Episode 113 Sharing Christ Wisely – 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Speaker 1 

It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word With Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.

Nicole (00:28):

Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 113, Sharing Christ Wisely. Well, Sharon, before we talk about how to share our faith with others wisely, let’s talk about how not to do it.

Sharon (00:42):

All right then.

Nicole (00:43):

So, as followers of Christ, our job is not to march up to people thinking we are better than they are and start telling them how they were wrong without even knowing their stories. And then to act like we have all the answers. No one that I know has ever been converted this way. You know, simply by mere argument or debate or being told what to do. So, how about you, Sharon? Any suggestions on how not to share your faith with another?

Sharon (01:07):

Well, you hit the nail on the head with that. If we don’t know people, they don’t know us, it’s unlikely that, um, telling them they’re wrong to start with is going to endear us to them. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I think, um, some other things we should not do is we shouldn’t start with their lifestyle choices That they’ve made outside of Christ. You know, um, they’re, they’re drinking too much. If we start with that, we, we have lost the fight to begin with. Because there’s that judginess the thinking we’re better, which we’re not. Right. We’re just little sinners that got saved by grace. (Yes) And we’re offering to someone else the same thing. And, um, endless words, I think sometimes. We can overwhelm people with too much information. I’ve been guilty of that. Someone will ask me to tell them about God, and I’m like, well, let’s start at creation. (Right) You know?

Nicole (02:02):

There’s so much to tell about him. Where do you start? I get over excited too. Big surprise.

Sharon (02:07):

Right. Exactly. And I’m like, so, you know, 20 minutes later they’re like, wow. Okay. Thank you.

Nicole (02:13):

Glazed over.

Sharon (02:14):

Yeah, exactly. So I think it’s Spirit led is what we need. We absolutely have to be led by the spirit. So, but I’m so excited to get to this next portion of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. Paul remembers back to when he and Titus were first there sharing the gospel message with these very people. Actually, he was there with Silas, not Titus. I said that wrong.

Nicole (02:35):

Oh, yes. I was thinking like, wait a minute.

Sharon (02:37):

Silas. There are a ton of great tips in this passage we’re gonna read today about how to share faith. (Nicole: Oh, good) Tadda. (So we don’t do, what we just said not to) Yes. Just so we can learn more than just what we’re not supposed to do. So let’s begin. Our reading today is 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12. You get to start this time with verse one. Let’s read back and forth, hear the whole thing, and then we’re gonna do our verse by verse, ‘What can we learn from these verses’?

Nicole (03:03):

Perfect. “So you yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure.”

Sharon (03:10):

“You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you, and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his good news to you boldly in spite of great opposition.”

Nicole (03:23):

“So you can see we were not preaching with any deceits or impure motives or trickery.”

Sharon (03:28):

“For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the good news. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.”

Nicole (03:39):

“Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know, and God is our witness, that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money.”

Sharon (03:48):

“As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else.”

Nicole (03:53):

“As apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we were like children among you, or we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children.

Sharon (04:03):

“We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s good news, but our own lives too.”

Nicole (04:10):

“Don’t you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preached God’s good news to you.”

Sharon (04:22):

“You yourselves are our witnesses, and so is God, that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers.”

Nicole (04:29):

“And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children.”

Sharon (04:33):

“We pleaded with you, encouraged you and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy for he called you to share in his kingdom and glory.” So, so much in this passage about how Paul witnessed, and I can’t wait to pull out of it how Sharon should witness. So let’s go back and study verse by verse. Nicole, you got verse one.

Nicole (04:58):

All right. So I’ll read it again. It says, “You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters that our visit to you was not a failure.” So I think he’s starting off kind of reminding them of God’s work and God’s hand in all of their lives and how what they’re doing isn’t for nothing.

Sharon (05:12):

Right.

Nicole (05:13):

And it wasn’t a failure, like it’s producing fruit.

Sharon (05:15):

Yes, exactly. Or he wouldn’t be addressing them as brothers and sisters.

