Sermon: Marks of a Mature Ministry

I wanna welcome you all to our evening service as we close out the Lord's Day, and tonight we're continuing through a sermon series through one Thessalonians.

So once again, before we do anything else, let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Father, every word in this short paragraph that we're gonna look at tonight, every word is inspired by your spirit. And we know that we live not by bread alone, but by every word that comes from your mouth. So Father, would you, through your spirit tonight, be gracious and plant this word deep inside? Would you cause us to believe these words? And would you cause us to love you with all our heart and soul and mind, and to live

and we pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Our passage tonight is one Thessalonians two, starting in verse 17 and reading through chapter three, verse five, one Thessalonians two, 17 through three five. Before we read that, I want to just give a little context. Again, this is just a short paragraph in this letter from Paul to the Thessalonians, and without context, it might not make a lot of sense or it might not seem very relevant.

So let me first remind you of the sequence of events that lead up to what we're reading tonight. In about 49 or 50 ad, Paul and Silas came to Thessalonika, a Greek city. They preached the gospel and had a very successful ministry. The, uh, Luke says that some Jews believed a great, many Greeks believed, and not a few leading women believed. Well, as often happens, opposition arose and they had to leave, and Paul was not able to finish his instruction

to the Thessalonians. And that's gonna be significant because he's a little worried about that. So they go on to the city of Berea, preach the gospel again, have successful ministry. But some Jews from Thessalonika followed them and again, stirred up the crowds. So Paul has to leave again. Paul goes on to Athens, and he's in some anxiety about the Thessalonians again because he wasn't able to complete the ministry and the teaching that he had intended.

So he sends Timothy to them to see how they're doing. Are they standing firm in the faith? And then Paul goes on to Corinth, and there he receives from Timothy A. Good report about the Thessalonians. They are, they are steadfast in their faith, and Paul is encouraged, but he also realizes that he's being criticized by the Thessalonians for insincerity and lack of love, because he wasn't able to get back to them quickly.

They, they imputed bad motives to him and said he was insincere and didn't really love them. So they made a negative judgment about them. Today we would call that mind reading, not some psychic activity, but the kind of mind reading where we assume we know what other someone else is thinking or feeling and what their motives are without real proof. The Bible calls mind reading, judging, and it's absolutely forbidden because it violates the royal law of love.

Jesus says, judge, not that you be not judged, James says, there's only one law giver and judge he who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? But as we're gonna see here tonight, there appears to have been this mind reading or judging going on in the relationship between the Thessalonians towards Paul. So with that context, let's read our passage, one Thessalonians two, verse 17 through three, verse five.

This is the word of the Lord. But since we were torn away from you brothers for a short time in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face because we wanted to come to you, I Paul again and again, but Satan hindered us for what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus that is coming. Is it not you for you, our glory and joy? Therefore, when we could bear it no longer, we were willing

to be left behind at Athens alone. And we sent Timothy, our brother and God's coworker in the gospel of Christ to establish and exhort you in your faith that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction just as it has come to pass. And just as you know, for this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent

to learn about your faith for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain. So what I wanna share tonight is what does mature ministry look like, specifically five marks of mature ministry. So the first of the five marks of mature ministry that we see in Paul is genuine love and eager longing. We see that in chapter two, verse 17 and 18 A. He says, we were torn away from you for a short time in person not in heart.

We endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face. Paul assures the Thessalonians that he was unwillingly separated from them and that it was only a physical separation, not a separation in heart. He, he uses these kinds of words. We were torn away in person, but not in heart. We endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face. We wanted to come to you, I Paul again and again.

And when we could bear it no longer, we sent Timothy, can you sense Paul's affection, his deep affection for these saints? He wants to see them, he wants to encourage them, he wants to teach them. In Romans 12, nine, Paul says, let love be genuine. That means let it be real. Let it be honest. Let it be true. Let it be sincere seer. As I reflect on my walking with Jesus for over 50 years, there have been many people who have loved me.

