WWUTT 498 Crown of Boasting?

The Apostle Paul considered the Thessalonians, who turn from worshiping false gods to worshiping the true

God, as his spiritual offspring and so others that we lead to Christ likewise, they are our children when we understand the text.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We continue our study of 1 Thessalonians 2.

In fact, we'll finish this chapter today, verses 17 through 20. The Apostle Paul writes,

But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person and not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you,

I Paul, again and again, but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before the

Lord Jesus at His coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and our joy.

In verses 1 through 12 in this chapter, Paul presents a defense for the work that he and his missionary brethren did while they were there in Thessalonica.

Here in verse 17 and on into chapter 3, we have a defense for their absence, why they have not been able to come back to the

Thessalonians again. So first of all, going back to chapter 2, verse 1, Paul says, For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain.

And then he goes to lay out what it is that they observed of Paul and the missionaries while they were with the

Thessalonians. They weren't trying to take anybody's money, unlike the philosophers who try to set up their schools or their classes or have people pay them for the knowledge that they are there to espouse.

Paul wasn't trying to do that. In fact, he didn't even take anybody's bread from them. He made his own living and his missionary brothers as well so that the

Thessalonians would see an example on doing good work, doing hard labor with their own hands to make their own living, but also so that they would know that he wasn't there to gain from them.

It would have been within his right as an apostle to have the Thessalonians serve him, give him a place to stay, give him their bread to eat because he was an apostle in the

Lord. But he didn't do that. He wanted to set an example for them and show them the genuineness of his heart while he was there and the reason why he was preaching.

It was not to gain something for himself. It was to gain the Thessalonians for the kingdom of God and Jews and Gentiles both turning from their sin, the

Gentiles especially no longer worshiping idols and instead worshiping the

Lord Christ so that this testimony about them had gone throughout Achaia and Macedonia.

So Paul presents a defense for the work that they did while they were there in Thessalonica that they would know the genuineness of Paul's heart and also the other missionary brothers that were there.

So now as we get into verse 17, Paul is presenting a defense for the reason why they haven't had the chance to come back.

So he says, since we were torn away from you brothers for a short time. So this was not their decision.

They didn't want to leave Thessalonica. They wanted to stay with them. They wanted to continue to teach the gospel and train them up in the teaching of the

Lord. But it was because of the persecution that had come against them, their very lives being threatened that they had to flee in the cover of night.

We were torn from you. We did not want to leave you. This was because of the persecution that had come against us.

And it was only for a short time since we were torn away from you brothers for a short time because Timothy and Silas would eventually make their way back to Paul.

And remember they're mentioned at the start of the letter, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy to the church of the

Thessalonians in God, the father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace. So Silvanus being

Silas, Timothy and Silas were able to come back to the

Thessalonians even though Paul was not able to make it there. This happened sometime around the period that Paul was preaching in Athens, which we read about in Acts chapter 17.

That's the famous speech that's done at the Areopagus. So sometime while he was there in Athens, he sent

Timothy and Silas back up to Macedonia and they would have visited the churches that were planted during the time that Paul and his friends were in that particular region, the church in Thessalonica being one of them.

So when Silas and Timothy show back up, well, the Thessalonians were a little disappointed because they wanted to see

Paul. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. He was the guy whose name was on everybody's lips when it came to preaching

Christ. And then when they got Timothy and Silas, they thought, oh, well, we're not important enough to have the apostle

Paul. But Paul, again, had reassured them that it's out of love for you that you receive

Timothy. Timothy is my most trusted servant in the Lord. And I desire to come back to you again as well and see you face to face.

Paul is laying out that desire here. 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 because we wanted to come to you.

I'm trying to get there to you. I want to see you. I, Paul, again and again, this is not just me making you someone else's burden.

I really want to come to you. I've tried to come to you again and again. But Satan hindered us.

Now, we don't have any explanation as to what that may have been, what it was that was preventing

Paul from leaving Corinth and coming back to Thessalonica. Now we know that Paul wrote two letters to the

Thessalonians and both of them were presumably written during the time that he was in Corinth.

So in that span of a year and a half, he wrote two letters to the Thessalonians. So this first letter may have been rather early in Paul's stay there in Corinth when the

Jews had opposed him. So when we read in Acts chapter 18, verse five, when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia.

So here we have them coming back to give Paul the report of what it is that they experienced in the churches there, including

Thessalonica. Paul was occupied with the word testifying to the Jews that the Christ was

Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, your blood be on your own heads.

I am innocent. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. And he left there and went to the house of a man named

Titius Justice, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue.

Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household. And many of the

Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent.

