How to Bring out the Very Best in Others

Every now and then you find yourself in a situation where you need to be of help to someone and you need to inspire them, you need to bring out the very best in them but it’s hard. You feel stuck. Not sure exactly how to go about it.

We’re going to learn that everyone needs someone, at some time, to give them something, in order to become the someone they long to become. Sounds like a tongue twister, doesn’t it? It really is. But think about it. It’s true.

Everyone needs someone, at some time, to give them the something, in order to become the someone you long to become.

I had a time when I had some major issues going on in my life and well, there was a fellow named Coach Lance. And Neil Lance saw beneath the little, arrogant kid’s mouth and somehow saw some potential. He was my P.E. teacher. He ended up coaching me and I ended up working for him, in my college years, painting houses.

But he motivated me. Early on, he motivated me to see beyond my own horizons. As I got around him somehow he saw something in me, he wanted to bring out the best in me, and he did it in such a way that I began to dream new dreams.

My life has been shaped because someone understood how to bring out the best in another individual. Far more, far greater than I could ever, ever see.

And this morning we are going to learn, from Scripture, how you can be that person in someone else’s life. You can bring out the best. You can be the Coach Lance in their life and when they get in their thirties and forties and fifties they’ll look back and it’ll be your face, it’ll be your voice, it’ll be the things you said and the things that you did and they’ll say, “Because of you my life is different.”

And if you want to learn how to do that, the apostle Paul models it for us in 1 Thessalonians 4:1 to 12. We’re going to learn that there are four keys to inspiring others, to bringing out the best in their life.

The first one is: You’ve got to motivate them. You’ve got to help them soar beyond their present horizon. Secondly, you have to teach them. And we’re going to learn you have to teach them in the most strategic arena of their life. Third, then you have to affirm them and you have to affirm them in the areas where they’re making the most progress. And then finally, you have to correct them whenever their attitudes or their actions are thwarting the progress that God wants them to make.

And you’re going to see here the apostle Paul with supernatural, divine wisdom takes this church in the center of a pagan, pagan culture and they’ve been growing for about eighteen months, maybe two years, and he writes this letter and he’s going to take people that are really making progress and he’s going to take them to the next level because he’s going to model inspirational encouragement.

As he motivates them here’s what he does. You might want to jot this down in your notes if you have a pen. “Motivate them to soar beyond their present horizons.” That’s what motivation is.

Motivation isn’t hype, not good motivation. Motivation is helping someone soar beyond their present horizons. So many of us can only see here. Motivation helps you see who you could really become and what you could really accomplish.

Under that you might jot down: The first key is to appeal to the highest level of meaning and purpose. The problem with a lot of motivation? It’s too cheap, it’s too short, and it’s too meaningless.

Motivate people to get wealthy, motivate people to just be successful, motivate people to be the best ballplayer, the best dancer, the best musician – why? Well, so they can earn a lot of money. Why? So they can be rich and famous. Why? So they can move to Southern California. Why? So they can be in Hollywood. Why? So they can be depressed, divorced, and messed up!

No, listen to the apostle Paul, verse 1. He says, “Finally, brothers, we instructed, or you received our teaching, about how to live in order to please God.” See, he appeals to the various highest level of meaning and purpose. He says, “I don’t want to motivate you to some small-time, temporal achievement.”

He says, “Do you remember our instructions? You have the potential to please the living God of the universe.” Now that’s up there pretty high. Notice he goes on, “As, in fact, you are now living.”

See, not only do you appeal to the highest level of meaning and purpose but, secondly, you do it positively. Is he saying they’re perfect? No way! He’s saying, “This is where you were, you’ve trusted Christ, you’re making progress, and your lives right now are pleasing God.”

Can you imagine how motivating it would be to get that kind of word from someone like the apostle Paul? Or can you imagine how motivating it would be for some kid, or some person, or some friend, to hear from you that they’re really pleasing God?