Nicole (05:18):

Right.

Sharon (05:18):

Because no one would’ve converted.

Nicole (05:20):

Exactly.

Sharon (05:22):

So verse two, “You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there, yet our God gave us the courage to declare his good news to you boldly in spite of great opposition.” Oh my goodness. So now we know that after Paul and Silas left Thessalonica, they had to leave Berea too. (Nicole: Yes) Now we know that before they went to Thessalonica, they were in Philippi and they got treated, Oh, surprise, badly there.

Nicole (05:53):

Wow. They just can’t catch a break.

Sharon (05:54):

That’s the theme song. Absolutely. So they sure didn’t come bringing just sunshine. Right?

Nicole (06:01):

Right, right. They were in the midst of some suffering themselves.

Sharon (06:04):

Yeah. Yeah. So they shared truth that would put their hearers in danger, and they did not hide the hard stuff. And here’s our little message. Neither should we, neither should we. Even in opposition, they were clear and confident about telling the truth. I need to remember that, I, of course, when I want somebody to come know Jesus, I want them to know he’s their Shepherd. He loves them, there’s safety in being his, and we’re nestled under his wings, and he’s a refuge in times of trouble. But I, I think I need to be careful to also say, and it won’t always be easy.

Nicole (06:37):

Right.

Sharon (06:38):

But it won’t always be easy without him either. And I can say that for a fact. It’s like, okay, so you’re gonna suffer in life and you’re gonna have hard things happen. Do you want it with God or without God?

Nicole (06:46):

Right. Well, that’s kind of it, isn’t it? (Sharon: That’s the choice) Do you wanna stumble along on your own strength and (Right) fail pretty quickly, or do you run him with you?

Sharon (06:53):

Right. Yeah. But when I tell you to come to Christ, I’m not saying do it so you won’t suffer.

Nicole (06:57):

Exactly. You can’t avoid suffering that way.

Sharon (06:59):

Right. And, and Paul evidently told them about the horrible time they had in Philippi, which should have clued them in even before Jason got arrested and he got shoved out of uh, Thessalonica.

Nicole (07:09):

And apparently it didn’t scare them off.

Sharon (07:11):

At all. They had that enduring hope.

Nicole (07:13):

That’s encouraging. Yeah. So verse three says, um, “So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery.” So I love this, his sincerity, you know, like this was not for their glory or gain. This was costing them pain and suffering and time and money as they’re traveling from place to place. (Sharon: Yes) Very quickly. (Mm-hmm) They didn’t really have time to settle in and kind of get cozy. So he’s not just breezing in on sunshine going, Hey, it’s all great. He’s living, (living it out before them) the struggle. Yeah.

Sharon (07:41):

He sure is. Exactly. So, and there was no trickery. It wasn’t like the Oh, it’s all be perfect, like you said, the sunshine.

Nicole (07:49):

Right. They’re honest and sincere in how their life with Christ was. Yeah.

Sharon (07:52):

Yeah, yeah. You can have this too.

Nicole (07:56):

It’s great!

Sharon (07:58):

I love it. And yet their joy must have come through big time.

Nicole (08:01):

Right. To be able to still show them Christ.

Sharon (08:04):

Yes.

Nicole (08:04):

Through all of that.

Sharon (08:05):

Yes. I love it. Okay. Verse four, “For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the good news. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.” Oh, Nicole, to be entrusted with the good news. That’s us.

Nicole (08:25):

Wow. Yeah.

Sharon (08:25):

That’s us. We are to go and be witnesses for him. He has trusted the most amazing news on the planet, that our sins can be forgiven, that we can live eternally with God, to frail human beings like us. Wow.

Nicole (08:40):

Wow. Yeah.

Sharon (08:42):

Yeah. Um, it’s lifesaving medicine to the dying, and we are the ones that are delivering it.

Nicole (08:48):

Oh. And don’t we forget that sometimes?

Sharon (08:53):

Yeah, yeah.

Nicole (08:53):

We’re just kind of like, I’m saved, I’m good. Thanks God.

