Glory And Joy - [1 Thessalonians 2:17-20]

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How much do you love your children? How do you express your love for your children?
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How do you show them? How much? You love them For those of you who don't have children or are too young to have children think about how your parents show that they love you
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Thought about this question. I figured if I was going to present this question to you. I should probably think about it myself and It really is that saying
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I Love you a lot It doesn't really have the gravitas to drive home what that really means, right?
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I Mean, I do guys. I love you a lot But I mentioned showing your love by the way, because it's not just about how deeply you feel something
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But it's how you put that love into action so what
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I did as any 21st century researcher does to look for the ultimate answer to this question
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How do you love your children? How do you show your love to your children? I went to Google Everybody knew that I was gonna say that by the way
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I remember in high school when Google that wasn't really around and I had to do research I never want to go back
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Google boy. Oh boy. That's you kid. You have no idea how lucky you have it So I went
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I went to Google and you can do this yourself when you get home by the way And you say how do you show your love to your children and just like I would expect from the
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Oracle? That is the internet. I got ten easy ways to show how you love your children. Oh, that's convenient
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So here we go number one Write your child a love letter.
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I heard some laughing Write down a few of the reasons why you love your child and why you think they're special mail that letter to your child number two
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Surprise them skip afternoon activities one day and take your child on an adventure You take them ice skating to the beach take a walk in the park number three read them one more story
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By the way, some of these are sweet. So if you say oh, I'm not gonna condemn you or anything. It's Say yes when your child asks for another story, even when you are tired our kids now say hey dad
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Will you play a game with me? I'm so tired Okay Number four frame a favorite picture number five tell your child your favorite memory of them
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See, these are nice. It's nice to be nice Number six multiply the affection give your child a dozen hugs.
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Tell tell her that you love her 25 times See if this was biblical, it would say 70 times 725 times or give her a hundred kisses number seven dancing and laugh together
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Number eight, this means I owe you a dollar and each who does this lunchbox love
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Write a silly poem or the lyrics to a song that remind you of your child and hide this in their lunchbox Your child will smile and feel loved even when you are apart
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Number nine throw out the rules sometimes Number ten tell your child you love her every day.
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I don't know why you laughed at that one. Now, of course There's other places that we could go not just to the internet to get the answers to how to love your children
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We can look to scripture to see what love is Right. We know the the definition the description of love in first Corinthians 13 and implicit in that we can see how that love is to be applied
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Or even better yet, we can look to scripture to see how God himself showed his love to his children right and I'm sure many of your your minds went to this passage
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John 3 16 for God so loved the world He loved the world in this way, and he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal
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Life the father loves his spiritual children to the uttermost giving up even
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Christ himself Jesus his son to save us And today our passage is one that captures the essence of this self -sacrificial
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Love it might not seem like that on the onset. But as we look at this, you'll you'll see I think Exactly what
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Paul and Silas and Timothy did? God showed his love to the
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Apostle Paul through direct revelation and Paul imitated Christ in showing that love to his spiritual children
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Now your bulletin says chapter 2 verses 17 to 20 of first Thessalonians and that's true, but I've been preaching through this book in pulpit supply ministry and none of you have the context of this book
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And so we're gonna take a little bit of time to understand the context in which this book first Thessalonians has been written and so to do that.
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I actually want to start so sound strange in first Thessalonians chapter 3 So if you open to first Thessalonians chapter 3 starting in verse 1
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Therefore when we could bear it no longer. This is forced separation from the Thessalonians We were willing to be left behind at Athens alone
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And we sent Timothy our brother and God's co -worker in the gospel of Christ to establish and to exhort you in your faith
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So that no one would be moved by these afflictions For you yourselves know that we are destined for this
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For when we were with you We kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction just as it has come to pass and just as you know
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For this reason when I could bear it no longer I sent to learn about your faith for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain but now verse 6 but now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and Reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us as we long to see you
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For this reason brothers in all our distress and affliction. We've been comforted about you through your faith
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This book first Thessalonians is a book that is rooted in joy We commonly look to Philippians right the the theme of Philippians is is joy and rejoicing in the
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Lord But first Thessalonians as it's a look at this model churches model New Testament Church We see the joy of Paul bleed out of the whole thing and in truth there are many parallels between the book of Philippians and the book of first Thessalonians and so this letter is a reaction to Timothy's report
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Okay, we sent Timothy to you and he has returned and you've continued to grow in your faith despite the adversity you're experiencing
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See Paul was worried that the Thessalonian Church might be like the seeds that fell on the rocky soil, right?