But he goes on. He teaches them that beyond that, that when you motivate someone it’s not just appealing to the highest level of meaning and purpose, and it’s not just doing it positively. He’s going to do it as a fellow traveler and remind them that this whole journey of growth is a process.

Look what he says. He says, “Now we ask you,” and the term means: From one equal to another. He’s a fellow journeyman, a believer in this trek we call life. He says, “Now we ask you and we urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.”

He says, “You’re pleasing God already, you’re making great progress,” but he says, “excel more.” What’s the message? The message is is the horizon is always moving. You never arrive. You make progress.

And then notice, what’s the goal of his motivation? It’s not his agenda. It’s not even their agenda. Look at verse 2. Verse 2 says, “For you know what instructions,” this is a different word than the earlier word.

This is command or order, “For you know what orders or instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.” Do you see what he’s saying? You motivate people to fulfill God’s agenda.

There’s a lot of wealthy, successful people that really aren’t experiencing at all what God wants for their life. And there are some wealthy, successful people that are experiencing all of what God wants for them.

The issue, when you motivate another person, is appeal to the highest level of meaning and purpose and that’s to please God.

And so the goal is not so they fulfill their agenda, not so they fulfill your agenda. What is it? They fulfill God’s agenda, His will. And that’s the first step.

And by the way, I think we need to take motivation seriously. It’s a multi, multi- billion-dollar industry. Companies have understood that when people aren’t motivated, they don’t do much.

We need to understand, as believers, we need to look into one another’s eyes and realize we need to motivate, we need to encourage, we need to lift the horizons where people begin to sense and feel and believe they could do what they never dreamed they could do.

Motivation is not enough, though. Motivation without education is hype. It’s just blowing smoke. “Ah, you can do it. It’ll be great, I can see it.” No, no, no, no. You’ve got to raise the level, and then you have to give instruction and teaching, so they can fulfill God’s agenda.
Teach them in the most strategic area of their life. The idea, teach them. When you want to help someone, there are a million things in Scripture to teach them. You can’t teach them everything. Teach them the most strategic area in their life that will produce life change.

Now, I don’t know about you, but if someone did a good inventory of my life, I got ten, twelve, fifteen areas that need improvement. I can’t work on all of them. If I would go to a mentor who would love me and care for me, a wise mentor would say, “Chip, there’s ten or twelve areas that really need some work but as I’ve prayed and pondered, this one is the key. Five or six of them all revolve around your inability to trust God in this area. That’s what we’re going to work on for the next six months. And when that happens then monumental growth would occur.”

The apostle Paul is going to do that. He’s writing to a group of people that are in an incredibly secular, really secular world. There are temples on every corner, there is immorality like you can’t imagine. The average Thessalonian man who just came to Christ, he has a wife, and the wife’s job is to stay at home, not be seen, not do anything, bear him children and heirs.

Most of them would have a mistress – that was for fun – and then, if you were having a low day, all the pagan temples had prostitutes. Because a part of pagan worship, and they were at every corner, a part of pagan worship was sexual acts.

It’s amazing; they were working to get their cake and eat it too. “Let’s really worship God.” And so all these young girls were taken into temple prostitution. Now, it is a place where sexual purity is unheard of, where the holiness of God is denied.

So guess where the apostle Paul… what’s the most strategic area to teach them in? He’s going to teach them, “God’s not a prude.” He’s going to teach them that God is holy, God is loving, God is compassionate, and God is good. And he’s going to teach them that your present sexual practice is separating you from God. There’s a huge price tag that you’re paying, it’s unworthy of your calling, and your life is not a testimony to the world.

And so, he’s going to teach them three ways. Let me give you the first one. First, he’s going to explain clearly what God’s will is. We instruct people to fulfill God’s agenda, doesn’t it make sense? Tell them what His will is. Not your will, not the Church’s will, not an organization’s will, not the denomination’s will, not what your grandfather believed. What is the will of God?

