Lift - How To Rescue Those in Spiritual Danger, Part 1

Do you know anyone that's drifting away from Christ? Is there someone in your relational network that you see disaster is on the horizon?

How do you bring them back without coming off as holier than thou? That's what we're going to address today. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.

We are a discipleship-driven ministry on a mission to encourage Christians everywhere to live like Christians. And boy, Chip's diving into a really crucial topic today as he continues his series, Lift the Awesome Power of Encouragement. So when we see someone spiritually drifting, where is the line between being too judgmental or passive, showing tough love while not being overly critical? Well, Chip's going to help us find that perfect space where we can speak the truth, but do so with gentleness and kindness. And if you're in one of those conversations right now, stick around after the teaching for some practical insights from Chip.

I think it'll help you. Well, if you have a Bible handy, go now to First Thessalonians Chapter 3 for Chip's message, How to Rescue Those in Spiritual Danger. You ever feel between the rock and the hard place, you see someone that you haven't seen around for a while and you think to yourself, boy, you know, I wonder how they're doing spiritually and oh, they've probably been out of town and then it's beyond they've been out of town and you sense you really need to say something, but you think if I start talking to people about why they haven't been around, why they didn't come to a Bible study or community group or I haven't seen them at church, then they're going to think I'm some holier than thou, Gestapo in their case, and who am I to do that?

And so you know what happens normally? We don't say anything. And we don't say anything and there's people who God loves very deeply and He made us as a body and He made us as a body to love them and care for them. Now, there's a lot of people that feel desperately confused, very guilty, and when they need to come and be with God's people the most, it's when they tend to come the least. First two years of my Christian life were some of the most joyful, confusing, difficult and frustrating of my whole life. I didn't know anything. I had never opened the Bible until I was 18. I didn't know much about this new life and boy, I was forgiven and I had peace and I had purpose and I was excited about it, but I'd take one or two steps this way and then boom, four or five back this way. And you know, I'd make real decisions about really wanting to follow God and address issues in my life and three days later I'd find myself doing just the thing I said I didn't want to do anymore. And then I'd feel guilty at church, then I felt this, and then pretty soon I learned how to sleep in and then avoid Christians. And then I thought there was something wrong with me. I thought my faith must be defective.

But it was real and I kept longing and wanting to be near to Christ, but it was so hard and I got so frustrated. You know what I didn't understand? Just as there's physical laws that govern the universe, there are spiritual laws that govern our lives. And the law I didn't know about was the law of entropy. That's the second law of thermodynamics for all the non-engineers and science majors who didn't study that part.

It has to do basically with that well-known fact in life that when you go on a diet, you can work, work, work, work, work to lose 10 pounds and you can gain it back in three days. It's that well-known fact that when you clean your garage, that it doesn't keep getting cleaner and cleaner. It just starts getting dirty.

That when you wash your car, three days later it starts looking bad again. That when you make commitments, that when you move and work in relationships and it gets better and better and better, just do nothing. It'll get worse. You see, the entire universe is moving from order into chaos. Things aren't getting better and better and better. Things left to themselves do what?

They get worse. And it's true spiritually. Every single one of us will go through seasons where in your heart of hearts you will find yourself drifting away from God. Now I think it's much more common among young Christians because when it happens to us, we didn't know what was going on. But old Christians aren't immune to it. You've got this lure of the world that's happening every day. And then you've got the lust of your own flesh and then the tempter comes in and those three things all concert together to draw your heart away from God. And so then you're away one weekend or you skip a couple three days of reading the scripture and the prayers are just a little perfunctory and you have a good relationship and you back away from that and pretty soon those things layer upon layer upon layer upon layer and you find yourself, the last one to know usually, drifting away from Christ. And it can happen to anyone. In fact, it does happen to everyone to some degree all the time.

And that's what I want to talk about. That's what the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians is going to talk about tonight. How in the world do you overcome this magnetic draw away from Christ? Let me give you a couple symptoms if you can't already think about what they are when spiritual entropy begins to occur in your life. I think there's internal symptoms and I think there's external symptoms. The internal ones first, at least in my own experience, time in the scriptures becomes unfocused, sporadic, then negligible. Prayer becomes shallow, inconsistent, less honest and then perfunctory.

