Granny Brand, as she was called, was a missionary in India with her husband for many years. Her son, Paul Brand describes her in the book, “In His Image.” After ministering in India for many years at the age of 75, while working in the mountains of South India, my mother fell and broke her hip. I soon scheduled a visit to my mother’s mud-walled home in order to persuade her to retire. By then she could only walk with the aid of two bamboo canes lifting her legs high with each step to keep her paralyzed feet from dragging on the ground. Yet she continued to travel on horseback to the outlying villages to share the gospel, treat sicknesses and pull the decaying teeth of the villagers. I came with compelling arguments for her retirement. Already she had endured fractures of vertebrae and ribs, pressure on her spinal nerve roots, a brain concussion, a fractured femur and severe infection of her hand. “Even the best of people retire when they reach their seventies,” I said with a smile. “Why not come to Vellore and live near us?”
“Who would continue the work?” she asked. There was no one else in the entire mountain range to share the gospel, bind up wounds and pull teeth. “In any case,” she concluded, “what is the use of preserving my old body if it is not going to be used where God needs me?”
And so she stayed. Eighteen years later at the age of 93, she reluctantly gave up sitting on her pony because she was falling all too frequently. After two more years of mission work, she finally died at 95.
Mrs. Brand gives us a picture of focused Christianity of which the Apostle Paul describes for us in this passage. His key idea in these verses is that we should cultivate a strong desire to persevere in ministering the Gospel to people because this is what will matter when Jesus returns.
In this section of Scripture we see two aspects of Paul’s ministry to the Thessalonians that really illustrate what our focus should be in reaching people with the Gospel.
1. Paul’s Desire to Minister to the Thessalonians
The first aspect of Paul’s ministry to the Thessalonians that really illustrates what our focus should be in reaching people with the Gospel is Paul’s desire to minister to the Thessalonians. We see his desire expressed in two ways in verses 17-18.
A. His concern
The first way that we see his desire expressed is through his concern. He was concerned for the spiritual well being of the Thessalonians. Look at these verses. “But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short while, in person not in spirit – were all the more eager with great desire to see your face. For we wanted to come to you – I, Paul, more than once – and yet Satan hindered us.” In these two verses we see Paul notes two needs that he recognized the Thessalonians had. His concern in his writing bring these out.
i. He saw their need for prayer
First, Paul saw their need for prayer. To be more clear about this, he saw their need to be prayed for. This is what I think Paul is expressing when he says that they were taken away from the Thessalonians in person but not in spirit. Though persecution necessitated Paul and his companions from physically leaving the area they still could have a ministry to them. Paul said, others might drive us away from you physically but they cannot drive us away from you spiritually. We have been taken away in person but not in spirit.
Paul’s main concern for these Thessalonians was that they were new converts to Christ. They were still children in their walk with the Lord. And he knew that if they couldn’t be there personally it was necessary that they were there in spirit. Now Paul wasn’t talking about some out of body experience. He was speaking about diligently praying for them when there was nothing else that they could do. If they couldn’t exert influence over them because of physical distance they most certainly could because of God’s power.
There are times in our lives when we cannot be present with someone to whom we wish to minister the Gospel. It is at these times that we can rely on God in working out the details of those things that need to be done in the lives of people who are away from us. When we cannot reach someone because of distance or because they won’t speak to us or there is some other barrier that prevents us from ministering to them personally we can come to God in prayer and ask Him to do what we are unable to do.
I have spoken of this before but I think it illustrates how God works in the life of individuals if we remember to be diligent in prayer for them even if we have no contact with them.
This took place while I was pastoring in Minnesota. We had a booth at a local business fair where we would distribute literature and had a drawing for a free Study Bible. I wanted one man in particular, who filled out a card, to get that Bible. He was the neighbor of one of the families in our church who needed Christ. I had been praying for his salvation and just the fact that he signed up for a Bible was amazing. And when we drew a name from the jar at our church his name was picked. I called and set up the time for me to deliver the Bible. I had planned to use that Bible to present the Gospel to him. But when I got there he opened the door, took the Bible, said thanks and shut the door. Wow! I thought, well that didn’t work. But I continued to pray for him. Three years later (2 months before we left Minnesota to come here) I was at that same fair passing out Gospel information when a couple walked up to me. The gentleman said, “I don’t know if you remember me . . .” I looked at the couple and said, “You’re Jeff and Joni Evans. I gave a Bible to you three years ago.” Stunned, he asked how I remembered.” I told him, “Since that time I’ve been praying for you to come to know Jesus as your Savior.” Jeff said, “I came here to thank you for that Bible.” He then began to relate to me that he put the Bible on a shelf in his entryway for more than a year until his father died. He then began to pick it up and read it. From that he entered a men’s Bible study where he came to know the Lord. His wife gave similar testimony.
