Paul’s First Epistle to The Thessalonians (6)

First Baptist Church Leominster

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We'll continue our study of this epistle.

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Today we'll be able to make some progress. We arrive at chapter 2.

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I'll read the first 12 verses from the English Standard Version. For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain.

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But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our

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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.

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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. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed

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God is witness. Nor do we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.

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But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. 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.

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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 proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

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You were witnesses, and God also. How holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers.

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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.

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The Apostle had just stated six reasons toward the end of 1 Thessalonians 1 that had convinced him that these

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Christians in the church at Thessalonica were numbered among the elect of God. He had no doubt about it.

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Paul was certain that God had chosen them from eternity, chosen them in Christ, to receive salvation from sin through Jesus Christ.

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He was convinced of their election. Beginning with chapter 2 verse 1,

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Paul then recounted his efforts and his behavior when he was among them, when he had first come among them preaching the gospel.

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It appears that the Apostle did so, here in chapter 2, in order to refute charges that someone, or perhaps some people, were making against him and his ministry among them.

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So really he is justifying himself and really appealing to them and their understanding of who he was and how he had went about doing the work of the ministry, perhaps in order to dispel or discredit those who would discredit him.

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So by reciting the nature of his ministry among them, not only was he, however, refuting false charges against him, but Paul was really setting forth himself as an example also, wasn't he?

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For Christians to emulate and for us to emulate, we should desire to be as Paul was to this church at Thessalonica.

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As one note in the Reformation Study Bible reads, Paul seems to respond to certain doubts or criticisms of his ministry.

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He implicitly defends his ministry of the gospel and at the same time, by recalling the work he and his companions have done, he gives the

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Thessalonians a pattern of loving service to follow. So we don't just have a record of history here of what

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Paul did among them, but we have an illustration for us on how we ought to be as we desire to take the gospel to a lost world about us.

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So let's work through this passage by first recognizing that Paul was confident of their salvation.

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In chapter 1, he was confident of their election and here he states, of course, what follows, he's confident of their salvation.

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He made a statement in which he appealed to their knowledge of the positive result of his ministry among them.

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He wrote, For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain.

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Paul's ministry among these people was not empty, that is, empty without substance or effect.

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It had a powerful effect upon them. Paul regarded his ministry among them as having been greatly blessed of the

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Lord. It was not in vain. You know that. God blessed. The word that he brought to them had been transformative.

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It brought them to experience new life in Jesus Christ. Now Paul was not always confident that his ministry had not been in vain as he was with them.

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In fact, Paul stood in doubt of some who claimed to believe, people with whom he ministered the word.

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The scriptures actually set forth three ways, I believe, in which one might believe in vain. The work of the

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Bible speaks about those who believe in vain. In other words, they have a form of faith, but that faith does not save them from their sin.

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We've spoken about this in the past, but we see it repeated so frequently in the scriptures, or at least the idea here that suggests it, that we thought we would repeat it today.

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For God does not bestow his salvation upon heretics, apostates, or hypocrites.

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And all of these would claim to have faith, claim to believe, but they are believing in vain, as it were.

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Their faith does not save them. All three of these professed to be believers.

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They have a faith, but their faith was not saving faith. So let's consider these three.

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First, the heretic, the believer, and we put that in quotation marks because he is not a true believer.

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The believer who has abandoned the essential truth of the gospel will not inherit salvation. God does not promise salvation for heretics.

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Paul was concerned about the salvation of those who lived in Galatia. He was not as confident of them as he was of the

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Thessalonians, for they had lapsed into legalism through the influence of false teachers.

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And this moved Paul to write to them, I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. He was confident that his labor was not in vain among the

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Thessalonians, but he was not that confident with regard to the churches of Galatia, and it was because they had embraced error, terrible error, or attempted to do so.

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For if they abandoned the true gospel of Jesus Christ for another gospel, Paul would have regarded his ministry among them as having no lasting effect.

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In other words, it would have been in vain. It would have been empty. They were lost after all. Paul had argued with them that if they forsook the doctrine of justification by God's grace through faith alone, they would not have salvation.

