Faithful Gospel Ministry

1 Thessalonians chapter 2, 1 through 4.

1 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

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 up 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.

Let's at least read verses 5 and 6.

For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed.

God is witness.

Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others,

though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.

Well, not to beat a dead horse, but just a couple of days.

Millions of Americans will head to the polls to cast their vote for who they think should be the next president of the United States.

And unfortunately, as you know, we live in a so-called battleground state

where candidates continue to spend millions and millions and millions of dollars

on the relentless barrage of political ads and emails and text messages.

And if you are like me, you cannot wait for it to be over.

I would almost vote for any candidate who promises to never text me again or send me another email.

But have you noticed that in most commercials and mailers, and this is always the case,

and it makes sense why it's the case, that in most of these advertisements,

little is actually said about policies.

Little is conveyed about plans for what a particular candidate envisions for their potential ascension to the throne,

if we can call it that, in the United States.

That's not really typically the focus, is it?

The vast majorities of the ads instead are focused on attacking the character of the opposing candidate.

And the reason for it is easy enough to see, isn't it?

If we call a person's integrity into question,

it works toward discrediting their message and their fitness for the role that they desire.

Now, that's just true, which is why typically in situations like this,

a campaign is not always so much for something as it is against someone,

and that's the shape that the advertisements take.

It's the same reason why character witnesses are so vitally important in lawsuits and in prosecution.

If a lawyer can persuade a jury to question the integrity of a defendant,

it will work in their favor even if their arguments against the defendant are weak.

Right?

So, on one hand, you could have a political candidate who has amazingly strong arguments for what should be done,

but with questionable character comes the diminishment of those good arguments.

And on the other hand, you can have someone with a really weak argument,

but because they're able to defame the character of another person,

their arguments look a little bit more enticing,

though they are not actually enticing or accurate or right.

We understand how it works.

That's the way of life, isn't it?

Well, the Apostle Paul was no stranger to these kinds of tactics from his enemies.

In almost every letter that we have of his preserved for us in the New Testament,

at some point, he defends his apostolic ministry,

and it appears that that is what he's doing now in the second chapter of 1 Thessalonians.

Now, why would he be doing this, and what's actually the motive behind this defense?

Now, if you're not careful to really see what he says

and to understand the context in which he says these things,

you might would be led to believe, well, Paul is just so self-obsessed.

Here he is, he's writing to these other people,

and all he wants to talk about is himself, and he wants to defend himself.

It's almost as if either he's just got such a big ego that,

and perhaps there's a piece of that that's true.

After all, it was Paul that wrote to the Corinthians and said that,

God has given me the messenger of Satan lest I get too big of a head, right?

Perhaps that was a temptation for him, but that's not why he does this.

His motivation in defending his apostolic ministry in all of these letters

was not to make himself look better just to make himself look better.

It was actually to build up the credibility of the gospel.

He understood what politicians understand.

He understood what lawyers understand,

that even though the gospel message is wonderful, and it's accurate, and it's true, and it's right,

that if his opponent could successfully diminish his character and defame his integrity,

it would actually work toward the discrediting of the message of the gospel,

and Paul did not want that.

So over and over and over, he defends his apostolic ministry.

He defends the way that he carried out that ministry,

not to build himself up, but to build Jesus up,

to make sure that people understood that the gospel was true.

Because, of course, one of the quickest ways to turn people away from the gospel

is to expose the seedy character of those who proclaim it.

And if we've learned anything in the last few years in the so-called exvangelical world,

this deconstructionist movement, it's that.

That the arguments that are coming from the deconstructionist movement

are not typically good arguments against the gospel or the credibility of the scriptures

or the validity of truth in Christianity.

The arguments are always against the character of those who have abused them,

even using the scripture and right theology for that abuse.

Well, as we launch here into the second chapter of 1 Thessalonians,

we find a noticeable change in the content.

Now, Paul's not changing the subject.

He's continuing in the subject of the church's founding,

but he shifts the perspective, whereas in chapter 1,

the perspective was focused in on the Thessalonian church's spirit-empowered conversion,

their spirit-enabled perseverance.

Everything was zeroed in on them.

This is what God was doing in them.

