Until He Returns || 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16
1 Thessalonians 2:1-6
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. 5 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.
NOT from error or impurity or trickery BUT approved by God, entrusted to speak God’s news.
NOT to please men BUT to please God who tests our hearts.
Motives Paul renounced:
- Impurity v5
- Money v5
- Human Praise v6
- Power (throwing weight around with demands) v6
Methods Paul renounced:
- Error (indifferent from the truth) v3
- Deceit v3
- Pleasing Men 4
- Flattery v5
1 Thessalonians 2:7-12
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. 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 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.
Homeiromenoi: Affectionately Desirous, desire earnestly, long for
1 Thessalonians 2:8
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.
Shared Gospel – Life = ?
Shared Gospel – Life = suspect motives
Shared Life – Gospel = ?
Shared Life – Gospel = suspect motives
Shared Gospel + Shared Life = ?
Shared Gospel = message
Shared Gospel + Shared Life = ?
Shared Life = messenger
Shared Gospel + Shared Life = JESUSs
TO SHARE THE GOSPEL IS TO SHARE LIFE – TO SHARE LIFE IS TO SHARE THE GOSPEL.
1 Thessalonians 2:13-14
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,.
2 Corinthians 8:1-5
And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.