Ye are witnesses, and God also….
Let us meditate on Paul’s 2nd Epistle to Thessalonians, 2nd chapter (verses 1 to 10).
“Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe” (Vs.10).
For the apostle Paul, preaching the gospel was not an easy job. Before he preached the gospel to the Thessalonians, he had to pay a heavy price for it. He and his team suffered and were shamefully entreated at Philippi. The sufferings and the persecution undergone by them in Philippi did not deter them from reaching out to the Thessalonians. If we face hardships or persecutions while preaching the gospel in a particular town or village, our entrance into other towns or villages should not be deterred.
Paul’s exhortation to the Thessalonians to accept the gospel was not with any ulterior motive of deceit or uncleanness or guile. He and his men did not want to deceive the Thessalonians with a false gospel – a gospel presenting only material blessings or divine healings. Their motive was very clean in the sight of God. No guile was in their motive. Their passion was preaching the undiluted gospel at any cost. They had gone to the Thessalonians with a heart full of love for them. They did not expect the Thessalonians to make arrangements to receive them with bouquets. After undergoing persecution in Philippi for preaching the gospel, they boldly entered Thessalonica.
Paul writes with much assurance that he and his team were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel. We may have wonderful theological background or training through some Bible college. It is God who has to put us in trust with the gospel. If we preach the gospel, not as pleasing men, but God, we will be put in trust by God. Many ministers of the gospel were entrusted with the gospel by God. But in due course, they became pleasers of men because they coveted popularity. They diluted the gospel. Is the God pleased with them today? Does God further put them in trust with the gospel? The gospel that we preach should not please men but should reprove of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
The men and women chosen by God to go to distant nations or continents as His missionaries were put in trust with the gospel. They were tried by God through the furnace of afflictions. They preserved the purity of the gospel and did not dilute it for the sake of “popularity” or for “monetary benefits”. God expects His servants to preserve the purity of the gospel after entrusting the same to them.
Paul and his men did not use any flattering words to win the Thessalonians for Christ. They simply preached the gospel but in the power of God. The Thessalonians witnessed the life of Paul and his men.
Paul and his men labored and travailed night and day with their own hands. They did not live on the “tithes” given by the Thessalonians. They did not appeal to the Thessalonians for any donations. Thus they did not want to burden the latter. They labored day and night with their own hands without expecting any financial support from the latter.
Paul and his men lived a life of holiness and blamelessness before the Thessalonians. They did not want to be burdensome to the Thessalonians for preaching the gospel. They were gentle to the Thessalonians as a nurse cherished her children. For the preaching the gospel, Paul and his men became like a nurse to her children and also like a father to his children. . They did not display their oratorical skills to the Thessalonians. Nor did they preach the gospel with flattering words.
They were willing to have imparted unto the Thessalonians not the gospel of God but also their own souls because the Thessalonians were dear to them. It is easy to preach the gospel. It is easy to pray for the deliverance of the people from sicknesses and from the clutches of evil spirits. But it is very difficult to impart our own souls to the people whom we serve. Imparting our very souls means sacrificing our own comforts for the sake of the people to whom we minister. There are hundreds of missionaries in India who serve in God’s vineyard in an anonymous manner, undergoing great sufferings and persecutions. They live amongst the people to whom they minister. They live a life of penury. Many of them are away from their loved children who are staying in the hostels of mission schools like Santosa Vidhyalaya in Dhonavur, Thirunelveli Dt., Tamil Nadu.
Paul and his men did not seek glory of any man or the Thessalonians while preaching the gospel. They did not covet praises of men. They did not want “any testimony” from the people to whom they preached the gospel. Today we see in Christian magazines many testimonies that glorify the preachers. The preachers would expect the people who have received miracles through their ministries to make a mention that God had performed such miracles in response to their special prayers. But at the same time, I have also come across many testimonies of people who had received miracles in our mission fields. In such testimonies, to my great surprise, I did not find the names of those precious missionaries through whom God performed such miracles. These missionaries remain anonymous in the Christian world. They are like flowers that blossom in the morning and then wither being unnoticed by the gardener. God is glorified through such testimonies.
Paul and his men did not wear a cloak of covetousness. They did not covet any material thing from the Thessalonians as reward for the gospel that they preached. They did not want to be chargeable to the Thessalonians for the gospel preached by them. Paul cited God as a witness. Can we cite God as a witness to our ministry? Is our ministry at the sacrificial altar where we sacrifice all our worldly comforts to win the lost souls for Christ? Can we cite God as a witness to our transparency in financial matters? Can we cite God as a witness as to how we spend the sacrificial offerings being given by His people? Paul cited not only God as the witness but also the Thessalonians as the witnesses. The preachers of the gospel should lead a life of holiness and blamelessness. People should not find fault with their life style. It is not merely their message but mainly their life that should testify to the gospel of Christ. They are supposed to lead a simple life. They should be ensamples to the people to whom they preach.
- Job Anbalagan