1 Thessalonians 2:8-13 (Part A)

Laboring night and day, he says, your mother's work is never done, a pastor's work is never done, a believer's work is never done till God says come home. That is how we are supposed to approach life. It's hard to do it that way.

It's harder not to do it that way. I think to be a Christian, to be hounded by a sense of guilt that I'm not at least desiring the things that God has for me. It's don't underestimate the power of desire in Christ. Let's turn in our Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 2. Wrong ideas about God have dominated the earth, it seems, since the fall of Satan and his arrival here on the planet to tempt man. And man's way is to be saved according to man's way, leaving little space for God, but God's way is to save men according to God, leaving little space for men.

Reversal. And I have a funny old story to tell, funny to me and I hope I don't mess it up for you, but there is this chap mountain climbing and he loses his grip and he starts to slide. He's not tied off. And just as he's about to fall to the bottom of the canyon a thousand feet below, he reaches out and he grabs hold of a branch and it saves his skin for the moment. But he realizes that he can't get back up to the top and his grip's not going to last but for so long.

He wasn't a religious fellow so he thought now was a good time to get religion. So he looks up and he says, is there anyone in heaven who can help me? And a voice came from heaven and said, I am here, I can help you.

But you'll have to let go of the branch. The man said, is there anyone else in heaven who can help me? And that's how we are as sinners. We want salvation on our terms. We get into a mess, we fall into sin and we want God to do what we want Him to do. But that's not the gospel. The good news is that God is God and He will save men and He will do a better job of saving men than men could ever do. When Paul arrived in Thessalonica, we read in this first chapter in the bottom part of the second verse, he says, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict. Well, it was conflict with those who did not like the message God had to give to him. And then he continues down in verse 5, he says, for neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak of covetness. God is witness. We didn't use flattering words. The Thessalonians would have been the first ones to tell you that. He did not come to say to them, what wonderful people you are as you are. You don't need God.

You're so decent and kind. Quite the opposite. He told them the hard truth, that they were lost, that they were sinners, that their religion was junk, and that they needed a Savior and His name was Jesus Christ and there was no one else. That's the message he gave to them. And when he says, I didn't flatter you, he meant it. They did not want to be flattered.

They did not need to be flattered. Whether they knew it or not, what they needed was the truth and they got it and they recognized it and the truth set them free. And so as he was so effective in sharing the gospel in Thessalonica that a riot was caused to try to shut him up, to try to stop him from making converts. And so what we find in this little letter in Thessalonians, in this second chapter especially, is a template for sharing the faith with the lost.

Well, he's chased out of Thessalonica as we have been careful to mention as we've moved through these two chapters. But he loved them. He loved them because of the Holy Spirit, because of what God was doing in his life. And he says in verse 8 where we resume now, so affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives because you had become dear to us. Affection is care.

It is an expression of care, of what's in the heart. And so he says we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel. Now this is something that I think many of us can benefit from being reminded from the scripture. That it's not enough to share the gospel. There are those that think, well, you know, if I just sow the seed, that's all I have to do. That's the easy work many times. Depends if you're afraid to sow the seed.

It can be very difficult. But it's not enough to just share the good news. And that's what he says to them.

It's not a drive-by approach. We want to present ourselves to you, make ourselves available and visible. You can see how we live. You can see if we're living up to the things we say we believe in or not. Many Christians are not comfortable with sharing their faith. I think one reason why is they're not passionate about the faith. They agree with it. They enjoy it, benefit from it. But there's no passion. You know when someone falls in love with someone, they're quite irritating. They won't stop talking about the other one. Well, let's all just get in the truck, drive over there and watch them walk on water.

Sarcasm. Now, we don't say that, hopefully, because we've all been there. Well, most of us have been. You love someone, you can't help talking about them because you notice everything. There's passion. This is the idea behind the Song of Solomon. The passion that belonged to the bride and the groom, the Lord and his church. And so when you find a Christian that is shy, not willing to let people know. I believe in most cases you find someone who has allowed the fire or the flame to die down. You say, how do I get it back? Well, you can start by asking.

You can start by recognizing it. When you sing to the Lord, is there any passion? That doesn't mean your arms have to go back and forth and body has to move. Some folks are like that and that's fine. But what's in the heart? You know, Elijah the prophet said, bring me a musician. I think one reason why he was pretty upset with the three kings who had lost their way, two of them being lost spiritually. One very confused about who he was spiritually, but saved nonetheless, Jehoshaphat. And Elijah says, bring me a musician, because if I don't tone it down, I'm going to call fire on you guys.

Doesn't say that, but that's what I read into it. And the musicians come and they sing song and it ministers to him. He probably just sat there and just soaked it in. And then he delivered the word and the power of God. Peter, writing to the Christians under persecution in his first letter said, wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands. That even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives.

When they observe your chase conduct, accompanied by fear. Peter is saying the lost are watching you. Don't underestimate the power of this witness. Make it, turn it into a testimony. The witness is living the life. The testimony is the story that follows the results about living the life. Of course, Peter knew you could not just live the life.

