Messengers Approved By God

October 20, 2016

Messengers Approved By God

For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.

1 Thessalonians 2:4

The Good News of Jesus Christ seems so simple and non-threatening. Why does it cause so much turmoil? The Good News is that God loves you, forgives you, and provides a way for you to live forever with Him in His Kingdom. Why would that offend anyone? Yet in Paul’s letters we learn there was resistance to his message of Good News and persecution for him and those who chose to follow Jesus. And the sad reality is that there is just as much resistance and persecution today as there was when Paul was working among the Thessalonians.

In addition to those who were overtly opposed to the reign of God, others were deeply suspicious of this new guy in town talking about a God unknown to them. They keep waiting for the other shoe to drop; when would Paul begin asking for money or other compensation for sharing his stories with them? In this opening passage (1 Thessalonians 2: 1-8) Paul gives an accounting of his ministry among the Thessalonians. (Not only his ministry, but that of Timothy and Silvanus who were traveling with him.) Two points stand out to me.

First, notice that Paul refers to God seven times in these eight verses. He makes it abundantly clear that he believes that he was commissioned by God for this ministry and that he is accountable to God for the conduct of his assignment. Every disciple of Jesus is also commissioned by God to be a co-laborer with Christ for the building of God’s Kingdom. And we are accountable to God for how we conduct his assignment.

Secondly, as I think about the way I conduct my life as a follower of Jesus, can Paul’s description of his conduct among the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 2: 1-8) be applied to my life? Can it be applied to your life?

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.