The Father as Producer (1 Thessalonians 2:12)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/13/2014 7:58 AM

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  The Father as Producer

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  1 Thess. 2:12

            Message of the verses:  “12 so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”

            We begin this SD with a quote from Warren Wiersbe as he answers the question “What was the prpose for this fatherly ministry to the believers?”  And the answer is that children ought to walk in a manner worthy of God.  “Every child must learn how to walk. He must have good models to follow.  Paul admonished them to walk ‘worthy of the Lord’ (See Col. 1:10 and Phil. 1:27) We are to walk worth of the calling we have in Christ Jesus (Eph. 4:1).  God had called us; we are saved by grace.  We are a part of His kingdom and glory.  One day we shall enter the eternal kingdom and share His glory.  This assurance ought to govern our lives and make us want to please the Lord.”

            “The verb in 1 Thessalonians 2:12 is in the present tense: ‘who is continually calling you.’  God called us to salvation (2 Thess. 2:13-14), and He is constantly calling us to a life of holiness and obedience.  “15  but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16  because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.’”

            Now in John MacArthur’s commentary he writes about the calling that God has given to us as believers, the calling that we looked at in the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians when we looked at ten characteristics of the elect.  He writes “Here the divine call, as always in the epistles, refers to the effectual saving call.  By it God, through the faith graciously and sovereignty granted to sinners, regenerates, justifies, and sanctifies them.  And Paul stated the singular end of that call—entrance into His own kingdom and glory.  Though they, as all believers, had not yet seen either the millennial kingdom or the eternal kingdom, they were already citizens of the redeemed kingdom over which God now rules. (Luke 17:21; Col. 1:13; cf. Rom. 14:17).”

            His concluding comments on this chapter are as follows:  “The paternal pictures of spiritual leadership in 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12 clearly demonstrate that leadership in the church must be balanced.  It is not enough for leaders just to be compassionate, tender, and caring as spiritual mothers.  They also need to live uncompromising, pure and exemplary lives as spiritual fathers—lives that, in their motives and actions, set the standard for all to follow (cf. 1 Cor. 11:1).  Furthermore, they need to teach the truth faithfully, building up the saints in spiritual wisdom (cf. Eph. 4:11-16) and displaying the courage of conviction to come alongside and exhort and call their spiritual children to obedience, through both strong discipline and tender consolation.  These efforts lead their congregation to live in a way that honors God, who has called them to His eternal kingdom and glory.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I think about what I have learned and been reminded again of the high calling that God has given to me I must walk in a manner worthy of that calling, for that calling cost God His only begotten Son as He died in my place on the cross, and not only my place, but all of those who will except His forgiveness offered to them through His death, burial and resurrection from the dead.  We live in a world that offers us a lot of temporary stuff that only satisfies for a little while, kind of like the new car does until a newer one comes out and then the new car shine is all gone.  God is the only One who can truly satisfy the hunger that all men have. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Walk in a manner worthy of God.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Stephen” (Acts 7).

Today’s Bible question:  “What is a centurion?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/13/2014 8:31 AM

           

The Father as Teacher and Motivator (1 Thess. 2:11)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/12/2014 8:11 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  The Father as Teacher and Motivator

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  1 Thessalonians 2:11

            Message of the verses:  “11 just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children,”

            When we look at the life of the Lord Jesus Christ while He was on the earth we saw that He spoke to large crowds, but He also took time to speak to individuals.  This took a great deal of time to do this, but it was important for Him to do this for just think of all the time He spent with His disciples individually and because of this there were some of them who wrote parts of the New Testament.  They went to different parts of the known world teaching and preaching the Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead and how people can be saved.  Christ’s time with the disciples was one of the most important things He did other than dying for our sins, for His teaching of them and the work of the Holy Spirit in them set the stage for the New Testament Church to be born and to keep on growing even until today.

            Paul also took time to talk to individual believers as a father would his own children, helping them with difficult problems that they were going through and answering difficult questions.  I cherish the time that I can spend with my pastor on an individual basis.  As week or so before I left on the vacation that I am on I had the privilege of having dinner with my pastor and that one on one time was very helpful to me.  Paul did this kind of thing with the people of Thessalonica even though he was preaching to them and also working a job to help support himself he still took the time to do this.

            John MacArthur states that “This fatherly instruction is conveyed in three verbs describing what fathers do and what Paul had done continually.”  We will look at these three verbs and what they mean.

