INTRODUCTION
• Over the last couple of weeks we have seen how the Gospel should change our lives. Last week we examined how it should motivate us to carry out part of our two-fold mission, reach out to lost souls.
• Our mission as a church and as individual Christians does not end when we get someone to give their life to Jesus.
• We are called to then take that person and help them grow in Christ so they can become a full fledged disciple of Jesus.
• We must resist the temptation to think we are finished once a person picks out their assigned seat in the pews.
• How many times have you seen a new convert struggle with their faith? How many times have we just sat back and watched a new Christian fall flat on their face as they try to live for Jesus? How many times have we assumed a person was going to be just fine without our help in their lives?
• How many of us would have a new baby and then lay them down and tell them they would be all right or that they were just going to have to figure out this eating thing by themselves?
• We do this to new Christians more often than we would like to admit.
• We are here in part to help each other grow in Jesus!
• HEBREWS 10:23-25 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
• In 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12, we are going to receive some insights from Paul as to how we can be successful in carrying out the second part of the mission God has given to us, the mission of making disciples.
• Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12
SERMON
If we are going to help each other grow in Christ we must…
I. SPEAK WITH BOLDNESS verse 2
1. When you read the bible, you can’t help but notice that wherever the gospel is preached, it was done with boldness. (Acts 4:31, 1 Thess 2:2, Eph 6:19, Phil 1:20)
2. The boldness that we have does not come from our own strength, but from our Great God.
3. Notice in this verse that all of the bad things that happened to Paul did not dampen his spirits or boldness for the message.
4. We can boldly preach the word because of the faith and trust we have in Jesus to be faithful.
5. There was a test conducted by a university where 10 students were placed in a room. Three lines of varying length were drawn on a card. The students were told to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the longest line. But nine of the students had been instructed beforehand to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the second longest line. One student was the stooge. The usual reaction of the stooge was to put his hand up, look around, and realizing he was all alone, pull it back down. This happened 75% of the time, with students from grade school through high school. (Chuck Swindoll)
6. We can be bold because we have the truth. When we are seeing our brothers and sisters in Christ struggle with their faith, we need to be bold with them. It takes courage to speak the truth in love to people who are struggling.
7. Just because everyone else is doing it or saying it, does not make it right!
8. I am thankful I have had people around me who were not afraid to be bold.
9. This boldness to speak the truth comes from our God! Paul said that even though they were being persecuted for sharing the gospel, they had the boldness in our God to speak the gospel of God amid much opposition. When you boldly speak the truth, you will face opposition whether it is sharing the gospel with lost people or trying to help a brother in need.
10. In the context Paul is speaking of the initial preaching of the gospel, but the application goes much deeper. Sometimes it easier to preach the message to someone than to boldly speak the truth in love to those who belong to Christ, but need some help.
11. We know as Paul speaks he is talking about more than just the initial sharing of the Gospel. We know this by what he has to say in the rest of the passage that we will look at in a moment.
If we are going to help each other grow in Christ we must…
II. WATCH YOUR MOTIVES verse 3-6
1. READ VERSE 3. The message is pure and the motives behind speaking the message must also be pure. Paul says his exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way be deceit!
2. A simple definition for exhortation is: Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. There are many pitfalls to comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.
3. The purity of the message should help us to keep our motives for sharing the message pure.
4. We need to make sure that when we exhort people that we are not teaching things that are not true. We are to do the best that we can to make sure our message to people is God’s word, not our opinion!
5. The word the NASB translates “impurity” is translated “impure motives” in the NIV. “Impure motives” catches the flavor of what Paul is saying. Our motives must be pure when we share the message with other people or when we try to help them in their walk with Jesus.
6. If our motives are not pure, then there will be some people that we will not share the gospel with and others that we will because we want something out of them. There will be some we will see in need of help that we will not help and other that we will.
7. The only pure motive for exhorting people is trying to please God.
8. We do what we do to please God. One way that we please God is to take His message to other people. We please God by helping each other grow in our faith.
9. When we get into the mode of pleasing people, we will compromise the message. If we are afraid someone will get upset if we try to help them, we will not do what we need to do in order to help them grow.
10. I have had to share some thing with people they did not like, but if you care for people and want to really help them grow, you will do that when needed.
