Insight for Living

Bill Meyer: What does it mean to be an effective witness for Christ? Well, today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll offers a powerful piece of advice: stop talking and start working. Surprised? In this study, Chuck explains why leading a quiet life, minding your business, and working with your hands is the Bible's first step toward evangelism.

You see, excellent work habits earn the right to be heard, and it will season your speech with grace and a pinch of salt. From his *Contagious Christianity* series, Chuck titled today's message "Behaving Properly toward Outsiders."

Chuck Swindoll: Go back again to the Gospel of John. This time, it's Chapter 13. John 13, look at verse 1. "Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." Isn't that good stuff? He loved them to the uttermost. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the extreme.

In fact, it doesn't just mean He loved them to the end of His life and ministry. It means He loved them *eis telos*, into completion would be a pretty literal rendering. In fact, Knox renders it, "He gave them the uttermost proof of His love." A.W. Pink says, "He loved them to the farthest extent of their need and of His grace." The NIV reads, "He loved them to the full extent." The Amplified says, "He loved them to the highest degree." I especially like Campbell Morgan's rendering.

The words "unto the end" mean to completion. It has been rendered beautifully "to the uttermost." Morgan adds, "But I am going to dare to render it another way, which I maintain reveals the very spirit of it: having loved His own who were in the world, He saw it through." The hour had come. He had come from God and He was going back to God. Having loved them, He saw it through. He loved them to the uttermost, to perfection, to completion, to realization. He saw it through.

You know, in 1 Thessalonians 4, when it says that you love one another to the point of excelling in it, think in those terms. See people through. Don't just love them when they have earned it. Don't just love them when they have met the conditions of a good love relationship. Love them when they don't deserve it. Now, that may mean you'll need to tell them the truth. You love them that much. It may mean you'll have to be secure enough to pull them aside, put your arm around them and say, "Hey, I can't let you get away with that. I love you too much."

You know why that kind of excelling love is mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:9 and 10? Because the unsaved person sees it and says, "I want it." See, the unsaved is not around that kind of love. The unsaved is around a love that is earned. It's a conditional love. It's a love where you do your part and I'll do my part. It's a reciprocal love. But when Paul says to the Thessalonians, "Excel still more," he's saying love in such a way that when the outsider sees you doing it, he will think or she will think, "I want that. How do they do that?"

Just because a person is unsaved doesn't mean the person can't think. It doesn't mean the person isn't watching. On the contrary, many of them can outthink us and are watching life more than we're watching it. It was Tertullian who wrote on one occasion of the early Christians, "Behold how they love one another." That winsome magnetic ingredient that pulled people out of that rugged Roman Empire and put them ultimately into the catacombs. It was a wooing, winsome love relationship in the family. It was the warmth of a womb, a womb of love. Love one another. Excel in it.

But that's indirect. That's an indirect method of witnessing. Let's go to the direct. Back to 1 Thessalonians 4:11. Let's talk about how we relate to the saved. Now, hold onto your hats. There's not a word in here about handing out tracts, and I believe in it. Don't think I am putting that down. I'm just saying when he came down to basic rules, he wasn't saying let's have a big crusade. That's important. Crusades are great, and we believe in them and we go for it. But that's not basic.

Grassroots evangelism is not those things we often connect to it. It's lifestyle. Now, we're going to get down into where we work in this passage, and it's going to hurt. I warn you before it happens. Our favorite method of witnessing is to talk. The very first piece of counsel is be quiet. See verse 11: "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life."

Interesting background here. We have reason to believe that the Thessalonians had gone to seed on prophecy. Paul had mentioned the coming of the Lord Jesus for sure, as we're going to see in our next study. But the Thessalonians heard more than he said. If Christ is coming soon, why hassle now? I mean, He's coming any moment. So we might as well talk it up and live kind of recklessly and happily. And so that's what they did. They must have talked it up.

They were refusing to live in the here and now. They were living in the later on tomorrow. The term used here, by the way, translated "quiet life," is the opposite for striving eagerly for something or being restless. It's a reference to living in your community in an ordinary, responsible fashion. You want me to get down in the nuts and bolts of it? It means if you have a yard, you keep it up. It means if you drive a car, you don't let it go to pot because you're living for Christ's soon return.

