First Thessalonians 2:5-8 The message of the gospel was pure
1 Thessalonians 2:5-8 · Bob Eckel · Feb 28, 2021
Thessalonians, No. 06
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261921586968

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

let's kind of begin. The verses today are 1 Thessalonians 2, verses 5 through 8, and the title is The Message of the Gospel was Pure. And Roy and I touched base this week a little bit in terms of the fact that this section goes through verse 11, I believe, so there are eight verses really included in this, part one and part two, and Initially, Roger had assigned me both weeks, but Margaret and I are going to be out of town next weekend. So that didn't work out time-wise, but I'm sure Roy will do a great job continuing the theme next week. So let's look first about what Andrew taught us last week. And the first kind of point I really took away, which I thought Andrew did a great job on, praise the Lord for this, he escorted us nicely along Paul's secondary missionary journey, both chronologically and geographically. So I think that really helped put this all into perspective in terms of where Paul was at in his journey and being led by the Lord to spread the gospel.

And now we're looking at his message to the church at Thessalonica. And secondly, that suffering, and Sue thinking about the Russell family here, suffering can lead to boldness in the furtherance of the gospel. And I think as your family deals with all you're going through with Lem and Ethan, I mean, that's a message to people who look in at the Russell family and what you guys are going through. So anyway, So that's a message that came out that Andrew brought forth last week, and to which we have been entrusted.

This idea that this boldness that comes through suffering, ultimately, and furtherance of the gospel is not in vain. So this is not wasted time. This is ultimately how the Lord uses our day-to-day and earthly circumstances to bring the message of the gospel to others and to bring glory to God. That's a brief and very succinct summary. I'm sure Andrew could build on that better than I did. But nevertheless, I thought it'd be good to open up the second chapter with just a brief review of what Andrew taught last week.

All right, 1 Thessalonians 2.5. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness. God is witness.

Boy, is this not a packed verse. Let's look at this first of all. What do some of you think Paul's alluding to in terms of calling this nothing that he had really experienced of the use of flattering words? What's that all about? And by the way, this is the only biblical use of this term, flattering. Nothing in the New Testament, nothing in the Old Testament. Well, maybe I need to probe this. As you know, this is factual. We did not use flattering words at any time. So, what are some thoughts here? Roger, go ahead.

Well, he stuck to the gospel message. He didn't, you know, there's always a tendency, and I think we all as, you know, having a sin nature, we always say, well, if I just flatter the Christian a little bit, I'll get in their good side and they'll have their need for Christ. Well, that never works. It's only the true message of the gospel that the Holy Spirit can use that can change their lives.

So that's my takeaway. Okay, good. Somebody else. What's the benefit of using flattering words? One of the areas that that might refer to is getting people's praise rather than sending a message they didn't want to hear. All right. Thanks, Roy. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead, please.

Well, I was just going to say, you know, when you use flattering words, it kind of softens a hard message. Sometimes people don't want to hear the hard message. They they want a softer kind of. And I think we all fall short in this area sometimes, don't we? And it's a way to sometimes make or an opportunity, a veil of itself to reaching someone else with a message. But Paul, you know, called a spade a spade here.

There wasn't anything that was self-serving or pleasing the other person to make them feel better, ultimately to spread the gospel. And as you know, by the way, the no word here is iado, which is fact. I've never used flattering words. I mean, so he was pretty strong on this. This is something he recognized as something he didn't do.

And nor cloak. The term cloak is really not in the Greek, but it's actually the word en. And Roy may want to complement some additional insight into that. But it's the idea, it's for covetousness. So the idea is not a cloak. It's kind of a pretext for covetousness. So cloak is what was translated here in multiple versions. But it really is one word, en. Roy, you want to add to that a little bit? Well, it's that use of the word that would benefit him rather than his peers. And so, there's like you're hiding something. Okay, good. You gain something for yourself. Yeah, good, good. You know, they were being deceived by people coming and teaching them different things.

Paul didn't do that. Did you say it hides the truth? Yeah, it's a pretext. It has a purpose, right? And here it's covetousness. And yes, go ahead, Carol. In my version, it says, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed. Perfect. That's that's a great kind of more liberal translation of this. I think I think that's really true. And that really opens up the door to what I was going to say here.

