The sermon, titled 'Good Spiritual Parents' by Jason Dohm, focuses on the qualities and conduct of spiritual parents, using Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy as examples. The sermon text is from 1 Thessalonians 2:5-12, where these apostles are portrayed as good spiritual parents who prioritize the welfare of their spiritual children, provide a pattern for them to follow, and actively teach them in various ways. The apostles labored and toiled to avoid burdening the Thessalonians, demonstrating self-sacrifice in the kingdom of God, which is unlike any earthly kingdom. They also provided a pattern of devout, just, and blameless behavior, urging their spiritual children to imitate them as they imitate Christ. The sermon emphasizes the importance of spiritual parents having a disposition similar to good natural parents, offering exhortation, comfort, and authoritative guidance as needed. The ultimate objective of spiritual parenting is to help spiritual children walk worthy of God, reflecting their affections through their conduct. The sermon concludes by recognizing God's kindness in providing spiritual parents and encouraging spiritual growth.

The sermon text for today is 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 starting in verse 9 going through 12, but we're gonna start at verse 5 for some context. Nor a cloak for covetousness. God is witness, nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others. When we might have made demands as apostles of Christ, but We were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. So affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.

For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil, for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. We preached to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe as You know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father does his own children that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. Amen. The title of the sermon this morning is Good Spiritual Parents.

Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are putting themselves forward in this letter to their spiritual children as good parents. We find them to be good parents in what they say their testimony among the Thessalonians was. I think that is the theme of our text today. They are good spiritual parents. Last week, in the text we were studying, Our authors put before us the marks of counterfeit ambassadors, meaning there are fake ambassadors.

People who say that they were sent by the king with certain words from the king, but they're not sent by the king, and They don't say words that were given by the king. There are marks of those kinds of fake, counterfeit ambassadors. Then on the other side of that coin we have the marks of God-pleasing ambassadors. Ambassadors that are really sent by the king, ambassadors that really say words that have been given by the king, and in discharging that duty faithfully, they please God. There are marks of that kind of ambassador.

Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are very concerned that these new converts in Thessalonica know the difference, learn to recognize the difference. So The two applications that we drew at the end of our time last week was, first, that we were being trained to recognize one from the other. If you're supposed to welcome and embrace and be taught by the one, but reject and get far away from the other, you better know the marks. You better know how to recognize them. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, two thousand years later, are training us to know the difference.

And secondly, in that text, we're given a pattern for our ambassadorship. All who are in Christ are ambassadors for Christ. Calling out for people to be reconciled to God. That's what it means to be sent by God. The King, that's what it means to be sent with words that the King has given you.

That's his message. Be reconciled to God through Christ. So we've been given a pattern by looking at how Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, how they were ambassadors, the marks of God pleasing ambassadors, that should be the pattern for our ambassadorship as well. This week we're finishing a unified section. Chapter 2 verses 1 through 12 really stands together with a common theme.

The theme is this, the defense of their ministry in Thessalonica. Why do they need to defend their ministry in Thessalonica? Because they had to leave in a big fat hurry. They had to get out of town because of intense persecution. So they've left these new converts, these people who might have been in Christ for a month or two or three, and they just have to up and leave.

The work's not done, and so by letter they're resuming the work. That's really what we're seeing in our text this week. They're resuming the work to invest into the life of a new convert like a father would invest in the growth and maturing of his own children. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy continue to remind the Thessalonians of their conduct. Listen from our text this week, verse 9, for you remember the words of the text.

Verse 10, you are witness and God also, words from the text. Verse 11, as you know words from the text. And so as we've seen all throughout this section, chapter 2, 1-12, over and over and over and over again, he says, you know this, you know this, you know this, you saw this with your own two eyes, you experienced this as we were ministering among you. They were able to recall to their memory how they conducted themselves, what they said, what they did among them. Here's a prominent feature of our text this week, As a Father.

We have the fatherly care of Paul and Silvanus and Timothy. This is not a business transaction that has happened between the apostle and his co-laborers and the people in Thessalonica. No! We have spiritual fathers who have a tender care for these new converts. As we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer.