That was not enough. You had to also preach it. And so he goes on to say that we are to preach the word meekness and respect to every man an answer, he says. Now, if you're saved, you come to church and you say, but I'm not passionate. Well, do you understand your salvation?

You have to be able to articulate it. You can do that through love. I'm not a fan of 20 ways to share your faith.

I'm a fan of one way. Love on the Lord. Truly love him. He will do it. He will fill you. You will tell the other person about the one you love. What is your beloved that you so charge us?

They say in the book, in the Song of Solomon. And she starts up and she doesn't shut up. My beloved is.

She talks about his teeth, his hair, everything about him. Tension to detail. This should be the Christian witness. I fear as a pastor that when I get to share the gospel with a stranger in a private setting, which it doesn't happen so often anymore, that I may have lost that passion with the lost. I may want to get to them, you know, a deeper understanding of the scripture.

That would be a mistake. So I remind myself, too, when it's my chance to share the gospel, share it like a new love. A new believer does.

And so he says, but also our our lives. Now, there are false prophets who want to say, do not judge our ungodly living. They won't say it like that. But there they are saying, stop judging me. The same way you live, the way you live is judging you.

I'm just pointing it out. They'll say, don't judge bad teaching, bad doctrine. Just understand that I am right. Believe me, because the crowds come and they sit through my heresy. Again, they won't say it that way, but this is what is taking place.

How do we know? Well, they have departed from the scripture and they're now saying their own thing and the people are lapping it up. What do they know what they want?

They're lost. And so we are to give not only a verbal witness, but a visual witness that's called discipleship. Isaiah, the prophet, wrote to the law and to the testimony.

If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. And so God, Paul says, because you had become dear to us, God had put love in the hearts of the Thessalonians also. Verse 9, we continue, for you remember, brethren, our labor and toil, for laboring night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you. We preached to you the gospel of God. We lived it. We talked it.

You need the two of them together. They knew how Paul was. They saw it. They witnessed it.

They were there. Laboring night and day, he says, your mother's work is never done, a pastor's work is never done, a believer's work is never done until God says come home. That is how we are supposed to approach life. It's hard to do it that way.

It's harder not to do it that way, I think. To be a Christian, to be hounded by a sense of guilt that I'm not, at least desiring the things that God has for me. It's don't underestimate the power of desire in Christ. You can say, I want to be a better servant.

I want to be more pure, clean in Christ. I keep failing. But do you want it?

Yes. Well, then you must learn to fight and to work at the same time, not one at a time, or else you will just have guilt. Finish the devil.

How? Work. Work for the Lord. Live as best as you can.

Don't take it lightly. Prayer is very difficult. Most of us don't like doing it. Now, it doesn't help that God's way is his way and higher than our way, and sometimes he doesn't seem to respond or listen to our prayers, but he does. We don't pray because we want something, ideally. That's part of it, but ideally it is because we want God. We want his will.

We don't know what his will is unless he shares it with us, and he usually shares that through dialogue and interaction with his people. I have no faith in prayer whatsoever. I have faith in Jesus Christ. I don't know why Christians have a hard time with that statement. I don't trust my prayers.

I trust the one I'm praying to. Now, you remember Moses praying over Joshua and the armies as they fought there in the valley against the Amalekites, and Moses grew weary. They had to prop him up with a stone, and Aaron and a man named Hur, unfortunate name in the English, had to hold his arms up because when he let them down, Joshua's army would be turned back. When he held them up, Joshua's army would turn the enemy back, and one of the lessons out of that is prayer is wearisome. It's hard. It's difficult.

Sometimes you need someone to help hold you up. Paul, in his first letter to Timothy, speaking about here, he says, laboring night and day, he says, Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in doctrine. So he's saying that I, Paul, know what it's like to labor night and day, to work with my own hands in the world to provide a living for myself and to also be ready to preach the gospel in a way that is effective and engaging and fruitful in the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And then he says to the churches and to the assemblies from the point he writes it to this present day, You take care of those men who God has sent to you.

The laborer is worthy of his wages. You shall not muzzle the ark while it treads out the grain. Do the math. Think about it. We talked about this earlier, the cults, shame, Christians, and how they care for their churches and their clergy and how they give of themselves and of their means. This is not a pitch.

It is a point. If you don't take care of those men of God, why should God take care of you? And he develops the thought later, but the point is, here he was, when he was in Thessalonica, he worked. When he moved on to Corinth, he worked even more. In fact, I think when he got to Corinth, he was so charged up by the victory in Thessalonica from where he writes this first letter. He's in Corinth writing this letter.

He says, man, this is a bigger city. If I can just have the results in Corinth that I had in Thessalonica, think what would happen, and I believe that helped Paul stay in the fight in Corinth. So when he finally says, I wanted to come back to you in Thessalonica, when I was chased out, I wanted to come back, but Satan hindered us. It is a broad meaning, but part of the meaning is, I'm here in Corinth, and I cannot get to Thessalonica because if I leave the work here in Corinth, Satan's going to get the victory. So I got to stay here and deal with this.

