As we read this section of 1 Thessalonians we get a real sense of Paul’s love for the people he ministered to. There’s no sense of this being made up, no pretence. Rather it feels quite genuine. He really misses them. He’s distressed that he’s had to abandon them just as they were becoming a stable church. He’s worried that they’re at such a stage of immaturity in their faith that the ploys of Satan might be successful in wearing them down, in leading them astray from the truth of the gospel.
You may remember a few weeks ago we saw how Paul used various metaphors to describe how he saw his ministry in the gospel. He spoke of being a steward of a great treasure, of being a mother to them, a father, a herald. And now he takes those middle 2 metaphors further as he describes how he’s felt since being separated from them. He says he feels:
Orphaned
In fact that word was also used for parents who have lost or been separated from their children. In other words he’s saying "We were bereft of you." We felt like you’d died to us. Far from there being any sense that Paul had abandoned them, as his detractors were suggesting, he felt like he’d had them torn out of his arms. And the agent of that separation, he says, was Satan. Satan was still at work stopping Paul from returning, he says. Now the means by which Satan was stopping him isn’t stated. It could have been through the surety, the bond, that Jason had had to pay to ensure Paul wouldn’t return. It could, though, have been the thorn in the flesh that he describes when he writes to the Corinthians. Or it might even have been some situation in the Church in Corinth that meant he had to stay to sort it out. But whatever it was, it was preventing him from doing what he longed to do, to return to them.
And why did he want so much to return to them? He longed to see them for the joy it would bring him to see their growth in the faith, v19, and also to strengthen them against the persecution they were facing vs2,3. So what was he to do? What do we do when the opportunities for ministry are greater than the resources we have to do them? We delegate. We find others to take up some of the load. And that’s what Paul does here.
Delegation
He couldn’t go himself. But his longing for news about them was so great that he sent Timothy, his right hand man, to do what he was unable to do. His frustration at the lack of news eventually got too much for him, so he sent Timothy, even though it meant he’d be on his own again.
You may remember from Acts 17:15 that when Paul left Berea he went alone to Athens but when he got there he asked for Timothy and Silas to come as soon as possible because he wanted them with him. Well it seems Timothy had come but then with no news from Thessalonica Paul gives up the comfort and support of Timothy’s presence and sends him off to Thessalonica. And what does he expect him to do there?
A. To strengthen their faith
His first task is to consolidate the teaching that Paul had given them.
You see it’s not enough to see people come to faith. That’s only the first step. Their new faith then needs to be reinforced - strengthened. How? By adding to the structure the way you’d reinforce a building. In this case through more bible teaching, more experience of God at work, more encouragement that God is with them, more comfort in the face of suffering for Christ. Timothy would have spent his time answering their questions, pointing them to the Scriptures that Paul later reminds him are useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. Secondly, he was
B. To keep them from failing under Persecution
v3: "So no-one would be shaken by these persecutions". Paul was under no doubt that the opposition he’d experienced from the Jewish synagogue in Thessalonica would be applied to the new converts as well, so they needed to be supported.
In fact he’d warned them before he left that this is what they should expect, because it’s what we’re destined for; because this is the lot of Christians. We live in the world but we’re not of the world. Here’s what Jesus told his disciples during the last supper: (John 15:18-21 NRSV) "If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. 19If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world -- therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you, ’Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. 21But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me." So we shouldn’t be surprised when we meet opposition to the gospel; when people take out their rebellion towards God by opposing us.
One of the ploys Satan uses is to take us by surprise - to attack us when we least expect it, perhaps when things are going well or when we feel like we’re getting on top of things. So how do you overcome those sorts of attacks? Well, the best protection is to be forewarned, to be reminded that this is what we should expect. To put it in the form of a well known slogan: ’be alert but not alarmed.’ Be ready for Satan to attack us when we least expect it; but not alarmed because we know that Christ has already overcome Satan
So Paul reminds them, in v.4, how he’d told them what was likely to happen, both to him and to them.
C. To reassure Paul that the work of the gospel hasn’t been in vain
Paul’s worried that all his hard work might be undermined by Satan; that somehow in his absence the Tempter might have tempted them to give up their faith.
I understand that concern. One of my great worries in ministry is that people who’ve grown in the faith while I’ve been among them might for some reason have that faith undermined or weakened in some way. That all that good work might be undone. Not that my work would be wasted but that the work of the Holy Spirit in someone might be undermined by Satan’s attacks. It’s very sad when you see churches that have had a good ministry by someone who’s taught from the bible, nurtured people’s faith, brought new people into the kingdom and then that person leaves and is replaced by someone whose ministry is less biblically based perhaps, or who fails to nurture young believers or who won’t listen to the advice of their lay leaders and all that good work seems to wither and fade like the proverbial flowers of the field.
Well Paul didn’t want that to happen to this church so he sent Timothy to check on what’d been happening there.
Timothy’s report
Obviously Timothy has now returned with good news.
About their faith and love
about their fond memories of Paul and
their longing to see him again
He says "Timothy has just now come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love. He has told us also that you always remember us kindly and long to see us--just as we long to see you."
