Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
1/11/98 pm
Personal Christian Conduct
Reading — 1 Thessalonians 5.12-23
As Paul ends this first letter to the young church at Thessalonica, he gives them some final instructions on Christian conduct... Personal Christian Conduct. This section of the letter seems to have to do, not so much with moral ethics in society, as it does as with church ethics. How to behave:
- Within the church,
- Within the Christian family,
- The household of God.
Paul appears to be telling us how to get along and how to treat one another. You see, there is no such a thing as a Lone Ranger Christian.
- We are family.
- We are the household of God.
- We are a fellowship,
- An ecclesia.
We live as a group of believers saved by God’s grace as a result of our response to that grace. As a family we have a responsibility to the head of the house and to one another as brethren.
My challenge tonight is INTROSPECTION. Take off the reflectors, don’t listen to this sermon thinking, I hope brother or sister so and so is hearing what the preacher is saying. Let each one of us listen carefully and apply these thoughts to self... OK? Are you ready?
FIRST, PAUL SAYS, APPRECIATE ONE ANOTHER.
The King James says what?... Get to know one another. Those who labor among you, and those who are over you, and those who admonish you.
- First, get to know everybody who labor in the church, in the work of the Lord. All those who involve themselves in the Father’s business.
- Second, those who have the oversight. I don’t know anyone else this could be but the Elders.
-Thirdly, those who admonish you - He’s speaking of teachers.
Here is bottom line folk, it takes a real effort to live together as a family. Some people are idealistic. They think they will search until they find the perfect church and then they will place their membership there, and all will be rosy till Jesus comes. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! It doesn’t work that way - Never has and never will. The truth is some of you are hard to get along with. It takes a real effort to live with some of you. I see Georgia nodding her head in agreement. Honey, I’m talking about these people out there, not ME!!
Folk, are we making the effort to get to know one another, understand one another? If we don’t, we’ll keep we running up and down the road to this congregation and that one. I must tell you the perfect church does not exist except in heaven. And to join that group, you have become faultless, perfect... And that presupposes having to leave this world in death. Are you still interested in joining the perfect church?... Death is the only way.
SECONDLY, WE MUST LEARN TO LIVE AT PEACE WITH ONE ANOTHER.
Look at verse 13 of our text. I believe Paul tells us how to do just that... Do you see it? Hold one another in highest regard. The King James says, esteem one another. When was the last time you told one or more of our Elders:
- That you appreciate them?
- That you loved them?
Or anyone else in this church for that matter? I know people who I have never heard say, I love you. George LeBar is a burly man. I know just where I stand with George... You know why? He hugs me in the foyer and says, Randall, I love you. Does George think I am perfect? No. But peace flows between us because there is esteem between us. Listen to me audience, peace, genuine peace will reign in this church;
- When we love one another.
- And when we are God like enough to verbalize our love one to another.
Some of us need to learn how to say these three words... I love you. I can hear some of you thinking that’s wimpy, that sounds sissy. God is not wimpy, God is love, and He tells us so repeatedly.
WARN (DISCIPLINE, ADMONISH) THE UNRULY.
The Greek word literally means those out of line. In classical Greek this word was used to describe a soldier who would not keep step in rank. Know anybody in the church like that? Paul is not talking about: the immoral, the out of duty rebellious, the back slider, those who have chosen to return to the world; he is speaking of how to get along within the church family. He is speaking of:
- The grumbler,
- The dissatisfied,
- The fault finder.
- Those who always are stirring the pot of dissension.
- The unruly within the family circle.
Those who act this way in the church are to be disciplined.
ENCOURAGE THE WEAK.... COMFORT THE FEEBLE MINDED.
The Greek literally is the little souled.
- These are the babes in Christ,
- Those who are likely to give up too easily.
- Those who are not likely to survive,
- Those who are spiritually fragile.
- Those easily discouraged.
Those souls who could easily be lost by some thoughtless word, some inappropriate action.
Audience, we must be careful here. We have some in this church who are fragile. Be careful... Be careful with them. No. No. I am not saying compromise the truth. Just be careful with them. Hold on to the weak. Don’t let them slip away.
BE PATIENT WITH EVERYONE.
The Greek is long tempered. God never wants his people to operate with short fuses. Anger, irritability. a cantankerous, unforgiving spirit are not the attitudes we as Christians are to display one toward another.
DO NOT GIVE PLACE TO REVENGE.
Note verse 15, Never repay evil for evil. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, tells us how.... Turn the other cheek. Psychologists tell us there are two responses in the human system. One is known as a Signal Response.
- Someone slaps you and you slap him back.
- Someone honks at you on the road and you honk back.
- Someone cuts you off in traffic and you give an obscene gesture.
Listen to me, Christian people, God’s children, the church, is not into signal responses.
THE OTHER RESPONSE IS CONTROLLED RESPONSE.
- A response of the will.
- A response of discipline.
- A response that comes from love and understanding.
Paul put it this way in Romans 12.19... Do not take revenge, but leave room for God’s wrath. Vengeance in not ours, folk. Revenge, retaliation, retribution is in God’s court and He will repay.... That’s Bible.
REJOICE EVERMORE.
Here is it; joy takes the burden out of service. The early Christians counted it a joy to be privileged to suffer for the cause of Christ. This is a joy that come from internal convictions, not external circumstances. This is the attitude that allowed Paul and Silas to sing at midnight while in the stocks of a Philippian jail.
- Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.
- Rejoice in the Lord always, I say again, rejoice.
Why? Because the Lord is near His family.
THE CHRISTIAN’S PERSONAL CONDUCT INCLUDES A LIFE OF PRAYER.
Pray without ceasing. This doesn’t mean we go around mumbling a prayer. What it does mean is that we have a constant awareness of our fellowship with God.
Question!... Have you even been in a set of circumstances where you felt uncomfortable to pray? That’s not a good position for a Christian to be in... Is it? Getting along in the Christian family takes a lot of prayer.. But you know that don’t you? I know a group of Elders who never attend a Sunday morning service that they don’t first meet and pray 10 minutes for the church family. They do that at Center Street in Fayetteville. That has always impressed me.
GIVE THANKS FOR ALL THINGS.
A Christian can always find something to be thankful for. Right? Some bad things will happen to us; individually and as a family. Yet we can still be thankful. Paul is not saying, be thankful FOR all things, but be thankful IN all things.
A loved one lies in the ICU unit of the hospital. They’ve been together for 50 plus years. She says, I know whatever happens he is in the hands of God. Folk, that is faith. That’s giving thanks in all things.
NUMBER TEN, QUENCH NOT THE SPIRIT.
Quench is usually a word that deals with fire. The Holy Spirit of God is pictured as tongues of fire in Acts 2. Paul is saying, don’t put out the Spirit... Don’t inhibit God’s Spirit working in your life.
Now, I don’t even pretend to know all that Paul may be speaking of here, but I have some ideas, some possibilities I want to share with you. Think with me about what the mission, and the WORK of the Holy Spirit is.
Jesus said, He will lead us into all truth.
All Scripture is inspired of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction , for instruction in righteousness, so that the man of God might be thoroughly, completely furnished unto very good work. Paul is saying to the church at Thessalonica and to us;
- Let the Holy Spirit speak.
- Don’t quench the word of God.
- Don’t fail to do right when you know what right is.
James tells us that to know what the Spirit wants us to do and not doing it is sin... Right?
THE SPIRIT CONVICTS US OF SIN
Well, He will if we will let Him speak to us. If we will agree with Him on what sin is in our lives. Don’t quench the Spirit.
- Admit our guilt.
- Acknowledge our sins.
- Confess our faults.
Peter says, when we don’t quench the Spirit in this way, He is just and will forgive our sins.
LET THE SPIRIT LEAD US OUT OF TEMPTATION.
Jesus taught His disciples to pray, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Is this our prayer corporately as a church and individually? Are we willing to allow the Word and God’s divine providence to lead us out of temptation and sin, or will we quench the Spirit?
Paul, in Romans 8.26 seems to indicate that the Holy Spirit even assists us in our prayer life with utterances we do not understand.
Again, I don’t understand this verse, but church, I don’t have to understand it to believe it, or to accept the benefits of its truths. Don’t quince this operation of the Holy Spirit by denying the possibilities.
THE HOLY SPIRIT GLORIFIES THE SON, GLORIFIES JESUS.
Question!... Are we allowing Him to glorify Jesus in our daily walk?
- Paul admonishes us to have the mind of Christ.
- We also hear him say, it is not me, but Christ who lives in me.
- We are to allow Jesus to be formed in us.
- Paul says, Christ in you, the hope of Glory.
Are we glorifying Jesus by allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our lives or do we fight Him all the way? Do not quench the Spirit... Let Him glorify Christ... In us... Through us... by us.
The church, the family of God that allows the Holy Spirit to work in their life will be: A special church, God’s church, the genuine New Testament church of Christ. God, let that be us!
DESPISE NOT PROPHECY.
I believe prophecy here is not foretelling, but forth telling. Despise in the Greek literally means: To count as nothing, to set at nought, to inhibit. Paul is saying, we must not set at nought the inspired word of God. Individually and corporately as a church, our responsibility to the word is to:
- Hear it,
- To believe it,
- To obey it,
- And to communicate it to others.
Most of us would be uncomfortable to admit that we despised the Word.. Right? But, are we by:
- Not hearing it.
- Not believing it,
- Not obeying,
- Or by not proclaiming it to those about us?
ABSTAIN FROM ALL KINDS OF EVIL.
The King James says, all appearances of evil. The difference in wording has caused some misunderstanding in the church... It shouldn’t! What is latterly said here is this, abstain from evil in any form.
- Church, if we are really into glorifying God through this family.
- If the direct object of our religion is pointing others to Jesus.
Then we will shun even the appearance of evil... Correct?
Well, we must stop, but I want you to know that the church in Bella Vista is NOT a society of elite spiritual giants... It is a family of believers. A family that has responsibilities:
- To God,
- To one another.
And if we are going to be God’s family, we must subscribe to some Personal Christian Conduct.
Are you a member of HIS family? You can be by faith, repentance, and New Testament baptism; immersion in water for the forgiveness of your sins.
As a baptized believer, you can become a member of THIS family by placing your membership under the oversight of our Godly Elders.... Letting them shepherd, guide, feed, lead and discipline you.
The invitation is for you to be family. Will you come to Jesus?
