Insight for Living

Bill Meyer: A leader without followers is like a conductor without an orchestra. Just somebody with a baton waving their hands in front of empty chairs. The same is true in the local church. And today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll describes what he calls the flip side of leadership, referring to the role of followers. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul made it clear: when the pastor and parishioners are in sync, tremendous progress is made. So let's pick up our study now in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Chuck titled today's message "The Flip Side of Leadership."

Chuck Swindoll: The Word of God performs its work in you who believe. For example, is another way we could say it. For example, fellow Christians, you became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. How about that? Here he is in Macedonia, which is a continent and a half removed from where he had been in Jerusalem. And of all things, when the Word of God took root in Thessalonica, you are beginning to look just like the saints who live down there in Judea. It's remarkable. It's wonderful. It says, "I'm not alone." And that's what happened in Thessalonica. You brethren became imitators, and you remind me of the way they're living down in Judea. There is a godliness that emerges.

And by the way, it's incomplete if we don't include a word about suffering. I'm going to say a lot about that next time, but please note this time, verse 14: "For you brethren became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea for," see there's a further explanation, "you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your countrymen even as they did." Are you tracking this? Are you thinking now with me? We don't come to be entertained; we come to worship and to be instructed. We need to think together.

While thinking about how they had welcomed the Word of God, he says, "You have begun to cooperate with needed changes. You have begun to imitate the godly lifestyle just like in Judea." And third, there is an endurance through intense sufferings, and I commend you. That's the third: endurance through intense suffering. Someone has said willingness to suffer for Christ is proof of discipleship. Suffering, friend, welcome to the club. You've got that in common. Success is not in common, affluence is not in common, sex is not in common, marital status is not in common; suffering is in common. The one thread that can cause all of us to be drawn together in a tight loop is the reality of suffering.

And for all I know, some of you are going through it more intensely than ever in your life, and you might think that means I must not be right with God. No, keep reading, keep reading. You are suffering, you're going through the same afflictions that impacted your brothers in Christ, and it's coming from people who, verse 15, "killed the Lord Jesus and murdered the prophets and drove us out. They aren't pleasing to God, but they're hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved, with the result that they fill up the measure of their sins." Stop. What does that mean?

Now that is an intriguing statement: "they fill up the measure of their sins." You know something? This book is so remarkable, it gives answers to things that most books don't even address. Honest to Pete, you can have several earned doctorates and not even begin to traffic in the mysteries of God that are held in the deposit of God's Word. You read the philosophers and you will not find answers to this 16th verse about being filled up to the measure of one's sins. You know what that means? It is a reference to the well-defined limit of sin appointed by divine decrees.

In eternity past, the Trinity, in what we might call for lack of a better expression, met in council. And they set up, or the Godhead set up, the divine decrees. It would be the way life would be ordered. And the Godhead addressed the subject of sin. And the Godhead established limits and determined sin would operate within this category, within these limits. When those limits have been filled up, divine discipline occurs. And I believe that Paul is saying these people in our day have reached the limit, and wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. They are experiencing now the backwash of that.

You know what that tells me too? It tells me that things are not out of control. It should tell you the same thing. They may seem as bad as they're going to ever be. Trust me, they may not be. They may get worse. But they will never go beyond the limits to which God allows. Job is an example. "Have you looked on this earth?" "Yes, I've looked on this earth." "Let me run free and I will finish it all." "Don't touch Job, but you can take his family." And he takes his family, and he's got the limit set. Satan comes back and says, "Ah, you curse him," or I should say, "You allow suffering to strike him and he'll curse you to your face." "You may do that, but don't take his life." Another limit. And he did, but he didn't take his life. You know the story. The point is, it was filled up to the limit and it was not out of control. It doesn't solve all of the difficulties, but it does give you the peace to know that things are not out of hand.

