The Fight For The Gospel

The Cultural Backlash Against Religious Freedom

It was Thursday, March 26, 2015. A man picks up a pen, he presses it to paper, he signs his signature, and a bill becomes law. Social media explodes, internet news organizations go crazy. The national media picks it up, and over the course of the next week, hysteria grips the nation as social, political, and business leaders make statement after statement largely condemning the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act.

David French of the National Review, in an article about this, he wrote this. He said, while RFRAs protect people of all faiths, from peyote-smoking Native Americans to Bible-toting florists, the left's outrage is narrowly targeted against the Christian people whose livelihoods they seek to ruin, whose consciences they seek to appropriate, and whose organizations they seek to disrupt.

Hashtag BoycottIndiana isn't a cry for freedom. It's nothing more than an online mob seeking to bully those that it hates. On Monday, June 15 of this year, a new lawsuit began in England, canon Jeremy Pemberton filed suit against the Church of England for revoking his permission to officiate as a priest after his same-sex union.

Same-sex marriages were legalized in England in 2013. Shortly after, the House of Bishops responded by barring gay clergymen from marrying someone of the same sex in their pastoral guidance on same-sex marriage.

Despite this, which threatened disciplinary ramifications, Pemberton married his longtime partner in April of 2014. So he's suing the Church under the United Kingdom's 2010 Equality Act, claiming the Church of England is denying him his right to work because he is gay and married.

And of course, we know what happened this year. In June, the Supreme Court decided in Oberfeld versus Hodges that homosexual marriage was a constitutionally protected right, and it should be legalized in all 50 states in the US.

So what's my point? I'm not here to make a political statement, but what we saw a few months ago and over the course of this year is a clear view of the sociopolitical stance of the United States in 2015.

In America, we've had this ability historically to worship the Lord Jesus Christ without backlash. We aren't afraid of getting arrested for preaching the glory and the grace of God publicly, at least not yet.

We're still currently free to proclaim the goodness and forgiveness of Christ. But if anything that we've seen so far is an indication that freedom might be changing, then we may not be welcome or even ignored anymore.

What we've seen in Europe, we've seen street preachers getting arrested for preaching against homosexuality, against the sins of the Bible, and that's coming on its way here. We've already seen pastors getting threatened with fines in jail time in states like Idaho and Pennsylvania.

It's already happening. Never before in our nation's history has the freedom of religion been as ferociously attacked as it has been this year. When that act was passed in Indiana, Christians were threatened.

They were driven from their livelihood. And this is a culture that claims to preach love, right? I mean, that was the whole thing with homosexual marriage. Love wins, right? We're not seeing love. They set their sights on us.

And those weapons are not weapons of love. Those are weapons of hate. The gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news, will be shut down publicly, excommunicated from the public discourse. And just like Paul was in Athens, we will be mocked.

The Thessalonians as an Example of Faithful Witness

So what do we do about it? How do we respond to that kind of attitude? If you open your Bible this morning, this morning, this morning, this evening, to 1 Thessalonians, we'll take a look at a church.

We'll see an example of a church that has been richly blessed by God. The writers Paul, Silas, and Timothy arrived in Thessalonica in Acts 17. And they preached the gospel in this church, in this newly formed body of believers.

They lived with these men and these women. They taught them. And they showed them what the life of one who has dedicated everything to the service of the Lord looks like. They were examples to the Thessalonians.

We see this in chapter 1 and verse 5, when the writer says, you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake? And you became imitators of us and of the Lord. For you received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

Now this evening, we will look at chapter 2. And we're going to look at these men. And we're going to see them as they lived and they served and they ministered to the Thessalonian church, laying this foundational truth of the atoning grace of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

These men served in a critical ministry at a critical time. They endured hardships. They endured attacks. And they had their eyes focused, just like the writer of Hebrews, on the founder and the perfecter of their faith, of our faith, of Jesus Christ.

They were threatened. They were physically attacked. And as we look at our culture today and we look at what we can expect in the coming years, we need to consider how they responded to that and use that as an example for us.

These men outlined these difficulties in this letter because they knew, listen, that the Thessalonians would encounter these same issues. They would encounter these same trials as they preached the gospel.

