Sermon Tone Analysis

A Successful Ministry

1 Thessalonians 2:1-6a

 

You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure.

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.

For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you.

On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel.

We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.

You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed — God is our witness.

We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.

Are you a successful minister of Christ the Lord?

Would you consider that you have engaged in a successful ministry during the years of your walk with Christ?

When you review the work we know as *Jasper Park Baptist Church*, do you consider it to be a successful ministry?

What is a successful ministry?

How would you identify success in a given ministry?

In the First Thessalonian letter, the Apostle states: /You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure/ [*2:1*].

In short, Paul is claiming that his time in Thessalonica was successful.

An abbreviated mission, a besieged church, harassed and impoverished believers, lack of property and an absence of pastoral leadership … surely any of these would bespeak failure in ministry.

Despite every appearance to the contrary, the Apostle looks back, and despite all these problems, avers: /You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure/.

Let's review his defence, renewing courage and redefining success in the ministry while laying the foundation for renewed advance of the Kingdom of God in our community.

*A Successful Ministry Is Dependent Upon God* [*vv 1,2*] — Previously, the missionaries had /suffered and been insulted in Philippi/.

After a brief ministry resulting in establishment of a congregation in Philippi, Paul and Silas were humiliated by being stripped naked, beaten and imprisoned at the insistence of a crowd incited to fury by the greed of owners of a slave girl possessed by a spirit of python [pneu'ma puvqwna].

Though God intervened, the preachers chose to leave town so as not to further endanger the fledgling church.

Their next stop was Thessalonica.

The ministry there was brief, but the impact was great.

/We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi/ would have been sufficient justification for anyone to avoid further trials.

No one of us would condemn missionaries who abandoned further evangelism in the face of beatings and imprisonment.

We would commend them for their good sense.

But these missionaries drew upon a source of strength which can never fail; they refreshed themselves from a well which never shall run dry.

Although they faced /strong opposition/ in Thessalonica, just as they had in Philippi, it was /with the help of … God [that they] dared to tell … His Gospel/.

Refusing to focus on the strong opposition, they chose instead of rely upon God.

Years ago my attention was riveted on *Hebrews 11:27*.

The author notes that Moses had a heritage of faith, having been hidden by faith.

He chose identity with God's people by faith, refusing the transient treasures of this life.

Then the author observes: /By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; *he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible*/.

Whenever I read the Pentateuch I am again reminded of the difficulties which marked Moses' life.

Lesser men would have quit the ministry many times over; Moses persevered for forty years as the leader of the obstinate people whom God chose because he had been trained in the school of hard knocks for the previous forty years.

The backside of the desert was a necessary classroom in order to purge him of all thoughts of grandeur which might have clung to him following the first forty years of his life.

The story of Moses, prince to pauper to prophet of God, can never be told on the silver screen.

At eighty, a time when sane men have long since retired, Moses was just beginning his greatest ministry.

His life lends new meaning to the statement with which Peter began his message on Pentecost – /your old men will dream dreams/.

Peter is not saying that the old men will look back, but rather that:

 

/[T]hose who hope in the LORD          /

/will renew their strength.

/

/They will soar on wings like eagles,    /

/they will run and not grow weary,/

/they will walk and not be faint/ 

                   [*Isaiah 40:31*].

Moses continued faithful because he fixed his hope in God, and Paul likewise avers that the missionaries to the Thessalonians relied on God.

Therefore, he confidently asserts that it was /with the help of our God [that] we dared tell you His Gospel/.

We will not accomplish much in terms of ministry through relying on our own strength in this life.

I am increasingly, though reluctantly, being forced to acknowledge this fact.

The days when I invested eighty and ninety hours during a single week in the work of the ministry are behind me.

Increasingly am I forced by facts to confess my lack of stamina and strength.

Increasingly I am forced to seek a respite, refreshment .

However I may phrase the matter – "I am working smarter," "I am delegating," "I am sharing the load" – evidence continues to accumulate that at last I am indeed mortal.

Accordingly, there is not much I shall accomplish of lasting significance in my weakness.

