1 Thessalonians 2
McGeeCHAPTER 2THEME: The coming of Christ is a working hopeThe coming of Christ for His church is called the rapture of the church. It is not a doctrine to argue about; it is a doctrine to live. Unfortunately, there are many who believe Christ is coming after the Great Tribulation. There are those who believe He is coming before, and some believe He is coming during that period of time. Then there are others who don’t believe that He is coming at all, and yet they say that they trust Him as their Savior. For all the groups there is one important question: How does your interpretation affect your life?
Does it do anything for you? If your view has no effect on your life, then you should reconsider what you believe. The expectation of the return of the Lord should be a motivating factor in the life of the believer.
1 Thessalonians 2:1
MOTIVE AND METHOD OF A TRUE WITNESS FOR CHRIST"In vain" means empty, without results. Paul says, “When we came to you, it was not just some theoretical proposition that we presented to you. We didn’t come to declare to you something that was new and novel and which had no effect on you at all. We didn’t just entertain you for a few days and then leave you.” Paul’s work was not in vain; it was not empty. When he came to Thessalonica, it rocked a great many folk, bringing many to a saving knowledge of Christ. And it brought a church into existence. Paul was not simply talking about a theory or a philosophy, but about something that worked in Thessalonica. The gospel walked down the streets of that city, and it got into the hearts and homes and lives of men and women.
1 Thessalonians 2:2
The Greek word for “contention” is agoni, which means “conflict” or “agony.” There was a great deal of conflict and much inward agony when Paul came to them. Paul says that he had been shamefully treated in Philippi. We know about that from the account in Acts 16. But when he came to Thessalonica, he came in boldness. In other words, he didn’t slow down because of his previous experience. He didn’t play down the gospel. After his terrifying experience, Paul didn’t say, “Now I’m going to change my approach. I’m going to be more tactful and less outspoken about the gospel.” No, Paul was not a secret believer. He spoke right out, just as he had done at Philippi. You see, it would have been so easy for Paul to rationalize. He could have decided that he had better be more careful to win friends and influence people. Excessive tact and the soft sell were not Paul’s method. He boldly declared the gospel, and his experiences did not affect his approach. Now when he entered in among them, he presented the Word of God. If you were asked to choose, what would you select as the greatest sermon of the apostle Paul? If we took a poll, I’m sure we would get many different answers. Rightly so. There was the great sermon at Damascus after his conversion. There was the sermon before Sergius Paulus on the island of Cyprus when he began his missionary work.
Then there was a sermon in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia on his first missionary journeyI consider that one of the greatest of his sermons. Then there were sermons in Athens on Mars Hill, in Ephesus at the school of Tyrannus, and his defense in Corinth. I think all of these are great. Someone might choose the message he gave in Jerusalem when he was arrested, or when he was brought before Felix and Festus and Agrippa. The one given before Agrippa is a masterpiece. Then there is his farewell speech on the beach to the elders of Ephesus.
In every message he always presented Christ, His death and His resurrection. If I were to pick the greatest sermon of Paul, I would actually pick none of these. I would choose instead his life in Thessalonica. His greatest sermon was not in writing or speaking, but in walking. It was not in exposition, but in experience; not in his profession, but in his practice. He took his text from Jas_2:26, “…faith without works is dead….” and he made his points on the pavement of the streets of Thessalonica. Every believer is a preacher. Maybe you don’t like me to call you a preacher, but you are one nonetheless. You can’t escape ityou are saying something to somebody by the life you live. Perhaps your life is speaking to the child in your home. I think that is one of the reasons we have so many of our young people out on the highways and byways, the streets and alleys of this world. They watched mom and dad at home, and they didn’t like what they saw; so they took to the highways. The greatest sermon you will ever preach is by the life that you live. Paul is going to tell us about the sermon he preached at Thessalonica (vv. 1Th_2:3-6), and he then will describe the relationship he had with the Thessalonians. He was like a mother to them in that he comforted them (see v. 1Th_2:7); he was like a father to them in that he charged them (v. 1Th_2:11); and he was like a brother to the Thessalonians in that he challenged them (v. 1Th_2:14).
