May 13, 2024 • 11 mins
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Discover the heartwarming truth that real joy springs from the connections we make, not the things we collect. Join me, Pastor Brandon, as we walk through the profound teachings of 1 Thessalonians 2, where we unpack the essence of Paul's relationship with the Thessalonian church—a bond that transcends time and speaks to our own longing for genuine community. Paul's ministry, unfettered by desires for material wealth or human accolades, exemplifies how to nurture a community in a way that honors God, much like a parent caring for their children. As we explore his approach to sharing life's triumphs and trials, you'll be inspired to deepen your own spiritual connections and value the eternal significance they bring.
In the process of deepening these connections, we delve into actionable steps towards cultivating joyous relationships, emphasizing kindness, wise boundaries, and authentic social engagement. For those seeking a spiritual home or eager to enrich their current church involvement, you'll find encouragement and practical advice here. We conclude with a prayer for healing and forgiveness, and a collective hope for a future filled with rich, rewarding relationships. Tune in and be uplifted by the message that our fulfillment lies in the people God places in our lives, and in embracing a life of joy, continuous prayer, and gratitude, as ordained in 1 Thessalonians 5.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible
Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today.
1 Thessalonians, chapter 2, andtoday's title is Joy is in who
you Know, not what you Possess.
Joy is in who you Know, notwhat you Possess.
I love this chapter so verymuch as Paul gets deeper into
this church that he loves sovery much.
(00:23):
We're going to get into it injust a moment but, as always, if
you like what we're doing here,make sure you like, share,
subscribe to the podcast andYouTube channel, leave us a
five-star review on the podcast,leave us comments on the
YouTube channel and then gatherwith us at the Bible Breakdown
Discussion on Facebook.
Man, the more we dig, the morewe find, and this is one of
those.
We're not getting even close toa good depth with 1
(00:43):
Thessalonians because there's somuch here.
It's one of the first books,actually, or first letters,
written by the Apostle Paul andwritten in the New Testament,
and the Apostle Paul is writingback to this church in
Thessalonica because he didn'tget to stay with them very long,
but when he was there therewere so many of them that turned
their lives over to Christ, buthe'd been having this problem
(01:04):
that after he would leave achurch that he had started,
these false prophets or falseteachers would come in and just
kind of mess everything up, andso he had sent Timothy back.
We're going to get to see thatin just a moment, just to make
sure everything was okay.
I love how he ends this chapterand I believe the Holy Spirit
has inspired this, that it canspeak to us today about how God
(01:25):
feels about us as well, and so,if you're ready, we're going to
read 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 1.
It says this you yourselvesknow, dear brothers and sisters,
that our visit to you was not afailure.
You know how badly we have beentreated at Philippi just before
we came to you, and how much wesuffered there.
So you can see we were notpreaching with any deceit or
(01:47):
impure motives or trickery, forwe speak as messengers approved
by God to be entrusted with thegood news.
Our purpose is to please God,not people.
He alone examines the motivesof our hearts.
(02:08):
Never, once did we try to winyou with flattery, as you well
know, and God is our witnessthat we were not pretending to
be your friends just to get yourmoney.
As for human praise, we neversought it from you or anyone
else.
So, in other words, he said mymotives are pure.
I came here to help you knowGod.
(02:29):
That was my goal.
Verse seven as apostles ofChrist, we certainly had the
right to make some demands ofyou, but instead we were like
children among you, or we werelike a mother feeding and caring
for her own children.
We loved you so much that weshare with you not only the good
news but our lives too.
In other words, he said I gotto know you.
I didn't keep distance, Ididn't stay away from you, but I
(02:52):
took time to get to know you.
And he's saying I want you tounderstand.
This is important to me andyou're important to me.
Verse nine Don't you remember,dear brothers and sisters, how
hard we worked among you, nightand day, day?
We toiled to earn a living sothat you would not be burdened?
We would not be a burden to anyof you.
As we preach the good news toyou, god's good news to you, so
(03:12):
you yourselves are our witnesses, and so is God, that we were
devout and honest and faultlesstoward all of you believers.
And you know that we treatedeach of you as a father treats
his own children, and you knowthat we treated each of you as a
father treats his own children.
