Thessalonians, Part 3

Well, today we're going to continue with our Bible studies. We try and do a Bible study once a month. It hasn't really been once a month, but it's because of the feast and all that. It's been a little longer. But today I want to continue with first Thessalonians Bible study. And what I want to do is I want to give a very, very brief overview of the background of what we covered, and then show you how Paul, amongst other things in the first portion of first Thessalonians, is actually trying to encourage the brethren, and show you how he brought different lessons about encouragement to the brethren in Thessalonika. So we first saw in our series of Bible studies, our soul, who then became Paul, was a devout Pharisee, and he persecuted Christians. And we saw, as you can in fact even read in Galatians 1, 13 and 14, we're not going to go there, but we saw how Judaism is not Christianity. Judaism is different because Paul says when he followed Judaism, he persecuted Christians. So, and in fact, he killed Christians. So Judaism is not Christianity. So it's an important point for us to keep in mind. I'll touch a bit on that a little later. But he then was converted. Then he had his mission groups. The first missionary trip where he was basically visiting areas of southern Turkey. And then in the second trip, you started in that area, but through God's Spirit, he was inspired to go into Macedonia and Greece. And he then traveled through Thessalonika, and he taught there on the Sabbath. And let's just see what he did there, just as a brief review there on Acts 17. Acts the 17th chapter, when he was in Thessalonika, Acts 17.

We're going to read verse 1 through 4. And he says, now when they had passed through Antipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonika where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And then Paul, as his custom was, went into them and for three Sabbaths, reasoned with them from the Scriptures. So Paul's custom was to keep the Sabbath, and there he was, reasoned with them from the Scriptures. And now watch what he says here in verse 3, explaining and demonstrating three things, just note carefully the three things that Paul emphasized. One, that the Christ had to suffer. You know, it was that the Messiah had to suffer. That the basic summarizing what Paul was going around into three simple bullets is the first one, is that the Messiah had to suffer. Why? Because the Jews thought the Messiah was coming to rule and change the nation and liberate them from Roman rule. So that was their narrow view of the Messiah that he was coming to do. And you and I know the Messiah, Jesus Christ when he comes, who is going to come, the Second Coming, is going to be a lot more than just saving the Jewish nation. He's going to save the whole world, mankind. So he was emphasizing the Messiah first had to suffer. Now why? Why? So that nobody can say, well, the Messiah is coming out, he thinks he's important, he's the new leader, whatever, and you haven't gone through the pain and suffering that we've gone through. Imagine, like, for instance, now you hear today of problems, for instance, in Greece. There's George, Papa, Triokos, whatever his name is, exactly sorry, please forgive me. But, you know, he is now having problems with his government and people say, well, he just wants to be the boss and wants to be the ruler. And they are problems there in Greece. I don't want to go into that. But imagine if God had sent his son Christ just to rule without suffering. People could turn around.

A lot of accusations saying, well, you haven't gone through. You don't know what it is to be a human being. You don't understand these things. And so God in his wisdom made sure that the Messiah had to suffer first and suffer not only for that reason, but to pay for our sins and for our lives and to die to pay with his own blood. And therefore, he had to rise, second point, and to rise again from the dead. That was the thing he showed. He had to rise. So he had to suffer not only to prove that and to lead and to show that he had suffered, but to pay back, to redeem, to buy us back. And then he had to rise again to be resurrected. And therefore, opened the way for us to have eternal life. And then thirdly, saying, this Jesus, whom I preach, is the Messiah. This human being, the Son of Man, called Jesus, is the actual Messiah, the Divine Being that came from God, the verb that was God and came to live on earth. So he is the one.

So those are the three things that basically he was teaching. And some of them, verse 4, were persuaded and a great multitude of the devout Greeks. So some of the Jews were persuaded, but the bulk of the church that was being shaped there under God's inspiration was the devout Greeks. The devout Greeks means Greeks that knew about the Sabbath, that were, they were not Jews, in other words, they had not been circumcised, they had not gone through that process, but they were devout, they were coming to the synagogue and they were learning, they were devout, they were dedicated. And this is a great number of them. This is a great multitude, and not a few of the leading women who joined Paul and Cyrus. So that shows the beginning of the church in Thessalonica, which basically the bulk of them were Greeks, were Gentiles, put it this way, were not Jews, they were God-fearing people, they were devout, they were dedicated to God's principles, but they were not full Jewish. In other words, they had not been circumcised, they had not gone through the ceremonial laws of the Jewish people. So that was the church that was basically being formed, and it was there for a few weeks, about three weeks, and then the Jews got jealous, as if you go on reading, the Jews got jealous because they saw most of the Greeks following this, and they got jealous because salvation was now being offered not only to the Jews, but to Gentiles. So they were jealous. And so it became a whole issue, and they said, you're turning the whole world upside down, as you can read in verse 6. And then the whole thing became to such a point that they had to leave the area, they had to leave. And so it created a very stressful situation, to put it in today's terms, a very stressful situation there.

