Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Behaving Properly toward Outsiders │ Msg 712 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Behaving Properly toward Outsiders │ Msg 712 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: According to Paul, diligence on the job is an important
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  Speaker 1: factor in making Christianity attractive to non Christians. But what
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  Speaker 1: do we do when our jobs get us down? Those
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  Speaker 1: days when our workload only gets heavier and our bosses
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  Speaker 1: seem to get even more exasperating. The Apostle helps us
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  Speaker 1: adjust our attitude with his words to the Colaisian believers,
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  Speaker 1: as he writes, whatever you do, do your work heartily,
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  Speaker 1: as for the Lord rather than for men Colasians three
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  Speaker 1: twenty three. Walter Wangering offers us insight into these words
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  Speaker 1: from Paul. If a carpenter crafts a chair for a
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  Speaker 1: rich stranger, he may do it well, But if he
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  Speaker 1: crafts it for his daughter, he will do it lovingly.
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  Speaker 1: Much much is deaf between the first and the second crafting,
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  Speaker 1: and much is different between the two chairs two, though
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  Speaker 1: only he and his daughter may see the difference. Christians
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  Speaker 1: who do their work for the Lord do it not
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  Speaker 1: only for the pay, but for the gleam in Christ's
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  Speaker 1: eyes when we present it to him. Paul talks about
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  Speaker 1: this behavior in the passage we're looking at today. Turn
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  Speaker 1: with me to first Thessalonians four, verses nine through twelve,
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  Speaker 1: listen to what Paul says about our jobs our work.
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  Speaker 1: First Thessalonians four nine. Now, as to the love of
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  Speaker 1: the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write
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  Speaker 1: to you, for you, yourselves are taught by God to
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  Speaker 1: love one another. For indeed, you do practice it toward
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  Speaker 1: all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we
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  Speaker 1: urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and to make
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  Speaker 1: it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend
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  Speaker 1: to your own business and work with your hands, just
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  Speaker 1: as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly
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  Speaker 1: toward outsiders and not be in any need. The Christian
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  Speaker 1: often finds himself on a major battlefield. It's a battlefield
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  Speaker 1: between two opposing forces. I suppose we could call it
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  Speaker 1: a war between either and or. What I want to
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  Speaker 1: describe for you for the next few minutes is the
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  Speaker 1: battleground of extremes. For example, either we are zealous for
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  Speaker 1: the lost and incline toward evangelism almost to the point
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  Speaker 1: of forgetting the need for prayer and personal Bible study.
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  Speaker 1: Or we are so committed to the personal disciplines of
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  Speaker 1: our edification and spiritual growth we operate as though we
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  Speaker 1: could care less about the world of the lost person.
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  Speaker 1: There really is very little evangelistic concerned within us, after all.
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  Speaker 1: Here's another one. Either we are so confident and self
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  Speaker 1: assured and full of determination that we run ahead and
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  Speaker 1: make a mess of things, not willing to wait on God.
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  Speaker 1: Or we are so afraid of risk and the walk
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  Speaker 1: of faith and doing anything outside the realm of the predictable,
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  Speaker 1: that we become rather dull and visionless, and the final
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  Speaker 1: analysis pretty predictable. Here's another the extreme, that I would
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  Speaker 1: describe as the battle between the vertical and the horizontal.
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  Speaker 1: It goes like this, we become so preoccupied with prophecy
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  Speaker 1: and the signs of the times and Christ's imminent return
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  Speaker 1: that everything in our lives revolves around the fact that
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  Speaker 1: He is coming, He is coming soon, and so we
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  Speaker 1: count on him to bail us out of the mess
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  Speaker 1: we make. I suppose it could be described in the
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  Speaker 1: words of a of a misprint that appeared in a
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  Speaker 1: Kentucky newspaper in the weather Report, which said, there's a
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  Speaker 1: less than five percent chance of tonight and tomorrow. Some
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  Speaker 1: people live as though there is less than five percent
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  Speaker 1: chance of tonight and tomorrow, or or we get so
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  Speaker 1: out of balance that he will never return. That we
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  Speaker 1: put our tent pigs three four, five miles deep, and
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  Speaker 1: we operate building some kind of materialistic kingdom, which is
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  Speaker 1: what I would call horizontal bondage. Once again, it's a
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  Speaker 1: battle between either an or I could go on and on,
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  Speaker 1: but there's one that's especially on my mind, and you'll
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  Speaker 1: find it illustrated beautifully in the seventeenth chapter of the
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  Speaker 1: Gospel of John. So, if you've got a Bible located,
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  Speaker 1: turned to the fourth Gospel in the New Testament and
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  Speaker 1: follow along about verse eleven down through. Oh, let's take
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  Speaker 1: down through verse eighteen. Now before I read this for you,
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  Speaker 1: let me describe the battle. Either we become so exclusive
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  Speaker 1: and in bread as Christians that our whole world revolves
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  Speaker 1: around other Christians. Result is we're virtually out of touch
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  Speaker 1: with the lost person, who is described on more than
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  Speaker 1: one occasion in the New Testament as the outsider. All
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  Speaker 1: our talk is God talk, all our friends are God friends,
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  Speaker 1: all of our acquaintances, all of our meals are taken with,
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  Speaker 1: all of our time is spent with the saved. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: we go to a solid Christian church, we send our
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  Speaker 1: children to solid Christian schools. We in the summertime, go
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  Speaker 1: to Christian camps and conferences. We frequent Christian businesses. We
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  Speaker 1: go to a Christian barber who gives us a Christian haircut,
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  Speaker 1: and and we buy gas from a Christian station owner
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  Speaker 1: who pumps Christian gas into our Christian car. And all
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  Speaker 1: the while we are pushing, pushing, pushing the non Christian
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  Speaker 1: away from us. Stay away, contaminate life. You're the problem
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  Speaker 1: with this world. We don't want you around us. We're
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  Speaker 1: trying to build our own little kingdom, and don't bother me.
