And turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, you have in your bulletin an outline and I would encourage you to follow the message this morning by filling in the outline. We've departed from this for a few weeks due to Father's Day, 4th of July and so forth, but after a month I wanted to get back into our series and going through the book of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. Remember that the theme of this particular chapter is this, the ministry of the gospel is difficult. Let me just read verses one through nine of 1st Thessalonians chapter two. Please follow along. For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you that it was not in vain. This is Paul writing to these Christians at Thessalonica. He says in verse two, but even after that we had suffered before and were shamefully entreated, as you know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. So here in these first two verses, we see the difficulty that Paul, Silas, and Timothy experienced in their ministry of the gospel to the Thessalonians, and it was seen in their coming. That was the first point we made a number of weeks ago. Their difficulty was seen in their communication. Note verses three and four. For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile. But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts. Thirdly, we see that the difficulty they experienced in their ministry of the gospel to the Thessalonians is seen in their conduct, verses 5 through 12. Look at verse 5. For neither at any time used we flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God as witness, nor of men sought we glory, neither of you nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ. is here described with the comparison word as, as apostles, their conduct was selfless. So we saw their selflessness in verses five and six. Paul said in verse five, we didn't use flattering words. We didn't use insincere praise. Men flatter to please men, not to please God. Men will flatter to somehow make the gospel palatable, to make the gospel acceptable to a wide crowd. Paul said, we didn't use flattering words. He says in the latter part of verse five, we didn't use disguising greed in us. We didn't use the ministry to enrich ourselves. That's not why we came to you. We weren't looking for an opportunity for an offering. We weren't looking to gain greater wealth by being itinerant creatures trying to take offerings everywhere we went, trying to enrich ourselves. Verse six, neither were we seeking glory. The glory of men was not the fuel that drove their efforts. God's glory was enough. So their conduct as apostles in verses five and six is seen as selflessness. But the next description, beginning with verse seven, begins with a strong adversative, a strong contrast. What's the first word of verse seven? Out loud, please. There are two words for that adversative in the Greek. This one is very strong. And when this word is used, it means, now I want to contrast what I've just said with what I'm going to say now. You might think, going back to verse two, that because they were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention, you would think that they were gonna be pushy. Somebody who's bold, you tend to think, well, they're pushy. Or you might think that because they did not use flattering words, verse five, they had to use harsh words. But no, and that's the reason for that word but, that adversative. Their conduct was not only as apostles, their conduct was as, let's see what he says in verse seven. But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children. So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear to us. Literally, because you became dear to us. For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail, for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Here's the second point I'd like to make with these verses seven to nine, their conduct as a mother, gentleness, their conduct as a mother, gentleness. You know, there are public servants today who seek to give you the impression of gentleness in public, but it's not what they are in private. I'm thinking now of a particular presidential candidate who I have read that when this particular person is out in public, oh, so meek and gentle and so forth, but you get this person alone in private and they're brash, pushy, harsh, And what they are in public is not what they are in private. Here's what's going to happen. What that person is in private will soon be made known in public. Even pushing away newspaper reporters and the media, unless they will report things as this person wants them reported. What this one is in public is not what this person is in private. Now preaching ought to be confrontational. But just because preaching is confrontational doesn't mean our conduct has to be confrontational. Paul says our conduct was gentle. So I say to you this morning that one of the characteristics of an authentic minister of the gospel is That, folks, is difficult. That's why I've said that the theme of this particular chapter is the ministry of the gospel is difficult. We're going to see that as we get into this passage here, verses 7 to 9. I want you to see, first of all, that this nurse spoken of in verse 7 is a mother nursing her child. And so Paul is describing his conduct and Silas' and Timothy's, the missionary's conduct as, first of all, verse seven, cherishing. Cherishing. I want you to see, first of all, the meaning of this action of cherishing. He says, we were gentle. Now what does the word gentle mean? Because I think this is really important. If we're gonna know, okay, what