Invest In Faith

Good morning, Castleton Church family, and a happy 2021 to you. It's so good to be back. Thank you so much for allowing my family and I to get some time away. We had a wonderful time with our family in Florida. Yes, the weather was a lot better than it was here apparently. We really enjoyed it. I spent some time reflecting on how important, after such a weird season for all Christians that 2020 was, how important it is for us to take Jesus up on his offer to come to me all you who are weary and heavy Laden, and you will find rest, rest for your souls. Thank you for giving my family and I time to rest physically as well as to seek Jesus and his rest. I pray that in 2021, you'll find a measure of that rest yourself in whatever challenges the Lord might have ahead for us.

You might notice that we are back to preaching over video. I know that it must've been a wonderful thing to have live preachers. Thank you to Eric and Matt for preaching so capably while I was gone. Thank you again for your understanding of the limitations of what my health allows me to do and for allowing me to administer God's word to you using the tools that we have available to us. I'm excited to jump back into the Book of 1st Thessalonian. We're going to pick right back up where we left off a few months ago, 1st Thessalonians in a series called Waiting for Salvation. This morning, we're going to be in 1st Thessalonians, Chapter three verses six through 13. Why don't we begin by reading those verses, 1st Thessalonians Chapter three, I'll read verses six through 13. This is what scripture says.

"But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you, for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?

Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints."

Brothers and sisters, this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Oh Lord Jesus, thank you for your word. We ask you now by the power of your spirit and the providence of your father, would you form in us a desire, a desire to be more like you in this year ahead and even beyond that, to expend ourselves to invest in others? Will you make us into the sort of church that disciples and reaps the dividends that come from that investment. We pray that in your mighty name, amen.

Well, 2020 is in the rear view mirror. Maybe you have breathed a sigh of relief. Ah, finally, we made it. I mean, you could celebrate. It's okay. Don't get too comfortable now. 2021 is going to bring its set of challenges with us. In fact, right now you have already began navigating a minefield. Thankfully one that at least is normal to every new year. You know what I'm talking about, right? The new year, new you resolutions you can make. Five steps to great weight loss this year. Four ways to a greener life. How to make your cooking organic and clean. All of the different ways people want you to change your life and their guides that they love to provide for you to how to do it.

One such line of improvement, along these lines, comes in the form of tiny living. Maybe you've heard of tiny houses. People deciding to downsize and simplify in a really big way by moving into a very tiny, little footprint, square footage measured in the hundreds, usually under 200 square feet. If you Googled tiny houses online, you will find, how shall I put it, a lot of negative reviews. In the sea of negativity, I did find one oasis of positivity. It's a blog called The Tiny Life. On that blog, a guy named Ryan Mitchell, the founder of The Tiny Life explains why you should consider a tiny house for yourself. What tiny houses really do is change the game in terms of your finances, your life, your time, and the opportunities you have. It's really an activator to change your life.

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm a bit skeptical about how beneficial it would be to live in such a small footprint. I'm even more so after our family spent a few days in the tiny house Airbnb. While we did survive the ordeal, let's just say our tiny taste of tiny living was more than enough. I personally am thankful that Jesus tells us that in his father's house, there are many rooms. I like to add to that, I suspect they will be spacious rooms.

A new year, everyone wants to tell you how you can really live in 2021, but what should Christians think about a new year and a new chance at life? Our passage in front of us, gives us a surprising way. The apostle Paul says tells us that he really lives. Look down with me in verse eight, "For now we live." That's as if he's saying finally we're alive. Why? Well, it's not because Paul spent time on self-improvement or self-esteem or self-reflection. No, quite the opposite. It's because he spent himself investing in other Christians.

It turns out to be a counterintuitive piece of the Christian life in the day and age we live. True Christian living requires expending ourselves to invest in the faith of others. When you spend yourself to invest in others, strangely you find dividends of joy. That's what we'll see this morning in two sections as we move through this passage. 1st in verses six through nine, we'll see that we need to invest in others for the sake of your joy. You need to invest in others for the sake of your joy. Then at 10 through 13, we'll see that we need to invest in others for the sake of their faith. We invest in others for the sake of their faith.