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We remember the parable of the soils right what happened to the seeds that fell on the rocky soil they sprung up, right? They showed growth but then in the heat of summer they wilted away and Paul was worried about that because they had to leave and we'll see this in a few moments verse 5
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I sent to learn about your faith for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain They worked there.
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They labored there. They toiled there, but they had to leave and Paul didn't know what was going on And that's why they sent
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Timothy, but Timothy's report rebuts this fear that Paul had The church is healthy.
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The church is growing The church even has more questions as they desire to better understand the truths of Jesus Christ Just just imagine the joy that Paul would would have when he hears this when he when he hears this report from Timothy Imagine how you would feel
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Hoping against the odds to receive a good report and then receiving it you took a test and you thought you bombed it
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But you didn't You interviewed for a job and you thought you did something wrong or you said the wrong thing you answered poorly
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You got the job Even this week think of the McLaughlin family and just everything that was going on with Larry and the brain surgery and all this stuff
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And then he had brain surgery on Monday and he was home a day and a half later. That was cause for joy right
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It's amazing So how joyful would Paul have been to have received this news? Especially in light of these afflictions that he refers to in verses 3 and 4 now
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The Bessalonian Church had pretty much always been under affliction right? We I think we know this
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Mentally about a lot of New Testament young New Testament churches There was a lot of turmoil and in Greece and and in that area and there's a lot of stuff going on and there's there's all these things happening but Boy, oh boy the
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Thessalonian Church Much affliction, so if you keep your finger here in chapter 3, it's basically where we're gonna spend most of our time today
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But let's take a quick look at Acts 17. This is where we find Paul and Silas and Timothy going to Thessalonica, by the way, there is great debate about the pronunciation of Thessalonica.
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I'd learned this yesterday I was listening to pastor Bob's message during Sunday school last week.
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He pronounces it Thessalonica. I have always pronounced it Thessalonica Great debate about this.
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Apparently both of them are accurate. I might switch. I apologize. I mean the same thing So in Acts 16
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Paul receives the Macedonian call where he sees the vision and immediately after that Paul Silas and Timothy leave Troas and travel to Macedonia First they go to Philippi to preach they go through a few places
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They they go to Philippi to preach and one of my favorite passages in Philippi where Paul just gets super annoyed with this this
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Prophet girl and cast the demonite Paul becoming having become greatly annoyed is for some reason something that cracks me up I don't know why but so he casts the demon out of out of this woman and this the slave girl and the owners get
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Mad and so they have Paul thrown in prison And then the you know There's a bunch of stuff that goes on they find out the
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Roman citizens and they've been thrown in prison without trial and they're like Oh, this is a problem. So the magistrates get them out of prison. They're like look just don't come back
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Okay, just leave we don't want any trouble get out of here and that brings us to Acts 17
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Acts 17 1 we see this now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica see where there was a synagogue of the
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Jews and Paul went in and as was his custom on on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the scriptures explaining and Proving that it was necessary for the
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Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead and saying this Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the
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Christ and Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas as did a great many of the devout
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Greeks and not a few of the leading women But the Jews were jealous and taking some of the wicked men of the rabble
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They formed a mob and they set the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason most likely where they were meeting
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Seeking to bring them out into the crowd When they could not find them They dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities shouting these men who have turned the world upside down Have come here also and Jason has received them and they were all acting against the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another
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King King Jesus and And the people in the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things
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When they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest they let them go Verse 10 the brothers immediately sent
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Paul and Silas away by night to Berea and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue and so they have left
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Thessalonica and throughout the remainder of Paul's second missionary journey his heart is with the
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Thessalonians and Paul had a system All right, and pastor Bob mentioned this last week in Sunday school
