A Shepherd's Heart
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Paul’s Care for the Church
Paul’s Care for the Church
But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love and reported that you always have good memories of us, wanting to see us, as we also want to see you.
Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution, we were encouraged about you through your faith.
For now we live, if you stand firm in the Lord.
How can we thank God for you in return for all the joy we experience before our God because of you,
as we pray very earnestly night and day to see you face to face and to complete what is lacking in your faith?
Paul was under the gun. He speaks of being distressed, afflicted, persecuted, experiencing tribulation (weighed down by the difficulties of life)
Perhaps pressure from the evil forces on the outside had weighed Paul down on the inside.
In this context, he got a little good news from Timothy about the fledgling church in Thessalonica. (And it wasn’t that they had rented a new facility, built a building, added staff, took up a great offering for Lottie Moon, had record numbers in baptisms, etc)
He was encouraged by the good news of their flourishing faith
He was encouraged by the good news of their flourishing faith
But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love and reported that you always have good memories of us, wanting to see us, as we also want to see you.
Their faith was not dying or floundering in his absence, instead they were still in it.
He was encouraged by the good news of their continued love
He was encouraged by the good news of their continued love
But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love and reported that you always have good memories of us, wanting to see us, as we also want to see you.
Duck or pucker… Sometimes pastors can be lauded one day and lamented the next.
EV Hill tells the story of one church who put the pressure on their pastor and voted him out for issues that did not warrant such (Doctrinal, moral issues would qualify). The pastor died unexpectedly within a few weeks. Hill lamented that they “put his picture back up on the wall and wanted to claim him as their own.” They hosted the funeral and Dr. Hill was the invited preacher to preach the funeral. He said he decided to call them out on it. He overheard one woman say “Somebody sit him down” but he just preached right on :)
The truth is when a pastor moves on, he doesn’t always know what to expect from the folks he leaves behind. Paul was encouraged to know he was loved and missed. This is deeply human and personal.
He was encouraged by the good news of their firm stand
He was encouraged by the good news of their firm stand
Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution, we were encouraged about you through your faith.
For now we live, if you stand firm in the Lord.
(This was not a stand on some hot-button political issue of the day, but rather a stand that they would remain true to the Gospel and true to their faith in the Gospel no matter what stood against them.)
This is truly the mark of a good shepherd. He wants to know that the flock is persevering. They they are not falling off the wayside. That the world is not capturing their attention. That they are STANDING FIRM in the faith.
ULTIMATELY HIS FEELING OF DISTRESS WAS TURNED TO JOY by the encouraging good news her receieved through Timothy and his care turned to prayer.
Paul’s Prayer for the Church
Paul’s Prayer for the Church
Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you.
And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we also do for you.
May He make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. Amen.
For a renewed face to face encounter. (back in verse 10 let’s us know Paul has more he wants to teach.) It would be years and before Paul was afforded this chance, and nothing much is mentioned of the outcome of this time in Macedonia. Whatever happened in the future, it would not be the same as when Paul had left.
BUT THE EFFECT OF HIS PRAYERS would have lasting effect.
He prayed for increasing love in their faith family, and everyone.
We need the Lord’s help to love each other deeply as a faith family. We all are different. We do things, think things, differently. We can fall out.
We need help loving EVERYONE. We start with our immediate community. Our Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world. (Personal witness at home, and providing resources for our missionaries around the world are ways we can do this.... motivated by an overflowing love for others.
We need help with our hearts. The Bible says the heart is desperately wicked. On our own we won’t love others and the Lord as we should. We won’t want to live life in such a way that our hearts are above reproach and holy for the Lord. He has to help us in this. Notice that Paul wants us to have blameless holy hearts in light of the return of Jesus. In the coming weeks we will talk more about this. But we should live our lives in light of the fact that Jesus could return at any moment.