For I am with you and no one will attack you to harm you. For I have many in this city who are my people.

And he stayed a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. So this first letter may have come.

This is, you know, just a theory on my part, but it may have come during the time between Paul leaving the synagogue and going to the

Gentiles. So during that period there with everything that was going on in Corinth, the way that it was before he received this, this assurance from the

Lord that this was a safe place for him to continue to preach the gospel, that no harm would come to him.

It was somewhere in the middle there that Paul may have experienced this prevention from Satan, keeping him from being able to go to the

Thessalonians and see them again. So maybe, maybe that's what it is that he's referring to when he says this to the

Thessalonians. We were trying to come back to you, but Satan hindered us. Verse 19, for what is our hope or joy or crown or boasting before our

Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and our joy.

Remember he has referred to the Thessalonians as being his children. Like a nursing mother, we cared for you.

We were gentle among you like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. And then you have the reference of being like a father.

Verse 11, 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.

Consider how children are described as a heritage from the Lord in the Old Testament.

Psalm 127, behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.

Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them. And then we also have

Proverbs 17, six grandchildren are the crown of the aged and the glory of children is their fathers.

And so that is how Paul is describing these Thessalonians. Describe them as his children because they're his spiritual offspring.

He came preaching the gospel. They turned from sin and believed they are the fruit that has been produced by the testimony of the gospel of of Paul and his missionary friends.

They are the glory and joy of this work that Paul has been doing for the

Lord Christ. Consider Psalm 113, where we read, the Lord is high above all nations and his glory above the heavens, who is like the

Lord, our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth.

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.

He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children.

Praise the Lord. Now this promise of giving the barren woman children does not necessarily mean that she will be gifted with physical offspring, but that she might receive spiritual offspring.

There are many wonderful men and women out there who are serving the Lord God, but are not married and have not had children and are getting up there in age and maybe even wondering at this point, am

I ever going to get married and have children? But there are many children that they will have in the family of God because they share the word of the

Lord Christ with children who believe it and rejoice in the message that they have heard.

This person has been like a spiritual mother or father to them. Consider also this story in Mark chapter 10.

This is where we read the story of the rich young man who ran up to Jesus and said, good teacher, what must

I do to have eternal life? Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? There is no one good but God.

It is not Jesus saying, I'm not good. Why are you calling me good? He's challenging this young man's heart who doesn't actually believe that he is

God. So therefore, why is he calling him good? And so he says to the young man, you know the commandments.

Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud.

Honor your father and your mother. The young man said, teacher, all these I have kept from my youth. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him.

And I love the account of this story most in Mark 10 because of that phrase, just those two words.

He looked at him and loved him and said the words he needed to hear. You lack one thing, go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me.

And disheartened by what it was that Jesus said, he went away sorrowful for he had many great possessions.

And Jesus looked around and he said to his disciples, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.

And the disciples were amazed at what it was that he said. And so he said it again, children, again, addressing them as children.

How difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

And they were exceedingly astonished. And the disciples said to him, then who can be saved? Because if you can't be saved by your works, as this young man had done everything right, you can't be saved by your wealth because the

Jews believed if a person was rich, they must have been blessed by God. If those things can't save you, then who can be saved?

And Jesus looked at them and said, with man, it's impossible. Salvation is impossible if it was left up to man, but not with God.

For all things are possible with God. Peter began to say to him, here's the part of the story

I want to get to and tie this back into what it is that we're talking about here in first Thessalonians. Peter said to him, see, we've left everything and followed you.

And Jesus said, truly, I say to you, because this young man wouldn't leave his stuff behind. But Peter's trying to, you know, he's trying to to get a blessing.

Hey, look, look, we left everything. We've left everything and we are following you. And Jesus said, truly,

I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands.

For my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life.

But many who are first will be last and the last will be first. So these are these are spiritual things that we will receive.

We will receive spiritual houses, the church, this body that we are in being built up as a spiritual house unto the

Lord, the way Peter puts it in first Peter, chapter two, brothers and sisters, the brothers and sisters we have in Christ, mothers and children, mothers, those who have who have nursed us like the apostle

Paul did with the Thessalonians, gently leading us in the knowledge and understanding of God and his word and children and lands, those that we will lead to Christ who will become our spiritual children and lands, the future kingdom of heaven that we are looking forward to.

But also this earth as it will be restored, Jesus said in the Beatitudes in Matthew, chapter five, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

We will literally inherit the earth when we return in his glorious kingdom as all things will be reconciled to himself, things in heaven and things on earth.

And so this is what we will receive as children of the kingdom of God, but also specifically singling out here children.

