Live This Day #7 - With Others (Dr. Kurt Bjorklund)

Senior Pastor Dr. Kurt Bjorklund continues the message series entitled "Live This Day" looking at the book of 1 Thessalonians. In community, God provides great opportunities to know others and to be known by others.

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Transcript

Well, good morning again. It's great to be together. Just want to reemphasize something you've heard about. And that is the first week of November. The, it's a party, gatherings, all of our different locations, campuses, great chance to celebrate what God has been doing in and through the life of the church, and then to hear a little bit about where we hope to go in the days ahead.

And if this is your church home, it's one of the events that we really encourage you to prioritize throughout the year, as it is a great way just to have a finger on the pulse of what God is doing around and through Orchard Hill. Also, if you've been around, you've heard us talk a little bit about our Southpointe location that's moving to Bridgeville November 3. And, if you live in that direction at all and are at all open to considering spending six to nine months participating in that launch of the move from Southpointe to Bridgeville, please go on the website under campus pathway. There's some information there and some people to contact who will get back to you and tell you what would be involved in that. But we'd love to see just a group of people come around the group that's already there to just have the push as we start in a new location.

And part of why we had to make the move was some zoning things with the township there. And so we ended up making this move, but we're excited about where we'll be and what can be in that space in the days ahead. Let's pray together. 

God, thank you just for a chance to gather. And, Lord, I ask that you would speak to each of us, that my words would reflect your Word in content and in tone and in emphasis. And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. 

There's a day that almost everybody prepares for. Now, you might think that I'm referring to, like, the first day of kindergarten or the first day of summer, or I'm referring to maybe your ultimate last day, but the day I'm actually thinking about is the day of somebody's wedding.

Now, if you haven't been married, you probably haven't prepared a bunch for that day. But most people who get married, and I say most because I've known some grooms, I've known some brides who did not prepare. But most people go really deep into the weeds about that day. They plan the food, the menu, the wardrobe, they plan the venue, they make little decor things to go on the table. They do all these things, the music playlist, they just go deep into preparation for that day. And most people, it's not just that day. They also plan their life afterward. And if they haven't lived together ahead of time, somebody usually moves, and so there's at least that maybe a brand new place. There's new furniture, there's new stuff, and there's a lot of coordination to the day. Very few people just say, well, that day is coming, but I'm not living this day with any change about that day. 

And it's a helpful way to think about, really, the overall message of 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians is a letter written from Paul to the church in Thessalonica. And we've called this series Live This Day, and the reason we've called it that is because there's an emphasis throughout the book on something in the original language that's called the parrhesia. It's a word that means the coming, the presence. And so the idea of his messaging is to say, live this day in light of that day, the day when Jesus comes, when His presence is seen, and when everything changes. And so what we've done over these weeks is we've looked at different sections of this book and talked about how we can live today in light of that day. And I think the wedding analogy is especially apt, because in Matthew 25, one of the parables Jesus tells about Jesus coming is this idea of a wedding groom coming, and people who are prepared or not prepared, who lived in light of that coming.

And in Revelation 21, we're told that at the end of the story, there is a wedding between Jesus and His people, His church. And so the question is, how do we live this day for that day? And when we come to chapter 5, verses 12 through 15, we walk into a section that is full of imperatives, meaning commands. In fact, there's seven of them. In this little section, He says:

“And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone...” So there's five. “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good...” - 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15

And of those seven, three of them have a very specific target where He's saying, here's something I want you to do, particularly in response to how somebody else is living. The other ones are general. So it's general, live at peace with everyone, kind of be patient with everyone, make sure everybody pays back good for good, or does good to everybody and doesn't pay back wrong for wrong. General exhortations.

But three times, it's a specific word for how somebody is living. In verse 14, He says:

“...brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak...” - 1 Thessalonians 5:14

And so what I'd like to do is I'd like to focus for a few moments on those three exhortations. And I think they're encompassed by the broader exhortations. And we'll see that, because by focusing on these specific, I think we can see something about how to live in community, how to live this day in light of that day with others, how to live with others in light of that day. Because the context here is the church. It's Christian community. That's what the whole book was about, and in verse twelve, he says very clearly that you should hold in high regard those who labor among you, who admonish you, warn you basically in the Lord, and care for you. And so the context here is spiritual community. 

Now, these things, by the way, will work if you're not in the spiritual community, if you're raising kids, if you're married, if you're in a business, if you're on a sports team. All of these things could apply kind of in terms of a general idea with a different goal than a spiritual goal. So this can be helpful even if you aren't seeing it as spiritual community, but the context here is spiritual community.

