The Spiritual Leader & The People: Part 2 - 1 Thess Lesson 21

CTW – 2 Timothy 1:1-14

The Spiritual Leader and the People – Part 2

1 Thessalonians 3:1-5

 Let’s go once again to 1 Thessalonians for our study of the Word of God today. We will be focusing on 1 Thess. 3:1-5 this morning. This is the second message on this section of this letter from Paul to this amazing church. If you were here last week you will remember I told you that a new theme develops beginning in 2:17. Having looked a little closer at this section I have a general outline that will take us through the end of chapter 3. And I want to give you this outline before we read this passage again this morning.

 The theme of this section is the spiritual leader’s caring heart. We said last week that if the letter had ended at chapter 2, verse 16, we would have to conclude that spiritual leadership was all about planting churches and preaching the word and outlining the expectations of how followers should respond to the word. We would have to conclude that spiritual leadership was all about the process – the preaching of the gospel and telling people how to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

 But this section reveals that spiritual leadership isn’t just about the process. It must involve the process. The process is described in chapter 2. But it isn’t just about the process. Spiritual leadership is about the people. In addition to the spiritual leader’s responsibility to tell the people what they need to know, he must also demonstrate to the people how much he genuinely cares about them and their spiritual well-being.

 In this section Paul shows us four aspects of caring for the people as a spiritual leader. First, we saw last week, the spiritual leader’s connection to the people. Watch for that emphasis as we read through verses 17-20. Next, in verses 1-5 of chapter 3, we will see the spiritual leader’s concern for the people. Then, in verses 6-10, we will see the spiritual leader’s focus on the completion of the people. The spiritual leader will see what is missing and focus on bringing his followers to completion in the faith. Finally, in verses 11-13 we find the spiritual leader’s focus on the consummation the faith of his followers.  

Stand with me as we read this section of 1 Thessalonians again.

 Paul was only with the Thessalonians for probably a couple of months at the most. In that short time there was a strong connection. There were spiritual bonds formed. But there were also personal bonds formed. That is the thing about life in the body of Christ. The spiritual bonds that form facilitate personal connections that are intimate and important. I firmly believe that the people with whom we are the closest, other than those people with whom we live as family, are those in our church family. We are brothers and sisters in Christ.

 When those connections form, it is inevitable that there will be a concern for one another. Paul’s connection to the people was obvious from verses 17-20 in chapter 2. And as we turn the corner to chapter 3, Paul’s concern for the people becomes just as evident. In verses 1-5, we see three reasons for Paul’s concern. In verses 1-2 we see that separation caused concern. In verses 3-4 we see that affliction caused him concern. In verse 5 we will see that temptation caused him concern.

 Let’s look first at the concern which resulted from the separation. Verse 1 begins with “Therefore.” This always takes us back to what is previously written. Because the connection was so strong, and because Paul was eager with great desire to see their faces, and because he had been separated from them in person but was still with them in spirit, Paul found it very difficult to endure the separation. So he says, “when we could endure it no longer.” The concern caused by the separation was more than Paul could bear.

 Paul knew these dear brothers and sisters were going to endure affliction. He knew they would be bombarded with temptation. He knew that they needed to be strengthened and encouraged to continue faithfully in their walk with Christ. But he had been forced to leave them alone. This text indicates a high degree of concern. It was of great enough concern that Paul and his companions decided that it was best for him to remain alone in Athens, and for Timothy to return to Thessalonica and check on them and strengthen and encourage them in the faith.

 Genuine concern manifests itself in selfless sacrifice. If we truly care about others, when something happens that causes concern, we must be willing to sacrifice our own comforts, put aside our own needs, and be willing to minister to those for whom we have this concern. Spiritual leaders must be willing to sacrifice, and put aside their own needs, to minister to those we lead. He will only do this if he is genuinely concerned for their spiritual well-being.

 This is what Paul shows us here. He was willing to sacrifice. He was willing to remain alone in Athens and sacrifice his own needs to send Timothy back to strengthen and encourage the Thessalonians. Now, my fellow Bible study participants in our Wednesday night class, pay close attention. Next time we meet we are going to be talking about the gaps we have to bridge if we are to correctly interpret the Bible. One of those gaps is the history gap. Knowing something of the history, the things that were true at the time of the writing of the Scriptures, is helpful in understanding what is written.

 History tells us a great deal about Athens. And what history reveals helps us understand what a sacrifice Paul made in order to send Timothy back to Thessalonica. Athens is the capital city of what nation? Greece. The Greeks are famous for their philosophies, their great thinkers, their emphasis on education and acquisition of knowledge. Turn to Acts 17 and let’s read about Paul’s experience in Athens.

 While Paul experience marginal success in Athens, he was also confronted and attacked as an idle babbler. Most who listened to him sneered at his message. Athens was a tough place. To minister in a tough place like Athens, it would have been helpful if Timothy would have been there with Paul. But Paul’s concern for the Thessalonians motivated him to sacrifice his support system on behalf of those who needed to be strengthened and encouraged in regards to the faith. So he sent Timothy to Thessalonica.