11. If I am preaching to please anyone except God, I will end up compromising the message; there will be topics I will not cover. Will that help you? Am I here just to make you feel good? I am here to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I preach to please God. Our motivation for sharing the gospel should be to please God.
If we are going to help each other grow in Christ we must…
III. POSSESS A PROPER ATTITUDE verses 7-11
1. We are to be gentle with people.
a. Example of a nursing mother.
b. We can give people medicine with castor oil or honey. Which would you rather have?
c. Too many times we end up exhorting people by running over them with a bible truck. We see a brother who is stumbling down the path and then we see it as an opportunity to kick down to the ground instead of trying to help them grow!
d. Part of being gentle with people is the ability to understand where they are and to take them where they need to be. A nursing mother will not yell at their hungry baby to go feed themselves. A nursing mother will not tell the child to climb out of the crib to cook themselves something. The mother will lovingly take that child and feed it.
2. Must be willing to invest our lives in other people.
a. THOMAS MONAGHAN IS FOUNDER , PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF DOMINO’S PIZZA, INC. FROM 1970 - 1985, DOMINO’S GREW FROM A SMALL DEBT RIDDEN CHAIN TO THE SECOND LARGEST PIZZA COMPANY IN AMERICA, WITH SALES OVER A BILLION DOLLARS. WHEN ASKED TO ACCOUNT FOR THE PHENOMENAL GROWTH OF THE COMPANY, MONAGHAN EXPLAINED, "I PROGRAMMED EVERYTHING FOR GROWTH." (AND HOW DID HE PLAN FOR GROWTH?) "EVERYDAY WE DEVELOP PEOPLE -- THE KEY TO GROWTH IS DEVELOPING PEOPLE. NOT SPECIAL CHEESE, NOT TASTY CRUST, NOT FAST DELIVERY, BUT PEOPLE! PEOPLE ARE THE KEY TO ALL EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP..." (Steve Malone, Follow The Leader. www.sermoncentral.com)
b. Verse 8 speaks how Paul invested his very life in other people. We will not be effective if we think that we can just find people on the street and win them to Jesus. It is not just a matter of investing ourselves into people until they accept Jesus, we are then to lock arms with them and walk the path with them!
c. The way to win people is to invest yourself in their lives. The way to help people grow in Christ is to invest yourself in them! If you are there for a person when they need you, you will earn the right to exhort them with the gospel. People will see that our lives are an open book when we invest ourselves in their lives. People will see our heart for them. When people know that you care for them, they will care about what you have to say, they know you are not just trying to run them down.
3. We are to have the attitude of a loving father when we deal with people.
a. Verse 11 gives us an illustration of a father exhorting, encouraging and imploring a child to do right.
b. We talked about exhorting, but encouraging means that we are to give comfort to people in the midst of their troubles. To implore means to appeal to them.
c. When I needed it, my father encouraged me. When I needed it, he exhorted me, when I needed it, he implored me to do the right thing.
If we are going to help each other grow in Christ we must…
IV. KNOW WHY WE ARE HELPING EACH OTHER verse 12-13
1. If we do not think that we will see any fruit for our labor, we will not labor.
2. We need to expect the Holy Spirit to work on the people that we share the message with. We need to know that when we are helping a brother grow in Christ, the Holy Spirit is there with us! If we do not think our exhortation will do anything, we will not do it.
3. We are to encourage, exhort and implore people to walk in a manner worthy of God. READ VERSE 11.
4. Our goal in investing ourselves in the lives of others is to help them to not only accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but to also walk in a manner worthy of their calling!
5. This goal is written to us in the following verses:
• EPH 4:1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
• PHI 1:27 Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
• COL 1:10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
CONCLUSION
• What are we to do with our lives as we await the return of our Lord Jesus? We are called to share the gospel with others and we are called to help one another grow in Christ.
• For this to happen we must be willing to open up our lives to others, we must be willing to be transparent, we must be willing to allow ourselves to be hurt and disappointed by others.
• Parents, when you had your children, did you look into the crib and say, “I am not going to help this child, I am not going to invest my life into this child because if I do, I may get hurt?”
• No, you invested your self into your children’s lives because you love them!
• Let us love one another with the same love that will allow us to be there for each other when we are needed.
• This is not just for the preacher or the leadership, it is for everyone here who belongs to Christ!
