Pain from the Past 1 Thessalonians 2:

1 Thessalonians 2:2 NIV We 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.  

   Many cite their past as their reason for not sharing the gospel.  They had a bad experience, or they suffered some kind of humiliation, or the sense of failure is simply to much for them to overcome.  As a result they decide to not share the gospel with those they love.  Paul speaks directly to this point in the text above.  

   Even if they couldn't see the bruises, the scars, the blood they would have received from that beating in Philippi, certainly this was so fresh on Paul and Silas' mind, they told the Thessalonians about it. Certainly, as the opposition arose in Thessalonica, Paul would have warned the people of Thessalonica and would have said, "Things like this may happen to you as well" pointing to his past suffering.

   But yet, it says, "He dared to preach the gospel in Thessalonica." He dared, after all of that in Philippi, he dared to walk down the road and show up at the next town because God had called him to go and tell somebody else. The two words…suffered and insulted… in our text are important. They're two different words in the Greek, and they mean two different things.

   The word suffered refers to physical abuse. It refers to a beating, a severe beating.  It refers to being pummeled, getting the snot beaten out of you.  The word insulted refers to public humiliation. It refers to being treated badly. It refers to being made a public spectacle. It refers to being humiliated in front of your peers, or being humiliated in front of other people, being treated like an animal, being degraded and brought down, being shamefully treated. Paul says, "We weren't just physically battered, but we were shamefully treated us as well. They humiliated us in public. They stripped us down naked when they beat us. They put us in stocks in the inner cell. We weren't just beaten, but we were insulted. We were humiliated in front of everybody while we were there."(See Acts 16:19-40)

   Despite the physical abuse, despite the public humiliation, despite the insults, despite all they endured in Philippi, they still decided to show up in Thessalonica and they still dare to tell them about the good news of Jesus, despite knowing the persecution could very easily happen again in that city.  Despite their past, they continued to tell people about the good news.

   I wonder how many times we don't share because of our past. We've tried it. We did it once. But we didn't have a good experience. They laughed at us. They told us it was a waste of time. They told us, "Aw, that's just for wimps. I don't need that." They told us they didn't care.

   Whatever your past is, it's not nearly as colorful or nearly as painful as the things these men suffered in their past, yet they still dare to go to tell them the gospel. The people who opposed Paul and the gospel he proclaimed didn't just laugh at them. They didn't point fingers and call them names. They didn't refuse to sit with them at the dinner table. No, they severely beat them as they were chained up like animals, naked in front of everybody, then put them in the inner cell, and chained them up once again like dogs, yet they dared to tell the people of Thessalonica the gospel.

  He points to the past, and he says, "It didn't stop us." And whatever your past maybe I pray it does not stop you from daring to tell someone about the Gospel as well.