God calls all of us who are in Christ to be miracle workers. But how do we do it?
Is My Endeavor to be Seeking After the Biblical Miracle Work of What is Good for Others?
1 Thessalonians 5:13
(Children's Sheet for Sermon Interaction is at bottom. Notes are throughout sermon)Please turn to 1 Thessalonians 5:13. As you are turning there, I want us to think about the spiritual state of the Thessalonians at the time that Paul is writing this letter. One day they were all in spiritual darkness in separation from God. They were like all of us before being miraculously saved. They were lost in their sins. A whole city of people existed in Thessalonica that had no clue that Jesus Christ is the crucified, and resurrected, King of glory. Even the Jews there, were ignorant of these facts. Then, in God's providence, Paul and Silvanus come in power and in the Holy Spirit. God saved people. Being saved is when you are rescued out of the hopeless domain of darkness and death, into Christ's kingdom of hope, and life. It happens when you do not even realize that you are lost, but then God reveals this fact to you, and saves you by releasing you over into life. It means that you are adopted into a loving home. Thessalonians became part of the family of God. The adoption-rescue is more than legal. It is spiritual. It is where you are born again into an eternal child of God because you are born again in Christ. It is a miracle. Thessalonians experienced this miracle birth. They became part of the body of Christ--the church. The church is God's big creative focus that the Father is concerned with. He, as God in flesh, died for the church. He created the church to be the demonstration of His grace, and the reflection of His glory forever. All of it is a true miracle work. This is what it means to have changed lives that are saved. We are saved as miracle work; and the change makes us into miracle workers, where God works through each of us in the body. Paul knows this about the Thessalonians. Let's consider all he says about it. He says in 1:3 that he constantly remembers their work of faith, labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. They show the miraculous fruits of being fruits of God themselves. Paul says that they became imitators of the apostles and of the Lord. Even in their trials, Paul says that he knows of their faith and love. All Christians should be manifesting the fruits of salvation--faith, hope, and love. With the miracle of spiritual salvation, there is always miracle work that follows. The miracle work I am talking about is the manifestation of Christ inside you, being brought out in thoughts and actions that you do. It is the miracle work of manifesting your faith, hope, and love by the Holy Spirit who is at work in you to will and to work for God's good pleasure. Paul prays for the miracle work to increase in 3:12. Paul wants the Lord to cause them to go to higher heights. Paul says that they need to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people. It is ministry for you, and me, and for all of God's children to do. Increasing in it, and abounding in it, is something that is a calling for us to excel in much more. Then Paul continues urging on to more manifestation of Christlikeness. Paul says that they are already walking this way, but there is always more when Christlikeness is the standard. Paul says,
"1... we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. 2 For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7
Paul says to excel still more, but he does not relax his point. The Spirit is both our helper, and our power source. The Spirit urges and leads us. So, God's word teaches us to excel still more in other areas. It is not legalism. It is living out our love for the Lord in accord with the high standard of godliness in Christ Jesus. It is Savior and Lordism. We are simply wanting to express the righteousness that we already are in Christ by the Holy Spirit. Paul explains what the Holy Spirit does. The Spirit teaches us to love, and because we are Christians, we practice this love, but there is always room to reach higher to the upward call in doing, practicing, and nurturing love. In other words, you can always find ways to express love even better than you have before. Paul gives the urging again. He says to excel still more, and more,
"9 ... you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10 for indeed you do practice it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia, But we urge you, brothers, to excel still more," 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10
@1 God teaches Christians to ____________ one another. (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10)
We notice the strong push to not be content with where we are in our walk don't we? Walking is forward momentum, so let's run the race as if we are the champions. Let's be faster, better, stronger, in our love manifestations. Then in coming into our passage under study, Paul explains that the day of the Lord is at hand, and so the Thessalonians are to be about nurturing more of this doing side of Christianity,
"11 Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing," 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Do you see the sense? Do you see the urging? We do this as Christians, but we must do more of it. There is even more,
12 ... appreciate those who labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, 13 and that you esteem them very highly in love ... ."