God, we give you thanks for spiritual fathers and mothers. All of us who are in Christ can think of the people and see the faces of our spiritual fathers and mothers from the past and present, through whom the Gospel has come to us and who have helped us to grow, who have stood alongside us and walked with us in life to help us gain ground in our faith. God, we thank you for them. We know this was the work of your hand. God, I pray that you would help us to gain from this text, to learn to gain a heart of wisdom.

Please help us. Send your Spirit to be our teacher today in Jesus' name. Amen. Here's the structure of our time this morning. There are going to be two main points.

The conduct of spiritual parents and the objective of spiritual parents. If you've got an outline on the handout, if you're working from that, you'll see those two main points. There will be the first main point and then I'll be giving four sub points. So it will be main point, one, two, three, four, and then the second main point. Hopefully that will help avoid confusion as I'm calling out numbers.

So here's the first main point. Number one, the conduct of good spiritual parents. The good ones. The ones who are honoring God in their spiritual parenthood. And I'd like to re-read verses 9 through 11.

In verses 9 through 11 we see this conduct of good spiritual parents. Follow along as I read. First Thessalonians chapter 2, beginning in verse 9. For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil, the laboring night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you. We preach to you the gospel of God.

You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe. As you know, how We exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children. Let me define some terms. It's sounding to me really loud through amplification. Can you turn me down just a little bit?

Let me define some terms. First, spiritual parents. Here's how I'm defining spiritual parents. Those through whom the Gospel comes to unbelievers, who then make the investment to make disciples of the new believers. So they're a channel for the Gospel to come to people who don't yet believe.

The Gospel is preached through them. But it doesn't stop there. It continues. The investment doesn't stop with just the sharing of the Gospel. Once someone has embraced the Gospel, then the investment just continues.

So that this spiritual parent continues investing into the life of the new convert and helping them to grow. The Gospel comes through them and then they continue to help them grow. It really is being born again. You're born again. You're what?

You're a baby. There's so much growth. It's not the end of the growth, it's the beginning of the growth. Good spiritual parents are those who are not only a channel for the Gospel, as important as that is, but also they continue to invest in a life so that the new believer grows. And then of course the spiritual children are those who hear the gospel, embrace the gospel, and then start on this lifetime process of growing and growing to know God more, to know Christ more, and to learn how to follow him, walk after him, take up their cross, and live in a way that pleases him.

So I think in our text we have at least four ways in which Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy have been good parents. So these are the four sub points under our main point. Here's the first of four. Good spiritual parents prioritize the welfare of their spiritual children. There's a pecking order.

There's a prioritization. And for the good spiritual parent, The priority is the welfare of their spiritual child, not their own needs and wants. The specific example that we have in our text, we see clearly in verse 9, that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy say that they labored and toiled night and day to not be a burden to preach for free. In other words, what we saw in our text last week is they could have made demands as apostles. One of those demands that they could have made as apostles would be financial demands.

We're working, workers are worthy of their pay, so we could demand financial support for the labors that we're doing. But they passed over that. They didn't make that demand in order to be able to share the Gospel for free. In order not to put a weight or a burden on these ones who were just, for the first time, embracing the gospel. They didn't want them to be burdened by that demand.

So what did they do? They labored and toiled. They labored to exhaustion. They extended their days and they shortened their nights. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are describing their life in Thessalonica.

What was their life like? Long days, short nights. Why? Because they were laboring, in addition to the ministry to the Thessalonians, they were laboring to provide for themselves. They were exhausting themselves.

1 Corinthians chapter 9, if you go look at that chapter, makes it clear that those who preach the gospel have a right expectation of receiving from the labors. But Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy don't claim that right. They pass right over that right in order to be able to preach the gospel, share the gospel for free. I can't resist saying this again. I know I've said this many times.

The kingdom of heaven is unlike every other kingdom. You set the kingdom of heaven side by side with every other kind of kingdom, a workplace or a company or a government or, anyway, find another institution and set it next to the Kingdom of Heaven and you'll find this fundamental difference. In other kingdoms, those at the bottom sacrificially serve those at the top. Find the other kingdom. Look at the other institutions.