 There is something else here that helps us understand the level of concern and sacrifice of Paul. The word translated “left behind” conveys the idea of being abandoned and forsaken. It was used in secular writings of leaving a loved one behind in death. This was not a small sacrifice on Paul’s part. He was all alone. A close look at the account in Acts reveals that Silas had been sent to Macedonia, to the churches in the same region, for the same purpose. So Paul was all alone.

 But his focus was not on himself. His focus was on what these dear Christians needed and he was concerned because he wasn’t there to give them what they needed. The separation had caused great concern. Paul was constantly concerned for all the churches he had planted. In 2 Cor. 11 Paul is defending his ministry and he describes many of the hardships he experienced. There were labors, imprisonment, beatings, dangers of death, five times he received 39 lashes from the Jews, three times beaten with rods, once stoned, three times shipwrecked, a night and day in spent in the deep, no doubt holding on to some piece of cargo or driftwood. He was in danger from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from the Jews who wanted him dead, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in cities and in the wilderness and on the sea, and the dangers of false brethren. He had experienced many sleepless nights, gone hungry and thirsty, exposed to the cold. Then he says in 2 Cor. 11:28, “Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.”

Paul lived with a constant concern for all the churches because he could not constantly be with them to know how they were doing. The separation was cause for concern. Listen to me. When the spiritual leader notices that those he leads have gone AWOL, when you disappear, that separation becomes a cause for concern. Too many times throughout my years of ministry have I seen that people disappear, then I hear that they have gone astray and trouble follows. If you disappear I will be checking on you.

 Separation is a cause for great concern, but I want to you to notice something else from verse 2. Paul was able to send Timothy to the Thessalonians. I want you to notice how Timothy is described. He is “our brother and God’s fellow working in the gospel of Christ.” Timothy had proven himself to be a valuable asset in Paul’s ministry because if he could not go himself, he had someone who could go in his place. Look at Philippians 2:19-24. Paul wrote this letter from prison. He needed Timothy because without him to provide for his daily needs he may have starved to death. As soon as things were in order for there to be someone to take care of Paul, he sent Timothy to Philippi to see how they were doing.

 We may not all have a ministry as a Paul, or as a pastor, or as a prominent position of spiritual leadership, but we can all be Timothy’s. You are an asset to your spiritual leader, to your pastor, if you are engaged and involved and actively helping to care for the flock. Some of you are great at that. I am thankful for many Timothy’s in this church. I want to challenge all of you to consider something. Ask yourself, “If my pastor was to write a description of me, would he be able to call me a brother (or sister), and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ?”

 And, if called upon to do so, would you be able to strengthen and encourage someone as to their faith. This is what Timothy was able to do among the Thessalonians. If you are not there, then let’s get to work becoming a Timothy.

 I have to move on to the next cause for concern. A spiritual leader will be concerned when there is separation from his people. A spiritual leader will also be concerned when there is affliction among his people. Know this for certain. If a spiritual leader will be concerned when there is affliction among his followers, then the spiritual leader will always be concerned. Affliction will come to the true follower of Christ. Paul knew this by experience. He knew it was what had been predicted by the Lord. He told the Thessalonians that affliction would be part of the Christian experience.

 The Greek word translated “afflictions” in verse 3 is a word that is also sometimes translated “tribulation or trouble.” This can be pressures from the evil world that opposes us. This can be distress or calamity. It doesn’t speak so much of ill health, or poverty, or loss of friends, but the sacrifices these believers had to make and the perils they had to meet from their proclamation or profession of Christ. This is the appointed destiny of Christians. Paul told the Thessalonians it would come and it came.

 There is a passage in Hebrews 10 that describes the kind of affliction suffered by Christ’s followers. Look at verses 32-39. 

 I don’t know how any spiritual leader can, with a straight face, tell people that Jesus is the solution to all the problems people face in life. Listen, Jesus is the answer to the biggest problem you face in life. Your biggest problem is the sin that most certainly, and will eternally separate you from God. Jesus died for that sin. The blood of Jesus will cleanse you from that sin. Jesus will forgive you and give you eternal life. That free gift of God is received by faith in Christ. While trusting in Christ as your Lord and Savior will take care of your sin problem, it will also introduce you to a whole new set of problems.

 John Calvin wrote, “Paul teaches us that there is no reason why believers should feel dismayed on occasion of persecutions, as though it were a thing that was new and unusual, inasmuch as this is our condition, which the Lord has assigned to us. For this manner of expressions – we are appointed to it (we have been destined for this) – is as though he had said, that we are Christians on this condition.” I think Calvin’s position would be that if our conversion to Christ did not result in affliction, we need to check the reality of our conversion. Rather than destroy our faith, affliction will strengthen the faith of the true Christian.

 Here is another thing to understand about affliction. This is the will of God. This is for our sanctification. The fiery trial comes to each of us with His full knowledge and consent. He has a purpose in it. He is in complete control of it. One writer said, “He sits by the mouth of the furnace into which His people are cast; and that both the fervor and the duration of the process are regulated by His infinite, fatherly wisdom and love.” My friends, God has promised that affliction will come to those who follow Christ. But we can say with Paul, in the words from 2 Timothy 1 which we read in our Call to Worship, that even though we suffer these things, we are not ashamed; “for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that His is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

 The wise spiritual leader will tell his followers the truth. Affliction will come. Tribulation is inevitable. We should expect it. We will be better equipped to endure it if we know the truth about it coming. Those preachers who tell people that the Christian life is the solution to your troubles are deceiving gullible followers who do not know the truth of Scripture.

