03 How to Spot a Faithful Bible Teacher (1 Thessalonians 2:1-16)

Krisan Marotta: 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. Today is the third talk in my series on Paul's letters to the Thessalonians. We're going to be studying 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 1 through 16. Lecture notes for today's talk are on the link below this podcast. The lecture notes contain all the information I would give you on a handout if I were teaching you in person. You can also find those lecture notes on my website by going to wednesdayintheword.com slash Thessalonians 3. Thanks so much for listening. We're looking at 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 today, and let's review how we got here. The Apostle Paul founded the church in Thessalonica during his second missionary journey. He only spent a few months in Thessalonica before he was forced to leave. After driving Paul out of town, the Jews in Thessalonica followed Paul to the next town and stirred up trouble for him there. Paul left a church behind that was made up mostly of Gentile Godfearers, a few Jews and some prominent women. They're young in the faith. They've heard the gospel from Paul about seven to nine months before he writes this letter. And they have to exist in a city that is intensely hostile to their faith. They are undoubtedly facing pressure to abandon the gospel. Paul has not seen the Thessalonians for several months now. He's concerned about how they're doing. So he sent Timothy back to visit them, to check on them and encourage them. Timothy went to Thessalonica and has now returned to Paul, and Paul is writing this letter in response to the report that he has heard from Timothy. In chapter one, he reminded them that they have objective evidence to believe the gospel, and he reminded them why they trusted him in the first place. He reminded them that God has testified to the truth of Paul's message and his preaching through signs and miracles. He reminded them of their own response to his message, how their lives changed and the changes in their lives testify to the fact that what they believe is true, and also how their faith became well known and spread throughout the region. In chapter two, Paul is still on this theme of encouraging them to persevere in the faith, but he starts talking about himself and about how he, Silas, and Timothy conducted themselves when they were in Thessalonica. In the section we're about to study, Paul talks about himself a lot. He talks about how he conducted himself in Thessalonica and how the Thessalonians responded to him. And in this discussion, he uses what appears to be somewhat defensive language and language that could be described as self-congratulatory. Now it's not unusual. Paul talks about himself quite a bit in his letters. For example, in 1 Corinthians, Paul defends his authority. In Galatians, Paul defends his calling. And here in 1 Thessalonians, Paul again focuses on himself. Now, why is he doing that? Because Paul was not among the original twelve apostles who followed Jesus during the three years of his earthly ministry, Paul must constantly defend himself against attacks and charges that he's not a genuine apostle. Sometimes he defends his integrity and his trustworthiness. Sometimes he insists that he has the authority of an apostle. And sometimes, as we'll see here, he congratulates his readers for responding well to him. That can sound arrogant to our modern ears. If I were to congratulate you for your wise choice in listening to this podcast, you would probably react negatively. If I were to say something like, You are very smart to listen to me because I've done all this Bible study right and I know all the truth, well, that would probably be the last time you'd listen because you'd decide rightly that I think too highly of myself. Well, some people think that Paul is doing that kind of thing here in chapter two, and they're put off by this section, and it contributes to a rejection of Paul that we see even among scholars today. Before we look at the section, I want to explore why Paul would use this kind of self-congratulatory language. Why would Paul want to talk about how they responded to him? Well, Paul travels from town to town proclaiming the gospel at great personal risk. Paul tells us in most all his letters that he proclaims the gospel because the risen Jesus appeared to him and gave him that responsibility. Before Jesus appeared to him, Paul had been going from town to town persecuting Christians and trying to kill anyone who believed in Christ. Then Jesus appeared to him, and Paul made a complete about face. And you can read about that in Acts 9. Now, instead of persecuting the followers of Jesus, Paul is trying to create followers of Jesus. And what happens when he goes to each new town? Well, he runs into people who were just like he used to be. He runs into people who persecute those who follow Jesus. Look at what happened on this trip where he first visited Thessalonica. First Paul went to Philippi and there he cast a demon out of a slave girl. This demon made her a kind of prophetess, and her owners were making money off her abilities. So when Paul heals her, they get very angry. They appeal to the powers that be and have Paul and his companions arrested, beaten, and jailed. But God releases them miraculously through an earthquake. From there then Paul goes to Thessalonica. In Thessalonica, the Jews get angry with