#7
(The Church’s Stance While Awaiting Christ’s Return
Series)
"BE FAITHFUL!"
TEXT: 1
Thess. 5:19-22
INTRO: And now we
arrive at the final command of Paul to the church watching for the return of
Jesus Christ, it is the command of faithfulness! Why does Paul mention the need for
faithfulness – because our nature tends to slide toward unfaithfulness! Is it ok to be faithful once, some
times, most of the time; or does God really ask that we are faithful to Him all
of the time?
ILLUS: If
your car starts once every three tries do you feel satisfied that it is faithful
as a reliable car? Is it considered
faithful service if your paper is delivered every Monday and Thursday although
you signed up for every day delivery?
Does your boss consider you a reliable employee if you only miss work a
few times a month unannounced? If
your refrigerator stops working for a day or two every now and then do you find
yourself saying, "Well, it works most of the time, I'm happy with it?" If your water heater provides an
icy-cold shower every now and then, is it dependable? If you miss a couple of loan payments
every year does the bank say, "Ten out of twelve isn't bad!"?
– Source Unknown
How
then does God view your service and loyalty to Him ... are you really faithful?
How do you view
it!?
PROP. SENT: This text teaches us
that we must value faithfulness while we are watching and waiting for the return
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithfulness is something that must be guarded and worked on to keep us
strong while waiting for Christ's return.
I. FAITHFUL TO ENTHUSIASM
A. Interference
1. Where does the decline of
faithfulness begin? “Do not put out
the Spirit's fire;…”
a. When the fire is dying
down!
b. Hence Paul's warning to them about
NOT putting out the Spirit's fire!
c. The meaning of the Greek words in
this phrase indicated that Paul was not warning them of something that might
happen, but something that was happening.
d. In other words, they were already
doing something that was diminishing God's fire in their midst! (The next verse
which states “do not treat prophecies with contempt” may
indicate a bad attitude toward the Spirit already in
place.)
2. What was this interference of the
Spirit's fire?
a. It may have been the laziness of
some members who were waiting for Christ's return ... Paul had to reprimand some
of the believers in this church for having quit their jobs and mooching off
their brothers and sisters in Christ in 2 Thess.
3:10-12.
b. It may have also been that some
were complaining about the gifts of the Spirit and only wanted a ritualistic
type of worship ... "Don't be too Pentecostal in worship!" This may
be hinted at by the next verse, "… do not treat prophecies with
contempt."
3. It may be that some in the church
didn't care for the spirited worship style that had developed and the excitement
over the hope for the soon return of Jesus Christ!
a. These more "level-headed" saints may have looked
down on all this enthusiastic expressive worship as too much
"emotionalism."
b. In a sense this church had the
opposite problem from the church in Corinth ... in Corinth the ones who
thought they were the more spiritual saints were those who had experienced many
of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, here in Thessalonica those who did NOT express
these gifts thought of themselves as more spiritual!
c. Paul in writing to the Corinthians
admonished them to find control and restrict the number of some gift’s
expressions to restore balance to the worship service, but here Paul warns the
church of the danger of "COOLING" off the fires of the Spirit and their need to
get hot again!
4. If they lost the spontaneity and
enthusiasm of the Spirit the likely result would be the loss of faithfulness in
their service!
a. Think about it ... those most
excited about something tend to be the most faithful toward
it!
b. One impacts the other! In "dead" churches you can find many
"nominal" Christians that know little to nothing about faithfulness to
God!
c. In contrast, churches that have
that “spark” or enthusiasm in worship also have some of the most faithful
servants of the Lord!
5. Even the word "ENTHUSIASM" reflects
this dynamic of relationship with God ... it comes from 2 Greek words:
(en
Qeos)
"EN THEOS" meaning literally “IN GOD!”
ILLUS: One
little boy attended a cold church one day and after returning home he prayed,
"Dear God, we had a good time at church today, but I wish you had been there!"
The lack of enthusiasm was
understood in the child's mind as an absence of God's Spirit or
fire!
– Source Unknown
B. Incompatible
1. It is a sad note that this church
had many members in it that actually held contempt for the gifts of God's
Spirit, at least prophecy!
a. This is so incompatible with the
Spirit of Christ in His church!
b. You would think this church would
have welcomed the manifestations of the Spirit's fire and
presence.
