Insight for Living

Narrator: Crooked legs, protruding eyeballs, unimpressive speech. That's how the apostle Paul was described. Hardly the superhero we imagined. Yet this ordinary man planted something extraordinary in an unremarkable Greek city that would change the world. So, what was his secret? Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll points to Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, where he finds the biblical model for churches that truly matter: places where real people with real struggles find genuine healing. It's the first in his series called Contagious Christianity. Chuck titled today's message, "A Church with the Right Stuff."

Chuck Swindoll: We like real people. We don't like phonies, do we? We want to be away from phonies. When we sense that somebody is a fake, we can't get away fast enough. But we like people that are authentic. We like folks that are supportive, people who are innovative and generous givers rather than takers and users, don't we?

We don't like to look back on an experience and feel that we were used, that someone got out of us what they wanted and then that's over and we go on. We like to feel that that person gave, didn't try to just suck the life out of us. In fact, Paul doesn't leave us with a list that some preacher could come up with. He tells us the list in verse three.

He says, "I give thanks for all of you, constantly bearing in mind." That's a great statement, and it has in mind never forgetting. This isn't a flash-in-the-pan glad-handing, slap on the back. This isn't a passing fancy so that they'll send him money. It's not that. He says, "I constantly bear in mind three things: your faith that was put to work—we could call faith at work—your labor that came out of love, and your steadfastness because of hope. And when I think about that, I give thanks."

I smile because I know a few folks like that. Don't you? People who don't leave faith on the shelf; they put it to work. People who don't just talk about love; they love. They fill up the jug, put in the ice, and bring it to the runway. They don't say, "If you have a need, give me a call." When has anybody called you and said, "I really have a need"? They are the type of people who call you and say, "Let me help."

And furthermore, they are folks whose steadfastness just motivates the socks off of you. Steadfastness of hope. That's a great word, steadfastness. The margin renders it "perseverance." It's an old Greek word from two terms that mean to abide or to rest under something. *Hupo*, under; to abide, *meno*. *Hupomeno*.

It was used for a beast that carried the load. Have you ever been to Mexico? You've seen the burros. And you've seen people on a trip; they pile their stuff on top of this burro. And they don't stop piling. It just keeps going until there's more stuff than burro. And they've got straps around it and rope around it and knots, 15 granny knots to tie that thing, and that old burro just holds on under the load. His back sways. In the words of the New Testament, he abides under the load. That's the word.

When I call to mind the load you were under but you didn't fuss about it, I give thanks. I give thanks to Jesus Christ in the presence of the Father. I often think of the words of Anne Ortlund in a little book called *Up with Worship*. "Every congregation has a choice to be one of two things. You can choose to be a bag of marbles, single units that don't affect each other except in collision." On Sunday morning, you can choose to go to church or to sleep in. Who really cares whether there are 192 or 193 marbles in a bag?

Or you can choose to be a bag of grapes. Now that's interesting. The juices begin to mingle. Ever sat on a bag of grapes? The bag begins to get really moist. There is no way to extricate yourselves if you tried. Each is a part of all, part of the fragrance, part of the stuff. Part of the stuff. We keep the stuff to ourselves. We build walls around our houses and we build big thick places of residence so that you can't get in.

And then we come to worship and we realize we're not walled up. We're together in this thing. We need that. We need the work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope to keep rubbing off, to keep saying we're in this thing together. It is so lonely alone. It is so awful feeling like Elijah. He felt the wrong thing, but he felt it. "I'm all alone and there's no one left."

I mean, I got Jezebel on my case and that wimp Ahab is on my case. It is kind of a Swindoll paraphrase of 1 Kings 17. Where are they? And God speaks to him and says, "Man, I got 7,000 that haven't even bowed the knee to Baal." Why is He telling him that? The same reason Paul gave thanks: because there's something about knowing next to me is a person that has got faith and love and hope, and it's in place, and he's a struggler with me, and he's not giving up.

And that makes me give thanks when I'm in lonely Corinth and it's late and it's dark and I'm tempted. There was something great this summer about knowing you had home, you had a place of residence, you had a body of people. It was great for me, I will tell you. "Knowing, brethren beloved of God, His choice of you, our gospel didn't come in into you in word only." Don't you hurry through that. I had to put the brakes on when I got to that part.

He's thinking now, 15 months ago when I first came to you, I didn't dump a truckload of theology and say, "There. Next." I came and I gave you the gospel, but it wasn't just a pack of words. I didn't just stand up and say, "Jesus Christ came to this earth, Jesus Christ died for our sins, Jesus Christ arose from the dead, believe in Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Next." And I pressed on to the next place.

That creates information-oriented Christians. And you don't hold together when life gets tough. Look at what he says. "Our gospel did not come to you in word only." Turn the page and look at chapter two, verse eight. "Having thus a fond affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel but also our own lives."

