1 Thessalonians 2 - Family Love

Paul's deep affection for the Church in Thessalonica is evident in this chapter as he recounts their accepting the Word of God and relays how much their faith means to him.                                  
                             
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Lord, we open our minds and our hearts to your word. Um in this moment as we come before you, uh let us let us just look back on the Thessalonians and the way that they received the gospel and let it be an inspiration for us to hear your word and respond and to let that word work in our life, Lord. We praise this in your son's name. Amen. Well we're on Thessalonians 2 uh and so, or 1 Thessalonians 2, and I the book of 1 Thessalonians is fascinating to me. And uh for a couple reasons. For one, and I think these reasons are really tied together too, and it'll be evident, and they're really on display in chapter 2 uh specifically. And one of them is Paul's great affection for the Thessalonian church. He just has such a deep love that we can see as he goes through this, he actually uses all these different metaphors that are all family related. He he refers to them over and over as brothers and sisters. Um, and then he says, you know, you we were like children among you, and and then we were like a father to you. We're even a nursing as a nursing mother is to you. And and he talks about how when they're separated, it's like being orphaned. And just you could hear through all of the different ways that he talks about them and talks to them how much he has a heart and how much he loves these people. Um and the second is their conversion story. Um, as we read through different stories, it's amazing to see their response to the gospel and what they did and how they took that word and put it to heart. And I think that also led to the affection that Paul has and Paul professes for them. Um and so it's just this exciting mix. Now, chapter two of Thessalonians, first Thessalonians, chapter two is an expansion of chapter one, verse nine. In chapter one, verse nine, which Malcolm talked about last week, it just simply says this: for they themselves report, and that's talking about the churches in Macedonia in the area, they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. And so Paul takes this, and in chapter two, he kind of expands it, but to really hear about that conversion, and what's amazing to me in these letters in the New Testament is that they line up with the book of Acts. Because what happened in the book of Acts, if you remember, when we did a study on this, Paul, I'm sorry, Luke, writes the book of Acts as a follow-up to his gospel. And he writes it to a guy, Theophilus, and he says, I put together, I researched to give you an orderly account of how Jesus, what he did on earth, and then in the book of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles, basically how the church expanded into the Roman world and how it grew from this one little tiny sect of a Jewish religion in Jerusalem and blew up and expanded into all the Roman world. And so if you want, you can go to Acts 17, and this is where Paul goes and actually you see his missionary journey as he does this. In chapter 16 of Acts, he leaves Philippi after being mistreated horribly there after he established a church. And then in 17, in Acts 17, it says, when Paul and his companions had passed through Annapolis and Apothia, they came to Thessalonica. And so they go in, and as Paul's tradition, he goes first to the Jewish synagogue and he preaches there. And it says he preaches there for three Sabbath days. And as he preaches, he explains the meeting, he reasoned with them from the scripture, and he explains to them how the Messiah, proving that the Messiah, according to the scriptures, had to come and suffer and then rise from the dead. And then it credits that some of the Jews believe as added a large number of Greeks, God-fearing Greeks, and quite a few prominent women, which is really just this broad spectrum of people that responded to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, apparently the other Jews in that um area that didn't agree with Paul became very jealous, and so they stir up a mob, as happened in a lot of cities, they stir up this mob to go against Paul. And so in chapter 17, verse 5, it says, But the other Jews were zet uh jealous, so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, and they formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and Silas in order that they bring them out to the crowd. But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the other believers before the city officials, shouting, These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here. And Jason is welcomed into his house, and they are defying Caesar's decrees, saying there is another king, one called Jesus. When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. They made Jason and the others postbond and let them go. As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. And so we see this church that's come together. Now, there's a few different things. Some people think that Paul only stayed in Thessalonica for three weeks. Um, and because it says he preached for three Sabbath days. That is understandable why people would think that, but the truth is he probably stayed there quite a bit longer because in Philippians they sent him aid a couple times, right? And he also says that I worked as a tent maker, I worked among you, and