This morning, I want to return to the book of 1 Thessalonians. I want to continue where we left off last year as we worked our way through an introduction of the book and then two messages through chapter one. Paul here in the book of Thessalonians is writing to the Thessalonian Christians sometime after he, Silvanus, and Timothy had left Thessalonica after their ministry there. Paul is being pastoral in the book of Thessalonians rather than doctrinal, bringing encouragement and exhortation to stand strong in the truth each day with the hope of Christ returning ever in front of them. They have a promise that will be fulfilled one day. Christ has promised to return, and they had that hope, and we still have the hope of Christ's return today. So this morning I want to focus on 1 Thessalonians 2, verses 1 through 7, and you're welcome to turn there, where Paul is writing in response to critics and outright opposers of his message, and so opposers of Paul and his companions themselves. These critics and opposers opposed Paul's message, and so they sought to discredit Paul and his companions themselves in order to discredit their message. This is a narrative testimony in 1 Thessalonians 2, a validation of the message Paul proclaimed in the synagogue of Thessalonica by defending his character and the character of his companions both in their visible conduct and the internal motives of the heart when they brought and proclaimed the gospel message to the Thessalonians. John Stott, in his commentary, explains the situation this way. He says, the brief mission in Thessalonica had been brought to an ignominious end. The public riot and the legal charges against the missionaries were so serious that they were persuaded to make a humiliating night flight from the city. Paul's critics took full advantage of his sudden disappearance. In order to undermine his authority and his gospel, they determined to discredit him. So they launched a malicious smear campaign against Paul and his companions. So after Paul and his companions left secretly during the night due to persecution while they were still in Thessalonica, these critics and opposers were there trying to discredit them. OK. Testing. Test, test. That better? OK. So Paul, in giving his account of the ministry approach he and his companions had and the validity of the message they proclaimed, while in the synagogue at Thessalonica, is trying to give a testimony to the fact that the message he proclaimed and the character of their life matched and were valid when they ministered in Thessalonica. Now, as we look at these verses, some people might argue that Paul's example here is only for pastors, shepherds, elders, and church leaders to look at and apply as they lead their own local flocks. But I'm gonna argue that Paul's approach and principles apply to every single Christian as he or she seeks to share the gospel with those around them. So we're going to look at and consider six principles that Paul presents to ultimately validate the message he proclaimed to the Thessalonians that resulted in changed lives. So let's go to 1 Thessalonians 2. Let me read verses 1 through 7, and then we'll jump in and look at the verses a little more closely. So 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 1, Paul says, for you yourselves know, brothers, that our entrance to you was not in vain. 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 struggle. For our exhortation does not come from... I gotta get it closer here. from error or impurity or by way of deceit, 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. For we never came with a flattering word, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed, God is witness, nor seeking glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you. but we prove to be gentle among you as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children." So we are going to look at six principles Paul presents in these seven verses to ultimately validate the message he proclaimed to the Thessalonians that resulted in changed lives. So if you look at verse 1, Paul starts out by saying, for you yourselves know, brothers, that our entrance to you was not in vain. Paul is writing to the Thessalonian believers directly, the ones who carry personal knowledge of what transpired because they were there and they exhibit the internal transformation every day in how they live their lives. If you go back to 1 Thessalonians 1, verse three, Paul talks about their work of faith, labor and love, and steadfastness of hope that they exhibited in sacrificially serving each other in the local body of believers after their lives had been changed. They changed how they treated each other. There was this sacrificial labor of love and faith and service amongst each other in that local body. In chapter 1, Paul had talked to them about how they became imitators of Paul and his companions. They saw Paul and his companions as examples of the gospel and how they lived their lives, and they sought to imitate Paul and his companions. And then Paul says in 1.6 that they also became imitators of the Lord. So there was this quick sanctification and growth process where they were initially imitators of Paul and his companions, and as they grew and matured, they themselves now were examples of the very gospel Paul and his companions had proclaimed. They now stood alongside Paul and his companions as examples of the change that God works in the heart through the word and by the spirit. And Paul says they were growing and maturing, and in 1-7 he said they became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. Their church and the results of the gospel and God's work there was such a change that it became a model for other churches and other believers around the country as to what it looks like to exhibit the gospel in their daily life. And in 1.8, it was such that the word of the Lord sounded forth from them in the sense that the Thessalonian Christians would meet traders and tourists who would pass through because Thessalonica was on the main trade route. They would interact with these traders and tourists. They would tell the story of Paul's coming, what happened, and why they were so different, and what was unique about them. And these traders