I love it. When Paul got through, whether it was three weeks or three years, they knew Paul as real, warts and all, cracks and all, struggle and all. No wonder there was such a kinship. No wonder he prayed for these people. He had delivered his life to them. I didn't just give you information. I entered into your life and you entered into mine. Now go back to chapter one, look at verse five, how it wraps up. "Our gospel came in power, it came in the Holy Spirit, it came with full conviction, just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake."

Do you remember those days? You remember those late nights? You remember when I wept over the death of my brother? You remember when I couldn't put together my thoughts on why this suffering wouldn't go away? You were with me when the headache didn't stop. You were with me when I struggled with those people out of Philippi that dogged my steps. You knew me.

Derek Bok, Harvard president, said, "There is a very obvious dearth of people who seem to be able to supply convincing answers or even point the direction towards solutions." Are you one of those people? Many of you are. Don't stop. Don't be ashamed of having answers. Don't think that being a fellow struggler with the human race means you're completely out of all answers. That's not real either.

The gospel is here, and it's truth, and it's objective, and don't miss that, but don't stop there. Isn't the gospel sufficient? Yes, it is sufficient. Well, isn't it sufficient for the entire balanced Christian life? It is not. It needs life. It needs a body. I love the story of the little girl afraid at night and couldn't sleep, and her mother kept coming to her side. And she said, "Honey, remember the Sunday school lesson. Jesus is with you all the time. You have no reason to be afraid." She says, "I know it, mother. I just need somebody with skin on it."

I need a gospel with skin on it. I need a model that's real. I don't want a snake with legs. That's unreal stuff. I want a Paul, a man who prays and thanks God and affirms, but he doesn't keep me from the hard news either. Look at what happened. Look at the affirming words in verse six: "You became mimics of us." Literally, that's the Greek term. "You became mimics of us and you became mimics of the Lord, having welcomed the word in much tribulation with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Greece."

First of all, he affirms them for the way they responded to fellow Christians in verse six and verse seven. And then he doesn't stop. Next, he affirms them for the way they responded to those without Christ. "The word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith toward God has gone forth so that we have no need to say anything." I wonder what that was like. When he came to some sections in Greece, the Thessalonians had already been there. "Oh, we've heard that. We heard it from the Thessalonians."

Everywhere we went, the word sounded forth. The term means to echo, to thunder across the canyon. Everywhere we went, we kept hearing it. Let me venture this challenge. You have a home in a community, right? You're like the point of a wedge into the door. That's what your home is. It isn't just a place to have privacy and to hide and to repair. It is that, but it isn't just a harbor. It's a wedge.

And after a while, that home and the lifestyle of that home becomes infectious. Before long, the neighborhood begins to get the message. That place is different. Not because you're religious, not that. It's because there's an authenticity of life. There's an honesty, there is integrity, there is a relationship that is vibrant, that is open, that's fun to be around. That's what I call magnetic, contagious. And kids don't want to stay away from it; they want to be in it. It is like that.

The Thessalonians were like that. Their place was magnetic. And Paul says, "I traveled," verse nine, "and they report what kind of reception we had with you, how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." Isn't that great? I see a voluntary turning. I don't believe Paul had to preach against idols. I believe when Christ took charge of their lives, they gave the idols up.

I love the illustration from Donald Barnhouse regarding playing marbles. He said, "For so many years in my life I played marbles. And I was one of the best marble shooters on the block. And then I grew up. I got a little older and started playing football. I was walking home from sandlot football one afternoon, tossing the football up, and I saw a bunch of boys playing marbles. And I didn't stand there and say, 'You ought to give that up. You just shouldn't play marbles.' I just walked by thinking, 'Well, I've outgrown that.'"

I think that's the way it is. I think the longer you walk with Christ, the less idols you lean on and need, and you just outgrow them. Idol by idol, piece by piece, you turn to God from them. Isn't it interesting the order? You turn to Him from them to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He has raised from the dead, and delivers us from the wrath to come.

I see both responsibility and readiness. I see a group of people who were responsible to take the truth to the lost and to live the truth among the saved. And I see a readiness, people who were saying He could come today, but He may not come in our lifetime. That's balance. To live as though He would come before lunch, but to know that He may not come until I'm in the grave.

I see commitment written all across the pages of Thessalonians. I see commitment to the saved, being ready to accept and to support one another in the family. That's commitment to the saved. I see commitment to the lost, being available to the non-Christian and involved in carrying the gospel by lip and with life. I see commitment to Christ, being free from many of the idols that keep me from living every day as though it's my last.

