[0:00] We're going to begin our worship by singing to God's praise. We're going to sing in Psalm 27, the Sing Psalms Version, page 32 of the psalm books. Psalm 27, the Sing Psalms Version, page 32.
[0:16] We're going to sing from verse 7 down to the end of the psalm and the tune is Belmont. Lord, hear me when I call to you, be merciful and speak. Come seek my face, you told my heart.
[0:27] Your face, Lord, I will seek. We'll sing from verse 7 down to the end of the psalm to God's praise. Come seek my face, you told my heart. Your face, Lord, I will seek.
[1:17] Oh, do not hide your face from me.
[1:29] Don't do not turn aside. Your servant in your righteous wrath.
[1:49] Oh, God, my Savior, leave me not.
[2:11] Do not reject my plea. My parents may forsake me, Lord, But you will welcome me.
[2:41] Teach me, O Lord, how I should live, And lead me in your way.
[3:01] Make straight my path, because my foes Oppress me every day.
[3:21] Give me not over to the will of the evil and enemy.
[3:38] For liars' price to slander me, And without cruel deeds.
[4:03] Yet I am sure that in this life, What goodness I will see.
[4:22] Wait for the Lord, be strong, take heart.
[4:33] For him wait patiently. Let's join together in prayer.
[4:50] Let us pray. O Lord, our gracious God, as we come to worship you today, we thank you to be able to come in the great invitation that you have given us.
[5:01] The invitation that we have sung from your word here, come and seek my face you have told us. And so we come, O Lord, seeking your blessing on our time together, on your word to us, and on all that we do.
[5:15] May it be for your glory. We thank you for your day. We thank you for your day. We thank you that you have given us a day in the week to use for this very purpose, to come, to gather together as your people, to gather together, young and old alike, to come and give up our praise to you, offer our prayers to you, and to hear your word and what it says to us.
[5:38] And we thank you for every opportunity we have. We thank you for the freedom that we have and the peace that we have to enjoy these things. We thank you that at this time of year we enjoy a time of holiday, and we thank you for the school holidays just now.
[5:55] We pray for our children and the teachers. We pray for everyone who hasn't had a busy year that they would enjoy a break now. We thank you for the Sunday school and for all that was done in the last year as well with the prize giving last week.
[6:11] We thank you for all the children who have attended so regularly. And we pray that they will still come to church over the summer holidays to come and continue to hear your word.
[6:22] We pray, Lord, that you will refresh both the schoolteachers and Sunday schoolteachers alike over the summer months, that you will be with them and watch over families who come and go on holiday times.
[6:33] And who do different things over these summer weeks. We pray, Lord, that you will protect us and keep us. We pray above all, Lord, that we will know that you are with us, that no matter what day it is or what time it is or what time of year it is, that you have promised that you will be with us always.
[6:50] And so we thank you for that. And may we know it. And may it continue to help us to live our lives day by day for you. So continue with us in our worship now. Guide us and keep us.
[7:02] And pardon all our sins for Jesus' sake. Amen. It's good to see some of the young ones here today. I know a lot will be away on holiday just now as well.
[7:13] And I hope you do have a great summer holiday. But I wonder if in the last few weeks anyone was at the circus. I saw a headline in a paper, the Gazette, saying that the circus came to tongue.
[7:27] And I know a lot of young people went along to the circus. And I wonder what you saw at the circus. Maybe you saw clowns. Maybe you saw acts taking place that were quite funny and lots of different things.
[7:40] But very often in a circus, when we think back, circuses often had animals that would come along as well. So I don't know if there was any animals at the circus in tongue.
[7:51] Tongue itself is full of enough wild animals without the circus bringing even more. But I know in the past they used to take animals to circus. And it reminds me of a story I heard about a minister who once took his child to the circus.
[8:05] And during the circus they had the same kind of acts with clowns coming in and doing funny things. But this circus also had animals that they brought in. And one of the animals was an elephant.
[8:17] A big elephant. And as one of the clowns, the last act that was on, when he was doing his funny stuff, he had this big hat on, on his head.
[8:28] He was a wee clown but he had a really big hat on his head. And at the end of his part, when he was finished his act, he bowed in front of the crowd. And as he bowed, his hat fell off.
[8:40] And what happened to the hat? The elephant sat on his hat. And it wouldn't move. So he tried all kinds of different things to try and get his hat back.