1 Thessalonians 2:3
Deceit means “error.” The content of Paul’s exhortation was not adulterated. Paul did not water down the gospel. He never changed it to suit different groups. One of the things that disturbs me about some ministers is that they give a good, clearcut gospel message in one place, but then they show up in another place where they need to be equally clear in giving out the gospel, and they are fuzzy! This was not true of the apostle Paulhis “exhortation was not of deceit.” Uncleanness means “sensuality.” Paul was not motivated by greed. He didn’t come to Thessalonica for the offering he would get or for the notoriety he would gain. He wasn’t seeking to be ministered to personally, but he came with pure motives. There was no uncleanness in that sense. “Nor in guile"he did not use wrong methods with them. He did not lower his standards to accommodate the prejudices and passions of the old nature. He did not use an appeal to the sinful flesh. Many of us can learn a lesson from the apostle Paul at this point. I once knew a minister who had been a great preacher. But I lost much respect for this man because he went back to a church which he had formerly pastored, knowing that there was criticism of the present pastor. He played upon that criticism and encouraged it. Paul would never have done a thing like that. He didn’t bring the gospel to people in any form of guile at all. Everyone who teaches the Word of God needs to ask himself whether he is doing it with any deceit or uncleanness or guile. We need to be honest with ourselves; we need to check our own motives. Do we teach in order to win friends and influence people? Or are we honestly trying to give out the Word of God? My friend, I must confess that I have made many mistakes. I have failed the Lord so many times that it is amazing that He doesn’t throw me overboard.
If I were God, I would have been disgusted with Vernon McGee long ago. But I promised the Lord when I entered the ministry that I wouldn’t pull any punches. Honestly, I expected to get into real trouble, but the Lord has been good to me. I think He knew that I would start running if there were an occasion for it. I am grateful that I can look up to the Lord right now and say, “Lord, I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I have failed You, but I have given out Your Word the best I know how. If I could give it better, I would, but I’m doing the best that I possibly can by Your grace.” I love this passage. Paul could tell the Thessalonians, “When I came to you, I want you to know that I had no ulterior motives. I didn’t come for your offering. I didn’t come in order to shear your sheep. I came to give you the gospel and then to build you up in the faith. That was my motive.” With that kind of motive a person is really sailing on a marvelous sea. There may be storms, but the Lord will bring His servant through.
1 Thessalonians 2:4
The word allowed means “to be tested or approved.” Paul was saying that he was no novice. He was not a manpleaser, nor had he ever sought popularity. He wasn’t trying to make a name for himself. When Paul preached, he was not preaching to find out what men would think of him, but what God would think of him. Paul used the blue litmus paper of God to put down in his life, and it stood the test. He never used any low or tricky methods.
1 Thessalonians 2:5
Paul is speaking pretty frankly. He says that he never came into their midst to flatter anyone. He never played up to the rich people in the congregation. He didn’t try to butter up anyone. Flattery disarms uswe really never know what to say. When people criticize me, I know what to say, but I never know what to say when someone flatters me. It disarms a person. In Twelfth Night Shakespeare has his clown say, “Marry, sir, they praise me and make an ass of me; now my foes tell me plainly I am an ass: so that by my foes, sir, I profit in the knowledge of myself, and by my friends I am abused.” Our friends are probably more dangerous at times than our enemies! Paul never used flattery. There is a group of wealthy laymen across this country who are literally owned by the people who flatter them. If a Christian work or program doesn’t butter them up, they are not the least bit interested in helping that program financially. God pity the church or the work that must depend on men who require flattery and compliments before they will give their support to the work. I think this is one of the curses in the Christian church today. Paul did not use a “cloak of covetousness.” I really don’t think that money is the sin of the ministry. I have never felt that money was a great temptation for the men whom I know in the ministry. But the cloak of covetousness is a cloak of many colors. There are men who covet honor and fame and position. We need to search our hearts in order to uncover any covetousness there. Many colleges have attempted to buy men by giving them honorary doctoral degrees. They have been given out by the score. The college then hopes for a donation or some other type of support. That is one reason it would be well if all doctoral degrees had to be earned.
1 Thessalonians 2:6
Paul never sought position or honors. He never received any honorary degrees. He had pure motives.
