04 How to Care About Souls More Than Success (1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13)

Krisan Marotta: Good morning and welcome to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. This is the fourth talk in my series on Paul's letters to the Thessalonians. Today we're going to cover 1 Thessalonians 2 verses 17 through chapter 3 verse 13. Lecture notes for today's talk are on the link below this podcast. You can also find those notes directly by going to wednesdayintheword.com slash Thessalonians 4. Thanks for joining me today. Just to review how we got here. The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church in Thessalonica. He had founded the church during his second missionary journey. He was only there a short time before violence and riots forced him to leave rather abruptly. It's now about nine months later or so, six to nine months. He hasn't seen the Thessalonians since, and he is concerned about how they're doing. He knows that they are facing the same hostility that drove him out of town, and he's worried about them. So he sends Timothy back to visit them to see how they're doing. Timothy has returned to Paul and given an update, and Paul writes this letter in response to that report. So Paul is encouraging them to continue in the faith. He knows they're facing persecution and pressure to give up their new faith, and he's writing to encourage them to remain steadfast, and then he's also going to answer a few questions they have. In this letter so far, we've seen three main points or three themes. First, their own response to the gospel is evidence of their genuine faith, and Paul is grateful for that response. He reminds them how their faith became well known and spread throughout the region, and he points to the changes in their own lives as evidence to the fact that they have genuinely believed. Second, Paul reminds them how he conducted himself during the time he was with them, how he was trustworthy. He reminds them how he acted with integrity and compassion when he was with them. He supported himself, he didn't ask for any money from them because he didn't want them to mistakenly believe that he was peddling the gospel for financial gain. He spoke boldly to them, telling them what they needed to hear at great personal risk to himself, and that what he told them was true, accurate, and honest because his motive is following God and not pleasing people, and that God confirmed Paul's message and Paul's authority through miraculous signs that he performed by the Holy Spirit. The third theme we saw is that as a church, they're facing the same kind of persecution that believers have faced throughout history, and their perseverance through that persecution is also evidence of their genuine response to the gospel. We're going to look at a rather large section today, but it's kind of all one point, and it unfolds in four different sections. In the first part, Paul is lamenting the fact that he can't be with the Thessalonians. In the second section, Paul says that because he missed them, he sent Timothy to find out how they were. And then in the third section, Paul describes his reaction when Timothy returned with good news. And finally, Paul closes with a prayer that God might make it possible for him to visit Thessalonica again. We'll look at each of those sections in turn. We'll start with two, seventeen through twenty. But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short while, in person, not in spirit, were all the more eager with great desire to see your face. For we wanted to come to you, I, Paul, more than once, and yet Satan hindered us. For who is our hope, our joy, our crown of exaltation? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? For you are our glory and joy. So as he expressed his gratitude for them in his opening prayer, Paul here again tells them how much he wants to come to see them and how their response to the gospel is a source of great joy for him. As we talked about in the last podcast, after his conversion, Paul dedicated his life to traveling throughout the known world and preaching the message about Jesus to a largely Gentile audience. He doesn't have a home, he doesn't have a permanent church. His life follows this pattern. He goes into a town and preaches first in the synagogue. Usually some people respond positively to his message, but many don't. They frequently beat him, harass him, or try to kill him. Then he preaches to the Gentiles, who typically respond in greater numbers, and he keeps preaching until he is so persecuted that he has to flee the area. Then Paul goes to the next town and starts the process again. Now clearly that kind of life had tremendous challenges and difficulties to it. But one of the joys for him must have been seeing faith take hold in the lives of those he's preaching to, and then watching them grow into stable, mature believers. His goal is to build faith among the people he teaches. The joy of seeing that response of faith must have been a big part of what motivated him to keep going. In 219 and 20, he describes the Thessalonian believers as his hope, joy, and crown of exaltation. The picture he's painting is that when the Lord returns and Paul is standing before him, what is Paul going to point to with satisfaction? He's going to point to all the people who are standing there with him because they heard Paul preach the gospel and believed it. Now, obviously, Paul's not their savior. God is the one who reached