Well, where do you find the will of God? It’s in the Word. So notice what he says, verse 3, “For it is God’s will that you should be sanctified,” the word means “set apart,” be holy, pure, undefiled. And then he elaborates, “Namely, that you should avoid or abstain sexual immorality.”

He says, “Let me tell you the will of God. You guys are doing great, you’re growing, you’ve come into this absolutely secular, sex-saturated world.”

And he says to them, “Hey, this is the will of God. And the will of God is that you be sexually pure.” And you can do a little study on this phrase and it means that you be sexually pure in your mind. It means you don’t have lustful thoughts. Remember Matthew 5? Jesus said when you lust for a woman in your heart you have committed adultery. It’s about your thought life.

It’s also about sexual purity vicariously. There are some people, though, that never think of hopping in a bed with someone other than their mate, but live on pornography, soap operas, and romance novels and vicariously live through sexual fantasy. He says, “No, you need to be pure.”

And third, not only our thought life or vicarious expression but in our relationships. This is saying God wants us, as believers, for our good because of His character, and His love, He wants us to be sexually pure. He’s saying, this phrase, “It is the will of God and here are the boundaries and inside the boundaries one man, one woman, sex after marriage as the fulfillment of depth, and commitment, and communication. Any other sexual expression by single people, or married people, or same-sex people, is out of bounds.” Now, that’s what the Bible teaches. And you say, “Well that sounds pretty prudish to me.

Of course, let’s do a little cost/benefit analysis. I wonder what life was like when this was in the moral fabric of our culture.

The divorce rate was miniscule, we didn’t have AIDS then, genital herpes was a rare commodity, families weren’t fractured, people weren’t paying financially for paternity suits, we didn’t have the great majority of people going into marriage with psychological and emotional scars; we hadn’t done the research, and we didn’t know the people that are promiscuous, before they’re married, have less satisfying sex lives after they’re married.

See, we didn’t have a lot of the junk and the price tag that we have now. But, see, God knew. And so, once you explain God’s will to them, that’s verse 3, now notice in verses 4 and 5, when you want to explain God’s will, I think, here’s what he does: Tell it like it is, with conviction.

He’s going to expand on this. Tell it like it is, with conviction. We have a lot of people that, when it gets down to some sensitive subjects, we kind of waffle: “Well, you know, I’m not really sure what…of…Bible says about…” I’m real sure what the Bible says. I may not like it and it may be hard but, I mean, this is not one of those, “I wonder what God really thinks about sex.”

You know what every college person always asks you at a conference? “I want to know the will of God. We, can you tell me what the will of God for my life?” So here’s one of the passages I always turn to, “Sure, it says right here: The will of God for your life is that you be sexually pure.” Makes those conversations pretty short, you know?

Notice now though how to say it. When you communicate and you want to inspire people there’s a balance. In verses 3 to 5, you tell it like it is, with conviction. But lest you get too uptight, in verses 6 through 8, you tell it why it is, with compassion.

And what we’re going to see is, see, Paul’s not down on these people. But they are in a culture much like ours. And he wants them to hear the truth but he wants them to hear it in grace. So, 3 through 5, is the truth, 6 through 8 he gives some grace.

So let’s look at it. Verse 4 he says, “What’s this sexual immorality? What’s it look like? It’s that each of you should learn,” the word means to habitually learn and make a practice in your life, “learn to control his own body or vessel in a way that is holy and honorable,” he states it positively.

He said, “Every single believer in Thessalonica and around the world, you should learn to get a hold of this human body and that you should operate in such a way, in the sexual arena, that it is holy and that is honorable.”

That means every thought that goes through your head, whether you’re at the beach, which may not be a good place to keep those good thoughts, men, going through your head; or whether you’re at a movie or whether you’re in the office – is the thoughts that are in your head are pure, holy, and honorable.

It means that every relationship with the opposite sex is one where you don’t feel guilty, you don’t feel ashamed, you don’t feel bad, you don’t feel like you’re violating… you know you could stand before God and know that whether you’re married or single, that my relationships with the opposite sex are holy and honorable.

