1 THESSALONIANS 2
CAC This is practically the power of life. We have been reading lately the epistles to Timothy and Titus and have seen there a good deal of what the servant of the Lord should be, but we see it here livingly. When we read teaching and exhortations of Scripture we are all apt to say in our hearts — ‘It is very blessed, but nobody ever came up to it’ — and we let ourselves off in that way. Here we see christianity in real life, realised in men of like passions to ourselves. We see a continuance of Christ in His servant; the same life, the same grace and the same power that were seen so blessedly in the Lord are seen remaining on earth in His beloved servant.
Ques That is the triumph of God, is it not?
CAC Yes. We must have material like Saul of Tarsus to see the triumph of God.
Rem There is a touching reference to what had taken place before Paul went to Thessalonica (verse 2).
CAC Yes. There is nothing so bold as love. Boldness is the first thing he speaks of, and it was the first thing the saints prayed for at the first recorded prayer meeting of the church (Acts 4: 29). Boldness is a great mark of the power of life. It is not the self-assertion of the flesh, but “we were bold in our God”.
Rem They saw the boldness of Peter [p. 243] and John.
CAC If God is before the soul there is nothing to hinder boldness; so the soul goes on courageously in the path of His will. Moses was told to exhort Joshua to be very courageous, to have no fear of the enemy. How bold troops would be if they, were assured that defeat was impossible! The way they make troops bold is by persuading them that they are invincible. Well, in the work of the Lord defeat is impossible; His is the winning side. Paul desires prayer that he might open his mouth boldly; it is the boldness that is the fruit of dependence because it comes from a sense of absolute weakness, having no sufficiency but in God. The apostle had a good deal of opposition in Thessalonica; in every bit of service there are difficulties to surmount, and if we are not bold in God we think there is a lion in the way. There are sure to be obstacles in the way of every little service.
Then we see that faithfulness to God marked the apostle; in all his service he was not thinking of how he might be approved of men, but it was God who had approved him to have the glad tidings entrusted to him. It was “God, who proves our hearts”. That was so like the Lord who was the faithful Witness, and who considered only for God. It is an immense thing to be entrusted with anything that is of God, and then the great thought is — How can we carry it out so as to please God? It is God that proves the heart; we are always under His scrutiny. It is not what we do or say but the spirit we are of; Paul said, “Whom I serve in my spirit” (Romans 1: 9); that is, his spirit was in perfect accord with his service. It is possible to teach and to speak to people, and yet one’s spirit is not in accord with it. You might speak to a person because you feel it is the proper thing to do.
Ques Would the spirit being in accord be the same as doing it voluntarily as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9: 17?
CAC Paul had the responsibility to announce the glad [p. 244] tidings whether his heart went with it or not; he emphasises that side, that God had laid him under an obligation to do so. His whole heart went with it, but whether or not it did he had the responsibility entrusted to him.
It is so beautiful to see the true servant; they were a model assembly and he was a model servant. We see his boldness; then he has God only before him as the One to be pleased, and he was absolutely unselfish; there is no seeking glory from men, no flattering discourse, and even what he might have done rightly and properly he would not do. It would have been right if he had made himself a charge, and yet he was absolutely unselfish; his was unselfish labour for the good of others. It is just a continuation of Christ, and nothing else will do for God. This is really life; it necessitates a practical emptying of self. We all begin full of self, but here is a man in whom self has no place. Are we set to be here in the Spirit of Christ? Christianity is a very simple thing, just the Spirit of Christ active in the saints; we see it here in Paul. One can see more and more the importance of Paul’s pressing on saints to love one another. John brings it out too, not doctrine but life, and that is the activity of love. We “have been gentle in the midst of you, as a nurse would cherish her own children” — Paul had been amongst them in all the tenderness of a mother; he had begotten them first, and then he nursed them (verse 7). There had been a nursing time, but now they had got out of babyhood, and he exhorted them as a father; they had grown rapidly; they were big enough to be exhorted by a father, as well as being nursed by a mother. It is the same grace as was seen in the Lord when He would have gathered His people under the warmth and protection of His wing; that was like this word “cherish”; the apostle in his love cherished these young converts. There is such beautiful freshness about this first epistle of Paul’s; it throbs and palpitates with life, and with all the activity [p. 245] of divine love; we see the activity of early love here. The condition brought about in the converts was morally connected with what they had seen in the apostle. We cannot expect the same results if we have not the same causes. There was a wonderful presentation of divine love in the preaching and in the preacher. He says, “Thus, yearning over you, we had found our delight in having imparted to you... our own lives also”. Paul was ready to die for them; it was just what the Lord had done. How blessedly we should get on together if we were all animated by that spirit! Nothing can stop this love if it is there, no outside influence; so nothing can stop one from desiring the good of another, however bad they are or however they may have treated one.