Well, many of them are out there right now, out, out sitting where you're sitting. But when I think of my early Christian life, the first few years, I think of one person in particular, his name was Fred Alt. He was the older brother of, uh, Joella Hogan and Judy Trow, Tim ALT's cousin, uh, Fred. I met when he was, uh, about to graduate from Trinity Seminary. I lived in the Chicago area where he was, and it was largely his influence.

Well, it was completely his influence that led me to move here in 1973 with no job, no place to live. I had flunked outta college. I really just moved here to come to this church. So after I moved here, Fred was associate pastor and we used to meet every week we'd have lunch together, talk, and so on one of those days we were done and he was walking me back to my car. And Fred, if you knew him, was just a, a a cheerful, gregarious guy.

He just hugged me. And as he hugged me, he said, pat, I love you. Now I kind of knew already that he loved me, but to hear it said from another man, it just took my breath away. That's one memory of being genuinely loved. One other memory, uh, Fred had a niece hasn't, well, Fred has passed away, but his niece is Carissa Manar. And when Nick and Carissa were gonna get married several years later, it was on a lake. I remember it was a Saturday and it was very windy.

And Grace Spalding and I were trying to get everything together and music was kind of blowing all over the place. So we were up in the front and I spotted Fred in the back. He had just arrived. He lived in New Jersey then, and he kind of made his way across and then came right up the front and with his big beard and a big grin on his face, he gave me a bear hug. And this time he planted a big kiss on my cheek. Now, I know this is not normal male behavior,

but that was Fred and I knew I was loved and he was eager to see me. So mature ministry has to do with the heart. We genuinely love one another, and when we're separated, we long to be with each other. The second mark of mature ministry is in verses 19 and 20. Paul says, for what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you for you are our glory and joy. So Paul's talking about boasting here.

So the second mark of mature ministry is having the right reasons to boast, having the right reasons to boast. This is not a topic we talk about very much because we kind of know we're not supposed to boast. So let me ask some questions about boasting. What does it mean? A kind of formal definition is boasting, is to talk about your own achievements with excessive pride and self-satisfaction. And again, we kind of know that's that's not right.

So what do people in the world tend to boast about? Well, any kind of achievements or accomplishments. Sometimes people boast about their children or their family members. Sometimes they boast about their material possessions, the relationships they have, maybe the people they know and certainly achieving various goals. But what about us? Do Christians boast? Well, again, we certainly feel squeamish about that, although we know it's okay to to share your testimony

and to to give thanks to God for what he's done. But do we sometimes fall into a wrong kind of boasting? I think we do. We are to give thanks. We are to give our testimony, but it's hard to keep pride out of it because we still struggle with remnant sin in our lives. So we might boast about how we came to faith or, uh, about our faith. We might boast about our church again, about our families or our education or our ministry.

In 1991, I wrote a song, uh, called Grace, grace, most beautiful word, and two of the lines are about me. And it says this intending to witness, I just start to brag, weaving a garment of self-righteous rags. It's easy to start with, a good desire to glorify the Lord and then somehow to insert ourselves into that. A w tozer said, boasting is an evidence that we are pleased with our ourself. Belittling ourselves is evidence

that we're disappointed either way. We reveal that we have a high opinion of ourselves. So the question is, how do we learn to boast, right? Because Paul just said he was boasting. How do we learn to boast with humility? I think we can learn that by looking at this passage and seeing two clues. First clue. Paul says, he boasts before the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember he said, what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming?

So Paul is always looking up. He's always looking up with the eyes of faith, and he sees the majesty and the glory and the holiness and the beauty of Christ that's gonna mitigate against ungodly boasting. Then he looks ahead to when Christ will return, coming on the clouds of glory with the angels and his saints. And that is even more powerful. So we will boast correctly when our eyes are looking up to the glory of Christ

and our eyes are looking ahead to his second coming. The second clue is that he boasts not about himself. He boasts about what the Lord has done through the gospel to transform the Thessalonians. He says, for you are our glory and joy. The the mood here is gratitude and praise. It's not pride and self-congratulation. He, he acknowledges that God used him to preach the gospel. But again, his gaze, his delight is looking up,

looking out, and then looking out this way to see what God is doing in other people's lives. John Stot says, what Paul seems to mean in this transport of love is that his joy in this world and his glory in the next are tied up with the Thessalonians, whom Christ through the apostles ministry has so signaling transformed. So the second mark of mature ministry is we do boast, but we boast with humility in the Lord and we delight in what he's doing in the lives of others.

