Life in Balance

Introduction

I’ve entitled the sermon today “Life in Balance.” There are several things that we have to keep in balance in our life. Some ancient moral philosophers believed that the most moral life was the life without any excess.

Aristotle taught that with everything in life you can have too much or too little causing a problem. The right behavior was found in balance.

Think about in the realm of fear and confidence, if you have too much you can be rash, too little you can be a coward. In balance, you have courage.

Think about self expression: If you have too much you’re boastful; too little and you understate; but you have a balance and you land in the middle or the golden mean of truthfulness.

Think about shame: if you have too much shame then you’re too shy; too little shame and you act shamelessly; however, the golden mean is modesty.

You can do this with almost any character trait. Think about your work ethic: you work too much and you’re a workaholic (neglecting other important areas of your life). Work too little and you’re lazy. The golden mean in the middle is industrious (like the woman described in Proverbs 31).

Life is often a balancing act, is it not?

The balanced life takes knowledge, work, and concentration.

Let me give you an illustration to help you understand what I mean. When I was in college I was taking a financial accounting class. In this class we had a big project. We had a workbook with business expenditures. We had to put all the debits and credits in the correct places on the sheets, and at the end it was supposed to all balance out to equal debits and credits. I remember as any good college student staying up late the night before it was due. Most of us had all the same inputs (we were allowed to work together) but something wasn’t adding up. We combed through the sheets time and time again, some conceded and thought they weren’t supposed to balance and went to bed. But some of us continued to stay up pouring over the sheets. I can’t remember who it was, but one of us finally found the wrong number that we had inputted, finally the books were balanced!

This balancing took knowledge of where to input all the numbers. It took work, lots of work, and perhaps even frantic work since we had procrastinated. It also took a fair amount of concentration because any small problem would through off the balance.

The same thing can be said of balancing on a high wire. Whenever I think of balancing on a high wire, the first thing that comes to my mind is the episode of Scooby Doo Where Are You? when the circus clown hypnotizes Scooby to do the high wire act. He’s able to do all sorts of tricks on the high wire, but as soon as the clown releases his trance he almost immediately falls.

As the Smithsonian Magazine writes: “You are on a rooftop, looking across empty air 1,350 feet above the ground. Your foot dangles over the ledge and touches a steel cable just centimeters wide. As you shift your body forward, hands gripped tight around a balancing pole, you find yourself suspended over a gut-wrenching void.”

I couldn’t imagine doing such a thing especially since I hate heights to some extent. I mean we went hiking recently and climbed up the top of an old fire tower in the mountains. That’s about the most of heights I can handle (and it looks like that tower may not last very much longer.)

And still you can see that such a balance takes knowledge, work, and concentration. If you lose concentration on a high wire, it could very well be the last time you lose concentration.

And you may be wondering now, what in the world does this have to do with the text? I believe Paul is balancing certain three characteristics. If we have too much of these characteristics, we can fall into error. If we have too little of these characteristics, we can likewise fall into error.

Let’s turn to the text at hand. 1 Thess. 4:9-12 “Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.”

Brotherly Love

The term for brotherly love in the text is the same word from which we get the name of the city Philadelphia. Although it’s translated as “brotherly” love this is actually a term that’s not exclusive to only brothers, it also includes sisters. But I guess the translators decided “siblingly” love would sound unusual (and that’s not a word). The NASB includes “and sisters.” Other more dynamic translations just say love for “one another” adopting the word other NT authors use concerning out conduct toward people within the church.

What marks this love as different than other love in the Bible is its exclusivity. You see, Christians are called upon to love all people generically. We have a love for all people just as God loved the world. As we read in the text this morning, “For in this way did God love the world: he sent his only begotten Son.” In the same way, we are to love all people, by being willing to sacrifice something of worth to us for the sake of bringing them to a right relationship with God.

However, if I told you that you should love the world in the same way that you love your spouse, some red flags would hopefully appear in your mind. The Bible teaches (and just taught us in the previous passage) that there is a special love that is shared only between a husband and a wife. This love, although it includes intimacy, is more than just intimacy. The love you have for your spouse is not the love you should give the stranger on the street.

In the same way, the love you have for fellow brothers and sisters is a different type of love that you show than to those “on the outside” (as Paul himself will call those not in the church). This term, “brotherly and sisterly” love, outside the NT was used exclusively in the sibling relationship. However, early on the believers began calling one another brother and sister seeing themselves as coheirs in the adoption that we have in Christ Jesus.

