.1. Listen to Wise Counselors

We are not immune to the problems that the Scribes faced. We often will not see where we are living or acting in a manner contrary to the true manner of life to which Christ calls us. This will not be in the form of an overtly sinful life… but rather, it will be in the form of what we deem to be “righteous conduct” that is in fact not quite so righteous.

Proverbs 21:2 NIV84

2 All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.

More specifically, we need to be careful to heed the advice and counsel of others. We really do!!!

Proverbs 12:15 NIV84

15 The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.

Let us cultivate within our lives a deep desire to truly listening to others.

A.2. Humility Before God’s Word

We must be careful that we don’t go beyond Scripture, and that we are carefully seeking to understand what the Scriptures are teaching us.

We have the tendency / inclination to move towards burdens, rules and regulations, self-righteousness. We so often tend towards these things.

We need to keep ourselves rooted in the grace of God, rooted in the Gospel. We need to see if the fruit of righteousness is increasing as we trust all the more in the Gospel.

Are we loving God and loving our neighbour, wich a sincere love. Are our hearts moved to worship God in light of who He is? Are our lives marked by love for others, as demonstrated in our serving them in love? Not under compulsion, but with willing hearts?

A.3. Imitate Good Examples

In these accounts we’ve seen how the religious leaders were setting bad examples for the people. they were examples of those who taught people to obey rules… mostly their own rules.

Those were poor examples.

But from the positive side, we are to look to the examples of those that stand in the Biblical history as great examples of the faith. We must imitate them.

Hebrews 11:1–2 NASB95

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval.

That passage goes on to outline a good number of examples of faith-filled men and women, who acted in faith.

They believed the promises of God, and so they walked in his ways.

We need examples of faith, and we should follow their example.

I’ll close with the words of Paul, and the example that he said he set before the Thessalonian church. I would encourage each one of us here to consider his example, and then to imitate that example through our interactions with one another...

1 Thessalonians 2:5–12 NASB95

5 For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness— 6 nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority. 7 But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. 8 Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. 9 For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; 11 just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, 12 so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

May God help us to walk in this manner.

Amen!