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  Speaker 1: I'm reading Christian books, and I'm listening to Christian radio,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm watching Christian TV, and I am playing Christian music,
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  Speaker 1: and I don't want you to come in and mess
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  Speaker 1: my world up. Or the opposite extreme. I'm a Christian,
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  Speaker 1: but I'm going to live in a world. Give me
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  Speaker 1: the world, baby, and so I pick up the lifestyle
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  Speaker 1: of the world, and I live like what I often
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  Speaker 1: call a secret service scene where, in other words, kind
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  Speaker 1: of a clear all Christian nobody knows for sure, but
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  Speaker 1: God that kind of a camouflage Christianity. I mean, I
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  Speaker 1: am going to live in the world. I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: be of the world, and I am not going to
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  Speaker 1: offend anybody because I want to have a relationship with
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  Speaker 1: the non Christian world. Well, that's nice and dandy, it
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  Speaker 1: sounds really interesting and certainly would be exciting, but I
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  Speaker 1: want to caution all of us three words guard against extremes.
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  Speaker 1: I wish you would write that down on a three
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  Speaker 1: by five and stick it on the visor of your car.
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  Speaker 1: I wish you would tape it on the mirror in
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  Speaker 1: your bathroom. Guard against extremes in any area. Let me
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  Speaker 1: tell you, Satan is the expert of extremes. He loves
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  Speaker 1: to give you the freedom to take truth and go
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  Speaker 1: to seed on it. That's how heresy gets going. By
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  Speaker 1: the way, heresy is nothing more than a truth taken
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  Speaker 1: to extreme, and when you take it to its farthest extreme,
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  Speaker 1: you can't even identify the truth where it starts. It's
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  Speaker 1: truth gone to seed. Guard against extremes. Now, for the
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  Speaker 1: sake of our time together, we're thinking about not the
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  Speaker 1: other kind of extremes I illustrated, but this fourth kind
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  Speaker 1: I just described, becoming so exclusively Christian that we lose
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  Speaker 1: touch with the world, or becoming so worldly no one
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  Speaker 1: would even know we're born again. Look at John seventeen eleven.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus is praying. This is what I would call late
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  Speaker 1: breaking up to the minute final scene in Jesus's prayer life.
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  Speaker 1: This is petition in the last few hours before he
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  Speaker 1: is arrested and crucified. He's about to leave the earth.
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  Speaker 1: His disciples are staying on the earth. As you read
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  Speaker 1: through these pronouns, the eye is a reference to Jesus himself.
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  Speaker 1: That thee is a reference to God the Father. That
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  Speaker 1: they is a reference to the followers, the disciples by
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  Speaker 1: application Christians even to this day. Now look at leven.
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  Speaker 1: I am no more in the world, says Jesus. Yet they,
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  Speaker 1: my followers, are in the world. I come to thee
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  Speaker 1: Holy Father. Keep them in thy name, the name which
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  Speaker 1: thou hast given me, that they may be one even
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  Speaker 1: as we are. While I was with them, I was
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  Speaker 1: keeping them in thy name which thou hast given me.
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  Speaker 1: And I guarded them. And not one of them perished,
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  Speaker 1: but the son of tradition, that the scripture might be fulfilled.
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  Speaker 1: This has reference to Judas the Betrayer. Only one was lost,
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  Speaker 1: the other eleven I guarded, I kept. But now I
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  Speaker 1: come to THEE. Look at the prayer and these things
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  Speaker 1: I speak in the world, that they my own, my
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  Speaker 1: followers may have my joy made full in themselves. Look
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  Speaker 1: at what he wants for them, not only unity but joy.
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  Speaker 1: I have given them thy word, and the world has
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  Speaker 1: hated them because they are not of the world. Even
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  Speaker 1: as I am not of the world. I do not
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  Speaker 1: ask THEE to take them out of the world, but
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  Speaker 1: to keep them from the evil one. Look carefully, Look carefully.
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  Speaker 1: Let's clarify. It is the desire of our heavenly Father
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  Speaker 1: that we remain in the world, but not be of
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  Speaker 1: the world. Jesus praise not for our isolation, but for
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  Speaker 1: our insulation. Even as Jesus was criticized for his commitment
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  Speaker 1: to truth, So the child of God will be. However,
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  Speaker 1: he says, Father, don't take them out of the world.