In the way it says in the Bible, it's they had sufferings and trials and sufferings, but if you convert it into today's terminology, it was a stressful situation to live in that community.

It was very stressful. So in this verse, Yah in Acts 17, it gives a lot of meaning, Yah, about the background. And so basically, we can see from Yah, and indeed keep this in mind, this was really the problem that was developed in the New Testament Church.

I mean, you can look at it into many details, but if you narrow it down to really simple notes and bolts, there were two main issues that developed in the New Testament Church. Very simple.

One was the Jews saying, they're going to be more Jewish. They're going to be they're going to be circumcised. They're going to have the ceremonial laws, etc. So the Jews were saying, the people got to be more Jewish. They're going to be doing more things which were related to the ceremonial laws and things like that. They were justified by the ceremonial law and things of that kind. And in which Paul was saying, no, we're justified freely by Christ. The ceremonial law only pointed to Christ, only was there to point to the reality which is Christ. So it was not the killing of bulls and goats and whatever, but it was pointing to the real sacrifice, which is Christ. So one issue was the New Testament Christians were being pushed by the very strict Judaism approach, saying you should do more than just that. So there was this on one side, there was this sphere of influence, the Jewish sphere of influence, pulling it to this side.

And Paul, in a lot of his letters, particularly Galatians, spends a lot of time addressing that issue. The other issue that the New Testament Church had, the other side of the equation, was that these people were Gentiles. And because they were Gentiles, they had a number of traditions that came from the world, and they were affected by the world around them. What was the world around them? Well, the world around them was the Roman world, but the Roman world was basically one that propagated the Greek philosophies, the Hellenistic philosophies, and the particularly being in a Greek area. That was very predominant. So those Greek philosophies were very strong, and therefore you had ideas from different people like Orpheus, five, six centuries before, and then Pythagoras, and then the one that basically propagated those ideas, those Greek ideas, mostly was Plato, and basic ideas of Heaven and Hell, and all those other things.

But those Greek ideas were propagated by the Roman Empire. So the Roman Empire was not the thinking ideas of the Greeks. The Greeks were the thinkers, the philosophers. The Roman Empire were the boulders, the building of bridges, the engineers they had, and they propagated an empire based on a rule of capabilities through engineering and that sort of side. But they brought ideas from the Greeks. And so the New Testament Church had basically two issues.

One issue was the Jewish people fully to go become more Jewish. And they had another issue because they grew. A lot of people that you can read in the New Testament, the church was growing by leaps and bounds, and a lot of people were coming in, particularly in the area that Paul was going and preaching because it was to the Gentiles. There were many Gentiles coming in, and think about it. Paul would go there and preach, and he would appoint leaders over them, leaders, people that looked good leaders, etc. And then he would leave, and they would not see him for years, for years. So there was this church growing with many Gentiles, many people growing, and what was happening? He would then walk away, and sometimes for years you wouldn't see them, or they would send a letter, or you'd send other people around, but they'd say, who are you? You're coming here, we don't know who you are, etc. And so these philosophies, these thinking, these philosophies of the world were spreading quite quickly.

And so the world in the New Testament had two basic issues to deal with. The Christian world, the true Christian church, had two basic issues to deal with. As are the Jewish saying, pull more to this self-righteous deeds of the law, that we've got to do some of these things to be more self-righteous, or the world, the ideas of the world, the rudiments of the world. As Paul talks in Galatians, the rudiments of the world, and those things that was affecting them. So it was a very difficult situation for the church. The interesting thing, brethren, is that today we have in the church exactly the same situation. Think about it. If we are in God's church today, what do we have? We have a tremendous influence from the world with its, let's call it, Roman Christianity. Because Christianity got adapted or modified by the Romans. So let's call it Roman Christianity, which is really what we have. A Roman Christianity, which basically came from those ideas from the Greeks, and which basically originally came from Babylon. Babylon the Great. That's what it is. So we've got this Roman Christianity around us pulling the whole world around us. So we as Christians have the same problem. On the other side, if you are in God's church, there will always be some people pulling about certain little things, additional things, that we need to put into the law and things like that. That you find Judaism creeping in and trying to push in further to that side. Exactly the same thing we have in the church today. So going through the epistles, the way God wrote it, is so wise, God is so wise, that what it applied then is applicable to us today, even though we are nearly 2,000 years down the road. It is so applicable today. So that was a little deviation to give you a little background how Paul was in Thessalonika, what sort of issues they had, and he then left Thessalonika.