He's not leaving the subject altogether,

but he is shifting the perspective away from the Thessalonians

and the effect of the gospel on them to his ministry to them

and what his ministry to them was like.

And it would seem that the enemies of the gospel in Thessalonica,

which we know were many,

that they had charged Paul and Silas and Timothy with some impropriety

as it related to their motives for ministry.

And though the Christians in Thessalonica,

those who belonged to the church, were not persuaded,

by those accusations,

Paul still felt it was necessary for their sake

and for the sake of the gospel

to reflect on the true nature of his entrance to them

or his coming to them.

And we praise the Lord that he did this

because we are greatly benefited by what he writes in this chapter,

not just in these four verses,

but as he continues on in chapter 2 and chapter 3,

we see really a wonderful portrait

of what a pastor is supposed to look like,

what a minister of the gospel is supposed to portray.

And in the first few verses of this section,

we have this snapshot of faithful gospel ministry.

Faithful gospel ministry.

This is the model that the Thessalonian Christians imitated.

Paul mentions that in verse 1.

They became imitators of Paul and Timothy and Silas

and ultimately of the Lord.

And it is precisely the pattern that we must follow as well.

If we and all of us,

I don't just mean those who would be in vocational ministry,

I mean all of us are giving a ministry of the gospel.

If you are a Christian, you have a gospel ministry.

It may be different in scope than mine or someone else's,

but you have it.

You have a gospel ministry to your children if you're a parent.

You have a gospel ministry to your spouse if you're married.

You have a gospel ministry to your neighbors

and to your coworkers and to your friends and to our community.

We all have a gospel ministry.

If we are going to live out that gospel ministry faithfully,

this is the pattern that we need to follow.

This is what we must imitate.

Now, regarding the structure of these four verses,

there are three not-but statements.

Not-but statements.

And I want to use them as a guide.

In fact, so if we're going to use something

to kind of trace our way through the argument here,

that's the way that I would like for us to do it this morning.

These three not-but statements.

Each contains a negation, what faithful ministry is not,

and each contains an affirmation, what faithful ministry is.

And in these three statements, I think we can discern

the manner of faithful gospel ministry,

the motive of faithful gospel ministry,

and the mission or the goal of faithful gospel ministry.

So the first thing I want you to see is the manner of faithful gospel ministry.

Look with me again at verses 1 and 2.

Paul writes,

Now, the first negation comes in verse 1.

Paul wrote that their coming to Thessalonica,

their entrance, you might say, into Thessalonica,

was, quote, not in vain.

Not in vain.

Vain here is used in the sense of empty, hollow, wasted.

Our coming to you was not empty.

Our coming to you was not wasted.

It was not vain.

And at first glance, we might suppose that Paul refers to the fact

that their coming to Thessalonica was effective,

that it wasn't in vain because it was effective

in that many who heard the gospel were actually converted.

And that indeed happened,

but I don't think that's what his emphasis is here.

It's not what he's intending to communicate,

at least as a matter of first importance in the text.

And we know that because the affirmation that pairs with the negation,

the but statement here,

does not focus on the effect of Paul's ministry,

but on the reality of God's work in his own life.

So that the not emptiness has to do with the manner

in which Paul and Silas and Timothy ministered in the city.

Now let's put it together.

There's all these different phrases, right?

Let's take the two main phrases, the not but statement,

and put them together.

Our coming to you was not in vain,

but we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel.

Do you see what I'm getting at?

Of course, this was effective.

That's a part of it.

His ministry was not empty because it was effective.

That's certainly a part,

but that's not what he intends to communicate

as the primary issue here.

He's saying that our coming to you was not in vain,

but we, not you, we,

we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel.

So what was this manner like?

What was his manner of gospel ministry?

Well, in a word, boldness was bold.

And the context of Paul's boldness was suffering,

shameful treatment, much conflict.

And he cites his experience in Philippi.

Acts chapter 16, verses 11 through 40,

Acts 16:11–40

they tell us about Paul's experience there.

You know the story well, probably.

He and Silas, after having success initially

in gospel preaching,

were dragged into the marketplace,

stripped naked before the people and the magistrates,

beaten almost to death,

and thrown in prison.

That's pretty extreme.

Can you imagine?