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He Paul would go to a town and he would go into the synagogue there and he would first preach in the synagogue and teach Jesus the
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Messiah in the synagogue in this case three Sabbaths and After that, they would leave the
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Sabbath They went to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles and and they would seek to form a church in that city they'd meet in a house usually the house of a
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Greek sometimes a converted Jew and Typically the the missionaries would stay there for some amount of time maybe a year maybe 18 months and some reports
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They they were there for three years establishing the church preaching and teaching everything that the believers needed to know to be fully informed
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New Testament believers, but in Thessalonica that time was cut short
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He was probably only there for maybe four to six months at best estimate. And so he was worried
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Paul was worried He was worried the believers might not be mature enough He was concerned that they hadn't finished teaching the young Thessalonian church everything they needed to know
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He was concerned about what he figured was being said about them He was troubled by the rabble by the crowd
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He was troubled by the angry Jews and the wicked men of the town and what they might do to the believers meeting in the house Of Jason and yes, he was concerned for Jason as well
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His heart was with them and so they sent
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Timothy and as we saw Timothy returned With news that filled him with Joy, it's probably only been six months nine months less than a year since he was there
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But in that time that short time the impact of the Thessalonian Church in Macedonia was undeniable
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Very brief geography lesson for you If ever there was a central location in Macedonia to spread the gospel to spread really any news
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But in this case the gospel it was probably this city Thessalonica You have the
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Mediterranean Sea, right? We're gonna start zoomed back Mediterranean Sea you get the boots coming down off the
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Mediterranean Sea east of Italy is the Aegean Sea And then off of that there is a large
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Gulf called the Thurmaic Gulf at the very tip of that Gulf was
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Thessalonica major highway think of the The I -90 of Macedonia the
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Ignatian Way ran right Smack -dab through the middle of this city And so if you were on one side of the
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Aegean and you wanted to get to the other side of the Aegean guess where? You were going you were going through Thessalonica What did this do it created opportunities for the
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Thessalonians to spread the message of the gospel throughout the land We see this in chapter 1 of 1st
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Thessalonians. You don't need to turn there. But in verse 6 it says and you became imitators of us imitators of Paul and Of the
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Lord for you received the word in much affliction Remember that affliction that we saw in Acts and that that Paul was describing you should receive the word in much affliction
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And with the joy of the Holy Spirit so that you became an example to all The believers in Macedonia and in Achaia for not only has the word of the
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Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia But your faith in God has gone forth everywhere so that we need not say anything
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Imagine that your faith has gone forth so much that the Apostle Paul doesn't feel the need to say something
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That's amazing. This is broad commendation Paul recognizes the evangelistic heart of this church to the point where the gospel preached by the
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Thessalonians were winning souls for Jesus Christ And so in chapter 2 the writers remind the
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Thessalonians about their ministry there They remind them that unlike many of the other traveling preachers of the era and there were many
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The motivations of the missionaries were pure Chapter 2 verse 3 for our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive
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But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel So we speak not to please man, but to please
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God Who tests our hearts? P .s. By the way, shouldn't that be our motivation when we preach the gospel, right?
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Right. It shouldn't be to please man By the way, if you're if you're pleasing unbelievers with your preaching of the gospel, you're doing it wrong, right?
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We speak not to please man, but to please God and they go further reminding the
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Thessalonians They went not only up to the call of duty in their ministry, but above the call beyond the call
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See there was a societal expectation at that time that if a missionary of whatever stripe would come to your town and serve you and minister to you and preach whatever
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Doctrine or whatever it is that they wanted to preach that you were kind of socially required to sort of put them up and feed
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Them and and at least provide for them so they could focus on on their ministry, right? But they didn't do that These three men didn't take advantage of that thing that they had every right to by societal norms verse 9 for you
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Remember brothers our labor and toil We work night and day so that we might not be a burden to any of you.
