Faithfulness Through His Power
Hope and Holiness Part 4: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-4
How can we remain faithful and obedient in the midst of suffering or accusation? How can we faithfully follow Jesus when boldness is required that we don’t possess on our own? These are questions that we face in our lives as we follow Jesus, and there is comfort and encouragement knowing that the early believers faced these as well. In his letter to the Thessalonian church, Paul speaks to them from his own experience in following Jesus as he encourages them that they can remain steadfast and obediently follow Jesus because the power to do so comes from God. As I read these words, I picture the “great cloud of witnesses” that Hebrews 12:1-2 talks about as I think of these early believers and of Paul. Paul’s words, these believers’ lives and challenges, and the power of the Holy Spirit working in them and through them witness to us in the challenges we face today. They remind us of a faithful God who breathes boldness and encouragement and hope to us.
1 Thessalonians 2:1-4
“For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our visit with you was not without result. On the contrary, after we had previously suffered and were treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, we were emboldened by our God to speak the gospel of God to you in spite of great opposition. For our exhortation didn’t come from error or impurity or an intent to deceive. Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please people, but rather God, who examines our hearts.”
Faithfulness in Suffering
Paul’s missionary journeys and ministry were wrought with opposition and difficulty. As Paul writes to encourage the Thessalonians in their suffering and persecution, he reminds them of the faithfulness of God to work through the circumstances we face and to be with us and strengthen us. It’s humbling to have the perspective as a believer that the man God chose to pen much of the New Testament endured great opposition in his obedience to spread the gospel that has reached even to us. We as believers who hold fast to these words today are still being encouraged by Paul’s faithfulness 2,000 years later. The Thessalonians received encouragement from Paul to remain faithful and to remember that God brings fruit in His way and in His time through the seeds of our obedience. They themselves are a result of God’s Spirit working through his ministry to bring the good news. Instead of the gospel being extinguished by opposition and accusations, it grew and spread. Faithfulness in suffering is something that Paul and many other disciples of Jesus in the Bible modeled for us, but no one more than Jesus. Jesus suffered and was faithful in obedience, even unto death—all the way to the cross, the grave, and to the right hand of God. We are the result of His faithfulness and obedience to the Father. We are the fruit of His faithfulness.
Boldness from God
Paul also reminded the Thessalonian believers that the Holy Spirit gives us the boldness to speak the gospel of Jesus, with our words and with our lives, even in the face of opposition. This power is from God and not from us. The people in the city of Thessalonica worshiped different Greek, Roman, and Egyptian gods, as well as the emperor, who was considered to be deity. Imagine the boldness needed to worship a different god, not a human emperor, not a god among many gods, but one true God. The message of Christ cannot peacefully coexist alongside other gods. It’s wholly different, wholly unique, because if Jesus is who He said He is, all other gods and idols are false. God breathed His supernatural power and boldness into the early disciples, including Paul, and he used their message at a time of great opposition to spread the gospel that would eventually reach the nations and generations to come. What does boldness look like in the places and spaces of our daily lives? When following and worshiping Jesus collides with the culture around us or the idols and “gods” that are worshiped around us, we need supernatural boldness. God has given us the Holy Spirit to strengthen us and give us the words to say and the wisdom to live in obedience to Him.
Living to Please God
After reminding the Thessalonians of the way God emboldened him to share the gospel in spite of opposition, Paul writes, “So we speak, not to please people, but rather God, who examines our hearts.” (1 Thessalonians 2:4) Paul was persecuted by unbelievers opposed to the gospel but even experienced accusations from within the church about his motives. As humans, we will be misunderstood at times and we will misunderstand others as well. Only God sees the heart, and we must humbly come to Him over and over again to ask Him to keep our hearts and our motives pure. There have been times in my own life when I followed God in obedience and was not able to control the narrative of what other people thought or how they interpreted my actions, as much as I wanted to. Those were difficult seasons, but they forced me to decide whose approval I was truly living for. I had to release the opinions of others and remember that my goal was obedience to God. Our motives matter, and instead of leaving our hearts and motives unchecked, we must ask God to test our hearts. In Psalm 139:23-24 (CSB), David prayed, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.” A daily, ongoing humility before God is essential to walking faithfully with Him. Our desire to please God must be greater than our fear of facing our own selfishness and sinfulness. We will find that a heart open before the Lord, with nothing to hide, gets to experience the fullness of His grace, the tenderness of His love, and the beauty of His redemption. Following Paul’s example, may we speak—and live—not to please people, but rather God, who examines our hearts.
