Exceptional Affection

reminds us the importance of
the Lord’s Supper, starting in verse 20. Do you not have houses in which
to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church
of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to
you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to
you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed
took bread. And when he had given thanks,
he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. Do
this in remembrance of me. And the same way he took the
cup also after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant
in my blood. Do this as often as you drink
it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this
bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until
he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the
cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the
body and blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself,
and in so doing, he is to eat of the bread and drink of the
cup. For he who eats and drinks eats and drinks judgment to himself.
He does not judge the body rightly. For this reason, many among you
are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves
rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are
disciplined by the Lord, so that we will not be condemned along
with the world. So then, my brethren, when you
come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry,
let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for
judgment. The remaining matters I will arrange when I come.”
The reading of his word. See, now I knew, because I knew
John when he was a newlywed 30 years ago, and I knew when he
stopped singing exactly why. And I will tell you that I echo
what he said, so much so that I think if the Supreme Court
had heard us singing, they would not try to prohibit what we’re
doing here in worship. incredible privilege to go before
the Lord to his throne of grace and to bring our needs and concerns
before him. And so let’s take that incredible
opportunity that we have now to go before the throne of grace.
Our merciful God, we do thank you and praise you. for who you
are. You are an indescribable God. You are perfect in all of your
attributes, and we thank you and praise you that you would
even pay attention to us, that you would even acknowledge us.
But we are your creation. We are your choice creation. And Lord, You not only notice
us, but you have taken the action to remedy our greatest problem,
that of our sin. You sent the Lord Jesus Christ
to pay for our wretched sinfulness. And Lord, having done that, you
drew us to yourself in repentance and faith. And as if that were
not enough, Lord, you lavished gifts upon us and blessings. And Lord, we now count it such
a privilege and joy to come before you with the offering of our
very lives to seek to see how we can be of service in the construction
of your kingdom. Lord, we thank you for the privilege
that we have as a church to support so godly a group of servants,
those who are willing to labor in unthinkable places in Egypt
and Cambodia and the Ukraine. And then in the case of the Tetros,
to travel throughout the world constantly ministering to more
than two dozen missionary families. Lord, among those, we thank you
for the privilege to support the Alpha Center. And while we
pray and hope that one day such a ministry would not be needed,
Lord, we know that now is not that day. That there would be
those that would kill those that are in the womb is absolutely
abhorrent to us and unthinkable. And because of that, we pray
for the Alpha Center, that you would use them for your glory.
Stir the hearts of those that serve there to proclaim Christ,
even to the most hard-hearted individuals. Lord, we pray that
you would take each of our missionaries and bless them and grace them
and use them in the proclamation of your gospel. We think of Tanya
and of Jenny, and we pray that even there in hot, humid Cambodia,
you would cause the gospel to go forth with great power. Lord, we pray for Natasha and
Ruslan in the Ukraine. And Lord, in the opposite extreme
in weather and cold and ice and snow, but the same stubborn,
hard-hearted unbelievers with whom they have to preach the
gospel. And then if that were not difficult
enough, we think of Anya and Andrei in somewhere in Egypt. They can’t even name it because
of the hostilities that they face. Lord, these are your servants,
and we pray for them, your grace, that you would not only sustain
them, but help them to know that their labor is not in vain. Lord, we thank you for the privilege
that we have to gather as a people, not only for your worship, but
even for what so many consider such a mundane task of working
through a church budget. And we thank you for your blessing
on the church, for the measure of unity that you have granted,
for the wisdom that you have granted in guiding us, And we
pray, Father, that you would indeed use our time together
these next few weeks as we ponder what you have done the past year
and look forward to your grace and what you will do in this
upcoming year. Father, not the least of which,
we plead for those who are at odds with you. And we plead that
as you have done with us, that you would grant them again repentance,
that they would turn from their sin, their sinful ideas, their
sinful behaviors and deeds, and that they would turn again to
Christ in repentance and forgiveness. And Lord, that your work would
be so thorough that you return them not only to yourself, but