I toiled. So his stay was probably longer than three weeks. The focus was three weeks of preaching to the Jewish people, and when he was not received there, then he went and preached, most likely at Jason's house, um, to the God-fearing Greeks and prominent women that he talks about later. And so it's a little bit longer. But what's interesting is the church becomes fiercely protective of Paul to the point where they sneak him out and send him on the way. Um, Jason had to postpond is what it notes in some of the others. Most likely what they were doing was taking away, saying, okay, your bond will be revoked if Paul comes back. And so it's probably a way to keep Paul out of the city, is what they did. Now, as they sent him away, what's amazing is even these guys' missionaries, Paul and Silas, they came and brought the message, the Thessalonians still lived out the gospel and were renowned, like Malcolm was saying last week for miles around about their example that they lived as Christians. Now, Paul goes on and he goes to chapter two, and he starts saying this, as he gets into chapter two, he starts reviewing his time with them. Right? And he says, You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. We had previously suffered and have been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know. But with the help of our God, we dared to tell you this gospel or his gospel in the face of strong opposition. So again, that thing that we talked about, you know, that he brings about. Yes, this is what happened. We brought the gospel to you, and even though we were opposed, you still heard it. Now, Paul, as he comes up in these next few verses, Paul denies allegations about his message, his motivation, and his method. Apparently, people were attacking these three things about what Paul was saying. Let's read and we'll kind of recap in a second. Says, for the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak those as those approved by God, to entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people, but God, who tests our heart. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed. God is our witness. We are not looking for praise from people, not from you or from anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ, we could have asserted our authority. Instead, we were like young children among you. And so Paul says, first, you're trying, these other men are trying to discredit the message that we brought. We brought the gospel, yet they tried to switch it. And if you remember back to Acts 17, right, he goes to the synagogue and he preaches. The Messiah had to come and suffer, and after suffering, he had to rise from the dead. But what did the Jews, when they dragged Jason in front of the other council, say? These men who have caused trouble all over the world, not true, you know, have done this all over the world. Now they're here and they're preaching that there's another king, which wasn't part of the message that they were preaching. And so they were saying there's a different king other than Caesar. And so even Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world, right? And so they were undermining the absolute message of what Paul was saying, the actual gospel. The other thing, they were saying their motivation. Paul says, our motivation was not to come and gain any kind of financial things. It was not to bring or win about favor of people, but it was simply for God. And so I imagine these other people, these oppositional Jews, were saying, you know, look, they're only doing this to be popular, to be contrary, to get a following. But Paul asserts, no, we were there to give you the good news, and that's all. And then they said a method. Paul says, We didn't trick you, did we? We told you plainly. And they did it, it wasn't a bait and switch. It wasn't any kind of thing like that. But instead, Paul gave them the direct message. The Messiah had to come, as the scriptures preached. And so Paul denies these three things that they've accused him of. And they tried to attack his motivation, but again, he doesn't let them do that. He says, This is the message that I preach. I've never done it for financial gain, but simply to give you the true message. And then at verse seven, he kind of changes this corner. And this is where he starts really getting into the metaphors of this of the family. All right, and so at verse 7, he switches. He said, Instead, we were like young children among you. And this is in contrast to what they're being accused of. They were being accused that you were coming in and trying to hold authority over and do this for financial gain. But Paul says, No, we were like little kids. We were like young children, innocent among you, just sharing what we had. And what's interesting is he switches really quick. The next sentence says, we were like little children among you. And then he goes to, just as a nursing mother cares for her children. And so he switches that metaphor really quick. And so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much. We were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well. And I love this metaphor that he uses. Um, you know, as my wife nursed our three children, um, it is amazing how much she gave of herself. And you mothers know more than I can ever understand, but it the pain and the salves and the padding and everything that she had to endure to take care and give of herself, Paul says, we didn't just share the gospel, but we shared our very lives. And