1 Thessalonians - Essentials of Effective Ministry

Well, we need the toughness of the athlete and the trustworthiness of the steward. May God help us not to be quitters and may God help us not to be deceivers, to be open and above board and honest as we share the wonderful message of Jesus Christ.

In chapter 1 of 1 Thessalonians, Paul tells us what his evangelistic ministry was like. We have Paul the evangelist, Paul the missionary. But in chapters 2 and 3, we find Paul the pastor. You know, we are so accustomed to calling Paul a missionary that we forget he was also a missionary pastor. Paul knew it was not enough to bring the babies into the Kingdom, into the family. You have to raise those spiritual children to help them grow in the Lord. So in chapter 2, Paul tells us how he pastored these people, how he encouraged them. In chapter 2:1, Paul writes, "For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain."

It's interesting to notice throughout this letter how often Paul reminds them of what they already knew. 1 Thessalonians 1:5, "As you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake." And then 1 Thessalonians 2:1 that we just read. And he also repeats it in 1 Thessalonians 2:2. Even after we'd suffered before, "as you know, we were bold in our God." 1 Thessalonians 2:5, "God is witness." Not only were they watching, but God was watching. And right in the middle of 1 Thessalonians 2:5, "We did not use flattering words, as you know." And he says it again down in 1 Thessalonians 2:11, "As you know."

Why was he doing this? Because after Paul left town, people started lying about him. Paul had to leave town. I think they probably got a peace bond against him and said if you come back into town, you're in trouble. Now, Timothy was able to go back, and Timothy was able to minister to the people and help them, but Paul had to leave. And so people were saying to these Christians, "Oh, well, that Paul, what kind of a fellow was he? He came in town, he got you into trouble, he took what money he could take, and away he went."

Now, Paul is refuting that. In chapter 2, he tells them, "Look, remember what we did while we were there." Our coming to you was not in vain. That word in vain means fruitless, empty, no effect, failure. If I had been in Philippi with Paul, they had arrested me, taken away my rights, beaten me, and put me in the inner prison. I don't know if I would have gone to Thessalonica, but Paul did. Paul said, "You know that when we came to you, our coming was not in vain. It was not an empty thing." Now, in chapter 2, Paul gives to us the essentials for effective ministry. So many sermons are in vain, it seems. So many services are empty and void of power. So many ministries are simply not making it to the glory of God. Why?

Well, we lack some of these essentials. You'll notice in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-2, Paul compares himself to an athlete. And in 1 Thessalonians 2:2, he says, "But even after we had suffered before, and were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict." Now, the word conflict there gives us our word agony. There's a whole family of words in the Greek language that are translated in our New Testament as conflict, uh, trial, and so forth. Here he's talking about the agony. The word means the agony, the stress, the determination of the athlete as he is running the race. He's saying in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-2, "When we came, we won you to Christ. Now, as good athletes, we have the kind of toughness that we need to keep going even though the going is tough." Here's the first essential for an effective ministry. We need the toughness of an athlete.

I'm gonna come back to that, but let me go on to the second essential, 1 Thessalonians 2:3-6. We need the trustworthiness of a steward. Notice 1 Thessalonians 2:4, "But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel." Paul said, "I am not only an athlete who is running a race and I've got the toughness to stick it out. I am also a steward who has been entrusted with the gospel." And I want to be faithful. We need the toughness of the athlete, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-2. We need the trustworthiness of the steward, 1 Thessalonians 2:3-6. Don't stop there though. We need the tenderness of the parent. It's rather interesting in 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8, he compares himself to a nursing mother. "But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children." Imagine Paul, the great Apostle Paul, comparing himself to a nursing mother. Then in 1 Thessalonians 2:9-12, he compares himself to a father, an encouraging father, 1 Thessalonians 2:11. "As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children." We need the tenderness of the parent.

Now, this is a balanced ministry. The athlete, toughness. The steward, trustworthiness. The father and mother, tenderness. This is what ministry is all about. You see, Paul was the kind of a person who cared for people. Paul had time for people. Oh, that's difficult. I have pastored three churches and I tell you, the larger a church becomes, the more difficult it is to minister to everybody individually. You just can't do it. I don't know how some of these men with these huge churches minister to people by the acre, but somehow they get it done, I trust.