The third mark of mature ministry is in chapter two, verse 18, and then chapter three verses three and four. And I'm just gonna read those again.

Paul says, in chapter two 18, we wanted to come to you, I Paul again and again, but Satan hindered me. And then chapter three, verse three, he's talking about that he wants that no one be moved by these afflictions for you yourselves know that we are destined for this. For, for when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction just as it has come to pass. So the third mark of mature ministry is the ability

to navigate through suffering by faith, the ability to navigate through suffering by faith. The key word in these verses is affliction or afflictions. It's used many times in the New Testament, often in Paul's letter, sometimes it's translated tribulation, sometimes trouble, sometimes affliction. Now it often, maybe we could say even most of the time refers to persecution for our faith. It clearly means that here in, in,

in First Thessalonians in chapter two, verse 14, Paul says, for you suffered the same things from your own countrymen, as they did from the Jews, clearly referring to human hostility against the Christian faith. But the word affliction has a broader meaning. And there are different words in the New Testament for affliction and persecution. So what does affliction mean? The meaning of affliction is any kind of stress, pressure,

oppression, or distress. It's anything that causes pain or suffering. David Paulison set a affliction is a catch word. Whatever presses you or distresses you tests or troubles, you hurts or burdens you. So while it often refers to persecution, it actually is broader than that. So Paul's concern for the Thessalonians and for us, as he says here, is that no one, not them, not us, be moved by these afflictions for he says, you yourselves know

that we are destined for this. And he also says, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction. So Paul's concern is that whatever kind of affliction you suffer as you follow Jesus in faith, that you not be moved away from the Lord. Notice that besides persecution, he mentions a particular and rather mysterious kind of affliction when he says, we want it to come to you again and again. But Satan hindered us. That's a strange phrase.

Uh, scholars don't know and don't agree on what that means, but somehow Satan hindered him from coming. So let's try to put all this together about affliction. Paul's telling us that as we do ministry, whatever that ministry is, we are destined to suffer afflictions of various kinds from the world, the flesh and the devil, and that we are not to be moved by them. Now, what might those afflictions look like today, 2025?

Well, it could be some kind of persecution, some kind of harassment or ostracism at work or your family because of your faith. It's gonna happen more and more. I believe it could be unresponsive people that you're trying to evangelize or disciple or counsel or serve. The affliction could be some kind of sin or scandal in the church. It could be any one of a hundred different excruciating losses or calamities or it could be.

And here we're kind of harking back to what Paul said about Satan hindering. It also reminds us of what he says in two Corinthians 12 about this mysterious thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan. So sometimes there's just unexplained suffering in our lives that makes us feel very weak, very dependent, and seems like it might threaten our usefulness to the Lord. Paul says, we're destined for these and we're not to be moved from them.

So how do we successfully navigate through these kinds of afflictions? Three things. Many more things could be said, but three things. Number one, expect them. Paul wants us not to be blindsided. He says, we're destined for this. Peter in one Peter four 12 says, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening. So we should expect them. That's not our mindset in America.

Our mindset is we have medicine, we have technology, we have this, we, and we expect to live in the suburbs spiritually. Speaking of Disney World where everything is magical. Well, we live in a broken world and the and the, the, the, the apostles tell us to expect it. Second, learn how affliction is part of the secret of ministry. And we're going back to second Corinthians one, four. It says, God comforts us in all our affliction so

that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction. God doesn't waste our afflictions. He not only ordains them, he uses them. The dynamic is we experience affliction of various kinds. God comforts us in our affliction in many different ways, and then now we have comfort to give other people. So recognize that your afflictions are part of the dynamic of how you are gonna be able to minister comfort to others.