Notice the negative side. He goes on to say, “Not,” by contrast, “in passionate lust like the heathen who do not know God.” And so he tells it like it is and he tells it with conviction. Why? Because God is a prude, because we’re puritanical, because we haven’t come out of the Ice Age? No! It’s because God cares so much.

In verses 6 through 8, he’s going to give us three specific reasons why this is the smartest, most logical, beneficial thing for you, and all the people you’re trying to help. In verse 6, he’s going to teach us that why is because it harms others. Sexual purity is crucial because when we’re immoral it harms others. In verse 7, he’s going to say it’s going to harm you. End of 7, he’s going to say it’s inconsistent with your high calling.

So let’s look at it. Reason number one he says, “Look,” compassionately, now the tone changes. He says, “Don’t have sex outside of a monogamous, marital relationship because, one, it harms other people.” Verse 6, “And in this matter,” what matter? In the matter of sexual purity, “No one should wrong,” it means, “trespass, sin against,” “his brother or take advantage of him.” That means, “defraud.”

See, Paul had this holistic view about life, unlike us. He had this picture that, okay, there’s all these men, there’s all these women. If I get involved in immorality, or you get involved in immorality, and you sleep with this person, that person, this person, that person, and that person, and they sleep with this person, that person, and that person, the day is going to come when they marry someone.

And when they marry that someone, God’s plan, because sex is holy and sacred and He’s actually for it, don’t let this out, He invented it. And He invented it for pleasure, procreation, and the joy of His children. It’s not dirty, it’s not evil, it’s not bad, God’s really pro-sex.

But when you have it with other people, then the person who shows up at wedding night with someone else that you’ve had sex with, is a used commodity. You’ve defrauded your brother, you’ve defrauded your sister.
We’re going to learn that there are four keys to inspiring others, to bringing out the best in their life.

The first one is: You’ve got to motivate them. You’ve got to help them soar beyond their present horizon. Secondly, you have to teach them. And we’re going to learn you have to teach them in the most strategic arena of their life. Third, then you have to affirm them and you have to affirm them in the areas where they’re making the most progress. And then finally, you have to correct them whenever their attitudes or their actions are thwarting the progress that God wants them to make.

And you’re going to see here the apostle Paul with supernatural, divine wisdom takes this church to the next level because he’s going to model inspirational encouragement.

As he motivates them here’s what he does. You might want to jot this down in your notes if you have a pen. “Motivate them to soar beyond their present horizons.” That’s what motivation is.

Motivation isn’t hype, not good motivation. Motivation is helping someone soar beyond their present horizons. So many of us can only see here. Motivation helps you see who you could really become and what you could really accomplish.

And what we’re going to see is, see, Paul’s not down on these people. But they are in a culture much like ours. And he wants them to hear the truth but he wants them to hear it in grace. So, 3 through 5, is the truth, 6 through 8 he gives some grace.

So let’s look at it. Verse 4 he says, “What’s this sexual immorality? What’s it look like? It’s that each of you should learn,” the word means to habitually learn and make a practice in your life, “learn to control his own body or vessel in a way that is holy and honorable,” he states it positively.

He said, “Every single believer in Thessalonica and around the world, you should learn to get a hold of this human body and that you should operate in such a way, in the sexual arena, that it is holy and that is honorable.”

That means every thought that goes through your head, whether you’re at the beach, which may not be a good place to keep those good thoughts, men, going through your head; or whether you’re at a movie or whether you’re in the office – is the thoughts that are in your head are pure, holy, and honorable.

It means that every relationship with the opposite sex is one where you don’t feel guilty, you don’t feel ashamed, you don’t feel bad, you don’t feel like you’re violating… you know you could stand before God and know that whether you’re married or single, that my relationships with the opposite sex are holy and honorable.