How are they structured? The ones at the bottom sacrifice for the ones at the top. The Kingdom of Heaven inverts that. It flips it on its head. The way that God has designed His Kingdom is the ones at the top sacrifice for those who are just getting started, who are weaker, who have so much to learn, who have so much growth left.

He's made it so the higher you move up in his kingdom, the more you advance in his kingdom, the more you're expected to sacrifice for those who are just getting started. That is the beauty of the Kingdom. The ones who need the help the most are the ones that God calls us to sacrifice for. What is the ultimate example of that? Of course it is Jesus.

Jesus is the King of the Kingdom, and He laid down His life for sinners. And as we grow to be like Him, as we grow, the more mature we get, the greater our obligation to lay down our lives and to sacrifice for those who are just getting started. Those who have just embraced the Gospel for the first time. I want you to listen to 2 Corinthians. You can turn there if you'd like, but I'm not going to be there for long.

This is 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 14 and 15. Listen to what Paul writes. 2 Corinthians 12, 14 and 15. Now, for the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be burdensome to you, for I do not seek yours but you. For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls. Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved." There are a couple things I'd like to note in this text. First is what Paul says explicitly in the text, I do not seek yours but you. This is exactly what we see about the life of Paul and Silvanus and Timothy in Thessalonica. They weren't seeking theirs, they weren't seeking the stuff of the Thessalonians.

They didn't need their money, they didn't want their money, they actually wanted to be able to preach the gospel for free, so that they wouldn't be a burden to these people, and so that they would be free of a charge that they were peddling the gospel. Paul speaks of that elsewhere. He says, many peddle the Gospel. So Paul is careful to make a clear distinction between the peddlers of the Gospel and himself. How?

And how he talks? No! And how he lives? He stays up later and he wakes up earlier to provide for his own needs in addition to sharing the gospel and helping the new converts grow. Paul says here in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, I do not seek yours, but you.

I don't need your stuff. I'm here for the welfare of your soul. Having received the mercy of God, I'm here to be a channel for the mercy of God to you." And he argues from the law of inheritance. So here's the question, do children save up to give an inheritance to their parents? Paul says no.

Parents save up to leave an inheritance to your children. So Paul says I'm doing that. I'm your spiritual father so I'll lay up for you, not you laying up for me." And in spite of this, here's how Paul ends this text in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, in spite of this, In spite of this fact, immaturity sometimes causes love not to be returned. Paul was experiencing that with the church in Corinth. He says, I am happy to spend and be spent for your souls, though the more I love you, the less you love me.

Their immaturity was causing Paul's love not to be returned. So how did Paul react to that? He abandoned ship, right? I'm not investing anymore. No, Paul says, I'll keep spending, I'll keep being spent for your souls.

I'll keep laying up for you my spiritual children. He knows they'll grow. He knows things will change in time, I think. He doesn't despise them for their immaturity. He notes it.

He notes this mark of immaturity that his love to them hasn't returned, but he doesn't despise them for it, and he doesn't abandon ship. He keeps spending and being spent for their souls. So that's the first sub-point. Good spiritual parents prioritize the welfare of their spiritual children. That's exactly what Paul and Silvanus and Timothy did in Thessalonica.

They weren't a burden. The second of four sub-points. Good spiritual parents lay down a pattern for their spiritual children to follow. If you're a good spiritual parent, you lay down a pattern. You leave an example for your spiritual children to follow.

Good spiritual parents say, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. That's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1. Imitate me. Follow me. I'm following Christ.

I'm further down the road. I've been in the faith longer. Jesus has brought me farther. So I've got my eyes on him, I'm being conformed into his image, put your eyes on me, I'm a very concrete, very physical, very present example of what it means to have matured to this point in the faith, imitate me. I'm imitating Christ, you imitate me.

Good spiritual parents can say that with straight face. Verse 9 makes it so clear that they're working really hard to provide for their own needs. And there's something beyond just not being a burden to them. I want you to see it. So turn to 2 Thessalonians, just a few pages, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, verses 6 through 9.