Now this is deep water, isn't it? Tough stuff. But it's all part of responding well as followers to the Word of God. Now the leader himself, he doesn't run, or she doesn't run scot-free. We're not in our own little world where we have no accountability and no response expected from us. Look at verses 17 to 20. "But we, brethren," now that the scene changes, it's the other side of the coin. "But we, brethren, having been bereft of you for a short while in person but not in spirit, were all the more eager with great desire to see your face." See the word bereft? We get our word "orphaned" from the Greek term translated bereft. In this particular term, there is a prefix, by the way, that intensifies it. It means literally to be torn away from. "Kidnapped" might be a better word. Suffering came, persecution arose, and we were ripped away from you and forced to move on. Went to Athens and now come to Corinth, and we're ministering here. But I remember back when we were torn from you.

By the way, did you know that every day in America, 60 children are taken? That's two average-sized elementary school classes. They disappear every day. Torn away from parents. Paul says, "I'm like an orphan; I've been torn away from you." Now the point is this: there was an eager expectation in spite of separation. Even though I have been torn away from you, I eagerly look forward to being back with you. What's next? Verse 18: "We wanted to come to you—I, Paul, more than once—and Satan," your Bible may read, "hindered us." This particular version reads, "thwarted us."

The second response is a constant pursuit amidst satanic opposition. When you read something like that, take it seriously. We're living in a day in which the whole idea of Satan is sort of laughed at, sort of the inside joke of the office. Real devil? Come on, get serious. Well, verse 18 is serious. Paul, the great apostle, said, "We wished to come more than once, and Satan stopped us." The word is *enkopto*. *Enkopto* means to cut in on. It was used for digging up the soil of the road so that the vessels couldn't go over the road and get to the destination. You'll appreciate this one: it was used athletically for a runner cutting in on the stride of another runner. Does that remind anybody of anything in the 23rd Olympiad? Our lady, you know, our hope for a gold, named Mary Decker, got *enkopto*ed by a runner whose name most of us can hardly remember. And Mary stumbled and fell and couldn't even finish the race. She was cut in on.

I am intrigued by that whole idea. I want to know more, but he doesn't tell me more. Few things said elsewhere in the scriptures, but I tell you Bob Thomas is right over at Talbot Seminary: the real existence of a personal and supernatural devil is incontestable. There is an enemy at work. There are demons at work. There is another world of the unseen, and don't you ever forget it. While speaking with James Watt at a gathering where I was so honored to be a part of it, I heard him say, "Chuck, I can tell every time I get on the subject or I touch the demonic realm, boom, things explode. I can deal with other things and it's just as calm as it can be. But you move into enemy territory and the thing blows up." And so can many of you tell stories like that. There is an opposing world, there is an opposing force, there is a demonic world, and don't go to seed on that, by the way.

I know a guy who says he has the demon of nail-biting. Come on. The person's got the demon of overeating. Honestly, there's a place where some of that gets a little spooky, and you know that. God's given you a common sense and don't go to seed on stuff that's good theology. You go to work on overeating, you go to work on nail-biting, you go to work on stuff that you know you've got the controls on. Don't blame it on some force. I think demons have a lot more to be concerned about than your nails and mine. I honestly am very concerned that as a result of that kind of thinking, people who could otherwise be led to think intelligently throw it all out, baby and bathwater included, the whole bit. Now Paul is saying, "I wanted to come more than once, and the enemy stopped me." And I don't know any more than that, except the enemy stopped him and he sensed it was enemy territory. You will sense it too. The deeper you walk with Christ, the more you'll be able to differentiate. And I can't give you the rules. I'll just say you'll know. And you will have not a shallow fright, but you'll have a deep fear as you get into enemy territory. You're going to operate in the power of the Spirit or you won't make it. Greater is He that's in us than he that's in the world.

Now the third thing I notice in Paul's response was a joyful hope undiminished by problems. You see that in the last two verses? "Who is our hope or joy or crown of exaltation? Isn't it even you at the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?" When I think about the future, and I think about Christ's coming, and I think about being gathered up and caught up with other believers, and I'll see the Thessalonians with me, I'll think that was worth it all. There is my hope. That is my happiness. That makes me laugh. That makes me rejoice. "You are my glory and joy," verse 20. Isn't that wonderful? Joyful hope undiminished by problems. I want to warn all of us against getting grim while we fight battles, okay? I have a war on that. Don't get grim. You can be an intense fighter, but stay happy. I know when I meet someone who has lost the joy of living, I've met someone who's starting to fight his own battles.