him again and they come to arrest him, but they can't find him, so they arrest the host of the house where he's staying instead, and Paul has to sneak out of town at night. Then he goes to Berea. In Berea, the Jews are somewhat responsive to him. They're interested in what he has to say. They like him, they listen to him, and then they seek out the scriptures to see if what he says is true. And a lot of Jews in Berea believe. But then what happens? The Jews from Thessalonica follow Paul to Berea, create trouble, and run him out of town there. After that, Paul goes to Athens. He preaches a message on Mars Hill, which was a place where people debated philosophy. Some folks like his message, but most respond to him with disdain. They call him a seed picker. And as I understand it, this is a term for a type of bird that randomly picks up a seed here and a seed there. So it's a way to ridicule Paul. They're saying he doesn't rise to the level of a true philosopher. Instead, he's just picked up a few fancy ideas here and there, like a bird that gathers random seeds. And while he might have a few clever ideas, he doesn't rise to the level of Greek sophistication. So in Athens he's dismissed as someone who's not even worth listening to. Then he goes to Corinth, and we know from the Corinthian letters that a segment of the church in Corinth rejected Paul. Not only did they reject his claim to be an apostle, they didn't think he was even worth listening to. They didn't think he was eloquent enough or sophisticated or wise in the way that they wanted him to be wise, and they rejected his apostolic authority, and Paul has to defend himself in his letters to Corinth. Now think about that. Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles. He has been taught by the risen Lord himself. Paul is one of a select group of men who had the authority to speak for and about Jesus. The risen Lord himself explained to Paul how to find eternal life. The Holy Spirit gave Paul an accurate understanding of the most important issues we human beings ever face. I mean, imagine being taught by Jesus Himself. Jesus taught Paul this is who God is, this is what God has planned for creation, and this is what you have to do to be saved. Paul is not some guru who made up his own philosophy and wrote a book about it. He didn't have a dream or he didn't have a drug-induced hallucination, he didn't have a vision in the night. Paul did not study philosophy and come up with his own system. Paul knows the truth straight from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet everywhere he goes, the majority of people reject him, beat him, dismiss him, or try to kill him. People who hate the gospel hate Paul. They don't like him precisely because they don't like the message he proclaims. And Jesus warned his apostles that this is exactly what they would experience. People would reject them and hate them and try to kill them because they follow Jesus. Jesus told the twelve, if they don't like me, then they're not going to like you either. And Paul is living proof that that is true. You can predict how people respond to the gospel by how they respond to Paul. Now, if Paul were a swindler or a con man trying to take their money for his own personal gain or something, or if he was lying to them, their negative reaction would be justified. But Paul comes to them with integrity. In many of his letters, he defends himself saying, I taught you the truth. I came to you with straightforward, honest integrity. I didn't take your money, I didn't even ask for your generosity. I worked to provide for my own needs, and I preached the gospel to you at great personal risk. Paul recognizes that how people respond to him is a good indicator of how they respond to the gospel. Now that's not true of our teachers and pastors today. I would never use that kind of language about my own teaching, and I don't know any other pastors today or teachers who would. But it was true for Paul. Paul had the authority to speak for Jesus, and Jesus told him to expect this kind of hostile reaction. How you respond to Paul and his message is how you respond to the gospel. And Paul navigates this fine line in many of his letters. He holds both these concepts to be true. One, personally, I, Paul, am nobody, and I don't deserve to be an apostle. But two, nevertheless, Jesus called me to be one of his apostles, and you would do well to listen to me. Because of his unique position of authority, Paul can say, You are to be congratulated for listening to me, and woe to you if you reject me. He can juxtapose language about how they respond to the gospel with how they respond to him, because in his case it amounts to the same thing. People who don't like his message express that by rejecting Paul himself. He experiences disdain and hostility for the gospel as disdain for himself, its messenger. And Jesus told him this would happen. He told the twelve it would happen. He's told them if they don't like me, they're not going to like you, and Paul is living that out. So in a very real and profound way, you can see how people respond to the gospel by how they respond to Paul and the other apostles. Paul then says in his letters, I have come to you in integrity. I have come to you with the truth, and how you respond to me is an indicator of how you respond to God. Now, you and I would never talk like that today because we're not apostles. But Paul is in this unique position along with