A1 Scriptures
B1 For you yourselves know, brothers, regarding our coming to you, that it was not in vain. But suffering before and being spitefully treated at Philippi, just as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God with much conflict. For our exhortation was not from error nor from uncleanness, nor in deceit, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who is testing our hearts. For neither were we using flattering speech, as you know, nor covering up greed, God is our witness. Nor seeking glory from men, neither from you, nor from others, even though we were able to carry weight as apostles of Christ. But we proved to be gentle in your midst, as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. In this way longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own souls, because you had become dear to us. For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we were among you that believe; as indeed you know how each one of you, as a father to his own children, we exhorted, and comforted you, and imploring you, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. (1 Thessalonians 2:1-12, EMTV)
B2 Our friends, you yourselves know that our visit to you was not a failure. You know how we had already been mistreated and insulted in Philippi before we came to you in Thessalonica. And even though there was much opposition, our God gave us courage to tell you the Good News that comes from him. Our appeal to you is not based on error or impure motives, nor do we try to trick anyone. Instead, we always speak as God wants us to, because he has judged us worthy to be entrusted with the Good News. We do not try to please people, but to please God, who tests our motives. You know very well that we did not come to you with flattering talk, nor did we use words to cover up greed—God is our witness! We did not try to get praise from anyone, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we could have made demands on you. But we were gentle when we were with you, like a mother taking care of her children. Because of our love for you we were ready to share with you not only the Good News from God but even our own lives. You were so dear to us! Surely you remember, our friends, how we worked and toiled! We worked day and night so that we would not be any trouble to you as we preached to you the Good News from God. You are our witnesses, and so is God, that our conduct toward you who believe was pure, right, and without fault. You know that we treated each one of you just as parents treat their own children. We encouraged you, we comforted you, and we kept urging you to live the kind of life that pleases God, who calls you to share in his own Kingdom and glory. (1 Thessalonians 2:1-12, GNB92)
A2 Outline--The work in Thessalonica
B1 Known
C1 To Thessalonians
C2 To Philippians
B2 Mistreatment in Philippi
C1 Mistreated
C2 Insulted
B3 Acceptance in Thessalonica--God's strength to preach
B4 The Gospel preached
C1 Not based on
D1 Error
D2 Impure motives
D3 Trickery
C2 Based on
D1 Truth
D2 Commissioned by God
C3 Motive for doing so
D1 Not to please people
D2 To please God (who examines us)
C4 Method
D1 No flattering speech
D2 Not based on greed
D3 Not seeking fame from people
D4 Not demanding
D5 Gentle
D6 With love
D7 Being self-supporting
C5 Our conduct was
D1 Pure
D2 Right
D3 Blameless
D4 As loving father
E1 Actions
F1 Exhort
F2 Comfort
F3 Implore
E2 Purpose
F1 Live to please God
F2 Who called us
G1 To His kingdom
G2 To His glory
A3 Notes
B1 Verse 1 Coming to and preaching at Thessalonica was not fruitless. Paul here is happy at the response to the Gospel.
B2 Verse 2
C1 In light of the treatment they received at Philippi, they were more than pleased at the treatment of the Thessalonians. At Philippi they were thrown into jail and were beat. You can read this in Acts 16:22-24.
C2 The maltreatment they received at Philippi did not slow down their evangelistic endeavors as they remained bold to preach Christ and His Gospel. The Greek word for bold has the idea of being upfront about what the Gospel was, so that they did not water it down, make it more socially acceptable. It also has the idea of not waiting to be asked, necessarily, but initiating the conversation. This boldness was with God's help, see Acts 4:13, Acts 4:29-31, Acts 9:27-29, etc.
C3 The idea of contention deals with anxiety (so the Greek word means) and conflict. We all have a certain fear, but with God's help we can.
B3 Verse 3
C1 The Gospel they preached was the true Gospel as taught by Jesus himself.
C2 The preaching was not done with error, impurity, or trickery.
