Good Preaching
In 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8, Paul continues the thoughts on preaching styles and being an effective minister of the gospel. He reminds them that preaching with power was not in vain. It made a difference for the people. He also notes that that power that lived in him through the baptism of the Holy Ghost gave him strength to continue the work God had given him, regardless of the obstacles he faced.
In Philippi, he suffered and was treated in ways that he described as shameful. But even after suffering and being thrown out of towns and imprisoned for spreading the gospel, when he came to Thessalonica he preached the gospel message boldly in spite of further controversy.
Many people are polite when the hear the gospel message. If they don't believe it, they'll nod their heads and then turn around and go about their business completely forgetting what they had heard. Remember Jesus' parable about the sower (Luke 8:4-18). But there are also many, particularly in places where the majority are a different religion, where hearing the gospel message today will lead to persecution. There is still hard soil and weeds that the gospel message must overcome today.
The key thing is that like Paul, when faced with hard soil or weeds that we don't give up preaching the gospel. Regardless of what the outcome of our last attempt to spread the gospel was, the next opportunity we are given we need to approach it with the expectation that all will gladly receive like seed planted in good soil and completely forget about all the previous times when the seed was left to wither or was plucked away.
That's a challenge for any believer to do, even one full of the Holy Spirit. But the indwelling of the Holy Spirit will definitely make many more people like Paul or Peter (after Acts 2 at least) and fewer people who give up after a few rebukes and failures. The key in verse 2 is that Paul was bold in our God to preach. Words prompted by the Holy Spirit are much more effective than our own words.
God entrusted Paul and his companions to spread the gospel to the Gentiles around the known world. Customarily Paul preached first to the Jews of the city he entered, and then to the Gentiles. He was frequently rejected by the Jews, and in many cases they rose up to try to disrupt or drive out his ministry, and to kill him if possible. For the Gentiles, he was preaching a message that went against every part of their own religions they held dear. Most worshiped many gods.
Yet Paul didn't change his message to please the people to whom he was ministering. Church leaders today need to heed Paul's standard. God has provided a single volume of books as our standard for life. While it is true that the Holy Spirit gives words of knowledge, wisdom, and prophecy to extend the precepts of the Bible to our generation, and that even in Paul's day Christ had supplanted the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, all new words we hear from any source need to line up with what the Bible says.
If there seems to be inconsistency, pray about it and heed what the Spirit says to multiple sources. Translation errors do exist in some Bible translations. In some cases, the original text might have been missing a fragment where a Hebrew symbol that wasn't complete got translated one way in one book and differently in another. So the Bible we read may not be perfect, even though the original scriptures were inspired by God and the original writers did their best to express the thoughts they received.
But over the many centuries of authors and transcribing the scripture in copy after copy, the general themes and content of the Bible have remained very consistent. The words we hear today must also match that. Galatians 1:8 warns that even if an angel from heaven were to come and preach something different from what the apostles were preaching, they should be considered accursed. A whole denomination rose up with a great many errors about Christ in the early 1800s supposedly due to revelations of an angel. Remember that around one third of the angels fell in Satan's rebellion.
God kept the message of Paul true by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Too many churches today have preached messages pleasing to the ears of men so that people will attend. We don't have nearly as many messages of fire and brimstone as we did a century ago. Whole denominations are splitting apart on sin issues. God hasn't changed His standards of right and wrong, and He isn't going to. And He's the ultimate judge. It will be His white throne at the end. It won't be a Baptist or Methodist, or Presbyterian or Episcopal general conference that judges what sin is, just to name some that have had some major upheavals in their time over what pleases man versus what pleases God.
Paul also points out that he wasn't seeking monetary rewards or flattery from those he preached to. Many preachers today temper their words because they don't want people to leave or just stop giving. Preach the truth, and the truth boldly, and let God take care of keeping the doors of the church open. If people are offended, so be it. If you have preached what God laid on your heart, you can stand blameless before God one day. Oftentimes, your words will cause offense. Don't be afraid. The Bible warns that will happen (Matthew 10:14,13:57, 24:10, 26:31; Mark 8:38; John 8:47,12:48; Romans 16:18; Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 2:4; James 3:2).
Finally, Paul says that he preached not only the gospel, but he gave of his own soul out of love for the hearers and readers. If we love those we are speaking with or writing for, we will do our best to speak and write the truth, regardless of whether or not it is popular. The truth frequently isn't popular. Trying to direct people to stop living lives displeasing to God isn't popular. But entrance to heaven isn't a popularity contest. Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6). If we love those we are teaching, it will come across. Let the Holy Spirit guide in the words you use to get the same message across to each listener.
Effects of Good Preaching
In 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13, Paul goes on to speak of the good effects of ministry. Paul worked hard everywhere he went so that he wouldn't be a burden his listeners. Many missionaries and evangelists are supported by congregations from home, and this is good. It is also good that pastors are supported. If your pastor doesn't have to work a job outside the church, then he will have more time to work on God's behalf in the church.
But if you are a pastor who is supported by your flock, see that you labor for God's behalf. There are a few pastors in many denominations who have let the good life become their focus and the work of God become secondary or less. One day you will stand before God and perhaps justify every expenditure you made for yourselves, or every hour you didn't put into the work of God for which you were paid.
That's true for all of us as well. A fireman many not be busy at all times if there is no fire to put out or equipment to maintain. So it is with many professions. But I would suggest that there is always something you can be doing for God's work as a pastor. If your days aren't full enough, start a Saturday or Sunday night service. Preach a Wednesday not sermon. Don't just teach the same classes over and over to fill your time.