You decide this afternoon, you know what?

I'm gonna go where people are lining up to vote,

and I'm gonna just,

I'm gonna preach the gospel,

and initially, as you're preaching that gospel,

you see wonderful fruit of it.

There's this lady over here named Lydia,

and she, the Lord opens her heart to believe,

Acts 16 tells us,

and she trusts in Christ,

and you rejoice with her.

And then you've got this other girl over here.

She's being abused.

She's being abused by people

who are making money off of her.

She's possessed by a demon,

and people are taking advantage of her.

And so you preach the gospel,

and the Lord delivers her,

and she comes to faith in Jesus Christ.

And then, because those people get mad at you,

they just lost their income.

They were abusing this girl.

They just lost their income.

And their response then is to take you

and drag you in the town hall in Cornelius,

strip you naked before everybody that's there,

beat you almost to death,

and then cast you in prison for the night.

Now, would you say that's a pretty successful day?

The next day, the magistrates,

they should have done their homework first.

They didn't do that.

They realized the next day,

Paul's actually a Roman citizen,

which means what they did was illegal.

And they were the ones who were gonna

face a significant punishment

if they didn't try to right the ship.

So they come to Paul,

and they say,

sorry,

but we want you to leave.

You can't stay.

So Paul goes where?

Thessalonica.

Now, he's got an opportunity here.

When he gets to Thessalonica,

he can do the same thing that he did in Philippi.

Now, can you imagine the anxiety

that you would feel in that situation?

Chris goes to Cornelius.

All this stuff happens to him.

The next day,

Woody Washam comes to Chris

and says,

Chris, sorry,

shouldn't have done that to you yesterday,

but we'd like for you to just go

and take your message to Davidson.

Just leave us alone here.

And Chris says,

okay, and he walks to Davidson.

Now, what do you think the anxiety level

is gonna be like for Chris

when he is presented with an opportunity

to preach the gospel there?

Or he's gonna think,

oh man, I don't know if I can go through that again.

That was hard.

That's suffering.

That's shameful treatment.

That's much conflict.

And when he got to Thessalonica,

it wasn't really much better, was it?

We read in Acts chapter 17

Acts 17 · chapter mention

that eventually the effectiveness of his gospel

made the Jews in the synagogue mad.

They became jealous of him

because people were converting to Christianity

and they didn't like that.

So they wanted to punish Paul.

So what they did is

they made up some lies about him

and they incited a riot,

a bloodthirsty riot in the city.

That's much conflict, isn't it?

Think about that.

Can you imagine what Paul and Silas looked like

when the Thessalonians first met them?

Undoubtedly, they were bearing fresh wounds.

The fresh marks of their experience in Philippi.

For Paul's coming to have been in vain

would mean that his suffering

caused him to shrink back

from preaching the gospel message in Thessalonica.

Thessalonica.

I think that's what he means.

That though we had this experience in Philippi,

though this was our experience,

even when we came into you,

our coming to you was not in vain

because we were still faithful to do it.

We were still bold

and it took great boldness and courage

to do what they did after what they experienced.

That's not what happened, is it?

He didn't shrink back.

Despite the reality of persecution,

Paul and Silas and Timothy,

they dared to proclaim the gospel of Jesus anyways.

Why?

Why would they go through all of this?

That's really what this set of verses answers,

is the why question.

But we can't escape the fact

that their confidence in the gospel message itself

drove them to this.

Why would they subject themselves

to such difficulty

knowing that there is an inherent offensiveness

to the gospel message?

You know that, right?

Of course you do.

There is an inherent offensiveness.

Now we understand it as Christians.

We look at the gospel

and we see the glory of the gospel.

Unbelievers do not.

They do not see the glory of the gospel.

They see the offense of the gospel.

You're telling me that God will not accept me?

I'm not that bad.

You're telling me I'm that bad?

And the Bible's answer is,

you don't even know how bad you are.

It's deep.

It's rooted deep.

But we have the answer, right?

And we want to take that to people.

Paul and Simon and Timothy,

they're so confident in the gospel message

that they were willing to preach this truth to people

even though they knew of its inherent offense

and that this was probably going to be their experience

almost everywhere that they went.

And yet they still did it.