you restore them even to us. Merciful God, we thank you for
the privilege that we have to walk together in Christ. I have a bit of a curveball to
throw you this morning. We’re not going to be in First
Corinthians. And while we will eventually end up in 1 Thessalonians,
I’d rather have you take your Bibles and turn to Acts 17 for
just a moment. I need to extend our time away
from 1 Corinthians for another few weeks. And in answer to the
concern that you may be mulling over, I am not afraid of 1 Corinthians
chapter 3. In fact, I’ve preached a good
portion of that. In times past. The reason. For what may be perceived by
some as foot dragging to get back to 1st Corinthians. Is that
I have this gnawing sense that I need to address something that
I’ve observed. Over this past year. And I need
to take three weeks to do it. In times past, I have preached
what we we have called for lack of a better identifier as a state
of the church address. And we typically do this at the
annual meeting, and this few weeks here in February being
our annual meeting dates, I wanted to take opportunity this year,
the state of the church being what it is, I felt that it was
appropriate to take a few weeks to consider a few very basic
graces or virtues that very obviously, to me, seem to be greatly diminished
in the church. Not just in this church, I’m
talking about in the church in general. Specifically, it regards
the saints’ attitude toward the church. And equally importantly,
the saints’ conduct toward the church that stems from their
attitude. And I want to look at three particular
areas where I see that. Where God’s people are really
supposed to be excelling in the area of love toward one another,
devotion toward one another, and patience with one another.
Over this past year and largely under the footprint of this protracted
COVID thing, we have witnessed a disheartening season of behavior. And that has directly affected
the life and ministry of our church. Please don’t misunderstand me. If you were in our annual meeting,
part one, just a moment ago, our church is on a solid footing.
spiritually, financially. But we have observed a bewildering
number of people who have alternately either abused or exhibited a
cold indifference to the precious institution for which our Lord
Jesus Christ died. How can this be? How can this
ever be? How can any believer flippantly
treat as less than nothing the very body of believers for whom
Christ paid the ultimate price? That’s the question that has
occupied my mind since at least March. And as time went on, my
concerns only grew with each successive challenge of which
there have been many. And so I wanted to continue the
break from our consideration of first Corinthians to focus
on a few familiar passages of scripture. But with a specific
desire to examine our own hearts. In light of the admonitions addressed
there. The troubles there addressed
in each of the respective passages. Are no less relevant today than
they were when the apostle Paul wrote them. In the first passage,
the passage we’ll consider this morning, First Thessalonians
four, verses nine through 12, Paul is addressing the great
subject of brotherly love. That is waning from the church.
In the second passage, hopefully next Lord’s Day, we’ll consider
the concern that he deals with in Romans chapter 12, verses
9 through 13, where Paul is addressing there the devotion of God’s people
to one another. What does this devotion to one
another even look like? Paul addresses that there. And
then in the final, and again, Lord willing, we will land on
Ephesians 4, 1 through 3, where Paul begins his truly epic practical
address regarding Christ’s church with an admonition to godly patience
with one another. And so these are the passages,
1 Thessalonians 4, Romans 12, Ephesians 4. That’s the where
and the why on the direction that we purpose to take these
next three weeks. And I just want to ask you to
ask that God, by his Holy Spirit, using the double-edged sword
of his word, to examine us thoroughly, each of us, as to the degree
of our own love and our own devotion and our own patience toward the
saints of God, the fellow believers in Christ with whom we worship. And so to begin this morning,
in order to do that, I want to pick up in Paul’s second missionary
journey there in Acts chapter 17. A journey that took Paul
from his home base and the sending church in Antioch across Asia,
over the Adriatic Sea, down through Macedonia, our modern day Greece,
and ultimately back again to Jerusalem. During this great
tour, Paul had many stops and stays along the way, but one
in particular that by all accounts should not have borne fruit at
all. It was a visit that would last
less than a month. This is because the gospel was
met with such hatred and hostility that Paul’s efforts were seemingly
cut short. And yet again, against all odds,
the gospel not only took root, but it began to flourish. The
city was Thessalonica. And First Thessalonians is Paul’s
first and most prominent letter to this fledgling little church
plant. But if you would, I want to see
how it started. And so we look at Acts chapter
17, beginning in verse one. Now, when they had traveled through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there
was a synagogue of the Jews. And according to Paul’s custom,
he went to them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from
the scriptures. Explaining, giving evidence that
the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead and