It means if you dress in today's clothing, you keep it clean. You don't walk around with BO because you believe in Christ's soon return. It means living responsibly. It means if you are pursuing an education, you don't drop it and put on a white robe and sit on a hillside and play the guitar and sing "Do, Lord" as you eat birdseed all afternoon because Christ is coming back. You finish your education. You go for it. You live in your community as a responsible citizen. You bear your part of the load as a member of the community, as a neighbor.

You lead a quiet life, and if that isn't enough, you attend to your own business. Now, look at that. It's a picture of being personally diligent, steadily and faithfully working at one's assignment in life. Religious fanatics make terrible employees. Maybe no one has ever told you that, and I want to be a friend and tell you that. If you are fanatical about your religion, chances are good your fellow employees don't like working around you. You tend not to attend to your own business.

Here's the third piece of counsel, and again, it won't sound very evangelistic: work with your hands. Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, attend to your own business, and work with your hands. It's the thought of being personally diligent to get a job done. People who do not earn their wage forfeit the right to be heard regarding the good news. An irresponsible, lazy lifestyle discredits the good news. Let me show you how that had happened to the Thessalonians.

Over in the second letter, last chapter, turn please. 2 Thessalonians 3:7 down through verse 14. We have some pretty straight counsel along this line. 2 Thessalonians 3:7: "For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it." May I put it this way? Paul wasn't a freeloader. Just a little axe I've got to grind here for just a moment. Bear with me, but we'll go on with it in a second.

Too many people enter into the Christian life thinking the world owes them a living. Now that I'm a Christian, the other guy picks up the tab when we go to lunch. Now that I'm in ministry, the other person pays his way. I don't. He owes it to me. Now that I'm a Christian, now that I have my eyes on heavenly things, I leave the heavy stuff for someone else. I'm concerned about significant things. I read this past week that far too many people are ready to carry the stool when there's a piano to be moved.

If you are a Christian, carry the piano. Let someone else carry the stool. What else does it mean, working with one's own hand? Now, back to it. Thanks for letting me grind an axe here. We didn't eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship, we kept working night and day so that we might not be a burden to any of you. Not because we don't have the right to this—he had the right to have his meals catered; he was an apostle—we didn't take advantage of it, though.

But in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, that you might follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone will not work, neither let him eat. That's a pretty good plan, isn't it? For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all. A lot of stool movers. You're acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion. He repeats it again. Work in quiet fashion. Eat your own bread.

As for brethren, don't grow weary of doing good. If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of the man and don't associate with him so that he may be put to shame. Wow. You're a Christian in your office, you're a Christian in your shop, you should be there early and, if necessary, you need to stay there late. Get the job done. You're hired out to sell a product? Sell a product. You're not hired out to witness. You're hired out to sell. Sell. And it's remarkable. You may even be promoted.

And then you'll be in a leadership capacity, and then you'll have a bigger job. Then you'll have management responsibilities, and then you will still be working hard. But in the process, as a salesperson or as manager, your testimony is growing. Am I saying you never speak for Christ? Don't say that about me. Don't think I'm saying that. This is the other side of the coin. You know that I'm for speaking for the Savior. You know that I believe in sharing the good news.

You know that I believe in whatever method works—get at it. But I'm saying if you are in a bank to handle money, handle money. Don't just pass out tracts. You're a coach? Coach the team. Motivate the guys or the gals to play the game. That's why you're there. You're not there to be a part-time Christian. You're there to be a full-time employee. And as you earn the right to be heard, they'll want to hear it. And you'll have ample opportunity. Ample.

I have a great opportunity this afternoon. I get to go to a Ram game. It doesn't often happen; in fact, I only make a game or two a year. And so my major battle is how do I get out of here in time to make the game. I've got a plan. Just relax. But one of the things about the fun thing about going to this game is that I'm going to have to go and sit in a suite. Not mine, but a friend of mine has invited a guy and me to come along. About 25, 30 guys, most many of whom are lost. It's a terrific opportunity.

