The Marks of a Good Leader: Earnest

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  The Marks of a Good Leader: Earnest

  We are in a mini series of sorts within a larger series. The larger series being the Letter to the Thessalonians, a letter to a good church. And we picked that because we want to know what made this a good church, so that whatever happened 2000 years ago with this church, with Paul and this people, we would be able to replicate today. We would be able to learn by way of the historical record that we have, both in Acts chapter 17, but really explained here in this epistle of 1 Thessalonians. So we want to be a good church, and we've seen what that is in chapter one, the foundations of it. And then in chapter two, Paul moved from talking about the people there to talking about the pastor himself. And that led us to talk about what makes a good leader, not just a leader of a church, but any kind of leader in a spiritual endeavor, a disciple maker, uh, somebody that endeavors to do good to someone else in Christ, to help them grow in the faith and knowledge of him. And so chapter two was Paul's autobiography of the things he did that provided two things that we want to learn from a good leader. One, their example that that's foundational to, to lead somebody else for them to want to follow you as follow you follow Christ. They've got to be able to image what you're imaging, which is your life lines up with Christ's life, and then they can follow that. And it brings to mind, maybe as a kid you had those coloring books or stencil books where there was a picture, and then there was a translucent piece of paper over the top, and you would sketch that, you would outline that, and then you would pull it out and show it to your friends as if you drew that thing, and you didn't draw that thing, you just sketched it. And that's really what the art of imitation in the Christian life is. We're just drawing our lives after somebody else's life who's modeled theirs after Jesus Christ. And that's the marks of a good leader. We saw in chapter two the example, but also the encouragement he was in verses 13 to 20. That he wanted to encourage the people, uh, don't get so hung up on what I'm saying. As in, if my words are the secret. He says, you hear the Word of God as it is the very Word of God and you know, it's that because it performs a work in you who believe. So he encouraged them to look to the Word of God, and then he encouraged them to look to the sufferings of Christ. That whatever you're going through, know first that Christ went through it. And so have all people that have called upon his name. They faced the affliction. They face the persecution. And then the third way he encouraged them was to say, look to the end. Who's it going to be that stands with you in glory that one day? And as you are praising Jesus Christ and caught up in the wonder and love of being with him, there will be also an acknowledgement and understanding that there are those, he says, that are your hope and joy and crown of exaltation, that you're not just rejoicing in Christ, but you're also rejoicing that you got to play a part in someone else being there before the Lord at his throne, worshiping him forever. And there will be nothing that compares to that. And that was to motivate them and to encourage them to keep going. What we see in chapter three is the last mark of a good leader. It's not, again, an exhaustive list example and encouragement, but it rounds it out because this is the last chapter we get of Paul talking about himself and the reasons behind what he did before he moves in chapters four and five to give more exhortation and admonition. Chapter three is a mark of a good leader. That is a word that's fallen out of fashion, at least in my opinion. You don't hear as much. And that's the word earnest. That we see the mark of earnestness in the ministry of Paul in chapter three. He was an earnest leader, meaning he was sincere. He was intense, if you want to call it, uh, earnestness, that. There was loyalty, there was devotion, and there was ultimately a drive that marks a good leader when they come up against opposition. You know, in life you may think about what makes a good leader. And sure, it certainly has to start with something, as in they inspire and they're enthusiastic and they're zealous, and they can kind of get you moving in a direction. That's a mark of a good leader, and that they're doing something that wants to bring you into it. And so that may be somebody that starts a new church, if you will, in the ministry sense. And you get behind that person's vision and you want to follow them because they have a zeal that's inspiring and you get excited about it. And that's a good leader. But what differentiates the good from the great is can that person keep going when they start to hit some obstacles? Because the mark of great leadership between that and good leadership isn't so much what it takes to get the thing started, it's what takes to keep it going. That once there's some obstacles that you come up against, once there's some pushback, once there's some resistance. Did you fold up your tent and go home? Did you give up or do you have some drive, some earnestness to say, I'm going to push through this thing. I'm not going to quit. You can find a lot of people that want to start it, but who wants to finish it? And you can think about that in any realm of life. You know, if you got a new job, you're excited for the new job until the new job wasn't new anymore, right? Yeah, great. It's a new day, new boss, new role, new paycheck. And then, okay, it's still work. And do you do what you know is common now to just ghost them? Just bail out. No two weeks notice. I'm done. I'm off the scene. Because that drive goes away pretty quick. You're excited at the start, but you don't want to finish. In a church you can get behind a pastor's vision, or maybe a church is waiting for a new pastor to come. And there's of course, excitement for a new pastor. And that pastor might be excited for his new flock. And it seems like a match made in heaven. Until what? The honeymoon's over. What's that guy do when the sheep start to scatter or bite? Does he to bail out? Or the people that were so excited for him upon his first arrival, oh, you know, message is getting old. Did they bail? It may be most personal and close to home here would be when you get a new coach for your favorite local football team. Looking at you Carolina Panthers fans, if there are any of you left, think just one makes sense because they're on their sixth head coach in five years. So that, uh, every time the new guy gets named, there's this....all right, here we go. It's a new day. It's a new team, and it's a new opportunity. And then halfway through the season, two and eight. All right, fire that guy. Let's try somebody new. So we get it. We get how easy it is to get behind something new and exciting and fresh, and how easy it is in our flesh when it gets hard to want to give up. We know it takes energy and enthusiasm to start the race, but what does it take to finish it? It takes devotion, it takes drive. It takes the word we see here that describes the ministry of Paul to these people in chapter three. It takes earnestness. So we're going to get to see that Paul opens up his life to these Thessalonians in this third chapter, and really shows them his heart and how earnest he was to do them spiritual good, so that God gets the glory and they grow. 