You know, just do it around the table because we're supposed to. The external symptoms, first our schedule. The pace and busyness of life, work, hobbies, families and activities, it seems to increase.

It's an amazing thing. When I drift away from God my schedule gets busier and busier and fuller and fuller. And then our decisions. When you begin to drift, pressure replaces priorities in the decision making process. And then finally our fellowship.

This is the last to go actually. These other things have been operating at least when it happens in my heart, but regular fellowship in church, in Bible studies, small group involvement, in your service and ministry, it becomes increasingly first it starts sporadic. You hit and miss, you know. And then after you hit and miss then you rationalize. We need this time out. We need to get away.

We need to be refreshed. And then something comes up and then you don't feel all that good. And pretty soon, it seems like a couple of weeks, but it's been a couple of months and you've distanced yourself from God's people. Have you been there? I mean, I have.

I mean, I've been there a bunch multiple times in my life. Those are the symptoms when spiritual entropy begins to occur. Here's the danger. The danger is the longer we drift, the more difficult it is to return. The word picture that comes to my mind is that of a little boat. I mean like a little rowboat drifting out to sea. The farther it drifts, the greater the danger. Picture, if you will, a little rowboat and it's out by the harbor and then it gets out past the harbor and then the waves and the currents and the winds and it gets beyond the horizon.

Now it's so far away from shore, no one can see it. Spiritually, there's people that you know and there's people that I know who are spiritually drifting away from God and the truth and all the things that we know are right. It happens. In fact, it happens so regularly that in Hebrews 3 13, we are given a command about how to relate to one another. It says, but encourage, build up, but encourage one another when day after day, as long as it is still called today. Now how many days does that apply to?

When you wake up what do you usually call it? Today. Encourage one another day after day as long as it's still called today.

Why? Lest any one of you be hardened, your hearts be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. See it's not just, no one wakes up and says, you know something, you know God's been so good to me. He loves me. He's restored relationships. He's done such a work of grace in my life.

I never knew what peace was. I've got forgiveness. I've got purpose.

He's used me in the lives of other people. Today would be a good day just to drop out. You know I think I'll just quit the Christian life today. No one wakes up and does that.

You do it by little tiny degrees. The question then is who do you know that is in spiritual danger? If you visualized in your mind a little rowboat drifting past the harbor and then the wind and the current taking it out to sea, who's in that boat? Is it you? Is it a friend? Is it a family member? A mate? A child? Is it a co-worker? You know they're a believer and you've watched the slide. Is it an old friend from college? Who is it? Who would be in that boat if God would bring someone to your mind that you know and you can sense they are drifting away from Him?

Who would go in there? See that's the big question because you need to listen tonight with two ears. The goal is you do that all the time. But with one ear I want you to listen to what God is going to speak to us and say to yourself how does that apply to me? But with the other ear I want you to listen to everything you hear and I want you to say oh God who's in that little rowboat that the current is pulling out? They're going farther and farther away from shore and they're going to destroy themselves. They're going to have a fractured family. They're going to end up shipwrecking their faith. They're going to end up doing something very very dumb and it's going to cost them a lot and it's going to embarrass your name and it's going to embarrass your church and they will reap the consequences forever.

Who is it? Because I'm going to tell you there's a lot at stake tonight. This is exactly the situation that the apostle Paul is going to write into. There's a church he's been away from for plus or minus two years, 18 to 24 months. And he knows that there's incredible persecution on the outside and he knows there's great temptation on the inside and he literally can't sleep at night. And he can't sleep at night because he's fearful. And what he's fearful about is that all their labor, all their preaching, all their discipling is going to go straight down the tubes because these people are going to spiritually drift and they're going to end up shipwrecked. And after coming to Christ, they're going to drift away and there's going to be no impact, no fruit, no church. And you know what? This is something that makes the apostle Paul's heart beat and pound and it's one of his passions.

And what we're going to look at tonight is a letter he writes to that group where he jumps into what I want to call his 911 rescue response. If you'll open your study notes, we're going to look here and we're going to see that there is a way to help people. And I've been in restaurants, I've seen the people come in, I think, they used to go to our church and then I rationalized, they're probably going somewhere else. And I sit here at a restaurant or in the mall just like this and as I sit here, I don't say anything. I don't say anything because I don't want them to reject me.

