1 Thessalonians 2 Chapter 1 describes the ideal church; chapter 2 provides a picture of the ideal pastor or Christian servant. Paul has told us how the Gospel came to Thessalonica; now he tells us how he ministered to the young believers. This is an outline of Pauls Follow-up Program, and it explains why most of his converts stayed true to the Lord and why his churches grew. He gives us four pictures of the ideal Christian worker. I. The Faithful Steward (2:1-6) What a tremendous privilege to be put in trust with the Gospel! (2:4) We often speak of the stewardship of material things, but we need also to remember that every believer is a steward of the Gospel and the Word of God. God gave the message to Paul (1 Tim. 1:11); Paul in turn committed it to Timothy (1 Tim. 6:20), and Timothy was expected to commit it to faithful people in the churches who would then commit it to others (2 Tim. 2:2). The main responsibility of a steward is to be faithful (1 Cor. 4:1-2); and it is on the basis of this faithfulness that we will be tested and rewarded when Christ comes. In order to be faithful to his or her stewardship, a believer must be willing to suffer. Paul and Silas had been treated shamefully in Philippi (Acts 16:19-24), and they could have made all kinds of excuses for taking a vacation. But they knew that God had entrusted them with the Gospel and that they had to carry the message to other cities. Instead of being fearful, they were bold to proclaim the Good News. The faithful steward must live to please God, not men (v. 4). It is tempting to compromise the message in order to win friends, but God cannot bless a steward whose message and ministry are not according to His divine pattern. In v. 3, Paul states that his message was not of deceit or error; that is, it was the true Word of God. His motive was pure, and not one of uncleanness; and his method was honest, not guileful (or baiting the hook as for catching fish). Verse 5 states that Paul did not resort to flattering people for personal gain. Paul always honored faithful workers and gave praise where it was due; but he did not stoop to flattery to win converts or influence followers. (See Gal. 6:10ff; John 8:29; Acts 4:18-21.) II. The Gentle Mother (2:7-8) It seems odd that the man Paul should compare himself to a nursing mother in v. 7. (Consider also 1 Cor. 4:14-15 where he states that as a spiritual parent he had begotten the Corinthian saints through the Gospel.) In 2:9-13, Paul uses the image of a father, but the main thought here is that of loving care. New Christians need love, food, and tender care, just as a mother would give to her own children. Newborn babes need the milk of the Word (1 Peter 2:2) and then must graduate to the meat (1 Cor. 3:1-4; Heb. 5:11-14), the bread (Matt. 4:4, and see Ex. 16, the manna), and the honey (Ps. 119:103). How a mother feeds her child is almost as important as what she feeds it. How important it is that we who are older Christians feed the younger believers lovingly and patiently. III. The Concerned Father (2:9-16) Note the fatherly ministry of Paul: he labored (v. 9a), he preached (v. 9b), behaved himself (v. 10), exhorted (v. 11), and suffered (v. 14). A father must watch over his family and make sacrifices for their welfare. Children are great imitators, and it is important that spiritual fathers and mothers live lives that are exemplary. Paul could have claimed his rights as an apostle and required the church to support him (2:6); but instead, he sacrificially labored with his own hands in order to minister to the church. Fathers do not make little children pay for the care that they receive. Paul was also careful to live a life that was holy (to God), just (to man), and blameless (to self). One of the duties of fathers is to exhort and educate their children, and this Paul did in Thessalonica. He provided individual and personal teaching (each one of you) as well as the public ministry to the church. Spiritual leaders dare not depend on their public ministry alone; their spiritual children need personal encouragement and counsel as well. Pauls threefold ministry as a father was to: (1) exhort or entreat; (2) comfort or encourage; and (3) charge or witness, testify. Paul not only taught them the Word, but he encouraged them from his own experiences in the Lord. The apostle rejoiced over the way his spiritual children received the Word of God. He knew that the Spirit of God would work in their lives if they received the Word and believed it. If we will tie together Phil. 2:12-13, Eph. 3:20-21, and 1 Thes. 2:13, we will see that God works in us through His Word, His Spirit, and prayer. Finally, Paul warned his spiritual family of the enemies who would persecute them. If Christians become followers of the Lord (1:6) and of the churches (2:14), then they can expect to be persecuted by Satan and his followers. IV. The Loving Brother (2:17-20) How Paul loved to call these saints brethren! He used the word twenty-one times in his two Thessalonian epistles. (Of course, this also included the sisters.) He saw himself as one of them, a part of the family. In v. 17 he says that he was orphaned from them for a short time, like a child away from home. He loved them, prayed for them, and greatly desired to see them again. After all, the test of our spiritual life is not what we do when we are in church with the family, but how we behave away from church. Paul was not the kind of church member who took a vacation from the house of God. As mentioned before, each chapter of this epistle ends with a reference to the return of Christ. In chapter 1, Christs return is related to salvation; here in chapter 2, it is related to service. Why was Paul able to minister faithfully and lovingly to these saints? Because he saw them in the light of Christs coming. He was looking forward to the glorious day when he would rejoice over them in the presence of Christ! Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him (Heb. 12:2); this joy is surely the joy of presenting the church to His Father (Jude 24). Paul endured all kinds of suffering for this same joy. Do we rejoice as we contemplate seeing Jesus one day?
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 00:05:24 +0000
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