The Source of Our Message

 

“For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.”

1 Thessalonians 2:1-4 ESV

 

Although we like to think of it as a peaceful work, the simple reality is that ministry often brings conflict along with it. It can be conflict from the outside, from unbelievers to whom we seek to minister. But it can also be conflict from within, among the church itself.

 

Although we hate to admit it, this conflict can change the way in which we seek to minister. And it tends to do so not for the better, but the worse. What I mean is that we begin to neglect or even forsake our God-given duties in an effort to avoid conflict.

 

If anyone had reason to do so, it was Paul. We see in the above passage that he had suffered and been shamefully treated in Philippi. And it stands to reason that this could cause him to be a bit gun-shy as he stepped into the next community. 

 

However, Paul said, he and his co-workers had boldness as they came to Thessalonica. They had boldness in God to declare the gospel even in the face of conflict. And they had this boldness due to the source of their appeal.

 

Their appeal, he explains, did not spring from error or impurity. Nor did it spring from any attempt to deceive. It came from the fact that they had been entrusted with the gospel by God.

 

For this reason, they spoke not in an effort to please man. They rather spoke to please God who tests our hearts. In other words, regardless of the response they received, they sought only to faithfully carry out their calling which had been given to them by God.

 

What an example this is for us. After all, like Paul, we too have been entrusted with the gospel. And we too have been commissioned to proclaim this message to the world.

 

However, that being said, as we face conflict, we often tend to modify either our approach, our message, or both. We often approach ministry for our own sake, seeking to gain from it personally. And, in this way, the gospel and our ministry are corrupted.

 

As God is the source of this message, as well as our hope, we must not waver even in the face of conflict. We must deliver this message not in an effort to please man. We must seek only to please God who entrusted to us this great work.