the other apostles. He was given the authority to speak for Jesus. He was equipped and commissioned to say, this is the message of Jesus Christ, and that other philosophy over there is wrong. And he can say, You are to be congratulated for listening to me. It is a good and wonderful gift that you heard my message and you responded to me with faith, love, and hope. All right, keep all that in mind as we study his defense. I don't think he's speaking from a position of arrogance, but from the knowledge that because he has this unique role to play, how you respond to him indicates how you respond to the gospel. All right, so let me read our passage. This is 1 Thessalonians 2, verses 1 through 16. For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed, God is witness, nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil. We worked night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you while we proclaim to you the gospel of God. You are our witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God which is at work in you believers. For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind, by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins, but wrath has come upon them at last. As we talked about in the last podcast, in their culture, many people were what we might call traveling salesmen. They traveled from town to town with an agenda. Sometimes they traveled around to sell products or goods that they were importing from one city or a country. Sometimes they were rabbis or teachers who wanted to spread their teaching. Sometimes they were simple farmers coming into the city to sell their wares. But whatever they were peddling, they had an agenda. Well, what makes Paul different? He comes into town and starts preaching in the synagogue. Why should we trust him? He seems to be some kind of heretical Jew. Why should the Thessalonians change their entire lives based on this crazy story that Paul and his friends bring to town about the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ? And why should they continue to believe Paul and lead a different kind of life after these guys get run out of town? Well, Paul's aware of this problem. He knows they're being persecuted and he knows they're being pressured to go back to their old way of life. He's trying to remind them why they believed him in the first place and to encourage them to stand firm in the truth. So his goal here is to remind them why they trusted him and why they embraced the gospel, and chapter two is part of that defense. We have an interpretive choice to make in chapter two, and I've talked about this before in other podcasts, but very often in his letters, Paul uses we, the first person plural pronoun to mean me, to mean himself. We talked about this a lot in the first Corinthians series. When Paul uses the first person plural pronoun, it can mean one of four things, and we have to decide from the context which one Paul means. First, sometimes Paul means he himself alone. And I would argue that Paul does this a lot, that he speaks of himself in the plural when he means me, myself, just himself. Second, he sometimes means himself and the other apostles as opposed to Christians in general. So in some contexts, he uses we to mean we apostles as opposed to all believers. Third, sometimes he means we Jews as opposed to Gentiles. And fourth, sometimes he means all believers as opposed to non-believers. But in my study, I think that option is the least likely. And I would argue that only very, very rarely does Paul mean we as an all-believers. So we have to look at the context and figure out what he means. Our tendency is to assume he's talking about us, all believers. And in my experience, that assumption almost always steers us wrong. In this context, I think there are two really good options. You could argue that Paul means we, as in Paul, Silas, and Timothy, because we know the three of them went to Thessalonica together. All three of them are mentioned as involved in writing this letter, and he's talking about when he came to them. So when he says in 2.1, our coming to you was not in vain, he could mean when he, Silas, and Timothy came. However, I think the other option that Paul is speaking of himself here is more likely because as we'll see as we go through the section, some of the statements he makes refer to his apostolic authority, and those simply aren't true of Silas and Timothy. For example, in 2.6 he says we could have made demands as apostles in Christ, but Paul is the only one of those three who's an apostle, and I don't think he'd argue that Silas and Timothy have that kind of authority. But what really tips the scales for me is down in 218, he says, because we wanted to come to you, I, Paul, again and again, but Satan hindered us. So there he's using the plural pronoun, we wanted to come to you, but then he immediately clarifies, I, I Paul, wanted to come to you. So he uses he switches to the singular pronoun, and if that's not enough, he adds his name. I think there he realizes the plural pronoun might be confusing, especially given the fact that Timothy has already made a second trip to Thessalonica. So he clarifies, we wanted to come to you, and by we I mean myself, I Paul wanted to come to you. Now, in this section, it's not all that crucial that we take the pronoun here as Paul himself rather than Paul, Silas, and Timothy. It's not going to make a huge interpretive difference, but given the theme