I don't say anything because I think they'll think I'm butting into their lives. I don't say anything because I'm not obeying scripture. What we're going to learn tonight is what to say and how to say it and how to do it in such a way where those people, you're going to be like a little tugboat and as those people are drifting out of the harbor into danger, God is going to show us through the apostle Paul how in a little tugboat you can come alongside, throw a little anchor or whatever rope you throw over, hook onto their boat and pull them into safety. And you won't be pushy, you won't be holier than thou and it'll happen in a way that will restore them to the Savior. And so let's look at the model that the apostle Paul gives us here. He's going to model a 9-1-1 rescue response.

In verses 13 through 16 of chapter 2, Paul thanks God continually for the manner in which the Thessalonians receive the word of God. Now just before I read it, listen carefully. Here's what he's going to do. He's going to tell them, I am so impressed.

Notice he starts very positively. He's going to say, I'm so impressed about how authentic your faith is. And then he's going to say, I know it's authentic because you have held strong even in the midst of persecution. And then he's going to have a little aside where he talks about the evil of those who persecute the church and then the judgment that God's going to have on it.

So follow along with me. Verse 13, he says, and for this reason, we constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. Do you hear what he's saying? He's communicating his gratitude. He says, I'm continually thankful for you.

By the way, that's the best way to start with people. Be thankful and communicate your gratitude for times in your shared experience when you know their faith was authentic, when it was operating well. Now, how does he know? Look at verse 14 for you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews.

He's going back to the early days. They received the word. You came to Christ.

You had a lot of pressure, a lot of persecution. He says, Hey, I'm going to congratulate you and I want to thank God for those early times in your faith where I saw you stand up under difficult times. In fact, the little phrase here where it says you receive the word of God, where he says not as a word for men, but from God. And then he says, which also performs its work in you.

That word for work, we get our word energy. It's used in the New Testament for a super natural activity. He says there was clear evidence of a super natural working of the Spirit of God through the word of God that was transforming your life, even in the midst of great persecution. Now he has a little aside in verse 15 and 16. He says that just as the Jews persecuted him and the Lord, their countrymen are doing it to them. And he goes on, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out. Now notice his description of the enemies of the cross of Christ. One, they are not pleasing to God. Two, they are hostile to all men. Three, they've been hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles in order that they might be saved with the result that they're always filling up the measure of their sins. Then notice the conclusion, that wrath has come upon them to the utmost. He paints a picture of real gratitude and he does it in the context of I know it's real because I reached back into our shared experience and how you walk with God in the midst of hard times against some pretty tough cookies.

So here's the application. I'm going to give you four steps of rescue intervention. Step one, communicate your gratitude for the authenticity of their faith in the midst of spiritual opposition. See when I'm sitting in that restaurant or when I'm at the mall or when I bump into someone or if I see someone at church and I know man it's been a long time since they've been here or they've not been to our Bible study group or whatever. See how they're feeling is how we felt when we've been there or maybe some of you were there tonight. You feel down on yourself. You feel like you've got to perform and do something good to get God to love you which isn't true but you feel that way. You think everyone's down on you and you think everyone is going to you know really get hard on you if you go back. And so what you need is people to help you and love you and support you and you do what I do.

I tend to avoid them at that time. So guess what we need to do? We need to communicate our gratitude to God for the authenticity of their faith and you need to reach back in a shared experience. In one of my surgeries I had the chance to lead a young mom to the Lord and I led her to the Lord and she comes from a very difficult background. And her father is an atheist. She had never been in a church in her life but little by little as I went to physical therapy I got to share my faith and then she began to read the Scriptures on her own and little by little she trusted Christ. And early on she was very very faithful in church and making good progress but she's got all these demands and all these pressures and you know how it is right?

In those early years? And I hadn't seen her for quite some time. And so she stopped in a Saturday night and I just first of all I just I think I think the way you greet people is important. I just I just said oh it's so good to see you. I'm so glad you're here.

You see that's a lot better than oh where have you been? You understand what I'm saying? You know let's communicate some love. Everybody in this room has dropped the ball spiritually and if you haven't you will. So what we need to do is be positive and encouraging towards people.