Let's begin in that 1st section six through nine, invest in others for the sake of your joy. The apostle Paul was a risk taker if there ever was one. This was not a man that was scared of much. He was willing to be slandered and shipwrecked. He was willing to endure exposure to be beaten and whipped. All of it meant that he could just tell a few more people about Jesus. A man with as much boldness and faith as Paul was not one to be fearful of just about anything. Yet, did you know there is one thing, at least one thing that Paul says kept him up at night?

It's the last verse that we studied in 1st Thessalonians. Turn back with me 1st, Thessalonians three verse five. He says, "For this reason when I could bear it no longer, I set to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter attempted you and our labor had been in vain." Paul was afraid of something. That something was that the disciples that he had begun investing in might themselves be overcome by Satan and lose the faith all together. Remember Paul was an itinerant church planter. He was going around Europe and Asia planting churches.

In the case of the Thessalonians, he was ripped away from them after a very short order. They started well, but a persecution got whipped up. Paul had to move on out of town to avoid that persecution coming down on their heads. As a result, since then, even though Paul had desired very much to go back and to find out how the Thessalonian church had been doing, he had been prevented from doing so. We're told that Satan himself had intervened somehow to keep Paul from getting back to them.

All this had left a void, a gap into which the imagination of nightmares had filled in the apostle Paul's psyche. He wondered what had happened to that dear church. What had happened to those that he had begun to invest in, in the things of Christ? He had no cell phone, no internet, no way to just be able to beam information to him, and so he did what he could. He sent Timothy, his protégé, to go to that Thessalonian church to find out how they're doing and encourage them, and then come back and bring him a report.

Do you notice this shows that the apostle Paul was not the sort of uninvested church planter, who just came through town, planted a church and never thought about them again? No. He stayed invested in the Christians that he brought to Christ. You can think of that investment a little bit like the difference between a builder of a house and an owner of a house. A builder, for a time, is invested in a house as the structure is being built, as he's pouring in money and effort to put together a house. There comes a day when that builder turns around and sells that property. On that day, he is no longer invested in that house.

On the other hand, a person who buys a house and keeps it, that lives in it, takes care of it over the years, their continued investment means they continue to care for that house. Imagine what happens if you were on a vacation and you heard a big storm rolled through, one that might knock down trees and power lines, you might think to yourself. "I wonder if my house is okay." Maybe you'd even pick up the phone and call one of your neighbors and ask them, "Could you check to make sure the roof is still intact? Is my house all right?" That's the sort of investment that the impossible Paul has in the Thessalonians.

In the absence of information, his worries and anxieties bubble up, even his fears. What is the status of this dear church? Well, thankfully for Paul, he receives a good report from Timothy in verse six. He tells us about, "But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us the good news of your faith and love reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us as we long to see you." Timothy's report is described as good news. That the word for that, evangelizo, is the word that we use usually for describing the gospel being preached, the best of all news. This is the only time in the New Testament it's used in this way to describe just a news, information news that it brought to people.

You can see why Paul chooses it, because Timothy's coming must have been like his dreams finally coming true. For months and months, he must've been waiting, waiting for Timothy to make that long journey back to him, probably in Athens. Imagine the sense of relief as Timothy finally walked in that door. I have to think that Paul was probably so eager to hear what Timothy had to say, that he wouldn't even let him take a bathroom break after his long journey. What's the state of the church, Timothy? Are they faithful? Timothy tells him, he tells him it's better than Paul could have imagined. Not only are they faithful, they still love Paul. In fact, they long to see him face-to-face the same way he longs to see them face-to-face.