2. It may be that the atmosphere of
this church was charged with enthusiasm over the coming of the Lord and in such
an atmosphere prophecies likely came forth probably concerning their
faithfulness while waiting, some may have become tired of hearing about
faithfulness over an over again!
3. Those most uncomfortable about
hearing this message were probably those most unfaithful ... hence the pressure
to get those speaking to “shut up!”
4. Encouraging one another toward
greater faithfulness is just what the church should be doing
however!
5. Even if these other saints were
right in having too many prophecies, the way they were challenging the others
was with an ugly spirit, thus they were putting out the fire of the Spirit in
the church!
ILLUS: Like
the church that dismissed their pastor. A friend asked a member, "why?" The friend said, "Well, he kept telling
us we're all going to Hell." The
man then asked, "What does your new Pastor say?" The member, "He says we're going to Hell
too, but we'll keep him." The
confused man then asked, "So what's the difference?" "Well," said the member, "the difference
is that when the previous Pastor said it, he sounded like he was glad about it;
but when the new Pastor says it, it sounds like it is breaking his heart!" When correction is needed the spirit in
which it is given can make the difference between helping and
hurting!
– Source Unknown
6. Keep the enthusiasm ... and get rid
of the critical spirit!
II. FAITHFUL TO EVALUATE 5:21a
A. Investigate 5:21a
1. Here Paul brings balance into the
picture, he is not encouraging enthusiasm without evaluation, he says “Test
everything.” We are
called upon to be faithful not only for enthusiasm, but also to test
everything!
a. The idea of "test" here is to
"check" or “evaluate” something ... not so much in terms to criticize, but to
clarify.
b. In the enterprising world we test
all products before they go to the market place, why? To be sure they are worthy of merit for
customers and actually do what they claim to do. I’ll bet when you take medications you
are glad they have been adequately tested!
It proves it worthiness beforehand so it helps ensure your healing. Why would we do less in the Spiritual
world?
2. "Testing" is something all Christians should do, the
Pastor's messages should be checked out by you, all things are to be evaluated
in the light of God's written Word!
a. This includes prophetic utterances
... all the gifts of the Spirit will always be in sync with the written Word,
they cannot ever contradict God's written Word!
b. This is what provides the balance
to the earlier admonition to keep the "fire of the
Spirit" as Paul had balanced his teaching in the other direction for
the Corinthians too.
c. They were to be faithful to test
the prophetic messages and to test everything to be sure it lined up with God's
revealed Word.
3. To fail to test would leave them
open to being gullible ... and thus their faithfulness could become wishy
washy.
a. We cannot be faithful to that which
we are confused over!
b. Once God's Word and His Ways are
understood we can work on the faithfulness part with some sense of
direction!
c. Don't just swallow everything,
check things out; it will help you with your walk with
God!
4. Faithfulness includes EVALUATION as
part of the process! Investigate
the Truth of God ... it will set you free!
ILLUS: A
small boy sat in church with his mother and listened to the Pastor's sermon, he
was distraught to find out the Pastor didn't know what a Christian was! The Pastor's sermon was even titled,
"WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN?" Every time
the minister asked this question, he banged his fist on the pulpit for emphasis
saying, “WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN?” The
tension produced by the sermon built up in the boy's mind and he finally
whispered to his mother, "Mama, do you know? Do you know what a Christian is?" "Yes dear," she replied, "now sit still
and be quiet." Finally, as the
minister was winding up the sermon, he again thundered, "WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN?"
and banged especially hard on the pulpit.
This time it was too much for the little boy, so he jumped up and cried
out, "TELL HIM, MAMA, TELL HIM!" The little boy had evaluated the
situation and he wanted everyone to know the answer!
– Source Unknown
B. Inclusive
5:21a
1. The testing we do should be for
everything!
a. All things are to be tested in the
light of God's written Word!
b. Nothing takes precedence over this!
Nothing is exempt from it
either!
2. The safest way for them to maintain
their faithful walk with God was by a constant testing of
EVERYTHING!
a. Nothing is taken at face value
alone ... or is decided upon by personal experience!
b. All things come under the scrutiny
of God's written Word!
3. This includes my feelings as well
as my actions.