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He wrote later in the Epistle of Galatians, Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised,

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Christ will profit you nothing. If you go down that road, reject justification by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, and add something to it, like circumcision, which would then result in binding you to keep the entire law of God as a covenant of works, there is no basis, no hope for you, no salvation for you.

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And so they were in danger of embracing heresy. And heresy is doctrine that is contrary to the gospel, that if you believe certain things, you cannot have salvation.

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There are certain essential truths that we must believe if we are to be saved. Paul wrote,

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I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone for I have doubts about you. Galatians 4 .20.

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But Paul had no doubts about those at the church at Thessalonica, for his ministry of the word among them had been very fruitful, not in vain.

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And he knew that this was so true he could write, For you yourselves know brothers that are coming to you was not in vain.

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Heretics are not promised salvation. Secondly, of course, the hypocrite, that is, the believer, not a true believer, the believer whose life does not reflect the life of the

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Apostle, had also written to the Corinthians about the danger of them having believed in vain. In 1

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Corinthians 15 we read Paul's words, Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which

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I preached to you, which also you received, in which you stand, by which also you are saved.

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But then he puts in this conditional clause, If you hold fast that word which

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I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. Here we see that some might believe the gospel and yet not be saved by the gospel, for they believed in vain.

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They did not have true saving faith. What is the

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Apostle speaking about here? Well, it is very likely he was warning these professing Christians against the damning result of hypocrisy.

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What is hypocrisy? Well, hypocrisy is pretending, it is pretending what we are not.

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It is to pretend, as one once put it, we have degrees of excellence of which we are destitute, to have respect or affection when we have it or not, or to have it in a degree far beyond what we feel, as the opposite of malice is love and deceit uprightness, so the opposite of hypocrisy is sincerity.

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The Apostle had been very concerned about the manner in which the professing Christians at Corinth had been living.

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Paul's epistle of 1 Corinthians contained Paul's repeated rebuke of their many different kinds of sin.

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In his second epistle he forthrightly told them they needed to assess themselves honestly regarding their salvation.

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He said, examine yourselves, test yourselves, whether you are in the faith. He is writing to professing

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Christians here. Test yourselves, or do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail to meet the test?

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This church had problems and indeed he called them saints and he referred to them as brethren, but on the other hand he had some serious concerns about them.

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God has revealed in his word that he will not save from sin the one who lives in hypocrisy, that is, the one who may be classified as a hypocrite.

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What is a hypocrite? A hypocrite is someone who claims to be righteous but whose speech or behavior testifies otherwise.

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With their lips they honor the Lord, but with their life they deny him. Now every one of us,

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I suspect, has manifested some measure of hypocrisy in the manner in which we speak and live.

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There is no question about that in my mind. But where you and I may struggle with the sin or problem of hypocrisy, it may not rise,

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I hope it does not rise to the level where you can be labeled a hypocrite, because I think there is a distinction there.

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Our Lord warned his disciples of the hypocrisy that characterized the Pharisees, and they were not promised salvation in their state.

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Luke 12, verse 1 records, he began to say to his disciples, first of all, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and then he described, or he told what that leaven was, that leaven which is hypocrisy.

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And indeed repeatedly our Lord confronted the Pharisees, calling them hypocrites, forthrightly.

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Woe to you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautifully outward, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.

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Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

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And our Lord's pronouncement of woe upon them was really a declaration of God's condemnation of them.

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God's wrath was coming upon them. It was like a prophetic utterance, woe unto you, hypocrites!

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And there are believers, and again I put that in quotation marks, not true believers, but there are believers who prove to be hypocrites, ones who are without salvation, even while they claim to be believers.

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And sometimes their condition is revealed rather suddenly, when it is very apparent by their attitude or actions that they are not true

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Christians. But with others, sometimes their condition of being a hypocrite is only known after some time.

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An example of the first may be the case of Simon Maccas in Acts 8.

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There was a certain man named Simon who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great.

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To whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And they heeded him, because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time.

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But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.