and tourists would take what they learned, including the gospel, back with them to their towns and cities and farms, and they would ultimately be spreading the gospel by doing so. And these are the ones who know, Paul says here in 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 1, he says, you yourselves know. These are the people who know what Paul is going to talk about here in 1 Thessalonians 2. They are the ones who have experiential knowledge of what Paul is about to explain. Paul continues by calling them brothers. He says, you yourselves know brothers. In calling them brothers, Paul is calling these believers brothers to indicate that they are family. He isn't focusing necessarily on only Christian men as opposed to the Christian women. He is calling them brothers in that they are family. He is calling all the Christians family. They are Paul's family because God worked in their hearts, just like Paul's Silas's and Timothy's hearts. And now they have that unity unique to those whose sin was atoned for at the cross and whose hearts carry that spiritual life that only God can work out. In calling them family, Paul is still putting the emphasis on the gospel message rather than on the people themselves. He's focusing on the change that happened in them as well as the change that happened in Paul and his companions in focusing on the gospel itself and God's work. The focus is on faithful proclamation of the gospel and God's work by the spirit in the heart to give spiritual life and hope for the future. So Paul appeals to them. He says, you yourselves knows no brother. And then in verse one, he says that our entrance to you was not in vain. The Greek words, ukene, meaning not empty, give definition to the idea of not in vain. Paul says our entrance was not empty. We didn't come to you empty with nothing. Paul is talking here about the character of his coming to them, not about any personal gain he received by what transpired. He's not talking about results necessarily. He's talking more about bringing something infinitely valuable with him and giving it to them such that it produced immeasurable results. But he's saying our entrance was not in vain. He says, we did not come to take, to mooch off of you for some personal benefit. Instead, he says, we came with a message from God himself. He says, we came with an explanation of the prophecies in the Old Testament to pointing to Christ. We brought an explanation of Jesus as the Messiah promised, who fulfilled the prophecies in the Old Testament that we're looking forward to his coming. He says, we gave a description of the cross and its meaning and of Jesus rising again and the hope and the promise of Jesus returning one day for his own. Paul says he is bringing a true message. When they brought the message and proclaimed it, they brought a true message, a living message, a message that would lead to personal change from the inside out. So Paul begins his appeal here against the critics and opposers by appealing to the experiential knowledge of the Thessalonian Christians themselves. And if we look at verse two, he is going to give an appeal to a personal boldness amidst persecution. So in verse two, he says, but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, The idea of suffering here that Paul talks about is focused more on the physical suffering itself, such as the bruises, the cuts, the gouges, the gashes, the concussions, the stab wounds. Paul is saying we had this suffering, this physical suffering, and this suffering came probably with limited strength and vitality since we were still healing from the beatings and such. So he says after we had suffered, and then he talks about being mistreated. mistreated is the idea of dishonorable, mean, base, or humiliating treatment. And in Paul's case, being treated in a way that is unfair, unjust, or maybe malicious by the ones bringing the humiliation. So his treatment, even back in Philippi, was treatment from the critics, the opposers, the Jewish leaders, idol worshipers, whoever opposed Paul's 10 companions. These would have been people who did not want the status quo to change as far as the Jewish religion, as far as idolatry, the non-Jewish people worshiping other idols. They didn't want that status quo to change and Paul and his companions coming and sharing the truth of a different God would change the status quo. So you get these critics and opposers ultimately coming against Paul and his companions themselves, beating them and causing them suffering, and doing so in mistreating them in a dishonorable, mean way. If we went back to the account in Acts, we would find out that Paul and his companions were Roman citizens who were being beaten and mistreated contrary to laws that were in place that should have kept that from happening, but it happened. It's the idea here, if Paul was allowed to continue spreading the gospel, the current Jewish leaders would lose their status as spiritual leaders. Now, if you think about what it means for the spiritual Jewish leaders to have status, you could think of the parable of the publican and the sinner, where the publican is on the street corner, raising his head and praying real loud, saying, I thank God I'm not like these other people and whatnot. That's the kind of status they're talking about. That's the kind of status they don't want to give up. This visible status as if they're doing some really spiritual, really good things, and they're this really spiritual person when we know and will mention later is not the case. The critics and such had to get rid of Paul and his companions, stopping what they were doing to protect themselves by trying to discredit the message Paul proclaimed. And that's what they were doing in Thessalonica after Paul and his companions left. They were trying to discredit Paul's message by discrediting Paul and his companions as to their character, as to their person. So Paul says here, after we had suffered and been mistreated, as you know, The Thessalonian believers would have seen the sorry condition of Paul and his companions when they came after the suffering and mistreatment. So Paul and his companions probably explained, this is what happened in our previous ministry in the previous city of Philippi. Here's what