Follow along with me as I'll read the 13 verses of chapter three, and then we'll look at five marks of earnestness in Paul in those 13 verses. 
"Therefore, when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone. And we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. For indeed, when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction. And so it came to pass, as you know. For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor would be in vain. But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always think kindly of us, longing to see us, just as we also long to see you. For this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction, we were comforted about you through your faith. For now we really live. If you stand firm in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy which we rejoice before our God on your account as we night and day, keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face and may complete what is lacking in your faith. Now may our God and Father himself, and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you, and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all the people, just as we also do for you, so that he may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints." 
The grass withers and enthusiasm fades, but the Word of God endures forever. May the word this morning point us and promote in us a holy earnestness for his famous name.(?)

  Point number one, earnest leaders are driven by love. Earnest leaders are driven by love. The first mark of Paul's leadership that we hear come across these pages in those first three verses, was his earnest affection. I mean, that's the route that is going to produce all the other fruit. If you don't have a driving, devoted, dedicated love for those that you are leading. The mission won't last. You know, we see in the book of Acts from the moment Paul steps on the scene, a great success as a church planter. I mean, he could go into a new place and with a holy boldness and a courage, get right to the synagogue, get right to the audience, start teaching and preaching, and believers come to faith...conversions and new churches start. And sometimes we miss though, how often in Acts it talks about Paul saying, I'm concerned about a church and I want to go back and see them again. I want to go revisit and strengthen the churches, because it wasn't just that Paul was a good church planter. He was a great church pastor. He wasn't just there to start the thing, to get excited to talk about converts, how many baptisms, and then when they say, hey, how's that church doing a few years later, he's like, oh, that's none of my business. You know, that's the next guy I rose up. No, you say. I'll tell you how they're doing, because I actually just went back there. And you know what it cost me? It cost me these afflictions. It cost me these bruises. It cost me this pain. Because, yeah, there's this church that's still standing there, but there's an opposition that outnumbers them. But it doesn't stop me from wanting to go back and see them because he's driven by a holy affection, a deep love and devotion to this church that you see right there in verse one. Therefore...the therefore saying that, look, I wanted to come see you, chapter two, verse 17 in person, you know, but I can't be there. Yet, I'm still eager, with great desire to come and see you face to face. And yet I've been hindered by Satan. But listen, you're my hope and joy and crown. We saw that all last week. And it could have been expected that at this point he would have said, you know, with Satan's hindrance. And I've moved on to some new churches. I'm just not going to make it, I give up. And that might have discredited his ministry because that's what the false teachers were saying there. The detractors were saying, yeah, see, Paul, he's gone now that there's some persecution. But how does he open in chapter three? He says, look, I've wanted to come see you. I've been hindered from seeing you. I know in the great day before the Lord Jesus, I'll see you, and you'll be my glory and joy. But you know what? When I could endure it no longer...there's that love starting to seep out. I couldn't endure it anymore. The suspense was killing me. What was the suspense? Are they still standing firm in the Lord? He hadn't seen them in over a year, and he's wondering what's become of their faith. He knows there's been affliction because the people that were afflicting him and got them out of Thessalonica ran him and Silas out of town. They followed him to the next place. And so it's keeping him in suspense that he couldn't endure it anymore. That word for endurance was a picture of a ship that would have pitch put around the outside to hold it together, and he's saying, that's like my heart for you. I'm trying to hold it together because I can't see you, but I love you. But you know what? At some point I had to come up with a way to to get to you. He didn't wallow in self-pity. He didn't sulk about it. He didn't point fingers and blame people. He attributed part of the cause was to Satan's hindrance. But even then, he was so in love with this people, this new church that he says, you know, we come up with a plan. Verse two, we um. Well, verse one, we thought it best for me to stay behind in Athens, and we sent Timothy ahead, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith. We took action, and that's what a loving leader does. He doesn't just sit back and bemoan the fact that things haven't gone the way that he's wanted them to go. What does he do? He says, we come up with a plan. And here you see two dangers that he avoids in this plan, that tells us something about Paul's character as a leader. Um, no ego and no emo, as in, he avoids the egoism of a driven leader who just says it's my way or the highway, and he avoids the emotionalism of a weak leader who, you know, just riding the ups and downs of the reports he gets and he can't just stay steady. Where do we see that in verses 1 to 3? Well, we see the lack of ego when you count up the number of times in this chapter he uses we, not me language. And I'll save you the count...25 times in 13 verses...we, us, our. This wasn't just about Paul the Apostle. This was about Paul the...what does he call himself?...brother to Timothy, even though he was Timothy's father in the faith? And lack of ego