So, we see that the Thessalonians have the miracle attributes that all Christians possess, and they are urged to practice them out. They are the attributes of Jesus--mainly the expressions of love for God and for other Christians. The Thessalonians are strong in some areas; they are weak in others. They, like you and me, all have room to grow. Even if we are doing well in our Christian walk, we can excel more, and we should, especially in respect to our attitudes and actions toward the other members of the body of Christ. Church life is where we experience Holy Spirit familiness that God desires. So, it is with all of these things in mind that we notice Paul going on to write our text under study. It is about how to conduct yourself in the church life of the body, and also is seeking good for non-Christians too. Let's read it now,
"Live in peace with one another. 14 We urge you, brothers, admonish the unruly [undisciplined, idle], encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people." 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15
Prepare your heart to learn along with me from the preaching of God's word in this sermon titled,
Is My Endeavor to be Seeking After the Biblical Miracle Work of What is Good for Others?
[prayer]
This morning, we are going to look at six ways for us to excel even more by doing what God wants out of us in manifesting the miracle in us. We are going to be digging into God's word to glean vital truths that He has for us to be perfecting our practice of being miracle workers. The six ways I am talking about, all have to do with seeking after what is good for others. The first thing that the Spirit is directing us to do is
"Live in peace with one another." 1 Thessalonians 5:13b
@2 God wants Christians to live in ______________ with one another. (1 Thessalonians 5:13b)
We are all miracles of God meant to perform the miraculously changed life. So, let's ask ourselves,
Is my endeavor to be seeking after the miracle work of living in peace with every single member of the body of Christ?
To do so is a miracle action that comes by the power of the Holy Spirit through us, the body of Christ. Now I think we all know what it is to live outside of manifesting the miracle. We know the dirt that soils the dress of Christ's bride. It comes from people. But I am not talking about the lost. I am talking about the dissension, disunity, and destruction that comes from perturbed Christians. Now, how does this kind of thing happen? Usually the reason for lack of peace among the body has to do with the relationship of people in getting feelings hurt. This is one area. And then there is the area of asserting one's own opinion on a matter in the midst of disagreement. And then there is another similar area, which is in respect to doctrinal beliefs. When people get their feelings hurt, there is hurt. Hurt is not something that is peaceful. You don't even have to argue. Arguments can be unpeaceful; but what I mean is that someone may disagree with you, and then you shut down, or you may disagree with someone else, and they shut down. Shutting down may have the appearance of peace, but there is inner turmoil going on which leads to divisiveness, disunity, and divorce from the body. Call it what you want, but it is not peace. And then there is that whole issue of doctrinal strife. Some of us have touched it and we've been stung. some of us have have touched others with it and it stings them. It is one of the biggest peace killers in the church, and even non-Christians recognize it and make fun of the family of God concerning this one issue. I think of the words of the Scottish theologian and historian of the 1600's by the name of Gilbert Burnet. He pointed out the problem quite well in respect to the sinful violence that occurs among brothers and sisters in the area of doctrinal disagreement. He wrote of how our doctrinal disagreements are the subject of ridicule among the unsaved. Think about that for a moment. Lost people laugh at us found people--not because we are so sure of the very truths of God; but rather, because we argue, fight, and attack one another over them. Burnet pointed out the need to live in doctrinal peace through real love, in the midst of Christian disagreements. He said,
"... the Atheists would be more convinced, at least more ashamed and out of countenance, than the most learned writings or laboured sermons will ever make them; especially if a spirit of universal love and goodness did appear more among Christians, and those factions and animosities were laid aside, which both weaken the inward vitals of holiness, and expose them to the form of their adversaries, and make them an easy prey to every agressor: There is scarce a more unaccountable thing to be imagined, than to see a company of men professing [Christianity as religion], one great and main precept whereof is mutual love, forbearance, gentleness of spirit, and compassion to all sorts of persons, and agreeing in all the essential parts of its doctrine, and differing only in some less material and more disputable things, yet maintaining those differences with zeal so disproportional to the value of them, and prosecuting all that disagree from them with all possible violence; or if they want means to use outward force, with all bitterness of spirit. They must needs astonish every impartial beholder,
[The impartial beholder he is talking about are non-Christians, and atheists, in context, who observe Christians doing these things. Burnet goes on,]
and raise great prejudices against such persons' [Christian] religion, as made up of contradictions; professing love, but breaking out in all the acts of hatred."
(G. Burnet, Preface, xiv, xv, The Life of God in the Soul of Man Or, the Nature and Excellency of the Christian Religion, By Henry Scougal, 1677 AD)
I would add that impartial beholders of us Christians should not be the only ones astonished. We, who have the Holy Spirit, and the word, and who are joined together as the only body of Christ church that exists, should be even more astonished. But, these things happen, and God knows that they do, and God is teaching you and me about how to deal with it. There are a couple of culprits who work underground to nourish the root problems of hurt feelings, and asserting unaccepted opinions, and differences in nonessential doctrinal matters among true Christians, when it comes to doing violence to peace. In the lineup, the two culprits that feed all of this junk, can be identified easily. They are,
1) lack of humility.
and
2) lack of grace.