saying, this Jesus whom I’m proclaiming to you is the Christ. And some
of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a
large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading
women. But the Jews, becoming jealous
and taking along some wicked men from the marketplace, formed
a mob and set the city in an uproar. And attacking the house
of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people. When they did not find them,
they began dragging Jason and some of the brethren before the
city authorities, shouting, These men have upset the world and
have come here also. And Jason has welcomed them. And they all act contrary to
the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. You know what? This is the original
cancel culture. Verse eight, they stirred up
the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things. And when
they had received a pledge from Jason and the others, they released
them. The brethren immediately sent
Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. And when they arrived,
they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more
noble minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with
great eagerness. examining the scriptures daily
to see whether these things were so. But you know the remarkable
thing about that? I mean, other than the example
that they set there, we don’t really hear about the church
in Berea, not much. But we do hear about the church
in Thessalonica, to whom Paul wrote two letters. This was a
church that shouldn’t have even become established, and yet it
did. That’s a pretty rough start to any ministry. But while things
looked bleak from a human perspective, the eternal promise of Isaiah
55, 11, that God’s word, even the word of the gospel, will
not return empty, or as the King James has it, void. God’s word,
the good news of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, is as
so many seeds scattered across the landscape. And when God,
God waters by the heart opening work of the Holy Spirit, it will
certainly grow. And by God’s grace, it will flourish. No matter the early earthly circumstances
or difficulties. Think of it. In just a few short
weeks, Paul would not only scatter the seeds of the gospel, by his
faithful preaching, but he would be used by God to establish a
beachhead, a New Testament church that would not only be the beacon
of light, the light of salvation there in Thessalonica, but shining
forth to all of Macedonia, including all of Europe and Asia as well. It is no overstatement to consider
the planting of the Thessalonian church to be a true miracle of
God, right up there with the parting of the Red Sea. Because
it’s God. It’s God. It’s always God who
must regenerate the human heart. So that each and every conversion,
let alone a church plant, is truly a miracle of God. Early American pastor Samuel
Davies spoke accurately of this truth when he said, men are estranged
from God. And they are engaged in rebellion
against him, and they love to continue so. They will not submit
nor return to their duty and allegiance. Hence, there is a
need of a superior power to subdue their stubborn hearts and sweetly
constrain them to subjection, to inspire them with the love
of God and an implacable detestation of all sin. And for this purpose,
the Holy Spirit of God is sent into this world. For this purpose,
he is at work from age to age upon the hearts of men. And so the Thessalonian church
was established there by God. And it is to this miracle of
God that Paul writes not one, but two epistles. And in fairly
rapid succession, both of the epistles to this church were
written in the course of Paul’s second missionary journey, probably
within months, if not weeks of one another. But Paul’s shepherding
heart wanted far more than just to merely plant some gospel seeds. Having witnessed this miraculous
germination. Paul now had an eager desire
to see these seeds flourish. To grow into a living, breathing
organism called the local church. And so having departed ultimately
to Corinth for a lengthy season there, He took up his pen with
several purposes in mind. To begin with, he speaks glowingly
about the Thessalonian church. But he also writes. To calm the
saints of Thessalonica, you see that an error had crept in already. He had learned of a great subject
that was upsetting many, many believers. Some people were believing
that Jesus had come again and gone again. And that the only thing that they
had to look forward to now was God’s judgment. They believed
the second coming had already occurred. This was the original
left behind crowd. And Paul had to correct their
thinking or this church would soon be rendered ineffective
for Christ. And of course, there are also
moral concerns, as there are with any church, areas of sinful
behavior that must be addressed. Well, one of the most important
of these areas of morality in the Thessalonian church was an
area in which the Thessalonians were really pretty good at, and
that was loving one another. In this area of brotherly love,
Paul deemed this church to be, in a sense, exceptional with
regard to how they cared for one another. But Paul was not
content to take chances. Not with the disturbing influence
of the world and the weak nature of the human heart, Paul was
content, he was compelled rather, to press the saints of Thessalonica
to still a greater degree of one another love. If you find
your way to 1 Thessalonians, please turn to chapter four.