Sharon (08:53):

And, and stay in our own little Christian clubby bubble. Right?

Nicole (08:56):

Yeah. Oh gosh. That’s convicting

Sharon (08:57):

Yeah, I know, I know, I know. And we can’t be people pleasers. (Nicole: Yeah) He said that very clearly. Our purpose is to please God, not people. (Mmm) And he’s the one that’s gonna examine our motives. That has helped me so many times, Nicole. Because one can be misunderstood.

Nicole (09:11):

Oh. Very easily.

Sharon (09:11):

And I have been a couple of times big time where a motive was attributed to me that was totally false. Totally false. And that’s really painful.

Nicole (09:21):

It is. Yeah.

Sharon (09:22):

And, and the thing that helps is to remember, okay, so who am I trying to please though? Oh, it’s God. So I can look up to heaven and say, Lord, did I please you? You saw my heart, you know, my motives. And then in the, the times I’m thinking of, he said, yes, honey, you did, you know, you’re an imperfect little cutie, but you didn’t, you didn’t have the motive that person said you had.

Nicole (09:43):

Right. Right.

Sharon (09:44):

I don’t know that he called me an imperfect little cutie, but that’s how I imagine he talks to me because he loves me so much.

Nicole (09:51):

He’s so gentle with us.

Sharon (09:52):

Yes. He is. So we need to please God.

Nicole (09:55):

Yes.

Sharon (09:55):

That’s gotta be our motive.

Nicole (09:57):

So verse five says, um, “Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness, that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money.” So he’s very good about kind of being honest and open and just saying like the facts to like, Hey, we weren’t trying to, to breeze in and schmooze you over and take your money and keep going. You know?

Sharon (10:18):

Right. Right.

Nicole (10:18):

That I think he’s reiterating that they weren’t in it for themselves.

Sharon (10:22):

Exactly. That is exactly the point of this. And so many preachers back then, the false preachers back then, and today, some that even start out with really good motives start to flatter, to get more people to like them.

Nicole (10:36):

They get corrupted by the money, because there’s a lot of money.

Sharon (10:38):

The money.

Nicole (10:40):

In saying good words and healings and prophecies. There’s a lot of money in that.

Sharon (10:44):

Yes, there is.

Nicole (10:44):

And I think he’s trying to let them know like, Hey, this is not for our benefit. (Sharon: No) You know, God called them to this, to the suffering and the pain and the (Exactly) not lots of money and glory. Yes, exactly. So he’s so sincere. I think he so wants them to know his heart. (Right, right) And his motives in this, even though God judges his motives. (Yeah. Yeah) He wants them to know.

Sharon (11:01):

He does. And he’s certainly not traveling with a great entourage and big fancy tents and, you know, eating on, you know, pillows and stuff.

Nicole (11:09):

When I arrive have some date cakes here.

Sharon (11:11):

Yes.

Nicole (11:11):

A special candle here. Yeah. He just, he’s running from the other towns still bruised and beaten, going, Hey, can we stay with you?

Sharon (11:18):

Yeah. You got any band aids?

Nicole (11:19):

Right.

Sharon (11:19):

Exactly. Yeah, Oh, so different. So different. But they need to be reminded of this because, uh, flattery feels good.

Nicole (11:26):

Oh, sure. Yeah.

Sharon (11:27):

And people that have wealth make you think that you can have wealth too, if you do what they say.

Nicole (11:31):

Well, and don’t we measure success by wealth and what we see though as humans.

Sharon (11:34):

Yes, we do. Yeah.

Nicole (11:35):

Like, oh, well, that guy must be saying the right thing or doing well look all his stuff.

Sharon (11:38):

Cause look at how successful. Right, right. Right. Yeah. No, some of god’s greatest people were the ones that had nothing. Yeah.

Nicole (11:45):

Yeah. Jesus didn’t have anything when he was on earth.

Sharon (11:47):

Right. Exactly. I don’t know why we associate God’s pleasure with prosperity.

