Missionaries

This morning I want to look at another missionary, the Apostle Paul, who speaks in very similar ways about his trip or his ministry really to the Thessalonians. If you have your Bibles with you, let's turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter two. 1 Thessalonians chapter two. We'll read from verse one to verse 12. 1 Thessalonians 2:1.

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 dare 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. As apostles of Christ, we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you like a mother caring for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well because you had become dear to us.

Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship. We worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God. You are witnesses and so is God, of how holy, righteous, and blameless we were among you who believed. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting, and urging you to live lives worthy of God who calls you into His kingdom and glory. So far, our reading.

I'm really glad that Paul was forced to write this piece of scripture when he was dealing with the Thessalonian church. We see Paul in a church who was really wrestling with his authority as an apostle and how he did ministry and but he loved this church. It comes across very, very clearly. It shows us a side of Paul sometimes that we don't really realise reading some of his other letters, letters that are magnificent theological discourses. But in 1 Thessalonians, his pastoral heart comes out so strongly.

We see that Paul's message was attacked, his character was attacked, and his motives as well. And in this context, he writes pleading with these Thessalonians. But what I want us to focus on this morning is verses seven to eight. To really zoom in on these two verses, which form the key key verses actually of this entire passage that we've read because it sums up what Paul is trying to communicate to the Thessalonian church. Let's have a read of that again.

But we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well because you had become dear to us. And the truth I want us to reflect on or to draw out of this text this morning is where the gospel flourishes, people have shared themselves. Where the gospel flourishes, people have shared themselves. We can see the gospel has seriously taken root in the heart and the mind of the Thessalonians.

That's what Paul is saying. He's so thankful that this has happened in their lives. Have a look at the beginning of the chapter verses, chapter one verses five and six, actually. Because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction, you know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord.

The Gospel had taken root. It had started changing lives. It had become a cultural phenomenon in Thessalonica. And we see this truth that where the Gospel flourishes, people, Christians, have shared more than the Gospel. They have shared their very lives.

They have shared themselves. Three questions I want us to look at this morning. Firstly, what is it to share our soul that Paul writes about, to share our soul? What causes this to happen? And thirdly, why is it important for us to do this?

So firstly, what is it to share our own soul? Paul says to the Thessalonians, we were eager not only to share the gospel, not only the gospel, but our own souls with you. What is abundantly clear about Paul's evangelism is that he did not simply share the facts of Jesus' life and death and His ministry. We see here that it wasn't simply communicating the message of the Bible, telling people about what the Bible says we should and shouldn't do. It wasn't simply telling people what to believe.

Paul was eager not simply to share the gospel, but to share his very soul with people. In verse nine, he goes on to say, surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship. He's not pointing back to a message. He's pointing out to what was done among them. His heart for the Thessalonians is captured especially well in verse 17 later in the chapter, which we didn't read.

It says, but brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time, in person, not in thought, out of our intense longing, we made every effort to see you. Can you hear the love in this? These are words of a friend. They're not of a teacher, student sort of thing, or a boss and an employee sort of thing. He indicates really that intimacy that was shared between friends or a friendship.

The giving of his soul was not just information. It wasn't simply work even for Paul. When Paul uses the metaphor to share your soul, he indicates letting a person in to your life, to really see what's there. It's transparency. It's integrity.

A shared soul is a shared passion. It's a shared fear. It's shared guilt, a shared longing, or a shared joy. Where the gospel flourishes, people have shared their own souls, their joy, their fears, their longing, their passion. And you can see this.

I encourage you to read this letter. You can see this all throughout Paul's writing here. In two seventeen, which we read, he shares his great desire to see them. I longed to see you. I longed to see you.

In verse twenty of chapter two, he says that they are his joy. They are his joy. In three verse five, he shares the intolerable burden it was in Athens, not knowing how they were doing. Then he goes and says, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your face. It was like a frustration.

In three seven, he speaks of the comfort of his soul. And in verse ten, he shares his deep longing to see them again face to face. This wasn't just a gig. This wasn't just a job. The level of intimacy, the level of integrity and honesty in this metaphor to share one's soul, this metaphor is shocking.

And yet, the entire letter to these Christians is full of evidence because of Paul's sincere and honest love. And because of this, the Gospel was able to take root in the lives of these people. So how does the gospel, how does the gospel then cause this to happen in someone's life? How was Paul able to do this? What motivated Paul to do this?

Well, when we actively share ourselves with people, which inevitably includes our faith, because our faith is the very essence of who we are as Christians, the very essence of who we are as people now. When you share yourself with people in this way, the gospel comes to life. Because we can see in a very real way how the good news has impacted your life. The gospel becomes alive through our testimony and our witness. In a very simplistic way, Paul's life became a billboard to the power and the authenticity of the gospel.

We can see in verse seven and eight at least two things that move Paul to share his own soul with the Thessalonians. And you'll notice that these come from the gospel working in his life as well. First, the truth of the gospel makes a person gentle. The truth of the gospel, the effectiveness of the gospel makes a person gentle. Verse seven, we were gentle among you like a mother caring for her children.

The gospel imparts a nurturing spirit to those who believe. And it's funny that Paul uses this metaphor, but it's something he feels obviously is the closest to describing this affection that he has, but it's the image of a nursing mother with her child. A nursing mother with her child. Like a mother nursing her baby, true gospel gentleness creates holy intimacy. It inclines our soul to share itself with others.

And the truth of a changed life because of the gospel means that we become less selfish. We become unselfish. Second, the gospel gives a person kindness towards others. Verse eight tells of how much Paul loved them. He says, we love you so much.