[8:52] He started making arm movements at the elephant to get up. The elephant never budged. He started shouting at the elephant to get up. And it never budged.
[9:04] And then what he did was he went round the back of the elephant and tried to kick it to see if it would move. And he only hurt his foot. The elephant still wouldn't move. And so the clown came back round and just started shouting and bawling for the elephant to get up.
[9:20] But the elephant just wouldn't move. So the clown gave up. He went to the side and he sat down. And then he started to eat some peanuts. And all of a sudden, the elephant got up and started walking towards the clown because the elephant wanted some of his peanuts.
[9:40] And the elephant sat in front of him and started making a movement to show that he wanted some peanuts. And then it dawned on the clown and realized, all I had to do was offer the elephant some peanuts and he would have got up.
[9:56] But the minister who was there with his child realized there was a powerful lesson there for him as well. When we are thinking about people all around us and we think about how we motivate people to do things, how do we get people to do things?
[10:11] Do we just shout and scream or kick out in anger at them? That's not what's going to work. The minister realized that we have something to offer people to make them realize the greatest gift of all and to come and seek this gift themselves.
[10:29] He realized our greatest motivation for others to come and know and enjoy what we have is to show them, not shouting and bawling and screaming at them, but to show them love, to show them compassion, to show them what we have to offer them.
[10:46] This clown offered the elephant a peanut and he got up off his hat and he got his hat back. And I think when we show that same love to people, when we show that same compassion to people, when we show them the love of Christ and the wonder of the gospel that we have, that is what will stir people up to come and put their trust in the Lord Jesus.
[11:09] So, the clown learned a lesson, the minister learned a lesson, and let us all learn a lesson too, that we would show a love for the people around us, to make them interested in and long for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[11:26] Well, may God bless these thoughts to us. We're going to say the Lord's Prayer together now. We'll say the Lord's Prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[11:40] Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
[11:52] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen. Well, let's again sing to God's praise this time in Psalm 85 in the Singed Psalms.
[12:09] Psalm 85. We'll find this on page 113. We're going to sing from verse 1 to verse 9 on the tune of Ebenezer.
[12:24] In times past, Lord, you showed favour to your own beloved land, the prosperity of Jacob, you restored by your strong hand.
[12:35] We'll sing from verse 1 to 9 to God's praise. Amen. In times past, Lord, you showed favour to your own beloved land, the prosperity of Jacob, you restored by your strong hand. In times past, Lord, you showed favour to your own beloved land, the prosperity of Jacob, you restored by your strong hand.
[13:00] You restored by your strong hand. You restored by your strong hand. You forgive your people's trespass, you were pleased their sins to hide.
[13:21] You were pleased their sins to hide.
[13:39] You withdrew all your displeasure, from your wrath you turned aside.
[13:56] God our Saviour, now restore us. From us turn away your rage.
[14:15] Will your anger burn against us? Will it last from age to age?
[14:34] Will you not again revive us, that we may rejoice in you?
[14:53] Show us, Lord, your covenant mercy, your salvation grant anew.
[15:12] I will hear what God the Lord says, to his saints he offers peace.
[15:30] But his people must not wander, and return to foolishness.
[15:49] Surely for all those who fear him, his salvation is at hand, so that once again his glory, may be seen within our hands.
[16:23] Lord, your God, your God, your God, your God, your God. We'll turn to read in God's word in the New Testament, in 1 Thessalonians.
[16:37] 1 Thessalonians, reading in chapter 2. We'll read from verse 1 down to verse 16.
[16:49] 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2.
[17:03] 1 Thessalonians chapter 2.
[17:13] 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. 1 Thessalonians chapter 3.
[17:33] 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. 2 Thessalonians chapter 5. 3 Thessalonians chapter 4.
[17:49] 3 Thessalonians chapter 5. 4 Thessalonians chapter 5. 5 Thessalonians chapter 5. 5 Thessalonians chapter 5.
[18:01] we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil.
[18:15] We worked night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also.
[18:27] How holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct towards you believers. For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you, and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
[18:46] We also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
[19:04] 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, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displeased God and opposed all mankind, by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles, that they might be saved.
[19:30] So as always, to fill up the measure of their sins. But God's wrath has come upon them at last. And so on. And may God bless that reading from his word.
[19:43] We'll again come to God in prayer. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Amen. O Lord, our God, as we continue to seek your face, we thank you for your word which speaks to us.