does it mean to be gentle? Does this mean to be a pushover? Does this mean that everybody can just walk all over you? What does he mean by the fact that they were gentle? Well, the word is used two times in the New Testament. And I found the other occurrence of that word and found that there Paul is talking to his son-in-of-faith, another minister of the gospel, Timothy. And as he is writing to Timothy, he uses a contrast to the word gentle. So if we can find what the contrast there to the word gentle is, we can better understand what he means by the word gentle here. Go with me to 2 Timothy, a few books past 1 Thessalonians, 2 Timothy 2, verse 24. He's talking about the servant of the Lord and what should characterize the servant of the Lord. 2 Timothy 2 verse 24, and the servant of the Lord must not strive. Now comes the word, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth." But there's the contrast in verse 24. The servant of the Lord must not strive. In other words, the opposite of gentleness is somebody who strives. Now, what does it mean to strive? As I've studied that word, it literally means somebody who quarrels or disputes. It's related to the noun A sword. You ever met somebody who loves to have their sword out at all times? When you talk with them, it's almost like they've got their sword out. And it's what they say. Isn't it interesting that Jesus Christ is described in Revelation 19 as a sword coming out of his mouth? When the time comes for judgment, the sword will come out. But that seems to be the conduct of some in their everyday conversation and everyday dealings. They have the sword out. They want to argue with you. They want to strive with you. They want to fight. And this isn't just talking about people in the secular world. This is people in Christianity, even among those who would call themselves fundamental Christians. They love getting into a duel. They love getting into a sword fight. I had a roommate my freshman year in college. As I was studying for the ministry, I was a Bible major. My roommate was a Bible major. He loved to argue. He loved to strive. Many love to debate theological systems. Oh, they just love the debate. They love to sit down and bring their sword out to show you exactly how much they know and how sharp their intellect is. I read in my Bible that only by pride cometh contention. Proverbs 13, 10. The ministry, in the case of those people who love to strive, is all about them. It's not about the ones to whom they are trying to minister. With Paul, his ministry is all about those to whom he is ministering. Now, when it was needful, Paul could be rough. He was even with his brother in the faith, Peter, who he at one time confronted because of something that Peter was doing. And even Barnabas was carried away in his hypocrisy. It is Paul who wrote to Timothy and said, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. So it doesn't mean that a pastor or any Christian ought to be some milquetoast when we talk about being gentle. There is a time when we may need to be very forceful in what we say. So gentle does not imply never getting angry at sin, never getting angry at rebellion, never getting angry at hard-heartedness. Jesus himself, read it in Mark chapter 3 verse 5, became indignant at the hard-heartedness of the people around him. Moses, known as the meekest man on earth, became very angry with the sin of the people. When he came down from the Mount Sinai with the two tablets in his hand and he saw their sin and their rebellion, he took those and in anger smashed it. So it does not negate reproving and rebuking. But Paul and his team exhibited this gentleness. Notice how they did it, but we were gentle among you, literally in the midst of you. It's as if they had become one with the Thessalonians. I have observed men in the ministry. I know you have observed men in the ministry who think so highly of themselves that the average Christian can't talk to them. They're so popular that you can't even get up to them to say hello to them. They're too big to do little things. They're too big to work with children. They're too big to do some things in the ministry. I think this is well illustrated in Romans chapter 12. I'm going to read a lengthy passage there so you would do well to turn there with me. Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 verses 3 to 16, so please put your, as my teachers used to say, put your thinking caps on, don't just go into neutral now, I want you to listen and think about what we're reading here. Romans chapter 12, I'm gonna read from verse 3 to 16, make some comments as I go. Paul says, for I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Now he's saying, don't think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, because now he's going to discuss spiritual gifts. And some people think, well, my spiritual gifts is so much better than yours. You're thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to think, then. Verse 4, For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one member is one of another. Having then gifts, differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith. Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering. Or he that teacheth, on teaching. Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation. He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. He that ruleth, with diligence. He that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. That word dissimulation means hypocrisy. You know, people talk a lot about love today. And it's hypocritical. They're hypocrites in their love. Like the little phrase, love wins. It's very hypocritical. Because the next part of verse nine says, abhor that which is evil. True love abhors what is evil. Cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love. In honor, preferring one another. Now take that verse, folks. Compare that with what we're reading in First Thessalonians 2.7, but we were gentle among you. You see that? Be kindly affection one to another. But he goes on to say this in verse 11, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer, distributing to the necessity of saints, given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you, bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceit. So I read those verses to say that perfectly describes what Paul is trying to say to these Thessalonian believers as far as his conduct was among them. We were gentle among you. We were gentle in the midst of you. Something else I'd like to point out when he says in the midst of you, that means this church had to have gathered together. Folks, that's what Christians do. They gather together as you have done this morning. That's what Christians do. They come together so that the ministry of the word as it was from Paul, Silas, and Timothy might be accomplished in the midst of you. You cannot grow if you don't gather with other believers. You cannot advance in your Christian life if you don't gather with other believers. So we were gentle among you because the church had gathered together. So there's the meaning of this action, cherisheth. But now, secondly, we see the model of this action, the model of this action, even as a nurse cherisheth her children. The nurse here is obviously the mother because she cherisheth, literally, her own children. So this is a nursing mother. And it says here that the missionaries were, even as we were gentle among you, that has to do with they became gentle with those they recognized as their own children in the faith. So Paul is saying that even as a nursing mother is to her nursing child, that's the way we were to you, you Thessalonian believers. We became gentle among you. I think this really portrays the discipleship process with new believers. It takes time and energy to care for children. Any of those of you with young children understand what I'm saying. It takes time and energy. It takes time and energy with a new believer. It takes time and energy to disciple someone, to mentor someone, A nursing mother is the picture here. And a nursing mother must eat in order to share the nourishment. So must a mentor. If you're going to mentor someone else, you must be feeding upon that which you are going to feed them. A nursing mother must be careful what she herself eats, because she passes it on to her child in her milk. So must a mentor. Must be careful of what he is feeding himself with. The books he reads. Because he's gonna pass that on. Folks, discipleship is a serious business. The discipler has a serious job with the disciple. Because of what that discipler is eating is going to be passed on to the disciple. What I eat spiritually, what I feed myself upon in the Word of God and some of the books that I read is very important because I'm gonna pass that on to you. Cherisheth is an interesting word. It's used in the Old Testament to picture a mother bird covering her young with her feathers to warm and protect the little birds. It's what Jesus longed to do for his people, Jerusalem, when he said, How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Jesus said, I wanted to bring you together. I wanted to protect you. I wanted to put my my arms as wings over you. But you refused it. They refused the ministry of Jesus. But here these Thessalonian Christians gathered, and instead of refusing the ministry of Paul, Silas, and Timothy, they received it. They received their ministry. You see, folks, a disciple must want discipleship. You cannot disciple someone who does not want it. When a mother nurses her own child, she imparts to her own child her own life. And that's what you see in the next verse. Not only does this describe the missionary's conduct as cherishing, it describes their conduct as, in verse 8, imparting. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but our own souls, because ye were dear to us." Look at that phrase, we were willing, because that seems to imply some kind of a lack of desire, as in, well, if we have to, we will do it. That's not the meaning there. It is actually stronger than that. It literally means, we were pleased. To do what? to impart or to give. They had not come to Thessalonica to get. They had come to Thessalonica to give. True love does not involve getting. True love involves giving. That's why when a marriage ceases, it's because the couple have decided to cease loving each other. They are too involved in getting, getting, getting, rather than giving. For God so loved the world that He gave. There's love. Love is giving. They had not come to Thessalonica to get, they came to give. Why does Paul keep pointing this out? Because there were so many in his day, so many itinerant speakers, not just preachers, but speakers, philosophers and so forth, who would travel around and they would literally milk people for their money. And Paul is trying to say, now folks, that's not why we came. We did not come to get, we came to give. This is what we admonish new members to do here at West Side Baptist Church. You are now a member here. You are not here to get, you are here to give. That's a reminder, by the way, for our old members. How do you know if you're a getter or a giver? Well, Paul, I think, lets us know that in this verse. you will be known by, number