We pleaded with you, encouragedyou and urged you to live your
lives in a way that God wouldconsider worthy, for he calls
(03:33):
you to share his kingdom andglory.
Therefore, we never stoppedthanking God that when you
received his message from us,you didn't think our words were
mere human ideas.
You accepted what we said asthe very word of God, which of
course it is, and this wordcontinues to work in you who
believe.
And then, dear brothers andsisters, you suffered
(03:55):
persecution from my owncountrymen.
In this way, you imitated thebelievers of God's churches in
Judea.
Also, because of their beliefin Christ Jesus, they suffered
from their own people, the Jews.
Because of their belief inChrist Jesus, they suffered from
their own people, the Jews, forsome of the Jews killed the
prophets and some of them killedthe Lord Jesus.
Now they have persecuted us too, but they fail to please God
(04:16):
and work against all humanity asthey try to keep us from
preaching the good news ofsalvation to the Gentiles.
By doing this, they continue topile up their sins, but the
anger of God has caught up withthem at last.
So so what is he saying he'stalking about how what would
happen many times is, after Paulwould leave, these Judaizers,
these Jewish people, would comein and they'd go.
(04:37):
You know Paul's great Jesus isgreat.
You know Jesus was Jewish right.
So if you really want to loveGod, you need to become Jewish.
And Paul was like that's notright.
Jesus didn't come to put us inbondage to the law.
He came to fulfill the law andset us free from the law.
So he was like you experiencedpersecution because you were
like now wait a minute, that'snot what Paul taught us.
(04:58):
He taught us about the law, buthe taught us that Jesus came to
fulfill it, and so he wassaying that was all this going
on.
You're persecuted, but youpersevered and you kept your
faith in God.
Verse 17,.
Dear brothers and sisters,after we were separated from you
for a little while, though, ourhearts never left you.
We tried very hard to come back, because our intense longing to
(05:18):
see I love this, after all whatgives us hope and joy, what
will be our proud reward andcrown when we stand before our
Lord Jesus Christ when hereturns.
It's you, yes, you are ourpride and our joy.
(05:42):
I love that which, by the way,as we told you yesterday, every
chapter Paul is going to mentionthe second coming of Christ,
and he just did what is going tobe our joy and our crown when
we stand before the Lord Jesuswhen he returns you.
I love that idea how Paul ishelping us understand joy, our
hope and our joys first of allin Jesus, but then our hope and
(06:04):
our joy after that is not inwhat we possess, but it's in
whose lives we share, in whoselives we impact.
I tell you I don't know ifyou've noticed this or not
relationships are hard.
You know, hurting people hurtpeople.
That includes people that hurtus.
It also includes people that wehurt ourselves.
(06:24):
However, god made us in such away that we were not made to do
life alone, even introverts.
If you're here, if you'relistening to this, you're
watching this and you're anintrovert, can I tell you you
were not made to do life alone.
You know, they've noticed thisin prisons.
When people are left insolitary confinement for a long
enough period of time, theirminds start to break down, they
(06:45):
begin to lose touch with realityand all these kinds of things,
and we start to struggle withthings because we were not made
to do life alone.
But many times, because of hurtand pain and things we've
experienced, we choose to dolife alone and it robs us of joy
.
Now you may be listening to thisand saying, pastor, the reason
(07:08):
why I don't trust people isbecause of the pain I've endured
and I just don't want toexperience that pain again.
And I want you to hear me say Iam not saying that you should
go out and just put yourself outthere and let people hurt you.
I'm not saying that you shouldgo out and just put yourself out
there and let people hurt you.
I'm not saying that at all.
I'm saying that you should putup healthy boundaries in your
life but not shut yourself outfrom God-honoring friendships,
because so much of the joy thatGod has for you will likely not
(07:34):
just come from Him in yourprivate prayer time.
It will come in sharing lifeand sharing experiences with
others.
Lasting life change happens inthe context of relationship.
Can I tell you, I've had thehonor and privilege of being
around many people as they'reabout to pass away and you know
(07:54):
what I've never seen?
I've never seen anybody ask tobe surrounded with their cars,
their boats, their houses, theirmoney.