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Well, we proclaim to you the gospel of God We know Paul was a tent maker.
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So he would have been working in his trade Silas and Timothy to would have been working alongside
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Paul They wanted to do whatever they could so that they did not have to rely on this young church and then moving
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Closer to our passage today. We see throughout chapter 2 the parent -like love that Paul had for them
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Verse 7, but we were gentle among you like a nursing mother Taking care of her own children verses 11 and 12 for you know, how
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Like a father with his children We exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory
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Pro tip keep these two verses in mind as we study our passage today And once again the missionaries commend the
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Thessalonian Church in verses 13 and following which brings us to our passage first Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 17 to 20
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Verse 17, but since we were torn away from you brothers for a short time in person not in heart
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We endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face Because we wanted to come to you
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I Paul again and again, but Satan hindered us For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our
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Lord Jesus at his coming. Is it not you? For you are our glory and our joy
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This passage is amazing because it's so emotional
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If you read this passage and you look at this and you just put yourself in in Paul's head and Understand and just consider how concerned he was for them and How joyful he would have been at that report.
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There's so much emotion here And yet he's so clear with his his recounting of the events that happened after they had left the
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Salonika of Gaventa says perhaps the most outstanding feature of this text is the way it interweaves a straightforward account of events with highly emotional interpretive remarks and asides
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And so as we look at this verses 17 to 20, we're gonna look at three motivations of Paul in writing this passage number one
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Paul's fatherly love for the Thessalonians Number two
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Paul's frustration with Satan's influence and number three Paul's future. Hope of glory.
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Yes. I did the Baptist thing Let's look first at Paul's fatherly love for the
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Thessalonians We see this in verses 17 and 18, but since we were torn away from you brothers for a short time in Person not in heart we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face -to -face
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Because we wanted to come to you. I Paul again and again this passage starts with the transition the word, but Remember we were just looking at the description of how these men acted when they were with the
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Thessalonians And now we see the picture of their hearts while they were separate. It is the same part
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Hendrickson said not only was it true that during their stay in Thessalonica The missionaries had conducted themselves in a most unselfish manner as had has now been shown
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But also after the enforced departure from that city their loving concern for the brothers whom they had left behind had asserted itself absent in presence, but not in heart
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Immediately after the events in act 17 Paul and Silas were sent away to Berea that was unplanned
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They hadn't finished their work in Thessalonica But they were forced to leave and the language here really shows how painful this was if you have an
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NIV by the way You've got a step up on this next point This phrase here where it says torn away in the
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SV, but since we were torn away from you. It's a Greek word or funos
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Translated in the NIV is orphaned We were orphaned
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Right the idea here is that Paul saying it's as if they were made orphaned now We think of orphans and we're like well hold on I thought this was a fatherly love thing like aren't you getting it confused
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Andrew? What's going on? In the Greek this can be used both as the separation of a child from their parents
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But also as the separation of a parent from their child and that is exactly how it is being used here
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You can even use this to describe the separation of two dear friends from one another Right it hurt them to be apart from each other and you even see in verse 17
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It hadn't been a long time right, but since you were torn away from you brothers for a short time This is obviously relative right but even most estimates here
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I mentioned this before They put the the time period here probably between six and nine months between when they were forced to leave
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Thessalonica for Berea and when they were in Corinth, and they wrote this letter to the Thessalonians but Anyone who has been apart from their family for any amount of time can attest to how hard that can be
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Especially if it's unexpected And so the writers remind the
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Thessalonians that their absence was physical only But since we were torn away from you brothers for a short time in person not in heart and again the the nuance here is is lost in the translation right the
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The word that is used here literally means in face not in heart.