D1 Error would be a false Gospel.
D2 Impurity would be with false motives, a preaching without telling the full truth.
D3 Trickery implies a sales pitch. A type of preaching to get numbers. The Gospel demands and God has ordered that the Gospel be preached purely and plainly without false motives or uses gimmicks or simply a sales pitch.
B4 Verse 4
C1 Since God has entrusted them to preach His Gospel, they wanted to do so.
C2 The idea of entrust not only involves a commission but a responsibility. God is saying (so to speak), "I trust you to do this, so carry out this desire of mine as if I were to do it myself."
C3 God checks them to see if they are doing it correctly. He knows both the delivery (of their speech) but also their motives.
B5 Verse 5
C1 They preached the message without flattery or greed.
C2 Flattery is telling someone things that person wants to hear, thus manipulating them. These would be false converts.
C3 Greed would be to make money at the expense of telling the Gospel purely. It is asking for money as in when seeing the people have conviction of guilt and the truth of the Gospel tell them, "You cannot be saved without giving us some money." Today too many people, especially those on TV give a sales pitch that involves giving money. The so called preacher makes the money with the hearers losing money.
B6 Verse 6
C1 Paul and his companions did not want any honor or glory from anyone. They wanted to be good, acceptable servants of Jesus Christ obeying their master.
C2 They could have asked for financial help but did not. They rather worked.
B7 Verse 7
C1 The bossing, demanding preacher that is too commonly met, is not God's way. He is gentle and so should be those who live and teach Jesus Christ.
C2 Gentleness is a mark of a Christian and Christianity rather than the demanding, threatening message sometimes heard.
C3 This does not mean however to cower in fear. No, we must be bold and tell people the truth even if they do not want to hear it.
B8 Verse 8
C1 They were happy to preach the Gospel.
C2 They would also do anything possible to help them in their Christian life. This might be giving food or other physical needs as well as spiritual blessings.
B9 Verse 9
C1 They worked to make money so to not be a burden to any of the people.
C2 Their motive was to avoid false accusations of being money grubbers and so show a good example of why work is good. If these preachers can and do work for money, so can anyone. There is no place for laziness.
B10 Verse 10
C1 God and the Thessalonians were witnesses that what Paul is writing is true.
C2 They wanted to be pure, right, and blameless.
D1 Pure as to their words and actions. This also refers to giving the true Gospel and Christian life.
D2 Right as be just. Just is a legal term of being obedient to a standard. The standard here is God's standard. We are not Jews, so we do not follow Old Testament Law. We are Christians and follow New Testament law.
D3 Blameless in that no one could accuse them of error in doctrine or life. They preached and lived a pure Gospel as taught and lived by Jesus himself.
B11 Verse 11
C1 Comparing themselves to fathers who teach and care about their children. The interpretation is how to preach and live the Gospel, but an application can be seen in how fathers are to act towards their children.
C2 Exhort is to encourage. "Come on, you can do it." "Let's do this together; we can do it."
C3 Comfort is when a mistake is made to not condemn but to use the time to point out the error and how to correct it. We all have a tendency to remember and not repeat something that was uncomfortable to us. Fathers (and preachers) need to not be judgmental but to honestly point our errors and how to correct them.
C4 Implore is to urge them on to improve in their Christian life, to not be complacent where they are, but to still read, and study the Scriptures, to pray, to help others, to live the Gospel, etc.
B12 Verse 12
C1 Since we are Christians, we need to live up to Christ's standards. We are not to compromise or to be so tolerant that our faith becomes private.
C2 God calls. This is His invitation. God initiates but expects and desires us to respond.
C3 His Kingdom is not just in heaven, but it is here as well. We have the instructions of the kingdom (all 1,000 rules in the New Testament). We have to live by those rules in heaven, so we might as well start living that way now.
C4 His glory refers to the glory of God. Since He is glorious, His kingdom is glorious. When people see our lives, they should see the reflection of God in what we see and to.
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