- “Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” Clearly, Paul and his team did more than just preach the Gospel. How do you think they “cared for you”? Why didn’t they just share the Gospel and move on to another city so as to be able to reach more people?
This is what God is about. God is not about numbers and treating people as just a tick on a form.
- “Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.” It would seem that Paul and his team spent a fairly long time with the Thessalonians but made sure they did not presume on their hospitality. Why was this important to Paul? Do you think this is an important principle? Explain.
It clearly was important to Paul but I don’t think it is a principle. His concern, I believe, is his detractors. Jesus, however, told the disciples he sent out on their mission to “Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages.”
- “You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.” Paul and his team not only spent time in Thessalonica, not only shared their lives with the Thessalonians, not only made sure they were not a burden to them, not only preached the Gospel, but also spent time to encourage, comfort, urge and inspire those who responded to the Gospel to live lives worthy of God. In other words they made sure that those who responded to the Gospel were established in their faith. They did not specialise in evangelism and left the task of follow-up to others but were involved in every aspect of the spiritual journey of the Thessalonians. Do you think this is something good or an inefficient way of carrying out Jesus’ commission? Should this approach to care for the whole person be something modern Christians take up as well?
Good. Yes. This, as I have said, is what God is all about. You bring people into the kingdom and you serve them and nurture them to maturity.
- How would you describe Paul’s approach to evangelism? How can his approach add to your own approach to sharing the Gospel?
I think beyond evangelism this is what church is all about. If only churches, pastors and leaders have these in mind as to what it means to lead a church and to be a church to those who have entered into the kingdom: “Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.”