Catalyzing Mission

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Today we are continuing our series on Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, although we will take a break next Sunday because we will be welcoming my good friend N.T. Wright to be the guest preacher. N.T. Wright is a biblical scholar, retired bishop in the Church of England, and he'll be delivering a message on Isaiah 40. So I invite you to join us for that.

But today we focus on 1 Thessalonians, and this is a letter in which the central theme from beginning to end is the power of the gospel to revolutionize our individual and corporate lives. When you place the gospel at the center of your heart and life, it unleashes the power of God. It transforms lives. It creates a unique kind of community, and it catalyzes mission.

Background

By way of background, we know from Acts chapter 16 and 17 that the apostle Paul traveled from Asia Minor to Philippi and then on to the large seaport town of Thessalonica that was located 200 miles north of Athens. And quite unexpectedly, a number of people from a Jewish background and even more from a Greco-Roman background welcomed Paul and his companions and received the message of the gospel for themselves. And as a result, people from hundreds of miles around to the north and to the south heard this surprising news and then reported it back to Paul. So the key verse comes in 1 Thessalonians 1:8,

For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything to anyone, because everyone already knows.

And the point is that our faith is supposed to make a sound like the blast of a trumpet or perhaps the ringing of a bell. Our faith is not supposed to remain silent, but rather our faith is supposed to resound from our lives. It's supposed to echo and reverberate among the people around us, pointing them to the reality of the living and true God who has made himself known in the person of Jesus.

So we've already considered how the gospel transforms lives, and then how the gospel creates a community. Today, I'd like to focus on how the gospel catalyzes mission. So during our time together today, I'd like us to consider: 1) The Call to Mission, 2) The Challenge to Mission, and 3) The Key to Mission.

³For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, ⁴but 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. ⁵For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. ⁶Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. ⁷But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. ⁸So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

⁹For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. ¹⁰You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. ¹¹For you know how, like a father with his children, ¹²we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

¹³And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

The Call To Mission

The first question I'd like us to consider is: Who exactly is called to participate in God's mission in the world? The root of the word “mission” means “to send.” And God is presented in the Scriptures as a “sending” God. Jesus described himself as the “Sent One.” The Father sends the Son, the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit, and Father, Son, and Holy Spirit send us. After his resurrection, John tells his disciples, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” But when it comes to mission, it's easy to fall into the trap that mission is limited to a select group of people who participate in God's work some of the time, and usually it takes place somewhere else, like a short-term mission trip. It's reserved for the professionals or the elite. But no, God is always on mission. And God never calls you into relationship with himself without sending you out to participate in his mission.

So mission is not reserved to some Christians, some of the time, somewhere else, but rather it's for all of us, all the time, everywhere. We, as his people, are called to be people on mission no matter where we are. We're called to be on mission without even leaving our zip code, all the time and everywhere. It's impossible to be united to Jesus without participating in his mission to the world, and a church that fails to be missional fails to be a church. And the earliest Christians in Thessalonica understood that. One of the striking features of this letter, compared to some of the others that Paul wrote, is that Paul never addresses a single individual by name in this epistle, nor even a group of leaders.

Consider by contrast his letter to the Philippians. Paul addresses that letter to the overseers and the deacons. Or in his letter to the Romans, he sends greetings to specific people like Phoebe and Aquila and Priscilla. But here, this letter is simply addressed to the church as a whole. If you look at verse one, it says, “To the Thessalonians in God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.” So it's the whole church together that's called to participate in God's mission to the world. And it was the whole church together in Thessalonica that was causing the gospel to resound. It was their faith collectively that was becoming known throughout the whole region, almost naturally and spontaneously. And therefore we, too, no matter who we are, are called to participate in God's mission in the world.

And here's the encouraging thing about it. As we consider the state of the world, with all of its difficulties and with all of its pain, we can take comfort from knowing that we're never alone, because it's not all up to us. No, God sends the whole body of Christ, the whole church, into his mission. So all of us are called to participate in God's mission all the time, everywhere.

