Life As It Was Meant To Be

Part Two: U Turn Required!

Louie Marsh, 6-20-2021

A Picture of Maturity:

 

“3remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 1:3, ESV)

 

1. A Faith that PRODUCES WORK.
   
   Faith without work is dead – and the more faith we have the more it’ll be obvious to all.

 

1. A Love that PROMPTS TOIL.
   
   The Greek word here is slightly different from the one above, it mean toil, things that need doing that you don’t like, that are a pain but need doing – it’s love that impels us to do that!

 

1. A Hope that enables me to ENDURE.

 

Hope – the absolutely essential quality to life! Without hope you’ll die, either spiritually, emotionally or even physically!  You’ve gotta have hope, and if you do you won’t quit!!

 

That’s how things SHOULD BE – look for a moment at those 3 things and ask how true are they in your life?  Okay – now let’s see how to make some progress towards maturity!

 

How To Get There:

 

1) You must MAKE A U TURN!

 

“9For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” (1 Thessalonians 1:9–10, ESV)

 

This is the essential act that we must take if we are to grow spiritually and achieve the kind of life we want.

 

          I don’t think most Christians really understand this – AA and other 12 step programs have done a much better job than the church has of explaining and practicing this.

 

          We MUST turn, in every area of our life!

 

This U Turn Involves Two Turns:

• Turning FROM whatever is hurting you.
  
  This is what most of us think of when we hear this – it’s important alright but not all of it!
• Turning TO CHRIST.
  
  This is the positive side of things – you’ve got to have both or you don’t have much!

 

“22to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,” (Ephesians 4:22–23, ESV)

 

          Paul’s putting off and putting on is a good example of this – turning is not just a negative thing, it’s a positive thing too, and it must be done over and over and over again as we try and move forward!

 

          This is a CRITICAL part of the Christian life!

 

2) Make sure your faith is more than just TALK.

 

“5because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.” (1 Thessalonians 1:5, ESV)

 

          Talk can be cheap – and if you don’t walk the walk then PLEASE don’t talk the talk!  However….

 

• RECOGNIZE you do have a responsibility to talk!

 

“14How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14, ESV)

 

          I know a lot of people who say, “My witness is how I live, I don’t need to tell others about Christ.”  BALONEY!!  This is a cop out!

 

• RELY on God’s Power.

 

because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.  1 Thess. 1:5

 

          These three things are KEY to the kind of powerful Spiritual life seen in the NT.

 

“16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16, ESV)

 

          The Gospel is God’s Power – we’ve got to rely on it, believe it, share it and live it!

 

“5so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:5, ESV)

 

          What does YOUR faith rest on – really?  Tradition? Family? Friends?

 

• REST in the Holy Spirit.

 

“4and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,” (1 Corinthians 2:4, ESV)

 

          When we share our faith, in either words or acts, we must rely on God’s power – and encourage others to do so too!  Not on anything else!

 

“5Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,” (2 Corinthians 3:5, ESV)

 

          When we trust the Spirit what we share comes alive, have you ever heard a sermon or lesson that was doctrinally correct but dead as a doornail?  It is the Spirit who gives life – that’s why we must rest in Him!

 

• REVEAL your deepest convictions.

 

An opinion is something you’ll argue over, a conviction is something you’ll die for!

How many convictions do you have? A real danger in our post modern society is the lack of real convictions. Poll showing many college students said NOTHING was worth dying for – if that’s true then NOTHING is worth living for either!

 

 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

 

“14For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;” (2 Corinthians 5:14, ESV)

 

          When you look at the early Christians it’s clear they had convictions – in fact look at any life worth living and you’ll find strong unshakable convictions!

 

3) MODEL your life after mature believers.

 

“6And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,” (1 Thessalonians 1:6, ESV)

 

          You might think Paul was conceited but he wasn’t, just acknowledging the truth. We all need models – but be sure to do the following!

• Pick them carefully – make sure they are following Christ.
• Be wise – you don’t make yourself into a carbon copy – you pick and choose things from their lives that you see a need for in yours! You do NOT become a clone!
• Make sure you have more than one – that helps keeps you balanced since no one is perfect.

 

“16I urge you, then, be imitators of me.” (1 Corinthians 4:16, ESV)

 

Some of my role models: C.S. Lewis, Francis Shaeffer, Dr. Walter Martin, Rick Warren, Dr. John Stott, Dr. Tim Keller among others.

 

4) BECOME a good model for others to follow.

 

“7so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.” (1 Thessalonians 1:7, ESV)

 

          If you begin to live the dynamic Christian life you WILL become a role model whether you like it or not!

          Charles Barkley and Brittany Spears among many other have said they aren’t role models, but whether they like it or not they ARE role models, the only question is are they good ones or bad ones!

          And the same is true of you and me! Our kids look to us, our unchurched friends look to us to see what a Christian really is. It does no good to piously say, “Oh don’t look at me just look at Jesus!”

          For many people we are the only Jesus they are ever going to see!!  So it’s up to us to do the best we can, and stop running from the truth!

 

“9It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate.” (2 Thessalonians 3:9, ESV)

 

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