1 Thess. 2:3-9, Quality Check for Ministry

In 1 Th. 2 Paul is speaking about his in Thessalonica.  He could say that his desire was met, that his ministry was not empty (v1).  The nature of his ministry was vocal: he spoke the gospel, persuading, sharing and preaching the gospel (v2f, 8f).  His ministry was carried out in the context of trials which gave Paul much integrity (v2).  Paul’s ministry had a depth of quality (v3-9).  It was an approved ministry.


In ministry there is no question that those whose lives are devoted to the ministry of Christ must be accountable to men.  We submit to those who have God-given authority (e.g. Heb. 13:7).  We see this in Paul’s relationship to Peter (Gal. 2) and to Timothy and Titus.  You also see it in the way Paul maintained regular connections with what we would call his “sending church,” the Church at Antioch (Ac. 13:1-3; 14:26-28; 18:22).  We must be open to the reproof and support of others in the Body of Christ.  But we are not to set out in ministry to please men (2:4) or to gain glory from men (2:6).  We must be careful about this because men’s applause can feel pretty good and make us think it is part of God’s encouragement to us.


Instead, we must be approved by God (v4, 6).  God’s approval is especially critical in evangelism where we are preaching to unbelievers.  They may evaluate us in the way of the world.  Jesus touched on this when reproving His disciples about their concern with personal greatness (Mk. 10:35-46).  Remember how He contrasted servanthood with the world’s way of lording it over people.  Those who need Christ might be drawn to us if we excel in the world’s form of leadership, but they will not be drawn to Christ.  

Our ministry must have God’s approval.  Paul sought this for various reasons.

ü God had chosen Paul to ministry to begin with (Gal. 1:15; Ac. 9).

ü God had entrusted Paul with the gospel (1 Cor. 4:1; Eph. 3:1-7). 

ü God could see the heart of Paul!  We can fool men but we cannot fool God.

Thus we conclude that “quality” is defined by God.  How does God define a good ministry of evangelism?  Let us begin with the negative.  Evangelistic ministry that is approved by God is characterized by the absence of:

·        Error, v3: This has to do with the source of our message.  John spoke of this when he referred to the Spirit of truth versus the spirit of error (1 Jn. 4:6).  What we call a cult is the result of deceitful spirits (1 Tim. 4:1).  Error has in it the sense of wandering.  As Paul put it, it is the tendency to be tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine (Eph. 4:14).  When we are seeking to give the gospel to those who are unbelievers we cannot try to build a bridge to them by sourcing our message in their world.  A message with errors is eternally dangerous.  We must be careful in using illustrations and quotes from the current culture.  We must not fear offending people by quoting the Bible, the absolute source of truth.

We are just beginning this theme.  Let us seek to be approved by God (2 Ti. 2:15).