Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19981101.htm

1 THESSALONIANS: HELPING CONVERTS FROM PAGANISM
Part II: God's Allowing Stresses On Disciplers To Reveal Their Motives To Distrusting People In Paganism
(1 Thessalonians 2:1-12)
  1. Introduction
    1. Our "post-Christian era" America is tainted with a form of paganistic thinking, a mindset that trusts in one's own capacity to manipulate his world around him successfully for his benefit. With this viewpoint often comes a tendency not to trust leaders, a questioning of an overseer's credibility and trustworthiness.
    2. When Paul evangelized in Thessalonica, a number of those who were saved were pagans, 1 Thess. 1:9. Just how God equipped these people to trust Paul's Gospel amidst the inherent distrust those with pagan thinking often have of leaders is revealed in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12. It offers a lesson for us today.
  2. God's Allowing Stresses On Disciplers To Reveal Their Motives To Distrusting People In Paganism.
    1. Since some of the Thessalonians came from pagan idol worship backgrounds (1 Thess. 1:9), they would have carried an inherent distrust of leaders due to a self-help view so typical of pagan backgrounds.
    2. Accordingly, God allowed Paul's missionary team to have their godly motives put on display through hardships so that the Thessalonian pagans would believe their word, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12:
      1. Paul stated that these Thessalonian believers realized that his missionary team's visit of them was not a failure, but a spiritual success, 1 Thessalonians 2:1.
      2. This insight had come from their being persuaded of the Gospel to lead to their conversion to Christ, and Paul recalled how these Thessalonian believers had come to be persuaded that he'd given them the truth by his team's facing motive-revealing trials, 1 Thess. 2:2-12:
        1. First, Paul and his team had given their gospel to these Thessalonians while under obvious duress to the contrary, indicating that there was no selfish motive for them to have preached as they had, 2:2-3: (a) the Thessalonians had heard that though Paul was mistreated and insulted at Philippi before his having come to them (2:2), it but had not stopped him from taking that chance of being insulted again to keep giving them the gospel, 2:2b. (b) In fact, when trouble had come to Paul in Thessalonica, he had given his message in spite of it, revealing that he had unselfish motives, 2:2c.
        2. Second, Paul and his companions had not tried to please even their Thessalonian hearers by using flattery, indicating that they had selfless motives in evangelizing them, 1 Thess. 2:4-5a.
        3. Third, Paul and his team had not masked a secret greed for money in giving the gospel, for they worked on their own to support themselves independent of the Thessalonian converts, 2:5b, 9.
        4. Fourth, Paul's demeanor was non-legalistic, seeking to minister in a gracious mode rather than in a heavily authoritarian one that would serve Paul's personal interests, 1 Thess. 2:7-8, 10.
        5. Fifth, Paul's message was one of faith in Christ followed by a holy life for converts, something one would expect of one trying to get people to believe in Christ for God's sake, not his own, 2:11-12.
Lesson: In our "post-Christian era" in which people with paganistic, self-help orientations tend to DISTRUST leaders, EXPECT God to allow His TRULY appointed leaders to be TESTED by FIRE in the area of their MOTIVES so that their certificat ion by God becomes OBVIOUS to all.

Application: (1) If we are the man-in-the-pew, EXPECT to see the Pastor and/or Board Members come under fire for their beliefs and stands as GOD allows this to EXPOSE their motives so that people will HEED those whom He has called to lead. (2) If we ourselves are OVERSEERS, or who are led of God to witness to another, ACCEPT trials as opportunities allowed by God for our TRUE motives to be EXPOSED to our hearers. (3) Do not be surprised to see those ministering to others (a) insulted or rejected , (b) be put into positions where they must use unflattering words to reveal unsavory facts to others, (c) be put into positions where it is not in their financial best interests to continue doing ministry, (d) have to remain gentle when most others woul d get "forceful" to avoid unjust, personal pain, and (e) promote faith in Christ and a holy life instead of selfish ends.