I've never asked them to bringthat kind of stuff around so
they can see it.
You know what I have seen.
I've seen people ask where'stheir family, where's their
friends.
You know what else I've seenthem do Where's my enemies?
(08:14):
I don't want to die withoutmaking this right, because when
life really matters, it'samazing what starts to matter
and we start to realize it's not.
Joy doesn't come in possessions,it comes in whose lives we're
able to share.
Primarily, our relationshipwith Jesus, secondarily, our
(08:36):
relationship with others.
Now, for some of you, it's amoment to celebrate.
You've got great relationshipsin your life.
There's people that you'reclose to and man.
They are, in a godly sense,your pride and your joy, and you
love it.
That's wonderful.
For others of you, it hits ahard place in you because you've
had to walk through difficultmoments.
(08:56):
Can I tell you God wants tobring healing to you so you can
find friendship and God-honoringrelationship.
It's a long journey but it'spossible.
There's others of you.
You don't have unforgiveness,you just don't have any friends.
Maybe career has been importantor you just moved to a new area
.
There's a thousand reasons why,right, not all of them are bad.
(09:19):
It just ends up being what itis.
I tell you God wants you to bein God-honoring relationships.
It doesn't happen overnight,but it can happen.
So this is what I wouldencourage you to do Start
praying and asking God to openyour eyes to see some
God-honoring relationshipsaround you and then take the
(09:40):
next step.
Take the next step If you wantto find friends, be friendly,
have proper boundaries, makesure you're using wisdom, but
take a small step.
If you don't go to church, finda church home and start going
regularly.
If you go to church, inviteyourself to a life group, get on
a team and start slowly takingsteps, because I want to tell
(10:00):
you, joy is in who you know, notin the things you possess.
Let's pray together, god.
Thank you so much for today.
Thank you, god, that you knowabout these hard things in our
life and you choose to lead usin that direction because you
know that it's good for us.
I pray today there's people whoare going to be grappling with
this because of pain and hurt.
I pray, lord, that you willlead them first to your presence
(10:23):
, where they can find healingand they can find the journey,
the beginning of forgiveness intheir life, and then you'll open
up healthy relationships sothat we can know you more every
day.
We thank you in advance for allyou're going to do.
In Jesus' name, we pray amen.
And then what God's word saysin 1 Thessalonians 5, always be
(10:44):
joyful, never stop praying, bethankful in all circumstances,
for this is God's will for youwho belong to Christ Jesus.
I love you.
God's got a plan for your lifeand it's to be joyful, to never
stop praying and to be thankful.
I'll see you tomorrow for 1Thessalonians, chapter 3.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible
Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today.
1 Thessalonians, chapter 2, andtoday's title is Joy is in who
you Know, not what you Possess.
Joy is in who you Know, notwhat you Possess.
I love this chapter so verymuch as Paul gets deeper into
this church that he loves sovery much.
(00:23):
We're going to get into it injust a moment but, as always, if
you like what we're doing here,make sure you like, share,
subscribe to the podcast andYouTube channel, leave us a
five-star review on the podcast,leave us comments on the
YouTube channel and then gatherwith us at the Bible Breakdown
Discussion on Facebook.
Man, the more we dig, the morewe find, and this is one of
those.
We're not getting even close toa good depth with 1
(00:43):
Thessalonians because there's somuch here.
It's one of the first books,actually, or first letters,
written by the Apostle Paul andwritten in the New Testament,
and the Apostle Paul is writingback to this church in
Thessalonica because he didn'tget to stay with them very long,
but when he was there therewere so many of them that turned
their lives over to Christ, buthe'd been having this problem
(01:04):
that after he would leave achurch that he had started,
these false prophets or falseteachers would come in and just
kind of mess everything up, andso he had sent Timothy back.
We're going to get to see thatin just a moment, just to make
sure everything was okay.
I love how he ends this chapterand I believe the Holy Spirit
has inspired this, that it canspeak to us today about how God
(01:25):
feels about us as well, and so,if you're ready, we're going to
read 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 1.
It says this you yourselvesknow, dear brothers and sisters,
that our visit to you was not afailure.
