Good morning and happy Christmas Eve. What a tremendous day Christmas is, that it needs the day before it, to be properly celebrated. Can you imagine if others days were so great that you could add an "eve" to them? What if we had birthday eves and you could celebrate your birthday for two days. Or what about National Taco day? I think that one surely needs an eve, so that we could celebrate tacos for 2 days. Taco Eve…I like it.
I had a great weekend, especially Saturday. A friend and I went to AT&T stadium and took in a triple header of High School State championship football games. Three back to back games, each being played for all the marbles. And what great games they were, especially the last one that came down to the final 3 seconds with a ‘Hail Mary’ being caught for the win as time expired! What a game! It was also fun to see all these great games in a stadium as cool as Jerry World. Wow, what a stadium.
Well, here comes Christmas. Margie closes the store at 6 tonight and we’re gonna have a tasty home cooked dinner and enjoy a fire and just enjoy each others company. We’ll probably watch “It’s a Wonderful Life”, what a great movie about what’s really important in life and the other things that can so easily get in the way. Tomorrow we’re just gonna enjoy the day off and be quiet. This year my family is having our party on the 27th, so we’ll be looking forward to seeing the family later this week.
This morning we’ll be looking at the fourth chapter of Thessalonians and one that is rich in instruction for our daily Christian walk. In fact, Paul uses the word walk twice in this chapter alone. He wants us to see the importance of how to walk like a Christian and how important it is for our walk to be pure when viewed by those around us.
So what does it mean to walk like a Christian? This is a great question and one that God has really put on my heart lately. The other morning, I made Margie breakfast before she headed off to work and as we sipped on some coffee we talked about exactly this. If you have called upon Christ as your Savior, what does it look like to walk with Him EVERY day? How do you keep your walk fresh and focused from day to day? And most importantly how do you improve upon your daily Christian walk as it becomes monotonous?
As we talked that morning I said, “I see so many that are walking as ‘Saved but Lost.” We both stopped and thought about that. “Saved but Lost.” That’s pretty deep. I see so many that confess to be Christians yet feel they are living a life that’s devoid of the purpose of God. I have Christians tell me that they feel they are missing the peace, joy and purpose of God’s life, even though they know they are saved. They are not feeling the plan of God at work in their life. They are not seeing the principles of God’s way of life as having great impact in their life. You see they are “Saved but Lost.”
This is exactly what Paul is talking about today and what we’ll spend our time exploring. I’ve also coined another term that correlates with this study and I call it “Christian complacency.” When we get to a point in our Christian walk where we feel we have either plateaued or have reached a point of finality. Either way we can become stagnant in our growth in Christ. Paul recognized this as threat to the Thessalonian believers and he addresses it in 4:1:
“Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.” 1 Thes 4:1
Lets take a second and look what it means to ‘walk’ in this world. Walk is a verb, it is an action word. To walk is to be physical, to move about, to go, to cover distance. Unless you’re on a treadmill you will walk ‘through’ this world and ‘in’ this world. As we walk through this sinful world, indwelt with the Holy Spirit, we will be walking as strangers. God’s principles are not the principles of this world and therefore we will experience, strife, turmoil and frustration as we move along. But that’s the key here, to keep moving along.
The latter part of the verse speaks to me about “Christian complacency.” “Just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.” I think this specifically speaks to becoming complacent in your walk with the Lord. Paul says whatever your doing is great, keep on doing that, but you can do more.
I think we have all gotten to a place in our walk where we have looked around, taken a little pride in our fruit, gave ourselves a pat on the back and said good work, I’ve done good for God. And then we coast. We sit back and enjoy the fruit for a while and relax. There is tremendous danger in this. Satan welcomes and even ushers this into our lives. Becoming stagnant for Christ means we are not growing in Christ. Christian complacency means you are not improving your Christian walk but merely enjoying your current location. You’re not moving forward, but standing still.
Let me paint a picture. Your preparing for a race. It’s a 440 meter run, that is one full time around the track. You’ve been preparing for this race for one full year. You have a coach and your coach has been working with you the entire year to help you with speed training, stamina training and race theory. You’ve eaten well, trained hard and you're ready for race day. You take your blocks, eye your competition, and wonder about how this race will play out in the short 50 seconds it will take to cover the distance. The gun fires and you launch. At this moment everything you’ve learned, trained for, and focused on, comes into a singular thought. You run for the win. But about halfway through the race, your attention shifts. Something attracts your attention on the in-field. A beautiful yellow flower is in full bloom. You decide to stop and take some time to enjoy it. You stop running, saunter over, pluck up the flower and gaze at its beauty. The runners pass you by, and just like that the race is over.