Now here, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are going to talk about their labors while they were in Thessalonica again, but they're going to say another reason why they lived that way among them. Second Thessalonians chapter 3 verses 6 through 9, but we command you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us. For we were not disorderly among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. So almost the same words that we have in our text in 1 Thessalonians, but he comes back to it in the next letter to say, we did toil and labor night and day.

We did it so we wouldn't be a burden to you. Not because we didn't have authority. Not because we couldn't have made demands on you, financial demands as apostles, but so that you'd have an example of how you should live. Maybe you should stay up a little later and get up a little earlier and eat your own bread, Thessalonians. As good spiritual parents, we've laid down a pattern that you can follow in, that you should follow in.

Now back to 1 Thessalonians, look at verse 10. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 10. I want to re-read that. I want to reread that. Your witnesses and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe.

There was a pattern of behavior from their months. We don't know how many months it was, but however many months it was, there was a pattern of behavior that they could and did point back to. As we saw last week, this was not a word only gospel. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy have been saying that in different ways through chapter one and two. We did bring the Gospel, but it wasn't a word only Gospel.

In chapter one he says, it was with the Holy Spirit and power and in much assurance. In chapter two says, we were happy to preach the Gospel to you, but we were more happy to share our own lives with you." That was last week. The Gospel is words, but the right kind of Gospel, the Gospel that gets embraced and loved and followed is not a word only gospel. They brought a life with the words. They shared their lives and the lives that they shared in the months that they were in Thessalonica were lives that were consistent with the gospel that they were preaching.

It strengthened, not diminished, the words of the gospel. So Paul, in verse 10 says, you saw how we lived among you. You saw that We lived devoutly. You saw that we lived justly. You saw that we lived blamelessly among you.

It's a pattern for you. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy said, We behaved devoutly among you. We were serious about following Jesus. When you looked at our lives, you could tell that this wasnít just words. We were serious about following Jesus.

ESV says, ìOur conduct was holy.î So instead of ìdevoutlyî, the ESV renders it a little differently. Both are good. �Our conduct was holy.� Holy means set apart for God. We showed you how to live for God. We showed you a life of worship to the true and living God.

That's what it means to live devoutly, to live a life of worship. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy could say, we behaved justly among you. The NASB refers to that as uprightly. The ESV says our conduct was righteous, so justly or uprightly or righteous. We did what was right when we were there.

We lived among you for a period of months, and during those months we did what was right in the eyes of God. We did to others as we would have them do to us. You saw us obeying God. You saw us doing what was right. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy could say, we behaved blamelessly among you.

There was no cause for condemnation. You couldn't condemn us. We were blameless. You couldn't condemn us for how we lived among you. We behaved rightly towards God.

We were devout. We behaved rightly towards man. We were just. And so no one can condemn us for how we acted, how we behaved ourselves. They behaved themselves.

A good spiritual parent can say, imitate me as I also imitate Christ. So that was the second sub-point. Good parents lay down a pattern for spiritual children to follow. That's what Paul and Silvanus and Timothy did. Third of four, number three of four here.

Good spiritual parents actively teach their spiritual children in a number of different ways. Not always the same kind of teaching. Verse 11, we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you. He is listing different ways in which good spiritual parents teach. We exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you.

It is universal. No one was left out of the teaching. All were instructed in how to grow in the faith. Every one of you. All the fathers in the room, and really everyone in the room, know that you'd better know how to give more than one type of instruction.

Fathers can't be one trick ponies. The pony only knows how to do one trick. A father can't be a one trick pony. He's got to have more tools in the bag than that. Not everything calls for the same kind of instruction.

This is what Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are saying here. There's more than one type of instruction that's needed. Sometimes a father needs to exhort. Son or daughter, this is what needs to be done and you can do it. I am with you.

Go! So they provide, when you are exhorting, you are providing the direction, that is important, especially for new believers, providing direction, but also providing encouragement. Not just providing direction and, you know, hope, we hope it goes well for you, but encouraging direction and encouragement. Sometimes a father needs to do that. Sometimes a father needs to comfort.

