Imagine that you are a first century citizen of the great, free city of Thessalonica. You are from a land-holding family, you have money, status, and leisure—none of which ordinary folk have in any measure. Your friends are all from your social class, and you frequently meet together for entertainment.
There is no television, cinema, or online streaming. Even people that belong to the upper class don’t own many books. Although you and your friends go to the theater to watch plays, there are not many productions in a year’s time. So, what do you do for entertainment?
Your group meets for a meal, and either you or one of your rich friends hires a philosopher for the evening. Perhaps he is a Stoic, who lectures for an hour and then engages in Socratic dialog with the group. Or perhaps he is a religious teacher from the Cult of Serapis, who tells the tale of Osiris’s murder and dismemberment, Isis’s search for and magical reunification of his body, the birth of Horace, and his struggle for the throne. When he gets done, you would say, “Now, that’s entertainment!” Sometimes you go out to hear a Cynic, who makes you laugh, insults you, and even swears at you – a first century stand-up routine of sorts – even as he endeavors to get a handout from you.
There was an abundance of teachers, preachers, philosophers, and snake oil salesman all around the ancient Mediterranean. For them, it was a gig economy. On any given night, a number of these kinds of teachers would be holding court in the atriums of wealthy Thessalonian’s homes.
Of course, telling the story of Osiris was not as much work as digging latrines, harvesting wheat, or doing the hard manual labor of the lower classes. So, you can imagine that many people were vying for these gigs and not all of them had anything worthwhile to bring to the table.
There was a famous philosopher by the name of Dio Chrysostom, who lived in the generation after Paul’s. He criticized these false philosophers for being afraid to speak the truth. He called their teaching “vain,” the very Greek word Paul uses in verse 1. Dio Chrysostom said that true philosophers (and of course, he numbered himself among them) spoke with “boldness even in the face of opposition.”[1] That sounds just like what Paul says in verse 2.
It is possible that the criticism of traveling teachers was so widespread that Paul and Dio Chrysostom (being traveling teachers themselves) felt the need to defend themselves against these reproaches. But it is also possible (and many Bible scholars think that it is more than possible, that it is likely) that after Paul’s missionary team left Thessalonica, people raised all these criticisms about them.
So, here were new converts being told that Paul and his friends were just trying to get money out of them. Or that their teaching came from error, self-deception, or greed. Or that they were just in it for the women they could seduce.
Our text represents Paul’s response to these accusations. Why did he bother responding? Because he didn’t want the Thessalonians’ faith in Christ to be shaken by doubts about his integrity. If your financial advisor turns out to be a notorious con man, you’re going to have doubts about your portfolio. Paul doesn’t want these new converts to have doubts about the gospel because people are calling him a false teacher. So, he uses this letter to answer the various charges against him.
In so doing, he gives us truth that is especially timely for our church. We are in the process of selecting our next lead pastor. Paul’s description of the actions and demeanor of the mission team reveals the kind of person we want for our next pastor. If we look closely at this text, and God’s Spirit helps us, we will see a picture of the next pastor of Lockwood Church take shape before our eyes.
This part of the letter is formatted as a response to charges against the character and intelligence of the missionary team. But as we focus on those responses, a picture (like one of those “Magic Eye” pictures) of God’s type of leader will emerge.
In verse 2, Paul reminds the Thessalonians of how he and Silas suffered and were outrageously treated in Philippi. (We get the word “hubris” from the Greek word here.) But mistreatment couldn’t stop them because their message came out of their dedication to God, not their circumstances in the world.
That’s the kind of pastor we want. Because he is called by God, he won’t be stopped by hardship. Whether he is met with praise or contempt, whether it is easy or hard, he has a calling to fulfill. The measure of the man is not how smart or successful he is, but how faithful he is to his God. And that is not only true of pastors but of all of us.
One way to undermine the message is to undermine the motives of the messenger, and that seems to be what is going on here. Verse 3 reveals what people were saying against the missionary team. The charge is three-fold: Paul and his friends were mistaken (think self-delusion); they were acting from impure motives (more about that in a moment), and they were trying to pull one over on the Thessalonians.
