I haven’t
posted on Thessalonians since before Christmas, but I am filling in some holes
in my commentary and decided to share some thoughts from 1 Thessalonians
3:1-5.
1 So when we could stand it no
longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. 2 We
sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading
the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 3 so
that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we
are destined for them. 4 In fact, when we were with
you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that
way, as you well know. 5 For this reason, when I
could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid
that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have
been in vain.
We live in a
world in which our anxiety levels increase almost annually. In addition to the
constant onslaught of anxiety inducing news that we get via television, the
internet and other media sources there is daily life. We feel anxious about our
marriages, our children, our jobs. The economy and the stock market fluctuates
like a ship tossed at sea and sometimes we aren’t sure how or if we are going
to make it. For Christians there can be a level of guilt associated with this
anxiety. We read the words of Paul in Phil 4:6 “Do
not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God,” but on a practical level our
experience teaches us that this is not always the easiest thing to do. The good
news is we are not alone.
The story of
Israel demonstrates that anxiety is not an unusual part of life. Sincere
concern for our situation and of those around us is not something that God
condemns (1 Sam 9:5; 10:2; 2 Kings 4:8-13). Many times we read stories about
and the prayers of people who were anxious about what was or what might happen
to them, and they express that anxiety to God (1 Sam 1:16; Ps 6; 38:8; 55:4).
At times anxiety exists due to the presence of sin (Ps 38:18), but that same anxiety
can also lead to repentance (Ps 51). One
thing that is consistent through this story is that those who trust in the Lord
will see their anxiety relieved (Ps 127:1-2; Jer 17:7-8; Matt 6:25-34; Luke
12:22-31). Yet, there is a tension here. While on the one hand anxiety is a
natural part of life for which we must put our trust in God, there is also the
realization that not all anxiety will be eliminated in this life. There is an
eschatological element to this trust in the way that the Bible recognizes that
it is only with the return of Jesus that all will be made right (2 Cor 12:1-10;
Phil 4:11-13; Heb 13:5; 1 Peter 5:7).
In 3:1-5
Paul plays the part of the worried, hand-wringing parent anxious for news from a
child. In 2:18 Paul says that he and the other apostles didn't just share the
gospel with the Thessalonians, but also their lives as well. In 3:1-5 we see
the evidence for this in the way Paul frets over the church to the point that
it seems to be so distracting to him that he takes matters into his own hands.
Unable to return himself, he sends Timothy back to Thessalonica discover what
is happening there. Present, barley below the surface, is both Paul’s anxiety
that everything the apostles did may come to naught (3:1, 5), and the
realization that ultimately only God will be able to accomplish the work at the
time Jesus returns (2:19).
Paul is
clearly an anxious pastor. In fact, for Paul, anxiety over the church is with
him daily. In 2 Cor 11:28 he notes that in addition to the various trials he
suffers as an apostle he faces “daily the
pressure of my concern for all the churches.” The word translated by the NIV as
“concern” is merimna which can also
be translated “anxiety,” “worry,” or “care.”
It is a rarely used word in the New Testament, but its meaning is fairly
consistent. It describes the type of anxiety that can weigh a person down to
the point of feeling like everything else in life is being choked out. Although
he doesn't use that word here in 2:17-3:5, Paul is exhibiting that type of
anxiety over the Thessalonians. In 3:1 it appears that Paul’s concern for the church was beginning to “bubble up” and
interfere with other things. His emotions and anxiety were getting the better
of him and he finally had to do something to find out what was going on in
Thessalonica.
Anxiety is
more and more a part of the modern age and leaders/pastors are not immune to
it. There is fear of failure, that you're not gifted, the lack of people and
finances, of conflict, of not being respected and appreciated, of the
unexpected and that you won't be wanted or needed anymore. Compounding all of
this is the fear that a pastor who admits to struggling with anxiety may be
perceived as lacking faith and may lose credibility with parishioners.
The first
thing to keep in mind is that this is not new. Paul
was not the first nor is he the last to be anxious over his ministry, and he
had several churches on his mind. Just as we don’t want to let the cares of the
world choke out the things of God, we also don’t want the cares of the church
to choke us. As we ponder this passage, especially from the perspective of
leadership, there are two ways that we can apply it.
On the one hand, pastors need to be
invested in the church they are leading to the point that the church is always
on their mind. A church that has a disconnected pastor is not going to grow
spiritually. I talked to a pastor friend who has been in ministry for over 35
years and he told me that the church he pastors is always on his mind. This is
natural result of embracing, loving, and shepherding a group of people. And as
the church grows so will the anxiety. Many times these people become your
friends and your family. They are the children you baptize, marry and in some
cases bury. Just as any parent might observe what a child will do with some
level of anxiety, so too pastors and other spiritual leaders will look on as
they watch the people they minister to struggle and grow. This gets back to
what we saw above with the kind of nurturing care Paul provided the
Thessalonians when he was with them.
The flipside of all this, however, is
the dangers related to anxiety. Statistically nine out of ten pastors will quit
before retirement; 1500 pastors leave the ministry every month. There are a
number of reasons for these statics, but some of it has to do with burnout. For
some the burden simply becomes too much. While Paul demonstrates pastoral
anxiety, we should be cautious to what degree we imitate it. We can learn from
Paul, but we also don’t want to get to the point where anxiety almost chokes
us.
In my conversation with pastors one the
thing that is emphasized is not to make anxiety the norm. This means that while
there are times in ministry when stress levels rise and anxiety will creep in,
it is not the way to operate continually. As leaders we are accountable to
people but not responsible for them. That means that we will provide what care
and attention we can, but we can’t allow the decisions they make and the things
they do to adversely impact us. Like Paul, we want to do what we can to stand
before Christ together with them, but ultimately it is up to them and God.
Leaders need to realize that God is the only one who can ultimately complete
the work.
A good way to help relieve stress and
anxiety is to develop a support group. From what we can see in the New
Testament, Paul rarely ministered alone. He seems to have had a support group
in the person of Barnabas in the early years and then Silas and Timothy later.
Along with elders and/or deacons in the church a leader should decide what his
or her gifts are and focus on those and then allow the Timothy and Silas’s in
the church to do what they do best.
