Work & Love Like Jesus

Scripture Reading

You may be seated. Will you turn over in your Bibles with me to the book of 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. We are moving right along through this book. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. If you've gotten to Titus or Hebrews, James, Revelation, you're too far. Go a little bit back. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And we'll be looking this morning at verses 9 through 12. If you're using a pew Bible, you can find that on page 1050. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, beginning at verse 9.

This is the Word of the Lord, it is His perfect Word. It's worthy of all of our attention. Let's read it together. 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. And indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more. 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, that you may walk properly towards those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

Prayer for Illumination

Let's pray. Oh Father, we thank you so much for your word and we thank you for the blessing it is to sit under it. Lord, we pray that we might be students of Your Word now, and that Your Spirit might enlighten our eyes to see. Lord, we pray that this would not just be something we understand, but Father, we pray that we would feel it, know it, and live it. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Sermon

I was looking online as I was thinking about goals recently. And different people's goal list. Kind of like resolutions. Things I want to get better at. Things I want to do. And there were the normal things I expected. I want my health to get better. I would like to advance in my career. I would like to enjoy my family more. And I was sitting there shocked. I'm sure you were shocked too. You know, I didn't see a single instance of someone saying, I want to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Can you believe that? I never saw anybody say, I want to glorify God in everything I do.

And yet that's exactly what God's calling on our lives is. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 tells us whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it under the glory of God. This is where the Westminster Shorter Catechism picks up in the first question. What is the chief in the man? That's a fancy way of asking the question. What's your goal in life? To glorify God. And to enjoy Him forever. So we have to ask ourselves, really? in everything? Whether I eat, whether I drink, whatever I do, I should be glorifying God in everything? And the passage here today says, yeah. Yeah, in everything we do, we love like God's love. We glorify God in simple living. We glorify God and we love our neighbors in simple living.

We'll see that first as we look at the life of Jesus as our model for love and for work. And then we'll see the three commandments that God has given us in the second half of the passage, and lastly, the two results of following those commandments. So first, looking to Jesus as our model for both love and for work. Looking at our model for love and for work.

Look with me again at verse 9 and 10. 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. And indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more." Notice what it said in verse 9.

That you love one another, for who taught them that? For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. We spent a lot of time on that two weeks ago. What does it look like to love one another? This is what Jesus said. How did Jesus summarize the law? What's the first and greatest commandment? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

And Jesus fulfilled that law. But sometimes when we think of Jesus' love, We go straight to the cross. When we think of Jesus' love, sometimes we want to just jump straight to His sacrificial death on the cross. And that's true. That was the supreme way in which Jesus showed and demonstrated and proved His love toward us.

But Jesus had 33 years of living before that day. What was He doing? Why didn't God just make Jesus, boom, 33 year old man, right away, full grown, alright Jesus, you've been on the earth one hour, now go to the cross and die. Why did He have to live 33 years?

Well, He was fulfilling the whole law. This is what theologians call the active obedience of Jesus Christ. That Jesus was working. Jesus was raised by, for lack of a better term, a carpenter. or a construction worker, the word is a tecton, someone who built things with their hands. Jesus was born into a blue-collared family. He wasn't born into a white-collar, stay-at-home family. He knew what it was like to have calluses on his hands from helping his dad Joseph work.

Jesus is a boy. Do you remember that story when Jesus was at the temple? His parents leave him when he's about 12 years old, and he's at the temple, and his parents go to Jerusalem up to one of the feasts, and they all get in their caravan to head back up to Nazareth, and as they're going, you know, it's been three days' journey, and all of a sudden, where's Jesus? And you can imagine, have you ever lost a kid at like Walmart or something? It is scary. I remember being that kid. Thankfully, I haven't lost one of our kids yet. I'm sure it will happen eventually. But it is scary. And it's been days since she's seen her son.

And finally, you would expect a little boy to be at the toy shop or over in the market or someplace like that, but he's at the temple. And there, when they go to the temple, they find him. And there, the rabbis and him are conversing, and they're amazed.

How did this kid get all this wisdom? He's schooling the schoolteachers. And when Mary and Joseph confront him, do you remember what he said? Didn't you know I'd be about my father's work? Jesus, as a boy, was about his father's work, teaching the teachers how to interpret the Word. Jesus worked.

