The Majesty of the Gospel [39:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 [+/-]1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 [2:1]For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. [2]But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. [3]For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, [4]but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. [5]For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed--God is witness. [6]Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. [7]But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. [8]So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. (ESV)

Every Christian is a witness. Elton Trueblood in one of the best books ever written called The Company of the Committed says that a “non-witnessing Christian is a contradiction in terms.” The word for witness includes two essentials that are necessary for our understanding what the word means. The first forms the context for the second. The word for witness in the New Testament means fundamentally one who is willing to die for Jesus. It is the English word “martyr.” A witness is one who is willing to die for Jesus because on the one side that person has died to this world and its ways. A witness is no longer controlled or consumed by the concerns of this world. A witness way find herself in places of success and significance but she does not seek them for herself and when they come she knows that they are sent by God as platforms for the proclamation of the Gospel. A witness does not seek after fortune and fame but if they come he knows that they are to be use for the advancement of the Kingdom of God in the world. The witness does not seek the things after which the world seeks because the witness is dead to the things that are of concern to the people of the world. And that is because the witness has been raised by the power of God to live only for the glory of God in declaring daily his devotion to Jesus. His desire is to see God honored, Jesus exalted, sinners saved, and believers built up in the body of Christ. So the True and Faithful witness spends time and invests energy in the seeking of God through prayer and praise and listening to God through the study of His Holy Word. This is the first essential for understanding who the witness is. It is the essential without which the word has no real meaning because it defines the witness first and foremost in relationship to God.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

Trackback This Post | Subscribe to the comments through RSS Feed