saying, you know, Timothy's God's fellow worker, as in, he belongs to God, not to me. So I'm sending him on my behalf because he's a minister of the gospel of Christ. But we came to that decision together. It wasn't just about me...25 times he uses that. How many times did you use the pronoun I in chapter three? It's a quicker count...twice. You know, there's a lot of egoism in churches when sometimes it's just seen, you know, that's the guy. We got to follow him. His voice is the one that matters. And though Paul has got apostolic authority, he already talked about that in chapter two. Though I had the authority, I didn't use the authority. I came alongside you gentle like a mother. And I was encouraging, imploring you like a father. I was in your life, not above your life. So lack of ego, not just in the we language. But notice he also didn't pull the old, um, you know, God told me. Right? As if God exclusively was leading Paul, but not Silas and Timothy. He says, no, we thought it best together. We sent Timothy. We couldn't endure it. As in, there wasn't just this, um, you know, isolated fortress that Paul could build around himself with his apostolic authority, that whatever he thought was best. Everybody just has to say, okay, Paul said it, and he probably knew he could have done that. And he could model to us, in that the spiritual act of seeing that wisdom comes in a multitude of counsel. Right? Because a group decision can be wise and reliable more than an individual's decision. When we say, oh God told me, and then what do you leave the person that you told that to to say? No he didn't. But when you could say, hey, look, I came to this conclusion, I came to this decision with these other people in my life. We sought the Lord. We talked about it. We prayed about it. And this was the decision we came up with. We thought it best. So that avoids the egoism. And then the emo ism emotionalism. Notice just that simple idea. We thought it best. That, you know, he's not panicking here. We know his heart's on the table. He loves them. He's said that more than once...how much they mean to him. But he says, you know what? We stepped back and in the midst of all the affliction that you're going through and we're going through, we came up with a decision that we thought was wise. It wasn't just like, hey, let's go off of our gut instinct here. What do we feel we should do? No, he said, we talked about it. We thought about it. And this is the decision we came up with. And that's the mark of a great leader...is that it's not just about him, it's driven by love. So if you want to talk about a gut instinct of Paul's and Silas and Timothy's, it wasn't just to kind of go with the first thought that popped into their head, but it was a gut love. Because when Paul talks about his love for the churches in the New Testament, often he will refer to a word that encompasses the inner being of a person, loving them from the inside. And it's a word for the inner parts, the heart, the lungs, the bowels. And so it's gut love. That's what he led out of...a love that came from the deepest part of him for these people. And so out of that, we...Paul, Silas and Timothy, going back to verse one, Paul, Silas and Timothy. They were thinking about it and saying, hey, how do we get back to these people? Now quickly turn over to Acts 17, because it can be a helpful picture to kind of paint along as we're thinking about chapter three and what he was trying to come up with, the best decision. When you kind of just can follow the narrative, just for a few moments, I'll walk us through it. We know in Acts 17:1-9, this was the ministry in Thessalonica. Verses 1 to 4, they arrived, they preached the gospel, came in power. Verse four...a Large number of people were converted God fearing Greeks, uh, leading women and some of the Jews. But then verses 5 to 9, uh, persecution comes. And so Paul by the brethren of Thessalonica is immediately sent away. If you look at Acts 17:10, what brethren would we be talking about? Well, probably the believers that are there in Thessalonica that came to Christ over the last couple of weeks or months. Again, the humility of Paul, that it wasn't just his isolated, independent decision of everyone else to decide to leave. He said, hey, look, the brothers were saying, we got to get out of here. So verse ten, if you want to draw an arrow in your Bible to see where that actually fits into. It fits into the area between verses five and six when he's saying, hey, these Jews were jealous of us, and they formed a mob and they came to the house of Jason. Verse six, they didn't find us there. Well, why didn't they find them there? Because verse ten says, we were sent away by night to Berea. So when they got to Jason's house in verse six, Paul and Silas aren't anywhere to be found. So it was good for them to leave to avoid whatever was going to go down and they go 50 miles west to a city called Berea. And they had great success preaching the gospel there. And even the eagerness of Paul that arrives in a new place, though kicked out of the last one. Look at verse 11, Acts 17. We get to this place. These were more noble minded than those in Thessalonica. They received the word with great eagerness, examining the scriptures to see what things were. That eagerness in Paul led to what?...a reciprocation they were eager to be in the Word. Like he didn't clearly arrive there with his tail between his legs. Woe is me. He came in with that same enthusiasm he's always had...preaching and teaching in the synagogues, and it was reciprocated by the success of the reception of the people with their own eagerness. In verse 12 many of them believed. But verse 13, Jews from Thessalonica find out the word of God is being proclaimed by Paul there. So they come there to stir it up. And then verse 14, immediately the brothers in Berea send Paul to go to Athens, out to sea. He had to travel south, but Silas and Timothy stayed there. So now we have a few months after Paul's out of Thessalonica, the same rabble rousers come here to Berea, and they say, we got to get Paul out of here. And he was willing to what?...submit himself to their council...again, no ego. He goes on down to Athens and he's there by himself. And that's why, all the way back in chapter three, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone. He's speaking for