Both flattering words. and cloak and pretexts for covetousness disregard the rights and needs of others to gain one's own selfish desires. I mean, doesn't that summarize this really well? I think. Other thoughts, please. Clark, what do you think about this? In terms of flattering? Yeah, flattering or using a cloak. Yeah, I mean, flattering is simply making someone feel better, whether it's probably true or not, right?

I mean, well, do you think it's more do you think it's more in in the second part of this to gain one's own selfish desires? I sense that's a stronger, really. Absolutely. That disregarding the rights and needs of others. But that's also part of this. I mean, what Paul's saying is these people need to hear the gospel, right? I mean, that's their their rights. Maybe not the best term there. I don't like that term the way it's sometimes used today.

But the needs of others is to hear the gospel and get saved. But ultimately, flattering words and this kind of pretext is to gain one's selfish desires. In other words, Paul wants them to hear the word and word of the Lord and be a share of the gospel. But he's not doing it in a way that ultimately is just going to lead to his own selfish desires that they'd be saved. He wants the Lord to work through him to meet that end.

Other thoughts? Just another word here. You're going to Why does he have to say these things? Answer that question. Well, why do you think, Roy? I believe that if you look at the magnitude of the things that he says here, the people that he's talking to were being deceived by Paul.

And there was a lot of them. And he just used their method. And one of their methods was you know, hiding what they came for with a cloak for their own greed that would get money from them. And then they move on and leave them in the dirt. They didn't do that.

No, no. And I think this message kind of is repeated in, in other parts of this section, but also many other places in scripture. And we're going to document that some with other passages. All right, let's go on to slide two. So in 2 Peter, which we of course covered what that verse probably now what maybe six months ago, for when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lust of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who are barely escaping from those who live in error. Now that's a little bit out of context for what we're dealing with this week, but Great swelling words of emptiness. I mean, isn't that just flattering words and just kind of phony? I mean, that same type of language or ultimately discussion we have with others can ultimately look just like this too, as he was mentioning in Peter's epistle to the Jewish nation and Gentiles.

God is witness. Boy, how's that for ending this verse? We can't get away with anything, can we? I mean, what's everyone's thoughts about this? Let's go back to the verse again. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor cloak of covetousness as God is witness. So he knows our heart, doesn't he? I think of that verse that says, where all things are open and visible before God, as may have paraphrased.

There's Zoom, they do Bob Eccle today, and it shows my name. It doesn't show the picture again. I hate Zoom almost as much as I hate the iPhone. Welcome, Wendy. Hi, Wendy. Hi, Wendy. Keep going, Bob. I think people get the wrong email or whatever. Oh, OK. If I can do anything, let me know, please. OK, keep going. If you were in control, Bill's in control right now. OK. So here's just another verse that Paul refers to, and I could find perhaps other ones.

For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit and the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. I mean, Paul recognized that, you know, what man's interpretation was, was really not perhaps what God's is. So God knew flattery. God knew the cloak of covetousness. So God's is witness, not the human experience. All right. So we all work underneath this cloud of being uplifted in terms of where we're positioned and how the Lord ultimately grows us through these experiences to bring our condition more closely related to our position. All right, verse 6.

This is the interlinear Greek, which I kind of liked a little bit better. Nor seeking from men glory, neither from you or from others, when we might have made demands as the apostles of Christ. Now I should mention that there are some translations that don't have when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ, but it's in most versions. I looked at about 10 just to kind of get a sense of that.

So let's drill down now on verse 6. Let's just ponder momentarily, how much of our spoken words or life is sourced in seeking glory from others? 36 percent. I wasn't looking for a percentage, Carolyn. I don't think he wanted metrics. It's okay, I just made it up anyway.

Well, it occurs to me that our sin nature, unfortunately, seeks to look good. We want to look good, and I'm afraid that sometimes when we present the gospel, people don't think well of us and they think less of us. And so nobody likes to be in that position. So I think that kind of feeds into a lot of this, that we're, you know, our sin nature is ever with us and, and we have the guard against it taking, you know, taking the forefront, so to speak.

