Studies in 1 Thessalonians 02 Crown — Svend Christensen

Well, this morning we're going to go on in Thessalonians chapter two. First Thessalonians chapter two, and then tonight, in the will of the Lord, we'll be going on in the Song of Solomon about the Lord Jesus.

Yesterday, or Sunday morning, we spoke on his head, and tonight, Lord, we will speak on his face, the face of the Lord Jesus. Now, chapter two of first Thessalonians. We may not get through with all this chapter, but we may catch up tomorrow morning, as chapter three is much shorter.

Paul’s Bold and Selfless Entrance into Thessalonica

For yourselves rather know our entrance in unto you that it was not in vain. But even after we had suffered before we were shamefully treated, as you know at Philippi, we are bold and our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.

For excitation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor of guile, but that we were allowed or approved of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tested or tried our hearts.

For neither at any time used we flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness God is witness. Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ.

But we were gentle among you, even as the nurse cherished her children. So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but also our own soul, because ye were dear unto us.

For ye remember brethren all labor and travail for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you. We preached unto you the gospel of God. Ye are witnesses, and God also, how wholly and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe.

As you know, how we exhorted and encouraged and charged every one of you as a father dot his children, that ye would walk worthy of God, who had called you unto his kingdom and glory. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye receive the word of God which ye heard of us, ye receive it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually work it also in you that believe.

For ye brethren became followers of the churches of God which in Judea and Christ Jesus. For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and they please not God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved to fill up their sins always.

For the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. But we brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavor the more abundantly to see you, your face with great desire.

Wherefore, we would have come unto you even I fall once and again, but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing, are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?

For ye are our glory and joy. Truly the Lord, who I am sure will bless the reading of his word, if nothing else you have the wonderful chapter we've read together in all of our hearings. Now, in the first part of this chapter, chapters 1 through 12, you have a beautiful illustration of the model servant of Christ.

God’s Concern for the Character of His Servants

Now, God puts great importance on the individual. You'll notice all through the scriptures God used men that were set apart for himself. Generally speaking, men of God. Those are men sent from God whose name was John.

God uses men. Daniel, that separated holy man, God used him. And you can go on and on and on. And here you have a scripture set before us what type of a man Paul and all his associates were. This is very important for us to notice God is very much concerned.

He's more concerned of what we are than what we do, because what we are will determine the quality of what we do. And then we have in the next section, verse 13 down to verse 18, the response to the message, the Thessalonians' response to the message.

And then in the last two verses, you have the crown, the full winner's crown. Now, first, as to their mission in verse 1 here, you'll notice it was very successful. He said, For yourselves rather know our entrance into unto you that it was not in vain.

Now, it was in real close view. They themselves knew what kind of an entrance that Paul and the others had in unto them. It was not in vain. They turned to God from idols. It was a wonderful, successful mission to these people, and they certainly had to confess that the entrance in that they had was because of the lives and the devotion of these servants of Christ.

Persevering Through Persecution at Philippi

As it goes on to say in verse 2, notice now what it says there, For even after we had suffered before, most men would have turned back after all the treatment that they had suffered before, how shamefully and terribly they had been treated there at Philippi.

That's what he points out to them here. Notice in verse 2, After we had suffered before, and were shamefully treated, as you know, at Philippi. This awful, outrageous treatment they had there. You remember they were there preaching the gospel, and a maiden followed them all over the place saying, These are the servants of God, these are the men that God has sent, and so on.

It was true what but it was the demons that were using her. You remember Paul turned and commanded the evil spirit to come out of her, and she was healed, and these masters who had gained of her, they lost that advantage.

So they became outrageous, and they had Paul entrusted to the jailer, and the jailer was given a report that they really did with those fellows, and he did. He beat them unmercifully, and then he put them down in that lower dungeon.

And as they were down there with their feet in stocks and their backs bleeding, and I understand that they were down there with their backs in that mucky, mild and lower dungeon where there was no light, with their legs spread apart up in stocks.

And here you see Paul and Silas, and Paul is saying to Silas, Well, it's not worth it. Here we are, we have left everything for the Lord, and look the kind of treat we get back. It doesn't pay to serve the Lord.

And Silas said, Oh no, this isn't it. I thought when we would be served the Lord, you know, we would be esteemed and looked up to, and everybody would pay as well and so on. Look what we get for all our faithfulness.

Is that how they're talking? No, sir. Some of us would be doing some grumbling down there, wouldn't we? Oh, my back is so sore, I can hardly stand the pain, and I got such a headache from the beatings, and we'd be complaining.

