Our Father in heaven, thank you. Thank you so much for our being here. We recognize that our being here is a sign of your grace in our lives. We're thankful that we're here because we have been taken from the kingdom of darkness, rescued, as it were, delivered and transferred into this kingdom, the kingdom of the Son of your love. Thank you for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord, that he took upon himself our sin and bestowed upon us the righteousness that he earned as our substitute. Thank you, Father, Thank you for our position in your kingdom, not as slaves, but as sons and daughters. And Father, thank you for those who are here, who may not be in that kingdom, and yet who are hearing the proclamation of the gospel. Lord, rescue them from a kingdom of darkness this morning, even this morning, for we pray it in Christ's name. Well, I want you to hold your Bible open, and we're going to be getting to our reading, but I want us to think about the text for a minute before I begin our reading. I want to contextualize what I'm going to say this morning. because for many years commentators have tried to understand the context of First Thessalonians, what's this letter about, what's the context, why does Paul say the things that he says, and there has in fact grown up what we'll call the traditional view of the letter, and it goes something like this. Let me just share it with you. In the first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul is giving a defense for himself and his colleagues. He's defending his integrity. He's saying, I need to talk to you about myself and about the people who are with me. That's the idea. Now, the logical question that might flow from that is, why would he have to do that in this letter? In order to understand that, we need to go back to the narrative that we heard in Acts chapter 16 and 17, and we need to think through some of the events that happened. And so let me just go through those things briefly with you. There we find that Paul and his entourage, as you have already heard, left Philippi under some difficult circumstances. The details are brief, but they're as follows. A demon-possessed girl, and we picked this up in sort of the middle. I didn't quite know where to begin, so we picked it up right after this, but a demon-possessed girl had been following them around shouting. Now, her shouts were one of two things, if not both. The first was she was either shouting and putting a false spin on their true message, or she was just harassing them. Maybe it was some of both. Regardless, Paul got tired of it, turned around, drove the demon out of her. Well, that demon made money for her master, so her master drove Paul into prison. Now, the Roman centurion on duty did not ask them, the magistrates did not ask them about their citizenship. Instead, they just beat them, cast them into prison, turned them over to the jailer, and the jailer put them in chains in the inner prison. And while they were singing and praying that evening, about midnight, the Lord visited. visited in an earthquake, and all of the cell doors flew open, and the result was that no prisoner was lost, and the jailer and his family were saved. Now in the morning, the magistrates send the police, as you heard, and say, these men can go. And Paul says, well, well, you know what he says. The problem was that when they moved on to Thessalonica, there were even more problems. Apparently the church was meeting in the house of Jason and it was attacked by the rabble who had been stirred up by the Jews who had been following Paul around. And so Paul was forced to flee under the cover of night. Now that's the story. And as a result, commentators say things like this. They say, well, Paul's defending his integrity here. He was surely being accused of having gone into the city, stirred up the pot, and then fled. And so surely this letter is something of a defense, a defense of Paul's integrity. Now, let me just say a couple of things, a few things about that reading. First of all, I want to say this to you. The text can hold, it can bear that traditional reading. But I want you to know, if you look at the actual text, it can bear that reading, but it doesn't say that that's what it's doing. Paul doesn't say that's what he's doing in the text. There are some things that might be interpreted as, oh, that's what Paul's doing, but he doesn't say that's what he's doing. And it's sort of like what I told you the last Lord's Day we were together. It's like faces in a cloud. If somebody points them out, you can see them, but you have a sneaking suspicion that your ability to see them is more your imagination than the reality that they're there. Now, that's a bit of an overstatement, I'll admit that. It's a bit of an overstatement. I do think there's something of a defense here, but my point is I don't think that that is being said explicitly, nor do I think that that is actually the thrust of the letter itself. Second, I'll let you be the judge of whether that's an overstatement or not as we go through the letter. Second, it's not quite accurate to say that Paul left Philippi in shame. I mean, he had been shamefully treated, and he actually does say that in 1 Thessalonians, but this apostle is a shrewd man. You get the feeling that things are well in hand by this man, don't you? I mean, I want you to think about it. He is taken and laid hold of by the magistrates, and he's turned over and beaten. and yet doesn't say a word about his Roman citizenship. Why does he not do that? Later on in the book of Acts, he'll do that. Why does he not do that here? And then when the police come and say, you're free to go now, get, he says, now, whoa, wait a minute. We're not leaving this jail until those magistrates come and publicly apologize to us. Why? Because Paul realized that the beatings came at a personal cost, but the apology would come as a public benefit to the church and not to himself. Third, Acts clearly says that it was the Thessalonians who sent Paul