And then because he saw the growth there, he was a bit concerned about them. He sent Timothy to see how they're doing. And then a little later, Timothy came back and Timothy gave him a report of how the brethren in Thessalonika were doing under their existing stressful situations. Or as Paul puts it, under their afflictions and their trials, which basically is a very stressful situation in modern ways. And so because Timothy gave Paul a good encouraging report, Paul then writes to them in Thessalonika, the first layer of Thessalonians, encouraging them of how pleased he is, how they bring an example to the world. And that's what we're going to see in a moment, reading certain parts of Thessalonians. So he encourages them. And then he uses the opportunity to, at the beginning of the letter, to slot in a few areas of gentle correction. And then later on, he highlights those areas of correction. So that's what we see in the letter of Thessalonians. A lot of encouragement in the first beginning and concluding with certain areas of correction, which we've seen as he goes on through the letter. And then he concludes with that gentle correction.

So let's go then to First Thessalonians. First Thessalonians. And the last time, we got to verse 5. So we did not get too far. We got to verse 5.

So in this introduction, he basically thanks them for their faith, their love, and their hope in Jesus Christ's return, within the understanding of the great calling they have. And it's the same thing we can say today to the brethren, to God's church, to God's people. We are grateful for their faith, the hope that people are shown, very applicable today's age, within understanding that Jesus is coming, Christ is coming, and that's our hope. And that's what keeps us going.

And then continue in verse 5, where we stopped, he says, For our gospel, and obviously it was not Paul's gospel, it was God's gospel.

But he says, Our gospel do not come to you in word only, but also in power. It was the power of God.

First Thessalonians 1 verse 5, it says, Do not come to you, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, in much confidence, the way Paul was speaking to them. This happened, and this happened, giving them assurance that this was true. Now, the power, it really is the power of God when we look at it, and it says, In power, what power is it? It's the power of God. Now, what is the power of God? Now, obviously it's through the Holy Spirit, but think about what the power of God is. The power of God is creating the whole universe. So, did God give us the power of creation of that level? No. But what He's given us through the Holy Spirit is given us the power to do what? To change ourselves. That's power. It's the power of God to change ourselves. He has not given us the power to change anybody else, or to create anything else, but He's given us the power through the Holy Spirit to change ourselves. That's what He's given us. And that means, basically, He's given us the power to overcome. And I know, at times, it's difficult, but we do have that power to overcome. And we have to go to God and ask Him for strength and help. As we heard in the sermon, we've got situations and we see how we can help other people. Well, likewise, we look at situations and we look at ourselves and say, whoop, I've got to overcome in this area. I've got to overcome in that area. And God's given us the Holy Spirit to overcome.

And the Holy Spirit goes into our mind. It's a seed that goes into our mind and works with our brain. And it helps us to change our way of understanding and seeing things and therefore to overcome. And then it continues there.

As you know, what kind of man we were among you for your sake. In other words, in Matthew's students, as you know, what kind of example we went to you. We were a Godly example of people.

We behaved ourselves. And that confirmed, that gave you further assurance that what we are saying is true. You've seen our example of what sort of people we are. We labored amongst you. We went not around asking for money. Paul was there, as you'll see elsewhere, he was there working and serving them, working with his hands as a tent maker and each other. And example, he worked day and night and then he preached on the Sabbath, on the synagogue. So we can see it was a good example. And it continues there in verse 6. And you became followers of us and of the Lord.

You became followers of Paul and of Silvanus, Silas and Timothy. You became followers of us and of the Lord and of Christ. So, breathe in the eyes and example that it's not wrong to follow a man. Now, quite often we say, well, we mustn't follow a man, which is true. We must not follow a man, provided he is following Christ, it is okay to follow a man. You follow a man when he or she is following Christ. Paul says, imitate me as I imitate Christ. And it is good to have examples, because an example shows us how to behave, how to conduct, how to go ahead. And it says on, go on, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit. In other words, there was a stressful situation there in Thessaloniki, as we went through. And you can go through Acts 17 and read a bit more in your own time. And you can see there was a stressful situation there.

And but they, through that affliction, through that controversy and arguments and people pushing together different ideas and thoughts, they saw that Paul was a good example, and Sylvanas and Timothy, and they received that with joy. They received that hope, that hope, that knowledge. Again, those three points that Paul emphasized. One, he emphasized that Christ had to suffer. He emphasized that he had to be resurrected. And he emphasized that Jesus was indeed the Christ. So they received that with joy, because it was the hope of the resurrection, the hope that the Gentiles would also have salvation, not just to the Jews, but it was to the Gentiles. So that was very exciting to them. That was great joy. Verse 7, So that you became examples to all. In other words, they followed the example of Paul, and they, the Thessalonians, now became an example to others. Like a chain, like one effect, the other one, and they became an example. And the other, the word, very much implies like a mold. You know, think about of a mold. You know, I don't know if you've ever taken a mold and put some plasticine or something, and then put the plasticine with the mold, and you open up the mold, and the thing takes the shape of that mold. So it's an example, like a mold, like a replica, making a replica.