But what are they doing? I tell you, friends, they brought a sacred concert to you, didn't they? And Paul is singing bass, and Silas is singing tenor. They brought down the house. They did. An earthquake.

And the Philippians here, you know the wonderful story how he came, and he sprang, and he called for light. First, what must I do to be saved? My, you see, something wonderful of the grace of God there.

And later on, they take them to this house, and he washes their stripes, and then they minister to him, and the others. Imagine after the treatment they get, they start ministering again, and so on. It was this backdrop, he said, we came to you.

Most people would have gone home with their tail between their legs and said, I have not. If I'm going to be treated like that as a servant of the Lord, I'm not going to put up with it. It's an easier way to make a living.

Isn't that how people talk today? But not so with these men. They had a great love. And he showed them later on this chapter where the Lord had only given you the gospel, but would give ourselves. You know, there's some wonderful 316s in the book, in the word of God, and one of them is from 1 John 316, where we should be willing to lay down all lives for the brethren.

And that's what you see in these men here. So he says, even though we were shamefully entreated that you know what Philippi, we were bold in all God to speak unto you. You couldn't keep these men down.

I tell you, there's nothing like men that are full of the Spirit of God. They have courage. He says in 2 Corinthians, remember, the love of Christ constrained us, so they're full of boldness. Boldness, and that's what the Spirit of God gives you.

The righteous are bold as the lions, is the word of God, in Proverbs 28 .1. And so, it's with that boldness they come. In the face of opposition and persecution, they were bold in their God, bold in all God.

That's where you get boldness, holy boldness. You remember the disciples in Acts chapter 4, when they were persecuted and put in jail, and God released them, and they prayed there in that other room, and the place was shaking, and that they prayed that God would give them boldness, and God gave them boldness.

And that's what we need, brethren. It's just by nature we're so cowardly. There's men that give them boldness, boldness to speak the word of God. It's marvelous to see that they were bold in their God.

They were bold in their God to speak unto the gospel of God with much contempt, in the midst of much persecution. You remember in Acts 17 we left there what persecution they ran into, what a hornet's nest they ran into.

And in spite of that, they're bold. This is what we need, holy boldness from the Lord. And that's the only thing that'll take... You know, it's easy to talk bold when there's no occasion to be afraid, but when you're in the midst of something like this, and then you show boldness, this is something wonderful.

The Gospel of God as the True Message

Then in verse 3, you see something in the last five verses, something about the message. First, their mission, it was successful. Secondly, the message. Notice the source. It's the gospel of God. We will speak unto you the gospel of God.

That's the source. Only God can conceive such a wonderful gospel. No man could ever, ever think up this wonderful gospel that can provide such a perfect salvation, making the sinner absolutely perfect in God's presence, through substitution of a perfect person that died for them on Calvary's cross and rose again for their justification.

Only God could bring to pass such a wonderful gospel. He says it's the gospel of God we came to you with. It's that message. And something else, it was a true message, for all expectation was not of deceit.

This was an absolutely true message. The word of God is true. You know, it says in Ephesians 3, "...in whom ye ought to trust, that after that ye heard the word of truth.". The gospel of your salvation is the word of truth.

Remember the Lord Jesus was here in Pilate asking, what is truth? And he walked out, and he didn't listen for the answer. For the Lord Jesus gave the answer early in John 14, verse 6, "...I am the way, the truth, and the light.".

We have an absolutely true message. In Colossians 1, 5, it says, "...for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.". Truth is hard to come by today.

Truth is very scarce. Truthful men are becoming more and more scarce. Well, he says we have a message of truth. You can depend on it. The word of the gospel is truth. Isn't that nice to have something that's not changeable?

Standards change in this world today. It's not uncommon for men to make all kinds of promises and never mean to keep them. That's not so with God and his gospel. It's truth. "...still to him that believeth on the Son shall have everlasting life.".

It never changes. God is true. His message is true. Nice to be connected with something that's true, isn't it? A true message. Absolutely true. And then, in connection with that, notice Paul's motive.

He says there in verse 4 again, 1st and verse 3,. "...for all expectation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, or of guile.". Notice his motive was absolutely pure. There was no guile in it. His message was absolutely above board without any covetousness.

They didn't use the gospel in any way to be covetous, as it says down in verse 5. They didn't use a cloak of covetousness. "...the expectation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile.". Absolutely pure and above board.

Entrusted with the Gospel as a Sacred Stewardship

And then, in verse 4, you have about his ministry. Notice,. "...for we were approved of God.". I think it's a better word than allowed. We were approved of God to be put in trust with the gospel. Here, you have a stewardship committed to Paul who was put in trust with the gospel.

