Boldness in serving – 1 Thessalonians 2 vs 1-16 

Charles Spurgeon, in a devotional he wrote, said the following: Christian, you ought not to dread the arrival of evil tidings; because if you are distressed by them, what do you more than other men?

Other men have not your God to fly to; they have never proved his faithfulness as you have done, and it is no wonder if they are bowed down with alarm and cowed with fear:

 but you profess to be of another spirit; you have been begotten again unto a lively hope, and your heart lives in heaven and not on earthly things.

now, if you are seen to be distracted as other men, what is the value of that grace which you profess to have received? Where is the dignity of that new nature which you claim to possess?

The questions posed here are important because it is something we deal with on a regular basis, and it is what Paul was confronting in his letter to the Thessalonians.

The letter was not addressed to a scared group of Christians who were doubting their faith, but who were under attack and needed to be reassured of what they had been taught and to see what boldness it was that Paul was speaking about.

In verses 1 and 2, Paul is reminding the church of the simple truth that living in the boldness of Christ is worth it. It is worth hearing, worth spreading, worth suffering for.

This was not a simple statement – remember that Paul and his companions had been physically beaten for what they shared. They were taunted and treated shamefully by their own people and by the general crowd.

This is reminiscent of the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5 vs 11-12: Blessed are you when others revile you, persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Paul was not trying to say that we serve because we will get rewarded. It was a reassurance that because they are speaking the truth, they will come under attack, but it is OK. The reward is not the goal, Jesus is the goal. There is an assurance of what will come.

The rest of Paul’s letter focuses on explaining what living a life of boldness looks like. While he needed to address things that had gone on in his absence and to reassure the church, he also gives future readers some key points about what our service and lives should look like.

Boldness in serving will have several attributes

1. Being able to stand against accusations
2. Compassion
3. Responsibility
4. Faith

In verses 3 to 6, we see Paul addressing the accusations spread about him, his fellow workers, and their ministry. Paul did not write this to his accusers as a justification for what he did, but rather as a defence to be shared with the believers so they would be reminded and strengthened.

He knew that the churches would face accusations and persecution. What was important was that his example and life were able to stand against the accusations.

Paul laid out his words and actions so as to make himself accountable before men and God. He did not have to make himself accountable to the people, but he did to show the sincerity of his heart and to honour God as well.

Jeremiah 17: 10 says “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

We will all stand before God to be accountable for our actions. As believers, this is not the judgement for sin, but rather for the account of how we served God and what we did with what we were given.

Our actions and hearts are checked by God, he knows the reason we do things. In all things we should live as though we do them for God and so live a life that can withstand the scrutiny.

Being bold in the faith, whatever that looks like in your situation, means we have to be able to remain steadfast in the face of accusations, otherwise how are we different from anyone else? We are different and our lives need to reflect that.

In verses 7 and 8, Paul gives the description of being like a nursing mother – gentle and compassionate. He uses similar imagery in 2 Cor. 12:14-15 and Galatians 4:19. It is also possible that he was also referring to Numbers 11:12 with the portrayal of Moses as a nursing mother to Israel.

No matter what, Paul was stressing the idea that even though they were bold in their presentation, they cared for the people while they were there, and continued to do so even when not with them.

The conduct of those that went to Thessalonica was not brutish or harsh or demanding. They came to share the message of hope and love. Through what they experienced; they grew in affection towards to church.

Paul mentions this to emphasize about how much he and his fellow workers cared about the people. Their love for the people grew such that they wanted to share and serve, not only because they were called but because there was a genuine compassion for the people.

Sometimes what is missing in our walk is the compassionate side for winning people to Christ. We hear a lot about how to win arguments or being a force to be reckoned with in terms of our faith. While it is important to have a solid understanding and be grounded in the word and our understanding of it, being a bull in a china shop won’t win souls.

Boldness has to be partnered with or be built upon compassion. The people who don’t know Jesus need to know compassion. They are hurting, afraid, scared, upset, worried and troubled. They experience the emotions we do as well. In being like Jesus we don’t need to argue with everyone or be so headstrong that people are left with a bad taste in their mouths.

Neither are we to be so passive and accepting that we don’t call sin out or that we live a watered-down faith that has no substance. We must be bold in our convictions while being humble in our speech.

The compassion that Paul spoke about extended as well to wanting to share their lives with the church, not just the message. The other side to compassion is being willing enough to open our lives and share with others as well. I do not mean that everyone has to be welcome in your home or need to know everything about you.

The clearest example of this I can give is our time after services. It is not just about getting a cuppa and sitting with a free biscuit. It is about building community. It is about getting to know one another outside of a service where you can have a chat and discuss life with someone.