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  Speaker 1: Without the Christian there's no soul, there's no light, there's
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  Speaker 1: no hope, there's no messenger. Now, Father, leave them in
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  Speaker 1: the world, but guard them from the evil one. I
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  Speaker 1: think that could very well be a reference to extremism.
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  Speaker 1: Keep them from the extremes that the enemy is gonna
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  Speaker 1: convince them of, or attempt to do so. Look at
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  Speaker 1: verse sixteen. They are not of the world, even as
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  Speaker 1: I am not of the world. Set them apart in
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  Speaker 1: the truth. Thy word is truth. As thou didst send
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  Speaker 1: me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
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  Speaker 1: Isn't that great news? That is a little scary, though,
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  Speaker 1: because if you determined to live a balanced Christian life
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  Speaker 1: in touch with your world, you will have to spend
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  Speaker 1: some time with the lost person. There's nowhere around it.
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  Speaker 1: That's not only essential, that is commendable. On your way
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  Speaker 1: to First Thessalonians chapter four, stop off at First Corinthians
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  Speaker 1: chapter five. Okay, we're kind of coming in the back
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  Speaker 1: doorway today. First Corinthians Chapter five is a really strong
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  Speaker 1: chapter of scripture that talks about a Christian who began
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  Speaker 1: to live so worldly that even the world would be shocked.
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  Speaker 1: He was involved in incest with his father's wife, and
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  Speaker 1: the Corinthian Assembly found themselves with their thumbs under their suspenders,
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  Speaker 1: strutting around saying, look at how loving and how gracious
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  Speaker 1: we are. When Paul writes to say, shame on you
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  Speaker 1: for letting one of your own brothers live like this.
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  Speaker 1: I told you before, and I'm telling you again, you
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  Speaker 1: can't live like that and let it go on without
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  Speaker 1: its contaminating the church. It gives an indistinct message. The
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  Speaker 1: world is watching the church. The world is listening to
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  Speaker 1: the Christian in the church. And when the world sees
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  Speaker 1: that go on in the church, then the world is confused. Saying,
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  Speaker 1: you're talking to me about a life. Why I live
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  Speaker 1: better than some of you people live. I look at
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  Speaker 1: verse nine, that's sort of beside the point. That just
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  Speaker 1: kind of gets us into the context. Verse nine. I
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  Speaker 1: wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people.
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  Speaker 1: He means the believers who have adopted an immoral lifestyle.
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  Speaker 1: So he says, I did not at all mean with
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  Speaker 1: the immoral people of this world. World. I didn't tell
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  Speaker 1: you to stop associating with immoral people of the world,
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  Speaker 1: or with the covetous and the swindlers, or with idolators,
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  Speaker 1: for then you'd have to go out of the world.
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  Speaker 1: Isn't that a great statement? You think you can live
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  Speaker 1: your life without being in touch with the immoral and
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  Speaker 1: the covetous and the swindlers. You think you can operate
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  Speaker 1: in this life and be scot free of the contamination
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  Speaker 1: of the ungodly outsider you're living in a dream, or
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  Speaker 1: if you did live like that, you'd be in another world.
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  Speaker 1: Point is what point is clear? Point is this You
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  Speaker 1: need to be in touch with people in the world,
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  Speaker 1: the immoral, the covetous, the idolaters, the flakes, because they
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  Speaker 1: are living a lifestyle for which there is no power
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  Speaker 1: to change. They need what you've got. I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: say something that might even sound a little bit heretical.
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  Speaker 1: We are to be tough on our own and easy
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  Speaker 1: on the outsiders. Listen carefully before you reject that. Some
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  Speaker 1: of you look back at me. Your eyes are rolling
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  Speaker 1: like slot machines right now, saying you I agree with that,
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  Speaker 1: am I sure? That's what I would say is think
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  Speaker 1: about it now. Paul writes in First Corinthians five, you
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  Speaker 1: have a man among you that is living an immoral life,
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  Speaker 1: and you're smiling about it, patting everybody on the back,
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  Speaker 1: saying that's okay, We'll go right on. This is a
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  Speaker 1: grace This is a grace oriented church. We believe in loving,
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  Speaker 1: We believe in letting people live and let live. Paulses,
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  Speaker 1: I want to tell you I don't even have to
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  Speaker 1: come to your assembly to say you're wrong. You need
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  Speaker 1: to deal with with him. Something needs to be said
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  Speaker 1: to clean out the leaven. He's a brother, he can't
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  Speaker 1: live like that. However, he turns right around and says,
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  Speaker 1: I didn't say. You're not supposed to associate with immoral
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  Speaker 1: people in the world. The implication is not only can you,
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  Speaker 1: but you should. You know what concerns me Christians. Not
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  Speaker 1: long after we come to know Christ, we begin to
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  Speaker 1: lop off all of our friends who were lost, and
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  Speaker 1: we began to be around only one another. And the
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  Speaker 1: longer we live in the family of God, the less
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  Speaker 1: and less contacts we have with a lost person, until finally,
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  Speaker 1: after a little longer period of time, we don't even
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  Speaker 1: know how to communicate with a lost person. We start
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  Speaker 1: expecting from the lost person the lifestyle of the saved.