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It's talking about face -to -face Communication with them the missionaries presence in in Thessalonica was not defined by just kind of being around I mean sometimes that's nice right nature wants to read a book.
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I want to watch TV or something It's just nice to be in the same room But that's not how their relationship was defined.
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It wasn't just nice to be around Paul was there with a purpose Right their presence in Thessalonica That's Rio Thessalonica was defined by their close face -to -face communication working together preaching teaching
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Asking questions getting answers this absence being described wasn't just that they were physically separated
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But they were missing this physical fellowship right this koinonia. It was not there If he said in the
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Greco -Roman world as in our own true friends were never understood as absent in the ultimate sense right that's exactly what the writers are trying to convey here and P .s.
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This also served to continue to remind the Thessalonians of their true nature right of the true nature of Paul and Silas There's not a lot of doubt here that these same
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Jews and Greeks who? Rallied to kick Paul and Silas and Timothy out of Thessalonica Thessalonica would would also have been engaging a little bit of character assassination right while they were gone like It was a little bit of trouble and they peaced out like what do you think they think right?
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That's exactly what they're saying there and and that's actually probably the primary motivation of most of the writing in Chapter two is that that's why they're recounting look remember how we were
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It hasn't changed just because we're not there our feeling for you has not changed. We love you
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We have shown it in every opportunity do not miss it Hendrickson says the parenthetical in face not in heart must probably also be reviewed be viewed as a
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Refutation of the slander that the missionaries did not really care for those whom they had duped
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That they would know better than to try to return to them in short that for Paul and company out of sight means out of heart
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No Not at all. And so the writers continue they they continue to Describe their feelings for the
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Thessalonians. We endeavored the more eagerly right for 17b We endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face
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Don't like going to the NIV too much. But the NIV here translates this as intense longing
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Right We endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire
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Okay, that's not really kind of common English vernacular Intense longing I get that there's so much emotion in this writing.
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It almost sounds like Paul is desperate and as I look through this and Especially at the end of chapter 2 the desperation in Paul's writing is is is palpable
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This is war zone communication Thessalonians are in a spiritual war zone and Paul is so eagerly endeavoring desperate
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Intensely longing to return to them Listen to this It is hard to express the strong sentiment which
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I feel today Never did Mother's Day really mean so much to me and my thoughts are most any minute with you
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It is Sunday about two o 'clock now making it time for church and I only wish I could go there with you
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I Know what a wonderful mother I have and I am glorified to see the sublime way
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You look at the state of affairs and I'll try to be the boy that my mother thinks Your loving son
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George. This is a letter that George Weigert of Lincoln, Nebraska wrote to his mother on Mother's Day 1918 while he was on the
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Fields of France in the middle of World War one Does it sound familiar?
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Do you hear the desperation in his voice? My thoughts are most any minute with you.
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I only wish I could be there to go with you This same emotion is what we see in Paul writing to the
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Thessalonians Paul's trying desperately to return so much so that this this Letter which is written by three men
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Paul Silvanus and Timothy We see in verse 18 Paul steps out of the triad of authors and says
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Because we wanted to come to you. I Paul again and again, let me impress upon you how much
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I want this thing His desire was not casual. It was intense.
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It was directed It was planned Right Tried to make some plans with someone yesterday.
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We're like, oh, yeah. No, we should get together. Oh, yeah We'll do a thing whatever right and I sat there and I said, okay
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We got to pick a date because if we just are gonna get together It's not happening. We all know this
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I mean Let's not pretend that we're better at scheduling than others if we don't make plans and we don't set a date and say on October 6th at 1 o 'clock you show up at my house and I will give you food
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If you don't set those things all the all the young men are like yes, by the way, that is not an invitation
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Sorry, that was the plans I made yesterday But if you don't put specifics together these things never happen right this desire the
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Paul had you know what? I'd like to go back to Thessalonica. That'd be nice. You know, that wasn't what this was.
