BIG IDEA:
(2:17 – 3:13) PRESSING ON TO MATURITY — CHURCH PLANTERS FEEL THE BURDEN OF ENCOURAGING THEIR DISCIPLES TO MATURITY
INTRODUCTION:
Where are you looking for security? Job? Health? Friends? Family? Co-laborers in the gospel? Why do we call some people insecure? They feel a need for the approval of others; they are threatened if people do not think well of them; they are not resting in the righteousness of Christ as how God views them … as their ultimate security; they react in ways that are defensive and harmful. They live in anxiety and fear – without the confidence and boldness and peace and joy that should characterize those who are secure. We talk about the Eternal Security of believers – we have nothing to worry about for all of eternity.
How was the Apostle Paul able to make such extreme sacrifices as a spiritual leader and make himself even more vulnerable than he already was? It was because he had learned the lesson that David talked about from Psalm 62 – SECURITY MUST BE FOUND IN GOD ALONE.
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Psalm 62 — Solid Rock Community Church – He Only is My Rock and My Salvation –
(look through the scriptures for imagery of God as our Rock)
SECURITY MUST BE FOUND IN GOD ALONE
I. THESIS STATEMENT / REFRAIN — TESTIMONY OF A MAN OF FAITH
SECURITY MUST BE FOUND IN GOD ALONE (:1-2)
Heb. word “alone” occurs 6 times at the beginning of verses 1,2,4,5,6,9
A. Single Focus of Security — Sourced in God Alone
B. 3 Images of Security — Picturing Rest and Salvation
1) Rock — Security of Steadfastness, Stability
2) Salvation — Security of Deliverance
3) Fortress — Security of Protection
C. Confident Boast of God-sourced Security — “I will never be shaken”
II. SECURITY TESTED BY UNFAIR, JEALOUS, AND DECEITFUL ATTACKS (:3-4)
A. Unfair Attacks
1) Unfair in terms of excessive length of time — “How long”
2) Unfair in terms of excessive unbalance in the number and strength of the attacking forces (i.e.
unfair sides) — attacking one man who is very vulnerable
B. Jealous Attacks — confident boast of these envious attackers
C. Deceitful Attacks
III. THESIS RESTATEMENT / REFRAIN — AMPLIFIED AND APPLIED
EXHORTATION TO CONTINUE IN SUCH STRONG FAITH –SECURITY MUST BE FOUND IN GOD ALONE (:5-8)
A. Restatement / Refrain
B. Amplified (:7)
C. Applied to Others (:8)
1. Trust in Him
2. Pour out your heart to Him
IV. SECURITY CANNOT BE FOUND ANYWHERE ELSE (:9-10)
A. Not from Men (or relationships)
1) Lowborn — men of low degree
2) Highborn — men of rank
B. Not from Possessions
1) Ill-gotten
extortion
stolen goods
2) Legitimately earned
V. SECURITY CAN ONLY BE FOUND IN GOD BECAUSE OF HIS UNIQUE CHARACTER (:11-12)
A. We have God’s Own Testimony Confirmed Twice Over By Our Experience
1) His Power — He alone is able to provide security
2) His Love / His Goodness — He alone cares about us and wants to provide us with that security
B. We can count on God’s Justice
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Where did the Apostle Paul find security in the ministry of the gospel?
[Not a good place for a chapter break – must look at this whole section together from 2:17 – 3:13]
4 AREAS OF EMPHASIS FOR CHURCH PLANTERS AS THEY ENCOURAGE THEIR DISCIPLES ON TO MATURITY
– FAMILY FELLOWSHIP (last week)
– SACRIFICING SECURITY (cover this today)
– FEEDING ON FAITHFULNESS (pick up in 2 weeks)
– PERSEVERING IN PROGRESS
II. (3:1-5) PART 2: SACRIFICING SECURITY — CHURCH PLANTERS (SPIRITUAL LEADERS) SACRIFICE THEIR OWN SECURITY TO ENCOURAGE THEIR DISCIPLES TO PERSEVERE IN THE FACE OF HARDSHIP
Paul willing to make himself vulnerable to seek the welfare of the young believers at Thessalonica
A. (:1) The Compelling Circumstances – The Pastoral Sacrifice
Overwhelming Pastoral Concern Leads to the Sacrifice of Personal Security
“Therefore when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone.”