The effects of the gospel

are not favorable to the world.

In Thessalonica,

it was jealous Jews.

Their egos took a shot

when people in the synagogue

started converting to Christianity

and following Paul

and Jesus.

In Philippi,

it was the pocketbooks

of the people

that were abusing this girl

that incited the violence.

Same thing in Ephesus.

In Ephesus,

Paul comes preaching the gospel

and what do people do

when they believe the gospel?

They turn away from idols.

Well, that was big business in Ephesus.

You can go back,

you can read in the book of Acts,

the whole riot in Ephesus

had everything to do

with the silversmiths losing money.

The gospel effect

is not favorable to the world

in this world system.

And when you start hitting people's pocketbooks

and you start hitting their power,

they get angry about that, don't they?

Let me tell you,

you preach the gospel long enough,

the effect of that gospel preaching,

it's going to offend somebody

and it's going to offend somebody

in such a way

that they're going to come after you.

And what's to be our response

when the world does come after us?

How can we manage to be so bold?

Well, the same spirit

that was at work

in the conversion

of the Thessalonians

was at work

in the evangelism

of Paul and his team.

Isn't that his point here?

We were bold.

But we must not miss,

we were bold in our God.

We were bold in our God

to proclaim the gospel to you

in spite of the conflict.

Now let's think about this phrase,

we had boldness in our God.

What does he mean by that?

I think it's layered.

I think there's at least three senses

in which we can glean

from this phrase.

First,

he was bold,

his boldness was from God.

His boldness was from God.

So lest anyone think Paul

is taking credit

for what happened

in the Thessalonian Christians,

he was quick to say

right off the bat

that their boldness

was sourced

in the grace of God.

Do you see that?

He doesn't say,

I was bold,

there ain't nobody like me.

If you want somebody

to come in

despite the struggle,

you better call Paul.

That's not what he says.

He says,

no,

I didn't want to do it probably.

I was aching,

hurting

from Philippi.

But God's doing something in me

that I can't explain.

My boldness was from God.

He's crediting God

for the work that's happening.

Now we know that's the case

because he's already done that

so many times in chapter one.

And he hasn't left

that subject altogether.

He's just shifted the perspective.

It is God's grace

that was at work

in the conversion

of the Thessalonians

and it was God's grace

that was at work

in Paul and his team

as they had boldness

to preach the gospel.

So his boldness

was from God.

I think there's a second way

for us to understand this.

Their boldness

was toward God.

Boldness was toward God.

And what does that mean?

God's grace

had produced in them

a confidence

in the gospel

that could not be shaken

by conflict.

They were bold

because they were convinced

that Jesus really is

the Messiah.

That he really is

the sinless son of God.

That he really did die

as a propitiation

as we read earlier

for the sins

of the elect.

That he really did

raise from the dead.

That he really does

invite all

to come and believe

and receive salvation

from him.

They believed.

They were fully convinced.

Their confidence

came from God

and that grace of God

at work in them

produced a confidence

toward God.

Toward his gospel.

And it motivated

their preaching.

But there's a third way here

and we'll get to this

a little bit more

towards the end

but at least it's worth

noting here

that their boldness

was before God.

It was in the presence

of God.

That's their mindset here.

God is watching.

Everything that we're doing

is before his face.

It was his call

on their lives

that produced

such courage.

You say,

well what does

faithful ministry

look like?

Well,

at its heart

is the gospel message,

isn't it?

If you're not

proclaiming

the gospel of Jesus

then you don't

have a ministry.

But once you've

got that settled

and that's assumed

here in the text,

once you're preaching

the gospel,

what does it look like

for that to be faithful?

Well,

you're going to have

to be bold

when it's not real easy

to do it.

And there will come

a time where it's

not very easy

to do it.

All of these things

working together

in Paul and Silas

and Timothy

produced this boldness

that resulted

by God's grace

in effective ministry

in Thessalonica.

We know that

suffering is guaranteed

in the scriptures

for those who are

faithful to Christ

and faithful ministry

in the name of Christ

is bold

through the conflict.

Okay,

so what's the manner

of faithful ministry?

Well,

it's bold.

It's bold even when

things are hard.

Okay,

number two.