And His first exhortation that we're going to look at is, I want you to “warn the idle and the disruptive” in verse 14. Now, here is a place in the New International Version, which is what we read from and use on our weekends here, where there's two words that translate a single Greek word. Usually the Greek words are translated one to one, except for sentence structure, but to say idle and disruptive out of one Greek word is rare. Usually they would choose one, and the reason they probably chose two words is because the word is really hard to translate, because it doesn't just mean idle like people who don't do anything, and it doesn't just mean disruptive. It's a military word that meant somebody was out of order, out of rank, that they weren't doing what they were supposed to do. And the idleness, it came to kind of morph into this, especially in their context, where people were so excited about the day of the Lord coming that they stopped working. And so he says, I want you to warn the people who are idle and disruptive, those who are out of rank, those who aren't doing what they're called to do. You could say that this is somebody who's wayward.

And the word here, “forewarn”, is the same word that's used in verse 12 for admonish. And probably for stylistic reasons, they didn't translate it the same way. But the idea is to say, you are called to challenge somebody, warn somebody, admonish somebody who's wayward in community. And here's my guess, and that is that many of us hear that and we say, that's not me. I don't want to admonish or challenge anybody.

Now, some of you like to challenge people, like you enjoy that process. But for most of us, we prefer to not challenge people and just say, you do your thing, I'll do my thing, in terms of life. And one of the reasons we don't like to challenge people is we don't want to be that person who's always telling somebody what they're doing wrong. But notice, this is part of living in community, and when I say, this is important for parenting, for marriage, for a team, for business, you will have people sometimes in your family, on your business team, on your sports team, who don't follow rank.

And if you don't challenge it, what happens is sooner or later, then there is no order to it. A standard that you ignore becomes not a standard. And so the idea is, in community, you warn and challenge one another. Let's just take it out of the arena of spiritual community for a moment. Just imagine with me that maybe you were perusing men's fashion websites because you wanted to know what was fashionable right now. Just imagine that you were doing that now. 

You could come up with some new fashion and say, I guess that's nice. It probably isn't my look. So you just kind of say, okay, what would that be? And then you might ask the question, well, what would high fashion look like on somebody that we know? And so you might come to something like this, and I think David can probably pull off just about anything. But if you put it on somebody else that maybe we know, you might need to challenge this person. And for those of you who are just listening, that's Dan Shields on a really bad suit. Now, here's my point. If somebody says, I'm rocking this and they're not, those of you who care about the person need to say something like, you know what? That isn't working for you. 

Now, again, in a family, you know how this works because sometimes you'll wear something and you'll say to your spouse or your kids will tell you, or your parents will tell you, and they'll say, I'm not sure that works for you. And you say, what are you talking about? Because you don't want to hear it a lot of times. But the idea is, in a healthy community, there is a challenge when we're out of bounds.

In fact, Henry Cloud writes about this in his book necessary endings, where he talks about what he calls the wise, the foolish, and the evil. And he gets these ideas from Proverbs. He says, in Proverbs, the whole idea is how we respond to light. The wise person lets light in. In other words, when light shines on their life, some reality, they adjust to the light.

But the foolish person, what the foolish person does is they reject the light. And they say, I'm going to criticize the one who shined the light. I'm going to argue with the light. I'm not going to accept the light. I'm going to say that it's not right. But the wise person takes it in, and then he has a category he calls the evil, which he says is the person who doesn't really care about light, all they want to do is destroy other people. And he says, knowing who you're dealing with really matters. Is it the wise person, the foolish person, or the evil person?

But even in Proverbs, we're not always just to say, well, I just admonish anybody who's wayward, because in Proverbs 26, verses 4 and 5, two verses back to back, one says, reprove a fool. Basically challenge, admonish a fool and they will hate you. So be careful. Basically, don't admonish them. And then verse five says that you can admonish a fool because if you don't, they'll be wise in their own eyes.

So which is it, do or don't admonish? I mean, two verses back to back, opposite wisdom. Well, what it's doing, I think, is saying, it all depends on the situation, and that's what calls for discernment. In other words, every time you see something that's wayward, it's not your duty to say, I'm going to challenge it. But when you're in relationship, when you're in community, and you're the person who can say, I'm not sure that's working for you, I'm not sure that's right, then there is part of spiritual community that says, I will say that, and that you live in enough community to receive it. So let me just ask you, who can challenge you in your life? Who can challenge you besides your spouse? Who should you be open to to invite them to challenge you? 

See, a lot of times what we do is we just don't show people enough of our real selves to even be challenged. And is there anyone that you're shrinking back from challenging right now who you are in a place in relationship and in other ways to say, I am going to challenge you?