And the third thing is we need to live in community and ask for prayer. Paul says in two Corinthians one 11, he's just talked about brothers, we don't want you to be uninformed about the affliction we experienced in Asia. We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despair of life. This was life-threatening affliction. And then he said, this was to, to make us not rely on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.

But then he says this, you also must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf. So Paul expected to be delivered, but he knew that he couldn't do it without the prayers of the saints. We have a prayer chain in our church, which is being used a lot lately. There's just a lot of different afflictions and praise God, when those prayer chain things go out, people pray. They pray on the spot, they pray later with their husband

or wife and children, they pray through the week. And we often see the evidence of God's power and his love. So how do we navigate? We expect afflictions. We learn that they are part of the how we minister and we live in community and ask for prayer. Two more marks. The fourth mark is in chapter three, verse two. He says, we sent Timothy, our brother and God's coworker in the gospel of Christ to establish and exhort you in your faith.

When I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith for fear. Somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain. So the fourth mark of mature ministry is a single overriding goal in ministry. And that goal is to establish and exhort the saints in faith. That's the fourth mark of mature ministry. A single goal to establish and exhort the saints in faith. Doing that is New Testament Christianity.

Jesus said in John six, what must we do? The the, uh, the, the Jews were asking him, what must we do to be doing the works of God? We often ask that, what do you want me to do? Jesus answered, this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent. So faith begins the Christian life in Philippians one. Paul says, convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith.

Faith continues the Christian life. Or we could say it this way. We could say that we are both justified and sanctified by faith. In Acts 26, God says to Paul, I'm sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins, that's justification and a place among those who are sanctified by faith. That's sanctification. So faith is crucial.

It's foundational. Why, first of all, faith is so important because it's the only way you can please God. And it's the only way you will be commended by God not condemned. Hebrews 11. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation, not condemnation. And without faith, it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe

that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. So the first reason is faith is the only way to please God. And it's the only way to be sure that you will be commended. I know that you're no different than me. The older I get, the more I think about the only thing worth living for is to hear Jesus say, well done, good and faithful servant. That will be it. That will be heaven. Second reason why faith is so important,

it is both the entryway and the channel of every other gospel grace. Faith is foundational. It opens the door and it becomes the channel for other gospel graces. John trap, not sure who he was, but this is a good quote. Faith is the mother, grace, the womb wherein love and all the rest of the heavenly offspring are conceived. Faith, working through love is the Christian life. And the third reason why faith is so important is,

and I'm just gonna quote Paul here, whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. So our goal in ministry is to establish exhort work with people for their progress and joy in the faith. One more fifth mark of mature ministry. An unshakeable foundation of the gospel of Christ, the unshakeable foundation of our lives and ministry is the gospel of Christ. Now, I admit that this is not a big part of this paragraph. It's just mentioned in passing.

Paul says, we sent Timothy, our brother and God's worker in the gospel of Christ to establish and exhort you in your faith. But even though it's just a phrase in this paragraph, I don't wanna treat it as of passing significance. And we know that Paul wouldn't either. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the solid rock beneath our feet when the whole world seems to be shaking. The gospel of Christ is the only salvation of our souls.

It is the alpha and the omega of all meaning and purpose and hope in life. And the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only motivation and power to do ministry. Romans one 16, Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Paul again, in Acts 20, I do not account my life of, of any value nor as precious to myself. If only I may finish my course and the ministry I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify

to the gospel of the grace of God. The gospel is everything. So as we close here, I want to just unpack how the gospel is our foundation, just a little more brothers and sisters, we, you, me, we have an extremely high calling. We are called to seek, to grow in mature ministry, mature living, mature ministry. God calls us to press on to these five things, and I'm just reviewing what we've talked about tonight. He calls us to press on to genuine love

and eager longing for one another's good. He calls us to press on to selfless boasting of God's work in others. He calls us to navigate through predestined sufferings by his grace. He calls us to a single goal in our church of establishing and growing and immovable steadfast faith. And he calls us to know that everything depends on the gospel for its foundation in order to press onto this high calling. Paul says, one thing I do, I forget what lies behind