Notice the motive

of faithful gospel ministry.

The motive.

Look at verse three

and the beginning

of verse four.

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.

This is the issue

of motive here.

Now,

it is entirely possible

it may even

in some cases

be common

to engage

in gospel ministry

sinfully.

Now,

think about that.

Process that

for a second.

We use phrases

like the ends

don't justify

the means,

right?

Well,

most people

don't live that way.

Most people

live as if

if the result

is good,

then it doesn't

really matter

how you got it.

And as sinful

people,

we bring that

into our faith

as well.

We bring that

into our gospel

ministry.

It is entirely

possible

to engage

in gospel

ministry

sinfully

with sinful

motive.

And that is

the issue

I think

that Paul

takes up

in this

second

not-but

statement

of the text.

You know,

apparently

it was common

for there

to be

itinerant

philosophers

at the time

of Paul's

life

and ministry.

And according

to scholars,

they were known

for entering

cities with

great pomp

and circumstance.

And the reason

for that

is so that

they might gain

a greater

following.

Because their

following,

the greater

it was,

the result

meant more

notoriety,

more power,

more honor,

more money,

right?

And at our

hearts,

that's really

what we're chasing

most of the time

isn't it?

We're chasing

money,

we're chasing

sex,

we're chasing

notoriety

and power.

And that was

no different

for the people

of Paul's

day.

According to

some ancient

sources,

among the

plethora

of greedy

motivations,

sometimes people

just simply

desired to

deceive people.

They were

sociopaths,

psychopaths,

they literally

made up things

that they knew

were wrong

just so that

they could

assert some

type of power

over other

people.

Now that's

just as common

today as it

was then.

And so

when Paul

comes preaching

the gospel

and people

begin to

turn to

the gospel

in Thessalonica,

the enemies

of the gospel

in Thessalonica

began to

accuse Paul

of being such

a charlatan,

saying that he

was preaching

this gospel

for personal

gain.

And there's

three sinful

motives that

Paul enumerates

here for us.

first he says

our appeal,

our preaching

of the gospel,

it did not

spring from

error.

Error is the

first sinful

motive.

Error here,

in this case,

it suggests

fraud,

fraudulence,

so like a

knowing error.

And that's

further confirmed

in verse 5

where Paul says,

he kind of

reiterates these

three things.

He says,

I did not

come with

flattering words.

I didn't come

to you with

fraudulent

flattery.

No, how did

Paul come?

Well, Acts 17

tells us.

Acts 17

Acts 17:2

verses 2 and 3,

Paul went in

as was his

custom on

three Sabbath

days, he

reasoned with

them from

the scriptures.

He didn't say,

sit down, let me

tell you something,

don't talk back.

He reasoned

with them.

That's not a

sign of impure

motive, is it?

He's reasoning

with them.

And what is he

reasoning with

them about?

He reasoned

with them

from the

scriptures.

This wasn't

Paul's idea.

This wasn't

Paul's opinions.

He was

reasoning with

them about

the text

itself,

explaining and

proving that it

was necessary for

the Christ to

suffer and to

rise from the

dead, saying,

this Jesus whom

I proclaim to

you is this

Christ.

Paul's gospel

was rooted in

the scriptures,

not in

flattery, not

in fraudulent

opinions.

This was his

appeal.

In fact, that

word appeal is

unique here.

In fact, if you

make it on

Saturday night

to Laurel, I

might just come

back to this

text and really

just focus on

this one word,

appeal.

This urgent

request, that's

what the gospel

preaching actually

ultimately is.

It's not just a

dissemination of

information.

It is an

appeal.

It is an

urgent request

that people

would act

upon this

information.

And that's

what Paul was

doing.

He wasn't just

preaching a

philosophy.

He was calling

for people to

respond.

And he was

calling for them

not to respond

to him.

He wasn't

building his own

following.

He was calling

for them to

follow the

Christ.

to follow

Jesus.

That's a key

difference between

him and the

charlatans of

his age.

These other

people coming

into Thessalonica

and they're

saying, follow

me.

I've got great

ideas.

I've got wonderful

charisma.

You follow me.

You'll be safe

with me.

Paul comes in

and he says,

I'm not coming

with flattering

words.