one, or that will be known by the reason for your giving. And we see the reason for their giving here, being affectionately desirous of you. That is one word in the original, used only here in the New Testament, and it means we longed for you, we yearned for you. Sometimes we can discover the meaning of a Greek word in the New Testament finding it in secular Greek literature. And since this is the only time it's used in the New Testament, Greek scholars have gone to ancient literature and have tried to find this word in other literature. And it was actually found on a tombstone. That word was included by sorrowing parents because the tombstone said this, longing for our son. longing, yearning for our son. It's a very strong word. So Paul didn't come to get, he came to give. We were yearning for you. That's why we were pleased to have imparted unto you what he says they imparted. So good giving involves longing. The reason is expressed again at the end of the verse, because ye were dear unto us. It says in the last part of verse that you were dear unto us. Literally, you had become beloved to us. So good giving, folks, not only involves longing, it includes loving. There's the reason for their giving, and it ought to be the reason for your giving. But whether you're known as a getter or a giver will also be known by secondly the range of your giving. Look at the range of their giving. What did they give? Not the gospel of God only but something else. We imparted to you our own souls. They had not come to Thessalonica to get, but to give, and they came to give the gospel of God. That is the gospel that belongs to God, salvation through Jesus Christ. And the fact that they would endure difficult travel, going all the way from Jerusalem for the promise, from Palestine, traveling the dangerous seas, the dangerous lands among thieves and robbers. And you read about Paul talking about this in the book of Corinthians, when he talks about the things he endured, imprisonments, hunger, thirst, beatings. All of that he did so that they might come to the Thessalonians and preach the gospel to them. But the range of the gospel, or the range of their giving, didn't end there. They not only imparted the message, they imparted their own selves. You see, the giving involved not only the message, but also the messengers. Even as a nursing mother joys to give not only her milk for her child, but her life. I saw this quote, when soul goes out to soul, the gospel so offered will be the more readily accepted. That's why Paul says we were pleased to have imparted unto you not just the gospel of God, not just the message, but even ourselves, our own souls, our own lives, is what we were willing to do. I traveled as a neighborhood Bible time evangelist ministering to children in what you would think of as VBS. I traveled in 1979 and again in 1982. One of the more difficult things I found in traveling as an itinerant going from church to church, is that at the end of the week, I had become so close to the people, I didn't want to leave. The little children that I had met, the children who had come to Christ, I didn't want to leave them. And many of my fellow evangelists would say the same thing, oh, you become so attached. I don't want to leave. That's the difficulty, by the way, of being an evangelist. That's one of the times I realized, you know what, the Lord hasn't called me to be an evangelist, but a pastor where I can stay. and give the soul. One of the commentators said that this is key to a vital ministry. It's not just preaching, it's giving your own soul. Folks, this is key to vital witnessing. You know how easy it is when you meet somebody, just to hand them a gospel tract and turn around and leave? That's good, and we've got plenty of tracts back there to give out. But how much more is it when you don't just hand them a gospel tract and turn around and leave, but when you stand there and take the time to give them the gospel? You see, that's the imparting of your own soul. And that's what we need to be involved in. And that costs something. That's troublesome. That's difficult when you give your own soul. So what a nursing mother does describes the missionary's conduct as cherishing, as imparting, and lastly, verse nine, as laboring. Paul says, for ye remember, brethren. In other words, these people, they would know about this. You remember our labor and travail, for laboring night and day because we would not be chargeable unto any of you. We preached unto you the gospel of God. Three things about their laboring. Number one, it was memorable. Their laboring was memorable. There are two types of people, two types of labor that you will remember. See if you agree with me. When somebody's lazy, do you remember them? That guy was a bum. That guy doesn't do anything. He's lazy. Everybody else is working. He's lazy. You tend to remember that kind of labor. There's another kind of labor you remember. And that's laboring. When somebody is a hard worker, you remember that. You don't tend to remember those who simply do what's expected. You don't tend to remember people when they labor, well, they just kind of get by, just so nobody notices or does notice a little bit that they at least did what they were supposed to do. I'm going to use an illustration here of someone in the church, and I don't mean to embarrass this person. This is a positive illustration. When Steve McCoy cleans the church, I know it. I know it. He's not even here this morning. You know what I see him doing? You don't ever notice this, but I notice it. He's going above the doors with a cloth. He's cleaning everything above