It isn’t a “You must come and have a drink after service” but rather an invitation to say that life is more than just sitting in the sanctuary and singing, praying, and listening.

I want to get to know my brothers and sisters here because I want to be known. I want you to know I am open to praying with you, speaking with you, laughing with you. I am fairly certain most of us are of that mindset.

I will be honest and say it is a weakness of mine to come up and start conversations. I am working on it because I do know how important it is.

Not just because I am training to become a minister but because I do care about what is going on with all of you and would like to know. It is through this that I, and anyone else, will be able to best serve you.

There are other times as well, like weekly prayer meetings, the bible studies, Saturday breakfasts, and other events. We are a family. Even if you are new, not a believer, wondering, or wherever you are on your journey, we welcome the chance to get to know you, to demonstrate our faith in a real way because we desire to live the command “Love your neighbour as yourself”.

Being able to stand against the accusation and being compassionate are two aspects of being bold in serving. The next aspect is responsibility.

In verses 9 to 12, Paul points out 2 key factors about the responsibility that comes in serving with boldness. The first is that as workers for God, we are to be responsible with our jobs.

Paul speaks about toiling with them day and night so as to not be a burden. Paul didn’t naturally live in the area, so he didn’t have a home to go to. He was a tentmaker by trade and so supported himself and his ministry by working during the day.

He was living out being responsible to show that he was not above anyone nor was he exempt from the responsibilities of life. This also was to show that he was not doing this ministry for the wrong reasons as some false teachers did, like in 1 Peter 5:2.

He explains more of his reasoning in 2 Thess. 3:7-9 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you.  It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate.

In Luke 10:7, when Jesus is sending out the disciples, he reminds them that the labourer deserves their wages. This was specifically in addressing about doing the works of God. Paul did not turn down gifts to support his ministry but while he knew the command from Jesus, he was more concerned with being an example to imitate, to be responsible.

The second part is being responsible like fathers. I know that may be difficult to hear or that it might not mean the same thing for all of us so let me clarify.

A godly father, the kind we men should be aiming to be, is the kind of father how helps direct and support his children. We should all have the same mindset of supporting, encouraging, directing, and leading those that are under our watch. The term father is not limiting to only men but rather as an attribute of God and as an example of what is needed.

In those times, the roles of mothers and fathers were much clearer. It was an analogy that people understood because of the culture.

Some people would have struggled as well with their pasts and what their own fathers were like, but the point was still clear, that living a life of boldness in Christ means being responsible and dependable.

This ties back into the idea of God knowing our hearts and motives. Ask yourself who do you have oversight for? In what ways are you responsible for helping those people to grow and mature? What do you need to say or do to support them more? Or what  independence they need in order to grow? Why do you respond the way you do to those under your care?

Remember that this extends beyond family. It may be in your job, in the church, in your school. You cannot be bold in serving God if you are not taking a responsibility for those that God has given you in your life to support.

The final aspect of living and serving in boldness is living out of faith, as explained in Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen.

In verse 13 to 16 of chapter 2, Paul is ending this section with encouragement and reassurance. While the church may not have seen directly how God was working at that time, Paul was saying that they could be assured that God was working through them because of their response. They were responding in faith and thus doing what was expected.

Sometimes we need the reminder that what we are doing is right, especially when things don’t feel that way. The encouragement I got when I said I was quitting my full-time job to attend Spurgeon’s helped me to know that it was the right step of faith.

I didn’t tell people because I needed human reassurance, but it was a blessing that came from saying I am taking a step of faith even though not everyone thought it was the safe route.

Paul was also reassuring the church that the persecution they were facing was to be expected and that they were going through what others of the faith had experienced. He reminded them of the wrath that was to come on those that worked against them.

It can be easy to doubt at times that God is going to deal with the wicked and those that persecute his people. We don’t see it happening. But we are told to hold on to the faith that God will deliver us, that God will judge those that have persecuted and tried to stop believers from doing what they are called to do. We can have an assurance that will happen.

Living in the assurance of things unseen means I don’t need to be worrying about what will happen. I don’t take lightly the difficulties or persecutions of life, but I know that ultimately, God will deal with it. Our God is big enough to handle anything that comes against us, even if we cannot see how or when.

Be bold enough that you walk the talk – your life reflects Jesus in such a way that accusations are put to rest, compassion and responsibility lead how you interact and minister, and that your faith is seen lived out because you truly believe and are assured of your destiny in Christ.

Let us live out our lives with thanksgiving for the faithfulness of God that allows us to be bold in our walk. Amen.