1 Thessalonians 2:7
THE MOTHER SIDE OF THE APOSTLE’S MINISTRY (COMFORT)The word nurse here means “a nursing mother,” like a mother bird. This is Paul’s positive expression of his relationship to the Thessalonians: “I’ve been a nursing mother, a mother bird to you.” Oh, the gentleness of Paul! He was as tender as a woman in his dealings with the church at Thessalonica. The Lord Jesus said of Jerusalem: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Mat_23:37). Jesus identifies Himself in many ways in Scripture. He calls Himself the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep. He protects His sheep, and someday He is going to gather them all into a fold where they will be safe with Him. Then He also uses this idea of the mother hen with her little chicks. I was raised in the country, and I remember that in the spring of the year we would put an old setting hen on some eggs. Soon she had a little flock of chicks. She would go all around the yard clucking. We didn’t have a special chicken yard because we lived on a great big place by a cotton gin, and these chickens would roam over an area about a quarter mile square. When the rain would come, the mother hen would cluck, cluck, cluck, calling her chicks to the hen house. Sometimes they wouldn’t quite make it; so the mother hen would get all those little chicks under her, and she would cover them with her feathers. The rain would be running down off her, but all the little ones were safe under her wings. How many times the Lord Jesus says to us, “Just come in under My wings.” Paul was that kind of minister. He loved the Thessalonians with a mother’s love. They were dear to him. There are still ministers like that today. Maybe they aren’t all great expositors, but they believe the Word of God and preach it. Such godly and experienced pastors are able to counsel people who are in need of help. You don’t need to be afraid to sit down and open your heart to such a man and let him help you.
1 Thessalonians 2:8
Dear is “beloved.” Paul had a genuine love for the Thessalonian believers, and he was willing literally to give his life for them.
1 Thessalonians 2:9
“Travail …labouring night and day"that’s a mother’s work. We are familiar with the expression: “Man’s work is from sun to sun, but a woman’s work [or a mother’s work] is never done.” A mother is not a paid nurse. Paul is saying that he wasn’t a paid nurse who worked by the hour. He wasn’t a hired babysitter. He did not belong to a union. Have you ever heard of a mothers’ union which insisted a mother would work only for eight hours of the day? Have you known any mothers who punch the clock and then turn away from their crying babies because they refuse to work anymore? Maybe some mothers will work out some kind of union agreement like that, but I don’t think real mothers would want it. Mothers work a little differentlynight and day. In New England there were two girls who worked together in the cotton mills. One of them quit working, and they didn’t see each other for several years. They met on the street one day, and the girl from the mill said, “What are you doing now? Are you still working?” The other one replied, “No, I’m not workingI’m married. I not only have a husband, but I also have a little boy. I get up at three in the morning to feed the baby.
Then I get up early to fix breakfast and make a lunch for my husband. I take care of the baby through the day, and then I prepare dinner for my husband.” The first girl exclaimed, “I remember when you worked at the mill how you used to watch the clock. When that five o’clock whistle blew, you were out of there!” The young mother explained: “I don’t watch the clock anymore. I’m working longer hours, but it isn’t really work.” This girl was motivated by love, and it didn’t seem like work anymore. That is what Paul is saying here. He loved these people. He labored over them night and day because he loved them. A member of my church once asked me to go visit someone. He said, “You’re paid to do that.” Do you know what I told him? I said, “You go to see himbecause you are not paid to do it, and you will probably do a better job than I could do. We are not to do the Lord’s work on the basis of pay!” I’m afraid that put him in an awkward position. He had to make that call, and I can assure you, he never asked that of me again. We are to care for one another with the tender care of a mother. That was what Paul did.
1 Thessalonians 2:10
THE FATHER SIDE OF THE APOSTLE’S MINISTRY (CHARGE)“Ye are witnesses"Paul is speaking of something which they know to be true. Notice the way Paul conducted himself among them. “Holily"he carefully discharged his duty to God. That is what holy living is. “Justly"he also carefully discharged his duty to man. Paul had a duty to God and a duty to man; he discharged both of them. I hear so many people talk about being “dedicated Christians.” If you hope to be a dedicated Christian, you must live a holy life before God. Watch God, and don’t watch the clock. Don’t work only when the boss is around. You should work all the time, because God is always around. Going down front in a church service, shedding a few tears, and having someone pray over you will not produce a dedicated life. What does your boss think of you? Or if you are a student, what does your teacher think of you? If you are lazy, then you are not dedicated. A dedicated life is a holy life, lived always in the presence of God. “Unblameably.” This means that no charge could be maintained against the apostle and his companions. This doesn’t mean that his enemies didn’t accuse himbecause they didbut the charges didn’t stick. People will say ugly things about you, but the important thing is to make sure the criticisms are not true. Paul and his companions maintained a holy life. A holy life does count. It has nothing to do with obtaining your salvation, but it has everything to do with the salvation of folk around you, because they are watching you.