out to save them. But God did give Paul the opportunity to be the messenger of his gospel. They are going to hear the words of life from Paul's mouth. Now that's interesting to me. Think about that. What does Paul think his legacy is? People who come to faith. He doesn't want to stand before God and say, you know, I cured cancer, I brought about world peace, I ended racial strife, I brought clean water to a continent, nothing like that. Paul wrote Romans. Paul wrote most of the New Testament. If I wrote a book like Romans, I would certainly be tempted to make that the crowning legacy of my life. But that's not what Paul points to. Paul says, other people coming to faith, that's my great joy. That's my crown. That's the reward I love. When he stands before God on judgment day, his great joy will be to say, I faithfully proclaimed your gospel, and these people standing here with me are here because they heard and believed it. That's going to be the capping joy of his life. They're standing there in faith, waiting to enter the kingdom of God, right next to him, is going to be his glory and joy. They are evidence that he carried out the role God gave him. I find that striking because it suggests to me that we should invest a lot more time in people and in encouraging each other to follow the gospel. And it's easy to see why we don't invest more in people. You can't measure friendship. You can't count how much money you've made or quantify how much difference you've made in someone's life. You don't get a title, you don't get a little plaque or a trophy to hang on the wall. You don't get letters after your name. And no one invites you to be their keynote speaker. And yet, Paul says that's his crowning joy. That's the thing he most wants. He wants people standing there with him who came to faith when they heard him speak the gospel. On top of all that, investing in people isn't easy. It isn't impressive. The results may take years and years to make themselves obvious. You may plant seeds that won't grow for years, and then someone else reaps the harvest, and it's hard to see that you've done anything. And yet, Paul says the people he invested in with the gospel, those are his glory and joy. So that's something to think about. Let's go on to the next section. This is chapter 3, verses 1 through 4. You'll remember that Paul had to leave Thessalonica abruptly and he eagerly wants to return, but his plans were always hindered. As I read this section, notice that this is one of those places where it becomes clear that Paul is using the plural pronoun we to refer to himself. We just saw him do that in 218 when he says, For we wanted to come to you, I Paul, more than once. I think there he's clarifying for when we wanted to come to you, oh wait, that's confusing. By we, I mean I Paul. I wanted to come to you. It's confusing because Timothy already went back and visited you. So who's the we? Well, the we is me, Paul, and he's continuing using we as we go on, but I think he means himself. So this is three, one through four. Therefore, when we can endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother, and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions, for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. For indeed, when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction, and so it came to pass, as you know. Now, as we've talked about, very often in his letter, Paul uses we to mean himself, and this is one of those places. Sometimes he means he himself alone, sometimes he means we apostles, as opposed to Christians in general, sometimes he means we Jews, as opposed to Gentiles, and only rarely does he mean all believers. But here, when he says, when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind in Athens alone. Well, we can't be left alone, but Paul can be left alone. And as far as we can tell from the record, Paul was left behind in Athens alone. He's traveling with Silas and Timothy. Silas appears to have gone back to check on the Philippians, and Timothy went back to check on the Thessalonicans. Paul was a lightning rod for riots and beatings and persecutions, and it is his preaching that stirs up the trouble. So Paul stays behind so as not to bring further affliction on them by visiting them. He also may have needed time to recover his health and heal from all the beatings he took. But he reminds them in 3-3, for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. And again, I think that is Paul. Paul is the one who was called by the risen Christ and made an apostle. And in fact, at his calling, the Lord says he's going to show Paul how much he will have to suffer for the name of Jesus. Wherever Paul goes, Paul knows people are going to react hostily. They often beat him, jail him, and try to kill him. And he doesn't want to bring further affliction on the young Thessalonian church, so he sends Timothy to go check on them instead. Timothy is not as well known as Paul, and he can slip in, find out what's going on with the church, and then leave quietly. Paul, on the other hand, knows he's destined to suffer for the gospel. He knows his presence stirs up trouble. He warned them that this was going to happen. It would fall on him, and it did. He was driven out of town. But he really wants to know how they're doing, and so he sends Timothy back. Going on then in the next section, 3, 5 through 10. And notice how Paul's very naturally and easily kind of switches between first person singular and first