Insight for Living

Bill Meyer: Ever noticed how believers tend to gravitate toward two extremes? We either create an exclusive bubble and refuse to socialize with anyone who's not a part of the Christian club, or we become secret service saints, and only God knows what we truly believe. Well, there's a far better way.

And today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll helps us understand how to strike the right balance. From our study in First Thessalonians called "Contagious Christianity," Chuck titled today's message "Behaving Properly toward Outsiders." And we begin by reading the passage together.

Guest (Male): According to Paul, diligence on the job is an important factor in making Christianity attractive to non-Christians. But what do we do when our jobs get us down? Those days when our workload only gets heavier and our bosses seem to get even more exasperated?

The apostle helps us adjust our attitude with his words to the Colossian believers as he writes, "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord, rather than for men" (Colossians 3:23). Walter Wangerin offers us insight into these words from Paul. If a carpenter crafts a chair for a rich stranger, he may do it well. But if he crafts it for his daughter, he will do it lovingly. Much is different between the first and the second crafting, and much is different between the two chairs, too, though only he and his daughter may see the difference.

Christians who do their work for the Lord do it not only for the pay, but for the gleam in Christ's eyes when we present it to him. Paul talks about this behavior in the passage we're looking at today. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12. Listen to what Paul says about our jobs, our work.

"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 all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need."

Bill Meyer: You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into First Thessalonians on your own, be sure to purchase our "Searching the Scriptures" Bible study workbook by going to insight.org/offer. Chuck titled today's message "Behaving Properly toward Outsiders."

Chuck Swindoll: The Christian often finds himself on a major battlefield. It's a battlefield between two opposing forces. I suppose we could call it a war between either and or. I want to describe for you for the next few minutes the battleground of extremes.

For example, either we are zealous for the lost and inclined toward evangelism, almost to the point of forgetting the need for prayer and personal Bible study, or we are so committed to the personal disciplines of our edification and spiritual growth, we operate as though we could care less about the world of the lost person. There really is very little evangelistic concern within us, after all.

Here's another one. Either we are so confident and self-assured and full of determination that we run ahead and make a mess of things, not willing to wait on God, or we are so afraid of risk and the walk of faith and doing anything outside the realm of the predictable that we become rather dull and visionless, and in the final analysis, pretty predictable.

Here's another: the extreme that I would describe as the battle between the vertical and the horizontal. It goes like this. We become so preoccupied with prophecy and the signs of the times and Christ's imminent return that everything in our lives revolves around the fact that he is coming, he is coming soon, and so we count on him to bail us out of the mess we make.

I suppose it could be described in the words of a misprint that appeared in a Kentucky newspaper in the weather report, which said, "There's a less than five percent chance of tonight and tomorrow." Some people live as though there is less than five percent chance of tonight and tomorrow.

Or we get so out of balance that he will never return that we put our tent pegs three, four, five miles deep, and we operate building some kind of materialistic kingdom, which is what I would call horizontal bondage. Once again, it's a battle between either and or. I could go on and on, but there's one that's especially on my mind, and you'll find it illustrated beautifully in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John.

So, if you've got a Bible, locate it, turn to the fourth Gospel in the New Testament, and follow along about verse 11 down through, let's take down through verse 18. Now, before I read this for you, let me describe the battle. Either we become so exclusive and inbred as Christians that our whole world revolves around other Christians.

The result is we're virtually out of touch with the lost person, who is described on more than one occasion in the New Testament as the outsider. All our talk is God talk. All our friends are God friends. All of our acquaintances, all of our meals are taken with, all of our time is spent with the saved.

I mean, we go to a solid Christian church, we send our children to solid Christian schools, we in the summertime go to Christian camps and conferences. We frequent Christian businesses. We go to a Christian barber who gives us a Christian haircut, and we buy gas from a Christian station owner who pumps Christian gas into our Christian car.

And all the while, we are pushing, pushing, pushing the non-Christian away from us. Stay away, you contaminate life. You're the problem with this world. We don't want you around us. We're trying to build our own little kingdom, and don't bother me. I'm reading Christian books and I'm listening to Christian radio and I'm watching Christian TV and I am playing Christian music and I don't want you to come in and mess my world up.

Or the opposite extreme. I'm a Christian, but I'm going to live in a world. Give me the world, baby. And so I pick up the lifestyle of the world and I live like what I often call a secret service saint, where in other words, kind of a Clearasil Christian: nobody knows for sure but God. That kind of a camouflage Christianity.

I am going to live in the world, I'm going to be of the world, and I am not going to offend anybody because I want to have a relationship with the non-Christian world. Well, that's nice and dandy. It sounds really interesting and certainly would be exciting, but I want to caution all of us. Three words: guard against extremes.

