The Tender Zeal of a Persevering Pastor
If you’d asked me 20 years ago, I would have told you that you would be wasting your breath speaking to me on the subject of zeal. An article on self-control, yes. But no need to talk to me about zeal. I had it in spades. Though I did not come to faith until college, zeal was something I’d long possessed. As a high achieving only child rarely lacking in confidence, I ran hard after anything I ran toward. In fact, hanging in my study is a quote my wife gave me from Walt Disney—“Get a good idea, stay with it. Dog it and work at it until it’s done and done right.” She says that quote reminds her of me. She’s probably right.
This zeal followed me into faith. Honestly, it was then that zeal put on afterburners. Not only did I possess this hard-wired ambition, now I had an object worthy of my pursuits. Like many others, those calling for a singular affection directed at the glory of God had my ear and I committed to be among those to not waste our lives.
Fast forward 20 years and I’ve changed. Zeal is now something I need to consider afresh, for two main reasons. For one, I underestimated how long the marathon of ministry actually is. While 2 decades may not seem like a long time beside the likes of those laboring 50 or 60 years, I do feel a long way from the wet-behind-the ears, frothing at the mouth, youngin’ I once knew.
And, I simply did not give sufficient attention to how much the Enemy can deflate even the most helium-filled balloon of zeal. My last three years have been tough. I’ll spare you the details, though I find the patterns are common for many pastors. That’s not to mention the places in my own heart that I’d like to hide—anger, doubt, escape, withdrawal, cynicism. It’s a petri dish of circumstances that easily sucks the zeal right out of you. I aspire to get to the end and be able to say: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearance” (2 Tim. 4:6-8). But it’s going to take regular reminders from God’s word to get me there. The second chapter of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians helps us to that end.
Paul’s stint in Thessaloniki was short-lived. He was run out of Philippi just before in Acts 16 and then, in Thessaloniki he was barely able to preach Christ in the synagogue before a mob rioted and forced him to move on to Berea in the middle of the night. Subsequently he sent Timothy to minister among the newly established church. Timothy brought word of the church’s well-being to Paul, who continued to invest in the church through his letters. The time spent with them in person was insufficient for Paul to do all he wanted, so these letters were a means of ongoing leadership and care and they provide an interesting case study into the means of Paul’s persevering zeal even in the face of such great opposition.
SECURE IDENTITY
Paul starts by speaking of His role in God’s kingdom and as God’s ambassador (1 Thess. 2:1-6):
Verse 2, He’s emboldened by God
Verse 2, He speaks the gospel of God
Verse 4, He’s approved by God
Verse 4, He’s entrusted with the gospel
Verse 4, He’s seeking approval from God alone
The orientation of this passage is entirely Godward. In fact, Paul takes pains to take the focus off the people:
Verse 2, the people mistreated him in Philippi
Verse 4, He was not seeking to please people
Verse 5, He did not attempt to use flattering speech to impress people
Verse 6, He wasn’t seeking glory from people anyway
This is interesting in light of the heavy load of humanness that ministry brings. All we do is in service to people. We care for them. We pray for them. We preach to them. We share the gospel with them. Paul is not discounting this reality, as he’s going to go on to say, he deeply loved the people to whom he was ministering.
But the orientation of his ministry wasn’t toward people, but toward God. It wasn’t horizontal, but vertical. As ministers, we know this to be true. All of life is lived before the face of God. All that is done is from God and for God. It’s worth considering how deeply that fundamental reality that you preach is engrained in your soul. Paul ministered out of a secure identity based on His union with Christ and His role as Christ’s ambassador. It was this identity that drove His persevering work, and not the perspective, approval, or validation of those he served.
In other words, rather than being pulled forward in the work by external factors, Paul was pushed into the work by the grace gift of a secure identity as God’s beloved servant. Do you see yourself this way? Do you labor from a secure identity or do you labor to secure your identity?
It seems that this contrast is dangerous ground for pastors. There’s something about this work that can draw in those with a shaky, insecure identity who seem to use ministry as a means of self-validation. And, it seems, that at the root of much relational turmoil, burnout, and flameout is pastors who are seeking from the work something they should find from their God. Simply put—Insecure pastors will do much harm to the church.
The goodness of a secure identity is it’s fixed. It’s rooted in what God says about us and not what others say to us or even what we tend to believe about ourselves. Paul was approved by God and sent by God, these realities would not change, regardless of the who’s and what’s and where’s of his ministry work.