person plural. But in context, you can see he's always talking about himself. For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor would be in vain. But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us good news of your faith and love, that you always think kindly of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you. For this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith, for now we really live if you stand firm in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account, as we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face and may complete what is lacking in your faith. So Paul has been anxious to visit them again, but he has been prevented from returning. He's concerned for them. Because he left so quickly, he's not sure if he laid a really good foundation. He knows they're facing the same persecutions and difficulties that drove him out of town, and he's worried about them. They need someone to encourage them to persevere in the faith and remind them what's true. So Paul himself couldn't go, but he was anxious to know how they were faring, so he sent Timothy to them. And Timothy has reported back with good news that they are doing great. Paul uses this really striking language in 3.8, for now we really live if you stand firm in the Lord. So again, it's the same theme we saw in the last section. Paul's job as an apostle is to go from town to town telling people about Jesus. In each town, he starts by preaching in the synagogue. When they kick him out, he preaches to the Gentiles and the Godfearers, and he usually stays until he provokes riots and protests, or he gets arrested and beaten. Then he goes to the next town and starts the process all over again. Whenever he leaves, he must be anxious about the new believers he's leaving behind. He must be plagued with questions like, Will they make it? Will they give up on the faith when they face the same persecution that I face? Will they fall prey to a false gospel? These are notches on a belt or tallies on some kind of score sheet. Paul knows these people by name. He's met them, he knows them to some degree, and he's understandably anxious about how they're doing. He describes all that as we really live if you stand firm in the Lord. I think what he's saying is, what gives me great joy, what makes my life worth living, what gives me a reason to get up in the morning and go to the next town is seeing the people that I preach to hold fast to the gospel. Like he said in 229, their continued faith is his ultimate reward. Their standing firm in the faith is going to be the capping joy of his life. He is looking forward to the day when he will stand before God and say, I faithfully proclaimed your gospel, and these people standing here in faith with me are here because they heard me and they believed it. Now notice how forward focused the gospel is for Paul. We often get wrapped up and distracted by the problems of the day, both in our own lives and in the world at large. We get caught up on bringing clean water, closing the racial gap, solving the problem of poverty, and so forth. Now don't misunderstand, those are good and worthy causes that Christians ought to be involved in, but they're not the foundation of our faith. Ultimately, the problems of our fallen world are going to be solved by the return of Jesus when he establishes his kingdom. And Paul is very focused on that coming kingdom. Look at what we've seen so far in this letter. Back in one nine and ten, he said, For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, that is Jesus who rescues us from the wrath to come. So he's summarizing their response to the gospel, and he talks about part of that is waiting for the return of Jesus. In two twelve, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory, again looking forward to the coming kingdom. In two nineteen, for what is our hope, our joy, our crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? Again, looking forward to the day when Christ returns and establishes his kingdom. And then in three thirteen, so that he may establish your hearts without blame and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Paul's hope is very forward focused on the coming of Jesus. When Jesus comes again, it will be a day of wrath and judgment. But God will deliver believers from that wrath. Believers will be called into citizenship in God's glorious kingdom. Ultimately, our most important job now is to persevere in the faith and encourage others to do the same. It's wonderful to be compassionate and generous with our time and resources. It's wonderful to work towards solving the problems of our town and our society and on the world at large, but it's more important that we proclaim the gospel and live it out. It's so easy to get caught up in running a soup kitchen or serving refugees or being on a hundred church committees or whatever that we forget to proclaim the gospel. If we're tempted to brush the gospel under the ministry rug to avoid offending people, then our priorities have gotten all messed up. Hiding the gospel may get more numbers in the door, but the cost of failing to proclaim the good news of the gospel is just too great. The gospel is focused on our future hope of life in the kingdom of God. And that future hope is what allows Paul and the Thessalonians to endure the sufferings and rejections now. And like them, all of us today are waiting for God's Son to return and rescue us. Proclaiming that rescue is the most important thing we can do. The gospel is also a call to holiness, and that's how Paul closes this section. This is 311 through 13. Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you, and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all people, just as we also do for you, so that he may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. So Paul starts out and prays that he God would direct his way back to them, that God would make a way for him to visit them, but then he prays that they would continue to grow in faith. He opened this letter by commenting on how their faith revealed itself in their living like the gospel is true, exerting themselves to love each other and holding on to their hope, and he prays that God would continue that work so that their hearts would be established in faith and they would be found blameless on judgment day when Jesus returns and receive the holiness God has promised. That is a fundamentally important New Testament concept. Over and over again, Scripture teaches that in our daily lives, God is going to put us in situations that test our faith. We will face situations big and small in which we have to decide am I going to continue trusting God here or not? Will I choose his way and follow him in this situation or will I abandon him? It is hard to find a book of the New Testament that doesn't either directly or indirectly talk about trials testing our faith and our need to stand firm and be strong in the faith. It is God's purpose in this life to take us through difficult situations that test and prove our faith. And the connection between testing trials and the proof that emerges that just comes up frequently in the New Testament. And I think that's what Paul's praying for here, that their faith would be established in their hearts so that they would be found blameless on judgment day. Now, how is it that our faith is proved? It survives. When the pressure comes and I'm faced with questions, who do I really trust? What am I really counting on? Am I going to choose God's way or the way of the world? Am I going to set my heart and my hope on the things of God even when it costs me? When all those questions come, if I choose God's way, then my faith has survived. My faith will come out of the trial, proven, matured, and strengthened. God is puts each of us in situations that test us and cause us to grow. And if you don't want that, then you want something other than New Testament Christianity because every book of the New Testament teaches that trials will come, trials have a purpose, and that purpose is proving your faith. The Thessalonians were facing persecution and affliction to abandon their faith, but trials could come in many shapes and sizes. It's not just the big health and wealth issues or the tragedies of life. Any issue can force me to choose whether I believe God or not. Any issue can come up that may cost me something. Maybe I appear foolish in someone else's eyes. Maybe I have to look different or dress differently or speak differently. Maybe I lose a friend or I give up an earthly reward or treasure. Questions like, will I stay chaste before marriage and faithful to my spouse after? Will I lie on a job application? Will I cheat on a test? Will I strive for money and beauty above everything else? Any situation can force me to ask the question, what am I counting on? Where is my hope? Who do I trust? It doesn't have to be organized government persecution. Let me give you an analogy. I've used this analogy before, so if you've listened to this podcast a long time, you may have heard it. But I like it, so I'm going to use it again. Suppose you have a good job and that job pays you very well. You like your job, you're good at it, you need this job, and you want to keep it. But then one day, one of your coworkers pulls you aside and lays out considerable evidence that your boss is doing something completely illegal and immoral. Let's say he's embezzling money from the company. Your coworker has all the facts and figures and examples. He can even point to specific discrepancies in the paper trail. Your coworker convinces you and you believe it's true that your boss is a crook, but you don't do anything about it. You'd like to keep doing your job and believe this at the same time, so you just kind of hope it's gonna all work out. Then one day your boss really crosses a line. It gets so bad that your coworker stands up at a staff meeting and confronts the boss with his actions. Your coworker calls the boss a liar and a thief and asks him to resign. In your response, your boss says, That's ridiculous. Who else believes what this crazy guy is saying? You're either for me or you're against me. And he looks around the room and he says, Who else believes this idiot's claim? Well, now you're put in a spot where you have to choose. You have said that you believe the boss is a crook, but until now it never made a difference. You never had to stand up and be counted before. You never had to choose. But now you have to act. Your coworkers looking you right in the eye, and your actions are going to reveal what you really believe to be true and what you really think is important. You can either act in a way that confirms what you have always said you believed, or you can act in a way that denies what you claim to believe. Up until this point, your belief was real, but it was untested and invisible. Now the test has come and your belief is forced out into the open. It's put to the test. Up