Learning To Walk

· Introduction

• I assume you have all been around small children at some point in your life, correct? And I am sure all of you have seen small children who are just starting to learn to walk.
• All of you who know me know that I have four children the oldest of whom is now eight. And with each one of them I have observed the same thing.
• You start to learn to walk by pulling up on things, in doing this your legs gain strength, in time you begin to take small side steps while holding on to stationary objects, and by now Dad and Mom are helping out and you hold on to Dad or Mom’s fingers and start taking your first real steps forward.
• At first you usually spend a lot of time on your tiptoes then over time your feet flatten out some, you start letting go of Dad and Mom and you take a few “baby-steps” before falling down.
• However over time this disappears and long before you ever become a teenager it is just expected that you will be able to walk from point A to point B without tripping, stumbling or falling…in other words you are expected to “…walk properly.”
• Well that is exactly the picture I think the Apostle wants to paint for us today as we look at 1 Thessalonians 4.
• However in order to understand that picture we must first understand Paul’s relationship to the church in Thessalonica – so let me tell you a bit about that first.
• The church in Thessalonica was an infant church that Paul had founded along with Silas and Timothy.
• Paul’s preaching when he first arrived was to the Jews but after they refused him three Sabbaths in a row he turned his attention to the Gentiles where he had a rich reception and a brand new church was started in Thessalonica.
• The problem was these Gentile believers were fresh converts to Christ coming with years of idol worship in their backgrounds, they needed to learn to walk for the first time.
• This is in contrast to Jewish converts who had at least a basic understanding of the Old Testament and God’s moral code the Thessalonian believers couldn’t hit the ground running they need to pull-up, strengthen their legs and then take baby steps.
• So as this church was first starting out Paul did spend time with them, he had helped them on their feet, and got them started off walking but then he had to leave, so he sends Timothy back to check on their progress and Timothy returns with a glowing report and Paul is excited but wants to remind them to walk properly, he uses that term multiple times in this book.
• Now this is likely Paul’s first epistle, most scholars agree that this letter or epistle pre-dates Galatians, Ephesians, Phillipians, etc.
• Some of the serious problems Paul deals with in those books aren’t found here, there is just some good solid teaching on some basics of the Christian life appropriate for his audience.
• 1 Thes. 4:9-12 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; ¹⁰and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; ¹¹that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, ¹²that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.
• Have you ever been around a child that can walk but when they get distracted by things around them they walk right in to a stationary object, I sure have.
• Paul is writing to them like a father would speak to a son or daughter. He is thrilled with their progress and is beaming with pride and joy but still reminds them to “walk properly” or in other words pay attention to some basics, don’t become distracted.

Illustration:

• Just yesterday I was sitting on the sofa and Emma was bringing me a book to read to her because I had asked her to, and she was so excited to sit and read with me that she made a bee-line straight for me and then suddenly she got cross-checked by an ottoman and fell down. What happened was not the result of her not being able to walk, in this case her problem was she was so excited she became distracted and was unable to avoid the stumbling blocks in her way, she ran squarely in to an object even though the object is half as tall and she is.
• Isn’t it like that in our Christian lives often times? We get a good plan going, we think hey smooth sailing now; I have got this Christian life thing down and boom we are on our backs wondering what just happened. We stopped focusing on the “walking” just for a moment and we end up down in our prayer lives or down in our Bible reading, church attendance, some area of our lives we find ourselves on our backs because we ignored the basics of walking that we already knew.
• I think that is what Paul is talking about here.
• Remember it hasn’t been all that long ago that these people were bowing down to idols; Paul wants to insure that old bad habits stay just that, old bad habits.
• So he says to them in vs. 9 concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another
• The primary reference here in the original Greek is to being taught directly by God.
• Almost every other place in the New Testament the word we find translated taught is didaktos (we get our word dictate from this word), however this word is only used once in the NT and we find it here, it is theodidaktos, meaning God-taught. It means that God literally dictated this truth to them Himself.
• In case you are wondering the ancient city of Thessalonica is located inside the present day boundaries of Greece in Europe.
• Christ walked the streets of Palestine not the streets of Greece so Christ wouldn’t have taught them and when Moses crossed the Red Sea to leave Egypt and then assembled with the Israelites at the base of Mount Sinai they were on the Arabian peninsula perhaps even in Modern Day Saudi Arabia in Asia but they were nowhere near Thessalonica so there ancestors had not learned from God there.
• So what is Paul referring to here when he says that they have been taught by God? He is referring to the fact that they have the Holy Spirit teaching them truth.
• First, there is the teaching of the Spirit that He does through our spirits and our conscience as He confirms what we should and should not do and I think that type of role is certainly in view here.
• However there is another role, because the Spirit is the One that guided the authors of Scripture what to write down, what we have recorded in the pages of Scripture is the teachings of the Spirit; we are all taught in this way as we submit to His teaching through the Word of God.
• When we look at the Word of God both Old and New Testaments the evidence is clear as Paul has said; we have been taught by God. Man has a responsibility to love His fellow man.
• This isn’t new, Leviticus 19:18 reads: You shall love your neighbor as yourself
• And let me just add when we encounter the term neighbor in Scripture we need to understand this to mean anyone we come in contact with is our neighbor, friend or foe they are our neighbor and we are to love them as ourselves.

