August 31, 2007
WITH THE HELP OF OUR GOD
1 Thessalonians 2:1-12
We are standing together today on the threshold of another church and ministry year. Next week all of our Explorer classes will be starting up. The week after that, AWANA will get under way. Home Fellowships which have been in hiatus over the summer will be resuming. New ones will be forming. Alpha will get under way in late September or early October. There will be special events to plan and fellowship activities to organize. Worship teams will be practicing. There will be offerings to count, book-keeping to do, sound systems to manage and bulletins to fold and hand out. There will be children to care for in the crèche, and people needing prayer. I can go on and on.
In addition to our regular ministries, this year we will face special challenges as we work hard to complete Phase 1 of our building project and face the major challenge of the transition into the new facility with dozens of decisions and administrative details to sort out. And then we will turn our focus to Phase 2 of the building. There will be more giving appeals and more fund raising activities to plan.
All of these activities and ministries will require literally thousands of hours of work on the part of many, many volunteers. Some of you will be carrying on with ministries you’ve already been doing. Others of you will be stepping forward to take on new roles and ministries. Before we embark on this great challenge together, I want to consider a simple question.
What will it take for us to be effective? In our Scripture reading a few moments ago, we read from I Thessalonians 2:1-12. There was one phrase in there that really grabbed my attention. In verse 1, Paul writes, “our visit to you was not a failure.” It was not in vain, it was not futile. If we are going to expend this great amount of activity and effort over this next year, I for one want to know that we are not going to do it in vain, that our efforts will not be futile and wasted.
Earlier this week, I was playing a game of golf with Anwar. This time of year, with the excessive heat and humidity, the grass in the rough is very, very thick. Unfortunately I kept hitting my ball into the rough and having a terrible time getting out. On one occasion, the ball was lying in the rough, but it was fluffed up nicely on top of the thick grass. I took a big swing, but my club face went through the grass and completely under the ball. I missed it completely! The ball never moved, except to settle deeper into the grass. I had swung in vain. Now that doesn’t bother me too much when it happens on the golf course. But I don’t want that to happen in our ministries here at ECC during this coming year. I want to know that we will be fruitful and accomplish our purpose.
So what I’ve done is comb these verses, in which Paul describes his ministry in Thessalonica, looking for the marks of an effective ministry. If Paul’s ministry was not a failure, what can we learn from him so that we will be able to say at the end of this ministry year, “Our service for Christ this year was not a failure, it was not in vain.
1. Boldness in telling the Gospel.
Look at verse 2: 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. The King James Version reads, “we were bold”. The original word for dare or being bold literally means “to tell all” or “to say every word.”
This was especially remarkable in that Paul had come to Thessalonica from Philippi where he’d been beaten and imprisoned. I would have been ready for a break. I would have been looking for a less confrontive strategy. But not Paul. The first Sabbath day, he was in the synagogue proclaiming the Gospel and telling it all; saying every word.
This is a key ingredient in Christian service – whatever specific ministry we may be in – look for opportunities to make the Gospel known. I especially think of you Explorer class teachers, AWANA leaders, children’s church workers. Make the Gospel, the plan of salvation clear and give your class a regular opportunity to respond to the Gospel.
I love it when one of the teachers tells me: “I shared the plan of salvation with my class today, and when I gave them the chance to pray to receive Christ, several in the class responded!” That’s what it’s all about.
I know it’s easy to be skeptical about how much a child understands, and whether they can really know what they’re doing. Well, I stand before you as one who traces my own conversion back to age 5 at my mother’s knee. I’ll tell you something else. At my mother’s memorial service last March, each one of us 5 sons shared memories of Mom, and every one of us remembered Mom leading us to Christ in early childhood. All five of us are in Christian ministry today. Don’t sell the Holy Spirit short. I think our tendency is underestimate what children are capable of understanding. It was a Sunday School teacher who led the evangelist D.L. Moody to the Lord as a boy. What if that teacher hadn’t been faithful to his task of telling the Gospel boldly?
Of course we don’t want to limit our evangelism to child evangelism. Both in the church and outside the church, in our community and in our workplaces, let us look for opportunities to make the Gospel known.
2. Pure motivation.
One of the clear messages of Scripture is that God not only cares what we do, but he cares why we do it. We can do lots of good things, but if we do them for the wrong reasons, we will find that we have done them in vain.
(Read v. 3-6)
These verses describe the basic distinction between pure motivation and impure motivation.
a. Impure motivation tries to please men.
Did you notice those phrases in the passage I just read? Not trying to please men… not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. To do things for the praise of men is the wrong motivation. If that is why we are serving, then we will serve in vain! If that is impure motivation, what is pure motivation?
b. Pure motivation tries to please God.
It’s pretty clear in verse 4: approved by God…not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. This tells us that trying to please God is harder, because he knows our hearts.
So as we approach any task of service for the Lord, we need to examine our motives. Why am I taking on this task? Only one motivation will really stand the test – the desire to please God. And at the end of the day, his approval is the only true measure of success. Only one question really matters. Was God pleased?
3. A combination of a mother’s gentleness and a father’s guidance
What do I mean by a mother’s gentleness and a father’s guidance? Let us allow the text itself to spell this out.
First of all from verse 7: we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.
The original text here paints a rather intricate picture. The word “mother” here is actually the Greek word for a nurse or a nanny. In fact the word was frequently used to describe a wet-nurse. A woman – oftentimes a slave – who nursed the baby of her owners at her own breast.
