Amen.
You may be seated.
Kids, you are excused to your King's Kids classes.
!
For you yourselves know, brothers, sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain.
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 in the midst of much conflict.
For 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.
For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed, God
is witness.
Nor did we 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 babes among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her
own children.
So being affectionately desirous of you, 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, sisters, our labor and toil.
We work night and day, but that we might not be a burden to any of you while we proclaim
to you the gospel of God.
You are witnesses.
And God also, how holy and righteous and blameless we conducted our conduct towards you believers.
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.
And 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.
For you, brothers and sisters, 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.
So as always, to fill up the measure of their sins, what wrath has come upon them at last.
May God bless the hearing of his word.
Lord, is anybody changing?
Has all my sacrifices for the advancement of the kingdom been all for naught?
Have all my efforts in my ministries or marriage or parenting or attempts to share the gospel
with non-Christians, have they all been gospel efforts in vain?
Maybe you're a teacher in King's Kids or a mentor in King's Place or a leader in our youth ministry.
Maybe you are serving on the worship team, on the Connect team.
You're involved in the Sunday breakfast, in the women's or men's ministry.
You're a life group leader or you're a deacon or you're teaching a TDI class or you're an elder.
Maybe you've been wondering, am I making any kind of difference in anybody's life for Christ?
Has all this sacrifice been for nothing?
Maybe you're serving on multiple ministry teams.
You go to life group.
You gather Sunday after Sunday.
You're trying to share the gospel with non-Christians in your life.
But has it all been worth anything?
Have you found yourself asking that question?
If you look at chapter 2, verse 1,
For you yourselves know, brothers, that are coming to you was not in vain.
Not in vain.
1 Thessalonians was originally a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica
around 4951 A.D.
He probably wrote it from Corinth.
And what you need to know about this letter that is now the book of 1 Thessalonians
is that this letter was to a brand new church just months old.
And right out of the gate, this church suffered hardship.
They were being afflicted because they were followers of Jesus.
And they were being afflicted by those who rejected the gospel.
They were hindering them.
Making life hard for them.
And on top of it all, just weeks, maybe months, after this church has been established,
Paul, Silas, and Timothy, this apostolic band, PST,
they leave all of a sudden under the cover of night.
So just imagine it.
This, these baby Christians of a brand new church in a hostile environment
are now experiencing an abrupt leadership vacuum.
It's ripe for all sorts of challenges.
Maybe there are influencers from those who had rejected the gospel,
and they're influencing this church,
and people in the church are maybe,
well, maybe they are right.
Maybe, maybe the gospel of Jesus Christ isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
Maybe it's not the only way to salvation.
Maybe they have a point.
Maybe Jesus isn't who Paul, Silas, and Timothy claimed him to be.
Or maybe you're in this church, and you're like,
why did they leave?
Were they in it for themselves?
Or maybe you're thinking,
you know what?
Were we just being naive?
Maybe there's more to the story than what we're hearing.
Here's what I want to convince you of this morning.
Our gospel efforts are never in vain.
And from this passage, there are three reasons.
Reason number one, the gospel of God is the power of God.
That's reason number one.
Reason number two is that the gospel shapes how we go about gospel ministry.
Reason number three is the gospel shapes even how we receive the word of God.
It's all about the gospel.
So what I want to do is help you.
If you are wondering if your efforts are all in vain,
you're discouraged, disappointed, frustrated,
you're like, maybe I just need to be less involved.
Your gospel efforts are never in vain.
Because the gospel is God's power unto salvation.
So let's look at this first point.
The gospel of God is the power of God.
In verses 1 through 16, 1 through 12 primarily,
there are a number of things said about the gospel,
and it serves us well to be reminded of what the gospel actually is.
So the first thing I want you to notice is a prepositional phrase.
And I need your participation.
Here's the prepositional phrase.
It's just two words.
Of God.
Can you say that?
Okay, so I'm going to point you to a series of little phrases,
and then I'm going to look to you like this.
And then you're going to say, of God.
You ready?
There's a test.
2-2.
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.
Excellent.
Look at 2-8.
So, being affectionately desirous of you,
we were ready to share with you not only the gospel.
Oh, excellent.
Verse 9.
For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil,
we work night and day,
that we might not be a burden to any of you,
while we proclaim to you the gospel.
Oh, we've got a pattern here.
Verse 13.
And we also thank God constantly for this,
that when you receive the word 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.
That of God is talking about the source of this message.
The Christian gospel has not been conceived originally in the minds of men.
The Christian gospel originated in the mind of God.
The source of the gospel is God.
It is His message, His announcement of salvation to all of mankind.
