Every believer is a living letter that's written by the hand of God.
So what's written on your pages? peace in the middle of chaos? Grace under pressure? A gift of quiet strength? Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl concludes his teaching series titled Steadfast Christianity.
In this message, Chuck points to the final words from Paul to the Christians in Thessalonica. Paul reminded these young believers that they are living letters of Christ read by everyone around them. The same is true for you and me. Chuck titled his message, Your Distinguishing Mark. Colossians 3:15, and let the peace of Christ.
Circle the word rule. Rule in your hearts. To which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful.
Now look back at the word you circled. Let the peace of Christ rule. In your hearts. This is the only time in all the New Testament where the original word translated rule appears. The only time, spoken only once and never again.
You know what it means? It means to act as umpire. Can you imagine the impact of a life that's at peace with himself or herself? I'll tell you, it would be revolutionary if the only thing we displayed throughout our week coming up.
Well, it would be peace. would have people asking us all kinds of things about how we've done it.
Someone has said, peace is that calm of mind that is not ruffled by adversity. overclouded by a remorseful conscience, or disturbed by fear. May the peace of Christ himself Second Thessalonians 3:16 continually grant you peace in every circumstance.
Now The next is the Lord's presence. When his living letter is on display, He is displaying his presence. Verse 16 concludes, The Lord be with y'all. Paul was from southern Tarsus, and he would say that, the Lord be with y'all. He has in mind every single believer who would read the letter, them are in the centuries to come, every Christian, every Christian.
It is to remember the Lord's presence is there. It's what gives you peace. Remember, it's the Lord Himself. I think it's um How shall I say this? I think it is one of the distinctive marks of the believer.
To have this sense of surrounding presence. in circumstances. That no one else can sustain. I've been in hospital rooms this week looking into the face of a man I love dearly, only 56 years old, at open heart surgery. And I saw peace.
I was in another hospital room where there had been the premature birth of a tiny. little sweet baby. And I looked into the face of a mother and of a young mother who had just had the child. And I've seen the face of the Father today, and I have I've seen the presence of God. I've seen an absence of panic.
I've talked to people over the phone who were choking back the tears because of what had recently occurred in their life. I won't take the time to explain it or describe it, but it would be enough to shock some of you. And I heard coming through their voices The presence of God. The peace of God. Psalm 139 I'd like you to listen to what the Lord says to you regarding His presence.
O Lord. You have examined my heart. And you know everything about me. You know, when I sit down. Or stand.
When far away you know my every thought, You chart the path ahead of me. And you tell me where to stop and rest. Every Moment. You know where I am. You know what I'm going to say even before I say it.
You precede. and follow me. And you place your hand a blessing on my head. This is too glorious, too wonderful to believe. I can never be lost.
to your spirit. I can never get away from my God. If I go up to heaven, You were there. If I go down to the place of the dead, you... are there.
If I ride the morning winds to the farthest oceans, even. There. Your hand will guide me. Your strength will support me. If I try to hide in the darkness, The night becomes light.
around me. Darkness and light are alike to you. You made all the delicate inner parts of my body, and you knit them together in my mother's womb. Thank you. for making me so wonderfully complex.
It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous and how well I know it. You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion within my mother. You saw me before I was born. and scheduled each day of my life.
before I began to breathe. Every day Was recorded in your book. How precious it is, Lord. to realize that you are thinking about me constantly. I cannot even count how many times a day your thoughts.
turned towards me. And when I waken in the morning, You are still Thinking of me. Isn't that great when I awaken in the morning? You are where you were when I went to sleep. Why?
Because your presence surrounds me That is not said of any other living creature but the living letter. The Christian That's why you can have this kind of peace. That's why you can impact your world. That's why people. Sit up and take notice when a Christian steps on the scene.
Knowing who he or she is. He never leaves. He never forsakes. He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will abide where, under the shadow of the Most High. of the Almighty.
That's our spot. And he never stops. thinking. about you. And me.
Amazing. Did you need to hear that today? Has it been a while since you uh I felt that close. As that song made you feel, it happened to me when I heard it. I thought, oh.
