Well, if you've been following, we're in the book of First Thessalonians, and what an amazing book, a little book, uh, so applicable to what is going on in our church right now. Today we're in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12, and it's page 1089 and 1090 in the blue Bibles that are in the pews. All of you should be able to follow along because we got a new shipment of large print. I find that the printing keeps on getting smaller and smaller as I get older and older.
But if you would follow along, today's message is called "We Must Share Our Own Souls, Not Just Information." As you could tell from the board, we're in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12, and please read along with me.
Paul's Ministry to the Thessalonians
"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. 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. 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."
This is the word of the Lord.
At first blush, you may read this and pass right over it and say there's a lot of stuff going on there. Why has he got such an attitude? And what happened? We're going to look into it, and we're going to study it, and we're going to go deep on it, and we're going to pull out what God's message is for us today because I think God is trying to show us a vision of what the future looks like for us in Nanticoke.
Nanticoke PM Church exists only by the grace of God and for the glory of God. Amen. As Romans 11:36 says, "From him, through him, and to him are all things. To him be glory forever and ever." Therefore, we can best describe the three priorities of our church like this:
We exist to reflect the grace of God back to him in worship to his glory, just as that song just showed us.
We exist to apply the grace of God to each other for our upbuilding of faith and love to the glory of God.
We exist to extend the grace of God to unbelievers for the ingathering of the elect from every tongue and tribe and people and nation to the glory of God.
That is such a huge amount in those three, but simple enough that it clearly is the priorities of our church and what we were called to do. In other words, we exist to be stewards of God's manifold grace, to minister it in such a way in worship and nurture and evangelism so that he gets all the glory. That's basically what it means.
Today we're going to focus on these 12 verses. We're going to focus on the second priority in those three, namely the application of God's grace to other believers for their upbuilding in faith and love. This covers all that we do to each other in the church. It's a huge topic, but I'm only going to touch a small bit, but it's very important. The part that I'm going to touch is the most important part of it.
I want us to think together about sharing our souls. That's the part that I want to talk about today. We can share the gospel, we can share the truth, we can share the Bible, we can have Bible studies, we can share our testimony, but what Paul is stressing here is the only way for us to take the glory and give it to God, take the grace that he gives to us, is to share our souls. Because heaven came down, and glory filled my soul. God's glory filled my soul. God's grace saved me, and that affected my soul for all eternity. That's what I need to share—I need to share my soul.
So I invite you today to consider Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12. And you might think that Paul had an edge to him, like, why is he talking with this tone? The reason Paul writes the way he does here is because he has taken the witness stand as a defendant. You can hear the accusations of his opponents just beneath the surface.
In verse 3, he says, "Our appeal does not spring from error or uncleanness; it is not made with guile." And then in verse 4, "God has entrusted us with the gospel; we do not speak to please men." And then in verse 5, "We never flattered; we never coveted anyone's money." And then in verse 6, "We did not seek any man's praise." And then in verse 9, "We worked night and day and burdened nobody." And then in verse 10, "You and God are witnesses—our behavior was holy and righteous and blameless." These are the words of a defendant. He has been slandered.
Luke tells us in Acts 17:5 that when Paul planted the church in Thessalonica, the Jews were jealous and set the city in an uproar. It doesn't take much imagination to guess what they were saying. And of course, their aim is not so much to discredit Paul as to discredit the message and the apparent work of God among the new Thessalonian believers. That was undermining to everything that they had created. The Thessalonians had experienced something powerful, and it is real, and the unbelieving Jews were in trouble.
Here's an application question: Do you think that this could happen to us? Do you think that as we go out and we start sharing our souls and our experiences and our testimony, and we start telling people what's going on here, and we start showing it on Facebook, and we start bringing them into our Bible study on the book of Acts, and we start inviting them to the men's dinner, even if they don't come here to the church, and they start seeing what's going on, do you think that this very thing could happen to us as we strive to bring renewal and revitalization to our town?
You bet there will be naysayers—not because people are mean or evil-spirited, but because Satan is crafty and will try to sow seeds of dissent among us and our community. He will sow seeds of dissent between us in the complication and the chaos of sorting through some of the issues that are presented to us. Doing what we do is going to require everybody in unity, to everybody carry a piece and to blend in. There will be disputes. Satan will use us against ourselves. Satan will use the community against what we're trying to do for the community. People don't like change, and they're intimidated by what's happening in the hearts and the souls of the people who are giving their life to Christ here.
When we have Baptism Sunday, and we have four people, or we have seven people get baptized, not everybody's going to look at that as something positive. Family members that are not believers or family members that believe a different doctrine may have trouble with that, and believe me, Satan will run a reel in their mind that will try to cause dissent because what we're doing is spectacular for God's kingdom.