Nicole (11:52):

Yeah.

Sharon (11:53):

It’s not there.

Nicole (11:54):

It’s not a good lie.

Sharon (11:55):

All right. Verse six, back to the human praise. “As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else.” So let’s just pause here. He’s more noble than me. Because I cannot say that I have never sought human praise.

Nicole (12:10):

It’s hard not to.

Sharon (12:13):

I blame my mother. My mother when I was little, I’m not kidding you. My mom thought, or, or, or acted like she thought anyways, I’ve never asked her, um, that I hung the moon. She’d be like, Sharon, the way you brush your teeth, (Nicole: Oh, my goodness) is amazing. I am so proud of you. You know, everything I did was just, Oh!

Nicole (12:32):

It’s the encouraging mom.

Sharon (12:33):

Oh, everything. She just, oh, the way you combed your hair today was just precious.

Nicole (12:37):

Wow.

Sharon (12:37):

The way you smiled at your brother. I just loved it. So then I marry Ray. Okay.

Nicole (12:43):

I feel like he’s not as encouraging as your mother would’ve been.

Sharon (12:46):

Oblivious. Oblivious.

Nicole (12:49):

Do you comb your hair, Sharon? I didn’t notice.

Sharon (12:51):

He’s like, so you combed your hair. So did I, you know, so I did not get the same level of praise to which I was accustomed.

Nicole (12:58):

Right.

Sharon (12:59):

And I can remember one day when it finally dawned on me that this was not going to happen, you know? So I’d freshly washed and polished the floor, like shiny, the old kind with the wax on top and everything.

Nicole (13:09):

Yes. The layers you had to put on. Wow.

Sharon (13:11):

Oh, my goodness. I mean, I slaved and I don’t like house cleaning. So I said, Ray, come here. Look at the floor. And he looks at it like, what? Nicole, it was shiny. So I finally said to him, okay, you need to say this to me. I don’t care if it’s sincere, this is how bad I was. I want you to say, I have never seen a shinier floor. You have done a great job. And he’s looking at me like I’m crazy. So anyways, this is a confession. I’m not as noble as Paul. I have sought human praise, especially from Ray, who now will say what I ask him to say.

Nicole (13:43):

That’s so great. Even if it’s praise, I have told you to say, I will take it and love it.

Sharon (13:47):

Take it. Yes. He he grins and makes it funny.

Nicole (13:50):

Aw. What a good sport.

Sharon (13:51):

So, but I need to be satisfied with just pleasing God.

Nicole (13:55):

Yeah. That’s so tough.

Sharon (13:55):

If we walk around waiting for humans to praise us, then we’re stunted. We’re really stunted.

Nicole (14:00):

Especially if we’re waiting for it to be an indicator of how well we’re doing for Christ.

Sharon (14:06):

Yes.

Nicole (14:07):

We’ll be very disappointed and feel like we’re failing.

Sharon (14:09):

Mm-hmm. Exactly. So, yeah. And, and God doesn’t measure us by what we do, but because we are his kids. He just loves us. And we are the ones that want all these measurements. You know?

Nicole (14:21):

I know. He doesn’t measure us or check us off for our growth. He just loves us.

Sharon (14:25):

No, he’s so good. All right.

Nicole (14:26):

He’s so much nicer than us.

Sharon (14:27):

He is. He’s so much nicer.

Nicole (14:29):

So verse seven says, “As apostles of Christ, we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we are like children among you. And we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children.” So he does a really good job of using very gentle and compassionate, um, comparisons. You know, comparing him to them. And like, I’m not here to kind of come in and make demands and do, I’m just like a mother caring for her children.

Sharon (14:54):

Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole (14:54):

Like what a gentle, safe illustration he used.

Sharon (14:56):

Isn’t that beautiful?

Nicole (14:57):

Yeah.

Sharon (14:57):

That’s exactly right. He wasn’t lording it over. In fact, they came like children, he said too.

Nicole (15:01):

Yeah. So even more meek than a mother kind of taking care of them, like come in willing to learn with them. Really.