happened. Here's how they treated us. This is why we look the way we do and why we are in the condition we're in. So the Thessalonians probably took the men, probably treated them for their wounds and that, and they explained all this. And so Paul says, then he says, even though we suffered and were mistreated, he says in verse two, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God. This idea of boldness has the meaning to speak freely or boldly, to be bold in speech and to keep speaking boldly. And he says that boldness comes from being in our God, as Paul says. There was no hampering of speech, no hesitancy, no tentativeness, no uncertainty as Paul proclaimed the gospel to the Thessalonians. Paul freely, confidently, and with authority shared the truth with these people because God was with him. God was giving him the boldness to speak. with a heart right with God, the truth inhabiting his heart and the Holy Spirit with him, bringing the power of the gospel to bear on those who heard, Paul could be bold. And the boldness was specifically in speaking the gospel of God. It was the good news, it was the message that God had given to Paul. Paul says it's the gospel of God, it's the message God gave him. It wasn't his own message. Paul was presenting a godly message. He says here the message they proclaimed was the gospel of God. It was the good news that came from God and was given to Paul to proclaim. Now we would say today that this book that we have, this is God's message, this is God speaking, and in a very similar vein, that's what Paul was also proclaiming. If we go to the book of Acts 17, it says that he was expounding the Old Testament scriptures to talk to them about the prophecies that pointed to Christ, and because Christ had come, he had died, He had risen again and gone to heaven. Now Paul was also explaining how Christ fulfilled the Old Testament. So Paul was explaining God's revealed message by explaining the Old Testament and now explaining Christ to the Thessalonians. So Paul was explaining this godly message. God gave Paul the message to share with the world, a message that sinners who deserve God's wrath, who have no merit in themselves to earn any favor with God, can receive grace and mercy. They can have a heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone. And all of that can be done by knowing Jesus Christ, by repenting of sin and putting faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. That whole message centered on Jesus Christ himself. And in case you think Paul is unique in the ministry he's doing, if you go to the Apostle John, Apostle John basically proclaims the same message. In John 20, 31, he said, these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing, you may have life in his name. And if you go over to 1 John 1, and you're welcome to turn there if you like, First John chapter one, verse one. John says, let's see here. If I can find it here. 1 John chapter 1 verse 1, John says, what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and touched with our hands concerning the word of life, and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also so that you may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ and these things we are writing so that our joy may be made complete so the other apostles were basically teaching and proclaiming the same thing that the apostle Paul was teaching And Paul says at the end of verse two, he says he was speaking boldly of the gospel of God amidst much struggle. And the struggle was in the sense of critics and opponents bothering Paul and his companions while they were still at Thessalonica. So there wasn't only this discrediting going on after he left, there was conflict while he was still in Thessalonica. And we can see that if you look at Acts 17, verses five through 10, we'll see what kind of struggle was going on to the point where Paul and his companions left. Acts 17, verses five through 10, Acts 17 verse 5 we read, But the Jews, becoming jealous, taking along some wicked men from the marketplace and forming a mob, set the city in an uproar. And attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the assembly. When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brothers before the city authorities, shouting, these men who have upset the world have come here also. And Jason has welcomed them. And they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. And they disturbed the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things. And when they had received the bond from Jason and the others, they released them. And then verse 10, and the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. And when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. So there you can see some of the conflict that was going on while Paul and his companions were even still there. But Paul had the boldness to preach the gospel, even though there was resistance, even though there were opposers, at least up to a point until they had to leave for their own safety and to continue spreading the gospel in other cities. So Paul appeals to their boldness in speaking the gospel amidst suffering and mistreatment and struggle. And we could throw the question out there and we can... Throw the question out there with verse three. Let's look at verse three here. Verse three, we have here a defense against a compromised message because these critics and opposers were trying to compromise the message by compromising Paul and his companions. So in verse 3 we read, for our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit, where Paul says, for our exhortation, where now he is giving an explanation of the boldness in their speaking, and now he's going to explain exactly how their proclamation went forth. what their proclamation exhibited, how they spoke, how they presented the gospel. He says, four, where he's opening up an explanation regarding the gospel presented amid suffering as noted in the previous verse. And we could ask the question here related to the previous verse, how could Paul and his companions come and continue to speak after enduring all the suffering and mistreatment they did in Philippi and then even here in Thessalonica. How could they endure that kind of suffering and mistreatment? Because