LIVING A LIFE SUCCESSFUL FOR GOD
1 Thess 4:9-12
INTRODUCTION: Last week with looked at what it would take to live a life pleasing to or towards God. What we discovered was that this life was accomplished through sanctification and pursuing God’s desires. The foundation for accomplishing this was to value our worth. This week, I want to step out a little further regarding our living for God and now look at what the Scripture has to say about living a life that is successful and productive in God’s eyes. As always, God’s will is not difficult to understand or engage, but is often difficult to see because we have inadvertently, or even deliberately put hindrances up that blur our view of God. So, lets take a look at God’s Word together!
I THE FOUNDATION FOR A SUCCESSFUL LIFE: LOVE
1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10 And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.
A. GOD HIMSELF TEACHES LOVE.
1. We can teach ourselves many things
2. God is the source for education on love
3. Brotherly love is the biblical love that;
a. that binds each other together as a family.
b. that binds each in an unbreakable union.
c. that holds each other deeply within the heart.
d. that knows deep affection for each other.
e. that nourishes and nurtures each other.
f. that shows concern and looks after the welfare of each other.
g. that joins hands with each other in a common purpose
B. THE CHURCH SHOWS GREAT LOVE—TO BROTHERS
1. This is one of the functions of believers as individuals, and the church as an organism
2. A universal individual application is also a universal corporate application
3. Believer, family, or church – love is the identifying mark
How many of you have ever gone out to dinner, and bowed your head to give thanks, and then been noticed in one fashion of another. From a quiet comment to having your bill paid? Your actions IDENTIFIED you as a believer. Prayer and blessing identify us as believers and LOVE identifies us as believers
C. THE NEED: TO GROW MORE.
1. One of the benefits of spiritual growth is the development of biblical habits and qualities
2. A second benefit is consistency regarding the developing habits and talents
3. A third benefit is persistence regarding these developing talents and habits
II THE RULES FOR A SUCCESSFUL LIFE
1 Thessalonians 4:11 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you,
A. BE AMBITIOUS—TO BE QUIET.
1. Ambitious means to strive
2. The word quiet means to be settled, undisturbed; less frantic
a. Settled has a sense of comfort
b. Comfort comes from security
c. Comfort comes from acceptance
d. Comfort comes from familiarity
A quiet life comes from my comfort with God. Have I experienced God enough to be secure in Him?
Have I experienced God to both accept Him and realize that He accepts me?
Have I experienced God enough to be familiar with Him and His nature?
This is all part of our journey in Christ. I will always be in a state of flux. Always getting more comfortable in Him. Always getting more accepting of Him. And always becoming more familiar with Him.
We have a Select Comfort Mattress. You know the one with the “number settings”. Now, ours is before they had numbers. So, in order to get to my comfort setting, I need to lay on the mattress and then adjust up and down until I get there. And this has taken a bit of tweaking. See, I move around when I sleep. In fact I have three positions. I start out on my right side, move to my back, continue over to the left side, and then usually end up on the right side. Here is where the tweaking comes in. Each position requires a different “comfort setting”! Well, its one thing to adjust the mattress at nine of ten at night. Then the compressor sounds sort of like a soft hummm. But at 3 or 4 in the morning, that gentle hum sounds like a plane flying over from McGuire. The solution keep working until I have found the optimal firmness for all the positions!
B. MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.
1. It is amazing to see how much we know about the affairs of others. Paul cautions this church later in his second letter to them
2 Thessalonians 3:11 We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies.
2. Paul is not telling the church to avoid fellowship and contact with each other, but not to become a burden to each other.
Proverbs 25:17 And when you find a friend, don’t outwear your welcome; show up at all hours and he’ll soon get fed up.
Proverbs 25:17 Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s house-- too much of you, and he will hate you.
a. The issue is idleness, not ability
b. All are equal under God
c. All of us are not equally talented based on each other
d. Some had given up work, and were becoming a burden on others BECAUSE they though the Lord was coming
e. Hence, they needed to be minding their own business.
i. There will always be needs, yet needs need to be evaluated and based against our own idleness.
Now, If I understand this passage correctly, then I would have to say that the Lord does not want to find us idle when He returns!
C. WORK WITH YOUR OWN HANDS.
1. The Greek people looked down on manual labor – suited for slaves
2. Paul here dignifies working with your hands
a. He did as a tent maker
3. Working is difference between a genuine burden and a counterfeit one
4. Reveals the desire to provide for your own needs
5. Allows other to respond to your needs with joy instead of apprehension.
III THE RESULT OF A SUCCESSFUL LIFE
1 Thessalonians 4:12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
A. THAT WE MAY LIVE HONORABLY BEFORE THE WORLD.
B. THAT WE MAY LACK NOTHING.
Couple of thoughts here
• The form of our life is to win the respect of those outside the church.
• Believers respect those who work diligently
• Unbelievers respect those who work diligently
• Respect provides an opportunity to share Christ
• Personal responsibility is a sign of spiritual maturity
When I was younger, I had a paper route. The hardest part of the route was not delivery, and not collecting, it was the math. See, my mother knew I was not very good with money. I epitomized the phrase, “Money is burning a whole in your pocket.” So, my mother told me that I could have the change from my paper route collecting, and the rest had to go in the bank. What she meant was that I could have the change that did not make a whole dollar. So, the hardest part of the paper route was working it out so that I had 95 cents at the end!
I would like to think that I have matured a little in this area, but even now, at times I only have 95 cents in my pocket!
So, let me bring this to a close.
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