1 Thessalonians 2 Series

This week we start the second oldest book in the New Testament as recorded in its publishing. We began with James on our year-long journey chronological study of the New Testament. Hence the reason we are calling this message series Chronos. It's a word that means “time.” We will be journeying through time back to the start of the early church. For the next few months we will be walking through the books written to those in Thessalonica.

Today, we open to the second chapter of this amazing letter to the church plant in one of the main travel junctions in all the Roman empire. A city of around 300,000 with some upper class but a great deal more working class people. The city was made up of Romans, Greeks and a powerful group of Greek speaking Jews.

The leadership collective (Paul, Silas and timothy), who had a relationship with this new church plant, were together reviewing the Christian movement and were sending this letter to the new church plant in Greece as encouragement and to correct some issues that had arisen.. Although Paul had only spent three to four weeks at this house church, he was impressed with the willingness of Thessalonians to live the mission when others would not.

Last week, we ended with the concept of waiting on the Lord. While many believe waiting is sitting idle, Waiting involves activity and endurance. In our case, waiting means:

Living the hope we have within us for Christ’s return

Joining God’s in trying to reach everyone

Sharing the revelation that we all have the ability to decide to be with Him forever.

Trying to bring a little bit of heaven to earth in all of our situations and relationships

We pick up the scriptures in 1 Thessalonians 2: 1. Before we begin, let me remind you that we don’t have all the correspondence between the new church plant leaders and Paul. However, we have enough to understand the issues at hand.

You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. 2 We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. 3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. 6 We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority.

This paragraph really shows Paul’s heart. Besides being a world class evangelist and teacher, these words demonstrate his humanness. He cared for those he shared the good news with, and loved those who accepted it. As with anyone who loves so deeply there comes a burden. It’s a heart easily prone to injury when others question our motives.

Paul must have received a report the new Christians were gossipping and insinuating he proclaimed the good news only as a way to make a living. In other words, he was a religious salesperson. A message he found offensive and probably heart breaking. Hence, the reason he reminds those he shared time with, of his motives. Paul had expected them to reciprocate His love without question.. After all, he lived his life to share God’s love freely while he was with them. How could they ever think of him as anything but a faithful servant? Right? Wrong.

Let’s continue with the scriptures,

7 Instead, we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

In addition to being a faithful servant, Paul reminds them of his gentleness. He uses the image of a mother to share the idea of:

making sacrifices for,

having patience with,

giving nourishment to

and providing protection for this new group of believers.

Let me reiterate: Paul loved these people. He took his responsibilities for their care and maturation personally. His reminders here were offered out of the pain of their questioning.

However, what a wonderful reminder to the rest of us to consider: how are we:

making sacrifices for,

having patience with,

giving nourishment to

and providing protection for the new and less mature Christians? Are we expecting something in return? Are we loving unconditionally? .