You can trace lack of peace among the family members in the body to those two underground heart issues. Neither one is a fruit of the Spirit as miracle. Both are fruits of the flesh. In Galatians, we read that one of the fruits of the Spirit is peace. Jesus Christ is the prince of peace. Jesus said blessed are the peace makers. Paul says that as far as it depends upon you, live at peace with all men, and in our passage, it is a clear (no argument) matter, "live in peace with one another." So, let's go to the root transgressors. Take for example, when you get your feelings hurt. If we are having the attitude of Jesus that we are taught in Philippians, where we look at others as being better than ourselves, and we have the attitude of Paul in 1 Corinthians, where we consider ourselves to be nobodies, then we would recognize that our feelings are not as important as our love for the person who is hurting our feelings. More importantly, our feelings are not as important as our love for God, who commands us to love that offensive brother or sister no matter how much they have offended us. Here, love means: Do what you can to bring peace. This leads to that second part of how we deal with it. We must have grace with those we find offensive, or have done something we are offended by, or disagree with. Now I understand about getting hurt feelings. I get my feelings hurt, but God still holds Kerry accountable for Kerry's attitude. The miracle in my life that God has accomplished is all about grace. So, my feelings may get hurt, but grace is not hurt. Grace, as unmerited favor, by its very nature, can never be hurt. The same grace we wish those same people would have with us when we offend them, or we disagree with them, is the same grace we need to have with them too. We all know that we are not perfect. We all realize that we make stupid mistakes. When we do, we wish people would have grace with us--right? We don't want to have our mistakes drug through the mud and rubbed in our face. We don't want people to cross us off their list. Think about this:
We are so grateful that Christ has complete grace and forgiveness with us--aren't we?
Okay, then listen--The same grace that Christ has with me, that I am so glad that I have from Him, is the same grace that I need to have with others. But, it is more. God wants us to have this grace with others because it is a manifestation of the love of Christ, which is a manifestation of Christ. When you and I spread grace, what we are doing is spreading ointment all over the hurting body. And the ointment is so that we can live in peace as far as it depends upon us. This is the mind of Christ, and the mind of Christ is the miracle work in us.
Don't we want to be miracle workers, where we manifest the beauty of God's grace to others?
Of course we do. But it is not always easy. In fact, our manifestation of grace, and love, might not make other people peaceful. But we still need to spread it around. If others don't seek to experience the peace that you are ministering, it just means they must answer to God for their own attitudes and actions. What matters is that you are abiding in your own peace actions through grace. Then the same goes for when people dogmatically assert their opinions. Whenever you assert your opinion, and you are not being respected, or your opinion is not accepted, or someone wants to try and refute it, pride can raise up its ugly head, and if it does, we go into either a war stance, or we go through divorce court. You either fight, or you tear away a member from the body by tearing yourself away in your peaceless carnal reaction. Both are destructive actions, and so both are enemies of peace. But, when we are humble, where we find our confidence and acceptance in Christ and in God's sovereignty, then we are in the place where peace comes. We have died to our selves in needing to selfishly be recognized as being correct, as needing to be recognized as the right one because of our personal sense of our own value. In other words, if what you say is correct, then the value is in God's truth. Beyond that, you and I don't matter as much as pride wants us to. Your job, and my job, is to proclaim God's truth (making sure we are correct and are heeding God's warnings in teaching others, James 3:1) and then leave it to God to be concerned with people's acceptance, or rejection, of what we say. Remember, grace is the governor we are looking for. We must have grace when people don't accept our view; and listen, you need to be ready.
Why do you need to be ready?
Because sooner or later, someone is not going to accept your view. But there is the other side of the coin too. You and I must also have grace upon those who are overly zealous about their own opinions.
How many times have you had to listen to someone who is overly zealous with their own opinion?
Probably a lot, right?