and the context, I just think it's more likely that Paul means himself here. All right, let's go on then to two, one and two. For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. As I talked about briefly earlier, Paul had visited Philippi right before Thessalonica, and in Philippi he cast a demon out of a slave girl, angering her owners. Her captors got so enraged that they had Paul and his companions arrested, beaten, and jailed, and then God miraculously released them. So Paul says, Our coming to you was not in vain. He'd already suffered for preaching the gospel. You heard how badly he was treated, how he suffered in Philippi right before coming to you, and after that experience, don't you think it would have been very understandable if If he had decided to lay low for a while, or if he had just kept his mouth shut and avoided any more trouble. But he didn't do that. He went on to Thessalonica and boldly taught the gospel to the Thessalonians, even though there was much conflict. So he says, even though in your city I met the same kind of hostility and trouble I experienced in Philippi, I told you the truth and I told you boldly. And you responded well. My coming was not in vain, I spoke boldly and you believed me. Now he's going to continue defending himself by telling them the things that he didn't do. Let's bring in three and four. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive. But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. So he says, My message didn't come from error. Everything I told you was true. My message did not come from impurity. It wasn't corrupted, it wasn't falsified, it wasn't deluded or watered down or adulterated in any way. It was not a mix of lies and truth, it was pure truth. And his message did not come from any attempt to deceive. He didn't lie to them, he didn't fudge the truth. He didn't soft pedal his message to avoid persecution or flatter them to win their favor. He spoke the plain truth. So Paul says my message was true, accurate, and honest. It wasn't tainted by any secret agendas or ulterior motives. He sincerely wanted to tell them the gospel and he made no attempt to deceive them. He gave them the straight up truth, even though he knew he was going to stir up trouble. Why did he speak so boldly? Because God called him and entrusted him with the gospel. His mission, his goal is not to please people, his mission is to please God. He knows who's going to hold him accountable. He's accountable to the God who called him and tests his heart, the God who sees both inside and outside. God knows not only what he says, but why he says it and what he's thinking on the inside. So Paul basically says, look, I know who gave me this message, and I know who I am ultimately accountable to, and it's the Lord God Almighty Himself. I did what I did because He called me and commissioned me to do it. Now that's pretty powerful motivation to be true, accurate, and honest. Then in 5.6, for we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed, God is witness, nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. Again, Paul tells them what he didn't do. They have met people who acted the other way. They've probably met people all the time who want them to buy a product or support their cause or sign their petition or join their club or whatever cause they're peddling. And these people use deceit and manipulation and flattery to achieve their ends. As they talk, you begin to see that they want to make money off of you or they want the power that collecting followers gives them or something like that. Christian groups, I think, really have to be on guard against this kind of thing because every one of us is subject to the temptation to be the person up front with authority. And to keep that position of authority, it's very tempting to tell folks what they want to hear or to tweak the truth to make it more entertaining or more attractive or less offensive. And Paul's saying, you know those signs. You know what it's like when someone's giving you a pitch or telling you what you want to hear. And he says, Did I do any of that? Did I treat you that way? Did I use you as a means to accomplish my own ends? No. Paul says I didn't come in a manipulative way. I wasn't trying to win you over or butter you up. And you're all probably familiar with what he's talking about. I suspect most of you have been approached by a salesman at some time or other who comes at you like you're his most favorite person in the whole world and he's got just the deal for you. Paul says, I didn't do that. I didn't have that kind of flattering approach that marks someone who's trying to sell you something. In fact, at times he was blunt and honest. He told them what they needed to hear. He didn't seek glory or praise from them or from men. He was bold in proclaiming the gospel, even though he had just been beaten and jailed in Philippi for preaching that same message. So he says he wasn't looking for personal glory. And I like the way the NSB translates 2.6. He says, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority, I think asserting their authority is more to the point, and that choice of translation makes that a bit more clear, authority is a big deal. We human beings are really attracted to having authority and keeping authority, and we love that feeling of significance we get by being the person who has authority. We measure our own importance by how much other people defer