Sharon (15:06):

Yes. Exactly. And saying, Hey, we’re all the same at the foot of the cross. We’re just inviting you to join us there. (Nicole: Yeah) Right. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Verse eight. “We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s good news, but our own lives too.” Personal. It’s personal. They weren’t up in some ivory tower or the fancy tent I was talking about where no one could see their flaws. (Right) They were up close and personal, living, sweating, doing all the things together. And that’s how we have to be as well. (Yes) We are not the hero. And we should not try to be the hero. It’s an exhausting place to put ourselves and we will fail. There’s one hero. He’s Jesus. (Right) He gained the victory. We can’t do it well like him. We need to let people see our flaws. (Yes) We need to let people see our leaky tears. (Mmm) We need to be us because God shines through broken people. (Yes) And we want God to be who they see. (Mmm) Not us. And I love that Paul says this. We’ve got to share our own lives with people. And that’s the good, the bad and the ugly.

Nicole (16:11):

Right. And it’s not just saying, oh, well I suffer too, you have to live your life alongside others.

Sharon (16:17):

You do. You do.

Nicole (16:17):

So they see the suffering.

Sharon (16:18):

You do.

Nicole (16:18):

You can’t just tell them about like, oh, well I’ve suffered, but really truly living and doing life with people is, which shows them everything.

Sharon (16:26):

Yes.

Nicole (16:26):

The good, the bad, the ugly. We can’t just say it like from afar too, you know.

Sharon (16:30):

Exactly.

Nicole (16:30):

It’s easier to be like, oh yes. You know? But to actually show the suffering that’s really hard sometimes.

Sharon (16:35):

It’s so hard. It is.

Nicole (16:36):

Why are we so bad at this?

Sharon (16:37):

And we think it’s gonna somehow make God look worse.

Nicole (16:41):

Yeah.

Sharon (16:41):

But you know what?

Nicole (16:42):

Or repel people from us.

Sharon (16:43):

Right. Right. But instead it just shows our faith that he still loves us even when we messed up.

Nicole (16:50):

So it does make him look a lot better.

Sharon (16:51):

Oh, it does. Yes.

Nicole (16:52):

All right. So verse nine. It’s me, right?

Sharon (16:57):

Yes, it’s you. Verse nine.

Nicole (16:58):

Like, wait, did I just talk? I just talked a lot for your verse. Sorry.

Sharon (17:02):

That’s okay. There was a lot to say.

Nicole (17:03):

Ah. So verse nine says, “Don’t you remember dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preach God’s good news to you.” So kind of what I said for your verse, but they were, they were in it with them. They were doing like working alongside of them, sweating, you know, and just reassurance that they weren’t in it for the money. And um, just kind of reminding them of what they did when they were there with them, like in case you forget we were just like you. We just live with you guys.

Sharon (17:30):

Yeah. I think it’s so handy for those of us who wanna witness to see Paul describe how he witnessed.

tNicole (17:35):

Yes. Oh yeah. It’s very good.

Sharon (17:36):

It’s wonderful. It’s wonderful. Verse 10, “You yourselves are our witnesses and so is God that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers.” So that’s where Paul strove to be. He wanted to be devout. He wanted to, you know, his words to be holy. And honest, which means, you know, if he was tired, I assume he said he was tired. If his bones were hurting from the last beating, I assume he told them. Um, and, um, and he wanted to be faultless. He wanted to, you know, if, if I’m going to, and to me, faultless as a Christian isn’t perfection. It’s admitting sin and being forgiven and being faultless again. To me it’s an endless, it’s an endless beautiful cycle of I sinned, I’m sorry, I’m clean. Because we don’t have to stay in the sin. And as soon as we say we’re sorry that sin is thrown into the depths of the sea, and we are clothed in righteousness. So we can almost live in a, a state of lots of righteousness if we are quick to confess.

Nicole (18:40):

Oh, I love that. So we don’t have to try to show up and be faultless. ’cause we would fail in about 10 minutes, maybe five for me.