So we, we, to be a replica of Christ, we are to be molded in the stature and the image of Christ. That's what, and those people are, we're following that example, example of Paul, which was an example of Christ. So they, a replica copying one after another to be like Christ.

So it goes on here. Examples to old in Macedonia and Achaia, who believe. So there are examples, not only in that area, but because Thessalonika was a town, which is, think about it like maybe New York City or something like that. It's kind of a city in the middle, like a hub, of people coming in and out. They, they affected other areas because it was like a business hub, and people come in and out, so they, they had in fact to other people, an example to others. And likewise, it's our case, we also, in our jobs where we are, we are an example. Whatever we do, people, watchers, seers, we behave differently, and we are being an example, example to others. So it goes on speaking. Verse 8, For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. In other words, from you the word of God, that is through your example, the word of God has sounded forth. That's kind of an expression like a trumpet, like you blow a trumpet, and the sound is forth. Not that they were standing in the streets and preaching, because it says they were being an example, practicing a Christian way of life, being an example, and the effect of that was like blowing a trumpet, sounding forth, being an example. So they were being an example, the way that the word of God was being preached through their practice, through the way they were living, a living example, by their life, by their acts of faith. Then it continues, but also in every place, your faith toward God has gone out. Your faith, that means the way you acted, because you acted in faith. Always, whenever you see the wording in the Bible about believing in faith, remember there's actions behind it, because your faith is only evident by works, by actions, by deeds. So your faith towards God was gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. In other words, we don't have to say anything else, because your example speaks for itself. That's really what you're saying. Your example speaks for itself. Verse 9, For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we add to you. In other words, your example, in a way, other people are talking about you, are giving us information what sort of example we have to you, and how that is causing you to change, and that is a feedback. In today's words, we'd say, well, we're getting feedback from those people that the way you're doing it, we gave you a good example, and it's and it's kind of we're getting that feedback, encouraging feedback.

And you and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and through God. Now remember, they were living in a society that had a lot of idolatry, a lot of idols, and those were basically, think about the word idols, it's like dead gods. They were gods and we're dead. And he says, they turned you to God from dead gods to serve the living and through God.

So it's comparing these are dead, and God is the living and true God. So turn you from something that was dead to some to true God, which is living. So what do we have here as Gentiles? Gentiles, Greek Gentiles, they're being noticed by the way they living. And the way they living was so noticeable, that it was like the blowing of a trumpet. And that people were talking about it.

These people have changed because it says it sounded false. In other words, they did example sounded false, it's like the blowing of a trumpet. So it was so noticeable that people were talking about. And it was the example was so, so, so much of a light, so much of noticeable, so noticeable, that people were talking about and how they had turned. In other words, there was fruits of repentance. Really, in other words, there were fruits of repentance, because they were following idols previously.

And now they were following the true God fruits of repentance. That's, that's, and so we can see how Paul through these words is encouraging them is giving them encouragement says, Hey, I am encouraged. I'm encouraged. And that encourages you to that we are seeing the fruits of your repentance. So he was encouraging them, we can see that. And it says to serve the true God and to wait for his son from heaven.

And he says to wait. Now, there's two things. Yeah, first, first I wanted to mention is to serve the living God. Serve is an act of service. That's the thing that the church has been emphasizing lately, that we need to serve like Christ serves. Christ serves today. Yes, Christ is serving us today as a high priest. He's a high priest. And when you and I go on our prayers to God and say, God, please forgive us, what is our high priest does?

He's in heaven taking our prayers to God and saying, please forgive so and so because this, that and that. So he's serving us in a different way. He's not serving tables and things like that. His service is at a different level, but he's still serving mankind. So we need to be serving each one with our own capacity.

And so the point here, the word serve is dulus, which is the word like serving at the table, serving that way. But in verse 10, he's pointing to the hope. And their hope is how hope? It's what gives us courage. It's what is what keeps us going. And what is that hope? Is Jesus Christ's coming, second coming. And at that time, we'll be resurrected. We will have a spirit body. We'll be made spirit beings. We will then be part of it. We will enter into the kingdom of God. That is what gives us hope to get going.

That's kind of our motivation. And therefore, he was encouraging them and motivating them to keep going, to keep striving, to keep overcoming through this stressful situation that they were in. They said, keep going, keep going, because we've got to wait for Jesus Christ, which you come from heaven, whom God raised, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us, who delivered us from the wrath to come.