So in short, brotherly love is that love that we have for one another within the church that is distinct from the love which we show to the world.

About this love Paul says that he does not need to write them about it. . . Why? for two reasons

“You yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.” (v. 9)

In the original language “taught by God” is all one word. And as best as scholars can tell, Paul coined the term himself. The only place people find this word is in Christian literature. But just because Paul probably made it up does not mean that Paul came up with the concept.

The end times hope Isaiah prophecies in Is. 54:13 “All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.”

Paul is confident that the believers in Thessalonica are taught by God concerning the love that they have for the brothers. He is confident that the Holy Spirit is at work among them. We know that the Holy Spirit’s work is to convict the world concerning sin. John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

I can take an aside right here and offer some encouragement. If there’s one thing I’ve seen at this church from my time here, I almost feel as if I could agree with Paul, I don’t have need to preach you a sermon on brotherly love. I think certainly you have been taught by God.

I think about the love you show to the missionaries and the gifts you give to them. I think about the love you show to the poor and needy in the community, we have the bread boxes due today and the shoe boxes due Weds as testimony to that love. I think back to when church members have come on difficult times and love offerings were taken up for them. I think of when someone is ill or dealing with bereavement and someone at the church is stepping up to offer assistance. In this manner, I believe you have been taught by God to show love to one another.

The second reason that Paul feels no need to write to them concerning brotherly love is that

2. “that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia”

I think there’s some important things we can pick up on here. Again notice that this love is directed toward the brothers, some translations will add “and sisters.” This is toward the believers, the fellow Christians. Secondly, Paul says they are “doing” this. I think that’s an important reminder for me. Love is not something we simply feel, but something we actively do. I cannot just sit back and relax and feel good will to you. You know, it was big for a while when tragedy struck that secularist would post “good thoughts coming your way.” Of course this type of thinking is a syncretism, or a combination between atheism/agnosticism and the New Age movement. However, all the kinds thoughts in the world that I may have towards a person does nothing unless I act on those thoughts.

Third, notice that this love was not limited to the city itself, but spread out to the whole region. I do believe the virtue of subsidiarity, that we have a primary duty to those closest to us, in our particular local congregation. However, the love we have for the brothers and sisters in Christ should extend outside the walls of this church. Furthermore, the one of the main reasons we have convened with other like-minded believers in the Southern Baptist Convention is to fulfill this type of brotherly love.

Now, notice Paul’s command at the end of verse 10, “But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more.”

Now this will sound a bit contradictory to my introduction on the balanced life, but hang with me and I think you’ll understand. ‘

Interestingly, Paul’s command in the original language he says “we urge you to abound” or “overflow.” The word has the connotation of something that is overflowing. If you were following Aristotle’s ethic, you may think this type of overflowing love would lead to flattery, or perhaps being a doormat, allowing people to walk all over you. Normally, when you think about having that sort of an abundance of something it’s a problem.

Let me tell you a story to illustrate the need for getting rid of an abundance. Now the only way that you’d get this story is if you’re familiar with the influx of people leaving the People’s Republic of California to move to Texas.

Four guys were traveling together on a road out in the middle of nowhere. One guy from Idaho pulls out a bag of Potatoes and begins throwing them out the window.

“What in the world are you doing?” Another guy asks.

“Well,” replies the guy from Idaho, “ we have an abundance of potatoes in Idaho, so any chance I get, I try to get rid of them.”

“Hmm. . . makes sense,” replies the guy from Iowa as he begins to toss some corn out the window.

Just then the guy from Texas opens the door and boots out the guy from California.

Most of the time when we think of abundance, we think of it being a bad thing; however Paul sees the abundance of brotherly love as a positive not a negative.

The woman in the burgundy ankle-length skirt walked up to the counter and laid down two bags of flour. There beside the register were the rest of her groceries.

"That everything?" asked the man behind the counter. He owned the general store, waited on her every Thursday as she came to town to do her shopping. He was a tall man, with big arms and a big belly.

"Yes," the woman in the burgundy skirt replied, "I think that's it."

As the man rang up the order, a little face peered out from behind her burgundy skirt. The man caught the young boy's eyes and smiled. "Why don't you get yourself a handful of suckers?" he said, pointing to the big jar that were just in front of the register.

The little boy's face retreated an inch behind the skirt.

