Living as a Godly Example - Life of Paul Part 45

Thanks for being here today. If you brought a Bible, I'd love for you to open it to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. We're going to be coming there in just a minute. We're going to be continuing in our study the life of Paul, the great man of God, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. But as many of you know, I just returned from leading a tour to Greece, to Italy and to Turkey that was focused on the book of Revelation. We had a great time.

Thanks for the many of you who prayed for us. But you know, we did have one little wrinkle. Saturday, the day before we were ready to come back, one of our ladies had her passport stolen while she was at the Sistine Chapel. And so she went and called the U.S. Embassy on her own about trying to get a replacement passport. And the guy she finally got on the telephone said, well, you know, on the weekend, we don't give replacement passports. He said, just when you go to the airport tomorrow, have the airline call me at this number. I'll certify you lost your passport and they'll let you on the airplane to go back to America. Well, when she got back to the hotel that night and told me about this, I thought, you know, this just sounds a little nutty to me.

Maybe she didn't get this quite right. So I said, could I have the number? I'd like to go call the guy myself. So she said, sure. And so I went and called him up, got him on the phone, and I said, hey, listen, I'm here leading a tour and I've got this lady on my tour who lost her passport.

She said she called you and that you told her that the Embassy does not issue replacement passports on the weekend. Is that right? He said, that's right. I said, I don't know. That sounds a little nutty to me. He said, no, no, no.

If it was Monday, we could do it, but we don't do it on the weekend. I said, well, she also said that if she goes to the airport and just tells them to call you at this number, you'll get her on the airplane. Is that right? He said, that's right, too. I said, all right.

I said, well, that's wonderful. I said, well, what am I going to do with this lady when I get her to New York? How am I going to get her into the United States? It's wonderful I can get her out of Italy.

How am I going to get her into the United States with no passport? He said, sir, don't worry about it. We do this all the time. It won't be a problem. He said, all she has to do is give them their social security number and they'll let her right through. I said, well, forgive me.

I'm just a little skeptical. And I said, but let me just tell you this. If I get to New York and they don't let this lady through, I've got your number. I'm calling you from New York.

Capiche? So we talked a few minutes more and I was getting ready to hang up. And he said, hey, just before you hang up, could I ask you a question? I said, well, sure. He said, are you from Washington, D.C.? I said, yeah. I said, how did you know that? He said, are you Lon Solomon? I said, well, yeah, I am.

He goes, hey, not a sermon, just a thought. Honest. Honest.

I'm telling you the truth. So I said, really? He said, oh, yeah. He said, I was in Washington for a year between assignments and I listened to you on the radio all the time. He said, I'd know that voice anywhere. He said, and oh, by the way, Lon, he said, everything is going to be fine. You're not going to need to call me from New York.

Capiche? Not good. Well, what are the odds somebody in Rome, Italy, would know who you are and would be evaluating your behavior as a follower of Christ?

I figure they got to be a million to one. But it happened. And as I walked away from that phone a little sheepishly, I must admit, I got to thinking to myself, you know, that's really true everywhere we go. People are watching us as followers of Jesus Christ. They're passing judgment on our behavior and on our words.

And they're extending that judgment not just to us, but to the Christ that we say we represent. Now, that being true, and this is what we want to talk about today. The two questions we want to answer today is why is it so important that we're sensitive to this, to being godly examples to people around us?

And number two, what's it going to cost us to be the kind of godly example that won't discredit the name of Jesus Christ or hinder people coming to him? That's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to use an incident right out of the life of the Apostle Paul.

So let me give you a little bit of background. Remember, the Apostle Paul is on his second missionary journey along with Luke, Timothy, and Silas. Let's show you a map. They've crossed over from this northwestern city in Turkey, modern day Turkey, called Troas, gone across the Aegean Sea to the town of Philippi. Here in Philippi, Paul spent a number of weeks sharing Christ. He built a small church there. He left Luke and Timothy there, split his team, while he and Silas continued on down the Ignatian Way, the Roman road, to the town of Thessalonica. Here in Thessalonica, Paul, as we saw, spent six months preaching, but the unbelieving Jewish community here in town developed an enormous hatred for Paul.