The Challenge To Mission

But the second question we have to ask ourselves is: Why is this so challenging? Why is participating in God's work in the world so hard? Well, one of the things that we quickly discover as we read through I Thessalonians is that Paul's ministry was being challenged by critics. Now you may recall that after Paul spent some time in Thessalonica, a mob eventually arose in opposition to him, and as a result, Paul and Silas had to be smuggled out of the city under cover of darkness. But as soon as Paul was gone, his critics began to challenge his ministry. Why? Well, ancient people were just as street-smart and cynical as contemporary New Yorkers, and so they assumed the worst about Paul, and they engage in a smear campaign. They tell these Christians in Thessalonica who had become believers that Paul doesn't really care about them. He's only interested in himself. Paul's like all those other wisdom teachers that traveled around the ancient world from town to town and they offered some new philosophy, but it was just an attempt to gain more power or status or influence or perhaps sex from their new initiates. And you see, Paul was just like them. As soon as opposition arose against him, he skipped town, never to be seen or heard from again.

Now when we read an epistle like this, we have to remember that we're reading somebody else's mail, and we're only hearing half the conversation. But if we pay attention to the details of what Paul says, we can engage in a little mirror reading, and we can understand more precisely the ways in which Paul and his ministry were being critiqued. And what we learn is that Paul's detractors were attacking 1) his message, 2) his methods and 3) his motives. They said that his message was false. They said that his methods were manipulative and that his motives were impure.

Message

First of all, they said that his message was false. They're claiming that the gospel is not good news but rather fake news. They're saying that Paul made it all up. And so Paul has to explain, in 1 Thessalonians 2:3, that his appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive. His message is not false.

Methods

Secondly, they accused his methods of being manipulative. So Paul has to explain in 1 Thessalonians 2:5, we never came with words of flattery, nor do we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others.

Motives

Then thirdly, they were claiming that Paul's motives were impure, that he was just in it for himself. And so he has to explain in 1 Thessalonians 2:5 that our coming to you was not a pretext for greed. This was not just an attempt for us to make money. And then he'll go on to say, for example, in verse 10, you were witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. So Paul's ministry was being challenged.

Well, what about us? What about the challenges that we face in our day? Here I want us to pause, and I want to ask us to consider, what's the story being told about the Church with a capital C? Well, the narrative is that the Church with a capital C, the Church writ large in America today, is in decline. And in many ways, that's true; the numbers speak for themselves.

We've witnessed the leadership pipeline dry up. That's one of the reasons why we launched Resound Project — to try to raise up more leaders to serve the Church. There's more people dropping out of ministry as a result of burnout, and there's more and more people dropping off from entering the ministry in the first place. As I talk to pastor friends around the country, many of us agree that perhaps this is an unintended side effect of the faith and work movement. Many of us for decades were so excited to explain that the sacred/secular split is a false dichotomy, and that every sphere of life provides us with an opportunity to serve God's purposes in the world. But in our excitement, we might have forgotten to call people into ministry. We might have forgotten to lift up becoming a pastor as a high and noble calling. And we've seen, therefore, that precipitous decline in people entering the ministry, and those who have chosen to enter the ministry, those who have answered the call, soon find themselves feeling under-equipped to handle the leadership challenges, the societal changes, and the long-term toll of doing ministry in the present environment.

People also talk about the great dechurching that is taking place in America today: 15% of people who attended church at least once a month now attend only once a year at best. And one of the most talked about features of American life is the rise of the “nones.” 30% now of American adults claim no religious affiliation. They choose “none of the above.” They don't claim any religious identity at all.

In some ways, these trends show no sign of reversing. In fact, they might even get worse. Because thus far, we seem to be unable to reach younger generations at the same rate as we once reached older generations of people. So what's the message? What's the message about the Church today? Well, the message is that the Church is a hopeless case. It's a lost cause. It's just a matter of time before the Church dies out. But in my view, that's what people would have said about Central, this church, 20 years ago. So what I'd like to do is take a moment to just flip the script a little bit, because what if all the predictions are wrong? What if the problem isn't out there with those people who aren't going to church anymore? What if the problem is in here, starting with us?

We need to start with ourselves. Maybe the problem is that the Church has been co-opted by partisan politics on the left and the right. What if the Church has been compromised by sex scandals and moral failures and cults of personality? See, I think it's fair to say that the Church writ large is suffering from a credibility crisis. People don't trust the Church as an institution. And a major source of the problem is that Christians are often naively unaware of the degree to which we're being influenced by the culture. We're far more likely to be influenced by our broader culture than to change it, and rather than anticipating what the future will look like, Christians are often not only reacting but often overreacting to yesterday's problems. And so we find ourselves sort of caught behind the eight ball, and we've got to find a way to be able to peer around corners, to anticipate what's coming, to assume a proactive rather than reactive stance, so that we might both communicate and embody the gospel in a faithful and effective way for our time.