"Taking it with a grain of salt" is a good cliche' for handling these things. Right now we see in a mirror dimly. Even the most mature among us are still rough around the edges when compared to perfection. When it comes to doctrinal matters, it is the same way. We need to be humble, and we need to have grace. Every Christian is going to have a list of doctrinal issues that they differ with you on, and most are nonessentials. This is why Christian denominations exist. They exist because large groups of people generally agree with the doctrinal distinctives that the denomination adheres to. Let's be honest; All of us have some kind of doctrinal belief that others will disagree with us on, and some of those others are probably in this very room right now. Now think about this. Knowing this bizarre fact;
How are we ever going to have peace?
As long as the person is not coming against the classic essentials of the faith, we are called to overcome the friction with humility and grace. Nobody is saying to compromise the essentials of the faith. The Bible is God's word. God is described as three persons as One God. Salvation is spiritual, where we are resurrected in real glorified bodies after death. Christ's work on the cross is what saves, in that He was crucified as the final payment for sins, and resurrected in bodily form three days later. Salvation occurs with people by God's miracle action by grace through faith in Christ Jesus as one's personal Lord and Savior who died for their sins. There is no work that we do that saves us--none. All these are essentials, and they are worth defending and asserting; but on the friction that we should overcome, I am talking about the nuances of mystery, and nonessential interpretational puzzles, and stuff like that. The point is, whatever it is, my endeavor is to be seeking what is good for others in respect to the peace that God desires among the body. It is an ongoing check;
Am I manifesting being a miracle of the Spirit?
Am I showing real Christian love in real Christian actions?
Paul goes on with the next item,
"14 We urge you, brothers, admonish [warn] the unruly," 1 Thessalonians 5:14
So, we ask ourselves here:
Is my endeavor to be seeking to not allow unruly Christians to get away with their unstable, detrimental attitudes of idleness in not seeking to work when they can?
Even though the church of Thessalonica was less than a year old when Paul wrote this letter, there were unruly people in their midst. The word unruly (ataktos), that Paul uses, is a Greek word that means to be deviating from the prescribed order of rule. It was often used of soldiers who were disorderly. It was generally used among the broader Greek culture, to refer to people who did not show up to work. They were shirking their responsibilities. Often we hear the cliche' that was probably coined by someone of the world, where someone describes a Christian like this:
"They are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good."
Contextually, it seems that some in Thessalonica were model examples of this little phrase. They were in idle--waiting for Christ to come back from the heavenlies at any moment. They quit working. But God wants us to be so heavenly minded that we are nothing but earthly good, and that means we need to work in Savior and Lordism. Paul wants us to admonish and warn such people that they are not being godly, even though they may try to assert that they are being godly and living by faith and all that kind of stuff. This point is so strong with Paul that we remember that he mentioned it in just a few short points beforehand, where he said,
"... make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, 12 so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one," 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12
@3 God wants Christians to _______________. (1 Thessalonians 4:10-12)
What is amazing is that Paul recognized that the same problem had not yet gone away. So Paul writes, in his second letter to these Thessalonians, where he gets more detailed concerning the continuing situation;
"6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life
[Unruly is the same Greek word again, ataktos]
and not according to the tradition which you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an unruly manner among you, ...
[Basically the same Greek verb, atakteo]
11 For we hear that some among you are leading an unruly life,
[same word]
doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread." 2 Thessalonians 3:6-7, 11-12
Basically, what we want to see is that the other members of the body are built up in the Lord. So, we should tell them that the will of the Lord is that they work, quit acting like busybodies who are busy, but not really doing anything. Paul says, if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat. Do not lead an unruly life, and especially do not do this, and then claim that it is God telling you to live this way.
This particular area is especially difficult because we want to help other Christian out in love, and so we may know of a brother who is in dire straights financially, and we want to help him out. But this is why we need to operate according to the full counsel of God. We should help bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ, but we do not want to be enablers that keep someone from doing their godly duty of real honest labor; and further, we should not become burdens because we are the busybodies ourselves, who are idle, unruly people, who are fully capable of not being so. By the way, I am not talking about someone who has just been fired from a job, or who has just lost their business, or who is so handicapped that they can not work anymore. I am talking about what Paul is talking about. The main point is to bring the warning, but do it in love. If the brother refuses to begin changing, then we go to what Paul says next in 2 Thessalonians, and we keep away from every brother who relentlessly continues. Then Paul says here,
"... encourage [comfort] the fainthearted [the discouraged]," 1 Thessalonians 5:14
@4 God wants Christians to _______________ the fainthearted. (1 Thessalonians 5:14)
This one can bring a really deep probing question concerning our sensitivity to the Spirit in respect to love. Ask yourself;
Is my endeavor to be an encourager who brings comfort to people who are discouraged in their Christian walk?
