Paul's Entrance to the Thessalonians

Let us turn to God's Word once again, and I want to direct you to the words that we find in the first epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians, and the second chapter. I'll read verses 1 through 4. 1 Thessalonians 2, reading verses 1 through 4. Paul writes, For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain. But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as you know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile. But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but gods, which trieth our hearts. I want to say something with regards then to Paul's entrance among these Thessalonians, and in particular, the words that we have in the first verse.

Here is our text then in First Thessalonians 2.1. For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you that it was not in vain. In fact, the The language is really more emphatic than it appears in the translation, because the pronoun is repeated there in the opening words. More literally, it says, for you yourselves, for you yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you was not in vain.

Similar to how he speaks previously in verse 9, for they themselves, Those not only in Macedonia and the Caia, but in every place, they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had on to you and how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and the true God.

Paul's coming amongst them then was quite remarkable. in being such a fruitful ministry at this particular juncture. Those in those regions of what we would now know as Southern Greece, the region really of Apollonia and Achaia, they had witnessed something quite remarkable in the lives of those people who had heard the preaching of Paul It had affected them. And he says there at verse 8 in chapter 1, From you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Lycaea, but also in every place.

Your faith to God will be spread abroad so that we need not to speak anything. And then those words that we just read are that they turn from idols to serve the living and the true God. It's interesting the language which he is using there in verse 9 of that first chapter. They themselves show of us, he said, and the word that he uses to show literally means to declare, to proclaim.

They were bearing witness then to those things that they had heard of the Apostle and the blessed effect that this had had upon them. they had come to such an experience of the grace of God. They had a true saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus. And so, he says here in this opening verse, for you yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you that it was not in vain. What a knowledge it was that they had.

He goes on to remind them, doesn't he, later in this very chapter, Verse 13, For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye receive the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. It wasn't that Paul was able by his persuasive preaching to win converts. It was very much the work of God that they experienced. It says again there in verse 5 of chapter 1, "...our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost. And in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake."

Well, as we come to consider Paul's entrance amongst these Thessalonians. I want to divide what I'm going to say into three parts with regards to this ministry. First to say something of Paul and his person and the meanness really, the meanness of his person. And then secondly, the manner of his preaching, and then finally to say something with regards to what it was that was motivating and moving him in all this ministry amongst the Thessalonians.

First of all, the person of this man. In human terms, there was nothing very grand or distinguishing with regards to the appearance of the Apostle Paul. Doesn't he tell the Corinthians there in 2nd Corinthians 10 and verse 10 that his bodily presence is weak, he says, and his speech contemptible. He was no sort of great charismatic figure, it would appear. His bodily presence was weak, his speech was contemptible.

And how, as he came amongst them, he was one who of course had been suffering, as he says in the second verse, even after that we had suffered before, and was shamefully entreated, as you know, at Philippi. And we read of the cruel treatment that was meted out to him and to Silas, and how they were thrust into the inner prison.

There in that portion we were reading in the 16th chapter of the Acts, verse 22, how the multitude rose up, the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat these men. They laid many stripes upon them, we're told, and cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. And he, receiving that charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. How cruelly these men then were being treated.

But at the end of that chapter we see in a measure Paul vindicated, he was of course a free Roman citizen and these men have to come these magistrates shamefacedly and beseeched he and Silas depart from them. They were afraid they'd done something that they ought not to have done evidently. But what wicked opposition there was, even as they depart and go to Thessalonica, and even there treated so unkindly to say the least, and then they go on, to Berea, but then there are those Jews from Thessalonica who pursue them there. Paul then has come to Thessalonica.

He has come there as one who has been suffering in the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not such a remarkable spectacle as to make an impression in his own person. And yet he has come to them, but he's come not empty-handed. His body might be scarred in some way, his spirit might be smarting at the treatment that he's had, but he's come as one who is the bearer of a remarkable message. he is at that charge from God's to preach the gospel and so he comes in all the fullness of that grace of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and he's coming he says he's not in vain you know he says that it was not in vain it was not empty he doesn't come empty-handed in that sense he had committed unto him the word of Reconciliation, that was the gospel that he was preaching. He was an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he wasn't dependent in any sense upon any abilities that he might have had in himself. Remember how he makes that quite plain when he writes to the church at Corinth, there in the second chapter of the first epistle.