So, we are called to challenge the wayward. And then in verse 14, it says, “encourage the disheartened”. And the word disheartened here is used only here in the entire New Testament, and it means weary. It means somebody who is in a place where they feel exhausted by the demands of life.

And the reason that I think it uses the word disheartened for weary is because this unique word has the idea of being weary to the point where they just don't want to go on. In fact, I would guess that for many, that's one of the predominant emotions of our day. There are some who are wayward for a season or at times, but weariness feels like it's something that people express over and over again. And even those who aren't weary sometimes are bored because they don't have enough on their plate. And so it might be the opposite of weary, but even then, it can become disheartening because they say, what's the point? 

But either way, the idea here is to say, if you're disheartened, what you need is encouragement. And this isn't the standard word for encouragement throughout the New Testament. When the word encourage is used, it's a particular word that's similar to this word. But this word's a little different in that it means to cheer up or to cheer on.

It would not be too strong of a statement to say that it’s almost saying that when somebody's disheartened, they need a cheerleader. They need somebody to cheer them on. Have you ever been at a race like a cross country race or a track and field race, or ever been the runner? And when you're running, if you've been in this place, and, you know, some of us, it's been a long time, but if you've ever been in this place, here's what you know.

And that is when you're running and you're saying, should I give everything I have to this race, or should I just kind of coast this last lap? Is it good enough, that when you have that internal conversation, it's very typical in running. Do you run through the wall? Do you not? And you know the difference.

There's something that happens when there's people on the side saying, “Come on, you can do it! Just a little farther!” Because all of a sudden what you do is you say, “I am going to keep going.” And that is the picture that's used here, that in community, when somebody's weary, what we sometimes need is somebody just to simply say, keep going. It's worth it if you can keep going just a little farther. If you can just finish the lap that's in front of you, you will be encouraged to be cheered up, to be cheered on.

And what that means is that when you are in community with somebody and they're saying, I don't know if it's worth it to keep investing in my kids because it feels like nothing's happening, or I don't want to continue to try to have the kind of marriage that I believe God called me to, or I don't want to continue to participate in spiritual life. I don't want to be in a group. I don't want to give. I don't want to serve. I don't want to continue to work on character.

I don't want to fill in the blank that we need to be known enough that somebody can say, “Yeah, you do. Just keep going. It's worth it.” And so let me ask you the question. Who can you encourage?

Who can you be honest with and tell them that you're weary, that you're disheartened and tell them that you need a little encouragement. Because a lot of times what happens is people go through life weary and disheartened and think that they just need to keep doing it on their own, instead of saying, “I'm just tired and I don't know if I have enough to keep going.” And what we need is somebody to come along and say, “Yeah, you do. You can do it, and it'll be worth it.” 

So we have the idea of challenging the wayward. We have the idea of cheering on the weary. And then it says, help the weak. And this idea is very simple because the idea of helping the weak means somebody who can't. So in a sense, we have the wayward. Those who won't do what they're supposed to do.

You have the disheartened, those who feel like they want to, but they're struggling. And here you have the can't do's, the people who are weak. And it means physically infirm to the point of needing help, and help just simply means to assist. Now, clearly, the Bible does not call people to help people who don't want to help themselves. In fact, there's a verse that says if somebody won't work, they shouldn't eat.

It's not talking about somebody who's a perpetual victim, but what it's talking about is that there are seasons where somebody is in a place where they say, I can't go forward. And what they need is some people to surround them and walk with them. In fact, I have been told that in the military academies that one of the practices is if one of the cadets is injured, that the other members of the unit will carry that cadet throughout all of their activities until that cadet is restored to health. That's a beautiful picture of community saying, “Well, you can't, we will, in order to help carry you.” So the question here is, who's weak around you right now? Who could use your help? And if you're weak, are you being honest enough to tell people that you're weak? 

Now, I mentioned that these specifics are bracketed by these more general exhortations, “be patient with everybody” it says at the end of verse 14. The idea of saying, be patient, because sometimes what will happen when we're all at different places is we'll get frustrated with other people. We'll say, well, why aren't you a little further along? But what happens sometimes in spiritual community is it becomes a breeding ground for self-righteousness. And what I mean by that is that if you are somebody who isn't wayward right now, you look at maybe somebody who's wayward, and instead of saying, how can I challenge them? Or when you see somebody who's weary, instead of saying, how can I encourage them or cheer them up, what you start to do is you start to say, why aren't they like me? Why don't they see it like I see it? But the idea here is to say, be patient with everyone, because as you do that, what you will see is that you are extending grace. And verse 12, as I said, is this context of church or family. This idea, and it's one of the images that's used of church as family, and the idea of spiritual community is that you're in a place where you say, “I will continue to give”, because what's true about a family is you don't have the easy escape that you have in other contexts. So let me put it like this.

