Click here to view the entire service
1 Thessalonians 2:7-12, But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. 8 Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. 9 For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; 11 just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, 12 so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
Here in Paul we see the heart of a spiritual shepherd and discipler. He genuinely cared for these Thessalonian believers, most of whom were probably Gentiles. In chapter 1 Paul thanked God for regenerating them and the evidence shown by their work of faith, labor of love, and endurance of hope. He calls them beloved and chosen by God. He recognized their true conversion as they received Christ, turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and then waited for His Son from heaven.
Last week in chapter 2 we saw Paul as a model of spiritual integrity. Someone asked MacArthur some years ago if he had any fear about the future of his ministry. He answered, “None whatsoever! My concern is to be a man of spiritual integrity, to have a ministry of spiritual integrity, and simply to teach the Bible under the promise that God blesses His own Word” (Iain Murray, John MacArthur, p. 227). That’s Paul’s heart exactly as he and his team ministered with spiritual integrity to these Thessalonians.
GRACE AND TRUTH
Now Paul is going to describe how his integrity applied to his attitude of selflessly loving and leading these people. He couches his description in the form of the grace of a loving mother and the truth of a leading father. Before we look at this text, let’s take a look back to the Gospel of John, chapter 1, where you find these two words, grace and truth.
John 1:14, And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
First you have the incredible truth of the incarnation: the Word became flesh. At a moment in history, God the Son humbled Himself and was miraculously conceived as a human being in a human female’s womb. For nine months Mary carried this little, growing fetus who was none less than God incarnate. This was God and man in one Person, the hypostatic union, surely the greatest miracle and mystery in human history. When Philip asked Jesus, “Show us the Father,” Jesus said, “You see me, you see the Father.” Do you want to know what God is like? Look at Jesus!
But notice the words in John 1:14 – Jesus came “full of grace and truth.” Those two words capture all that Christ is and came to do. He came by the grace of God to bring salvation through His substitutionary death on the cross in the place of sinners.
2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
All that He did He did in grace, by grace, through grace. We don’t merit salvation; it’s a gift of grace, thank God.
Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
And He came full of truth. Everything He said was truth. He taught the truth and lived the truth. He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). He is the only way to the Father (Acts 4:12). He is full of grace and truth. Grace – the undeserved blessing, kindness, tenderness, mercy of God. Truth – the message, the revelation, the communication of God to this sinful, rebellious world.
GRACE
When Paul describes serving these new believers, he describes his ministry as a mother caring for her own children and a father caring for his own children. You see this in verses 7 and 11. As a mother – that’s grace. As a father – that’s truth.
As we serve in the body of Christ, we serve not with the law, or even with a list of rules of do’s and don’ts. We serve with grace. We point people to a God who not only saves from the penalty of sin but who gives grace to do and be what they couldn’t do or be before. Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Think of all you can do by the grace of Jesus: forgive an offending person, patiently work with a rebellious child, conquer the darkness of depression, fear, anxiety with the light of hope and joy and inner strength. By God’s victorious grace you can escape the bondage of sexual lust, greed, revenge, bitterness and find victory over guilt and addictions. By God’s transforming grace you are a new person in Christ; old things are passed away, behold, new things have come.
TRUTH
And then we minister with the truth of Jesus Christ. Not just the warmth and hope of grace, but the wisdom, strength, and direction of truth. No longer do we walk in ignorance and foolishness. Christ brings you a whole new way of interpreting life, this world, time, eternity, and God Himself. God is sovereign and central to all of life. Eternity is more important than time. Heart issues are more important than the body and the five senses which are passing away. Pleasing God becomes more important than pleasing self or other people.
Grace and truth. Do you see this? Everything in your Christian life comes under these two qualities, attributes of Christ. When we celebrate Christmas and think of that manger in Bethlehem, remember the fact that there lies the Word incarnated as a human being, full of grace and truth. Everything about Him is grace and truth. His grace and truth needs to fill our hearts, our lives, our serving one another. This is how Paul served these Thessalonians – in the power of the Spirit, in grace and truth.
IN GRACE SERVING AS A LOVING MOTHER
1 Thessalonians 2:7-9, But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. 8 Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. 9 For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.