The result is that he’s overjoyed and encouraged despite the persecution that he himself is encountering. In fact he reminds me a bit of Camille when she’s telling us about the way the youth group is growing in their faith. He’s ’so excited.’ In fact it’s more than just excitement, it’s actually enabled him to keep going.
See what he says in vs 7&8: "For this reason, brothers and sisters, during all our distress and persecution we have been encouraged about you through your faith. 8For we now live, if you continue to stand firm in the Lord."
Their perseverance, you see, is the key to Paul continuing on. He’s saying he’s been given ’a new lease of life.’ He may have been worn down to the point of despair. The thorn in his flesh may have taken away all his energy. I suggested, when we were looking at 2 Cor 1 that the thorn in his flesh may even have been some form of depression. Well that possibility would certainly fit with what we find here. He’s been worn down by something to the point of despair, but now Timothy returns with this good news (literally ’gospel’) and he’s revived. He says he can keep going if they can continue to stand firm in the faith.
The news leads him to praise and thanksgiving
He says he can’t thank God enough for the joy that this news has brought him. And in turn that joy leads him to pray for them. Specifically, that he might be able to return to them to provide any extra teaching that they still need. He knows that there’ll be gaps in their understanding, in their theology perhaps, or their ethics or perhaps the way they show love to one another. So he longs to be able to go there and help them grow to maturity. So let’s spend a few more minutes looking at Paul’s prayer for them.
Paul’s Prayer
A. That the way might be cleared for him to return v11
He prays "may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you." Just as we saw in ch.1 Paul again brackets God the Father and Jesus Christ together as the object of his prayers. He addresses them equally as part of the Godhead. What’s more, we don’t see it in English, but in the Greek the verb that’s used is a singular verb. God the Father and Jesus are treated as a single entity.
His prayer is that the way might be made straight, that it might be cleared or leveled, that the obstacles that have prevented him coming so far might be removed so he can come to them soon.
This prayer, by the way, was answered just a few years later when Paul returned from Ephesus to Jerusalem via Macedonia and Greece, visiting Thessalonica it seems in both directions.
B. That their Love might overflow for each other.
He prays "May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you." As is the case elsewhere, he offers himself as the example of the sort of love that they should show one another. Remember how he described himself in ch 2 as being like their mother or their father. That’s the sort of selfless love he extends as the example for them to follow: love that does all it can to benefit the one who’s loved; love that gives up it’s own rights for the sake of the other; love that spends itself to give to the other.
And notice too, that the sort of love he’s praying for is love that extends not just to those in the family or the community but goes beyond that to all people so that all might hear the gospel. William Temple, one of the great leaders of the Anglican Church, Archbishop of Canterbury during the Second World War, once made the statement "The church is the only society in the world that exists for its nonmembers." So Paul prays that their love might overflow, as it were, from their own community to all people.
C. That their faith might be strengthened
Thirdly, he prays "may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints." Notice that the strengthening in this case isn’t so they can stand firm against opposition. Rather it’s so they may be blameless before God. It’s so that when Jesus returns in glory they can hold their heads high because their hearts have remained holy and blameless.
I want you to notice two things here. First, the motivation for remaining holy and blameless is the return of Jesus Christ in his glory. The motivation is to be ready when he appears so we can join him, so we’re worthy of him. It’s not a negative motivation, notice. It’s not a motivation of fear that we might be judged. Rather it’s a motivation that we be fit to join him in his triumphal procession. See how he puts it: "At the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints." The picture is of Jesus parading through the heavens in triumph with all his followers singing his praises. He wants us to make sure that we’re ready to join that procession. Next week Camille will be talking about the sort of behaviour that fits with holy and blameless living.
Secondly, notice that Paul’s prayer is that Jesus would provide the power to do it. This isn’t something that depends on us alone. He prays that the Lord would "so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless." This is because our holiness is something that not only comes from Jesus’ death on our behalf in the first place but is maintained by his work in us through his Holy Spirit. We depend on the Holy Spirit to keep us following Jesus, to keep us pure and blameless.
So let me suggest that these last two things are good things for us to be praying for each other, perhaps as we go through the St Theodore’s Prayer list in our daily prayers: that our love might overflow for each other and for those around us and that our faith might be strengthened by God’s Holy Spirit working within us to bring about a holy and blameless life.
Finally, let’s make sure that we take notice of Paul’s example of genuine love and affection for those he ministers to. This is an example for me, but it’s also an example to every one of us, since we’re all ministers at one level or another. Let’s make sure that our ministering is done out of a genuine heartfelt love for those we minister to. Let’s not minister out of duty, or out of some sort of condescending sense of our own superiority. Rather let’s make sure we minister to others with the love of a father or a mother; a self sacrificing, long-suffering love that desires only the good of the other and that longs to see them grow to maturity, that rejoices when they’ve reached that point of being able to stand firm on their own. So let’s pray now that that might be the case for each one of us here today.
For more sermons from this source go to home.vicnet.net.au/~sttheos/