Sharon (18:46):

Yes. Yeah, exactly. The faultlessness comes, at least the way I see it in my own life. From, from the fact that he washes me clean. And that he’s never sick of seeing me come back dirty again.

Nicole (18:58):

I know, the fact that that forgiveness is available moment by moment. I can mess up.

Sharon (19:04):

It’s amazing.

Nicole (19:04):

Mess up, ask for forgiveness, mess up again in 10 more minutes and still come back to him.

Sharon (19:08):

Yeah.

Nicole (19:08):

So throughout the day I can have moments of faultlessness.

Sharon (19:11):

Yes. Yes, you can. Yes. I just confessed. Stand still, I’m faultless at the moment.

Nicole (19:17):

Right. This very moment.

Sharon (19:20):

Oh, so good. All right.

Nicole (19:22):

Oh goodness. So verse 11 ends, he says, “And you know that we treated each of you as a father, treats his own children.” So this, it’s kind of neat. He’s mentioned children, mother and father in (Sharon: He has) this passage.

Sharon (19:34):

Family, yeah.

Nicole (19:35):

Family. That struck me as he really wants to incorporate this feeling, this idea of they’re a family.

Sharon (19:40):

Yes.

Nicole (19:41):

Yeah. Like I’ve come in as a child, as a mother and a father kind of as a safe, secure, loving, um, place. Guidance, if they need it, from him.

Sharon (19:48):

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Nicole (19:49):

But he’s also there to nurture and check on them like a mother. And he’s like a child with them learning about Christ, growing with them.

Sharon (19:56):

It’s beautiful.

Nicole (19:56):

So just such a nice way to say family. We’re family guys. And I’m here for you.

Sharon (20:01):

Yeah, yeah. It’s wonderful.

Nicole (20:02):

It is.

Sharon (20:02):

This is how we should do this thing. Yes. And last verse, verse 12, “We pleaded with you, encouraged you and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his kingdom and glory.” Oh my goodness. That’s the awesome truth. We’re called to share in a glorious kingdom. And Paul really wanted them to get it and then live worthy lives. It makes me think of in Hebrews where it says, we’re to spur one another on toward love first. (Nicole: Yes) And good deeds. So, okay. We’ve been given this great gift. We are members of an eternal kingdom. Let’s walk worthy of it. So it’s, it’s like he starts with the family. He starts with, we loved you. It starts with we didn’t demand money. And, and then he says, and we do want you to walk worthy. (Yes) We do want you to obey.

Nicole (20:50):

That is important.

Sharon (20:51):

Yes.

Nicole (20:51):

But it shouldn’t be the starting line. Like you have to fix yourself before you come to God.

Sharon (20:55):

Exactly.

Nicole (20:55):

Cause we will never make it. Ever.

Sharon (20:57):

Right. Right. Exactly. You start with, with the coming alongside. (Nicole: Yes). And then gently start showing. And you know, a lot of ways, Nicole, if somebody is loving the Lord and has the Holy Spirit within them and is reading the word God will show ’em. Right?

Nicole (21:12):

Yeah. We don’t have to always plan and prepare these strategic moments.

Sharon (21:16):

No, kidding.

Nicole (21:17):

But if we are faithful with God in our life, like they were faithfully just following God,serving, working alongside these people, people saw.

Sharon (21:23):

Yes.

Nicole (21:24):

And that’s the key.

Sharon (21:25):

Yes.

Nicole (21:25):

That sometimes is more than our words.

Sharon (21:26):

It is absolutely

Nicole (21:28):

Not that we shouldn’t be ready to talk about our faith, but living it is so important.

Sharon (21:32):

It is. It is. Oh my goodness. So fun. Alright, well I’m gonna go first with my favorite verse and I’ll be curious if you have the same one. this is gonna be fun. I chose verse eight.

Nicole (21:42):

Okay.

Sharon (21:43):

Did you or not?

Nicole (21:44):

I did four this time. That’s good.