In Romans 1 and verse 1, he says this,. "...Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.". To me, he was committed, he says, the gospel of God. In Philippians 1 -7, we read it like this,.

"...but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel, I am put in trust with the gospel, the pure gospel of the grace of God.". In Timothy chapter 1, that is 1 Timothy, "...according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.".

God committed the gospel to my trust, and in verse 12, he says,. "...and I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he hath counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.". What a trust to be put into the gospel of God, the ministry of the gospel.

This was my calling. This is my ministry, says Paul. To entrust it to me is the gospel of the grace of God, to make it clear, to make it simple, to present it as it is. That's what he did. Brethren and sisters, in a sense, we've been put in trust with the gospel, too, and let's be sure that we know the simple gospel, that we can explain the gospel, that we really know what the gospel of grace is, that we don't put God in a wrong light.

Paul, he was very conscious of that which was put to his trust. So, he had a sacred stewardship, and he realized that this was something he received of God. We're put in trust with the gospel, therefore, even so we speak not as pleasing men, but God who tested our hearts.

This whole gospel, he says, it was a dispensation of the gospel committed unto me in 1 Corinthians 9, 17. Then, in Galatians 1, 12, he says, for I neither received it of men, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Out there in Arabia, for three years, he received the revelation of the truth of God. This was committed to him, and he realized his responsibility. So, it was a great gospel that he was put in, and no wonder he said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ in Romans 1.

Not ashamed of it. God gave it to me. He revealed it to me, and what a revelation, and how faithfully he taught that gospel in Romans and Galatians and others of his writing. Wonderful message that he was put in trust with.

Then he says, for neither at any time use wreaths, laughing word as you know, nor cloak of covetousness, God is witness. How he held up God as the faithful one. God is the witness. Now, he says here that this message was a gospel of God.

You know, in the word of God, you get different names for the gospel. I'll just list a few of them for you. In Acts 20, verse 24, it's called the gospel of the grace of God, showing that it's all of grace.

It's God that acted, it's God that provided, and it's by grace that you save through faith. It's all of grace, a gospel of grace in Acts 24. Then it's called the gospel of God in Romans 1 .1. God is originated of, he's the planner of it.

Then it's the gospel of his son in Romans 1 .9, speaking about that's the subject of the gospel. You remember Philip and the others, they preached unto them Jesus. That's the subject of the gospel is his son.

Then it's my gospel, says Paul, and I think what he means by that is the same gospel, but it's that gospel definitely that has been revealed to him, and in a personal way he knew that gospel and had been given that trust to deliver it.

Then he says also, our gospel. My gospel is in Romans 2 .16. Then our gospel, 1 Thessalonians 1 .5. You remember we talked about that Sunday night, our gospel. Something that these men together had from God is still the same gospel, but you know the gospel must be your own in a sense.

You must have the personal experience of the power of the gospel in your life, and our gospel came not to you in word only, but in power, he says. It demonstrates in much as you are. And then, in connection with the gospel, it's the gospel of peace, Romans 10 .15.

It brings peace to those that have no peace. That's why Jesus would say, come unto me and I'll give you rest, the peace through the gospel. Then it's the gospel of Christ in Romans 15 verse 19, the Messiah, and he is the one that provided it, the one that was promised, came and provided that gospel.

He's the subject of the gospel, he's also the sacrifice of the gospel. He's the one through his sacrifice that provided the gospel for us. Then it's called the glorious gospel, 2 Corinthians 4 .4, the gospel of the glory.

It is a glorious gospel. It's beyond, it's just way above men's idea. And then it's the gospel of your salvation, Ephesians 1 .13, and it brings salvation to you that believe. And then in Revelation, it's called the everlasting gospel, Revelation 14 .16.

How wonderful it is! It's an everlasting gospel. Now, Paul's great desire was to please God. He said, not as pleasing men, but God. In verse 4, that last part of it, that should be our greatest mode of Christian.

Pleasing God Rather Than Men

It's so easy in the world to try to be well-pleasing to men. We all have the sense that we like to belong, we like to be well-liked, we like to be well-spoken of, we like to be well thought of. Our greatest concern should be well thought of by the Lord.

He says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 9, that I may be accepted of him. That's the main thing. And it's possible to be pleasing to God, and that's what Paul wanted to be, pleasing to God. That was his motive in life, that he might please God rather than man.

If you please man, that's all right, but please God first. And if that pleases man, well, thank God. If it doesn't, then we're sorry. We must please him. That should be my motive, your motive, pleasing him.