I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, he says, say Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

He didn't look to himself, any rhetoric, any ability to speak. It was all the work of God, it was all the work of grace. He didn't come amongst them to obtain, to get anything from them. He comes simply to make the message known, to give to them. It is more blessed to give than to receive, he says to the Ephesians in Acts chapter 20. And what does he give them?

Well, we have it here in verses 8 and 9. He says, Being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail, for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. And then he writes again concerning these things in the second epistle, there in 2 Thessalonians, in chapter 3 and verses 7 and 8, he says, You yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we behave not ourselves disorderly among you, neither did we eat any man's bread, for nought but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you."

This was the manner then of his coming. He comes to preach the gospel freely. and he comes to speak of a Savior who is rich in grace and is that one who is ever the sinner's friend. This is the message then that Paul will declare to those poor and needy sinners amongst the Thessalonians. Nothing of himself. His whole ministry is by and through the grace of God.

But what was the manner of his preaching? How did he set these things before them? Well, in what we have in this passage, at the end of the second chapter, we see that there's a negative aspect to his ministry and there's a positive aspect. Three negatives are mentioned, aren't they, in verse 3?

He says there, our exaltation was not of deceit. Our exaltation was not of deceit. The word as the basic meaning of wondering, going astray, misleading. He was no deceiver, this man. He was one who was allowed of God with the Gospel, he says here at verse 4. We were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak. Interesting, again, the terminology, the vocabulary that he employs. This word, to allow, means to be approved. He, as I said, was a true ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ. From whence had he received his message?

Well, remember how he tells the Galatians he'd not received it of men, There, in Galatians 1.11, I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me was not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." He's no deceiver at all. He preaches what he had received from the Lord, what the Lord had revealed to him and burnt into his soul.

There in Galatians 1.15, when he pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately he says, I confer not with flesh and blood. He hadn't received his authority from other men. He was the Lord's messenger.

He was no deceiver of the people. And he goes on here in verse 3. Our exhortation was not of deceit, he says, nor of uncleanness. Nor of uncleanness. There was no impurity here. He was motivated only by the grace of God. There was nothing of self, nothing of sin.

He says to the Corinthians, I seek not yours, but you. and he could say to those same Corinthians who so despised him as the consequence of the false teachers who'd come into Corinth he could remind them that they were the very seal of his ministry how the Lord had owned the word that he had preached never was he one who was in any sense out for for himself he wasn't one who was looking for filthy lucre trying to profit from the gospel. He tells Titus, there in the opening chapter of that epistle, Titus 1 and verses 10 and 11, He says, There are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. For prophets, there were those who would profit from the word of God, who would seek as he were to feather their own nest, but not poor, not poor. How he was so different to those false teachers who were making merchandise of the Word of God. Nor of uncleanness, he says, nor in guile. Those words then that we have at the beginning of this third verse. Our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile. And that simply means crafty. laying a bait, trying to entrap.

Paul was always sincere in his message, not only in what he spoke, but the manner in which he went about his business of ministering the Word of God. Again, how he has to remind the Corinthians of these things. He has to speak so much of himself in those Corinthian epistles because he is defending his ministry against the accusations of the false apostles.

And so in 2 Corinthians 4, He writes, Therefore, seeing we have this ministry as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And we've already made some reference to the words that we have there at the beginning of that second chapter in his first epistle to the church at Corinth. What does he say there in verses 4 and 5 of that second chapter?

My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of man but in the power of God." Here is one then who faithfully mentions these three negative aspects with regards to himself and is contrasting really his ministry with the false teachers. Our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile. But then there are also The positive aspects. What does he say in the second verse? There in the second part of that verse, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. Bold in our God to speak unto you. He spoke with conviction. That was his boldness.

A conviction that was born of confidence in his God. And we see that from what he had said previously in verse 5 of chapter 1. How did the gospel come to them? Not in word only. It came in power, it came in the Holy Ghost, and he said it came in much assurance.

In much assurance, as you know, what manner of men we were among you for your sake. Interesting expression that we have there at the end of that fifth verse. Much assurance, that means without doubt, of the veracity of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that he was preaching. That was the assurance.

He was well assured of this message. It was a gospel that he had received from the Lord. It wasn't something he'd made up for himself or received from others. And so he is bold. We were bold in our God to speak unto you. He knew these truths. Why? They've been revealed not only to him. As he says there in the opening chapter of Galatians, he pleased God to reveal his Son in me. There was that blessed experience in his soul.