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  Speaker 1: We try to clean up their act when they can't
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  Speaker 1: clean up their act. We try to clean up their
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  Speaker 1: tongue when they can't clean up their tongue. We try
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  Speaker 1: to correct their diet. When they can't correct their diet,
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  Speaker 1: we deal with everything but the heart. And until the
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  Speaker 1: heart is changed, will the tongue, the eyes, the diet,
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  Speaker 1: the lifestyle be changed. And the result is we create
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  Speaker 1: such an offense between us and the lost person. He
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  Speaker 1: turns away, saying he needs that when in fact, we
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  Speaker 1: ought to make the lost person feel very very much
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  Speaker 1: at home. I can't believe I just said that. That's
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  Speaker 1: almost heresy when you stop and think that through, isn't it.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, we don't hear information like that. Why, because
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  Speaker 1: it's all of our stuff as God talk, all of
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  Speaker 1: our information is for other Christians. You were plunked into
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  Speaker 1: a group of unbelieving individuals this afternoon, would you cause
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  Speaker 1: them to feel uneasy? I mean, and kind of like
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  Speaker 1: it just your presence will be an uneasiness. But I mean,
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  Speaker 1: would you just kind of feel like that's good? The
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  Speaker 1: Cross really offended today? Now you offended, quite likely, but
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  Speaker 1: not the Cross. We're not to offend. The Cross is
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  Speaker 1: to offend. You know what. Jesus was criticized for eating
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  Speaker 1: with sinners and tax collectors and publicans. And while those
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  Speaker 1: Pharisees look through the windows, look at that Jesus is
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  Speaker 1: eating with those slabs. Jesus is in there, sitting at
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  Speaker 1: a table, and look they're serving wine. Who and later,
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  Speaker 1: only two chapters later in Matthew's Gospel, he has called
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  Speaker 1: a drunkard and a glutton by the gossips. You know
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  Speaker 1: what the problem was. They looked at everything through religious eyes.
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  Speaker 1: You think they were impacting the lost world, not on
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  Speaker 1: your life. They didn't know how to behave around the
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  Speaker 1: lost Now now that I got you thinking, turn to
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  Speaker 1: First Thessalonians chapter four. It's a big job to get
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  Speaker 1: people just to think. And now that you're thinking, we're
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  Speaker 1: ready to do battle with this battle of ours. First
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  Speaker 1: Thessalonians four nine through twelve is just a great section
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  Speaker 1: of scripture tucked away, and first reading it kind of
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  Speaker 1: sounds innocuous. It sounds like it may not be that significant.
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  Speaker 1: But when you get into it, you see it really
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  Speaker 1: has a lot to say. Look at First Thessalonians four nine. Now,
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  Speaker 1: as to the love of the brethren, you have no
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  Speaker 1: need for anyone to write to you, for you, yourselves
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  Speaker 1: are taught by God to love one another. For indeed
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  Speaker 1: you do practice it toward all the brethren who are
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  Speaker 1: in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel
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  Speaker 1: still more, and to make it your ambition to lead
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  Speaker 1: a quiet life and attend to your own business and
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  Speaker 1: work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so
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  Speaker 1: that you may behave properly toward outsiders and not be
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  Speaker 1: in any need. Keep looking down at the Bible and
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  Speaker 1: locate in verse twelve the phrase that you may behave
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  Speaker 1: properly toward outsiders. I want to talk about that now.
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  Speaker 1: I want to tell you ahead of time. It's going
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  Speaker 1: to be a little uncomfortable for some of you to
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  Speaker 1: hear this. And I don't have anybody in mind. Okay.
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  Speaker 1: People often write and say, did my wife talk to you?
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  Speaker 1: Or you've been looking in our windows or something like that.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody's written me, nobody's tattled. If it helps you, I'm
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  Speaker 1: talking to you about some of the major battles of
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  Speaker 1: my own life. And I think back over my early
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  Speaker 1: zealous years as a Christian, and I want to kind
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  Speaker 1: of hide my head under my wing like an old mother.
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  Speaker 1: Hen I just kind of want to get away from
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  Speaker 1: the facts of my yesterday because I made a mess
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  Speaker 1: of some marvelous opportunities. I hope I've learned a little
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  Speaker 1: in these years of walking with a savior. Now, how
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  Speaker 1: do I behave properly toward the outsider? What do I
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  Speaker 1: do well? First of all, I need to know how
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  Speaker 1: to relate to my fellow Christian, and that's covered in
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  Speaker 1: verses nine and ten. And then I need, of course
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  Speaker 1: to know how to relate to my lost friend, and
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  Speaker 1: that's covered in verses eleven and twelve. See how easy
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  Speaker 1: it is first of all with our fellow Christians. What
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  Speaker 1: do I need to do now? As to the love
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  Speaker 1: of the brethren. You have no need for anyone to
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  Speaker 1: write to you, for you, yourselves are taught by God
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  Speaker 1: to love one another. If you'd like to take notes,
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  Speaker 1: write down three words love one another. It'll sound like
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  Speaker 1: a Sunday school class from yesteryear. It hasn't changed. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: you may write it down with a yawn on your face.