what I love about that too is for a nursing mother to be able to feed her child, she has to make sure that she's eating herself. She has to have sustenance coming in. And she has to make sure that she's taking care of her. And what's crazy too is as a mother eats certain foods, it can affect her milk, right? And can affect what the baby actually tastes, what the baby nutrition value. If you don't eat well, then the baby's not eating well. And how fitting is it as we care for other Christians, if we are not first taking care of ourselves and taking in God's word, how can we give to other people? It's gonna suck us dry. It's gonna empty us up. We have to preach, we have to share, we have to encourage out of overflow. It's almost like on an airplane where you're supposed to take the oxygen mask and put it on yourself before you put it on somebody else. It's to make sure that you are being fed, that the word of God is being brought into you. And not just the word of God, but the true and solid word, not distracted by odd doctrines or different things like this. You must make sure that your doctrine, that you are ingesting things that you're putting in, the things that are influencing you, are in line with what God has with Scripture. And that way, before we do that, before we try and take care of others, we must make sure that we are like that. And so he goes on and he continues to talk about the love like a family, right? First, about the mothers that are doing this he has for the church. And so he says over the next 10 verses, he's got this huge jumble of it's almost like this jambalaya of mixed um metaphors that goes on. Because he's, like I said before, he talks about being young children, then he goes right into nursing mother. Later, he constantly calls them brothers and sisters, as he's been doing that, and he says, We're like a father to you as a child as a dad is to a child. And then also when we were separated, it was like we were orphaned. And he continues to use all these different metaphors showing his love for them. All right, so let's go on in verse nine. It says, Surely you remember, surely you remember, brothers and sisters, again, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship. We work day and night in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preach the gospel of God to you. You are our witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous, and blameless we were among you who believed. So again, he just goes to the extreme, showing them this is how far we wanted to take it, how far we were willing to go. You are witnesses, and then verse eleven, for you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting, and urging you to live lives worthy of God who calls you into his kingdom and glory. And so again, he just says, look, just like a nursing mother takes care of his child, just like a father encourages it and um strengthens and urges their child on, we did this for you to make sure that you were living the life that you should be living. And then we have the Thessalonians' reaction to the truth. Paul says, and we also thank God for you continually, um, because when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. So it's not that they just believed, also. Did you catch that? That one, it wasn't just that they believed, but what does Paul say? Which you bel you heard from us, you accepted, not as human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed in you who believe. I'm sorry, which is indeed at work in you who believe. So they allowed, they not just believed the gospel, but when they believed, they allowed it into their life to where it continually changed them and made them grow. I've met so many Christians, and in fact, there's been times in my life where I've been that guy, to where I've been like, I've got it. I'm pretty done. I accepted Jesus at this point, I'm good. And stagnant in that moment. And one of my favorite phrases that somebody showed me one time was that you're not done until you're dead. Right? God is still, should be working in your life. God, you should be allowing him, internalizing, and this is the way the Thessalonians did. They allowed, they took the word of God as truth, internalized it, and let it work in their life. It's the same thing we should be doing is taking the word of God and letting it go into us and work and change us. There's so many people that I love to talk to, and I hear, you know what, this is what God has been doing. I've been reading this passage and I'm not sure, but then I realize what it means for me. And it's amazing to see these different things and to see what God is doing in people's life if they allow Him, if they allow His Word to be active and changing in their life. If you are like, I don't see that happening really in my life, that's a good sign that you need to make some changes. That maybe you need to be first getting into your word. If you're not on a regular basis, on a daily basis, if you're not getting into the scriptures, even a little bit and allowing it to dwell, and allowing it to dwell in your mind and grow and change who you are. You need to be doing that because as Christians, we're not done until we're dead. God is continually sanctifying us, and he does that through his word. All right, now the reason that this is so important, Paul listens or lists right here, the strength of faith to the opposition that they had. Because this word was in their life and helping them grow and change. And in verse 14, he