1 Thessalonians 2:7-12 - Mimicking better Models for Ministry

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Introduction

Oh, we've made some strategically significant mistakes about 'Ministry'.

The 19th and 20th century church in the West made 'ministry' a matter of supremacy, sometimes of transcendence above normal people in society.

In some places the mistakes remain today and are even getting amplified, in spite of the warnings of collapse and moral failure, or spiritual and emotional abuse that have wracked the mega-church movements and pop-star style Christian 'ministries'.

So we have a LOT to learn out of this chapter.

What the Apostles have been doing in this chapter is encouraging models of mimetic learning.

And now they are holding up the example of how the Apostles served them in ministry for the Thessalonians to mimic in their ministry to others.

Without denying particular gifts, offices or callings, it's the every-member model of 'ministry' that Paul & co are definitely promoting here.

And what did the example they set to follow look like?

They were like a nursing mother ... sacrificing herself to stoop lower than the least in their society in order to lift the status-less up (v. 7)

They were disciple-making disciples granting access to their own transparent lives  (vv. 8-10)

They were also like a terrific father (vv. 11-12), "with his own children, encouraging, 

comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God ..." 

And they make no bones about the purpose of all of that.

The apostolic team established in the verses we looked at last week where greatness lies, as they modelled for the Thessalonians by their example that in God's Kingdom greatness means humble service.

They are seeking to bring the aspirations of those new, hard-pressed Thessalonian Christians in line with the values of the Kingdom of God ... and they're doing it so that they will be resilient, faithfully committed to the work of God's Kingdom as they dare to tell others the Good News of God.

And it's at the level of expectation and of aspiration, that we need to address the problems our Western churches have got with concepts of ministry.

It is now decades since one day the Lord critically 'adjusted' me with the text of John Ch. 12 v. 24

"Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."

The key to ministry is to learn to drop and die.

To be willing - ready - to drop into the GROUND.

But let's dig into our text ...

The first model for ministry we need to aspire to in order to undergo the adjustment in attitude necessary to dare resiliently to declare the Good News of God to a hostile and violent generation is the model of the breast-feeding mother.

 

Model 1: the breast-feeding mother, v. 7-8a

"Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you."

Illustration: Nursing mother

Paul has called up the image of being like children amongst the Thessalonians and now he evokes the nursing mother.

It’s all very intimate, really, and that is reinforced by the Greek text here … ὡς ἐὰν τροφὸς θάλπῃ τὰ ἑαυτῆς τέκνα … it’s a nursing mother WITH HER OWN child that’s in view.

Now, that throws you back for a second look at what that word for ‘nursing mother’ means, and what you find with a bit more ferreting about is that τροφός is not a nursing mother but a nurse.

There was such a thing in those days as a ‘wet nurse’, women who worked as professional breast-feeders for the wealthier classes.

So the image here is even stronger than might appear from the translations.

Paul is saying that just as a professional wet nurse cared for HER OWN children … not some other child that she took on from time to time … “so we cared for you”.

You were the child held most dearly, most closely, nurtured, cherished and fed from your mother’s very own resources.

What a picture of Christian nurture and discipleship growth!

Point of comparison: so we cared for you

Paul is saying that just as a professional wet nurse cared for HER OWN children … not some other child of the sort that she took on from time to time … “so we cared for you”.

You were the child held most dearly, most closely, nurtured, cherished and fed from your mother’s very own resources.

What a picture of Christian nurture and discipleship growth!

Why do I say ‘discipleship growth?

It’s because it is that intimate, personal atmosphere drawn from these two word pictures of being like children AMONG you (no personal space with kids, is there?!) and of being a wet nurse nursing her OWN child, the Apostles then introduce a very intimate description of how they taught the Thessalonians the Christian Way.

The effect of all they’ve been describing metaphorically about the relationship and the learning is now spelled out explicitly for those who prefer literal language to these similes and metaphors …

Effect: we shared our whole lives with you

v. 8 “Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you

not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.”

Firstly, the apostles describe the Thessalonians as ὁμειρόμενοι ὑμῶν … the ones we long for.
It is a participle of the verb ὁμείρομαι which means: to desire, long for … it is particularly used of the longing of love.

