BIBLE PASSAGE:
We were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own
children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were
delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as
well.
(1 Thessalonians 2:7-8)
MEDITATION:
How many times have you seen or heard someone tell others what to do,
but they don’t follow their own advice? People can be full of advice, but
not very good at doing what they say. It doesn’t mean they don’t have
good intentions, but they lose credibility when they fail to follow their
own instructions.
If someone tells you that your car will get better gas mileage by using
premium fuel, but you see them putting regular fuel in their car, you
wouldn’t have much confidence in their advice, would you?
On the other hand, if someone told you about an exercise to help
tennis elbow and you saw them doing it, their information would
have more credibility, wouldn’t it? Additionally, if you saw how
it cured their elbow, you would have confidence in their advice,
right?
As Christians we need to be aware that others judge us more
by what they see us do, than what they hear us say. With that
in mind, we need to consider our own actions before we express
our faith and opinions to others. If we share the gospel with
others, but are not living it in our own lives, then we are not
going to have much of an impact on their thoughts about
salvation, are we?
Paul gives us a good example of how to share the gospel with the
lost. He tells us that he and his friends had concerns about the lost,
and treated them in a gentle manner. They didn’t bombard them
with all kinds of scriptures and theological principles. Instead, they
talked to them in the same manner that a loving mother would explain
something to her child. They kept everything simple.
When Vince Lombardi was the coach of the Green Bay Packers,
they were not playing well and after one of their losses, he called
a team meeting. When everyone assembled in the meeting room,
Vince said,
“Guys we need to get back to the basics, this is a football”
and he held one up. We should consider the basics when sharing
God’s Word with others. Others really don’t care how much we
know, until they know how much we care.
Paul also assured them that he and his friends had genuine love for
the Thessalonian people and their spiritual condition. Because of
their feelings for the lost, they looked forward to sharing the gospel
with them. Why? Because they knew how the gospel could change
their lives.
Paul and his friends cared for the lost, they had a genuine love for them,
and they delighted in sharing the gospel with them. However, if we look
at the last part of 1 Thessalonians 2:8, we can see that they also shared
their lives with Thessalonian people.
Paul knew the value of ‘living the gospel’ in support of ‘sharing the
gospel’ with the lost. He knew that simply telling others about God’s
free gift of salvation would have little impact, if others couldn’t see
him living the life of someone who had been saved.
There was a man who wanted to know what life was like for homeless
people. He concealed his identity and went to live on the streets of his
city. He found that food and shelter were offered by many organizations.
At one shelter he could spend the night, if he agreed to listen to a sermon
beforehand. He enjoyed the guest speaker’s message and went to talk with
him afterwards. However, as he reached out to shake the man’s hand and
ask if he could talk with him, the speaker walked right past him as if he
didn’t exist.
There is a good lesson in this example. As Christians, we communicate
to others that we genuinely care for them whenever we take the time to
stop and listen. Jesus gave us many examples of taking the time to listen
didn’t He?
Even though He was busy doing His Father’s work and was in a large
crowd, He took the time to speak to a woman who was distressed over
her health.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman
was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She
had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had
spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.
When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the
crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just
touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding
stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her
suffering.
At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He
turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered,
“and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the
woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his
feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to
her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be
freed from your suffering.”
(Mark 5:24b-34)
On another occasion, Jesus was in a crowd but took the time to speak
to a small man whom the people didn’t like because he was a tax
collector who had cheated many of them out of their possessions.
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there
by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was
wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was
short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed
a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him,
“Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your
house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him
gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has
gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
(Luke 19:1-7)
Look at the impact Jesus had on this man because He took
time to not only listen to the man, but to also visit him at his
home. Jesus shows us the importance of communication and
encouraging others, rather than ignoring them (which causes
discouragement) because they aren’t part of our close circle
of friends.
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord!
Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and
if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four
times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come
to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the
Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
(Luke 19:8-10)
ACTION:
Have you considered how your actions impact the lost? If we claim
to love the Lord, but others see no evidence of our desire to worship
and pray to Him, what message are we sending to the lost?
Let’s be honest, we need to understand what the lost expect to see in
followers of Christ? If they don’t see Christians living the kind of life
they perceive to be indicative of a believer, they will likely get the idea
that they are as good (or even better) than we are, so they don’t need
the Lord in their life.
As an example, some followers of Christ have the idea that social
drinking is okay. I personally don’t believe that, but what is more
important is, “What do lost people think about it?”
If their perception is, “Drinking alcohol is sinful”, and they see us
drinking, what will they think about our sincerity of following Jesus?
How will our actions affect eternity for them? We can imagine them
thinking (and probably saying) something like…
“They claim to be a Christian, but I saw them drinking,
so they are no better than I am! Why would I want or
need Jesus in my life?”
Some Christians may think that others should ‘just get over it’ and stop
being judgmental. We can make excuses, justify, or debate our actions,
but the bottom line is, regardless of our own opinion, it is the impact we
have on the souls of others that should be our greatest concern. None of
us want to be the cause of someone missing out on Heaven.
Paul tells us to abstain from anything that could cause someone to
choose not to seek salvation from the Lord.
Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.
All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat
anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is
better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything
else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.
(Romans 14:20-21)
In essence, Paul is saying,
“When someone else considers something as a sin, don’t debate it,
don’t justify it, but simply abstain from it because we could cause
that person to ‘stumble’ and lose out on receiving salvation from
the Lord.”
It is a decision we must make. We need to be willing to sacrifice our
desires (even if we see nothing wrong with them) if our actions will
have a negative spiritual impact on others. It shows self-control and
spiritual wisdom when we consider the impact we can have on others
through our actions.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather,
in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to
your own interests but each of you to the interests of the
others. In your relationships with one another, have the
same mindset as Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 2:3-5)
We could cite many other examples, but there is one that I’ve
noticed by a staff member at our church. He is one of the most
intense ‘listeners’ I’ve ever met. If he is having a conversation
with someone, he has a keen interest in what they have to say.
In addition, if someone else tries to interrupt by telling him something,
or asking a question, he respectfully continues to listen to the one who
is already speaking to him. Sometimes, others might be offended by this
and think he is being rude to them, but if he were to stop listening to the
one speaking, then he has been rude and possibly offended him or her.
The truth is, the one trying to interrupt is the one at fault. They
have decided that what they have to say is more important than
what anyone else is already saying. The character of this staff
member is one that every Christian should have, because it is
in obedience to what we are told in Philippians 2:3-5.
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for the salvation that You
have given me. Help me to have a heart that wants to see
others receive Your salvation, as well. Teach me to live a
life that confirms my faith in You, so that others can see
my love for You is sincere. Forgive me for causing anyone
to be uninterested in You because of how they see me live
my life. Increase my determination to put You above my
own selfish desires, so I can be a living witness for You.”
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