Notice the negative side. He goes on to say, “Not,” by contrast, “in passionate lust like the heathen who do not know God.” And so he tells it like it is and he tells it with conviction. Why? It’s because God cares so much.

In verses 6 through 8, he’s going to give us three specific reasons why this is the smartest, most logical, beneficial thing for you, and all the people you’re trying to help. In verse 6, he’s going to teach us that why is because it harms others. Sexual purity is crucial because when we’re immoral it harms others. In verse 7, he’s going to say it’s going to harm you. End of 7, he’s going to say it’s inconsistent with your high calling.

I want to tell you, God demands sexual purity because He cares so much about other people that you and me don’t have the right to mess up the special time. I’ve never yet, in counseling all the couples, over many, many years, I have yet to have one, single couple say, “Oh, Chip, Chip, we went on our honeymoon, I just can’t believe it, we both saved ourselves and we just couldn’t figure out how it worked.

But I’ll tell you what, I’ve talked with people coming home from their honeymoon and they’ve told me privately, “I had the faces of different people in my mind. I know this was supposed to be a special day and instead I felt cheap, and I felt dirty, and I felt bad, and I thought this was going to be so great. And I love this man with all my heart but sex isn’t a good thing.”

See, God is not a prude. God is holy. And when He tells you something, He tells you because you matter to Him and He doesn’t want us to spoil it.

The second reason is not only does it harm others but notice the next line, it will harm us. He goes on to say, “The Lord will punish,” the word is, He’s an avenger. “The Lord will avenge or punish men for all such sins, as we’ve already told you and we’ve warned you.”

He’s saying it compassionately, “Don’t have sex outside of monogamous, heterosexual relationship because there’s a price tag. I’m just telling you. God is holy, He’s not going to change His character, He loves you, He will forgive you, He’s merciful. But people that have sex get AIDS, they get psychologically wounded, they damage future relationships, they ruin families.”

You know what? It’s like gravity. You don’t have to believe this. But once you jump off that fifth story building, the pain when you hit the pavement is about the same whether you believe in it or not. God is a holy, just God and this command is to protect you.

Notice the third compassionate reason, verse 7, “For God did not call us to be impure but to live holy lives.” He says, “It’s just inconsistent. God is holy, how can you live an impure, unholy life because you’re called, you’re one of His, He wants you to reflect His love, and His nature, and His character. It would just be, I mean, how could you do it? It’s so inconsistent with your calling.”

And then notice verse 8, the summary, it says, “Therefore, he who rejects this instruction,” what instruction? “about sexual purity, it’s a rejection of God who,” notice, present tense, “gives you His Holy Spirit.”

And I’m sure Paul wasn’t trying to change his theology, as though you got the Holy Spirit in installments, present-tense-continually. When you trust Christ, you’re sealed with the Spirit, adopted, you become in His family, you are His. But this giving of the Holy Spirit, I think he’s talking about experientially. You know what? When we sin against God we grieve, we break God’s heart.

And in years, and years, and years of working with men and working with couples my observation is until you and I get the area of sexual purity consistently making progress and victory, you will not experience the peace of the Holy Spirit. And you will not experience the power of the Holy Spirit. And you will not experience Spiritual fruitfulness.

We had a guy in our church talk – about three years, as a growing Christian, hooked on pornography, hating himself, feeling condemned, feeling torn inside, struggling. And he said, “You know, I knew Christ.” He said a half hour later he got a zeal to share his faith and he said, “I felt like such a hypocrite trying to tell people about Christ after the trash that I’d just watched.”

See, there are a lot of people that aren’t tasting, and not experiencing a fraction of what God has for you, and I understand you live in a sex-saturated culture. I understand. Is it tough? Yeah.

I used them all. I tried to negotiate at least one of the Ten Commandments out, in my first two years as a Christian. I did, “Hey, God, I’d go nine for ten. Really. And I’ll keep the other nine.” No negotiations. He loved me too much.