So MUCH, they say, were you the ones we long, for we TOOK PLEASURE in sharing with you not ONLY the Gospel message, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ψυχάς … ‘but even the very souls of ourselves’.

That word for what the apostles were sharing - ψυχή - is often translated as ‘soul’, but it doesn’t mean the spiritual part of you (as opposed to your body).

It’s about sharing your inner personality … the real person that lives behind the eyes.

As Vijay Gupta puts it: Paul’s “most intimate and vulnerable self”.

As Gupta points out, some people guard their lives from their work.

Wanamaker: “He committed himself totally to the Thessalonians rather than remaining aloof and uninvolved in their struggles to come to terms with the new faith that had been declared to them.”

Wanamaker I fear is on to it but may have applied his brakes a bit too soon, because he speaks as if this were something other than Paul’s usual way of operating. But it was.

We think of Paul as a big crowd evangelist, but this opening of life as instruction in the Way of the Lord is at the heart of Paul’s ministry thinking.

Paul has spoken of the Thessalonians as his ‘beloved’ children … but he spoke in just the same way to the Romans (Rom. 1:7), the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 10:14) and the Philippians (Philippians 2:12).

This was the close relationship of rabbinical disciple-making!

It’s what the Thessalonians had SEEN in the example of the apostles … which they were to go on and imitate.

You didn’t need a Masters in Theology to manage that.

Paul & co are about to develop that thought further in what gets said in the next major section of our passage here …

Model 2: the Discipling apostles, vv. 9-10 You RECALL

The second model that they highlight to describe their ministry which the Thessalonians should imitate was that of the discipling apostle.

Biblically there’s a very strong case for saying that followers of Christ should be the discipling sort of disciples.

What follows is the apostles’ description of what a disciple making relationship looks like, what it does and what motivates it.

"Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship;

we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.

You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed."

We SHOWED you the impact of the Good News of God on the lives that DEMONSTRATED the fresh aspirations the Gospel brings.

We did not aspire to an easy life.

We did not aspire to self-indulgence.

we opened up our lives to you, we did not aspire to the privacy that would cover up our sin and our failures ... so you could see in our lives the impact on our conduct that Gospel-gratitude for grace brings about.

To be able to recall you must firstly have seen.

Tverberg (2004, 125) observes: “Jesus lived in a deeply religious culture that highly valued biblical understanding.

Rabbis were greatly respected, and to be a disciple of a famous rabbi was an honor.

Rabbis were expected not only to have a vast knowledge about the Bible, but to show through their exemplary lives how to live by the Scriptures.

A disciple’s goal was to gain the rabbi’s knowledge, but even more importantly, to become like him in character.

It was expected that when the disciple became mature, he would take his rabbi’s teaching to the community, add his own understanding, and raise up disciples of his own.”

(Cited Martina Gracin Evangelical Theological Seminary, Osijek & Ervin Budiselić Bible Institute, Zagreb.)

In Rabbinic Judaism there were three stages in theological education and training.

The three stages of education within the Judaism of Jesus’ time are: Bet Sefer, Bet Talmud, and Bet Midrash.

Each stage included specific age-group of Jewish boys (girls participated in Bet Sefer, although among different authors there is a disagreement regarding at what age children participated in which stage of education) and selected content of education that participants should master. Also, each stage had its own specific methodology of learning.

 

First came Bet Sefer.

This stage of education usually took place in the synagogue. The focus there was on reading, writing, and memorization of the Torah, and from age five or six to ten, a child was enrolled in Bet Sefer

Second came Bet Talmud.

Oluikpe (2015, 119) says that from ten to twelve, a child joined the Bet Talmud.

The meaning of this term was “House of Learning,” and in this stage the focus was on studying oral interpretations of the Torah and the rest of the Jewish Scripture.

Blomberg (1992, 247) claims that memorization was a basic learning tool for boys until the age of twelve. At twelve, a boy became an adult in the religious sense through the bar mitzvah ceremony

Third came Bet Midrash.