What? You’re probably saying, Dan that’s a dumb story, no one would ever do that. Wait, stop for a second and compare this with your walk with Christ. You don’t think this happens to us? I know it has with me. Christian complacency is when we take our eyes off the prize of running for Christ, and stop to enjoy the goodness of the world for just a bit. I mean it can’t hurt right? Just to stop for a bit and enjoy the scenery?
The point Paul is making here is one of encouraging the church at Thessalonica not to become distracted in Christian complacency but to be focused on improving their Christian walk. So how do you do that? There are two ways that you can improve your daily Christian walk. God’s Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. These 2 things can and will constantly allow you to grow in your walk with God.
It’s alarmingly simple. Spend time in God’s Word and thereby allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life. Spending time in God’s Word is a do or don’t. Do you, or don’t you? If I were to ask you today if you spend time in God’s Word everyday and you were to be completely honest, your answer could only be one of two words….yes or no. You see, you either do it or you don’t. As I’ve served all over in the last several years, this has been the single biggest problem I have experienced in seeing people struggle with their Christian walk. They do not know God’s Word and they spend no time in God’s Word to learn it. This is in fact, the entire reason the 5 minute challenge exists. God created it to encourage and create a habit of spending time in God’s Word daily. Time in God’s Word will allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you and will create a relationship that will allow God to speak into your life.
Here comes a powerful, declarative statement that I have learned to be 100% true. If you are not spending time in God’s Word you are not growing in your relationship with Christ. And if you are not growing in Christ you are becoming stagnant. And if you are stagnant for Christ you are a prime target for satan and this world to pull you in many directions. As God’s Word says ‘you will be tossed by the waves of the sea.’ You will have no direction and no rudder to steer your life. You will be at the mercy of the tide.
Paul moves on to give us some direction. Once again God’s Word not only shows us the destination, but what to avoid in getting to that destination. You see, if you know where you want to go, you also have to know where you don’t want to go.
Here’s a few things that will help you to grow in your Christian walk and avoid Christian complacency.
Be sexually pure. (Thes 4:3) Sexual immorality will take a great toll on your life. It will create great distance between you and God as you chose your own fleshly desires over God’s.
Love your brother. Thes 4:9 says “for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.” God allows us to love on another level. How you love others is a direct sign of your walk with Christ. A genuine concern and care for the welfare of others is a flasing display of your love of Christ. There is no other greater signal to the world of your walk with Christ than how you love and treat others.
Don’t defraud your brother. (Thes 4:6) Don’t lie, cheat, steal, swindle or con people. (SEE ABOVE) How could you treat people this way anyway if you truly love them?
Live quietly. (Thes 4:11) Have you ever noticed that noise, chaos and disruption all seem to travel closely? Whats the old saying…peace and …..yep, quiet. Paul says to live a quiet, peaceful life.
Mind your own affairs (Thes 4:11) Stay in your lane, mind your own knitting, keep your eyes on your own work, keep your nose out of other’s business. People that meddle, double their trouble! Don't do it.
Work with your hands. (Thes 4:11) Have a job, stay busy, be productive. It’s the opposite of Proverbs 16:27, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” Staying busy also helps you avoid many of the above.
Walk in Honesty. (Thes 4:6) Be honest. This goes back to love your brother as yourself. How can you deal with someone dishonestly if you truly love them?
So, there’s a lot for us process today. This is one of those topics you can cover in 10 minutes, but will take you weeks, months or even years to work on. I challenge each of you today to honestly and contemplatively, look at you walk with Christ today. Are you a complacent Christian? Do you feel you are challenged in your walk with Christ today? Are you spending time in God’s Word daily? Are you giving God a possibility to infill you with His Spirit everyday in doing so? Are you moving forward in you walk or are you spinning your wheels?
I pray that you will make a choice today to change your daily habits and choose to grow in Christ and refuse to be a Complacent Christian.
Merry Christmas, may Jesus Christ be glorified.
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