Well she needed to pick something up and I gave a couple words of encouragement but there wasn't much time and she swung by the office to pick something up. And then I then I was able to share. I said boy you know I think of when you trusted Christ the impact you've had there and you know the steps you've taken how it's impacted your family. I am so thankful to God for how He's already used your life and the authenticity.

I didn't use this word but I communicated the authenticity of your faith. And you know you could just see your eyes start to lighten up. She was starting to remember oh yeah. Yeah.

So guess what her next line is. Oh you know I need to be here a lot more often. You know I miss everyone and I'm just you know I'm listening you know then you know I'm reading on my own. And then I was able to say yeah you know I think all that's really great but we miss you.

It's not a matter of just what you need. You see God's given you something and as you come you have something to give to the body and we're incomplete without you. We really miss you but I'm thankful to God for all He's done in you. Do you hear that. Have you got step one of rescue intervention. That's how you communicate to people that are drifting away.

Now we're going to talk about step two in just a second. Let's look at what the Apostle Paul does after he communicates his gratitude. Then he expresses genuine concern. Verse 17 but we brethren having been bereft. That's an interesting word the NIV I like a little better says having been torn away from you for a short period in person not in spirit.

We're all the more eager with great desire to see you face to face. By the way this little word bereft or bereaved is the idea you might circle it. It means to be physically separated but also with mental anguish. It's an involuntary separation.

One commentator says you could translate it orphaned. Do you hear what he's doing. He's communicating his sincere concern.

This isn't perfunctory. This isn't all we happen to go to church together. This is I care about you. And notice the word here he says we have great desire. It's the most emphatic intensive form of that verb that you can you can have. In fact that same word is translated in a negative way of being extremely lustful.

Exact same word but it's used in a positive way here. He's saying my heart beats for you. And even though we've been separated geographically I'll tell you what it's out of sight out of mind.

Doesn't happen to the Apostle Paul. Out of sight deep in my heart. He says I greatly desire to see your face.

Why? For we wanted to come to you. I Paul more than once and yet Satan thwarted us.

Do you get the picture? The Apostle Paul saying you matter. I'm concerned about you.

Not only am I grateful for what God's done in your life but I'm concerned about you and I care about you and I love you. And it was almost like you know they've had no contact and it would be like someone that you haven't heard from in a long long time saying oh it's glad I finally got to see you and I've really missed you and you say yeah right. And then they have a box and they say here. And you say what's in the box. Oh you open it. And you take the box and you open it. And there's a stack of 30 letters in it. And somehow they couldn't get the right address they couldn't find you. And on the corner stamped in red in every letter it says return to sender.

Return to sender. And here for a two year period there's 30 letters. They've been thinking about you every month every two weeks writing you a letter praying for you. You just didn't know it. That's what he's saying here. Then notice the reason. Look at verse 19. For who is our hope? Our joy or our crown of exaltation. I mean why do we live? Why do we get up? Apostle Paul says I don't get up so that you know I earn more money this year. I don't get up to find out what's going on in the stock market. I don't get up just so that my life will be successful, wealthy, happy, comfortable and all my circumstances turn out right.

I get up in the morning and I live for your spiritual welfare and progress. You are our hope, our joy and our crown. Two words for crown in the New Testament. This one is referenced to a crown of victory. It's the idea of royalty coming and arriving with his crown as a sign of honor. And he says notice what his crown is. Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?

He says the day when I come to Christ, whether He comes back or whether I die and go to Him, when I go to Him and when I go to that believer's judgment that doesn't have anything to do with our sin because that's dealt with but it has everything to do with reward, the crown that I'll wear on my head of victory and royalty will be my relationship with you as a church. I invested in you. I loved you. I led you to Christ. I built into your life. I gave my life. And when I stand before God, you are my crown, my joy and my hope. In fact, he repeats it. Look at the last line. For you are our glory and joy.

Now you know something? If the person, even if it's you, you need to get to know some others. But if the person in that little rowboat that you have pictured in your mind is drifting out to sea and is spiritually adrift from Christ, can you imagine what would happen if someone communicated that they really cared. You've been listening to part one of Chip's message, How to Rescue Those in Spiritual Danger, which is from our series, Lift the Awesome Power of Encouragement. Chip will be back with us in studio shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. Do you know someone who needs a spiritual shot in the arm?