That's why in 2 Corinthians 5.20,
the apostle Paul, in talking about his own ministry,
he talks about the gospel as God making His appeal through us.
When we're talking about the gospel,
we're talking about God addressing people through the gospel,
calling for a response.
So what I want you to see in this first little prepositional phrase is
that the gospel is of God, not of man.
The second thing I want you to notice is that this is an appeal.
Did you see in verse 3?
For our appeal?
Our appeal!
This is a spoken appeal.
The Christian gospel is something that you proclaim,
something that you speak.
It's heard.
It calls for a response.
Maybe you've heard the St. Francis of Assisi quote,
preach the gospel always and sometimes use words.
Sounds great.
It's not true.
No matter how good your conduct is,
it will not save anybody.
There's only one thing that can save a sinner,
and that is the good news,
the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's the only thing that can save.
Now, your conduct matters.
We'll get to that in a little bit.
But you need to understand that this gospel calls for a response.
It's spoken, and it's to be responded to.
It's not just to fall empty.
The third thing I want you to notice is what this gospel of God actually is.
Just a little background.
That word gospel, the Greek word, you want to know it?
Euangelion.
Can you say it?
Euangelion.
English speakers aren't used to saying things like that.
You know what a eulogy is?
That means a good word.
That little eu at the beginning of euangelion, that means good.
It means good news.
And back in antiquity, it was bigger than a religious use.
So, for example, there are these ancient records of the gospel being proclaimed,
the gospel of the birth of Caesar,
the gospel of the birth of a new Roman emperor.
And so they would send out messengers all around the Roman Empire,
and they'd go into towns,
hear ye, hear ye, I have good news of the gospel,
of the birth of a Roman emperor.
Emperor.
Or let's say the Romans,
they send out a legion to battle the barbarian horde in the area of Goth.
And they'd defeat the barbarian horde.
They would send messengers out to different places in the empire,
announcing a victory.
It was good news.
It was the gospel of a victory.
It was used in a variety of ways, this word gospel.
We even see it around World War II in these announcements of VE Day,
victory over Europe.
Can you imagine that on a picture of a newspaper?
That's the announcement of good news, victory over Europe.
VJ Day, victory over Japan.
It's good news.
It's a declaration of something that has happened.
Here's what that means.
There can be a variety of gospels.
There are different gospels.
There are different good newses.
And our world is full of man-made, counterfeit gospels.
If you were to sum up the gospel of Jesus Christ,
you could sum it up in four moves, with four words.
God, man, Christ, respond.
If you want to unpack it more, I would recommend this book by Greg Gilbert.
It's a Nine Marks book, What is the Gospel?
It talks about God as your creator.
It talks about man as sinful, that our Savior is Jesus Christ,
and that the response is repentance and faith.
That's the gospel.
That's the gospel of God.
But we're living in a culture of different man-made, counterfeit gospels.
There's the political gospel.
The good news of conservatism.
The good news of pragmatism.
My concern about the MAGA movement is that it's being presented as a gospel.
There's moral gospels.
The gospel of what is right in your own eyes.
The gospel according to, if it's not hurting anybody else, don't worry about it.
There's the self-helper therapy gospels, which make counselors new priests.
There's the gospel of, I just need to be the best version of myself.
What is the gospel of Jesus Christ?
What is the gospel of God?
It's very simple.
It is God is the creator.
Man are sinners.
Christ is the Savior.
And then we must respond in repentance of faith.
You know, brings me to the last thing I want you to notice.
And that's got to do with power.
These man-made gospels, one of the things that is a problem about them is that, well, they're conceived in the minds of men.
And they have absolutely no power to rescue you from your sin.
None.
And another way that you can spot a false gospel is by paying attention to what that gospel is telling you to trust for your rescue, for your deliverance, for your salvation.
If that gospel is telling you to trust in an organization, or a human being, or yourself, there's no power there.
But if that gospel is telling you to trust in the God of the Bible for your salvation, we're getting to the gospel, the real gospel, the genuine gospel.
So none of these counterfeit gospels has the power to convert a sinner who is worshiping idols into a worshiper of the one and true God.
There's no man-made gospel that can transform your heart from living for things that are made to living for the creator.
There's no man-made gospel that can change a rebel to God into a child of God.
Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can do that.
The gospel of God is the power of God.
And so if you're like, hey, I'm just wondering if what I've been doing is all in vain.
The answer is no.
No!
Not if you're preaching this gospel.
It is the power of God to change people.
And to change people's eternity, change their standing with God.
It is radical in its power.
You know, when my dad taught me how to drive a golf ball,
he would say, Michael, let the club do the work.
The power is not in you, Mike.