To the

Corinthians, he

said, I

didn't come

with this

lofty speech.

No, I just

want you to

follow Jesus.

It doesn't

matter about

me.

Just follow

Jesus.

He's the

Christ.

He'll save

your soul.

That's not

error.

That's truth.

And that's what

his appeal was

based on.

There's a

second sinful

motive here

though, and

that is

impurity.

Impurity.

Every other

time Paul uses

this word in

his letters,

every single

time except for

this one,

it's always used

in reference to

sexual sin.

sin.

So why is he

using it here?

What he

means is that

he did not

prostitute the

gospel message

for personal

gain.

He wasn't

prostituting the

gospel.

He wasn't

preaching the

gospel in

order that he

might get

something from

the people

that believed

it.

Whether that

be glory,

whether it

be money,

or sex,

whatever it

might have

been.

And again,

he restates

this in

verse 5.

He says that

when they

came, they

had no

pretext for

greed.

Later in

the chapter,

he even

recalls how

they refused

to take

money from

the Thessalonian

Christians for

this very

reason.

They didn't

want to be

accused of

being like

the philosophers

who were

known to

come to

the city.

There's a

third sinful

motivation.

Deceive is

the last

thing.

Our appeal

does not

spring from

error or

impurity or

any attempt

to deceive.

This is

trickery.

It's

baiting

somebody is

the idea

behind this

one.

It wasn't

a made-up

story meant

to deceive

people into

following Paul.

He says in

verse 6,

we did not

seek glory

from people.

That's not

what he was

motivated by.

Now,

let's look at

the big picture

here.

Though this

isn't unheard

of and it's

certainly possible,

it's very

unlikely

that these

motives would

have produced

the kind

of boldness

that we see

in Paul

in Thessalonica.

If you're a

charlatan

who is beaten

nearly to death

and shamed

in front of

an entire city

in Philistine

and you know

that what

you're doing

isn't real,

why do you

just subject

yourself to it

all over again?

That just

doesn't logically

make sense.

I think that's

what Paul's

saying here.

There is

credibility to

the gospel

message because

he did not

come as a

charlatan.

So then what

was his true

motive?

The true

motive for

Paul's ministry

to the Thessalonians

was very simple

actually.

Look at verse

four.

But,

here's the

affirmation,

just as we

have been

approved by

God to be

entrusted with

the gospel,

so we speak.

What's his

motive?

Simple.

God has

called me to

do this.

He was

motivated

entirely

by God's

call on his

life.

That's amazing.

He wasn't

motivated by

money or

power or

sex.

He was

motivated by

a desire to

fulfill his

call.

And he was

far more

concerned with

obeying God's

call than

even preserving

his own

life.

And since

God had

entrusted the

gospel message

to him,

Paul was

then entrusting

his own

life to the

sovereign will

of God.

Faithful

ministry is

motivated by

God's truth

and it is

motivated by

God's call.

Which,

by the way,

is something

that all of

us have.

my call as

a pastor

might be

unique in

its scope

and in

its context.

But that

doesn't mean

that I'm the

only one in

this room

that has a

call of God

to proclaim

the gospel.

That belongs

to all of

us.

We've already

mentioned the

various ways

that that will

be lived out

in your life.

But it belongs

to each and

every one of

us.

Now, how

will you be

motivated to

fulfill that

call?

Or do you

even care that

the call is

there?

If it's for

any other

reason than

simply to

obey the

Lord, then

you will

inevitably fall

into error

and impurity

and deception.

Third, I

want you to

see the

mission, or

what I mean

by mission

here, because

I just needed

another M.

It made me

think better.

I mean the

aim or the

goal.

What was

Paul's ultimate

goal here?

He and

Silas and

Timothy.

The last

part of

verse 4.

So we

speak, not

to please

man, but

to please

God, who

tests our

hearts.

He doesn't

just see what

we do, he

knows our

hearts, and

we desire to

please him.

This third

not-but

statement, it

gets to the

heart of the

matter, revealing

that the

ultimate goal of

Paul's ministry

in Thessalonica

was to

please God, not

men.

Which is

instructive for

us, isn't

it?

When our

primary objective

is to please

men, we

will succumb

to the

pressure to

diminish the

gospel message.