and his company away in the night. In other words, Paul didn't flee. He was sent away by a newly established church. Now, hearing these things, the natural question might come to you something like this. Well, if that's not the context, if that's not primarily the context, then what is the context? Well, that's a question that we'll address after the reading of our text. And so I want us to turn to that reading now, First Thessalonians chapter two, one through 12. But as we do that, I want to remind you that we are we are going to hear a word that is living and active. And it's living because it's an eternal word that proceeds from an eternal God. And what is more, I want you to know that this is a true word. This is a true word. If you think about this word as a flower standing in the midst of a field of weeds, of a world of weeds, you will get the idea. This is a true word in the midst of false words. But I want you to know something else about this word because it's eternal and because it's true and because it's God's. This is a word that will not fade away like the flowers of the field or the grass that withers. This is a word that will stand forever. This is God's word. It's given to us, his people as a comfort and as a help. So be comforted by it and be helped by it this morning. For indeed, again, it is God's word. 1 Thessalonians 2, I'll read the first 12 verses. Listen to God's word. 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 proclaim 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. Well, if Paul is not defending himself, or perhaps we should say if Paul's not primarily defending himself in these verses against formal or informal charges from these who are outside the church, then what's he doing? Well, the answer to that question, I think, has to be built not upon rhetorical criticism of the scriptures, but upon what the Bible itself says, upon the historicity of the book of Acts, shall we say. In other words, the book of Acts gives us the answer to that question. So what I want you to do is I want you to just go to the book of Acts for a minute. We're only going to be there for just a brief minute or two, but the Book of Acts, you can find the reading, chapter 16, on page 1098, 1099 rather. And there I want you to notice what Luke says about Paul's experience in Thessalonica. But in the main, what I want you to catch is this. I want you to catch what Paul's accusers are saying about his visit. And you find that in verse six of Acts, not 16, but 17. So you may need to flip the page. Verse six of Acts 17. And when they, they being the Jews and the rabble that they roused, When they could not find them, that's Paul and his company, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authority shouting, these men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. And Jason has received them. And they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another king, Jesus. There are two accusations here, maybe three. The first is that these men have claimed to turn the world upside down and Jason has harbored them. Now, I want you to think about that for just a minute. I wonder how much fun the church had with that, you know? We've not come to turn the world upside down. We've come to turn the world right side up. I mean, you're just experiencing the pain of having been righted. But the second accusation is really striking. The second accusation is that of insurrection. How so? These men are claiming that there is another king. Another king. Now that's the context. For the letter of 1 Thessalonians, there's another kingdom and there's another king. who's leading that kingdom. We ought to take that seriously. We ought to take that very seriously. I want you to just think back to chapter one for a minute and think again about how we worked through that together. We said that God chooses the subjects of his kingdom and we ought to pray for those subjects. Why? That the kingdom of God might come more and more into their lives. We also notice that in chapter 1, the Spirit provides help in what? The promulgation of the gospel, of the gospel of the kingdom. In other words, the kingdom is going to be established as it's established in others and spoken by them. with the Spirit's help. And then last Lord's Day, we saw that the subjects of God's kingdom are made so by faith and repentance. And that was the very thing that Jesus said in Mark 1 15, the kingdom of God has come, now repent and believe. And as a result of repentance and faith, you belong to the kingdom of God. And what does chapter one say? We wait for the King. the Lord Jesus to return and consummate his kingdom among or upon the kingdoms of the world. You see, they were teaching, Paul was teaching that there was another king. The context is this. Paul is heralding a new kingdom and a new king. And so I would say this to you, in these verses, Paul is not then concerned with what the Thessalonians may or may not have thought about him. he's concerned to help them understand his own experience as a kingdom herald. I mean, when we get to chapter three, he's going to say what? He's going to say that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we were destined for this. He's trying to help them understand. This is what the life of a kingdom herald in Christ's kingdom is all about. This is what it looks like. Why? so that whether as pastors or elders or laity in this kingdom, these Thessalonians who were promulgating the gospel by word and by their very lives might clearly understand what is in store for them. In other words, Paul is drawing down on his own experience as a herald in order to help them. Because we understand that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. That's what Paul said to Timothy. He doesn't say, it's just the pastors who desire to live godly in Christ. No, he doesn't say, well, it's just the elders. No, he says all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. So what is he doing? Paul is saying, look, I'm just helping you to understand