Well, Roger, I think I agree with that. Um, you know, I mean, I, we all have our own experiences of living in this world system that we're all part of. And the, the question is, um, in our roles in this life here, whether it be in the workplace or in the home or with our neighbors or in the body, ultimately we want the glory to be given to God. So we carry ourselves in a way that we don't want to be antagonistic, but not use flattering words or cloaks of covetousness ultimately to make our position known before others, but yet You know, we all, I think, feel like we'd like to be acknowledged for meeting our responsibilities, right? I mean, is that seeking glory from men? I don't know. It's a tough one, I think. Other thoughts here?

I always love what Hal said. You know, a lot of times we're the only Bible, our lives are the only Bible that anyone reads. And sometimes you don't have to. speak words necessarily, but it's also how you react to trials and how you interact with people and all of those things are important. Our lives are important as people watch us in the workplace because they see that something is different about us. All right. Thank you, honey. You know, let me personalize this just a little bit.

Despite being retired, which I've relabeled rewired, ultimately I'm involved in still a tremendous amount of academic related activities and presenting Zoom conferences around the world probably a couple of times a week now. Talks I have to put together for one meeting or another, which historically would have been live, but now of course with the coronavirus are carried out by videoconferencing. So anyway, you know, Basically, it's nice to hear someone say, gee, Bob, that was a nice talk.

I mean, is that wrong for me to hear something from somebody that I get? Anyway, I struggle with this a little bit, not that I can't realize that the glory needs to be the Lord's. But when you give an academic talk to people in the Middle East or something, to give glory to God ultimately would allow me to be arrested probably by the Muslim community.

I don't know. So anyway. Let's ponder this a little bit longer. Any other thoughts? We got a lot of people on the call and I can't see everybody just because of the nature of this Zoom connect. Andrew, what are your thoughts? Well, everyone needs feedback, right? You know, how was it, did everyone understand that message and things like that?

And I guess that's different from seeking, kind of puffing yourself up with people's. I just think that in a lot of the big churches today, there's a lot of, I mean, the star is the pastor, you know, and he's the show. Yeah, and I just think of that when I read this verse, that puffing up. But yeah, you need feedback on, you know, like your talks for work, how you're doing, but that's different from seeking glory.

Okay, that's helpful. Thank you. Others, any passing thoughts on this before we move on? I agree. It's nice to get encouragement and not only clarification and that people are understanding, but encouragement that they appreciate your work. There's different levels there, I think, and the seeking glory is more like the puffing up that Andrew was talking about. I think it's a different level.

Yeah, Carolyn. Well, the world system has its own metrics, right? As we live in the world system, there are certain responsibilities and expectations of our job, or actually in our family, spiritually, we have responsibilities. Men, their wives and husbands, we have responsibilities.

But the glory is not ours. We don't seek from men glory to be given to us individually. The glory goes to the Lord. But many, many times that's such a hidden agenda. The world system clearly doesn't understand that. And Margaret, again, as referring to Hal.

I mean, we may be the only Bible people ever see. So, all right. Seeking here is a present participle, nor were we seeking. They were not seeking, and they continue not to be seeking, and reflects, I think, the habitual behavior of Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. Keep in mind that we, often in this epistle, we're looking at we. And so I think this whole epistle starts with these three guys up front, who, in fact, their behavior is being recognized as one which shouldn't be seeking and has not been seeking glory from men.

But the God be the glory. I'm going to ask the group, do you agree with Keithley? And Roger, thank you for this commentary. Verse five was primarily aimed at financial motives. Remember, that's flattering words, etc. And verse 6, on the other hand, is aimed at the desire for the praise of people, the lust for position, praise, applause, power, the like. What do you think of that? Do you think verse 5 is aimed at financial motives? Let's go back and look at it real quickly. There it is. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, not for clothing. Go ahead.

As for greed, I mean, I assume greed reminds me of money, I guess. But it could be greedy other stuff, too, I gather. I wasn't sure I agreed with Keith Lee on the fact that this was only financially driven. But nevertheless, maybe it was. Maybe I just missed something there. And then the second one seems pretty clear, doesn't it? For the desire for praise. And by the way, lust. I mean, this is not just a desire for position. This is a lust. for position, praise, applause, power, and the like, right? That's the world behavior, isn't it, to some extent?