He will deliver us from the wrath to come. There is going to be a wrath to come in the world, but he delivers us. Now, understand that at that time when he wrote this, John had not written yet the book of Revelation. So they didn't quite know yet some of the things that we now know from the book of Revelation that he ought to come.

But they knew there would be a judgment and there will be a wrath of God to come on the world. So that they knew. The other interesting thing here as we come at the end of this chapter is that at the end of every chapter in Thessalonians, at the end of every chapter, or put it this way, throughout the letter to the Thessalonians, he points to the coming of Christ throughout the letter.

The way they divide the chapters obviously is at the end of every chapter. But that's why I say throughout the letter, he brings it back to this, let's call it to this hook, to emphasize that the coming of Christ is what we need to be looking for. So that's what he kept emphasizing and kept reminding them, the coming of Christ. So let's go then on to the second chapter.

And think that there were no chapters when Paul wrote this, obviously. So it's just a continuity of the same thought of encouragement. And then he goes on, opened up, and then the jailer got all worried. So you can go and read that in Acts 16. So before they went to Thessalonica, they were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, and we were bawled in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict. But in that very stressful situation, we still came to you and we gave you the gospel of God. Now, what is the gospel of God?

Well, it's the gospel that Jesus Christ proclaimed. And it's the gospel of the kingdom of God, as we know. Now let's just briefly keep your finger there, just go into Mark chapter 1.

Mark chapter 1. Just briefly show what it is. It's Mark chapter 1.

Mark chapter 1, verse 1, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. So, God the Father sent the verb, the word, to speak. He came to earth, and then Jesus Christ, being the word, he then preached the same gospel, the gospel, the good news. And it was now then the good news of Jesus Christ. But what was this gospel of Christ?

Look in verse 14. In verse 14 it says, now after John was put in prison, that's John the Baptist, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. The gospel of Christ, which is what Paul said our gospel, a little earlier on when we read, you know, our gospel, you know, it was basically the gospel of Paul, was the message that he was saying, which was the same message that Jesus Christ was saying, which was the gospel that came from God, the gospel of God, which is the gospel of the kingdom of God. And it was the good news of the kingdom of God, that the kingdom of God is going to come to earth and roll on earth and bring peace to earth. That's why in the so-called Lord's Prayer says, you know, let thy kingdom come. That's why we pray. God's kingdom to come so that there would be peace on earth and that's what so that God's will be done on earth as it is done on heaven. That's the model prayer and that's what he's emphasizing the kingdom of God. In verse 15, going on, Mach 1 verse 15, and it says, and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God is at hand. It's going to come. It's going to soon come. In fact, the kingdom of the kingdom of God was right there, which was Christ's or was at hand. Repent. We're going to change and we're going to believe in the gospel. Which gospel? The gospel of the kingdom of God, which is the good news. So that was the gospel of God that is referring in Thessalonians. So going back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, at the end of verse 2, 1 Thessalonians 2, 2. And in this case, we were involved in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict, in much stress. So that's the same gospel. It's only one gospel. It's the gospel of the kingdom of God. That's the gospel that Jesus Christ taught. And then continuing verse 3, for our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanliness. Now, this is very interesting.

Our exhortation, there was our instruction, exhortation, encouragement for you to believe and to believe in this message that we gave you. And remember, Paul gave a message about those three things. Remember those three things? About that Jesus had to suffer, that he had to raise, and that Jesus was the Messiah. So those are the three things. So because that put the meaning of the whole hope of the kingdom of God in its proper context. So he goes on, our exhortation did not come to you, and I mentioned two things, from error or uncleanliness.

Error. What is error? It's when you deviate from the truth that is error.

And people have deviated from the truth time and time again. So I didn't come to you with error, with deviation from the truth. It was basically sticking to the trunk of the tree. That was the first thing. It didn't come to you with any error, sticking to the trunk of the tree. Trunk of the tree was the Messiah, who's Christ, he's coming, and keep God's laws, and look at God's kingdom. That's the gospel of God. No error there. And secondly, no uncleanliness. Now what is uncleanliness? Uncleanliness is an impure way of life. Think about it. Walking around with people of bad reputation, having a bad conduct. He had a good conduct, a good example. And if you look at these two areas, error or uncleanliness, it's actually the two areas where people basically end up leaving the church. It's either they deviate from the truth, which is doctrine, or uncleanliness, which is basically saying, well, people are not behaving correctly, or they're not treating me correctly, or it's people-related issues. Those are the two basic things that lead people out of the church. Either deviating from doctrine, or something dealing with people, uncleanliness, the way people are. So it's interesting that Yevgenia emphasizes those two points.

