In my last post, I’ve started reading 1st Thessalonians. Many scholars believe this was one of, if not the very first, of Paul’s letters. From studying the book of Acts chapters 16 and 17 , we understand the history of Paul’s second missionary Journey. He was writing to a group of people who suffered greatly for their faith and were persecuted by a very hostile Jewish group. Many of the Thessalonians were Gentiles and women, and while there were a few Jewish converts, many of the Jews in Thessalonica opposed Paul. The group of Thessalonian Jews was hostile not just academically or philosophically to Paul’s message, but physically and began riots, and they were so opposed to Paul and the preaching of the Gospel, they went miles away to continue persecuting Paul and the converted churches even after Paul left town. We were reading the book of Philippians before that, and that church was also dear to Paul’s heart, but from reading the book of Acts, we learn a bit more about what happened in Philippi. Paul and Silas found women by a river and Paul and his team taught the women about the Gospel. many responded to the message and Lydia and her family were baptized. The missionaries lived with Lydia’s family. Philippi seemed to be going well, until Paul cast out a spirit in a slave woman, The slave woman used this spirit to predict the future and made money fortune telling. Is fortune telling evil or wrong? Spiritists, mediums, and consulting the dead is forbidden for Jews in the Old Testament. In studying the Bible we know that God is a Jealous God who doesn’t want us following any other spirits or Gods besides him. He warns us against Idolatry many places, and there are a few of the 10 commandments that restrict this. But this slave woman was making her owners money telling fortunes and predicting future events. So, while they are against God’s will, and forbidden for Jews, the predictions must have been accurate or correct frequently enough to get people to pay for her predictions. Interestingly enough, if you read Acts 16, the fortune teller’s spirit kept following around Paul and his team and was shouting. “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” The message from the fortune teller was that Paul and Silas and Timothy were true servants of God. Their message was the true message of salvation, if you listen to Paul you are taught how to be saved.. Paul has a supporter! This occult endorsement of Paul’s preaching seemed to bother Paul and he was annoyed enough to cast out the spirit. This exorcism made the slave girl unable to tell fortunes anymore, which caused the slave’s owners to lose revenue and they were angry enough to throw Paul and Silas in prison. They were stripped and beaten, severely flogged and thrown into jail. At midnight they were singing and praising God in prison and there was a violent earthquake that broke the prison doors and unchained all the prisoners. Instead of running free, all the prisoners stayed in place obediently. The prison guard or jailer was ready to take his own life for letting them go, and was so happy when he found out they hadn’t escaped, he and his household came to believe.
These events in Philippi led to many people believing in Jesus. The imprisonment wasn’t motivated by theology or Jewish or Pharisee persecution. The beating and flogging and imprisonment in Philippi was all motivated by end of a money stream of a fortune teller who was telling the “fortune” that Paul and his men spoke the truth. But they were severely badly treated and the magistrates and Roman officials looked very bad politically for treating Paul and Silas that way, especially since Paul was a Roman citizen. With that back story, let’s read 1st Thessalonians 2.
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.
After what happened in Philippi, Paul and his men could have been motivated to stop preaching, or to pursue a different strategy of missionary work. It may have made logical sense or been tempting to go back to Jerusalem and check in with the apostles or the more friendly house churches. I probably would have successfully convinced myself to find a more safer route and live to fight another day, preach to people who want to be preached to. Preach to those who I believe are receptive. But not Paul, Silas, and Timothy; they continued in their path. They went to Thessalonica and continued Paul’s custom of going into a synagogue and reasoning with them about scripture, proclaiming Jesus as the messiah, explaining and proving that Jesus was who the prophets were talking about. In Philippi Paul was successful, and ran into trouble by casting out a truth telling spirit. In this town of Thessalonica, he got in trouble with Jews in the town who didn’t want to believe that Jesus was the messiah they were waiting for. The opposition was palpable.
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.
Paul isn’t speaking out of error or impure motives. Paul isn’t trying to trick people. Logically this makes sense. What kind of long-con involves getting yourself beaten to the point of being almost killed and going to jail, only to rely on a miraculous earthquake to provide an opportunity for escape that you don’t take? How does Paul benefit from continuing on to the next town and making new enemies who don’t just disagree with casting out of spirits but are also hostile to the entire message? There are televangelists who preach a get rich scheme.
