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The apostle Paul has always been my ministry hero. He was a man who suffered more than any other person in the New Testament except our Lord himself. But it was out of that suffering that he became powerful because God's power is perfected in weakness. In I Thessalonians 2:1-6, Paul talks about himself and his ministry.
Notice in ch.2:1 he says, "You yourselves know." In the middle of v.2 he says, "As you know." In v.5 he says, "As you know." In v.9 he says, "For you recall." In v.10 he says, "You are witnesses." In v.11, "Just as you know." He repeats it again in 3:3-4; 4:2; 5:2. So he is sharing what they already know about him as a minister of God.
Leadership in a church is a very challenging responsibility? It is so difficult it is impossible to do it in one's own strength. Think about a minister's responsibilities: He is responsible to preach the gospel, to gather the converted into an assembly for the purpose of worship, to teach the congregation the word of God, to stand before the people and God as a kind of priest devoted to praying or them, to administer the ordinances, to oversee church governance, to administer biblical counsel, to encourage in times of difficulties like a physician who runs a hospital, to be a tender shepherd who cares that all needs are supplied and that there are helpers to distribute those resources, to defend the truth and to model the Christian life.
And then to do all that remembering that some day you will be called to give an account. Heb. 13:17I mean who is adequate for that type of job? Who is really qualified? On top of all that, if you are called you are called for a lifetime, you have to deal with all kinds of circumstances and with all kinds of people, and you have to overcome the weakness of your own flesh and then you are being scrutinized to see how successful you are and while you are doing all of that you are to be joyful. So where can you find a model for that type of ministry? What example does our Lord give us to pave a pathway for ministry? I believe Paul is the best one to turn to. The tone of I Thess. 2 is polemic in that he is answering some kind of critic. So Paul wants to set himself apart from the false teachers. He says you know me and you know my ministry and he reminds them of seven necessary components of an effective ministry. First, Paul expresses confidence in God's power v.2
He is confident in God's power and this gave him audacity. He was bold. He confronted sin, he preached judgment, and he called for repentance. Even in the midst of opposition he continued to confront people with the gospel. In the ministry there is always pressure to compromise to avoid conflict, to find a way to make the truth acceptable to everyone, to make the message popular, to sugarcoat what you say. But the mark of a great minister, the mark of a great leader is not how little it takes to start him but how much it takes to stop him. There was no stopping Paul because his confidence was in God and that gave him the necessary boldness to say what had to be said. Secondly, He was committed to the truth of God v.3 He is not only marked by audacity but also fidelity. He is saying what I preach to you is not a lie. The word for error is the word from which we get the word planet, something wandering around. What Paul preached was not some changing wandering truth but nailed down to the truth of God. In I Tim. 2:7 he told Timothy, "I tell you, I lie not". Paul was a faithful guardian of the treasure of the truth. He wasn't a huckster, he wasn't a con man. In I Cor. 4 he said it is required of a steward that a man be found faithful. Faithful, first of all, to the truth. False prophets, spiritual frauds, religious fakes were everywhere then and they are everywhere today. But Paul spoke the truth and it was evident because it performed a work in their lives 2:13. What marks a faithful ministry? A commitment to the truth and a commitment to the power of God. When you trust the power of God there is audacity in your ministry and when you are faithful to the truth there is fidelity in your ministry. The third component is a lack of impure motives v.3The word impure can refer to doctrinal purity but it is can also be used to speak of sexual cleanness. Many false religions featured sexual perversions in Paul's day. Many of the Greek cults made ritual prostitution a part of their worship. Temples were filled with prostitutes and you were to have a relationship with them to commune with the deities. False leaders would seek converts to have a sexual relationship with them. Orgies were common to commune with a deity in a drunken stupor. So one can only imagine that someone was saying Paul was just doing what other religious leaders were doing. Paul says i am no filthy dreamer, I am marked by purity. I am no deceiver and that is the word used for a fish trap. Paul preached the truth, he's bold in preaching the truth and he is pure. He has audacity, he has fidelity and he has integrity.
A fourth component of ministry is that he has authority v.4 He is telling his readers that he not some self-appointed leader. Today there are too many self-appointed ministers who answer to no one, they simply appoint themselves, elevate themselves, put themselves in position of power and say they are called by God. It was pretty clear that Paul was called by God on the Damascus road. In Acts he says I was called by God to preach. Paul says in v.6, I have a right to assert authority because it is not my authority but God's authority and it was based on God's word. It was that same kind of authority that the Jewish people saw in Jesus when at the end of the Sermon on the Mount they said, He speaks as someone with authority:. Paul had audacity, fidelity, integrity, purity, and authority. The fifth component for ministry is a compelling realization of God's omniscience v.4-5 He says, we have been approved by God, entrusted with the gospel, and so we speak. Not as pleasing men but God who examines our heart. This is the highest degree of accountability. He told Timothy in II Tim. 4 I don't do this ministry to please men, I wasn't commissioned by men, I wasn't called by men, and I wasn't gifted by men. In Gal. 1:10 he asks, "Am I now seeking the favor of men or of God. In v.5 of our text he says God is my witness, I never came with flattering speech, or a pretext for greed which by the way characterizes all false teachers. They are in it for the money. In I Chron. 28:9 It says the Lord searches all hearts. You see, it is not just what we do but why we do what we do. Paul says I didn't come with flattery. Prov. 29:5 says a man who flatters his neighbor is spreading a net for his steps. Psalm 12 says they speak falsehood to one another with flattering lips and with a double heart they speak. Prov. 26:28 says a flattering mouth works ruin. Flattery is based on the sin of pride. People love to hear good things about themselves. Paul did what he did for the Lord his God, and that marked him with accountability. Look at the end of v.5, not with a pretext for greed, to gain money, possessions, hiding ones real intent. A pretext is a cloak, a covering for the sake of appearances: you're in it for the money. Then in v.6 he says he was consumed with God's glory and that marked him with humility. He didn't want honor, he didn't want praise, and he didn't want cathedrals named after him. It is a present active participle. Don't want honors or awards or laurels, or strokes or accolades or applause or even prestige. The only thing he sought was God's glory not his own. So here was a man confident in God's power, committed to God's truth, accountable to God, devoted to a pure life, no interest in personal gain, and seeking no glory from men. The last component for ministry is compassion for God's people v.7 He had this deep heart for the people who belonged to Christ and had been put into his trust. He was compassionate towards God's children, gentle among them. The word means to be kind, mild, patience, tenderness or love. How gentle was he? As a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Why a nursing mother? Because nursing mothers have this fond affection. The word means to long for someone. The phrase 'found affection' is found on gravestones in the ancient world to describe parent's sad yearning for a dead child. This deep affection was demonstrated in that he was well pleased to impart not only the gospel to them but also his own life. In v.8 he says we loved you. What are the components of ministry? To be confident in God's power: that gives one the audacity or boldness to preach. To be committed to the truth of God: that's fidelity, you only preach the truth. To have pure motives: to have integrity in that there are no ulterior motives for what you do. To preach with authority because you are called by God not man therefore you are not seeking money or power or prestige. To realize God's omniscience: he knows my heart; I am not trying to please man but God. And to be compassionate to God's people like a nursing mother is to her own infant. Those are the components of a minister. That should be the characteristics of anyone serving in the church.