保罗在帖撒罗尼迦的福音工作 Paul’s mission work in Thessalonica

Title: Paul’s mission work in Thessalonica
Date: 24th Oct 2021
Preacher: Rev. Wong Siow Hwee

In today’s passage, Paul reminded the Thessalonian church of his mission work amongst them. So today, my sermon will be an insight to Paul’s mission strategy in Thessalonica.

In Paul’s second mission trip, Paul was given a vision to go to Macedonia, which is modern Greece. At Macedonia, Paul first settled at Philippi, and managed to form a Christian community there. But he was forced to leave Philippi due to persecution, and so he then moved on to continue his mission work in Thessalonica. But the Philippian church continued their relationship with Paul by repeatedly supporting him, as recorded in Philippians 4: 14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. The Philippian church supported him not only when he was in Thessalonica, but also later when he was in Corinth.

If Paul was supported financially by the Philippian church, then why did he say in 1 Thessalonians 2:9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. Quite possibly, the support from the Philippians wasn’t enough to sustain Paul and his mission team, which also included Silas and Timothy. Paul had two options. He could either work for his sustenance, or he could ask the Thessalonians to support his ministry just like in Philippi. Paul chose to work. We learn from Acts 18:3 that Paul supported himself as a tentmaker in Corinth, so it is possible that Paul did the same laborious work while he was in Thessalonica.

Paul and his mission team stayed in the home of a Thessalonian called Jason. It is possible that Jason could be a fellow tentmaker, who provided employment, housing, and a place for evangelism at his insula. “A typical insula would contain a row of shops on the ground floor, facing the street, and provide living accommodations for the owners and their families over the shop or in the rear. Also on the premises would be space for the manufacturing of goods sold in the shops, and living quarters for visitors, employees, and servants or slaves.” 【1】 Working and living with Jason allowed Paul to evangelize to the entire household, as well as the customers from all walks of life. One scholar suggested that maybe this is why Paul trained to be a tentmaker, because it was a quiet profession (sewing leather) that conveniently allowed him to evangelize at the same time, as compared to noisier crafts like an ironsmith or a carpenter.

Now, let’s analyze Paul’s decision to work as a tentmaker in Thessalonica and later also in Corinth . 【2】Paul was clearly fine with receiving financial support as evidenced by his relationship with the Philippian church. But the sponsorship has to be properly understood by the donor. As explained in Philippians 4, the donor is not a patron or benefactor, but theologically a mission partner of Paul. Similarly in Jubilee, when church members give their offerings, they are neither customers nor employers of the pastors, but are family members sharing their resources and gifts in different ways. Without a proper understanding, Paul’s acceptance of any financial support may convey the wrong message, which could undermine the gospel itself! The cultural context at that time is that only the rich and privileged can be educated, since they are the only ones who could afford to pay the teachers. So if Paul asked for or accepted financial support without proper mutual understanding, he could be misconstrued as just another teacher selling his knowledge. The gospel would then become just another commodity to be traded as a service.

But Paul wanted to present the gospel as freely given as God’s grace. The gospel is not special or private knowledge that needed to be purchased. As freely as you have received, freely give. Paul wanted the good news to be shared freely from one to another. Paul was also not sharing the gospel in order to be paid like the other teachers, like motivational speakers or the consultants of modern times. Otherwise, the gospel would be tainted with vested interest. “Oh, you are just evangelizing for money. How can I trust you?”. I’m sure you might have heard of non-Christians who accuse churches or pastors of being greedy for money, especially when they live a lavish lifestyle. Naturally, Paul would prefer to devote his time fully to evangelism, but preserving the purity of the gospel sharing must be first priority. It must not be compromised or treated with suspicion in any way. Paul asked the Thessalonians to be witnesses of his labor as a tentmaker as proof of the authenticity of his mission work amongst them.

While being a tentmaker allowed him to speak boldly and independently, it also had its downsides. Working as a tentmaker could cause him to be perceived as a lower class manual laborer by the aristocrats. Such occasions of being disrespected are implied in 2 Corinthians 11: 7 Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? In the early days, opponents of Christianity sometimes mocked that Christians were mostly just low-class people. This could be why Luke had to mention quite frequently in Acts that many prominent people were also converted (Acts 17:4, 12, 34). Should Paul be concerned that compared to his original status as an aristocrat (Roman citizenship, Pharisee etc.), working as a tentmaker would lead to the degradation of his social status? Would evangelizing with a lower status become a deterrence to converting the non-believers who look down on him? Well, yes and no. Like I said earlier, the purity of the gospel must always be the first priority, because the gospel is about the truth. If the gospel is about prosperity, then of course Paul has to look successful and preserve his high status to win over more converts, but the prosperity gospel is false theology. The true nature of the gospel is Jesus, whose life is about self-sacrifice for the good of others. This coincides nicely with Paul’s choice to humble himself as a tent-maker. So if some non-believers are repelled by that, we have to accept that as inevitable, instead of tweaking the gospel to suit their taste. In Paul’s consideration of his status as a tentmaker, the most important part is for the true nature of the gospel to be preserved. It needs to be an authentic message for all, whether it is to the rich or the poor.