Do you not

feel that?

I feel

that.

That if

there's a way

to water it

down so people

aren't so hateful,

we're tempted

to it, aren't

we?

No, if

we're aiming

to please

God, we

will not

succumb to

that pressure.

We'll be

bold in the

conflict, right?

When we

aim to

please men, we

will inevitably

engage in

fraudulent

flattery, we

will prostitute

Christianity for

personal gain, and

we will

willingly deceive

for our own

glory.

However, when

our sole

mission is to

please God, we

test our

hearts, we'll

proclaim the

truth in

conflict, and

we'll avoid the

sinful motivations

that take so

many captive.

Now, is

this not why

at the end of

his life, Paul

writes one more

letter to

Timothy?

And what is it

that he says?

Timothy, I

charge you, in

the presence of

God, who

test our

hearts, in the

presence of God

and of Christ

Jesus, who is

to judge the

living and the

dead, and by

his appearing in

his kingdom.

Preach the

word, Timothy.

Just be

faithful.

Preach the

gospel.

Do it when it's

in season, he

says.

When people are

believing, and

they're friendly to

it, and God is

working, do it when

it's out of season,

when people are

unfriendly to it,

and you suffer

because of it.

Reprove, rebuke,

exhort with

complete patience

and teaching,

patience there

being endurance,

enduring what may

come as a result.

For the time is

coming, Timothy,

when people will

not endure sound

teaching.

Now, it's amazing

that Paul says the

time is coming as

if it's something

future.

He's the one getting

beaten near to death,

which only means that

there's no end to

this, not until the

Lord returns.

It should be our

eager expectation

that this would be

the result of

faithful ministry,

right?

Having itching

ears, they will

accumulate for

themselves teachers

to suit their own

passions, and will

turn away from

listening to the

truth and wander

off into myths.

But as for you,

Timothy, keep your

head, be sober

minded, endure

suffering, do the

work of an

evangelist, preach

the gospel, and

fulfill your

ministry.

Do you see what

he's telling young

Timothy?

This is going to

get worse and you're

going to feel

pressure.

You're going to

feel pressure from

people who say that

they're Christians.

You're going to feel

pressure to water

down the gospel, to

soften it up a bit,

to not be so

demanding of people

to believe and to

be faithful.

They're going to

have itching ears.

They're going to

want you to preach

to their own

passions.

and they're going

to threaten you in

the process.

Don't do it,

Timothy.

Just be faithful

because that's what

faithful ministry is.

It endures.

Why does it endure?

Because we're not

trying to please men

who just want to hear

a particular thing.

No, we're trying to

please God who has

actually put a call

on our lives to take

his message, not our

own, or one that may

be suitable for the

hearer.

No, we take his

message.

It's his call that's

on us, and it's his

power that goes with

us.

You want to finish

this way?

In light of

Reformation Week

last week, perhaps,

if you want to think

of it that way.

There was a Latin

phrase.

I think Luther might

have been the one

that really popularized

it.

Corum Deo.

You've probably heard

it before if you've

studied much about

the Reformation.

Corum Deo.

It's a Latin phrase

that means before the

face of God.

And it was used by

the Reformers to

describe the essence

of the Christian

life, that all of

life is lived before

the gaze of God,

right?

R.C.

Sproul said it this

way, to live

Corum Deo is to

live one's entire

life in the presence

of God, under the

authority of God, to

the glory of God.

Now, I think that's a

pretty good summation

of the model of

faithful ministry

presented in these

four verses.

Paul and Silas and

Timothy understood

that all of life is

lived before the face

of God.

And their supreme

desire was to glorify

God in what they did.

That's why they were

bold in conflict.

That's why they avoided

sinful motivations.

Their lives were

oriented to the glory

of God, so their

gospel ministry was

as well.

And if we are going

to be faithful in the

gospel, if we're going

to be fruitful in just

our Christianity, then we

must also learn to live

all of life Corum Deo,

recognizing that we live

before the face of God,

that we are his people,

and that our aim in all

of life, the very purpose

for our being and

existence is his glory.

And we should let that

be the motivation of

what we do, even when

things are tough.

I think that's what

faithful ministry looks

like.