The power is let the club do the work.
In a similar way, it's the gospel of God that does the power in changing people.
Not in our ability to persuade people.
Not in our ability to win an argument.
It's in the plain facts of the gospel.
That God is our creator.
That man are rebels.
That Jesus is the savior.
And that our response is repentance and faith.
It's that simple.
There's nothing in vain about that.
The second area, second reason why our gospel efforts are not in vain,
is what the gospel does in us.
The gospel shapes how we go about gospel ministry.
The gospel shapes our motives of why we tell other people about Jesus.
You see, this same gospel that saves us shapes the way we proclaim it.
There's the gospel message itself.
God is the creator.
Man is a rebel.
Jesus is the savior.
Our response is repentance and faith.
And then there's the way we communicate it.
One of the things we need to be aware of when we're talking to other people about Jesus
is we need to get the facts of the gospel right.
And we need to make sure our motives are right.
In verses 2 through 12, we have a listing out of different kinds of motives
in sharing the gospel.
You can lump them into two categories.
Not this way, but this way.
Don't share the gospel this way.
Share the gospel this way.
Let me just point them out.
In verse 3,
for our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive.
This is having to do with the content of the gospel.
We're not going to present a false gospel.
We're not going to present a partially true gospel.
We're not going to intentionally deceive people.
No, that's not how we do that.
One of my concerns in our telling other people about Jesus
is that we are doing some kind of adjustment, modifying of the gospel.
For example, there is a temptation for us to tell other people about Jesus,
but leave out sin.
To leave out our rebellion.
To leave out the consequences,
the eternal consequences of sinning against a holy God.
And we leave it out
because we don't want to offend people.
The sad thing, though, is
when you present a modified gospel like that,
it leaves people thinking,
well, what's the point?
What do I need to be saved from?
If there's no danger, if there's no rescue,
what's the point?
We face a huge temptation in our culture
to soften the gospel,
to make it palatable,
to make it unoffensive.
But that's not the gospel of God, gang.
The gospel of God will be offensive to people
because we're confronting people
in love for them with their sinfulness.
Here are some other not this ways.
In verse 5,
for we never came with words of flattery,
as you know.
Words of flattery,
you're using your words to manipulate people.
You're trying to praise someone
in order to gain some kind of credibility with them.
You're flattering them
so that you can be well thought of
with the hope that you will be less offensive.
Flattery is a manipulation.
Nor with a pretext for greed,
God is witness.
At this time that Paul's writing this,
there were charlatan preachers
cruising around the empire,
preaching a counterfeit gospel
with the hope of making a quick buck
and then moving on to another town.
They exist today.
Some are religious,
some are non-religious.
They're declaring to you
some kind of false hope.
It's not God is the creator,
man is a rebel,
Jesus is the savior,
and we must respond in repentance of faith.
Paul's very clear here.
We weren't there
to make money from you.
We'll see that come up
in a little bit again.
Verse 6,
nor did we seek glory from people,
whether from you or from others,
though we could have
made demands as apostles of Christ.
We did not seek glory from people.
We weren't in it for fame.
We weren't in it for power.
We weren't in it to get likes.
We weren't in it
in order to get some kind of esteem
and be well thought of.
You see,
all of these motives
that we're looking at here,
this flattery and greed
and vain glory,
it's all selfishness.
It's all a preaching of the gospel
for your own gain.
Fear of man would be another one in here
related to flattery.
And usually the fear of man shows up
in our not telling people about Jesus.
We don't proclaim the full gospel
because we fear being rejected.
And what that amounts to
is a quiet shame
over the gospel.
So we modify it.
Or we just stay quiet about it.
We are not to speak the gospel
in error
or from selfish motives.
Those are not of faith.
There's a better way.
But this way.
Verse 2.
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
in the midst of much affliction.
Boldness.
Not shame.
Spirit-born courage.
Remember what Paul said
Romans 1.16?
I am not ashamed of the gospel
for it is the power of God
unto salvation.
His confidence
in his unashamedness
was because he was convinced
of what the gospel was
and is able to do.
There's another reason
to make you bold.
If you look at the end
of this passage
in verse 16,
Paul is actually trying
to comfort the Thessalonians
and saying,
hey, those who oppose you,
God's wrath will fall upon him.
Vengeance is God's.
But it's a reminder for us.
God's wrath is coming.
There is a judgment day
when Jesus returns.
This is Matthew 25.
He will sit upon his throne
and all billions of the people
that have ever walked the earth
will be gathered before him
and he will divide them
into two massive groups.
The sheep and the goats.
One group are those people
who believe that Jesus
is the Christ for salvation
and the other group of people
are those who rejected it.
