First Thessalonians Bible Study, Chapter 2:1-16, Pleasing God

1 Thessalonians Study

Author: John Stott

July 19, 2020

Bobby Earls, Northgate Baptist Church, Florence, SC

(I did this study of 1 Thessalonians in part for my mother-in-law, Imogene Mobley Bolf. Imogene was teaching, with some difficulty, this study from John Stott to a ladies Sunday School class at the State Line Baptist Church in Gaffney, SC. I would complete the study and then send it to her by email to assist her in her teaching duties.)

Chapter 2: Pleasing God

Read 1 Thessalonians 2:1–6 (NIV84) 1 You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. 2 We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition. 3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. 6 We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you,

By studying Paul’s defense, it is possible for us to reconstruct the slanderous words that were said against him: “He’s in his job only for what he can get out of it in terms of sex, money, prestige or power. So when opposition arose, and he found himself in personal dangers, he ran! He doesn’t care about you. Thessalonian disciples of his; he has abandoned you!”

1. What positive motives does Paul claim for himself in his preaching?

Answer: 1 Thessalonians 2:4 we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.

Stated positively, Paul says He, along with the other Apostles, shared the Gospel message that was approved by God and entrusted with the gospel by God. He also added that their goal was to please God, not men. Paul knew God alone would judge their hearts or motives. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.

2. What did Paul not do in bringing the Gospel to the Thessalonians?

Answer: Again, from verse 4, Paul was not trying to please men, but God. He also adds in verses 5-6, 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. 6 We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.

3. Paul disclaims any impure motives for his preaching. What are some possible impure motives for Christian ministry?

Answer: Preaching or serving for personal reasons such as prestige, popularity, power, position, and profit.

4. What is liberating about working not to please people but to please God?

Answer: Working to please people always leads to disappointment and despondency. People are rarely pleased and then not for long. They also have short memories, forgetting the sacrifice and selfless service given in Christian ministry. On the other hand, God is pleased when His servants seek only to obey Him. God is not results-oriented. He is pleased with the effort. With men it is always, “What have you done for me lately?” Men count “baptisms, buildings and budgets.” God counts “service, sacrifice and submission.” So there is a liberating sense of freedom in serving God.

5. Read 1 Thessalonians 2:6-12. 6 We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, 7 but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. 8 We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. 9 Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a fatherdeals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

Paul compares his attitude in ministry among the Thessalonians to both a mother and a father. How does each role call for self-sacrifice and unselfishness?

Answer: Mothers are characterized by unconditional love for their children. They are selfless and sacrificial in their love for their children. Paul exhibited that same unconditional, self-sacrificing love for the Thessalonian believers.

On the other hand, fathers serve as a role model for their children in many ways. In discipline, leadership, training and developing their children into mature, responsible adults are just a few of a father’s responsibilities toward his children. Likewise, the Apostle Paul exhibited these same fatherly characteristics in a spiritual sense toward the Thessalonians.

6. What characteristics of a mother’s care for her children are also appropriate for ministry?

Answer: Gentleness, kindness, patience, nurture, love, among others, characterized by mothers are also needed in Christian ministry to others.

7. How have other Christians shared with you not only the gospel but their very lives?

Answer: I have experienced and benefited from both spiritual mothers and fathers in my Christian development. Among the most influential in my early spiritual training were the following: (and this is a short, short list!) Pastor M. P. Hampton, Pastor C. W. Farrar, College Professor Bill Mounce; Seminary Professors Roy Fish, Oscar Thompson, Joel Gregory; Fellow friends/pastors Robbie Moore, Howard Allen, Mark Smith; Missionaries Bertha Smith, Mark and Beth Banfield; other preaching/pastor role models like C.W. Criswell, Adrian Rogers, Bailey Smith, Jerry Vines, John Maxwell, Jim Cymbala, Rick Warren; Evangelists Pat Perry, Kenneth Ridings, Ken Freeman, Ed McAbee, Glenn Felment (and Jenny) and of course, Billy Graham; Historical Christians and authors, Dietrich Bonhoffer, Charles Spurgeon, C.I. Schofield, Warren Wiersbe, Kay Arthur, Peter Lord, Henry Blackaby, Avery Willis, Max Lucado. Christian women (spiritual mothers) Louise Byars, Imogene Mobley/Bolf, Maybelle Hampton, Phyliss Rape, Gladys Smith, Ms. Childers, Virgie Young.

8. What characteristics of a father’s care for his children are also appropriate for ministry?

Answer: A father’s stern but loving discipline and his role as a teacher/equipper modeling being a man and developing life skills and knowledge all come into play when we seek to disciple new believers or set the role of a godly influencer to other believers.

9. How could the parental approach to ministry be misused?

Answer: Unfortunately, there are also bad parents who neglect or worse, abuse their roles as fathers or mothers also. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we are all examples to other believers. The question is simply, “What kind of example (spiritual mother or father) are we?”

10. Read 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16. 13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. 14 For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, 15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men 16 in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.

Why was Paul pleased about the Thessalonians’ attitude toward the nature of the gospel?

Answer: Paul was thankful the Thessalonians had accepted the gospel as the word of God, v. 13. He also appreciated that they were adopting or embracing the role of imitating Christian believers who were actively serving and sacrificing for Christ, vv. 14ff.

11. Paul details the Thessalonians suffering under persecution. How could his words serve as comfort to the Thessalonians church?

Answer: See Paul’s reference to the suffering of the Thessalonians in verse 14. To know that they, like their fellow believers in Judea, were suffering for their witness of the gospel and their identity with Christ could bring consolation and comfort to the Christians in Thessalonica.

12. How can we reconcile Paul’s harsh words toward unbelieving Jews with his claim to have the loving attitudes of a mother and a father?

Answer: Loving mothers and fathers protect their own. It would be less than loving to ignore the threats and danger imposed by those who have a reputation for threatening the Christian message. So Paul is not compromising or contradicting the Christian virtue of love, but practicing it to the fullest when it came to his spiritual children in Thessalonica.