1 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Good Works Make a Terrible God

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on September 17, 2017 at Beacon Church

Paul begins this letter, writing to very discouraged new believers, saying that he had seen evidence God really had begun a great work in these people. In verse 3, he says he saw the evidence of faith, hope, and love. Paul and these missionaries had seen, in other words, that the seed of the Gospel had fallen in rich soil and was growing and bearing fruit. But what they had experienced since their conversion, in Thessalonica, was hardship and suffering that could make them question their earlier faith in God.

God Didn't Send Them to Thessalonica for Nothing

“For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain,” (1 Thess. 2:1 ESV).

Barnes points out that from reading what Paul has to say here we can make some guesses about what people in the Thessalonian church were dealing with.[i] From verse 1, we can infer that there were some people in Thessalonica saying that the Gospel was only man-made, the way it had changed their lives was only in their imaginations, and that these missionaries, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy (1:1), had only come with self-serving motives. In fact, if we ever see in Victoria a wave of thousands, and thousands of people converting to Christ, you can bet that critics will rise up with exactly these accusations. The Christian "Good News" is made-up, and its preachers use it to take advantage of people.

Even the great Apostle and missionary, Paul himself, had his moments of doubt. Verse 1 declares that their mission-trip to Thessalonica was not in vain--not for nothing. But in 3:5 he says, actually, that he had been worried that all their work was in vain, and that's why he had sent Timothy to check on the Thessalonians' church. But hearing Timothy's report that the church was going forward, although they had been shaken by all the things that had happened during those months, Paul was overjoyed along with Silvanus and Timothy, that they couldn't stop thanking God for what He had so evidently done in Thessalonica. So now, writing this letter, Paul knew their mission to Thessalonica wasn't for nothing; that their Gospel wasn't man-made. Timothy's report about the results of their preaching in the people had helped reassure Paul's own doubts. But the people in Thessalonica still had their doubts, and so Paul reassures them in verse 1 that there are a number of facts they should remember that can be taken as proof their Gospel was not made-up, and they hadn't come to Thessalonica to take advantage of people.

But God Did Send Them

In verse 2, Paul enters into evidence the first thing he believes can prove God was behind their mission: their boldness. “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,” (1 Thess. 2:2 ESV). Paul was no stranger to danger. On his first journey as a missionary for Jesus, in a city called Lystra, he had been seized by a mob and they threw stones at him until they were convinced he was dead, and they dumped his body outside the city. Then on his second journey, when they arrived in the great Macedonian city, Philippi, where Acts 16 tells us, an angry crowd seized them, drummed up false charges against them, leading the local governors to sentence them to a very harsh beating and throw them in prison. (Acts 16:22-23) That was all just before they came to Thessalonica. So their bruises and other injuries would still have been fresh, and obvious. And they apparently were afraid of something like that happening again. That's why Paul says, "we had boldness in our God" to go ahead and preach the Gospel. Because other than a miracle, Paul is saying they could not account for the way they boldly told people about Jesus even as their Jewish opponents began to stir up a violent mob to get rid of them. They had a God-given courage to carry out their mission and tell the people of Thessalonica the Gospel.

Now notice the second fact Paul enters into evidence in verse 2: their message. He calls it, "the gospel of God" to be as clear as possible that this message, (the word here means "good news" or "good announcement") originated with God. Really it is God's Gospel. And they delivered God's news "in the midst of much conflict", reminding these people that there was nothing in that message that benefited Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, and that they were putting their lives on the line in order to share the Gospel with them. In other words, what did the missionaries stand to gain from preaching the Gospel in Thessalonica? Nothing but "much conflict". The Greek word for "conflict" here is literally "agony".

It was because God had sent them to preach His Gospel in Thessalonica, and because He had given them boldness to endure much agony, that Paul can now talk about what really motivated them in their work to bring the Gospel to the Thessalonian people. “For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive,” (1 Thess. 2:3 ESV). The origin of their message is what Paul means by saying where their appeal "springs from". Did their Gospel preaching originate from a massive misunderstanding? No, not "from error". Did it originate from "impurity"? No, not from any kind of corrupt desire. Did it originate from "an attempt to deceive"? No, not from fraud--he is saying straight out that they aren't con-artists.