Now, I'm not going to show up in a robe and a big Bible saying, "Nobody smoke, and nobody drink beer!" I'm going to walk in in my Western outfit and have a whopping good time laughing and having fun, pulling for the Rams. Just great side-slapping, knee-slapping, fun-laughing time. In the process, I'm going to build a relationship with a few of those men. And if nobody squeals on me, they won't even know I'm a minister. It doesn't mean I'm going to smoke and it doesn't mean I'm going to drink.

I don't have to do that to show I'm one of them. That's dumb to think you've got to do that to win them. The charm wins them. Having fun wins them. Being non-judgmental wins them. The cross offends them. And when we start talking turkey about the Savior, I won't hedge one minute. But we're going to have a great time. And it may not be an opportunity at all then, but there'll come one. There'll be a time.

Now, individuals who hear this message, back in 1 Thessalonians 4, turn please, have to understand that this leads to a climax, okay? The climax, the ultimate result is verse 12: don't be overly dependent on others. See the way this reads? "So that"—that's a result. Those are words that say result is coming. Here's a result. So that as a result of loving the brothers and sisters in the family, leading a quiet life, attending to your own business, working with your hands so that you've earned the right to be heard in a lifestyle of neighborhood or office or social evangelism, lifestyle evangelism, so that you may behave properly toward the outsiders and not be in any need. It means don't be overly dependent on others. That's the fourth.

Now, let me say that there are exceptions. I know a case right now of a fine, Christian, hard-working gentleman who has been looking for a job for months. And he cannot find one. Breaks his heart, breaks the family's heart. We're praying with them, working with them to make it happen, but he can't seem to find his niche. It's not his fault. He's a victim of circumstances. Now, this isn't reference to that kind of person. Not a person who's lived a responsible life and the bottom's dropped out.

This is an individual who has behaved properly and suddenly the mate's walked out on them, or there's been a turn of events in their health and now they need the family, the Christian family, to put their arms around them and help them through it. That's different. But this is an individual who could keep from being in need, but he doesn't. He's living off someone else. That's what he's putting down. Somehow people have picked up the mistaken idea that Christianity advocates living off others. It doesn't. You get a job and you work hard and you work your way into it, through it, and out of it. That's your calling. Never live behind the idea "because I serve Christ, you take care of me."

Now, what do you say? How do you wrap something like this up? Colossians Chapter 4. If you'll turn, we started in John, we've been to John again, we've looked at 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians. Let's wrap it up in Colossians 4. Oh, this is such a great passage of Scripture. It is, in my opinion, one of my favorite sections. Chapter 4 verse 5: "Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity." See the word "outsiders"? That's the lost person.

"Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with a little bit of salt." Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you ought to respond to each person. Boy, is that good counsel. It's our tendency to dump the box of salt. That dear guy underneath there is stinging to death. He can't get out of the salt. It just says season it with some salt. Just a little salt.

Now, I'm going to give you three pieces of advice and we're all through. Regarding non-Christians, they are watching and wondering, so conduct yourself with wisdom. They are watching and wondering, so conduct yourself with wisdom. That's what the passage is saying. Conduct yourself with wisdom toward the outsider. Don't think they listen simply to what you're saying. Long before they listen to what you're saying, they watch what you do. They notice you carry the stool. They notice that.

They notice you come there late. They notice you take advantage at the coffee break. They notice that you leave early. They notice that you're not as diligent in your profession as you could be. They note that. And then when you speak of quality life in Christ, they turn that off. You lack integrity in life; how can you speak of an integrity in belief? Conduct yourself with wisdom.

Second, they are listening and learning, so speak your words with grace. They are listening and learning, so speak your words with grace. Just a little bit of salt and a whole lot of grace. And do you notice how it closes? How you should respond to each person. I just saw this this week. Each individual person. We have mass approaches to reaching mass humanity. People aren't one in masses; they're one individually.