Do I even act like I care?
Encouraging the fainthearted is God's will that we do as the miracle work. To do so, we need to know what "fainthearted" means. The fainthearted can describe a certain kind of Christian, or it may describe a way that all of us can be at certain times. Fainthearted is often translated as discouraged. It is pure edification to be attentive to someone by encouraging them in their discouragement. The pressures of this life can get overwhelming, particularly in the persecution that Christians experience in this world. Trials occur from just being a citizen of heaven that is immersed in the culture of the lost on a day to day basis. Everything about the world is opposed to our Christianity, our sanctification, and our focus. People get discouraged in the body in respect to all kinds of things. This can happen to any of us, and so we need to be sensitive to what God is saying. God doesn't want us to get some kind of odd zeal where we think we need to rebuke someone who is fainthearted. God wants you and I to be encouragers. Build them up in the faith in whatever they are going through in whatever is weighing them down. God wants us to be encouragers who soothe, and heal, and edify--not body bruisers who tear people down even more because we think we are serving God by doing it. It is like the lyrics from the Christian song which describe the distinct change in a man who has been saved;
They say he speaks a foreign tongue
Words that care, and heal, and love,
It's that new Spirit that he's of
God says to comfort the discouraged with words that care, and heal and love. All of us know that we personally appreciate this kind of thing. We are fools if we think others are not thinking the same way.
Whenever you are discouraged, don't you appreciate when someone brings comfort to your soul, and helps assure you that everything is going to be okay in the long run?
Sure, you may know inside that all is okay in God's sovereignty. But, this is not the point. The point is that if you are discouraged, (even in the midst of what you know about God) words of encouragement from His body, are what God says you need. God is calling you and me to be ministers who comfort one another;
Is it my endeavor to be seeking what is good for others?
Then comfort people in their pain and discouragement.
Am I manifesting being a miracle of the Spirit?
Am I showing real Christian love in real Christian actions?
Next, the Spirit is telling us to
"help the weak," 1 Thessalonians 5:14
@5 God wants Christians to ____________ the weak. (1 Thessalonians 5:14)
Again, think love in action as we ask, Is my endeavor to be seeking to purposefully, intentionally, help the weak? As we look at this, we could think that Paul could be talking about the physically weak, but contextually physical weakness doesn't fit the flow. The weak that Paul is talking about are probably people who are weak in the faith, spiritually weak, or weak morally. Helping the weak is to hold them up instead of allowing them to fall, or trying to tear them down. Helping the weak is to also pick up the weak after they fall. Instead of condemning people who are weak in areas of their Christian walk and character, or scoffing at them, God wants us to work with them to help build them up. It is your ministry. If someone is living in unrepentant sin, we are called to exhort them to repent. If they do not repent, then we disassociate with them until they do. Then if they do, consider them to be weak, and help nurture them spiritually. Help the weak. Then Paul says,
"be patient with everyone [them all]." 1 Thessalonians 5:14
@6 God wants Christians to be patient with ______________. (1 Thessalonians 5:14)
When we look at all the situations that Paul mentions, we already see that our job is to be patient with all the various kinds of Christians that we could be tempted to lose our patience with. This requires putting our own personal wishes aside. It involves self sacrifice. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22. Patience is a manifestation of love, as we see in 1 Corinthians 13. It is truly a miracle work of God for us to manifest patience with Christians who may irritate us, or wear us out. If we are truly being led by the Spirit in the Spirit filled life, and if we really love each other, then we will be patient with one another in real love in real action. If we are not patient with one another, then we are in sin. You say,
"Isn't that a little strong?"
No, because the fruits of the flesh when opposed to the fruits of the Spirit are sinful fruits. If we do not love with the love of Christ then we are sinning by transgressing the royal law. Instead of manifesting the miracle work of the Spirit, we are grieving the Spirit. I knew a Christian man once who was regularly active in a church. He was impatient with people. He was constantly perturbed with most everyone in the body. Finally, he became impatient and perturbed with himself. He left, and took his impatience with him to the next place. It is so vital that we learn patience. If we don't, it will eat us up, and it will eat others up because of us. Impatience, again, can be traced to pride, (which can be spiritual pride), and also traced to lack of grace. Impatience is the curse of the standard bearer. Finally Paul tells us miracle workers to manifest the Spirit, when he says,
"15 See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people." 1 Thessalonians 5:15
@7 God wants Christians to never return evil for ________. (1 Thessalonians 5:15)
There are two questions to ask ourselves here. Let's think about them very carefully. The first question to ask ourselves is,
Is my endeavor to be seeking to never try to get revenge for being hurt?