            The word “exhorting” is from the Greek word “parakaleo,” and this is a word that means “to call along side.”  The Holy Spirit is called by this Greek word as He is called along side believers to aid in their walk with the Lord.  Let us look at John 14:16-17, 26 “16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.  26  "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”  Verse 26 speaks of what was written earlier as the Holy Spirit caused the disciples to remember the things that were taught to them individually by Christ.  John MacArthur writes “The apostle referred to coming alongside children for the purpose of aiding, directing and instructing wisely as a source of character conduct.”

            The word “encouraging” is the Greek word “paramutheomai” and it means “to encourage in the sense of comfort and consolation, and this is very critical in assisting toward spiritual growth because of the many obstacles and failures Christians can experience.”  MacArthur continues “Used in John 11:19 and 31 for the consolation given to the grieving family of Lazarus, the word was reserved for the tender, restorative, compassionate uplifting needed by a struggling, burdened, heartbroken child.  This beautiful expression of natural fatherly kindness also fits the spiritual father.”

            The following is what MacArthur writes about the final verb in this verse:  “Finally, Paul reminded the believers that he had been imploring each one (singling them out personally).  Imploring is the Greed participle “marturomenoi” which is usually translated ‘testifying,’ or witnessing,’ is related to the word “martyr” because so many faithful witnesses died for their boldness.  Paul warned the Thessalonians that any deviation from the divinely prescribed course fo conduct had serious consequences.  The warning was an admonishment that if they did not follow the course laid out for them, they, as disobedient children would receive from a father, could expect to receive spiritual discipline from the apostle.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, and still having a sin nature which gets in the way of my walk with the Lord, I realize that there are times when the Lord will discipline me.  I desire to understand when I am being disciplined and also why so that I can, by God’s grace correct the sinful things that I am being disciplined for.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to show me the answer to the question I raised in the portion above.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Melita” (Acts 28:1).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who gave the history of the Jewish nation in defending himself before the council?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/12/2014 9:18 AM    

 

The Father as a Model or Paul's Walk (1 Thess. 2:10)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/11/2014 9:21 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  The Father as Model

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  1 Thessalonians 2:10

            Message of the verses:  “10 You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers.”

            “10 Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe.”  (KJV)

            In Warren Wiersbe’s commentary he entitles this section or verse “his walk,” meaning the walk of Paul. He uses the KJV in his commentary and that is why I have added it in this SD.  We can see that there is a difference in the two translations and the NASB uses the word “devoutly” while the KJV uses the word holy.  Dr. Wiersbe points out that this word means “carefully fulfill the duties God give to a person.”  We can be sure that this is what the Apostle Paul did in his life.  He goes on to say that this word is also used in Revelations 15:4 and also Revelations 16:5 where both times it is applied to the character of God. 

            We must remember that we are talking about the character of a spiritual leader here, and that part of his character is to be like a spiritual father.  When we look at what the Scriptures have to say about how a father is to live we see that he is suppose to be an example to his children, a good example to his children and so Paul was a good example to his spiritual children at Thessalonica and he reminds this to them in this section of his letter to them. 

            Paul has actually gone over some of this ground before as he has already reminded the Thessalonicans about how he had lived his life before them and that God was his witness to the life he lived before them.  We know that Paul was dedicated to live a life that pleased the Lord and for this he paid for it through persecution and also accusation from those who were accusing him of doing the things he did for profit in one way or another.  Dr. Wiersbe writes about Paul living a righteous life:  “His life was also righteous.  This refers to integrity, uprightness of character, and behavior.  This is not the ‘righteous of the Law’ but the practical righteousness that God works out I our lives as we yield to him (Phil. 3:4-10).”

            He goes on to explain that Paul’s life was unblameably or blameless:  “Literally, the word means ‘not able to find fault in.’ His enemies might accuse him, but no one could level any charge against Paul and prove it.  Christians are supposed to be ‘blameless and harmless’ as they live in this world (Phil. 2:15).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at the life that Paul lived I can honestly say that I have a lot of improving to do in my walk with the Lord.  I am glade for the patience of the Lord as He continues to teach me from His Word and through the Holy Spirit who live in me.  Paul said in Romans seven that he did the things he did not want to do and the things he wanted to do he did not do.  I can relate to this.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To do the things I want to do and not do the things that I don’t want to do.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Abraham” (Genesis 18:23).

Today’s Bible question:  “On what island did Paul land after being shipwrecked?

Answer in our next SD.

4/11/2014 10:04 AM 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           

Introduction to The Spiritual Leader as a Father from 2 Thess. 2:10-12)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/10/2014 8:18 AM

My Worship Time                                       Focus:  Introduction to The Spiritual Leader as Father

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  1 Thess. 2:10-12

            Message of the verses:  “10 You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; 11 just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, 12 so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”

            We will look at each verse individually in latter SD’s, but today we just want to look at the introduction of these verses, remembering that this will be the last section we will look at as far as understanding different areas of spiritual leaders.

            Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers “1Co 4:15 For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet [you would] not [have] many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.”  In a sense Paul was the one who begot them for he was the one the Lord used to bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  However that was not the fathers only responsibility for Dr. Wiersbe writes “But the father not only begets the children; he also cares for them.  As he defended his own work against false accusation, Paul pointed out three of his duties as a spiritual father to the Thessalonicans.”  We looked at the first duty in yesterday’s SD, which was his work.

            Now I want to move on to some things that John MacArthur has to say in his introduction to this subject.  First we want to look at another verse from 1 Corinthians:  “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”  The phrase act like men is what we want to zone in on, for that is the only time it is used in the NT, but later we will look at some times this 7  Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. 8  "The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."from the Greek is used in the Septuagint, which is the OT translated into the Greek language.  John MacArthur gives a quote from the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary for the word “fortitude” “strength of mind that enables a person to encounter danger or bear pain or adversity with [resolute] courage.”  He pointed out that this word fortitude is a good way to understand what this phrase act like men means.

            He writes “Effective spiritual leaders, then, will be men who have strength of conviction and courage to stand on it.  God has called them to noble spiritual standards (cf. Eph. 4:11-12; 1 Tim. 3:1-13; 2 Tim. 2:2; 1 Peter 5:1-4) and granted them by truth and the Holy Spirit the fortitude to uphold those standards and remain firm, unmoved, and uncompromising in the ace of any opposition.”

            Now we will look at some of the key places in the OT (Septuagint translation) where this is found.  “7 Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. 8 “The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’” “23  Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you.’”  (Deuteronomy 31:7-8 and 23)

            “5 “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. 6 “Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7  "Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. 8  "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. 9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.’”  (Joshua 1:5-9)

            “12 “Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the LORD do what is good in His sight." 13 So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to the battle against the Arameans, and they fled before him.”  (2 Samuel 10:12-13)

            MacArthur summarizes the passages from Joshua:  “As unfolded in the Joshua passage, the first source of courage for Joshua in his task as spiritual leader was the continuing presence of God (“I will be with you”); the second was the promise of God (“I swore to their fathers”); and the third was the power of God (Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go”).  Based on those divine resources, God called Joshua to obey His law, knowing that such obedience would make him a successful leader.  Those truths so simply given, apply to all who lead in God’s kingdom.

            “Perhaps the apostle Paul drew from the above-cited passages as he elucidated the paternal metaphor or spiritual leadership and reminded the Thessalonians how he and his missionary companions exemplified it.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Being strong in the Lord is the only way a person can truly be strong.  Some men seem to have this kind of strength as they go into burning buildings to save people from sure death, or show this type of courage on the battle field like Joshua did, but this real strength has to come from the Lord.  For me to have that kind of strength I know that it would come from the Lord, and my prayer is that when I need this type of strength that the Lord will give it to me as he gave it to Joshua and to Paul.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Be strong in the Lord, and draw strength from Him.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “That is was given to Him.” (Matthew 28:18).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘"Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?’”

Answer in our next SD.

4/10/2014 9:37 AM    

                                                   

Unselfish Labor of Love (1 Thess. 2:9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/9/2014 8:39 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                      Focus:  Unselfish Labor

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  1 Thess. 2:9

            Message of the verse:  “9 For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.” (NASB)  “1Th 2:9 For your remember, brethren, our labor and toil; that laboring night and day; that we might not be chargeable to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.”  (Living Oracles) 

            As I looked at Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on this verse he included it in the father’s metaphor that Paul used, while John MacArthur includes it in the mother’s metaphor.  I am not trying to split hairs here but I do think that it belongs in the metaphor of the father for Paul speaks of how he was working night and day, and it is the father’s responsibility to work in order to support the family.  I am not saying that in today’s society we see many women working to help support the family, and I am not saying that the women who stay home and care for the children and the house do not work, for they do work very hard.  Paul worked as a tentmaker or one who worked with leather making things in order to help support himself so that he would not be a burden to those that he was ministering to.  In this way he could not be accused of taking money from those whom he was ministering to.

            Now if you include this in the mother’s metaphor you could say that when a mother nurses her children that she surely does not want anything from them in return, for that is her duty as a mother, and this is the way Paul thought, for these believers were brand new babies in the Lord and they needed spiritual milk to drink:  “1Pe 2:2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”  I suppose that this verse can be included in either metaphor and no one could argue about it so I seemed to have changed my mind a bit here.