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Then Simon himself also believed. He was even baptized.

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And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.

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Now when the apostles who were in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the

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Holy Spirit. As yet he had fallen upon none of them.

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They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And then they laid hands on them, and they received the

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Holy Spirit. And when Simon saw this, when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the

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Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me this power also that on anyone on whom

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I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit. And this request that came forth from Simon revealed to Peter immediately,

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This man is still in his sins. He is no Christian. Peter said to him,

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Your money perished with you because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money. You have neither part nor portion in this matter.

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You are not one of us, for your heart is not right in the sight of God.

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Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God that perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you, for I see you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.

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He was no Christian. He was a hypocrite, although he believed, supposedly, and was certainly baptized.

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His attitude, his values, his words betrayed his true condition. Simon was a hypocrite.

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But a hypocrite can become known only after the passing of time. It can come upon a person slowly and gradually.

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Now again, there are some believers who are not true believers, they are hypocrites, but it is only after a time that they reveal themselves to be hypocrites.

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A few minutes ago we sang the hymn with regard to the sower going out to sow seed, and we really sang about this.

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Our Lord warned of this kind of hypocrite set forth in the parable of the sower. Behold, a sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside.

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Birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places where they did not have much earth, and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.

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But when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.

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But others fell on good ground, yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, ye hear, let him hear.

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And later, when our Lord was with his disciples in private, he explained this parable.

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And regarding the seed that had fallen among thorns, he said, Now he who receives seed among the thorns is he who hears the word.

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And the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

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This is not a true Christian, but it appears that it became revealed over the course of time.

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And there are some, and we have been around, probably most of you have been around long enough in the church to know of some people that appeared to be very devout and very committed in years past.

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But over the course of time, they just slowly became hardened to the things of Christ, indifferent to them.

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Perhaps the cares of the world consumed them. Their desire for riches governed them, and the thorns choked the word, so they became unfruitful.

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This person is also a hypocrite. But he or she can be in the church many times.

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And many times this person, it will not be as apparent, say as a Simon Magus, but it is just as damning.

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The cares of this world and the cares for riches can slowly engulf him and slowly choke the spiritual life that once seemed to be present in him.

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He was as those whom Paul had written, For many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose

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God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things.

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Well, that is a great danger for you and me, isn't it? We can become so consumed with the things of the world, care for this world, riches, and then we start giving off the means of grace, perhaps neglect coming to church, certainly leave off reading the scriptures, having time of prayer, having time to true fellowship, and the word becomes choked, as it were.

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It does not enliven us. It does not move us. It does not govern us, but rather what governs us is the love of riches, the cares of the world.

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We are consumed and we delight in the things of the world and the things of Christ grow dim.

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It happens all the time, and it is a sad thing. And so here is a hypocrite too,

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I would argue. Now, do any of us have trouble with this matter of hypocrisy? I would be surprised if we didn't.

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We are all plagued with it to one degree or another, but we are to address it and correct it with the

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Lord's help. Peter wrote these words, Since you have purified your souls and obeyed the truth of the

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Spirit and sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, these people are regenerate, they are born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the word of God, which lives and abides forever.

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Because all flesh is as grass, the glory of man is the flower of the grass, the grass withers, its flower falls away.

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But the word of the Lord endures forever, for this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

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He is writing to Christians. He is writing to true Christians. The elect of the dispersion, he describes them elsewhere.

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But now he instructs them, Therefore laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the

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Lord is gracious. And so here we read of those who had purified their souls and obeyed the truth, who had been born again or regenerated through the word of God, nevertheless they had to be actively laying aside all hypocrisy.

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Hypocrisy is a problem, isn't it? We tend to set before others really what we are not.

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I suspect that most of us must lay aside hypocrisy from time to time, but our problem with this sin does not rise to the level of characterizing us as hypocrites.

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That is a whole other classification. A hypocrite does not have salvation, although he may claim to be a true believer.

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But a true believer may and probably will struggle with the sin of hypocrisy from which he is to repent, and will repent by the grace of God.

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Thankfully, our Lord warned his own disciples about this matter.

