Remembering God's Worker

Good morning, Franklin with Bible Church.

Good to be with you this morning.

My name is Pastor Mark.

Delighted to lead you in the Word of God this morning.

Glad that you're here.

This is a holiday weekend, Labor Day weekend.

So glad to see you.

Tomorrow we'll celebrate Labor Day later in the week as the 9-11 memorial events will take place.

But between Monday and Friday is a special day for my wife and I.

On Thursday, September 10th, is our wedding anniversary, and we'll celebrate 38 years together as a married couple, which we're excited about.

I remember our wedding day well.

It was a special day, a wonderful day.

But like all wedding days and wedding ceremonies, it doesn't always go as planned.

And there's some things that were unusual about that day and uh that were memorial.

Rare is the perfect wedding ceremony.

But on our special day, for our wedding day, we had hired a photographer to come and take pictures of our wedding, and uh pretty typical.

But we hired this uh wedding photographer, we asked him to come early because we wanted the majority of our wedding pictures to be taken before the wedding ceremony because we didn't want to have a big gap of time between the wedding ceremony and the reception.

So we asked him to come and come early, get most of those pictures taken.

And uh we get up to where we're just minutes away from our wedding ceremony beginning, and we have not seen our photographer.

And uh, this is uh back in the day when uh no one had cell phones, and so we keep calling the office and we're getting an empty uh uh empty response, leaving messages on the voicemail machine.

But this wedding photographer doesn't show up.

And uh so today in wedding ceremonies, you often go up and you make an announcement before the wedding ceremony begins, and we're like, hey, there's a wedding photographer here, so put your phones away and uh put your cameras down.

Well, then we were like, hey, does anyone have a camera?

Because our wedding photographer hasn't showed up, and and not everyone had a, you know, we didn't have cell phones then, and everyone didn't have a camera.

And so there was actually my brother-in-law was there, and he had a camera with him.

He had one of those Canon cameras with all the lenses.

And we grabbed him and we're like, hey, our wedding photographer has not shown up.

If you could take pictures, we would we would be happy.

And uh we lined everyone up to go down the aisle, and just before the wedding begins, the wedding photographer shows.

And we're like, good, happy to see that.

And uh he actually took wedding pictures of our wedding ceremony, and afterwards he took all the pictures and we went off to our reception, had a wonderful time.

Uh the next day we left for our uh honeymoon, we went out to Northeast Pennsylvania for our honeymoon.

That was a destination back in the day.

We came back from our honeymoon, we settled into life, but then we made an appointment to go see our wedding photographer because we want to see our wedding pictures.

And uh, so we go, we establish the appointment, we go to the wedding photographer, sit down in his studio, and uh back in the day they used to give you little proof books, and they had all the wedding pictures in there, in this little proof book.

And uh so you could look at those pictures.

And the idea was you would take that proof book with you and you would go visit all your family and friends, and they would look at your wedding pictures, and you would put together a picture order.

And then you would return to the photographer, you'd give him the picture order, and he would supply you with your wedding pictures.

So we do that.

We get this proof book, we go visit all our family and friends, talk about our wedding day, and uh we go back to the wedding photographer to place our wedding picture order, and that photographer had skipped town.

He's gone, like disappeared, and we never saw him again.

I don't know if he was in the witness protection program, I don't know what happened, but he was gone.

So, needless to say, we have no wedding pictures uh at all.

We have a little uh proof book of wedding photos, and I have no idea where that is today, but uh we uh we didn't have uh wedding pictures taken, which is just amazing.

You want to hear about a bigger Exodus than that one?

And a bigger catastrophe as it relates to our wedding ceremony?

My wife and I, we have a wedding, we go on our honeymoon, we come back.

Eight weeks after we returned from our honeymoon, the pastor who officiated our wedding ceremony, he got into his car and drove away.

Never came back.

He pastored the church where we got married.

He'd pastored that church for 25 years.

He was my pastor for over 20 years, he was my wife, Lynn's pastor, for more than a decade.

And like the photographer, without an announcement, he got into his car and left.

