For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.
— 1 Thessalonians 2:9 —
Nick Kalena: European Bible Training Center | Germany
Many quickly conclude that this text is just for pastors. However, you ought to read this text and see that it’s just as much for church members. Paul affectionately addressed his Thessalonian brothers and sisters in the faith. With fond familial love, he calls them to remember what he, as a church-planting pastor, endured for their sake. Establishing the church was a difficult task punctuated with persecution (1 Thess. 2:2). Does your thankfulness for your local church pastors overflow in thankful prayer to the Lord, our Chief Shepherd? He toiled so that the Thessalonians could hear and learn the word of God unencumbered. In most Western contexts today, pastors are not afflicted by first-century kinds of persecution (though we must not forget those who are). But pastoring is still a difficult task. Maintaining a deep love for Christ, striving after spiritual maturity, preparing and delivering sermons, and helping individuals overcome sin with the Bible are demanding tasks. When criticism, financial strain, and physical exhaustion compound, pastoring a modern-day church requires much labor and toil. We ought to also consider and pray for the pastors in lands that are hostile to Christianity or in lands in which few healthy churches thrive. Do you considerately remember the labor and toil that your pastors have exerted so that you might be rooted and built up in Christ (Heb. 13:7; Col. 2:7)? Does your thankfulness for your local church pastors overflow in thankful prayer to the Lord, our Chief Shepherd? In what ways does your thankfulness move you to serve for the sake of the gospel and God’s glory?
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