Scripture Passage: 1 Thessalonians 2

 The Child

•Paul reminds the church about his journey into and out of Thessalonica, for the sake of the Gospel (Acts 16 &17)
•Paul seems to have been accused of being cowardly and preaching the Gospel for personal gain.
•He defends the accusation, by saying:
•Not with impure motives
•Not with trickery or masks
•Not as people pleasers
•Not with flattery
• What could have been a right- is contrasted in childlike character- innocent and non-manipulative
 

The Mother

•Paul uses the metaphor of a nursing mother, one whose description reveals care through:
•Speech of  God’s righteousness (Eph 4:29)
•Smell of God’s Love (Eph 5:2)
•Sight of God’s Glory (2 Cor 4:6)
•Touch of God’s affection (Jn 15:13)
•Taste of God’s Word (Jer 15:16)
 

The Father

•Paul speaks of hard labor versus a life of ease and idleness
•Paul then goes on to use the metaphor of a Father, one whose description reveals care through:
•Encouraging
•Comforting 
•Urging
Consider Psalm 121
•In the direction of living lives worthy of God, who has called them with certainty
 

We Are Family

•Laying the foundation on relationships that are born of blood, Paul identifies with the church as those who are born again through the blood of Christ
•He reiterates their imitation and modeling through much suffering
•He specifically speaks of certain of his own Jewish lineage who are against the Gospel for the Gentiles
•He then again concludes with a word that describes how he connects with them- Orphaned
•Satan attacks both the message and the messenger
•Paul’s sacrificial labour in love is not limited to an earthly and finite experience but- a Glorious Future with the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Take Away: Make your spiritual adoption into the family of God, a living reality in the family of faith. For it influences the Gospel Message.