We're going to read from God's Word.
We're reading from First Thessalonians and we're reading
from chapter 2, and we're reading to the end, from verse
13 to verse 20. And we're halfway through the
book of First Thessalonians, and I think we've just one sermon in
chapter 3. And then we'll be into chapter
4, First Thessalonians chapter 2, and we'll read from verse 13.
Let's hear God's word for this cause.
Also. Thank we God without ceasing,
because when you received the word of God, which you heard of
us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it isn't
truth, the Word of God which effectually worketh also in you
that believe. For ye brethren became followers
of the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus.
For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen,
even as they have of the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus
and their own prophets, and have persecuted us.
And they please not God and our country to all men, forbidding
us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved to fill
up their sins all way, for the wrath has come upon them to the
uttermost. But we, brethren, been taken
from you for a short time in presence, not in heart,
endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great
desire. Wherefore we would have come
unto you, even I Paul once and again.
But Satan hindered us. For what is our hope, or joy, or
crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ at this coming?
For ye are our glory and joy. Amen.
We know God will stamp with His own approval and blessing this
reading of His own precious and infallible Word.
Amen. Now my text this morning is
taken from First Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 19 and 20.
Look at the words with me together.
For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing?
See, that's a question. And then the answer is, are not
even ye? That's a reference to the
believers of Thessalonica in the presence of our Lord Jesus
Christ at his coming for ye. Again, a reference to the Saints
of God in the House of God in Thessalonica.
For ye are our glory and joy. Now if entitled today's message,
The pastor's joy and crown at Christ's coming.
So it's not just about the crown of a faithful ministry or the
glory of it. The substance of the message is
this, the pastor's joy and crown at Christ's coming, the last
Lord's Day morning. We learnt from First
Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 17 and 18 how that the Apostle
Paul had experienced the greatest harassment from the
greatest hinder in the world, namely the devil himself.
Here we learnt about the real reason of Paul swift exit from
Thessalonica. Remember it was due mainly to
the vehement opposition of certain unbelieving Jews to the
gospel, no doubt whipped up by the devil.
Remember, the whole city was an uproar.
In fact, when they could not find Paul in the House of Jason
after a thorough search, they dragged Jason before the
magistrate that they accused him of giving shelter to men that
are seeking to overthrow the peace of the city.
They accused him of giving allegiance to another king than
Caesar, and you can read about that in Acts chapter 17 verses
six to seven. Now these allegations were so
serious that they bound Jason over with a heavy deal.
Acts Chapter 7 and 9 talks about the security of Jason, and
that's nothing to do with keeping him safe.
That's to do with taking silver from him, a very heavy Beale
bond. After Paul's departure from
Thesnonanken at the behest of the Congregation for his Own
Security, these unbelieving Jews made-up three false accusations
against him. Here was the first lie.
He fled to save his own skin, to preserve his own life.
He doesn't care about you, just cares about himself.
Then the second lie, he has no interest in coming back.
Oh, he said he would come back, but he has no intention of
returning. And then the third lie, he
doesn't really care about you. We are sorry for you.
You were taken in by this man's smooth words, and now you're
suffering persecution and suffering this ridicule.
You're suffering hardship, and it's his fault.
It's really all because of him. See, we told you he doesn't care
about you. Now in light of these lies and
false accusations, we see from chapter 2 verses 17 and 18 that
Paul had a deep desire to return to Thessalonica.
These people had become very dear to him.
He had a real deep pastors love for them.
He he wanted to be with them. He informed them that his
intention was just to be from them for a short time and that
he endeavoured to return to see their face and that he had made
repeated attempts to return to Thessalonica, but he didn't and
couldn't. Why?
But Satan hindered us, literally.
As we saw last week, the devil instigated all of this.
He was at the back of it. He instigated the unbelieving
Jews to start a riot. He instigated the unruly mob,
the arrest of Jason. He instigated these false
accusations against Paul. He's behind it all.
Remember, He's the father of lies and he spread these lies,
and at the heart of these lies was Paul doesn't care for you.
So to counter that when Paul wrote his first letter, he
opened up his heart and revealed something to the aim of a true
pastor's bond with the people of God.
Look again at verse 19 and 20. For what is our hope or joy or
crown of rejoicing? That word rejoicing can be
translated boasting it they can be translated glorying.
And here's the answer to that question, Are not even ye.