I don't know if you think about it, someone who is corrupt in bringing the gospel, corrupt as a pastor teacher, probably is not going to go as far as enduring suffering and mistreatment for whatever agenda they have for presenting the gospel in a corrupt way if they're presenting the gospel in a corrupt way they have some underhanded reason for doing so they're not going to go to the point of mistreatment and suffering and still try to boldly proclaim the message they have you ask the question of the boldness Paul had amidst suffering and treatment, it's one of the ways that he can validate that his message is true and valid. So Paul says here in verse three, for our exhortation, exhortation means preaching or teaching, but is focused more on persuasive argument here to affect the heart rather than teaching like a professor or simply trying to present a great oratory. Commentator John Eady says, it is the earnest practical preaching of the apostle bringing every motive to bear upon his audience, plying them with every argument and working on them by every kind of appeal in order to win them over to the gospel and to faith in him who delivers from the wrath to come. Paul says, our exhortation, the gospel that we presented, our message, and then he says in verse three, does not come from error. Error is from the Greek word planis, with the idea of ideology coming from the mind of man, rather than from the mind of God. If you look at 1 John 4, verse 6. In 1 John 4, verse 6, we read, We are from God. The one who knows God hears us. The one who is not from God does not hear us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. This is the context in which Paul is speaking here when he says it did not come from error. He's saying the gospel came from God, as he said in the previous verse, it was the gospel of God, the message God gave him. So he says we did not speak and proclaim from error in the sense that this is not a message that came from our own minds that we're proclaiming for our own benefit. It does not come from error. It's a message that comes from God as opposed to man's own mind. or own thinking an example uh... a big example could be the idea of evolution versus god's own account of creation and existence you get a pastor teacher who wants to combine evolution and uh... the bible in some way as if evolution is true where they promote millions of years and they promote a big bang where there's nothing all sudden boom there's everything or something and they're trying to say this is god's message but we know if we look at scripture and we understand that this is god's speaking we look at scripture and we understand god said he created in twenty four hour days in six twenty four hour days there weren't millions of billions of years of progressive evolution to get to the point where we are today so that would be kind of a big example of the difference between a message that comes from error or a message that comes from God. We do not get evolution from God's word, from God speaking. And if you've been paying attention to all the pomp and circumstance and frippery with the Pope passing and his funeral and burying his coffin and whatnot, you know we can comment there too the pope and catholic teaching versus what god has said we know that there are some aspects of catholic theology maybe that that promote what the bible says to some extent but the focus generally in catholic teaching is on other things rather than scripture itself so we know again that there is error there mixed in with whatever truth might be connected to it So, Paul is saying here that his teaching, his explanation, his proclamation of the gospel concerning God and Christ does not come from error. And he continues saying it does not come from impurity. Impurity from the Greek is the idea that Paul's proclamation of the gospel did not come from anything impure in any way. One commentator says the meaning is wide enough to include any impure motive, any impure relationship, or impure action by the person proclaiming the message. It would be the opposite of Matthew 23, 27, where Jesus confronted the scribes and Pharisees and said, you look beautiful on the outside, but inside your heart and mind, you are tombs and full of all uncleanness, all impurity inside, meaning that they have no spiritual life in their hearts. They are not pure. They don't have God's message in there. They don't have the Holy Spirit in their hearts. So we're talking here about impurity of or in the person presenting the message. We're talking about anything impure that would compromise the validity of a public speaker's message, especially the gospel itself. It would be things like selfishness, desiring approval from eloquent speech, greed, a known debauched lifestyle, including drunkenness or sensuality. And this is why, if we go to where Paul addressed Timothy and Titus in the accounts where he gave the narrow requirements for overseers and deacons, we can understand why there would be narrow requirements for the spiritual leaders of the local church. If we just look at 1 Timothy 3.8, In 1 Timothy 3.8 we read, deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not fond of dishonest gain, but holding to the mystery of faith with a clear conscience. So there you have an example of requirements for deacons and Titus also we would see the example of requirements for overseers that are even more stringent than deacons or there are additional requirements such as being able to teach for elders and overseers where deacons don't have the requirement to be able to teach. But otherwise the requirements are basically the same. An example of what we're talking about here, this idea of impurity coming with you when you're presenting the gospel, I think we could remember the recently fallen pastors that have been in the news, and there have been a number of them where they failed morally in some way, and so any message they would preach after that is compromised or tainted. there would always be impurity attached to them as they proclaim the truth, compromising the message. And so that's why it is a very serious matter, and that's why those men generally are stepped down and they do not preach again, because there is always that connotation of impurity