And they finally succeeded in getting a mob together and running him out of town. And he and Silas then went 45 miles further to the south to the little town of Berea. Now that's where we left off in Acts chapter 17. But you know, one of the wonderful things about studying the Bible is this principle that we call comparing Scripture with Scripture. What we mean by this is taking two different parts or more of the Bible that actually happened historically at the same time. They may be separated on the pages of the Bible, but historically they happened at the same time and comparing them and studying them together so that we get a fuller understanding of the events that we're looking at. Now we have a wonderful opportunity to do this when it comes to Paul's six-month stay in Thessalonica.

Because several months after he was run out of Thessalonica, he wrote a letter back to this church. We know it as the book of 1 Thessalonians. And in this letter, as we're going to see today, the apostle Paul talks about some details that happened there in town that are not mentioned in the book of Acts. It's these details that are going to provide the basis for us to deal with the issue we brought up today, people watching us.

So let's look together. 1 Thessalonians 2. Paul writes and says, he says, verse 2, Even though we had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, and friends, as we know, because we've been studying this, that Paul was beaten with rods and thrown in jail unjustly in Philippi. Even though that happened, Paul says, with God's help we dared to share the message of Jesus Christ with you, despite strong opposition. Paul's letter makes it clear that from the very beginning of his ministry in Thessalonica, there was strong opposition against him, that he was under the constant gaze, the constant scrutiny of his enemies there, and that they kept accusing him of things. And one of the things they accused him of, he talks about right here now in this letter. He goes on to say, for the appeal that we make does not spring from error or from impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. So one of the things his enemies accused him of was having impure motives and trying to trick the Thessalonians. He goes on to say, you know, we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed. What they were accusing him of having impure motives about was this issue of money, that he was really there just trying to get their money.

He was really there just greed was his real motive. Paul says in verse 9, finally, Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and our labor, how we work night and day so as not to be a financial burden to anyone while we preach the message of God to you. Friends, the issue, one of the key issues Paul was being criticized on in town was the issue of money. What his enemies were saying is that Paul's just a religious huckster. Paul's just a shyster. Paul's just using the message of Jesus Christ to cover up his real motive, which is greed. He's not here to care for the sheep.

He's here to fleece the sheep. Now, you know, this phenomenon that as followers of Christ, people love to find fault with even the smallest inconsistency they see in our life. In fact, here, there wasn't even an inconsistency in Paul's life, and they were trying to find one even when one wasn't there. This phenomenon that when we become followers of Christ and we announced that, that suddenly people begin holding us to a higher standard than they would ever hold a non follower of Christ to, friends, than they would ever hold themselves to. This is just the way it is.

It's the way it's always been. It was this way in Paul's day, and it just kind of comes with the territory. Now, those of us who are in full time Christian work, we learn about this phenomenon very early in our career. I have a married couple here who are friends of ours, and the lady a few weeks ago was saying to me, she said, you know, she said, your wife, Brenda and I, we went shopping one day at Nordstrom's, just had some fun together. And she said, a few days later, I met another lady in Nordstrom's, and I just began talking another lady from our church and just started talking to her about the fact that I'd been there shopping with your wife, Brenda, a few days before. And she said, this lady got this incredibly judgmental look on her face and said, Lon's wife shops at Nordstrom's? And my lady friend said, you know, Lon, it was not till that moment that I really understood what you guys in the ministry have to put up with. See, it was okay for this lady to shop in Nordstrom's. It was even okay with this lady that I was shopping in Nordstrom's.

She said, but it was not okay with this lady that the pastor's wife shopped at Nordstrom's. Now, friends, this living in a fishbowl is not just confined to those of us who are full-time servants of Christ. Hey, once you go public for Jesus Christ in your school, in your workplace environment, in your neighborhood with your family and your relatives, I'm telling you, you start to live in a fishbowl too. Your co-workers start watching you. Your schoolmates start watching you. Your relatives start watching you. Your neighbors start watching you. Your roommates start watching you to see if what comes out of your life is authentic Christian living in their opinion. And if it isn't, not only do they judge you, but friends, they're going to judge the Jesus Christ that you say you represent.

This just comes with the turf, friends. This is the way it is. Now, you say, Lon, this is a terrible burden, isn't it, for us to have to bear as followers of Christ? I think the opposite is true. I think that's the wrong way to look at it. I think this is a wonderful opportunity.

You see, friends, to have somebody watching our lives and paying attention to our lives to that level, if we make use of that, is a wonderful opportunity. It's an opportunity to shut the mouths of people who are looking to cynically criticize Jesus Christ. And it's an opportunity to build a spiritual platform to people that encourages them to consider the claims of Christ, if we truly live a godly example in front of people.

