A Model of Confidence
1 Thessalonians • Sermon • Submitted
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· 2 viewsIn this message, we will think about Paul's concern for his fellow Jews, and we will see how he confidently presents the Scriptures to them in Thessalonica.
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Introduction:
Introduction:
This morning, we really begin our study of Paul’s Thessalonian letters.
We will do so, though, by establishing the background of his visit to Thessalonica as recorded in Acts 17.
Paul’s visit to Thessalonica occurs at an important point in Acts.
He is on his second missionary journey.
He and his travel companions have crossed into Europe.
Luke first focuses on what happens at Philippi (Acts 16:12 ff).
We might also wish to consider what it means to present the truth in the world.
Paul’s world was not “Christian” and neither was it Jewish.
The world is rarely open to the message of the Bible.
What must motivate us is the truth, gratia veritatis.
Love for people means telling them the truth not affirming them in the lies they tell themselves.
A Targeted Audience
A Targeted Audience
Luke gives Paul’s movements southwestward from Philippi.
Thessalonica lay approximately 60 miles southwest of Philippi along the Egnatian Way.
It was the provincial capital of Macedonia.
The provincial governor has his residence there.
It was a major naval port.
It was one of three principle Aegean sea port cities along with Ephesus and Corinth.
It was a major center for the purple-dye industry.
Its population might have been approximately 200k people in Paul’s day.
Yet, Luke makes his focus on Thessalonica obvious.
We notice he does not give events in Amphipolis or Apollonia.
They passed through those cities.
Thessalonica is important because it was “where a synagogue of the Jews was.”
Paul may have been the apostle to the Gentiles, but he loved his fellow Jews and wanted them to know the truth.
Romans 10:1.
A Habit of Practice
A Habit of Practice
After making known why Thessalonica was the next significant place of arrival, Luke explains that Paul had a habit.
When this habit developed, we do not know.
However, it does seem to have existed before this time.
Paul’s habit has two aspects:
He entered, the synagogue is understood, to them (the Jews).
He “discussed” with them from the scriptures.
Here we begin to see Paul’s confidence in the message he bore.
A Confident Presentation
A Confident Presentation
Luke’s use of the participle “open” mirrors what the men on the road to Emmaeus said following their encounter with the resurrected Jesus.
Notice in Lk. 24:32 in reference to the scriptures.
Perhaps a lesson to learn from Paul is the ability to have confidence that there is a case to be made. The evidence for Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, is biblical.
The term, in such a usage, may carry with it the idea of explaining something previously hidden or obscure (LN, 33.142.).
Biblical conversations are not always about the obvious.
It is possible for people to be very religious people, devout, but to have missed something in their thinking or in their understanding of what the Scriptures reveal.
Respect for other people’s religious beliefs, according to modern thinking, means affirming them in error.
Is it respectful to others to the tell the truth or to affirm them in lies?
Paul must have believed in Jesus as the Messiah because he was convinced by the scriptures, not just because he had an experience.
The case for Jesus as the Messiah is evidenced based not experience based.
If Jesus experienced what the evidence of scripture prophesies, then He must be the Savior.
Some were persuaded by this and associated with Paul and Silas.