Please God
1 Thessalonians 2: 1-8
Please God
A fun fact about Thessalonians. If the New Testament were arranged chronologically, from oldest to most recent, Thessalonians would have been the first book in the New Testament. This letter doesn’t have the same thoroughness when it comes to doctrine such as one would find in the letter to the Romans that Paul has written at the end of his life to a group of people he did not have quite that personal a relationship with. One could therefore see this letter as one giving us a glimpse of a more raw, less self-assured Paul starting out on his difficult mission. What a gift! Paul is also writing to a group of new believers to whom his integrity was perhaps as an important issue as his theology. They needed to see Christ as much in his demeanour towards them as they needed to see it in their teachings.
The best theology (thoughts and words about God) is often not found in ink but in the actions, attitudes, and relationships in between what is written in ink. We all have a gap between our proclaimed doctrine and what we actually live and that gap is shown when we dare to be vulnerable (or when we refuse to be). In this chapter Paul is being vulnerable. He engages with criticism about his visit and ministry. And he shows that the gap between the theology so eloquently laid out in his letter to Romans later in his life and what he lived and believed in his personal affairs is small.
Let us start where he starts, with the statement that his visit was “not a failure”.
“Not a Failure”
To reflect on a visit and kick off with a remark that this visit was “not a failure” is rather odd. You have to dig into Paul’s history and personality to better understand these words. Paul was an A -Type personality. We know this because it was not only after he got converted that he worked very hard and did more than most. Even before his conversion, He was known for his zeal and thoroughness. Many A-type personalities were in part formed by nurture, not only by nature. It often has to do with a parent that didn’t easily display approval and appreciation. So, A-Type personalities were conditioned to give it their very best at all times. They long to please others. That is why they often burn out. Even just not being able to attain the absolute best standard feels to them like failure. Their sensitivity towards failure is extremely high. You see that in Paul.
And then also Paul’s history. In many of the people’s eyes Paul grew up with and worked alongside with, he was considered an utter failure. To a people pleaser that always hurts, even when you know it is not true. Even in Christian circles Paul wasn’t considered to be a success and also from state entities he got opposition. Can you imagine how Paul had these questions running through his being. “Am I good enough?”, “are they right, am I a failure?”.
When Paul feels the need to state to friends, people who love and adore him, that his visit was no failure, I think we do see some of his people pleasing and fear of failure psyche in that.
Not all of us today have A -Type personalities but all of us live in a super fast A -Type of society. A high premium is placed on being successful. People are overly critical and sometimes your reputation could tank for the slightest mistakes you made. Some are part of a younger generation that have had to come bye without many things previous generations had but it is still expected to attain to the same notion of success of previous generations like owning a house at 30, having a mom that stays home etc. Also, where in the past you were perhaps acutely aware of what 15 or so people think of you are now through social media bombarded by what 300 people think of you. Social anxiety is rampant and it’s no wonder.
Maybe Paul shows us how not only he was a victim of people pleasing but also how we could conquer it. In verse 2 he does an audit of his motives because of the opposition he was met with. Criticism, even the kind that is dumped on you unlovingly can become a constructive force if you take it to heart and evaluate your motives in the light of them. When I get criticized or when a stance I share gets criticized, I always try and ask myself in what way the criticism could be valid. Sometimes we do indeed discover that our motives which was good, did not materialize in a way going about it that made our good motives evident. Sometimes we even look back and realize that they were not that holy at all. Sometimes we are dead wrong. That’s human. It’s ok.
But motives are quite a tricky thing to judge. The tendency today is to judge motives solely on the basis of the self. If it seemed right to me, it must be right. Or it benefitted me, it was good etc. It is a sad legacy of modernity that we elevated the self at a level beyond what is reasonable and healthy. So, when Paul takes an honest look at his motives, he goes beyond himself or outside himself and asks: Was this pleasing to God?
You see, there is only one lasting cure for a people pleaser and that is to become a God pleaser. There is only One in Whom a restless A-type personality can find rest and that is God. People pleasing, you eventually realize after playing it numerous times, is a game you will never quite win. And yes none of us could claim to please God in everything we do, say and think perfectly, but even just the desire and effort to consider what is pleasing to God makes us less selfish and improves our moral performance. This is the secret Paul discovered and shares with us in verse 4. Seeking to please God. “To please” could also be translated as “to bring pleasure” We are called to a life where the question: “What will please God?” should be a resounding refrain.