"Oh, go on," the man said, "get yourself a handful of suckers."

The little boy's face retreated another inch.

The man laughed. "Well, here," he said, putting his hand down into the jar, pulling out a handful of suckers. At this the boy came out from behind his mother's red skirt and extended both his hands upward, receiving the suckers from the store's owner.

After the groceries were paid for and loaded up in the wagon, the woman in the burgundy skirt was ready to head home, but first she turned to her son. "Why were you so shy in there? Why didn't you reach your hand in and get the suckers when he offered?"

Her son pulled the cherry sucker out of his mouth and looked up at his mother. "Because his hands are bigger than mine."

You see, Paul is seeing this abundance of brotherly love and telling them, don’t stop, don’t slow down, you need even more!

Self-sufficient and Hardworking

This brotherly love does not have a cap, it should be continually encouraged. When it overflows, it’s still not enough. However, there are some traits that Paul balances it with. You see, ever-abounding brotherly love is at the extreme risk of exploitation. Look what Paul says at the end of verse 11 and verse 12 (we’ll come back to the beginning of verse 11 momentarily). “To work with your own hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.”

One commentator said about the phrase here “word with your own hands” that Paul only expected his followers to be manual laborers. This, I believe takes the text too far. The early church established teacher who were due their wages. They did not labor “with their hands” as much as they did with their brains and their tongues.

What Paul is trying to stress here is not that everyone should become a manual laborer, but rather the stress is on the word “own.” The word “hands” we can take as a figure of speech for whatever we may use in order to do our work.

This is further clarified by the end goal of this type of labor that Paul gives in verse 12. So, why should each labor with his own hands? “So that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.”

Walk properly among outsiders. . .Let’s consider this for a moment.

I read an article recently that a single mother and her daughter walked into a church for a assistance with food. It was her first time walking into the church so she was a little nervous. As soon as she came in a lady that was working there yelled at her daughter because she had a sucker in her mouth. They were told the church has a no tolerance policy about having food in there. The mother, who did not mind the policy, did mind how the lady approached her child without talking to her. I’m sure all the momma bears in here know what that feels like. A few moments later as they were sitting to wait on the assistance, her daughter propped up her feet on another chair. Again this woman yelled at her for taking such an action. The little girl was sitting there, scared to be in church asked her mom to switch seats. The mom, understandably, took her daughter and left the church.

Now to the mom’s credit, she does not blame the church or the service, just this one particular worker. According to her own follow-up this situation was taken care of.

Nonetheless, you can see how our labors give an impression to outsiders. What do you think about the person who never tries to get a job, and never can keep a job. I’m not talking about the person who has a disability, or it seems like the universe has conspired against him. I’m talking about the person who could easily get a job, but for some reason refuses to. Now imagine that person is inside the church causally mentioning outside certain classrooms that he’s just low on funds, or that he doesn’t know how he’s going to pay his electric bill this month.

The church members, because they abound in brotherly love seek to meet these needs, while this one person like a leech tries to abuse the brotherly love and suck it dry.

You see, the church has to balance brotherly love with responsibility because not only do wolves try to come into the fold, so do leeches.

The outsider will see the church as bad whether he sees the lazy leech or the stingy woman who tries to hold back love because both of these people present an antigospel to the world. The lazy leech says by his actions that Christ’s death was applied differently to different people which gives him the right to lay around and do nothing and depend on others (for whom supposedly Christ death was more effective).

The stingy woman in the story above says that Christ’s death and love is really just a form of favoritism, and there’s not enough to go around. It’s the scarcity mentality, that I better hold on to the love that I’ve got, because there’s not that much.

Both of these positions are prideful, both of them claim that Christ has done something for me that he cannot do for you. Paul so sharply warns about this balance because if we get this out of balance we make an affront to the gospel for unbelievers.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.””

Jesus does not say, “I decide to give only some of you in the church rest” Jesus does not say, “Once you have rest for your souls, don’t tell anyone else and be mean to outsiders”.

But rather Matt. 5:14-16 ““You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

So for the sake of the gospel, we balance love and responsibility for those within the church to be a light to the outsiders.

The Quiet Life

The first half of verse 11 I skipped over earlier, but here it is now,

“And aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs.”

The first command here is almost an oxymoron. It’s almost as if Paul said, “be ambitious to be unambitious.” Most commentators agree that these two phrases together have political connotations.