I have been reading *Facing Turbulent Times* again and got to page 34 and got to a part that I thought ought to be read to everybody. "The person for turbulent times who chooses to be Christian in the final two decades of the 20th century will have to reexamine both the strategies of readiness and responsibility. Assuming that our age is moving into troubled waters, how shall we live? What shall we say? Where shall we serve?"

"Christians must prepare to live not only with the possibility of the Lord's coming, but also with the probability of His not coming for a while." Some of you look at me like you've got to be kidding. You mean I bought that boat and I've got to pay for that? I've been counting on the rapture to deliver me from the payments of that boat? That means we must call upon a different kind of futurist, the man or woman with a discerning capability who can trailblaze the way for families and congregations and even communities through a period of history that is probably the twilight of an age.

The twilight of an age. Does that ring in your mind as a possibility? Cynthia said to me just last night, "Doesn't it seem very much like these are the last days?" I know if you're prophetic talkers in your home, you'd say, "I say that all the time." Well, we're not prophetic talkers in our home. So for her to say it kind of made me think. "Doesn't it seem like this might be the last era?" The twilight of an era. I think it is.

Let's bow together. If I could, I would look right into the face of every person listening to these words. I would sit one-on-one with you and I would ask you some questions. If indeed we're in the twilight of an age, what difference are you making? See what this does to your business. See what it does to your leisure. See what it does to your money. Who in the world's going to need that pile of dough if it's all going to be burnt up except that which is eternal?

See what it does to relationships with the saints and especially with the lost. What a difference it makes. How about priorities? A church with the right stuff is full of people with the right stuff who live by right priorities. That's what this is saying. If you've never just objectively faced the facts of the gospel, you're really on thin ice. The most dangerous place to be today is in this civilization, urban civilization. They die every minute.

If you've never met Christ and you know that if you were to die today, you would not be ready for heaven, I just plead with you. Don't play with that. Stop and deal with the fact that Christ died for you, came back from the dead and lives for you, and will forgive you, give you His grace, and take you to heaven if you turn your life over to Him.

I'm so pleased, Father, to be surrounded by people who have put these things in order. I'm so pleased that I'm not in the cave of Elijah, wondering why I have to be alone in this. Today especially I feel affirmed and I feel supported and I feel loved, and I feel a part of a body of people who are nodding and not shaking their heads back. I'm so grateful that we can make a difference. We have time in which to do it. Though short, we have time. May we do it now.

I pray for every ministry that is engaged in addressing the critical needs of a twilight of an era. I pray for You to encourage them. Ministries to families, ministries to singles, ministries to those who are struggling with so many of the abuses of our day. The hurts, the pain that keeps them from listening to what's being said. May You undergird and reinforce and give them renewed zeal as a result of hearing these things. May we all be shaken from lethargy that makes us dream while waiting for the Son from heaven rather than work.

But Father, may there be a balance in this work. May it be marked by grace. May it be a labor of love. May there be a steadfastness of hope. Whether dealing with young or old, may our hearts, our minds be on You. We commit to You this marvel study of this first-century letter, which is written to us indirectly. And we ask for You to give us listening ears, ready to change, to apply. For Jesus' sake we pray. Amen.

Bill Meyer: You're listening to Insight for Living. Chuck Swindoll is our Bible teacher and he titled today's message, "A Church with the Right Stuff." It's the first study in the larger 12-part series that started yesterday called Contagious Christianity. To dig deeper into 1 Thessalonians on your own, we invite you to check out the variety of helpful tools available at insight.org/offer.

Start with the Searching the Scriptures Bible study workbook for this series. It's perfect for personal reflection or group discussion. And of course, there's the complete audio sermon collection to hear Chuck's teaching again and again, either on CD or MP3, or by using our convenient mobile app where listening is free. Also, one of the most popular books in Chuck's collection is a perfect complement to this teaching series. It's called *Laugh Again: Experience Outrageous Joy*.

Some of us haven't laughed in a long, long time. How about you? I'm not talking about a polite chuckle, but the kind of joy that bubbles up from deep inside. When was the last time you threw back your head and roared with laughter? Well, in his book *Laugh Again*, Chuck explores Paul's secret to outrageous joy. The book of Philippians was written from Paul's prison cell. And if Paul could find joy in chains, imagine what God wants to do in your life.

This book could change the way you see your circumstances. Request a copy of *Laugh Again* and rediscover the joy that's become all too rare. Call 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org/offer. Also, a reminder that your gift to Insight for Living accomplishes far more than you can imagine. Your contribution today will help someone you may never meet find a reason to smile again. We'll send you that book, *Laugh Again*, when you make a donation to support the ministry of Insight for Living. Call 800-772-8888 or visit insight.org/offer. I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck Swindoll describes a guaranteed leadership style that really works, Thursday on Insight for Living.