Be very gentle with his sons and daughters. Be very understanding. Be very aware that growing is hard. It is a bad thing to have a father who doesn't remember what it's like to be a kid. And so, he despises the state of his children.

He forgot. It's like he was never five, he was never seven, he was never ten. It's like it never happened. And so there's no compassion, there's no comforting, there's no understanding. That is a bad condition to Be a child in that home where dad's forgotten how there's pain with growth.

How there are setbacks with growth. Sometimes it's time for the comfort. It's time to bring the comfort. It's time to remember what it was like to be twelve. I'm not saying excusing sin, that's not what I'm saying.

You know what I'm saying. Sometimes he needs to charge. He needs to charge. Absolutely He needs to charge. Absolutely do not do that.

Absolutely do that. Don't you even think about doing that. You must do this. Commanding with authority. There is a time when natural fathers and spiritual fathers need to command with authority, standing on the Word of God.

Not with his own thoughts and his own words, but with God's thoughts and God's words. But not just to render an opinion, but to say, don't you dare! That's what it means to charge. It means to command with authority. Just like a skillful natural father knows when to instruct a certain way, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy knew when to exhort, knew when to comfort, knew when to charge and command with authority.

That not all situations were created equal, not all people were created the same, and that there needs to be a distinction in the type of instructions that are brought. It takes time and experience to become a skillful, natural father and spiritual father and to know when to do what. Listen to Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 21. This is great. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 21, Paul says, ìWhat do you want?

Shall I come to you with a rod or in love and a spirit of gentleness?î Heís writing a letter. Heís going to be coming after sending the letter. So he's putting them on notice. He's going to come one way or the other. And he says, choose.

What do you want? You want me coming with a rod, or do you want me to come in love and in a spirit of gentleness? Paul says, I've got both here in my bag of tools. What do you want me to pull out of my bag of tools? You want me to pull the rod out of my bag of tools?

You want me to come charging and authoritatively commanding when I get there? Or do you want comfort? You decide. Natural fathers, spiritual fathers, all fathers have a bag of tools. You better have more than one tool in the bag, Dad.

Spiritual dads, natural dads. That's what Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are saying here. Sometimes you should exhort, sometimes you should comfort, sometimes you should charge. That was number three of four. Here's number four of four.

Good spiritual parents have a disposition towards their spiritual children that resembles good natural parents. Good spiritual parents have a disposition towards their spiritual children that resembles good natural parents. In other words, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are tapping into something that you know already, which is, what does a good dad look like? What does a good mom look like? What characterizes good parents?

And then they're saying, they're taking the best of that and saying good spiritual parents resemble that towards their spiritual children. The last part of verse 11, look at it, as a father does his own children, he's tapping into good natural fathers and how they treat their own children, how they instruct their own children. He said, just like that. That's how we dealt with you. Look at the very end of verse 7, go up to last week's text, the very end of verse 7, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children.

Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are tapping into what you know about nursing mothers and how they cherish their children. They said, that's how we were. That's the picture of how we were. I want to close this section with a text that touches on many of these points and ask you to turn to Acts chapter 20. In Acts chapter 20, we're going to see many of the same words and phrases that Paul uses in 1 Thessalonians in Luke's account from Acts chapter 20.

I'd like to do a lot of the chapter, but for time's sake I'm going to look at just two portions of this chapter. The first portion is Acts 20 verses 17 through 21. From my leadest, he, Paul, sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. When they had come to him, he said to them, You know from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews. How I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are three things I want to pull out of this section of Acts 20. The first is just to point out that he's pointing to his manner of life. He says, from the first day that I came to Asia, from the very first day, I had a manner of life. Every day that I lived there my manner of life was the same. Verse 18, in what manner I always lived among you.

Second, that Paul proclaimed everything that was helpful. He didn't leave anything out. In fact, if we look to verse 27, he says, For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. He gave it all to them. He was in Ephesus, I think, two and a half years.

So there was a lot of teaching that Paul did in Ephesus. So Paul says in verse 27, I haven't shunned to declare to you the whole council of God, I gave it all to you. Everything that was helpful, full-orbed teaching, the whole realm of teaching that new believers would need to know. Paul didn't hold back anything that was helpful. How did he teach them?