Their circumstances have him feeling down and out and you just want to come alongside and help? As Chip teaches from 1 Thessalonians, we'll learn how to do that through the influence of encouragement. Discover the practical ways to inspire and support others in their time of need and how those selfless acts can strengthen your walk with God too. Learn more about this series or our resources through livingontheedge.org or the Chip Ingram app.

Well, Chip's here in studio with me to share a brief word. Before I come back with some very specific application about today's message, I just want to remind you that you're listening to this because some very caring and loving individuals have sacrificially given to the ministry so that we can pay for the airtime, so we can create the programs, and so we can minister to you. In those early times as you listen to the program, we are delighted to just make it available, and we are thrilled of the team that God's put together. But I'd like to talk to some of you that have become regular listeners and you've never considered, I wonder how this gets paid for.

Would you consider making a gift today? The Bible is very clear that when we receive spiritual ministry to us, we have a responsibility to help financially fund those who teach and minister to us. And what I want you to know is we use all the resources to go right back into the ministry. We want to help Christians live like Christians. And so if you've been benefiting from the ministry and you've never given, or you've given now and then and realized maybe God wants you to be a part of the team, would you consider today partnering with us? You can do it any way God leads you, but would you take that next step and be a part of getting Living on the Edge and what God's doing through it to the lives of many more people?

Thanks, Chip. If partnering with Living on the Edge is an idea that makes sense to you, we'd love to have you join us. Helping Christians live like Christians will change the world we live in. To give a gift, go to livingontheedge.org or text donate to 74141. That's the word donate to 74141 or visit livingontheedge.org. App listeners tap donate. Thanks for taking the time to help others benefit from the work of this ministry.

Here again is Chip to share some helpful application for us to think about. As you were listening to today's message, did someone come to mind? Is there someone in your relational network that's drifting? As I told that story about watching someone in a little rowboat being carried out to sea and realizing they're getting farther and farther and farther away from shore and they're in danger and what's going to happen? Remember I used that picture where you needed to get in a speedboat and zip out there and go get them. Is there anybody that you know that God may be saying to you today, go get them. I love them.

Go get them. They're in danger. That tide is going to take them farther and farther and farther out. And the farther they get out, the harder it is to come back. The fact of life is this. Every one of us will drift from Christ now and then.

It always starts with a little action to the left or a little action to the right and a little neglect here or a little neglect there. It's a vacation with a schedule and pretty soon we haven't been to church. Pretty soon we haven't cracked open the Bible.

Pretty soon we're kind of skimming in our prayers. It happens to all of us. Here's the key. The earlier you catch it, the higher the probability of rescuing people.

When the drift first starts, whether it's your kids, whether it's a brother, whether it's someone in your Bible study, whether it's someone in your church, whether it's a good friend, whether it's a person on one of your ball teams, the earlier you detect it and catch it and help them, the higher the probability of the rescue. Now here's the problem. I want to speak very directly to you. In most Christian communities, we are so afraid of being pushy. We're so afraid of being holier than thou. We have this mindset that says, well, you know, who am I to say anything to them?

I'll tell you who you are. You're their brother. You're their sister. We are so concerned about what they may think or really about us being rejected. We don't step up to the plate and say, I love you. God loves you.

You're not going in a good direction and you got to come back. Who in your world needs you to step up to the spiritual plate and love them enough even to risk the relationship? Oh, go get them, will you?

Love them. Care enough to confront. I'm going to give you a game plan. If you say, I'm willing, but I don't know how to do it. In our next broadcast, I'm going to walk through with you the specific steps of how to do it.

See you then. Looking forward to that Chip. As we close, you know, a great way to get plugged in with our resources here at Living on the Edge is through the Chip Ingram app. You can listen to past series, sign up for daily discipleship and more. Let us help you experience God in a new personal way starting today with the Chip Ingram app. We'll join us next time as Chip picks up in his series, Lift the Awesome Power of Encouragement. Until then, this is Dave Druey thanking you for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.