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  Speaker 1: Paul writes it with that in mind. He says, you
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  Speaker 1: have no need I'll write to you about this, and
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  Speaker 1: then he gives two reasons why he mentions it. First
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  Speaker 1: of all, you are taught by God to love one another,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: that's verse nine. And second, you already practice love toward
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: one another. And both could be said of our church
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: in Fullerton. You have been taught by God to love
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: one another, and I would say most of you are
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: marvel us illustrations of loving one another. I've learned a
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: lot about love from this congregation. It's infectious. It's downright contagious.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: At times, on occasion when I didn't deserve love, I
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: got love. On occasion when you didn't act too nicely
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: in a situation, the love of your friend forgave you
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: and hasn't brought it up to remind you of your failure.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: So you not only have been taught by God to
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: love one another, you're already practicing it. Towards the brethren
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: who are in all of southern California. We would say
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: in our context, and there's it would be in all
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: of Macedonia. But here's why I bring it up. We
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: urge you, brethren, excel in it. That's a great word.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: If I were a coach, it would be one of
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: my favorite words. I'm not asking you, fellows to go
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: out there and play football. I'm asking you to excel
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: in it. If I were the manager of a sales force,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: I would say to my sales men and women, I'm
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: not asking you simply to go sell a product. I'm
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: asking you to excel in it. Go whole hog, go
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: for it. Excel in it. You want an illustration, hold
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: your place. Go back again to the Gospel of John.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: This time it's chapter thirteen, John thirteen. By the way,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: here those pages turning. If there are outsiders listening in
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: right now, that's a phenomenal sound to think that intelligent
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: thinking people like you would turn of your Bible to
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: locate a passage of scripture from one book and look
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: at it as though it is life and death, which
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: it is, and then order your life according to what
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: it says. That is amazing, you know what? That is
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: also attractive. Who knows how many of the outsiders would
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: love to simplify their life to the instructions of one book.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Think of the council they're getting from four corners of
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: the earth, and none of it's working. And here we
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: are as a body of people looking at one book saying, Yeah,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: that's what I ought to do, because that works. Look
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: at verse one now, before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: knowing that his hour had come, that he should depart
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: out of this world to the Father. Having loved his
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: own who were in the world, he loved them to
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: the end. Isn't that good stuff? He loved them to
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: the uttermost. Having loved his own who were in the world,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: he loved them to the extreme. In fact, it doesn't
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: just mean he loved them to the end of his
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: life and ministry. It means he loved them Ice tell
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Us into completion would be a pretty literal rendering. In fact,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: Knox renders it, he gave them the uttermost proof of
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: his love. A. W. Pink says he loved them to
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: the farthest extent of their need and of his grace.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: The NIV reads, he loved them to the full extent.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Amplified says he loved them to the highest degree. I
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: especially like Campbell Morgan's rendering. The words unto the end
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: mean to completion. It has been rendered beautifully to the uttermost.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Morgan adds, but I am going to dare to render
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: it another way, which I maintain reveals the very spirit
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: of it. Having loved his own who were in the world,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: he saw it through. The hour had come, he had
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: come from God. He was going back to God. Having
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: loved them. He saw it through. He loved them to
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: the uttermost, to perfection, to completion, to realization. He saw
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: it through, you know in first Thessalonians. For when it
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: says that you love one another to the point of excelling,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: in it think in those terms. See people through. Don't
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: just love them when they have earned it. Don't just
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: love them when they have the met the conditions of
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: a good love relationship. Love them when they don't deserve it. Now,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: that may mean you'll need to tell them the truth
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: you love them that much. It may mean you'll have
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: to be secure enough to pull them aside, put your
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: arm around them, and say, hey, I can't let you
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: get away with that. I love you too much. You
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: know why that kind of excelling love is mentioned in
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: First Thessalonians four nine in ten because the unsaved person
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: sees it and says, I want it. See, the unsaved
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: is not around that kind of love. The unsaved is
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: around a love that is earned. It's a conditional love.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: It's a love where you do your part and I'll
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: do my parts. It's a reciprocal love. But when Paul
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: says to the Thessalonians, excel still more, he's saying love
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: in such a way that when the outsider sees you
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: doing it, he will think or she will think, I
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: want that. How do they do that? Just because a
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: person is unsaved doesn't mean the person can't think. Doesn't
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: mean the person isn't watching. On the contrary, many of
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: them can outthink us and our watching life more than
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: we're watching it. It was Tertullian who wrote, on one
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: occasion of the early Christians, behold how they love one another?