Oluikpe (2015, 119) “After twelve or thirteen, gifted students joined the Beth Midrash (“House of Study”) where the focus was understanding and applying the Torah and oral tradition to daily life in a more intense way. Study was conducted under a famous rabbi. The student, usually called a talmid (disciple), would attach himself to and travel with the rabbi as part of his education. His goal was to become like his rabbi and learn his halakoth until he internalized it... This continued until he became a full-fledged rabbi or scribe at the age of thirty. Without training at the Beth Midrash, a man could not be recognized as formally educated. Though the first two stages (elementary schools) seemed to have been affordable and accessible to the average Jewish boy, the third stage (higher schools/rabbinic academies) seemed to be for boys who were intelligent, talented and from well-to-do homes.”

For this stage of education, Lancaster (2006, 52-53) points out four key tasks of each disciple.

The first task was to memorize their teacher’s words, because the process of oral transmission was the only form of intergenerational communication. The great rabbis and Torah scholars of the first century did not write scrolls or books for their disciples. They did not do that as for them, the written format was reserved for the Scriptures alone, and their own teachings were therefore only passed on orally.

The second task was to learn their teacher’s traditions and interpretations, because it was expected that disciple would follow their rabbi in this regard as well. So, a disciple would observe how his teacher kept the Sabbath, how he fasted, how he prayed, how he said the blessings over food, etc.

The third task was to imitate their teacher’s actions: deeds, speech, conduct.

Finally, the fourth task was to raise his own disciples.

Paul the Messianic (i.e. Christian) rabbi seems to have brought the Thessalonians straight into Bet Midrash (presumably because they were adults) and straight into the third stage of that … the imitation of their teacher’s actions in deed, speech and conduct.

Notice that there was only one task beyond that, which was to raise their own disciples.

Paul and co are saying ‘imitate us as we did this amongst you’ … the aim is to get the Thessalonians onto that final tsk which is to raise their own disciples.

So given that is what is going on here, you Thessalonians …

B.        What example did you see?

1.         Toil
κόπος

1) a beating 2) a beating of the breast with grief, sorrow 3) labour 3a) trouble 3a1) to cause one trouble, make work for him 3b) intense labour united with trouble and toil 

2.         Drudgery

 μόχθος
1) a hard and difficult labour, toil, travail, hardship, distress

3.         Out of hours working

νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας ἐργαζόμενοι

 

'Night and day we were those who worked' … the Apostolic team were characterised by working long hours

ἐργάζομαι
1) to work, labour, do work 2) to trade, to make gains by trading, "do business" 3) to do, work out 3a) exercise, perform, commit 3b) to cause to exist, produce 4) to work for, earn by working, to acquire

Why?

Because working night and day is inherently good?

Not at all … but because of the good goal that doing this achieved FOR THEM … the apostles spent THEMSELVES not to burden the Thessalonians as they proclaimed the good news of God to them.

4.         Desire not to burden you

Here’s the thing …

The Apostles were keen not to BURDEN them.

We know from Luke 11:46 the Lord condemned the Pharisee’s rabbis of His day for binding on people’s backs burdens too heavy for them to bear, but that the Gospel was about setting folk free.

Paul characterises that further in Galatians 5:1 (“it is for freedom Christ has set us free”) and it Galatians 6:2 (“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ”) but here MATERIALLY the apostles embodied that same principle too.

Unlike the wandering Greek philosophers and travelling Jewish rabbis, we didn’t put out the begging bowl in the Gospel phase of ministry, we went to the opposite extreme not to burden you.

The Gospel is about setting folks free, and we lived out that message amongst you.

Watch and learn!

5.         All for the central purpose - preaching to you the Gospel of God

It really was not about us!

We prioritised the Gospel of God.

We are living in times when churches and big ministries prioritise all manner of things.

Reformed theology, charismatic practices, contemporary worship music, traditional service styles, childrens’ work, caring ministries, eschatology, Israel, mission … all get prioritised in different places.

We … says Paul when he is listing things that show the genuineness of the apostles’ ministry and demonstrate the things that the Thessalonians should learn from their example to go and emulate … we prioritised the Gospel of God.

