True, Pure, and God-Pleasing? (1 Thessalonians 2:3-6)
GIST: Impactful Christian living is true, pure, and God-pleasing.
Last week, we started looking at 1 Thessalonians chapter two. In this chapter, Paul talks about why his ministry among these people wasn’t in vain. In that description, we get some broad implications for what impactful Christian living looks like. Honestly, if you were to break all of this down, what you’d see is that the kind of Christianity that positively impacts lives is the real kind… because if you take all these characteristics outlined in the chapter, you’d see they’re all traits most fully demonstrated in the life of Jesus.
The first few verses described a boldness that is God-created and gospel-driven even in the face of hardships.
“3 For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. 5 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed--God is witness. 6 Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.”
While you could probably break these verses down several ways, essentially the picture we get (and our gist) is that→ Impactful Christian living is true, pure, and God-pleasing. There’s a lot to think about in those three words though, so let’s try to unpack this a bit→
I. True
“3 For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive…”
When Paul came bringing the message of Jesus’ rescue to these people, he was grounded in the truth. This is so important. If we want to make any kind of difference in the world, we need to make sure we’re actually standing on the right foundation. I know our world recoils a bit at the idea of “truth”. It is far easier to promote relativity, but it’s just not as helpful.
I’m a huge proponent of speaking in love and having open, productive dialogues where people are safe to share and grow together in a place full of mutual respect. That’s Christ-honoring. I’m also a huge proponent of trying to point people to lasting joy, love, and acceptance. It is my wholehearted belief that those are found in Jesus, so not wanting people to see His rescue would be to act without compassion or integrity. However, if my understanding of His truth isn’t firm, it’s like balancing on a lego at the edge of the Grand Canyon and asking people to join me in my security! That’s why it is so important to take His truth seriously enough to actually pursue it personally… because the truth matters.
What does that look like? Well, of course I’m going to say→read your Bibles. I know that admonition might seem cliche, especially when partnered with its Sunday-school best friend “pray”, but if Jesus is real, then we should want to flood our hearts with His voice. There are so many lies out there, so much pain, so much confusion. We’re called to something better. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8) I’m just as guilty as anyone of filling my time with “stuff”. Not necessarily “bad stuff”, just stuff. I don’t have a lot of free time, but I consume a lot of audio while I’m doing other things. The choice I have to make is: what am I letting flood my heart?
One of the coolest things I’ve been able to watch over the last few years is this incredible transformation that has happened in my wife’s life. God has gotten ahold of her, and she is hungry to hear His word. If she’s getting ready in the morning, and doing laundry at night, or working on the millions of things she does throughout the day, she has Scripture playing on her tablet, or some kind of Bible teaching. Why? Because she knows what her heart needs. Guys, we will fill our hearts with something. Let’s pray we fill it with the right foundation. Otherwise, how can we carry the truth to our world in desperate need?
On that same note, it is important to examine how we carry that truth. We’re going to touch on this more in our last point today, and pretty much all next Sunday, but for right now, let’s at least make this observation. Unfortunately, “people of faith” have often used their positions to exploit others. Paul is very clear. He came with no deceit. He wasn’t trying to schmooze or abuse. He came with real compassion because He really cared about them coming to know the rescuing truth of Jesus.
II. Pure
His appeal came not from error, deceit, “or impurity”. His motivations were… clean. The idea here points to uprightness. It’s a picture of striving to live above reproach. However, the term impurity typically has a sexual connotation. It might seem weird for Paul to point out that they weren’t about that when they came, but it was common for religious leaders in ancient cultures to tie sexual practice to their ceremonial rights. I know it’s easy to think we’ve somehow grown beyond that, but how often do we see sexual sin creep into churches still today? When it does, it tends to be front-page news. Nonetheless, its prevalence inside the church is a direct reflection of the laxity with which our culture as a whole views purity.
This reminds me of Psalm 12:8: “On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man.” We might not want to put it into these words, but impurity is popular. It’s exalted in the media we consume, it floods our minds, and it taints our lives. But what good has ever come from licentious living? None. Just pain. Just tears. Just wounds that cut deep. We know this, and often even publicly lament its effects. Yet, we wink as it seeps into our lives, and we call those pursuing holiness “repressively prudish”. We don’t have to. We can choose to enter through the narrow gate and seek satisfaction where it can actually be found—at the feet of Jesus. In fact, that’s where the next verses take us→
III. God-Pleasing
“...but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.” Again, do you see the seriousness with which Paul takes the gospel? This is one of the most beautiful and perplexing truths about Jesus’ rescue plan. He chooses to love broken, imperfect people. Not only does He save them from the self-destruction of their own sin which is leading them toward the wrath of God the Father, but He also then uses those grace-covered sinners to continue carrying His message.
With that in mind, Paul points us to an attitude that makes the most difference: seek to please the God who took Hell in your place…not people. I think on some level we all get that. At the very least, we know living our lives trying to please everybody is a futile attempt. The problem is most of us are also chronic people pleasers. We want people to like us. Of course, that desire usually springs more from a desire to be liked than any actual warm feelings toward the masses. Then, of course, as Christians, we’re called to love God and love people, so it is easy to find ourselves torn on how to do that most effectively. Remember when Jesus told us to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and the rest will be added to us (Matthew 6:33)? Well, that life principle applies here, as well. If you are seeking to follow Jesus, loving Him, learning from Him, letting Him change your heart, and, as a result, change the way you love others —you will love people with a genuineness and a life-changing purpose because you’ll be pointing them to hope.
Still, the opposite tends to be our M.O.—seeking to make people like us by trying to do whatever makes us looks best in their eyes. That will lead us down the path of things like flattery and greed. Both of which Paul explicitly says he had nothing to do with: “ 5 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed--God is witness. 6 Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.” Flattery butters up with an eye for gaining an advantage, and greed seeks that same personal advantage at all costs. That’s not the heart of Christ, and it shouldn’t be ours. Instead, like Paul, we should seek no glory for ourselves, but—even more like Jesus—we should seek to serve. In this passage, Paul tells us he didn’t come demanding allegiance as an apostle—something it would have seemed appropriate to do in the context of church leadership—but sought to serve with humility instead.
Maybe what is most striking about all this though is Paul’s claim that it’s all verifiable. Notice twice he says God knows (God who tests our hearts… God as witness). God, in His omniscience, knows what’s really going on in our hearts, and Pauls feels confident that this is what He sees there. On top of that, he says the Thessalonians also know. This is actually the second time in this chapter he makes that statement. I just forgot to point it out the first time ☺️. This might seem like a bold statement to make. But we have no record of a contradictory response from the eye witnesses saying Paul was anything but faithful in his striving to love them like Jesus. Paul made these claims because his heart had been so completely transformed. What kind of claims can you make about the way you live? What kind of claims can I make? If those who know me were called under oath to give an account of my character, what would they say? Oh, how I want to live a life that points faithfully and constantly to Jesus.
TAKEAWAYS
So, in the way Paul structures this section, he essentially tells us what impactful Christian living isn’t. In the gist, I broke that down into three kind of big picture quailities. However, if you reverse all those negative qualities, you have a picture of someone living a life that is true, pure, pleasing to God, honest, self-sacrificing, and humble. Yeah, that kind of life would make a difference in the world…because that kind of life is reflecting Jesus. So→
Pursue truth.
Strive for purity.
Seek to please God.
And let that change the way you love people. Yeah, again, even more on that next week ☺️.
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