You know what I lose when I start fighting for myself? I lose three things that start with the letter H. Just thought about this this week. I lose my hope, I lose my hunger for truth, and I lose my humor. I do, every time. I lose my hope. I think it's never going to get any better. Ever have that feeling? It's just awful. I'm never going to make it. Lose my hope, lose my hunger. I don't want to get into this book, I don't want to see what it has to say, I don't want to believe it, I don't want anybody to tell me what it says. I don't want to hear my own tapes. I just want to be left alone in my unbelief.

And my humor. You'd be so intense you don't even have much tact when you win souls. You just intensely go for the scalp. It's like Donald Barnhouse in his book on the Thessalonians tells the story about a barber in Australia who heard Dr. Torrey preach on soul-winning and he became now intense through the night about it, could hardly sleep. And he woke up the next morning, he was so burdened and so grim and so determined that he swore the first person that goes into his chair he's going to lead to Christ. And a dear guy comes in, get a shave and a haircut, and sits down and he starts lathering him up and he works on the razor and he says to himself, "I've got to do it, I've got to do it, I've got to do it." And the customer noticed the guy as he was doing it. The guy raises the razor up and says to the fellow in the chair, "Are you prepared to die?" Oh man, not like this, I'm not prepared to die. Give me a break.

I think that's part of the reason I still read bumper stickers. That's part of the reason I'm glad I still have teenagers around me, part of the reason I love having people who are fun to have lunch with on occasion, part of the reason I like to find things in life that lift the load. Every single thing I touch is eternal. Everything I do is serious. Every piece of counsel, they just hang on it. Before long I want to go boom. Give me a break, man. Let me out of this.

Now okay, we have heard a lot of great things and they've all been from this book. I have determined not to give you my opinion. I have determined you're going to get just what this has said. But you're no better off. You are no better off because you've heard it. You know what you've got to do? You've got to do it. There is one thing about a bumper sticker, by the way: it kind of tells people your intentions. You notice that? All these little hearts and "I love," and a guy's got a dog on there, he's got a horse on there. Had a guy had his wife's picture on there: "I love her." I saw one the other day that said, "I hate," and hearts were there: "I hate hearts." That guy's telling you about himself. I'm suggesting we come up with some stickers, okay? I mean it. We've heard some things; now let's make a sticker. Let's announce our intention. Okay? What have we heard? Three things.

An attitude of gratitude can be developed by welcoming the Word. I've heard that. An attitude of gratitude can be developed by welcoming God's Word. Let's make a sticker, and the sticker reads: "I welcome the truth I hear." There's a good sticker. "I welcome the truth I hear." Second, we've heard: a commitment to contentment will be strengthened by accepting God's will. We've heard that. A commitment to contentment will be strengthened by accepting God's will. Okay, here's the sticker: "I accept the path I walk." Some of you haven't even done that. You're still fighting it. You're still shaking your fist in the face of Almighty God. "How dare you put me in this circumstance." Friend, accept it. It's the secret of contentment. Not where I'm going to be, but where I am. "I accept the path I walk." Now, I'm not through, but right now I'm here. I accept it.

Three, I've heard: a happiness amidst heaviness must be cultivated by affirming God's people. A happiness amidst heaviness must be cultivated by affirming God's people. Remember what he said: "You are our hope and glory and joy." That's affirmation. "Thessalonians, I remember you. Ask me about my month. I love it; I affirm you." Sticker says: "I affirm the people I love." You say, "Well, I think we ought to affirm everybody." Why don't you start with the people you love? You know, it's easier at times for me to affirm a stranger than my own wife. Isn't that weird? Isn't that wrong? I can dump affirmation all over this pulpit, and you leave thrilled to death, and my wife could spend weeks in any given pressurized period of my life and not hear a statement of affirmation from my lips. I say to my shame. Just start with the people you love.

Admiral Hyman Rickover was the head of the United States Nuclear Navy for a period of time. And his admirers and his critics held strongly divergent views concerning Rickover's interviews as he would interview the officers who were to be a part of the Nuclear Navy. Ooh, those interviews were tough. You would be quaking with fear and anger and total intimidation when Rickover finished with you. One young naval officer sat in the room with Rickover on one occasion and recorded his experience. It was the first time I met Admiral Rickover, and we sat in a large room by ourselves for more than two hours. He let me choose any subject I wished to discuss. Very carefully, I chose those about which I knew most at that time: current events, seamanship, music, literature, naval tactics, and so on. In each instance, he soon proved that I knew relatively little about the subject I had chosen as he asked me a series of increasingly more difficult questions. Finally, he said a question that I thought would redeem myself: "How did you stand in your class at the Naval Academy?" Since I had completed my sophomore year at Georgia Tech before entering Annapolis as a plebe, I had done very well, and I swelled my chest with pride and said, "59th in a class of 820, sir. I did well." He had another question: "Did you do your best?"

I started to say, "Yes, sir," but I remembered who this was and I recalled several of the many times at the Academy when I could have learned more about our allies and enemies and weaponry and strategy and I was just human. I finally gulped and said, "No, sir, I did not always do my best." He looked at me for a long time, turned his chair around to end the interview, and asked one final question which I have never been able to forget or to answer: "Why not?" The young naval officer's name is Jimmy Carter. We will stand before our Savior as His children, by grace entering into His kingdom. And I have the feeling we will be haunted by the question: "Did you do your best? Why not?"

Let's bow together. Life isn't a bowl of cherries; it isn't chuckling over a few little silly bumper stickers. Life is tough stuff. It's eternal. Only two things in this old world are eternal, and that's God's book and people—saved or lost. God's book and people. My world revolves around both; I want yours to also. You want to do your best? Yeah, I think most of us do. Start with believing what's right. God loved the world so much He gave His Son that whoever believed in Him would never perish. Believe in God's Son, you never perish. Do that first. Do it. Don't make a bumper sticker about it; just do it. Don't announce to the world yet; just do it. Now. Believe in His Son. You say, "I believe in His Son. I'm already there." Then do His word. His Spirit will come to your assistance.

Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us truth. Thank You for saying it straight. Thank You for making it stick. In Jesus' name, amen.

Bill Meyer: You're listening to Insight for Living and the Bible teaching of Chuck Swindoll. He's presented a study through Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians. Today's message is titled "The Flip Side of Leadership." It's from the 12-part series called "Contagious Christianity." We hope today's program piqued your curiosity to learn more. If so, Insight for Living offers a printed Bible study workbook for you. The one for 1 Thessalonians is called "Contagious Christianity," and it's ready right now. Whether you use this spiral-bound resource in your personal quiet times or in a small group at church, you'll find this interactive Bible study workbook immensely helpful. At your own pace, you can search the scriptures with Chuck Swindoll and, in particular, the letter of 1 Thessalonians. So give us a call at 800-772-8888, or you can purchase the searching the scriptures Bible study workbook online by going to insight.org/offer.

Chuck has written a best-selling book on a similar theme. It's called "Laugh Again: Experience Outrageous Joy," and we'd be happy to send you a copy when you make a gift to support the ministry of Insight for Living. Look, life is tough. You know it, we know it. But here's the thing: you don't have to let circumstances steal your joy. Chuck's book "Laugh Again" is all about experiencing outrageous joy even when life feels heavy. Based on Paul's letter to the Philippians, this book will remind you that joy isn't about your circumstances; it's about your Savior. You can request your copy today and discover what it means to truly laugh again. It's yours when you give a gift to support the ministry of Insight for Living. Call us at 800-772-8888, or you can send your donation and request the book "Laugh Again" by writing to us at Insight for Living, Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, Texas, 75034. That's Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, Texas, 75034. Or go online to insight.org/offer. I'm Bill Meyer. Chuck Swindoll describes how to respond when your comfort zone gets the squeeze tomorrow on Insight for Living.

The preceding message, "The Flip Side of Leadership," 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.