There’s a prosperity gospel. It really works and creates prosperity, but only prosperity for the preacher so he can be rich and everyone else tricked and poorer. You can see the greed, the selfish motivation, you can see the payout, the trick, and the error of the message. Paul doesn’t have that. In fact everything Paul does only harms his personal standing in this world. He doesn’t collect money which we will read more about later. He doesn’t save himself from any trouble in an earthly sense, he puts himself in more danger and makes new enemies everywhere he travels. Whatever motivation Paul has is clearly not one where he receives benefit on this side of heaven. In fact, Paul has ZERO return of investment from an earthly perspective. But from a heavenly perspective?, God entrusted Paul and Silas and Timothy with something more special than safety, or prosperity, or popularity. God entrusted them with telling the story of the Gospel. This is how the Old Testament reaches its completion! Let me introduce you to Jesus, who the prophets were talking about! He is the Son of God, the Word of God who became flesh, the propitiation for our sin. Do you know all those stories of how Mankind has continually turned away from God? How God warned Israel about kings, but they wanted to be like other nations and took a King anyway? Remember how Moses was looking for rest but couldn’t get it, how the Israelites were slaves and ran from their Egyptian masters walking through the sea to freedom, only to desire a golden calf on the other side? Look how sin nearly resulted in the destruction of the planet in a flood, learn about how Adam and Eve fell from a graceful state where they had fellowship with God, and were tempted by the servant to desire being like God? Paul was entrusted to telling the story of God’s greatness, Mankind’s fall, and restoration, Jesus’s work on the cross, Jesus resurrection with a promise that we too will see God in eternity! Paul was entrusted with the Word of God, preaching it to both Jews and Gentiles, writing the word of God in his letters. The result of this story doesn’t enrich Paul or Silas or Timothy, it isn’t people pleasing, it actually convicts people of their sin, and breaks their heart over their disobedience towards a loving God, it leads to repentance. The story is rescuing people from their sin, and bringing them into God’s family! Paul continues:
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.
Paul seems to be defending his actions and his ministry, so we know there are people who are speaking bad of Paul’s ministry. If he wasn’t explicitly defending himself, he was at least differentiating himself from other missionary groups. In other letters he described how people were preaching Christ out of selfish ambition, or were preaching out of jealousy. At this point in history there was no Christian church with various denominations and degrees of orthodoxy like we see today, there was a group called The Way, or people who followed Jesus. Unlike other missionaries, or unlike what people were accusing him of, He hasn’t used flattery to get people to agree with him or bolster his popularity. He didn’t fake contentment, putting on a mask to cover up greed. He’s been open and transparent with his life, which we read more about later. In verse 6 he explains that as an apostle of Christ he has authority that he could assert, but his authority wasn’t lorded over other people. In Matthew 20:25-28 Jesus taught about similar leadership.
25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
According to the World, authority is exercised when you get others to do what you want. But according to Christ, authority is used for service, authority is exercised when you serve others and to give your life for your friends. As an apostle Paul didn’t exert his authority, let’s read how he continues
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. 9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, 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.
Paul compares his and Timothy’s and Silas’ behavior to young children. Funny, when I think they were like young children, I imagine they destroyed all the nice things in the house and left a mess. Obviously, that’s not how to read it, There’s a footnote, a, which says some manuscripts word it, we treated you delicately, or with gentleness. The Spanish version of NIV has the “Like Children” wording as the footnote, and the delicate/gentleness as the main text. It’s good to know both. And he clarifies this in the same verse when he compares the way the teachers interacted with the Thessalonian church as a nursing mother cared for her children. There’s a tenderness, gentleness there, but also a defensive protection. Ready to attack or fight back or get in the way of danger to protect the nursing child. A defenseless precious loved one. This Thessalonian church was in its infancy when Paul and Silas and Timothy arrived. They didn’t know any better, coming out of a place of idol worship, paganism, mysticism. The churches in Jerusalem were young in Christ too, but they had been well versed in the Old Testament history, and knew doctrine and scripture. They had been entrusted with the Law of God and Moses. But a church like the thessalonian one was coming from a place behind, and needed to understand history and needed protection from lies that spread around people of faith. Paul explained that his time with that church wasn’t just about sharing the Gospel, but also his entire life. Again we learn the extent of Paul’s transparency. He didn’t live a fake life, or a double personality. He had that integrety which kept his behavior consistent. You might be best friends with someone, but once you become roommates, that could change, because you see who they really are. Paul shared not just the Gospel, but his whole life. And here, in verse 9 we read that Paul kept working day and night to make sure he didn’t have to charge the Thessalonian church anything for his instruction. He took pride in knowing that he was not burdening the Thessalonians in any way, and worked full time to support himself. This fact makes any claims by doubters that Paul was preaching from selfish motivation or greed even more preposterous.
10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
Paul tried to live a holy righteous and blameless life. This doesn’t mean Timothy, Silas and he were perfect, because that interpretation doesn’t agree with other areas of scripture where Paul himself explains that all have fallen short of the Glory of God, or where John says that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. They compare their behavior to a father dealing with his own children. Not lording over authority, not expecting more from them or settling for less, nor being impatient with their progress. A father treats his children with love, respect, care. In Colossians, Paul warns fathers not to exasperate or embitter their children, but encourage them. This is how Paul treated the church, urging them to live lives worthy of God. And what does God do? God, who calls us into his Kingdom and Glory. Again, we aren’t saved by works, or our choices, we were saved by a call from God. This early letter of Paul doesn’t discuss justification by faith versus works explicitly at length, but it is consistent!
13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.