So our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanliness, nor were we deceitful in any way. We were genuine. I mean, we were ourselves. We were genuine. What we taught you is ourselves, the handling of God's Word, where there's no deceit, there was no falsifying, there were no false weights, there was no watering the wine into water, put it to slavery. There was no deceit. It was bread is bread, and water is water. It clears its striped bedset, that there was no deceit.

Let's go on with this. But as we have been approved by God, we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, so not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. Now this is an interesting verse, because at the beginning of this verse says, we have been approved by God. And at the end of the verse says, who tests our hearts?

Now it's interesting in English, it's two different words, so that might not be confusing to us, but in Greek it's the same word. The word approved and the word tests in Greek is the same word.

Dr. Mazzo doesn't matter what the word is, but anyway it's the same word, which basically says, we have been tested by God because God is the one who tests our hearts.

So it's a point here of saying that there is a step of being tested, of examination, of proving, of scrutinizing, to determine whether one is genuine or not, testing the hearts. And then, once it reaches a certain stage of testing, then it's recognizing that through that testing it actually is genuine. It is approved. So it says, but we, as we have been approved by God, so who is we? It's the ministry. It says, the ministry, we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, you know, was preaching the good news, even so to speak, not as pleasing man. We're not doing it to please man. And Paul was not doing to please man. I mean, he gave his own life in suffering and beatings like no other one, but pleasing God. But God, he was there to please God, who tests our hearts. So he had been approved, but he still continuously being approved. And this brings a point that the ministry, the ministry is not, is not something that somebody says, well, I want to be a minister and be appointed a minister, and I want to take that as a profession. Like you want to become an accountant and say, well, I'm going to choose, I'm going to go to college and I'm going to be accountant. No, it's, it's a calling. It's a calling because it says we've been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. So they, Paul was called by God to do that job. And we know very well that Paul was called.

We know how Paul was in the road to Damascus, and he was called to actually says, I want you to do a job. Well, let's look at that. Hex nine, hex nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, enth suits, but the Lord said to him, go, for he's a chosen vessel of mine, to bear my name before the Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel. So, Yah is Ananias being sent to go to Saul, and God inspired Ananias to go to him and say, and saying, look, I have chosen to be, I've chosen Paul, or Saul at that time, to bear my name before the Gentiles. So Saul had been chosen. He was called. He had a specific responsibility. Paul also says that in 1 Timothy. So if you go to Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 12, 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12, he says, 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12, 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12, he says, I thank Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Christ put Paul into the ministry.

You can also read other scriptures that, for instance, where you talk about the Melchizedek and the high priest, and it says in Hebrews 5, it says that Jesus Christ was like Aaron, had been called to the priesthood. Jesus Christ is a priest after Melchizedek was called for their duty. So there are different scriptures about that, but let's go back to Thessalonians, where we were.

Paul was not pleasing man. He was there to please God, and he had been called by God to do that job.

So that's what he sang there in verse 4. And now, I mean, he encouraged them, but now he's saying, look, look at my conduct, my example. You have been a good example, but look at my example, my conduct as well, because he wants to get onto certain things, certain things in future in the later. So because of that, he wants to put the frame into a position that says, listen to what I'm saying, because I care for you, and I'm doing it for your own good, just as like a father cares for the children, like a mother cares for the children.

So you can see, I'm encouraged with what you're doing, and I'm encouraged by your example. And also, look at my example, I'm not doing it to please you, I'm doing it because God has called me to please God. But just like I care for you, like a father cares for children, I want to address a few things of correction, of guidance. So he's weaving it, you can see how he's weaving that concept of correcting them into his letter by showing how his example is genuine, and he's a genuine apostle. So he goes on here in verse five, and he says, for neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness. God is witness. In other words, there's been no flattery, no words of saying, oh well, you're so nice, and this and that, no kind of flattering words to please men. And there was no cloak of covetousness. And it was, he didn't do it for the money. He wasn't there for the money. He didn't ask them for any money. He worked, and if you, as he's going to mention a little later on in verse nine, so we'll get to it, that he worked. But he says, I wasn't doing it for the money. And God is a witness. God knows. I mean, God is listening to what I'm saying. God is listening to what I'm writing, and that's a fact. Verse six. Nor did we seek glory from men, neither from you or from others, when we might have demands as apostles of Christ. In other words, we didn't seek glory, we didn't seek position of saying, yeah, listen to me and things like that, which I could have demanded as an apostle of Christ. Christ called me, I'm an apostle. I could have demanded that, but I did not use that authority. I'm not using the authority in any way in that way. So he is, as you can see, is weaving in into a position of bringing some gentle correction. And Yahya is in verse seven. But we were gentle among you just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. Just like a mother cares for the children, when, particularly the little children, I think that's the analogy, cherries a mother cherries children. And a mother always cherries children. You just hear mothers talking about their children. There's some things special about the way mothers care, the way mothers sense things about the children. I mean, just last night we were talking about something about one of our children. And Kathy was saying, yeah, I sense something yah-o-t-h-e-o-d. And without knowing and being far away, she sensed certain things as a mother. She's got that special extra perception that senses certain things and cherishes the children. So that's it. And Paul's saying, amongst you we're gentle like a nursing mother. And this is particularly a little baby. She's really very careful how a mother cares for a tiny little baby. And verse eight, 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 also became dear to us. And so affectionately we, to you, I mean, just like a loving mother, we're so affectionate to you that we are ready to serve, obviously, the gospel, but our own lives. We're prepared to give our lives. We're prepared to be beaten and to be spoken bad of, etc. We're prepared to give of our time and our lives to you.