He left his wife, left his children, left his grandchildren, left the church that he had pastored for 25 years, he left without even saying goodbye to the church staff.

He's gone.

Left the community where he'd lived and ministered for years.

The pastor who had preached, never give up, never quit, he quit.

Got into his car, drove several states away, divorced his wife, married another woman, started a whole new life.

Well, that exodus was significantly devastating to a lot of people.

Devastated his family, devastated the church where he pastored, rocked the community where he lived.

Many people became disillusioned as a result of that fall.

I learned several lessons from that experience.

I learned that great people can make great mistakes.

We have a history of that.

I learned that good Christians can fall into horrible sin and make a hash out of their life.

There's not a single one of us that is above doing things that we said we would never do.

We can do horrible things.

It's possible for us to devastate our own lives and the lives of others.

It happens easy, the threshold is low, and if you think otherwise, you're probably on the precipice of a pretty big fall.

We are weak and frail and finite and easily tempted.

We're not as strong as we think we are, and we desperately need help.

And I learned that if that kind of disaster could happen to my pastor, then it could certainly happen to me.

And I was humbled by that.

I learned humility, I learned forgiveness.

I learned forgiveness and I'm learning forgiveness.

I learned humility and I'm learning humility.

But I had to learn forgiveness because that pastor was also my father.

So it wasn't just a general failure that affected the church, it was specific.

It impacted me and my wife and my family.

I learned forgiveness.

It took a while, but by the Spirit of God, I learned that my offenses, which are against God, are way worse than any offense that will ever be committed against me.

My sin, our sin against God is colossal because of who he is and because of who we are.

Our sin against God graffities his glory.

Our sin against God is contrary to his purposes for us, and he has made us, and he's made us for himself, and we live unto ourselves.

And but I learned, but if if God through Christ, if God through the cross, if God through great cost to himself forgave me of my sin 100%, then who am I to withhold forgiveness to people who sin against me?

Because their sin against me is far less than my sin against God.

So I learned uh humility, I learned forgiveness, but the greatest lesson I learned from that experience, by far the most significant lesson that I learned, well, I'm not ready to share that with you yet.

I'll share it with you at the end of the message.

You'll have to hang in here to the very end.

All right.

I bring up this painful experience of the fall of a spiritual leader, the fall of a pastor, the fall of a minister, because we know from history and we know from experience that if a minister defames himself through his actions, if a minister disqualifies himself, if a pastor disqualifies himself through his actions, or even if he is defamed through accusations, whether those accusations are true or not, if a minister can be defamed, then maybe a ministry can be destroyed, devastated, wiped out.

And we have a long history of that.

And I could share with you many examples, but we all know of examples where we've had a minister who falls, and within a few short years that ministry is toppled.

Doesn't need to be that way, but it often is.

I can think through a pastor who pastored out in Seattle, Washington for 18 years.

Very effective ministry, had 12,000 people in attendance.

Accusations came against him, he was found to be guilty, he resigned from his church.

Within a year, that church was at zero.

Church no longer exists.

Church outside of uh Chicago, one of the most influential churches in the United States for decades.

Accusations come against the pastor, the pastor abruptly resigns, they had 25,000 people in worship.

Today, that church isn't even half of what it was a decade ago.

We know that if a minister, a preacher, a pastor, we know if he is defamed, either through his own conduct or through accusations brought against him, a ministry can be destroyed.

It doesn't need to be that way, but we know that it often is.

Take out your Bibles, turn with me to the book of First Thessalonians.

We kicked off a series here last Sunday morning.

Uh the book of 1 Thessalonians is a letter.

It's a letter written by the Apostle Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

It's written to the church in Thessalonica.

It was a church that they planted, it was a church that they helped get off the ground.

They love that church and they love those people.

But they weren't there very long because persecution had forced them to leave.

For the sake of the church and for the safety of the church, they had to leave because their participation there was problematic.

So they leave the town of Thessalonica where they had planted a church.

Timothy went back to see how they were doing.

Paul, Silas, and Timothy write them a letter that we are now looking at and learning from.

And uh they write them this letter.