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Therefore you also be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect, who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household to give them food in their due season.

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Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you, that he will make him ruler over all.

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But if that evil servant says in his heart, My master's delaying his coming, begins to beat his fellow servants to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites.

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Hypocrites are damned, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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And again, he was telling his disciples this. Beware of hypocrisy.

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May we never come to the place where someone could classify you're a hypocrite, because you claim to believe one thing, but your life declares something entirely different and everybody sees it, apparently but you.

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Lord help us. Well, there is a third kind of believer that really believes in vain, and this is the apostate, the believer only who believes for a while, but then abandons his faith in Christ.

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God promises no salvation to temporary believers. Now, when

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Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica that his coming among them was not in vain, it is very likely he was speaking about their continuance or perseverance in the faith, even in the face of opposition.

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You may recall when we began our study of the epistle we read of Luke's account of Paul, Silas, Silvanus, and Timothy going to Thessalonica, bearing the gospel to that city.

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But only after a few Sabbath days of ministry, having started the church, Paul and his ministry team had to leave the area because of the persecution against them.

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And here is the account once again of Paul preaching the gospel among them. And Paul, as his custom was, went in to them and for three

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Sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, saying,

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This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded, and a great multitude of the devout

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Greeks and not a few of the leading women joined Paul and Silas. But the

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Jews, who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, gathered certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

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And when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.

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And Jason has harbored them. These are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying,

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There is another king, Jesus. And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.

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And so when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. And so Paul and his team had to leave abruptly after only a few weeks with these people, having so soon after they believed, having to leave them.

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And Paul was not absolutely confident that his proclamation of the gospel had not been in vain.

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Therefore, soon afterward, when Paul was in Athens, or maybe in Corinth, Paul sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to check on them.

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And Timothy brought back a good report, telling Paul that these new Christians were continuing in the faith, even in much conflict.

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And this is what we are going to consider very soon in the next chapter, 1 Thessalonians 3.

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Paul describes this. Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we couldn't stand it, we wanted to know whether or not our gospel preaching among you was in vain or not, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone.

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We sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith, that no one should be shaken by these afflictions.

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For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. For in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation just as it happened, you know.

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And for this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor, there it is, our labor might be in vain.

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Had they only believed for a while and then abandoned faith in Christ, his labor among them would have been in vain.

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God does not promise salvation for temporary believers. But then he could write,

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But now that Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, and we also to see you, therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress, we are comforted concerning you by our faith, by your faith.

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And so when Paul wrote in chapter 2 verse 1, For you yourselves know, brothers, our coming to you is not in vain,

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I believe he was referring to their continuance and perseverance in their faith, even in the face of persecution.

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They were not apostates who would only believe for a while and then abandon Christ. They were not, again to call back to the parable of the sower, they were not like stony ground hearers of the word that our

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Lord spoke about in Matthew 13. Some fell, some seed of the kingdom, the word of the kingdom, fell on stony places where they did not have much earth.

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They immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth, but when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away.

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And again our Lord later explained to his disciples the meaning of this. He who received the seed in stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

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He is a believer, just ask him. And we have all seen people supposedly converted to Christ come to faith and they are excited, they are filled with joy for a while, yet he has no root in himself, he endures only for a while, for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word of the

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Lord, Paul knew these people were genuine Christians. He knew they were numbered among the elect, and he could say with confidence, and they knew perfectly well themselves, that his initially coming among them to preach the gospel had not been in vain.

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And so we see Paul was confident of their salvation. May we be confident of our own salvation and confident of one another's salvation because of the true faith that we exhibit and continue to exhibit in Christ.

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Well look at verse 2, secondly we see Paul was confident in the gospel that he had brought to them, that brought them to salvation.

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Verse 2, though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our

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God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. Paul had declared the gospel in the presence of much conflict.

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We read earlier of this conflict, Luke described the scenes, again the Jews were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, gathered them, mobbed, set all the city in uproar, attacked the house of Jason, sought to bring them out to the people.

