PAUL'S GREAT DESIRE (1 Thessalonians 2:17-20)
INTRODUCTION:
This morning we will finish 1st Thessalonians chapter two. In the closing verses of this chapter Paul reassures the Thessalonian believers of his love and concern for them. Paul does not want these fairly new believers to believe that he deserted them when the persecution began and that he did so because he did not love them or have concern for them. Paul, in this final paragraph informs the church in Thessalonica why he has not been back to see them and he again reaffirms his love for them.
As I stated last week, we do not know how long Paul, Silas, and Timothy were in Thessalonica, it was a least a few months based on the fact that they had received more than one gift from the church in Philippi while they were there, and Paul was making tents to support himself and his companions. They had only been away for a short time when Paul pens this letter to the church, but in this letter, we see the emotional struggle that Paul endured being separated from them. Paul deeply cared for the Thessalonian Christians and as he tells them of his great desire to see them again it is seen in his love for them, its’ fulfillment was hindered by Satan, but Paul longed for it to be fulfilled at Christ’s return for the church. Let’s pray and then get into this last paragraph of chapter two.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to 1st Thessalonians 2:17-20, our passage for this morning. Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along while I read.
1st Thessalonians 2:17-20,
“But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short while—in person, not in spirit—were all the more eager with great desire to see your face. For we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, more than once—and yet Satan hindered us. For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? For you are our glory and joy.” (1 Thessalonians 2:17–20, NASB95)[1]
PAUL’S GREAT DESIRE (1st Thessalonians 2:17-20)
It was not Paul’s plan to leave Thessalonica when he did, he was forced to leave. As he said in the verses from last Sunday, the Jews drove him out. Remember the unbelieving Jews and the mob that they had formed by joining together with some wicked men from the market place came to the house of Jason, a new believer. This mob had the mistaken idea that Paul and his companions were in Jason’s house. When they were not there, this mob drug Jason and some of the other new believers before the city officials accusing them of treason. Jason and those with him pledged themselves to be guarantors for Paul and his companions and they put up something of their possessions as promissory bonds promising that Paul would not cause any more disturbance in the city.
Because of this, the church sent Paul, Silas, and Timothy away by night for their own safety and for the safety of the new church. Paul did not leave willingly and we will see in the next chapter Paul’s concern for the new believers when he writes in 1st Thessalonians 3:1-3, and verse 5, “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 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.” (1 Thessalonians 3:1-3, 5, NASB95)[2] Only after Timothy returned with an encouraging report was Paul encouraged that his concern that they had fallen away was unfounded. This did not, however, curb his great desire to see them face to face, and this is seen first in this passage in his love for them.
PAUL’S DESIRE SEEN IN LOVE (1st Thessalonians 2:17-18a)
This letter is not the only letter that Paul wrote that speaks of his love for fellow believers. Even those churches that he wrote rebuking them, he still truly loved the Christians that made up those churches. He sternly rebuked the Corinthian church, but he wrote that his rebuke was out of his love for them. He wrote in 2nd Corinthians 2:4, “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.” (2 Corinthians 2:4, NASB95)[3] We see Paul’s love and concern for the believers in Philippi when he writes in Philippians 1:7-8, “For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:7–8, NASB95)[4] If you remember when we went through the book of Romans, in chapter 16 Paul lists name after name of fellow Christians that he loved and had ministered to or had ministered alongside for the sake of the Gospel. Paul truly loved the Ephesian elders and they in turn loved him. In Acts 20 he shares his farewell address with them, warning them to shepherd and guard the flock entrusted to them. Acts 20:36-38 shows the mutual love that they had for one another when Luke writes, “When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship.” (Acts 20:36–38, NASB95)[5]
Paul loved the Thessalonian believers with this same love that he expressed to the readers of his epistles. He begins this last paragraph with the words “but we” to contrast the love Paul, Silas and Timothy had for the Thessalonians believers as compared to the hostility of the unbelieving Jews. If you remember from last Sunday, the Jews did not want the Thessalonians to know Christ and they did not care about the Thessalonians’ spiritual wellbeing. Contrasted to that was the care and concern Paul and his co-workers had for the Thessalonian believers. Paul addresses them as “brethren” a term of endearment that was used between those who had put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a term that expressed Paul and his companions’ brotherly affection for the believers in Thessalonica.
