WWUTT 496 Affectionately Desirous of You?

Affectionate Ministry and Shared Life in the Body of Christ

In obedience to the command of God to love one another, it is necessary for you to open yourself up to each other in the body of Christ, the church with whom you fellowship. Christ is our example when we understand the text.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of 1 Thessalonians 2. I'm going to begin in verse 8, which is where I left off last week, and read through to verse 12. We'll see how far we get here.

Paul writing to the Thessalonians, So being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil. We worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you while we proclaim to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers.

For you know how, 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. Such warm and compassionate language that Paul has continued to use here with the Thessalonians, a church, a group of believers who had been persecuted for their faith.

They were even concerned that maybe the apostle Paul didn't care about them all that much because he was so unjustly persecuted by the Jews when he was there. They had to smuggle him out in the cover of night.

And then later, instead of coming back to them, he sent Timothy instead. So did Paul just not care? And they had so many questions about the coming of the day of the Lord. So there was a lot of things they didn't yet know about the testimony of Christ that they wanted Paul to come back and explain to them.

So they wondered, would he ever even bother with us again? But Paul writing in this letter to them, showing how much he truly cared about them. And like I had said, when we had gone through our introduction there in First Thessalonians chapter one, upon hearing the words that Paul shared with them and how affectionate he was toward them, likely filled their hearts with joy and their eyes with tears to hear how much the apostle Paul appreciated them, that their testimony was even being spoken about in Achaia and Macedonia.

It had come back to him from just the witnesses around who have said, hey, you know, those Thessalonians who used to worship false gods, they worship Christ now. And so Paul rejoiced to hear that they had remained steadfast in their faith, though they were being persecuted for it.

And so in verse eight, as he continues this warm language, he says, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

There is a necessity in this body of believers with whom we fellowship. I'm specifically talking about the church, the church that you are a part of. It is necessary for you to be open with one another in the body, sharing yourself with them, opening yourself up to the point that you would become vulnerable.

This shows a measure of trust. It shows devotion. But most of all, it shows love that you would share yourself, that you would open up yourself and let somebody in. And likewise, they would do the same with you.

This is the love that we have been called to have for our brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we are growing, with whom we worship, with whom we hear the word of God proclaimed and we mature in what is being taught from the pulpit in our church.

We are praying together. We share tears together, and they are sometimes tears of joy. There are sometimes tears of heartache. We put our arms around each other. We shake hands vigorously. I love that in our church.

You're grabbing shoulders, giving big hugs. Maybe you're not a real touchy-feely person. Maybe you're more of an introvert. That's OK. But there's still that importance of opening yourself up to another person, not that you would be walled off, not that you just know one another casually.

In fact, I would put this to you. You must be more affectionate and closer to the brothers and sisters in Christ that you have in your own church. You need to be closer to them than you are close to your blood brothers and sisters with whom you share a mother and father.

You need to be closer to your own church than your own brothers and sisters in the flesh. If your brothers—well, let me say this—especially if your brothers and sisters in the flesh are not Christians.

And I speak to you from experience as the oldest of six brothers and sisters, none of whom are walking with the Lord. Now, when I first became a pastor, I don't know that I necessarily would have understood this concept, because I was still really close to my brothers and sisters at that time.

And, you know, I was close to my church as well. But it was kind of, you know, hey, love you guys. Let's sing a song together. I don't know how open I was with them, not necessarily opening my home up to them or opening my heart up to them.

We shared some laughs, and we had some good times together. But maybe I was not as personable as I should have been in the very beginning. But the more I have grown with my church, the more that I am burdened for my church, the more it's become a chore to leave my church and go be with my family for a reunion or something like that.

I would rather be with my church. These are my brothers and sisters. And the more I've grown with this church, the more I understand the words of Christ when there were some people that came to him and said, hey, your mother and your brothers are here.

And Jesus looked at him and said, who are my mother and my brothers? And indicated to his disciples who were around him and said, these are my mother and my brothers. I've come to understand that more now, the more years that I have put into pastoring the church that I am dedicated to and committed to, the more I've come to understand that kind of closeness that Jesus had with his disciples.

And that closeness was, I mean, I've been a pastor for seven years. He was with his disciples on earth for like three or four years. So he definitely invested himself in his disciples more and faster and deeper than than I can say that I've done with my own church.

But but see, that's the point. Our model is Christ. We're supposed to do that with our church because Christ did that with his disciples. When Jesus said, John 13, 34 and 35, a new commandment, I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you.

You also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples. If you have love for one another, oftentimes we'll use that phrase, love one another to apply to the way that we're supposed to show charity to people outside the church.

