“But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you…” (2 Thes.3:6)The saints in Thessalonica were persecuted by their own countrymen for their new faith after accepting the gospel preached by Paul. While preaching the gospel, Paul did not mince his words but told the plain truth that they would suffer tribulation for their faith.Paul was true to the gospel he preached. When the Thessalonians faced the trial, he promptly sent Timothy to them. He could have simply told them that he would pray for them. But, in order to strengthen their faith, Paul sent his co-worker Timothy to them. He did not stop there. He then wrote this wonderful epistle to them. About afflictions, he writes, “That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto”. Paul writes in his epistle about tribulation, “...even as it came to pass, and ye know”.
When we preach the gospel, do you speak the plain truth that those who accept Jesus Christ would face tribulations for their faith and that they are appointed thereunto? Today many people have forsaken their faith and backslidden just because they had not received any miracle or healing. The other side of the coin is that many people after receiving miracles or healings have forsaken their faith because they had faced afflictions afterwards. These people had been mentally prepared only for receiving miracles in the name of Jesus Christ and not for facing tribulations.
Have we strengthened the faith of those who had faced tribulations by personally ministering to them? Paul first preached the gospel to the Thessalonians. Then he strengthened their faith by sending Timothy to them and then by writing an epistle to them. These days, we preach the gospel to the millions through our crusades/Television channels. But where are the Timothy’s for comforting and edifying them when they face tribulations? What steps have been taken by the evangelists to take care of those who have accepted their message of gospel? We preach to the millions but minister to the hundreds and that too, only those who come forward to support our ministries financially.
Timothy after edifying the Thessalonians brought a good report on their faith and charity to Paul. Thessalonians after facing tribulations started growing in their faith and also in their charity work. They started giving to God.
Paul praised the Thessalonians for their remembrance of him and his men and for their great desire to see him. The new believers should be ministered in such a manner that they may be motivated to remember and love those who had brought them the good tidings. Paul also expressed his desire to see them. Seeing face to face for fellowship is very necessary in our Christian life. These days, the people to whom we minister are not able to see us face to face because we have no time to meet them. Even in this electronic age of fast communication through internet, we do not care to read their emails sent to us because we are busy in His vineyard – busy making tours overseas.
The tragedy in our Christian ministries today is that we do not train and build co-workers for sharing our vision and for shouldering responsibilities of our ministry. Many Christian ministries have only “subordinate staff” as in commercial organizations. These subordinate staff are not trained and equipped in a similar manner as Paul trained and equipped Timothy for the ministry. They do not raise up Timothy’s. They build their ministries on their own names and personalities.
If we have co-workers like Timothy with us, they can open our email In-boxes, pray and minister to the thousands of people who seek our prayers and guidance through emails. We will never leave this job to our “Webmasters”. Every co-worker will be a webmaster with us. Every co-worker will be an evangelist with us. Every co-worker will be a prayer warrior with us. Every co-worker will go and preach the gospel to the millions in place of the evangelist concerned. How long the poor evangelist will preach the gospel? How long an evangelist with his/her frail health will travel to many places in the nation and in the world? Paul deputed Timothy to the Thessalonians. He could have gone there. But Paul did not choose to go to Thessalonica in place of Timothy.
Paul called Timothy “our brother, and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ” (Vs.2). Timothy was not a subordinate minister or a worker or a ministerial assistant. He was a fellow laborer and a minister of God. We should call our office staff or those who labor with us as “ministers of God”. They are also coequal with us in God’s ministry. If we build our organization on our co-workers and not on our names or our own children, our organization will not be infested with the worms of corruption.
Many years ago, I had sent a letter with my books to a popular minister of God in the South India. I am yet to receive a reply from him. I was told that he was very busy going to different parts of India and abroad. Where are the Timothy’s? If we want to do everything ourselves without delegating our authority to our co-workers in our ministries, we will get exhausted in due course, both physically and spiritually.
- Job Anbalagan