Listen to what Peter said. Peter said, Dear friends, I urge you to live such good lives among the pagans that even though they want to accuse you of wrongdoing, they will see your good deeds and be forced to glorify God. For this is the will of God, that by doing right, we may silence the ignorance of foolish men.

Now, you know, the apostle Paul understood this principle. So he set out to turn his enemy's accusations into a spiritual platform. He set out to turn their accusations into an opportunity for Jesus Christ. And I want you to see how he did it. He realized that the only way to combat these accusations that were being leveled against him, of being a religious huckster and a shyster and a man who was out for their money, the only way to do this was to live in this area of money in a such an above reproach manner, that when people made these accusations, any thinking person would go, Well, that's nonsense.

So look what he did. All six months when he was in Thessalonica, he's going to tell us right now in this letter, Paul earned his own living. Paul worked for his own money, and he never took one penny from the Thessalonians at all.

Look what he says. 1 Thessalonians 2, 9. We work night and day, Paul says, so as not to be a financial burden to anyone. In 2 Thessalonians, the second letter he wrote this church, he says in chapter 3, We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it.

On the contrary, we work night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. Friends, the Bible tells us the Apostle Paul made tents for six months when he lived in Thessalonica. That's what he did all day long. And then on the nights and the weekends, he preached Jesus Christ. The point is, during his entire six months stay in Thessalonica, he never asked for and he never accepted one thin dime from these Thessalonian believers. And by doing this, do you see what Paul did?

The Apostle Paul did exactly what Peter told us to do. He reduced to nonsense these accusations of his enemy. He put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Think about it. How can a man who refuses to accept one thin dime in six months, how can he be a shyster?

Or at least, let's put it this way, if he is a shyster, he is the dumbest shyster to ever live to spend six months there and not make one single dime off these people. Do you understand what Paul did? Now, let's stop here and ask our most important question. And you all know what that is. So you ready? One person's ready. Are you ready? Okay, here we go.

One, two, three. So what? Right.

You say, Lon, so what? You say, that's great. I'm glad Paul did this. I respect him.

I really admire him. What difference does this make to me? Oh, friends, listen, there is an incredible spiritual challenge in the actions of the Apostle Paul that still is for our lives today.

Let me show you where it is. Paul says, 2 Thessalonians 3, he says, we did this. That is, we supported ourselves, not because we don't have the right to be supported by you.

Let me stop for a second. Did Paul have the right to be supported financially by these Thessalonian believers that he was there ministering the Word of God to? Did he?

Yes, he did. Paul said, I had that right. It was a God given right. But Paul said, it's not that we didn't have the right.

That's not why we work to support ourselves. We did it in order to offer ourselves as a model that you might follow our example. You say, Paul, what are you talking about? A model, an example.

What kind of example do you mean? Well, let him explain, because he also did the very same thing in Corinth, where for a year and a half he worked for a living and didn't take a dime. So look what he says to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 9. He says, do we as apostles not have the right to accept food and drink from you?

Of course, we have that right. Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who tends to flock and doesn't drink of his own, of his milk? Or even the Old Testament law teaches this, Paul says, when it says you shall not muzzle an ox while it's treading out the grain. Do you understand what that means? It means if you've got this ox walking around treading grain, you don't put a muzzle on the poor animal.

You leave the animal free to eat some of the fruit of its labor, to eat some of the corn it's treading out. Okay, Paul says, is God concerned about oxen? Is that why he wrote that in the Bible?

Of course not. He wrote that for our sake. Rather, Paul goes on to say, if we have sowed spiritual things among you, if we've been there ministering for Jesus Christ among you, do we not have the right to reap material support from you?

Answer, absolutely. Now watch, here comes the example Paul wants us to copy. Nevertheless, Paul says, nevertheless, I did not use this right when I was with you. Why, Paul?

If you had the right, why didn't you use it? Because, he says, I wanted nothing to hinder the message of Christ. I wanted nothing to hinder the message of Christ. Friends, Paul builds this huge apologetic here about how he had the right to accept material support from people when he was there ministering. And then he says, but to defend the reputation of Christ, to defend the reputation of Christ's ministry, to keep from hindering people in their coming to Christ, I gave up that right.