What good news this is. His investment has not been in vain. In fact, you can say that it's beginning, in Paul's own heart, to pay dividends in joy. Look in the next three verses at the words Paul uses to describe what this news does to his own heart. In verse seven, he tells us that it is a comfort in the midst of his distress and his affliction. It's balm for his weary soul to get this good news about their faith. In verse eight, he says, "Now we really live. For now, we live." It's as if he's saying, "Finally, I can live. Finally, life can start, because they are standing firm in the faith." Then in verse nine, it says, "What thanksgiving can we return to God for you for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God."

This is not the cold restraint of someone who academically takes in the information. Oh yes, that's a faithful church. Check mark. No, this is the unrestrained joy of a parent who hears that their child is safe and secure, and even more than that, flourishing. He is invested in them. When he hears that their faith not only remains, but as abounding, his heart abounds enjoy as a result.

Now this is not a case of someone who is codependent or in an unhealthy way, leaning on the welfare of someone else for their own self-esteem. No, this is someone who understands exactly the stakes. He understands what would have happened to his own heart, the great discouragement, if they had abandoned the faith. He also understands the eternal stakes, their faith, their standing and security in Christ is the only thing that will mean he will one day see them in heaven. It's much like the apostle John in 3rd John verse four. He says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." There is a great dividend of joy that you receive when someone you have invested in continues to progress and to show Christ's likeness. You know that all of your investment has not been in vain. In fact, the things that you have helped to form within them will go on and on into eternity.

Brothers and sisters, I need to ask, are you investing in anyone like this? Are you spending yourself in such a way, opening up your heart, risking getting that close to someone, so that you can encourage them or teach them or help them grow in the faith? Are you doing so in such a way that if they were to disappoint you, it would do great harm to your heart? It may seem like the safe thing to do is to keep people at a distance, to just go about Christianity as an individual, listen to sermons like this one, read your Bible on your own, pray by yourself in your house, in your prayer closet and not worry too about others, because well, others have a way of hurting you, letting you down. Brothers and sisters, if you avoid the risk that comes with this sort of investment in and others, you will also avoid the dividend of joy. The thing that is produced when you see the growth of someone, in their walk with Christ.

I'm so thankful for the faithful investors I know of in our church. There's so many of you. You pour yourself out for the sake of other's advancement in the faith. Some of you do so with our children's ministry, investing in the hearts of our young ones. As a father who has children that are benefiting from it, that greatly encourages me. We have people that do that with our student ministry. We have people doing it in our women's ministry. Women discipling other women, showing them how to be better mothers, better wives, better stewards of their jobs and homes and relationships. We have people that invest as small group leaders, really taking an interest in the faith of those that have been entrusted to their care. I know of one dear brother in our congregation that has been doing this spiritual investment to such a degree that he actually refers to someone he disciples as his spiritual son. With great pride, he introduced me to him one day. That's the sort of investment that bears dividends in joy that Christians are meant to have.

Brothers and sisters, if you haven't been investing in others, maybe 2020 has been an easy year to focus on yourself, because of all the various normal things in life that have been shut down. Maybe in 2021, God wants you to get back in the game, finding ways that you can spend yourself to invest in the faith of someone else. If you're in the habit of doing this, let me just give you a couple of words of encouragement.

First, it would just be patients. Some of these investments take time to pay off. The apostle Paul waited quite a while before he got word of the Thessalonians perseverance in the faith. It may well be that you have to invest and invest for a long period of time before you reap the dividend of joy. Don't lose heart. Keep going. This is what Christ has us on this earth to do, to make disciples.

The second is when you get wounded, don't grow overly discouraged. You're right to be hurt when someone abandons the faith or rejects your efforts. You're right to see that as a loss, and yet realize that it's worth the risk to try again, to keep pressing forward, to not allow the discouragements to keep you from the joy that's available as the Lord might use you in someone else's life. If that's the case, then dust yourself off with the Lord's help and by the power of the spirit, get back up and find a new investment, someone else that you can pour yourself into. Maybe you're hearing all this talk of discipling, investing in others. You're saying yourself, "That's great, Tommy, but I don't know that I could actually do that. I don't even know where to start. What exactly are you talking about?" Well, if that's the case, that's this next point will be helpful for you. The apostle Paul gets very specific about what his investment in others, what it actually produces. As we take a look at it, you'll learn how you can do this yourself.