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But even in this conflict Paul was not deterred, for Paul had declared the gospel in the midst of such conflict.

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Now what was the reason that Paul set forth this statement in verse 2? Again he was probably attempting to dismiss the false charge that he had been unfaithful to his message or that he had been unduly fearful of his hearers.

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He was in effect saying, our mission, whatever that of others may be, is not the outcome of self -seeking, otherwise it would readily be checked by such outward circumstances.

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Our confidence is in God, not in ourselves, our work is not self -appointed but a sacred trust or commission for which we are responsible to him.

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He is really dismissing any that might charge him in this way. His reasoning was therefore, as one commentator put forth,

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James Moffat, discouragement and hesitation are impossible. Paul argues the very fact of the cheerful perseverance at Thessalonica after their base treatment at Philippi points to the divine source and strength of their mission.

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What impelled them was simply a sense of lasting responsibility to God upon the one hand and an overpowering devotion to men upon the other for the gospel's sake.

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Had the Apostle yielded to feelings of irritation or despondency, giving up the task in Macedonia after the troubles in Philippi, or had they conducted themselves at Thessalonica in such a way as to secure ease and profit, in either case they would have proved their mission to be ambitious or selfish and therefore undivine, as it was their courage and sincerity were at once evidence in the outcome of their divine mission.

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Some believe that the blessing of God through his gospel takes place when there is little or no conflict, and that is really the sign of the blessing of God.

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The blessed of the Lord will be received with little difficulty and immediate positive results.

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It generally doesn't work that way. Some go so far as to trim the content of the message in order to make it more palatable to sinners because they don't want conflict.

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Whatever we do, we don't want conflict, and therefore they pare down the message, take off its rough edges so it will be palatable to chew and to swallow by unbelievers.

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The gospel was declared in much conflict because the gospel itself caused conflict. It will tend to do that if represented and proclaimed faithfully.

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We read recently Charles Spurgeon's words about this, A gospel which is after men will be welcomed by men, but it needs divine operation upon the heart and mind to make a man willing to receive, in his own inmost being, this distasteful gospel of the grace of God.

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My dear brethren, do not try to make it tasteful to carnal minds. Hide not the offense of the cross, lest you make it of none effect.

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The angles and corners of the gospel are its strength, and to pare them off, sand them off, is to deprive it of power.

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Toning down is not the increase of strength, but the death of it. The gospel was the cause of the conflict because it engaged and confronted a fallen world with its sin and its condemnation due to sin.

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This was certainly true of the public ministry of our Lord Jesus, wasn't it? He had conflict wherever he went.

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Oh yeah, he had crowds and they responded to him. But when he proclaimed the word, there was conflict.

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Even in his hometown, remember, they wanted to throw him off a cliff, kill him, because the word he brought forth brought conflict.

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But Paul was confident in his gospel and so he proclaimed it openly and widely, even in the midst of conflict, even in the midst of much conflict.

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Paul was confident that God had appointed the gospel to be the manner or the means by which his power would be put forth in saving his people from their sins.

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And so Paul could write to the Church of Rome, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I fear some are ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

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I mentioned in the past, you know, two different Baptist preachers coming up to me at a funeral, two different funerals.

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I appreciate your radio message, Laris. He says, I'm Reformed too, I just can't teach that for my people. They wouldn't receive it.

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Incredible to me. Paul was confident it was the gospel itself that the

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Lord would use to convert people. And so he declared, I have begotten you through the gospel.

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God brings forth spiritual life by and through his word of the gospel. In 2

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Thessalonians, he wrote to them, he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel must be preserved and it must be proclaimed with clarity and with detail, with accuracy.

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And Paul regarded the gospel as having been entrusted to him by God. God has entrusted you and me and our church with this message.

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We have to be faithful to it regardless of how or whether or not it's ever received.

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And I thank God it is received. The Lord is always working in somebody. I thank God for that. Notice here he calls it the gospel of God.

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And I really take that as a subjective genitive. It's the gospel that comes forth from God.

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It's the good news that God has given us. Actually the gospel of God, that phrase is used seven times in scripture and three of them are right here in chapter 2.

