I was thinking this week of the story of the fox and the crow which is commonly attributed as one of Aesop’s fables. In it, a crow finds a piece of cheese and flies off to a branch of a tree in order to eat it. A fox however wants the cheese and begins to tell the crow how beautiful the crow looks. The fox then suggests that the crow’s voice must be as beautiful as their appearance. The crow, flattered by this praise, opens their beak to caw which causes the cheese to fall to the ground where it is devoured by the fox. The moral of the story seems to be that it is not in your interest to listen to those who would flatter you as they are only doing it in order to gain something from you.
We are beginning our look at Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians and Paul is explaining his mission to them. Having been harshly treated previously in Philippi, Paul shows that his coming to them is based on his love of God and his love of them. He is at pains to point out that he has not engaged in trickery or flattery with them. Nor has he sought to gain their praise or enhance his standing among them. He does not want them to think he is trying to gain some advantage over them which is why he has acted honestly and openly towards them. His point is that if you love your neighbour, you will not flatter them to gain something from them or act in an underhand way to keep them on your side. You will act honestly towards them and even tell them hard truths because you have their best interests at heart.
Love of God and love of neighbour is the very heart of our beliefs as Christians. Yet I worry that some churches are seeking to flatter their congregations to keep them happy. If we look at the rise of the prosperity gospel, we see a clear indication of this. To tell people their wealth is God’s blessing upon them because they are righteous does not fit in with the teachings of Jesus. To suggest that they can keep their wealth to themselves without ever seeking to help others does not match the life of Jesus. To tell those who are not wealthy that to become wealthy they must give more money to the church is a perversion of the gospel and masks the greed of those in the church. If we love God and one another, we will encourage Christians to live lives that imitate Jesus. We will encourage those with resources to use them to help those without resources. We will not flatter people to get something from them but act with the pure motives that come from a genuine love of God and love of neighbour.