This week's Bible study will be 1st Thessalonians chapter two

Better to Please God Than Other People

[1^st Thessalonians chapter 2]

Last week when we concluded chapter one of 1^st Thessalonians, the apostle Paul was telling the church that “your faith in God has become known everywhere”. You will also recall that I urged all of you to live the same way. Today as we move on to chapter two, Paul continues his commentary regarding the evidently unshakable faith of the Thessalonian church. There are, however, a couple of differences between the apostle Paul's description of his ministry at that time and that of many modern churches. With that in mind, let's plunge into 1^st Thessalonians chapter two in search of Spiritual treasure.

“You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his Gospel in spite of strong opposition. For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel. We are not trying to please men but to please God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed – God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the Gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. Surely you remember, brothers, 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.” (1st Thessalonians chapter two, verses 1-9, NIV)

“... with the help of our God we dared to tell you his Gospel in spite of strong opposition.” How many of us are doing this today? I run into this sort of thing all the time when I try and share my Christian faith. Sometimes I get grief from the atheists, other times from the Muslims or those who fancy themselves as mystics and “healers”. I do not let this bother me, in fact I have gotten used to it. When it comes to ministry, I have learned to accept this fact of life as going with the territory. But I dare not back down because of the teachings of Christ when He said, “If anyone is ashamed of me and neglects to make mention of me, I will not mention their name to my Father who is in heaven”. If there is anyone who professes belief in Jesus and yet is reticent to talk about their faith, then the faith of that individual immediately becomes superficial at best, and counterfeit at its worst. Nobody wants to be like that.

“We are not trying to please men but to please God, who tests our hearts.” The apostles didn't care about rejection or being ostracized for their beliefs. On the contrary, it made them more bold and determined than ever to get the Gospel to the masses for whom it was intended. Again, we as faithful Christians must busy ourselves with telling as many people as we can about Christ and how He transforms people's entire lives. This doesn't mean you must transform yourself into a Billy Graham, T. D. Jakes or anyone else. However, the apostle Paul does tell them one thing they shouldn't do. “You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed – God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from men...”. How many others besides myself does this look familiar to? Plenty, I would think. Putting on a mask to cover up greed was evidently already occurring in Paul's day, and today it is more prevalent than ever. I see this stuff on Christian TV all the time, which is why I only watch maybe 10 percent of what's available. The rest of it is a bunch of junk as far as I'm concerned, not counting what's on cable or satellite TV. For example, there is mention in the four gospels of forgiveness when Peter asked Jesus, “If my brother sins against me how many times should I forgive them? Up to seven times?” Jesus replied, “Up to seventy times seven”. In this case the topic is forgiveness, but that's not how they teach it in these “money churches”, as my own pastor calls them. “Sow a generous seed of seventy dollars and God will reimburse you for up to seventy times that amount. So, if there is anyone here this morning in need of a financial miracle, donate 70 dollars and God will return back to you up to $4,900.00, donate $1,000.00 and God will give you $70,000.00”, and so on. These “ministers” are taking the Word of God completely out of context and they are twisting and warping it to satisfy their intense desire for donations, the majority of which they view as profits as if their churches were businesses instead of houses of worship! In my opinion, the hottest places in hell are going to reserved for these practitioners of spiritual sophistry, who think they can manipulate God's Word for their own aggrandizement. So if you find yourself in a church that is teaching this kind of junk, get out of there immediately or you will find yourself condemned with the rest of those folks.

“As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children... Surely you remember, brothers, 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.” So here we see that, unlike modern churches, Paul and his co-workers worked full-time day jobs and then held their services at night, probably just after dinner. The pastor at the church I attend works as a professor at a local college here in Atlanta where I live, in addition to his duties as pastor. But unfortunately this seems to be the exception rather than the rule in much of modern Christianity. “What, me work (they would say)? I don't have to work, I already serve the Lord!” These kinds of people, and I do encounter one once in a while, are in the ministry for all the wrong reasons. All they want is a nice, easy paycheck with minimal effort on their part. Speaking as a minister and as an ambassador for Christ, these folks will get their devil's due when their shallow and pathetic lives are over. It is these kinds of individuals that are already prophesied against by Christ in the book of Revelation, as it is written, “I wish that you were either hot or cold. But because you are neither, you are only lukewarm instead, and therefore I will spit you out of my mouth.” Need I say more? And now let's conclude today's study starting at verse 10.

“You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. And we also thank God continually because, when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the Word of God, which is at work in you who believe. For you, brothers, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men 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. But brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time (in person but not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. For we wanted to come to you – certainly I, Paul, did, again and again – but Satan stopped us. For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which they will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.” (1 Thessalonians 2, verses 10-20, NIV)

“For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God...”. There is an incorrect teaching circulating among quite a few modern churches of all denominations: “God is good all the time – all the time, God is good”. Oftentimes this can be and most certainly is true. But what about the times in life when things turn out badly? The loss of a job, the breakup of a marriage, the loss of one's home due to foreclosure, business failures or the onset of disability, disease or even early death – all these things are hard but necessary facts of life that we must all deal with at one time or another during our daily living. Does God want these things to happen to us, then? Absolutely not! But there are many times when God uses personal tragedy or devastating loss to make us stronger and to help build our character. I would equate this with raising children, for example. Do we allow our children to do whatever they please and to run wild? Of course not, on the contrary, we teach our kids that life has limits and boundaries that they should not cross because it's in their own best interest. So it is with God's children, which is why this portion of Scripture is such an excellent example of how God wants us to live our lives.

“... when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the Word of God, which is at work in you who believe.” Beware of false “prophets”, “apostles”, “bishops”, etc. They “preach” the gospel as if they have this direct channel to God exclusively to themselves. Nothing could be further from the truth because there is no such thing! They also teach the wrong things as I have already described. No one has exclusive rights to God's Word, but instead we all share equal access. Christ died on the cross and rose again on the morning of the third day for all of us, and His salvation is spread equally among us. “You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews... 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.” This is what it meant back then – and still means today – to be a Christian in many parts of the world. It is a documented fact that more Christians were put to death for their faith in the 20^th century than in all the previous 19 centuries combined. Moreover, what will 21^st century Christians do when the antichrist comes to power sometime in the next year or two – certainly well before the end of this decade? The Bible is absolutely clear about this. Anyone who refuses to accept the “mark of the beast” from the antichrist, or who refuses to worship his image, will be put to death, and that will include the entire world. Meaning – religious persecution of Christians here in the US will become a fact of life soon after the antichrist steps suddenly onto the world stage. In Christian terms, this will be the “acid test” of our faith. People will be put to death for professing unwavering faith in Jesus Christ, they will not be able to work or to buy anything, and many will face starvation as a result. I wonder how many of the religious establishment and their dependable church goers will be able to hold up under the strain of the antichrist's rule? There will be quite a shakeout over this, you can be sure about that. So in closing for today, and to come full circle, will we get along just to get along, or will we stand firm? Remember what Paul wrote, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. Only by focusing on Jesus can we be made strong enough to stand up under the coming religious persecution. Set your sights on Him and he will lead you in the way in which we should all go.