[AI translation] Lately, I often think about the Word Jesus spoke to His disciples who were bringing Him food from the village. He said, "I have food... which you do not know... My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to do his work." (Jn 4,32. 34) So, for Jesus, serving to spread God's rule was a necessity of life, like food for the body. And he obviously said this so that we too might be nourished with this food. To do God's work, to do God's will, is to be spiritually nourished, spiritually strengthened, spiritually growing.And it follows that one of the main causes of the slackness and weariness of our spiritual life is this lack of nourishment! We are not doing the things of God, we are not working to extend His reign on earth, we are not feeding on the food of Jesus. Today, it is very common to see believers tired, discouraged, powerless. Those in whom the fire of the Holy Spirit was still blazing a few years ago are today discouraged at their own backsliding, indifference and spiritual dryness. But is this not because they are not doing any concrete service in building the kingdom of God? Is it because they lack the food that would maintain their spiritual condition?! I once went without food for three days, and afterwards, when I met a dear old acquaintance, he burst into tears when he saw me, I must have looked so miserable. It's the same mentally! Anyone who does not do some specific service in the things of God starves his soul, and then it is no wonder that his spiritual life shows signs of all sorts of illnesses. For example, he cannot pray, he does not desire the Word of God, he cannot resist temptation, his old sins take over, his soul becomes indifferent, empty, cold. A state of mind that is fresh and well cannot be maintained without service to God! Our food is what Jesus' food was while He walked among us in the flesh: to do the will of Him who sent us and to do His work. In other words, it means that we should live and walk in this world as God's ambassadors, as apostles of Jesus. To do God's will, to do His things, can be summed up in one word: apostleship. And we see here some of the characteristic features of this apostolic ministry in the next part of Paul's letter.
Apostleship is not a special office to which the congregation elects someone, like the office of pastor or presbyter, but being an apostle is the task and ministry of every person who knows Christ and believes in Christ. Nor was Paul entrusted with this task by men, but he says: "God has made us worthy to be entrusted with the gospel" (1 Thess 2,4). For it is well known who this Paul was before. If there is anyone in the world who is unworthy to be an apostle, to serve the cause of Christ, it is Paul. For he hated Christ, he persecuted his disciples, he had the blood of believers on his hands. He caused much trouble, bitterness and sorrow to the followers of Christ, he himself resisted God's call to the end - and yet it was he, the most unworthy of all, whom God had chosen to entrust with the spreading of the good news of Christ. He made him worthy to know Jesus, worthy to repent and be converted, worthy to receive forgiveness and new life.
What a strange way God makes the unworthy worthy! It is the dignity of the cross of Christ, of his redemptive death! He makes the most unworthy worthy of apostolic ministry even today by forgiving for Jesus Christ, by forgiving all the sins of a life of utter resistance. Through the blood of Christ, he gives purification, total purification, even cleansing hands and souls tainted by murder: he transforms, he transforms a life led by hatred into a life of love and devotion. This is the beginning of the call to serve Christ. By making you worthy! And for each of us, God has this special dignity ready: the dignity of the cross of Christ. It is not our own aspiration to a pure life, our own piety, or any ability that makes us worthy of apostolic service, but the grace and forgiveness of sins given in Christ's death. And God so expects to make you worthy! In fact, no one can stand in true service for Christ unless he has accepted this worthiness of the cross, unless he has gone through this brokenness and mercy and gone through it again and again! Only by standing under the dignity of the cross can one serve God, become an apostle of Christ. But God, through Christ, makes us worthy to be entrusted with the Gospel. An apostle is a man who has been forgiven of sin, who has been entrusted with the task of spreading the good news of forgiveness and eternal life, who goes out among men with a joyful divine message.
How can this ministry be practically carried out? Certainly not by taking it upon ourselves to simply "evangelize" people. The word has little value today. It must first be made credible with life! Otherwise they will say - and rightly so: you can talk to me about forgiveness, love, renewed life, because I know you! Therefore, the most powerful and convincing apostolic ministry is that which Paul describes: 'You are witnesses, and God is witness, how holy and true and blameless we who believe have lived before you' (1 Thess 2:10). There is a holy responsibility on the way of life of Christian people. The lives of believers: the Bible of unbelievers. And how could this way of life not be different, new, surprising, once one has accepted the grace of God that makes one worthy in Christ! Then something of the powers of eternal life must be visible in everyday life. It must be visible that we have a living Saviour, a divine Lord, who leads us and shares His power and life with us. It is always at this point that every mission, every evangelizing effort, every apostolic ministry fails! For what can unbelievers read in the Bible of our life? Indeed, mostly old, boring stories about our pretentious and sensitive selves and not a new testimony of the reign of Jesus as Saviour! How many people have our way of life pointed to Jesus - or perhaps alienated from Him! God does not ask anyone to give Him their mouth or their hand - their ministry - until they have given their heart to Him! To live holy, truly and blamelessly: this is the most authentic testimony of Jesus Christ! Only through this will people become receptive to God's good news!