Paul was down in Athens, a couple of hundred miles away, and he hears from Timothy what is happening back in Thessalonica only weeks after he had been there. He's like, what is going on? What is Satan doing there? Basically, it's simple—he wants to keep people separated from God, so he's going to tell them anything and guide them towards sowing seeds of dissent.
So he writes this letter, not so much to defend himself, though that is part of it, but to defend the truth of the believers' election. We talked about election last week. Verse 4 in chapter 1 is the main point of the first two chapters: "We know, brethren beloved by God, that he has chosen you." That was the crucial issue. Had they really been chosen by God? Do they really have eternal security? Are they chosen by God to be his elect, to live for all eternity in heaven with him?
Paul says, you are. And now he leaves, and now the big crucial question is, have they really been chosen by God? Do you ever feel that way? Do you ever feel like sometimes, I do the same things I've always done. Why is it that if I'm saved, and I'm in the midst of being sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and I have the Holy Spirit in me, am I really chosen? Am I really elect? Am I really saved? Am I really empowered by the Holy Spirit to do all things together for God? Can I focus my attention on things that are pure and righteous and just and heavenly and eternal instead of focusing on things that are worldly and just pleasurable to the flesh?
Well, this is what their question was, so Paul writes to confirm their calling and election by God. His argument is tailored to the situation. He aims to vindicate himself and Timothy as utterly truthful and reliable witnesses of the gospel. If people can't pick apart the truth of the gospel, they'll pick apart the people that are preaching the gospel. We have to be ready for that. We have to be ready for resistance.
And he aims to remind them of the evidences in their own lives, as we will have to remind people of the evidences in our own lives. If we can't walk the talk, then we will be looked at as hypocrites. If we can't live our life above reproach, if we can't tell people how the Holy Spirit has changed in us things, then they'll say, why would I ever? It's a program of attraction. He aims to remind them of the evidences in their own lives that God had indeed chosen and saved them from their sin and delivered them from the wrath to come. It doesn't mean we walk perfect; it means that we walk in progress.
So his words to them were these: what you saw in us and experienced in yourselves, because that's the testimony, that's the proof. You can see that these two focuses of Paul's integrity and their newness in Christ are clear. In the first chapter that we covered last week in verses 5-6, where he says, "We know that God has chosen you." Then comes the argument: "For our gospel came to you not only in word but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake, and you became imitators of us and of the Lord."
The gospel did not fall powerless on rocky soil in Thessalonica—it flourished. And the result was that Paul and Timothy proved to be a certain kind of person, and the Thessalonians became their imitators. They shared their soul with them, and they imitated them. What kind of person does it say that they were? The kind of person who shares his own soul.
So I commend it to you as a firm and sweet truth of today's message: where the gospel flourishes, people share their own souls. So we've got to do the do to get the gets. We've got to be preaching the gospel—plus none, minus none. We need to have Bible studies for all of us together in one room, and then we need to have the gospel flourish in our hearts and in our souls. Then we won't be able to help going out and sharing what it's done for us.
So I want to ask three questions, and I want to quickly answer those questions for the remainder of our time. The three questions are this:
What is it to share your own soul?
How does the gospel cause this to happen?
Why is it important for us to do this? Can't we just do what we've always done?
1. What is it to share your own soul?
It is not just sharing the gospel. We were eager to share not only the gospel, Paul says, but also our own souls. You have not shared your own soul when you have only shared information, even the most valuable information. It is not just working hard for someone. Verse 9 says that this is part of what Paul gave of himself: "For you remember our labor and toil," he says, but this is not the heart of Paul's self-giving. Notice verse 17: well, we didn't read 17, but it'll be next. It says, "But since we were bereft, literally orphaned from you, brethren, for a short time in person, not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face." These are the words of a friend, not an employee.
The giving of his soul was not just information and not just work. When you share your soul, you let a person in to see what is really there. And here's an application question: Do you think most people are hesitant to do this, and why do you think that is? I'm not going to answer that, but keep that in mind as we go through this.
You do not conceal your true feelings about things. A shared soul is a shared passion or a shared fear or a shared guilt or a shared longing or a shared joy. Where the gospel flourishes, people share those things. They share their own souls, their joy and guilt and fear and longing and passion. They open up that way.
You can see Paul doing that in the first three chapters of this letter. In chapter 2:17, next week, he shares his great desire to see them. In verse 20, he says that they are his joy. And then once we get to chapter 3:5, he shares the intolerable burden it was in Athens, not knowing how they were doing. He says, "When I could no longer bear it, I sent that I might know your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and that our labor would be in vain." In chapter 3:7, he speaks of the comfort of his soul. In verse 10, he shares his deep longing to see them face to face. These are the things that comprise sharing your soul.
