Chapter 2: 1-9

“For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain. ² But even after we had suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict. ³ For our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit. ⁴ But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.

⁵ For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness—God is witness. ⁶ Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. ⁷ But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. ⁸ So, affectionately longing 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 dear to us. ⁹ For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.”

Just this morning, I had a conversation with my older daughter; she is about to become a mom, and as we were discussing the events that are transpiring before us, she asked if there was anything we could do that would slow down Jesus’ return? Not that she wanted it to slow down, but in particular reference to the federal election we are having here in Canada, would voting for a super conservative candidate who would stop vaccine passports and the insurgence of the New World Order slow down Jesus’ return?

I assured her that God the Father was in complete control of when that would happen, but what we had to do was to make sure, to the best of our ability, that the world her daughter and my granddaughter was coming into would be a world where she could worship Jesus freely. I was thrilled to have that conversation with my daughter, to hear her live expecting Jesus’ return, and to have it on the front of her mind. This was what I encouraged you to do last week, live expecting Jesus to return anytime. Today we are going to explore how or what is needed as we wait for Jesus.

• The Gospel is Needed, verses 1-2

Paul tells us that he came to Thessalonica in the midst of much trouble; they were accosted at Philippi and were run out of the city. He hastily left Thessalonica as well; if you recall, he only preached there for three Sabbaths. There are some that think he was there for about 3 months, but even so, that is a short time to plant a church. Paul, to some degree, is defending himself and his work, but what he really wants them to focus on is the Gospel.

At the end of the day, the Gospel is all that matters. The purity of the Gospel is all that matters. There are a lot of churches that preach ‘another gospel’; they mix works and salvation; they teach about the election as if some are born for hell and a few are made for Heaven. Still, others preach the ‘Santa’ Jesus, all gifts and no wrath. All heaven and no hell. Others deny Jesus altogether and still call themselves a church. Others preach a Jesus that is foreign to the Bible, and some even call Him a sinner. Heretics.

Paul, no matter what the circumstances, no matter what happened to him, no matter what the cost, and no matter the crowd, preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ – that He is the only way whereby men and women must be saved and that His death, burial, and resurrection are the only means of salvation and redemption. All else are lies and offer no hope.

One of the hardest things to do is to stick to the purity and power of the Gospel. It is easy for us to add or take away from it. People need to be lost to need to be saved; they need to know how sinful they truly are before they can appreciate the price that was paid and humble themselves. The pure, simple, and powerful Gospel is our main focus; Jesus and Jesus alone can save. All else are lies.

• The Gospel is not popular, verse 3-4

Paul and his companions did not preach to please men; they preached in obedience to God. This is why they got into trouble in just about every town they went into. They refused to water down the Gospel, they refused to be tolerant of other religions, and they refused to be diplomatic about the need to be saved. Were they gracious? Always. Were they loving? Always. Were they honorable men? Always. On we can go, but they never, ever watered down the Gospel for the sake of not offending the listener.

The Jews of Jesus’ days hated Him because He told the truth. When we tell the truth today, in the day of ‘tolerance,’ we will be branded as hateful and maybe even as arrogant to think that we have the only answer. We simply repeat what the Bible says. It is not our own message; it is the message from God to all men everywhere, and we should not tamper with it, just speak the truth. Sadly, we have a world that is founded on lies, and the truth has become offensive. As we get closer and closer to Jesus’ return, the truth will be more and more offensive, and we, the carriers of it, hated the more.

• The Gospel is not to be a means of wealth, verse 5-6

I pastor one church and help with another. I receive an income from this, and there is nothing wrong with that. The Old Testament priests lived off the offerings and were given land in each tribe in lieu of their service. It would appear that some became wealthy, and most seemed to be comfortable financially. In contrast, the New Testament preachers, even Jesus himself, were all quite poor as far as the world is concerned. Jesus’ ministry needs were met by the generosity of women who gave to the ministry. These ladies are listed in Luke 8:1-3.

