Faithful Stewards: The Proper Investment of a Thriving Church
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For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.
1. A thriving church will relentlessly carry the gospel.
1. A thriving church will relentlessly carry the gospel.
First, if you are paying attention to the passage, you should be thinking… this isn’t the church, this is Paul.
But, the church imitated Paul.
We learned that they themselves were under intense persecution
Yet their influence rippled out from Thessalonica.
This was because they relentlessly carried the gospel.
We can look at what Paul says here and learn just as the church in Thessalonica did.
But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.
Let’s look back to Acts to see what Paul is talking about.
His readers already knew.
Paul just cast a demon out of a slave girl.
But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city.
They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.”
The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.
And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.
Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
A. Paul and his companions suffered because of the gospel.
A. Paul and his companions suffered because of the gospel.
They faced physical harm.
They were dragged through the streets.
Their clothes were torn off.
They were beaten with rods.
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
We’ve had it pretty good.
I’ve never been physically harmed for my faith.
We don’t live in fear that we will be dragged off to jail.
B. Paul and his companions were shamed because of the gospel.
B. Paul and his companions were shamed because of the gospel.
They weren’t just physically hurt.
They were slandered.
They were lied about.
They were accused of disturbing the city.
They were accused of going against the Roman government.
Those things weren’t true.
This can often be worse than physical harm.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Revile - verbally abuse you.
C. Paul and his companions had boldness because of the gospel.
C. Paul and his companions had boldness because of the gospel.
For 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.
Paul new the gospel works.
It does what it is supposed to.
It changes lives.
It changes people’s eternity.
So it was worth it to Paul to be bold for the gospel.
Just living different for the sake of the gospel can cause this to happen.
When Paul talks about boldness
It isn’t simply the courage to speak up and share the gospel.
It is also the relentlessness to keep sharing the gospel after everything he has been through.
Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.
Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;
in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
Not all this was from persecution but it was ALL because he was traveling the world for the sake of the gospel.
What stops us from taking the gospel to others?
2. A thriving church will invest their time and money wisely.
2. A thriving church will invest their time and money wisely.
You will have to write money in there.
It wasn’t just Paul’s time, it was his money and money given by churches that got him there.
We need to think about this corporately and individually.
It cost something financially if we are serious about carrying the gospel.
How are your investments going?
It isn’t uncommon to invest money for the purpose of a greater return.
What do we invest in?
Two things - the greatest return or the safest return.
We put a lot of care into investing finances.
People study the stock market.
Hire financial advisors.
Spend money to make money.
Do we put the same care into investing our time?
For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain.
“Vain”: Hollow, empty, wanting in purpose.
How many things do you do that cause you to wonder what the purpose is?
Gospel work is never a waste of time.
The perfect tense of the Greek word implies that the visit was still having impact.
The investment is ongoing.
Time invested in gospel opportunities and building redemptive relationships is not only not wasted, but will have eternal fruit.
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
Look carefully - look exactly how you walk.
Paul didn’t waste time.
He didn’t fill his time with vain things.
We often don’t think we are filling time with vain things, but how often do we truthfully evaluate how we are spending each day?
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
When I look at how I’m spending my time, how much of it is eternal investment?
Because everything else will be gone.
Everything else will come up empty.
“Making the best use of time.” or redeeming the time.
Buying it from the vanities.
3. A Thriving church take the necessary steps to invest their time in persistently sharing the gospel.
3. A Thriving church take the necessary steps to invest their time in persistently sharing the gospel.
A minister was once approached by a man who wanted to join the church. “But,” the man said, “I have a very busy schedule. I can’t be called on for any service, such as teaching, leading singing, or leading prayer. I just won’t be available for special projects or to help with setting up chairs or things like that. And I’m afraid I’ll never be able to go out visiting, as my evenings are all tied up.” The preacher thought for a moment, and he then replied, “I believe you’re at the wrong church. The church you’re looking for is three blocks down the street on the right.” The man followed the preacher’s directions and soon came to an abandoned, boarded up, closed church building. It was a dead church—gone out of business.
I asked the question a few weeks back… If the future of the church was dependent upon my own evangelistic efforts, how long would it continue to exist?
The clarity of the scripture teaching us that every single Christian must be carrying the gospel to others regularly is incredible.
We cannot deny it.
We cannot escape it.
A. We must give an earnest effort.
A. We must give an earnest effort.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
How much effort am I putting into sharing the gospel with those around me?
How much time am I spending?
How much money am I spending?
Spend money to buy time.
Sometimes its spending money to show love.
GRFD - Amy brings me something every time I go down.
We will make cookies and deliver them.
How much effort am I putting into sharing the gospel with those around me?
B. We must eliminate things that deter our investment.
B. We must eliminate things that deter our investment.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
What things are keeping me from investing my time in other people?
What do I need to do to eliminate them?
C. We must have a single-minded focus on the goal.
C. We must have a single-minded focus on the goal.
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;
for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
How focused is my life on others? Am I regularly, intentionally, training myself to have an eternal impact?