We would do well to ask whether we are writing or speaking that way to anyone. Is the gospel flourishing in your life? Are you sharing your own soul with anyone?
I have to say, typically, women are better at this than the men are. The Women's Bible Study—they sit, they talk about everything. I'm like, wow! I mean, I don't hear what people say, but I know when Hadassa tells me what she said sometimes, I'm like, you did? We meet, we get together, and she says to me, "So, what'd you guys talk about?" Nothing. "What do you mean, nothing? What did everybody say?" Nothing.
It's like when my twins used to come home from school. I'd say to Jack, "What happened at school today?" Nothing. Emily, "What happened at school today?" Oh, well, you know... that's just the way it goes.
We don't pick up the phone and say, "I just feel a little off today." Women do that. But we are getting to do that. We are going to fellowship more so that over that dinner, we are going to be telling stories. We're going to be sharing what's working for us, what's not working for us. We're going to be sharing things—believe me, there's not a series of questions or anything, so don't worry, don't not come for that—but we'll be talking about things like grades and heartburn and stuff like that. This is what he's talking about.
It takes longer for men to be comfortable enough to share those kinds of things and share our ups and downs and share our fears and joys and share our guilts. And I've learned that because I belong to a group once a month, like down in Philly, an accountability group. And I was nervous about joining this group with five other pastors. We're accountable for a series of 22 different questions that we need to ask ourselves. But when I heard other people open up and share things, and then have the reaction be, "Oh, we need to pray more for you," nobody pointed a finger, nobody judged anybody. That when other people do it, it's easier for you to do it. I look forward to that.
2. The second question was, how does the gospel cause this to happen?
How does it cause you to be open about all that? And we can see in chapter 2:7-8 at least two things that moved Paul to share his own soul with the Thessalonians.
First, when the gospel flourishes, it makes a person gentle. Verse 7 says, "We were gentle among you, like a nurse taking care of her children." The gospel imparts a nurturing spirit to those who believe. The closest thing Paul can think to describe what the gospel does to the heart when the gospel flourishes in it is the tenderheartedness of a nursing mother with her suckling child. That's how he describes it. True gospel gentleness begets a holy intimacy. It inclines the soul to share itself with other believers.
And then the second thing: when the gospel flourishes, it gives a person sweet affections and kindly feelings towards other believers. Verse 8 says, "So, being affectionately desirous of you, you had become very dear to us." We hear a lot today about love being a decision or an act towards someone or something. So you can act in a loving way even when you were feeling out of sorts with someone. Well, that's true as far as it goes, but it's not all that happens when the gospel really flourishes. The gospel causes believers to feel affection for one another.
Someone may say, well, that's just Paul's response to the gospel; he must have been an emotional sort. No, both Paul and Peter both command all Christians to experience affection for fellow Christians.
Romans 12:10 says, "Love one another with brotherly affection." This represents two Greek words: "philadelphia," which means brotherly love, and "phostoria," which means loving with strong affection. Christians should have a heart for each other, not just a dispassionate commitment to do good for each other.
And then 1 Peter 1:22 says, "Love one another earnestly from the heart." Not just love each other with dutiful deeds and decisions, but earnestly from the heart.
When the gospel flourishes, it has the same effect on the heart as a great tragedy, like a death, could have. Those of you who have ever been sick enough to think that you might be dying may know what I mean. When the world starts to pass away before your eyes, some things become extraordinarily precious, like fellow believers—even hory ones. Brothers and sisters that were annoying all of a sudden don't seem to be so annoying or frustrating or unreliable or sandpapery or callous. Somehow now, in the face of death, their abrasive oddities are turned to precious imperfections, like the torn doll or the moldy scrapbook or the crayon attic covered with dust.
Galatians 5:24 says, "Everyone who belongs to Jesus Christ has crucified the flesh." A long time ago, someone had said, "If you have trouble forgiving someone, if someone has betrayed you to the extent that you feel that you can't even pray for them—that's how deep the betrayal went—and you think of them and you just get angry and resentful." And someone said, "Imagine you saw them crossing the street, and they were hit by a car, and they were dying in the street, and you went up to them and held them in your arms. The last bit of life was left in them. Don't you think you would love on them, and all of that stuff would go right out the window? Don't you think that it just sets everything straight, and you realize what we've been tripping over is not that important?"
And I think about that all the time. I think about how this is what Paul is saying: when the gospel is flourishing in you, everybody you see is like that. They could be not here the next day, and it becomes so important to share your soul and to love on them.
And so where the gospel flourishes, people live in the constant presence of death and resurrection. Their minds and their hearts return again and again to the terrible and wonderful realities of death and life. And so we live on the brink of eternity, and we look at each other with a kind of constant wistfulness, and there arises in our hearts again and again the sweet affections of some long farewell or some wonderful reunion. Where the gospel flourishes, there are sweet affections and kindly feelings for our comrades in the cause of Christ. And where there are sweet affections, people are sharing their own souls.