The grace of gentleness – vs. 7. Paul was extremely gentle with them. Gentleness means kind, mild, not harsh, pushy, or dictatorial. He didn’t harangue them or yell at them. He ministered as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her children. This is amazing and unusual in a dog eat dog, brutal, cutthroat world. Here is Paul, the greatest human spiritual leader of men of all time, describing his ministry as a nursing mother. For all the persecution and hardship that happened to Paul, he didn’t let his heart harden or carry a chip on his shoulder. He knew God was in control, people will do bad stuff in this fallen world, and here are God’s people whom God loves with an eternal, redeeming love, people Christ shed His blood to save, and Paul treated them with extreme gentleness.
What a view of shepherding God’s sheep. It’s been said the closest thing to God on earth is a mother caring for her child. Mothers give and give and give for the good of the child. They eat and their body provides nourishment for the child. Sometimes they even give their blood. On December 7, 1988, in an Armenian earthquake that killed 55,000 people, a mother and her three-year-old child were trapped in a cellar for eight days. The mother repeatedly punctured her fingertips and had her child suck on them to help nourish the child. Paul says they served with the tenderness of a nursing mother.
The grace of a fond affection – vs. 8. Paul had a fond affection for them. He delighted in serving, loving, caring, teaching, enjoying, and being with God’s people. He didn’t just preach and leave. He wasn’t a hireling, ready to punch out as soon as possible. Serving God’s people with the gospel and other ways was his life. There may be some people you’d like to avoid. “Oh no, not him again.” You’d like to go to the other side or make a quick exit. But not Paul. He had a fond affection for the Thessalonians and they knew it.
The grace of a second-mile spirit – vs. 9. Paul says they labored and worked night and day. He is probably referring to his tentmaking labor. Paul served with a self-denying, second-mile spirit. He put them first. Do you know what the disciples argued about the very night before Christ was crucified? Before He got down and washed their feet? They were arguing about who was greatest among them, who gets the first seat, and who is most important. One Southern Baptist pastor said, “Get a roomful of Southern Baptist preachers together and you’ve got enough ego to blow Washington, D.C. off the map.” And I’m sure that’s not just true of Southern Baptist preachers.
Christ let them know what serving in grace really means. In Luke 22:27 Jesus asked, “Who is greater; one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.” Jesus taught that the greatest of all will be the one who is the servant of all. That describes a mother’s life-giving, self-denying care for her children. Does it involve night and day? Ask any mom. Not a burden? Exactly. No kudos, no laurels, no awards. Just crying babies, dirty diapers, runny noses, high fevers. They wait till the last minute to run to the bathroom, too late, and then throw up over everything except the toilet bowl. That’s when it’s time to call Mr. Snore Bones out of bed and help clean up. He did promise, “For better or for worse.”
Not a burden. Moms don’t send their kids a bill. “Hey, I spent 5,000 hours rearing you at $20 an hour, that’s $100,000 you owe me.” That’s just for the first five years. Add 13 more years and you’ve got a mom worth nearly a million per child. Does she require payment? No. Well, most mothers don’t. True story. One mom, Michelle Tribout, over near St. Louis had enough so she went on strike. She climbed into a tree house and refused to come down until her kids agreed to stop whining and carrying on. She finally came down when they agreed to help out around the house and quit “smarting off.” Paul didn’t go on strike when things got rough.
And notice in verse 8, they were “well-pleased” to give not only the gospel message, but their own lives. Not reluctantly but willingly, joyfully. Not, “Well, if you can’t find anyone else but not during football season.” No, instead it’s, “I would love to do that. I love helping others, moving people, preparing meals, serving in the nursery, working in the kitchen, setting up and taking down tables, taking out the trash.” Well pleased! Sounds like Christ in Hebrews 12:2, “…who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame….” He was pleased to endure the pain, the cost, the time, the sweat, the humiliation, the anguish of the cross for our sakes. How good is this? Serve with the grace of Jesus Christ and the spiritual integrity of a mother gently, tenderly caring for her own children.