I kind of see six more as a financial... I mean, I see it for... Oh, really? Okay. The praise, but I see... when he talks about making demands as apostles of Christ, I mean, I think that, to me, refers to financial. Because he talked earlier about, you know, you pay other people and we never wanted you to pay us.

So that's, to me, that kind of goes back to that. I think the last part of this verse, at least in my translation, seems to focus on their authority. This is a tough translation of this verse. The last part seems to focus on the American Standard has on their authority, asserting their authority. Okay. And Bob, you probably got to cover that. Yeah, let's move into that right now. What did Paul mean by when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ? What did Paul mean there? Well, my translation says we could have been a burden to you.

Oh, well, that's very good. Would you like to take this lesson and carry it on, Caroline? I think Jake needs something. I'll see you later. Well, demands I think is better translated as being burdensome. And how do you think this related to the Apostles of Christ? Being burdensome. They could have demanded compensation. We're the Apostles and we deserve your financial support. So that ties us into the conversation we just had about verses 5 and 6. Roy, you were going to say something.

I'm agreeing with you there that he could have asked them to support him and not make tents while he was with them, but he didn't do that. All right, but the burdensome nature could not have just been simply on a financial basis. We don't have any evidence that that's what it was, but it certainly could have been. And I question, did this really relate to his apostolic authority?

So let's drill down on that a little bit. In 1 Corinthians 9, one and two. It says, I am not an apostle. Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. So Paul is relating to his responsibilities as an apostle.

And to go on beyond that, I think he had a responsibility of being you know, conscious of these issues that were brought up in verses five and six to avoid them. So I don't know that that was driven by financial gain, but it certainly could have been. But I didn't see any direct evidence for this. He has a responsibility.

And as an apostle, he has a responsibility to share the Lord and bring the gospel to the world around him. And he he didn't want to be burdensome to that task. But again, that burdensome relates to the apostles of Christ. He's really representative of the other people who have been called apostles and have that role to play.

Again, I go back to that he is defending coming to them in the purity of a representative of Christ as his apostle, and so he's not there to get gain for himself. but that's an interpretation that there were others who came who did come for gain for themselves.

These guys could not do that. I like that a lot, Roy. That's a perfect summary, I think, of where we're at here. You know, the neat thing about 1 Corinthians 9, 1 and 2, I love it here. Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? He saw him twice, didn't he, personally? He listened to the Lord, too. When he was deterred, he said, don't be deterred. Now you be bold. All right, good. Let's go ahead then. Verse seven.

But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. When you envision that Paul et al., and that's Silvanus and Timothy, part of this group, were being gentle to the church at Thessalonica, what comes to mind there? We're hearing of Paul's boldness and the boldness presumably of his colleagues, but can we consider boldness and being gentle in the same mindset? How about careful? What's it mean to be gentle? It usually means to be careful, not harsh.

I don't know. One other thing, encouraging, right? Not demeaning, but encouraging and gently leading, right? But here is a picture of a mother nursing. Right. We'll come back to that in a second, Roy, but I do think that if you look at the translation that Thayer gives us in terms of the Greek term, to be gentle is to show oneself or prove oneself as gentle. It doesn't describe it any further than that.

But I was just thinking, doesn't this reflect the new life in Christ that was portrayed in Paul? And even by faith, what we are to be living by through the power of the spirit today, being gentle. The gospel should not be presented in a pejorative manner, but understanding the, if you will, the nature of the gospel reaching out to a person who needs to be saved. And, you know, I'm not going to put an equation to that. But nevertheless, I think gentleness is part of the Christ nature.

Now, we could find examples in the gospel accounts where Christ didn't seem to be gentle, as he identified sin for what it is. But, you know, Go ahead, please. One of the things is that there's that milk of the word that gives nourishment to a child. And also there's that cherishedness in her thinking of her own children. She's very, very careful with that. Anybody else have any input here?