I read a very lengthy article concerning the politics of the Thessalonians that I won’t attempt to bore you with. Suffice it to say that a lot of the commoners formed trade guilds that had some political influence. The Roman authorities were suspicious of these gatherings. In fact, Rome did not really sanction any gathering of people because it could quickly turn political and attempt to usurp the authority of Rome.

Rome was also suspicious of cult activity. And you can imagine how they felt toward the Christian church. Paul was kicked out of the city because he was accused of claiming there was another emperor.

Paul wants them to be able to lead a quiet life. In fact he tells Timothy to pray for the rulers so that they may lead a quiet life. 1 Tim. 2:1-2 “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

It seems that the term “quiet life” for Paul means such a life that is not experiencing physical persecution. Paul is not telling people they should aspire to run off to the hills and avoid society, because then how could they be the salt and light of the earth? Paul is not telling people they should not stand up against injustice in society. But rather, he prays that society would be such that when the church stands up for the lowly, and the downcast, that they would not then in turn be inflicted persecution for their labors.

Paul also says, “mind your own affairs.”

The city of Thessalonica could have been ripe for a political overthrow. In fact, the Roman empire had recently experience political upheaval when Brutus and Cassius conspired to kill Julius Caesar. The city of Thessalonica quickly flipflopped (to their own convenience) to support the right leader (you know, the one who won).

Paul’s advice here, and I think advice that’s good for us as well, is that the ultimate Christian goal is not political. It’s not the Christian duty to start a political revolt. But then should the Christian be totally uninvolved in the political process? Was I sinning when I went to go vote on Friday?

Again I think what we see here is a life in balance.

I heard a preacher in GA on the radio yesterday who was getting overtly political. He was saying things like “Y’all aren’t ready for me today,” and “We don’t need a Walker, huh, we need a runner, huh.” I’ve heard other preachers that lean more conservative too, that all they talk about in their sermon in political. This policy, this candidate, and so on.

I heard advice from a radio personality who said, “preachers need to be talking about more of these issues in the pulpit! Why aren’t they talking about these things, these candidates. . .” And on and on and on. I had to turn off my radio, because in my mind the whole time was, “Why don’t we just preach the Bible?”

But we also deal with the other problem. We also have preachers that avoid discussing anything political even if it’s explicitly in the Bible. We have terrible social, economic, and identity issues going on in our culture. Guess who’s talking about it all the time? Politicians. Guess what else addresses these issues? The Bible. And still, some preachers avoid the Bible’s clear teaching on these issues because they don’t want to become “political.”

Paul told the Thessalonian Christians to aspire for a quiet life. And I believe to some extent, we have been able to live a quiet life in the United States. We have not faced persecution of any kind here. But just like in the early church, the temperature is rising.

You see, in the early church in certain places in the Roman Empire they began to hunt down Christians and demand them to sacrifice to the gods and proclaim that Caesar is Lord. Just a little pinch of incense is all it takes, and your good to go. Perhaps you could bribe a guard to get your certificate saying you’ve sacrificed to the gods. What do you do? Do you remain faithful to Jesus or do you deny him so you can go on living a quiet life? You see, there has to be balance here.

Our culture is currently demanding us in many ways to deny Jesus in order to be able to continue to lead a quiet life. Increasingly, Christians are being brought to court, losing their jobs, being expelled from school, getting canceled because of their firmly held beliefs. Although we should aspire to lead a quiet life, if that quiet life is more important than Jesus then it’s an idol.

Let me share with you a story that always brings a tear to my eye. A young woman named Perpetua was a daughter of a Roman official who became a Christian. She refused to sacrifice to the gods and deny Jesus and was thrown to the animals. None of the animals killed her and they were about to kill her with the sword. But she told them to wait. Everyone in the crowd expected her to waiver and deny Jesus. But instead she said, “I will not go to my Lord like this.” Then she took time to fix her hair and appearance before they came with the final blow.

Our political involvement requires balance. We can become too involved believing the state to be god. Or we can become so uninvolved believing that God is done working with our nation. Either extreme is a danger to be avoided. And while we aspire to lead a quiet life and mind our own affairs, I know Paul would tell us that faithfulness to Jesus is far more important. This is life in the balance.

And our balancing beam is the cross of Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus is the focal point of our life. We don’t balance our life on our political ambitions, our financial well-being, our physical well-being. We balance our life on Christ, our life is hinged on him!