[19:59] We thank you for what we have read, and as we come to open it up together, may you prepare our hearts to receive it. May you prepare our hearts to understand it and to be changed by it.
[20:13] For we know that we can often outwardly hear the word, and outwardly we can seek to do so many things for you. But unless that comes from a sincere and a pure heart, then we are lacking in so much.
[20:29] And we thank you that you are the God who is so able to transform us, that we read in your word how you are the God who is there to save his people.
[20:40] And we thank you that you are the same God today as always and ever will be, the one who is able to save and to save all who will come to you.
[20:51] And we thank you that your word is a word that continues to go out to people, that the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ is heard far and wide.
[21:02] We may not see it received by all people, but we thank you that it does go out and that it has power, for it is your word, and you are the power behind it.
[21:13] And so we pray that even today, as your word is proclaimed around the world, that it will be heard and received and received with great gladness.
[21:24] We thank you that your word tells us that in heaven there is rejoicing over one sinner who repents. And we pray that there be much rejoicing in heaven today, not just for one sinner, but for many, many who would turn from their ways and turn to Christ and know that great joy of salvation.
[21:47] And so we pray, Lord, that your word, as it goes out today, as it's preached, as it's received, even here in our own midst, that you would be behind it all, that your spirit would be with us to work in us and through us.
[22:05] We thank you for one another, Lord. We thank you for the words that we have read that remind us of the great blessing and privilege there is in being gathered together as your church, as your people.
[22:19] We thank you that these are such wonderful opportunities for us, that they are opportunities that we are to take with great joy and gladness that we can come, come together and worship you.
[22:34] And we thank you for all who are here in the building. We pray your blessing on us, each one. We thank you for all who tune in online as well, those unable to come out to be with us.
[22:45] We pray, Lord, your blessing on them, that they will know that they are part of the body of Christ. We pray for those who will maybe hear this at some point in the future, maybe even in all corners of the world as we think of the way that the internet has enabled us to reach out with the gospel in ways that we never imagined before.
[23:07] We thank you, Lord, for these opportunities. And we pray for people far and wide in very different circumstances. We come in here in peace, but we know that throughout the world there is much heartache and trouble and pain.
[23:22] There is persecution that is rife in so many parts of the world. And yet we thank you that the gospel still goes out. And we pray, Lord, for your people far and wide, those who suffer so much at the hand of cruel rulers or oppressors of different kinds.
[23:40] We pray, Lord, that you will surround your people, that you will hold them in their suffering, that you will be near to them and remind them, even as Paul and Silas, who we have read of here, as they were beaten for their faith, yet they knew that God was with them and they knew the gospel hope.
[23:58] We pray that that might be the case for your people far and wide today, that they would know the God of all grace and mercy with them. We do thank you, Lord, for every endeavor of our church to reach out with the gospel.
[24:12] We pray even for this week ahead and for the summer season, as we think of all the activities that are going on. We thank you that there is the free church camps that have started already and going on over the summer months.
[24:25] We pray your blessing on them upon all who gather there, who travel for them, who lead them, and who attend them. Give them safety. Give them your presence.
[24:36] Give them to know that you are with them, that you will surround them at all times. We pray for the camp that we have been linked with, the Kin Craig camp, starting next Saturday.
[24:48] We pray, Lord, your blessing on it upon all the leaders and the campers who attend. Surround them with your love and with your grace. We thank you too, Lord, for the holiday club that we look forward to, God willing, in the end of the month and into August.
[25:04] We pray for all the preparation being made for that, that you will be with everyone who is helping with it in all different kinds of ways. And above all, Lord, as we pray for it, we pray to know your blessing on it, to know the blessing upon our young people as they gather for it.
[25:22] We pray too, Lord, for the weekly activities, the meetings for prayer. Remember Muriel, as we'll be able to meet with her on Tuesday. We pray for her, continue to remember her and the work that she is involved in in Cambodia.
[25:37] We commit her to your care and to your keeping. Remember the meetings for prayer and worship throughout the week and the Friday at the freeze and all the different activities going on.
[25:49] Help us to surround them all with prayer and praise. Much thanksgiving to you for these opportunities and these times when we are able to serve you in so many different ways.
[26:00] We pray, Lord, your encouragement in it to see people coming, not just to see a building here or to see the people, but to experience the wonder of God, to experience a meeting with Jesus Christ, to experience the Holy Spirit and the power that there is with him.