attached to them as they preach the message, which ends up discrediting the very message that they're preaching. So Paul says for them that there was no impurity of their character brought with them that would discredit the message that they were proclaiming. And then he says, we also didn't come by way of deceit. Deceit is from the Greek, ude andalo, also translated as guile. It's the idea of cunning or sly behavior from which the message and the act of giving the message could originate. The idea of trying to trick someone or mislead them. One commentator states, this would be like a preacher that comes with plausible but insincere methods of winning converts. This would be those kind who say, if you put your faith and trust in God, all of your problems will go away. Your physical health problems, your financial problems, your relationship problems, all of that will disappear and life will just be great if you put your faith and trust in Christ. Those are the kind of people who would be speaking the gospel message with a deceitful motive behind it. The opposite, like Paul told the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 2.17, he said, we are not like many peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ. So Paul says there is a sincerity to our message where there was nothing hidden that could discredit that message. And so he appeals to the fact that there's no impurity, there is no deceit coming with them when they presented the gospel to the Thessalonians. And then moving on to verse four, Paul appeals to divine testing and approval. Paul says in verse four, 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. When Paul says he's been approved by God, he is saying that they've been tested, tried, and proven in the hope and expectation that the test will prove successful. That's the idea behind the compound Greek word. The idea that there is testing, there is selection after testing, and approval of that selection by God. God himself does the testing. And if it's hard concept to grasp, you can think of it like testing metal before metal is formed into various objects. People like metal workers on farms, blacksmiths on a ranch who are making horseshoes or whatever they're forming, weapons makers in the military. It's the idea of purity of metals, testing metals in the fire and getting the impurities burned out before they take what's left and form it into whatever objects they want to make. And in this case, the testing is by God, ultimately testing their heart and their mind before approving them to take the gospel and proclaim it to the world. So testing, selection, approval, And then based on the selection, testing, and approval, God says, you are fit for the task at hand. You are fit to take the gospel message to the world. So Paul says, we were entrusted, once we were approved by God, we were entrusted with this message. The entrusted concept is the idea that God has commissioned Paul to because he's tested him, he knows his heart, and he approves of his motives and desires in sharing the gospel, because Paul wants to do it for the right reasons. God has commissioned Paul to carry the gospel to the world, not just take it with him, but proclaim it for the benefit of those who hear. The entrusting is, in a sense, a commandment from God that requires obedience in carrying out the commission. And Paul even explains this a little more in 1 Corinthians 9 verses 16 and 17. If you look at 1 Corinthians 9 verses 16 and 17, Paul here says, He says, for if I proclaim the gospel, I have nothing to boast. For I am under compulsion. For woe is me if I do not proclaim the gospel. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward. But if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. What then is my reward? That when I proclaim the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my authority in the gospel. For though I am free from all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. So Paul's primary focus in proclaiming the gospel is the very work of God in the hearts with the gospel to change hearts, to win people to Christ. That's the result he is looking for here. So, he says, in verse 4, he's saying, we've been approved by God and entrusted with the gospel, and he says, so we speak. He has this commission, God has given it to him, and says, we speak. And it's in the present tense, this idea, so we speak. with the idea that we continue speaking the gospel that has come from God. We speak and we do not stop. We have this message that needs to be proclaimed because it's of vital importance. And so we keep speaking. We speak the gospel that has come from God. God has given us to us to proclaim and we faithfully do so. And the reason we do so, he says, not as pleasing men, not as men pleasers. we are not doing what we are doing and in the way we are doing it to be liked by you or by anybody else we don't care what you think about us all we care about is your response to the message we proclaim he says we are aiming for a different target in our faithfulness in proclaiming the truth and he said We can freely declare it to be our aim to please God because God examines our hearts as he has already tested and approved us and knows our motives, our aims. Commentator John Stott says, no secret of Christian ministry is more important than its fundamental God-centeredness. The stewards of the gospel are primarily responsible neither to the church nor to its synods or leaders but to God himself. On the one hand, this is a disconcerting fact because God scrutinizes our hearts and their secrets and his standards are very high. On the other hand, it is marvelously liberating since God is a more knowledgeable, impartial, and merciful judge than any human being or ecclesiastical court or committee. To be accountable to God is to be delivered from the tyranny of human criticism. So, in some sense, there is a freedom in pleasing God and having God be the one that you're trying to please because God examines the hearts. He would rather have God examining his heart and making sure that he has the right motives and reasons for proclaiming the gospel rather than caring what anybody else says about what he's doing. As long as he's there to please God and he knows God examines his