            Let us look at 2 Thess. 3:7-9 “7  For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, 8  nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; 9  we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example.”

            No I want to look at Philippians 4:16 “for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs.”  We see here that Paul received gifts on more than one occasion from the church at Philippi to help him in his ministry at Thessalonica.  Now let’s look at 2 Corinthians 8:1-2 in order to see that those in Thessalonica were lacking in funds and so Paul did not want to take anything from them:  “1 Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, 2 that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.”  Paul is also telling those at Corinth that even though these people were very poor they still managed to give funds for the people in the Jerusalem church.

            John MacArthur finishes his commentary on his section on the spiritual mother with these words:  “So Paul pictured Silas, Timothy, and himself as spiritual mothers who made the maximum effort to provide gentleness, intimate affection, sacrificial love, and hard-working provision as they proclaimed to them the gospel of God.  That maternal metaphor, however, only partially describes the effective spiritual leader.  Describing the spiritual leader as a father completes Paul’s picture of leadership.”  The picture of spiritual leaders began at verse one of the second chapter of 1 Thessalonians.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  We have spent the last three days looking at Paul’s metaphor of how a spiritual leader is like a mother and as I noted in an earlier SD my respect for motherhood has grown a lot for the job of being a mother is one of the most important jobs in any nation for how the family goes is how the nation will eventually go and as we look at our nation and all the immorality in it we can see the results, so what we need in this country is good Christian homes with good Christian mothers and fathers to teach the truth of God in their homes.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord in the daily battles of life that I am going through, and pray for His mercy and grace to help me win these battles for the glory of God.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Tentmaking” (Acts 18:3).

Today’s Bible question:  “What did Jesus say about power in heaven and in earth?”  A hard question is this one so look up Matthew 28:18 for some help.

Answer in our next SD.

4/9/2014 9:31 AM 

             

Intimate Affection, and Sacrifical Love from 2 Thess. 2:8

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/8/2014 7:50 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intimate Affection

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  1 Thess. 2:8a

            Message of the verse:  “8 Having so fond an affection for you,”

            It is my desire to look at all of verse eight in today’s SD, but we will break it up into two sections to better understand the verse. 

            We continue to look at the metaphor of a nursing mother in this verse and Paul is saying that his affection for the people of Thessalonica was the same as that of a nursing mother.  In writing on this verse John MacArthur writes the following about these words that is translated “fond affection.”  “The Greek word translated “fond affection” (homeiromai, used only here in the New Testament) means to long for someone passionately and earnestly, and, being linked to a mother’s love, is intended here to express an affection so deep and compelling as to the be unsurpassed.”  As we look at this verse in the context of a spiritual leader we have to believe that the Lord gives this kind of love and compassion to those who He calls to be spiritual leaders.  I have set under four different Pastors since becoming a believer in 1974, and I can say that three of the four demonstrated this type of compassion to the flock that the Lord gave to them.  I can truthfully say that the Pastor that I set under now surely has this type of fond affection for those who he ministers to, and I believe that this is a very important quality for Pastors.

            Sacrificial Love (1 Thess. 2:8b): “were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.”

            As we look at how Paul, Silas, and Timothy lived before these believers we can rest assured that they truly had a heart of compassion for them, it was not just a job for them to do without any feelings.  I worked at a job for a little over 35 years and I can honestly say that many days I did not have great feelings for going to work, but that does not seem the case for these three men, and they loved what they were doing for they knew in their hearts that God had given them this job to do, and had also given them the compassion to do it too.  We see in this verse that Paul writes that they were well-pleased to do what they were doing. 

            The first thing that they did was “impart” to them the Gospel of God.  MacArthur writes “The verb translated “impart” means to share, or give someone something of which one retains a part.”  When we, as believers share the gospel with someone for when this happens we give the gospel to them, but we also continue to have it in our own hearts.  It is a gift that keeps on giving, and not only keeps on giving, but we retain it even when we give it out.

            John MacArthur writes the following about the “Gospel of God” Implicit in the expression of gospel of God is a doctrinal fullness that encompasses justification, sanctification and glorification (cf. Titus 1:1-2)  (And because God s the source of the good news, even election is included.)  The missionaries understood and obeyed the Great Commission’s injunction that said Christians were to ‘make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you’ (Matt. 29:19-20).”  Paul and his fellow missionaries gave to them the complete gospel which not only includes the message of the good news which shows them the need to repent of their sins and invite the Lord Jesus into their hearts, and this speaks of justification.  They also taught them about sanctification which is the power to live the Christian life, and the taught them about glorification which will happen when the Lord Jesus returns for all true believers in what is called the rapture of the church.  We will look at this fully in chapter four.