Look with me verses 10 through 13, our second point. "Invest in others for the sake of their faith. Invest in others for the sake of their faith." Paul tells us in verse 10, his most basic desire, as he tells them what he has been praying for them. He says, "As we pray most earnestly night and day, that we may see you face-to-face and supply what is lacking in your faith." Paul, more than anything, wants to help the faith of the Thessalonian believers. He describes it as filling in what's lacking. Now, that may strike you as an insult. Paul thinks there's something defective about their faith, but that's not actually the case. If you read this whole book, it's very clear that Paul thinks very highly of this group of believers in the Thessalonian church.

So what does he mean here? Well, what he means is a principle that Pastor Mark Dever put well. It's that those who are healthy most know their need for help. Spiritually speaking, those who are healthy are those who know most their need for help. The fact that the Thessalonians are healthy means that they will be receptive to Paul's efforts to help them. As we see ourselves rightly, in light of eternity and the holiness of God, the more we become like Jesus and have eyes to see the world and ourselves, like he sees us, the more obvious it is that we need help to grow into greater and greater likeness to him. Paul is not insulting them. He wants to help them. They would have likely been extremely encouraged by his desire to help them.

Now, just as a brief excursus here, I want us to note that Paul wants to do this face-to-face. Did you catch that? He prays eagerly to do this, to see you face-to-face. This is the second time he's mentioned this. It's not a small thing. There is something to doing ministry that is essential to being face-to-face. There is something really lost when where we are unable to be right there with each other, praying with each other, speaking to each other, hugging each other. I know this as a preacher preaching into a video, this is not ideal.

Let me just take this moment to remind us of two things from Paul's example, especially important for us during the season when many of us are engaging with the church virtually. The first is that we should not grow comfortable with absence. We shouldn't grow comfortable with the accommodations we make through live streaming on a Sunday morning or Zoom calls or just staying connected to our church through digital means. It's possible that the flesh will one day, even when the opportunity is for us to regather all of us together, that the flesh will have some of us say, "I actually prefer to stay virtual, to stay at arms length from other people." Notice that that is incompatible with the way Paul understands ministry. It's incompatible with the way God's made us. It is a real loss that we can't all be together every single Sunday and multiple times throughout the week. We should feel that loss. We should pray for the day when it would not be so, and we would be able to be back together, face-to-face.

Secondly, let's realize that we also need to use the tools available to us in the circumstances God has in. Paul, it was not because of Paul's lack of faith or spiritual power that he was unable to be face-to-face. There were something in God's mysterious providence that allowed for this circumstance to be the case. Paul used the tools available to him, because ministry doesn't stop just because there are roadblocks. Paul sent letters. Paul kept praying. Eventually, Paul sent Timothy. We are right to use live streams. We are right to use text messages and emails and Zoom calls and outdoor meetings, whatever it is we can do, we do because the ministry is too important for it to stop.

Well, back to what Paul was really driving at here. In this prayer that he has, there's a shift that occurs in verses 11 through 13. Paul has been describing what has happened in the past, how he has been praying for them, the things that have happened in the past, his desires to see them, the report he received. Now, it shifts to the things happening now and into the future. In this prayer, he reveals a bit of a template for what's coming. He's going to show us, specifically, the way that one big desire to help them in the faith, how that gets expressed through three desires underneath that, three things he wants to see happen in the days ahead for the Thessalonians. Let me just tip my hand for the next three weeks of preaching. These three desires are the three things that will come next in chapters four and five. I will speak to them briefly today. Then we'll flesh them out more as Paul instructs them in these desires and how a Christian pursues them.

The first is in verse 12. It's that he desires for them to increase in love. "And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do." One of the sure signs, a mark of a true Christian is that they love other Christians. They are drawn to other Christians like magnets that are brought together. They just can't keep apart. They want to be around other Christians. They want to know other Christians. They want to be involved with other Christians, because God has loved them in such a way that he's actually put a spirit inside each believer, a spirit that draws us to each other and helps us to love each other the way God has loved us.