But Paul wanted to make it clear to these new Christians at Thessalonica that just as he did not come there asking for money, nor expecting money for preaching the Gospel, neither should they as the Gospel is sent out and exported by them. Once again, I have no problem with men and women making a living preaching the Gospel, and more importantly, the Bible is good with it as well. But the main goal, and not even the second or third goal, should not be to make money. The mark of a growing and maturing church is that of financial maturity; they should be able to pay a pastor, cover the ministry expenses, and give to a mission, as well as meet the needs of the members when they arise. The goal is not to be wealthy.

The Laodicean church in Revelation 3, was wealthy, but her wealth clouded her vision, and she lost sight of her need for Jesus.

• The Gospel is not for our own glory, verse 6

You and I are not the focus of the Gospel. Paul did not save anyone in Thessalonica. You and I cannot save anyone we talk to. It is okay if they forget who we are as long as when we leave, they know the name of Jesus, the one and only Saviour. Do not interject yourself; talk about Jesus. You may speak of how He saved you, but He must be the star and the focus of the message.

All too often, we want to fancy up the message and make it more attractive. Don’t!!! Tell the truth as plainly and as carefully as possible. Memorize the scriptures, carry a tract, use a Gideon’s New Testament, and walk them through the pure, simple Gospel. Remember, do not get into arguments, and listen to the Holy Spirit. There are many times that I have begun to witness, and the door was closed right before my eyes. Then a few days or weeks later, the door opened, and they asked me questions. Listen to Jesus; listen to the Holy Spirit; it is His Gospel, not yours.

• The Gospel is not a club to beat them into Heaven, verses 7-8

You cannot cajole people into Heaven. You will not debate them into Heaven. Many Christians win the debate but lose the soul. The Holy Spirit takes the truth that you speak from the Bible, not your opinion, then He uses that to convict the lost soul about their sin, the need to be saved, and the reality is judgment (John 16:8). No one will be saved forcefully. They must choose of their own free volition to submit to Jesus. They must choose for themselves to be humble before Jesus.

This also means that you need to listen to the Holy Spirit as to when to shut up. I work in the car sales business, and sometimes you can talk a customer into a sale, but if you keep talking, you can talk them right out of it as well. Listen to the Holy Spirit, and He will tell you when to shut up. It may be according to 1 Corinthians that this is a team effort; your job is to plant the seed, another’s is to water, and God reaps the harvest. Sometimes we want to do it all, but God just wants us to do the part He has for us. Listen. Remember, it is Jesus’ Gospel, not yours, nor mine.

• The Gospel is just the beginning, verse 9

Paul preached the Gospel, but he also labored so as not to be a burden financially to them. He worked another job. Many preachers like myself are like that today, and that was a common practice for many years among the Lord’s churches. Paul set an example of diligence and hard work for the men and the leaders that would emerge after he was gone. What kind of Gospel legacy are you leaving?

In addition to preaching the Gospel and working to support himself and the other ministers he brought, Paul was training and disciplining Silvanus and Timotheus; he was setting the example of discipleship and mentoring young men in the ministry. The Gospel does not stop at salvation. Truthfully, it is just the beginning, and there is a labor that comes with the Gospel, a labor of love like a spiritual father to those that hear and trust the Gospel of Jesus. Now, there are times when you will have a short window of opportunity to share the Gospel, and a person that you may never see again will be saved. But make no mistake, God has a person who will take them on as a labor of love the help them mature and become productive citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Are you invested wholly in the Gospel? All too often, we ‘get them saved’ and leave them on the pew to wait for Jesus. No, no; we should have people actively involved as soon as possible in sharing the Gospel themselves and mentor them to be a mentor to others. Let us tell others about Jesus as often as we can, and so much more as we see the day of His return approaching.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding

Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

P.S. I will be away on vacation next week, and there won’t be any Bible study sent out.