And I just want to look at four verses this morning. 1 Thessalonians
chapter four, beginning in verse nine. Now, as to the love of
the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for
you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. For
indeed, you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in Macedonia,
but we urge you, brethren, to excel still more and to make
it your ambition to lead a quiet life and to attend to your own
business and to work with your hands just as we commanded you
so that you may behave properly toward outsiders
and not be in any need. And so I want us to consider
this morning Paul’s admonition to a church that barely needed
such an admonition, an admonition to what I’ve identified as exceptional
affection for one another. But it’s an exceptional affection
that Paul gives us here three distinguishing features that
we’ll look at this morning. He introduces the subject matter
simply enough in verse nine, and this isn’t gonna be your
biggest Greek lesson of the day because you likely already know
the Greek word that is used here. It’s the word Philadelphia. And
that’s the word from which we’ve appended the phrase the city
of brotherly love. Well, it’s hardly that any longer,
right? I don’t know any city in the world anymore that would
be characterized by love, and perhaps that’s as it should be
because cities are not entirely comprised of Christians. The
word is a strong word for indicating natural affection that is to
be found in the body of Christ. The old King James has it simply,
kindly affectioned toward one another. And what it points to
is that spirit prompted affection for one’s brothers and sisters
in Christ. It rises above even the most
natural family affection. But Christian love can and does
transcend even the most natural human affection. And as such,
it indicates a deep and vibrant love relationship brought about
by the reality of our common salvation having been purchased
by the blood of the same Lord. It isn’t a love that is merely
shown to a family member or one to a common race or nationality,
but to a brother in Christ. And get this, it is not brotherly
love in the sense that I love him like a brother. It’s brotherly
love because spiritual brotherhood is an established reality. But unlike our typical idea of
love, love is a feeling. Philadelphia, that is brotherly
love, exhibits itself not so much in sentiments, but in real
selfless acts of service, self-giving, self-denying, self-humbling acts
of service. Listen to the New Testament exhortations
to brotherly love. To the Roman church, Paul wrote,
be devoted to one another in brotherly love, give preference
to one another in honor. And I don’t want to steal my
own thunder because that’s the passage that I forecasted we’ll
consider next Lord’s Day. Peter likewise uses this graphic
word in 1 Peter 1.22. He demanded, since you have in
obedience to the truth purified your souls, for a sincere love
of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart. And
he describes it not as a mere degree of affection, but something
that is passionately expressed, born out of our common salvation. Since you have purified your
souls, fervently love one another. That’s no mere suggestion on
Peter’s part. I love the way one faithful shepherd
described brotherly love. He says when this miracle occurs
in a man, he finds himself in company with others of like mind. And he will naturally be drawn
to them. His soul will be knit to theirs. Well, we know that this is the
clear teaching of Christ, right? to love one another. John 13,
34, love one another. John 15, 12, love one another
just as I have loved you. John 15, 17, this command I give
to you that you love one another. But I want you to look at how
graciously Paul presents it to the Thessalonians. Regarding
this brotherly love in verse 9, he says, this love of the
brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you. Pause there for just a second.