In John chapter 4, when Jesus is going to that meeting that we all know about, when he meets that Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus tells His disciples, He says, the text says, Jesus had to go to Samaria. By the way, that's not the normal route people would go, that was a long way. And by the time it was the middle of the day, I don't know how many of you were out yesterday at about noon, but it was hot, like really hot. Jesus took that long route to get up to the woman at the well, knowing He needed to meet this woman there. And when He got there, the text says He was tired. He was exhausted. He had just hiked mountains. He had just gone through the Ridge Road. He had just gone up and down the valleys to finally get to this well to meet this woman, and he is tired.

Jesus knew what it was like to have muscles that are aching and bones that are tired, because he had to be about his Father's work. Jesus himself said he came not to be served, but to serve. Jesus' active obedience was doing the work of His Father. He was preaching from town to town. I've always wondered as they push out in the boat with the disciples, He's in the boat there, and they're rowing and they're rowing, but what is Jesus doing in the boat? He's tired, so He goes to sleep. Why is He tired? Because the crowds have been pressing upon Him, because He's been preaching and teaching and healing and caring and pouring Himself out, working and working and working and working. Why?

Why was Jesus working? Jesus was working because He loved. Jesus was doing the work of His Father because His Father so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son to save the world. Jesus was about His Father's work because He loved His Father and He was doing His Father's work.

That's why when the Pharisees tried to confront Him, why He was working on the Sabbath, why He was healing on the Sabbath, He said, I have to be about my Father's work. I have to be showing this mercy. I have to be doing this ministry. I have to be pouring myself out because I love my Father and I love these people. Jesus is our model for work and for love.

Jesus worked so hard that even on His last night on the earth, during that day, what did He do? He carried His own cross. He carried that beam of wood up as far as he could until it collapsed, and they had to get Joseph Cyrene to help him out and finish carrying it. Jesus carried his own instrument of execution, straining with his body, working because of love. How do verse 9 and 10 connect with 11 through 12? Let me ask that question. How does verse 9 and 10 connect to verse 11 and 12? Let's read it together.

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. And indeed, you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more.

So you love each other, that's great. You love each other, you love each other, you love each other, that's wonderful. that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your hands as we commanded you that you may walk properly towards those who are outside and that you may lack nothing.

How does God switch from loving one another to, oh yeah, live a quiet life, work with your hands, mind your own business? Because the Lord is commanding us saying, that's one of the ways in which we show love towards one another, how we abound in love towards one another, is by following these commands. And indeed they are commands, verse 11, as we commanded you. So the three commands here are aspects of that great question, how do I love my neighbor? How do I love God and how do I love my neighbor? Well, the first one is live a quiet life. The first command from God for you today is to live a quiet life.

This is hard for some people in an American 21st century context where you have social media and everybody's got to be a celebrity, and everybody's got to be known, and everybody's got to make their thoughts out there, and everybody needs to get the attention. Everybody needs a participation award. Everybody needs to get up on the stage. Everybody needs the limelight a little bit.

And the scriptures are saying, just be satisfied with the good things God's given you. Don't draw attention to yourself. Don't always be wanting the limelight. And have the heart that John the Baptist had. What did John say when Jesus came? I must decrease and he must increase. Do people know you, and do they think of you, or do they think of you and their minds chase to Christ right away? Oh yeah, that was the guy who loved Jesus. That was the guy who loved the Scripture and would point us to Jesus. That was the guy who would live a quiet life. Be satisfied with living a quiet life.

Second command, this sounds bad, but it's right here in the Scriptures. The Greek is a little bit less than this, but mind your own things. Or as the New King James translation puts it here, mind your own business. Keep your nose out of other people's stuff.

You got your own house to worry about. You got your own things to deal with. You got your own logs in your own eye to deal with. I have enough problems in my family to deal with my family. You have enough problems in your family that you're wrestling through with your own family.

You don't need a bunch of busybodies coming. There's actually this interesting word, periegros in Greek, for someone being about business, someone being about work. But it's not a good, it's like always being about someone else's work. So in 1 Timothy chapter 5, when it gives a list of widows, it says, if there's a younger widow, don't put her on the widows list. Think of our modern social security. Don't put a young lady on social security, because what happens? They become a busybody and a gossip. The word for gossip is one of these funny words too, fluros. When I think of that word, I think of when Donald Duck gets mad and goes, oh, fluey. It's just gossip.