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The gospel of God. Describes the source of the gospel, the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.

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It is God's good news to us. It is the gospel of God. The essential content of the gospel is the good news announced by God that although all mankind are under his condemnation for sin, nevertheless due to God's great love for sinners, he's provided a means of salvation for them.

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And so although man has rejected God's rightful rule over them, having incurred his everlasting wrath and his punishment for their sin, he has nevertheless established an everlasting kingdom into which he will bring all of his redeemed that they might dwell with him and with one another for eternity.

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And God ordained his son Jesus to be the prophet who would instruct them, the only priest who would atone for their sin, and the promised king who alone could and would save them by his power.

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And this is the gospel we proclaim. It's the gospel of God. By the way, it's also the gospel of the kingdom.

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Verse 12 mentions that. Paul doesn't mention the kingdom of God a great deal in his epistles, but it is also the gospel of the kingdom.

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Jesus Christ, crucified, buried, raised, enthroned in heaven.

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And that's the good news. There's salvation in him to everyone who believes on him as Lord and as Savior.

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And so we see thirdly, Paul was committed to his God to proclaim the gospel faithfully.

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Verses 3 and following. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or in 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 men, but to please

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God who tests our hearts. Paul had been entrusted with the gospel.

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It was a sacred trust that God had handed to him. And Paul felt compelled before God to proclaim the gospel fully and accurately, faithfully and broadly.

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He said he was not pleasing men. That was not his motivation. Calvin wrote about this.

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What is meant by pleasing men has been explained in the epistle to the Galatians. And this passage also shows it admirably.

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For Paul contrasts pleasing men and pleasing God as things that are opposed to each other. Farther, when he says,

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God who trieth our hearts, he intimates that those who endeavor to obtain the favor of men are not influenced by an upright conscience and do nothing from the heart.

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Let us know, therefore, that true ministers of the gospel ought to make it their aim to devote to God their endeavors and to do it from the heart, and not from any outward regard to the world, but because conscience tells them it is right and proper.

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And thus it will be secured that they will not make it their aim to please men, that is, they will not act under the influence of ambition with a view to the favor of men.

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So Paul could argue, we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with the pretext for greed. God is witness.

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You know God is our witness. We were not that way. Perhaps some of Paul's detractors had made this charge.

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He was selfishly motivated, but he dismissed that. He says, you know better, and God is our witness.

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That is not how we behaved among you. And Paul could also not be charged with seeking to further his own name, to gain personal recognition.

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For he wrote in 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.

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It would have been possible for Paul to ingratiate himself through his apostolic office and gifts, but he refused to do so.

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That would have been sinful, a betrayal of his trust.

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But he could say, rather, we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.

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And so Paul drew upon the most tender image imaginable of a mother nursing her baby.

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Paul felt that this could best describe his attitude and his concern for this people. As a nursing mother loves her baby,

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Paul loved these people. He bore them no ill will. He did not disregard them because he was only concerned about promoting his own name.

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He was concerned for them, as the next few verses express. 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.

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And he next appealed to the first -hand knowledge of these Christians in verse 9, as we are wrapping things up.

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You remember, brothers, our labor and toil. We worked to you the gospel of God.

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Paul did not receive any money from these people. He worked independently, both night and day, so that he would not need to be supported in the ministry by them.

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He lived before them in a blameless manner. No one could justly say differently, You know what?

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God is our witness. You are our witnesses. God also. How holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers.

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And then lastly, Paul likens himself to a loving father with his children, who taught them, trained them, and challenged them to walk in a manner worthy of God.

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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.

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What an expression! Worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

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Paul was bold in that he knew his gospel was from God. He was persuasive, for he knew that his gospel would bring blessing to those who believed.

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Paul was faithful, for he knew he was responsible for God for the manner he represented and presented the word, the gospel to the world.

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Leon Morris commented on this, it's the function of the herald simply to pass on the words given to him.

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His is not to give a message of his own devising, not even to elaborate what has been given to him.