Let us look at 1 Thessalonians 2:2 now. We need the toughness of the athlete. "But even after we had suffered before," that's physical suffering, "and were spitefully treated at Philippi," that's emotional suffering. They were insulted. They were humiliated. "As you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict," in much agony. You see, a man or a woman running on the Olympic team cannot quit. I would have quit perhaps. I would have said, "Well, if they're going to insult me and humiliate me and beat me and put me in prison and I haven't done a thing wrong, if this is what ministry's all about, I'm through."

My friend, remember this, it takes toughness to serve the Lord. The President Harry Truman used to say, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." And there's a lot of truth to that. In 1 Timothy 4, Paul writes to young Timothy and tells him how to be a tough minister, how to keep on going when the going is tough. 1 Timothy 4:7. "But reject profane and old wives' fables." Be careful what you eat, intellectually and spiritually. "And exercise yourself rather to godliness, for bodily exercise profits a little. But godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." He says, "Timothy, if you want to be a tough athlete, you exercise." We need spiritual disciplines today. Without spiritual discipline, I fear we're not going to get much done. If we would put into our ministerial work the same kind of discipline and devotion and determination that athletes put into their work, we would all have better churches, and we'd all be better pastors. We need the toughness of the athlete. Secondly, we need the trustworthiness of the steward.

In 1 Thessalonians 2:3-6, he talks about his stewardship. First, he says, "Our exhortation, our message, did not come from deceit." Now there's the message. "Or uncleanness," there's the motive. "Nor was it in guile." There is the method. A steward must be faithful in his motives, his message, and his methods. I've heard people say, "I don't care what methods you use as long as you get people saved." Paul didn't believe that. There are some methods that are not worthy of the gospel. "Our exhortation did not come from deceit," that means error. We must have the right message. He was entrusted with the word of God. God had entrusted the word to Paul. Paul took that word to Thessalonica. The Thessalonian people shared that word with others. "For from you the word of the Lord has sounded out in Macedonia and in Achaia."

Well, we need the trustworthiness of the steward in our message. We must guard the gospel and preach the gospel and defend the gospel and practice the gospel. But don't stop there. Someone says, "Well, my message is right." Well, what about your motive? "Our exhortation did not come from deceit or uncleanness." The word uncleanness there means motives.

Now there are many wrong motives. Look at 1 Thessalonians 2:4. "But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men." There's a wrong motive, to preach the gospel to get a crowd, to have people follow you. Oh, the celebrities today in the religious realm. It breaks your heart to see these people who are building fan clubs in the name of Jesus Christ, pleasing men. "But we please God who tests our hearts." "Neither at any time did we use flattering words," you see. The right motive is to please God, to glorify God. In 1 Thessalonians 2:5, he said we didn't go after money. "A cloak for covetousness." 1 Thessalonians 2:6, "We didn't go after praise, nor did we seek glory from men."

What is the motive for your ministry? If your motive is to please God, then you can be faithful to Him. Oh, we need the trustworthiness of the steward in our message, and in our motives, and in our methods. "Nor was it in guile," he says in 1 Thessalonians 2:3. That word guile means the baiting of a hook, cunning devices, using methods of psychological salesmanship to try to win people. 1 Thessalonians 2:5 tells us flattery will do that. Tell people how good they are. Lying to them, flattery. In our message and in our motive and in our methods, we must be faithful to the Lord. Why? Because God is witness. 1 Thessalonians 2:5, "God is witness."

God sees our hearts. He knows the motives. God hears our message. He knows whether or not we're preaching the truth. God watches our methods. And if someone says, "Well, the end justifies the means," then you've parted with the Apostle Paul. There are some methods of sharing the gospel that cheapen the gospel. There are some methods of presenting the gospel that are not worthy of the gospel. In 1 Thessalonians 2:12, he says that you would have a walk worthy of God. The important thing about a steward is that the steward is found faithful. That's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:2, that the steward must be found faithful, not popular, not successful necessarily in his own eyes or in the eyes of men. "Moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful." Well, we need the toughness of the athlete and the trustworthiness of the steward. May God help us not to be quitters and may God help us not to be deceivers, to be open and above board and honest as we share the wonderful message of Jesus Christ.

The most expensive message in the world is the gospel. It cost God His Son. It cost Jesus Christ His life. Some messages are rather inexpensive, but the message of the gospel is the most expensive message in the world, the greatest treasure. It's the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, this gospel has been committed not to angels, but to us, to men, to women, boys, and girls. Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:11, "This glorious gospel of the blessed God was committed to his trust." Now, what did he do with it? Well, he committed it to Timothy. 1 Timothy 1:18, "This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you."

