The Thessalonian Story Part 2

He doesn’t know whether to make his needs known. These people have never even thought about helping them financially. And I’m not afraid to say, I know, I don’t want money involved. Silas is the same way. He wants to stay, and yet there’s no money. Now, Timothy’s particularly scared because he’s never been totally without food and a place to sleep. And right now, yeah, he’s spending his time examining cobblestones and looking out as to where he might be able to find something to do, and sleeping out under the stars. Now, there’s only one ingredient missing in this story, and that is God.

So, come with me, and let’s go to another city. I’d like to introduce a name here I didn’t the last time. I wish I could tell you where this man came from. I wish I could tell you what he’s doing in the town of Philippi. We’re going to go back to Philippi; all I can tell you is the name is Luke. He may have been from Philippi, he may have been from Troas, he may have been from Antioch, Paul’s home church. All I know is he seems to have emerged out of nowhere. He seems to have been a believer for quite some time. He’s the one Paul left in Philippi, where he’d only spent three weeks.

Well, we’re in the home of Lydia, and Lydia is talking to Luke, and Lydia is saying, When they left here, I gave them the clothes they were wearing. There was very little money in it; surely by now they’ve run out, and Luke says perhaps Paul is making tents there; she says perhaps, but even if he opened the place, it’s going to take weeks for, weeks for him to be able to get a business, and they don’t make much money, you know, Luke. She says, ‘I would like for us as a fellowship of believers, for the ecclesia, church, to send them a gift.’ So, they have a meeting in Philippi – this is not Thessalonica – and they decide that they really do want to send a gift.

Now, there’s the girl who used to have a clairvoyant spirit. She wants to give some. The jailer. Do you remember the jailer? And then there was a soldier who was converted there, and then, some of the farming people out from the community there, and then, of course, perhaps the person who could give most liberally was Lydia. So, they put together an offering over a period of weeks, and then they send it by way of a ship’s captain. Ships can go from one of these cities to the other. They give the address of where they are sure Paul either will be or where he can pick up his mail. They know where he’s staying. They send this gift by way of the captain or the purser of the ship, as was the custom, probably, and they know that they’re going to hear some news back in a few weeks. What they don’t know is how crucial this situation is.

So, let’s return now to Thessalonica. But before we do, I just want to tell you something. A wonderful bond is about to grow up between Paul and the church in Philippi that will remain with them, between the two, forever. Twenty years from now, you will still be hearing Paul speak of this day when he received this gift. That church will care for him in a way that no other fellowship of believers on this earth cared for him. They seemed to be the one and only group who really, truly knew who this man was, and they cared for him throughout all his lifetime and all his ministry.

Well, let’s go back. Paul has received an invitation to come and live in the home of Jason. He has turned it down again and again. He’s never done anything like that, to stay permanently in a home. Silas cannot understand this man, Paul. Timothy does not know what’s going on.

I know what’s going on. And because I’m a minister too, I know what that brother is fighting. And he is one of the few people, it seems, in all of church history who ever fought with this problem. The rest of us just gave in. Paul does not wish to receive money for preaching the gospel in the town where he’s preaching. It’s just that simple. And you’ve got every reason in the world not to want to, because with it comes a lot of limitations, and ultimately, either evils…money is a very powerful thing. Even a little money is a very powerful thing. Even when it comes as a gift, such as Jason’s house. He will not tell the church in Thessalonica his situation, and this is a major crisis.

But sometimes, when you have nothing else to do, thank God that Paul of Tarsus reached down into the depths of his innards and refused to receive money for the preaching of the gospel. His breed has disappeared from the face of this planet. Oh, I’m a man who preached the gospel. I’m not talking about men who preach the gospel. I’m talking about men who give all their lives to the planting, to the raising of churches, and do it free of charge, and all the abuse that comes with it and goes with it.

Well, anyway, we come back to the place where they’ve been staying, the inn. And Paul goes up to the innkeeper and says to him, Sir, we won’t be spending the night with you tonight. Now, Timothy looks like he’s staring in the face of death; he doesn’t know what he’s going to do when he walks out the door. Silas is utterly beside himself. Being a good Jew, he knows Paul is supposed to receive money for the gospel. Paul is dug in. There is no money, no place to live, and Paul will not stay at Jason’s home. And the innkeeper says, It’s been pleasant to have you. By the way, something came to you from the ship to Persia today. And he hands Paul something. Paul takes it without much thought, looks at it, realizes it came from Philippi, and can’t tell what it is. Timothy is the first to sense what’s going on. And he stands there like a pillar of salt. He can’t move, and he can’t think.

And then Paul realizes what that might be. And so does Silas. He breaks the wax. He unrolls the package. He reaches down through the sheepskin, pulls back the papyri, and he pours something out in his hand. It’s gold and silver and some other coins. And he just stands there and stares at it. He cannot believe. The only other church in all of Greece has given them the key to survival.

Paul looks at Silas, and as is Paul’s custom, he begins crying. Silas starts praising the Lord, and Timothy starts running around the room in circles. He doesn’t know how to express what he’s feeling inside. Paul holds the money in his hand for a moment and then you can see something breaking loose in him, and through his sobs he says, ‘Timothy, you go tell Jason that we will stay in his home, but we will pay for our lodging there just as though we were at an inn, and we will pay for every meal, and if you will not accept that at this price, then we will stay in this inn where we are.’ And he said, “Go tell him.” And Timothy is already halfway out the door, and Paul hollers, Wait, come back here. And he hands one of the coins to Timothy and says, Go get yourself something to eat, young man.

And so Timothy takes off, and he’s hollering, and he’s jumping up and down, and this thing has finally broken loose. Paul and Silas give a prayer of thanksgiving, and then Paul looks at Silas, lays his hand on his shoulder, and Silas can feel the grip in Paul’s hand, and he can see the fire in his eyes, and he says to Silas, Silas, you and I are going into the tentmaking business. And so he walks right out of that building and down the street, where he knows he may spend weeks before he gets into any of the trade. He goes down the street looking for a place where he can open a little shop, just about that wide, where he can be a tentmaker, and he can train Silas to learn the trade. This is an exciting moment for these two men; they finally find a place, there along the way, there in the market, full of trash, broken pottery, junk, and other things. And they say to the man in the booth next to the junk, Is this claimed by anyone? Is it okay if we open a shop here? And the old toothy gentleman says, “Sure, you’re welcome.”