himself, even though they made the decision together, and he sent Timothy back up to Macedonia to go to that church to see how they're doing. When does the gang all get back together? Well, again, flip back over to Acts 17. And he said, verse 15, when Silas and Timothy find a good word, what's going on there...come back and see me as soon as possible. When did they finally all reconvene? All the way over in Acts 18, verse five, Silas and Timothy come down from Macedonia, which is where Thessalonica was. Paul was in Corinth, and then they stayed there for the next year and a half. We see that in Acts 18:11 teaching the Word of God. So why I go down that side route is just to show, hey, when did this letter come into being? Well, it had to have been after Timothy comes back, gives this report in chapter three that he's talking about to Paul, and then he's in Corinth for a year and a half and he can write this letter and then Second Thessalonians. Everybody still with me? Okay, if you checked out, ask the person next to you when it's over, what happened in Acts 18 again? What city were we in? But that's the narrative account that parallels those first three verses. We sent Timothy to go see. Timothy comes back. Timothy has a message for us to let us know how you're doing. And what was the mission Paul sent him on in verse two...to strengthen and encourage them in the faith. Those two words, they work nicely together. When we think about how we want to help people that are suffering for Christ, going through some affliction for their faith. Uh, the word strengthen there in verse two is this idea of helping secure something foundationally. It's a structural word. It has this idea of check and make sure the foundation is good before you go around and look at anything else. And that's the second word to encourage, is then to go around and try to come alongside and get into all the little details of the thing and see how they're doing. Put that picture together. You know, when Jesus talks about at the end of the sermon on the Mount, you know, a person builds their house on him and his words, and a great storm comes in. And if you didn't build it on the foundation of him, the house is gone. So maybe take that picture in your mind and think about somebody that's going through some suffering and affliction and persecution for Christ, and their faith is a house. Just like if you lived on the coast and a hurricane came through and you live here, but you're, you know, your Airbnb that you own out there in, uh, wherever it is on the coast, uh, it gets hit. I don't think the first thing you're going to go do when you go to see that house is check if the Wi-Fi is working. You're going to want to see if the foundation is still there. You're going to make sure that the main thing is still there before you go around and say, oh my goodness, look at the shutters. You transpose that into how we give spiritual care to people by way of Paul. Paul's saying the first thing Timothy was coming to do to see...is the foundation of your faith still there? Are you still trusting in Jesus Christ? Before we get into all the other peripheral details, which would be to encourage them. When you're ministering to somebody who's gone through something, you know how it is to arrive on the scene. If they're in some crisis of faith, if they've gone through some suffering or persecution, you might walk in the room and they immediately just blurt it all out and they give you there's like, you don't even know where to start. 28 things that are going wrong in relationships and friction. And you're trying to catch it all, and you've got to maybe just let it all come out right?...and then say, hey, can we just get back to the foundation real quick? Like, how is your walk with Christ? I mean, I'm not saying we're not going to talk about all the other things, but can we check the foundation? How are you? Are you standing in Christ still? Is your hope still in him? Even going back to the beginning of 1 Thessalonians 1:3...a work of faith, a labor of love, steadfastness of hope in him. That's what Timothy went back to do. Because Paul is so torn up, because he doesn't know if even the foundation is there anymore. And once Timothy gets to check out the foundation and strengthen them from the bottom, then he can encourage them from the side. That's what that word means when he comes alongside. And that's what we do when we minister to people, isn't it? We don't just skip right to like, oh, I'm just going to encourage, encourage when we don't even know if the foundation's there. How was their walk with Christ? Is their identity in him? Is their assurance intact? That's what you got to know first and foremost. And that's what Paul did out of great love for them. He was determined to know what was really going on because he loved them so deeply from the inside. Verse three, the first part to conclude this section. He was worried because he thought they had been disturbed by these afflictions. He thought that maybe their faith had been, uh, tipped over. Now, that word disturbed is...it's actually a word that comes from a root word, a picture image of a of an excited dog and its tail wagging all, you know, uh, making the owner think like, oh, everything's great. It's excited to see me. And he's saying that that picture potentially is like somebody who's been afflicted is discouraged, and then somebody comes to disturb you by maybe getting you excited and taking you away from the faith that you have here and saying, hey, maybe you picked the wrong God, Thessalonians. Paul's gone. You're being persecuted. Your life's gotten worse, not better. Maybe you got the wrong God. Could you see how that might be what was in their mind...is they made a decision. When Paul's there, everything's great. Our leader's here, he's teaching us. We come to him with our problems. He helps us work through them. But now he's gone and these false teachers can come in and start discrediting Paul's life and claiming that he was there for greed and self-serving and his own glory...make them doubt and then disturb them and make them think, yeah, maybe we should go back to our old ways. That's what Paul's concern was, because he loved them so much. He was eager to see them, and he sent Timothy to be with them because he loved them from the inside. That's point number one of an earnest leader. 
