Looking into the Heart and Soul of an Evangelist
Don't let persecution throw you for a loop (take you by complete surprise)
I Thessalonians chapters 2 and 3
There are not many places in scripture where we get a chance to see what is going on in the head of a Christian worker. This is one of them. Sometimes we take for granted what may be going on in their minds. We may be oblivious of the fact that we are are on their minds; that when they think of us and our particular set of needs, they send up a short prayer in our behalf; and that (in a Godly sense), they worry1 about the final outcome of our lives.
When Paul wrote to the Church in Galatia he thought it necessary to put a little guilt trip on them:
“I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.” Galatians 4:11
But in actual fact his focus was not on himself. You can see that in the way he spoke to the Christians in Corinth. “And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls;” (2 Corinthians 12:15 )
So in these two chapters of his letter to the Thessalonians we see nothing but care, love and concern for them.
Paul is about to bring up the subject of standing up for Jesus in the face of opposition. He had made mention in Chapter one, verse 6 of the opposition that surrounded him and his partners at the very beginning as the church was just being formed. The church was made up of the ones who agreed with Paul's presentation in the Jewish synagogue regarding who Jesus was (is). The opposition came from those who disagreed.
So now and in the following chapters, Paul is focusing on the opposition that occurred immediately after the presentation of his message in the synagogue. 2:1-6
I think perhaps he feels the need to explain why the opposition happened. He wants them to know that it didn't just 'happen'. And that if he could have presented his message better, maybe it would not have happened. So he explains that the persecution wasn't accidental, nor was is due to a clumsy presentation.
He is almost implying that if he had been soft-spoken, if he had used fancy rhetoric or flattery that he could have 'got some money' out of them.
No, he is showing them that he did everything right. The message of the cross can be, and almost always is offensive, because it makes people accept the guilt for having crucified Jesus. It makes all of their own good works unacceptable before God.
He points out that there are a number of different ways that he could have approached things. He could have come in motivated by the desire for fame. Some people get all their satisfaction out of being noticed. Do we all have that as a basic need? Paul said that this need can be met in the following way:
1Co 10:24 Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
Php 2:4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
7-11 Going on, Paul is saying ,“It was the message that caused the ruckus. It wasn't me or my style”. If you remember, he is saying, “I was as gentle as mother nursing a child. Above all was my affection and love toward you … to see you receive salvation from God, and then to see you take root.
I really didn't care what happened to me. As a matter of fact, I worked very hard. I worked long hours, some of the hours was spent making money so that nobody would think that's what we were in it for.”
I was also like a father toward his children … exhorted, comforted, charged. Verse 12 – “That they would walk worthy”
After the explanation about how and why opposition can show up he turns to the topic of the 'good report' that he got when Timothy arrived back. Verse 13. He gives some encouraging recognition of their growth. 13 – 16.
He said to them:
Verses 17 – 3:2 Paul had to leave there very abruptly.
Acts 17:5 But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the market-place, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.
6 But when they did not find them, they ...
10 ¶ As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.
(Here is a condensed version tracking the actions of Paul and company. I will identify each step with a number just so that I can refer back to it.)
After starting a church in Berea(1) … and again having to run for it, ended up in Athens (2). When Silas and Timothy caught up with him (3), he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica (4) to 'establish' the young church. Then Timothy catches up with Paul (5), some time later obviously, with a report of how this church is doing. Paul writes this letter to the Thessalonians, and sends it to them (6) … again using Timothy . Paul has expressed a desire in various verses of his longing to come back and visit them.(17,18). He is saying … I want so desperately to see you … but I may have to wait until the second coming. You will be my shining crown there!
Does that sound selfish of Paul? I don't think so. We all want stuff. Paul has just set his mind on heavenly things rather than stuff down here.
Chapter 3:1-5
Paul said he wanted to know how they were doing spiritually, so badly, that he could hardly stand it. So he sent Timothy back to them (#4 above) to 'establish' them. Basically this would mean that Timothy is serving as a pastor, at least a temporary one. Verse 5 repeats what we read in verse 2 … “When I could no longer endure it … I sent” etc.
What is Paul's greatest fear? That the tempter was successful in totally destroying Paul's work there. Paul's enemy is Satan, the tempter. His enemy is not 'evil people'. To him, the evil people that plotted against him, that stirred up a mob, lied about him … had laid in wait to trap him and turn him over to 'mob justice' … were people who were not Christians - yet. They are people just like he used to be.
How are we at sorting out the difference in our own lives? Can we look at people who disappoint us, lie about us, take advantage of us - as being people who are not Christians - yet. And can we recognize that their actions are as a result of Satan, the one who is really trying to side-track and defeat us.
Paul calls Satan, the Tempter. But earlier in verses 3 and 4 he is talking about persecution.
Persecution is one of the devil's tools to use against the children of God. It is a bit difficult to see how persecution is a 'temptation' sent by Satan. In this case I think it would be the temptation to quit being a Christian.