The same is true for chosen servants today. God is pleased with us by virtue of Christ’s work. We are “servants of Christ and managers of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor. 4:1). It’s a divinely given identity. May we not be among those who exhort our congregations to understand their union with Christ and find identity in their justification and not be the type of men who do the same.
A secure identity frees you to love people and serve them without depending on them to provide the identity that should be found in God. Paul continues along these lines.
GENUINE LOVE
He then continues: “Although we could have been a burden as Christ’s apostles, instead we were gentle among you, as a nurse nurtures her own children. We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us” (v. 7-8). What a poignant image–caring as one nurses a child. Pastors, many of us have experienced firsthand this reality with our wives. Many also get to watch young moms throughout their congregations and they know tremendous effort given to love well. There’s a profound level of love seen when a mom holds her newborn baby that is impossible to replicate in other areas of life.
Could the nature of your pastoral work be described in this way? Do you attend to your flock as one nurses a child?
It’s interesting to think of this in terms of Paul’s ministry in Thessaloniki. He was only there for maybe three months. He had much to do in a short period of time, all the while facing opposition. I’m not sure about you, but when I feel rushed, pressed, opposed, I tend to respond in ways that wouldn’t exactly be called “tender.” It’s unlikely that one would describe me as gentle in these moments, yet Paul was able to reflect on his ministry with these terms. This trait shows up in Paul’s pastoral qualification list - “an overseer must be… gentle, not quarrelsome” or Peter’s exhortation that elders are not to dominate over those in your charge (1 Peter 5:1,3). A pastor is to be a gentle-man.
Our day has rightly seen a backlash to hot-headed, temperamental leaders—character traits that far too often make their way into pastoral ministry. The contrast is clear in Jared Wilson’s book, The Pastor’s Justification, “In an age when machismo and catalytic, visionary life-coaching dominate the evangelical leadership ranks, the ministerial model of a breastfeeding mom is alien.”
In his wonderful book length reflection on the subject, Michael Kruger applies Michael Jensen’s apt observation: “We frequently promote narcissists and psychopaths. Time and time again, we forgive them of their arrogance. We bracket out their abuses of their power, because we feel that we need that power to get things done.” Though they may get things done, Kruger warns, their domineering posture will cripple the sheep under their care. He writes, “A pastor’s words can be either disproportionately encouraging or disproportionately damaging. Pastors effectively have a pulpit inside people’s heads.”
Friends, what sermon is preached from the pulpit of your ministry among your people? What ethos pervades your counseling chair? What sentiment flavors your pasture in meetings? Is it one of tender care, as a mother nurses her infant? Though this trait may be out of sight and mind for many, the fact that it makes an appearance in the Fruit of the Spirit list and the pastoral qualification list should tell us how important Paul thought gentleness was.
Consider gentleness and its relationship to zeal. These are often not words that coexist. To be zealous is to be far more like a bull in a China shop than a mom nursing a child. Yet, the relationship is important.
What causes a mom to persevere? The nights are long, the cries are loud, the insecurities and doubts and fears are many. But day after day, night after night, a mother continues to get up and give of herself because of her great love for her child. She doesn’t merely talk at the infant and expect them to grow up as healthy, vibrant children, she shares her very life as Paul says he did among the church in Thessalonica. Paul’s maternal spirit among them endeared him to them, and them to him.
I think this is one of the places where the early zeal that compels one into ministry is insufficient to sustain the work in ministry. It’s easy for young pastors to love the concept of ministry more than the people to whom he ministers; to love the science of hermeneutics and homiletics more than the art of instructing and applying the Scripture to the sheep under his care; and even to love being seen and esteemed as a pastor, more than actually having the heart of a pastor. Let’s be among those who lead out of genuine love.
SANCTIFYING GRACE
At this point, Paul’s autobiography speaks of a clear conscience (v. 9-13). He is able to testify to the integrity of his work among them and for them. He’s been faithful to preach the gospel and he’d done so devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly. Words synonymous with the overarching trait Paul lists of pastors in 1 Timothy – they are to be above reproach. Paul establishes his ongoing ministry and exhortation to them on this basis. He’s ministered with integrity.
Here he also flips the image. Now he’s like a father with his own children. “Own” seems to be a key point. It’s not just a father exerting authority over all the kids he sees on the playground. There are kids … but then there are his kids. And to his kids, the father encourages, comforts, and implores with a specificity and intimacy that is reserved for his children alone. To what end?