and I strain forward. I press on toward the goal for the call of the upward, the, the, the goal of the upward call in Christ. In order to do that, it leads us as it should and as we want back to Jesus,

we need to believe in Jesus. We need to rejoice in Jesus. We need to clinging to Jesus every day. He is the source and he is the sum of every gospel blessing, including the five things we've been talking about tonight. Why is that? Because Jesus alone lived the life that you and I were supposed to live of. Complete devotion to God, but we didn't. We wouldn't, we couldn't. And so he lived it for us and gives us that righteousness.

And he also died to pay for all our covenant violations. We've not loved God. We've not loved our neighbor. We deserve death and how, and he took it for us on the cross. So we clinging to him because he alone lived and died to purchase all these blessings for us. Secondly, all the blessings that we need and desire are found in Christ alone. You cannot just seek Christ to get something else. Everything you need is in Christ.

I I wish I had it here. There's a beautiful quote from Calvin's Institutes about how everything you need and desire is found in Christ, in his birth, in his holiness, in his condemnation, in his death, and so on. Every blessing is in Christ outside of Christ. There's no blessings. And then finally, we clinging to Christ because when we fail and fall short and we will, Christ alone is willing and able to forgive and restore us.

If we're living for someone or something else, we will not find that mercy.

So, oh, where are you tonight? Are you in Christ or outside of him? It's one or the other. There's no middle ground. There's no partly in and partly out. I know most, maybe all of you are in praise God. What what's your, what's your task for this week? To quote CS Lewis to go further up and further in, into Christ, into the gospel, into maturity. What about if you're out? I would want you to hear tonight, both a solemn warning

and a gracious invitation. I know some of you have been hearing the gospel all weekend, some of you at the men's retreat, Andrew Cheese bro's. Marvelous sermon. And so I, i kind of thought, well, maybe I don't need to share the gospel at the end, but sorry, I can't not do that. If you are outside of Christ, hear the warning that outside of him ultimately is only darkness and confusion and despair and death and worst of all, the wrath of God.

You don't even want to contemplate that. But also hear a gracious invitation. The Father says, simply just come home. Just come home. You don't have to clean your life up. You don't have to do anything. Just come home like the prodigal son. Jesus says similar. If you're weary, burdened, if you're, if you're tired of living a life that seems to be futile and confusing and things don't seem to be working and you're not sure who God is or where

or where he is, Jesus has come to me. I will give you rest the inner rest of forgiveness and peace. Paul says it this way, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Don't you love that? There's times when we're so confused and even believe as believers we're so just down and out that it's like, I don't think I can do anything. But then I say, I can call on the name of the Lord. I can do that. Jesus have mercy. I can do that.

That's all it takes. We call on the name of the Lord and he delights to save us. Maybe we say, Lord Jesus, have mercy on me. Forgive my sins and make me like you wanna close with a quote from William Plumer. I don't know anything about him other than he wrote a very large commentary on the Psalms. This is what he says, the annals of the world tell us not of one instance where a sinner was converted, sanctified, filled

with pious hopes made, willing to suffer in the cause of Christ and enabled mightily to triumph over the world, the flesh and the devil over fears, temptations and death itself except by the Gospel of Christ. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, have mercy on all of us sinners. We know in the parable you told, the tax collector deeply and painfully aware of his wretched sinfulness just cried out for mercy and he went home justified. Whereas the, the tax collect, I mean the, uh, the Pharisee was doing everything right. His nose was clean, he was obeying the commands, and he was quite happy about that and satisfied in himself. Give us the heart of the tax collector every day,

pleading and expecting and rejoicing in free forgiveness, in the power of the Spirit to give us new desires, new thoughts, new purposes that you'll protect us and provide for us, and lead us home to the Father's house where there are many rooms, and that you are preparing them for us right now. Be glorified, Lord Jesus. In your church, in your saints, we pray in your holy name. Amen.