God will work in the lives of those for whom we pray even when we are not able to have contact with them. We fail to pray for those away from our presence when we fail to understand the power of God in working among those with whom we have no contact. Let us recognize that God can use anything he wants to direct someone’s heart to Him. Let us, if not in person then, in spirit look after the spiritual well being of those God has placed upon our hearts to minister the Gospel. We must remember that there is a need for us to pray for the spiritual growth of those around us. And we need to pray diligently for them if we want to see God working in their lives.
ii. He saw their need to be built up in the faith
Secondly, Paul saw their need to be built up in the faith. We can see this in Paul’s language that he uses in verses 17 & 18. He says in verse 17 that we were all the more eager WITH GREAT DESIRE to see your face. And in verse 18 he says, “For we wanted to come to you – I, Paul, more than once (or a little more literally) “time and again.”
Why did Paul want to see them? He knew that they needed to be built up in their faith and understood that if they were there they would be able to help them spiritually. In Romans 1, Paul describes this idea as he speaks about coming to visit the church at Rome. He says there, “Always in my prayers I am making request, if perhaps now at last I may succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.”
What is Paul saying here? He wanted to journey to Rome so that he could encourage the Christians there by the declaration of His faith in Jesus Christ and for their building up (their edification) in the faith. This is why he wanted so badly to see the Thessalonians again. He knew that they were young in their newfound faith. He knew that they were experiencing the difficulties of persecution. And so he wanted to be with them to encourage them through this. And he wanted to be able to point them to Christ in the midst of their troubles. He wanted to continue to teach them, as he already had, that they would suffer for their desire to live for Christ. He wanted to warn them to not mistake this hardship as some punishment for their own wrongdoing. Peter reminded those to whom he wrote his first letter of the very same thing. In the fourth chapter of 1 Peter, Peter says, “Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you as though some strange thing were happening to you.”
What we must remember from this is that we must be looking out for opportunities to encourage each other in the faith. We must seek to minister to those around us even as the author of Hebrews says, “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.” Here we see the need to continue to focus on meeting the spiritual needs of others as we meet together. What tends to happen is that though we may continue to meet with other believers we neglect to encourage one another in living for Christ. We fail to point our brothers and sisters to Christ instead of their problems. Too often we show pity for those believers going through difficulties but fail to give them godly counsel to stop focusing on their problems to focus on Christ.
Paul knew that the Thessalonians could very well end up becoming focused inward and self-protective instead of continuing to reach out with the gospel because of the persecution that they were experiencing. In this way the church at Thessalonica would not continue. Let’s not fail to lift each other up to serve Christ more effectively and increasing each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
B. Satan’s hindrance
The second way that we see Paul’s desire expressed is through his distress at Satan’s hindrance. In verse 18, Paul says that he tried to come and see the Thessalonians more than once and yet Satan hindered him. He desired to minister to the Thessalonians and yet he was prevented from doing so because of Satan’s hindrance. Paul knew it was necessary to return to the Thessalonians and build them up in the faith and yet there were roadblocks set up in Paul’s way. We don’t know what the specific hindrances were to Paul’s return to see the believers at Thessalonica but we know their source.
We should know that there are hindrances to our ministering the Gospel to others that are from Satan and his army. This ought to cause us to recognize two things about our ministry. First we mustn’t give up when difficulties occur. They may be hindrances from Satan to distract us. There is a grievous lie in Christian circles that if you are serving in God’s will there will be no difficulties in your service for the Lord. Too many people get discouraged because they think they are not involved in the right ministry because they are having problems or opposition. In truth, there can be great opposition in serving where God wants us. Because when we do what God wants for us we are doing what Satan does not want for us. And he will oppose us.