Don't be a gossip in a busybody, just mind your own business. Just worry about your house, your work, what you need to do. Just make your own bed and do your own job. This seems like really common sense stuff, but common sense is taught. How often, children, do your parents have to tell you, don't worry about your brother who is not doing his chore, you just do your chore. Or kids, how often do your parents have to tell you, don't worry about what your friend in school is doing, you just worry about your own work. Or how many bosses have to tell their employees, I know that they're the ones over there and they're slacking off, but you just worry about your own work.

Just worry about your own work. You don't need to worry about their work over there. If you're a manager, worry about your area. You don't need to worry about that area over there also. Mind your own things. Third command, work with your own hands. Work with your own hands. There's a quote by Luther. Luther wrote some amazing things on what's called vocation, God's calling in our lives. And Luther wrote about this passage, he said, the Christian life does not consist of such men as monks invent.

It does not drive people into the wilderness or cloister. It is Satan who can command you to forsake men. On the contrary, the Christian life sends you to people, to those that need your works. Do you hear that? The command here isn't go off into a solitary place by yourself like the monks, the cloisters of old. You don't need to go and hold yourself up in a monastery or go to some Byzantine monastic place and there you're going to find inner peace with God and stuff like that. No, no. What is God's command to you? To work with your hands and to give to those in need. Work with your hands. This is God's will for you. This is God's plan for you. This is why God made you. So often we think of work. So often we think of work and it's like, ah, I don't want to work. Have you ever thought about Genesis though? When did God create work? When did God create work?

Was it after the weeds came up? Was it after the curse? Was it after He had said that they were going to toil for their food? Nope. It was before that. It was before sin. It was before the fall. He gave man dominion over the world to cultivate it, to care for it, to work with their hands before sin was ever there.

Work is a blessing from God. Work is a blessing from God. Let me say that again. Work as is given from God is a blessing from God. This is why we're able to work to the glory of God. We live in a society that is consumed with pleasure. I mean, everything you watch online, or on TV, or hear on radios, is just, entertain me, take me away from work, I hate my work, I can't wait till Friday.

And the Lord is saying, no, work with your hands. I was amazed, I was just kind of overhearing a couple guys talking at the VBS program, they were just in the back talking, and they were just saying, it's just so hard to get people to work. There are so many jobs right now that we can't even find people to fill them. And when you will fill them, they just won't put in an honest day's work.

Brother, if we need any practical command from the Lord that comes from a Christian ethic of loving God and loving our neighbor, it's a Christian work ethic. To live a quiet life, to mind our business, and to work with our hands. We think of work as something outside of our Christian faith, but farming is a gift from God for you to work in. Teaching is a gift from God for you to work in. Raising children is a gift from God for you to work in. Fixing machinery is a gift of God for you to work in. Caring for your family is a gift of God for you to work in.

Whatever the Lord has given you to work to do, do with all your might as unto the Lord. Work. If it means tilling a garden, till it to the glory of God. If it means making your bed, children, make your bed to the glory of God. If it means doing your school work, do it to the glory of God. If it means caring for those in the hospital, or in a group home, do it to the glory of God. Work with your hands unto the glory of God.

I remember I was with a guy, we were in Arizona, this old pastor, and we were driving down the street, and it's like 110 degrees out in the Phoenix, I mean, like blazing hot. And we were standing there, and there was one street corner we passed, and there was a guy saying, homeless, please help, and he just drove right past him.

And then we came to the next intersection, there was a guy there, he just had a cooler and he had bottles of water and he was just selling a bottle of water for a dollar at a time. And he whipped out three dollars and he bought three bottles of water, there were only two of us. I asked, I said, why did you give money to him and not him?

He said, because this guy is willing to work for a living. This guy is just asking for charity. Brothers and sisters, there are times for need and for charity. But God created us to work. Now we're sinful though. And we twist work. Right? We're sinful and we make work our identity. So much so, and this is so baked into our Western culture, that my last name is Schneider. And Schneider in German means to cut or to tailor. And so my ancestors were tailors at one point.

And this is what we do, you know, you meet somebody and you find out their name, and they'll immediately tell you their occupation. Who they are, what they do for a living. But I love when I meet someone and they tell me about their family right away. Or they tell me about what their children are doing, or they tell me about what God is teaching them. God's given us work, but we can make our work our identity.

But if our identity is not in Jesus Christ, and it's just, my name is Brian, and I'm a pastor. Or my name is Mark, and I'm a farmer, and that's all I'm about. Or my name is Sandy, and I'm a teacher. I don't mean to just call you two out, but I'm looking at you. Whatever that identity is, and it's not, my name is blank, and I am a servant of the Most High Living God.