Sharon (21:46):

Okay I chose verse eight, which says, “We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s good news, but our own lives as well.” And I just wrote, love is doing life with people, inviting them into an untidy home cooking dinner while they set the table. (Nicole: Yeah) You know, that’s what he was saying here. We shared our lives and I I have found that, you know, hospitality that, that is meaningful is not the perfect home. It’s literally come for dinner. It’s kind of crazy here, here’s the dishes, set the table, then you can come chop the peppers. (Right ) Just let ’em do life with you. And and that’s family.

Nicole (22:21):

Yeah. Then it’s not a performance, it’s genuine.

Sharon (22:23):

Exactly.

Nicole (22:23):

It’s, oh, hey, it was a crazy day. I’m still chopping veggies. Jump in and we’ll talk about your day together.

Sharon (22:28):

Exactly.

Nicole (22:28):

I love that.

Sharon (22:29):

I love that. Okay. Verse four, you got a different one,

Nicole (22:31):

Verse four. Yeah. So it was “For, we speak as messengers, approved by God to be entrusted with the good news.” There’s that entrusted part again. (Sharon: Yes) That’s that’s really cool. (Yeah. Yeah) And then our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our heart. So that for me is a really good reminder that, um, my goal is to please God and not people. It’s so easy to look for validation from humans about whether or not I’m doing a good job or I’m doing it right or serving God well. And if you don’t hear that, you think like, what am I doing wrong? What’s going on? But just to be able to sit with God and like, am I pleasing you God? Like you say, am I pleasing you? (Yep) Is this what you want from me? And he knows the motives of my heart.(He doe) So even if flub something that was pleasing to him, it, he knows my heart.(Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm) And that just gives me such a peace.

Sharon (23:16):

Doesn’t it? Yeah. And if the heart is wrong, you say you’re sorry. (Nicole: Yes) And you’re forgiven. (Right) You cannot lose.

Nicole (23:23):

I can’t go wrong with him as the one that I’m pleasing.

Sharon (23:26):

Right. Right. Exactly. Exactly. It’s beautiful. Okay. All right. So what did we learn about God from this passage? Um, this is what I learned. I learned that he calls us to share in his kingdom. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) He trusts imperfect people to share the good news. (Yep) And then the, the one you just said, he examines our motives and looks at our hearts. The, both the good and the scary. (That’s good) Did I cover everything or do you have some things you found?

Nicole (23:51):

I, well,, he says good news in here several times. So I just think that’s, God really wants us to know him. He wants us to know the good news.

Sharon (23:58):

Yes.

Nicole (23:58):

Like this is so, like the good news, the good news, the good news. Like that’s such an important part of our, our faith walk. We kind of hear it in the beginning and then we just kind of go in our merry way. But for me to be reminded that, um, God wants us to keep that fresh.

Sharon (24:11):

Yes he does.

Nicole (24:12):

In our hearts, we’re willing to share it quickly. And for us to always be remembering the, the beautifulness of the gift that he gave us.

Sharon (24:19):

Yeah. And never being tired of hearing the gospel.

Nicole (24:22):

Yeah. He wants us to know him. So I like that.

Sharon (24:23):

Yeah. Oh, I love that. That’s beautiful. Okay. Living wisely in troubled times. I’ll let you go first on this one.

Nicole (24:29):

So what I was thinking about was, um, just being close with other believers, you know, working alongside of them, praying, loving and suffering together.

Sharon (24:37):

Yes.

Nicole (24:37):

We will do so much better if we work and love and pray and communion with each other.

Sharon (24:41):

We will. And coming alongside people means that we have to sacrifice our will to the will of others. It means we have to endure people that gratet on our nerves. And all of that is actually part of sanctification.

Nicole (24:55):

Yes. Cause I was just telling my girls that the other day, like, we each want our own rooms and we’re just so tired of always fighting. I’m like, girls, if I did that, I’d be doing a disservice. Because you wouldn’t be learning to soften those rough edges.