IN TRUTH SERVING AS A LEADING FATHER
1 Thessalonians 2:10-12, You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; 11 just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, 12 so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
This is the spiritual integrity of a leading father. Fathers set the standard – they are the leaders and they set the pace. You’ve got to have both sides in the ministry – grace and truth. All grace and it gets squishy and too soft. All truth and it gets hard and joyless. Both grace and truth are needed. Truth is absolutely needed. We need the fatherly side of things. One of the great tragedies of our time is the number of single parent homes.
A father sets the standard by his godly character – vs. 10. He has a heart devoted to God.
He has a life determined to doing the right thing. If he gets too much change at the store, he doesn’t laugh and figure it’s their problem. He takes it back. His children see integrity in action. He has a testimony in the world that cannot be accused – above reproach. He is careful not to do anything that people could pin blame on him. Everything we do has impact on others, beginning with our own families, our kids. Can your kids blame you for anything right now? If not, praise God. Keep up the good testimony. If there’s a problem, you have the privilege of humbling yourself and asking forgiveness.
A father sets the standard by his instruction – vs. 11. Paul uses three words to describe his communication of the Word. He exhorts with the truth of God’s Word. This is a word that describes a coach coming alongside, giving instruction and correction to help you improve. Exhort is a powerful discipling word. Has anyone come alongside and exhorted you lately? Been in the Word? How’s your prayer life?
He encourages with the truth of God’s Word. When Paul was rejected by the Jews as a new believer, Barnabas came alongside and comforted and brought him hope. When you see someone really struggling and having a tough time fighting their own sin or needing help, come along as a father or mother with instruction but also encouragement. God’s Word is full of promises for His people that we need to use and share.
He urges or bears witness with the truth of God’s Word. “Come on son, you can this.” If you don’t, these negative things will happen. If you do, you’ll know God’s blessing as you obey His Word, even when you don’t feel like it. Proverbs is full of this counsel from a father to his son. “My son, when sinners entice you, do not consent” (Prov. 1:10). McGee says “urge” is a strong, energetic, robust, and masculine word. He feared sissy preaching. As only McGee could put it, “The popular thing is to have a sermonette given by a preacherette to Christianettes.” No, we don’t want that. The pulpit is not a time for fireside chats. We bear witness to the truth.
Paul served with the spiritual integrity of a mother and a father. A father wants his children to succeed. A mother does too, but she cares more about the immediate needs. She’s tender and thoughtful. Men are leaders. Leaders in the home and in the church are to be manly. They are willing to take risks. The ladies like security. Men face opposition and lead through it. Armies are made up mostly of men. Any lazy sluggard can sit in his Lazyboy and bark out orders to his poor slave wife. God doesn’t build selfish wimps. Paul was no wimp. He was a man’s man and he worked with God’s people like a father: strong, caring, purposeful, goal-oriented.
The goal of the ministry is a worthy walk – vs. 12.
All discipleship, all ministry, all teaching young children, teens, young adults, and us older people, the goal is summed up right here – a worthy walk. This doesn’t mean you are worthy of salvation, but worthy of God’s calling. It means to live in a way that honors God by believing what He says and obeying it whether you feel like it or not. Paul often describes the Christian life as a walk, one step in front of another day by day, year by year, until your walk leads you right into the presence of your Lord!
Notice that God is calling you, present tense. He called you into salvation, and now every day He’s calling you to walk worthy of who He is by His grace. Walk in a way worthy of His holiness and love, His truth and grace. How is He calling you? By His Word, His Spirit, and His people. When you mess up, He is faithful and just to forgive you and you get back on the track. Where is He calling you? To His own kingdom and glory! And it is all of God!
SO WHAT?
God is going to keep calling you to a higher standard and a higher level of godliness until you hear that upward call of God in Christ Jesus and you actually enter into His glory and are safely in His Kingdom. Serve your Lord with that kind of confidence and hope, filled with the same grace and truth of Jesus Christ that totally transformed Paul’s heart and life. Maintain the spiritual integrity of a mother caring for God’s people and the spiritual integrity of a father leading and teaching one another for God’s glory. If you don’t know this grace and truth, then I urge you, as Paul would, to bow your heart to Jesus Christ, turn from going your own way, receive God’s grace of forgiveness through Christ’s sacrifice for sinners on the cross, and receive all the grace and truth you’ll ever need for this world and the next.