There's coming a day.
Most of the eight point
whatever billion people
on the planet right now
aren't typically thinking
that God's wrath is coming.
But we are.
And it makes us bold.
It helps us to cut through
the hype,
the distractions
to what matters most.
In verse 9,
there's another,
but this way.
For you remember,
brothers,
our labor and toil,
we work night and day
that we might not
be a burden to any of you.
The work that he's talking about
is being a tent maker.
The apostle Paul would travel
and he had a skill
of making tents.
Apparently,
people needed a lot of tents
at this time.
But he would set up
kind of a shop
and he would make tents
out of leather
and canvas apparently
or other things
and people would come
into the shop,
share the gospel with them.
Silas would share
the gospel,
Timothy.
And when they weren't
making tents,
they were out sharing
the gospel.
But the reason why
they did that
was to provide
for themselves
so they didn't charge
those hearing the gospel
any kind of a fee.
It allowed them
to stay very clear
of an accusation
of being for the money.
They were sacrificial
in their hard work
to not be a burden to them.
Verse 10,
we learn of other motives.
You are witnesses
and God also,
how holy and righteous
and blameless
was our conduct
toward you believers.
Holy, righteous, blameless.
Don't misunderstand that
as a claim to perfection,
but it's claiming
that they've been changed
by God.
That they are being conformed
to the very image
of Jesus Christ.
Holy, righteous,
and blameless.
And that kind of life
validated the gospel
that they were preaching.
That's where the Francis
of Assisi quote
is helpful.
Preach the gospel always
and make sure your life
adorns it.
We all know
what happens
when your life
communicates
a different message
than the gospel itself.
you will be either
thought of as a fraud
or the gospel
will be thought of
as a fraud.
One of the things
we need to pay attention to
is how we're living
our lives.
We're not perfect,
but are we striving
to be holy
and righteous
and blameless?
Are we striving
to be like Jesus?
It will adorn
the gospel.
people.
In verses 7, 8,
and 11,
Paul shifts gears.
He makes a different
kind of appeal.
He talks about
their relationships.
In verse 7,
he says,
but we were gentle
among you.
Now,
that word gentle
in the original language
actually means infant.
It actually means
we were babes
among you.
We were infants
among you.
And the way
it's being used
is saying that
we were innocent
among you all.
We're blameless.
And then we read,
like a nursing mother
taking care
of her own children,
so being affectionately
desirous of you,
we are ready to share
with you not only
the gospel,
but also our own selves
because you'd become
very dear to us.
And so here is this picture.
We've gone from
an innocent baby
among you
to now a mom
who's affectionate
and desirous,
a nurturer,
trying to help
and grow
her own children.
It's quite a picture.
And then,
verse 11,
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
like a stern father.
So we have
innocent baby,
nurturing affectionate
mother,
stern dad.
God.
And it's not just
one of these
that characterized
their relationship
with the Thessalonians,
but all of them.
It was rich
and it's familial.
It's family.
It's loving.
It's good.
And so what Paul
is getting at here
is how the gospel
shaped his interactions
with the Thessalonians
to adorn the gospel
preaching.
There's one more
aspect of this
I want you to see
and it's the driving
motive
for sharing the gospel.
You ready?
Verse 4.
But just as we have
been approved by God
to be entrusted
with the gospel,
so we speak.
Not to please men,
but to please God
who tests our heart.
Who is Paul?
What's motivating him
to share the gospel
with people?
To please God.
God.
He's the one
who tests hearts.
He's the one
who will hold Paul
to account one day.
That is why Paul
is sharing the gospel.
We see it again
in verse 5.
But we never came
with words of flattery
as you know,
nor with a pretext
for greed.
God is witness.
He is very aware
that God
is witnessing
all of his actions
in terms of
representing God.
God.
Verse 10.
Again,
we read,
you are witnesses
and God also.
Another reference
to God as witness.
That is really unusual
in the New Testament.
12.
We exhorted each one
of you
and encourage you
and charge you
to walk in a manner
worthy of God
who calls you
into his own kingdom
and glory.
Again,
what was driving Paul
in his faithful
proclamation
of the gospel
was not what men
thought of him.
It's what God
thought of him
and moving people
to live their lives
for the glory of God,
advancing his kingdom.
That's what was driving Paul.
It was not selfishness,
not that way.
It was God's glory
that way.
And if you
are engaging
in gospel ministry,
pursuing your marriage,
raising your kids,
and your motives
are for God
to be exalted,
it is never in vain.
It's never in vain.
God is our witness.
We proclaim
the gospel of God
in the way
that pleases God.