“Therefore” – entire passage revolves around the deep love and concern the Apostle had for the spiritual vitality of his young disciples; previous verses talked about Family Fellowship and his great Desire to be personally with them – a desire that Satan had opposed – but a desire that Paul anticipated being realized in the ultimate sense at the return of Christ
“we could endure it no longer” – unbearable suspense to learn of the spiritual well-being of his children in the faith; on pins and needles – look at how Moms have a difficult time when they don’t hear any word from their children who are living at college or out of state … there is a need to know if you have family ties
Holy Spirit acts in our life to burden us to the point where we take action
Bruce: originally of keeping out or keeping in water or another fluid (e.g. of a watertight house or of a vessel that does not leak), comes from the latter sense to mean generally “to contain” and then “to endure” as in 1 Cor. 9:12; 13:7
“we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone.” – not something Paul desired … forced to this negative situation … balancing different pastoral concerns …. Still he was able to embrace God’s will without complaining; making the best of the situation
Keathley: eudokeo means “to be well pleased, to willingly determine, to think it a good thing to do.” It stresses the willingness, the positive choice. Too often, ministry is performed out of a sense of, “Well, if I have to.” The option the missionary team chose was not done grudgingly.
“left behind” – never a good thing – for example … how does it feel to be left behind in school – have to repeat a grade? How about left behind when others get to go on an exciting trip??
“alone” – not normally a good thing either – some of us don’t mind as much as others … depends on how we are wired … but loneliness can be a tough road
Look at the value that Paul placed on Partnership in the Gospel Ministry – laboring together with other team members – Why would anyone want to go it alone? Yet we traditionally send missionaries out to plant a church on their own … we pay one pastor and ask him to do the work of the ministry and get the church started … Why did we so quickly lose sight of this team emphasis in the Book of Acts??
When we go witnessing door to door, we usually think it is best to have two people …
He understood the principle that “Two are better than one” —
Eccles: 4:9-12 “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor . . . A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.”
He appreciated laboring with Timothy and Silas – he did not like being left alone in Athens to confront those skeptical philosophers – review background of Acts 17 – Paul and Silas apparently agreed to send Timothy back to Thessalonica and then Paul sent Silas to Philippi or some area in Macedonia
(After coming to Athens to join Paul, Timothy was sent back to Thessalonica, at which time Paul and Silas were “left behind” in Athens. Silas himself returned to Macedonia as well, though this is not specifically mentioned but only implied from the Acts narrative. So Paul was then left alone. Paul left Athens and headed south to Corinth where Silas and Timothy caught up with him upon their return from Macedonia — Acts 18.1, 5).
Paul did not have much going for him in Athens; distressed him to see their idolatry and intellectualism; they were spiritually bankrupt
Acts 16:21 “All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas” – lots of intellectual debate; but no worship of the true God; don’t hear much about the church in Athens down the road in terms of results
Very unselfish in his approach – was not making a sacrifice to be a hero; he had considered the options and felt that this sacrifice was necessary; it was essential; he was going to have to place all of his security in Christ alone to provide for his needs and stand with him in his ministry on his own – until Timothy and Silas could return
McGee: Love is not affection or just a nice, comfortable, warm feeling around your heart. Love seeks the welfare of another. That is the way love is expressed for anyone. If you love someone, you seek his welfare and you actually would jeopardize your own life for the person whom you love.
Athens is named after Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and the arts. . . Athenians were said to possess the keenest minds among the Greeks, and the University of Athens was the most important school, ahead of those of Tarsus and Alexandria.
B. (:2a) The Competent Colleague – The Precious Sacrifice
The Sacrifice Should be Valuable, Worthy, sufficient to meet the need and get the job done
“and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ”
Paul had a lot of history with Timothy – very valuable relationship; very comfortable ministering together; shared the same perspective on ministry – hard to develop those types of partnerships
Phil. 2:20-22 “For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.”