Oh, Bob, I was thinking, if you think of Paul, when he first came out as an apostle, and before he was an apostle, being a Pharisee and going around and persecuting churches and putting people to death, that's the opposite of gentle. He was brutal, right? He's a very brutal man. So this is kind of the contrast here. And churches, too, in the beginning were like, no, don't send Paul because we've heard they thought he was this brutal persecutor.

And so he had to show gentleness, which is kind of interesting. But it's the work of Christ in him. Okay, Andrew, thanks for that comment in 2 Corinthians 10. It's a sorrowful yet always rejoicing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things. I think it's a reflection of this gentle spirit as sorrowful yet always rejoicing as poor yet making many feel rich as who have nothing. Anyway, I think it's kind of a life and I think that is the new life we have in Christ Jesus. It's an approach to understand where people are at, particularly to the unsaved, but I think as we interact with our brothers and sisters in the Lord, this is a life that's carried out by the power of the Spirit, this gentle nature.

In 2 Timothy 2.24, and as a servant of the Lord, I must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, be patient, and it goes on. This is an attribute, I think, of the exchange life that we have in Christ Jesus. Now, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children, can you think of any better example of being gentle?

I mean, nobody wants to comment on that. Well, also grandmothers, too, since we're experiencing that now, too. I get to see Bonnie in a different role with our grandchildren. So it's pretty cool. Well, Roger, can you tell us what translation you're reading here? No, I'm sure that's true, Bonnie. May God get the glory, right? Whoops, my bad. Ephesians 529, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church.

So I mean, just think about where that's at today in terms of motherhood and how many you know, young women, you know, don't want to have children because of their career and everything, but they're missing that tremendous opportunity of being a mother and raising a child and nursing him or her. And anyway, there's a whole part of life that's so God excluded today that really is, is saddening. And I get a monthly letter from Jim Dobson and the one we got just a couple of days ago, Margaret read it just so so disappointing about the world, what the world around us has done in terms of leaving God and his principles out of where we're at. So anyway, and here's something I brought up that really relates to that. Do you think this behavior still predominates today?

I've seen a couple of times in the academic setting where a postdoc working in one of the labs next to mine, she gets pregnant and In fact, I've had multiple women working for me who've gotten pregnant, and there's a downside to that from an employer's perspective. We got work that needs to get done. But I was happy for her, obviously. But anyway, once they deliver, you women know this, who've delivered a child, once that baby's delivered, boy, that bond is incredible. It's absolutely incredible. So you women know that, who are mothers by birth.

So anyway. don't know that that behavior is still changed even in the world system that the bond of a mother to her child being nursed isn't something that's cherished even in the absence of the Lord. I don't know. So we'll leave it at that. No final conclusions there.

Verse 8, so affectionately longing for you we were pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives because you have become dear to us." Now this is really kind of a bonding statement which is going to be exemplified I think in the next four verses that Roy covers next week. What stands out to you in this verse? Well the fact of their own lives being witnesses, that's what the Lord would have us be, but many times our lives can contradict what our message is. And that's what's so neat about this verse. Okay. It's giving of themselves and not just their words. All right. Good. The focus was on the benefit of the listeners to the message from the Lord. You know, the mother caring for a child. Okay.

I like the first part and the last part, affectionately longing for you because you had become dear to us. I mean, you know, there's not one part of this verse that ultimately needs to be the right answer. I think it's how it appeals to all of us. The verse is stacked with really a bond of Paul to the body that really, I think it's very special.

Affectionately longing means to be closely attached as the term implies. Is there any stronger message possible? And by the way, this is the only time that this is used in the Bible too. So Paul in his message to Thessalonica in the second chapter is used a couple of terms only once in all of his writings.

I find that kind of interesting. All right, we were well pleased to impart to you. Being well pleased is often translated as willing but means to be well-content but I think just willing I think is probably better translated as being well-pleased. I mean that he just wasn't willing but the translation being well-pleased I think in context really fits the framework of this verse and has a greater interpretation than simply being willing. Now this is like other messages of Paul to the bodies of believers, isn't it?

And I turn to Romans 1.11, the first part of that verse. For I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gifts so that you may be established.

