It’s hard to be the bearer of bad news. When Paul, Silas and Timothy went to Thessalonica, their hearts were broken over the lies people believed about idols and false god being able to save them. So they shared the good news about the living and true God sending His Son to save us, and the Thessalonians believed the message and were saved. But initially, the message of the gospel, the message that Christians have to tell to a world that worships all kinds of idols, the message that Christians have to tell if they love the world they live in, is that the wrath of God is coming on all who put their faith in something other than Jesus to save them. Christians have to tell the world that their greatest enemy is not poverty or sickness or a foreign power; their greatest enemy is not themselves or another person, but is God Himself. The bad news for those who have not put their hope in Jesus alone as their righteousness is that they are still enemies of God. You are in grave danger if you are not clinging to Jesus on whom the wrath of God was poured out in your place on the cross. The struggle for Christians is that we are called to bear witness to the warning that the wrath of God is coming to set everything right on the earth, and it’s hard to preach that message faithfully and still be liked. This morning in 1 Thessalonians 2, we see that Paul, Silas and Timothy faithfully delivered the bad news to the Thessalonians, and yet somehow remained in a relationship of love and friendship. How did they do it? How do we faithfully deliver the bad news to a world so loathe to hear that they are under the wrath of God unless they trust in Jesus?