That they would walk worthy of God (v. 12), a repetition of the same statement Paul makes in Ephesians 4. The means of them walking worthy would be the effective work of the Word of God among the people of God. In other words, their moral uprightness would give visual testimony to the glory of God at work in them and among them. He speaks of the fruit of the work in verse 13. The Word of God “working effectively”—it was energizing them. They were attached to the generator of the Word, which was sustaining and identifying them.
If we put this progression together, we see that Paul did not use people to validate his worth, he labored among them empowered by deep love, and he was desirous that they would give evidence to God’s glory through a transformed life.
It’s no wonder to me that Paul selects parental imagery to make this point. We are on the brink of sending our first of 5 children off to college. Of course, as parents, there are the same temptations that Paul faces here. It’s easy to use children to prop up a flimsy identity. We want our kids to validate our emotional wellbeing or others to validate that we’ve done a good job as parents. If we aren’t careful, kids can become buttresses that prop up our worth. Kids can also get in our way. The newborn baby nurtured in mom’s arms can quickly become a source of frustration. Seemingly a never ending hole of need. Under foot. Loud. Disrespectful or ungrateful. If we aren’t careful, kids can be a frustration to endure rather than people we love. Though in this case, Paul applies the parental note to press on the aim of parenting. Paul is concerned for their trajectory.
At our best as parents, we are laboring not merely for the present state of our children but for their future selves. We teach, and instruct, and discipline because of the man or woman we want our child to be in the world one day. We are zealous to persevere as parents because of the future hope of healthy and whole children, honoring God and walking as mature and meaningful parts of His church and His mission in the world. And when we think about the transformation that’s happened and the transformation that’s possible, we keep plodding as parents even though there are times the change may be hard to see.
Can the same be said of your pastoral work? Are you zealous because of what you know can, and will, happen in 5 years, 10 years, 50 years, as your people hear God’s Word, respond to His Spirit, and experience transformative grace?
HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS
Paul ends this chapter once again speaking of suffering (v. 14-20). He also started the chapter this way. They knew Paul had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi and they certainly knew of the mob riot in their own city. Yet, it wasn’t just Paul who suffered. This young church was suffering as well. Even Paul was hindered in coming back to visit them. The circumstances were unpredictable and difficult from start to finish and showed no signs of changing. Paul’s unsurprised at this progression. This theme of “filling up the sins to the limit” has been a common way for the Bible to speak of times when wickedness was rampant and judgment was eminent. He sees the opposition to the Lord Jesus himself that the sins of the people were rapidly approaching such a D-day.
He urges the church to imitate other churches throughout the region who were also facing opposition. And, as he’s already said, he urges them to follow his example, as one who was suffering righteously. Suffering for Paul was not evidence of the judgment of God, but a testimony that he was united with Jesus and with His people throughout history. This thought allowed him to reflect on suffering with language of hope.
Paul closes this section with notes of joy, even a mention of the future coming of the Lord Jesus and the glorification of the saints in His presence. One day you, along with all of the saints, will experience the very presence of God perfectly and fully. His writing here is a case study of his conclusion to the great chapter in 1 Corinthians 15: “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (v. 58). Our labor is not in vain because it is done as worship to the Lord as a precursor to your perfect, heavenly worship.
It’s a worrisome thought and one that is sure to pop the balloon of our zeal. Is what I’m doing actually making a difference? We read the Ecclesiastes reminder - Vanity of vanity, it’s all vanity, and we wonder if that will be said of our lives, our ministry. Yet Paul started this chapter by reflecting on vanity. Surely it felt vain to be there for such a short time and now leave. If likely felt vain as Paul willingly disadvantaged himself to send Timothy to this church.
Paul’s counsel, here, it would seem, is brother, pastor, don’t look around … look forward. Or as Peter writes, we “set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought about at the revelation of Christ” (1 Peter 1:13). Pastor, draw on your heavenly inheritance now. Use what is yours and will be yours forever to fund your work in the present.
Perhaps it’s good that we are built this way, that the fires of our zeal have to be rekindled time and time again. If not, if we could sustain zeal for 50 or 60 years in our own strength we’d set an example for a whole bunch of people in our churches that we are independent beings, that we can live and move apart from God’s help. But that’s not what we preach from our pulpits. It’s not what we counsel in our studies. It’s not the message we want others to embrace. Pastors we’re not unlike those to whom we preach. He’s built us all to need the very same help to sustain our zeal. So let’s train ourselves to fixate on our secure identity, on genuine love, on sanctifying grace, and on the reality of heaven and train our people to do the same. May our zeal be unabated as we set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