[26:22] So we pray, Lord, that in all things we will seek your face, even as we have been instructed to, asking your blessing on it. Remember us in our homes and in our families too.
[26:33] We remember those who have lost loved ones even in this past week. We continue to commit them to your care and to your keeping. The families of Ian McKenzie and Ian McFarlane and Mary MacArthur, we commit them to you, O Lord, asking you to surround them, to be near to them, to uphold them at all times, that they would know your grace and your help in times of need.
[26:59] Remember those who are unwell as well in hospital, in homes or at home. We pray, Lord, that you will help them to know your hand upon them for good. Remember us, Lord, we pray as we commit ourselves into your hands.
[27:14] Lord, we thank you that we can come any time of day or night knowing that you hear us, knowing that you are there for us, that you are with us. So, Lord, hear our prayers, continue with us as we commit all these things to you, asking in all things forgiveness for all our sins and shortcomings, thankful for the forgiveness that is found in Christ Jesus.
[27:36] And may we know what it is to seek him and to know his blessing and his peace with us. For we ask all things in Jesus' precious name, for his sake and glory.
[27:47] Amen. We're going to sing again to God's praise in Psalm 122, the Scottish Psalter version, Psalm 122.
[28:07] Find this on page 416 of the psalm books. We'll sing from verse 1 to verse 6 in the tune of Jackson. I joyed when to the house of God go up, they said to me, Jerusalem within thy gates our feet shall standing be.
[28:23] We'll sing from verse 1 to 6 to God's praise. Amen. I joyed when to the house of God go up, Jerusalem within thy gates our feet shall standing be.
[28:59] Jerusalem, as a city is, compactly built together, unto that place the tribes go up, the tribes of God, God with unless to fall.
[29:33] Jesus To Israel, can単 sin in to God oıyor before, there to God's name thanks to pay.
[29:49] For thrones of judgment in the thrones of day, of David's eyes dare stay.
[30:05] Pray that Jerusalem may have peace and felicity.
[30:21] Let them that love thee and thy peace have still prosperity.
[30:43] Well we can turn back to our passage we read in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Our focus is going to be on verse 1 to verse 8. We can read again at verse 3.
[30:56] But our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive. But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.
[31:16] Our lives are full of routines of all the things that we do. So much of our lives is full of different routines. But how often do we stop and ask ourselves why am I doing this?
[31:32] What is the reason behind what I am doing? What is my motivation in doing what I am doing? Very often we can just go on in life as it were on automatic pilot.
[31:46] Just going through all the different routines without without actually pausing for a moment and asking ourselves why am I doing this? Just think of some of the things that you do on a regular basis.
[32:00] Going to school. Why do you do that? I'm sure many of the young people ask that question every morning. Why am I bothering going to school? What's the point? What's our motivation in doing it?
[32:12] Is there a purpose in it or is it just because I have to do it? I'm told I have to do it. But then it can be the same when it comes to work. When we're doing work and going to work we ask ourselves what's the purpose in my going?
[32:28] Is there a purpose behind it or am I doing it just because I have to do it? Then there's other activities that we're involved in maybe throughout the week different things we do.
[32:40] Some are for pleasure some are because we have to as well but what's our motivation in it? if we're working on sheep if we're going fishing if we're cooking a meal if we're decorating the house all these different things the list goes on.
[32:56] Why are we doing it? What's our motivation? Or what about coming to church or serving in the church? Why are we doing it?
[33:07] What's the purpose in it? Is it more that we see a purpose in it that's a motivation for us or is it more that we just feel that we have to do it?
[33:20] What can make all the difference in all of these situations? Our day-to-day lives our worship of God our serving God what can make all the difference in these things?
[33:37] a love for what we are doing and why we are doing it. And as we turn to the scriptures we find so often throughout God's word God's people going through different times and experiences where their motivation is maybe lost and where they have to again ask themselves why are we doing the things that we are doing?
[34:05] There are other times in the scriptures where you clearly see the motivation in doing what they are doing is because of a love for God and it's that latter experience that we want to have at all times.
[34:20] If you were just to go back to the Old Testament to the book of Malachi there in that book you see God's people who have become stuck in a rut in so many ways.
[34:32] their lives and their worship has become a sense of just going through the motions doing it because they have to doing it out of a sense of duty.
[34:48] But if in all that we are doing we are just doing it out of a sense of duty all we end up doing is giving the bare minimum. But if we do it out of a sense of devotion if we do it in a sense of delight then that will move us from giving the bare minimum to giving our all.