And so will we. So what we're going to look at is four challenges to the preaching of the gospel, four challenges to ministry. And from this, four motivations that we should embody as we seek to preach Jesus Christ to our friends and our neighbors.

This is the picture of the fight for the gospel. We saw in chapter one, even before the Thessalonians were saved, they were recipients of affliction because they had been listening to Paul and Silas and Timothy because of those who hated Jesus Christ.

In spite of that, they became an example of godliness. And as we look at chapter two, I just want to keep that in mind, that these Thessalonians were in this affliction as they were reading this letter, before they were reading this letter, when Paul and Silas and Timothy came to them, they were experiencing active conflict.

These men had been attacked, not physically, although when they were in Philippi, they had been physically attacked, but their characters were under assault. What happens when you can't attack the message?

You attack the messenger, right? And that's exactly what was happening here. Our passages, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 1 to 6. For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain.

But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had much boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, 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 God who tests our hearts.

For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed. God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, that we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.

Now these challenges that the apostles incurred, they were not exclusive to them. We will encounter these as well. And so from this, we can take an example of how these men responded and apply that to our lives.

Suffering and Shame for Preaching the Gospel

So the first difficulty we will encounter is that we will suffer and we will be treated shamefully. We'll suffer and we'll be treated shamefully. We take it right from verses 1 and 2. For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain.

But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated in Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. Thessalonians knew that when these men came to them, that the message that they preached, the good news, it yielded spiritual fruit.

This letter comes to them from Corinth after Timothy had returned from visiting the Thessalonians. Paul desired greatly to come back and see them because he had to leave too soon. And he was hindered by Satan.

And so they sent Timothy in their stead. And Timothy returned with an encouraging and a great report. You see that in chapter 3. Their initial coming was not in vain. How did the Thessalonians know? Because they responded rightly to the word of God.

And they were growing in the Lord. They had this spiritual conviction. Likewise for us, we can be sure the preaching of the gospel was not done in vain if we are secure in our faith. In verse 2, Paul references Philippi.

If you keep your finger here and you turn to Acts chapter 16, we'll take a look at this and see exactly what Paul's talking about. Verse 9 of Acts 16, Paul had a vision of a Macedonian man pleading for his help, begging for his help.

Please come and help us. And immediately, the text says in verse 10, immediately we got up and we sought to go to Macedonia. So on their way to Macedonia, they traveled through Philippi and we'll pick up the narrative in verse 16 of chapter 16.

As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune telling. She followed Paul and us crying out, these men are servants of the most high God who proclaim to you the way of salvation.

And she kept doing this for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out that very hour.

But when her owner saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, these men are Jews and they are disturbing our city.

They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept their practice. The crowd joined in attacking them. And the magistrates tore the garments off of them and gave orders to beat them with rods.

And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them in the prison and fastened their feet into the stocks.

Now, this is shameful. This is awful. If these slave girl's owners had known the Lord, they would have acted completely differently. They wouldn't have done this. But they didn't. Their God was not Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament.

But it was money. Their God was money. And when they saw that their hope to gain more money was gone, they reacted in this way. Verse 19. Paul cast out the spirit. It cost them everything that they had in this slave girl.

They had to pay to feed this girl. And now, their hope of gain was gone. So they had them thrown into prison under false pretenses. But despite this, despite this direct attack, you kind of think, if I got thrown in prison for preaching the gospel, if I got thrown in prison for doing all these things, what would my response be?

Well, this is the response of Paul. They get released from prison when it was discovered they were Roman citizens. The leaders found out that they had incarcerated Roman citizens without due process. And so they wanted to get them out of town as fast as possible so that Rome wouldn't find out what they did.

So they kicked them out of the city. They kicked them out of Philippi in Acts 16 .40. They leave Philippi in Acts 17 .1, the very next verse. Now, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica.

Not a whole lot of words in there to express how much time was there, but it was a direct passage. They went straight to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And what does Paul do? He does what he always does.

He went into the synagogue, and he reasoned with the leaders there. Out of the frying pan, Philippi, and into the fire in Thessalonica. Not surprisingly, Acts 17 .5, here's what happens. The Jews were jealous.

Taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob. They set the city in an uproar, and they attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out into the crowd. They received the gospel in much conflict.