Now it's not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, and I think that reflects on what Roger said. You know, it's not just the message, but it's how our own lives relate to that. And again, back to Hal's reminder that we may be the only Bibles people ever see. So that's carrying ourselves by faith and let God give the glory. Here I'm going to quote Keithley again. I'm not going to ask you whether this is right or wrong, not that I'm the final judge, but I thought this was good.

Helping people to grow in the Lord as with growing children takes time and requires patience. Sometimes it causes pain. priorities need to be set in our relationships. And you don't raise children overnight, we all know that, who are parents. And you can't raise them without growing pains for both parent and child alike, and we can't impact them for Christ without spending quality time to see them build up in Christ.

And I think that's the relationship Paul had and wanted with the church at Thessalonica. Any thoughts about Kiefley's interpretation of what this verse means? That's good, that's a great statement. You know, I think one thing, and this is kind of a rabbit trail for a second, so forgive me for that, but you know, when we bring new believers to the Lord, I think getting them established in positional truth early is really an important part of our ministry to newly saved individuals, so that ultimately, you know, the entire aspect of the co-crucifixion, death and burial and resurrection with the Lord positions them as righteous.

And that, I think, is an example of how, you know, bringing a new believer along requires time and patience. This isn't just a quick fix. It really needs kind of the ministry and ongoing insight by a mature believer who chews on meat to bring people who are drinking milk along the path up front, you know, originally. And I think ultimately, you know, the The None But the Hungry Heart series really reflects, I think, this personal nature, this identification life that we all share. And I think so many times believers, new believers, are just brought into a position of thinking now they have to work for God to thank him for their salvation. I think, you know, we all know that the Holy Spirit works through our lives to bring glory to God. without us living under law. So anyway, I'm just using that, again, it's a rabbit trail, but I think this idea of, it takes time and requires patience to grow people in this principle of grace that brings them along the path of a mature relationship with the Lord.

Yeah, Roy. Just the thought here that in the next verses, we're going to talk about our relationship as fathers, and here we have the relationship as a mother, and in both cases we're talking about a family. And without revealing what we're going to get into, one of the things that really stands out to me here is how personal this is, that God wants us to know Him on a family-based in an intimate way, not in a hypocritical way, but even to the point of us giving our lives for those we love, because we want us to act like Paul did. Thanks, Roy, and that leads me to a few verses in closing here.

For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once, and again for my necessities, not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. So, in other words, Here he's relating to the church at Thessalonica, but he's concerned about the fruit that abounds in their account. I think that reflects what this verse also indicates to us.

And 1 John 3 16, by this we know love because he laid down his life for us and he and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. So when we're talking about it's not only the gospel of God, but also our lives, I always have a little trouble interpreting this, but what are your thoughts? How should we interpret this, that we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren? Is that our physical lives? You could render it, I haven't looked at the original, but you could render it the same in terms of just being, your life is a sacrifice for your brothers and sisters. You lay down your life once, your life doesn't, isn't like Christ's life, but the life, the sacrificial life day in, day out can make a, can make a difference. I don't know. That's just my thoughts. I like it. Yes. Okay. Okay.

Because you had become dear to us again, that I reflected on that up front in terms of the first part of birth to the, the terminal parts of the earth. Becoming dear is interesting, agapitos, which really the root word here is agape. So becoming dear really reflects the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, which we all know is unconditional and forever. And that really relates to being esteemed and beloved in a godly or Christ based sense. So this is the new nature. And again, it relates to something that I often think about.

We don't have to like everybody. We just have to love them. And that's the kind of relationship I think Paul is exemplifying in this particular verse, the last verse in our section this week. For I have no one like-minded who will sincerely care for your state. So anyway, ultimately his concern and care was really for the body at Thessalonica. I think this is a very, very special section.

Go ahead. Roy, is that you? I was just saying amen. Amen. Alright, any other final points before we close today? Thanks for everybody for being part of the lesson. Lord, we'll close in prayer now. Lord, we're thankful for this text. We, you know, grow in grace every time we turn to the word and we're thankful for what Paul's reflected in terms of his relationship to the Church of Thessalonica and all this that we do as we live in this earth is not to bring glory to ourselves or to be esteemed in our old nature, but in fact, to bring glory to you. May we be led by the spirit as the word of God is portrayed and exemplified in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.