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It was intense and By the way, notice that in all of this, there's no regret
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Paul doesn't say man. I wish I stayed behind didn't say that at all There's no regret in his writing, but his cause and his purpose is sure
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He had a practical parental fatherly love for the Thessalonians and he eagerly
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Earnestly desired to return to them and he was frustrated with the influence of Satan We see this at the end of verse 18
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Because we wanted to come to you. I Paul again and again, but Satan hindered us now
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If I'm being honest and that is my goal We don't really know what exactly it was that hindered them or prevented them or stopped them from returning to Thessalonica We have the narrative of acts
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Right that tells what's going on through the missionary journey of Paul, but it doesn't describe something specifically here, right?
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Pillar said there is a term this term hindered that comes from the military In order to stop the advance of enemies armies soldiers would tear up and destroy the road to hinder their passage
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Warfare imagery is embedded in the metaphor Satan himself being their adversary And of course
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I think of this and I'm like, okay, this is like Indiana Jones. He's running along He's like knocking boxes behind him and stuff like that, right?
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That's that's kind of what's happening here. Only only more more Well with much more gravitas, right?
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Satan is preventing Them from returning and again, we don't really know exactly what happened
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There's a lot of different reasons why this could have been it might have been a risk It might have been because of the the bond money that they took from Jason, right?
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They took this money the the the magistrates and in Thessalonica took this money from Jason as security and it could have been that if They returned that he would he would lose that and he would lose other things and maybe he would be fined and all these things
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And it would it would be even more difficult for them. It could have been the thorn in the flesh that Paul talks about He says that Satan gave him a thorn in the flesh
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Right, it could have been a lot of other things, but no matter what what we do know is Know that regardless of what the particular thing was it could only have happened if it was permitted by God right and So there's no doubt that there is some frustration for Paul, but he yields ultimately to the authority of God Right Satan acts in Scripture, we know this we see it but it is only under the authority of Almighty God MacArthur quotes
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Lenski and says Satan succeeded in frustrating Paul's two plans to return to Thessalonica But only because this accorded with God's own plans regarding the work
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Paul was to do All of this is under the divine authority of God So we've seen
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Paul's fatherly love for the Thessalonians. We've seen Paul's frustration with the influence of Satan and now
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Boy, that was a fast point actually and now in verses 19 and 20. Let's look at Paul's future.
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Hope of glory verse 19 chapter 2 chapter 2 first Thessalonians For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our
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Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? Is it not you For you are our glory and joy
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The writers present this threefold eschatological question to the Thessalonians here in verse 19 the answer they give
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Immediately after right this isn't I have a boss who likes to ask this question Oh, what is the obvious thing that I did not talk about in my presentation?
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I? Don't know right. That's not what Paul is doing here. He's he is asking almost as a rhetorical question
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Not really rhetorical. The answer is rhetorical. Is it not you? These things hope and and joy and crown
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They're intertwined. We can look at them separately to better understand them, but they are necessarily intertwined things
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This hope I think of hope hope is this thing. We're not really sure we hope This hope
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Paul's hope is a certain hope This is similar to what he says in Romans 8 where he says not only the creation
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But we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption of sons the redemption of our bodies
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For in this hope we were saved That's a sure hope that is a certain hope now.
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Hope that is seen is not hope For who hopes for what he sees?
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But if we hope for what we do not see we wait for it with patience Paul's not writing this and saying
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I hope you guys are good That's not what he's saying here, that's what we think when we read this word
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No It's this more certain hope pillar again They place hope in the Thessalonians in expectation of the time when they will present the church in the presence of our
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Lord Jesus The apostolic ministry will be put to the test in that day and they hope to receive a reward
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Their hope is that their labors will not be in vain, right? We saw that in verse 5 of chapter 3
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Whatever fears and frustrations face them now their hope in this church remains strong and this joy
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Remember these are intertwined together This joy is the consummation of this hope
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Paul is joyful in the faithfulness of the Thessalonians and he is joyful in the thought that the
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Thessalonians will be with him at the Paragia of Jesus Christ. So this is this is an eschatological passage
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Right for what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before the Lord Jesus at his coming?