The last reason
is that the gospel
of God
shapes
how it's received.
And I'm going to be
brief here
just for the sake of time.
Have you ever wondered
what to be looking for
when someone
hears the gospel
of whether or not
it actually resulted
in their conversion?
Have you ever wondered that?
Parents,
have you ever wondered,
hey,
what should I be looking for
in my children
to know whether or not
they've become Christians
or not?
Well,
we've got
two pieces of evidence
in verses 13 through 16.
I'm not saying
that they're the exhaustive,
but we've got two.
Let me point them out
to you.
The first
in verse 13
is,
and we also
thank God
constantly for this,
that when you receive
the word of God,
which you heard from us,
remember the gospel
is a spoken appeal,
you accepted it
not as the word of men,
but for what it actually is,
the word of God.
When you are
talking to people
about Jesus,
what you are
paying attention to
is how a certain person
is hearing this news.
Who are they hearing it from?
We know that the
Thessalonians,
that they had received
the gospel message
in 1.5
with full convictions.
They were fully convinced
that it was God
appealing to them
through Paul's preaching
to repent
and believe the gospel,
that this was
God at work.
If someone
hears the gospel
of God
and they think,
this is interesting,
but you know what,
this is just one more take
on the whole religion thing
and it's just another attempt
man is trying to make sense
of his own life
in this world.
They're not hearing it
as from God.
The Spirit apparently
is not at work
in them.
But if a person,
having heard the gospel,
becomes acutely aware
of their real guilt
for their real sin
against a real holy God
that has a real punishment
for eternity
by that God.
And then they hear
what God has done
in his love,
sending Jesus
to pay
for their sins
in full,
not in part,
but the whole.
And they realize
that this is God
appealing to them
in love.
That this is God
speaking to them.
This is God saying,
come to me.
Be reconciled to me.
I want to be
in a relationship
with you.
When they are hearing
that and experiencing
the Spirit of God
is at work
drawing them
to himself.
And if it's a true
work of the Spirit,
they will repent
and believe
in this gospel.
And at that moment,
they've crossed
from death
into life.
They've gone from
being in the domain
of darkness
and being rescued
into the kingdom
of the beloved Son.
So one of the things
that you're trying
to pay attention to,
one of the evidences
of whether or not
someone is saved or not
is are they hearing
this message
as from God?
That's who we're
representing.
We're ambassadors.
The second piece
of evidence
is at the end
of verse 13.
But as what it really is,
the Word of God,
which is at work
in you believers.
You see,
not only does the gospel
make this initial
converting impact
in our lives,
the gospel continues
to work in us.
It's like a nuclear reactor
on a submarine.
It just keeps on
generating power,
God's power in us
to bring about
lasting change.
And the lasting change
that the Apostle Paul
points to here
is that the Thessalonians
suffered gladly
for Jesus.
even as babes
in Christ.
That's why he can
give thanks.
He's fully confident
that his coming
to them was not in vain
because the power
of the gospel,
because of the way
that it was presented,
and because of the way
that it was received.
If you're in the room
and you've been wondering,
hey,
is my gospel effort
in vain?
The answer's no.
Not if you're preaching
the gospel of God
as the power of God.
Not if your motives
are being shaped
by this gospel,
and certainly not
if it's being received
in humility.
these are the things
that we're paying
attention to.
Now,
if you're not
a Christian,
and you're in the room
this morning,
the question is,
is God making
his appeal
to you today?
Is he calling you
to come to him
through Jesus?
And if you're like,
yes,
come find me
after the service.
We'll seal the deal.
Help you move
from death to life.
And live for him
forever.
Will you pray with me?
God,
we're so grateful
that this gospel
isn't just
a nice little
add-on to our lives.
That this gospel,
the gospel of God,
the true gospel,
the only gospel,
this is your power
of salvation
to all who believe,
and it radically
changes us.
It makes us
those who
once
lived for ourselves
into those
who now
live for you.
God,
forgive us
for
our fears.
Forgive us
for
modifying
your gospel.
Forgive us
for
shamefully
keeping silent.
Forgive us
for
thinking that
our salvation
is enough
and
all will be well.
God,
we are so grateful
for the work
that you are doing
around the world
at this
very moment.
Father,
would you pour out
your spirit
upon us,
Christ the King Church,
that you would
give us
clarity.
clarity of what
matters most
and that you
will give us
power,
boldness
to speak
and let the chips
fall where they may,
to live for you.
God,
would you build
your church?
Would you add
to your kingdom?
Would you bring
more and more
worshipers
into relationship
with you?
And we ask
this in the name
of Jesus,
our confidence,
our sufficiency,
our joy.
Amen.