Verse nine, for you remember brethren, our labor and toil.

For you remember brethren, you know, it brings the point that he actually was working there. He was, they were working. They were not just living out of the tides, etc. They were working. For labor in night and day, there might not be a burden to any of you. We preach to you the gospel of God. So even though they were working during the week, they were preaching during the weekend. Now, that is not the case in every church area that Paul went to. In other church areas, he said, look, I'm Yah serving and I'm dedicating my time and I give thanks to other church area that is sponsoring us. That is, but in this specific instance, he was working at that specific time.

All right. First verse, by the way, he also says, he says, our labor and toil. So it's not just him.

Basically, he's talking about Silas or Sylvanas and Timothy, that they were all together and they were busy earning and working as well. Verse 10.

You are witnesses and God also how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behave ourselves among you who believe. You can see that we practiced what we preached. We were genuine. We were good examples and and and we did everything in the correct way. Then he continues in verse 11. As you know, how we are sorted and comforted and charged.

Every one of you as a father does his own children. And here are three things that a father does, basically. He says, exhorted, comforted and charged. There are three actions of a dad.

Because a dad does this to his own children. So he's actually giving an example of a mother and then he's now giving an example of a father as well. Because both a father and a mother together raise up the children and showing that as the care of the church, basically as a father and as a mother, the church is basically the mother of us all. And Jesus Christ is the head, basically the husband in this relationship. Think of it that way. And therefore, there is both a father and a mother. Both have that capability of looking over the church. So he's bringing those. But yeah, as a father, he's bringing three actions. One is exhorting. The word exhorting there from the Greek means that one to call to one side, to speak, to admonish, to exhort, to beg, to entreat, to beseech, to instruct. In other words, the Holy Spirit is our exhorter and is basically teaching us, instructing us, educating us at our side, at our side. And as a father, that's what we do our children. We teach, we educate them next to them, we encourage them, we instruct them. That's the job of our father, of exhorting the children. Then secondly, we comfort them. And this basically, it's speaking to calm, to console when there are challenges and difficult to calm a person down, to console, to comfort. So we exhort it and we comfort it. And thirdly, we charged every one of you. And that is basically, the Greek word there means to be a witness, to bear witness, to give a testimony. In other words, Paul instructed them by teaching them, by comforting them and giving them a charge to do like he did as an example, by bearing an example. That's what a father does to the children. He encourages them, he teaches them, he comforts them, and he charges them to do just like that does. That's the example there. And this is what he did. And there's a very nice scripture about this as well, similar in 3 John 1 verse 4. 3 John 1 verse 4.

3 John 1 verse 4. The third letter of John chapter 1 verse 4 says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children will be the truth.

And indeed, for a father, and for a parent, and for a mother as well, there's no greater joy to see the children doing the right thing. It is a joy to the parents to see that they're trying to follow that example and to practice and to emulate that. And so he says, there's no greater joy than to hear that my children, and he's talking about spiritually speaking, my children, walk in truth. So that's, again, that sort of encouragement that Paul is saying, and he's saying, look, as a, as a, as me as an apostle of Christ, I gave you a good example. I practiced it. I exhorted you. I comforted you. And I gave you a good example. As a father does his own children, that you walk worthy of God who calls you into his kingdom and glory. So that you practice it, that you walk, that you live the right way. That's, that's what the outcome that I want from it. I don't want anything for myself. It's for you so that you may walk worthy of the calling that God has given us. And he says, he calls you into his kingdom, into his kingdom. In other words, to enter into the kingdom. It's something that we've got to enter, enter into the kingdom of God. So the joy for us to enter into the kingdom and into his glory, into the glory that is part of that, that kingdom. So, so that's very encouraging there. There are other scriptures that, that it says, we are called to glory. Turn, for instance, keep your finger there, but let's look at it first, Peter, first Peter, first Peter chapter 5, first Peter chapter 5 verse 10.