4. It is not a matter of picking which
spiritual truths I like and then ignoring the rest ... all things need to line
up with God's Word, even those we find hard to accept or
practice!
5. It is positive also, it means
embracing what the Word teaches even if my experience doesn’t fully line up at
present … if the gifts of the Spirit are taught in the Bible they are embraced
even if I haven’t experienced them personally yet. The Word is the final authority, not
what I feel comfortable with. This
is why Paul said to them, “do not treat prophecies with contempt.” … they
may not have been comfortable with them, but that didn’t mean prophecy could be
thrown out the window, it just needed correction as in the church in
ILLUS: God's
Word call us to give Him our best, not our leftovers ... it seems hard to
believe this will grant us great joy or give us much in return. Like the farmers in China, for many many
years they planted potatoes and each fall when they harvested them they did the
logical thing ... they kept all the big potatoes for themselves for eating, and
stored the little ones for next year's seed crop. As the years went by they found they had
fewer and fewer large potatoes until their crops produced potatoes the size of
marbles! Finally someone explained
what they were really doing, they were eating up all those potatoes that had the
genes to make big ones and they were constantly sowing only those that held the
genes for smaller and smaller potatoes!
By keeping the biggest and best for themselves they had robbed their
children and themselves of a future full of the best! They sowed small things and they reaped
small things! Those however who are
faithful in much shall be blessed by much!
This works in ALL THINGS
– Source Unknown
III. FAITHFUL IN EXAMPLE 5:21b-22
A. Integrate
5:21b
1. Now that Paul has encouraged them
to keep the fire burning and to test everything he moves to the actual commands
to be faithful in 2 ways:
a. “Hold on to the
good.”
b. “Avoid every kind
of evil.”
2. Let's look at the first one:
"
a. Hold on to the good -- in knowledge
...
b. And in practice; or
example!
c. This is where the 2 come together;
in our example!
3. It is not always easy to "hold on to the
good" especially when everything seems to be going against
us!
a. This is where faithfulness comes
in!
b. How do I hold on to the good when
there is no way out or when no answer or miracle seems
forthcoming!?
c. Only by our faithful example do we
hold out the good in the light of overwhelming odds!
ILLUS: Elisabeth
Elliot has told the story of a toddler who was very ill and dying, but who had
learned to recite the 23rd Psalm on her fingers. Starting with her pinkie, she would grab
a finger as she said each word of "THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD." As she said the
word, "SHEPHERD" she would clasp her thumb with her other hand in recognition of
the God who cared for her. One
morning, after a long and hard fight against her disease, without a miracle
or medical help, the little girl was found dead. In bending down the adults discovered
her one hand clasping her other thumb "THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD" she was
saying in death ... an example of faithfulness in the absence of physical
help!
– Source Unknown
4. Here we find the challenge to be
faithful in spite of pressures, to "
a. Yet we must if we are to
demonstrate the nature of Christianity as being different from the
world!
b. This phrase indicates a sense of
command, "
c. This will require faithful
effort!
5. Knowledge must be integrated with
action to come alive!
B. Instruction
1. Faithfulness to "Hold on to the
good" also necessitates that we "AVOID EVERY KIND
OF EVIL!"
2. We must
learn not only what to do ... but what to stop doing!
ILLUS: One
little girl was so proud of the fact that she had learned how to ride a bike,
she was quite good at going in any direction ... but she never learned how to
stop! She didn't understand about
the brakes. So each time she rode,
when she wanted to stop she had to run into something! This was an unpleasant way to ride a
bike! She did well going, but
experienced great pain stopping!
– Source Unknown
3. Faithfulness in being an example
includes avoiding those things which are associated with
evil!
a. WE might hold to many good things
... but if we also embrace some evil things our witness will be compromised to
the world!
b. Thus we need to "hold on the
good" ... and also "AVOID THE EVIL."
4. Faithfulness to God includes both!
5. Let's remember to "BE FAITHFUL" as
we watch for Christ's return!
CONCLUSION: God's final call to the church
watching for His Son's return is to be faithful! We are to be faithful to keep the
Spirit's fire burning in the church and in our hearts. We are to be faithful also to learn
what's good ... and then live it as a faithful example, shunning those things
that are evil! BE FAITHFUL
SAINTS!