This is the call that's been placed upon all of us. But here's the encouraging news. If you look more closely at the data that's often being shared — if you consider those 30% of Americans who claim no religious affiliation — what they also say about themselves is that they're not staunch atheists. These are not hard-nosed skeptics. No, most of them describe themselves as being spiritually curious, and many of them would happily say “yes” to an invitation to church if someone just gave them a church worth going to. And even in the newspaper this week, there was reporting about how there seems to be an uptick among the Gen Z in terms of their participation in church and Christian community. And for the first time, it may be that younger men are more involved than younger women.

So if you look more closely at the data, I don't see doom and dismay. I actually see opportunity. There's a reemergence of spiritual openness and curiosity that we have to figure out how to tap into. And so if we're willing to engage the world around us in humility, courage, and love, rather than pride, fear, and anger, we might just discover that despite all the social fragmentation and the political polarization, despite all the cultural upheaval and all the technological advances we're making, that the Church actually has something to say. That the Church of Jesus actually has something to offer the world around us, and rather than lagging behind, we should be leading the way. Why? Because the Church, the Body of Christ, is called to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world. We're called to preserve that which is good and true and beautiful from corruption and decay, and we're called to illumine those places of darkness and despair with the light of the gospel.

The Key To Mission

So if that's the challenge — if we're experiencing something of a credibility crisis in our country today — what's the key? What's the key to mission? Well, the key is to do God's mission in God's way. And that's what Paul reveals for us here. Paul's critics were questioning his methods — how he was doing ministry. And they were questioning his motives — why he was doing ministry in the first place. Paul provides us with a response to these accusations, and by so doing, he gives us two illustrations for how to do mission in God's way.

First of all, we have to note how Paul responds to the criticism. He had lived among the people in Thessalonica for a considerable length of time — for at least several months, if not close to a year. And so in light of the accusations that are being made against him, Paul responds to these Thessalonian believers by saying, you know me. You know who I am. Remember how I conducted myself. Remember how I lived my life among you. Remember. Reflect. Notice how many times he says this in chapter 2: For you yourselves know. You know. As you know. God is witness. For you remember. You are witnesses, and God also. For you know these things.

So what does he do when he takes the Thessalonians back to the time that he spent with them, side by side, shoulder to shoulder? Well to describe his methods, Paul uses the image of a mother. And then to describe his motives, Paul uses the image of a father. So he uses the image of both a mother and a father to describe his own ministry.

Now as a side note, let me just offer one thought. Let's not fault Paul for being an ancient person living in an ancient world. Paul is using analogies that he knows are going to be helpful to his original audience. So when he speaks of the image of a mother and a father, Paul's goal here is not to perpetuate stereotypes about gender roles. That would be to miss the point. Of course, fathers are also nurturing, and mothers also play a role in the education of their children. So Paul's not perpetuating stereotypes here. That's not the point. What's more impressive — what's especially striking when you consider the fact that Paul did live in a patriarchal culture in the first century — is that he voluntarily chooses to use the image of both a mother and a father to describe himself and his own ministry. So by using both of these images, Paul shows (despite what critics often say) he wasn't a chauvinist. So what can we learn from these images?

Mother

First, let's consider the image of a mother. Paul's detractors questioned his methods. They accused him of being manipulative. But Paul explains that he could have demanded that he be treated differently as an apostle. He could have made demands as an apostle. He could have asserted his authority. He could have thrown his weight around. He could have insisted on his rights. And when he was criticized, he could have responded by saying, “Well don't you know who you're talking to? I mean, how dare you question me?” But that's not how he responds. Instead, he says that he was gentle among you, like a nursing mother. So let me just ask you, is a nursing mother typically on a power trip? Is a nursing mother concerned about her ego or status in relation to her baby? Does that nursing mom tell her baby what's what and really try to put that baby in its place? No, a nursing mother is concerned, first and foremost, with simply nurturing her child.

And Paul explains that a mother is typically not only gentle but also loving and sacrificial. Now I have four kids, so I've seen a nursing mom in action, and I can tell you from my own experience that a nursing mother is far more likely to forget her own needs. A nursing mother is far more likely to forget to take care of herself because all of her concern is on sacrificially caring for her baby. And Paul says, that's how we were among you. Remember how we conducted ourselves. We were so affectionately desirous of you that we were willing to share with you not only the gospel but our own selves, because you had become so dear to us. We loved you. We were willing to sacrifice everything for you. There's nothing we wouldn't have done. And that, of course, is what we need more of today. We need more Christians and Christian leaders who are willing to not only give the gospel but give themselves. That would go a long way to help deal with that credibility crisis.

