The important lesson Christians can learn from nursing mothers – 1 Thessalonians 2:1—3:5, Part 2

A ministry friend of mine once asked me how long I had been pastor at Faith Church.  At the time, I had been pastor about ten years.  He shook his head and said that he couldn’t do it.  His ministry focused on speaking from place to place to place, sometimes returning to the same place, but just for one sermon per year, or maybe for a week of teaching.  He did not share his life with the people he ministered among.  He never stayed in a place long enough to do that.  Yes, he could connect on social media, email or even the telephone.  But it is next to impossible to share life without being in person with people for the long haul.  As we’ll see below, the Apostle Paul has a very different approach than my friend.

This week we are studying the apostle Paul’s relational approach to ministry in 1 Thessalonians 2:1–3:5 and in the previous post I noted that Paul uses three figures of speech, similes to be precise, to describe his relational approach. In the previous post, he said that he was like a child. In verses 7 and 8, he mentions the second simile, and it is a shocking image for a man to use. 

Paul writes, “Like a mother nurses her baby with life-giving nourishment, so I shared the good news with you, and I cared for you.  In fact, I love you so much, I shared my life with you.” [my paraphrase]

When a mother nurses her baby, she is quite literally sharing her physical life with her baby. Similarly, Paul gave of his life for the nourishment of the Thessalonian Christians. Let’s consider how Paul is like a mother nursing her baby.

If you survey all his missionary journeys and letters, Paul’s method of ministry is relational. He is not a street corner preacher that has little if any relationship with people.  When he visits a place, he stays there.  Sometimes for more than a year.  Thessalonica, at three weeks, was one of his shorter stays, and that’s why he was so concerned about how they were doing, as we read about in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. Paul deeply wished he could have stayed longer, and that he could visit them.  That’s why he sent Timothy to visit them.  That’s why he wrote two letters to them.

Unlike my itinerant friend whom I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Paul shares life by being in person with people for long periods, and then writing them, visiting them again, sending friends to check on them. Sharing life, in other words, involves quality time and quantity of time.

Next, while it doesn’t involve breast milk, Paul is thinking about practical actions when he talks about sharing life.  In Luke 3:11, John the Baptist uses the same word Paul used when John preached that “the one who has two shirts must share with another who doesn’t have any.”  What a practical way to share life.  We do not view our possessions as our own.  Instead we view our possessions as God’s, and when we have more than enough, we give to those in need. 

A small way to share, then, is to thin out your closets, pantries, and attics and donate the items that are sitting unused.  I have an acquaintance who years ago told me that he was experimenting with wearing the same clothing every day for six months.  I don’t know if he had two of the same shirts, two of the same pants, and wore one set, washed the other, and rotated them.  But every day for six months, he looked the same.  I love the simplicity of that.  So many of us, myself included have far more than we need. 

Or think about food.  How long could you live if you only ate food that is currently available in your house?  My guess is that most of us could live a long time on that food.  That would be an amazing experiment.  Try living on just the food currently in your home, and document the whole venture on social media.  I bet most middele and upper class Americans could make it longer than a month. You might start a viral trend.  The point?  We have so much.  Also consider, how much of what we buy goes out of date or spoils and we just throw it away. 

“Share life” means sacrificially sharing our possessions.  The earliest Christians were known for this.  Here’s how the earliest Christians are described in Acts 4:32–37.  What you are about to hear is might sound radical or naïve.  But is it? 

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”

It’s might sound radical, but it sure is Christian.  Remember, the early Christians described in Acts 4:32–37 learned from Jesus himself. So we have, I believe, a strong rationale to follow their pattern of sharing life.

Sharing life, though, is more than just sharing possessions. In the next post we’ll learn additional important ideas Paul has about how Christians share life, and his ideas are grounded in his third family simile.

For now, think about the uniquely Christian approach to relationships. It is sharing life.  When you think of the people in your life, share life with them.  Clearly, that applies to family.  But also friends, neighbors, coworkers.  How are you sharing life with them?

Photo by Ana Tablas on Unsplash