Then there was not only this yearning of love, but such a beautiful life of blameless purity had been exhibited among them. The Lord brings it before us so that we might see the vitality of christianity worked out in a man. The Thessalonians had begun to follow Paul and all this is to encourage them to go on; it is the most powerful way of appealing to any sensitive heart. Everything was worthy of God in the apostle. How wonderful to be able to say of a man that his walk and ways and speech are worthy of God! This could be said of Paul; he exhorts these Thessalonians and through them exhorts us to walk worthy of God. It is because he is so entirely free of himself that he can speak of himself like this; otherwise it would be self-importance. The epistle to the Philippians is full of “I” and “me”. They occur about ninety times; no one could write like that unless he were entirely free of himself. In Romans 7 there are the “I” and “me” of self-occupation, but in Philippians it is the “I” and “me” of a man in Christ. It is because Paul is a man in Christ and is conscious of it that he can say “I” and “me” freely without thinking of himself at all. How blessed to identify ourselves with the man [p. 246] in Christ! We all know the man in the flesh and more often identify ourselves with him.
Paul worked day and night not to be a burden to the Thessalonians. It was very different to preaching for a salary; he was no fine gentleman; he was a working man in every sense, full of spiritual labour and manual labour. Paul could have stood on his rights and expected them to minister to him, as he insists on it for others.
Rem The wonder is that they allowed it.
CAC Yes; he says, ‘None shall stop me’ (2 Corinthians 11: 10). At Corinth, where they were wealthy, he refused their bounty. We see his unselfishness; there was no motive lurking behind. He only desired their good.
Making tents is a fine occupation; they are useful all the year round! The tent is connected with the pilgrimage; the patriarchs were tent-dwellers. It is a great thing to pass along in that spirit. Priscilla and Aquila were in accord with the apostle, ready to lay down their lives (Romans 16: 4); it is the Spirit of Christ coming out in people like ourselves.
The way we walk expresses what God does. God’s kingdom is full of the effulgence of God, and to walk worthy of Him is to walk as expressive of God. We should challenge ourselves and say, ‘Is this like God? Is it God’s way of doing things? Does God act like this?’ It pulls us up, does it not? All this is the moral effect of the revelation of God in grace. If God comes near to reveal Himself it is that fruits of like character might be brought forth. If God speaks to me in grace it produces the fruit of grace in me. Then we see that all this, instead of giving people a good place in the world, only exposes them to persecution. The shining out of what God is in a world that opposes Him is sure to bring out enmity. They opposed Paul; they opposed the Thessalonians, and we must be prepared for that. Sometimes there is a subtle feeling in us that if we act worthily of God [p. 247] it will be approved by the world, and especially the Christian world, but it is not so. God is able to turn the hearts of men; He does not always alter persecution, but He checks it. In Smyrna there was a limit, “Ye shall have tribulation ten days”, Revelation 2: 10. If saints are exposed to a special trial it is measured; not all the powers of hell could have made the tribulation eleven days! God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tried beyond what you are able. He is the “God of measure” (2 Corinthians 10: 13) and persecution is measured. I have known saints persecuted to the last extremity and then it is stopped. It is that you may be able to bear it, not to escape. It is all measured.
The apostle says, “We told you beforehand” (chapter 3: 4); he told them they were to have this special tribulation. As to the difficulty of the last days, we hardly know what will come next, but there is a throne in heaven, a very stable one; there are tottering thrones on earth. The power that has protected us here may totter to the fall, but there is a throne in heaven that will never totter, and the persecution and all are weighed in the sanctuary. If the Lord lets us go through a time of unprecedented sorrow and trial it is to draw us together in love, so that affections may be in activity.
The last section of the chapter is so beautiful. Paul could not bear separation from the Thessalonians. He had tried twice to get to them but Satan had come in and hindered him; he could not bear the separation. He looks to being in closest nearness to them by and by. He looks forward to embracing his beloved converts on the glory side. The apostle does not entertain any misgivings as to recognising them, does he? We think of the blessedness and joy of being with the Lord, but Paul says nothing about it here. He says, “What is our... crown?” Most would say, Christ Himself! But here he says, ‘It is you who are our glory and joy’. It shews what they were to him at that moment. Paul’s glory and joy when he entered the presence of the Lord would be to present these beloved children.
Ques Is it like what the Lord said, “Behold, I and the children which God has given me”?
CAC It is exactly like the Lord. What is the Lord’s joy? To present to the Father those whom He has loved, and served, and carried to glory! So here Paul is not thinking of his own blessedness, but entirely taken up with the blessedness of these people. Even in glory he is not thinking of his own blessing but he has got these Thessalonians and is presenting them to the Lord. They are all his glory and joy. How his unselfishness comes out even in glory!