Secondly, we must recognize that we are in a spiritual battle and we must realize how warfare operates. When there is an effective force of troops moving against you, you must concentrate more troops against that enemy. When we become effective in our service for our king, when we are seriously set on doing what our king wants in the way that he wants then Satan, our enemy, will attempt to concentrate his forces against us to knock us back. When we are making inroads and rescuing people from the kingdom of Satan with the Gospel, he will oppose us. We will see the hindrances of Satan in our attempts to minister. That does not mean that we give up. It means that we redouble our effort. We plead with our king to send us reinforcements. We ask for additional strength to help us make it through this difficulty. We throw ourselves before the One who is able to help us in this battle.
We notice that when Jesus encountered the temptation of Satan in the desert that an angel came and strengthened him. When he was highly distressed in the garden about his trip to Calvary again the Scripture says that an angel came and strengthened Him. When we are experiencing hindrances in our ministry to others or in our own walk with Christ we need to seek God to strengthen us.
And when we find ourselves encountering hindrances of Satan to minister to others we need to seek God’s wisdom to minister in the midst of the difficulty. How did Paul do this when he wasn’t able to visit the Thessalonians in person? He sent them a letter. Perhaps you are being hindered in some ministry to someone in which you are involved presently. How are you going to persevere through it? Ask the Lord for wisdom to continue that ministry in whatever way He sees fit.
2. Paul’s Reason for Ministering to the Thessalonians
The second aspect of Paul’s ministry to the Thessalonians that really illustrates what our focus should be in reaching people with the Gospel is Paul’s reason for ministering to the Thessalonians. I think in these final verses, 19 & 20 we see two reasons that Paul was ministering to the Thessalonians.
A. Realized the reward
The first reason that Paul was ministering to the Thessalonians was that he realized the reward. In verse 19 he says, “For who is our hope or joy or crown of exaltation (boasting)? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?” Paul understood that those with whom he shared the Gospel and ministered would be his reward in heaven. What other greater kind of reward could you think of than to be surrounded by a multitude of individuals of whom you had a part in seeing come to Christ? There are three ways that Paul describes this reward that he is longing to receive.
i. Paul’s hope
First we see Paul’s hope. He says that the Thessalonians were his hope. What does Paul mean by this? He is placing his hope, not in the things of this world, but in the things of the next. He is not concerned about an earthly retirement but that which he has stored up in the coming retirement in heaven. His anticipation at seeing His Lord would be increased all the more through the treasure which he has laid up there. And, in a very real sense, the Thessalonians were part of that treasure.
Who is our hope? What is it that you place your hope in? Are you scurrying to accrue wealth and security here? Or are you willing to spend your energy on stockpiling treasure in heaven by reaching people with the Gospel? This ought to be our hope. This is why Paul had such a great desire to minister to the Thessalonians. Paul set his hope on that which pleased His Lord. Will you set your hope there too?
ii. Paul’s joy
Secondly, we see Paul’s joy. The Thessalonians would not merely be his hope. They would be His joy. If the angels in heaven rejoice at one sinner who repents (as the Gospel account tells us) O what joy there will be when we truly come to understand just how great it is to rescue someone from hell.
If we truly understood the terrible condition of torment for those who reject Christ then we would rejoice with the angels when we hear of someone coming to faith in Christ. This was Paul’s joy. He would see these people again in heaven. They would live forever in great joy in the presence of their God and Savior. Do you have this same joy? Do you rejoice with those who become God’s children? Are you concerned about the lost and their plight if they die in that condition? Let the salvation of the lost be your joy.
iii. Paul’s claim for boasting
Next, we see Paul’s claim for boasting. He says that they are his crown of exaltation. Literally it is a crown of boasting. Now Paul says elsewhere that he who boasts is to boast in the Lord. The Thessalonians are going to be a source of boasting for Paul. But he is not going to boast in his accomplishments. He is going to boast in what God did through him to effect the salvation of these people. He is boasting that God is great enough and powerful enough to use someone like him to bring people to Christ.
This ought to be our very same attitude. If God saves people through us it should be an opportunity for boasting that God used us, imperfect as we are. It should be a call for humility, recognizing that only when God opens the doors for us to share the Gospel and the hearts of those with whom we share is our effort going to be effective. And this is Paul’s claim for boasting.