When the Thessalonian church received the word of God, they accepted it as a divine source. OK, so here’s a little distinction. We receive the word of God- miraculously. The Holy Spirit allows us to hear although we were deaf, it allows us to see, although we were blind. The word of God is something that we receive, and only the Holy Spirit makes us receptive to it. People sometimes say they accept Jesus in their heart, but scripturally we were dead and were brought to life. That’s how regeneration works- by receiving. On the other hand, we can accept whether or not the source of the message is God. We don’t accept Jesus, but we do accept or reject that a message makes sense and whether it comes from Human origins or Divine origins. The Thessalonian church accepted the word of God not as something from humans, but as something divine.
14 For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews 15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone 16 in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.
Readings of this part of the letter can sometimes be interpretated as Anti-Semitism, or blaming Jesus death on Jews alone. If you read more of scripture, you understand the cause of Jesus death was that mankind had sinned and the Elect was given propitiation for that sin through the perfect life and death of Jesus Christ. We are saved by his works. Paul is telling Thessalonian church members that when they suffer from wrongful persecution, they are not doing that alone. They are actually imitating what’s happening in the churches in Judea. The Jews in Thessalonica caused riots and violence, but this had been happening in Judea as well. Militant members the Temple and different sects of Jews, Sadducees, Pharisees, all the way up to the high priests were hostile towards Jesus, not just Christ himself but the prophets and apostles like Paul. Churches in Judea were persecuted from those same Jews who rejected Christ and his teaching. Paul explains that those people who did those things were hostile to everyone who brought God’s Law and God’s Forgiveness to new people, They didn’t want Gentiles to be saved, but it wasn’t just about Gentiles. They didn’t want Jews to be saved either. They didn’t want salvation that Jesus Gave, because that lowered their status, their role, and their position. They preferred that everyone would be enslaved to sin and they were still in charge than the scenario where people learned the word of God and were saved from sin and God got the Glory. This mindset that we are all equal as sinners and we don’t need anyone except Jesus between us and God, is insulting to the group of self proclaimed God experts and career priests. These people prefer to be looked up to, more than actually searching to learn what is God’s will, and trying to see to it that others know what God’s will is, and that Gods’ will be done on earth. When you prefer receiving Glory and effectively being worshipped, you are saying you want to be like God. This is the spirit of Satan, and the original lie in the garden of Eden. What did God say? That’s not right. You can be like God. When Satan isn’t accusing God of lying, he’s accusing us of being not good enough before God. His native tongue is lies and accusation. Satan’s work is to make God seem a liar to us, and to make us feel unworthy of forgiveness, to make Jesus seem like foolishness. Just for one day at a time. Just to hinder the study of truth or the transmission of the word of God, and the understanding of God’s plan. Paul mentions that Satan blocked his way in verse 18.
17 But, brothers and sisters, when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. 18 For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan blocked our way.
Paul said they felt orphaned from being separated from their church. He compared their relationship earlier to being like a mother nursing and caring for her young. Then he compared the relationship to a father encouraging comforting and urging them to live lives worthy of God. Now he’s been separated from them and he’s orphaned. Even though they were separated in person, it wasn’t in thought. He desired seeing them, and Satan blocked their way.
This doesn’t need to be interpreted as something super spiritual and yet mundane. You hear people saying these things in churches. I tried to go to church but as I was leaving, Satan shows up and slashes my tires, because, you know He’s stopping the word of God. And maybe they got a flat tire. Was that Satan blocking the way? I don’t think so. But look at what was happening here. You see churches of genuine believers in God, and these people are being persecuted by power hungry religious members of synagogue, even clergy who are saying that they are the ones who are doing God’s work, and they are running people out of town with violence. Not just violence and rioting, but doing that in the name of God! you see the same thing happening in Jerusalem, and those people saw the Son of God himself and rejected him. If Paul is trying to free the Gentiles from the slavery of their sin, and preaching the Law and the completion of the Law, reasoning from Scripture that Jesus was the messiah, and he was planting churches, ironing out misunderstandings of doctrine, and establishing the consistent theology we all read today in the epistles.. He was doing all of this, inspired by God, then any efforts to block Paul’s path could be attributed to Satan, especially if the motivation to block Paul was human centered self preservation at the expense of Salvation of many!
19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? 20 Indeed, you are our glory and joy.
Verse 19-20 kind of establish that Paul sees churches and believers and changed hearts as his treasure and his joy and crown. He plans to Glory in the presence of God, which is promised, and the only way to make that any better ? Some people talk about mansions in heaven versus rooms. But look what’s the way to increase Glory in Jesus’s presence when he comes? Is it not you? Being in the presence of God is as amazing as you could imagine, there is no more or less of God’s presence. It’s not like I get 25% of God, but someone else gets 90% of His presence. What makes God’s presence even better is sharing it with those you love, experiencing 100% of God with as many loved ones as you can. To Paul and Silas and Timothy, that church was their joy and crown, they had a hope in the promise that whether or not they were able to return to the church like they wanted to, they would be reunited in the presence of God.