And indeed, we should. But when we do that, when we're meeting someone's physical needs who's out in the world, we're doing that to open a door to share the gospel with them. We can say to them, look, you've got this physical need, but you have a spiritual need that is much more important.

You need Christ. And without Christ, you will perish on the day of judgment. And so by sharing the gospel with them, hopefully they would turn from their sin and then, hey, they want to come be part of the church.

So then they're growing with us in this fellowship, the body of saints in Christ Jesus, maturing in the word, singing praises to our God, encouraging and admonishing one another. And they become our brother and sister in Christ as we grow in this work of faith.

So that's why we show charity to people outside the church is so it opens a door to be able to share the gospel. But that phrase specifically that you love one another, this applies to the way that we love one another in the church.

First and foremost, as Paul said to the Galatians, as you have every opportunity, show kindness to everyone, especially the household of faith. So our devotion is first to our own brothers and sisters in Christ in the church before it is to anyone else.

And this is even a testament of the love of Christ, the way that we love each other, because those who are outside the church will see the way that we love each other. And they'll realize, you know, there's a love that's going on there that is so different than the love that I see or I experience anywhere else in the world.

What is it about that kind of love that they have that is so different? And once again, a door opened to share about the gospel of Christ. We can share what Paul said in Titus three, three, that before we came to Christ, we were hated by others and hating one another.

There really is no such thing as unity outside of Christ. You see all the stuff that's going on in the news right now and everything that's happening in our world concerning the alt right or black lives movement.

You know, it does not matter what any group of people tries to do to attain unity. If the gospel of Christ is not there, it's all in vain. It amounts to absolutely nothing there. There cannot be unity where Christ is not.

If there is enmity with God, there is enmity with one another. But when you submit to a power higher than yourself, God, the creator of the universe, and you are reconciled back to God, you're not only reconciled to him through Jesus Christ, you're reconciled to the people of God.

There is unity where the one spirit of God dwells in every member of that body of Christ. And so that is who we are in Christ Jesus as the church. We have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within every one of us.

And though we are all individuals who have been gifted in different ways in service to the body of Christ, we are yet one because of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us. This is the only place where true unity can be attained in the body of Christ.

And so we must show, especially in the face of the stuff that's happening in our world and in our culture today, we must show that we are unified and we are together in this body in a way that you do not see it happening in the world and nobody else can find it in the world.

When people take to the streets and they are shouting as a mob, there's no unity there. There's not even any love there. You can just see how angry they look and how angry they sound in those videos that are crawling across Twitter and Facebook.

That does not look appealing to me at all. I have no desire to drop whatever it is I'm doing and go join them. Rather, I want to go to the assembly. I want to gather with the saints. Let's lift up praises to our God.

Let's hear the gospel proclaimed. Let's be reminded that this world is not our home and there's nothing here on this planet that can satisfy. Instead, let me hear about the deliverance that is coming, where Christ is going to return to judge the living and the dead.

He is going to reconcile all things to himself, things in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, where there is evil and conflict and turmoil and futility and decay and death and all this stuff happening in the world right now.

All of that is going to come to an end in Christ Jesus, who is going to wipe every tear from our eyes. There will be no more pain, no more hurt, no more sickness, no more death, no more evil. We will live with Christ forever in his perfect righteousness.

That's the message I want to hear. Let's gather as the saints to hear that together and be reminded of the promises in Christ Jesus that have been given to us and this hope that we have of his future kingdom, which is going to come and restore creation back to the glory that God meant for it to have all things being reconciled in Christ, things in heaven and on earth.

So this is the message that unifies us, that brings us together as a kingdom people in Christ. There is no party in hell, and there never will be a party in hell. It is full of a bunch of miserable people gnashing their teeth, weeping in pain, burning in agony forever, not together, but separated from God from all eternity.

There is no unity there. There is unity only in Christ. The more we reach for Christ, the more you pursue Christ, the closer you get to one another. And so as the body of Christ, we must be affectionate with each other.

We must show now this desire that we have for one another because we desire Christ and we desire to obey him. And Jesus said, if you love me, you will obey my commandments. And the new commandment he has given to us is that we would love one another.

By this, all people will know that you are my disciples. If you have love for one another, as John would go on to say in first John, we read this a couple of months ago. If you say that you love God, but you do not love your brother, you're a liar.

For if you do not love your brother whom you can see, then you cannot love God whom you do not see. When we're using this word love here, we're talking about, I mean, willing to be open and vulnerable with the people that you fellowship with.

Now, when you open yourself up that much and you make yourself that vulnerable, there's a good possibility that you could get hurt like you understand the risk there. When you open yourself up to another person, they could potentially hurt you.

