Please Quit Pretending
Please Quit Pretending - Study 9/30/10
I once played an acting role in a skit portraying the life of a new arrived immigrant from the Middle East. I assumed a Middle Eastern name and spoke in broken English with deep intonation and accent. I was very good and received accolades for my ingenuity in acting. I enjoyed it and it made me feel proud of what I can accomplish by acting. It is the same for people in Hollywood. It is a world of make-belief. You end up trying to improve on your last act so that people will like and praise you. It is like being on drugs and it is unsustainable because you want more. No wonder most of them in Hollywood eventually crash into pieces of broken lives along with the lives of others they have broken.
In real life, there is some acting of various sorts. Sooner or later, our acting become obvious to others before it becomes obvious to us. Every acting and pretending comes down to living a life that is not original and true to who we really are. We act and pretend for specific motives and therefore we are driven by those motives.
In today’s study, we come across Apostle Paul’s real motive in being a child and minister of God. In ministering to the Thessalonians, Paul was confronted to answer the question, “What is your real motive in doing whatever you do?” We must individually answer this question otherwise we will act and pretend most of our lives. What is your real motive and would you please quit pretending? God is the judge of real motives as Paul determined and therefore this knowledge drove him to do what was right. What is our real motive in our marriages, businesses and other relationships that you and I may have? Like Paul, suffering/problems will help you and I assess, evaluate and discern our real motive. Please don’t abort this process if you are in it right now.
1 Thessalonians 2
1You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. 2We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition. 3For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. 5You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. 6We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.
As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, 7but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. 8We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. 9Surely you remember, brothers, 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.
10You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
13And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. 14For you, brothers, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, 15who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men 16in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.[a]
17But, brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. 18For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan stopped us. 19For 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? 20Indeed, you are our glory and joy.
Here are my observations in addition to the ones you may have:
1. We need to understand Paul’s experience in Philippi that he referred to in vs.1. In Acts 16: 19-40, Paul and Silas were insulted, manhandled, beaten up and thrown into jail for preaching the truth of the Gospel. God miraculously delivered them from jail by sending an earthquake in the night. The prison Chief was so shaken that he first wanted to kill himself fearing all the prisoners had fled. Paul stopped him and he then asked what he could do to be saved. The jailer’s household was all saved and baptized that night. With this back drop, Paul went to the Thessalonians. With this experience, his motive was very clear to him. He is doing it because God sent him and to be used in turning people back to God.
2. A clear pure motive drove Paul’s actions as he described in vs.3. “For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you”. There was no ulterior motive of Paul nor did he employ “trickery” as we see in today’s so-called churches and ministers. Have you been tricked before in church? I have been tricked many times by smooth talking preachers whose motives are very clear and focused on the money wallet. After a while, you must ask yourself should I continue to be tricked? What is your pastor/minister’s motive? If you are a pastor/minister, what is your motive for ministry?
3. Paul also never employed flattery to appease the Thessalonians vs.5. Flattery is to “complement excessively and often insincerely, especially in order to win favor”. This is even more dangerous than trickery because it has some elements of truth about you but then goes on to blow it out of proportion. Run from anyone who flatters you and let’s not be the one to flatter people for any reason.
4. When you know that you are “approved by God and entrusted with the gospel”, you stop pretending. Every believer in Christ is approved by God because of Christ’s death on our behalf. The approval by God is a necessary validation otherwise you will continue to long for other’s validation. I don’t need your validation because God has validated me. Paul once referred to himself as the chief of sinners, so he knew that only the grace of God has brought him thus far. This is my story too, I am “chief of sinners”. Have you experienced God’s grace and forgiveness? Then you are approved and entrusted with the good news of Christ.
5. The height of pride is thinking and acting as if I can accomplish anything with the resources within me. It is a fool who has said in his heart that there is no God, so he does not daily depend on God. For Paul was wise in knowing this. “With the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition”. Are you doing what you do in your marriage, business, etc, realizing that it is only with the help of God? If you think it is by your ingenuity, you will soon run out of gas and crash.
6. What is your real motive? “Surely you remember, brothers, 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”. For Paul, money was not the motive. He worked hard to earn a living. Yes, preachers in fulltime ministry should get their living from the work they do. Paul in some instances received support but no in this case. I love bi-vocational ministry. Like Paul, I do not have anything to prove and impress anyone so as to manipulate them to give offerings. I thank God for providing for my needs through my secular work since my work is also my ministry to His glory.
7. Paul set a good example for us regardless of whatever we do. “You (the Thessalonians) are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed”. This can only be accomplished by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit. This is where you can pray for me so that I can live and depend constantly on the power of the Holy Spirit. I really need help as you can see so please pray for me. I will pray for you too.
The height of pretence/pride is to think and act as if one can live this life solely on his/her own resources and ingenuity. It amounts to professional acting. When this is the case, one succumbs to all available methods such as trickery, flattery, masking/cover-up and greed to arrive at whatever goal. People become tools to be used, abused and manipulated to arrive at the end that justifies the means. Apostle Paul had nothing to do with such methods. We must also have nothing to do with such and quit pretending. We must rather trust God for all things on a daily basis. Will this truth change your marriage, business practices and other relationships? May God help you and me, in Jesus name. Let’s do something different going forward. Amen.