Third point: they are individuals and important, so respond with dignity and sensitivity. They are individuals and they are important, so respond with dignity and sensitivity. Becky Pippert, in her great book *Out of the Salt Shaker and into the World*, says, "An effective form of evidence is what God has done in our lives. The world hungers, perhaps without even knowing it, for examples of evidence in people's lives. They want to know if God works. Has He brought you a feeling of self-esteem? Does God make a difference in your marriage and in rearing children?"

Earl Palmer said once that perhaps the best testimony a Christian couple can give today is a reasonably good marriage. "We who are married do not have to pretend we are living as Barbie dolls on a wedding cake," says Becky Pippert. "We have struggles and dashed expectations, too. But if we offer the world a model of a reasonably good marriage, a reasonably good church, a reasonably good fellowship, it will have radicalizing effect on the world. We need to tell others what prayers we see answered, what things God is doing. We must communicate His aliveness." Amen.

Let's bow together, shall we? What a great needed message. I think we probably had some outsiders listening in. I think we've got some that are wondering what kind of people are these that listen to counsel like that. How could I be like this? Perhaps today is a turning point for you and you say, "Chuck, I've heard enough to know that if you're talking about a life to be lived in that kind of power, I need it and I want it and I don't have it and I'm ready for it. I want Christ. I don't want anything like I want Him. I'm lost. I need the Savior." I want you to believe in Christ now. Believe now.

And so, Lord, today we come to you with gratitude for the opportunity that you have allowed us to have. You didn't save us and then remove us from this world, but you deliberately kept us in it. And, Lord, we realize that your desire for us is not isolation but insulation. However, not even in that do you want us to be removed in any way from those about us. Give us the courage to live as we should live before the outsiders.

Give us the ability to love them, sometimes in spite of themselves, as they often must show to us. And thank you for being delivered from the sense of pride that we have some corner on life. The fact is you have claimed us as your own even though we weren't looking for you, and you've loved us even when we weren't very lovely or lovely. So give us that same ability to live openly in whatever we do, to do our work heartily as for you rather than for others.

And may we never forget that you use testimonies that aren't even spoken to attract the attention and win the hearts of those without your Son. Give us that kind of integrity, our Father, as we live before you while living before others. We ask this together in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.

Bill Meyer: "Behaving Properly toward Outsiders." That's the title of today's message from Chuck Swindoll. He's teaching from 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4. It's just one of Chuck's sermons from the 12-part series called *Contagious Christianity*. We're hoping these daily studies have inspired you to learn more about Paul's letter to the Thessalonians.

If you'd like to dig deeper, our talented team here at Insight for Living has created a companion Bible study workbook that walks you through the same discovery process Chuck uses when he's preparing his messages. It's spiral-bound, easy to follow, and gives you plenty of space for your own notes and reflections. You'll find the *Searching the Scriptures* Bible study workbook for *Contagious Christianity* at insight.org/offer.

Here's something you'll notice in this series: laughter is part of contagious Christianity. Real joy, the kind that bubbles up in laughter, flows from a satisfied heart. It's one of the clearest signs of genuine contentment. And speaking of laughter, we hear from listeners all the time about how much they appreciate Chuck's sense of humor. That joy really is contagious.

Today, we're offering a three-CD collection of some of Chuck's best stories and most memorable moments—the kind that'll make you laugh out loud. But these aren't just entertaining stories; each one is rooted in biblical truth and wrapped in a way that you'll remember. To request your copy, call 800-772-8888 or visit insight.org/offer.

Finally, we'd like to say thank you for your generous support of Insight for Living. Your voluntary contributions keep Chuck's teaching available on the radio and across every platform we serve. Because of friends like you, people around the world are discovering how to receive God's grace and how to share it with others. We couldn't do it without you.

You can make a gift today by calling 800-772-8888 or visit insight.org/donate. You can also send a gift in the mail to Insight for Living, Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, Texas 75034. What does it mean to prepare for Christ's coming? I'm Bill Meyer. Hear Chuck Swindoll's surprising answer tomorrow on Insight for Living.

The preceding message, "Behaving Properly toward Outsiders," was copyrighted in 1984, 1985, 1993, 2003, and 2024, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindoll, Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.