3. The third question: Why is this important?
The gospel humility of a shared soul gives great glory to God—that's the point of it. The gospel freedom of a shared soul gives help to the mind and depth to the Christian fellowship and worship. But I want to focus in closing on the power that a shared soul gives to long and hard ventures of ministry because our development and revival and revitalization of this town and the Hope Pavilion—all of this—this is going to be long and hard ventures for us to be giving over to our next generation a thriving and loving and vital church. For us to prepare it, it will be a long and hard venture.
Most things of enduring value take a long time to achieve. Missionaries who leave a deep mark for Christ usually give a lifetime to people. Pastors who build deep and powerful churches for the cause of Christ give at least 20 years in their life in one place, not 20 months. And Christian statesmen who aim to change the laws and customs of a nation are willing to endure 20 years of setbacks in pursuit of a final victory.
I want to give you an example of one of those. There's a movie about this, "Amazing Grace." I think it's called "Amazing Grace." It's the story of William Wilberforce. He was born in 1759. In 1780, he was elected to the House of Commons in the English Parliament. James Boswell called him a shrimp—he was so short—but in 1807, the little representative of Yorkshire, England, sat stunned as the entire House of Commons rose to honor him for his relentless battle in Parliament for over two decades against the English slave trade.
Sir Samuel Romilly gave a passionate tribute to Wilberforce: "When he should lay himself down on his bed, reflecting on the innumerable voices that would be raised in every quarter of the world to bless him, how much more pure and perfect felicity must he enjoy in the consciousness of having preserved so many millions of his fellow creatures?"
After 20 years of defeat in session after session of Parliament, Wilberforce walked out that night through the snow of the London streets with his old friend Henry Thornton and said, with joy and tears in his bright eyes, "Well, Henry, what shall we abolish next?"
Where did Wilberforce get the strength to press on in a seemingly hopeless dream of abolition for over 20 years of setbacks? At least part of the answer is that in 1792, Henry Thornton founded a new community of evangelical politicians and churchmen who lived and worshiped together in the community of Clapham near Parliament. They became known as the Clapham Sect and were derisively called the Saints by their opponents.
There was John Venn, the pastor; Zachary Macaulay, the editor; Henry Thornton, the banker; James Stephen, the attorney; William Wilberforce, the statesman, and others. They were devout Christians, they were political conservatives, and for the most part, all wealthy. But they spent their wealth solving human problems and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. They pioneered Christian philanthropy and created institutions for Christian missions and humanitarian services, and they were passionately committed to the abolition of the slave trade. And they stirred each other up to love and good works.
That's the relevance to today's message. How did Wilberforce hang tough for 20 years of setbacks? He banded together with some brothers, and he shared the passion of his own soul with them. And in that Clapham community, soul to soul, they kept each other hot until the victory came.
Where the gospel flourishes, people share their own soul. And where souls are knit together in the cause of Christ, there is power for the long, hard ventures of ministry.
My final point is this: Could it be that God has spoken to us through this remote, small chapter in this small book of the Bible to reveal to us an amazing insight into his mission for us over the next 20 years? Could it be that the Lord just let us see behind the curtain of his providence and plan for the city of Nanticoke—not only a glimpse, but his instruction on how to carry out his plan to revitalize our town and prepare the next generation to bring souls to Christ by leaving them a vibrant, soul-sharing, evangelistic, loving, and servant-hearted church?
I think he just has.
Let's Pray:
Dear and beloved God, I first want to thank you for every gift and grace that we have received through Jesus. Thank you that through Jesus we are free, forgiven, accepted by you. Thank you that Jesus shares with us his place as your son, the authority of his name, and makes us co-heirs with him. Thank you that we receive in Jesus every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. Lord, give us a look capable of recognizing all that we have received from you so that we can multiply and pass it on, that more people are edified and feel your love through us. So often we are ungrateful and do not look at the miracles that you have done in our homes and our lives. Help us to see all the grace that you've bestowed on us.
Holy Spirit, help us so that whenever we have something that can bless someone, that we will never be indifferent or people who withhold for themselves the blessings we receive from the Father. Help us to have a giving heart, generous and looking towards the next. Make us channels of blessing and instruments of Your love. Teach us to look at everything we have with a vision of eternity. Let us not despise opportunities to make a difference in someone's life. The greatest blessing we receive was through the work of Jesus. May we share the good news of salvation with others who still don't know you. May we be generous with all things: gifts, resources, time, talent, etc. And in everything, may we be able to bless as we have already been blessed by people, and above all, to share all the blessings that we have received from you, Lord.
And through this all, may we offer the glory all to you. It is in Jesus' precious name I pray. Amen.