The Gospel in Skin - 2022-08-07

“The Gospel in Skin”

1 Thess. 2:1-8

Message #3 in 1 Thess. Series

McEwen Bible Fellowship

7 August 2022

INTRODUCTION:

The Bible says that all of divinity was in Jesus. He was God in a physical, human body. The apostle Paul says it this way in Colossians 2:9, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” And you will remember that when His disciples asked Jesus to let them see the Father, He told them, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. I and my Father are one.” John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh, and He made His dwelling among us.” The theological term for that event is “the Incarnation” of Christ. Jesus is God Incarnate. Our word “incarnate” comes directly from the Latin word incarnatus, which means, “in flesh.” So, Jesus was God in flesh, clothed in human skin. All that God is, was clearly visible in Jesus.

But there is a second kind of incarnation that the Bible talks about. When we trust in Christ as Saviour and Lord He comes into our heart, our mind, and our life and He abides in us. John 15 explains this abiding relationship in detail. But to summarize, we are to be Jesus incarnate in the same way that He was God Incarnate. We are Christ’s hands and feet. We are His eyes and mouth. When people see us, they should be able to see Jesus. When they hear us speak, they should be able to hear Jesus speaking. When they experience compassion from us, they should know that it is Jesus’ love and compassion flowing through us. We are called to be Jesus in flesh, Jesus incarnate.

TRANSITION:

By way of review and to put today’s study in context, listen again to Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10: You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word [i.e., the truth of the Gospel] in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, ⁷ so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.  ⁸ For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything.  ⁹ For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to SERVE a living and true God, ¹⁰ and to WAIT for His Son from Heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.

So, according to verses 9 and 10 what are we Christians supposed to be doing?

Answer = loyally serving God while patiently awaiting Christ’s return.

MAIN BODY:

Verse 1: For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, 

·        Here Paul refers to the back story of what occurred when Paul, Silas, and Timothy first carried the Gospel to the city of Thessaloniki, as recorded in Acts 17.

·        The word “vain” today is most often used to mean “selfish, full of one’s self-importance” (e.g., Carly Simon’s song, “Your so vain, you prob’ly think this song is about you…”) However, Paul here uses the term to mean, “empty, hollow, fruitless, without effect.” His point is that the Gospel did bear fruit in Thessaloniki, and the recipients of this letter are proof of that wonderful harvest. God’s Word never returns void—it always has effect; it always returns a harvest. God Himself makes this claim in Isaiah 55:10-11, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,  ¹¹ so is My Word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”  

Verse 2:  but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the Gospel of God amid much opposition. 

·        Again, here Paul simply tells it like it was. They were very badly treated in Philippi. They did time in jail there. They were publicly flogged and held without trial. They were accused of sedition and stirring up a movement against the Roman authorities, which was totally false. After all that, any sane person would have given up and caught the first boat out of there headed toward Jerusalem.

·        However, Paul and Silas and Timothy were not normal. They were filled with zeal for God, and with a holy boldness to share the Good News with anyone who would listen. They took the Great Commission personally and responded without question to the Spirit’s clear direction to preach the Gospel in Thessaloniki. So, despite the opposition, they did not do the “normal” thing, but pressed on to accomplish their mission. 

Verse 3: For our exhortation does not come from error, or impurity, or by way of deceit. 

·        “For our exhortation…” This word is the Greek noun paráklesis, related to the more familiar word, parákletos used to describe the Holy Spirit, our “Paraclete,” our Advocate and Comforter, who comes alongside to help us in our time of need. Both words come from the Greek verb, “parakaléo,” which means “to call one alongside to help, to entreat, to urge.”

·        Here Paul is talking about the appeal that he and his two fellow ministers made to their listeners in Thessaloniki to respond to the Gospel, to come alongside them and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thus be saved. He is talking about the invitations they gave to the evangelistic sermons they preached, urging people to believe in Jesus as their Saviour and to follow Him as their Lord.

·        Then he delves into their motivation in making such an appeal. He says that they did not do it out of trickery, or to pick up girls, or to get rich. The New Living Translation puts it this way: “So you can see that we were not preaching with any deceit or impure purposes or trickery.” People often accused Paul and his colleagues of having impure or at least mixed motives for preaching the Gospel. So, to not leave any room for misunderstanding or misinterpretation they went out of their way to lead an exemplary life and to give no one any grounds to point a finger at them. They took seriously the command of Scripture recorded in 1 Tim. 3:2 that an elder must be “above reproach.” This is an interesting Greek phrase literally meaning “without handles.” We are to live in such a way that no one can find a handle to accuse us, meaning a fault in our life where they can grab hold and make an accusation of sinfulness or impropriety. No one is perfect but Christians and especially leaders should make every effort to live honestly, honourably, and transparently, with an emphasis on sexual purity, integrity, and personal holiness.

Verse 4: but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. 

·        Look at this phrase… “approved by God.” It was particularly important to Paul to know that he had been approved by God. He lived his life for an audience of One. The approval of men is nice, but the approval of God is far better. The approval of men is fleeting and always comes at a high price; but the approval of God brings health to the soul and courage in the face of danger. In 2 Corinthians 2:17 he wrote: “Unlike so many, we do not peddle the Word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as men sent from God.” Later, Paul wrote to Timothy these words recorded in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”

·        Then look at the next phrase in verse 4, “entrusted with the Gospel.” To be entrusted with something implies that the “something” is of great value. Brinks Security Company is one of the foremost security companies in the United States. To get a job with them as a guard, a driver, or as a warehouse worker you must jump through quite a few hoops. That is because they protect other people’s money and valuables. To work for Brinks, you must go through a rigorous background check like the one police departments require for potential officers. You also must be bonded. This means the company guarantees that you are honest and can be trusted to protect their clients’ money and valuable documents. It is a guarantee that affirms that you have been vetted and approved.