 Point number two, earnest leaders are discerning of the spiritual battle of the faith. They move from the things that they could see on the outside of what's going on, driven by love to they want to know really what's going on underneath the surface. And what's going on under the surface we see in 3 through 5. He sees the affliction and he's not making light of it. But read it for yourself. He goes, look, you yourselves know that we've been destined for this. Indeed, when we were with you, we told you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction. And it came to pass, as you know. Um, so as we mentioned last week, he's trying to help them look past their own suffering, not just to the sufferings of Christ, but them to remember the message he gave them when he brought Christ to them. Christ said he was rejected. He was hated. You're going to be rejected, too. Paul could say, look at my life. I'm rejected. I get run out of town. You're going to have that happen to you. So he's not coming along to try to minimize it and make them feel worse where they are. He's just reminding them of the reality of suffering for the faith. And what he's essentially saying there in verse 3, you yourselves know, we've been destined for this is this simple idea that affliction for Christ is never accidental. If you could remember anything from today, remember that. The affliction you suffer for Christ is never by accident. It isn't because you have an enemy that's doing everything he can...scheming, trying to hinder, as he talked about back in chapter two, trying to tempt in verse 5. So you have the enemy working against you. You have your own flesh to fight against, and then you have a sovereign God who, like in the book of Job., allows Satan to design this trial for Job because he knows he's a blameless and faithful man. And if you're just looking on the outside like Job's wife and Job's friends were, what did they come to the conclusion? Job's wife says, you know what? Curse God and die. Job's friends, curse yourself and die. It's great advice, isn't it? If you only see what's happening on the outside and you move from, oh, you're being afflicted, there's either something wrong with the God you chose or there's something wrong with your life. It's that cut and dry. That's not what a good earnest leader does. He doesn't just settle for the superficial, the things on the outside. Paul just doesn't. I mean, he tells them, look, affliction is real. I'm not minimizing that. We told you it was going to happen. You signed up for it. You know, you built your house out on the coast. You shouldn't be surprised when the hurricane hits. And it's not a matter of blame. It's just a matter of reality. You said you wanted to follow a savior who was rejected by his own people, suffered, put on a cross and died. And he said, if they hated me, they're going to hate you. So he reminds them of reality. But then this good leader says, here's what's really happening, verse 5. When I could endure it no longer I sent to find out about your faith. He didn't send to find out about your afflictions. He didn't send Timothy like, hey, can you write about me a full report of how bad it's gotten? He just wants one thing...he wants to know are they standing firm in Christ? So I sent to find out about your faith. Because that's what I was really fearful of. I was fearful that the tempter might have tempted you...back to verse 3. Your faith is being disturbed by the affliction. But what's happening underneath the surface is there's a tempter who's trying to get you to fall back. And if I find that out...our labor was in vain. If we find out that your faith is fruitless, then I guess our trip to Thessalonica was pointless. Because Paul knows what's going on behind the scenes. 2 Corinthians 2:11, Paul says to that church whenever there's affliction and conflict....and 2 Corinthians is a great epistle to read in parallel to some of the afflictions in 1 Thessalonians 1 and 2 and 3. Because 2 Corinthians is written to a church that's doing similar things to Paul when he's gone, they're now starting to discredit him, and he has to give his resume of how much he cared for them, loved them, what he's withstood for them. But he says in chapter two, we're not ignorant of the enemy's schemes. He could trace a surface issue back to the source because of spiritual discernment. He wasn't going to be fooled. He knew what the tempter was trying to do. The tempter was trying to tempt them to give up on following Christ. So he wasn't caught up on all the peripheral stuff. If you turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and 11, you'll see how Paul can move past things of the flesh to see the things that are really going on. Chapter 10 starts out in a similar fashion where he's talking about the real battle, 2 Corinthians 10. The real battle isn't, verse 3, in the flesh. It says, we don't war according to the flesh, the things we can see. He says, the weapons of our warfare are divinely powerful, for the destruction of fortresses were destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. That's where the battles at. The tempter is trying to design these afflictions in your life so that whatever you say you believe about God; you're going to abandon. And then he says, but we're here to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. That's what I'm here to do for you, Corinthians. That's what he was trying to do for the Thessalonians in sending Timothy back. This is a battle for truth. Because that truth is what's going to influence what you believe deep down. Last week you went from hearing the Word to agreeing to it...to believing it and your life was transformed by it. And so Paul is in similar fashion to these people in Corinth. His heart's broken over them. Chapter 11, he says, I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. You see the parallels? It's the same battle going on in Thessalonica. It's just he can't be there for it. But it's this battle for the mind. What is true? Because everything around me wants to make me feel like God's given up on us. And God's servant Paul has given up on us. So, I guess all these things he said isn't reality. And Paul could have been caught up on the flesh, and he could have said, you know, that's the hardest thing. That's where it's at...it's the outward afflictions. But listen to the end of chapter 11. Paul is trying to prove to them, how much do I love you? How much have I given for you? How much do I love the church? What am I willing to take on for their good? Starting in verse 24 of 2 Corinthians 11, "Five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, I was stoned, I was shipwrecked. A night and day I've spent in the deep." I was just floating out there. "I've been on frequent journeys in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from countrymen, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in city, dangers in wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false believers. I've been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights and hunger and thirst, often without food in cold and exposure." Talk about a battle on the outside. He's got the resume to prove it. But was that his deepest concern? Was that what troubled him most? Did he just stop there and say, see, that's the afflictions. That's how we know life's...no look what he says next in verse 28. "Apart from or on top of all those external things, there is the daily pressure on me, of concern for all the churches who is weak without me being weak, and who is led into sin without my intense concern." That's an earnest leader who has some spiritual discernment. He says, you know what? All the other stuff that I suffer, I can take it because that's outside of me. I can endure it. You know what I can't endure? You know what makes me weak? It's not the lashes. It's the languishing when I think there's a church whose believers are being led astray. There's believers being led into sin. And he says, that's my intense concern. What's a earnest leader do? He sees past the outside. He says, your soul, your state, your salvation, your sanctification, one day, your glorification...all of that is my deepest concern, and therefore it's my greatest burden. That's the person you want leading you. It's earnestness that doesn't stop at the externals, but a leader who can discern the battle below the surface. That's a person that has what it takes to finish. Not caught up on superficialities, but fighting for the soul. That's the second mark of his earnest leadership. 