I wish you would write that down on a three-by-five and stick it on the visor of your car. I wish you would tape it on the mirror in your bathroom. Guard against extremes. In any area, let me tell you, Satan is the expert of extremes. He loves to give you the freedom to take truth and go to seed on it. That's how heresy gets going, by the way.

Heresy is nothing more than a truth taken to extreme. And when you take it to its farthest extreme, you can't even identify the truth where it started. It's truth gone to seed. Guard against extremes. Now, for the sake of our time together, we're thinking about not the other kind of extremes I illustrated, but this fourth kind I just described.

Becoming so exclusively Christian that we lose touch with the world, or becoming so worldly no one would even know we're born again. Look at John 17:11. Jesus is praying. This is what I would call a late-breaking, up-to-the-minute final scene in Jesus' prayer life. This is petition in the last few hours before he is arrested and crucified.

He's about to leave the earth. His disciples are staying on the earth. As you read through these pronouns, the "I" is a reference to Jesus himself, the "thee" is a reference to God the Father, the "they" is a reference to the followers, the disciples, by application, Christians even to this day.

Now look at 11. "I am no more in the world," says Jesus. "Yet they, my followers, are in the world. I come to thee, Holy Father, keep them in thy name, the name which thou hast given me, that they may be one even as we are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in thy name which thou hast given me, and I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled."

This has reference to Judas the betrayer. Only one was lost. The other eleven I guarded, I kept. "But now I come to thee." Look at the prayer. "And these things I speak in the world, that they, my own, my followers, may have my joy made full in themselves." Look at what he wants for them: not only unity, but joy.

"I have given them thy word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one." Look carefully. Let's clarify. It is the desire of our heavenly Father that we remain in the world but not be of the world.

Jesus prays not for our isolation, but for our insulation. Even as Jesus was criticized for his commitment to truth, so the child of God will be. However, he says, "Father, don't take them out of the world." Without the Christian, there's no salt, there's no light, there's no hope, there's no messenger.

Now, Father, leave them in the world, but guard them from the evil one. I think that could very well be a reference to extremism. Keep them from the extremes that the enemy is going to convince them of or attempt to do so. Look at verse 16. "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Set them apart in the truth; thy word is truth. As thou didst send me into the world, I have sent them into the world."

Isn't that great news? It's a little scary, though. Because if you determine to live a balanced Christian life in touch with your world, you will have to spend some time with the lost person. There's no way around it. That's not only essential, that is commendable. On your way to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, stop off at 1 Corinthians chapter 5, okay?

We're kind of coming in the backdoor way today. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 is a really strong chapter of Scripture that talks about a Christian who began to live so worldly that even the world would be shocked. He was involved in incest with his father's wife, and the Corinthian assembly found themselves with their thumbs under their suspenders strutting around saying, "Look at how loving and how gracious we are," when Paul writes to say, "Shame on you for letting one of your own brothers live like this."

I told you before and I'm telling you again: you can't live like this and let it go on without its contaminating the church. It gives an indistinct message. The world is watching the church. The world is listening to the Christian in the church. And when the world sees that go on in the church, then the world is confused, saying, "You're talking to me about a life? Why, I live better than some of you people live."

Now look at verse 9. That's sort of beside the point; that just kind of gets us into the context. Verse 9: "I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people." He means the believers who have adopted an immoral lifestyle. So he says, "I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world."

"I didn't tell you to stop associating with immoral people of the world, or with the covetous and the swindlers or with idolaters, for then you'd have to go out of the world." Isn't that a great statement? You think you can live your life without being in touch with the immoral and the covetous and the swindlers? You think you can operate in this life and be scot-free of the contamination of the ungodly outsider? You're living in a dream.

Or if you did live like that, you'd be in another world. Point is what? Point is clear. Point is this: you need to be in touch with people in the world, the immoral, the covetous, the idolaters, the flakes, because they are living a lifestyle for which there is no power to change. They need what you've got.

Now I'm going to say something that might even sound a little bit heretical. We are to be tough on our own and easy on the outsiders. Listen carefully before you reject that; just think about it now. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5, "You have a man among you that is living an immoral life, and you're smiling about it, patting everybody on the back, saying that's okay, we'll go right on. This is a grace, this is a grace-oriented church. We believe in loving, we believe in letting people live and let live."

Paul says, "I want to tell you, I don't even have to come to your assembly to say you're wrong. You need to deal with him. Something needs to be said to clean out the leaven. He's a brother; he can't live like that." However, he turns right around and says, "I didn't say you're not supposed to associate with immoral people in the world."

The implication is, not only can you, but you should. You know what concerns me, Christians? Not long after we come to know Christ, we begin to lop off all of our friends who are lost, and we begin to be around only one another. And the longer we live in the family of God, the less and less contacts we have with the lost person, until finally after a little longer period of time, we don't even know how to communicate with the lost person.

And we start expecting from the lost person the lifestyle of the saved. We try to clean up their act when they can't clean up their act. We try to clean up their tongue when they can't clean up their tongue. We try to correct their diet when they can't correct their diet. We deal with everything but the heart, and until the heart is changed, will the tongue, the eyes, the diet, the lifestyle be changed?

And the result is we create such an offense between us and the lost person, he turns away saying, "Who needs that?" When in fact, we ought to make the lost person feel very, very much at home. I can't believe I just said that. That's almost heresy when you stop and think that through, isn't it? I mean, we don't hear information like that.

Why? Because all of our stuff is God talk. All of our information is for other Christians. If you were plunked into a group of unbelieving individuals this afternoon, would you cause them to feel uneasy? I mean, and kind of like it? Just your presence will be an uneasiness, but I mean, would you just kind of feel like that's good? The cross really offended today. No, you offended, quite likely, but not the cross.

We're not to offend. The cross is to offend. You know what Jesus was criticized for? Eating with sinners and tax collectors and publicans. All those Pharisees looked through the window and said, "Look at that. Jesus is eating with those slobs. Jesus is in there sitting at a table, and look, they're serving wine. Ooh!"

And later, only two chapters later in Matthew's Gospel, he is called a drunkard and a glutton by the gossips. You know what the problem was? They looked at everything through religious eyes. You think they were impacting the lost world? Not on your life. They didn't know how to behave around the lost.

Now, now that I got you thinking, turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. It's a big job to get people just to think. And now that you're thinking, we're ready to do battle with this battle of ours. 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 is just a great section of Scripture, tucked away. At first reading, it kind of sounds innocuous. It sounds like it may not be that significant, but when you get into it, you see it really has a lot to say.

Look at 1 Thessalonians 4:9. "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." If you'd like to take notes, write down three words: love one another. It'll sound like a Sunday school class from yesteryear. It hasn't changed.

In fact, you may write it down with a yawn on your face. Paul writes it with that in mind. He says, "You have no need I write to you about this." And then he gives two reasons why he mentioned it. First of all, you were taught by God to love one another. That's verse 9. And second, you already practice love toward one another.

You have been taught by God to love one another. It's infectious. It's downright contagious at times. On occasion when I didn't deserve love, I got love. On occasion when you didn't act too nicely in a situation, the love of your friend forgave you and hasn't brought it up to remind you of your failure.

So you not only have been taught by God to love one another, you're already practicing it toward the brethren who are in all of Macedonia. But here's why I bring it up. "We urge you, brethren, excel in it." That's a great word. If I were a coach, it would be one of my favorite words. I'm not asking you fellows to go out there and just play football. I'm asking you to excel in it.

If I were the manager of a sales force, I would say to my sales men and women, "I'm not asking you simply to go sell a product. I'm asking you to excel in it. Go whole hog. Go for it. Excel in it."

Bill Meyer: Well, I wish we had more time today because we're midway through an important passage in First Thessalonians. It's a great model for our behavior both inside and outside the Christian church. Chuck Swindoll titled his message "Behaving Properly toward Outsiders." It's message number seven in a 12-part series that Chuck titled "Contagious Christianity."

We're hoping this in-depth study in Paul's letter has piqued your curiosity to learn more. If you're ready to move from passenger to pilot in your Bible study, be sure to request our latest "Searching the Scriptures" Bible study workbook for First Thessalonians. This hands-on resource allows you to shift from simply hearing Chuck's teaching to uncovering truth on your own.

The spiral-bound design means no wrestling with pages; it stays open right beside your Bible. And there's space for you to record what God reveals to you personally. It's how listening becomes learning. To purchase the "Searching the Scriptures" Bible study workbook called "Contagious Christianity," call us at 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org/offer.

Today, we're also offering one of Chuck's most requested books, and it connects beautifully with this study in contagious Christianity. It's called "Laugh Again," and it's all about discovering outrageous joy. Just to be clear, joy and happiness aren't twins. Happiness rides the waves of circumstance, but joy? Joy has deeper roots.

In fact, "Laugh Again" shows you how to access the kind of joy that God offers, the kind that holds steady when life gets hard, when you're weary, or when fear creeps in. This isn't about pretending everything's fine; it's about knowing the one who's greater than whatever you're facing. That's where real joy lives.

You can own the book "Laugh Again" when you give a donation to support the ministry of Insight for Living. Call 800-772-8888 or visit insight.org/donate. Just a reminder that your gift, no matter the size, empowers us to share Chuck Swindoll's teaching every day on your station and the many other places you can freely access Insight for Living.

I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck Swindoll continues this encouraging series, "Contagious Christianity," Monday 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. Ends.