Paul says plainly that, look, you don’t even, we don’t even
need to talk about this. But like a good pastor, he’s
going to talk about it anyway. Your behavior is such, your treatment
of each other is so very evident that we don’t even need to address
this. In fact, flip back, if you would,
to the opening chapter of this letter, 1 Thessalonians 1, scroll
all the way down to verse 2. Look at this. We give thanks to God always
for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, constantly
bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the presence of our God and
Father. Their testimony was going across the land. They were such
a loving body of believers. He says that the way they loved
one another was well known and obviously fondly remembered by
Paul. He even acknowledges this again
in chapter four, verse 10. If you flip there, glance down
at verse 10, he says, indeed, you do practice it toward all
the brethren who are in Macedonia. Now I want you to note something.
Think of this. Macedonia was not their city. Macedonia was bigger than a county. It referred to the entire region where Thessalonica was. In other words, he says their
Christian love was being exhibited and felt throughout the whole
region in their hospitality, in their benevolence to one another,
in substantial deeds of Christian kindness. Everyone knew about
the church in Thessalonica. These churches of the Macedonian
region, Thessalonica, together with the Philippian church, had
an exemplary reputation for generosity and hospitality. Paul mentions
them when he wrote to the Corinthians. And remember, Paul was trying
to stir the hearts of the Corinthians to step up and do likewise. And
in chapter 8 of 2 Corinthians, he said this, Now, brethren,
we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been
given to the churches of Macedonia, almost certainly Thessalonica
and Philippi, that in great ordeal of affliction, their abundance
of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their
liberality. Well, look down, if you would,
at verse 9 once again. where Paul says, even though
you don’t have the need for anyone to write to you, he acknowledges
the reason for that very statement at the end of verse nine. For
you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. Well,
that settles it, doesn’t it? Basically, Paul says, who am
I to gild the lily by adding to what God himself has already
taught you? And this is such a cool word.
This is such a cool word. Used only once in all of the
New Testaments. Theodidactos. Theodidactos. It’s cool sounding
too, isn’t it? But the meaning is really exceptional. God taught. You have been God taught. How’d you like to have that as
your Sunday school teacher? No arguments with your doctrine
there, right? It means God taught, and that’s
an amazing thing. No wonder Paul acknowledges his
inability to add to God’s work. They’ve been taught these things
by God himself. They have been taught to love
one another by God. And you say, well, those Thessalonians
sure were blessed to have God as their teacher. They were.
And so is any believer who is indwelled by the Holy Spirit.
Christians are all God taught. And Paul, Paul acknowledged as
much when he said to the Romans in Romans five, The love of God
has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit
who was given to us. We’ve been God taught. And he
would echo that to the Galatians when he declared that the fruit
of the Spirit is love. We’ve been God taught. So much so that the Apostle John
says in 1 John 3, 4, we know that we have passed out of death
into life because we love the brethren. We’ve been God taught.
But it’s important to point out here that Paul actually uses
another word for love here at the end of verse 9. When he says
that you’re taught by God to love one another, he uses the
much greater, much more noble word for love, you know it, agape.
In other words, brotherly love ought to be easy for you to express
since you’ve been taught by God the highest form of love, agape. So the Thessalonian believers
were exhibiting locally, regionally, and beyond the fact that they
were God-taught to love their brothers and sisters in Christ.
And yet Paul, knowing both the worldly influences to which they
were subjected and the weakness of the human heart, he asserts
at the end of verse 10, but Even though all this is true,
you are exemplary in your God-taught brotherly love, but we urge you,
brethren, to excel still more.” Paul knew well that the world
would continue to press in on the church with its ungodly,
unkind, unloving ways. And equally true, Paul knew human
nature. Jesus himself had warned of the
day when because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love
will grow cold. Well, that pretty much describes
the day and age in which we live, right? And why else? If one God-taught
lesson would suffice, would nearly all the writers of the New Testament
urge the preservation and the practical application of brotherly
love in the church? Why would they keep saying it?