You know how badly we have beentreated at Philippi just before
we came to you, and how much wesuffered there.
So you can see we were notpreaching with any deceit or
(01:47):
impure motives or trickery, forwe speak as messengers approved
by God to be entrusted with thegood news.
Our purpose is to please God,not people.
He alone examines the motivesof our hearts.
(02:08):
Never, once did we try to winyou with flattery, as you well
know, and God is our witnessthat we were not pretending to
be your friends just to get yourmoney.
As for human praise, we neversought it from you or anyone
else.
So, in other words, he said mymotives are pure.
I came here to help you knowGod.
(02:29):
That was my goal.
Verse seven as apostles ofChrist, we certainly had the
right to make some demands ofyou, but instead we were like
children among you, or we werelike a mother feeding and caring
for her own children.
We loved you so much that weshare with you not only the good
news but our lives too.
In other words, he said I gotto know you.
I didn't keep distance, Ididn't stay away from you, but I
(02:52):
took time to get to know you.
And he's saying I want you tounderstand.
This is important to me andyou're important to me.
Verse nine Don't you remember,dear brothers and sisters, how
hard we worked among you, nightand day, day?
We toiled to earn a living sothat you would not be burdened?
We would not be a burden to anyof you.
As we preach the good news toyou, god's good news to you, so
(03:12):
you yourselves are our witnesses, and so is God, that we were
devout and honest and faultlesstoward all of you believers.
And you know that we treatedeach of you as a father treats
his own children, and you knowthat we treated each of you as a
father treats his own children.
We pleaded with you, encouragedyou and urged you to live your
lives in a way that God wouldconsider worthy, for he calls
(03:33):
you to share his kingdom andglory.
Therefore, we never stoppedthanking God that when you
received his message from us,you didn't think our words were
mere human ideas.
You accepted what we said asthe very word of God, which of
course it is, and this wordcontinues to work in you who
believe.
And then, dear brothers andsisters, you suffered
(03:55):
persecution from my owncountrymen.
In this way, you imitated thebelievers of God's churches in
Judea.
Also, because of their beliefin Christ Jesus, they suffered
from their own people, the Jews.
Because of their belief inChrist Jesus, they suffered from
their own people, the Jews, forsome of the Jews killed the
prophets and some of them killedthe Lord Jesus.
Now they have persecuted us too, but they fail to please God
(04:16):
and work against all humanity asthey try to keep us from
preaching the good news ofsalvation to the Gentiles.
By doing this, they continue topile up their sins, but the
anger of God has caught up withthem at last.
So so what is he saying he'stalking about how what would
happen many times is, after Paulwould leave, these Judaizers,
these Jewish people, would comein and they'd go.
(04:37):
You know Paul's great Jesus isgreat.
You know Jesus was Jewish right.
So if you really want to loveGod, you need to become Jewish.
And Paul was like that's notright.
Jesus didn't come to put us inbondage to the law.
He came to fulfill the law andset us free from the law.
So he was like you experiencedpersecution because you were
like now wait a minute, that'snot what Paul taught us.
(04:58):
He taught us about the law, buthe taught us that Jesus came to
fulfill it, and so he wassaying that was all this going
on.
You're persecuted, but youpersevered and you kept your
faith in God.
Verse 17,.
Dear brothers and sisters,after we were separated from you
for a little while, though, ourhearts never left you.
We tried very hard to come back, because our intense longing to
(05:18):
see I love this, after all whatgives us hope and joy, what
will be our proud reward andcrown when we stand before our
Lord Jesus Christ when hereturns.
It's you, yes, you are ourpride and our joy.
(05:42):
I love that which, by the way,as we told you yesterday, every
chapter Paul is going to mentionthe second coming of Christ,
and he just did what is going tobe our joy and our crown when
we stand before the Lord Jesuswhen he returns you.
I love that idea how Paul ishelping us understand joy, our
hope and our joys first of allin Jesus, but then our hope and
(06:04):
our joy after that is not inwhat we possess, but it's in
whose lives we share, in whoselives we impact.
I tell you I don't know ifyou've noticed this or not
relationships are hard.
You know, hurting people hurtpeople.
