Day 6 – A Competent Representative of the Gospel

Read: Acts 17: 1-9; I Thessalonians 2: 1 - 12

“False teachers” were prominent in the life of the early churches. As young congregations sprang up and began to grow in the faith, false teachers would sometimes come in with a message that detracted from or added to the true gospel. Recognized leaders such as Paul or Peter or other apostles had to write letters of introduction to accompany men that they trusted to bring an accurate witness to a young church. Paul devotes much of this chapter to establishing himself as a “credible witness” of the true gospel. He reminds the folks at Thessalonica of the trials and difficulties he experienced and of his blameless motives that drove him to bring them the gospel witness.

Paul loved the Thessalonians unconditionally and showed his love by being gentle and tender toward them. His actions were motivated by his love and concern for them, not by selfish ambition or personal gain. Paul lived a life that allowed him to be confident in telling others “you can grow to maturity in the Christian life by imitating me.” (See Philippians 3:17)
Effective sharing of the gospel message involves both truth and relationships. To effectively minister to people, you must love people. True compassion starts with a heart for people. Paul was confident in his relationships with the folks of Thessalonica. He reinforced to them “I am a competent representative of the gospel. You know me. You’ve seen me.” He exhorts them to follow his message for their life because they have seen firsthand what it has meant in his life. “You’ve seen my love and my actions. Now you go and follow my example.”

Prayer time: Lord, I want to be a credible witness for this tremendous message of the gospel. I know it is so important and so valuable that I don’t want to detract from the gospel by clouding the truth with something I do or by the indifference of a heart that doesn’t care for people. Increase my love for the things that you love and make my life worthy of the gospel truth I carry.

Final thought: Paul always led by example. He “lived out” what he was “giving out”. The Holy Spirit seeks to work with us as a partner in sharing the gospel. Don’t make it harder by living a life that clouds the gospel and makes others discount your words because they don’t line up with the facts of your life.