And then he adds these words in the presence of our Lord Jesus
Christ at his coming for ye, the people of God, ye are our glory
and joy. Now here we're given a glimpse
into the heart of a true pastor. Remember, it's the pastor's
heart. Paul has a love and a care for
the people of God. And I believe these two verses,
beast to skip over them, express Paul's deep affection for the
believers at Thessalonica for these new converts there.
Notice how he describes them. He describes them as our hope,
joy, and crown, our glory. He has a great anticipation for
them in the presence of the Lord Jesus at his coming.
He has an analyzation of them. Ye are our glory and joy, not
only now, but at the Lord's return, at the Lord's right
hand, at the second coming of Christ.
So what's this message about this morning, the pastor's joy
and cry at Christ's coming? Three things came to mind when I
looked at this portion of Scripture.
There's usually three things, aren't they?
I want you to think of Paul's affection for the people of God.
Now I've pointed out this is the third time, and I want you to
grasp this because it's not really grasped.
Paul is asking a question. Verse 19, you can see the
question mark for what is our hope or joy or crown of
rejoicing? And I've told you that word
rejoicing means boasting. It means glorying in the March.
So Paul is asking a question almost like a rhetorical
question, and then he answers it.
And here's the answer. Are not even ye in the presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming.
And when you think of these words, our hope, our joy, our
crown or glory, you've got proof of Paul's love and devotion and
care for this little flock of new converts at Ffest and Anka.
Here's indisputable proof of Paul's pastoral care for the
people of God. You see, someone has said the
opposite of love. I would take it to be hate, but
they have argued that it's not hate, it's actually
indifference. It's a spirit of I couldn't care
less attitude. You see, if we don't care for
someone, we don't really love them.
We often hear the phrase I couldn't care less.
We hear it in a variety of contexts.
A row at home with Mummy or Daddy.
Or maybe in the church situation, the pastor of
mischief, I couldn't care less. Or maybe in school and
university in relation to work, the teacher wants this done or
that done, but I couldn't care less.
Or in the state, I couldn't care less what the government is
doing. Or at work, the the boss will be
watching you, he'd be coming. I couldn't care less.
You see someone comes and shares a problem, whatever that problem
is, and you shrugged the shoulders, So what?
Whatever you see that displays that you have a careless
attitude that you couldn't care less.
You're saying when someone comes to share a problem with you, I
don't really care about that person.
What he or she is going through, Whatever it's, it's nothing to
me. Let me give you an illustration.
This is true. A woman's in the apartment, New
York building, she hears a woman scream on the street.
The woman's been attacked, the woman's been robbed and beaten
and the woman's being physically assaulted.
And what does this woman do? What would you do?
This woman closed the window and said the screams were annoying
me. Whatever, it had nothing to do
with me. Someone is being beaten, raped,
robbed and murdered and she's annoyed that the screams are
coming through their window and her attitude is whatever.
You see, that woman only cared about herself.
That woman was in love with herself.
That's what being a lover of self means.
I told you last week about the murder of Charlie Cook.
A 13 year old watched it on social media, told her mummy
about it. The mummy of course was
horrified. The mummy didn't watch the
little video clip but she was concerned for a 13 year old
daughter and asked her daughter about it and the daughter said
well it wasn't so bad. You see the point this morning
is this, that no true Christian should and can say I do not
care. No true Christian should be
filled with the mindset of I couldn't care less about my
attitude, my approach, my announcement of things, whether
at home, church, school, the state or work.
In fact, it should be the opposite.
The true Christian should say I do care.
The true Christian should say I couldn't care more.
You see, we should truly care for one another and I know that
you do that and carried off. But I want to encourage you to
abound more and more and not careful spirit.
You see, we're to love the Saints or to do good to all men,
especially they are the household of faith.
Now here's Paul, and despite these false accusations, these
lies that the unbelieving Jews, that the devil at the back of it
were spreading about Paul. What does Paul do to the
Thessalonians? He bears his heart to these new
converts. He's expressing his love for
them, and he's using very emotional language.
For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting, glorying or
rejoicing are not ye? And we'll pause there.
You see, he wants them to know how deeply he feels for them.
He wants them to know that this forced separation from them has
been very difficult for him because he misses them.
And maybe sometimes you think on a Sunday morning, why do I take
time to mention those in the hospital and those who've been
bereaved, those in the nursing home and those in their own home
who are physically not here, and other of her friends?