 
 
The third mark is he's devoted to the spiritual growth in believers. I mean, that's why he can fight through all he can, look past the affliction. He can acknowledge it's real. He could not be okay with it. He could want to come and see him. But he says, here's what I'm really devoted to, verses 6 to 8, your spiritual growth. He moves from his intense love that drives him, to his discernment, that helps them see beyond what's on the surface to get to the heart of it. I want to know if you are going on in Christ and growing up in him. So what response does he get from Timothy? Timothy comes back. But now Timothy has come to us from you. So he's in Corinth. Timothy comes back. He has the report. And what is it?...he's brought us good news of your faith and love. It's awesome. Can you hear that sigh of relief in Paul's heart? That that longing, that waiting, that desperation. How are they doing? And he hears a knock at the door. He's like, hey, come in. It's Timothy, it's Timothy. How are you? And he goes, I'm good...and so is Thessalonica. And he uses a word in verse 6, the good news of your faith. He uses the word for gospel, and it's the only time in the New Testament that gospel is not talking about the gospel...the preaching of the person and work of Christ, his life, death, and resurrection. The only time it's used outside of that context is here. And he's taking that word and saying, in that same good news that I preached to Thessalonica, that led them to saving faith in Christ, when I hear they're walking with him, that's like the gospel to me. Because they're still going. And he doesn't talk about all the affliction and externals. What does he say? I heard the good news of your faith and love...right back to verse three. Your work of faith and labor of love. You're still holding fast to Christ, because that's what our faith comes back to when we're going through affliction, when we're going through persecution. Yeah, there might be a lot of other things we might not be feeling we're up to. But if somebody can look at our lives and say, the faith in Christ is still there, and it's evident by love for God and love for others, then I can rejoice. And not just he got a good report about their faith and love, but he says, Timothy comes in here and tells me that you think kindly of us. You want to see us as bad as we want to see you. The love is being reciprocated. Though I couldn't get to you and I still haven't seen you, you're just as devoted to me. I've loved you and you've loved me. And that's a relationship that Paul...there's no limits to that for him. He's devoted to their spiritual growth. He's talking about their... not just saving faith, but he's really talking about their working faith, their living faith, their faithfulness. And what does it do for his soul?...verse seven. Because I hear this good report and I'm so caught up in your spiritual good. He says in all of...notice, he goes back to talking about his own distress and affliction. He goes, yeah, I'm still suffering like you ever been to Corinth?...not a great place. In all of our distress and affliction, we were comforted about you through your faith. Like when I hear this good report about your faith, my faith is strengthened. My strength is bound up in your strength. It reminds us of 1 Corinthians 12:26...when one person suffers, we all suffer in the body of Christ, right? But when one person is honored, we all rejoice with them. That's how the body of Christ helps itself. It comes around each other and your highs are their highs and your lows are their lows. That's what a living body of Christ does and feels and thinks. And you see it now on display. At the heart of this passage in verse 8 might be the high point of it all when Paul says this, and it's an unbelievable line. For now, we really live...if you stand firm in the Lord. I mean, just take that in. Now because you're standing firm in the Lord, it's like life has come back into me. Flip it around. If I would have found out that you fell back. Then the tempter was right. He tempted you and you gave up, and it was all in vain. Uh, that would have been the death of me. If hearing that you're standing firm in the faith is life in me, then what's the opposite? You fall back, a part of me dies. Have you experienced that? I mean is your care and discipleship to that degree. That it's not just, you know, when things are going well in their life, you're....Oh, great. But man, when they're down it's like part of you is dying on the inside because you're so bound up in their life. Your heart is so tied up with theirs that their good is your good. And their failures, you feel, and the worst possible report you could get wouldn't be of something just that has to do with outward afflictions that you would hear. What he's saying is that inwardly...you gave up. You fell back. That would kill me. It would absolutely kill me. That's the heart of a devoted leader so devoted to their spiritual growth, so passionate. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:15, I will most gladly spend and be spent for your soul. Why does he say that? Because a few verses later he says that I'm afraid, Corinthians, I might come and find out that you're not standing firm in the faith. And I would be heartbroken. So as you kind of let that hit you this morning as a leader, I mean, do the people you pour into the disciples you've made...people in your own household. Would they sense that about you? You know, in all the ebb and flow of the ways in which you're involved in their life. They could say, look, yeah, I mean, this bugs me about Adam, but I know deep down that he has my spiritual good in mind. You know that one, you put yourself in the shoes of the leader, but also as a follower. You know, sometimes on that side, as sheep, we don't understand this level of devotion, do we? I mean, when you've had a sense that, oh, this person is just too intense, they're coming after me too hard. I want to hold them back a little bit. And you might think they're being pharisaical and legalistic in their pursuit of your holiness, and they're following up and they want accountability, and maybe they can say it not perfectly, and nobody does it perfectly outside of Christ. Okay? But could you give them a charitable view that maybe there's a part of verse 8 in that person that's pursuing you? And it's not that they're just trying to come over top and Lord over and wear you down and wear you out. Maybe, just maybe, they have this level of commitment and care for you. How committed? That even, moving on to verse 9 and 10, moving from the devotion to you to a delight in God. You start to understand that why somebody could be so intensely committed to your good in Christ is because they see it all as a work of God's grace, verse 9 and 10. They're delighting in God for growth, just like Paul was doing, though he was so comforting and excited and strengthened. He now tells you, like really what was going on is this was just me being thankful for the grace of God in your life. Like, this isn't about me, and this isn't really about you. You're a work of the grace of God. And so when you grow, I have reason to give him praise. I'm not standing around patting myself on the back or Silas or Timothy. Guys, aren't we the best church planters ever? Yeah, we're kind of the only church planters ever. You know, the church is only 20 years old. Everybody else is getting killed, you know. No, he's saying, look, how could I be anything but thankful to God? What thanks can I render...that word is monetary word. It's how can I monetize God's grace? Like, how can I pay him back? When I hear that you're standing firm in Christ, what could I do other than rejoice because I can't pay him back? It's priceless. The work of God's grace in your life is priceless, believer. And so somebody that cares about you, their celebration and their joy really is ultimately, it's terminating on God because they see that he's the one doing it. That's where that fervor and zeal comes from. It's delighting in God for their growth. And yet, as you know, with a lot of people in your life, maybe a good coach you had or a parent who pushed you, that person is never satisfied with good enough, are they? They want the best for you. So look what he says in verse 10. I mean, just when they would have thought they're off the hook, like, cool. He rejoices with joy before God on our account because we're doing so well. And then he says, yeah, and, you know, night and day, we keep praying earnestly that we come see you. And they're like, sweet. Yeah, it's going to be a bunch of high fives and awesome. He's like, no, no, no, I want to come to complete what's lacking in your faith. Oh, so the work's not finished? Of course it's not finished. Because someone with this level of earnestness, they delight in God for your growth. You think they're going to be like, okay, finished work. I'm done here. No, it's like, now I'm going to come see you and we're going to really turn it up a notch. I'm going to complete what's lacking in your faith. That idea...that phrase complete...what's lacking...It's even used in the gospels of the disciples mending their nets, you know, the wear and tear of throwing them out to sea. It's the disciples on the shore mending their nets as in they're filling in the gaps. They're reconnecting the things that get torn apart. So what's he want to do with them? He wants to come and reattach some things. There's still more to teach. Uh, it's actually the same word, too, in Luke 6:40, when Jesus says a pupil is not above his teacher, everyone who is fully trained will become like their master...same word here for complete what's lacking. So there's more teaching he has. Remember, he was only there for a couple months. So he's saying, I got to get back to you. Your faith is strong. The foundation is still there. Uh, you got that work of faith and labor of love, and your hope is still in Christ, and the suffering hasn't ruined you. Okay, I'm going to come and teach you some more. Hope you're ready for it. So you can delight in God and not be satisfied with what you see in yourself and in others. Why? Because until the day we die. What? We're in the middle of our own sanctification. We still got a ways to go. We never graduate from that. We're never the person that says, oh, you know what?...I've heard it all before...thanks. Really? Wow. You're in really rarefied air. Like you're the only Christian in history, actually. Congratulations. You got nothing left to learn, right, Jerry? Nothing left to learn. You've heard it all. And, Jerry, you probably have. But you're there. Bible. Open. Because even for him Christ is still interested in filling up what's lacking in his faith. And he's been in Christ longer than anybody alive in this room. So where does that leave the rest of us? Graduated?...nothing left to learn? Nowhere left to grow? No, that is the heart of a devoted, earnest leader. He says, now I'm going to come, and there's more for us to do. And think how exciting that is for them to hear. Like he wants to come back and we're going to the next level with him. He's got something else for us to learn and grow in. And then when you pour into other people, even if they seem to like be fallen away or not interested, know that if they're in Christ, there's still got to be something in them that eventually is going to come around. Don't give up on him...earnestness doesn't. 