You will be given children as part of God's kingdom, those whom you led to the

Lord. And so this is my encouragement to those who may be single or even those who are married, but do not have children.

God has promised you will have children. Those whom you lead to Christ will become your spiritual offspring.

And don't just think of this as adult children. You have a chance to lead even small children to the knowledge of Christ by the gospel that you know and can share with them.

And, you know, there are there are some great people that serve in my church that just have a way of speaking with children. I don't think that I'm necessarily gifted with that.

I teach my kids not too much different than the way that you're hearing me do these

Bible lessons on the podcast. I kind of do this the same way with my own children.

I have a hard time breaking it down in terms they can understand. My wife can do that real well. I don't do it real well.

So they're mostly lost in some of the stuff that I'm teaching them now. But then as they get older, it'll start clicking.

That's what I'm holding out hope for. And then they're going to go, oh, hey, yeah, my dad taught me about this. And now it's starting to make sense to me.

Maybe it's because my dad taught me the same way. I don't know. But anyway, so eventually it'll start clicking with them.

But I don't have that ability, like with the kids in our church, to be able to teach them in such a way and and they would understand it.

The class that I teach, other than the adult classes, I teach the high schoolers. That's about as young as I go.

But there are some wonderful people in our church who take great care of our babies and our kindergartners and then the grade schoolers, because that's how we apportion everybody in age, the way that they're apportioned in the public school.

And they just have a way of knowing how to communicate with those kids and be an influence on those kids and share

Christ with those children. My kids have even come home from a Sunday school lesson and said, you know,

Miss Kim taught us this or Miss Sonia taught us that. And so the words that are being shared with them by the ladies in our church are shaping them into these children of God.

And they are becoming the offspring of those who have shared Christ with them.

So if you are if you do not have physical children who have your

DNA, as you share the gospel with children, they are receiving a spiritual

DNA and you have many times more than what you would have if you were producing physical offspring.

So that's something to encourage you in that you can know that God is promising you children that you will receive in his name by the gospel that you share.

And as these children grow in an understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they are your offspring.

As we wrap up our study of chapter two, I wanted to come back to something that I mentioned yesterday.

I said that here in this nation, the people are filling up the measure of their sins and the wrath of God will come upon this country.

So we must share the gospel. How much more important is it for us to be out with the gospel that those who hear it would turn from their sin and worship

Christ and be saved from the day of judgment? Now, when I mentioned that, I don't mean that Christ is returning tomorrow with all the armies of heaven to lay waste to the

United States of America. That might happen, but not necessarily what I'm talking about.

What we're seeing happen is that hearts are becoming increasingly hardened as God is turning this nation over to its own depravity.

We read about this in Romans chapter one, the mob is beginning to rule.

And when mob rule takes over, you won't be able to stand in the street and say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, because when the mob is running at you, they're going to bowl you over.

They mean to destroy you. They're just going to shout you down and not listen to any of the words that you are saying.

It's a very difficult environment in which to share the gospel and expect it to be heard.

If a statue can be torn down without going through the proper channels of law to have that statue removed and the law in that community will let the statue be torn down, nobody's being arrested or charged with vandalism.

Then what's the next object that the mob is going to go after? Will it be a church?

Well, the pastor of that church says that what we're doing is sin. That church won't conduct same sex marriages.

That's oppressive. We need to tear that building down. And if the mob rules, will the law just let them do that?

So a Pandora's box has been opened. And this is the direction that this nation is headed in now.

While there are ears that can still hear the gospel before God has turned them over to their depravity to be destroyed, let us in obedience to our

Lord Christ, who commissioned us to go and make disciples, share the gospel so that those who hear it would turn from their sin, worship

Christ and live. Do not get caught up in social justice issues.

Preach the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe.

Let us pray. Our Lord God, we thank you that you have brought us out of darkness and into the light of Jesus Christ.

And I pray that we would shine this light before men who are still stumbling around in the darkness so that they would they would know

Jesus Christ and be rescued from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of this world is going to be laid to waste. We know that by what is said in the scriptures and all who are a part of it will perish.

But those who are with Christ will become part of his eternal kingdom. And they will never perish, but have everlasting life.

Paul and the Thessalonians, they were bold to share the gospel, though they were being persecuted by their own countrymen.

So let us have that same kind of perseverance in this faith, that same kind of courage to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, though we will be hated for it and persecuted.

We we have this imperishable kingdom. What can man do to take that away from us?

We are with our Lord Christ. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Let us look forward to that day, not care for anything of this world, but look all the more longingly heavenward, awaiting the return of Christ and saying, come quickly,

Lord Jesus. We pray these things in his name. Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study.

Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.