1 Thessalonians 2:11
“Exhorted.” The Greek word is parakaleo, which means that Paul came to the side of them to help, to entreat, and to convict them. It is the same word which is used for the Holy Spirit. You remember that the Lord Jesus said he would send the Holy Spirit who would convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (see Joh_16:7-11). I have always felt that the gospel is not presented in the power of the Holy Spirit unless it is presented as something that the Holy Spirit can use to convict a man. That means that He convinces a man of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Those three elements are always in the gospel message. Comforted is not used here in the sense we use the word today. We saw that meaning on the mother side of the apostle’s ministry. Rather, the word here means “to persuade.” There was an urgency in Paul’s message to the Thessalonians. He often said, “I beseech you"I beg you. That is the way the gospel should be presented even today. Paul “charged” them. This has a note of severity in itit involves discipline. It is a virile word, a robust, firm, masculine word. I’m afraid that we find a lot of sissy preaching in our pulpits today. The popular thing is to have a little sermonette given by a preacherette to Christianettes. There is little urgency. Someone has defined the average church service in a liberal church as when a mild-mannered man gets up before a group of mild-mannered people and urges them to be more mild-mannered. Oh, that is sickening, my friend! My wife says that I indulge my flesh at Eastertime because I just have to laugh when I look through the paper and see what the liberal preachers are going to preach for the Resurrection. They have a problem with that. And I enjoy their discomfort! One preacher’s subject was given as “Easter Is a Time of Flowers.” Oh boy, don’t you imagine that was a virile, robust sermon? No wonder there are so many sick saints when they are being fed such watered down soup. A great Methodist evangelist in the South once said, “Some sermons don’t have enough gospel in them to make soup for a sick grasshopper.” In contrast, what a glorious thing the ministry of the apostle Paul was!
1 Thessalonians 2:12
“Walk worthy.” This is what Paul also wrote to the Ephesians: “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (Eph_4:1). God has called the saints unto “his kingdom,” which refers to the millennial kingdom, and unto “glory,” which refers to the eternal kingdom. In other words, get a perspective of God’s great plan and purpose. Live in the light of eternity.
1 Thessalonians 2:13
Now here is the other side of the giving of the gospel. Paul has already said, “For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost …” (1Th_1:5). That is the way the gospel should be given out. But I hear a great many people criticize preachers, and I want to say this: If a man is presenting the gospel and it is going out in power, it should also be received as the Word of God. How do you receive the Word of God? Do you receive it as the Word of God? Or do you get angry? Does the hair stand up on the back of your neck? Twice in all my years of ministry I was approached by a man after a sermon and asked if I had him in mind when I preached the sermon that morning. My friend, I didn’t even know those men were there! They were giving themselves an added sense of importance that wasn’t justified. But the real issue is that they weren’t receiving the Word of God as the Word of God. The Word should go out as the Word of God and it should be received as the Word of God. And, my friend, if you will receive it that way, then it will be able to work in you, and there’s blessing there for you. Otherwise, you are wasting your time in church. We have seen how Paul has been giving out the Word of God. It irritated some people because God’s Word is salt, and salt stings when it gets into a fresh wound of sin in the life of an individual. The Word of God is also a light, but there are a lot of people who love darkness because their deeds are evil. Paul is teaching in this chapter that the church of God should mirror the family of God down here on earth. He talks about a mother relationship to believers, a father relationship, and now a brother relationship. Sometimes people say, “Our church is a family church.” What they mean is that there is a nursery for the little baby, a junior church for all the little children of junior age, a teenage group, a couples’ group for dad and mom, and finally a senior citizens’ group for grandma and grandpa. That is what folk call a “family church.” I am not sure Paul would ever have divided up the church like that, and this is not what we mean when we say the church should mirror the family of God. The church should be a revelation of God to the community just as a family should be. The relationships of husband, wife, and child in the home should reveal the threefold aspect of the love of God and Christ for the world. Paul has already spoken of the mother side of the local church. He was willing to work day and night to nurture them as a little bird is nurtured by its mother. He didn’t work an eight-hour day, but he was on the job for them all the time. Then Paul says he was like a father to that church. A child in a home needs to experience both mother-love and father-love. It is a tragedy for children in our day when the parents are separated or divorced. The child very often fails to receive the love of the father. That father-love is expressed in discipline. Paul says he was like a father to the Thessalonian church. There are some very fine Bible teachers who never preach anything but comfort. They are always comforting the saints. People love it, because everyone likes to be comforted. I like to have my back rubbed and my head also. That is physically comforting, and it is a joy. But we are not to have comfort alone; we also need discipline. I’m afraid that the father-side, the discipline-side, is woefully lacking, not only in our homes and in the state, but also in the church.