to this point, you were trying to live in two incompatible worlds. You believed the boss was a thief, but you were trying to live like it wasn't true. But now you have to act on your beliefs. So you stand up and say, I'm with him, I think you're a crook. And you get fired. But your beliefs have been proven true and you have gained wisdom. On your next job, you're going to be a different kind of employee. You now know that some things like integrity, honesty, faith are more important than keeping your job, and you've learned that you can lose a job and life goes on. You may even have a new level of respect among your coworkers because your judgment has shown to be trustworthy and valid. You have been shown to be consistent with your word and have integrity. So you've gained some wisdom. You've gained a new level of maturity. Your faith has been tested and shown to be genuine through the test, and you've gained a new level of wisdom. Now I set up a work situation with my analogy, but the test could be anything. Maybe I've always loved money and God brings me to a place where I have to choose between love of money and love of God. Or maybe I've always valued the opinion of others, and now I have to act in such a way that others are going to think I'm a fool. Or maybe God has withheld something that I really want and I have to trust him if he never gives it to me. Trials can take a lot of shapes and forms, but the results are the same. The trial forces me to ask the question, what do I really believe is true? Am I going to live like the promises of God are true or not? Now notice perseverance through trial is not the same thing as perfect obedience. Having wisdom does not mean that we are without sin and we live without making mistakes. In fact, I'd say part of wisdom is being able to clearly see your own sin and mistakes for what they are. Let me go back to my analogy. Suppose the boss calls you out and says, Who else believes this is true and you stay silent? You let your coworker suffer alone. But eventually you repent. You begin to grieve and mourn over your mistake, and you come to realize you have to stand up for what is true. So you quit your job. You failed, but you repented and learned and ultimately held fast to the truth. That is also persevering in the faith. As we grow in wisdom, we still have the same struggles, but our perspective on them changes. We begin to see sin more clearly as sin. Maybe repentance comes a bit quicker. Humility starts to set in. Our excuses and justifications for sin begin to seem weak and flimsy and foolish in a way that they didn't before. So persevering does not mean perfection, and neither does it mean being tough. God is not testing our courage, he's testing our faith. Wisdom doesn't mean I can brush off the tragedies of life without breaking a sweat. That is not the case. We can see Jesus agonizing in the garden. Mature faith is not having a stiff upper lip. Rather, persevering in faith and wisdom means we have an anchor that gets us through the suffering. As we mature, we may hold more loosely to the things of the world and have an increasing measure of hope in face of hardships. My faith is tested when I am put in any situation where I wonder if God is truly God, or any situation where I must act as if God is in control and not me, or where I must choose between trusting that He has my best in mind or taking matters into my own hands. That's not a matter of being emotionally tough. That's a question of what do I believe to be true and am I going to live like it's true? A key part of God's agenda for our lives is that we might grow in faith now. God is working on our faith because eternity is at stake. The most important thing about trials is not that they end, but that we learn to respond wisely. God is all about growing us into mature believers. He's not as interested in giving us easy, smooth, uneventful lives now. So when facing trials, it's important to remember what God has and has not promised. He has not promised an easy, healthy, smooth, and prosperous life, but he has promised to make us mature, strong believers. He has promised to answer prayers like Paul's here, that God would establish our hearts as blameless in holiness. In other words, that God would make us people of faith. All of us can call out to God with confidence and ask him to make us the kind of people who live like the gospel is true, who love others and stand firm in the hope of the gospel, and he will do it. We are weak and foolish, but God is able to lift us out of that foolishness and grow us in faith, maturity, and wisdom. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word, the podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but also shows you how to figure it out. You can find all previous episodes in this series on my website, wednesdayintheword.com. There is no charge, no spam, and no ads. It's all free to help you improve your study skills and understanding of scripture. If you've been blessed by this podcast, please leave a positive rating or review wherever you listen. It really does matter and helps others find the podcast. But most importantly, tell a friend what you learned and where you learned it. Our theme music is graciously provided by my favorite singer and songwriter, Reggie Coates. You can listen to more of Reggie's music and find his CDs at heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you for listening today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.