He knew the truth of the Gospel. It's similar to what John says, isn't it, in the opening words of his first general epistle, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked on and our hands have handled of the Word of God, for the Word was manifest, he says. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. John can say that because of course he was very much the beloved disciple. He was that one who was leaning on the Lord's bosom.

But it was true also of Paul. He'd had such an experience of the grace of God and so he comes with boldness, with much contention. or there'll be opposition, there'll be those who will seek to silence him and we see it time and again in those missionary journeys recorded there in the Acts of the Apostles with much contention. It's interesting the expression, it's the word I suppose that might be said to lie at the root of our word agony, it's the word agon, a contest, a struggle, agonizing That was how Paul was preaching the gospel amongst them. There was so much opposition. There was opposition even when he went to Thessalonica, as we saw in the portion that we read. It wasn't just that they had heard of the troubles he'd had to endure amongst the Philippians.

But we read, don't we? We read there in verse 5 of that 17th chapter, "...the Jews, which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the base of sort, gathered a company, set all the city in an uproar, assaulted the house adjacent, sought to bring them out of the people. When they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down, are come hither also." What bitter opposition there was.

It's interesting because clearly there were those who believed the message amongst the Thessalonians. And we're told that, aren't we, in verse 4 of that chapter, that 17th chapter. Some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks, a great multitude, and of the chief women, not a few, but the Jews, which believed not, moved with envy."

Now, it was so evident God's Word was a dividing Word. Gil speaks of the division that the Gospel makes, some being for it, and some being against it. Wasn't that the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ? Those three occasions in John's Gospel we're told of division amongst the people because of him, or because of his sayings. Three separate occasions, John 7, 43, 9, 16, and 10, 19. The Gospel comes a savour of life unto life to some, but alas, a savour of death unto death for others.

A due is sufficient for these things. But here is Paul, you see, in his preaching, he's bold, bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God, even with much contention, he says. He's faithful then in executing the work, the ministry that the Lord has committed to him. And then finally, the great motivation, the great motivation in all of this and he intimates that really at the beginning of verse four, as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel even so we speak. The motivation really is Godward. It's Godward.

He says again in Galatians 1, do I now persuade men or God? or do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ." His ministry is a God-centered ministry. Now, alas, today there is much concern about the results of the gospel rather than the purity of the gospel. That's the day in which we're living, isn't it? More concern for the blessings of men than there is for the glory of God in Christ. In some of his writings, A.W. Pink makes that point quite strongly. I'm not a great admirer, really, of Pink. He's a strange man in lots of ways, but he does say some very true things, does Pink, in his various writings. And he makes that point. Today there is more concern about the results of the gospel than the purity of it. More concern for the blessings of men than for the glory of God.

But we know that the great purpose of God in all these things is what Paul mentions at the end of Romans 11. Concerning God for of him and through him and to him are all things. to whom be glory forever and ever." And the great thing, of course, with regards to the Lord's servants, such as Paul, is that they were men who were faithful. It's because they were faithful that they were truly fruitful. But God will say in that great day, well done, good and faithful servants. faithful in first seeking above all that God himself should be glorified and that God will be glorified in the salvation of sinners even as many as were ordained to eternal life.

And so he says, for yourselves brethren know our entrance in unto you that it was not in vain or that God's Word might come to us and come to us and not in vain, that there might be those blessed fruits following. And that's what was the case there amongst those Thessalonians. And we see it so clearly at the end of the opening chapter, from verse 5 following, Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. When you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that you were in samples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia, and from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place, Your faith to God will be spread abroad, so that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we add unto you, and how that ye turn to God from idols, to serve the living and true God." He can appeal to them. He can appeal to them. The kingdom of God, he says to the Corinthians, is not in word but in power.

Well, we live in a sad day. What do we know today of the power of the Gospel? Sadly, it seems it's that solemn withholding of the Spirit of God. And we need that the Spirit would come, that the Gospel then might come, not in word only. And we need that blessed, gracious ministry, those solemn applications of the Word of God in the souls of sinners, in our own souls. Oh, that God's Word then might have such an entrance amongst us here in Portsmouth, and that we might yet be favoured to see something akin to what Paul could remind these Thessalonians of. For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain. The Lord then be pleased to bless His Word to us. Amen.

Paul's Entrance to the Thessalonians

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Paul's Entrance to the Thessalonians

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