I can just feel his arms around me. I thought I was on my own yesterday, and I find out he was there all the time. I have those same thoughts you have. I hear bad news just like you hear bad news, and I hear criticism like you hear criticism. People coming at you from all different sides, and you say, Lord, where are you?
And that psalm says, I have never left. Never moved. Why does that mean much? The Lord be with you all. Let's move on before I superirrogate.
Look at verse 17. I, Paul, write this greeting. This is my favorite part. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. He's using an immanuensis, which is a two-bit name for a secretary.
He's been using a secretary all through this letter. And he says, Give me that pen.
Well, maybe not exactly like that. May I have the pen, please? And so he takes the pen out of the hand of the Emmanuensis and he writes, I, Paul, write this greeting with mine own hand, and this is a distinguishing mark. In every letter, this is the way I write. Arndt and Gingrich lexicographers say This is the market of genuineness.
That's what he's saying. See, all these other phony balonies walking around with letters saying, This is a letter from Paul. Paul wrote this. You people need to know what Paul is saying about this. All he had to do was say, wait a minute.
No. That letter doesn't have Paul's mark. That's not his writing. That's forgery. Paul says, when you read my letter and you see the way I've signed it, and closed off this letter, you know, that.
is Authentic.
Now, I'm going to say more about that in a minute because I think we've all got a mark. If we're living letters and we have the mark. of the Lord Jesus. And that gets very exciting when you think about what. That means.
So before I get on that, let me point out one more: the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. you all. The Lord's grace. That's one more of those. Characteristics.
He's talked about grace a lot. I think Paul has taken up the pen and written these last two verses that appear in our Bibles, and I'm not surprised he would mention his traveling companion, Grace. People have the idea that if they met up with Paul, they'd meet a rather stern, strong minded Jew who spoke for Christ and lived and died a martyr's death. I think you'd meet the most gracious, seasoned saint Aside from the Lord Jesus, that's ever been produced by Christ, I think you'd meet a man easy to live with. You'd meet grace personified.
And if I have one major prayer for us in our future as a church, it is that our future will be marked by grace. and not law. not tablets of stone. Not a legal rigidity that requires people to measure up to our particular two by four standard. Not that they're to live as they please, but that they live as Christ is pleased for them to live.
I often think of the words of Reinhold Niebuhr: You may be able to compel people to maintain certain minimum standards by stressing duty. but the highest moral and spiritual achievements. Depend not upon a push, but a pull. People must be charmed into righteousness. I've never read of anybody being whipped into righteousness.
Never. I've never read a testimony that said I lost a fist fight with Frank and I wanted to know his lord because he beat me up. Or, I was made to look like a fool because of Margaret, and as a result, I wanted to believe in Maggie's God because she had an ability to just whip me down out of shape. No, no, no. I've heard a lot of people say, you know, there was a winsomeness, there was a contagion, there was a warmth.
There was, may I use it, there was a charm. It drew me in. There was compassion. There was room to wobble. There was space to learn.
There was acceptance and forgiveness. May the grace that marked our Lord Jesus Christ. be read in your letter. Is it? Is it there?
People must be charmed into righteousness. Now, you and I know that the purpose of a Passage like this is not simply to satisfy our intellectual curiosity. We're not here just to go over Greek words and find out the tenses of verbs and. And to locate the theology found here and marked there. No, the purpose of this is to apply it.
If we are living letters, and we are. If we're salt and light, and we are. If others are to see our good works and glorify our Father, And they are. Then, the whole purpose is to see how this living letter part applies to living.
So it has to start with the question, who am I? Do you know who you are? You can never represent the one you follow if you don't know who you are. There are no multiple births in God's family. They're never twins even.
They are certainly not identical twins. You know, even in a large crusade where people flood onto the field of a stadium by the thousands to give their hearts to Christ, you know how all of them are saved? One by one. Because each one is an individual. Who are you?
What is your individual Uniqueness. May I use it? What is your distinguishing Mark. as a letter of Christ. Corinthians says, we're members of the body.
Ephesians says, We have various gifts. Thessalonians mentions this distinguishing mark in the letter. Let's look at Ephesians to give it an idea of what you might be. Look at Ephesians chapter 4. Look at verse 11 and verse 12, okay?