As I already mentioned, Paul did not want to leave Thessalonica when he did, he was forced out and he emphasized this by saying that he had been taken away from the Thessalonian believers. This phrase translated “having been taken away” literally means “to be torn from” and was used to express the grief-stricken parents who have lost a child, or a grief-stricken child who has just become an orphan having lost his parents. These are emotional words that show how Paul felt about his being forced to leave the Thessalonians prematurely. The fact that Paul had stayed in other places for extended periods of time to teach new believers indicates that he would have remained in Thessalonica longer had he been allowed to stay. Because he was forced to leave Paul felt like a parent who had his children ripped away from him.
Paul goes on in verse 17 that he and Silas and Timothy have only been away from them for a short while, even though it has not been that long, he has a deep longing, a great desire in his heart to be with them again. This great desire was not simply due to missing their friendship and fellowship, but it was due more to the sense of responsibility he felt he had for their spiritual well-being. Paul continues by saying that his enemies had taken Paul, Silas, and Timothy away from the Thessalonian believers in person, but they could not remove them in spirit. In other words, those that he had left behind, those from whom they had been taken, those whom he had been forced to leave were still in Paul’s, Silas’, and Timothy’s thoughts and prayers. The spiritual needs of the Thessalonian believers burdened Paul as he thought of them and prayed for them. This same kind of burden for believers prompted Paul later to write to the Corinthians in 2nd Corinthians 11:28-29, “Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?” (2 Corinthians 11:28–29, NASB95)[6]
This intense concern, this sense of responsibility that Paul felt for the churches is due to the fact that he planted those churches, many of the believers he had led to the Lord for salvation, he knew the individual believers and loved them and Paul assures the Thessalonian believers that this love makes him all the more eager with great desire to see them, he writes, “to see your face.” This phrase is charged with intensity and emotion as Paul expresses his longing to see them again. “Great desire” is a general expression in Greek for any kind of kind of dominant passion or compelling, controlling desire. As it is used here it expresses the deep longing in Paul’s heart to see the Thessalonian believers face to face again, and that it would be soon. This phrase “seeing one’s face” in a biblical context means to come into intimate communication with someone. This was the only way that Paul could fully express his desire to be among them again teaching them the Word of God. Paul and his companions wanted to come back to Thessalonica and renew their fellowship with these new believers at the earliest opportunity.
Then as if to emphasize his own strong feelings, Paul unexpectedly switches from the plural “we” to the singular “I, Paul.” The plural is used more in 1st and 2nd Thessalonians than any of the other epistles written by Paul. Because of this, it makes the singular more significant when it occurs. In using the singular, Paul’s intense personal feelings are seen and the singular pronoun with his name only reinforces the emotion felt here. Paul writes that more than once he wanted to return to Thessalonica to be with the church again, but there had been a barrier each time that prevented his return, and he identifies what it was that stopped him in the end of verse 18.
PAUL’S DESIRE HINDERED BY SATAN (1st Thessalonians 2:18b)
Even though Paul’s great desire was to return to the church in Thessalonica, he also understood another reality. That reality was that he faced satanic opposition in his ministry and in his attempt to return to Thessalonica. Paul had the understanding and the spiritual discernment to realize that God in his wisdom and providence allowed Satan to oppose God’s kingdom in a number of ways. We see some of these ways in Scripture, such as the temptation of Christ, Satan’s opposition to the gospel, the performance of counterfeit miracles, his seeking to deceive believers, his attacks on individual churches, and Satan especially attacks spiritual leaders and their families.
Satan’s goal is to frustrate, prevent or at best slow the progress of God’s kingdom in the same way an army seeks to frustrate and prevent the advance of an opposing army. The word “hindered” is translated from a Greek military word that refers to digging a trench or breaking up a road. One of the countermeasures the military in Roman times would use against an advancing army was to dig a massive trench that would prevent the enemy troops from reaching their objective. Another way in which they would frustrate the enemy was to tear up a brick or stone road so that it could not be traveled on. Paul tells the Thessalonians that Satan supernaturally has obstructed his way from returning to them, more than once. Paul does not state what Satan used to keep him from returning, so we do not know what it was, but God allowed it to fulfill His purposes in Thessalonica. It is important to remember that Satan is a created being, he is not omnipresent, and against believers he can do nothing that is outside of God’s overruling providence. Commentator R. C. H. Lenski wrote concerning this, “This by no means excludes divine providence which rules in the midst of our enemies. Satan entered the heart of Judas so that he made plans to betray Jesus, and God permitted the betrayal for His own divine and blessed ends. So Satan succeeded in frustrating Paul’s two [?] plans to return to Thessalonica, but only because this accorded with God’s own plans regarding the work Paul was to do. Satan has brought many a martyr to his death, and God permitted it. The death of these martyrs was more blessed for them and for the cause of the gospel than their life could have been. It is ever so with Satan’s successes. No thanks to Satan! His guilt is the greater. It was due to Satan that the Thessalonians suffered just as the original churches in Judea had to suffer (v. 14) although God permitted this suffering.”[7] I might add that God permitted it to refine His people.