At this point, there may be some of you that are saying, “Ooh, boy, might have been a good morning to sleep in.” You know? Like, “Zzzzzzing.” I know in a group this size there are some people that are addicted to soap operas, romance novels, and pornography. I know in a group this size some of you are involved in extramarital affairs. I know in a group this size some of you single people are living with someone else.

You need to hear compassionately, but with conviction, what you’re doing is wrong, what you’re doing is sin, and God loves you too much and He’s saying, “Today.” Not tomorrow, not maybe, it’s not like quitting smoking. You know, I got three packs, and I’ll get down to two, and I’ll get down to one.

This isn’t one of those where you say, “You know what? I’m sleeping around, ah, three or four times a week. I’ll cut back to two, I’m really making progress.” This isn’t one of those.

This is one where you say, “Today, I’m going to break off the relationship. I won’t see her or him again. I won’t do it in person.” Because if you do it in person, you’ll be right back into it. One phone call, one letter, that’s it. “I’m sorry, this means we’re going to figure out how we live apart.” And don’t give me that, “We can’t afford to live separately.”

You can afford to live under the judgment of a holy God but you can’t afford to live separately? Go to your closest friends and say, “Hey,” - if you love one another and it’s the right person for you – “can I live with you for a while? We need to figure out how to court and get our lives pure and right, so we can get married.”

I don’t know what you need to do, but you must take a drastic step. This is the kind of sin that Jesus said when He talked about sin He said, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your eye causes you to sin, poke it out.” Now, He didn’t mean literally because you can sin with the other eye. He means be as drastic as you need to be to deal as radically as you need to because it will eat you up.

Let me give you three very specific ways to respond to this and grow and overcome it. Because there’s victory. First, get honest. Get honest. Get to the point where you realize, “Hey, I can’t do this.” And that’s step two. Get honest then get desperate or broken. Get desperate.

Willpower does not have the power to deliver you from sexual sin. You can’t overcome pornography, or lust, or romance novels, or cut off an affair by, “Okay, I’m going to do it today,” you can’t do it! It’s too strong.

But when you get desperate, and admit you can’t do it, then you say, “Willpower? No. Grace. God, give me grace, give me power, give me strength.” He’ll give it to you.

Get help is number three. I don’t believe you’re designed to do this on your own.

What do you need to do? What do you need to do? Don’t leave here feeling like the big, heavy hand of God has come upon me. Hopefully, that’s happened if you’re in sexual sin because it’s big and it’s heavy because you matter so much, He loves you so much He doesn’t want those consequences for you. And you know what? It’s not like you’re enhancing His reputation.

When you’ve got those issues and then you tell someone about Christ or tell them where you go to church, guess what their opinion is? “Yeah, that’s what I thought Christians were like.”

There’s a lot at stake. I encourage you, before you walk out the doors today, determine what you will do, before the Creator of the universe, about being sexually pure and clean and you can leave forgiven, restored, and get tied in with others to help you gain victory. We’re all in this boat together.

Moving on. You motivate, you teach, now notice he affirms them. And, by the way, you need to hear this. He affirms them, where? At the point of their greatest progress.

And then, what I love, too, is that we don’t often think about, “How could you talk about people struggling with sexual purity?” But I’ve got a good, good friend who is discipling a gal right now. And she’s really starting to grow spiritually and she’s in the Bible and she’s growing and it just came out here after quite a time, she says, “You know, I’m starting to get the feeling that God may not want my boyfriend and I to live together.”

Praise God! You know, we’re on a journey, we’re in process so look what he says. He says, “Now about brotherly love, we don’t need to write you for you yourselves have been taught by God how to love each other; and in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet, we urge you, brothers, do so more and more.” Do you get this? Right after, by the way, affirmation is an excellent thing to give right after you’ve had to do a hard teaching.

Notice also that affirmation needs to be specific. He didn’t say, “Yeah, you’re a nice church, I hear some good reports.” He takes the most valued behavior, and their point of greatest progress, and he specifically says, “You are loving well and, man, I’m proud of you! Your love is awesome! Way to go, Thessalonians!”