Why do I mention them not only in a public way, but but also in
prayer? I mention them because I want to
know that I want them to know that we care.
I want them to know that we feel very much for them, that we also
love them. And the Lord, you see, let me
say this, and I'm waffling on here, but I must make this
point. A pastor must care for the
people of God deeply. A pastor must have a love for
the Saints, and we must therefore truly love one
another. And if we truly love one
another, we'll want to be in fellowship with one another.
That's why Paul could say forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together as the manner of some is.
You see, if we care and love one another as a family of God,
we'll desire to be together as a congregation.
We'll desire to be together for worship.
And that desire to gather together for worship is stems
from our love for one another and stems from our genuine care
for one another. That's the context.
What did Paul say in verse 17? Endeavouring the more abundantly
to see your face with great desire.
What sort of desire, Paul? Great desire.
What does that mean? That great desire came from a
strong emotional bond, the bond of having Christian fellowship.
He mentions the word brethren in verse 17.
But we brethren, that means that we are family, and all families,
especially God's family, should want to be together and want to
be together often. And that's why we encourage you
to come to the House of God. That's one of the reasons.
Let me make this clear. Is he?
Today in certain Bible colleges, students of the ministry are
taught that pastors should keep a healthy distance from the
congregation. Imagine a professor telling that
to students as a pastor. Be distant from your people.
Why? Well, to protect yourself from
betrayal. They'll stab you in the back.
You you'll have a lot of pain and you need to be protected.
And if you keep yourself alooft keep yourself high and holy.
You you, you learn the respect of the people.
I want to tell you that's a lie. That's worldly wisdom.
That's not true. In fact, in the Bible we find
the exact opposite. The Apostle Paul is a deep love
for the people of God. He's a close bond to the people
of God. It's a heartfelt, heavy care for
the people. Here's a model for the Christian
ministry. Here's the love of a shepherd
for the sheep. Here's the love of a pastor for
the people. Paul has a deep compassion, even
in pains him to see people who profess the name of Christ
living in sin. He he he is the pain of seeing
people with all their struggles and their sickness and and and
all the situations that they face.
But Paul is also full of a disciplined cost.
Whatever the time and the effort and the stresses and the cares
and the burdens of the ministry are, he carries it before the
Lord on behalf of the people of God.
He he, he gives himself heart, body and soul to that people.
And of course, not only is there compassion and cost, but there's
a deep commitment and much affliction.
I have to tell you this morning, you already know this.
I'm not in the ministry for a paycheck.
I'd take a pay cut if it need be.
I'm not in it for a life of pleasure and ease.
I'll tell you, I'm not even in it for economic protection and
job security. See, if a pastor doesn't care
and he's not willing for the cost, time and effort, phone
calls, it could be two or three in the morning, getting out of
bed and getting dressed to go to the hospital.
If he doesn't show a devoted commitment to the people like a
shepherd does his sheep, he's not worthy to be called a
pastor. I even question his salvation.
Paul. What does Paul do?
Paul's affection for the people. Here's the pastor's joy and
crying. His affection for the people
very quickly. Paul is a model minister.
Our hope, our joy, our crying are not even ye.
That's true of Paul. And I have to tell you, you pray
for me because that's my goal and aim for you.
I love you in the Lord's name and I care for you as a faithful
pastor and your burdens are mine and your worries and fears are
mine and you know that. I want you to see secondly and
very quickly his anticipation for the people of God.
Look again at our text, verse 19.
Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His
coming? Now, now, what Paul is saying
here is this. In the 1st letter he's telling
them that he tried and retried to get back to Thessalonica and
there was no prospect of being back in the city.
And what he's saying is this. If I don't see your face again
on earth, I have this assurance that I will see you again and I
will see you at Christ's second coming.
I will see you at God's right hand, and at God's right hand
you'll be our hope, our joy and crown.
If I don't permanently see you again in the flesh, I will see
you again on that great day. On that day you'll be my crown
of glory. You'll be the crown of my
rejoicing and boasting. I will glory in you at God's
right hand. You see, he's thinking of the
Thessalonian believers, beings in heaven with Christ.
We all know that we have a day on earth.
A day on earth ends, we die, but for the Christian death has put
the vegetable to glory. Think very quickly of the
following things. Think of the day of the
Saviour's return. Notice the words at his coming.
The second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ is sure and
certain. It's a fact.
As much as the first advent happened, the second advent will
happen. Listen to these words in the
book of Acts, in Acts chapter 1 and in the verse 11.