Publicly. How did he teach them? From house to house. Every opportunity. Paul was apt to teach.

Paul had a bent to bring the Word of God to bear everywhere he went. When he was in public, that's what he did. When he came to your house, that's what he did. He was a good spiritual father. Finally, In this section of Acts 20, we have a summary of Paul's Gospel.

Paul said, there's a Gospel I preach to the Jews, and it's the same one I preach to the Greeks. So Paul was saying, to Jew and Greek, I preach the same thing, what is it? The summary is this, repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. That's repentance and faith. Turning away from the world and yourself to God, repentance toward God.

Transferring your trust from anything else to Jesus, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. This was Paul's Gospel. Now here's the second portion of chapter 20. Skip down to verse 32 and I'll read 32-38. Acts chapter 20 beginning in verse 32.

So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have coveted no one silver or gold or apparel. Yes, you yourselves know that these hands are provided for my necessities and for those who are with me. I have shown you in every way by laboring like this that you must support the weak." And remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

And they all wept freely and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke that they would see his face no more. They accompanied him to the ship. There are three things I'd like to pull out of this portion of the text. The first is that he didn't covet anything that was theirs. It's like we saw earlier.

He wasn't after theirs, he was after them. Not their stuff, but their welfare. He worked here to provide for his own necessities. The second thing is that that was intended to be a pattern for the Ephesian elders. Again, he's being a pattern.

He's teaching them that they should do likewise. They should provide for themselves and be careful not to assert every right among the people in the church. And then finally, can you tell this with Paul, this is not just a job with Paul. This is not a chief executive officer meeting with middle management. We have weeping and kissing on the beach here.

This is not corporate life. This is not governmental life. This is family life. They love each other. Paul spends and is spent for the Ephesians.

He did for a period of years. He loves them. It's not a business relationship to Paul. It's not a business relationship with them. They know they're not going to see him again, and they can't bear the thought, so the tears are flowing.

They fall on his neck and they kiss him. This is family life. Now we're to the second major point. What was the first major point? The conduct of spiritual parents was the first major point.

The second major point, the objective of good spiritual parents. The objective of good spiritual parents. That's what we have in verse 12. Look at verse 12. That you would walk worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

That you would walk worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. That you would walk worthy of God. That's the objective of these good spiritual parents. What are Paul and Silvanus and Timothy after? They've got a target.

They're telling you what the target is. Their children in the faith would walk worthy of God. So everything here is rooted in one single thing. What is that? The king is worthy.

That's what the whole text is about. That's why there are spiritual parents and spiritual children, because the king is worthy. God in the kingdom he calls believers into is worthy of a certain pattern of life. Got it? I'm going to repeat that.

God and the kingdom that he calls believers into is worthy of a certain pattern of life. Your walk is simply what characterizes your life. What is it that characterizes your life? That's your walk. It's the consistent pattern of your life over time.

It's the trajectory of your life. Not a snapshot. It's a video, a long video, not just a snapshot. It's a consistent pattern of your life. We should be showing that we are growing closer to Jesus through time.

Your walk today shouldn't be what your walk looked like a year ago. Your walk today shouldn't be like what your walk looks like a year from now. We should be growing closer to Christ. What does that mean? We're becoming like Him.

In knowing Him, in communing with Him, we become more like Him. To know him is to love him. The more you love him, the more you follow him, you're conformed into his image and your walk changes. Sometimes it's hard to tell. It's incremental.

You think there's no progress. Hold on. Wait. Look back a little further. Are you sure there's no progress?

At times when I'm discouraged, I think there's no progress. Oftentimes I think, you know what? It's not as fast or as far as I would like. But I can't say I'm the same man I used to be. God really is changing me.

Our walk should show that we're growing closer to Jesus. Jesus speaks about our walk and about a walk that is worthy in Matthew chapter 10. So that is the last place we are going, but please turn to Matthew chapter 10. Verses 37 and 38. Matthew chapter 10, verses 37 and 38.

