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Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango, and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. All right, family, let's get into today's content. All right, we are in the book of Thessalonians. We're reading Thessalonians chapters 1, 2, and 3. 3. I want to give you background information for what we are going to read today. This is a great moment for me to say what I always say. If you haven't done today's reading, go ahead and pause. You can come back and watch this after you've done the reading. Okay? In Acts, chapter 16, Paul has a vision. And he has a vision of a man in Macedonia saying, come help us. So they go to Macedonia. The first city that they get to in Macedonia is Philippi. All right? There's persecution in Philippi. There's actually three things that happen in Philippi. Lydia is converted, okay? The purple dye dealer. And then there's an exorcism for a slave girl who can tell the future. That winds Paul and Silas in prison. But the Philippian jailer comes to know the Lord Jesus and the magistrates of the city come and ask that. That Paul and Silas and the whole crew that they leave, okay? They. They do not want them in Philippi, and so they continue in Macedonia and they get to Thessalonica and they go to the synagogue in Acts, chapter 17 tells us that they stay there for three Sabbaths. So three Saturdays, the synagogue arguing with the Jews. They finally leave the synagogue, and now Paul starts preaching to the Gentiles and there's tons of fruit. Okay? Actually, it's. It's Acts, chapter 17, verse 4 and 5 says that there's fruit. Then it's followed by persecution. And now Acts 17:10, Paul and Silas have to flee it. It feels like in the middle of the night situation, they flee and they go to Berea, okay? From Berea, they go to Athens, and we get the famous passage where. Where Paul is on Mars hill arguing at the Areopagus. And then from Athens, we get to Corinth. Once they get to Corinth, they meet back up with Timothy, who they've sent back to Thessalonica. They meet back up with Timothy, and they get really, really good news that even though the Thessalonians have experienced persecution and even Though Paul feels like he's abandoned them by having to flee the city because that persecution, their faith is strong. So once they get to Corinth, the whole gang meets up again. Paul gets a positive report from Timothy about the Thessalonians, which then prompts this letter. If you want context, okay, like the letter of Thessalonians actually gives us all this context. Here's what it says in First Thessalonians, chapter three, verse one to three. And then I'll skip a couple verses and go down to verse six. It says this. So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. We sent Timothy, who was our brother and co worker in God's service and spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. Because think about it. Paul, Silas, Timothy, the whole gang. They get to Thessalonica, they preach, a church has started, there's fruitful ministry, and all of a sudden Paul and S. Like when the. When the going gets tough, they dip out, you know. And so Paul is sending this letter to let them know, like, we didn't abandon you. Hey, actually, when we got to Athens from Thessalonica, we got to Berea. After Berea, we get to Athens. When we got to Athens, we'd rather split. And we sent Timothy back to make sure that you guys are okay because there was fruit and there was a genuine relational connection. And that is going to be apparent throughout this letter. I'm going to drop down to verse 6 of chapter 3 of Thessalonians. But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us just as we long to see you. All right, so that's the context. I know that's a lot of context. It's probably more, you know, I always give context clues. That's more context clues than I normally give. But you always have to remember when you're reading these letters of Paul, that the letters fit within a narrative that we typically get the background for. In the book of Acts, there are three big things that Paul is going to address. Three big things that I actually want to talk about. Number one, the first thing that you see throughout these three chapters is Paul's tender, loving and warm pastoral heart. The language is just like, we long for you. We. We love you guys. Think about. They must. They were probably there for about A month. Paul and the gang probably in Thessalonica for about a month. And they. They clearly created a strong relational connection in that month. And then Paul had to leave. And here's some of the things that he says. First Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 7 and 8. Instead, we were like young children among you that remember they been in prison in Philippi. So they came off the heels of persecution. They're experiencing persecution again. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. So Paul is using feminine language. He's using motherly like language. He's saying like a nursing mom was for her children. We cared for you guys. We love you guys. We don't want you guys to feel abandoned. I. I know we had to leave because of persecution, but please know that we. We love you guys. First Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 11. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children. So Paul says, not only were we like a mom to you, I was a father to you. Okay, I. You see how Paul's using the masculine and feminine adjectives and metaphors to describe his love and affection towards the Thessalonians? First Thessalonians, chapter 3, verse 6. You long to see us, just as we long to see you. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 3, verse 12. May the Lord make your love increase in overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. We love you guys. Paul's tone is insanely pastoral. So much caring concern for the believers in Thessalonica. Okay, that's the first big takeaway. I think that is just like. It overwhelmed me as I was doing the reading. Second big takeaway. Persecution is to be expected. Here's a nerdy nugget for the day. The imperial cult. So this is emperor worship, commencing with the divinized Julius Caesar was founded in Thessalonica in 42 BCE. And so Thessalonica is going to be a hotbed for emperor worship. Allegiance and loyalty to the Emperor. Just to give you a little. Just one more nerdy colonel nerdy nugget there. Macedonia is Greece. Okay, so this is not Italy. This is a Roman city, but it was first Greek. Okay, so it's a Roman city that has converted from a Greek city to a Roman city. If you remember Alexander the Great, who's to made the world. Greek is Macedonian. Okay, so they are going hard with emperor worship, which then makes sense that there's hard persecution, that they are being persecuted by their neighbors. For not pledging allegiance to the emperor. To not pledging allegiance not just to the gods, but specifically to the emperor.