Wasn't the Angel say to those that gathered in the Mount of
Olivet, This is what they said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye
gazing up unto heaven? This same Jesus, very same body
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
John 14 verse 3 The Saviour said I will come again and we believe
in the second coming of Christ a visible personal bodily return
of Christ in power and glory. In this particular book it says
in verse 10 and to wait for his son from heaven to your 19 talks
about our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming chapter 3 verse 14
mentions at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all the
Saints and then in chapter 4 verses 13 to 18.
I'm not going to read it. One of the fullest statements
about the second coming of the Lord Jesus and then in chapter 5
we read but of the times and of the seasons.
Brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you for yourselves.
Know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in
the night. The word coming here in chapter
2, verse 19 is perusia. It's a very important word.
It's one of the most significant words.
It's an interconnecting word tied into the other words that
describe the second coming of Christ.
You've got the the word appearing, which means unveiling
or or or revelation. Now let me ask you, Are you
ready? Are you looking forward to the
day of the Lord Jesus Christ coming?
Are you saved? Have you confessed your sin?
Are you putting faith and trust in Christ as Lord and Saviour?
The day of the Saviours returned very quickly here.
It's a day of special revelation.
Notice it says here our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming.
You see, that day will be a revealing of the glory and the
majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is not just Jesus. And I know many people talk
about Jesus and and I accept that, but he's more than that.
Look at our text. He's called the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ. The word Lord stands for his
daddy every time you read it. Jesus stands for his humanity,
Christ for his ministry. He's our anointed prophet,
priest and king, and he's coming to be revealed.
And when he comes, he'd be revealed as King of Kings and
Lord of Lords. He'd be revealed as the eternal,
only begotten Son of God. Remember what?
The apostle Peter could testify it says in second Peter chapter
one verse 16 for we have not followed colony devised fables
when we made known unto you the power and coming.
That's the same word of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice again the title, but were eyewitnesses of His Majesty, for
he received from God the Father honour and glory when there came
such a voice to him from the excellent glory.
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, and whenever
we turn back there to the Gospel of Matthew in Matthew chapter
17. It says this in verse 2 and was
transfigured before them and his face did shine as the sun and
his raiment was white as the light.
And while he yet speak, behold a bright cloud overshadowed, and
that was Peter had speak and behold a voice out of the cloud
which said, this is my beloved son, and whom I'm well pleased.
Hear ye hen, and if you come to Matthew chapter 24, a very
important prophetical chapter which I encourage you to read,
we read in verse 27. For as the lightning cometh out
of the east and shineth even onto the West, so shall also the
coming of the Son of Man be. There's the word coming again,
Perusia, and it says in verse 30.
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and
then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, for they shall see
the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and
glory. That day of the Lord is not a
silent day. It's not even a secret day
unseen by men in the world. We we read here about the tribes
of the earth shall mourn. Why will they mourn?
Because they don't know Him, they'll mourn because he'd been
revealed in front of them and they'll have heard the name
Jesus, but he'd be revealed as the Lord Jesus Christ and
they'll be blown away. Oh, this Christianity business.
Oh, this is all true. Look, there he is.
He's coming. Do you see him coming?
We're going to see him as he really is.
It's a day of the Saints resurrection.
You see all men die and even the Saints of God die and they're
buried and whenever they die because that's what death is,
the separation of the soul and spirit.
The the soul and spirit leaves the body and goes into the
intermediate state and the the body is put into the ground.
But one day at the day of resurrection, body and soul will
be reunited and our bodies will be raised out of the ground, you
see. And this will happen at the
return of the Lord Jesus Christ, a day of resurrection for the
Saints. And that's what Paul says.
Listen to these words. First Corinth, Thessalonians,
chapter 4, verse 16, he says for the Lord himself shall not, for
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with the shout, with
the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God, and the
dead in Christ shall rise. First you see, if there's going
to be the glorification of the Saints before the glorification
takes place, there has to be the resurrection.
And that's what again was emphasised in Romans chapter 8
and verse 17. It says if children then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we
may suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together, How
can we be glorified together with Christ?
Well, that glorification of the Saints has to be preceded by the
day of Resurrection. We're glorified at the
resurrection, not before, not long after at the resurrection,
glorified at us coming and we have got new bodies like
Christ's body no longer under the power of death.