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: That whenso magnetic ingredient that pulled people out of that
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: rugged Roman empire and put them ultimately into the catacombs.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: It was a wooing, winsome love relationship in the family.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: It was the warmth of a womb, a womb of love,
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: love one another, excel in it. But that's indirect. That's
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: an indirect method of witnessing. Let's go to the direct,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: back to first Thessalonians four, verse eleven. Let's talk about
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: how we relate to the seed. Now hold on to
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: your hats. There's not a word in here about handing
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: out tracks, and I believe in it. Don't think I
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: am putting that down. I'm just saying when he came
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: down to basic rules, he wasn't saying, let's have a
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: big crusade, and that's important. Crusades are great. We believe
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: in them and we go for it. But that's not basic.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: Grassroots evangelism is not those things we often connect to it.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: It's lifestyle. Now we're going to get down into where
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: we work in this passage, and it's going to hurt.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: I'll warn you before it happens. Our favorite method of
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: witnessing is to talk. The very first piece of council
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: is be quiet see verse eleven. Make it your ambition
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: to lead a quiet life. Interesting background here, we have
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: reason to believe that the Thessalonians had gone to seed
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: on prophecy. Paul had mentioned the coming of the Lord
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: Jesus for sure, as we're going to see in our
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: next study. But the Thessalonians heard more than he said.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: If Christ is coming soon, why hassle now? I mean
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: he's coming any moment, So we might as well talk
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: it up and live kind of recklessly and happily. And
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: so it's what they did. They must have talked it up.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: They were refusing to live in the here and now
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: they were living in the later on tomorrow. The term
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: used here, by the way translated quiet life is the
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: opposite for striving eagerly for something or being restless. It's
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: a reference to living in your community in an ordinary,
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: responsible fashion. You want me to get out of the
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: nuts and bolts of it. It means if you have
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: a yard, you keep it up. It means if you
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: drive a car, you don't let it go to pot
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: because you're living for Christ soon return. It means if
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: you dress in today's clothing, you keep it clean. You
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: don't walk around with boh because you believe in Christ's
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: soon return. It means living responsibly. It means if you
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: are pursuing an education, you don't drop it and put
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: on a white robe and sit on a hillside and
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: play the guitar and sing Do Lord as you eat
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: bird seed all afternoon because Christ is coming back. You
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: finish your education, you go for it. You live in
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: your community as a responsible citizen. You bury your part
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: of the load as a member of the community, as
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: a neighbor. You lead a quiet life, and if that
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: isn't enough, you attend to your own business. Now look
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: at that. It's a picture of being personally diligent, steadily
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: and faithfully working at one's assignment in life. Religious fanatics
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: make terrible in employe ployees. Maybe no one has ever
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: told you that. And I want to be a friend
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: and tell you that if you are fanatical about your religion,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: chances are good your fellow employees don't like working around you.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: You tend not to attend to your own business. Here's
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: the third piece of counsel, and again it won't sound
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: very evangelistic. Work with your hands. Make it your ambition
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: to lead a quiet life. Attend to your own business.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: Work with your hands. It's the thought of being personally
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: diligent to get a job done. People who do not
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: earn their wage forfeit the right to be heard regarding
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: the good news, and irresponsible lazy lifestyle discredits the good news.
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: Let me show you how that had happened to the
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Thessalonians over in the second letter, last chapter. Turn please
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: second Thessalonians three, verse seven down through verse fourteen. We
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: have some pretty straight council along this line. First a
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: second Thesalonians three seven. For you yourselves, know how you ought
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: to follow our example, because we didn't act in an
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: without paying for it. May I put it this way,
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: Paul wasn't a freeloader, the little axe. I got a
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: grind here for just a moment. Bear with me, But
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: we'll go on with it in the second too, many
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: people enter into the Christian life thinking the world owes
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: them a living. Now that I'm a Christian, the other
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: guy picks up the tab when we go to lunch.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: Now that I'm in ministry, the other person pays his way.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: I don't he owes it to me now that I'm
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: a Christian, Now that I have my eyes on heavenly things,
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: I leave the heavy stuff for someone else. I'm concerned
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: about significant things. I read this past week that far
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: too many people are ready to carry the stool when
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: there's a piano to be moved. If you are a Christian,
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: carry the piano, let somebody else carry the stool. What
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: else does it mean working with one's own hand. Now
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: back to it, Thanks for letting me grind an axe here.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: We didn't need anyone's bread without paying for it. But
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: with labor and hardship, we kept working night and day
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: so that we might not be a burden to any
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: of you. Not because we don't have the right to this.