Jesus says this, hard words. Jesus says this, hard words, He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. He who does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it.

He who loses his life for my sake, we'll find it. In these two verses, Jesus claims to be worthy of your highest affections, and so he is. He just lays it right out there. I'm worthy to be loved above anything else. If you love your father or your mother more than me, you are not worthy of me.

I claim your highest affections for nothing. These are the claims of the Gospel. Sometimes because we come to church a lot, we lose sight of the radical claims of the Gospel. Jesus claims your highest affections are nothing and mine. The love for your father or mother cannot compete with that.

It's not allowed to compete with that. Love for your son or daughter or your spouse cannot compete with that. It is not allowed. It must be subservient. It must be under your affection for God, for Christ.

Jesus speaks about our affections here, but he doesn't stop with affections. He goes from talking about love for others that might be in competition and saying they must serve all those affections must serve your affection for Christ. He doesn't stop there. He then says if you want to follow me take up your cross. He's talking about your walk.

So the affections and the walk are inseparable. Your affections, what your heart loves, is inseparable from the pattern of your life, your walk. Our walk, the pattern of our lives, is the display of our affections. It's the billboard. Your life is a billboard.

It's just showing what you love. That's it. So you can say your affections or whatever you say they are. But the problem is that we have a billboard that displays what we really love. The pattern of our life over time tells the tale.

It should match what we say. It must match what we say. Our walk is the display of our affections. The last part of verse 12 describes believers as those who are called into his kingdom and glory. God is the king and he has a kingdom where the king's ways are to be honored.

Here's why. In this kingdom, the laws reflect the character of the king. That's what the laws are. They're sort of a description of what God is like. They reflect his character.

That's why his laws have to be honored in his kingdom because his laws just tell us what he's like. We can't be something that's contrary to what our King is like. It's a glorious kingdom, because the King is all glorious. So we're called to walk worthy of that. We're called to have a pattern of life that matches the glory and the character of the King.

So this is what we are left with. An all-glorious King who is worthy of our highest affections. An all-glorious King who is worthy of our highest affections. An all glorious king who is worthy of our highest affections. In other words, you would trade anything to love this king.

You would trade anything to love this king. When you come into this kingdom, it's not just like a foreigner transferring citizenship. It's a trader gaining citizenship, and being a citizen in good standing. Do you understand what it cost the king to call you into his kingdom? It's not like someone who was born in Canada just relocating.

Nobody really has to do anything for that to happen other than paperwork. For you to go out of the kingdom you were in and come into this kingdom. You have to be pardoned for your treason. Before Christ, we live a life of treason against this king. We rarely, if ever, have the clarity to think of it in those terms.

But those are Bible terms. To live for self And to really hate God, though we never described it in those terms, but really be so attached to self-government that the thought of being governed by God was repulsive. That is the natural man, the natural woman. And to take someone who has been that kind of a traitor against almighty God and then bring them into the kingdom cost Jesus his life. God had to send his son and crush him to call you into his kingdom.

This is a king who is all glorious, and we should walk worthy of him. I have three applications in closing. Three, and only three. Number one, having good spiritual parents. If you've embraced the Gospel, Somewhere along the line you've got spiritual parents.

I hope they're good ones. I hope they have some approximation of what we've been studying about the lives of Paul and Silvanus and Timothy. And if they're good spiritual parents, They've been imparting to you. They've been investing, not only that you would hear and embrace the gospel, but that you would grow after you embrace the gospel. And so they've been pushing.

They've been investing. The question is, are you pulling? As good spiritual parents, as ones who are more mature than us, and were helping to pull us up into a greater level of maturity, they did have obligations to invest. It's sort of pushing lots of good things towards us, and hoping that we'd apprehend them. But does it have to be all that?

Can we not get more by pulling more from them? And I'm arguing, yes. I'm arguing that you identify your good spiritual parents, the ones who have invested, are willing to invest, and you pull. Why? So you can go further faster in growing in Christ-likeness, in growing in your love of God.

The truth is, is that your good spiritual parents will almost never say no. They'll never say no. They know it's hard to grow. They know you need investment. If you ask for more investment or specific areas of investment, they'll almost never say no.