to us, how much they might listen to us, or whether they treat us as one of the most important people in the room. And we're always comparing who's got the bigger flock, who's written more books, whose books have sold more, who has more listeners, who has more Facebook likes or social media followers, or who has more influence? We measure ourselves in that kind of glory from other people, and all of us in some way or another want to be an important person in the room. And Paul's saying, look, I am an apostle of Jesus Christ. The God of the universe sent me to bring you this message. How much more important and significant can you be than that? Who can do one better than having a face to face commission from the Lord of Lords and King of Kings himself? If Paul wanted to exert his authority and demand respect, he could legitimately have done so. Yet that's not the way he conducted himself. He didn't use his undeniable authority to get praise from the Thessalonians. He didn't come in demanding they give him the penthouse suite in the best hotel and that they wait on him hand in foot and give him the royal treatment because he's such an important person. He didn't use his authority to lord it over the Thessalonians, instead he was humble, he was serving, he followed the model that Jesus gave of coming to serve rather than be served. He didn't even take their money. Rather than take donations or support, he worked at his trade while he was among them. He didn't assert any rights or privileges, rather he worked to provide for his own needs so as not to burden them while he gave them the words of life. And then going on in seven through nine, but we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil we worked night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. So Paul insists that his message was not a pretext for greed. He didn't come in pretending to be interested in the gospel when he really wanted to make money off of them. That wasn't his agenda. In fact, he worked day and night so he wouldn't be a financial burden to them. As an apostle, he could have rightly asked for support and hospitality, but he didn't do that. He worked to provide for himself. Now Paul's not against taking support from other people or support from the people he taught. When he writes the Philippians, Paul thanks them for sending him a generous donation for his support. In fact, Paul was probably in Thessalonica when he received the financial gift from the Philippians. So he's not against taking support. Instead, his goal was not to even give the appearance of making money off the gospel. In 1 Corinthians, he argues that he has the right to take support, but he explains that he chooses not to at times because he doesn't want to appear to be peddling the gospel for money. And here in Thessalonians he's reminding them that he worked hard at his craft so that he wouldn't be a burden to them. Paul says he never treated them as a means to accomplish his own ends or his own goals, rather, he treated them with the care and concern and compassion a nursing mother showers on her child. These aren't nameless, faithless notches on a belt or numbers on a tally or anonymous Facebook like clicks. He's concerned for them as individuals. They're dear to him. He knows them and cares for them as a parent. He's grateful over their response to the gospel, and because he cares for them, he poured himself out for them. When he says he worked night and day, I suspect he means that when he wasn't teaching them, he was making tents, which we know from Acts was his profession. And when he wasn't selling and making tents, he was teaching. So he had these two jobs he had to do, and that meant he worked both day and night. Now he's finished telling them all the things he did not do, and he turns to telling them what he did do, how he did conduct himself when he was among them. So this is verses ten through twelve. You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. Paul now appeals to the positive, and his basic point is that he acted as God would have him act. Paul does have a motive when he preaches. Why would he go from town to town getting beaten and jailed for preaching the gospel? Because he's being faithful to God. He says, You are witnesses, and so is God as to how we treated you. Look at the evidence, he says. I treated you like good parents treat their children. He says he was gentle with them as a nursing mother cares for her children. He taught and nurtured and guided them as a father guides his own children, exhorting them for their own sake. He didn't try to manipulate them or strongarm them, rather he sought to teach and guide them as a parent teaches and guides a child. Paul truly believes that the gospel holds the promise of eternal life, and his care and concern for them is tied up with that message. Because he cared for them as people and as individuals, he proclaimed this message of truth. He gave them what they really needed to hear, and he poured himself out on their behalf as loving parents pour themselves out for their children. I heard a modern example of this on a podcast recently. The podcast featured the story of a young man who was trapped and abused by a cult leader when he was a youngster and a teenager. He's been freed, he's recovered and grown up now, it's many years later, and he credits his recovery from that horrific experience to the pastor of the church that took him in after his escape. And the young