While they left, because of the persecution that was there, they left, but the persecution against that church and the persecution against those Christians, it continued.

But the persecution wasn't having the effect that the persecutors were hoping would happen.

The persecutors, the enemies of the church, were seeking to persecute these new Christians in such a way that it would shut them down, that they would close that church, that they would go in hiding, if you will.

But persecution wasn't working because these believers in Jesus Christ, these people who had been converted by the gospel, they that they have a newfound joy.

And this joy is in Jesus Christ, and this joy is in their relationship with God through Christ.

And we were reminded last week people do what they want to do.

And these new Christians, they want to worship God and they want to tell the world about Jesus because they had been changed by their own conversion, changed by the grace of God, they're committed to Jesus Christ, they're being persecuted, but the persecution isn't crushing the church.

No, the church is flourishing, it's growing, it's multiplying.

And so because persecution wasn't diminishing the number of Christians in town, another tactic was employed.

And this tactic was combined with persecution.

You see, if the enemies of the church in that area, if the antichrist, anti-church people in that area, if they could discredit Paul, Silas, and Timothy, if they could defame them, if they could bring accusations against them, then they could destroy the ministry.

Paul, Silas, and Timothy, the founders of the church, they had to leave the area because of the persecution.

They weren't around.

They couldn't, you know, how are they going to defend themselves?

So they're thinking, like, hey, persecution isn't working, let's just discredit the ministers.

And we'll have this diabolical plan of crushing the church.

Paul, Silas, and Timothy, they're not unaware.

They're very much aware of these accusations.

Timothy went and visited the church and he became aware of them.

And uh, so they they write a letter.

And in the letter, they reminisce with the Thessalonians, they share up their past shared experiences because they want them to remember what really happened among them and what is real and what is true.

So as we began the letter last week, they looked in chapter one and they remember with the Thessalonians, the Thessalonians' conversion and their change and their commitment to Jesus.

But we get to chapter two and we discover that they pivot and they now begin to remember with the Thessalonians their own conduct among them and what their ministry looked like, because they are being attacked.

And so they bring up their character and their compassion.

I'm gonna have you read with me.

I'll I have too many verses to put on the screen, but we're gonna look at text, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 1 through 12.

1 Thessalonians 2:1–12

And I'm gonna read with you these verses as we look at this second chapter.

But as we read along, you'll see how Paul, Silas, and Timothy are continuing to reminisce with the Thessalonians.

And they keep saying over and over and over, you know this, you know this, you are witnesses, remember when.

We're gonna see that six times in ten sentences.

Well, you've had enough time to find your place.

Let me read along, you can follow along.

Second Thessalonians chapter two, we'll read verses one through twelve.

For you yourselves know, again, Paul, Silas, and Timothy writing Thessalonians, you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you is not a vain, it was not worthless.

But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, the prior town, 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, our message 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 men, but to please God who test 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 apostle of Christ.

But no, we were gentle among you like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.

So being affectionate, desirous of you, we are 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 we work night and day, 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 was our conduct toward 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.

So again, Paul, Silas, and Timothy write a letter to the church, a church they loved, people they loved, a church they planted.

And they remind them in chapter one about their own conversion and their change and their commitment to Jesus.

But we get to chapter two, and Paul, Silas, and Timothy begin to deal with accusations that are being brought against them, that they were a bunch of greedy, after their money, didn't really care about that church.

They just came into town and left town and they were they were swindlers.

Paul and Silas and Timothy realize these accusations have come against them, and they begin to defend themselves.

And as we read this chapter, we discover they defend their character, their competency, and their compassion.

And we're gonna look at the attributes of this ministry team in that order.

First of all, they remember their character.

And they recall to the Thessalonians their own conduct while they lived among them.

And as you're reading these two paragraphs, we discover that the first list of attributes, they're given to us in the negative.

Their ministry conduct was this way.

Their ministry was without error, without impurity, without deception, without flattery, without greed, without glory seeking, without demands, and without burdens.

That's quite a list.

They said, Hey, you know how we lived among you, and that we weren't this way.

