June 21, 2009
Father’s Day
“Remembering from the Future”
I Thessalonians 2;8 – 12

I attended a seminar where we were encouraged to think about how we would be remembered after our death. I pictured my family gathering together to write my obituary, pulling the chairs out from the kitchen table at home, sitting down and remembering. I know exactly how they would start. They would remember the time I made them walk for an hour and a half trying to find a restaurant I wanted to take them to, in the rain”  I could just hear them all groan, then laugh. Then, the next thing they would say – I know this would be the next comment up, one of my children would pipe up, “Yeah, and remember the time Dad ran over my foot with the car?” Of course, I would hope that at some point, they would finish laughing about all my quirks, my mistakes, blunders and sins, and start talking about something good they learned from me; hopefully, that I was a positive influence on their lives. We all want to leave a personal legacy. We want to be remembered for something good.

I mention this, because the idea of remembering comes up in our Bible text. The writer of these words, Paul, says, “For you remember, brothers and sisters, our work and labor….” (verse 9) Paul has traveled to Greece. One of the cities he visits is Thessalonica. Once there, he starts talking to folks about Jesus. Some people respond and a group of believers in Jesus Christ sprouts up. After spending several weeks with them, Paul moves on to spread the news of Jesus to other cities. After all, he was a traveling missionary.

All is not well, however. The good news, Paul later learns, is that these new believers continue to grow in their trust in Jesus. The bad news? Some ugly rumors have begun circulating about Paul. The word on the street was that he didn’t really care about them. After all, he hadn’t stayed there. He left the city! Some folks were questioning his motives. So, Paul responds to these personal attacks on his character, before the rumors get completely out of hand. He answers the rumors with these words, and I want you to feel the love behind them.
“We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our own very souls as well, because you had become so dear to us.” (verse 8)  Do you feel the love in those words? They ooze a personal affection for them. Paul and his companions came to Thessalonica and shared the gospel with them because he loved them. Talking about Jesus was more than a job to Paul. It was a love affair. He loved Jesus. He loved them. He gave them, he said, “our own very souls….” He poured his energy, his life, his emotions, his love into them. They were his spiritual children. He planted the seed of the gospel and the Holy Spirit nurtured it and spiritual children of God were born. Paul felt, in a real sense, that he was their human parent. He was their father.

Page 1

Of course he loved them. His motives were pure. The only reason he went on to another city was because others also needed to hear about Jesus, but he would never abandon his children, not in his heart; not in his prayers.

But, how do you convince someone you love them? We can tell someone we love them until we are blue in the face and they still might not believe us. They want proof. “Show me you love me,” they might say. That’s not easy to do.

My dad had it easy with my oldest sister, though. He had the opportunity to show his love in a big way. When my oldest sister was 2 or 3, my parents took her along to a large, family-style party where there was a swimming pool. Somehow, she got away and out of sight for a minute and fell into the pool. A 2 or 3 year old doesn’t make much of a splash; but, my dad realized she had fallen in and raced to save her, shedding shoes and socks on the way. Dad had it made for the rest of his life. He could always point to that memory as proof of his love. When we think of showing true love for our children, it’s easy to think in terms of saving them from drowning or an onrushing car or helping them with college tuition, or moving to another city so that they can be near a top gymnastics coach that will train them for national competition. These are all big ways of showing our love, and if we wait long enough, one of those big moments may come along. However, as noted preacher Fred Craddock reminds us, while we’re waiting for those $100 moments to show our love, we’re letting the 1000’s of 5 and 10 cent moments to slip by unnoticed: stopping and bending down to help our child tie her shoe, showing up for the soccer game, praying with our children about their concerns. Daily, we show our love. Daily, the quality of our love is revealed to those around us.

Paul picks up the challenge to demonstrate his love. In verse 9, he says, “Surely you remember… 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.” Paul isn’t speaking of telling them about Jesus as hard work. He’s talking about the fact that when he was there, he worked for a living. There’s no mention of him working in Athens; didn’t seem to work in Antioch for a living, either. But when Paul was in Greece, he earned his own living. The country of Greece, you see, was filled with traveling teachers who earned their living teaching and preaching and then passing the hat. They had a reputation for saying anything that would increase the money they might collect. And, they preached mostly for the money. Paul realized his motives in preaching the gospel would fall under the same suspicion in the future. So, he worked, so that his motives would be clear.

Here’s the key; Paul had this ability to look ahead and decide what mark he wanted to leave on these Christians, and then act in such a way in the present that when they got to the future, they could look back and see his example which would then guide them in living that way. Paul figured his love for them would be questioned in the future, after he left. So, he worked when he was with them, so that after he left, in the future they could look back and see his example and know, in the future, that he loved them. He wasn’t in it for the money. He gave his very heart to them.

Page 2

Another example of Paul’s great love for these Christians: he writes,
“You are witnesses, and so is God, to how holy and uprightly and blameless we lived….(among you)” (verse 10) Paul wanted these new believers to lead upright lives that were consistent with the life of Jesus. That was his future goal for them. So, he lived that way in the present, so that when they got to the future, they could look back and remember Paul’s example of integrity. His example could remind them of how they, too, should live their lives uprightly. They were remembering the past from where they were in the future.

A third example of Paul’s love for them: “For you know how, with each one of you, like a father with his own children, we encouraged you and urged you and exhorted you to walk in a way worthy of God who calls you into his kingdom and glory.” (verses 11, 12) Paul asks them to remember how he was like a father to them. After all, they were his spiritual children. What stands out is the fact that he encouraged them. The word “encourage,” means “to come along side of.” It’s a coming right next to someone. Like a father, Paul came right along besides his spiritual children, encouraging them in the faith, getting at their level, helping them, supporting them, encouraging them. When I think of this idea, I get a picture of us out in a boat, a few miles from shore, the Johnson outboard motor propelling us up and down through the waves, so loud that we have to yell to one another to be heard. Suddenly, the motor cuts out. In place of the motor’s noise, now, just silence. There we sit, no one else in view, out of gas. Hours roll by, then, we see another boat. We stand up and start waving our orange life jackets to attract their attention, and, sure enough the boat comes our way, just about the same size as our boat. What do they do? They bring their boat right along side our boat to find out what the trouble is. Then, they stay right with us, towing us to shore. That’s what this word encouragement means. Paul sets a goal for the future for his spiritual children. Then, he encourages them to reach for it, so that in the future, they can look back on his example, and use his example to help them live.

How will we show our love tot hose around us? How will we demonstrate it to those we love? And, since this is Father’s Day, fathers, how will we encourage our children? Whether they are living at home or out on their own, they need our encouragement. They need us to come along side and support them, encourage them, be an example to them. What do we most desire for them in the future? Then, set our own life’s course, that they can use our good example to encourage them to gain it as well. Dads, if we love our children, we have to show it.

Charles Francis Adams, a 19th century diplomat and politician took his son fishing for the day. Later, that night, he wrote in his diary, “Went fishing with my son today – a complete waste.” What he didn’t realize is that his son, Brook Adams, also wrote down in his diary the events of the same day. His son wrote, “Went fishing with my father – the most wonderful day of my life.”

We all will be remembered for something? What do we choose it to be?