[35:12] Doing all as to the Lord. And here in the book of Thessalonians as Paul is writing these letters to the church at Thessalonica this first letter he was writing to them to encourage them to strengthen them and to help them go on in life and serving the Lord not out of a sense of duty and the purpose being well I've just got to do this but an encouragement for them to carry on and go on doing this in delight.
[35:44] Delighting in knowing what they are doing why they are doing it and who they are doing it for. Knowing that they are doing it for the Lord Jesus who has done all for them.
[35:56] and so he comes to encourage them to encourage the people to live as examples. It's a letter of encouragement and he says in chapter 1 as he is introducing them in chapter 1 he is saying their faith is a great example to others.
[36:19] He says in verse 7 of chapter 1 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia for not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere so that we need not say anything.
[36:38] They don't even have to tell others around this area about their faith because their example how they have lived has already gone before them. They are known for their love of God and that is a wonderful example to us as to what we should aim to be as well.
[36:58] The people of God who are examples to others all around us that people would speak of our love for Christ and so that in all the ways that we serve God we would do it not just out of a sense of duty or to please somebody else but out of devotion for the Lord and in a congregation that can become so busy in different things and as we think of all the activities going on and that are to go on even over the summer months what we do we do out of devotion and delight and that would make all the difference that people would then speak of the faith and love of the people in this place that they would speak of Christ who we are sharing with others that they would see us as an example to be for others and that is why Paul was writing to the Thessalonians to encourage them and in chapter 2 what he does is he shows his own motivations in what he has done that it might motivate them and he says in verse 1 that their coming to them was not in vain for you yourselves know brothers that are coming to you was not in vain but and so he goes on and he explains why it was not in vain and he explains the kind of motivations that are behind everything that he is doing and everything that's behind what they should the motivations that should be behind what they are doing as well and even for ourselves what our own motivations are so there are three motivations here that Paul outlines three motivations to take for ourselves as well the first one is this the gospel motivates the gospel motivates in verse 2 but though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi as you know we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God the gospel is the great motivation here it is for Paul it is for the church of Thessalonica it is for ourselves the gospel is the great motivation the gospel of God the gospel of good news the gospel that comes even in the midst of great conflict as Paul says here how do you picture
[39:39] Paul and Silas arriving in Thessalonica when you read of the missionary journeys of Paul in the gospels how do you picture him what do you see of him we speak about church planters today those who are starting new churches in different parts of our nation in many ways Paul and Silas and others with them they were the church planters of their day they were going out with the gospel reaching across new boundaries going into new places and always taking the gospel with them how do you imagine church planters today perhaps we can often think of church planters today as maybe having it easy in many ways sitting in coffee shops and just meeting up with people from time to time they're having quite comfortable lives being at peace finding the way maybe easy going it's far from it far from it all you have to do is listen to some of the church planters who are involved in these works and you hear the reality of it is so different how hard it is
[40:52] I was speaking to a church planter once and he said in the first three years of his ministry he moved home four times each Lord's day as we were gathering to worship sometimes they didn't know where they were going to be gathering because they didn't have a permanent place to meet they had to move around so that maybe even on a Friday they still didn't know where they were going to meet on the Sunday they would meet with opposition they would meet with people who were against them using buildings or even coming into their community they would face opposition and people speaking out against them it is not easy the same as it isn't for ourselves but what was it that motivates what is it that motivates it's a devotion for God a devotion for the gospel a longing that people would hear the gospel and as you look at Paul and Silas and how they came into places especially maybe
[41:54] Thessalonica how did they arrive well they arrived beaten and bloodied with their clothes torn we see that in the book of Acts chapter 16 before they came to Thessalonica they had been at Philippi it says there falls in verse 2 as well but though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi what had happened well if you go to Acts 16 verse 20 they they were in Philippi and they were brought before the magistrates and they said to them these men are Jews and they are disturbing our city they advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice the crowd joined in attacking them and the magistrates tore their garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods and when they had inflicted many blows upon them they threw them into prison ordering the jailer to keep them safely that is what they experienced before they came to