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He simply passes on what he is told. So Paul thinks of the preacher as one who passes on the gospel of God.

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This conviction that the message comes from God is fundamental to effective preaching, and the message must indeed be that which comes from God.

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Little moral essays will never take its place. It is easy to distort the message or to substitute something else for it, but what gives

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Christianity its power is the fact that the gospel is of God. Any trifling with this is bound to result in loss of power.

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Amen, Leon Morris. Let's close with just a few thoughts.

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What may we draw from this passage? Well, certainly let us be true to the word of God in all our proclamation.

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This will bring great comfort to us and encouragement in the ministry of the word of God. Second, let us not fear those to whom we bring our message of the gospel, even though we suspect it might result in great conflict.

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It is going to happen, especially if the Lord blesses. That is what happens.

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Mordecai Ham, they said he was a little guy who looked like an accountant, a little small framed guy, and they said wherever he went there was either revival or a riot.

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He would either run out of town or there was a revival. I am told the one

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Kurt Convery has really noted for is Billy Graham, but he was a bold man, even though he was a rather mousy looking guy from what

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I have seen. Let us not fear them. May those who oppose us at least be able to say of us, as they said of our

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Lord, Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God in truth. You do not care about anyone, for you do not regard the person of men.

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And those were his opposers who acknowledged that. Now they were deceitful in their efforts to catch him in his words, but may they be able to say that of us.

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Paul wrote, for do I now persuade men or God, or do I seek to please men? If I still please men,

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I would not be a bondservant of Christ. You cannot have the desire that men be pleased with what you speak as your foremost concern.

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You have got to put that away. And third, let us recognize our responsibility as a church and individuals that we are accountable to our

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Lord. He has committed the gospel to us as a trust.

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We are duty bound to proclaim it rightly and faithfully. And four, may we recognize the evidence of the true work of God as we proclaim his word.

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We can expect conflict. No, we do not intentionally stir it up, but if we are faithful to engage a fallen world, do not be surprised when it happens.

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It comes. It is all lost about us.

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That was underscored at our conference this weekend. We are to view every human being as the image of God before us.

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And we are to treat them with dignity even if they do not maybe warrant that in the way they live because of whom

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God has made them. And we are to look at every person in that way.

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And we should be willing to proclaim the gospel faithfully and frequently even though we know it might result in conflict.

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And lastly, let us desire and work for the greatest good of everyone about us as we impart the gospel to them.

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This is how the Apostle viewed people and his ministry toward them. As one stated, the

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Apostle had a most affectionate love to their persons, sought them, not theirs, themselves, not their goods, and to gain them, not to be a gainer by them or to make merchandise of them, it was their spiritual and eternal welfare and salvation that he was earnestly desirous of.

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And Matthew Henry spoke about this genuine tenderness that we are to exhibit. Paul mentions the gentleness of their behavior.

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We were gentle among you. He showed great mildness and tenderness who might have acted with the authority of an

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Apostle of Christ. Such a behavior greatly recommends religion and is most agreeable to God's gracious dealing with sinners in and by the gospel.

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This great Apostle, though he abhorred and avoided flattery, was most condescending to all men.

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He accommodated himself to all men's capacities and became all things to all men.

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He showed the kindness and care of a nurse that cherishes her children. And this is the way to win people rather than to rule with rigor.

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The word of God is indeed powerful as it comes often with awful authority upon the minds of every impartial judgment.

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So it comes with a more pleasing power when the ministers of the gospel recommend themselves to the affections of the people.

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And as a nursing mother bears with the fraughtness of a child and condescends to simple offices for its good and draws out of her breast cherishing it in her bosom, so in like manner should ministers of Christ behave toward their people.

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The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men and be patient.

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May we be that way as a church. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for the wonderful example that we have in the

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Apostle and in this church at Thessalonica in the way that they responded to your word.

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And we pray, our God, that you would help our church to be similarly responsive to your word and help us to be similarly responsible as the

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Apostle to guard this trust of the gospel that you've given to us and proclaim it faithfully, our

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God, to the world in which you've placed us. For we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.