Paul Defends Himself: Sermon: 1 Thessalonians 2 and 3

TLDR: Video Link

Background:

Paul had traveled to the city of Thessalonica after being beaten and imprisoned in Phillipi.  You can read in the book of Acts, when in Phillipi, Paul and Silas had released a fortune teller girl from demonic possession and her masters were enraged and they beat Paul and SIlas with rods in the marketplace, humiliating them, then they were thrown in a dungeon called the Tullainium where the worst criminals were kept, their feet in stocks that stretch the prisoners feet apart, causing severe pain.  Did they give up?  Did they say, oh we must not be in the Will of God? No, an earthquake during the night broke open the jail, they stopped and witnessed to the jailer helping him and his family come to Christ, and they were released.  This is when they went to Thessalonica.

In Thessalonica, it’s important to understand the type of place this is.  It’s like a political rally with all the parties vying for attention on every street-corner and in the marketplace.  It’s a place of debate but also a place filled with charlatans and liars looking for a quick buck.  Paul goes straight to the synagogue and starts spreading the Gospel from there.  After the church is established he is chased out of town by Jews who follow him to cause trouble for him in the towns he spreads the Gospel to, but her hears word from the Thessalonians and it appears that he is being slandered in the streets and in the synagogue back in Thessalonica as well and he needs to defend himself.  So, I would say this is the way a Christian should defend themself.

Here we go:

1 You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. 2 We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. 3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness.

An interesting side not here is that verse 5 was used by people during the COVID pandemic to say the bible says not to wear a mask! However you feel about masking and the pros and cons thereof, this verse really isn’t talking about that.  In Thessalonica there was a thriving theatre scene done by the greeks, where the actors would wear masks pretending to be people they were not.  This was lucrative and was seen as lying to get money and therefore greedy.  No doubt this was a slander that was being used against Paul so he is referencing it here saying we were not pretending to have good news, we weren’t just looking for a payday.  

6 We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. 7 Instead, we were like young children among you.

Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. 9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. 

Here’s something I often wonder about mega-churches.  There are churches out there with 11 campuses and the head pastor is up on the big screen in the front of the churches being streamed to all 11 locations.  I have no doubt that these megachurch pastors have worked extremely hard to build their churches, they study and plan putting in a lot of work on their sermons, however, they become celebrities and even if it isn’t their goal there is a separation between them and their people, sometimes a large separation, they will get praise from their people.  With that separation there is a danger.  People don’t really know you.  You don’t have to be a mega-church pastor for this to be your problem.  Do you let people get to know you?  Here’s a good test of whether  you let people know you: If there was an accusation wrongly squared against you, how many people would stand up for you and say “no, he wouldn't do that.  I know him!”?  Paul here says, we were like children among you, and as a nursing mother cares for her children so we cared for you… we shared with you not only the Gospel of God, but our lives as well.  Paul let these people really know him, he realy lived along side them.  He let them know him closely.

10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

Imagine if Paul or you or I just kept to ourselves and didn’t really get involved in life with others, when we are slandered unjustly we wouldn’t have a defense because no one really knows us.  They say that you are sleeze-bag and if I don’t really know you that well then I will be like, oh, maybe they are a sleeze-bag, but if you really lived with me and toiled with me day in and day out, not asking anything from me but giving sacrificially, when accused, you have a real friend that will stand and say no, I really know him and you can’t say that about him! 

If you’ve done things all along that have been caring, helpful, and sacrificial, then you have a response to the one who slanders you.  Now, if you actually were a bit of a sleeze-bag and they slander you calling you a sleeze-bag then I can’t help you.  It’s a great reason to not be a sleeze-bag.  Attacks on you will just roll off… sin opens you up to slander because it happens to be true.  Not for Paul, he was following the Lord in his conduct so now he can remind them of that when accusations are being made against him.

13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. 

The Holy Spirit is SO IMPORTANT in your spreading of the Gospel.  You must understand that the words that you share with people, the Good News must NOT be words that come from you, but words that come from the Lord.  Be led by the Holy Spirit in your conversations because that is the only thing that really pierces through the defenses people put up and hits in a way that is effective to make disciples, imitators of God… people who are willing to suffer for the gospel … words that really speak to the heart from the Holy Spirit.

14 For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews 15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone 16 in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.

Whenever Paul brings up the Jews killing the Lord Jesus and his prophets it makes me wonder how hard it is for him to write these words and what power they have for him personally.  In Acts 7, Stephen’s sermon, right before Stephen is stoned to death before the Sanhedrin he says to the Jews: 

52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

They dragged him out at hearing this and stoned him to death… and they laid their cloaks at the feet of young man named Saul… who later became Paul.  Before Paul’s conversion he had witnessed what happened to Stephen when he said this about the Jews and now Paul was saying exactly the same thing.

Pray for the Holy Spirit: Grant us the words from your Holy Spirit, not because they will make anything easy… but because they are the only words that are true.

17 But, brothers and sisters, when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. 18 For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan blocked our way. 19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? 20 Indeed, you are our glory and joy.

He was being accused of not wanting to come back to visit them but he really did want to return.  He holds up the people that are saved as his glory and joy.  It reminds me of the picture in Revelations of the elders with crowns throwing their crowns at the feet of Jesus on His Throne.  The crowns are the people that Jesus has saved through your work.  For Paul, the Thessalonians were his crown.  And, in verse 18 there is that phrase Satan blocked our way.  What a fascinating phrase! I guess my encouragement for you if you think Satan is blocking your way would be, then if Satan doesn’t want you going that way then it must be the best way to go! 

3:1 So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. 2 We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 3 so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. 5 For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain.

Paul is being super-honest here.  I was getting worried because I know how it is there so I’m sending Timothy, which is a sacrifice for us, he helps us a lot.  I’m sending Timothy to strengthen and encourage you in the faith and to remind you of the truth because I know the Jews there are telling lies about us.

6 But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. 7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. 8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. 9 How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? 10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.

Do you follow the example of Paul?  We need to pray for those that have been affected by our ministry.  We need to continually thank God for the opportunities to share Christ with others that He has given us.  We need to long to see them again so that we can build them up.  Don’t get complacent.  Don’t forget.  Pray that you would see them again.  That you would have the opportunity again to supply what is lacking in their faith.

Here is part of Paul’s prayer.  Can we each pray this for people we’ve witnessed to, people who have accepted Christ, people who are going to in the future?  Just like we’ve seen in our prayer series recently, we can pray scripture.

11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. 12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

I hope I’ve given you something useful today.  We are asked to make disciples of all nations.  And, that’s not an easy road.  There will be slanderers.  There will be tribulations.  Being above reproach and being in community sharing your life and not being a sleeze-bag will protect you from that slander when it happens.  But, longing to build those Christians up, to sacrifice for them, to serve them and to pray for them will sustain you in your ministry til the Lord comes again.  And, He is coming again.  Amen.