there. He's going in all the corners, making sure there's no spider webs. I mean, he cleans every, it seems like he cleans every inch of this building. That's memorable. Now, others of you do the same thing, but that's just someone I noticed because he spends so much time in doing it, he and Marilyn. And you know when somebody works hard. And the work that Paul did among these people says, you know what? You remember this. Why? Because they weren't slackers. They worked hard. And he uses two words. He emphasizes his labor with two words, labor and travail. Labor relates to the active exertion that's required, it's toil. Travel relates to the exhausting effect of the labor, it's trouble. This was all for the purpose of preaching unto you the gospel of God. That was the whole reason. I'll bring up another illustration that a lot of you will remember. Three letters, VBS. Was that hard work? So hard that you were saying, let's do this every two years, not every year. No. That labor, you know what? You don't talk about how hard it is when you come to ministry and laboring. Paul said, hey, you remember how hard we worked among you. Their labor was memorable. Their laboring, number two, was incessant. Notice what he says, because there's a third word having to do with it. For ye remember, brethren are labor and travel, for laboring, how often? Night and day. Now we use that expression as an exaggeration. Man, I was night and day. This is not an exaggeration. Paul would work getting up early in the morning, this is what this is talking about, laboring well into the night. Laboring. And the word labor, literally, this word labor is different than the other two words. This has to do with manual labor. Let me ask you mothers something. Is it an exaggeration when you have a newborn to say that you labor night and day? What is Paul talking about here? Newborns. And he understands that, you know what, ministry requires laboring night and day. New believers are newborns. By the way, newborns do not stay new. They grow. But some will take advantage of all the attention for as long as possible. That's why Paul has to rebuke some of these Thessalonians. Go with me to the second book of Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. He has to rebuke some of these people for taking advantage of those who do work. which is what the tendency is. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, note with me verses 10 and 11. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should he. I think this ought to be the welfare program the United States of America adopts. If you don't work, you don't eat. Well, we're going to have to have pity on these people. You know what? Allow them to come to churches where people know them and say, you know what? This guy's done everything he can. Let's help him. But when it comes down from Washington and they don't know these people who are non-workers, it doesn't work. Listen, if a man doesn't work, he does not eat. Go on. For we hear, verse 11, that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, except in one area. They're busy about something. Busy bodies. You will find, too, that most often it's the people who are lazy and don't do any work who are the ones who are stirring up trouble, the busybodies, the ones who are in the streets rioting because they're not working. That was happening in this church, taking advantage of the workers, the man who would work night and day, the apostle Paul. All the while Paul was preaching, He was earning wages by daily and nightly toil because Paul's other job that he had to have by trade was? He was a tent maker. And that's what this is referring to. Their laboring was incessant. so that he could preach. Thirdly, their laboring was gracious. He says, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you. We did not come so that we would be a burden to you. That was not our reason for coming to you. There are philosophers who travel and they come and they're a burden to you. But my ministry and that of Silas and that of Timothy was not that we might be a financial burden to any of you. And folks, this proves that these missionaries did not have greed behind their preaching. They did not demand pay for their instruction. This is why I disagree with Christian counselors who charge for the counseling services. You know, if you're a counselor, then you shouldn't be charging for it. Their gentleness as a mother is only another proof of their selflessness as apostles. Now, as I conclude this morning, you may be thinking, well, no one ever ministers to me in this way. No one ever ministers to me in this way. No one's ever gentle to me, affectionately desirous of me, imparting to me not only the message of the gospel, but their own souls and laboring nightly. Nobody ever does that for me. Who's the emphasis on there? It's me. And that, folks, is the problem. If that is your thinking, then you are the problem. Could Paul have said, nobody ever ministers to me? He sure could have. But I know that's the thinking you'll find in a church. You're thinking only of yourself. You are a getter, not a giver. And you must have the attitude of Jesus Christ, even as Paul had. Because you'll read in Mark chapter 10, verse 45, for even the son of man came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. That's the ministry. It's never about me. It's about others. Is that difficult? It certainly is. Because people will take advantage of you. But that's the ministry. Are you willing to minister in that way? That's what a marriage is all about. Giving, not getting. Ministering. Are you willing? Would you bow your heads?