They had already been treated shamefully in Philippi, but they continued. They had the boldness to preach the gospel in the next city. Once again, they were met with this affliction. And in this turmoil, the Thessalonian church began.

The apostles coming to them was not in vain. You know that our coming to you was not in vain. It was not empty handed, but with the power of God. First Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 5. So Paul was appealing to the memory that these men had of who they were, men who stood with conviction for their faith.

They suffered, and they were treated shamefully. But what did they do? They responded with a boldness for God. We are blessed to be in a country where, even as we begin to encounter these many trials, we're not under the constant threat of physical violence like these men were.

But that's not true across the world. Even this year, 21 Egyptian Christians in February, slaughter of dozens of Ethiopian Christians a few months ago. This jihadi holy war rages across the Middle East and northern Africa, and countless Christians are threatened on a daily basis.

Even CNN, that bastion of conservative thought, published an article that said, faith turns Christians into terrorist targets. And yet to them, Paul would say what? He wouldn't say run away. He would say, imitate me as I imitate Christ.

So we don't fear physical violence. Praise God for that. But we are treated shamefully. We're forced to endure regular mockery of our faith. We struggle sometimes with fear to preach the gospel because we don't want to be mocked.

Maybe we have to do business in various ways that we don't particularly care to, or we risk losing our livelihood. The word of the cross is what? Folly or foolishness to the unbeliever 1 Corinthians. But we must follow this model that Paul models for us.

We must be bold and unshrinking in our faith. Be strong in the Lord, Ephesians 6 .10, and in the strength of his might, put on the whole armor of God. Rest in his word. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

That's the first difficulty that we will encounter. The second difficulty that we will encounter, or we may already have, is that we will be accused of being dead wrong, or being disingenuous or impure in our motives.

Accusations of Error and Impure Motives

Look at verses 3 and 4 here. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive. 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 God who tests our hearts.

Here's what happens. We're called to preach the gospel of Christ, and as we go to do that, we find ourselves time and again in these apologetic discussions. We're trying to preach the gospel, and then we have unbelievers come in, and they try to outwit us, as if we could be proved wrong.

And then, oh, whoops, I guess I made a mistake. I'll change my entire life because of some random piece of logic that you think that you've discovered. So it becomes this apologetic discussion because they don't want to hear the gospel.

They just don't want to hear it. They just want to push it away, suppress it in unrighteousness. Or barring that, maybe accusations, this is the one I get from my family, that religion and church are all about controlling people and finding ways to get money away from them, to take their money.

I mean, imagine what this would have been like for Paul and Silas and Timothy. They didn't even have the New Testament. They were essentially writing it. Or just imagine the accusations of those wicked men of the rabble.

In Acts 17, it's not really surprising that these men were accused of being an error, being impure. Listen to what commentator Neal said. He said, there probably has never been such a variety of religious cults and philosophic systems as in Paul's day.

East and West had united and intermingled to produce an amalgam of real piety, high moral principles, crude superstition, and gross license. Oriental mysteries, Greek philosophy, and local godlings competed for favor under the tolerant ages of Roman indifference.

Holy men of all creeds and countries, popular philosophers, magicians, astrologers, crackpots and cranks, the sincere and the spurious, the righteous and the rogue, swindlers and saints jostled and clamored for the attention of the credulous and of the skeptical.

So Paul made this clear declaration. It's a bold statement. We did not come in error. He said that they were not mistaken. They did not have impure motives, unlike many of the leaders of the cults who either believed or pretended to believe that engaging in sexual acts with some of these cult prostitutes, these temple prostitutes, brought them closer to their god.

They weren't trying to deceive or trick the Thessalonians. When you think about this idea of deception at the end of verse three, you can almost think of like a swindler or somebody maybe trying to convince you to do something a little off.

I don't know how many times a day you get that email that informs you that a prince in Nigeria has died and left you $20 million, and all you have to do is send your bank account number, and you'll get that money wired into your account because nobody else wants it, apparently.

Right? It's this kind of deception. It sounds so good on the surface. Not really, but I think we're used to that by now. But that's this idea of deception. Now, I mean, especially in this time, this is a question that's legitimate.

This is a good thing to ask. What is the difference between Paul, between Silas, between Timothy, and these other holy men of the time? What is the difference? In other words, to bring it home to us, what's the difference between us, between you and me and a Muslim or a Jew, what's the difference?