Because it was always in danger of seeping, unnoticeably at first,
but seeping little by little out of the church. until such
institution could hardly be recognized as such, a cold, unloving, bickering
shell of its former self. And so Paul sounds the alarm.
And he says, excel still more at the end of verse 10. He acknowledges
their faithfulness up to this point. But he cautions against
complacency that would evacuate the last measure of such love. Essentially, he echoes a thought
that he makes in the letter to the Philippians. That there’s
always a need for growth and advance in the practical expression
of brotherly love. The point that Paul makes in
Philippians comes in an often misinterpreted and therefore
misapplied passage. You know this verse. Philippians
3.13, forgetting what lies behind, reaching forward to what lies
ahead, I press on. It sounds so good, doesn’t it?
Even if we have no idea what it means. And most times this
verse is crunched into suggesting that Paul is referring to his
previous sinful life and that we as believers need to forget
all of that and press on to a better life in Christ. But in reality,
Paul there isn’t lamenting his sinful condition, though it was
lamentable. He’s referring to his successes
as a Christian. And his point is that he dare
not pause to reflect there on his accomplishments. He has to
press on to an even greater usefulness for the Savior. And so Paul says
here in 1 Thessalonians, that regardless of whatever measure
of love that God had enabled the Thessalonians to manifest
as his children, there is always room for more growth, or even
just more of the same, to excel still more. And maybe, just maybe,
perhaps the Thessalonian believers might have thought to themselves,
you know, Paul, I just don’t know how I could
do any better in that department. I have, after all, been loving
my brothers to the very best of my ability. And then they
might begin to recite all the ways that they love their. And that may have been true,
but Paul still moves to present to them some very practical considerations. What I’ve suggested are three
distinguishing features. of exceptional affection. What
does it look like? Let’s look at these three individually. And I’ll tell you right up front
that these three things are very, very practical. This is going
to hurt a little bit. It’s going to hurt a lot. Because
of that, they’ve generated some very interesting, even entertaining
subtitles. One writer suggested that these
practical features of exceptional affection could be entitled fanatics,
busybodies, and loafers. Ouch. I’ll explain some of that in
a moment. Another commentator suggested that the three distinguishing
features of exceptional affection were meant to deal similarly
with mental excitement, meddlesomeness, and idleness. I told you it was
going to be painful, but you’re curious now, aren’t you? Let’s
consider them one at a time. All three features are found
in verse 11, and the first practical application of brotherly love
is a sober quietness, a sober quietness. This first word translated
here in the NAS, make it your ambition. It originally referred to a lover
of honor, but it eventually came to refer to someone who was eagerly
pursuing something. And that’s how it’s translated
in Romans 15, 20, aspire. Or in 2 Corinthians 5, 9, ambition. And this first word translated
again in the NAS as make it your ambition could be tied exclusively
to the initial feature there of quietness, but it also could
stand at the head as kind of an umbrella position over all
three of those infinitives. And in that sense, there would
be a silent repetition implied. It would sound something like
this. Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. Make it your
ambition to attend your own business. Make it your ambition to work
with your own hands. That’s how we see it functioning,
but it’s really inconsequential because the last two points are
perfectly capable of standing on their own. What does the first
one mean? It’s a simple point, really.