Thankfully, there were Thessalonians who recognized that the value of Paul’s words was not based on his tentmaker status, or whether he had very eloquent words to charm and impress them (1:5, 2:4-6). One might wonder, if the gospel truth is not the prosperity gospel, why would there be people who would believe in a message of service, suffering and sacrificial love? Who would accept the message of the Cross, instead of worshipping money, fame, and earthly pleasures? Paul explained, 13 … because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. Those who accepted the gospel did it because they acknowledged that it is the divine truth. Paul stuck to the gospel unwaveringly despite its uncomfortable content, and he exemplified it with a life of hardship that befitted his message, simply because it is the divine truth. And the Holy Spirit will work in those who recognize the gospel as the word of God.

Brothers and sisters, this is my main point today: the gospel is about the divine truth. And Paul’s mission strategy is about preserving this truth. The Chinese have a saying (良药苦口利于病，忠言逆耳利于行). The Thessalonians were witnesses to Paul’s “holy, righteous, and blameless” (2:10) example as a missionary among them. Though the gospel truth was a radical contrast to the sexually liberal Greco-Roman culture of the Thessalonians, the Holy Spirit moved them to receive Paul’s words and deeds as God’s revelation to them. At the end of the day, the wrath of God is a fact whether you like it or not (2:16). The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are facts whether you like it or not. And to those who receive the gospel as the divine truth, Paul’s words are no longer jarring. The truthful words (accompanied with exemplary deeds) become encouraging and comforting to them, because they now know how they should live their lives. I went through this in depth analysis to show that Paul’s decision to work as a tentmaker was in order to preserve the gospel truth. Similarly, making sure that we stick to the truth should always be our first consideration, whether in evangelism or in mission.

The enemies of Paul operate in the exact opposite manner, though lies and falsehoods. Paul and Silas were accused in Acts 17: 6 “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” This is a lie cloaked in the form of a half-truth. As Christians, we do believe Jesus is the Messiah, and so he is the king of the kingdom of God which we belong to. But it is only a half-truth because the Thessalonian Christians were not defying Caesar’s decrees, since Christianity is not about political power or influence; we imitate only the servant king, Jesus Christ our Lord, who suffered and died for fellow men.

Whether it was the first century or two thousand years later in present times, Christians are often persecuted for having a different value system from the rest of the world, due to the lies of naysayers. The corrupted part of the world will not accept the truth that the word of God will lead to a more fulfilling life. They do not want holiness and righteousness to be the moral standard of humanity. Thankfully, in Singapore, there is no outright persecution because we are protected by the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act. But I think there will still be subtle persecution in the form of pressure to conform to the prevalent value system wherever we are. I can empathise that the pressure to be accepted by the rest of the world can be difficult to withstand. The tools of Satan are his lies, and there are lots of half-truths out there to influence us. Maybe on Instagram there is a subtle message to girls, that you have to be pretty and sexy to be popular, or maybe in the internet forums as guys, you have to brag about your sexual conquests (男人不坏，女人不爱). Similar peer pressure can come in the form of questionable work ethics in the workplace, or crude language among friends. I remember swearing a lot during NS because that was the norm and I did not want to stick out like a sore thumb.

Brothers and sisters, just like Paul, we must conquer lies with the gospel truth. Paul’s encouragement to the Thessalonians and also to us was to live by example. Being holy, righteous, and blameless as a Christian is part and parcel of our faith to be the salt and light of the world. And when we are persecuted and rejected for preaching and living according to the Word of God, we are no different from the example of Jesus Christ himself. Jesus suffered and died for the truth. But the truth will prevail whether the world likes it or not. The righteous shall live by faith. Just as Jesus is vindicated in his resurrection, we too will be glorified in his second coming.

【1】Malherbe, A. J. (2011). Paul and the Thessalonians: The philosophic tradition of pastoral care. Wipf and Stock Publishers.
【2】The debate on the merits of choosing this mission strategy can also be found in 1 Corinthians 9. https://www.jubilee.org.sg/sermons/?sermon_id=961

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