The first part of this charge is that Paul’s message was the result of his own error and self-delusion. This is a cheap shot because it does not deal with the content of the message at all. How could anyone know if the message sprang from error without examining the message itself?
The second part of this charge is that the missionary team’s motives were impure. The Greek is merely, “Our appeal does not come out of uncleanness.” Paul uses this same word in chapter 4, where it clearly refers to sexual immorality. Religious teachers who use their authority to take advantage of women didn’t start with the #Me-Too movement. They were around in Paul’s day, and someone may have been implying that Paul and Silas were such teachers.
This he flatly denies. Our next pastor must be above reproach in this regard. I told our search committee, based on 1 Timothy 3 and 4, that our next pastor needs to be a one-woman man who he has not engaged in extramarital affairs, does not have a roving eye, and is not a flirt.
The third part of this charge is that the missionaries were trying to pull one over on the Thessalonians. They were just in it for the money. Hadn’t they snuck out of town in the middle of the night? That doesn’t sound like something honest people would do.
Paul responds by reminding the Thessalonians (v.5) that people who are in it for the money use flattery, but they never did. Nor did they wear a mask – no pretense at all. They were not greedy. The word translated “greed” is a compound word made of two roots: “to have” and “more.” Greedy people are never content. Whatever they have, they want, yearn, and need more.
When I first entered pastoral ministry, Karen and I were at a small group meeting with eight or so pastors and their wives, and I was the youngest person present. I was surprised and disillusioned by how much of the discussion was given to complaining about what the pastors got paid. I was expecting a group of experienced pastors who were excited about serving the Lord and found people who were upset about what they got paid.
A church needs to take care of its pastor financially – that is a biblical directive – and Lockwood has done that well. When we hire, we need to look for a person who doesn’t work for money but works for the Lord. When we find that person, we need to make sure we provide for him and his family, as the Scriptures teach. I have no doubt we will do so.
That completes Paul’s response to the specific charges of verse 3, but he doesn’t stop there. He presses on to remind the Thessalonians of what they knew – what they had seen and experienced. Four times in this section, Paul writes, “You know…” Whatever our enemies say, you know. You were there. You remember.
Paul uses three images to recall to the Thessalonians minds how he and his missionary partners acted among them. As he reminds them of their character and behavior, we can see the kind of person Lockwood needs for her next pastor.
In verse 7, he writes, “Even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority…” Greek is something like, “As Christ’s apostles, we could have been a burden to you.” Think about that for a moment. Paul was deeply aware of his authority as an apostle of Jesus. He could have used that authority to boss people around and insist on his own way.
“Instead,” he says, “we were like young children among you.” Some versions will say “gentle among you,” but “young children” is the more likely reading. Children came last in the first century. They did not have rights or power. To be like a child was the opposite of bossing people around or insisting on one’s own way.
Paul, Silas, and Timothy took Jesus seriously. He said, “…the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.” That is something we need to remember as we get ready to call our next pastor.
Our sister-in-law was the music director for a large, multi-campus church in one of the biggest cities in the country. She told me once that when the founding pastor walked down the hall, staff members would duck into classrooms to avoid him. He was a tyrant, a bully, and everyone was afraid of him. This was a guy who spoke at major conferences around the country, wrote books, and was extraordinarily gifted. He was a major talent, but he was not like a child among his church family. We don’t want that kind of pastor, however talented he might be.
So, in the first of these pictures of God’s servants, we see a child. Not a muscle-bound warrior, as we might expect, not a competent CEO, but a child. In the second picture we also see someone we wouldn’t expect: a nursing mother.
A nursing mother tenderly holds her child. That will be one of countless touches that mother gives her child: she will straighten her hair, wipe her tears, hold her hand. She will pick that child up from her crib and lay her down. She will change her diaper and wash her hair. Talk is important, but it cannot take the place of touch, nor can it succeed in the absence of touch.
A nursing mother shares her life with her child. She gives herself. This is what Paul goes right on to say in the next verse: “Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” The Christian leader does the same.