as a herald myself, what it will be like for you, either as a formal herald of the kingdom, a preacher of the gospel, an elder in his church, or as a lay person, a believer. I'm helping you to see what it will be like when you spread the good news. So that's the context. I think that's what Paul's really doing in this letter. And so with that in mind, let's take a look at the text and look at his experience, what he's sharing with these people. And we'll learn not only what he was sharing with the Thessalonians and how applicable it was for them, but how applicable it is for us as well. So the first thing I want you to notice is this. I want you to notice that a kingdom herald speaks on behalf of God On behalf of the God who called him or her, the kingdom herald speaks on behalf of the God who calls him or her. Now, that's not easy. I need to make a distinction just in case you're wondering. God calls men to be formal heralds, preachers of his kingdom, but we're all called to speak the gospel. And so I include the feminine at that point. I want you to know that's not easy. In fact, I want you to know, let's just continue the story for a minute. Sometime after Paul left Thessalonica, he went on to Corinth. And there, by then, he had received rejection and abuse, In fact, in Acts 18 verses 9 and 10, we're told that Paul had a vision in the night. The Lord appeared to him. And I want you to know, this is what he said. Listen to this. This is what the Lord said to the apostle Paul. Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you. and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people." Now, I want you to just think about that for a minute. This is a wonderful text. Why? Because it says to us that the Lord knows his people. Even those people that we think are giants in the faith, and they are giants. The apostle Paul was a giant, but yet here the Lord appears to the man after he's been rejected, after he's experienced suffering, and says, now Paul, listen to me. Don't be afraid. Don't be silent. He's comforting this man. He's comforting the apostle Paul. And here was Paul. He was likely very weary. He was worn. He was abused and Lord comforts him. speaks to him, tells him there are many in the city, whether he's telling him that Priscilla and Aquila have been ministering there for a long time, speaking the gospel, and so there are many there, or whether he's telling them that because he knows his elect, there are many there, I don't know. Nevertheless, Paul seems to be afraid and in need of encouragement. But that wasn't the case earlier in the journey, was it? at least not while he was writing to the Thessalonians. He was doing the work of the herald and he was doing it boldly. And there are three things that I want you to notice that emerged from this text that Paul tells us about what it's like being a herald. The first is this, he says, or we're told that Paul was bold despite persecution. Paul was bold despite persecution. Now here's the question. How did he come by this boldness? Because that's a question that we all have, isn't it? I mean, when we think about sharing the gospel, it's an intimidating experience, and we wanna know, where does one get the boldness? Where did Paul get his boldness, especially in light of the fact that he had to be comforted by the Lord Jesus later on in this same trip? Well, the answer's in the text, and we see it in the English itself. Paul says that despite being shamefully treated in Philippi, they had boldness, here it is, in God, in the midst of conflict. Now, I think that those two prepositional phrases help us to understand how Paul had boldness to declare a difficult message. In other words, let me put it like this. They reveal a crucial element in Paul's thinking. Paul was in God through Christ and yet in the world amidst persecution. Let me put it like this. Let me put it in a biblical theological sense. Paul was in or living amidst the present evil age while at the same time being a part of living in the age to come. And yet knowing this, knowing this, and you need to understand this, Roman 12 says that Christianity is a religion of the transformation of our thinking. Now, that doesn't always mean knowing more theology. It certainly doesn't exclude that. But one of the things that it means is that we need to be transformed in our attitude about the world in which we live. And this was transformative thinking for Paul. Why? Because he realized that the message of the gospel of the kingdom had the power to infiltrate this present evil age. And he realized that that age to come could infiltrate the present evil age by simply speaking, heralding the good news of that kingdom. That's a wonderful thing. I mean, we need to grab hold of that. We need to grab hold of that because we need to understand it ourselves. We need to remember that when we speak into a person's life, we are participating in a takeover. As we speak the good news of the gospel, it overcomes the present evil age. That's a wonderful thing to think about. There is a kingdom and a king which we serve, and it is supplanting the kingdoms of the earth, and it's doing so by simply speaking good news into this world. Well, that's first. There's a second thing to notice. Paul the Herald knew his audience. Paul says, we have been entrusted by God to make an appeal for the gospel. And he says this, therefore, we don't speak to please men, but God, why? Well, he goes on to tell us why. He says it's because God tests the heart. Now that raises a question. I don't know about you, but when I read this text, I have an immediate question. The question is, if God approves his heralds, then why does God test his heralds? The curious thing is that though it's a different form, it's the same word. In the beginning of verse four, it's translated approved, and in the end, it's translated test, but in both cases, different form, but in both cases, dokimadzo. So what's the point? The point is this. The God who appointed Paul to preach continues to find Paul fit