Here he calls him “our brother”
No value just in sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice – you must meet a real need and you must be motivated by genuine love
1 Cor. 13:3 “And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing”
Cf. John 3:16 – the Father so loved us He sent His precious Son {did not affect His security in any way]
1 Cor. 3:9 – another reference to fellow workers with God – “we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.” [some manuscripts have different word here – “minister, servant”]
The work we are involved in is called the gospel ministry – the gospel of Christ – the good news about Jesus Christ – He should be the focal point of our preaching; we are calling people to be united to Jesus Christ
C. (:2b) The Courageous Challenge – The Productive Sacrifice
“to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith”
Not a wimpy mission – how was Timothy supposed to go into such a dangerous environment and accomplish these lofty objectives?? Might have struggled with timidity in his natural personality … but he knew how to strengthen himself in the Lord and be bold and courageous and step out in faith to tackle some pretty big missions
“strengthen” – used of shoring up a building; make as solid as granite (cf new countertops) —
The basic idea is that of stabilizing something by providing a support or buttress (a projecting structure of masonry or wood for supporting or giving stability to a wall or building), so that it will not totter. The word implies fixedness.
[Used to sell shoring products for trench digging and excavation work] – you don’t want the pressure around you to cause a cave-in
“encourage” at the root there is the idea of enabling a person to meet some difficult situation with confidence
D. (:3-4) The Continuing Conflict – The Providential (Prophetic) Sacrifice
The danger of hard times and persecution had been prophesied
Forewarned is Forearmed
“so that no man may be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. For indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction and so it came to pass, as you know.”
How can charlatans go around and promise people a health and wealth gospel of good times and prosperity? The message of the NT is clear – we looked at it earlier – “All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”
Christian should never be surprised by the trial of hard times
In Jesus’ parable of the soils (Matthew 13:1-23), He described the way that some fall away when tribulation or persecution arises because of the Word.
“kept telling you” – imperfect tense – repeated warnings
Hiebert: There is an important principle to note for all those who would evangelize and then follow up (disciple) — To leave converts unwarned of the possible adverse personal consequences of their acceptance of the gospel is to do them a serious injustice. Yes, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, but that plan will always include suffering for the gospel! We must forewarn disciples so they are forearmed (Acts 14:22)
MacArthur: The verb rendered would be disturbed originally designated the wagging of a dog’s tail, but through the years it came to mean, “to allure, fascinate, flatter, or beguile.” When a dog wags its tail, it often does so to draw attention to itself and gain something it wants. Hence saino, the root verb of sainesthai, later referred to a person who tried to flatter or beguile other people. Paul did not want anyone to lure the Thessalonians away from the truth in that manner, because they had been made vulnerable by persecution and suffering.
Bruce: The active saino is used of a dog’s wagging its tail and then, with the accusative of the person, of its fawning on someone. Neither of these senses is relevant in this context. Chadwick mentions an occurrence of saino with the meaning “to perturb mentally” . . . This is the sense required here”
Hendriksen: Afflictions that have been predicted, and that take place in accordance with this prediction, serve to strengthen faith.
E. (:5) The Crafty Charmer – The Purposeless (Futile) Sacrifice
“For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor should be in vain.”
Sums up much of what we have already covered … then goes beyond to add the additional danger of the activity of Satan in trying to derail believers – throw them off the track of faith
Key Question today: How is your faith? How are you doing as a disciple of Jesus Christ to obey His commands and walk by faith? What type of pressures are you facing? How are you responding to that adversity and affliction and persecution?
Satan as tempter – Matt. 4:3; 1 Cor. 7:5
Mayhue: Paul was not ignorant of Satan’s schemes (2 Cor. 2:11), nor vulnerable to his methods (Eph 6:11), nor naïve about his intent (1 Pet 5:8), so he takes decisive action by sending Timothy to block Satan’s expected attack. Paul’s chief ministry priority at this point was to see the Thessalonians continue to mature in their walk with God.
Possibility of laboring in vain:
Gal. 2:1-2; cf. 4:11
Phil. 2:15-16
1 Cor. 15:58
CONCLUSION:
How was Paul able to sacrifice his own security, make himself vulnerable and send Timothy back to Thessalonica? Because as we learned from David in Psalm 62 – OUR SECURITY MUST BE FOUND IN GOD ALONE