A Holy Charge (6)

 

 

“You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (1 Thess. 2:10 – 12).

 

“For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? For you are our glory and joy” (1 Thess. 2:19 – 20).

 

As we conclude our look at Paul’s servant leadership in Thessalonians Chapter 2, preparing to move back into the Holy Charge of Chapter 5, let’s remind ourselves that what we see modeled by Paul and his coworkers in Chapter 2 is the form of leadership Paul expected to see in the elders, deacons, and other servants of 5:12 – 13.

 

The goal of Biblical servanthood is that others “would talk in a manner worthy of God.” That others would live in intimacy with the Trinity. That others would serve others. In Paul and his coworkers, we see the tenderness and gentleness of a nursing mother (2:7) and the straightforward exhortation of a loving father (2:11).

 

The Thessalonian Christians were Paul’s “hope, joy, and crown.” Twice in verses 19 and 20 he speaks of them as his joy. Three times if we include the word “exultation.”

 

Paul terms the Thessalonians his “glory” in verse 20, “You are our glory and joy.”

 

Can we see our dear Lord Jesus in Paul?

 

“Who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2b).

 

We are the joy set before Jesus, the Thessalonians were the joy set before Paul, Silas, and Timothy. The flock of God in Thessalonica was to be the joy set before the elders, deacons, and other ministry servants in the church in that city.

 

Servants of the Gospel are not called to glory and rejoice over buildings and money and numbers of people and their standing in the world and the greater church, in their music ministry or preaching ministry. Servants of Christ are to glory and rejoice in Jesus Christ (“He that glories, let him glory in the Lord” 1 Cor. 1:30 – 21) and in His People.

 

Servants of the Gospel, charged with the care of Christ’s People, are not to live for themselves but for the Flock of Jesus Christ. I believe this is actually true for all legitimate leadership in all contexts, which is one of many reasons I am puzzled by the behavior and so-called values of the professing church in our nation.

 

Do Sunday school teachers and small group facilitators glory and joy in their people, that they are living in a manner worthy of God? What about pastors and elders and deacons? Are we giving our lives for others? Are others our glory and joy?

 

Are we demonstrating the tenderness of a mother, as well as the straightforwardness of a father? Are we seeking “not to be a burden to others” (2:9)?

 

When we stand in the Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, will others be with us as our “crown of rejoicing”? Will we rejoice in others on that Day? Will others rejoice in us? Will we rejoice in one another?

 

Are we “imparting our own lives” (2:8) for others?

 

This, my friends, is what Gospel ministry is to look like, it is to look like Jesus Christ, the grain of wheat which fell into the ground and died, so that it would bear much fruit (John 12:24).

 

Ministry may not be successful in the eyes of the world, or of the professing church. There may not be great numbers of people, there may not be money in the bank, there may not be exciting music, there may not even be a building to call home; but if it displays the heart and soul of the Good Shepard of Psalm 23, of the Sacrificial Shephard of John 10, and of the Holy Lamb of Revelation, if it lives and glories and rejoices in the people it serves…then those men and women will one Day hear the blessed words of their Master, “Enter into the joy of your Lord.”

 

I have an idea that there will be a multitude of nondescript pastors, teachers, nursery care givers, and grandmothers, who will have many people around them on that Day, saying to them, “Thank you for making us your glory and joy in Jesus.”

 

There may also be others who have had hundreds and thousands in their buildings and listening and watching them via media, who will look around on that Day and see no one beside them, for they have given their lives for no one, their hearts to no one, their souls to no one…except themselves.

 

Is our delight in others and in our Lord Jesus Christ?

 

“This is My commandment; that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12  13).

 

Is this our way of ministry?

 

Is this our Way of Life?

A Holy Charge (5)

 

A Holy Charge (5)

 

“But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having so fond an affection for you, we were well – pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:7 – 9).

 

There are many passages where Paul writes of the nature and character of his service in Christ; they speak of the content of his Message, of his joys and sorrows, his motivations, his hopes and disappointments, and of his heart. Since these are letters he is writing, isn’t this what we would expect? Paul is giving his life for the people he writes to, he is giving them his heart. These letters are Valintine’s cards with deep love and affection, and deep content.

 

Is there a more tender picture to be found than of a “nursing mother tenderly caring for her own children”? (In verse 11 we see that he also pictures himself as a father.) Paul and his friends were not simply imparting the Gospel of God to the Thessalonians, “but also our own lives.”

 

Is this our picture of Gospel ministry today? Is this the image that servants of the Gospel seek to portray, and is it the image that congregations seek? Is it the image that elders and deacons exhibit? Sunday school teachers? Small group leaders? Is it the nature of our service to Christ and to His People, to one another?

 

Since this is the way Paul was toward the Thessalonians, it was, I think, the way he expected the servant leaders in the Thessalonian church to be toward their brothers and sisters (1 Thess. 5:12 – 13). They were to labor among the flock, and have charge over the flock, as a nursing mother with her own children, as well as “exhorting and encouraging and imploring…as a father would his own children” (2:11), giving the church not only the Gospel, but “also their own lives” (2:8).

 

Is this the way that we view leadership? This is the Way of Jesus.

 

“You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:24 – 28).

 

All moral and ethical and righteous leadership is sacrificial – whether explicitly in the Kingdom of God or in the world; Satanic so-called leadership is narcissistic, self-seeking, and self-serving – wherever it may be found.

 

Yet we have Christian organizations teaching worldly models of “leadership.” Yet we have Christians and their leaders bowing down to so-called leaders of this world and nation, aligning themselves with people and movements who exalt and glorify themselves. Are we not like ancient Israel who want a king, like the idolatrous nations, to rule over us? Are we not similar to the civic and religious leaders who shouted to Pilate, “Crucify Jesus! We have no king but Caesar!”?

 

Do our training institutions, Bible colleges and seminaries, focus on “content” to the exclusion of teaching and modeling the character and nature of Gospel ministry? What good is content without heart? Where is sustainability in the soul without love? Paul’s ministry, whether in person or through letters, is a marriage of love and content, of a nursing mother and an imploring father.

 

Pastors were once charged with the care of souls. Today they are paid to be CEOs, to produce numbers and entertainment and churn out self-help messages, to hold Sunday morning group therapy sessions, or Sunday cultural and political and nationalistic rallies. The avatars of Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon, and Doc Severson appear on church platforms across our nation Sunday mornings…and we call it “worship,” we call it preaching, we call it being relevant. (Sorry…not really…for the Johnny Carson reference, I am out of the loop on current entertainment figures.)

 

Is Jesus no longer enough?

 

What Paul writes to the Thessalonians about Gospel ministry and servant leadership was counter cultural 2,000 years ago, and it is counter cultural today. It was counter cultural within Judaism then; it is counter cultural within Christianity today.

 

Yet, this is the Way of Jesus.

 

“If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14).

 

What is your view of leadership?

 

Is it Biblical? Does it align with Paul?

 

With Jesus?