And I'm going to tell you that if you if you're doing this for a long time and you're in a particular church for quite a while, you will get hurt. I mean, I would just be shocked right out of this chair that I'm sitting in here if somebody told me I've been in my church for 20 years and I've never been hurt by anybody.

Whoa, really? Never heard of such a place. I've been a pastor for seven years and I've been hurt a lot and I expect to continue to be hurt by people who say that they love me, but only end up using me and their heart was not actually affectionate for me because it was never truly affectionate for Christ.

But I have been not I have not been called to wall myself up to people, especially when it comes to setting an example for my flock as to how we are to be in Christ Jesus. I can't be standoffish. I have to open myself up to two people.

Jesus is my example. Paul is my example. And I think I think I gave you a reference last week regarding Demas in Second Timothy at the end of of his final letter to Timothy, as he talked about this guy who abandoned him and and left him in the lurch, went back to Thessalonica because he was more in love with the world than he was in love with Christ and his mission.

And so Paul experienced that he experienced hurt and heartache from people that he thought he could love and trust. Jesus experienced it from every single one of his disciples who abandoned him at the moment that he was arrested.

The shepherd was struck and the sheep scattered, just as was prophesied in the Old Testament. You have Peter denying Christ three times, the one who had said over and over again that he would rather die with Christ than he would deny him.

And yet what happened was exactly what Jesus said would happen. You'll deny me three times. But Jesus showing his love for Peter by reinstating him, asking him three times at the end of the book of John, Peter, do you love me?

Then go and feed my lambs. And this is the charge that is for each and every one of us. If we love Christ, we will feed the flock of God. And this means opening ourselves up to others, showing the love that God has for us, for other people.

That's what Paul showed to the Thessalonians. And he is calling their attention to that again so that they would know the genuineness of this message that he delivered to them. They would be all the more encouraged in it and kept steadfast in this faith that was spoken to them in Christ Jesus by the apostle Paul because of these reminders that he is setting forth before them, showing the love that he had.

For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil. We worked night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you while we proclaim to you the gospel of God. So Paul was a tent maker by trade when he went to Thessalonica and he was sharing there.

That's what he did. That was his day job so that he could make ends meet so he could buy bread and survive or even raise money for their travels if they were going to get called up to move on again. He did not require of any of the Thessalonians to take care of him, not to provide him a place to sleep, not to buy him bread.

And he did this out of love for them. We didn't ask anything from you. We set for you an example as to how you're supposed to work hard and labor. That's going to come into this again a little bit later on when we talk about how the Thessalonians were not working as they should.

And in the meantime, we proclaim to you the gospel of God. See, that was not our living. Our living was not proclaiming the gospel. Our living was being tent makers. We came to you the gospel of God free of charge.

Unlike the philosophers, of course, who come speaking messages that they want to get paid for. We didn't get paid for our message. We did our work because we love you and we wanted to bring the gospel to you because we want your souls to be saved from death and become kingdom people of God.

Verse 10, you are witnesses and God also how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you as believers. So here's another example that they have set before them, that they would also be holy in all of their conduct.

For, you know, how like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you. We encouraged you and we charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God and compare that with what Paul said in verse seven.

We were gentle among you, like like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. When when you were a child and you fell down and you scraped your knee, who did you go running to? Dad, you know, some of you might have run to dad.

You generally ran to your mom, right? She was the one who was all warm and cuddly and affectionate and and and had the the most tenderness to show you whenever you hurt yourself, whenever you were in pain or if or if the kids were bullying you and beating up on you and they hurt your feelings.

Who was it you wanted to run into the arms of mom? Because she's the tender hearted one. Dad's not quite as tender. He can be. He's just he's just not built that way. You know, dad's not quite as much of a softy as mom is.

Who do we know dad is being? Well, he's the disciplinarian. He is the one who guides and teaches and and these things done lovingly as well as a father loves a son and teaches him the tricks of the trade, how to survive, how to apply wisdom to this world, how to grow up big and strong and be a man and and care for others.

You know, these these are the things that dad teaches. And so Paul then also compares himself to a father, you know, like a father with his children. We exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you.

You have the commands that are being listed there. That's like what dad does. But doing this in a loving way, not overbearing, not because we were trying to come down on you and afflict you. No, nothing like that.

It's it was like a father loving his son. Charging you to walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. I've mentioned Titus once already. Let me go there. Titus chapter two, starting in verse eleven.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Declare these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. Amen. I can't think of a better place to conclude than right there. So we see the affection that Paul had for the Thessalonians.

And so let us follow that example and be affectionate with one another in the body of Christ, sharing with each other great experiences, growing with one another, maturing together that we might present one another blameless before the Father with great joy, who loved us enough to send his son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, that all who believe in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

Amen.

Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find out more online at www .utt .com.