What brings joy to a pastor’s heart? I read an article once in Baptist Press written by Thom Rainer. Dr. Rainer, the President of LifeWay. He wrote an article about what every church member ought not to do and what they ought to do for their pastor.
Dr. Rainer gives five things that members ought to do for their pastors and these are definitely proven needs of pastors; I know that because I know other pastors and because I am one.
He says 1) Pray for your pastor and let him know that. 2) Encourage your pastor…he’s human, and he needs it to balance the criticisms he hears. 3) Make sure he is getting sufficient rest, time off, and family time. Most pastors are on a 24/7 call. 4) Enlist the other members of the church thru SS and small groups to help with pastoral care. Although the pastor is the primary caregiver of the urgent and serious needs, let the bulk of care be done by the members. 5) Be faithful to the ministry of the church.
All of those are definitely true. But there are a couple of things I think most pastors want more than any of those, at least I do. We can see these right here in this text. Paul came to Thessalonica on his 2nd missionary journey, after being in prison in Philippi. He came there and preached the gospel of God. He led many to Christ and he started that church there.
But many opposed Paul and ran him out of town. Paul went on to Corinth and from there wrote a letter to this young church to defend himself against what his opponents were saying, to reestablish himself with them, and to remind them of his ministry to them while there. The tone of the letter is very affectionate and pastoral. It's filled with praise for them.
When Paul writes this passage he’s so proud of this church. They were such a blessing to him. He was blessed by their attitude toward the Word, their faith and faithfulness
That's what I want you to learn today. THAT: A church that blesses its pastor is the church that has a positive response to the word and a persevering faith in the gospel.
PURPOSE: Today I want to show you how the Thess blessed Paul, and I want to exhort you to do the same for your pastor. My prayer is that your pastor will be so blessed that he would be able to say of this congregation what Paul did of his congregation in Thessalonica.
As a church, you bless your pastor ...
After Paul defends his character and ministry to Thess, he begins to thank God for the Thess’s response to his preaching when he first came to them on his 2nd missionary journey. He mentions 3 things regarding the Word. They “received” the Word. They “accepted” the Word. And the Word was “at work” in them.
That simply means that when he first preached to them, they welcomed the Word. They accepted it in faith and committed themselves to it. And it was transforming them. He’s talking about their conversion.
This is not the first time Paul had thanked God for their welcoming response to the Word. He began the letter with thanksgiving back in 1:2. Then he talked about how the Word effected them when he preached it. In 1:5-6 Paul said, “our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with much assurance … in spite of severe persecution, you welcomed the message with the joy from the Holy Spirit.”
Notice in 1:5 he says “our gospel.” In 2:13 he calls it “the Word.” He equates the two. When Paul talks about the Word, he's talking specifically about the gospel message passed down to him. The apostolic gospel. The good news of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. The message that is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, Jew and Gentile.
However, Paul and the Apostles preached the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ for the forgiveness of sins from the OT. We see that in the book of Acts. Jesus said to the disciples that the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings were all pointed to him.
Paul could preach the gospel from every text, because in some way it points us to God’s saving act in Jesus. That’s a challenge to us preachers. We ought to preach the gospel every time from every place!
Notice why they so eagerly welcomed the word; they knew it was not of human origin. They knew it did not come from Paul. The true origin of the message was God. They believed that the message out Paul’s mouth was the very “word of God.” Paul was God’s mouthpiece.
I know that preachers today are not apostles in the technical sense. Nor are we inspired as Paul and the 12 were. Our authority is not the same as theirs. But it’s our calling and duty to re-reveal what God has already written and to give it voice to his people. When preachers today are rightly preaching what God originally intended his Word to mean, we are God’s mouthpiece. God’s Word was written down for us, but it’s not meant just to be read. It’s meant to be heard. That comes primarily thru preaching. J.I. Packer once wrote:
The true idea of preaching is that the preacher should become a mouthpiece for his text, opening it up and applying it as a word from God to his hearers, talking only in order that the text itself may speak and be heard. . . It is the man of God opening the Word of God and expounding its truths so that voice of God may be heard, the glory of God seen, and the will of God obeyed.
Examine your hearts this morning. How do you view the Word? The preaching of the Word? The way you treat the Word of God and the preaching of it says a lot about what you really believe about God’s Word.
The Thess believed Paul was speaking God’s Word to them. They welcomed it. Do you welcome the preaching of the Word? In other words, do you want it? Are you hungry to read it, study it, and to listen to it preached every week? Do you come Scripture in hand? Following along? Listening intently? Do you listen prayerfully? A welcoming attitude to the Word wants to know what God has to say to you. A welcoming attitude knows there is nothing more important in our corporate gathering on Sunday than listening to what God says thru the preached Word. That's what it looks like.
And I want encourage you to pray for your pastor and his preaching. I encourage you to pray for his preaching. That he will preach what God has said powerfully so that the Word will be powerfully at work in your lives and in your church.
V.14 proves just how welcoming and how convinced of the gospel message the Thess were. “For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, . . .”