Sharon (25:08):

Right.

Nicole (25:08):

You know, where you’re not learning to solve conflict, but we need to be annoyed.

Sharon (25:12):

Yes. We do.

Nicole (25:13):

We do. Cause then we find out, wow, Nicole, you’re really short-tempered with this.

Sharon (25:17):

Right.

Nicole (25:17):

You gotta chill a little bit.

Sharon (25:18):

Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. And then in desperation you go to God and ask for help.

Nicole (25:21):

Yes.

Sharon (25:21):

And then lots of good things happen. Removing all trouble from your children is no way to help them grow up, ready to face the world.

Nicole (25:29):

No. They’ll fall apart pretty quick.

Sharon (25:30):

They will. Yes. Absolutely. Well done. I like that.

Nicole (25:32):

Thank you.

Sharon (25:33):

Uh, let’s see. What did I write? Um, we need to remember the great good news we have. That’s how we live wisely in troubled times. Um, and please God, by the way, we lovingly share it. We need to treat people gently. (Nicole: Yes) Like a mom, but also speak truth. It’s both. (Yeah) Um, and we need to be honest and do life, honestly, even when it’s messy with each other. (Yeah. It’s so important) Just, you know, just be us. It’s such an important thing. I love this. I love how Paul shared his life with them. And I think his reminder in this part of the letter, he’s, he started out with all the encouraging things. (Yes) He’s about to, you know, talk about some of the harder things, but he wants to remind them first, Hey, I didn’t come bossy. I came simply, I came ‘along siding’ with you. (Yes) Right. And so now I’m gonna tell you some other stuff, but, um, I want you to remember this is the way I started. This is the groundwork. So.

Nicole (26:29):

Well, it’s like before you give a criticism or a hard thing, you always start with like the compliments or the encouragement first. (Sharon: Yes) And he is very good at that.

Sharon (26:36):

Yes. The love sandwich.

Nicole (26:37):

Yes.

Sharon (26:38):

We call it, say something kind. Say the hard thing. You have to follow up with something kind.

Nicole (26:43):

Yes. And the first layer of this letter was quite delightful.

Sharon (26:47):

Very nice layer.

Nicole (26:48):

Very nice. Thank you Paul.

Sharon (26:49):

Beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful. Well, let me pray for us, because we are called to share that good news. And we are called to do it in such a way, um, that hopefully we make it attractive to people. We won’t always, sometimes we’re gonna be a stench in someone’s nostrils. But that, I want that to be, they’re hating the good news, not they’re being annoyed at my judgy nastiness to them. You know what I mean?

Nicole (27:15):

Yeah, no, for sure.

Sharon (27:15):

If it’s not gonna come out well, I want it to not come out well because they’re offended by what God said. Not what I said.

Nicole (27:21):

Mm-hmm. Yeah. That’s a good prayer.

Sharon (27:23):

So all right. Let’s pray. Oh, heavenly Father, thank you so much for this beautiful example of Paul’s on how not only to lead people to Christ, but then how to nurture them and love them. Father, give us his gentle ways. Help us to work in humility beside other people, considering them better than ourselves, and knowing that we are so weak without you. And Lord, help us to live honestly. Help us to confess sin quickly, um, but not hide it under a shiny face. Lord, help us to be us. I know you use us best when we are ourselves, and so we ask for your help in all of this. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Nicole (28:11):

Amen. It was so helpful to learn more about how to share the truths about Jesus wisely this week. We hope you were energized to share the gospel. Write us and let us know if God gives you an opportunity to speak about him. to someone who doesn’t know him yet. You can write us at Sweetelah.org/podcast. Anytime. We love hearing from you. Consider writing a review of this podcast too, or sharing it with a friend. Let’s help more people fin this study and join us on this journey. And please do come back next week for episode 114, The Suffering Times. The Christian life is not always roses and rainbows. Sometimes we are called to suffer for his sake. Let’s explore that next week. Until then, may God help you live wisely in troubled times.

Speaker 1 (28:58):

We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.