1For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, 2but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition.
We all want to be remembered, and it is the astute individual who crafts exactly how he wants to be remembered. Paul follows good precedent as he wrote to the Corinthians about Jesus’ words at the Last Supper, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:24). Paul wants to continually remind people of the lessons his life teaches. We all are examples of Christlikeness: some are good examples, while others not so good. We should each endeavor to live so as to reflect the glory of God clearly.
Paul reminds the Thessalonians of his hardship in bringing the gospel to them, with the focus that his sacrifice was not “in vain.” It produced a glorious effect in their lives. This hardly needs mentioning, but Paul does not want them to lose the significance and impact in their lives that comes from remembering.
Connecting with the chronology of the book of Acts, we see that on his second mission tour, Paul crossed the Aegean Sea from Mysia (in what is now the country of Turkey) at the direction of a vision. He arrived in Macedonia “concluding that God has called us to preach the gospel to them” (Acts 16:7–10). Upon entering the city of Philippi (to which he later wrote a letter we call “Philippians”), he preached the gospel and many were converted. A riot broke out, with Paul and Silas being “dragged . . . into the market place before the authorities … the chief magistrates tore their robes off them . . . struck them with many blows and they threw them into prison . . . fastened their feet in the stocks” (Acts 16:19, 22–23). Preaching the gospel had its downside!
From Philippi, Paul left for Thessalonica, first preaching to the Jews in the synagogue. But “[t]he Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men . . . formed a mob . . .” to persecute the new converts, “a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women” (Acts 17:4–5). After the riot was quelled, the believers sent Paul and Silas away. While the believers may have feared for Paul, there is no sense that Paul himself feared for his life. But with the gospel well established there, forged as it were by the fire of persecution, there was no need for Paul’s pioneering work there, so he willingly moved on. And it was of this that Paul reminds them, to keep stoking their courageous faith in the face of further persecution.
The lesson? Courageous faith in the face of persecution will not be wasted.
Lord, help me continue walking in courageous faith, not fearing persecution.
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