God called us to be obedient followers. The Apostle Paul was such a follower. He wrote to the Thessalonian believers, “You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord”.[1] Paul lived like Christ. The Message translation goes like this: “In imitating us, you imitated the Master.” That’s the kind of followers we want to multiply. That’s why we see the word “biblical” in our mission statement: “Glorify God by Multiplying Biblical, Committed and Loving Followers of Jesus Christ.” The challenge is for us to live our lives in such a way that when people live like us, they are actually imitating the Master Himself. Let us open our Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 to see how Paul lived and served among the Thessalonians.
First, to live like Christ means to be SACRIFICIAL. We must SHARE our lives. Verses 1-2 says, “You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition.” In short, the time Paul spent with the Thessalonian believers was not a “failure” or waste of time even if he faced “strong opposition” there. The word “insulted” refers to “outrageous treatment... which is calculated publicly to insult and openly to humiliate”.[2] That’s what Paul suffered in Philippi. “By this time the crowd had turned into a restless mob out for blood. The judges went along with the mob, had Paul and Silas’s clothes ripped off and ordered a public beating. After beating them black and blue, they threw them into jail, telling the jailkeeper to put them under heavy guard so there would be no chance of escape. He did just that—threw them into the maximum security cell in the jail and clamped leg irons on them.”[3] That did not slow them down. They continued to preach the Gospel.
Paul sacrificed a lot in serving the Thessalonians. “As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you... Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.”[4] Paul supported not only his needs but also of his companions by making tents as he ministered to them. The Message goes like this: “You remember us in those days, friends, working our fingers to the bone, up half the night, moonlighting so you wouldn’t have the burden of supporting us while we proclaimed God’s Message to you.” When I read those words, I remember our life as a family in the first church I pastored. My wife Ellen had to continue working in a government corporation for the church at that time cannot really support us. To be exact, I got P1,500 a month.
I know also of people here in our church who served the Lord at their own great expense. You gave not only your money but also your valuable time and abilities. When a Filipino-Chinese friend learned that I accepted your call for me to pastor here, she prayed for me a lot. She told me that it’s hard to serve in a Filipino-Chinese church because the members own businesses or they usually lead companies. So, according to my friend, they tend to boss even pastors around. But here in our church I find businessmen working alongside me. Thus, I would like to thank you for your sacrificial support.
Paul described his ministry this way in verse 7: “we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.” The word “caring” describes birds covering their young or her eggs with their feathers. Paul also used this word to describe how Jesus cared for the church. The mother-child imagery stresses “personal involvement and concern.”[5] According to the MacArthur Study Bible, “Paul’s affection for the Thessalonians was like that felt by a mother willing to sacrifice her life for her child as was Christ who was willing to give up His own life for those who would be born again into the family of God.”
And why would Paul do that? Verse 8 says, “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.” Brothers and sisters, God called us to share our lives with each other. “People do not care how much we know unless they know how much we care.”
Second, to live like Christ means to be SPOTLESS. We are to SERVE out of a pure heart. Verses 3 and 5, “For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you... You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness.” When we serve in the church, we must serve not for what we can get out of it. According to the MacArthur Study Bible, “Paul used 3 distinctly different words to affirm the truthfulness of his ministry… that ‘his message’ was true and not erroneously false. His ‘manner of life’ was pure, not sexually wicked. His ‘method of ministry’ was authentic, not deceptive.” We serve not to impress but to express. When we serve, we must make sure our motives are right.
Verses 4 and 6 say, “On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts... We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.” In a sense, I am not your employee. I am God’s employee. That’s why when I preach God’s words, I will not hesitate. I will not mince words. If I have to careful with what I say or if I have to be afraid of what people would say or how they would react, I would rather preach somewhere else. I am not here to entertain you. I am here to edify and equip you. Paul wrote, “Do you think I speak this strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or curry favor with God? Or get popular applause? If my goal was popularity, I wouldn’t bother being Christ’s slave.”[6] It will be for your good if I can continue preaching and teaching the word in all its simplicity, practicality and authority. And I thank you for giving me that privilege. Like Paul, I can say, “And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.”[7]
When you serve here, you are serving God, not us or the organization. If you are a deacon or a leader of a ministry, keep in mind you are leading God’s flock. The church is not yours. She belongs to God. You don’t own me. I don’t own you. God owns us. All of us are responsible to God for He was the one who entrusted us with the ministry. Brother Yun, the Heavenly Man, wrote, “We are absolutely nothing. We have nothing to be proud about. The fact that God chose to use us is only due to His grace. It has nothing to do with us. If God should choose to raise up others for His purpose and never to use us again we would have nothing to complain about.”
What we do is a result of who we are. Verse 10 says, “You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.” That’s why always think that how you live your life before your sphere of influence will affect our testimony, not just yours. You are not on your own. You and I belong to the same Body of Christ.
Lastly, to live like Christ means to be SUPPORTIVE. We are to SEEK to bring out the best in others. Verses 11-12 say, “For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.” Fathers, every time I read this, I see our job description also. Our children may not understand why we are doing what we are doing. But we are to do what we have to do.
After using the image of a gentle mother, Paul described his dealings with the Thessalonians as a concerned father. That’s how we are to deal with each other. We are to support one another. How? We support each other by “encouraging” one another. It means “to exhort to a particular line of conduct.”[8] We also support each other by “comforting” one another. It means “to encourage to continue in a course.”[9] We also support each other by “urging” one another. It means “to solemnly charge”.[10] Our goal in doing all these is to make sure each one “live lives worthy of God”. In other words, we seek to bring out the best in each other. Dr. John MacArthur wrote, “As a spiritual father we must lovingly criticize wrong beliefs or wrong behavior with the purpose of bringing correction and change. …a loving father will always admonish, reprove, correct, and even discipline when necessary He will do whatever he must that is right and proper for the welfare of his children.”[11]
In closing, let me ask you. What do Charles Swindoll, Bruce Wilkinson and Chip Ingram have in common? They were all mentored by Dr. Howard Hendricks. Under his fatherly care, he brought out the best in them. Now, who brought out the best in Dr. Hendricks? Let us read his testimony from his book, The Seven Laws of the Teacher: “With the kind of start I had in life, I’m sure I could have soon died and gone to hell and nobody would have particularly cared. I was born into a broken home, my parents having separated before I was born. The only time I ever saw them together was eighteen years later when I was called to testify in a divorce court. Then Walt came into my community. He had only a sixth-grade education. He wanted to start a Sunday school class. The superintendent said, ‘We don’t have an opening for you. Go out and get a class. Anybody you find is yours.’ Walt picked up a total of thirteen boys in that community for his Sunday school class, of whom nine were from broken homes. He was not the most scintillating person in the world, but he was for real. I knew it, and so did everyone else in the class … Eleven of the thirteen are now in full-time vocational Christian work. Actually, I can’t tell you how much of what Walt said to us, but I can tell you everything about him… because he loved me for Christ’s sake. He loved me more than my parents did.”
Brothers and sisters let us share our lives, serve out of a pure heart and seek to bring out the best in others. Let us pray...
[1]1 Thessalonians 1:5b-1:6a. All Bible verses are from the New International Version, unless otherwise noted.
[2]Fritz Rienecker, A Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament
[3]Acts 16:22-24, The Message.
[4]1 Thessalonians 4:6b, 9.
[5]J. Hampton Keathley III, A Compelling Example for Ministry
[6]Galatians 1:10, The Message
[7]1 Thessalonians 2:13
[8]The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament
[9]Ibid.
[10]Keathley
[11]The MacArthur NT Commentary
