The Gospel According to Paul # 22

In His Letter to the Thessalonians

"... our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance ..." (1 Thess. 1:5).

"... having suffered before, and been shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we waxed bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God in much conflict" (2:2)

"... we have been approved of God to be entrusted with the gospel ..." (2:4).

" ... being affectionately desirous of you, we were well pleased to impart unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls ... For ye remember, brethren our labor and travail: working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God" (2:8, 9).

" ... we ... sent Timothy, our brother and God's minister in the gospel of Christ ... " (3:1, 2).

" ... rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus ..." 2 Thess. 1:8).

" ... whereunto He called you through our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2:14).

We see that the gospel has quite a place in these letters. We seek now to discover the real meaning of the gospel, that is, the essential meaning of the good tidings, from the standpoint of these letters and the Thessalonian believers, and we shall be helped to that understanding if we take a look at the spiritual history, life and state of these believers in Thessalonica.

The Thessalonian Christians An Example

You will at a glance see what a special regard Paul had for them. He repeatedly uses words such as these: "We give thanks to God always for you all." Both in the first and second letters he speaks like that (1 Thess. 1:2; II Thess. 1:3, 2:13). "We give thanks to God for you". And then he says about them a very wonderful thing, which gives us a definite lead in this consideration. He says in the first letter, chapter one, verse seven: "Ye became an example to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia". That is something to say about a company of the Lord's people, and it leads us at once to ask the question - How were they an example? It was evidently not only to those immediately referred to, in all Macedonia and Achaia, for these letters remain unto this day, and they therefore represented that which is an example for all the Lord's people. If that was true of them, then the gospel must have meant something very much where they were concerned. It must have had a very special form of expression in them, and so we seek to answer the question: How were they "an example to all that believed?"

A Pure Spirit and a Clean Start

We find the answer in the first place here in this very first chapter. It was in their realism in reception of the gospel. "Our gospel came unto you not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance." And again: "when ye received from us the word of the message, even the word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God" (2:13). Now that represents a very clean start; and if we are going to come to the place of these Thessalonian believers, if the gospel is to have that expression in us that it had in them, if it is going to be true in our case that we are an example to all them that believe, then it is very important that we have a clean start.

For us, of course, if we have advanced in the Christian life without becoming such exemplary believers, that may mean retracing our steps in order to start again somewhere where we have gone wrong; clearing away a lot of rubbish and starting at a certain point all over again. But I am thinking also of young Christians who have recently made the start. You are really at the beginning, and we are most concerned about you, because you may meet many old Christians who are not by any means an example to all that believe. I am sorry to have to say that, but it is quite true, and we do not want you to be like that. We want you to be exemplary Christians; those of whom the Apostle Paul, if he were present, could say, "I thank God always for you". It would be a great thing, would it not, if that could be said of us? "Thank God for him! Thank God for her! Thank God that ever we came into touch with this one, and that one! I always thank God for them - they are an example of what Christians ought to be!"

Now, that is the desire of the Lord, that is our desire for you, and it should be the desire of our hearts for ourselves. Although we may not have succeeded, let us not give up hope that some may yet give thanks for us, that we may be an example, that in some things, at any rate, it may be true of us as it was of these. Paul says here: "Ye became imitators of us" (1 Thess. 1:6). The Lord help us to be such an example that we could invite others, in some respects at least, to imitate us, without any spiritual pride.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 23)