So where did their passionate preaching, their sincere appeals for the Thessalonians to turn to Jesus and believe, where did that originate? Where did it come from? “…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,” (1 Thess. 2:4 ESV). Notice the words Paul uses here: "approved by God" means they knew that God had sent them to preach His Gospel. And, "entrusted with the Gospel" means God had given them the message to share. The Good News therefore, according to Paul, originated in God (He entrusted it to them to share with the Thessalonians), and their "appeal"--their passionate delivery and preaching and pleading with the Thessalonian people to repent and believe the Good News "sprang from" a genuine, sincere desire to "please God".

God tests our hearts, but you can test our actions

Verses 5-12 then lay out 6 areas of the missionaries' conduct when they were in Thessalonica, that can be examined and tested to see if their claims are true. Any one of these can cast serious doubt on their claims to be sent from God, to be sharing God's Message, to be approved by God at all. Whoever was criticizing Paul and Silvanus and Timothy from Thessalonica, all they had to do now was show some evidence  that they had been trying to please somebody other than God. I find this test very difficult. Because although my own ministry in general passes this test, I have had many times when I have made a wrong decision because I wanted to please somebody other than God. Later on, when I have had to go and fix those mistakes, it has always been painful and costly.

This is why I titled this sermon, "Good Works Make a Terrible God". I'm a pastor in public ministry, but each of you who are followers of Jesus are His disciples. And therefore we all are called to some kind of "ministry" and to good works. Some as missionaries to far away lands, but all as missionaries to our neighbours right here in our city. I want you to take just a moment and underline two places that prove all of us are missionaries: (1:5) "the gospel came to you" (didn't it? If it did, one day, long ago or recently, then the rest also applies to you); (1:9) "to serve the living and true God" (because if you have really received the Gospel, God "entrusted" it to you in order that you now serve Him). So then, what good works can be found in our lives to show that we received God's Gospel and are now serving Him with it? What kind of "ministry" or service confirms that we aren't just serving ourselves but God? Paul challenges the Thessalonians to examine the conduct of these three missionaries when they were working among the Thessalonians, specifically their conduct in 6 areas. And this is really important for each and every Christian to examine ourselves as well. If we are doing the Christian thing, serving, ministering, working, preaching, volunteering, or whatever, in order to get something out of our good works, or our ministry, we are going to be massively disappointed. And many Christian volunteers, pastors, and missionaries are disappointed for exactly this reason: Ministry is a terrible God to try and serve. Think about these 6 areas and examine ourselves as we learn from these missionaries' examples:

Not for gain (v5)

“For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed-- God is witness,” (1 Thess. 2:5 ESV). If Paul, Silvanus and Timothy had come to Thessalonica for what they could get out of it, then they would have done things differently: but Paul challenges them to think back to a few months previously and see that they didn't flatter people. The opposite of flattery is to be honest. And that's what they did. Last week at the potluck, one wise lady among us wouldn't tell me what dish she brought I think because she suspected I would rave about it whether I liked it or not. It was all in humour, but I was really challenged by that later as I thought about it. Intelligent people can see through flattery and they know that flatterers are trying to get something from them.

Not for personal glory (v6)

“Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ,” (1 Thess. 2:6 ESV). If we volunteer, serve, or preach, expecting people to admire us for it, we won't last any longer than the compliments we receive. Criticism goes along with service; complaints are part of every ministry to people. And when we make mistakes or hurt people, and the complaints and criticisms start to pour in, how we respond is, I think, the quickest way to really put our motives to the test: if we become defensive or hostile, it's probably because the glory we wanted from other people is being threatened. But a missionary to a tribe of head hunters might be in it for personal glory even if they never make a single convert. It might be for the admiration and accolades and glory from others at home who sent them off to take the Gospel to some jungle.  Likewise, if nobody ever thanks you for your service to the homeless, or for the good works nobody else seems to notice, does it make you want to quit? Paul knows that when the Thessalonians look back on their ministry among them, they will see that the only glory they were seeking was the glory that God gets.