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So he is joyful at the thought that when when Christ returns when we meet him in the clouds You will be with us.
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That is joyful. Think about your children your brothers your sisters your friends What would run through your mind if you're meeting
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Jesus in the clouds and you look to your left or you look to your right? momentarily because Jesus And you see your loved ones with you how joyful would you be hope and joy
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He said is it is less about how one feels and more about what one does in the presence of God one
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Rejoices in the Lord, which would be the way that the Thessalonians would be Paul's joy in the presence of our
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Lord Jesus when he comes Paul is there and Silas and Timothy are there in the clouds.
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They look to their left. They look to the right They see the that's Thessalonians. They're not just happy. They are rejoicing They are rejoicing
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That they are with them and these two things are tied neatly together by this crown of boasting now boasting is a thing that In this context,
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I mean we think about boasting boasting is bad, right? Well, this crown is not a crown of royalty
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It is a crown of victory so often
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Paul writes with military metaphors or sport metaphors And and he's doing the same thing here The idea behind this crown is is something it would be like like a wreath, right?
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That would be presented to an athlete or generals a recognition of a great victory. You've seen I think they do this in gladiator but if you remember the
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Athenian Olympics 2004 I don't remember it was a long time ago for some of you. Sorry. I'm old when when the
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The medal winners were standing on their stands. They had they were presented with a crown a crown of victory, right?
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The very idea is that these believers
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Paul's spiritual children would be with him at the at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ Represented a sure hope and the knowledge of the joy that he would have as he would rejoice with his fellow believers
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Right as he rejoiced in Christ with them but the Thessalonians being the writers crown of boasting tells us suggest to us that it is a declaration of victory and They are the reward
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This crown would be the rewards the Lord would give to these men for their service to him in winning souls to hope joy
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Crown of boasting Paul knows that this salvific work is not his doing
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But first Corinthians 2 it is demonstration of what the spirit and of power These men understood that they were vessels by which the
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Lord fulfilled his plans, right? So Paul says in Romans 15 when he says in Christ Jesus then
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I have reason to be proud of my work in God We talked about boasting. This is exactly what he's talking about for I will not venture to speak of anything except what
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Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed and So this hope and this joy come together as these missionaries present the
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Thessalonians as trophies of their ministry To Jesus Christ at the Parousia and PS. This is only made possible by Jesus Christ working through them
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They will be presented with crowns of boasting. That is the honor and ability to boast in the
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Lord MacArthur Paul understood that when believers reach heaven
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They do not receive literal crowns to place on their glorified heads instead the Lord the Lord will crown all believers with life righteousness glory perfection and Joy and finally these writers conclude this chapter not with future perspective
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Which is I think it's an easy mistake for us to make but with a present progressive perspective
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The end of verse 20. Well, actually it is verse 20 for you are present tense our glory and joy the
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Thessalonian Church as it stands is a Testimony to the service of these men the service of Paul in the service of Silas the service of Timothy to the
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Lord Jesus Christ as we looked briefly in chapter 1 The Christians Macedonia that have been converted through the ministry of the
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Thessalonians all have these three missionaries to look at in their Christian ancestry It says in chapter 1 verses 8 and 9 for not only has the word of the
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Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia But your faith in God has gone forth everywhere so that we need not say anything now
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Listen to this listen to this carefully for they themselves Not the Thessalonians, but those whom the
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Thessalonians have preached to they themselves report concerning us Paul Silas and Timothy The kind of reception we had among you and how you turn to God for Midas to serve the living and true
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God What does that mean? So the Thessalonian spiritual children?