The second question to ask ourselves is,
Is my endeavor to, instead, be seeking after that which is good for others, even if it means that they have paid me with evil?
When we ask ourselves the right questions, we dig down deep; and when we do, we can expose a lot of junk that the Holy Spirit wants us to sweep out as we excel still more in our Christian walk. Revenge is so easy to justify, yet revenge is hatred manifested. That is all there is to it. The carnally motivated mind may seek to justify revenge as an act of justice, but the spiritually minded man will see that the miracle work is to seek after that which is good for everyone, where justice is really forgiveness in Christ, and grace in Christ, and longsuffering, patience, humbleness, and real love in action. There is legal justice in this world, but the Spirit is talking to us about revenge as returning evil for evil. The point is that no weapon in our arsenal of the spiritual battle in this world is evil. But even in respect to the body, Paul rebukes the Corinthians when he says,
"7... it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brothers." 1 Corinthians 6:7-8
Being wronged by another brother is to have evil done toward you. It is wrong. But, the principle is consistent.
Why not rather be wronged?
Why not rather be defrauded?
As a miracle work, it is necessary to return good for evil. And so this leads us to recognize the good aspect of our passage. Paul says,
"... but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.
@8 God wants Christians always to seek ____________ for others. (1 Thessalonians 5:15)
Paul is talking about seeking good for our brothers and sisters in Christ when he speaks of one another. But then, Paul makes the shift to outside the body of Christ in seeking good for the unsaved, when he also says, "for all people." When we seek the good for all people, we can be assured that we are not going wrong. Have you ever heard the expression,
"If I am going to err, I would rather err on the side of grace."
That is the key to living out what Paul is saying to do here in consistency. If you think you may have a chance of erring in a decision or action, and you don't know which route to take Biblically, then seek after that which is good for one another and for all people on the side of grace, and if you err, then you have sought to do what God says here in the clear revelation that you have. But nobody said that this was going to be easy. In fact, this, and all we talked about this morning, is impossible to do without the Holy Spirit. People in the work place may give you a hard time because of your Christianity. They may malign you in all kinds of ways, but whatever it is, it is evil. They may keep you from getting a raise. They may stop your business deal from going through. They may stop your promotion. People may lie about us and hurtful things happen to us as a result. It happens in school, where you can have evil actions by other students effect your grades. It is worse when unsaved teachers treat you this way. It happens in politics. It happens in families. They do you wrong. It is evil, and it stings you. When these kinds of things happen to us personally, the natural response is that "it's pay back time." Unfair treatment has occurred, so the carnal thought is that we are going to make everything fair by returning something for the evil, and it doesn't matter what the something is; after all, it's easy to think that they deserve what they get. They brought this upon themselves. They sowed evil, and so now that is what they are going to reap. All of this seems so logical. It seems so just. But the Spirit is telling us that it is the very opposite, because it is not miracle work. What God is telling us we need to do is be looking for an opportunity to do something good for any of those evil working folks because that continually reflects the Holy Spirit in our lives, and that is a true miracle. Folks, I urge all of us to be seeking to manifest the miracle of Christ in us. God wants us to do this by living in peace with one another. God wants us to warn the unruly, undisciplined, idle, person in love. God wants us to encourage the discouraged. He wants us to be helpers, who help the weak. It takes patience, but it is our calling in this wonderful ministry. We must be patient with everyone. We must be very careful not to repay others with evil for evil that they may have dished out ot us. Finally, we should but always seek after that which is good. All of this is to be excelling still more, and seeking after the miracle work, amen.
@1 God teaches Christians to ____________ one another. (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10)
@2 God wants Christians to live in ______________ with one another. (1 Thessalonians 5:13b)
@3 God wants Christians to _______________. (1 Thessalonians 4:10-12)
@4 God wants Christians to _______________ the fainthearted. (1 Thessalonians 5:14)
@5 God wants Christians to ____________ the weak. (1 Thessalonians 5:14)
@6 God wants Christians to be patient with ______________. (1 Thessalonians 5:14)
@7 God wants Christians to never return evil for ________. (1 Thessalonians 5:15)
@8 God wants Christians to always seek ____________ for others. (1 Thessalonians 5:15)