man described the pastor as focused only on the care of souls. And that description struck me because I think that's what Paul's describing here. As a leader, as a pastor and teacher, Paul was not concerned with building an empire, with making a name for himself. He wasn't concerned to have the most social outreach programs or the best youth group or the biggest church in town. He wasn't trying to make a name for himself. He was focused on the care of souls. He exhorted them and encouraged them to believe the gospel and to live their lives as if the gospel is true. In short, he encouraged them to repent and follow Jesus, and that's what they did. He concludes this section then in two thirteen through sixteen. And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out and displeased God and oppose all mankind, by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins, but God's wrath has come upon them at last. He circles back to talking about their own response to the gospel. He encouraged them to repent and follow Jesus, to believe the gospel and live like it's true, and they did. And this is the same theme that we saw at the end of chapter one. Paul is grateful to God that they responded so well to the gospel. They heard it when many wouldn't listen to Paul at all. Not only did they hear it, they received it, that is, they embraced it as true, while many despised and rejected it. And not only did they hear and embrace it as true, they recognized that it's the Word of God. They realized Paul's message is not a philosophy invented by a guru. Paul's message is from the Lord God Himself. And then on top of all that, they suffered for believing the gospel. They were persecuted in the same way that many before them were persecuted, and their perseverance through that persecution is evidence of their belief. Just like many who came before them suffered for believing the prophets and the Messiah, so now they have suffered that same kind of affliction. The gospel typically inspires this kind of hostile reaction. There's no need to be surprised by it. Rather, that hostile reaction is evidence that they themselves have in fact believed. So Paul is grateful that they accepted the gospel as true, they recognized it as the word of God. Even though they faced great persecution and suffering, they continued to believe and embrace the gospel. Now, some have argued that Paul's statements in 2, 14, and 16 mark him as an anti-Semite. And what are we to make of that? What's he doing here? Because for our modern ears, that language seems kind of strong. As always, we want to remember the context. Paul is making these statements in the context of an encouragement to the Thessalonians. He's reminding them how courageously they remained faithful to the gospel despite opposition from their own countrymen. And then he talks about the wrath of God that's going to fall on these countrymen who happen to be Jewish. We have to put Paul's statements in that context in perspective. Paul is not talking about Jews as a nation or a people. Were all the Jews hostile to the gospel? No. We know some of the Thessalonian believers were Jews. He's not condemning all Jews to the people he's writing because some of the people he's writing to are Jews. Paul himself was a Jew. In fact, he makes an impassioned statement in Romans that he wishes he could be accursed so that the Jewish people would embrace the gospel. Paul himself was a Jew who used to persecute Christians in exactly the same way. The behavior he describes in 214 through 16 is exactly the kind of behavior that Paul engaged in before his conversion. Paul's well aware that God can and does forgive people who engage in that kind of persecution because he himself is a living example of that forgiveness. But Paul has a reason for speaking very seriously here. How we respond to the gospel message reveals where we stand eternally. The gospel calls us to repent. It calls on us to recognize the sin in our lives and realize that we need grace through the cross. Our relationship with God is determined by how we respond to the gospel. It's significant that these particular Jews have rejected the gospel and that they want to persecute those who believe it. That reaction says something about where they are at spiritually and where they're at at the moment is under the wrath of God. Their opposition to the gospel is a serious issue because they have set themselves against God. Paul's not making a statement about race here. He's talking about individuals who have rejected God and opposed his gospel, and in this historical incident, they also happen to be Jews. Paul's saying, My message is truth. If you reject it, you are under God's wrath. I'm not saying you're under God's wrath because I don't like being beaten or thrown in jail. I'm saying you are under God's wrath because God has given me a message that is true and you have rejected it. When you reject my message, you set your heart against the truth. I think that's the thinking that's behind his powerful language. Now to summarize, I want to comment on two things. First, it seems to me that Paul is giving us a blueprint for how we ought to evaluate our leaders, pastors, and teachers today. We ought to think about the people we listen to today in the same way Paul is urging the Thessalonians to think about him. Being the person up front, like a pastor, preacher, teacher, leader, that can be a way to make a lot of money and it can be a