Now, he gives it to Timothy. Now, what is Timothy supposed to do with it? Well, he's supposed to commit it to others. 2 Timothy 2:2, "And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." We are stewards of the gospel. And because we are stewards of the gospel, our job is to be approved of God. 1 Thessalonians 2:4, "As we have been approved of God, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts." Now, it's an easy thing to try to please people, but it doesn't work out in the end. We'll get mail at the broadcast from people who read our books or listen to the broadcast ministry and they disagree with us. Well, we're not here to please men. We want people to support the ministry, but our ministry is not for sale, nor is our conscience for sale. We cannot be bribed. God wants us to please Him, and we don't want to be arrogant or independent, that's the wrong attitude. But submissively yielded to God, we want to be faithful to Him.

You see, there's a danger in 1 Thessalonians 2:5 of flattery, covetousness. 1 Thessalonians 2:6, seeking glory, trying to get praise from men. Oh, how easy it is to use these opportunities to build up yourself instead of building up the church of Jesus Christ. At Back to the Bible, we don't have any celebrities. We're servants, we're here to serve. Paul is very careful to tell us he was faithful as a steward of the gospel. Now, don't stop there though. Stewardship involves something else. It involves the the ministry of our spiritual gifts. In 1 Peter, we are told about this. 1 Peter 4:10, "As each one has received a gift," that means a spiritual gift. 1 Peter 4:10 is talking about spiritual gifts. "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." The manifold grace of God exhibited in spiritual gifts. Oh, what a wonderful Lord we have. He does not give us a job to do without first giving us the equipment to do the work. That encourages me, to know that when God calls, he equips. When he equips, he enables. When he enables, he encourages. When God called Paul, he equipped him for his ministry.

Now, Peter writes to believers and says, "Everything's going to come to an end, the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, use your spiritual gift as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." We have in our churches today multitudes of people who have put their gifts on the shelf and they're not serving the Lord, and that is sin. Just as we must be good stewards of the gospel, we must be good stewards of our spiritual gifts. And whatever gifts God has given to you, use them to the glory of God. We should also be good stewards of the material resources God has given to us.

In that parable of the steward in Luke 16, the Lord Jesus says in Luke 16:10, "It's an amazing verse. He who is faithful in what is least," that's money, "is faithful also in much," that's the gospel, the the things of the Lord, the truths of the Bible. "And he who is unjust in what is least," that's money, "is unjust also in much," that's the ministry of the word of God. "And if you have not been faithful," says Luke 16:12, "in what is another man's," that's money, "who will give you what is your own," that's the spiritual riches from the Lord. Luke 16:13, "No servant can serve two masters." We have been commissioned to use our material possessions to the glory of God. There's a direct relationship between the material wealth and how we use it, and spiritual truth and how we minister it. I didn't say that, Jesus did.

We should also be good stewards of our opportunities. In Ephesians 5:15-16, these verses convict me. "See then that you walk circumspectly," that means carefully, looking around. "Not as fools, but as wise. Don't walk through this wicked, dangerous world with your eyes closed. Redeeming the time, buying up the opportunity because the days are evil." Now, because the days are evil, we are tempted to say, "Well, why do anything? They're going to get worse and worse, the old corpse is rotting." No, no. Paul says as you walk through this dirty, dangerous, defiled world, use every opportunity you have to serve the Lord. Are you committing the gospel of Jesus Christ to others? Well, stewardship is important, isn't it? Not only stewardship of the gospel, but stewardship of our spiritual gifts.

How I thank God for a group of friends who took a young man to their heart, prayed for him and encouraged him to develop his spiritual gifts. Are you a good steward of the possessions God has given to you? That's important. One of these days we're going to be gone and we want to be able to use everything God has given to us for his glory. Are we good stewards of the opportunities that God has given to us? This matter of stewardship is so important. And it's important that we have the right motive. You'll notice in 1 Thessalonians 2:6, Paul said, "Nor did we seek glory from men." We didn't demand respect. We commanded respect. We didn't demand support. We didn't demand obedience. No. "Either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ." He said, "I wasn't there to get, I was there to give. My motive was to share what I had, to share my spiritual gifts, to share whatever material wealth I had, to buy up the opportunity, and to win people to the Lord Jesus Christ." That is what the Christian life is all about, being a good steward in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Well, let's pray together. Father, we realize as stewards we must be found faithful. Oh, I pray you'll help us to be able to give a good account when we stand at the judgment seat of Christ. Help us to be faithful even today in sharing the gospel with others, in buying up every opportunity, using our spiritual gifts. I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.