Not for power (v7)

“But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children,” (1 Thess. 2:7 ESV). The illustration Paul chose in verse 7 is a brilliant defense of their missionary service among the Thessalonian believers. It's absurd to look at a mother gently caring for and nursing her infant, and accuse her of being motivated by a hunger for power. Babies don't sleep when you tell them to, will pee and poop when you don't want them to, and cry no matter what you do. The same gentle affection Paul says can be seen in the way a good mom takes care of her baby, was evident in how Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy served the Thessalonian church. In your service, does it make you angry when things or people don't go along with your plans? “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,” (1 Thess. 2:8 ESV). Can the people we serve tell that we care for them? Do they know that we are her to share our very lives with them?

Not for ease or comfort (v9)

“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,” (1 Thess. 2:9 ESV). Paul uses similar words here as he used in 1:3 to describe the way that love for Jesus was obviously motivating the Thessalonians to good works, and really hard work for others (that's the nuance behind the words, "labour" and "toil" here). And the missionaries knew that those new Christians could also see the way they worked so hard on behalf of the people they had come to serve. There were times when Paul asked churches for what he needed. But especially in places where critics might question his motives, he worked hard so that he covered his own expenses and provided his own basic needs. The words "night and day" show that in order not to burden the Thessalonians, the missionaries put in very long hours in addition to their ministry in Thessalonica.

Not as a cover for wrong-doing (v10)

“You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers,” (1 Thess. 2:10 ESV). Paul calls the Thessalonians to the stand, as witnesses, to testify to the fact that the conduct of the three missionaries toward the church while in Thessalonica was "righteous and blameless". Then he calls God Himself to the stand, to testify that their conduct had been holy with respect to God's Law. The point of calling on the Thessalonians and on God as witnesses, is not to say they were perfect and without sin, but to say that they did not hide anything from God, and that they did not try to hide any wrong-doing from the Thessalonians either. The opposite of this transparent integrity is to pretend to be something we aren't--to be hypocrites, afraid of what we’ll lose if people see what we’re really like.

Not for selfish interests (vv11-12)

“For you know how, like a father with his children,  12 we exhorted each one 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,”  (1 Thess. 2:11-12 ESV). Just as the picture of a nursing mother is opposite to being power-hungry, the picture of a father training his children is opposite to selfish irresponsibility. Paul calls on his readers in Thessalonica to remember how they exhorted "each one of you"--trying to persuade them of the right way to live; how they encouraged them--helping them to overcome their fears that might undermine service to God; how they "charged" them, carefully instructing them on how to live their lives in such a way that God would be honoured by their countrymen who saw their right living, witnessed their courage, and wondered at the change they saw in these people they had known their whole lives. Man-boys, fathers who still act like boys, are not a 21st century invention. Good dads, like these faithful missionaries who planted that church in Thessalonica, will give up wealth, glory, power, comfort, and image, to do whatever is needed to help their children walk in such a way that on that day when you each take your last steps in this life, those steps will continue on in the Kingdom of your God and Saviour who has called you. At the end of chapter one, Paul encouraged these new believers to keep on waiting for our Saviour, Jesus, to come again. Now in verse 12 the courage he wants us to discover is not just to do nothing, but to journey on to the Kingdom of the King who is waiting for us. And to serve Him with all our strength, all the days we have left.

Service, and good works, are good gifts, but terrible gods. Jesus Christ, on the other hand, calls us to share His inheritance: He owns the whole Universe, all glory belongs to Him, His power is infinite, in His presence there is pleasure and comfort forever, and we never need to hide who we are from Him ever again. All His gifts are good, and so He is a wonderful God to serve. It wasn’t for nothing that these men preached God’s Gospel in Thessalonica; it wasn’t for nothing that the Gospel came to you when it did either.