            As we look at the last part of this verse we see that these men also shared their own lives and this means their very souls, their real inner beings for the sake of the Thessalonians.  John MacArthur writes “A woman who fulfills the biblical role for motherhood does the same thing when she, as great cost to herself, unselfishly and generously sets aside her life for the benefit of her beloved children.  This is especially true of the nursing mother as she provides nourishing milk for her little one and cares for her newborn baby’s every need.”  Paul, Silas and Timothy did this because they were very dear to them. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can understand a little of how Paul felt about these people for I have felt similar feelings when leading people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  God gave me a supernatural love for them, wanting to disciple them into the truths of the Scripture. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to give me victory in the battles I am facing in my life at this time.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Prince of God.”  Israel can also mean “"God prevails"  (Genesis 32:28).

Today’s Bible question:  “What was Aquila’s occupation?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/8/2014 8:36 AM

Gentleness (1 Thessalonians 2:7)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/7/2014 8:45 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                          Focus: Gentleness

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference: 1 Thess. 2:7

            Message of the verses:  In today’s SD we begin a new section in our journey through the second chapter of 1 Thessalonians as we look at the spiritual leader through the metaphor of  being a nursing mother and then we will look at the spiritual leader as a father.  We have seen Paul as a steward in the first six verses of 1 Thessalonians chapter two which shows Paul’s inner life, but now we will look at the apostles outward functions of the divinely approved spiritual leader.  It is a practice of Paul to use different metaphors in his writings to the different churches and people that he wrote to and in this case he uses spiritual parents as his metaphor.  Paul wrote the following to the Galatian church:  “Ga. 4:19 My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.”  I learned some things from my daughter when she was pregnant with her fourth child when she told me that every child that she had she had to make a commitment of her body being used two years for that child.  I suppose that she may have meant one year and nine months for the first nine months was for her pregnancy and then the next year was nursing the baby.  It takes a lot of commitment to have the use of your body for the benefit of another person and that perhaps is why Paul used this metaphor when writing to the church at Thessalonica. 

            We will only look at verse seven in our study for today:  “7 But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.”  I want to begin with a quote from Warren Wiersbe:  “Paul also nourished them.  First Thessalonians 2:7 can read ‘even as a nursing mother cherishes her own children.’  What is the lesson here?  A nursing mother imparts her own life to the child.  This is exactly what Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 2:8.  You cannot be a nursing mother and turn your baby over to someone else.  The baby must be in your arms, next to your heart.”  As I read this the first time I began to better realize what my daughter was saying about her commitment to her child. 

            John MacArthur writes “As mothers are absolutely and indisputably essential to the wellbeing of children, so spiritual leaders who minister with a mother’s gentleness, intimate affection, sacrificial love, and unselfish labor are essential for the health of the church.”

            We see that verse seven begins with the word “But” and Paul is contrasting how he and Silas, and Timothy cared for the believes with those who were false teachers, those who were telling lies about Paul, those who were operating by the deceitful abusiveness of Satan’s agents.  Paul proved to be gentle among them.

            John MacArthur writes that the word “gentle” is at the heart of this verse.  “It means to be kind to someone and encompasses a host of other virtues:  acceptance, respect, compassion, tolerance of imperfections, patience, tenderheartedness, and loyalty.”  This is quite the opposite of those in Paul’s day, and even our own day who want to exploit people into getting their money and other favors from them, favors we spoke about in earlier SD’s.

            We will end this portion of this SD with another quote from John MacArthur who explains what “tenderly cares” means.  “The verb rendered tenderly cares literally means to warm with body heat.  The loving mother would take the little one in her arms and warm the child with her own body heat.  Such a vivid metaphor perfectly illustrates the kind of personal care the Thessalonians received.  Paul, unlike the enemies of the truth, was not harsh or indifferent, but tenderly nurturing.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One thing that I can say for sure is that after reading this passage and the commentaries that I read to help me better understand this verse, I realize that mothers have a great role in the lives of their children.  Now I knew that they had a great role, but this just reinforces it to me.  There are great problems with motherhood in today’s world as many mothers, with the influence of their husbands, put their babies into day care centers where they can never get the love and attention they need to help their children grow in the proper way.  I realize that much of this has to do with money problems that are in our world today.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Proverbs 3:5-6.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Leviticus.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What does the name Israel mean?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/7/2014 9:49 AM