First Peter chapter 5 verse 10. But may the God of all grace, who called us to his eternal glory, God has called us to his kingdom and to his glory. God has called us to his eternal glory by Jesus Christ. In other words, through Christ, after you've suffered for a while. And that is the bad news, maybe. We've got to suffer, too. Just like Christ had to suffer first, we like him to have to suffer first as well.

If you just turn one or two pages back, well, well, before, let's just finish reading that verse this. After you've suffered a while, he's called you perfect, established, strengthened, and settled you. So that's that emotional stability that we have to have at the end of that, through suffering. That's the end result. But just turn one or two pages back in first Peter chapter 2 verse 21.

First Peter chapter 2 verse 21. This is probably a scripture that we haven't thought of it that way.

First Peter chapter 2 verse 21. For this you were called.

Now, what were we called for? What was the reason why we're called?

It says, yeah, for this you were called. Why? Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving as an example that you should follow his steps.

We have to follow Christ's steps. What steps are those? Suffering.

And quite often we go into the church and sometimes we think, well, there's so many problems and difficulties that we've got to go through.

And it says, for this you were called.

To suffer like Christ. But after suffering, to get the glory. You can read that in Romans as well elsewhere. That it says, we'll get his glory after we suffer. If we suffer like he did.

So let's go back to verse 12 on 1st Thessalonians chapter 2.

1st Thessalonians chapter 2.

It says, yeah, that you should walk worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. We are called into the kingdom of God and we called into God's glory. To share that glory. Now, obviously, we'll be a lot less glorious than God the Father. A lot less glorious than Jesus Christ. Even Christ said, my father is far greater than what I am. And we'll be a lot less, of course. But it is that family, that type of glory, that type of glory, that of that seed, of that gene. Let's call it the seed, which is the Holy Spirit. So we can see that we are to walk worthy of God of that calling.

And that's why Paul said he exhorted us, he confronts us, he charges us to his examples, to walk worthy of that calling. And for this reason, verse 13, we also thank God without seizing, because when God receives, because when you receive the Word of God, which you heard from us, you welcomed it. Not as the Word of man, but as it is in truth, the Word of God. In other words, you welcomed us, not because, oh well, I don't believe what he's saying. Well, that's his opinion.

I don't believe what Paul is saying, that's his opinion. Now, the people believed what Paul was saying. They didn't say, oh well, the minister is talking just, but I had his opinion. Now, he was giving God's Word, he's expounding God's Word, and they took it as God's Word, not as the Word of man, not as his opinion, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. So, the people took it, what he said, as God's Word, and that produced fruits in their lives, and those fruits were fruits of encouraging, of practicing, of living, of changing, because, as he saw, people are even talking about it, how you've changed. Look at Isaiah 55 verse 11. Isaiah 55 verse 11.

Isaiah 55 verse 11.

That's God speaking about his Word, and he says, So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please. It shall prosper in a thing for which I sent it. God's Word goes out. God's Word through us, through God's ministry, through the Church, through Paul, has gone out, and it's going to be fruit. It's going to be fruit. It's not going to come to God empty. It's going to be fruit, and it shall prosper in a thing that I sent it. What? There will be people over time. There will be in God's Kingdom, and those people in God's Kingdom will then take an example and will be leaders in the world tomorrow to bring other people, and to bring them ultimately, God's intent is that whole humanity will repent, ultimately, to be in his family. So there will be fruit. And look at some of those fruits in Psalm 19, Psalm 19, Psalm 19, verse 7 through 11. Psalm 19, verse 7 through 11. I'm just talking about, yeah, the law of the Lord is perfect. And what is the result of it? Psalm 19, verse 7, converting to soul, changing your life and my life. It says, To testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise is simple. There's nothing wrong with being simple, nothing wrong with being simple, but making as wise.

The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Eternal is pure, enlightening the eyes. In other words, we're able to see it, and people can see it.

The commandment of the Lord is pure, or read that, verse 9. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

So you can see the fruits of God's Word going out. More to be desired than gold, yes, more than fine gold, sweeter than honey and honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned, and in keeping them there is great reward. In keeping them there is great reward.

So you can see Paul was encouraging them. Paul then was bringing across how he was genuine, being a good example, and he was bringing towards the point of saying, what are we speaking to you is for your own good. What we're saying to you is for your own good, is to bear good results. And therefore, as the minister of God, we are not speaking our own opinion, but we're speaking God's words. And then he goes on to tell them a little bit more and getting to some corrective material, which I think in the next Bible study there will be something that I would like to go into. But for today it's sufficient to stop here.