“The Healthy Christian”
August 9, 2012
1 Thessalonians 5:12-24
“Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.
And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.
Rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”
This is just some good ol’ fashioned instruction in Christian Living. Paul was writing to a church family that he had planted some years before and obviously, he was concerned that they ‘got it’. This entire letter is chock full of some wonderful teaching in Christian living. Then in this section he is wrapping it up. My NIV verse labels this section “Finial Instructions”. It’s very practical. It is very relevant. This is where the ‘rubber meets the road’. Take a look at some of the instruction.
“Respect your Pastor; live in peace with each other; warn those who are idle and disruptive; encourage the disheartened; help the weak; be patient with everyone; make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong; always strive to do what is good for each other; rejoice always, pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances; do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies (or sermons) with contempt; but test them all; hold on to what is good; reject every kind of evil; be entirely given over to the Lord.”
WOW! That is a lot of good information. You can get an overload from it all. You can be overwhelmed with all this information. It is the will of God. He wants you to be this way. He wants you to be Christlike in these areas.
The good news is ‘we are not on our own’. Notice Paul says, “The one who calls you is faithful, and HE will do it!” Aren’t you glad you are not on your own? This standard is too high for us; this desire of God for us is too much for us in our own strength. But if we will ‘sanctify’ ourselves (or give ourselves to God completely) HE will do it.
This is all good stuff, but the part of this Scripture I want us to think about today is:
“May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Verse 23b, NIV)
“And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (ASV)
“And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God]; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).”
(Amplified Bible)
“May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ.” (Message Bible)
I want you to clearly see that God is interested in our WHOLE being - not just our spirits. He is also concerned about the purity of our soul (which is our mind and emotions) and our bodies. He wants it all separated unto Him. In other words, He wants to be in charge of it all. He wants you to be pure spiritual; He wants you to be pure in your mind, thoughts and emotions; He wants you to be pure in your body – sexually, habits, what you eat and drink, etc. He wants us to be pure through and through.
I call that “Healthy Christian Living”. “Some people will tell you it doesn’t matter what you do with your body! It doesn’t matter what you do with your mind. It doesn’t matter what habits you have. You just need to accept Jesus as your Savior.” There are a great many teachers and preachers to ‘tickle’ our ears, as 2 Timothy 4:3 says in the KJV. The NIV says, ”to suit their own desires.” And what is it that our flesh wants? What do our itching ears want? To hear that it is okay to do what we want – as long as we invite Jesus into our heart.
We DO need to make Jesus our Savior – but we also need to make Him our Lord – Lord of EVERYTHING! Lord of Spirit, soul, and body. You can only be a spiritual healthy Christian by doing that.
For the past number of years my wife, Julie, has been struggling physically. The doctors have given her all kinds of test. They say it could be her thyroid – or liver – or stomach, etc, etc. The bottom line is they don’t know and as they treat one thing something else pops up. And every day she is in some sort of pain. She will not let it stop her and she continues to function. She teaches children’s church, teaches art classes, goes on field trips and Family Camp and all the rest. But she is never without pain. And I hate it! I want my wife to be pain free and live life without pain. I am amazed how effective she is in spite of everything. But I long for her to be wholly healthy.
God wants you and me to be wholly healthy, too, - body, soul and Spirit. So what is spiritual health? You can be a Christian and be spiritually unhealthy. Most Christians are living an unhealthy spiritual life. Here’s some things healthy Christian have in common – and remember – these things don’t make you a Christian; but if you are a Christian you will do them.
First of all, you will be baptized. Jesus said,
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19)
If you are a disciple – you will be baptized. This is basic. Baptism is a sign to the world that we have recieved Jesus Christ as our Savior. We are no longer a sinner – we are a saint. We are no longer a pagan or atheist or agnostic – we are a Christian. As a wedding is to a marriage – so is baptism to the Christian. If you have not been baptized – see me to make it happen. You need to be baptized.
Secondly, to be a healthy Christian, you need to have personally daily devotions. By that I mean you need to daily read the Bible and have a conversation with God. We call that prayer. No one is going to make you do this. It is a personal discipline. It is a personal choice. It is the mark of a desire to, not only have a personal relationship with Christ, but it is one of the signs of His Lordship in your life. You cannot be a mature Christian without it. Devotions are like the manna in the Old Testament. Remember when the Children of Israel were wandering around in the desert for forty years and God fed them with manna from heaven. He provided ‘daily’ for them. But manna was only good for one day. It’s strengthening nourishment was good for one day. It rotted after one day – except on the Sabbath.
Our devotions give us strength for one day. Jesus taught us to pray for “our DAILY bread.” We need daily strength and grace. Do not go out and face the world without it. The rat race will quickly run you over.
A third mark of spiritual health is regular Church attendance and corporate worship. If you do not belong to a church family and attend regularly – you are not in good spiritual health. Yes, you need to worship in your home; you need to have Bible study in your home. But it is not enough. It is God’s will that you belong to a church body. You will become quickly unhealthy if you don’t. That’s why the Bible says,
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another —and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25
Part of our job is to spur one another to be more loving; and to spur one another to do more good deeds; and to encourage one another.
One of the goals I have as a pastor is to encourage. Encouraging someone is to give them ‘courage’. The world beats us down and makes us feel defeated. The Church should be a place of encouragement and you, Christian Brother or sister, should be known as an encourager – not a DIScourager. That is what the world does; that is what the devil does; that is what our weak flesh does. We discourage. Let’s not do that. Let’s choose to encourage one another.
For too long in the church, older Christians have been judgmental and fault finding and condemning. Is that how Christ taught us to treat each other? I don’t thing so. As we become more and more Christlike we will be less and less judgmental and condemning and more and more loving and kind and gentle.
I would love for people to see our church as a ‘safe’ place; a comforting place; a place of encouragement. Strife kills a church. Righteousness exalts a church. Let’s act right toward everyone.
Lastly, a healthy Christian is in Christian service. You are one sick puppy if you think you do not have to be involved in Kingdom building. Every Christian has been given gifts; we each have been given talents to be used for God’s glory and the edification of the Church. I could quote 1 Corinthians 12 or Ephesians 4 or Romans 12 and talk about all the gifts – but you know the Word. If not – read those chapters. We have been given gifts – why? The Bible tells us.
“to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:12-13
If you are not actively involved in using your gifts to build this church up – you are immature and shallow. That’s what the Word says – not me.
So how about it? Are you a healthy Christian – or suffering from some spiritual sickness? The good news is that Jesus is the Great Physician. Jesus is a healer. He would love to bring you to health and wholeness – and He will do just that if you are willing.
One of the things we have learned with all of Julie’s health issues is that she has to follow the doctor’s instructions. She has to trust him. Sometimes she doesn’t want to – but she has to make a choice to do so.
We need to make a choice to be healthy, too. These are just a few things to make you a healthy Christian.
1. Be baptized; 2. Have Daily devotions; 3. Attend Church regularly; 4. Be involved in the Lord’s service. If you do these things in an increasing measure – you will be effective and productive. May God make it so in your life.
SONG: “Purify My Heart”
