Caring Deeply
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8[1]
We live in a time that seems devoid of
risk-takers. To be sure, there are plenty of people who engage in risky
behaviors, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about people who
set off on journeys of exploration without knowing for sure whether they would
make it back safely. I know there are some of them, but I don’t see too many
people “boldly going where no one has gone before.” Even NASA, which seemed to
embody that spirit for so many of us for so long, is retreating from manned
space flight to sending robotic devices to take all the risks for us.
You may see things differently, but to me it
feels like we’ve decided these are the days for playing it safe. We do
everything we possibly can to minimize the risks we take in every aspect of our
lives. We want guaranteed outcomes, assurances of protection, and hedges to
minimize any potential exposure to loss. Any kind of loss. But the problem is
that life is full of losses. To protect ourselves from loss, we have to refuse
to be vulnerable to the people around us, to life itself. Choosing to live that
way is really choosing to avoid life altogether. Yes, if we take risks, if we
make ourselves vulnerable, we’re going to get hurt. We’re going to lose
something or someone we cherish. But to refuse to do so is to choose not to
live at all.
When you pay attention to the story of St.
Paul’s life and ministry in the New Testament, I think you’d have to conclude
that he took a different approach to life. While he may have started out on a
relatively safe path, after he met Jesus Christ his life was anything but safe.
As we discussed a couple of weeks ago, it seems as if Paul was constantly going
from the frying pan into the fire as he went from town to town preaching the
gospel and planting churches. Paul was nothing if not a risk-taker, making
himself vulnerable in just about every way possible—even risking his life at
times for the sake of the gospel and the people he served.
In our lesson for today, Paul mentions the
fact that he had been “shamefully mistreated” at Philippi just before coming to
Thessalonica. If we read the story in the book of Acts, we find that he was
arrested and thrown in jail, although it was illegal to do that to a Roman
citizen without due cause. Again, we
have to remember that jails in St. Paul’s day were a far cry from jails today!
I think it would be more accurate to say he spent the night in the city dungeon.
I’m not sure how eager I would be to get back to the work of preaching the
gospel and serving the church if it meant spending time in jail, let alone a
dungeon! And yet, Paul seemed to take it all in stride. He continued to take
the risk of serving Christ.
If you think about all that St. Paul had been
through, I think it’s amazing that he continued to press on from place to
place. When St. Paul came to Thessalonica, a city he’d never visited before, he
says, “we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite
of great opposition” (2:2). Just exactly what that opposition was, we may never
know for sure. The book of Acts mentions opponents who followed Paul from place
to place, stirring up opposition against him, gathering crowds to run him out
of town. Despite all of that, the Apostle kept right on proclaiming the Gospel
in every new city he visited.
I don’t know about you, but I find it amazing
that Paul was able to keep on going despite all the opposition and even
outright attacks he faced. I think he gives us an idea of why he would do so
when he says, “So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share
with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves” (1 Thess. 2:8). It
was his genuine love for the people he was serving that kept him going in the
face of overwhelming odds. The fact that he “cared deeply” for them was what
motivated him to keep taking the risk of putting himself out there, serving no
matter what the cost, sharing God’s love for all whom he encountered on his
travels.
I think part of the reason why he was willing
to make himself so vulnerable was because of his commitment to practice what he
preached. In another letter he says, “we refuse to practice cunning or to
falsify God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves
to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God” (2 Cor. 4:2). His commitment
that his private life would be consistent with his public life made it possible
for him to share himself so openly with the people he served in churches all
over the world of his day.
I’ll be the first to admit that it’s difficult
to take this approach to life. Most of us cannot say that we perfectly embody
the model of aligning our private lives with the part of ourselves we present
to the world. Most of us cannot say that our public lives are a shining example
of discipleship to Jesus Christ. When we
feel vulnerable in these ways, our natural tendency is to withdraw and protect
ourselves. But that’s not the example Jesus set for us, nor did Paul. They
offered themselves freely because they were motivated by something deeper and
more powerful than a desire for safety. They served because of the heartfelt
love and concern they had for others. I think their example can help us today: we,
too can take the risk of making ourselves vulnerable and choose to serve others
no matter what the risk may be because we care deeply for the people around us.
[1] ©2017
Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 10/29/2017 at Hickman
Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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