Wouldn’t it be good to hear that after someone just busted you right between the eyes, spiritually, and you realize, “Wow, I’m not even on first base, sexually, in terms of purity in my life, as a Thessalonian.”

But God’s working in my whole life. And I’m going to deal with that but that doesn’t mean God doesn’t care. And it doesn’t mean Paul is down on me. It means he wants me to be the man or the woman, for God’s glory and my good, that I can be.

Affirmation, then, is followed by correction. And as we move to this last, little section, this grows out of a misinterpretation and miscommunication, possibly, of some teaching the apostle Paul did on the end times, on the return of Christ. And he taught, “Jesus is coming back, Jesus is coming back just as He ascended so He’ll return.”

But what happened is, at least part of the group heard this and thought to themselves, “You know, it could be today.” Well, that’s right. It could be tomorrow. And then they looked around and thought, “Boy, this is a loving church.” I mean, whenever you have a need people just step up and take care of you. You need a meal, they give you a meal.

And so a certain group that was starting to grow said, “You know what? There’s no use going to work today because Jesus may be back and I want to be ready. And why go to work when all these other loving Christians can take care of me?”

But notice how correction comes after affirmation. By the way, that’s a good way to do it. You need to affirm, encourage, and then correction needs to be, do you remember? You need to correct any attitude, or action, that is thwarting their spiritual progress.

That means there are a lot of things you don’t correct… parents, Chip. That means there are a lot of things that are really not that big a deal, it just bugs you. But if it’s an attitude or an action that is thwarting their progress then you correct. And when you correct, how do you do it? Do it after you affirm them.

How do you do it? You do it practically, positively, and specifically. Paul’s correction is, “Be responsible, make an impact.” He could have said, “Hey, man, what’s the deal? Bunch of loafers, bunch of slackers, you’re not going to work, you’ve misinterpreted what I’ve said, man, I’m up to here with you guys. Get a job!”

Now, that would have been true. That would have been true. But that’s not how he did it. Notice how positively he does it. He says at verse 11, “Making your ambition to do three things: Lead a quiet life, two, to mind your own business, and, three, to work with your hands,” not highly esteemed in that day, “just as we told you.” So he’s reminding them.

Now, the first little thing here about their ambition, leading a quiet life doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t talk anymore. The opposite or antonym of this word is, “the restlessness that grows out of selfish ambition.”

See, he says, it’s not “quiet” like, “Ooh, don’t say anything.” It’s quiet in terms of, “Get your life focused on God’s agenda, instead of this restlessness that comes in trying to fulfill your own all the time.”

Secondly, he said, “Mind your own business.” And that doesn’t mean that, you know, you don’t talk to other people and help them out. It says, “Hey, basically, you know, pay your own bills, take care of your own house, get your own life under control.” And, third, he gives them a practical way to do it, “Get a job!”

And not just the jobs that you think are up here or there. He said, “Hey,” he gives great dignity to working with your hands. Now, why? Why does he do that? He says there are two reasons. “In order that,” or, “so that our daily life may win the respect of outsiders.” Our testimony is on the line.

“And so that you will not be dependent on anyone.” “Hey, don’t suck the life out of the group of the church. Get a job, support yourself, and, you know what? People who don’t show up, people that don’t work, people that are idle – that’s not a good testimony.”

And so you see this inspirational encourager, the apostle Paul. And he sees this group like a diamond in the rough. And he sees them in this black, pagan culture and he motivates them and he helps them see beyond their horizons. And then He teaches or instructs them in their most strategic area of need. And then he affirms them in their area of greatest progress. And then, finally, he corrects them.

Wouldn’t it be great to be the person that someday, someone in a small group or across a coffee table, or in a restaurant, in casual conversation, would say your name and then behind it say, “They’re the ones that made the big difference in my life.