Matter of fact, we could take those negative attributes and we could flip them into positives, if you will, and it would come across as this.

They were true, pure, honest, humble, content, secure, considerate, and helpful.

Now that's quite a list of attributes, isn't it?

They give us eight attributes.

That's quite remarkable.

But as we read the letter, not only do they give us eight negatives that we flipped into positives, they actually give us eight more, totaling 16 attributes as they describe their own conduct and character among those people.

They say this.

They were also gentle, affectionate, generous, hardworking, holy, righteous, blameless, and encouraging.

Well, that's quite a list of attributes, isn't it?

That's a significant list of attributes.

If I was putting together a resume, that would be way too many attributes to describe me.

Or to describe anyone.

And think through this.

They're writing the Thessalonians a letter, and then they get to the second chapter, and they're like, hey, this is how we were among you, and they describe their conduct, and they're writing to people who would actually know.

This isn't like a resume sent off to Topeka, Kansas.

No, they've sent this to the Thessalonians.

Those people would know whether this is true or not.

They were there.

And so Paul, Silas, and Timothy, as they begin to defend their character, they tell them what they were like and they defend themselves.

But as we read the letter, we discover they're not defending themselves for their own sake.

They descent they defend themselves for the sake of the gospel and for the good of the church.

They have nothing to hide.

They're not concerned for themselves, but they are deeply concerned for the life and health and flourishing of that church.

And so they remind the Thessalonians, you know this is how we were when we lived among you.

You know this.

Matter of fact, not only do you know that we live this way, but you guys became imitators of us.

We learned that in chapter one.

You began to live the same way we lived among you.

So the accusations of our accusers, and there are people there in town who are accusing us, trying to defame us, trying to discredit us, because if they do, they'll bring down the church.

The accusations of our accusers, they don't stick.

They don't land.

They're not true.

And they're reminding the Thessalonians of their own character because they don't want the church to be misled and derailed.

Secondly, not only do they remember their character, but they also remember their competency.

Now, this is this is incredible.

Their character and their competency comes from their new life in union with Jesus Christ.

And we read in this chapter their competency, it is not self-made.

Their competency is not connected to their social connections, it's not connected to their past success, they're not self-approved, they're not church approved, they're not resume approved.

We read in verse 4 that they had been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel.

How's that for dropping a name?

God approves of what we're doing.

Our conduct was pure, and God approves of what we're doing.

That's incredible.

We know that God approved them to be entrusted with the gospel because they no longer care about advancing their own fame.

They no longer care about advancing their own renown, their own status.

They're no longer living for themselves.

They're not driven by what people think of them.

They're not after applause or recognition.

They have a whole new center.

And their living concern is what people know and think and believe about God and what God has done for the world through Jesus Christ, and that is their message, and they have God's approval to do it.

God has become such a central operating principle in their life, such a central relationship in their life that they're no longer living for their own fame, for their own story, for their own likes.

They're now after God's applause and God's approval.

And so this competency they have for ministry, it comes from God, and this competency from God liberates them to advance the cause of Jesus Christ wherever they go and travel.

So Paul, Silas, and Timothy defending their own character, they remember their character, they remember their competency, and finally they remember their compassion as ministers living among those people.

They use two great metaphors in this text, two great metaphors of Compassion.

They were gentle and affectionate, having the compassion of a mother, and they were encouraging and inspiring, having the compassion of a father.

They say, You know how we lived among you.

We lived among you like a mom.

We lived among you like a dad.

A mom who puts on band-aids and gives warm hugs, and dad who says, get back on it and do it again.

We were compassionate among you in that way, like a mother, like a father.

And as we think that through, we begin to recognize that Paul, Silas, and Timothy, their ministry among the Thessalonians, it was costly.

Costly like parenting children is costly.

Their ministry was a whole life investment.

It was a whole life commitment.

Their ministry wasn't just sharing a message, it was sharing everything.

They didn't just come and preach the gospel, they gave everything they had.

And so these authors, Paul, Silas, and Timothy, write to that church and they say, Hey, you remember how we were among you?