PAUL’S DESIRE FULFILLED AT CHRIST’S RETURN (1st Thessalonians 2:19-20)
Paul’s great hope which he taught to others and always lived out in his life was the hope of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. This hope, this glory that was to come to believers at our Savior’s return should be a powerful motivation for ministry. The anticipation of the future glorification, the future perfection of believers is the third reality in Paul’s relationship with the Thessalonians. To drive home this reality, Paul asked a three-part question and then answered it. First, he asked the Thessalonian believers who was the object of his hope in the promised future reward and blessing. Then he asked them who was the source of his joy, his eternal satisfaction and happiness. Finally, he asked who was his crown of exultation. This crown refers to the festive wreath or victor’s crown, awarded for athletic triumph in the Olympic games. The word exultation refers to the exuberant expression of joyful feelings. This victor’s crown represents the overwhelming victory God gives His own over sin, suffering, death, and judgment.
Paul then answers his own question with another question that is somewhat surprising. One would think that his answer would be the Lord Jesus Christ. But the apostle said, “Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?” (1 Thessalonians 2:19b, NASB95)[8] Paul’s anticipation for the future was the assurance that he would be in the presence of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but a vital piece of the joy of that experience is that at the Lord’s coming Paul would see all the believers to whom he had ministered, including those in Thessalonica. Paul is saying that a great part of heaven’s satisfaction and happiness will be the joyful presence of those whom God used you to reach. In other words, we should use this time that we have left on this earth to share the gospel and to reach people with the message of salvation. It does not matter if the people you lead to Christ are friends now, you will know them in heaven as friends forever and as sources of eternal joy.
Paul understood that if he never saw the Thessalonian believers again in his present life, he would see them in the future at Christ’s coming. He knew that the time to receive in full the promised joys was still in the future, at the return of Christ for His own. Jesus said in Revelation 22:12, “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.” (Revelation 22:12, NASB95)[9] That reward that the Lord Jesus speaks of will be given to each believer individually at the judgment seat of Christ, and God will seal it at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
The word translated “coming” is an important New Testament word, the actual Greek word means “presence” and carries the idea of being with someone. The majority of its occurrences are eschatological, or refer to the end times. Sometimes it refers to the time after the Tribulation when Jesus Christ will return to the earth to set up His millennial kingdom. But, as Paul uses it in 1 Thessalonians, it refers more specifically to the Rapture because he was writing to believers whom he knew were already waiting for Jesus to return from heaven to receive His bride to be with Him forever. Besides this verse here, Paul uses this same Greek word three other times in 1 Thessalonians to indicate the Rapture.
CONCLUSION:
In this closing paragraph of chapter two Paul encourages the church in Thessalonica with the truth that he did love them, as evidenced by his great desire to see them again, to keep him from returning to them required opposition from Satan which God in His providence and purpose allowed. Paul further encouraged the Thessalonian believers by reminding them of the joy they would have in the presence of the Lord Jesus when He returned for the church, then they would be together forever with no one and nothing to separate them. Paul reminds them in verse 20 that the Thessalonian believers would be central to his eternal joy and that of Silas and Timothy also. Paul also says that they are their glory, which is a true honor bestowed on them by God, who used Paul, Silas, and Timothy to reach the Thessalonians by bringing them the gospel of God. Who will be your hope, who will be your joy, who will be your crown of exultation in the presence of the Lord Jesus at His coming? I can think of some who will be mine because the Lord has given me the honor of reaching them with the gospel of God. There is no greater joy then leading someone to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and I hope that each of you get to experience that joy in your life.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[7]Lenski, R. C. H., The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians, to the Thessalonians, to Timothy, to Titus and to Philemon. Minneapolis, MN : Augsburg Press. 1961. pgs. 275-76.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.