Seek out new truth and new ways to express it. If you have a website, push your thoughts daily or hourly to it. Who knows who will read it and be blessed. The fields are white unto harvest had never been more true than today.
Don't be afraid of taking a job to support the work of God. Many today are struggling to make ends meet. Although I firmly believe in tithing and giving gifts to God's work at the local level and supporting missions outside the local level, it is a reality that the failures of the church have lessened people's desire to give as they should. If your church is struggling to meet basic bills, get a job.
Be a good example to those you speak with and counsel. Be holy and just yourselves. Live blameless lives. If you make a mistake, own up to it. People realize you are human, just like them, and will forgive failures. They don't forgive deception.
Preach the truth and exhort and comfort as a father would a child. You have to train up children in good ways to live and act toward others. You have to teach them many things along with the school system and church. But you do it in love, and if you are a good parent, the children will know at least as adults that everything you did, all your rules and regulations, all the limits you put on their lives, all the things you permitted, were all done with your best perception of their long term growth and success in mind.
Maybe you were wrong about a few things, maybe they were wrong about a few things, but the overall truth should be that you loved them and were looking out for their best interests. That's all any Christian can do for anyone. Listen to the Holy Spirit, teach the truth the best you know it, and love the listeners or readers. Let God take care of the rest.
We are all called to walk the same - worthy of God and to be a future resident of heaven with all the rest of the saints, saved by God's grace and Jesus' sacrifice. Paul was grateful that all he had preached was received and the readers had made a sincere effort to change their lives to according to God's will for each.
We need to receive teaching and preaching in the same way. We should always seek the presence of the Holy Spirit and particularly the gift of discerning of spirits to gauge the truth about anything we read or hear. God is the ultimate judge, and even today, there is much that is said that truly comes just as a "word of man" that has nothing at all to do with God. As Christians, whether pastor, teacher, or lay person, we need to try to the best of our ability to speak or write His truth as well.
Persecution by Men
Not everything went well for the early church. It hasn't changed much today. In 1 Thessalonians 2:14-17, Paul talks about some of the issues it faced. In Judaea and really wherever there were large groups of Jewish people, there were many who held fast to their Jewish faith and persecuted the church.
Paul himself (before his name change from Saul) was a fervent persecutor of the church. He was on the road to Damascus when Christ accosted him and changed his entire life around (Acts 9:1-19). So Paul definitely knew what he was talking about when it came to persecution. The Gentiles he converted also were persecuted by those who held fast to their poly-theistic religions.
The persecution still goes on today. Paul mentions that Christ and the prophets were killed by the Jewish people. The early church suffered from this persecution as well. And their actions were not pleasing to God. And then, when they had closed their ears to the preaching of the gospel to them and driven them out of the synagogues, they went on to forbid them to try to convert the Gentiles, and ran them out of town.
The world hasn't changed much. There is much persecution today. Thousands are killed on a yearly basis. Open Doors estimates that there are 50 countries where there is extensive persecution of Christians. These are varied, but with concentrations of Islamic and Hindu countries standing right beside some which are purely atheistic.
1 in 7 are persecuted worldwide. 1 in 5 are persecuted in Africa. 2 in 5 are persecuted in Asia. That works out to about 380 million Christians worldwide that are persecuted or discriminated against simply for being Christian. Last year over 4,000 gave their lives, over 7,500 churches and Christian properties were attacked, and over 4,500 Christians were imprisoned. Just because of faith.
Paul's response to his persecution was to be even more fervent in trying to spread the Gospel message when he had the opportunity. We need to do likewise. Make your own choice to hear and receive the gospel message today. You may not have a tomorrow to do so. Something may happen to you (death, coma, stroke) that will prevent you from accepting Christ as Savior and becoming heaven bound. Persecution may prevent the Gospel message from reaching you again. Or Jesus may return in the air for His church, leaving you behind to face God's tribulation period.
Don't put off until tomorrow what you need to do today.
Hindrances of the Enemy
Finally, in 1 Thessalonians 2:18-20, Paul acknowledges that we don't just struggle against our common man to preach the Gospel. Satan is also doing everything he can to hinder the spread of the Gospel message to the world. There are all the old temptations and sins, of course, but as time has progressed and the world has gotten more connected, there are just many more distractions than their used to be.
Of course he also has ways to hinder the work of God that are tried and true. He can expel preachers from countries or deny them visas. He can use firewalls at the country level to block out Christian sites. Or he can block the internet completely. One thing is certain, as technology enables the spreading of God's word, so to does Satan find ways to not only block the good but to spread the bad.
Like Paul, when we get to heaven I suspect that our only joy will be those who are in heaven with us and because of us. Just as it is a joy to every Christian when they win someone to Christ, (whether family, work, school, friend, neighbor, or stranger) it is also a command to each of us. We are called to spread His word (Mark 16:15-28).
Find your own way to speak His truth. Give your testimony about what God has done in your life. Tell how He has changed you. Social media platforms come and go, and I must admit I'm not a social media fan, but those of you who are have an easy media to witness to any who will hear.
There are many things that we can take joy in and glory in in this world. Who doesn't take joy in your newborn child, for example. But we need to realize that in eternity, what we have done for God will be mostly all that remains. Everything that people esteem on earth will stay on earth when we die and either pass to our heirs or be disposed of completely. Concentrate on what lasts.