Ephesians 4.11. Christ, who has ascended into heaven, and has given His Spirit, Christ, Gave some as apostles. He gave some as prophets. He gave some as evangelists.
Some of you are evangelists. It's not a reference to Billy Graham. Though we respect him as an evangelist, that has that's he just won among. Thousands in God's family that happened to have the gift of evangelism. You have the gift of evangelism.
Some of you do, and I have to tell you because I don't have that gift. Envy people with that gift. I mean, they'll speak to folks about Christ. And the lost person sits up, listens, and before you know it, he's born to God's family.
Some men in ministry I know have the gift, and they can stand before a crowd, present the gospel, and people just come like crazy. Uh that's a gift. It's a wonderful gift. But it's only one. That may not be your gift.
Now the next one Pastors? And teachers? I perk up like a doberman when I hear that because that's my gift. That's what God has made me. That's my distinguishing mark.
What's yours? It doesn't say all of it here, but it might be helping. behind the scenes. It could be showing mercy to people in need.
Some of you have that wonderful gift of compassion. It could be counseling that's one of the gifts. At least implied in the scriptures. It could be organizational gets.
Some of you come upon that which is chaotic, and you have the ability to bring order. It's wonderful to see people with organizational gifts bring order out of chaos. happens to be one of my wife's gifts. One of the gifts of my wife. I said that the wrong way, didn't.
I have only one wife, and she has, among the other gifts, the gift of organization. And it's amazing how she can take a chaotic situation and turn it into order. She thinks orderly. I mean the socks are alphabetized. I put the gray with the black one time, and I'm still limping as a result of that.
It's not true. It is not true. She has that gift.
Some of you have the gift of giving. And giving 40% of your salary means nothing. 50%, 60%, 80%. That's just a delight for you to do it. That's your gift.
Some of you are given to prayer, and you're people of faith, and you never know what it is to doubt God. As you simply go to Him, and God, amazingly it seems, brings it to pass exactly as you asked. That's your mark. Paul's was writing letters. Aren't you glad he exercised his gift?
Can you imagine the Bible jumping from the book of Acts? Back to the little letters of Peter and James and Jude and Revelation and missing Romans and. And Corinthians and Galatians and Ephesians, his mark is in that book. What's your mark? What can you contribute?
You can contribute the exercising of your mark, your gift. You can teach. You can serve. You can minister. You can evangelize.
You can write music, you can counsel. You can write letters, you can pray, you can name it. That's what you can do to contribute to the cause.
Now, how do you maintain it? I've got about 60 seconds left, so find 2 Corinthians chapter 9 really fast. 2 Corinthians chapter 8. Let's do it there. We've lost 10 seconds, so get with it.
2 Corinthians chapter 8. I'll give you four words on how you can maintain your mark. in this fast-moving world. Eight of 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 5. Referring to the people of Macedonia who gave and gave and gave outside the ability that you would expect from them.
They first gave themselves to the Lord. The word is personally. How do you maintain your mark? personally. I don't maintain my mark through my wife.
She doesn't maintain her mark through me. You don't maintain your mark through your pastor. You maintain your mark. personally. It's your contribution to the body.
That's what gives it Value. I mean, can you think of a Picasso? With the word Smith at the bottom? I mean, it would have no value at all. It's got to have the guy's name.
It's got to have the mark. Your personal touch. I'm running out of time. Chapter 9, look over at chapter 9, verse 6. Second word, bountifully.
Now, this I say, he who sows sparingly shall reap, sparingly, he who sows, there's the word, bountifully shall reap bountifully. By the time I develop this context, but I don't. Yeah, he's talking about giving, giving bountifully, and that would be in application not only money, but time and effort and energy and skill and art and whatever. Third, Verse 7: Let each one do just as he's purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion. God loves a cheerful giver.
Cheerfully is the third word. Think of the value of cheer in the exercise of a gift. Can you imagine if I came to the pulpit and said, Well Let's all open our Bibles. This won't last long. There's not a lot here for you, but.
I've been depressed about this for two or three days. I'm I mean, I can hardly sleep Saturday night. I'm so excited about being in this place and. Giving the gift. That's my contribution to the body, and it's the most thrilling part of my.