 There are false teachers who are telling people that God wants to bless them with nothing but happiness, success, health, and wealth. If you only have enough faith to believe God for those things, God is obligated to pour all the good stuff you could ever want into your life. Can you imagine the despair of being in a church with that kind of spiritual leader and having some affliction come into your life? To whom do you turn? Where do you find help? The spiritual leader won’t help. He will simply tell you that its your fault because you don’t have enough faith.

My friends, that isn’t truth and it certainly isn’t concern. If I did not tell you that affliction was an inevitable part of the life of a Christian I could not make the claim that I was concerned about you. Jesus promised that in this world we would have trouble. Job tells us that man was born for trouble, as sparks fly upward. I don’t know how anyone could read the Bible and see all the affliction endured by the Apostle Paul and conclude that affliction is not to be a part of the Christian life.

The faithful spiritual leader will be concerned for his people in the midst of affliction. Paul was concerned that the Thessalonians would be “disturbed” by these afflictions. Why would a Christian be “disturbed” by affliction? He isn’t going to be disturbed by it if he has been warned it will come, and if his faith is genuine saving faith. This is why Paul sent Timothy “to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith.”

Paul told the Thessalonians in advance that they would certainly suffer affliction. It is far better to tell people the truth about this so that they are adequately prepared to stand firm in the faith when it happens. The spiritual leader who is genuinely concerned for his followers will tell them the truth. Affliction will come. God ordains it for our good and His glory in our lives. We are the clay, He is the Potter. He is perfecting the work of salvation He has begun in those who are truly His. Affliction is one of the tools He is using.

The story is told of a man whose life had been beset with many trials. One day he walked up on a construction crew nearing completion of an ornate cathedral. There was one spot left at the top for an engraving to complete the façade of the beautiful building. A sculptor was chiseling away on the final piece which would complete the work. The man realized as he witnessed the work of the sculptor that this was exactly what God was doing in him. God was using the affliction to chisel away the stuff that would prevent the man from fitting in up there.

A final reason for the spiritual leader’s concern for his people is temptation. A faithful spiritual leader will be concerned when there is separation from his people, when there is affliction among his people, and when his people are dealing with temptation. Look at verse 5. “For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor would be in vain.”

Paul was concerned that the work of the tempter might have revealed a serious problem in regards to their faith. If the tempter had been successful in tempting the Thessalonians, this would have been evidence that his labor was in vain. Paul was concerned that their work of faith had not resulted in genuine salvation. He was concerned that they might have not been truly converted. Notice that when Paul could endure it no longer, he sent to find out about their faith. His concern was that his labor would have been in vain. Paul did not send to find out if they had fallen victim to the tempter. He sent to find out about their faith.

Here is something Paul understood. Genuine converts do not habitually and consistently fall victim to the tempter. Those who habitually and consistently fall victim to the tempter are those whose faith is faulty. The labor of those who try to strengthen and encourage people whose faith is faulty is labor which is performed in vain. The faith that genuinely saves is a faith that will not fail. This does not mean that one whose faith is genuine will never sin, but his or her faith will not be characterized by habitual or consistent failure.

Satan is always working to destroy the kingdom of God and to prevent people from embracing the truth of the gospel so as to be saved. He is a deceiver who is blinding the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. (2 Cor. 4:4) He is snatching the seed of the gospel from the hearts that are too hard to receive that seed into their hearts to be saved. (Luke 8) He is working to lead people astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. (2 Cor. 11:3) As he did with Jesus, Satan wants us to distrust or disobey God in some way and bring dishonor to His name. Satan wants to keep us from true saving faith. If we come to true saving faith, he wants to destroy us.

We know from the word of God that Satan does enjoy a certain measure of success. He is successful in planting tares among the wheat. Sometimes the dragnet of the gospel message brings in those who are bad fish along with the good fish. The wise and concerned spiritual leader will always be cognizant of the fact that this is a real possibility among those he leads. 

The New Testament gives us the evidences of genuine conversion. These evidences include a love for God, repentance from sin, genuine humility, devotion to God’s glory, separation from the world, spiritual growth, a hunger for God’s word, and a transformed life. There are others, but these are sufficient for the test of ourselves to see if we are in the faith. Those marked by these evidences are not those whose who are consistently and habitually falling into temptation. 

The spiritual leader is always concerned for those he leads. He is concerned when separated. He is concerned when his people endure affliction. He is concerned in temptation. A concerned spiritual leader wants to see that the faith of his followers is a faith that perseveres through any and every challenge.

Is this your faith? Does your faith remain sound when you are separated from other believers? Does your faith remain strong in the face of affliction? Does your faith remain steadfast in the face of temptation? Know for certain that this is my constant concern for you.

Let’s pray.