A little while ago, I produced a verse by verse series in Philippians. I really enjoyed that exercise and have been wondering if I should take on another book. Well it turns out that 1 Thessalonians is the victim of my machinations, and hopefully, the thoughts produced by this fantastic book will edify and encourage the reader.

As with Philippians I am going to limit each post to one verse, and hopefully produce a short, succinct read for my friends who follow.

1 Thessalonians 2:1 For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain.

We have completed the first chapter and discussed the faith of the Thessalonians, and the impact the apostle Paul and his team had on the small Jewish community.

They entered the city, preached for three Saturdays in the synagogue, caused a riot, got ran out of town and left behind a small group of people who trusted the message and had little personal witness other than seeing their apostle stand up to the crowds and not back down for the sake of giving up the truth.

Really quite the perfect storm, in a good way, for a small group of believers to have a short period of time with the apostle, and then to be thrust into the faith, essentially on their own. With no one to tell them they are doing it wrong. With no one telling them it has never been done that way.

In a very real sense, this group had the freedom to follow Jesus without any other influence. Without the Second Baptist Church of Thessalonica down the road acting as a competitive influence, or seeking to draw others into a second group.

That first few weeks/months/years must have been awesome for this small group of believers, knowing the basics and having the recollection of such a bold and brave apostle!

Chapter 2 starts out with Paul speaking of his coming amongst them, of his (or better yet God’s) success in bringing them to a truthful confession of faith.

He introduces the topic of vanity in this verse. My first impression when I think of this word is of makeup and fashion, of image and status, of representation and not reality. It may be a bit more harsh than that! If my understanding is correct, vanity in this verse speaks of an emptiness, a hollowed out condition, of a destitute existence, without any lasting fruit.

Maybe I am not so far off in my thinking. After all, is not makeup and fashion, image and status simply a statement of vanity, not reflecting the inner man, but a covering over, creating an appearance that is not true, focusing on the outer and not the inner. Character is not elevated if coverings and deception run rampant in the life.

But I digress. Forgive me my rant!

Paul, when he speaks of vanity, he is speaking of the effect his preaching had on these folks. They appeared committed to the message.

Vanity

Paul speaks of vanity in relation to a number of other congregations. He speaks of the emptiness of the Corinthian’s faith if the resurrection is not true.

Why have faith if He didn’t rise from the dead? The whole message Paul preached, that these folks claimed to believe is empty if based on a lie. The faith is void and

1 Corinthians 15:2 ESV – and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you–unless you believed in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:14 ESV – And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

In the book of Galatians, he speaks as though the continuance of their faith in his message would show that his efforts were not in vain. He sought that he had a lasting effect on those who initially trusted in the true message of the Messiah.

Galatians 2:2 ESV – I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.
Galatians 4:11 ESV – I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

He speaks to a church that is sliding into legalism as though they were apostatizing. My friends, he is speaking to those who were accepting the alternate message, the message of the Judaizers, that in following their message, the gospel faith they initially entered would be abandoned. His work would have been in vain.

Finally, he brings up the topic of vanity with his church in Phillippi.

Philippians 2:16 ESV – holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

To speak to his church in Philippi as he does in this verse must have been exhilarating, realizing his work was effective in their lives, that the faith was evident in their holding fast to the truth of the gospel. Continuance. Faithfulness. Consistency. If the believers life is focused in the life in the Messiah, it will be fully evident. Rules, regulations, social influence, financial gain, power, intimidation or any other idol is constantly fought off, by a commitment to the Messiah and His message.

I am afraid he may be thinking this success may not last if these believers in Thessalonica continue to listen to those who would seek to pull them away. A little further on in our letter, we find Paul referring to his labor possibly being in vain, that all his efforts and sacrifice would be for nothing.

1 Thessalonians 3:5 ESV – For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.

In our subject verse, verse 1, we see Paul was appealing to their very own memory when he speaks of his initial visit, and of the apparent impact he had on them. He is beginning to bring to their thinking the history these folks have experienced in the faith, and with their apostle.

But hold up now. All of chapter one spoke of the success of Paul’s ministry amongst them, how they were the talk of the region, how they were faithful and growing. How can Paul be saying of their faith being in vain when he just spoke so highly of them?

I have been assuming that Paul was speaking of their faith as a result of his initial efforts, but it seems evident that as we venture into this second chapter, Paul feels he has to defend his character, that he needs to remind the Thessalonians not of his initial impact, which he did in the first chapter, but of the importance of his character for the sake of their continuing in the faith.

A very popular way for the enemy to attack the faith is to attack the one who delivered the message. Character assassination is very effective in quelling the fruit of the message. Paul understands this and is writing this next portion of the book as a reminder of his character in order for their faith to be strong. He is not naïve in the enemies methods of destruction.

Two final thoughts.

Defend the character of those who evangelize. Do not openly defame a believer’s character, but seek to protect, to assist, to encourage those who serve in the ministry of evangelizing the lost. Don’t fall into character assassination through gossip or complaining, grumbling and whining about the character of those who serve the Master. In doing so, we may fall into a category of people we would not normally associate with.

Also as believers, who share the gospel with others, our lives matter in the quiet times, where our own character is being forged, when we are in front of the Master and no one is around.

This is a great challenge. May we look to Him for strength!

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