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Arma Team Member
What if I told you that what you're learning in this video was just.
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Dr. Manny Arango
The tip of the iceberg?
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Arma Team Member
The Bible department is actually powered by arma. What is arma? I'm so glad you asked. ARMA is an online subscription based platform that we design to help people, everyday people, learn the Bible for themselves. We started ARMA so that anybody, anywhere can have access to trustworthy and entertaining Bible and theology content. In addition to this podcast, we have over 60 courses on individual books of the Bible, on theology topics, and on some hot topics like homosexuality, tithing and women in ministry. But really, ARMA is a community. A community of people that I've gotten to know. A community where thousands of people are currently finding family, asking questions and nerding out on the Bible together. If you want a community community to read the Bible with you this year, or if you want to dive into some deeper theological content, or if you.
- [09:32]
Dr. Manny Arango
Want more exclusive access to me and.
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Arma Team Member
The entire armor team, how about you go to thebibledepartment.com I'll be sure to post the link in the description of this video. Let's make this your year to become a Bible.
- [09:50]
Dr. Manny Arango
Persecution gets mentioned in Thessalonians 1:6, Thessalonians 2, Verse 2, Thessalonians 2, verse 14, Thessalonians 3, verse 4, and Thessalonians 3:7 all address the topic of persecution. And so persecution is a massive part of the background of what even prompts this book in the first place. But then, as we're going to see in Second Thessalonians, persecution gets worse and worse from the moment Paul leaves. He leaves because he's being persecuted, but the persecution does not let up. So there's lots of content here in the book of First Thessalonians and Second Thessalonians about the nature of persecution. Okay? And then cannot read either first or Second Thessalonians without being like just. You realize the major theme here is the return of Jesus. Okay? First Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse 10. Every single chapter of First Thessalonians is going to talk about the return of Jesus, the. The second coming or the rapture. Okay? First Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse 10 says, and to wait for His Son from heaven. First Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 19. For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? 1 Thessalonians, chapter 3, verse 13. May he strengthen your heart so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. And I know we're just covering the first three chapters of Thessalonians, but I'll go to verse 4, chapter 4, and chapter 5. It says 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, 16. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command. And the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. And then chapter five, first Thessalonians, chapter five. 23. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So every single chapter in the book of Thessalonians is going to mention in some way the second coming of Jesus, the rapture of the Church. All right, so I've given you context clues. I've given you guys nerdy. A nerdy nugget for the day. And here's the timeless truth. I wrote this down in my. In my notes. It says, uh, I. Well, not. It says. I said through it. This is what I wrote. Christian leadership is based on your ability to establish healthy and loving relationships with God's people. Relationships simply cannot be inappropriate, dysfunctional, abusive, weird, toxic, unhealthy, or manipulative. Healthy, loving, appropriate relationships are the foundational building block for Christ and church. Christ, like in church leadership, you can see just Paul's affectionate loving care, his pastoral concern for the Thessalonians. Really more than I got, more than I read Paul's words. I was discerning Paul's tone throughout the whole letter. The entire letter just has a tone of love and genuine care. He's only with them for a month and was able to teach them about eschatology. He's able to talk to them about persecution. And clearly there's a strong relational connection. He longs to see them, and he sent Timothy to them to figure out if they were okay. And, man, the letter obviously is full. Just a lot of really good, like, content. But really you can discern Paul's love. And I don't think it's possible to lead people who you don't love. I think we have a lot of leaders today who lead people because they have a vision. They lead people because they have faith. But they don't necessarily lead people because they love them and they're genuinely concerned for them. And I think that the first three chapters of Thessalonians, the reading for today. One of the things that shines through really, really, really clear to me is Paul's genuine love for these people. He's not just saying, he's praying for them. He's saying in chapter one all the way through, we thank God for you. We remember you constantly. We're praying for you, man. The, the fact that your faith is good, it made everything worth it. The persecution is worth it as long as your faith is intact. We love you guys. So the warmth and pastoral concern was my timeless truth. And I also think that sometimes Paul gets this reputation of being angry. You know, he's got some fiery things to say and it'll be regulations as the last book in our reading plan. And he's telling people to, you know, cut their woo hoo off, you know, and so Paul, Paul can be a hothead. But underneath all that, Paul's also just like loving like a nursing mom, just like nurturing, caring, warm, affectionate, Christlike love for, for these believers. And that, that I think is something worth emulating. I think that is a timeless truth. Hey, I'm proud of you for doing today's reading. I'll see you right here tomorrow. Tomorrow's reading is Thessalonians chapter 4 and 5. We'll wrap up this short letter and then the day after that we'll do second Thessalonians. So three days on these chapters in Thessalonians and I hope it's encouraging you. I'll see you right here tomorrow. Love you guys. Peace. Thank you so much for joining me on the Bible Department podcast. If this episode was helpful, it would mean the world to me if you'd give us a follow rate and review the show. And don't forget to share. You can learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and find us on Instagram at the Bible Department. If you want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses at thebibledepartment. Com. We'll see you back here tomorrow.