God give us many truly Gospel-focused people and many Gospel-focused churches and as we embrace that identity may it truly be the Good  News of God on which our hearts are focused.

And what does that Gospel say?

It says we have all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God, is what it says.

We are all reckoned righteous NOT by our own efforts and personal moral qualities and efforts but on the basis of God’s grace through the faith He puts in our hearts by His Spirit, and on such Biblical, God-given, saving faith alone.

That is the Gospel and that is classic Pauline, truly Biblical theology.

So HOW can Paul go on like this in  this next bit?!

C.        What you WITNESSED, v. 10

“You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.” 

How can this be?

The apostles call the Thessalonians and the holy God as witnesses and lay claim to lives that were …

1.         Holy

ὁσίως - piously, holily

2.         Righteous

δικαίως 1) just, agreeably to right 2) properly, as is right 3) uprightly, agreeable to the law of rectitude

3.         Blameless

ἀμέμπτως - blameless, so that there is no cause for censure

That triad is what sums up those ‘beyond reproach’ lives that were the lives lived before you!

How can you be claiming that, Paul, the man who wrote of his struggles with sin and frustrating human wretchedness that frustrates our strongest aspirations and values?

Only because those were their definite aspirations, these were the fruits of the grace-based Gospel every day and they made progress in embodying those values every day they lived by grace on their way on to Glory.

It was the grace of God that brings salvation that was teaching them to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passion as they ran to that grace every day as they slipped and slid like the rest of us to Glory and the grace of God at work in their lives like that every day brought gradually increasing obedience to the Gospel they lived by.

It's that model of life lived by grace through faith in increasing likeness to the grace Giver that they modelled and preached as they prioritised modelling the Gospel of God.

And the third model of service in God’s kingdom that they exhibit to the Thessalonians is that of a nurturing father.

Here’s how to lead people closer to God …

Model 3: the nurturing father, vv. 11-12

The idea here is one of nurturing oversight, v. 11

“ For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.”

This does not SOUND like a standard Graeco-Roman father.

This was a patriarchal society with beatings and punishments not a nurturing system at all.

It doesn’t sound like their culture’s concept of fatherhood.

It SOUNDS, rather, like the fatherhood of God.

A model that lays aside the rights and the honour it could claim – demand as by right - for itself, but has laid those aside to nurture living for God

What did it look like?

What did we do, and what were our intentions?

1.               Doing what? (v. 12a)

“encouraging, comforting and urging you …”

a.         Exhorting

b.        Encouraging

 

c.         Insisting

2.         To what end? (v. 12b)

“… urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.”

a.         To live WORTHY of God

b.        The One Who calls you to His Kingdom and Glory

These are pure motives and pure actions, indeed … focused on the benefit they bring NOT to the Apostles but the Thessalonians.

Conclusion

Gupta: “Paul saw his mission as focused, not only on winning converts, but training them up to be worthy of God."

The aspiration is to live lives that are worthy of HIM (not of our 'great' importance status) Who calls us to HIS Kingdom and Glory.

THAT is the life of the Kingdom ... aspiring in your little way to actualise the Sovereignty on earth as in Heaven of the Glory of the King: working for it, praying for it, LIVING for it.

THAT means living for Jesus to be KING!

Why?

Because it's right ... He IS the Sovereign Lord of all the earth.

His Kingdom IS coming in ... He announced precisely that from the onset of His Galilean ministry.

It's all about ending the rebellion against Him being seated in His right and Sovereign place in the hearts of the people of this world.

Aspiring NOT to status for me but for Him ... the status that is truly and properly His.

The example the Apostles set and the models they point to are timeless: integrity, transparency, humility and hard work.

That's the aspiration that drives life and service (which we call 'ministry') in His Kingdom

And so now we need to face this:

If you are not aspiring to live the self-abasing life of His Kingdom here mimicking those apostles (like a nursing mother, like a transparent disciple-making disciple, like a father the way God is one) right here right now ... the blunt truth is ... you are STILL actually a part of the rebellion.