BONUS POST: April 14. 1 Thessalonians 2. Reginald James
Trust the Message
1 Thes 2:1-6
The apostle had no worldly design in his preaching. The gospel of Christ first met with much opposition; and it was preached with contention, with striving in preaching, and against opposition. And as the matter of the apostle’s exhortation was true and pure, the manner of his speaking was without guilt. The gospel of Christ is designed for mortifying corrupt affections, and that men may be brought under the power of faith. This is the great motive to sincerity, to consider that God not only sees all we do, but knows our thoughts far off, and searches the heart. The evidence of Paul’s sincerity was: he avoided flattery and covetousness, and he avoided ambition and vainglory.
1 Thessalonians 2:2 refers to the imprisonment and abuse that he had received at Philippi (Acts 16:16-40). There were, no doubt, those in Thessalonica who said that this man Paul had a police record, that he was nothing less than a criminal on the run from justice and that obviously no one should listen to a man like that. A really malignant mind will twist anything into slander.
Thessalonians 2:3
It was being said that Paul's preaching came from sheer delusion. A really original man will always run the risk of being called mad. Festus thought that Paul was mad in later days (Acts 26:24). There was a time when Jesus' friends came and tried to take him home because they thought that he was mad (Mark 3:21). The Christian standards can be so different from the standards of the world that he who follows them with a single mind and a burning enthusiasm can appear to other men to be off his head.
1 Thessalonians 2:4 indicates that Paul was accused of seeking to please men rather than to please God. No doubt that rose from the fact that he preached the liberty of the gospel and the freedom of grace as against the slavery of legalism. There are always people who do not think that they are being religious unless they are being unhappy; and any man who preaches a gospel of joy will find his slanderers, which is exactly what happened to Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 2:5 and 1 Thessalonians 2:9 both indicate that there were those who said that Paul was in this business of preaching the gospel for what he could get out of it. The word used for flattery (kolakeia, Greek ) always describes the flattery whose motive is gain. The trouble in the early Church was that there were people who did attempt to cash in on their Christianity.
1 Thessalonians 2:6 indicates that Paul was accused of seeking personal prestige. It is the preacher's constant danger that he should seek to display himself and not the message. In 1 Thessalonians 1:5, there is a suggestive thing. Paul does not say, "I came to you." He says, "Our gospel came to you." The man was lost in his message.
1 Thessalonians 2:7 indicates that Paul was charged with being something of a dictator. His gentleness was that of a wise father. His was the love that knew how to be firm. To him Christian love was no easy sentimental thing; he knew that men needed discipline, not for their punishment but for the good of their souls.
1 Thessalonians 2:17-20
This world is not a place where we are to be always, or long together. In heaven, holy souls shall meet, and never part more. And though the apostle could not come to them yet, and though he might never be able to come, yet our Lord Jesus Christ will come; nothing shall hinder that. May God give faithful ministers to all who serve him with their spirit in the gospel of his Son, and send them to all who are in darkness.
To the Thessalonians, the Christian faith had brought not peace but trouble. Their newfound loyalty had involved them in persecution. Paul's method of encouraging them is very interesting. It is in effect to say to them,
"Brothers, we are treading
Where the saints have trod."
Their persecution was a badge of honor which entitled them to rank with the picked regiments of the army of Christ.
But the great interest of this passage is that in 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 Paul draws up a kind of catalog of the errors and the sins of the Jews.
They killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets. When God's messengers came to them they eliminated them. One of the grim things about the gospel narrative is the intensity with which the leaders of the Jews sought to get rid of Jesus before he could do any more damage. They persecuted the Christians. Although they themselves refused to accept the message of Christ, they might have allowed others to listen to it and, if they wished, to accept it.
Let man always remember that there are more ways to heaven than one, and let him keep himself from intolerance. They did not try to please God. The question men have too often asked is, "What do I think?" instead of, "What does God say? We have to stay focused on God and trust the message.