I want to get to you, but I can't. He prioritized a bit of triage. He says here again in verse 9 that we might not be a burden to any of you. Pastors must be careful to not be a weight on the flock. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul writes, And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself. Again, he writes to them in his second letter, and Corinth, he writes to them, he says, For the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be burdensome to you, for I do not seek yours but you.

For the children ought not lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. He had an understanding of leadership in Christ Jesus. He says here in verse 9 of Thessalonians, we're back to our text again, he says, We preach to you the gospel of God.

He would rather die than contradict the faith and the message, the good news of God. Again, 1 Corinthians 9, 15, Better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void. And I love this section, and he starts out 1 Corinthians with, he says, My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the power of the Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit. That's the way to go about ministry, not just for pastors, but for all Christians. I have noticed that many great Christian men of our time, when they get tied up too much in the Reformation and the apostolic age, that period after the apostles, they get too much into the philosophies and the arguments of the faith, and they start kind of drifting from the word a little bit, and they get a little dull, kooky, and they begin to uphold doctrines that have much good in them, but there's something missing from them. And we like to learn, all of us, we love for someone to give us a new tidbit on something, especially if it's an anecdote about some event in life, a story that took place that makes the point.

Now, I'm not saying all of this is bad, not by any means, but what I am saying is I have noticed that much learning can make you mad if you're not careful. It can make you, that's on the extreme side, but it can take something from us when we step out of the Word of God, and we've been going through this in Lamentations and in Thessalonians. The Jews had gotten rid of the Scripture of Moses and the prophets, and in its place they were now teaching what the rabbis taught until finally the rabbis' teachings weren't about Scripture anymore, but about tradition. You might remember Fiddler on the Roof, why do we do this, why do we wear the prayer cloth, why do we go to Sabbath, tradition. Who's tradition? Rabbinical, the rabbis, the teachers, the pastors had become the dominant force in Judaism.

What was the result? Now, this happened after they came back from the captivity of 70 years in Babylon. They came back and they developed this rabbinical form of authority within Judaism, and when the temple was finally destroyed, well, where did it end?

They did not recognize their Messiah, their temple was destroyed, and then it supercharged to this very day. Certain sects of Judaism, they actually prayed to dead rabbis. You say, don't they know better? Don't they have the basics of the Scripture? Don't they know that God said, I killed Saul because he dared to talk to the dead. Do they know that?

No, they don't. They don't read the Scriptures. And so we are supposed to look at this as Christians and say, I'm going to act like I learned something before the Lord because he taught me. That's why he's given us the Holy Spirit. Thank you, God, for sending Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, that you came. Holy Spirit, won't you teach us more about his lovely name? Peter writes about the same thing, this honorable conduct. We look now at verse 10, Thessalonians chapter 2. You are witnesses in God also.

Man, that's powerful. How devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe. Man, I wish I could say that. Devout, just, blameless.

Well, I mean, don't get me wrong. When I say I wish I could say it, it doesn't mean I feel like I violated these things. But I think humility, which I have a lot of, would not allow any of us to boast in these things. You are witnesses, God also. This devoutness, this dedication, this just, to be just involves not only doing the right thing but understanding it, appreciating it, blameless. Now, you know, a tendency of a Christian who struggles with legalism. Legalism is always judging the other person and always thinking about itself. The legalist is always self-centered when it comes to thinking and it is always critical of others. That's how it lives.

It thrives off of that. Paul was not that type. He wasn't saying, we were devout, we were just, we were blameless because we're better than you and you need to change everything and conform to us.

He was just saying, you are there. You know that we dedicated ourselves to the gospel. That's the devoutness. You know that when we spoke to people about their ways, you know, in the early church there were people who were polygamous. They come out of the Gentile world.

It's not an endorsement of polygamy. But they were, they had multiple wives and they would get converted. What could they do?

Send their wives and children out into where? Paul said, you know, this is an awful situation. We want to deal with this. And they dealt with it. And it must have been very difficult. The patience and the love of God. We think about the Song of Solomon again. It speaks of Solomon and his concubines.

It's not an endorsement. It's how it was. God is superior and he's wise and merciful and he knows how to deal with these things and he too has to apply triage. When the Jews said, we don't, when three, two and a half tribes came to him and said, we do not want to enter the promised land that you promised us. We'd like this other side more. Can we have it? It was God's mercy that said, I'll give it to you.

You parents, you know sometimes you don't like something your child is doing and you just can't slam them down. You have to find, find out. You've got to find out the hard way. And you have to kind of let it go unless you be viewed as a tyrant. And so what we're talking about is a holy and righteous God and messed up human beings. We're sinners. Whole, entire cultures and societies ruined by sin. Then the gospel shows up. The legalists say, that's wrong, that's wrong. Get rid of it. Imagine if Paul had said, well, you're polygamous.

You've got to stop that. Now I'm not saying he endorsed it. He probably even put prohibitions on them.

But he did not strip the take. Well, you've got to take your two lesser wives and their children and just throw them out on the streets. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of 1 Thessalonians. Cross Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more information about this ministry, visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. Once you're there, you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. You can search for Cross Reference Radio in your favorite podcast app as well. That's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the book of 1 Thessalonians right here on Cross Reference Radio.