Like a mother, like a father, you had us completely.

100%.

We were not sloughing off on our responsibility.

You had all of us.

And we were not a burden to you.

We weren't asking for your money.

We worked night and day as we lived among you and proclaimed the gospel among you.

So our compassion was toward you.

We gave you everything we had.

You know, as I read that, I'm reminded that ministry, like parenting, is a 24-7, 365 adventure.

If you're going to be a minister, you're just never going to get away from it.

Paul, Silas, and Timothy live that way among them, and the Thessalonians knew it.

Remember with me for a moment.

Remember where we started this message.

We started the message saying, if you can defame a minister, if you can discredit a minister, if he discredits himself through his own actions, or if he's defamed through accusations that come against him, if you defame a minister, you can destroy a ministry.

And there were people in Thessalonica attacking a small baby church, hoping to crush it out of existence.

Persecution wasn't working.

So they turned their targets toward the founders.

If we can bring down the people who brought the gospel here, if we can defame them and discredit them, then we can destroy this church.

We read here and we know that Paul, Silas, and Timothy were clear.

Clear of the accusations that were brought against them.

And they defended themselves.

Not for their own sake, but for the sake of the church, for the sake of the gospel.

But think with me for a moment.

Let's just imagine for a minute.

What if they did blow it?

What if they did drop the ball?

What if they made a hash out of their life?

Let's just pick one of them.

There's a three-member team, Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

Let's just pick one of them.

We know this happened to other people.

There was a man by the name of Demas on Paul's team for a while.

He made a wreck of his life.

So let's just pick these three guys, Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

Let's just say Paul blew it, shipwrecked his faith.

Think with me.

Think through through some of the history that got the message of the gospel through Thessalonica.

Let's bring back up our map slide.

Paul, Silas, and Timothy, they want to go north into Bithnea, but the Holy Spirit keeps them from going there.

They get directed by the Holy Spirit to go into Macedonia.

They go into Macedonia, the first city they go to is the city of Philippi.

You remember what happened to them in Philippi?

Yeah, they were abused and oppressed and thrown into prison.

And we read about three converts in that town.

Little baby church gets started.

But they go to Philippi and they get thrown into prison.

Isn't that wonderful?

They finally leave Philippi and they go down to Thessalonica.

They're in Thessalonica for three Sabbath days, reasoning with the people, explaining the gospel, taking the Old Testament, pointing them to Jesus.

They finally get a church planted.

The church isn't very old, and persecution becomes so severe that for the sake of the church, they have to leave and go down to Berea.

So we've got imprisonment and persecution.

They go down to Berea.

You remember what happens in Berea?

The same thing that happened in Thessalonica.

Matter of fact, people from Thessalonica travel down to Berea to stir up a riot against Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

Oh, that sounds like a great vacation, doesn't it?

Ministry.

Whoop, whoop.

They leave Berea and they go down to Athens.

You remember what happens in Athens for the sake of the church?

Nothing happens in Athens.

Paul goes to Mars Hill, preaches among the philosophers who gather there, and they always talk about the latest story.

Paul preaches and reasons and points from the scriptures to Jesus Christ, not a single convert.

No church is planted there.

They leave there and they go to Corinth.

Corinth is a highly immoral city.

Very difficult.

It's fascinating to read the New Testament record.

When Paul went to Philippi and Thessalonica, he said, We came with boldness and courage as we told you about the gospel.

What did he say when he got to Corinth?

We came to you in fear and much trembling.

And no wise and persuasive words.

We got nothing left.

He comes to Corinth.

What if they get to Corinth and Paul says, I've had it.

I'm done.

Christian ministry is too hard.

Too difficult.

Cost me too much.

I don't want to be a father anymore.

I don't want to be a parent anymore.

I'm done.

Out.

And he goes to the pagan temple and grabs a cult prostitute and says, Hey, come with me.

I've always wanted to go to Spain.

Let's go to the western coast of Spain.

We'll live on the seashore.

We'll collect seashells and sunburn.

And we'll avoid all this stress of ministry.

What if Paul blew it?

What if he failed?