Father

Secondly, Paul uses the image of a father. Again, his detractors not only questioned his methods but also his motives. They say that he was motivated by greed; he was just in it for himself. Paul was like a traveling snake oil salesman. He was just trying to take advantage of other people in order to make a buck for himself. But Paul says, no, no, no. Think about how we lived when we were among you. He says, we toiled and we labored. We worked night and day. Presumably Paul worked at his side profession as a tentmaker why? So that he would not be a financial burden to the Thessalonians. He wasn't in it for making money. In fact, he was trying to be so careful not to put any kind of financial stress on the Thessalonians so that they could receive the message of the gospel free of charge. So Paul says, I was like a father to you.

Now what's the connection? What's the connection between saying that he was acting like a father to the Thessalonians and insisting that he tried so hard not to be a financial burden to the Thessalonians? Well do you get it? Fathers don't charge their kids for raising them up. You might charge your kids rent if they're still living in your apartment when they turn 35, but you don't charge a 9-year-old. And that's the point. Paul is saying that he became a spiritual father to the Thessalonians. He introduced them to the faith, and his goal was to raise them up into maturity, and he wasn't charging them a thing. No, he was doing the ministry freely out of his own expense. And like a father, he was committed to the education of his children, which was very typical in the Greco-Roman world. So he says that he not only set an example for them, but we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk, meaning to live in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. See, nothing could be more important to Paul than that we live in a manner that is worthy of the gospel of God.

Do you see why this is the key to mission? By doing God's mission in God's way, the work proved to be effective. By being gentle and nurturing, and by being sacrificial and encouraging the spiritual growth of others, they received the Word. He sums it up in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 by saying, “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” You see when you receive the message of the gospel, it unleashes the power of God in the world, first with yourself — it is at work in you believers — and then out to the world around you.

So if our motives are pure, if our methods are above reproach, well then maybe, just maybe, people will come to see that our message is true. And the question then is, if that's the key to mission, how do we learn to be people like that? And the answer is that we have to look to Jesus. We have to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith. Because consider Jesus. Jesus was the one and only Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, and yet Jesus did not consider his equality with God something to be grasped, something to be seized, something to be taken advantage of for himself. He didn't demand that he be treated a certain way as the Son of God. He didn't throw his weight around. He didn't assert his authority. He didn't insist on his own rights. Instead, what did Jesus do? He emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born with the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he became obedient, not only unto death, but unto death, of all places, on a cross. You see, Jesus was gentle with you. He was loving and he was sacrificial. He was so affectionately desirous of you that he was willing not only to share the gospel but to share his very self. He not only gave you the gospel, he gave Himself. He sacrificed Himself on the cross.

His method was one of love, and his motives were pure, because Jesus wasn't in it for himself. What did Jesus have to gain from going to the cross other than you? He didn't charge you in order to raise you up into maturity as a child of God. It doesn't cost us anything for Jesus to bring many sons and daughters to glory, but it cost Jesus everything. Why? So that he might extend the Word of the gospel to us free of charge, without any financial burden or obligation, so that we might receive that message as it really is — not the mere message of human beings, but the very Word of God, which is now at work within us and through us to the world around us.

Jesus' motives were pure, His method was love, and His message is true. And when we receive it as it truly is, we unleash the power of God in the world to transform lives, to create an utterly unique kind of community, and to catalyze our mission. So let's engage in God's mission, in God's way, by His grace.

Let me pray for us.

Father, we thank you for the call that you've placed on each and every one of us, all of us, to participate in your work in the world. You never call us into a relationship with yourself without sending us out into your mission. And so help us to do so despite the challenges that we might face, despite the criticism that we might receive. Help us to do your mission in your way. We pray that by your grace you might purify our motives, that you might ensure that our methods are always above reproach. And help us to clearly communicate the gospel so that everyone everywhere might know that it's true — so that they might receive it as it really is, not as the word of mere men but as the word of God, which is at work within us. We ask all this in the strong and powerful name of Jesus. Amen.

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Resounding Faith: Catalyzing Mission

Related Resources

The Call To Mission

The Challenge To Mission

The Key To Mission