But the picture becomes even more specific. This is a nanny with her own child. As conscientious and caring as this nurse might be when she is caring for her owner’s child, there is still an added degree of caring and nurture when she gathers her own child into her arms. It is a beautiful picture of cherishing and nurturing those to whom we minister.
But this mother’s gentle nurture is to be combined with a father’s guidance.
(Read v. 11-12)
In many cultures, including the Greek culture in which Paul was ministering, there is seen to be a distinction between a mother’s gentle, nurturing, unconditional love and a father’s type of love. When we speak of a mother’s love, we have the expression: “He had a face only a mother could love.” But in its extremes, this kind of unconditional love can become sentimental and even permissive. The father’s love described in v. 11-12, while it is also gentle, is also firm and purposeful. There is a direction in mind – and that direction is spiritual growth; to see believers living lives worthy of God. There is a direction in mind, and then there is the effort to provide the guidance. Each of you, urging, exhorting, encouraging.
It is interesting that Paul applies both pictures to himself. I was as gentle as a mother and as purposeful as a loving father. Both ingredients must be blended in an effective ministry.
We need to be gentle – but let’s keep the goal in mind: To produce believers, children, youth and adult alike, who are living lives worthy of their identity as members of God’s family.
4. A loving, life-sharing spirit.
We find this in verse 8: We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
It’s hard to know how to expand on that verse or to overemphasize how important this ingredient is. It’s easy to become professional in our approach to ministry – doing jobs that are technically proficient. We can begin dispensing Christian teaching, even the Gospel itself, like a product. But that doesn’t work. People sense that attitude immediately. Paul says – we not only shared with you the Gospel. We shared our very lives. Are we willing to do the same?
5. Hard work.
This is in verse 9: Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.
There is nothing very romantic here: toil, hardship, work. The bottom line, friends, is that Christian work is work. And it is often hard work.
When I was a boy, I once told my parents that I wanted to be a preacher when I grew up. They were pleased, and asked me why I’d decided that. I answered; “Because preachers only have to work one day a week!” Well, I’ve since found out otherwise. Serving the Lord is hard work.
I must admit I often battle with a rather contradictory attitude in recruiting people for a job in the church. My tendency is to try to emphasize that the job I’m asking them to do is not that difficult, it won’t take that much time, it won’t inconvenience them unduly. But then I look at the Bible, and I realize I’m doing it all wrong. What I need to be saying is: The job I’m asking you to do is tough! It is going to take hard work. But it is an important job, and the rewards will be worth all your effort. Explorer teachers, AWANA workers, Children’s church leaders, nursery workers, home fellowship leaders, worship leaders…the jobs you’ve been asked to do are not easy jobs. They can be very difficult. There will be nights when you won’t feel like preparing your lesson. There will be days in the classroom when the kids won’t pay attention. It will all seem like just too much! I am not here to tell you it will be easy. I am here to tell you that it will be tough, but it’s worth it.
6. A consistent life.
Look at verse 10: You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.
The clear message of Scripture is that you can’t be effective if you teach one thing and live another. Our lives must illustrate the truths we are teaching. If they don’t, our labor will be in vain. People are looking at our lives.
Now, I’m not saying you have to be perfect to be a Christian worker or an Explorer class teacher or a home fellowship leader, or even a preacher, or this preacher for one would have no right to stand in the pulpit. But we do need to be growing Christians whose lives are being transformed by the power of God. And we need to be honest about our failures, and seek forgiveness when we sin against others. We must be able to say to our students and those we work with: “Come along. Follow me as I follow Christ. I haven’t arrived yet, but I’m on the way and I’m headed in the right direction. Let’s make that journey together.” That kind of authentic life-style is absolutely essential if we are not to serve in vain.
Well, that’s what I found in this paragraph: the marks of Paul’s relatively short ministry in Thessalonica which led him to be able to say, “Our visit to you was not a failure.” Boldness in telling the Gospel, pure motivation, a combination of a mother’s gentleness and a father’s guidance, a loving, life-sharing spirit, hard work and a consistent life.
But as I looked at that list, it seemed to me that there was something missing. Then it struck me. The missing ingredient was prayer. And of course, as soon as I looked for it, I could see that Paul’s entire ministry to the Thessalonians and his whole relationship with them was clothed in prayer. It is, in fact, found implicitly in the text itself. Look at verse 2, where Paul talks about the initial ministry among them: “with the help of our God.” The question is, how do we enlist the help of God in our ministries? We do it through prayer: by remaining in constant contact and in constant reliance on God by means of prayer.
While it is found implicitly in this paragraph in that little phrase, prayer is mentioned very explicitly elsewhere in this epistle. Look at I Thessalonians 1:2-3: We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember (you) before our God and Father… So Paul not only prayed while he was ministering. He continued to pray for the Thessalonians after he left. The emphasis on prayer in Paul’s life and ministry is found most clearly in one of his final exhortations to the Thessalonians in I Thessalonians 5:17: Pray continually.
So, to the six ingredients we have already looked at, I would add the Plus One: Pray continually. In a very real sense, it is this one that will make the other six possible, as well as effective. So as we embark on another year of ministry, let us be prepared to bathe our ministries and one another in constant prayer. Then with these six ingredients, plus one, I am absolutely confident that when the year is over, we will be able to look back and say, “Our labor was not in vain.”