I might have told you this before. One day when I was twelve, being a boy that was born and bred and grew up in a deceitful ideology of racial segregation, I made the following statement to my dad in all childlike innocence: “Dad, you know, I have nothing against the black people in our country, they must just stay subjected to us”. Yes, today I am very ashamed to admit that these words ever came from my lips. And by the grace of God, I have a radically different view about people of another race now than I used to have at 12. But you know how that transformation was kicked off? By a simple question from my father: “Do you think God would agree with you on that?”. It lead to a discussion where my father explained to me that even though the view I expressed are shared by most of the people we are friends and family with, it is against God’s will. Just because it felt so obvious and right to me, didn’t mean it was right in God’s eyes. I think that day I learned one of the most important things I will ever learn. That faith in God isn’t about what is popular but about what is true and right in God’s eyes. That morality should be sourced in God not in my own deceitful and deceived heart. That conversion starts with my own heart.
Please, God
Leonard Sweet tells an interesting story. In his wallet he carries a credit card like plastic on top of all his real credit cards. It has the words “Please, God” on it. It was meant as the start of a prayer list, a reminder to ask God for what you need. He went ahead and scratched out the comma between the “Please” and the “God” in order to change it into a reminder to please God with his money even before he asks for more. I like it.
We all tend to slip into “Please comma God” lives where we endlessly petition God about our needs and wants. Though it isn’t wrong to ask God for things, it is an aspect of our faith that we would do well to compliment by actions that brings God pleasure. People who seek to do what pleases God might get opposition but for some reason despite opposition, they never seem to be short on pleasure themselves. Maybe we should all scratch out the comma in our “Please-God’s”.
Real success is being faithful and courageous
Watch shows like Oprah and Ellen and you will see people who dared to be “themselves” are lauded as the brave and successful ones. If their version of ‘being themselves” happened to be popular and making money that is. But could you see 100 years into the future you will probably see that history doesn’t remember these people as the great ones. Being yourself isn’t that hard. Sometimes it is the plain easiest and most selfish thing you can do. It is going beyond yourself that makes for real greatness. It is being anchored morally to something outside your own whims and overeager and sinful desires. It is being “in Christ” rather than “just being yourself” that really makes a lasting difference.
Staying faithful in a fast changing and confusing world. That is being great in faith. Having the courage to push ahead for what is right even though you have no assurance that it will pay off for you in any way. That is the kind of life that resonates into eternity, no matter how overlooked it might be in the present. Sticking with the outcast and the underdog despite the high and mighty scolding you for it. That is the way to safeguard you against being a failure in any way that matters to God.
Paul shared the gospel in such a way that it won over his heart and overflowed into him sharing not only his knowledge with people but his life and his heart according to verse 8. You see if we share the gospel right, it transforms not only the lives of others but our own lives then become the gospel. The medium then becomes the message.
We do know a lot about Paul, more so than we do about many of the other leaders of the early church. He was really a remarkable man and church founder. He has not only had a great influence on how we understand the church but a great influence on human history. Even secular publications write about that. But if you read him, you do not walk away saying: “What a man!” You walk away saying: “What a God!” His life gradually pointed beyond himself and even doctrine and church to God. Maybe that is the best measure of true success…when people look at me, do they see only me or beyond me the Jesus to Whom I am pointing? Do I even attempt to point to Him? Even when they don’t like my style. Even when they disagree with me. If I do, I can say have been successful in a way that truly matters.
Close
One of the false gods that makes us feel secure is being in touch with and demanding about our own emotions, wants and needs. But like any idol it demands more and more and delivers less and less in the form of peace and well-being. The solution is to reach out beyond ourselves to God. Who does that will find God has been reaching out long before we have and is ready to meet us and reveal Himself to us.
Paul wasn’t really and didn’t have to be a great man. He only needed to serve a great God and stay in his will. He has with astounding consequences for many. Let us follow his example. Let’s reach out to God with everything in us.
Amen