I must mention one thing about our reward for ministering the Gospel to others. I am not talking about numbers. God never tells us to bring the whole world to Christ but to be faithful in sharing the Gospel with everyone with whom we gain the opportunity. We should expect God to say, “Well done good and faithful servant,” not necessarily “Much done good and faithful servant.”
The problem that normally plagues us is that we do not take the time to follow up with those with whom we have opportunity to share the Gospel. We think, if they are seeking the Lord, they’ll ask me a question. And we won’t go out of our way to inconvenience ourselves to grab that opportunity. Let me say, “Seek out the opportunity to share the Gospel with others.”
B. Realized the return
The second reason that Paul was ministering to the Thessalonians was that he realized the return. Paul understood that the Lord Jesus is coming. He is coming for His people. He will return and we will see Him face to face. Paul knew that when the Lord Jesus returns there will be no more opportunity for him to win people to Christ. There will be no more opportunity for him to struggle against evil in this spiritual battle. There will be no more opportunity to work for the Master. Paul understood that this was really about using the time that he had for Christ.
He held a picture in his mind about the return of Christ. He saw it as the culmination, the finale of life as he knew it. It would never be the same again. And when this coming of Christ is fully realized we will truly understand why the Scripture calls for us to live for Him completely.
In that day when Christ appears, John says, in his letter, that we shall see Him as He is. We will be face to face with Christ our Savior. The glory of His presence will cause us for the first time in our lives to see how great He is. John says in His first letter, “Beloved, now we are the sons of God and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when He appears we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.” There will no longer be a barrier between God and us. We shall see Him in all His glory. Nothing will ever separate us from God again. Paul even says in this same letter, “So shall we ever be with the Lord.”
I just want to share a few Scriptures with you concerning the coming of Christ and how it should affect us now, today. James 5:7-8 tells us that today is a time for work. “Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” This is a time in which we must continue to be patient in seeking fruit for the Master. We must labor until we receive the precious produce of the soil. Often we give up too early in trying to bring someone to Christ. James tells us that even as the farmer has patience in waiting for the crops to come so must we. We want to see people saved right now but we are not willing to prepare the soil and to water it with the Word of God and let it germinate and then harvest the crop. I remember when I was a young boy growing a garden. I had planted carrots. But being untrained as to how to tell when they were ready I pulled them all up too soon. Perhaps it’s impatient farmers that raise baby carrots. We must recognize that the coming of the Lord is near but until that day it is time for work. And James says that we must be patient in our work. Continue to pray for those you know who need Christ, continue to sprinkle the water of the Word. Don’t harvest until God makes the crop ready.
Peter also speaks of the coming of the Lord in his second epistle. He doesn’t speak of the aspect of its nearness, like James, but the aspect of its delay. What Peter is describing for us is that today is a time for perseverance. He says, “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. But the Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” As we wait for the Lord’s return we must remember that the only reason He is delaying is so that those who may come to repentance will come. His timetable is one of patience toward us (so that we may repent) and not slowness or slothfulness.
And Peter tells us that because of this, mockers will mistake God’s patience as a sign that He does not exist. This will call for us to persevere. We will be harassed for this. Yet Peter says it is a sign of God’s patience not His unconcern that causes Him to wait. So let us too wait for His coming with perseverance and seek to live for Him until He comes for us.
A few verses later Peter says that today is a time to live pure lives. He says, “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God.”
The thought of the coming of Christ ought to cause us to refocus our priorities. We must turn away from the desire to amass stuff and seek to store up eternal treasure that cannot be destroyed, stolen or lost. For in the day that Christ does come we will have no time left to work for the Master. It will be at that time that we will understand that if we have lived for self instead of Christ.
If we understand the reason that Christ has placed us here on earth, to be in His service for the rescuing of the lost around us then we will find ourselves devoted to the cause of Christ.
Will you consider the example of Granny Brand? She said, “What is the use of preserving my body if it is not going to be used where God needs me?” My friends, it is only because of having a sense of Christ’s return will someone seek to diligently serve the Lord in such a way. So I ask you the question again, “Will you live your life for self or Christ?” Will you seek to preserve your life and health in some self-centered manner or will you spend it for the one who gave His life for you and will one day return for you?