to preach through Paul's faithful preaching. Faithful telling of the gospel demonstrates a fittedness to tell the gospel. Let me tell you something else. Preaching or the telling of the gospel that's worthy of a herald ordained or otherwise is preaching or telling that has God as one's audience. Isn't that ironic? I mean, isn't that really ironic when you think about it? I mean, a herald is supposed to make his appeal to men, women, and children, but his appeal, in order to be effective, is not primarily supposed to please men, women, and children. In order to advance the kingdom and the glory of the king, the herald isn't to be concerned about whether the men, women, and children actually like what they hear. It's an appeal on behalf of God, and it must please the king of the kingdom. That's counterintuitive, isn't it? And you know, I think it's counterintuitive because we are so geared, and we even use theology, good theology, to create bad theology, don't we? Well, I want to win the world, right? I want to win the loss, good theology. So I need to make the message of the gospel palatable to them. Bad theology. It's counterintuitive, but this is what the text says. We need to primarily consider God as our audience. Yet there's a third thing, and it's very simple. Paul was faithful to his call. He said, I did what I was commissioned to do, and I did the work of a herald of the kingdom, and then this. God is my witness. He understood that God's eye was upon him as a herald of the kingdom. That's crucial, important. We can never lose sight of that. Whether you're standing on the street corner and you're talking to a friend you haven't seen in years, and they're asking you how things are going, and you're telling them about the church, and they ask you what's significant about that, you begin to tell them the gospel, share with them the good news, And you need to understand what? You need to understand that God's eye is upon you. And in your telling of the gospel, you need to be faithful because He's your audience. And you need to understand that in the telling of the gospel, the kingdom is advancing. God is witness. There's a second point that follows on the heels of this first point, though, and it's this, a kingdom shepherd, sorry, a kingdom herald shepherds on behalf of the God who called him. Now, I want you to think about this for a minute. I want you to think about a herald in the world's kingdom. He comes, you hear, think about, this is a worldly herald. He comes into the midst of people. He's usually dressed in finery. He takes out the scroll, unrolls it, breaks the seal of the king. You know, hear this, reads the proclamation, rolls it back up, and then is on his way. In fact, if anyone stops him to ask him questions, he'll probably ignore them. Just walk on. You know, it's very easy, it's very easy for people of the truth to become hard and difficult people like a world's herald. Think about what was just said in the previous point. Heralds don't need to, nor should they please people. Like the world's heralds please earthly kings, God's heralds had better please Him. They better be in the business of pleasing God alone. It's that simple, cut and dried. But that can be used and it can be abused, and it can even be used by God's people. We can become hard, we can become aloof to the world. Well, I don't know, whatever, you know, that sort of idea. They can become uncaring toward the world. But that sort of herald has no place in God's kingdom. Why? Because if that's the way we conduct ourselves, we will not look like the Apostle Paul. And he was a herald of heralds, wasn't he? He did three things as a herald I want you to notice this morning. First, he was gentle. Paul develops the thought of gentleness by describing himself as a nursing mother taking care of her own children. That's gentle. I want you to think about that. Paul says, you know what? As an apostle, I could have made demands on you, but I didn't. Instead, I was like a nursing mother to you. Now, if you say something like this, if you say, well, he could have, then you've missed a point. You're missing the point. He didn't do that. He said, this is the way it was. And the second thing is like the first. He shared himself with the flock in Thessalonica. Luke 3 uses this word, Jesus does. when he says, if you have two tunics, take one of them and give them to another. The idea of giving oneself is here. What does that mean? Well, you can see it in the text, can't you? Paul loves these people. Here's the thing that I think is funny. He actually gives Timothy to the Thessalonians. Here, I'm gonna take Timothy and give him to you. But he does that, doesn't he? Now think about that. He says, I'm gonna send Timothy. This is his son in faith. Here, I'm gonna send him back, and I know in sending him back, I'm sending him back into a riotous city, and I know his very life could be in danger. He may just be thrown into prison if that weren't easy or hard enough, but he could be killed. Because I need to see about your well-being as a church. Paul loved these people. He shared himself and the people most dear to him. Let me ask you a question. The question is a very simple one. It's one that you could ask yourself. It's not anachronistic to ask you the same question. Why would he do such a thing? Why would you do such a thing? Why would you be gentle with the world? Why did he share so much of himself at the beginning and as he continues in with this new church? Why? There's one reason. And one reason that I think drives it all, and that's this. He knew that he was just like them at one time, and in need, and in need of the same grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me ask you another question. Are you gentle with those with whom you share the gospel. Do you have, do you allow yourself to affectionately desire to share yourself with people who are in need of grace, whether just coming in or people who are new in the faith? Do you, do you have that overwhelming desire? You know, the