·        Paul never got over the fact that despite the bad things he had done in the past as a persecutor of the Church, Christ had forgiven him and saved him and then entrusted the Gospel to him to carry to the Gentiles. He spoke of this often. Come with me for a short stroll through Paul’s writings:

Ø  1 Corinthians 9:16-17, “When I preach the Gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel! If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.”                                

Ø  Galatians 2:7, “…but on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the Gospel to the uncircumcised (i.e., the Gentiles), just as Peter with the Gospel to the circumcised (i.e., the Jews).”

Ø  Where Paul really develops this concept is in his two letters to Timothy. In 1 Timothy 1:11 we read, “…according to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.”

Ø  2 Timothy 1:14, “Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”

Ø  2 Timothy 2:2, “And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”

·        In the last part of verse 4 of our text Paul makes it clear that his purpose in life was to please God, whether men approved or not. We can fool people. We can lead people on so that they believe we are holy and spiritual. But God knows the truth. We cannot shine Him on and pull the wool over His eyes. The Bible says, “Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.”  Paul wanted to please God by having correct behaviour operating out of right motives.

Verse 5: For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. 

·        Paul was an articulate and expert speaker. He was fluent in probably five or six languages, maybe more (Aramaic, Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Assyrian, Arabic). He was well-educated in the finest Rabbinic schools. He was a student of Gamaliel, one of the most respected rabbis of that time. He was a Roman citizen, born to a noble family.  Had he chosen to do so Paul could have come across in a very impressive way. However, he made every effort to present the Gospel without a hint of pride or manipulation. He makes this point beautifully in his testimony given in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of [human] wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” 

Verse 6:  …nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority.

·        If you try and live your life to get glory from men, you will find yourself on a treadmill going nowhere. Think about it, if you could get glory from every human on earth, where would that take you in the end? It might get you a couple of statues in the park and maybe a footnote in a history book. Big deal! The praise of men is fickle and very fleeting. Look at how many get their 15 minutes of fame only to slink back off into the darkness of obscurity and public forgetfulness, never to be heard from again.

·        In passing Paul observes that they did not use any kind of leverage to gain an advantage or to manipulate people. They did not lead from their position as apostles (i.e., messengers sent from God). Rather, they led by example. They had authority but they did not use it, they did not rely on it. 

Verse 7:  But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.

·        This is the first of two powerful word pictures that Paul uses to describe his and his colleagues’ relationship to the Thessalonian Christians. [N.B. The second word picture is in verse 11, which we will look at in our next study.] Paul reminds the folks that when his team arrived in Thessaloniki, they were gentle, the way a nursing mother tenderly cares for her infant. You know what he means. We have all seen nursing mothers cradling their babies in their arms while they nurse. They do it with gentleness and love.

·        Paul and his colleagues did not cram the Gospel down people’s throats. They did not beat them down with theological arguments. They did not resort to high-sounding words and grand oratory. They simply shared about who Jesus was and what He had done in their lives. There are two ways to get a horse to drink: (1) You can stick a hose down his throat and pour water into his stomach through a funnel; or (2) You can feed him salt. Paul and his buddies gave their salty testimonies, and shared their salty lives, and preached the salty Gospel, and presented a salty Saviour. Then they simply pointed people to the One who is the Fount of Living Water. It works every time!

·        Evangelism was described by Bill Bright as… “¹ Taking the initiative to ² share Christ ³ in the power of the Holy Spirit, ⁴ leaving the results up to God.” That is what Paul, and his co-laborers did—with gentleness, respect, and love.

Verses 8: Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the Gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. 

·        Here we come to an enormously powerful and instructive verse, for it holds the three-fold key to successful evangelism:

1.      First, he speaks of the positive attitude he and the others felt toward the Thessalonians. They liked them. They enjoyed being with them. They saw them as friends, not enemies. They were not threatened by them. They did not feel embarrassed to hang out with them. They did things together. They shared their lives, their thoughts, and their dreams and forged genuine friendships. Paul states his feelings twice in the verse: “…having so fond an affection for you,” and “…you had become very dear to us.” Perhaps you are thinking, “Yea, they felt that way after the people became Christians, but surely not before.” But look at the verse again. Paul does not say that. In fact, he says, “We liked you so much that we not only shared the Gospel with you but our personal lives as well.” You will never be effective in sharing your Christian faith if you are fearful or standoffish of non-Christian people. Jesus was a true “friend of sinners.” We must be too.

2.     Secondly, they shared the Gospel, the pure Gospel. They did not water it down and they did not try to dress it up. They gave it straight. The Gospel message is simple, although not simplistic. It is easy to understand if we do not muddy up the water and add stuff to it. Even a child can understand the Gospel and respond to the love of God.

3.     Thirdly, they shared their lives with the people, not just their message. The people accepted the Good News because first Paul and his buddies were good news. That is so important! We must win the right to be heard. We must earn credibility. The best salesmen are those who genuinely like people, who trust their product, and who are totally transparent. The same is true for witnesses. If we want to lead people to Jesus, we must be willing to let people get close enough to us to find out if we are for real. 

CONCLUSION:

The church I pastored in Portland for 20 years adopted a simple mission statement that said: “Our mission is to reach people for Christ and help believers grow to be like Him.” Paul and his buddies would have agreed with that mission statement. But more importantly, they were practicing it, every day! When they went to Thessaloniki their first goal was to win some people to Jesus. Their second goal was to help those people begin to grow in their newfound faith toward spiritual maturity and Christlikeness.

It is not enough for a church to have a great, well-worded, clear, concise, understandable mission statement. If we are not doing it, then what good is it? May God build a fire under us to be about His business of winning souls and building His Kingdom. Amen.