What is a Christian Minister? (1 Thessalonians 2:1–16)

So what is a Christian minister? First, a Christian minister is someone who tells you the gospel.

defending himself against his opponents, who were accusing his visit to Thessalonica of being fruitless, pointless, vain, as though his visit was, verse 1, without results, quite literally empty.

Paul's first point, and his most basic point, is, And his most fundamental grounds for confidence that he did not waste his time is that, verse 2, with the help of our God, we dared to tell you the gospel in the face of strong opposition.

Because how could telling people the gospel ever be empty? Why? How could telling people the gospel ever be vain? How could telling people the gospel ever be pointless or fruitless or without result? Paul told the Thessalonians the good news that Jesus died to save them from the consequences of their sin.

And that is reason enough on its own for Paul to have visited them.

put it like this, even if the Thessalonians had been tempted away and had abandoned their faith, as Paul says he was actually scared that they might have done in chapter 3 verse 5, and even if his labours amongst them had essentially kind of come to nothing, well what else ought Paul to have done? What else could have made Paul's visit worthwhile? It's the gospel that makes Christians.

We saw that last week.

And it does that as the Holy Spirit takes the words of the gospel and uses them to bring about the conviction of faith.

So telling people the gospel, putting the gospel into words for people and telling it to people, well, there is nothing more powerful or purposeful because there is no greater power or purpose than the power of the gospel in a person's life.

If telling people the gospel is pointless, friends, everything is pointless.

If telling people the gospel is vain, well, everything else you could possibly do is vain as well.

If that isn't worth doing, nothing is.

So if you want to know the essence of what it means to be a Christian minister, someone following along in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul and how he spent his time in Thessalonica, well, here it is.

It's someone who puts the gospel into words and tells it to people.

That is it.

That is the essence of Christian ministry and of what it means to be a Christian minister.

A Christian minister is someone who tells people the gospel.

And it's really important that we are clear about that because there are a lot of people in this city who are paid to be Christian ministers or who dress like Christian ministers or who call themselves Christian ministers or even who have promised to be Christian ministers.

But there is only one basic dividing line between people who are being Christian ministers and who are not being Christian ministers.

And that dividing line is whether or not they are daring to put the gospel into words and to tell it to people with the help of God.

If Paul had not been doing that... well, his whole ministry in Thessalonica and around the Mediterranean and down through the centuries, well, it really would have been empty and pointless and verse one without results.

All of his travels and journeys and visits and letters, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, all of it, empty and vain.

But Paul is confident with the help of God that, He says, I did dare to tell you the gospel.

And that is what gives him confidence that his time amongst the Thessalonians was not in vain.

A Christian minister is someone who tells you the gospel.