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Would speak to The work that Paul and Silas and Timothy did the
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Thessalonians were not shy and they're preaching about where they received the truth from and in This way the Thessalonians are the glory of the writers
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Yes, the last word of this chapter the final word of this chapter is
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Joy, the Thessalonians are the joy of the authors
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He said they are so much in the same way that new parents beam with the light over a newborn
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And one cannot long be around such parents without experiencing their joy as well Paul and Silas made themselves have felt orphaned by the many months of absence from their
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Thessalonian newborns But the reality is that the Thessalonian believers are their children in the
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Lord who are also therefore their present Joy, so I ask you again.
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How much do you love your children? How do you express it today?
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We looked at the Apostle Paul as he labored with Silas and Timothy desperate to show his love for his spiritual children in Thessalonica He poured out his heart and his soul so much that in four verses
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This was only four verses you can hear the desperation with which he wanted to be with them again to know that they were safe and As much as at the beginning we might have kind of turned our heads sideways at the world's
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Google recommendations of love, right? This is in many ways a love letter to the
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Thessalonian Church So, how do you show your children that you love them more to the point?
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How do you show your spiritual children? That you love them. Do you have?
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spiritual children Christian God works in every one of us.
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He has called us to go forth and multiply. He has called us to preach his word to make disciples
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How can you show your spiritual children how much you love them if you don't have any?
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MacArthur said even as the unbelieving steward or manager used his master's resources to purchase earthly friends
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Christ said believers should use the resources their master provides to bring people to salvation
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Whether or not believers know those people now as friends. They will know them in glory as friends forever and as sources of eternal joy
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Do not rob yourself of the joy of knowing your spiritual children are
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Rejoicing with you in the coming of the Lord if you are here, and you don't know
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Christ Allow me this opportunity to use the master's resources You are a sinner.
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I Am a sinner. We are all sinners from big sins to small ones. We've all sinned. What does that mean? It means that we have fallen short of God's commands.
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We fail to do what God commands The perfect God of the universe has standards for us to follow and we fail to follow them every day
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This isn't an exclusive club.
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The sin club is not an exclusive one No The doors are wide open and we walk through them all the time and there's a penalty for our sin
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Every sin we commit requires death as penance everyone
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But we sin more than once We can only die once And so we need something else someone else to save us and so like we said earlier
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God showed his love to us on earth by sending his son
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Jesus He was born. He lived a perfect life one that only he could live by the way because he was
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God He is God. He didn't sin ever He perfectly obeyed because he was
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God and then even though he perfectly obeyed even though he didn't sin When the time was right
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Jesus Christ died for the ungodly, that's a tough word ungodly is it's hard, right?
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It sounds really negative. Why are you so negative? But the reality is that every single person in this room is ungodly
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Every single person in this state is ungodly. Every single person that has ever walked the earth save one is ungodly
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But God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners Christ died for us
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Jesus died as a man to pay for the sins of man, but he died as God to pay for the sins of mankind
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Because he is God his death was worth more than the sins of one man in fact God the Father Raised Jesus Christ from the dead because he had enough power to pay for all of the sins of his children all of those who would believe in him
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That is the legacy of Paul to the Thessalonians the knowledge of and faith in this God Jesus Christ This is why
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Paul had a fatherly love for the Thessalonians. This is how he showed it Not knowing the fate of the
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Thessalonians is why Paul was frustrated with the influence of Satan But knowing after Timothy's report of the
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Thessalonians fate that they were safe in the hands of our maker That gave
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Paul a future hope of glory don't rob yourself of that future.
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Hope Show love as Paul did to your spiritual children
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Let's pray Father in heaven as we come to you this morning to worship you in song to worship you in prayer to worship you in Preaching and hearing the
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Word of God. I pray that you would convict each and every one of us to confess our sins to you
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Help us to trust your son Jesus Christ help us to obey him to honor him to lift him up as our glory
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Lord give us the strength give us the energy to minister to our children physical and spiritual
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Give us a desire to preach your word to all of those who are out there and I pray
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Lord that you would work through your spirit through the preaching of your word to bring some of those hearers to you
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Help us father to rejoice with our children and Help us to look to a future.