Another reason that Paul’s ministry to the Thessalonians was not in vain but filled with power: the message they were sharing was not based on error or uncleanness, and it was not a deception. In other words, the message was holy and true, and Paul’s motives were pure. There were then (and are now) many false teachers who were making the rounds of the churches and spreading a false gospel. The Judaizers were legalistic insisting that before you can be a Christian you must become a Jew and follow Jewish religious practices and rituals. The Gnostics were ultra-intellectual and said that the mind was the way to salvation. And no doubt there were many others seeking to deceive and destroy the church while getting rich doing it. Can you imagine inviting total strangers into their homes so that they can destroy their families and then paying them to do so? (Can you say television? But that will have to wait till another day!) That is exactly what was happening, and the only way to combat the evil was for Christians to know the truth – the Holy Word of God – offered from a pure heart. The amazing thing that happens when God’s Word is honored is that He blesses the church that does this, and it grows spiritually and lost people get saved.
Paul summed it up this way: We don’t seek to please
men. No flattering words trying to get people to give him something. No effort
to draw attention to himself. Because he knew that God is the one who tests our
hearts, and He is the one that holds all of us accountable.
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