I once played an acting role in a skit portraying the life of a new arrived immigrant from the Middle East. I assumed a Middle Eastern name and spoke in broken English with deep intonation and accent. I was very good and received accolades for my ingenuity in acting. I enjoyed it and it made me feel proud of what I can accomplish by acting. It is the same for people in Hollywood. It is a world of make-belief. You end up trying to improve on your last act so that people will like and praise you. It is like being on drugs and it is unsustainable because you want more. No wonder most of them in Hollywood eventually crash into pieces of broken lives along with the lives of others they have broken.
In real life, there is some acting of various sorts. Sooner or later, our acting become obvious to others before it becomes obvious to us. Every acting and pretending comes down to living a life that is not original and true to who we really are. We act and pretend for specific motives and therefore we are driven by those motives.
In today’s study, we come across Apostle Paul’s real motive in being a child and minister of God. In ministering to the Thessalonians, Paul was confronted to answer the question, “What is your real motive in doing whatever you do?” We must individually answer this question otherwise we will act and pretend most of our lives. What is your real motive and would you please quit pretending? God is the judge of real motives as Paul determined and therefore this knowledge drove him to do what was right. What is our real motive in our marriages, businesses and other relationships that you and I may have? Like Paul, suffering/problems will help you and I assess, evaluate and discern our real motive. Please don’t abort this process if you are in it right now.
1 Thessalonians 2
1You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. 2We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition. 3For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. 5You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. 6We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.
As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, 7but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. 8We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. 9Surely you remember, brothers, 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.
10You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
13And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. 14For you, brothers, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, 15who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men 16in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.[a]
17But, brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. 18For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan stopped us. 19For 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? 20Indeed, you are our glory and joy.
Here are my observations in addition to the ones you may have:
1. We need to understand Paul’s experience in Philippi that he referred to in vs.1. In Acts 16: 19-40, Paul and Silas were insulted, manhandled, beaten up and thrown into jail for preaching the truth of the Gospel. God miraculously delivered them from jail by sending an earthquake in the night. The prison Chief was so shaken that he first wanted to kill himself fearing all the prisoners had fled. Paul stopped him and he then asked what he could do to be saved. The jailer’s household was all saved and baptized that night. With this back drop, Paul went to the Thessalonians. With this experience, his motive was very clear to him. He is doing it because God sent him and to be used in turning people back to God.
2. A clear pure motive drove Paul’s actions as he described in vs.3. “For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you”. There was no ulterior motive of Paul nor did he employ “trickery” as we see in today’s so-called churches and ministers. Have you been tricked before in church? I have been tricked many times by smooth talking preachers whose motives are very clear and focused on the money wallet. After a while, you must ask yourself should I continue to be tricked? What is your pastor/minister’s motive? If you are a pastor/minister, what is your motive for ministry?
3. Paul also never employed flattery to appease the Thessalonians vs.5. Flattery is to “complement excessively and often insincerely, especially in order to win favor”. This is even more dangerous than trickery because it has some elements of truth about you but then goes on to blow it out of proportion. Run from anyone who flatters you and let’s not be the one to flatter people for any reason.
4. When you know that you are “approved by God and entrusted with the gospel”, you stop pretending. Every believer in Christ is approved by God because of Christ’s death on our behalf. The approval by God is a necessary validation otherwise you will continue to long for other’s validation. I don’t need your validation because God has validated me. Paul once referred to himself as the chief of sinners, so he knew that only the grace of God has brought him thus far. This is my story too, I am “chief of sinners”. Have you experienced God’s grace and forgiveness? Then you are approved and entrusted with the good news of Christ.
5. The height of pride is thinking and acting as if I can accomplish anything with the resources within me. It is a fool who has said in his heart that there is no God, so he does not daily depend on God. For Paul was wise in knowing this. “With the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition”. Are you doing what you do in your marriage, business, etc, realizing that it is only with the help of God? If you think it is by your ingenuity, you will soon run out of gas and crash.
6. What is your real motive? “Surely you remember, brothers, 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”. For Paul, money was not the motive. He worked hard to earn a living. Yes, preachers in fulltime ministry should get their living from the work they do. Paul in some instances received support but no in this case. I love bi-vocational ministry. Like Paul, I do not have anything to prove and impress anyone so as to manipulate them to give offerings. I thank God for providing for my needs through my secular work since my work is also my ministry to His glory.
7. Paul set a good example for us regardless of whatever we do. “You (the Thessalonians) are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed”. This can only be accomplished by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit. This is where you can pray for me so that I can live and depend constantly on the power of the Holy Spirit. I really need help as you can see so please pray for me. I will pray for you too.
The height of pretence/pride is to think and act as if one can live this life solely on his/her own resources and ingenuity. It amounts to professional acting. When this is the case, one succumbs to all available methods such as trickery, flattery, masking/cover-up and greed to arrive at whatever goal. People become tools to be used, abused and manipulated to arrive at the end that justifies the means. Apostle Paul had nothing to do with such methods. We must also have nothing to do with such and quit pretending. We must rather trust God for all things on a daily basis. Will this truth change your marriage, business practices and other relationships? May God help you and me, in Jesus name. Let’s do something different going forward. Amen.
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