More than likely the suffering Paul was referring to was what they experienced in Acts 17 while Paul was in Thessalonica and right after he left there. Their fellow Thess began to persecute these believers because they embraced the gospel as God’s Word and their lives were changed.
In 3:3-4 Paul speaks of their afflictions they were experiencing. Paul even says that these afflictions and persecutions were destined for Paul and the Thess as God’s new people.
Should we expect any less? We don’t like to think about it. We’ve not had a lot of suffering in this country for our faith. But that’s not true of most places in the world. We’ve been the exception. But we’re starting to see some isolation and oppression. Some marginalization and threats.
But isn’t that the expectation of the NT? Jesus said in John 15, if they rejected and persecuted him, they will persecute us as his people. Paul said to Timothy that anyone who seeks to live a godly life will suffer forms of persecution.
Why is that? Because the world and the ruler of it, Satan, the Tempter he calls him in 3:5, is opposed to God and to God’s people. Paul admits that Satan “hindered” him from coming to them, that he tempted them, and that unbelieving Jews hindered Paul from preaching the gospel to people in order for them to be saved.
Paul never dismisses the responsibility of those who persecute God’s people. However, Paul sees that the one ultimately behind all persecution and oppression is Satan.
This is important for us! On the one hand, we’re not to overestimate Satan. Not to give him too much credit. Think he’s behind every single negative thing in our life or church. But on the other hand, we’re not to underestimate him either. Paul believed in a real evil being that can and does strategically cause and use people and circumstances to hinder the gospel and persecute God’s people.
We have to be aware of that. We have to pray. Depend on God. Be faithful to preach and proclaim the gospel. And even be willing to suffer for it. But don't be mistaken. God will not turn a blind eye to our suffering in the end. He will not ignore it, but reward it.
2 Thess 1:4-9 Paul said, “Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. . . .6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. . . .”
I wonder this morning how many of us are willing to suffer for the truth of God’s Word, for the gospel? Today we have people who aren’t even willing to read it for very long. Who think they shouldn’t have to sit and listen it for very long. We have become, biblically intolerant and biblically illiterate, more than we’d like to admit.
During the Great Reformation, when the Scripture was out of the hands of the Pope and became available for all of God’s people, men like Martin Luther, Jon Huss, and John Wycliffe were condemned and persecuted and some even burned at the stake for their commitment to God’s Word. Yet we have dusty bibles we forget to read or bring to church.
When a pastor sees his people so convinced that the Word of the gospel, is true and from God, that it has the power to change lives, that they suffer for it, he’s greatly encouraged. He knows the word is working effectively in you. It’s changing you. It blesses him. It emboldens him.
V.17-20 serve as a sort of bridge to chap. 3. From v.17 thru 3:10 Paul turns from his past ministry among the Thess and their response to him, to his absence. He explains why he had to leave, how he’s wanted to return, and why he sent Timothy to check on them.
Like he did in chap. 1, and just did in 2:13-16, as he explains his actions, he’s full of affectionate praise for the Thess.
In case someone had put it in their heads otherwise, Paul explains that he was orphaned from them because of opposition and persecution. But explains that he’d tried to come back to them repeatedly. But like a military brigade, Satan had cut into Paul’s way to make the way impassable.
We don’t know what Paul’s referring to exactly. But as we’ve said, Satan wants to hinder the preaching of God’s word any way he can. And I call you, I exhort you to pray for your pastor to be able to preach the gospel powerfully every week without Satanic hindrance.
The point though is Paul’s joy and confidence because of them. In vv.19-20 he says, “For who is our hope, or joy, or crown of boasting in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? Is it not you? 20For you are our glory and joy!”
The word “crown” is the crown of achievement and reward in the athletic games. The Thess themselves will be his crown of achievement, his reward at the 2nd coming. On the last day Paul will have confidence to stand before the Lord.
Why would Paul say this? We find that out in chap. 3. In 3:2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8, Paul explains why he sent Timothy to check on them. He was concerned about their faith. Not their initial faith but their perseverance in faith. He wanted to know if they were hanging in there amongst suffering, afflictions, and temptations brought about by the devil thru various means.
In v.6 when Tim brought the good news that they were hanging in there Paul says in v.7 that he was comforted by this. And then in v.8 he says, “For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.”
Let me tell you why this is important to Paul. For Paul a present and persevering faith is evidence of true faith. In the Bible it is not a so called past faith that matters as much as it is a present and persevering. What matters on the last day is a present and persevering faith.
For Paul, for me, for your pastor, when you are persevering in faith that gives us confidence on the last day. It’s rewarding for us. It gives us confidence that our labor—that all our praying, preparing, preaching, and pastoring was not in vain. It's a blessing to see our people persevering in the faith.
The exhortation for you is, hang in there. Keep on keeping on. Don’t let the evil one use various situations or people to turn you away from Christ or to forsake the word of the gospel. Let us endure together and press on together and make it home together by the grace of God at work in us.