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: He had the right to have his meals catered. He
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: was an apostle. We didn't take advantage of it, though,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: But in order to offer ourselves as a model for
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: you that you might follow, our example. For even when
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: we were with you, we used to give you this order.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: If anyone will not work, neither let him eat. That's
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: a pretty good plan, isn't it. For we hear that
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: work at all, a lot of stool movers. You're acting
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion. He
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: repeats it again, work in quiet fashion, eat your own bread.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: As for brethren, don't grow weary of doing good. If
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: special note of the man, and don't associate with him,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: so that he may be put to shame. Wow, you're
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: a Christian in your office, you're a Christian in your shop.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: You should be there early, and if necessary, you need
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: to stay there late. Get the job done. You're hired
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: out to sell a product, sell a product. You're not
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: hired out to witness. You're hired out to sell sell,
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: And it's remarkable. You may even be promoted, and then
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: you will be in a leadership capacity, and then you'll
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: have a bigger job. Then you'll have management responsibilities and
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: then you will still be working hard, but in the
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: process as a salesperson or as manager, your testimony is growing.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: Am I saying you never speak for christ? Don't say
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: that about me. Don't think I'm saying that this is
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: the other side of the coin. You know that I'm
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: for speaking for the Savior. You know that I believe
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: in in sharing the good news. You know that I
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: believe in whatever that works, get at it. But I'm saying,
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: if you are in a bank to handle money, handle money,
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: don't just pass out tracks. You're a coach. Coach the team,
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: motivate the guys or the gals to play the game.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: That's why you're there. You're not there to be a
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: part time Christian. You're there to be a full time employee.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: And as you earn the right to be heard, they'll
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: want to hear it, and you'll have ample opportunity. Ample.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: I have a great opportunity. This afternoon, I get to
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: go to a RAM game. Doesn't often happen. In fact,
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: I only make a game or two a year, and
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: so my major battle is how do I get out
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: of here in time to make the game. I got
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: a plan. Just relax, but I'm gonna One of the
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: things about the fun thing about going with this game
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: is that I'm gonna have to go and sit in
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: a suite not mine, but a friend of mine is
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: invited a guy and me to come along about twenty
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: five thirty guys, most many of whom were lost. It's
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: a terrific opportunity. Terrific. Now, I'm not gonna show up
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: in a robe and a big Bible saying nobody smoke
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: and nobody drink beer. I'm gonna walk in in my
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: western outfit and have a whopping good time, laughing, having fun,
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: pulling for the rams, just great side slapping, knee slapping fun,
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: laughing time. And the process, I'm gonna build a relationship
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: with a few of those men, and if nobody squeals
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: on me, they won't even know I'm a minister. Doesn't
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: mean I'm gonna smoke, and it doesn't mean I'm gonna drink.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: I don't have to do that to show them I'm
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: one of them. That's dumb to think you've got to
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: do that to win them. The charm wins them, having
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: fun wins them. Being non judgmental wins them. The cross
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: offends them. When we start talking turkey about the Savior.
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: I won't hedge them. I won't hedge one minute. But
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: we're going to have a great time. And it may
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: not be an opportunity at all then, but there'll come one.
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: There will be a time. Now, individuals who hear this
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: message back in first Thessalonians for turn, please have to
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: understand that this leads to a climax. Okay, the climax.
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: The ultimate result is verse twelve. Don't be overly dependent
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: on others. See the way this reads, so that that's
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: a result. Those are words that say result is coming.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: Here's a result. Sow that as a result of loving
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: the brothers and sisters in the family, leading a quiet life,
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: attending to your own business, working with your hands, so
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: that you've earned the right to be heard in a
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: lifestyle of neighborhood or office or social evangelism, lifestyle evangelism,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: so that you may behave properly toward the outsiders and
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: not be in any need. It means don't be overly
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: dependent on others. That's the fourth. Now let me say
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: that there are exceptions. I know a case right now
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: of a fine Christian, hard working gentleman who has been
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: looking for a job for months and he cannot find one.
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: Breaks his heart, breaks the family's heart. We're praying with him,
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: working with them to make it happen, but he can't
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: seem to find his net. It's not his fault. He's
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: a victim of circumstances. Now, this hasn't reference to that
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: kind of person, not a person who's lived a responsible
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: life and the bottom's dropped out. This is an individual
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: who has behaved properly and suddenly the mates walked out
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: on him, or there's been a turn of events in
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: their health and now they need the family, the Christian family,
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: to put their arms around them and help them through it.
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: It's different, but this is an individual who could keep
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: from being in need, but he doesn't. He's living off
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: someone else. That's what he's putting down. Somehow people have
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: picked up the mistake and idea that Christianity advocates living
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: off others. It doesn't. You get a job, you work hard,
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: and you work your way into it, through it and
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: out of it. That's your calling. Never live behind the idea.
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: Because I serve Christ, you take care of me. Now,
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: what do you say? How do you wrap something like this?
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: Up Colissians chapter four. If you'll turn. We started in John.
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: We've been to John again. We've looked at first Thessalonians
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: and second Thessalonians. Let's wrap it up in Collisians four. Oh,
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: this is such a great passage of scripture. It is,
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: in my opinion, one of my favorite sections. Chapter four,
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: verse five. Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders making the
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: most of the opportunity. See the word outsiders. That's the
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: lost person. Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders making the
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: most of the opportunity. Let your speech be always with grace,
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: seasoned the little bit of salt. Let your speech be
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: always with grace, seasoned as it were with salt, so
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: that you may know how you ought to respond to
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: each person. By that good counsel, it's our tendency to
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: dump the box of salt. Oh hey, dear God, underneath
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: there is stinging to death. You can't get out of
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: the salt. It just says its season it with some salt,
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: just a little salt. Now we'll give you three pieces
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: of advice. We're all through regarding non Christians. They are
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: watching and wondering, So conduct yourself with wisdom. They are
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: watching and wondering. So conduct yourself with wisdom. That's what
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: the past you're saying. Conduct yourself with wisdom toward the outsider.