[43:04] Thessalonica they were beaten with rods and this is just a few days before they came to Thessalonica now what do we do when we face opposition if we knock on a door and someone says to us just go away I want nothing to do with you we take that to heart we feel hurt perhaps we don't go back to that door again it's going to be difficult but here is a reminder to us to be bold for the gospel to be seeing our greatest motivation is the gospel and the need that people have to hear the gospel you see they were entrusted with this message in verse four but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel so we speak not to please man but to please
[44:05] God they were entrusted with the gospel and that is what the church of God is entrusted with today as well entrusted with this gospel that is what we are entrusted with that is our greatest motivation in all that we do or it should be it is the gospel which is the good news of Jesus Christ and they were entrusted with it because they were convinced by it themselves and so must we be too in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 14 Paul there is writing to the church there and what he says is the love of Christ controls us or constrains us as another version says because we have concluded this they're convinced by this that one has died for all therefore all have died and he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised there is the motivation there is the heart of the gospel one has died for all
[45:22] Christ died for sinners that is the gospel and that is what motivates Paul here and the people of Thessalonica and that is what should motivate ourselves to the love of Christ constrains us it motivates us to go out and tell others that Christ died for their sins somebody once said we do what we do because we love what we love we do what we do because we love what we love and so it is to be bold for the gospel to love the gospel that is what Paul has experienced in his own life the transforming power of Christ in his own heart who brought him from one who was beating
[46:23] Christians to being beaten himself to be able to say as he says in Philippians for me to live is Christ they no longer live for themselves but live for Christ and you wonder what Paul thought even as he was beaten in Philippi that this is what I used to do to Christians myself and I would wonder how it is they could accept these beatings but now he knows because he's receiving these beatings himself convinced of God convinced of God who is with him no matter the opposition what happens is boldness results when we are convinced by the gospel ourselves when we are convinced by Jesus Christ when the gospel is our great motivation then we are bold for
[47:29] Christ he loved the gospel he loved God and he knew God with him and that is what we should long for and be motivated by ourselves too the gospel motivates the second thing we see here is the lies that motivate we see this in verse 3 for our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive what's going on here well Paul and Silas weren't the only missionaries in town there were others who had come as well but their motives and their message was completely different many came with selfish motivation and suffered nothing for telling lies but Paul and Silas they came motivated by God to share the gospel to tell the truth and they suffered so much and so why keep going well what they were seeing was those with selfish motives those who were preaching a lie to those in
[48:45] Thessalonica and other places as well they were leading these people astray they were leading them to an eternal downfall and that is what motivated Paul and the church they saw that people needed to hear the true gospel and that's what we see here it is such a powerful motivation and it should be for ourselves as well because even as we look around today we see a people who are being swept along by the lies of this world the lies that this world tells us will make all the difference the lies that are leading to the broad road that leads to destruction and that should grieve us that should pain us so our motivation is to show what these lies are and show the truth in the midst of them these false teachers were there in
[49:46] Thessalonica with flattery with greed seeking fame for themselves and Paul highlights just how wrong this is our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel so we speak not to please man but to please God who tests our hearts and he goes on to speak about words of flattery of greed of the lies of the glory self glory that the people are looking for there's all these lists of things that you see here we didn't see glory from people he says in verse 6 you go through these verses and you see the desires of those who came with lies and false motives was all for self but Paul and Silas came to please
[50:46] God and so it makes us think of the world in which we live today the lies that are being told and can you think of anyone who has these motives self glory praise from man greed even when it comes to the gospel we think perhaps of people on television evangelists as they call themselves who are saying send a donation and we will pray and you will receive a blessing all they're doing it for is to get money for themselves to get glory from people but not for God but it challenges ourselves too are we a people who look for our own glory or for God's glory that in whatever we are doing as it says here being example to others we have to be so careful in that that we're not seeking to be examples that people would praise us and give glory to us but instead that they would give glory to
[51:54] God
[52:55] God God God tests your heart and mine today to see what is our motivation in this life are we caught up in the lies of this world or are we caught up with the truth of the gospel it gets to the heart of what the Christian faith is all about you see so many other religions and philosophies and world views they focus on outward actions on our works that you can be accepted by God in a certain way or that you can please others and that that is all that counts but we see here the gospel gets to the heart that