Well, if we have the wrong focus of our faith, we might not be able to answer that question. Let me rephrase it in a way that maybe has been levied against you. Who are you to tell me what is right and what is wrong?

There is no man-centered appeal that will answer that question. Not for everyone. Paul knows that. He's more than happy to let the power of God speak for him. What does he say in verse 4? But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, the difference is not us.

The difference is not Paul. Paul is not the difference between Paul and the other holy men. It's the testimony that Paul had. It is the God whom Paul serves. It is the authority to which we appeal that is the difference between us and them.

It is our faith in a holy God that is the difference. These men answer to a higher authority. This phrase in verse 4, have been approved. It's in the perfect tense. What does that mean? It means it didn't just happen.

It wasn't a declaration of approval and then it was over. It means this consistent, ongoing approval. This isn't like cramming for a test the night before, going to the test, getting some answers right, and then a week later not being able to answer any of those questions.

This is an ongoing knowing the answers to the questions. This is an ongoing approval. This is the difference between an altar call faith, you go up, you say the prayer, you go on your merry way, and a living and an active God-fearing faith in your life.

What about the message? What's the message that they're referring to? Unlike those who attempted to deceive with their own derived message, Paul's message that he talks about, it's not even his own message.

It's a message that has been entrusted to him. He's been entrusted with the gospel. He understands the importance of this message. He understands the sanctity of this message. It is not to change. It is not his to bandy about and to change.

It is a sacred trust. So we see that idea all over the New Testament. I just picked two examples. Ephesians 3 .8, to me was this grace given to preach the unfathomable riches of Christ. First Timothy 1, verses 8 to 11, now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient.

Picking up in verse 11, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. We see it here, approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. Paul knows that this isn't a man-pleasing message.

We see in Romans, Paul's regard for this. He says in Romans 8, so then brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.

But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. This isn't a message that is going to win you friends. Put to death the deeds of the body, die to yourself, live for Jesus Christ.

Peter tells us that the word of God is more sure than anything else that we have, including our own experience. There's nothing about this word that is in error. It is perfect. It is holy and it is complete.

We are charged from that perfect and that holy and that unchanging God to make disciples of all nations. And in order to do that, we need to preach this holy word, this unchanging gospel. We obey the commandments of God, knowing his word is sure, and we honor the precepts of the Lord because he has commended the message to us with a sacred trust.

So as we look at these four challenges that we'll encounter when we're preaching the gospel, these four challenges in ministry, we can see the example that Paul, Silas, and Timothy give to us in their service to the Thessalonians.

The first one, we will suffer and be treated shamefully for the sake of the cross. And how are we to respond to that? We need to respond with boldness in our faith. Number two, we will be accused of impropriety and accused of error.

And we need to be confident that we've been entrusted by God with his perfect gospel. The third one, we will be labeled as greedy and as flatterers. And we must remember, in light of that, that we do all of this for one reason, and that is to please him.

We see this in verses four and five. 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 God, who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed.

God is witness. What does a flatterer do? If you see someone and you would describe them as a flatterer, what is it about that makes you describe them that way? They heap undeserved praise and honor on someone in an attempt to beguile them, right?

It's about the motivation. It's an attempt to trick them or to soften their countenance. Flattery always has with it a component of dishonesty. Listen to what one man said. He said, the difference between a compliment and a flattery is often motive.

A compliment offers genuine appreciation for a quality or action seen in another person. The goal of flattery is usually self-advancement through gaining the favor of someone else. Compliments seek to encourage.

Flattery attempts to manipulate. Moore calls it deception by slick eloquence. This idea that we see translated as flattery here is sort of this picture of like a smooth-talking con artist saying, hey, look, you look great maybe with one of these great gold watches, right?

You'd really complete that look, something like that. The scriptures speak frequently about flattery. It's never good. Here's what it says in Romans 16. I appeal to you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.

Avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites. And by smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive. Psalm 12. Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone, for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.

Everyone utters lies to his neighbor. With flattering lips and a double heart, they speak. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips. The tongue that makes great boasts. That is not a positive perspective on flattery.

Deception is on the lips of those who would flatter for ill gain. We heard the quote from Neil earlier about all these questionable characters that were roaming around Macedonia. But remember what these men, the men who wrote this book, testified in verse 3.