He says, seek to lead a quiet life. Make an earnest effort
to do so. Make it your ambition to lead
a quiet life. And here there’s a remarkable
play on words because it almost literally suggests that we are
to make it our ambition to have no ambition. It’s amazing. One suggested translation for
this first element was strenuously seek to be still. As one translation
reads, strive to be calm. And that begs the question and
cries for explanation, doesn’t it? Here was one very helpful
description. This word was used of silence
after speech rest after labor, peace after war. Here we have
it used to urge the living of a calm, restful life to eagerly
endeavor to be foremost in the effort to be quiet. Don’t you
want that guy as your neighbor? Just as in our own society, or
whether in society or general, or even in a local church, the
clamoring for distinction and honor and notoriety all too often
leads to strife, doesn’t it? At times we can carry ourselves
in an overly excited, showboating manner, and sometimes It’s the more subdued undertones
of meddlesomeness. Both are sinful. And so Paul
urges an eagerness for quiet, calm, godly composure. Of such a man, it could easily
be said of him that of all the people I know, he is the quietest. Such a one as anything but boisterous
or brash or because of his quietness is so deep. There’s an inner
tranquility to the person. That’s what Paul is encouraging.
And that’s why we said likewise for the ladies several weeks
ago, Elizabeth Elliott’s counsel, never miss an opportunity to
keep your mouth shut. Such a person is not argumentative,
not boastful, not overly talkative, certainly not given to gossip,
not a blabbermouth. Do you hear what Paul’s saying
here? I want you to acknowledge this. He says that one of the
most practical ways that we can love our brothers and sisters
in Christ is by being quiet. We don’t know exactly what was
going on in the Thessalonian church. We can surmise that it
was not unlike our own. People given to oversharing,
people given to debating passionately, people given to empty and vain
conversations. Whatever the cause in Thessalonica
was, there was at least an undertone of disunity because of it. The
two things always go hand in hand, don’t they? Ecclesiastes 10 says it very
strongly. Words from the mouth of a wise
man are gracious while the lips of a fool consume him. The beginning
of his talking is folly and the end of it is wicked madness. Only trouble and strife come
from plentiful, unguarded speech. But in this consideration of
these three distinguishing features of exceptional affection, there
is a second practical application. I would call it a holy privacy. Paul says that as believers,
those who would honor God in our relationships with fellow
believers, We must attend to our own business. Now, I’ve tried
to look at this every which way to take it as to see if we can
take it as referring to literal business. A shop or a trade or
a calling, it’s not that at all. Paul basically is saying here
that we are to mind or to attend to our own things, our own affairs. You see, the concern in Paul’s
mind is, as one writer described it, taking an undue interest
in the concerns of one’s neighbors. The word translated here in the
NAS as attend just refers to the busy engagement of ourselves
in some thing or another. And in that sense, it’s not necessarily
sinful to attend to something. The question is, to what are
we attending? And if the previous encouragement
to lead a quiet life was more subtle in referring to the potential
for meddlesome talk, this one is far less so. It goes right
to the heart. Here, there is no doubt that
Paul is referring to digging into other people’s business.
He’s talking about our natural inclination to follow the most
prominent feature on our face, our nose, to be nosy. I remember
a godly saint, a lady who, no matter what the event was, could
always be found in the kitchen, working, slaving away, washing,
cleaning, while everyone else was out there
You guessed it, talking. And I asked her one time why she was always in the kitchen. And the answer was simple. She
said, if I sit out there, it’s only a matter of time before
I engage with others and involve myself in a matter
that does not concern me. That’s convicting, isn’t it? When was the last time that we
extracted ourselves from a conversation simply because it was inherently
none of our business? Unless we’re specifically asked,
what good can ever come from involving ourselves in someone
else’s affairs, whether good or bad? And so Paul urges the
believers in Thessalonica and us as well We are to practically
love the fellow saints. Simply by minding our own business. There’s a third application of
brotherly love that Paul makes. I call it a hardy work ethic.