older you get, that can be difficult to maintain. it can be difficult to maintain because what happens is you give yourself so much, sometimes you feel like you're actually giving more than the people who are in the predicament. You actually feel like you're giving more of yourself than they are. And so what can happen is you can develop an attitude that says, you know what, I'm just gonna stand back, I'm only gonna give so much, but that's not what Paul does. At the risk of abuse and even his life. He says, I so desire you to grow that I'm sharing with you the things that mean most to me in my life. There's a third thing to notice. Paul was sensitive to them. By that I mean that he was aware of their needs. Think of it. You know, Paul said, I could make demands on you as an apostle. Think of how that would have gone in Thessalonica and the group of poverty stricken people making financial demands upon them. Can you imagine how well that would have gone? But that's not what Paul does. He actually shoulders the burden of caring for his own needs while ministering to them. He actually does double duty. This is a man. who not only knew how to handle truth, but this was a man who loved the people with whom he shared the truth. You know, it's really easy. It really is easy. And I say that sadly. It's really easy to love the doctrine of the church and then to think that you are loving the church. But that's not loving the church. Loving the church is being gentle with the flock, sharing your whole self with them, and being sensitive to their needs. And we have a beautiful example of that in a herald like Paul. But not only that, we are to follow, all of us are to follow that herald as he follows after Christ. And so the things that are true of a formal herald, an ordained herald, are also to be true of us, every one of us. Well, there's a third point I wanna share this morning. And in fact, this is really the object of Paul's exhortation in these verses. And it's this, and notice how, again, just notice how he brings it back around to the kingdom. A kingdom herald summons men to walk in a manner worthy of the God who called them into his kingdom. kingdom and glory. Here we find Paul summoning men, women, and children, not only to enter the kingdom, but having entered, he summons them to walk in a certain way. Now that they have part in the kingdom, they must behave like they belong to that kingdom, or as Paul puts it, they must walk in a manner worthy of God who calls them into his own kingdom and glory. Now, I want you to notice how the herald does this, how he does this. In other words, I want you to notice how he summons them. I'm not now talking about their manner of walking. I'm talking still about the herald. How does he summon them? You know, this may be a question for you. You may be asking yourself something like this. Well, you know, I have these friends and, you know, I talk to them. How do I get them to live according to the profession they make? You know, that may be your question. And that's one of the questions that Paul is certainly answering. three as they come from the text. The first is this. Whereas before Paul used the mothering metaphor, he now describes himself as a father. Now, you automatically get the sense that there's a difference here and Paul is capitalizing on the difference. A mom is, you know, that affectionate giving of herself, right? The father is like, hey, come here a minute. You know, come over here, stand here. You know, that sort of thing, right? And that's the word he actually uses. As a father, I encouraged you, parakaleo, I called you alongside of myself. And that's the idea. So, how do you do that? Well, with gentleness, with the sharing of yourself. You say, come on over here. You call them alongside of you to stand where you're standing. Not because you're so great, but because you're standing in Christ. He's calling them to walk as He walks in a kingdom manner. But, that's not all. The father also comforts his children. You know, think about it. What does a father do? A father teaches his children to ride a bike. And they're not going to succeed every time, and certainly not the first time. They're going to fall down. They're going to skin their knee. They won't be successful at every attempt. And so what does he do? He comforts them. The same is true of walking in a manner worthy of the kingdom. The Thessalonians are going to skin their knees. And they're going to need comfort. And Paul says, that's what I was doing for you, and that's what I'm doing for you now. And we're going to see that he does that in later chapters. But then finally, he does this. As a father, he charges them. He addresses them in a very solemn and serious manner. The one who called you, the one in whom you believe, to whom you have turned, you must walk in a manner that is worthy of him and his kingdom. Yes, you have entered a kingdom of grace, but grace brings both forgiveness and family likeness, conformity to the new family, to the new kingdom. And so walk. Walk as one who belongs to the kingdom. And so I'd leave you with this, brothers and sisters, as we wait upon our King. Let us walk in a manner that is worthy of that kingdom, that we might be good and faithful heralds of the same. Father in heaven, we are so thankful that you have called us by your grace And Father, we are thankful that you establish in your kingdom heralds. We are thankful for those ordained men who proclaim the gospel message. And yet we're also thankful that as the gospel flows forth into the lives of people, that they speak it and tell that gospel story and what it's done for them. Father, as we think about what it means to herald or to tell the gospel in this world where there is a deficiency of truth. We pray that your gospel, your good news would go forward and we pray that it would change lives. We pray that it would bring about godliness as your kingdom is established still more and more on the face of this earth in your people for we ask it in Jesus name, amen.