A nursing mom eats food which her body, by God’s brilliant design, converts into milk so that she can nourish her child. The Christian leader does something like this: he or she feeds on God’s word, then shares its nourishment with God’s children.[2]
Of course, the nursing mom but be careful not to ingest anything that is toxic for the baby. The same is true of pastors. They must be careful not to feed on the wrong things themselves, because they will surely come out in their teaching and cause harm.
Paul puts the finishing touches on the nursing mom picture in verse 9: “Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day…” Mothers are not only tender nurses; they are (forgive the metaphor) workhorses. They toil and labor. They are up at night and busy all day. For Paul, the image of a worker looks a lot – looks just – like a young mother.
The picture of a nursing mother to represent an eminent apostle may seem counterintuitive, but before Paul ever used it of himself, the prophet Isaiah used it of God. Paul probably had this passage from Isaiah 49 in the back of his mind: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” God is gentle with his children, and he expects his servants to be gentle too.
The third picture comes in verses 11-12: “For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.” The Christian worker will look like a good dad as he serves God in the church.
It is impossible to overstate the importance of fathers in the spiritual lives of their children, so it is not surprising that Paul chose this picture. A four-decade, longitudinal study published by Oxford University Press found that fathers are the most important people in a child’s life when it comes to the child making faith in Christ his or her own.
This concurs with a study I read many years ago. When kids are taken to church by their mother alone, the likelihood that they will continue in church after they become adults is relatively low. If they are taken to church by both father and mother, the likelihood goes up significantly. That’s no surprise. The real surprise was that if kids are taken to church by dad alone – mom doesn’t go – they are the most likely to stay in church after they become adults. Dads play an extraordinarily important role in their children’s spiritual development.
Paul compares the father’s role in his children’s development with the Christian worker’s role in the church. Like a good dad, the Christian worker relates to individuals, not just to congregations or boards or committees. Verse 11 uses a Greek construction – “one each of you” – that emphasizes Paul’s relationships with individuals.
Years ago, I attended a “Breaking the 200 Barrier” conference. There were some helpful things shared, but there was also something that didn’t sit right with me: the contention that the pastor needs to be more of a CEO than a physician of souls. The phrase the keynote speaker used again and again was: “You need to move from being a shepherd to being a rancher.” But Paul worked with people “one each.”
Like a good dad, the church leader (verse 12) encourages people. He comes right alongside church family members. He prays not only for them but with them. He urges them to keep trusting God, no matter what. Encouragement, in the sense the word is used in the Bible, is not just cheering people up but urging them on. This is something a pastor must be able to do.
He also comforts the church family. Life is hard. Horrible things happen. The God of all comfort comforts his suffering children through the embraces of his other children, including the pastor and Christian worker. The good pastor’s mouth is filled with the praises for God, but his eyes are often filled with tears for his brothers and sisters. But he not only has tears; he also has hope. Without hope he cannot comfort anyone.
Paul says that like a good father, his ministry team urged the Thessalonians to live lives worthy of God. The word the NIV translates as “urging” is translated “imploring” by the NASB, “charging” by the ESV, and “insisting” by the NET. This verb takes us a step beyond urging someone to do something; this is insisting they do it. This is not the bully pastor insisting his staff do his bidding, but the compassionate father insisting his child do what’s right.
I’ve said that we should look for the characteristics that Paul’s missionary team displayed in our next pastor, but the next pastor (like me and like all of us) will be imperfect, a work in progress. What we have here is not an SAT test that he can ace; it is a picture that he can approximate. Nevertheless, he must bear a resemblance to this picture.
Make sure you do too. Remember that the church in Thessalonica imitated Paul and his team (1 Thess. 1:6). That should happen with a church and its pastor, who must be worthy of imitation. One question to ask about pastoral candidates: If I imitate this man, will I be more like Christ?
Our search committee has been receiving and sorting through resumes and will meet Monday to identify qualified candidates to present to the church for prayer and consideration. Will you pray for them and for the process? Will you implore God to send us his person, give the entire church the discernment to recognize him, and the unity to stand together?
[1] Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (1 Th 2:1–2). InterVarsity Press.
[2] Wiersbe, Warren. The Bible Exposition Commentary.Electronic Edition, Copyright 1996, by SP Publications, Inc.
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