[54:02] God searches the heart he tests the heart so the gospel isn't about making us nicer neighbors or nicer people in our communities better kids it's not about that that's something that may lead out from it but it's about the heart and what motivates us in our hearts what do we do and why are we doing it are we doing it in the lives of this world for our own greed our own gain our own praise or are we doing it to please God we see the lives of this world sweeping people along who are perishing but does that motivate us to be different and to show the gospel of Jesus Christ to show that there is a truth that people need a truth that we might suffer for but at the end of the day is what really matters a truth that reaches into our hearts and transforms hearts the lies that the others came for were destroying people and places just as they are today but the truth of the gospel is what makes all the difference so the lies that were around motivated
[55:31] Paul and should motivate us to guard our hearts and to stand up against the lies of this world and proclaim the gospel the final thing I want us to see here is the love that motivates you see that from verse 6 down to verse 8 we do not seek glory from people whether from you or from others though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ but we were gentle among you like nursing like a nursing mother taking care of our own children so being affectionately desirous of you we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also ourselves because you had become very dear to us how does he seek to make them live to motivate them to live likewise he lives out the gospel in their midst you see the affection that
[56:35] Paul had for the people there at the end of verse 8 you have become very dear to us you might think that having been severely beaten a bitterness would have creeped into his heart thinking what's the point in all of this but no all it does is encourage it makes him tender he had a love for his people when a minister comes to a congregation one of the questions that is put to him is this are not sealed for the honour of God love to Jesus Christ and desire of saving souls your great motives and chief inducements to enter into the function of the holy ministry and not worldly designs and interests it's a great question and it's a question for every minister myself and every other minister to keep coming back to what is our motives in entering into holy ministry seal for the honour of
[57:52] God love to Jesus Christ and a desire of saving souls I think for every believer that should be a question put to us that that would be all our motives together as we serve God seal for the honour of God love to Jesus Christ and a desire for the saving of souls is there any other greater motive and it's grounded in a love for God and a love for one another a minister felt God's call on his life but he was a successful businessman but he began taking a Bible course at night and eventually he obtained his degree in theology and before his graduation he informed his boss that he would be leaving his work shortly to become a pastor in a rural church his boss didn't believe him and the owner of the company didn't believe him why was this man so successful in business making so much money why was he going to leave that and go into the ministry they just didn't think he would do it but the minister felt the call
[59:20] I told him look you need to find a replacement for me I'm going to be leaving soon but they didn't bother and eventually it came to the day when he told his boss that he was going to leave and that he needed to find a replacement as soon as possible the boss called the owner of the company and said look this man is serious he's going to and if he takes it fire him on the spot he was testing his motives the minister didn't take it money didn't matter to him that wasn't his motivation he had been called by God to serve him to pastor a people and his longing was to see a people coming to God seal for the honour of God love for Jesus
[60:20] Christ and a desire for the saving of souls when we think ourselves what is our motivation in life what do people say of us as a congregation do they see us as an example of the love of Christ I pray they do but it's something that we should always guard ourselves against our motivations not coming to just do things out of a sense of duty but out of a sense of devotion and a desire for the saving of souls and the love of God that we would come closer to each other and closer to God and then from there that we would show that love of Christ to all around us so that we would live in the midst of opposition and affliction and all kinds that is going on around us in the midst of all the lies that are being told that our motivation would be the gospel the good news that our motivation would be to show that the lies that the world is telling are just that lies lies that lead to destruction and that our motivation would be the love of
[61:52] Christ and the love of lost souls and that that would motivate us to go on are we motivated by the love of Christ and do we do all to please him may that be so let us pray our father in heaven we thank you that in the gospel we have our greatest motivation of all for it reminds us of what you have done for us that you gave your son Christ Jesus who came to die for our sins but who rose again on the third day and we thank you that the gospel is good news good news in the midst of all the lies that this world offers yet we have the gospel that leads to life and so may we be motivated to know it to love it and to share it with others Lord we pray these things asking your mercy on us and your help in all of it as we ask it with the forgiveness of our sins in
[62:59] Jesus name Amen we are going to conclude by singing the last two verses of Psalm 122 on the Scottish Psalter page 417 verse 7 to 9 the tune is St Paul Psalm 122 at verse 7 therefore I wish that peace may still within thy walls remain and ever may thy palaces prosperity retain we'll sing these last two verses to God's please therefore I wish that peace may still within thy walls remain and peace that me generous day
[64:15] For my friends and brethren's sake, Peace be in me, I'll say, And for the house of God our Lord, I'll seek my good away.
[64:49] After the benediction, I'll go to the door to my left and close with a benediction. Now may grace, mercy and peace from God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon and abide with you all now and forevermore.
[65:05] Amen. Amen.