You know what would still be true?

This is gonna sound like a non-sequitur.

But stay with me.

If Paul blew it, you know what would still be true?

Right here.

Jesus still rose from the dead.

Jesus still died on the cross for your sin, Jesus still rose for your salvation, and Jesus is the one you have to deal with.

You see, here's the message: the failure of a human leader, the failure of a minister of the gospel, the failure of a pastor doesn't discredit the gospel.

Jesus is still alive.

And Jesus is still alive forevermore.

And he's the one you have to deal with.

The messenger might go off the rails.

We've all had that experience.

I doubt there's anyone in this church who, as I'm talking about this, is like, yeah, yeah, we know.

A messenger might go off the rails, but the message remains true and unchanged.

And that's the third really big lesson that I had to learn.

I learned humility.

Great people make great mistakes.

We all do.

We disappoint ourselves and we can disappoint others.

It's easy.

Threshold's low.

Great people make great mistakes.

I learned humility.

I learned forgiveness.

My sin against God is way greater than any sin that will ever be committed against me because of who God is and because of who I am.

I'm puny.

God's huge.

So I learned humility, I learned forgiveness, and I learned to rely on Jesus, who actually rose from the dead.

A colossal failure in human leadership, a collapse of a follower of Jesus Christ, the collapse of a spiritual leader, whether true or through accusations, that doesn't discredit or diminish the real the reality of what Jesus actually accomplished in his death and resurrection.

Isn't that incredible?

That'll provide you and me a real ballast for life.

We can have what I call a proper anthropology.

A proper anthropology, we just don't have much confidence in man.

But we ought to have a huge Christology.

Can't get big enough.

Because Jesus never fails.

He has not failed.

He will not fail.

Jesus said he was God, and he said the greatest proof that he was who he claimed to be, that he was divine, would be his resurrection from the dead.

And that his resurrection from the dead would be God's stamp of approval, his yes on all of his promises.

Jesus rose from the dead.

And all of God's promises are yes and him.

Jesus is infinite and perfect.

All of his followers, me included, are finite and imperfect on our best day.

We're just not that great.

But Jesus is awesome.

And Jesus' death and resurrection is what you and I really have to deal with, no matter what becomes of the messenger who brought us the gospel.

Just a moment, we're going to celebrate the Lord's table together and remember Jesus as the way he told us to remember.

But before we do that, look back in your Bible before you close those.

I'm going to look at the last two sentences of the final paragraph that we looked at, verses 11 and 12.

I'll put those on the screen for you.

Paul, Silas, and Timothy says, For you, you Thessalonians, you know how like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charge you to walk in a manner worthy of God.

To walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

God calls you and me into his own kingdom and glory, and often that message comes to us through jars of clay.

Paul called himself a jar of clay.

Weak, fragile, easily broken.

And as a jar of clay, he brought the gospel to the Thessalonians.

God often calls you and me into his kingdom and glory, and he makes that call through vessels of clay, weak messengers, and he does it on purpose.

2 Corinthians 4, 7, he does that on purpose so that our confidence would rest in God and in no other.

We don't trust in the messenger, but we do trust the message.

This verse tells us that God calls us to himself.

He says, Come unto me, and he does that because now there is no barrier in the relationship.

We don't have to bring an offering, we don't have to bring a sacrifice, and we don't certainly don't have to bring a resume of excellence.

No, Jesus Christ is our excellence.

He is our peace, he is our acceptance.

Jesus Christ took all of our offenses which were against God, he took them on himself and he nailed those to the cross.

Jesus died to pay for our offenses, he rose again to provide for our acceptance, our full acceptance.

And now God calls us unto himself, into his kingdom and glory, because Jesus has fulfilled all of the requirements.

And because Jesus lives, we're not just forgiven, we now have access to God's glory.

So God calls us to himself, and there's no way now that stands between us and him and our coming to him.

You want a big idea this morning?

Here's the big idea.

It's not on the screen, but here's the big idea Jesus rose from the dead.

Jesus rose from the dead.

He is our gift of our acceptance, he is our righteousness and our peace.