Don't Be Weary In Well Doing

That person whom you work with every day, whose eyes you look into, whose voice you hear, who’s shared hopes & dreams with you, who’s told you about the new car they've bought & about their kids & family, doesn’t it make sense that that person is the one God would like to see you leading to the Lord?

SUM. That’s lifestyle evangelism - when you go to work & see that place & those people as your God-given opportunity for service.

Application Don’t

1. First of all, don’t brag. Don’t go to work & brag about how wonderful your Christian life is. Don’t brag about how righteous you are & how much sin you have overcome, & how you used to drink & carouse & be unfaithful, but now you are a model husband or wife & you don’t drink anymore. Don’t brag. That will only turn them off.

Self-righteousness has always been repulsive. It simply won’t work. Don’t brag.

2. Secondly, don’t nag. Don’t carry a big Bible under your arm, & every time somebody cusses pull it out & say, "Look here. It says, `Thou shalt not swear.’" Every time they brag about what a hangover they have, don’t pull it out & say, "Look, it says, `All drunkards are going to hell.’" Don’t do that.

Because all you’re going to do is turn them away. You may think that you are being bold. No, you’re not being bold. You’re simply turning them away.

3. So don’t brag, & don’t nag, & don’t lag. As a Christian it is important for you to do your work & do it well, to set an example for others, to be there on time, maybe even early, to do your job & maybe a little bit of their job if they’re falling behind, to help them out in any way you possibly can.

If you’re lazy, if you’re slothful on the job, then that’s a poor testimony for the Lord. So do your job & do it well, as if you are doing it for Christ.

4. Fourthly, don’t sag. Be really careful not to go back to your old way of life. Be really careful not to listen to their language & start to use it yourself. Be really careful not to see the bright lights of a far country & be enticed. Make sure you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.

D. Back in that 29th chapter of Jeremiah, God gave instructions to the children of Israel as to how they should behave in a pagan environment when they were taken from Jerusalem to Babylon. He said, "Now here is how I want you to live as my children." Listen to these very plain & practical words beginning in vs. 5.

He said, I want you to "Build houses & settle down; plant gardens & eat what they produce. Marry & have sons & daughters; find wives for your sons & give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons & daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace & prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." [5-7]

Those are very practical instructions, & very up to date as Jeremiah passed on the thoughts of God to a people in exile.