However, I am increasingly confident that God is well able to do great things through the life of even one individual submitted to Him; and I pray that I might be that individual.

I am increasingly confident that God is delighted to do great works through the ministry of one church dependent on Him; and I pray that this might be that church.

Increasingly am I focused on God and on His strength, believing that He will mightily use those who rely on Him.

            /[O]ur visit to you was not a failure… / The Greek phrase, o{ti ouj kenh; gevgonen, speaks literally of purpose instead of results.

At this point Paul is not focused on the results of their ministry so much as on the purpose of the missionaries' ministry.

The missionaries arrived with a message, with a clear purpose, with a definite goal in mind.

This is not an inconsequential issue, for if we are dependent upon God, success in the ministry lies in pleasing Him; and when our purpose is clearly in focus we will endeavour to please Him.

We speak first to glorify God in all things.

In the process of speaking some *will* hear the Gospel and believe, and believers *will* be made strong in the Faith.

Each message, each witness, each act of service to the Name of Christ our Lord, must have at the heart the goal of pleasing God and glorifying His Name.

*A Successful Ministry Demands A Pointed Message* [*v 3a*] — The Apostle then writes of /the appeal we make/.

We clearly understand that this /appeal/ is related to /the Gospel/ named in *verse two*.

Paravklhsi" speaks in some contexts of encouragement, but in this particular context it speaks of an appeal or an exhortation.

The word was used of encouragement given soldiers going into battle.

It was said that mercenaries required an appeal, but that soldiers who fought for home and country required no exhortation.

For a moment, scope in on that thought that the Gospel involves both appeal and encouragement.

There is great encouragement in the Gospel of Christ.

Forgiveness of sin is a source of rich encouragement.

Acceptance before God the Father is encouraging indeed.

Life is an encouragement, as are the multiplied benefits which accrue to the believer.

But the security and the serenity which belong to the believer results from his position and not as an incidental aspect of the Gospel.

Encouragement is assured as we rest in this Good News; encouragement is ours only *in Christ*.

There is also this thought: the Gospel ever and always involves appeal.

Preaching is not merely the dissemination of information, though I fear that much of modern preaching has adopted the model of lectures.

The issues involved are too great to permit speaking dispassionately.

Those refusing to accept the message we bring are under sentence of death.

Those rejecting Christ are embracing death.

Loved ones and dear friends are passing into eternity if they have not Christ.

Knowledge of the consequence of our hearers' action and our purpose in speaking does not permit delivery of the message saying repent, such as it were, and believe, after a fashion, or be damned, in a measure.

Though no formal appeal should be issued with the delivery of the message to a congregation, the message itself must present the note of appeal.

Peter, preaching on the Day of Pentecost, made repeated appeal to the hearts of his listeners.

/Men of Israel, listen to this…  Brothers, I can tell you confidently…  Let all Israel be assured of this…/ [*Acts 2:22,29,36*].

His message was one great appeal from first to last to believe in this Risen Son of God.

The Gospel message always contains the note of pleading.

I remember one occasion when I had been invited to speak in chapel at Western Baptist Seminary in Portland.

Much was made of the fact that I was only the second Southern Baptist to address the student body and faculty and that I was not a trained preacher.

It was a novelty to think these seminarians, dedicating their lives to the ministry of the Word, would be addressed by a biochemist and not by a preacher.

I had a very high hill to climb if the message I intended to bring would taken seriously.

As some of my students in Dallas were wont to say, I cleared a spot on the pulpit and pitched a fit.

I spoke of the power of the Gospel to change lives, to convert the lost, to redeem fallen humanity.

I related how uneducated men from farms and small towns were students under my tutelage, and were winning many to the Faith in the city of Dallas.

I pointed out that the students whom I addressed that day questioned the value of witnessing, seldom extended an invitation when they preached and consequently were frequently struggling to build their churches and were discouraged.

I observed that in fifty-four years of educating ministerial students the school had not graduated a single evangelist.

The only conclusions possible were that either God had ceased calling evangelists or that the school had failed to equip students for that service.