heart, it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks. In 2 Corinthians 5 verses 9 through 10, Paul says he preaches and strives to please God in everything he does because he mentions that at some point in our lives, at the end of our lives, we have to give an answer to God for our motives, for the reasons why we did this, in a sense. We have to stand before God and give an answer for that. and so he says he speaks not as pleasing man but as God because he knows God knows his heart and knows that his motives are pure so then if we move on to verse five Paul gives a defense against any personal gain. He's just said that he speaks as approved by God and entrusted with the gospel. He speaks then in turn to please God with the commission God has given him. And here, he's gonna further defend himself saying, there was no personal gain that I was desiring in that process. Look at verse five, he says, For we never came with a flattering word, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed. God is witness. This idea that we never came with a flattering word means this was not a part of our character. We did not bring any desire for flattery in our hearts, in our minds, when we came with a message to proclaim. Flattering is the idea of the contents of the speech and or their quality. As commentator Dr. Robert Thomas says, it's the insidious practice of saying nice things to gain influence over others for selfish reasons. That's what the Greek word kola chaos denotes in classical writings. Robert Thomas says, Paul seeks their own confirmation that he never was guilty of this. He never, in the way he proclaimed the gospel, sought to gain influence over them for any selfish reasons at all. An example would be the idea that you can hear some preacher out there saying, hey, you guys are really nice, good people. We just suggest making a few changes in your lives to be even better. You know, you hear a preacher like that, that would be someone giving flattery to the people listening to their message, saying, well, you're great people, you're really good, you're pretty close, maybe just tweak these few things and you'll be right with God and God will be pleased with you and satisfied with you. That's not what Paul was doing. It could be other preachers, you know, those preachers on TV, God wants you to be influence the people for your own gain. That's somebody who doesn't care about the actual message of the gospel. was to please God. And another commentator says, Paul says that they had not descended to flattery in order to make the gospel acceptable. They had not flattered men's self-complacency so as to blind them to their need of the radical work which the gospel demands. Paul proclaimed the gospel fully and with straightforward intention. He wanted the gospel to go forth and work in them without hindrance from he or his companions. And I think we can acknowledge today that the idea of telling somebody you're dead in sin and you're going to bear God's judgment in hell for eternity if you don't repent and put your faith and trust in Christ, who is the only hope you have for eternal life. It is hard to say that to people, because we know it will ostracize people, we know it'll push family members away, it'll push friends away, but that is the message. And if we truly care about them, and if we truly understand even the slightest little bit of the horrors of hell, of what that'll be like, We should want to share that message without trying to bring flattery into it, without trying to influence them for some personal gain so that they like us and say, I like the message you share. That sounds good. We should not want to do that. We should not want to add flattery. And Paul even appeals to the Thessalonians in verse five. He says, you know that we didn't come with flattery. He says, as you know. The Thessalonians, again, had heard Paul and his companions speak. They had reaped the results of the message in their hearts. They were thriving spiritually. And that was evidence that no flattery infiltrated the message proclaimed. They could speak to the fact that there was no flattery. It was the hard message of God and his redemption plan of sin and of Christ being central. They knew that because they lived it. And Paul says we also did not come with a pretext for greed. Pretext in the Greek is from the Greek word prophesis, meaning pretense. It's the idea that the person speaking doesn't really believe what he is presenting, but willingly presents it for personal gain. If this would have been true for Paul and his companions, then they didn't really believe what they were proclaiming, and they wouldn't care whether the message had any effect in the hearts of the hearers. They would have been after other rewards than the rewards that were there. The reward was people who had changed lives, and it was a reward that brought honor and glory to God. not honoring glory to Paul and his companions. So Paul says that he and his companions did not have any greed wanting to present the message for some personal gain. Greed, again, is the idea of desire for personal advantage, grasping. It's the idea of covetousness. If you look briefly at Mark 12, verse 40, we get an idea of what this covetousness looks like. Mark chapter 12, verse 40. Let's see. In Mark 12, verse 40, we read, well, we can go back to verse 38. And in his teaching, he was saying, beware of the scribes who want to walk around in long robes. They want respectful greetings in the marketplaces, best seats in the synagogues, and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows' houses and, for appearances' sake, offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation. Those are the preachers that are bringing whatever message they're bringing for their own greed, for their own gain, not for the message to be worked in the heart so that people's lives will be changed. It's this idea of covetous greed. They want something for themselves. But Paul is saying that he had no hidden desire to covet something for himself, get any personal gain by proclaiming the truth. Some examples, again, some of those TV preachers, if you ever have heard Benny Hinn, where he says, if you just give me some money, you just sow that seed, and you will get