• Leviticus confirms this in 19:34 when it says: The stranger who dwells among you shall be as the one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself.

• Jesus in Matthew 5:44 says to His audience: Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.
• Paul is commending these Christians for staying strong in there faith but what does he choose to remind them to keep doing? He reminds them to keep loving others.
• And even as he commends them he tells them in vs. 10 and indeed you do so to toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you brethren, that you increase more and more.
• This is an area that no matter how much improvement we have made there is still room for growth, all of our Christian lives will be spent learning and improving on our “core values” which are: to love God, love each other, love the world.
• Paul tells them to increase more and more.
• Paul could have used this opportunity to remind them to maintain and active prayer life, but he doesn’t; he could have reminded them to read the Word on a daily basis, but he doesn’t; he even could have told them to memorize Scripture, but not even that was his request.
• His request was that they continue more and more in brotherly love.
• I am reminded of the time that Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment and he replied: The first of all the commandments is: "Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. ³⁰And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. ³¹And the second, like it, is this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
• We talk a lot about core values here, and we represent the core values with circles, what are they? Love God, Love Each Other, Love the World.
• Would you like to know my feeling on this? Circle one is primarily lived out by fulfilling circles two and three! I’ll repeat that…
• Think about it, God is not in need of our charity, but our fellow man is. God is not in need of someone to listen to Him when He is hurt, but many around us are.
• God doesn’t need to be clothed, housed, fed, or kept warm but there are those around us that need those things.
• What do we learn in latter part of Matthew 25: Then the King will say…for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; ³⁶I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'
  ³⁷"Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? ³⁸When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ³⁹Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' ⁴⁰And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'
• That is what I mean by circle one is lived out in circles two and three. This is why Paul, when he wants to commend one thing to them he deals with loving one another.
• We already touched on these verses earlier but think about it, where does the power to love your enemy come from? How can you love your neighbor as you love yourself?
• The only way you can have that kind of power is when you are living a Spirit filled, Spirit controlled life.
• Paul didn’t need to remind them to read, study, pray, attend church or any other activity he reminded them to be about loving one another.
• Jesus said it John 13:35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
• Living in a garage does not make you a car and likewise going to church and reading your Bible doesn’t make you a Christian.
• Church attendance, Bible reading, prayer, of course this can be faked that is why Jesus in Matthew 7 says: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' ²³ And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'
• On the other hand the life that makes it part of their life to always have their eyes open to opportunities to help, the life that makes the needs of their fellow man equally important to their own, that is genuine faith.
• Loving your enemy, blessing them that curse you, doing good to those who hate you, praying for your persecutors, loving your neighbor as yourself. These can’t be faked so easily.
• When the pressure gets turned on you find out what people are really made of, when you squeeze an orange the stuff on the inside comes out and you get orange juice.
• When you squeeze a real Christian the stuff on the inside comes out and you see the character of Christ put on display.
• When you squeeze the one who lacks real commitment the stuff on the inside comes out too but it isn’t so sweet and pretty; it’s the awful black mess called sin and self that comes out.
• And then we come to verse 11 a Paul gives us a new twist on walking properly in brotherly love.
• Vs. 11 and following reads: that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, ¹²that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.