 And then last but not least, how does this all come together? Well, earnest leaders are dependent on God for that growth. You know, he mentions, I've been praying for you earnestly night and day. And then he actually says, you know what? I might as well tell you what I pray for...Verses 11 to 13, a benediction, as we call it. A Latin word for good sayings. And it's really a prayer that's now written out and expressed for the Thessalonians to hear when they might have heard verse 10 and wondered, okay, what, uh, what is he praying for us? Well, three things...first in verse 11. May our God and Father himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you. Note that once again, in this early church, Paul is reiterating that there is equality between the Father and the Son. God the Father himself, and Jesus our Lord...working in harmony, working together. Why? Because they needed to understand that's the foundation piece of faith. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is Lord and he can put those two right next to each other. Which would what? When those people are saying that really get all those jealous Jews in Thessalonica all up in arms again. Because they rejected Jesus Christ as Lord. They rejected Jesus Christ as the Son of God. So he puts it at the beginning in verse one, and then in this benediction puts it back in there. But he says, the first thing we're praying for is that we could see you again. The second thing we're praying for is that the Lord would cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and all people. So we've been saying this from the beginning...what's the marks of salvation in a person? Foundational marks fundamental to a real Christian...a work of faith as in saving faith, they trust in the Lord. A labor of love. I'm praying that your love, would increase and abound. And how is it going to do it? Well, the Lord would be causing it. I'm not taking any credit or under any impression that it's me, Paul the Apostle. It's God working out, God working in...you, working it out. So that's the second prayer request. And the third is for their holiness. That he may establish your hearts without blame in holiness. Now he even takes it to the end and says, because one day we're to stand before him...the bride of Christ...perfected, pure. So we should start looking like that now. Not wait till then. So he says, I'm praying that he's establishing you fundamentally in your heart. Without blame and holiness before God, our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. I think those are three wonderful prayer requests...one to be with them. He loves them. Second, that they would grow in love for one another, and third, that they would walk in holiness. Now, right from that prayer, which is a prayer for God's power to be at work. He's going to go into two chapters of exhortation...ethics. And that's often the framework of Paul's letters. And it's also gospel order for any believer...is that for three chapters, what has he done with them other than affirm their identity in Christ? He reminds them that they are rooted and grounded in Christ, not in their performance. He's just reflecting on the fact that the fruit of your life is you're really still standing firm in him. However, guys, we do have some things to work out, so I've been praying that you're going to grow. God's going to establish your heart without blame in holiness. And then as we come back next week and we start preaching in chapter four, buckle up because it's exhortation. For the Christian we take that. For the last month and a half, we've been built up and affirmed. And this is who we are. Part of a good church...Why? Because we know we're a work of the grace of God. It produces gratitude in us for the power of the gospel, working to produce spiritual growth in our life. Great, wonderful. We need to get into the nitty gritty of our lives. And Paul's going to do that really quickly next week right away, talking about our sanctification. But we don't just jump into that. Paul doesn't ever just jump into that. He starts with letting you know who you are. What's already true of you in Christ. If you're an unbeliever here today and you've heard, wow, this. I mean, if there were really people that lived like this, that had this type of devotion, that had this type of discernment, that had this type of diligence and drive, I'd want to be one of those people. No, no, no, what you need today is Christ. It's great to be encouraged and admire that. But you trying to put on and do any of these things apart from your trust in Christ would be like you going to put gasoline in your car and you don't have an engine. It's going to do nothing for you. You have to start with a relationship with Jesus Christ today and realize that anything good we have said about who Christians are to be is only made possible by the gospel. Not by our own efforts, not by the will of man, of flesh and blood, that we strive to do this on our own. You're made righteous and perfect and complete in Christ. That acknowledges that you can't do it on your own, that you're a sinner and you need salvation. That's the starting point for any of you today. Now the finishing point is living this out, walking it out. And then you would join the rest of us. Who say, but by the grace of God we'll strive, we'll be earnest. But we don't take one step forward without looking back and saying, Christ, my righteousness that happened at the cross. And he rose from the grave for my justification. And when somebody asks me, Adam, where's your righteousness right now? It's at the right hand of God in heaven. It's not down here on earth. You just see the fruit of it by God's grace. But the root of it is in him. And so if you don't have Christ as your Savior this morning, call out to him. See yourself, the sinner in need, and see Christ, your great substitute that went on the cross in your place, sacrificed his life for yours so that you could be forgiven and you could have eternal life in him. You can call upon him today. 
Let's pray. Father, we thank you this morning for the encouragement we draw from your Word. We thank you for its power. As Paul wrote in chapter two that its power is seen in the way that it transforms those who believe. That how we know this word is doing a work in us is not just that we get inspired by it. But we get transformed by it...that we look into your perfect law and we don't walk away and forget what we look like. But by the work of your spirit in us. You apply these things to our hearts and out of the conviction we have and affection we have for you, we become more like you as we've looked to you today, Christ, and heard you in your Word. Help us to grow more like you. Help us to be earnest. Earnest in our love and devotion to you first and foremost. And from that overflow earnest to the people around us. And that we would see your work in us and through us for your glory alone. Amen.