If you go to Costco to grab something. You go into Costco and somebody admonishes you because you didn't put your cart back just right or something like that. Now, you may be the person who's like, oh, my goodness, I'm so sorry, I'm putting my cart back right. Or you may be the person who says, who are you? But when you're in a family and somebody says, “Hey, wait a second, what you're doing is out of bounds.” Or when you're in a family and somebody says, “You can keep going, what you're doing matter.” Those words are heartening. When you're given the assistance, it matters. And here this picture is of a spiritual family coming together and saying, “If you can be this for one another now, you will be prepared for that great day.” But what often happens is people, whenever they say, “I don't experience it, at least to the degree I want”, say, “What I need is probably a new family, a new community”, and there's a time for that. I'm not suggesting there isn't. But what I have seen in years of working in church is usually when somebody does that, they go and they think that people are, like, different in another place. And what they usually find is that people aren't different in another place, that another place isn't different, that they bring their same stuff with them. 

I remember years ago here at Orchard Hill, there was somebody who had attended, and then they stopped attending. And I bumped into them in the community sometime after, and I just said to them, I said, “Hey, what happened? You know, “Why did you make a change?” And they said, “Well, you know, we were coming and just felt like nobody talked to us.” I said, “Really?” I said, “Tell me about that.” They said, “Well, we did an experiment. We came and stood in the lobby and decided if we didn't talk to anybody to see if anybody would talk to us.” And I remember, I said to him, I said, “Let me see if I have this right. So you came, you stood in the lobby, didn't talk to anybody, and decided that since nobody talked to you, that the church wasn't friendly.” And there he said, “Well, yeah.” I said, “Do you hear yourself?”

You see, what sometimes we do is we simply say, I want other people to do for me, instead of saying, “How can I do for people?” And here's the truth. If you're in spiritual community, sooner or later there will be a time when you are the wayward, you are the weary, you are the weak. So when you are in your right frame of mind to say, “I want to challenge. I want to cheer on, and I want to assist those who are in those places.” What you're doing is you are building a reservoir of people who may be there for you, but even if they're not, what you're doing is you're saying, “I'm going to give myself to the people who I'm in community with.” And in a way, isn't this what Jesus did? I mean, Jesus was patient with people. He sought peace with people. He challenges the wayward. He calls out us on our sin, and He helps us when we're completely unable by going to the cross on our behalf. And He says, “I want you to live this out just a little bit in your community.” And beyond that, here's what happens when you live this out. When I live this out, something happens inside of us. I had a friend remind me of this recently in Proverbs, chapter 11, verse 25. Here's what we're told. It says: 

“A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” - Proverbs 11:25

In other words, if you give yourself to others, they may not give themselves back to you in the exact way that you want them to. But what you will experience is the refreshing power of, of God in your life. 

Another way that this is put is in Isaiah, chapter 58, verse 10-11, puts it like this:

“...and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.” - Isaiah 58:10-11

Do you hear that? If you give yourself to others, then God will work on your behalf and He will lift you up. So there's a promise here for community, but there's also just a call to say, do this. And verse 14 starts with, “we urge you”. Now, why does he urge them? He urges them because without community, without a team, what happens is we end up in a place a lot of times where we just get disheartened. Nobody calls us on our waywardness.

We don't have anyone to help us in our weakness, and we end up maybe not where we want it to be. And so the invitation in this passage is just to say, “Will you participate with others in your spiritual journey in such a way that you invite and give this idea of challenge, cheering on and assistance?” Because that's how you can live at peace with everyone and how you can encourage people not to pay back wrong for wrong, but to be good to everyone, to be patient with all. And the truth is, all of us will be all of these at different times. And when we see what Jesus did on our behalf and we emulate it to the best of our ability, what happens is then we start to experience just a little taste of God's work in our behalf, and there's a ripple effect throughout the broader community and world.

And so the idea today is to live this day in light of that day. We need people. We need community. We need to be the community to others, and we need to receive community.

And, you know, just simply being in a group or a serving team doesn't guarantee community. It is a process of being authentic and real with the people that you're around and inviting that kind of interplay and then offering it at the right time. But you can see how if you just are always only cheering on, you may miss the challenge piece. Or if you're only assist, you may not cheer on, or if you're only challenged, you may be unduly harsh. But all of those used in wisdom will help produce the kind of community that prepares for that great day. And that's our invitation.

God, we pray today that you would help each of us to not just live solo spiritual lives, but to live lives that are part of something bigger. We know we can't be community to everyone, but we can to someone. And so help us to live that where we are and with the people you've surrounded us with. And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

Thanks for being here. Have a great day. 

This transcript was automatically generated. Please excuse errors.