Conscious life is doing what I'm called to do, and the same I want for you. It's a cheerful thing. That's why I meet up with pastors and they look whipped and beaten. You know, they have what I call the pastoral slump. Usually, one shoulder is a little higher than the other.
Heard about a gal. I don't have time, but I'm going to tell you. Heard about a gal that was in a grocery store line and she was moving through, and a fellow behind her. You know, uh very distinguished looking. She turned and looked at him and She said.
Are you a minister? He said, No, I've just been sick. I've just been sick. Give me a break, Jake. Why do we have to look sick?
Because we're dedicated. Uh The last word is broadly, verse 9: He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor, his righteousness abides forever. It's crazy to drop all those on you, but I can't develop it. Personally, bountifully, cheerfully, broadly, let it out. Get at it.
Do the thing called ministry. And watch God work. I tell you, when He finds a letter that's got His mark, He makes it authentic. It's wonderful. I'd like us to bow for a few moments just to think about this, okay?
Some of you need to turn your life over to Christ. Let's just face the music. Face the facts. You played around with it. You're no more a letter for Christ than the man in the moon.
You've learned the language, you've run with Christian people, you maybe even joined a church, but you're not a Christian unless you know Christ. Christianne. is a follower. a disciple. of the person of Christ.
Take that step right now. You know, a simple prayer, Lord, I'm lost. I need you. I don't have you as my God and my Savior. And I'm.
I'm tired of living a lie. I need cleansing, I need hope, I need... A p a purpose. Purpose. I need to be authentic instead of a fake.
Now, Christians, you pray right now. You, for all you know, you're sitting right next to a person who doesn't even know the Lord. may look distinguished and Be warm and and gracious but may not know the Lord. Pray for the person who's on your right. and on your left.
Lord, today has been a great day. It isn't even near over, but. It's been such a marvelous thing to be together to think your thoughts. to log time and on this earth. It's amazing to think what the psalmist has said, even the days of our lives are recorded in your book.
before there was even one of them. How glorious is your history, and we are privileged to be a part of it.
Some need peace.
Some need a reminder of your presence.
Some need to know their distinguishing mark. and all of us need to be exercising them. Encourage us with what we have learned. and more importantly with how we apply. The truth of this wonderful book.
In the name of Jesus, who gave us this letter. and has written his name on our lives. His name we pray. Amen. And with his prayer, Chuxwindahl brings us to the close of our eight-part journey through 2 Thessalonians.
From the opening verses to these final three, the message has been consistent and compelling. You're not a bystander in God's story. You are a living letter bearing his mark, carrying his peace, extending his grace to a watching world. That's your distinguishing mark. If Chuck Swindahl's study through 2 Thessalonians has increased your appetite for God's Word, there's a companion resource made just for you.
The interactive Bible study workbook for this entire series, Steadfast Christianity, is available today. It's the perfect tool for going deeper on your own or working through these eight messages with a small group. To order it, call us at 800-772-8888 or visit insight.org/slash offer. Every leader eventually hits a moment when the opposition feels bigger than the calling. The critics are loud.
The obstacles are real. And somewhere in the quiet, the question surfaces, is this even worth the effort? Nehemiah faced that moment. He was building something that mattered, surrounded by people determined to stop him. but he refused to come down from that wall.
In his book, Hand Me Another Brick, Chuck walks you through Nehemiah's blueprint for leading with courage, clarity, and unshakable faith. whether you're shepherding a congregation, raising a family, or leading a team at work. This book will show you how to build something that outlasts you. Get in touch with us right away so we can get you a copy of Chuck's classic book on leadership. We'll send you Handmeanother Brick when you make a donation to Insight for Living.
Call us at 800-772-8888. or write to us at InsightForLiving. Post Office Box 5000. Frisco, Texas, 75034. If you think about it, somewhere out there, someone is exactly where you once were spiritually.
And your gift is what puts Chuck's Bible teaching within their reach. You can also give online at insight.org slash donate. I'm Bill Meyer. Chuckswindahl begins an encouraging series called Esther, a Woman of Strength and Dignity. Monday on Insight for Living.
Yeah. The preceding message, Your Distinguishing Mark, was copyrighted in 1986, 1991, 2002, and 2024, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindahl, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