That love for other believers though, is matched with that, did you notice that, a love for all. That's a love for the world outside the church. Paul desires for them to be like him, to have a burden for the lost, to reach the unbelievers that don't know Jesus with the good news of Jesus himself, because what more loving thing can a Christian do then share the love of Christ in the gospel of Jesus.

Now, maybe you're listening to this message this morning, and you consider yourself not to be a Christian. If so, friend, I hope that in your experience, Christians have been loving toward you. I hope you have found Christians that are concerned for your welfare that are kind, but most of all, I hope that you understand that the most loving thing a Christian knows to do is to share our faith with you, to encourage you to know God through Jesus Christ, the way we do.

The basic message of the Bible, that we are not okay on our own, that we aren't. We aren't people that deserve anything from God, except for punishment. The Bible tells us that we were all made by God. We owe our lives and allegiance to him. And yet each of us has lived our own lives, our own way, and in so doing, has rejected God as the rightful ruler over us. As a Holy and righteous judge, that means if he were to give us what we deserve, we would receive nothing from him but punishment.

Yet the good news that the Bible teaches is that God, in addition to being Holy, is also loving. He sent his son Jesus to come to earth, to rescue rebels, to come and show us love by giving up his own life, and to do that, to pay the penalty for our sins, to act as a substitute, to absorb the punishment we deserved, so that we could be brought into a relationship with God that none of us could produce on our own. If a Christian has taken the time to try and share that message with you, please understand that is them trying to love you the best way God has given them to do so.

Now, if you don't know Jesus yourself, let me just say, there is no way for you to experience life in 2021, no way for you to experience true living the way God intends, unless you come to know Jesus yourself. If you don't know how to do that, ask a Christian friend or come ask one of us or our pastors or elders. We'd love to talk with you and give you something to read, help you to understand how you can put your trust in Jesus.

Paul wants them to increase in love for other Christians and for the world. He also wants them to be established in holiness. That's what you see in verse 13. The image there so that you may be established in your hearts, blameless in holiness before our God and father. The image is of a structure that is cemented in place. The glue that holds your heart in place, the right standing before God is itself holiness. Now, it's clear by that second phrase, blameless, that this is referring to the righteous conduct, holiness as in life that is in step with God and Lord that we serve. Paul wants them, you can say another way, he wants them to more and more to live a life the way Jesus would have them a life.

This is, of course, a mark of a true Christian that however imperfectly, our lives look more and more like Jesus as we walk through this earth, that we live a life set aside for him and by the power of his spirit and the encouragement of other believers, each day, we pursue him a little more effectively.

There's a third desire in the end of the verse 13 there. It's the hope on judgment day, hope on judgment day. Their hearts will be blameless and holiness before God, our father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. That is looking forward to judgment day when Jesus, as king of the world, returns to usher in his reign and yes, to call each of us to an account.

Paul, wants the Thessalonian believers to have hope for that day, for them to have confidence that it will be a day of joy, that they will hear Jesus say, "Well done, good and faithful servant," and not have dread at his return. A mark of a Christian, more and more, is that they look forward to the day Jesus returns and they actually learned to live life in light of that return.

Brothers and sisters, with these three desires, love, holiness, and yes, hope of the final day that Paul has for the Thessalonians, I need to ask, do you desire for these things to be present in your life. increasingly in 2021? So much of the way you'll live, it will be governed by what you want, by what you desire. Ask yourself, are my desires aligned here with what the Bible reveals should be the things that I desire for someone else and therefore what I should desire for myself?

More essentially, to this passage, we need to return to this question, "How has God used others to invest in you?" I've asked you to consider today, who has God used to invest in you so that you would arrive at this point in your Christian life? Was there a Sunday school teacher, an aunt or an uncle, a parent, a godly influence you had in school or someone that took the time to show you how to be a mature Christian? If so, let me just encourage you to do two things. One, to thank God for them. It's no accident. They were in your life. God sent them to help you in your Christian faith. Secondly, take the time to thank them for their investment. Write them a note, send them text message, give them a call on the phone. Let them know that yes, you are still faithful to Christ and that their investment in you has borne dividends in your heart.