That I might please him, or to have a life that just pleases him, or to please him, to bring delight to his heart. Enoch walked with God, you remember. He pleased him, he walked with him, he fellowshiped with him, he talked with him, he did his will, he proclaimed his message.

Enoch pleased God. He had this testimony that pleased God, how he might be like that. And it is wonderfully possible to please him. It says in 2 Timothy 2 verse 4,. No man that that war entangled himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who had chosen him to be a soldier.

That you might please him. Now, it's not always possible to please men. Paul said in Galatians 1 verse 10,. For do I now persuade men of God, or do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Whose servant are you? Who do you decide to first please? And then we come into this lovely section of the chapter beginning at verse 5, right down through to verse 12, his manner and method among them.

Genuine, Non-Covetous Ministry

Notice it was genuine, verse 5,. For need at any time use we flattering words. We're not there patting you on the back for the sake of patting your work on the back to win your favor. Oh no, we were faithful.

He was absolutely sincere. There was no hypocrisy in this man in how he dealt with them. Isn't that so important to find people of a genuine, honest, and sincere, no empty flattery? He told it as it was.

He told it as it is. He says, You know that all too well. As you know, no cloak of covetousness. We didn't take advantage or try to make money through the gospel. They just gave it to them free, and he says, as a witness.

Who's the witness? God. God is my witness. Nor have men sought me glory, neither have you. We were looking beyond man. Get beyond man's breath, if in his nostrils hath the word of God. They didn't seek the praise or the glory of man.

He forgoes his light, even as an apostle. Now, yet, our fathers, we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ. We have certain lights, he says, as an apostle, but we forgo those. Then we might be a greater blessing to you.

If there's one thing I think that Mark Paul, like his blessed master, was he was very self-denying. He denied self. He lived for God, he lived for others. After all, that's true joy, isn't it? And sometimes we use that little acrostic with the children.

Joy, Jesus first, and others yourself last. A gracious apostle, indeed, to these Gentile believers. You know a test of the Lord Jesus in Luke 22 -27, but I am among you as he their servant. The Lord Jesus said, I'm a minister, I'm among you as one that serveth.

That's what Paul was. He was as one that serveth. Jesus said, let him that's the greatest among you be a minister. Let him be your servant. That's what Paul lived out. A true, marveled servant of Christ.

So many times brethren, they want to be the chief head, sort of, you know? And sometimes in a sandwich you get too many chiefs and not enough Indians. They all want to be the head fellow. The Lord said, I was among you as one that serveth.

Paul followed his example. He said, be ye followers of me as I am of Christ. You be an imitator of me as I'm an imitator of Christ. I think this has come right down to a level, doesn't it? He says in 2 Corinthians 11 verse 9,.

And when I was present with you and wanted, I was chargeable to no man. For that which was lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied. And in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.

Now, he did that with the Corinthians, and he did this with the Thessalonians. And then you have him in another beautiful light. Can you imagine this Paul, this outspoken apostle, this courageous man, this bold servant of Christ?

Paul’s Gentle Care as a Nursing Mother

Now he takes on another beautiful characteristic in verse 7, a nursing mother. Can you imagine that? This man, man from head to foot, courageous, bold, and he says, what was he among them? But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherishes her children, and you should be a nursing mother.

We were gentle among you, a gentleman. Remember on the fruits of the spirit is gentleness, and they were characterized in this man dealing with these young believers. You see, young believers, they need to be nursed and gently handled.

Sometimes you get older Christians sometimes, and they forget they were bathed one time, and they sort of treat their bathes a little too roughly and all. They don't treat them gently, and that's what Paul says.

We treated you as a nursing mother. We're gentle with you. You have to be gentle with God's people many times. Sometimes, you know, Christians use the sword of the Word, the sword of the Word like Peter used it in trying to cut off the head of that servant of the high priest, you know, and he just cut off his ear, but very unskilled, and they chopped with it.

Paul said, we're gentle with you. We treated you as little children. We fed you first with milk, and we need to remember that. God's children need that nursing care of little children when they're first saved, that gentleness, and Paul used that lovely gentleness.

And to cherish means to eat or to warm up. Even if a hen warms her egg, so we were cherishing you. We're warming you up, and believers need to be warmed up. They need that warm love. Like Abraham's servant, he came from the south.

He had a warm ministry, and believers need to be warmed up, built up in their most holy faith. And not only that, he was affectionate in verse 8, so being affectionately despised of you. Oh, he loved these believers.

He had a lot of affection for them. You know, love wants the best for its object. Did you ever see a mother that doesn't want the best for her children? Why, mothers, they have a great heart for the children.