Their appeal did not come from impurity. See a description of these false teachers in 2 Peter. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who brought them, who bought them.

Bringing upon themselves swift destruction, and many will follow their sensuality. And because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words.

So again, it's not a surprise to see that these accusations are being made against these writers. In an effort to discredit them, they were kind of lumped in with all the other charlatans of the day. You've seen all these other men.

These are no better, these men, this Paul, this Silas, this Timothy. The word to talk about greed here, pretext, pretext for greed, can also be used to talk about like a cloak, like a covering or a disguise.

The idea here is Paul's saying they did not come into Thessalonica with a purpose to cover up or cloak a hidden motivation, a motivation that would be hidden by flattery. You take these two things, you put them together, flattery and greed, and you get not a great image, sort of an image of somebody who's maybe kind and polite on the outside, but filled with deceit within.

And so for us, when we encounter these kinds of accusations, what do they look like? What do people say to us? Maybe accusations that we just want to convince people to be like us, or that we're members of a cult, we're trying to control, subvert our members.

Or maybe that churches are out to get money. Accusations that all Christians have the same motivations as those who preach the prosperity gospel. I saw a video last week of a non-Christian who was just tearing apart the prosperity gospel and just how ridiculous it was.

And it made me mad, angry, that they would use the word church, that they would use the word Christian. To hear these men say that the Lord needs your money, it's awful. And those men are flatterers, and they are greedy.

And they do not follow our Lord. But what do we say? I mean, how do we respond to that? Look at what the writers say they did in the second half of verse four. But just as we've been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we seek, listen, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.

No matter what we're accused of, we need to remember that we are called to God for an internal righteousness, not an external righteousness, but an internal righteousness. When Jesus preached a sermon on the mount, he talked about internal holiness.

Matthew 5, 21, 22, you've heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you what? That everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.

Or a few verses later, verse 27, you've heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

We look at the Pharisee and the tax gatherer this morning. What was the sin of the Pharisee? Was it that he was thankful for his position? No, it was that he considered that it was his own work and his own righteousness that got him there.

He did not humble himself before God, and that was the sin of the Pharisee. Jesus Christ reveals to us the innermost workings of the heart. He is after our hearts. If our hearts are not pure, then we are guilty of the whole law.

God tests our hearts for purity, and so when we're faced with these charges, all we can do is purpose to act in a manner that continually pleases him. We do not live for the judgment of the world. We live for Christ.

Leon Morris said this, the point is that while Paul served men, he did not live to serve men. His service was primarily the service of God, and he delighted to refer to himself as the slave of God or the slave of Christ.

In every age, this needs emphasis, for the Christian preacher is always tempted to accommodate his message to the desires of his hearers. People do not want a message that tells them that they are helpless sinners and that they must depend humbly on God's mercy for their salvation.

They are more interested in the social implications of the gospel. These, of course, must not be soft-pedaled, but the preacher must always put his emphasis on those doctrines to which scripture gives priority.

What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy him forever. We glorify God when we act in a manner that first and foremost pleases him. Finally, from the text, the fourth challenge to preaching and ministering in the gospel, we'll see in verse 6 of chapter 2, we will be tempted to seek glory from people.

Verse 6, nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. These men came into Thessalonica as laborers for Jesus Christ, unlike many of the other supposed preachers who came in and enjoyed the perks of the position.

What did these three men do? They came in and they supported themselves. They didn't even ask for support from the Thessalonians. They didn't engage in the ritualistic acts of the cults that were there.

They worked their own jobs. They made many tents. That is what Paul was known for. I like to say that this is an example of maybe them being some of the first bivocational preachers. They were supporting themselves.

They were not taken from the Thessalonians because the Thessalonian church was not a rich church. They had some support from the Philippians, but it wasn't enough. And so they supported themselves. This is hard for us.

This is super, super hard. This is the sin of pride. As we face constant pressure every day to tone down our message, to shave off the rough edges, we'll be pressured externally, internally to seek approval from other people.

In these last few years, we've seen some men who have been strong proponents of reformed theology extending the ecumenical olive branch to leaders whose theology might be a little bit concerning. We're called by the world to fit in, not to be set apart.