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: Don't think they listen simply to what you're saying. Long
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: before they listen to what you're saying, they watch what
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: you do. They notice you carry the stool. They notice that.
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: They notice you come there late. They notice you take
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: advantage at the coffee break. They notice that you leave early.
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: They notice that you're not as diligent in in your
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: profession as you could be. They note that. And then
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: when you speak of quality life in Christ, they turn
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: that off. You lack integrity in life. How can you
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: speak of that integrity in belief? Conduct yourself with wisdom. Second,
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: they are listening and learning, So speak your words with grace.
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: They are listening and learning, So speak your words with grace.
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  Speaker 1: Just a little bit of salt and a whole lot
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  Speaker 1: of grace. And do you notice how it closes how
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  Speaker 1: you should respond to each person. I just saw this
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  Speaker 1: this week, each individual person. We have mass approaches to
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  Speaker 1: reaching mass humanity. People aren't one in masses, they're one individually.
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  Speaker 1: Third point, they are individuals and important, So respond with
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: dignity and sensitivity. They are individuals and they are important,
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: so respond with dignity and sensitivity. Becky Pippert, in her
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  Speaker 1: great book Out of the Salt Shaker into the World, says,
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  Speaker 1: an effective form of evidence is what God has done
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  Speaker 1: in our lives. The world hungers, perhaps without even knowing it,
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  Speaker 1: for examples of evidence in people's lives. They want to
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  Speaker 1: know if God works, Has He brought you a feeling
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  Speaker 1: of self esteem? Does God make a difference in your
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: marriage and in rearing children? Earl Palmer said once that
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: perhaps the best testimony a Christian couple can give today
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  Speaker 1: is a reasonably good marriage. We who are married do
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  Speaker 1: not have to pretend we are living as Barbie dolls
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  Speaker 1: on a wedding cake, says Becky Pipper. We have struggles
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  Speaker 1: and dashed expectations too. But if we offer the world
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  Speaker 1: a model of a reasonably good marriage, a reasonably good church,
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  Speaker 1: a reasonably good fellowship, it will have radicalizing effect on
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  Speaker 1: the world. We need to tell others what prayers we
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  Speaker 1: see answered, what things God is doing. We must communicate
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  Speaker 1: His aliveness. Amen, that's about together? Shall we WHATU a
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  Speaker 1: great needed message? I think we probably had some outsiders
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  Speaker 1: listening in. I think we've we've got some that are wondering.
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  Speaker 1: What kind of people are these that listen to counsel
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  Speaker 1: like that? How could I be like that? Perhaps today
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  Speaker 1: is a turning point for you. And you say, Chuck,
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  Speaker 1: I've heard an to know that if you're talking about
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  Speaker 1: a life to be lived in that kind of power,
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  Speaker 1: I need it, and I want it, and I don't
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  Speaker 1: have it, and I'm ready for it. I want Christ.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want anything like I want him. I'm lost
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  Speaker 1: when all the laughter and fun and games are over,
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  Speaker 1: I am lost. I need the Savior. I want you
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  Speaker 1: to believe in him now. I want you to get
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  Speaker 1: the protection you need to live in a world that's
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: gonna make sure you arrive in hell. I want you
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  Speaker 1: to let him intercept you. Believe in Christ, now, believe now?
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  Speaker 1: And so Lord, today we come to you with gratitude
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  Speaker 1: for the opportunity that you have allowed us to have.
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  Speaker 1: You didn't save us and then remove us from this world,
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  Speaker 1: but you deliberately kept us in it. And Lord, we
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  Speaker 1: realized that your desire for us is not isolation but insolation. However,
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  Speaker 1: not even in that do you want us to be
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  Speaker 1: removed in any way from those about us. Give us
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  Speaker 1: the courage to live as we should live before the outsiders.
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  Speaker 1: Give us the ability to love them, sometimes in spite
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  Speaker 1: of themselves, as they often must show to us. And
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  Speaker 1: thank you for being delivered from the sense of pride
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  Speaker 1: that we have some corner on life. The fact is
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  Speaker 1: you have claimed us as your own even though we
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  Speaker 1: weren't looking for you, and you've loved us even when
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  Speaker 1: we weren't very lovely or loving. So give us that
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  Speaker 1: same ability to live openly in whatever we do, to
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  Speaker 1: do our work heartily as for you rather than for others.
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  Speaker 1: And maybe never forget that you use testimonies that aren't
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  Speaker 1: even spoken to attract the attention and win the hearts
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  Speaker 1: of those without your son. Give us that kind of integrity,
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  Speaker 1: our Father, as we live before you, while living before others.
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  Speaker 1: We act this together in the name of Christ, our Lord. Amen.
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  Speaker 2: The preceding message Behaving Properly toward Outsiders was copyrighted in
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: nineteen eighty four, nineteen eighty five, nineteen ninety three, two
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  Speaker 2: thousand and three, and twenty twenty four, and the sound
• 53:50
  Speaker 2: recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty four by Charles R.
• 53:54
  Speaker 2: Swindall Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.