double return, triple return, whatever, you will gain by giving me money, you will get a return. He is appealing to them for his own greed. They will give him money and they will never see that money again or see any return on that money. And there are many preachers like that that you can listen to. And Paul even appeals to God as his witness. He said, God is my witness that I did not have a pretext for greed. There was no hidden agenda in my heart that I wanted something for myself by doing what I'm doing. The motives in Paul's heart weren't visible to the Thessalonians either. So here he appeals to God who can see his heart and verify what Paul's motives are. Paul had appealed to the Thessalonians' knowledge of Paul's visible conduct. We already talked about that, his visible conduct and how he spoke and how he carried himself. And now he appeals to the Thessalonians motives in his heart. He covers the rest of his bases by appealing to God's witness regarding his motives in coming and preaching. So he's covering his visible conduct and the internal motives of his character to say, you can vouch for this and God verifies and witnesses to what's in my heart and my motives so I can say this, that I didn't come seeking deceit or with greed or anything like that. And he continues in verse six. With God as his witness, he says, nor seeking glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ, we could have been a burden to you. This idea of seeking glory, just as words of flattery are not part of his character or motive, and Paul says we didn't come with selfish greed, neither do we have a desire for, a requirement of, or a demand for glory. We did not come for personal honor, to have you revere us in some way, to gain personal prestige, to be considered an elite person with more value. No, we came for the results that were visibly evident in you after God had worked in you in conjunction with the message preached. Paul says we came to honor and glorify God and being faithful to the commission he gave us. Remember, God had tested them, approved them, and then he entrusted them with the message, and they were faithful to please God in their proclamation of that message. And he says, we didn't seek glory from you or anybody else. We didn't seek personal glory from any of the other places we preached the gospel, and we didn't seek personal glory from you. You know, the pattern has been, as they're going through these cities, is their enduring suffering and mistreatment. And so then the next city hears about the suffering and mistreatment from the previous city. They spend time there. Now they get critics and opposers. Now they suffer mistreatment again. They move on to the next city. That's the pattern. There is no testimony of personal glory from city to city. They are not seeking personal glory from anybody. Paul is basically saying our intention was the same with you as with all those we proclaimed the gospel to. In a sense, it's the fulfillment of Matthew 28, 19 when Jesus told the disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel. This is the visible manifestation of that command. And so you see a lot of people having changed lives because of their faithfulness to that. And Paul does say, though, he says, even though as apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, Paul is saying we had the power, the ability, the authority to be burdensome in the sense that we could have stood on our personal dignity as an apostle. Paul has a position as an apostle. An apostle was someone who was chosen by Christ himself. An apostle is someone who has been sent out by God himself. Paul says, I could have stood on my dignity as apostle. I could have called that out. And I could have received proper remuneration for my labor as an apostle because of my status as someone chosen by God. But Paul did not exercise it. He didn't require payment for his labor. Hendricks in his commentary says it this way, he says, their aim had never been to seek human fame, whether from the Thessalonians or from anybody else, and this in spite of the fact that they were in a position to make weighty claims with respect to themselves being Christ's apostles, commissioned to represent Christ, and therefore invested with authority over life and doctrine. Jesus had, in effect, given them authority over people's lives and doctrine, ultimately their spiritual lives, and what they understood to be true as coming from God. John Eady, another commentator, quotes Chrysostom in his commentary, saying that Chrysostom said, not seeking honor or boasting ourselves, nor requiring attendance of guards. And yet, even if we had done this, we had done nothing out of character. For if persons sent by mere earthly kings are in honor, much more might we be in honor, because we're sent by God himself. God himself is the highest authority that exists. So we have been sent by the highest authority to do this commission he's given us. So we could request something from you for that, but we didn't. So then in verse six, after all this defense of his conduct and his motives, Paul then in verse seven, point number six, an appeal to a nurturing heart, Paul in verse seven is gonna switch to a positive statement saying, but this is how we actually conducted ourselves. Instead of a defense here, he is now switching. He says, but we prove to be gentle among you. as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. This idea of proof to be has the idea we were found to be by you, the Thessalonian Christians we ministered to, you found us to be very gentle with you. This is what you experienced when we were with you. This idea of gentle among you comes from the Greek word apioi, meaning mild, gentle, or kind. It's the idea, after denying any accusation that could label Paul or his companions as charlatans, Paul says, here's how we actually treated you. We showed an interest in you. We showed an interest in your well-being. And most importantly, we showed an interest in your spiritual well-being. One commentator says that Paul was saying our deportment was mild, was quiet, was unassuming, and affectionate. If you look at 2 Timothy 2.24, we get an idea here. 2 Timothy 2, verse 24 to 26. Paul says, and the Lord's slave must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may