I walked away from it, and I worked myself to provide my own living rather than do anything to impugn Christ or hinder people coming to him. That's the example Paul wants us to follow. You say, well, Lon, why are you making such a big point out of this?

Well, I'll tell you why. Because we live in a society here in America that is rights crazy. We live in a society here in America that teaches us to live the exact opposite of this. We have so many rights in this country that people are obsessed about. I mean, we have civil rights, abortion rights, we have consumer rights, employee rights. We have Miranda rights and the Bill of Rights in this country. And people tell us everywhere we go, assert your rights, defend your rights. Don't ever voluntarily give up a right.

Well, you know what? When I go to the Bible and I see how God wants me to live, that's not what I see the Bible telling me as a follower of Christ. I see the Bible telling me, follow my example. And what's your example, Paul? That I did not use my rights because I wanted nothing to hinder the message of Jesus Christ. The bottom line is, friends, if we really want to see God use our lives, if we really want to see God use us to make a difference in other people for Christ, it's going to cost us something.

It's going to always cost us some rights. Some rights that we're entitled as followers of Christ to exercise that belong to us if we want to exercise them. But by exercising them, we will give people raw material to criticize Jesus Christ. By exercising them, we will give people raw material to point at our lives and say, you see what he or she is doing, this isn't a real Christian, you don't want any part of that. And so Paul says, guess what?

Anywhere you go, any society you're in, they're going to be those issues. And a truly mature follower of Christ, the real servant of God says, you know what? If it's going to get in the way of people coming to Christ, I'll give up the right. Now that's Paul's example.

And what did Paul say? Follow my example. Now where are some areas practically in our world today where this is true? Well, it's certainly true as parents. You know, I was watching the new Woody Allen movie on the plane called Hollywood Ending.

I don't recommend it. I saw the cut version, but I watched it on the airplane. And in this movie, Woody Allen is estranged from his son. In fact, the last time they met, his son pushed him down the steps. And he goes in the movie to see his son and he says to his son, you know, I think we need to kind of have a rapprochement.

We need to fix our relationship. And the son says, there's nothing wrong with our relationship. Woody Allen says, what are you talking about? The last time we were together, you pushed me down the steps. Oh, the son said that. He said, I'm sorry, Dad. He said, I was on drugs. I was on LSD and PCP and I wasn't responsible for my actions. And Woody Allen sat down and said, son, he said, where did you ever learn to use drugs like that? And the son said, Dad, I learned by watching you take all those tranquilizers when I was a kid. And Woody Allen just sat there.

He had nothing to say. And, you know, years ago I had a very wise man say to me, Lon, be very careful as a parent what liberties you exercise because be assured your children are going to take every liberty they see you exercise and they're going to take it one step further. So be very careful. Friends, that's why for the last 28 years as parents, Brenda and I, to the best of my knowledge, have never served or even opened a bottle of wine in our house. That's why for the last 28 years we've never served a beer, allowed a beer, or had a beer in the refrigerator in our house. That's why as parents we don't get HBO, we don't get Cinemax, we don't get Showtime, and I've disabled all the pay-per-view movies in my home.

You can't order them. That's why as parents we have the family computer sitting upstairs in the kitchen so everybody knows where everybody goes. You understand what I'm saying? Now, why have Brenda and I done this? Because we understand as parents that if we're going to be the kind of godly example our children desperately need in this world, it's going to cost us some liberties. But you know what?

That's all right. We accept that price and we're happy to pay that price if it means the result is we can raise some men that walk with Christ. And this isn't just true as parents. It's true everywhere you and I go as followers of Christ because people are watching and people are waiting and people are looking to find the slightest inconsistency in our life that they can point to and discredit Christ and keep people from coming to Him in our workplace, in our schools, in our families, in our neighborhoods.

If we're going to really keep, keep people from doing that, it's going to cost us some liberties. You know, I've been the senior pastor here at McLean Bible Church for 22 years now. And here is the senior pastor of McLean Bible Church. You may not realize this, but did you realize as the senior pastor of this church, I do not have the authority to sign a check and for 22 years have never signed a check in this church. Do you realize that if you went out and bought a $5 can of coffee and bought it in here and said, Lon, I just bought some coffee for the church, could you go into petty cash and reimburse me $5?