• According to verse 10 it would appear that the Thessalonians were a generous and giving church, however it would also appear from vs. 12 that there were certain elements that were all too happy to take advantage of their brothers and sisters generosity.
• Paul condemens that here and commands them to be busy working with their hands.
• Vs. 11 also speaks of living a quite life, minding your own business, working with your hands.
• Do realize that if you can get real busy about number 3 number 1 and 2 almost take care of themselves.
• Sure you can be an idle busybody and still hold down a job but the reality is that if you work for your employer in such a way as to treat him the way you would want to be treated then that leaves very little time for idleness and meddling.
• If you have little time for meddling then you are that much closer to living a quiet life.
• This is the thing that always amazes me about the Scripture, how with an economy of words a lot of truth is revealed.
• Now the funny thing about verses 11 and 12 is they are part of the same sentence we were reading in verse 10.
• So what is the connection between being about brotherly love more and more and not being idle?
• Well I am glad you asked, because the link is simply this: loving people don’t meddle in other’s affairs, they don’t gossip behind other people’s backs, they don’t take advantage of another’s generosity.
• These aren’t traits associated with love so Paul is speaking to them very directly.
• He has just instructed the believers to be about the business of loving others however there is always an element in any group of people that believe they need something special – it is to this group of people that Paul is speaking.
• Illustration:
• I have heard it put this way; in a group there are 3 types of people:
• Energy Givers – The more they do the more others are motivated to give it their best as well.
• Energy Wasters – These are the people that always appear to be busy but never get anything really accomplished, they are always doing but never accomplishing.
• Energy Takers – These are the folks that are negative about everything, they always require just a little more and still things aren’t right for them. This type of person is a cancer to an organization and they will drag everyone down to their level if given a chance.
• It is towards the last group especially that Paul is directing his comments. Whole churches have been divided, literally torn in two by one or two people who refuse to be industrious and work with their hands but would rather as Proverbs says “eat the bread of idleness”
• And finally verse 12, who benefits from all of this? God does in the sense that outsiders see the difference Christianity makes in the lives of people.
• The world will never be drawn to a hypocrite, but a loving person, a person that cares for the world around them and takes a real interest in people and their needs, people will notice that.
• People out there are hurting and looking for answers, many are searching for answers but looking in the wrong places and never finding the peace they seek in their life.
• As Christians we have access to that peace, how by putting on the armor of God including lacing up the shoes, so that your spiritual feet are covered with the Gospel of Peace.
• Isn’t it appropriate that if you are going to walk properly that feet should be covered?
• Conviently God didn’t forget that, he covered your feet with the Gospel of Peace so you can be ready at a moments notice to share that with a watching world.

Conclusion:

• Do you know what is exciting about this topic? You don’t have to be a “super Christian” to do this.
• How old do have to be or how good at walking do you have to be before you can start helping someone else walk?
• I have observed my children helping their younger siblings learn how to walk – so if I may extend the analogy just a bit further you don’t have to been a Christian for 20 years before you can start helping others learn to walk, you can offer to hold a spiritual hand guide someone down the road you are on.
• What if you encounter someone who can walk, but became distracted and fell, maybe you haven’t seen them at church in a few weeks, maybe you know they are falling behind in their prayer life or in Bible study because they got distracted what is required for you to help them back on their feet?
• One you need to be walking properly which implies standing, if you aren’t standing all you are going to do is lie down with them and you can share a good cry over why you are both on the ground but you are no closer to getting up when you get done crying.
• Make it a life pattern, select this as a good habit, be about this business of walking properly.