As Paul is writing these words, we notice that he is 'remembering out loud' that he had given them fore-warning concerning persecution. He says, I told you it was coming. And I told you not to be 'put off' by what they did to me. I told you that we 'are appointed' to persecution. Wow. What kind of sales pitch it that? Come accept Jesus as your Saviour and get beat up and thrown in prison!
So Paul, after recounting the warnings etc, says … But I still had to know … have you stood the test?
Verse 6, But now that Timothy has come back with the good news …. ! And in 7, 'In spite of all the terrible mistreatment we were suffering right at the time Timothy got back here … his good news made it possible to bear all of this suffering. Now I'm living! 8-10 Now my prayers are not just that you remain faithful through it all .. now my prayers are … Lord, Let me go back there and see those wonderful people! As wonderful as those people were, Paul says … my heart's desire is to see what is still lacking in your beliefs .. and complete it!
Verse 11 is the prayer. It almost sounds as if he were signing off right here. 'And now may our God and Father Himself ….' But we know this is not the end of the letter.
Let's look at this prayer … it is
Some might ask the question, Are we not already completely holy in Christ? Did He not apply His righteousness to me at the moment I received Him as my Savior? If He applied His righteousness to me already and made me totally holy, how can I be more holy?
In case we might be confused on this, perhaps this will clear it up:
Our relationship with God, as believers, as Christians, is two-fold.
Psalm 40:1 ¶ I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry.2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay (SIN), And set my feet upon a rock (salvation, new birth, we 'stand redeemed!'), And established my steps.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth—Praise to our God;(Our walk of faith and holy living) Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD.
May it be our aim and our prayer to walk before Him in holiness. Paul will help us to do this by offering some practical advice in the next chapter.
Homework: Look up 2 Timothy 3:12 and comment on what this has to do with whether or not you are presently being persecuted for your faith.
1 2Co 11:27 I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. (28) Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
I Thessalonians chapters 2 and 3
There are not many places in scripture where we get a chance to see what is going on in the head of a Christian worker. This is one of them. Sometimes we take for granted what may be going on in their minds. We may be oblivious of the fact that we are are on their minds; that when they think of us and our particular set of needs, they send up a short prayer in our behalf; and that (in a Godly sense), they worry1 about the final outcome of our lives.
When Paul wrote to the Church in Galatia he thought it necessary to put a little guilt trip on them:
“I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.” Galatians 4:11
But in actual fact his focus was not on himself. You can see that in the way he spoke to the Christians in Corinth. “And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls;” (2 Corinthians 12:15 )
So in these two chapters of his letter to the Thessalonians we see nothing but care, love and concern for them.
Paul is about to bring up the subject of standing up for Jesus in the face of opposition. He had made mention in Chapter one, verse 6 of the opposition that surrounded him and his partners at the very beginning as the church was just being formed. The church was made up of the ones who agreed with Paul's presentation in the Jewish synagogue regarding who Jesus was (is). The opposition came from those who disagreed.
So now and in the following chapters, Paul is focusing on the opposition that occurred immediately after the presentation of his message in the synagogue. 2:1-6
I think perhaps he feels the need to explain why the opposition happened. He wants them to know that it didn't just 'happen'. And that if he could have presented his message better, maybe it would not have happened. So he explains that the persecution wasn't accidental, nor was is due to a clumsy presentation.
He is almost implying that if he had been soft-spoken, if he had used fancy rhetoric or flattery that he could have 'got some money' out of them.
No, he is showing them that he did everything right. The message of the cross can be, and almost always is offensive, because it makes people accept the guilt for having crucified Jesus. It makes all of their own good works unacceptable before God.
He points out that there are a number of different ways that he could have approached things. He could have come in motivated by the desire for fame. Some people get all their satisfaction out of being noticed. Do we all have that as a basic need? Paul said that this need can be met in the following way:
1Co 10:24 Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
Php 2:4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
7-11 Going on, Paul is saying ,“It was the message that caused the ruckus. It wasn't me or my style”. If you remember, he is saying, “I was as gentle as mother nursing a child. Above all was my affection and love toward you … to see you receive salvation from God, and then to see you take root.
I really didn't care what happened to me. As a matter of fact, I worked very hard. I worked long hours, some of the hours was spent making money so that nobody would think that's what we were in it for.”
I was also like a father toward his children … exhorted, comforted, charged. Verse 12 – “That they would walk worthy”
After the explanation about how and why opposition can show up he turns to the topic of the 'good report' that he got when Timothy arrived back. Verse 13. He gives some encouraging recognition of their growth. 13 – 16.
He said to them:
- “You received our words and recognized them to be the absolute truth of God'. When Jesus was on trial before Pilate, Jesus was asked by him whether or not He was a King. As Jesus gave His answer He added that He came to testify of and reveal truth. Pilate (perhaps sarcastically) asks, “What is Truth?” Perhaps he is even implying that there is no such thing as absolute truth. But to the Thessalonians Paul is saying “You welcomed our words not as mere words of a human, but as truth”. The night before Jesus stood before Pilate, he knelt praying for his disciples (and for us) and He said in His prayer, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. John 17:17
- “You, in a sense, are no different than the Jerusalem church. They are no better Christians than you. They suffered at the hands of 'their own countrymen' … so did you. The Jews by the way, have been a real pain, both there and here as well”.