actually says it, for you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are Christ are in Christ Jesus. You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus Christ and the prophets, and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone. And so he says, Listen, you will face, oh, let's keep going actually, in their effort to keep us speaking or to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles, so that they may be saved. In this way they always keep up their sins to the limit, the wrath of God has come upon them at last. So Paul says, There will be, you faced this opposition, but you were ready for it because the word was in you and was working in you. And that's the exact reason we need to have that word in us today. Because we will face opposition. Right now, opposition to uh active faith is very prevalent. If somebody just says they're a Christian but doesn't live it out, most people are okay with that. Well, you can believe anything. I'll tolerate that. But at the moment that you get active, do you actually follow through with what you say you believe, or you speak up against evil, or you speak up against things that are maybe a popular idea, but that go against Scripture, then you will face great opposition. It will happen on several levels. It's happened to our church, where we welcome in people that look different, that maybe not fit other churches, and we've got a reputation for where everybody's allowed to go there, which I'm glad for, but some people bring it as an opposition to us. And then it happens at a personal level to where if you take a stance on certain things, you will face opposition. But if you follow the example of the Thessalonians and have the word internalized and working in your life and strengthening you, you will be ready just like them. That God will be with you. But if you don't have that, then you're gonna crumble. It's gonna be so difficult. So we must make sure that we are sustained by the word of God and that it is it is at work in your life. Now, Powell transitions here to the next thing, talking about the pain of separation that he experienced. Verse 17, he says, But brothers and sisters, when we are orphaned by being separated from you, again that family metaphor. When we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time, in person, not in thought, out of our intense longing, we made every effort to see you. For we wanted to come to you. Certainly I, Paul, did again and again, but Satan blocked our way. Now it is really unusual in that sentence for Paul to ever declare himself in a letter. And I think it just again expresses the depth of his affection for the Thessalonians and how much he loved and longed to be with him. Now he accredited that Satan blocked their way. And I think that anybody that puts up a block and works, you know, to stop the spread of the gospel is being used as a tool for Satan or by Satan. And so he just speaks against this. We were blocked, and again, he pays them after this, he pays them what may be the single greatest compliment that you could ever pay anyone. In verse 19, he says, For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy. Think about that. What he's saying is when I stand before Jesus, the crown. Now, the crown in this instance isn't like a crown of royalty, but like a laurel, a significant of winning, like an Olympic trophy almost, that they would put on. This is a crown. This laurel, this signifies, and you are that signifier. The fact that the Thessalonians accepted Jesus, accepted the Word of God, and let it change their life is what Paul is going to glory in when he stands before the throne of God. That is such an amazing compliment. Who is it in your life that you need to pay that compliment to? Who is it that had an effect on you? First, maybe, I mean, somebody that might come to mind since he's retiring is Malcolm. You might, I mean, guys, we've all thought of, you know, he says the day approaches that he steps down. One of the greatest things that we could do for him was just give him a note saying how his life has affected ours. That could be amazing. But maybe there's somebody else that you need to reach out to. Maybe there's an old mentor or parent that you need to thank for sharing the gospel with you. Or maybe there's somebody that you got to speak in their life and they're still walking with Jesus and they're on fire for Christ, and you need to tell them, like Paul told the Thessalonians, it is such an encouragement to see you. See you walking with God. Guys, never underestimate how powerful those words can be to another believer. How encouraging that can be just to speak into somebody's life. Don't ever discount your value of your words in encouraging someone else. So, my encouragement to all of you is be like the Thessalonians. Allow the Word of God to work in your life so that you become a model of Christ and encouragement to the other people around you. And let's pray, guys. Lord, we thank you for, I thank you for your body that you've set up in such a way that we can encourage one another. Lord, that we can come before you with each other. I pray, Lord, that we can reach out, that we can encourage those people around us that may have walked in our our faith, may have a hand in us growing. And as we dwell in you to let us open up our hearts and allow your word to work in us so that we can be sanctified and become more and more like the people you've created us to be, Lord. We pray this in your Son's name. Amen.