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch

Online: https://www.mississaugamissionarybaptistchurch.com/ (under construction)

Email: missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

Chapter 1:1-10

¹ “Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. ² We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; ³ Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; ⁴ Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. ⁵ For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.

⁶ “And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost. ⁷ So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. ⁸ For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing. ⁹ For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; ¹⁰ And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.”

This book was completed by or about 52 AD. Jesus had scarcely been gone back to Heaven for 20 years, and the church at Jerusalem was flourishing and exporting the Gospel via men like Paul, Timothy, and Silvanus. The Roman invasion of 70 AD was still some 20 years away, the Gospel was exported freely, and the churches were popping up everywhere. This church in Thessalonica kind of just popped up, we are told in Acts 17:2; Paul was there preaching for just 3 Sabbaths, about 21 days. There are some scholars who think he was there for a bit longer, maybe 3 months, but nonetheless, whether 3 weeks or 3 months, this church was quick to materialize. And it is obvious that Paul did as much as he could do, but there was more to be done after he left, and this letter was written just a few months after he left.

As with many Greek churches and converts, the idea of idolatry had to be dealt with. People, even many religions today, are accustomed to having some form of statue or idol to focus on. In many ‘churches’ even today, you can see idols that they claim depict Jesus, Peter, Mary, and a host of other Biblical characters. We need to be careful about this, but in our modern Baptist churches, we can be just as idolatrous of the piano, or the architecture of the new building, or whatever is more important than Jesus. We often hear that if we don’t have the youth group or the young adults or the youth program or whatever, we cannot get people to come and stay. All too often, programs can become idols, and we go to a church and seek the program at the risk of doctrine.

This young church was facing persecution already, and Paul wanted to help them to keep their hope up. The Gospel attracts attacks. It is impossible for the devil to stand by and not take on a new local church to see if he can crush it and thwart any expansion ideas that they have. So, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Paul, now in Corinth, writes this first letter to them to encourage them. And now, almost 2,000 years later, he is encouraging us. Let us take a look at what he had to say to them and now us.

• God sees and knows your situation, verse 2-3

It is easy for us, myself included, to think that God has forgotten us or that God no longer cares for us because of the situation we find ourselves in. Often, these situations are not of our own making; rather, we are in a position that we are unable to fight, and no amount of pleading seems to work. We can’t get out. Paul writes to assure these young Christians that they are being prayed for every day. The situation they are in is being prayed about, and God knows what is happening. He has not abandoned you.

One of the hardest lessons to learn in life is that the vast majority of good things that happen are the fruit of some kind of suffering. It would seem that in the present, we humans are most productive under pressure. This seems to be the case even among the Lord’s churches. When things go well as they have for the past 50+ years here in North America, we see the expansion of churches all across the world. But hand in hand with that is a certain worldliness that has encroached into the local church.

Leisure breeds worldliness in churches, and persecution tends to thin the attendance but purifies the flock. People who are not truly saved rarely stick around for hard times in local churches. Shallow Christians have to make choices either to stay and grow or run and hide. But over the past 2,000 years of the New Testament church, persecution has done more to expand it than thwart it.

God will give us the grace to endure, and if necessary, to die for the cause and name of Jesus. We are to trust Him and stay the course. We are to trust that He knows who we are, where we are, and what we are going through. He has never been surprised, and we can trust His promise to never leave us or forsake us.

• God’s election, verse 4

Knowing our election gives us security in troubled times. Election is such a divisive doctrine in the Lord’s churches today and even back in Paul’s day. There are many who believe that some are born to go to Heaven and others are born to go to Hell. This is the ‘Cole’s Notes version of Calvinism: God made some for Heaven and the rest for Hell. The Gospel is not really Good News to everyone, only to the elect of Christ. To all others, it is just bad news, really. Jesus did not die for you, you are not a part of the ‘whosoever’ in John 3:16, and Jesus is The Way for the elect but not for you.