And then we can start to speak. A redeemed life no longer speaks the Word into the air. Being worthy before God is only one part of a life of apostolic ministry. In Thessalonica, Paul not only preached well, he spoke well! He says, "We had boldness in our God to preach the gospel of God among you." (verse 2b) It certainly took courage, because Paul also had dark memories behind him. He came to Thessalonica as a fugitive and left as a fugitive. It would have been easier and more comfortable to lay low than to speak out about things for which he knew he would be persecuted. But he had the courage to speak out! Many times we too have to overcome many inner obstacles and inhibitions within ourselves before we dare to speak out about Jesus. Many well-intentioned ministries are paralysed because they lack this courage. We dare not speak out because we are afraid of the reception, of how the other person will react, what they will think of us, what they will say?
But do not be afraid to bear witness to the divine good news that you have heard in Jesus: that the world is hungry and thirsty for a true testimony of Christ, a courageous and firm profession of faith! Let not even the fact that you have no practice or knowledge of it make you discouraged. Believe me, if one of you speaks in a few simple, honest words about Christ, about the peace he has found in Christ, about his new life: he will attract much more attention and make a much deeper impression than I, the professional pastor, can with a sermon! For you are free from the suspicion that you speak because it is your bread and butter. A believing father who has lost his only child and has found comfort in Christ for his great pain can speak more authentically and effectively about God's comforting grace in a quiet conversation than even a golden-mouthed pastor who has had no such personal experience. Take advantage of this in your apostolic ministry! All you need is the courage to go out and speak in this way: "Here I am, send me away, Lord!" and suddenly you are amazed to experience what Paul describes as, "We had boldness in our God to preach the gospel of God among you."
And finally, the apostle draws our attention to another very important aspect of apostolic ministry. He says: "But we would be welcome among you, as a nurse nurses her children. In this way, being zealous for you, we would be ready to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own souls, since you have become our beloved. ...And you know that as a father exhorted and exhorted his children, so we exhorted and exhorted each one of you individually. (1 Thess 2,7-8. 11) The apostle's ministry is fuelled by the power of love for people - love which gave strength and impact to his ministry. Like a true mother nursing her little ones, like a true father caressing and encouraging his children one by one, the apostle loved the church with such tenderness and responsibility. And this is surprising because it was not just a natural kindness and tenderness in Paul - you could not really say that this was his nature, because it was not his original nature towards the Lord's followers. In fact, we read of him that he was panting with murder and threats against them. But the great thing about it is that a man who can only harm, hate, and revenge himself, who has the most irresistible nature, such a man can be so triumphant in the nature of Christ, such a man can be so filled with the love of Christ!
On command we can never love another man as a mother or a father loves his child - but that is the wonder of it, that Christ knows, He knows in us! And where this sacrificial, self-sacrificing love of Christ has filled the human heart, the apostolic ministry is not in vain! (1 Thess 2,1) And though you may have to wait a long time, and need much patience, while you turn to Christ's love for another person, you can hold fast to this promise: Not in vain!
Our children, our friends, our fellow human beings, known and unknown, are all around us, waiting for our apostolic service. They do not know it, they do not realise it, but they are waiting for it! This is what the world expects of us! And it is what your own starving, broken down, weary soul expects! And that is what the Lord expects. He is waiting for you to renew His church so that He can send you into ministry again. Why do we wait for the world, our souls and our Lord until we may run out of time, until it is too late! Why do we not surrender ourselves to our Sender?!
Let us assure one another with the words of song:
He will return, O Zion, before you,
He will reveal his secret to every heart.
Let not a soul accuse thee,
That because of thee he has not seen Him.
Be thou a giver of joy, a giver of peace,
Proclaim: The Savior is nigh!
(Canto 397, verse 5)
Amen
Date: 6 December 1953.
Lesson
1Thessz 2,1-12