You watch your mother sometimes, and they haven't been for this. They have the good, the very best for their children is not too good, you know. They can't see much wrong with their children many times, but others can.

And they want the best for their children. And so, when we see people saved and we really love them, we want God's best for them, and that's what Paul said. We're affectionately despised for you. We're willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but also own souls.

That's how much they meant to him. They were willing to just give themselves for them. He said in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 17, "...and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your feet, I joy and rejoice with you all.".

In other words, he was willing to stand in defense. He was willing to give himself for the benefit of God's people. And, brethren, that's a real shepherd's heart. What marked the Lord Jesus? That's a good shepherd.

I lay down my life for the sheep. What marks a good under-shepherd? The heart that Paul had here, a heart that was willing to lay down his life for the brethren. And the trouble is, whenever you get trouble in a group of Christians in an assembly, what is it?

It's me that wants my way. It's that dirty old flesh coming up into activity again. But if men will have a love for the Lord, and a love of God people like you have here, and have such a care for them, there won't be any difficulties.

It's all with the flesh. You can trace nearly every division to the flesh. They'll have some other things. They'll sort of march on and say such and such thing. It's not that at all. It's usually a personality conflict, or flesh conflict of some kind.

You can always trace it to that. The type of a man here like this, to have this love of God people, he wasn't going to cause them any problem, you can be sure of that. So we see him affectionate. Then he's also sacrificial.

He says here that he was willing to lay down his life. Why? Because there's Dion to him. And when you get children of your own, you want the best for them. You're not going to... You know, usually what happens sometimes when you get trouble is some outsider will come in who hasn't got a love for the people of God, but he comes in among, and he wants to have things the way he used to have them.

And he'll stir up trouble just to have his way. A man that really has children, he wants the best for that family. And he'll pour himself out so they'll have God's best. Then he was not only sacrificial, and oh, I can't help but just turn back to a verse or two in the book of Acts here, just to show off the man Paul.

Paul’s Sacrificial Love and Labor

In Acts chapter 20, and I realize it's outside of all chapter, and yet it's still on the subject of Paul as model servant. In Acts chapter 20 and verse 24, he says when he speaks about all these bonds and afflictions, verse 23, "'For none of these things move me, neither can my life be unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry that I received of the Lord Jesus, to testify of the gospel of the grace of God.'.

My whole life," says Paul in Philippians, "'is to live Christ and breathe him.'". And then as you go down into the chapter 20 of Acts, look at verse 33, "'I have coveted no man's silver or gold or pearl.

Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have shown you all things, how that soul laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

And when he had thus spoken, he knelt down and prayed with them all, and they all wept much, and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed the boy.". That man loved them because he loved them. Love begets love.

I've loved you like that, and they show their appreciation of that love. Isn't it a sad thing that sometimes when people die, they're hardly missed? Hardly anybody loves them. Why, Paul, whenever he left someplace, they fell on his neck, and they kissed him, and they wept.

They loved him, because he poured himself out. What a wonderful example. Then he was industrious, as we also saw back in Acts 20, for he says in verse 9, where you remember, bread, and all labor, and travail.

Nothing lazy about this servant of God. He was industrious. How much did he labor? Laboring night and day. He prayed night and day. He thanked night and day. He was always at it. He was a dynamo for God.

God had a complete possession of this man, and my, he was just a vessel, meat for the master's use. Tireless, night and day. Industrious, might. He was laboring, and notice the endearing term he uses in passing, brethren.

Physical labor, spiritual energy, travail. Burt Pangs, you know, when you really don't remember, he's just tireless for what the mighty saves do. He had Burt Pangs, and unless we have Burt Pangs, there's no new days.

So, let's read it again, for you remember, brethren, all labor. That's the physical. Travail, that spiritual laboring and travail, for laboring night and day. Absolutely tireless, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you.

That would be read back in the book of Acts. We preached unto you the gospel of God. He was evangelistic, preached unto you the gospel of God. What marvelous illustration of what we should pursue in our lives.

This is what we should go after. Paul says, Be ye followers of me, as I am of Christ. How we should be like that? Gentle, unassuming, affectionate, sacrificial, industrious, tireless, self-supporting if necessary, evangelistic, and then he was godly in life.

Holiness, Integrity, and Fatherly Exhortation

Verse 10. Ye are witnesses, and God also, how wholly and justly and unblameably we behave ourselves among you that believe. He says, we're transparent before you. The word of God says to Paul in Ephesians, walk circumspectly.

Walk so everybody can see you and get a good full view of you, and that's how we were before you. Transparent before you. In holiness, God's word. He was absolutely devout. Practiced what he preached.