From the very beginning, one of the defining things about mankind has been the ability to choose. God gave us this. God gave Adam and his wife the ability to choose obedience or not and to suffer the consequences thereof. And, God in His Omniscience promised a plan to redeem man from his bad choices in Genesis 3:15. Choice is the very foundation of Christianity.

Joshua 24:15, “Choose you this day whom you will serve.”

Elijah’s call, “If God be God, serve Him, but if Baal, serve him.”

The three Hebrews boys chose not to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s idol. Daniel chose to pray in Daniel 6. We can go on and on, but the choice is the very foundation of the Gospel. God has chosen the route for one’s salvation that is in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. See Romans 10: 9-10, John 3; 16-18, also John 14:6, “No one comes to the Father except through me [Jesus].” God’s election is about the method of salvation, NOT who gets saved. We have the choice to be saved, but only in Jesus; there is no other way. It is easy in times of persecution to think that maybe we are not saved. Maybe if we were saved, this kind of trouble would not come our way, and we would not be in this kind of hurt. Saved people live lives full of fun, money, no pain, and no suffering.

The devil wants you to think that you are not saved, and maybe if you just got saved again, added to the truth, or do whatever, the pain will go away. But Paul reminded these young Christians to look at the pure Gospel and have confidence in it. Did you place your faith in the person of Jesus? Did you trust His full payment for your sins? Did you trust that He rose from the dead? Then, according to Romans 10: 9-10, you are saved. Hold on; God has you.

Paul reminded them of the power they saw when he was there and that even at the very beginning, there was trouble as the Gospel was changing them (see verses 6-7). Don’t give up now: God has just begun a work in you.

• God is using you to spread the Gospel, verses 8-9

As I mentioned earlier, persecution and external troubles seem to somehow inspire expansion. The Gospel thrives in trouble. I can see that one of the reasons is that there is no fake profession in the midst of death threats. People have to choose Jesus in the midst of understanding that they could die when they choose Him. I think of our brothers and sister in Afghanistan and other places like China and many Muslim countries. They have to choose Jesus in the face of great danger, and they have to know that the choices they make can affect their kids and cause them great damage, loss, and pain.

But these Thessalonian churches or this one church had begun to export the Gospel to Macedonia. These were, for all intents and purposes, baby Christians, but they understood their responsibility to send the Good News of Jesus out to the world around them, and they did it at great personal risk.

When was the last time you shared the Gospel with someone?

I had the privilege of helping a young man ask Jesus to be his Saviour a few months ago, and I try to share the Gospel with those who will listen. But what about you? Are you actively sharing the Gospel? Are you prepared to share the Gospel? Do you have verses memorized, and can you take a person who wants to know on the journey from lost to saved? Christians in Thessalonica could and did in the midst of great persecution. Maybe what we need here in North America to expand the Gospel is persecution.

• God wants you to focus on Jesus, verse 10

I saw a great meme on FB the other day that there are no verses that command us to look for the anti-Christ. We can see the signs and know the times, but we are to focus on Jesus and His return. We are to live ready to meet Jesus. Paul encouraged these young Christians at Thessalonica to keep looking for Jesus. Keep focused on Jesus, and this will carry you through a lot of hard times.

This is not different for us today; Jesus and His return should be the focus that we have in all aspects of life. Do you want to be a better husband? Focus on Jesus’ return. Do you want to be a better dad? Focus on Jesus’ return. Do you want to be a better pastor, friend, worker, servant, and citizen? Focus on Jesus’ return. My family and the church I grew up in believed in the rapture so much that sometimes if my mom and I got separated in the grocery store, I would wonder if she had been raptured and I was left behind. The return of Jesus has been drilled into my psyche since I was a kid. You need to drill it into your kids, your church, and your mind. Jesus is the focus, His return is the focus, and this will carry us through some of the hardest times of life.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

PS: I will be away on vacation next week, and there won’t be any Bible study sent out.

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch

Online: https://www.mississaugamissionarybaptistchurch.com/ (under construction)

Email: missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca