Don’t Walk Alone

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Transcript:

Tonight we’re going to be in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. And as I’ve been studying over this book, I almost skipped over chapter 3, not because it doesn’t matter, but because we’ve been looking at 1 and 2 Thessalonians from the standpoint of this idea of finishing well that we’ve been discussing. The idea of finishing well being not that we’re going to wait until we’ve got just six months left to live or we’ve got six months left to retirement, and now we’re going to get serious about what we’re doing and we’re going to make it really count.

But looking at it like the church at Thessalonica did, from the standpoint of realizing that none of us knows how long we have, either on this earth or in a particular place of ministry, a particular calling, whatever it is. We don’t know, but everything tomorrow might change for us. You know, tonight God could call any one of us home.

Tomorrow our life circumstances could completely change. Tomorrow God could lead us to the whole other side of the country. We never know from day to day, but that circumstances might totally change.

So we, like the church at Thessalonica, because they were living under the assumption that Jesus could and might return at any given moment, they were faced with dealing with the issue, how do they finish well? Meaning, whether it’s five minutes or 500 years until Jesus comes back, How do they take whatever time they have, whatever resources they have, as long or as short as they may be on both of those, how do they take them and make them count? And that’s the challenge for us because, like I said, we don’t know, but Jesus might return today.

Jesus might return, if not for all of us, Jesus might return for any one of us today. We never know. And so we want to look at how do we finish well, meaning how do we take whatever amount of time we have, whatever amount of resources we have, and make them count by using them to glorify God and advance the kingdom of Jesus Christ. How do we do that?

And so we’ve been looking at that in 1 Thessalonians. Well, on first reading of 1 Thessalonians 3, he doesn’t really give any, Paul doesn’t really give any instruction to the church at Thessalonica about how to do that. And so I was very close to just moving on to chapter 4.

But on a second reading, I realized that even though he’s not long on instructions, he’s not long on commands in chapter 3, there are still some things that we can learn from how Paul dealt with the church at Thessalonica. And what I want to look at tonight in terms of finishing well is that we see in Scripture that we should not walk alone as Christians if we hope to finish well in the Christian faith. God’s intention for us was never to be Lone Ranger Christians.

And we see this taught in all sorts of places in the scriptures. Notably, we see it in 1 Corinthians where he talks about the importance of the church as a body. And if the body was just a hand or just a foot or just an eye, the body wouldn’t be what it’s supposed to be.

We see it in Hebrews where he tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. not to stop getting together to encourage one another, to challenge one another in our Christian walk. We’re taught this all throughout the scriptures, and we see this in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3.

The idea that by being together, we have a better chance of finishing well. So I don’t know about you, but when you’re not around your brothers and sisters in Christ for a long period of time, gets a little easier to slip, you know, to get lazy, doesn’t it? Gets a little easier to slip into things that, you know, into old habits and old ways of living.

And it doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit is no longer within us, and the Holy Spirit’s no longer telling us, hey, don’t do that. But there’s something about being with our brothers and sisters in Christ on a regular basis that keeps us on our toes. And so we’re warned in Scripture routinely to stay together.

Now he says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, we’re going to look at the first 10 verses tonight. Therefore, when we could no longer stand it, we thought it was better to be left alone in Athens. Now if we go back to a couple weeks ago when we looked at the end of chapter 2, he’s talking about their suffering for the sake of the gospel.

And he said when we could no longer deal with the persecution, we thought it was better to be left alone in Athens. rather than trying to fight against everything that was being thrown in their path to try to come back to Thessalonica. Paul had to leave the church at Thessalonica way earlier than he planned on, and Paul wanted nothing more than to go back and spend more time investing in the people in Thessalonica, and yet just every time he tried to do that obstacle after obstacle was thrown in his way.

And he said, when I couldn’t stand the obstacles, when I couldn’t stand the persecution, When I couldn’t stand everything else that was thrown in my way, I figured it was just better to stay alone in Athens. That’s what he’s talking about in verse 1. He says, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s co-worker, in the gospel of Christ to strengthen and encourage you concerning your faith.

He said, I wanted to be with you. I needed to be with you. But when I realized that wasn’t going to be possible, he said, I decided it was better to stay in Athens.

But Paul didn’t just throw up his hands and say, well, I guess they’re on their own. now Paul said if I can’t go I’m sending Timothy if I can’t be there I’ve got the next best thing there’s this guy that I’ve trained and I that I trust and I know he’s going to do right by you and I’m sending him to encourage your ministry in Thessalonica and he even calls Timothy God’s co-worker God’s co-worker now don’t take from that that Timothy is some kind of superhuman that he’s doing things that only God can do for us to be God’s co-worker means not that we’re equals with God, but it means we are participating in what God is doing. That basically we become the tools that God is using to strengthen the church, to strengthen one another.

But I tell you what, I really want to be so on board with what God’s doing that I could be called God’s co-worker. Again, not from a standpoint of being equal with God in any way, shape, or form, but just being someone who is in tune with what God’s doing and is participating and cooperating. So he calls Timothy God’s co-worker, and he said co-worker in the gospel of Christ. You know why he’s God’s co-worker?

Because he’s doing exactly what God called him to do in sharing the gospel and building up, not just sharing the gospel with unbelievers, but building up believers in the gospel of Christ. He said, I sent him to strengthen you, to strengthen and encourage you concerning your faith. Not just to encourage you to make you feel better about life. Not just fluffy, cotton candy, inspirational quotes.

He said, I sent him to encourage you and strengthen you concerning your faith. To encourage you in the faith. So it’s something more substantive than just, oh, just keep your chin up.

Really building somebody up in their faith. He says in verse 3, so that no one will be shaken by these afflictions. They were going through times of difficulty.

And when we get into times of difficulty, if we are not rooted and grounded in the truth of God’s word, those difficulties tend to shake us. And I was listening to somebody today. I have several guys on my phone in these podcasts, and they just play one after another.

So I have trouble remembering on any given trip who I’ve listened to. It might have been John MacArthur, might have been Alistair Begg, might have been Greg Laurie for all I know. But I was listening to somebody today who was talking about this, about how our circumstances should not shape our theology.

Our theology should shape our circumstances. In other words, don’t take your understanding of who God is and how he works by your circumstances around you. Take your understanding of who God is and how he works and let that shape your understanding of your circumstances.

And that’s what he’s trying to teach the church at Thessalonica here. He said, I don’t want your faith to be shaken because of the afflictions you’re going through. I don’t want you out there on your own where you’re just susceptible to whatever comes your way and it might totally undermine your faith.

I want somebody there who’s going to strengthen and build up your faith so that no matter what comes, It’s anchored firmly in God’s truth. Folks, that’s something we do for each other. I shared with you this morning that I’ve been praying about a particular situation for a while.

And, you know, I tend to be a worrier, and I hate that. Because, first of all, it doesn’t do anything good. It doesn’t accomplish anything good.

And I spend my time and energy getting upset about something that hasn’t happened and may not happen, instead of just trusting God. And I believe the Bible teaches that worrying is a sin, because what we’re basically doing is saying, I don’t trust God fully to deal with this. And, you know, sometimes left to my own thoughts for a while, to stew over a situation, I’ll worry about it and stress about it.

And I would never say this in these words. I would never come out and say, God can’t handle this. Because as soon as I said that, I know God can handle this.

And yet I get to a point where I stew over something and the storm starts to look so big that even if I don’t say that, that’s sort of how I feel because I’m so worried about the storm. I’ve pushed God’s handling of it to the back of my mind in the equation. And usually it’s my wife who comes along and says, wait a minute, God’s taken care of this before.

It’s my wife who comes along and sees the spiral and calls me back to reality and says, wait a minute, God can handle this. You know this. And even though I know this, I need to hear this, because it’s sort of the equivalent of somebody in those old movies that get hysterical and then somebody’d slap them.

I don’t suggest you do that. Usually in the movies it’s a hysterical woman. Back in the old black and white movies, I don’t suggest you walk up to a woman and slap her when she’s getting hysterical. But that’s sort of what I need from time to time.

Is somebody there with me to give me that wake-up call, that metaphorical slap to the face. Please don’t do it to me either because I carry a gun. I won’t take it well.

But I need somebody to give me that metaphorical slap in the face and say, you know better. You know God’s got this. To call me back to my understanding of who God is and call me back to my understanding of God’s truth.

We all need that. Maybe the issue is not worry, but people very easily, when you get off by yourself, your ideas start to go in left field.

we’ve probably all met people who profess to be Christians maybe they are, maybe they’re not I can’t paint with a real broad brush here but people who profess to be Christians but who have purposely isolated themselves from any community of believers for years and years and in many cases, not all, but in many cases you don’t have to talk to them for too long before you come across some really wacky ideas that have been developed in isolation again that’s not everybody I’ve heard some people with crazy ideas in church but I’ve heard a lot more crazy ideas about God from people who’ve isolated themselves from the church we all need that encouragement that strengthening in God’s truth to yank us back to reality so that when our afflictions happen when these circumstances change when things are thrown at us our faith in who God is and our faith in what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross, that those things will not be shaken.

He says, continuing in verse 3, for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. This is what we’re here for. And I submit to you, even though he’s talking about himself here, it’s not just what Paul and Timothy are here for, is to strengthen one another.

It’s what we’re all here for. It’s one of the reasons, one of the main reasons, why God instituted, why Christ instituted, the concept of the church in the first place, is for us to not be lone ranger Christians, but to be gathered together to strengthen one another so that our faith would not be shaken. He says in verse 4, In fact, when we were with you, we told you in advance that we were going to experience affliction, and as you know, it happened.

He said, we’ve experienced the affliction too, and it wasn’t a surprise to anybody, because we warned you that it was coming, and guess what? It came just like we said it would. and it shouldn’t surprise us when we have afflictions, when we have difficult circumstances, because Jesus promised us those things.

He said, in this world you will have trouble. It’s not just a matter, I don’t want to hear this, even as I’m saying it, I don’t want to hear this. I don’t want any more trouble, and yet Jesus said, in this world, it’s true.

Jesus said, in this world you will have trouble, but I leave you my peace. All right, we’re promised that we’ll have trouble. We’re promised that we’ll have afflictions.

And Jesus put us together. Jesus put together these communities of believers called the church to strengthen one another, not for if those circumstances happen, but for when they happen. Verse 5, for this reason, when I could no longer stand it.

Okay, again, he’s gotten to the point where he just can’t stand it anymore. Second time in five verses. For this reason, when I could no longer stand it, I also sent him to find out about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you and that our labor might be for nothing.

So when Paul had to leave, and he had to leave so soon before the church at Thessalonica was really ready to, before it was really mature, Paul had to leave, and he worried. He worried constantly about his children in the faith that on their own, Satan would come in and would snatch them away, that he would tear down their faith, that he would tempt them. And as a result of them giving in to the temptations, whether it’s temptations to sinful behaviors, whether it’s temptations toward doubtful thoughts, any of these things that were going to rob them of their joy in Christ, any of these things that were going to tear down their faith, he worried that Satan was going to come in and undermine their faith and their faith in God and their faith in God’s truth, and that Paul, in spite of his work there, would have nothing to show for it.

Now, it’s not Paul saying, well, that makes my report look really bad to the churches that support me when I say, yeah, we spent some time at Thessalonica, and yet that didn’t pan out. Paul’s not worried about his reputation. Paul’s worried about these people that he loves and has invested so much time in.

When he’s worried about his work coming to nothing, he’s not worried about his reputation. He’s not worried about his batting average in leading people to maturity in Christ. Paul is worried about these people that he has invested so much time and so much love in. He’s worried that because he had to leave them while they were still spiritually immature that they might have fallen away from the faith.

He’s worried they might have walked away. And so he said, I just couldn’t stand it anymore. And so I sent Timothy not only to strengthen you, but really I sent Timothy there to see if there was anything left to strengthen in the first place.

So it’s Paul here acknowledging that for us to do what we’re supposed to do, we need each other. We need the strengthening influence of other believers, especially mature believers. We need this strengthening influence.

He was worried how they were going to fare without it. He says in verse 6, here the tone of the passage kind of changes. He says, but now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love.

He reported that you always have good memories of us and that you long to see us as we also long to see you. I said, Timothy has come back and he’s given us a good report. He’s telling me about the faith and the love that he sees in your midst. These are good things.

And he says that you have fond memories of us. Now, again, this is not Paul having a moment of an ego trip and saying, oh, the thing I’m concerned about most is how you feel about me. And do you look up to me?

No, Paul is. . .

Let me give you an example. We hear stories from time to time. People will be interviewed in the media after they’ve left some kind of cult.

For example, the Westboro Baptist Church. I put Baptist and church in quotation marks because they call themselves that, but I don’t think they’re Baptist or a church. And apparently they’re not even in the Westboro neighborhood of Topeka anymore, so the whole name is a lie.

There are people who have left the Westboro Baptist Church, and some of them have embraced biblical.. . If you don’t know what group I’m talking about, it’s the group that holds up the God hates.

. . I’m going to say gays because I’m not here to slur anybody.

God hates gays. God hates America. Thank God for dead soldiers.

They pick at funerals. Yeah, that group. There have been members of that church who have been raised in that church and have walked away from it.

And as they have expressed their misgivings about what they formerly believed and what they were taught, they have also expressed misgivings about their grandfather, who was the pastor and the ringleader of that whole organization. Now, when you turn your back on something that you were taught, many times that accompanies a hostility toward the person who taught it to you. Does that make sense?

So when Paul says, Timothy came back and told me about your faith and your love, he brought this good news, he even said you have positive memories of me, That’s not Paul saying, oh, good, I’m glad you feel nicely about me. I’m glad that you see me with the proper respect that I deserve. No, Paul is saying, thank goodness.

This is how I understand it. Paul’s saying, thank goodness you have not turned your backs on what I’ve taught you, that you still look at me as somebody who taught you the truth. Does that make sense?

When he says, you have good memories about me, he’s saying, you still remember me as somebody who taught you the truth. And I think that’s exactly how he wanted them to remember him, not because of what it says about Paul, but because of what it said about what they still believed. Verse 7, Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and affliction, we were encouraged about you through your faith.

He said, Even in the midst of our suffering here in Athens, We heard the news about you from Thessalonica, and it encouraged us here. Wait a minute, these young Christians, I say young Christians, some of them were probably old people, but they were young Christians, and they were encouraging the mature Christians, just as the mature Christians were working to encourage them. See, we all have a role to play in building each other up spiritually.

He said, when I look at you and I see how you persevere in the faith, He said, it encourages me even here stuck in my own afflictions. For now we live if you stand firm in the Lord. For now we live if you stand firm in the Lord.

And the nearest I can come to explaining this in today’s words, the way I understand it. He’s saying, you give me a reason to go on. Knowing that you’ve persevered through all this, knowing that you are still firm in the faith, gives me a reason to get up and keep doing what I’m doing.

They’re encouraging him. Verse 9, how can we thank God for you in return for all the joy we experienced before our God because of you? He said, we can’t even begin to thank God for all the joy that you have brought to our lives because of the way you walk, the way you live, the way you carry on.

as we pray very earnestly night and day to see you face to face. He still wants to be there to encourage them at Thessalonica, and I think to be encouraged by them. He said we still pray very earnestly night and day.

Very earnestly means seriously. He’s praying hard. This is not one of these, oh, Lord, you know, it’d be nice to go to Thessalonica.

Amen. No, he’s praying seriously. He’s down on his knees.

He’s digging in. He’s praying hard day and night. Not just one time.

He’s praying continually. That is his prayer, to be able to go back to Thessalonica and be with these people. To see you face to face and to complete what is lacking in your faith.

Now, they were continuing and they were persevering in what they did know. But Paul said, there’s still so much more the Lord has given me to teach you. And I want to come there and I want to strengthen you and I want to build you up and I want to encourage you.

Folks, this whole passage is Paul talking about how the believers need each other. The church at Thessalonica needed him for his wise, godly instruction. He needed the church at Thessalonica so he could be encouraged in the midst of his sufferings that it’s all worth it because he sees the gospel going forth and he sees these churches bearing fruit.

He’s seeing that his ministry is making a difference. Now, Paul got up constantly day by day in prison, in chains, in persecution, and he served the Lord because that’s what God called him to do. But folks, as much as we have a sense of calling from God to do what we do, it makes it so much easier when we see that there’s some value in what we’re doing, when we feel like we’re accomplishing something.

Now, we should serve God whether we feel a sense of accomplishment or not because we don’t know what God’s doing with our efforts. I tell you what, there’s something so much better when you minister and you serve and you teach and you encourage and you begin to see the fruit in somebody’s life and you say, Wow, what he’s got me doing really does matter. They needed each other.

So some of the reasons, I’ve already hit on each of these, I think, but just to summarize, give you some of the reasons why, if we want to finish well, if we want to take the time that we have left and intentionally put it to the best possible use, make it count, by glorifying Jesus Christ and advancing his kingdom, why we shouldn’t walk alone if we want to do these things. First of all, difficulties in the Christian life are a certainty for us, and they can discourage or distract us from what God’s called us to do. We see this through the first four verses where he talks about the difficulties he’s had.

He talks about the difficulties they were going to have, and he talks about his fears of what was going to happen to them in the midst of those difficulties. We can start out real well serving God, and we can start out early on being on fire for God, not realizing that eventually difficulties are going to come, and if we’re not prepared for it, we’re not braced for it, we can feel like, well, God, this must not be what you want me to do or I wouldn’t be suffering. Sometimes the place we’re supposed to be right in the center of God’s will is a place of suffering.

But if we don’t have other people there, we need one another because those times of difficulty are going to come. And if we don’t have somebody else there to help us, if we don’t have somebody there to encourage us to pick us up and dust us off and help us get back on the road, it’s so easy. It’s so easy to walk away from what we’re supposed to be doing because a little bit of difficulty comes.

And Paul and Timothy, second of all, they set an example for us by checking on their brothers and sisters. Sometimes we just need somebody to check on us. And I don’t mean check on you and see how’s your foot feeling.

I mean somebody to check in on you and say, how are you doing spiritually? How are you really? Because I know we come in here on Sunday mornings, how are you?

Oh, I’m fine. How are you? I’m fine.

And we’re all fine. We’re not all fine. all the time?

We’re not all fine all the time. We need somebody in our lives who’s going to say, no, no, how are you really? My wife and I do this to each other.

You okay? Yeah, I’m okay. No, no, come on.

Just give each other that look. You don’t even have to say you’re not okay. Fine.

No, I’m not okay. We need somebody, when we go through those times of affliction and suffering, we need somebody who’s going to come alongside us and say, how are you doing? No, how are you really?

Because we can’t encourage each other if we don’t know what the other one’s going through. We can’t strengthen each other if we don’t know what the need is. And Paul and Timothy set an example for that.

And folks, they didn’t look at it as a drudgery or an obligation. Timothy didn’t, or Paul didn’t say, well, I guess we better check in on Thessalonica. Hadn’t heard from them for a while.

He said, I hadn’t heard anything from you and I couldn’t stand it. He said that in verse 1. He said it in verse 5.

When I couldn’t stand it any longer, I sent Timothy to check on you. because we walk together and we check on each other not out of a sense of duty or a sense of obligation but out of a love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. And then we see by their relationships they encouraged one another to be faithful in the Christian life. I’ve already mentioned this.

It wasn’t just Paul and Timothy encouraging the church at Thessalonica. Now they started out that way and they did that. They did what God called them to do.

But guess what? When they were ministering to the church at Thessalonica, The church was ministering right back to them. When you reach out and start ministering to your brother and sister in Christ, when you start using your time well, whatever time you have left, to finish well and invest in other people, invest in your brothers and sisters to encourage them, to strengthen them, to build them up, as you’re pouring into them, as you’re ministering to them, as you’re encouraging them, more often than not, they’re going to end up encouraging and building up and ministering to you.

Because all the ministry we do, we do on God’s behalf. He put us here to minister to other people. He put us here to serve on His behalf.

He put us here to give of ourselves on His behalf. And you can’t out-give God. You can’t out-minister God.

So as He’s put you here to minister to other people, He’s also using that as His provision for you, to strengthen you. Sometimes we feel weak in our Christian walk. We feel discouraged.

We feel overwhelmed. Those might just be the times that we need to reach out to somebody else that we see overwhelmed. Somebody else that we see struggling through circumstances of life.

Somebody that we see struggling through difficulty and affliction. Reach out to them and minister to them as God gives us the grace to do so. And what we’ll find is we’re ministered to by the whole experience as well.

But folks, what this passage taught me when I went back and re-read it, It’s just this very simple fact that if we’re going to finish well, if we’re going to run well and finish well in the Christian life, we cannot and we must not do it alone.