position of power and glory. As someone who spends a lot of time studying the Bible, I listen to a lot of pastors and teachers and scholars all over the internet world. As best I can, I try to ask, where is this person coming from? Sometimes it strikes me that the person I'm listening to is really teaching people what they want to hear. Usually they have a message that's very entertaining, very attractive in a superficial kind of way. It's emotionally motivating and inspiring, but when you stop and think about it, it's just a lot of words. The worst emphasize the importance of giving them money, and you've probably run into those kinds of people before. They claim, you know, souls will be lost if you don't fund their latest project or give money to their cause. And sometimes they obviously derive a great deal of satisfaction from being the authority or the one who knows it all. A pastor once told me that every pastor secretly wants to be a rock star and that those who deny that are lying. Well, if that's true, that's really sad. And I've known rock star pastors who enjoy being the one everyone seeks out for advice or find their identity and being the person with all the answers. They want the praise and the power and the glory of leading a big church just a little too much. And to me, that's a red flag, especially if they're willing to tell me only what I want to hear so that I continue to give them that praise and honor. In fact, I had a pastor once tell me to stop talking about sin and the cross because that was just too offensive to newcomers. He said, Let's get them in the door by emphasizing God's love, and we can bring up all that stuff about the cross. Well, maybe later. That is a huge red flag. Part of Paul's appeal to the Thessalonians is to remind them that they should listen to him because he didn't show any of those red flags. He spoke the truth, he spoke plainly, he told them what they needed to hear, not what they wanted to hear. He didn't adulterate the message, he didn't flatter them. He told them the straight up truth. And we ought to take that seriously. Each of us can ask do the people I follow do the The people I listen to show the signs that Paul refused to show, or do they show the signs that he intentionally showed? And it's important that we know who we're listening to and if they're willing to tell us the truth, even if that causes rejection and hostility. Now I have to say I've known a lot more pastors, teachers, and leaders who are genuinely humble, teachable, love God, love his word, and they're concerned for the gospel and the souls under their care, the way Paul is describing here. They're not only good teachers, they are teachable. They care about what's true and teaching what is true to others, even if it means they get mocked or scoffed or ridiculed. That doesn't mean I believe every word that comes out of their mouths, but I do stop and recognize this is a person of substance. This is someone I want to listen to and evaluate and take seriously because they take the Bible seriously. All right, second, it seems to me that we face the same issue the Thessalonians face, and that is what are we going to do with Paul? Paul spoke to the Thessalonian church for only a month or two and then he had to leave. And like the Thessalonians, we have to decide what to do with Paul. I mean, why are you listening to this podcast? I'm trying to explain what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians a long time ago. Presumably you're listening because you care about what Paul said in his letters. Well, why should we care about what Paul said? Because we have accepted his claim that he was given an accurate understanding of the truth by God Himself and was called to proclaim it. So we face the same question the Thessalonians faced about Paul's credibility. You've probably encountered people who say things like, Well, Jesus had this great message of love and acceptance, but then the apostle Paul came along and he messed everything up. I've met people who say they follow Jesus, but they reject everything Paul taught. Well, as I read the Gospels, first, I can't find any difference between what Jesus taught and what Paul taught. They seem in great harmony to me. But even so, if what Paul says is true, rejecting Paul's authority is a big deal. Paul claims here that if you reject him, you're rejecting the gospel itself. Paul reminds the Thessalonians, remember what I said, remember how I said it, remember how I acted, remember the evidence I showed you. You need to believe it. And it seems to me we face the same issue. We have evidence in the New Testament about what Paul said and did, and we have to choose whether or not we will believe him. Trying to follow Jesus and rejecting Paul is not an option. 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. All previous episodes in this series are on my website, wednesdayintheword.com, along with a wealth of Bible study materials. There's no charge, no spam, and no ads. If you've been blessed by this podcast, please subscribe, leave a positive rating or review wherever you listen, but most importantly, tell a friend what you learned and where you learned it. Our theme music is graciously provided by my friend and favorite singer-songwriter Reggie Coates. You can listen to Reggie's worship music and find his CDs on heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I hope I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.