That includes people that hurtus.
It also includes people that wehurt ourselves.
(06:24):
However, god made us in such away that we were not made to do
life alone, even introverts.
If you're here, if you'relistening to this, you're
watching this and you're anintrovert, can I tell you you
were not made to do life alone.
You know, they've noticed thisin prisons.
When people are left insolitary confinement for a long
enough period of time, theirminds start to break down, they
(06:45):
begin to lose touch with realityand all these kinds of things,
and we start to struggle withthings because we were not made
to do life alone.
But many times, because of hurtand pain and things we've
experienced, we choose to dolife alone and it robs us of joy
.
Now you may be listening to thisand saying, pastor, the reason
(07:08):
why I don't trust people isbecause of the pain I've endured
and I just don't want toexperience that pain again.
And I want you to hear me say Iam not saying that you should
go out and just put yourself outthere and let people hurt you.
I'm not saying that you shouldgo out and just put yourself out
there and let people hurt you.
I'm not saying that at all.
I'm saying that you should putup healthy boundaries in your
life but not shut yourself outfrom God-honoring friendships,
because so much of the joy thatGod has for you will likely not
(07:34):
just come from Him in yourprivate prayer time.
It will come in sharing lifeand sharing experiences with
others.
Lasting life change happens inthe context of relationship.
Can I tell you, I've had thehonor and privilege of being
around many people as they'reabout to pass away and you know
(07:54):
what I've never seen?
I've never seen anybody ask tobe surrounded with their cars,
their boats, their houses, theirmoney.
I've never asked them to bringthat kind of stuff around so
they can see it.
You know what I have seen.
I've seen people ask where'stheir family, where's their
friends.
You know what else I've seenthem do Where's my enemies?
(08:14):
I don't want to die withoutmaking this right, because when
life really matters, it'samazing what starts to matter
and we start to realize it's not.
Joy doesn't come in possessions,it comes in whose lives we're
able to share.
Primarily, our relationshipwith Jesus, secondarily, our
(08:36):
relationship with others.
Now, for some of you, it's amoment to celebrate.
You've got great relationshipsin your life.
There's people that you'reclose to and man.
They are, in a godly sense,your pride and your joy, and you
love it.
That's wonderful.
For others of you, it hits ahard place in you because you've
had to walk through difficultmoments.
(08:56):
Can I tell you God wants tobring healing to you so you can
find friendship and God-honoringrelationship.
It's a long journey but it'spossible.
There's others of you.
You don't have unforgiveness,you just don't have any friends.
Maybe career has been importantor you just moved to a new area
.
There's a thousand reasons why,right, not all of them are bad.
(09:19):
It just ends up being what itis.
I tell you God wants you to bein God-honoring relationships.
It doesn't happen overnight,but it can happen.
So this is what I wouldencourage you to do Start
praying and asking God to openyour eyes to see some
God-honoring relationshipsaround you and then take the
(09:40):
next step.
Take the next step If you wantto find friends, be friendly,
have proper boundaries, makesure you're using wisdom, but
take a small step.
If you don't go to church, finda church home and start going
regularly.
If you go to church, inviteyourself to a life group, get on
a team and start slowly takingsteps, because I want to tell
(10:00):
you, joy is in who you know, notin the things you possess.
Let's pray together, god.
Thank you so much for today.
Thank you, god, that you knowabout these hard things in our
life and you choose to lead usin that direction because you
know that it's good for us.
I pray today there's people whoare going to be grappling with
this because of pain and hurt.
I pray, lord, that you willlead them first to your presence
(10:23):
, where they can find healingand they can find the journey,
the beginning of forgiveness intheir life, and then you'll open
up healthy relationships sothat we can know you more every
day.
We thank you in advance for allyou're going to do.
In Jesus' name, we pray amen.
And then what God's word saysin 1 Thessalonians 5, always be
(10:44):
joyful, never stop praying, bethankful in all circumstances,
for this is God's will for youwho belong to Christ Jesus.
I love you.
God's got a plan for your lifeand it's to be joyful, to never
stop praying and to be thankful.
I'll see you tomorrow for 1Thessalonians, chapter 3.
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