Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Remember Who You Belong To!

1 Thessalonians 2:9  - Remember Who You Belong To!

Paul was bivocational! Don’t panic. That just means that he worked a secular job to support himself so that he didn’t have to ask for anything from the churches to which he ministered. That’s why he worked night and day. Make some tents, then make some disciples. A stitch here; a witness there. No doubt, many of the false teachers were jealous of Paul and made all kinds of accusations: “He’s just in it for the money!” “He’s taking advantage of the churches!” (As a side note, I have discovered that so many times when people start making accusations like this, it is because of what they themselves are doing.) So Paul feels (again and again) that he must defend himself to the church, reminding them that he had taken nothing from them. Instead, he gave them everything he had – which, by the way, is what great ministers do!

Paul reminds the church of what he did. Not only did he compare himself to a mother nursing her baby (see previous post), but also he said, “I’ve been like a father to you.” (Please understand that the next statement is in no way meant to stereotype the roles of men and women. I am not being chauvinistic in any way. It is about the culture of Paul’s day.) Where moms take care of the emotional needs, dads take care of the practical needs, at least in his culture. So he exhorted, comforted, and charged them. In other words, Paul taught them truth. More than that, he showed them truth. And the truth is this: Every born again believer, every faithful follower of Jesus must live their lives in a manner that is worthy of being blood-bought children adopted into the family of a king. No. Let me rephrase that – adopted into the family of THE KING!

When I was a youth, my pastor would always give us “the speech” before we went on an outing: “Remember Who you belong to!” I know that’s not perfect grammar, but it is good counsel. We belong to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, so we need to start acting like it.

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