Finally, I think the most important thing we need to ask ourselves is how are we going to invest in others this year? Maybe again, you started listening to this message, and you weren't exactly sure what it means to disciple someone and reinvest in their lives. Let me help to land the plane a bit, give you some concrete examples of things you could do to help other Christians be more like Jesus this year. First, target your investment. Use these three categories Paul used of love, hope, and holiness. Ask yourself, "How could I help someone that God has in my life? How can I help someone to be a little more like Jesus, in one of these areas?" Maybe it's just inviting them to come pray with you so that they can learn by your example of what a mature Christian prays like, or maybe it's finding someone that's younger than you in the faith and helping to encourage them to read their Bible a little bit more effectively, or how they should parrot their children in a way that would help them to disciple their kids in an effective way.

One thing you can do is think back to the people that have helped you and try and replicate the things that they helped you with in someone else. Whoever came to mind when I was talking about someone having a big impact in you, ask yourself, "What did they do that was so helpful to me?" Try to turn around and help someone else with that same area and use their example as a bit of a template. Now, if you don't have those sorts of examples in your life, one opportunity that all of us can take advantage of. We're going to have these Castleton core classes on Wednesday. An easy thing you could do would be find someone else in our church and invite them, say, "Hey, why don't we go to that core class together? Then let's find a few days afterward, maybe on Friday, let's just discuss what we were taught a little bit and just digest together." I understand that our women actually have small groups that are designed to help you do just that thing.

Now in all of this, just a word of advice, investing in others doesn't need to be polished. It's never going to be perfect. That won't stop it from bringing plentiful dividends. The important thing is that you intentionally spend yourself trying to help others. Yes, God knows your efforts will be feeble and weak and flawed. Yet, the amazing thing, brothers and sisters, is he will use them and has been using them back for over 2000 years. Brothers and sisters, get in the game, invest in other Christians, take the risk, because the reward is worth it. You too could reap the dividend of joy as you watch someone else live more and more like Jesus.

As I was thinking back to men that have had a huge influence on others along these lines, I thought back to the memorial for John Stott that I was able to go two years ago, shortly after his death. There were hundreds of people in this church. Big name preachers got up and told others of the way John Stott had influenced them. He was a titan of the Christian faith. When it comes to academics. He ushered in a revolution, a rediscovering expository, preaching like the sermons, the sermon that you just heard this morning.

What was most touching to me though, was not the academic influence John Stott had. It was the way that his personal investments in individual men had borne fruit. Man after man came up and spoke of the way he cared for them, how he walked with them for a time. Then once they're parted ways, he continued to send them letters to reach out, to check on how they were doing. One man described how, when he was a teenager, he remembered one thing that John Stott had said to him and that one thing stuck with him and continued to bear fruit. He told them something so simple that any Christian could say this. He says, "If I had a thousand lives to live, I would live them all for Christ. Another pastor that I was actually there with told me of his personal testimony being invested in by John Stott. He said, "I'll never forget the conversations we had about life in ministry."

Brothers and sisters, don't think that that sort of impact is only for the great giants of the faith. There may not be a lot of people that come to your memorial service and stand up and give testimonies like that, but you could have just as big an impact in someone's life if you'll just take the risk and invest in them what someone has already invested in you. What good news it is that Christ will return. What good news it is that until then we get to be used to encourage each other and to build each other up to more effectively serve him.

Let's pray. Oh Lord Jesus, would you help each of us to have this earnest desire to be useful for each other, to invest in each other, to disciple, to build each other up in love and holiness and hope? Would you use our feeble efforts to keep us safe and secure in you until the day you return? Would you remind us now of how safe and secure we truly are, how even the fact that we would persevere to the end is a gift from you, that you will hold us fast? We pray these things in your mighty name, amen.