When was the last time you pulled from a good spiritual parent? Number two, being a good spiritual parent. It's not too long into the Christian faith where you find that you're both. You've got good spiritual parents who are beyond you and they're still helping to pull you up into greater levels of maturity and Christlikeness. And, there are ones who are just new to the faith, and you are helping to pull them up and give them whatever God has given you.

So you are both a spiritual child and a spiritual parent all at once. It's not too many years into faith when you're both. Now I'm talking about being a good spiritual parent. And I'm hoping that in the room we have lots of overlap between natural parents and spiritual parents. Meaning that your natural children, fathers and mothers in the room, are also your spiritual children.

But I do want to say this for children in the room. Your natural parents should not be your only spiritual parents. Should not be. I have no desire to be the only spiritual parents to my children. I have no desire for that.

I want other people in this room to be spiritual parents to my children. That's important. That's a blessing. Are you doing these three things, spiritual parents? Are you prioritizing the welfare of your spiritual children?

Are you self-sacrificing for them? Is the authority structure flipped so that the top is sacrificing for the bottom? The more mature who have been given so much by God through time are self-sacrificing. For the less mature who are just getting started and need more investment, are you prioritizing their welfare? Number two, are you laying down a pattern that they should follow?

That's what we saw in the text today. So here's the question, if they follow your pattern is that good or bad? It can be a blessing to follow a good pattern. It can be a curse to follow a bad pattern. You have a pattern if your spiritual children follow your pattern, is that good or bad?

Finally, are you actively teaching in different ways? Actively teaching, That's what Paul and Silvanus and Timothy were. Remember Paul in Acts 20, publicly and from house to house. Where else is there? Nowhere.

I mean you're either in public or you're in your house, right? Actively teaching in different ways. More than one tool in the bag, I hope. Those are the three things associated, I think, in our text with being a good spiritual parent. Prioritizing their welfare, laying down a pattern, and actively teaching in different ways.

And then application number three, finally, recognizing the kindness of God in it all. I want to plot two dots, and I want to connect them. These are two passages of scripture. One is Acts chapter 16 and Acts chapter 16. It's late at night.

God gives a vision to Paul. It's a man from Macedonia who says, Come over to Macedonia and help us. It's all agreed. That's God. God did that.

God sent Paul a night vision in Acts chapter 16. A man from Macedonia says, come help us. That's why he's in Thessalonica. It wasn't Paul's idea at all. It was a night vision.

Now, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, the text we've been studying, we have spiritual parents, good ones, connect those dots. That's why they're there. To preach the Gospel, but not just to stop with the preaching of the Gospel, but to help these little spiritual babies grow. Keep feeding them the pure milk of the Word. Help them grow.

God did that. That's why they're there doing those things. That's why they're in Thessalonica preaching. That's why they're in Thessalonica making disciples, helping them to grow, because God sent a night vision. This is God's idea.

This is what God has done. The converts are converts because God did that. The converts are growing because God sent them mature men to be spiritual fathers to them. It also says they acted like spiritual mothers earlier in the chapter. We need both.

The same is true for you and me. Your spiritual fathers and mothers may not have had a night vision, but God did it. God sent them to preach the gospel to you. God sent them to help you grow. Recognize the kindness of God throughout, especially for those of us who have been in the faith for decades, you can look back and you just think, this person was here at just the right time for me.

God sent just what I needed through that person. You just see it over and over. If you've been in the faith for decades, just go back and think. You'll recognize the kindness of God. God did that, God did that, God did that, God did that.

He put just what I need, just where I needed it. Let's give thanks. God, thank you for this text. I do thank you for our spiritual fathers and mothers and the faith and what a blessing they've been. A conduit, a channel for the gospel, the good news of Jesus coming through them, but then they walked with us.

Thank you God for sending people to help us to grow. And I pray God that you would help us to grow. Help us to love Christ more and more. May our walk be more worthy of God next year than it is now. More worthy in a decade than it will be next year.

Help us to grow, O Lord, in Jesus' name, Amen.