1 Thessalonians 2:14
THE BROTHER SIDE OF THE APOSTLE’S MINISTRY (CHALLENGE)Now the brother-side of the ministry within the church is represented by the child in the family. “Brethren"that is, brothers. What is it that makes men brothers? There are two things that make brothers. Regardless of race or color, it is true that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. No one escapes that category. This is the brotherhood of sinners. Since it is a brotherhood of sinners, it is not a loving brotherhood. You had better watch your brother; you can’t always trust him. Now what is it that Paul says drew the Thessalonians together as brothers? “For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen.” The Thessalonian church was largely a gentile church, and they were already experiencing persecution, although this was not yet the time of the great persecutions under the emperors. They were suffering in Thessalonica. Paul could say to them, “Before you began suffering, the brethren over in Jerusalem were already suffering at the hands of their racial brothers. This suffering draws you together and holds you together.” They were brothers in suffering; suffering is a cement that holds believers together. The church is coming “unglued” in some areas of the world, and the reason for this is the same thing that was said of Israel in Deu_32:15: “Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked.” That is, they entered a period of affluence, and they became critical. The church in America lives in affluence. But, frankly, I think that persecution may be just around the corner. There are many in the church who are praying for revival. I know of a number of prayer groups which meet regularly to pray for revival. I have never heard of them praying that they might all suffer or be persecuted in order to bring in revival. I do not think that revival will come to this country under the present state of conditions. Right now there is a renewed interest in the Word of God, and some call it revival. However, I don’t call this revival. I believe that if revival came to the church, we would all know it. No one would need to ask, “Do you think this is revival?” But I do believe that if suffering came to the church, it would draw believers together. We would cut out all this nonsense of picking at the other fellow. We would recognize that every child of God is our brother. There may be some disagreement on various points, but every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is my brother. We are in the family of God, and we should mirror this before the world. When the church really mirrors this before the world, then revival will come. We try to make a detour and a shortcut to revival by praying for it. Why don’t we pray for the conditions that produce revival? It was man’s extremity that brought revival at times in the past. The great Wesleyan movement came out of the dark days in England when they were on the verge of a revolution. It seems it takes such conditions for revival to occur. Maybe we are not far from that in our country today.
1 Thessalonians 2:15
This I consider to be a remarkable passage of Scripture. It reveals a great principle: God permits sin to run its full course. The figure of speech which the prophets used was that the cup of iniquity must be filled up. God is permitting the cup to be filled. God won’t check it so that Satan will never be able to say, “See, I never was given a chance because God wouldn’t permit me to go all the way.” I think the time of the Great Tribulation is the time when God will allow Satan full rein.
1 Thessalonians 2:17
REWARD OF A TRUE WITNESS FOR CHRIST"Brethren"again, this is the real brotherhood. This is the real ecumenical movement. When a person is in Christ Jesus, he is a brother to all others who are in Christ. Outside of Christ there is only the brotherhood of sinners. “Being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart.” Isn’t this lovely of the apostle Paul? He was actually run out of Thessalonica, but his heart was still there. He hated to leave these Christians and wanted to be able to see them again. By the way, he did.
1 Thessalonians 2:18
Paul had spiritual discernment to see that it was Satan’s strategy that kept him from going to Thessalonica. The word Satan actually means “adversary.” I believe that today Satan seeks to hinder any program of getting out the Word of God. We have seen several instances of this. Many times my Bible teaching program has been on a radio station by which we were reaching an entire area, and things were going so nicely. Then a godless man would buy the station, and he would take all religious programs off the air. He doesn’t want the Word of God to be given out.
1 Thessalonians 2:19
Paul says that one of the great things he anticipates when Christ comes to take His church will be the opportunity to see these people whom he has led to the Lord. The Thessalonian believers whom he had won to Christ were a joy for him here and would be hereafter. By the way, is anyone going to be in heaven who will come up to you and thank you for having a part in giving out the Word of God? Have you given your support to missions? If you have, someone you have never known, someone from the other side of the earth, may come up to you and thank you for your support of missions. He will thank you for being interested in getting out the Word of God because the Word reached him and enabled him to be saved. That, my friend, is going to be part of the reward that we will get in heaven. We need to recognize that. It is a wonderful hope to look forward to the time when Christ Jesus takes the church out of this world. It is even more joyous to know that someone who trusted Christ because of your witness will go along with you to meet the Lord!