give them repentance leading to the full knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. That's what Paul was saying he was like when he says he was gentle among you when he came to the Thessalonians. And he says, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children, a mother who loves her own child and out of love nurtures her own child, it's her own flesh and blood. Paul treated the Thessalonians as if they were his own flesh and blood, as if they were his own family. It's the picture of a mother bird sitting on her eggs day after day, patiently waiting for them to hatch. But providing that incubating warmth in the meantime, it's that single-minded focus of care. Paul treated the Thessalonians like the mother bird treats her young. Paul treated the Thessalonians like Christ nourishes and cherishes the church like his own body. So let me just give some closing comments then to kind of say what can we learn from Paul's example, from his testimony of the validity of his character and his motives in presenting the gospel. Well, Paul in these verses gave his testimony of validity in bringing and proclaiming the gospel to the Thessalonians. So we should ask the question, have we considered whether we can testify to the validity of the gospel message we proclaim to those around us? Have we really considered these aspects of the validity of the message we proclaim? Do we discredit that message when we present that message because of something missing or something not right in us when we present the message? Do we have a hidden agenda? Paul appealed to the Thessalonian Christians' experiential knowledge of God's work in them as lived out from changed lives to say, this is the result of what happened, and that shows that this was my character, that I did not do this. Paul argued that a faithful Christian will present the gospel even if physically suffering or being mistreated for doing so. Those who have selfish reasons for preaching teaching won't have the willingness to endure what Paul and his companions endured. So we can ask ourselves the questions, are we willing to endure hardship for the sake of the gospel's proclamation if for some reason we have an opportunity to present the gospel, but it'll be hardship to do so? It may not be what Paul experienced, but we may still get people that don't like the message and that might treat us in a harsh way. Paul defended himself against a compromise message, such as ideology from his own mind rather than a message from God, from character failure accompanying the message, or being deceitful as to why he was proclaiming the message. We can ask ourselves, are we bringing our own message when we get together with others to share the truth? Or are we only sharing what God says in his word? Are we presenting God's message? Are we presenting God's speaking? Or are we presenting our own message, what we want to say rather than what God says? Do we have our own agenda for sharing the truth, such as being known for waxing eloquent on lofty subjects, or do we truly desire to present the simple truth so hearts and lives can be changed? What is our motive for what we're saying and what we're doing? Why are we saying it the way we're saying it? What are we trying to get out of it? Paul cemented his defense against the compromise message by appealing to direct testing and approval by God himself, and then being given the commission to proclaim God's message to the world. We don't need validation from man when presenting the truth. If we understand that God knows everything that is in our hearts, he knows why we are sharing the truth with another person or a group of people. He's the one who revealed the truth in the first place, so he knows if the truth we present is accurate. He knows all of that. So we don't need to try to get validation from our hearers in order to get some sort of gain. Our sole motive is to please God by presenting the truth as he has given it. Paul ended his testimony by defending himself against any hidden selfish motives by declaring that God was a witness, that there was no desire for personal gain but only a desire to please God. Paul had a deep understanding of who God is. In his testimony, Paul showed that in proclaiming the gospel, he was simply following God's example in character and action. He nurtured and cherished the Thessalonians, leading them to grow into maturity in Christ. Nothing more, nothing less. No personal gain, only glory and honor to God. So this morning, let's look at our own testimony of validity to see where we need to grow and mature spiritually in our own personal lives and character so we do not discredit the gospel when we share it with those around us. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word to us. Thank you for this passage and for the example of Paul, where he is setting the example of what a Christian man should be, especially one who goes around preaching and teaching and proclaiming the truth as a ministry. I know it probably applies more to full-time pastors, church elders, church leaders who are the teachers and the professors and the ones who are shepherding other people's spiritual lives but in a sense father it applies to all of us father we don't want to discredit your word we don't want to discredit the gospel and most of all father we don't want to take any honor any gain any hidden agenda and try to get something for ourselves from preaching the gospel father work in our hearts that we would only share the truth because we wanted to work in other people's hearts so that their hearts will be changed, that they will belong to Christ, and that they will join us in this unique bond of unity we have in Christ by the Spirit. Work in us to that end, that that is our goal, that we would please you and honor and glorify you, Father, because this is your message you have worked it in us, and in turn, we need to proclaim it out of the joy and delight we have at having new life that we didn't deserve, that we didn't earn, that you, out of your love and grace, gave to us. May that be our heart's desire, and may we strive to have the life and character that will not discredit the gospel that we proclaim. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.