Work with your hands. Now, remember at the outset of
this this morning when I told you that one of the reasons that
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, he had heard that a great portion
of the church had come to believe that Jesus had come and gone. Or that his coming was so imminent
that Christians were beginning to set aside their earthly labors,
selling their possessions, settling in for the hope for return of
Christ. And so Paul had to address their
errant thinking. Otherwise, this little church
would quickly become completely ineffective for Christ. Perhaps
they were becoming so indolent and unproductive that they were
becoming a burden to the greater Christian community, taking advantage
of their gracious hospitality instead of contributing to others’
needs as they were supposed to. Even Christ’s introduction about
his return is recorded in Matthew 24, catches people in the midst
of working, whether in the field or grinding at the mill. And
what is Christ’s admonition there? Be on the alert, for you do not
know the day your Lord is coming. So how do you quit your job ahead
of time? Instead of whiling away the hours
looking at the eastern sky, they ought to be working and working
hard in order to provide for their own needs. We often speak
of a Puritan work ethic, which really is just a Christian work
ethic, an attitude toward work which seeks to glorify God in
that just as in all other endeavors of life. And so Paul basically
says to the Thessalonians here and to us, get busy, get to work,
get and stay busy, do not grow idle. And he closes this corrective
appeal here with an explanation. Why? Why lead a quiet life? Why attend to our own business?
Why work with our hands? He tells us plainly here at the
end of verse 12, so that, so that you may behave properly
toward outsiders. All of our conduct is observed
by God. We know that, right? We’ve covered
that, haven’t we? But Paul adds here, behaving
properly toward outsiders, that outsiders pointing specifically
to the watchful, unbelieving world. to conduct ourselves in
a manner that would adorn and not besmirch the gospel. It could be that Paul includes
the thought here of benevolence or hospitality to unbelieving
travelers in need. After all, if they didn’t work,
they certainly wouldn’t have anything to give, right? And that’s possible, it’s certainly
possible, but it’s inadequate exhortation alone just to urge
the example of hard work in front of a watching world. And so the
first reason that Paul gives for a quiet life of work is their
conduct before others, before unbelievers. But secondly, he
says that they themselves would not be in any need. This refers
to none other than those who would abuse the gracious generosity
of others. A Christian parasite is an oxymoron. It’s sad enough that we would
not have the means to help someone who is truly in need. It’s quite
another to be unable to care for ourselves, for our own household,
because of indolence. Sadly, it seems that even after
this clear exhortation, some of the Thessalonian Christians
did not heed Paul’s warning. Because when he writes to them
a second time, he addresses the same exact concern only this
time, much more forcefully. Second Thessalonians 3.10, even
when we were with you, we used to give you this order, if anyone
will not work, neither let him eat. For we hear that some among you
are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but
acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and
exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and
eat their own bread. Well, to my great dismay, it
has been my observation over this past year that the more
people, the more time rather, that people have on their hands,
that is time not spent in the humble service of others, not
in the development and the exercise of genuine brotherly love. When there’s a void there, There
are other things, ugly, sordid, destructive things that move
in and fill that void. A void left by the lack of brotherly
love. What are they? An ungraciously critical heart
that crabs at the slightest fault of a brother Or a self-centered, self-absorbed
attitude that willfully refuses to serve fellow believers. Or a cowardice that is more eager
to hide and excuse their sin than to expose it to the light
and repent. or a gracelessness that snubs
all overtures for peace, or a dawdling curiosity that wanders
away from truth and righteousness, or a nosy and harmful meddlesomeness
in other people’s affairs, or a wandering waywardness of
spirit that disregards the fellowship of the saints, someone who would
rather die alone than live with God’s people, or an inflated view of one’s
self and one’s opinions, or a cold absence of any real brotherly
affection. We must examine our own hearts
because we abandon brotherly love to our own shame and peril. Would you examine your heart
before him? Our merciful King, we humble ourselves in your glorious
presence. And as we looked at this passage,
at least initially, Perhaps we even began to cheer for ourselves
in our performance. Yet as we began to ponder the
particulars of this, we don’t need to look over our
shoulder, compare ourselves to others. We know well that we
fall short of perfection for sure. And in some cases, there’s
much There’s much standing in the way from maturity in this
regard. Lord God, grant us the grace
to examine our heart and to repent of any aspect of this. Father,
we pray that you would be glorified in cultivating in us brotherly love for God’s people. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray,
amen.