Friends, I can't do it. I have no authority to access cash in this church of any kind and never have had for 22 years. Do you realize here is the senior pastor of this church, I've never seen the giving records of anybody in 22 years and I don't have the authority to start seeing those giving records now. Do you realize as the senior pastor of this church, I cannot unilaterally fire anybody just because I decide I want to. As the senior pastor of this church, I cannot meet with a lady in my office alone.

My assistant has always got to be in my office with me. Do you realize that here as the senior pastor of this church, I can't ride alone in my car with any female member of my staff or any other lady other than my wife, just the two of us. Nor can I meet a lady somewhere for lunch, just the two of us.

I'm not allowed to do that. Do you realize as the senior pastor here, I'm not allowed to drive a Mercedes, a Jaguar, a Porsche or a BMW. And do you realize here in the Washington area at large, as the senior pastor of this church, I cannot sit at a bar, smoke a cigar, have a beer, sip a martini or go 10 rounds with Jose Cuervo, if you understand what I'm saying, anywhere in this area.

You say, holy smokes, Lon. How in the world did you let the board of elders take all those rights away from you? I didn't.

All of these restrictions are my idea for me and my entire staff. You say, well, why would you do something like that? What are you, a prude or something? No, I'm not a prude. Friends, I've been in Washington over 30 years.

I know this town. And I realize that these are the very kinds of issues that the people in this town would just love to use to raise questions about my integrity. These are the issues they would love to use to undermine the credibility of McLean Bible Church. These are the issues they would love to use to point at my life and hinder people from coming to Christ.

And I'm determined I'm not going to give them that raw material, nor is any member of my staff. If you're here today and you've never trusted Christ as your real and personal Savior, let me say to you that we consider the issues here. We're not just playing a religious game here. This is not just some kind of religious con we're running here.

Hey, the stakes are high. It's your eternal destiny, your soul that we're talking about here in a relationship with Christ. And friends, we consider your soul important enough that we're willing to forego liberties, that we have the right to exercise. We're willing to let them go rather than let anything get in the way of your consideration for Jesus Christ. Now, if we consider your soul and your relationship with Christ that important, shouldn't you?

Shouldn't you? And you know what? I'm telling you the same is true for you, my friends. There are people in your family, there are people in your workplace, there are people in your school, there are people in your neighborhood who are just looking to discredit you, who are just waiting to throw something up that they can point at your life and say, See them? Do you see what they're doing?

Why in the world? How could they be a Christian? And I'm here to tell you that the only way you and I can stop that will never change the fact that people are determined to find those things in our lives. So friends, the only other way we can stop it is by being willing to walk away from liberties like Paul did that will give them raw material.

Let me close by saying this. Our goal here at McLean Bible Church is to turn you into a true servant of God. Our goal here at McLean Bible Church is to turn you into a spiritually mature follower of Christ. And folks, one of the marks of a true servant of God, of a mature follower of Christ, one of the marks of that person is that they're willing to give up any right. They're willing to forego any liberty if the exercise of that liberty will, number one, damage the cause of Christ, or number two, get in the way of people giving their life to Him. This is how the apostle Paul lived.

And what did he say? Follow my example. Friends, I'm here to call you and to call myself. And to not being content just to kind of tiptoe to the tulips in this world, but to be a servant of Christ, to make a difference in our world, to affect the lives of others for Christ.

And it's going to cost us something if we're going to be effective in doing that. You know what? I didn't come to Christ to drink beer. I didn't come to Christ to play cards. I didn't give my life to Jesus so I could sit in a bar and have a cigar. I didn't give my life to Christ so I could drive a BMW. I gave my life to Jesus so I could reach other people and make a difference in the world.

And if I can't do some of these other things, what difference does it make? It doesn't make any difference. Now, that's how Paul looked at the world. And, friends, that's how God wants you to look at the world, that people's souls are worth more than any liberty you and I might have. This is maturity.

This is seasoning. This is how a servant of God looks at the world. This is what we want you to be. May God help you be that. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thanks for talking to us today about, well, living right down here every day, because as you know, Father, we have to decide day by day what rights we're going to exercise and what rights we're not as followers of Christ. Speak to us deeply today, Lord, about the example of the apostle Paul. Thank you for this godly man, and may we walk in his example. May we be willing to give up rights, to give up liberties, to walk away from anything, rather than impugn the name of Christ or keep people from coming to him. God, change our behavior, change our very world view, because we were here today and we learned from the Word of God. Make us mature followers of Christ. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.