Then at the end of that verse, because you have become dear to us. Now today we hear a lot about how love is a decision or an act. It's much more than a warm fuzzy feeling. So you can act in a loving way sometimes without feeling that love. And in a sense that's true, but it's not all that happens when the gospel really flourishes in our hearts.

The gospel causes believers to actually feel affection towards other people. Someone may say, well, that's just because Paul had this response to the gospel or he may have just been an emotional person. But we see this in all the apostles. We see this in all their letters whether that it was Paul who had a very different personality to the Apostle Peter, and Peter who had a very different personality to the Apostle John. In all their letters, they speak of one essential thing, which is love.

In Romans 12:10, the Apostle Paul writes, love one another with brotherly affection. Brotherly affection, which is a very significant special word. Brotherly Philadelphia, family deep, thicker than water love and affection. That word affection is a very strongly emotional word for love. Christians should have a heart for one another, not just an unemotional commitment to do good.

And then the Apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:22, love one another earnestly from the heart. Not just, oh, it's probably time I show someone a little bit of compassion right now. Love one another from the heart, from the emotions. Not just love each other with dutiful deeds and decision making, but earnestly from the heart. The gospel, fully understood, fully appreciated in our lives, will cause us to love deeply and to live our life selflessly.

A pastor once told of a conversation that he had with a church member one day after church. The person said to him, you preachers talk a lot about do unto others, but when you get right down to it, it comes down to your basin theology. Pastor asked, your your basin theology? Don't you mean your basic theology? No, said the congregation member, your basin theology.

Remember what Pilate did when he had the chance to release Jesus? He called for a basin and washed his hands of the whole thing. But Jesus, the night before His death, called for a basin and proceeded to wash the feet of His disciples. It all comes down to your basin theology. The Gospel, the good news, which we love, we sing about, we value, can be shared with two very different basin theologies.

It can be a washing your hands type of theology to give people the information to let them do what they want with that and to move on with your life. Or it can be a basin theology of love and service. The good news Jesus shared was that He was the servant of all humanity, but it hit home powerfully only when He knelt down at the feet of His disciples. It was the basin theology of Jesus that caused His disciples to realise the implications of His message. So why is it important for us to share our souls, to share our lives when it comes to our evangelism, when it comes to our sharing the good news with people?

Well, quite simply, the gospel humility of a shared soul gives great glory to God because it's not about me anymore. The gospel freedom of a shared soul gives health to the mind and depth to worship. The gospel power of a shared soul gives endurance and perseverance in the long and hard ventures of ministry. And everyone in ministry, every elder, every pastor should hear this. Most things of enduring value take a long time to achieve.

Most things of enduring value take a long time to achieve. People like Father Damien who leave a deep mark for Christ usually give a lifetime for people. Pastors, ministry leaders, elders, deacons who build deep and powerful churches for the cause of Christ give twenty, thirty, forty years of their life, not twenty months. Christian statesmen, business owners, Christian professionals, politicians who aim to change the laws, the customs, the culture of a nation are willing to endure twenty, thirty, forty years of setbacks in order to pursue the final victory. Just read William Wilberforce's biography.

Where people share their own soul, the gospel flourishes. Where people share their own soul, the gospel flourishes. Let me tell you, despite the fears you may have for sharing the gospel in your workplace, despite those fears, despite the repercussions people might have threatened against you, I almost want to say no one will fire you if you were to share your very life with them. You may get fired for starting a screaming match with someone over some point of doctrine. You may get fired for spamming the entire workforce with some email or some mail regarding, I don't know, a talk about evolution or something like that.

But that is the wrong basin theology. Where you share your lives with individuals in honest and deep concern, there is power for even the hardest ventures in ministry. No one will fire you if they can sense your real concern and love for them. We've been given the power to give hope to a hopeless generation. We have to remember that.

We have to believe that. We've been given the power to give hope to a hopeless generation. To our friends who use chemicals to numb emptiness, to acquaintances who don't really want our help but really need our help, the mission of our church will always be to make disciples of the nations, to teach others what Jesus has taught us. And our vision is to bring more and more people, be they Australians or South Africans or Asians under the kingship of Jesus and into this family we call Open House Church. And as we sit here this morning, the challenge from the Lord through the words of Paul the Apostle again is to share your life so that the gospel may flourish.

Let's pray. Oh, Lord, give us a heart like the Apostle Paul. Give us a heart, Lord, that does not forget easily those people who are suffering and in need. Give us a mind that does not quickly become distracted by matters of triviality. Give us a burden and an urgency, Lord, as we wait for Your return.

Give us a burden for those around us who have yet to know You. And Father, this week, as we have worked in our workplaces, as we have studied in our schools and universities, and Father, as we have engaged with people who may know we are Christian, who may have heard us share the gospel, Lord, work in and through us in such profound, powerful ways that Your name will become famous, that You will be glorified and honoured and worshipped. Lord, that lives may find their fulfilment in You. Lord, I wanna pray for each person on our heart this very moment. The name of the person who we are thinking of right now, who is far from You, who has never known You or perhaps walked from You.

Father, pray that You'll bring them to Yourself. And Father, give us the honesty and the integrity and the confidence, Lord, to live our life selflessly, to share our souls, our very deepest aspects of our lives with those around us. Father, I know that it takes courage to do that. But let us find an amazing confidence in You that it is not about us, it is not about our failings and our shortcomings, it's not about how we will look, how we will appear to others, but Father that as we live honestly, as we live with integrity, as we show others our deep, true, lasting love for You. Father, that they may start amazing journeys together.

Draw them to Yourself. Holy Spirit, work in their hearts. Give us opportunities, Lord, in amazing ways. We ask, Lord, that they may find You, that they may find healing, rejuvenation, restoration, redemption. We ask You, Jesus, from the bottom of our hearts. Amen.