- “They killed Jesus … so to talk about Him as being the Messiah really angers them. They try their best to stop us”.
- “They are going to get it! The wrath of God”. God let Paul in on His feelings toward the Jews. Paul may not have known that the destruction of Jerusalem would be God's wrath upon them, but he knew something terrible was going to happen to them. In AD 70 the Jews were slaughtered, taken captive and the rest scattered all over the world.
Verses 17 – 3:2 Paul had to leave there very abruptly.
Acts 17:5 But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the market-place, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.
6 But when they did not find them, they ...
10 ¶ As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.
(Here is a condensed version tracking the actions of Paul and company. I will identify each step with a number just so that I can refer back to it.)
After starting a church in Berea(1) … and again having to run for it, ended up in Athens (2). When Silas and Timothy caught up with him (3), he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica (4) to 'establish' the young church. Then Timothy catches up with Paul (5), some time later obviously, with a report of how this church is doing. Paul writes this letter to the Thessalonians, and sends it to them (6) … again using Timothy . Paul has expressed a desire in various verses of his longing to come back and visit them.(17,18). He is saying … I want so desperately to see you … but I may have to wait until the second coming. You will be my shining crown there!
Does that sound selfish of Paul? I don't think so. We all want stuff. Paul has just set his mind on heavenly things rather than stuff down here.
Chapter 3:1-5
Paul said he wanted to know how they were doing spiritually, so badly, that he could hardly stand it. So he sent Timothy back to them (#4 above) to 'establish' them. Basically this would mean that Timothy is serving as a pastor, at least a temporary one. Verse 5 repeats what we read in verse 2 … “When I could no longer endure it … I sent” etc.
What is Paul's greatest fear? That the tempter was successful in totally destroying Paul's work there. Paul's enemy is Satan, the tempter. His enemy is not 'evil people'. To him, the evil people that plotted against him, that stirred up a mob, lied about him … had laid in wait to trap him and turn him over to 'mob justice' … were people who were not Christians - yet. They are people just like he used to be.
How are we at sorting out the difference in our own lives? Can we look at people who disappoint us, lie about us, take advantage of us - as being people who are not Christians - yet. And can we recognize that their actions are as a result of Satan, the one who is really trying to side-track and defeat us.
Paul calls Satan, the Tempter. But earlier in verses 3 and 4 he is talking about persecution.
Persecution is one of the devil's tools to use against the children of God. It is a bit difficult to see how persecution is a 'temptation' sent by Satan. In this case I think it would be the temptation to quit being a Christian.
As Paul is writing these words, we notice that he is 'remembering out loud' that he had given them fore-warning concerning persecution. He says, I told you it was coming. And I told you not to be 'put off' by what they did to me. I told you that we 'are appointed' to persecution. Wow. What kind of sales pitch it that? Come accept Jesus as your Saviour and get beat up and thrown in prison!
So Paul, after recounting the warnings etc, says … But I still had to know … have you stood the test?
Verse 6, But now that Timothy has come back with the good news …. ! And in 7, 'In spite of all the terrible mistreatment we were suffering right at the time Timothy got back here … his good news made it possible to bear all of this suffering. Now I'm living! 8-10 Now my prayers are not just that you remain faithful through it all .. now my prayers are … Lord, Let me go back there and see those wonderful people! As wonderful as those people were, Paul says … my heart's desire is to see what is still lacking in your beliefs .. and complete it!
Verse 11 is the prayer. It almost sounds as if he were signing off right here. 'And now may our God and Father Himself ….' But we know this is not the end of the letter.
Let's look at this prayer … it is
- That their love for one another would continually increase
- That their hearts would progress toward being totally blameless and holy, right up to the day of Jesus' return.
Some might ask the question, Are we not already completely holy in Christ? Did He not apply His righteousness to me at the moment I received Him as my Savior? If He applied His righteousness to me already and made me totally holy, how can I be more holy?
In case we might be confused on this, perhaps this will clear it up:
Our relationship with God, as believers, as Christians, is two-fold.
- We have a 'standing'
- We have a 'walk'.
Psalm 40:1 ¶ I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry.2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay (SIN), And set my feet upon a rock (salvation, new birth, we 'stand redeemed!'), And established my steps.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth—Praise to our God;(Our walk of faith and holy living) Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD.
May it be our aim and our prayer to walk before Him in holiness. Paul will help us to do this by offering some practical advice in the next chapter.
Homework: Look up 2 Timothy 3:12 and comment on what this has to do with whether or not you are presently being persecuted for your faith.
1 2Co 11:27 I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. (28) Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.