That's why Paul could say in First Corinthians chapter 15,
and he said there in the verse 50, listen to the words First
Corinthians 15. And now I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, neither does
corruption inherit corruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep. You see, we've gone to sleep in
Jesus, the bodies in the ground, the soul and spirits in the
intermediate state in the presence of God.
But we should all be changed when in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye. When does it happen?
At the last trump, For the trumpet shall sound and listen
to this, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we
shall be changed. That means we'll be given new
bodies. Soul and spirit will be
reunited, we'll have new bodies, and we'll be caught up together
with the dead in Christ. We who are alive and remain, if
we're alive and remain at that time, would be caught up when
the trumpet sounds. That's the resurrection of the
dead Saints and we'll be with Christ and wherever Christ is,
we will be. It's also a day of sweet
reunion. You see, it's all going to
happen. That is coming.
And that's what Paul is thinking about.
You know, it's great they get together to families on earth.
Lovely to see you. We, we, we are happy.
We, we hug one another, we interact, we talk, we have
fellowship, we have food. And the question in the minds of
the Thessalonians was what about our dead loved us in Christ?
What has, what has happened to them?
And Paul saying, look, the dead in Christ will rise first.
They'll rise up out of the grave and they'll their, their, their
bodies and soul will be reunited and we are alive and remain.
We'll be caught up together with them, and, and, and, and, and,
and these Saints like us will be given new bodies, and we'll all
rise up together, all glorified together, to meet the Lord in
the air. Remember what Paul says there,
or John says in first John 3. Beloved now are we the sons of
God? Yet it does not appear what we
shall be, but we know when He shall appear.
We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he is.
And then he adds this, and every man that hath this hope in him
purify themselves even as he is pure, A new body like Christ's
body. No sickness, no peeing, no
suffering in the eternal state. Surely that thrills your soul.
This morning Ada's coming, the Saviour's return, the special
revelation, the Saints resurrection and sweet reunion
whenever a loved one dies. And we have talked about loved
ones who have died recently. And you miss them, Mr Earthly
form. You would long to have them
back, even for a wee while, to chat, to hug.
But you can't. And you mourn.
And you think, you know what? I'm not going to see them again.
Mummy's gone, Daddy's gone, the baby's gone, Granny's gone.
But let me assure you, you can see them again in Christ.
You will see them again. You'll see the matters coming.
You, you, you'll see them in glory.
This day marks the full transformation of all the Saints
into the likeness of Christ. The devas coming.
One final thing. Think about the analyzation of
the people of God. Paul summed it all up in these
words. If you go back to Thessalonians
chapter 2, he says in verse 20 for year our glory and joy.
He has mentioned the word hope. He has mentioned the word joy.
He has mentioned the word crown. It's not a literal crown.
I believe he's using a metaphorical language.
You see Paul's saying, even though I don't see you
Thessalonians in the flesh in that little city there in that
church, I'll see you in heaven. I'll see you at the second
coming of Christ. And then the fruit of my
ministry in Thessalonanka will be fully received.
Let me finish and apply this. You see, here's the only
possession that we can bring to heaven.
Here's the only possession of ours that will ever be in heaven
and our mindset and desire should be to to win people to
Christ because our possession in heaven are those that we went to
Christ. Therefore we need to work for
souls now. We need to labour to have jewels
to present to the Master. Time is passing.
Many today sadly have an interest in time and things.
For now the trinkets of the world, many live in sin and
transgression, but what is all for?
Here's a question, is it all for His glory?
Think of our job or education or family or home, Oregon car or
Monday. Is it all for His glory?
Are we using it for His glory? Is it our aim to win the loss
for Christ for eternity? My aim is to win souls here and
carried off. So we need to work and use all
that we have, our time, our effort, our talents to try and
wins one's soul. And I encourage you, therefore,
as we finish this morning, get involved in the local church.
Don't have, I couldn't care less attitude.
Don't be prayerless. Don't be powerless because I can
do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me.
Think of aiming to bring one's soul with you to heaven, and
that one soul, will you meet them in the streets of glory.
That will be your hope. That'll be your crown.
That'll be your re, your glory and your rejoicing.
A crown of rejoicing. Here are the souls Lord you gave
me. Here's the triumph of your
grace. Here's the evidence of your
spirit at work. They're with me at Christ's
right hand. That's the analyzation of the
people of God. That's how we viewed them.
Is that how you view the people of God?
I commend this message to you and I pray the Lord will bless
it to your heart at this particular time.