Our identity is supposed to be in Christ. Not in our work. Our work is what we do for His glory. But notice also it's for His glory. Work with your hands. But so often we work because we want to build our kingdom. Why did God give you work to do? Why did God give Adam and Eve work to do in the garden? Was it so Adam and Eve could build up the biggest and best storehouses and vats possible of all the good fruits and vegetables in the garden? No, it was for God's glory. It wasn't for their kingdom, it was for His glory. Were they working for Him or were they working for themselves?

It's easy to turn our work into an idol. And a few ways we can tell if If we're thinking about work sinfully, or we've misunderstood how we're supposed to work for the Lord, is our work hurting others? In my work, am I hurting other people, or am I loving other people? Remember, this command to work with our hands is specifically tied to verses 9 and 10, to abound in love more and more. Am I hurting people with my work, or am I blessing people with my work? Psalm 127 says that unless the Lord builds a house, the builders build in vain, and the Lord is the one who gives his loved ones sleep.

Are you working so hard that you are destroying the body that God has given you? Are you getting sleep? Or have you become such a workaholic that you don't get any sleep at all? And I'm not saying there aren't times where you need to stay up late or wake up early and work. But is this the consistent pattern of your life that you robbed yourself of the blessing that God's given you for sleep? It might be a sign that you're thinking about your work in a wrong way. Are you neglecting your primary ministry? Have you become so consumed about work that you neglect your family.

Brothers and sisters, this is one that I struggle with. One of the marks of a faithful elder is he manages his home well. You can't manage your home well if you're never home. That means your wife is managing your home. I welcome any of you to hold me accountable. I welcome any of you to, I'm telling you, this is an area in my life I have to actively repent of and making sure my work doesn't become an idol. And I neglect my family. That can happen to any man or woman.

Are you neglecting your family? Are you neglecting your devotions? Is your mind so consumed in your work and in what you're doing with your hands that you have no more mental, emotional, spiritual capacity to meditate on God's law, to read His Word, to pray. Is your mind tossed to and fro so much by your work that you cannot think about the things of God? You need an adjustment in your priorities. Laboring with our hands does not mean that we get to ignore the Tenth Commandment either.

If we become covetous and the only reason why we're working is because we want more stuff, like our neighbor has more stuff. We want a better tractor, like our neighbor has that tractor. Because we want a better car, like our neighbor has that car. Because we want a bigger house, like our neighbor moved to a bigger house. And we're just constantly keeping up with the Joneses. We've gotten wrong somewhere with our work.

So please take this as a command from God that we must labor with our hands, work with our hands. And we do so because we want to love God, we want to bring Him glory, and we want to love our neighbors as well. And if we keep these commands, there are two results of this obedience. I want you to look with me at verse 12, at the two results of this obedience. that you may walk properly towards those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

These are two principles that God gives here, that if we are those who will live quiet lives, if we are those who will work with our hands, if we are those who will mind our own business, will have respectable lives. Not just to people in the church, but to those outside the church.

I remember when I was in the Navy, my boss who shared the gospel with me, Dan, I was talking with somebody one time, and there was like a group of three of us around, and they were talking about how long they were going to be in the Navy, when this guy was retired, when that guy was going to retire, and somebody automatically came up and they said, oh yeah, Dan Phillips is never going to retire. And they're like, what do you mean he's never going to retire?

And they said, yeah, that guy believes that God actually called him to do this job. Maybe God called you to be a lawyer. Maybe God called you to be a doctor. Maybe God called you to be a banker. And maybe you have a respect in the community towards those outside that they say, I might not like that guy, but I know that he walks properly.

He doesn't stick his nose in everybody's business. He doesn't have a slack hand. He works hard and he lives an honest life. He seems like he's a man who actually loves people. Interestingly, this is also supposed to be the mark of an elder. He has a good reputation with those outside the church.

I remember I was in a Facebook group, you probably shouldn't be in too many Facebook groups, because they just fight with each other. In one of these Facebook groups they were saying, why don't American elders look more like certain types of people? And somebody brought out the point that they said, because if somebody is living these principles of life, it typically means that they are not destitute people. That they are not people in the community that somebody doesn't like.

But they have respect in the community. Because they keep their noses out of other people's business, because they work hard with their hands, because they live quiet lives, because they manage their household well. And in American culture, historically, we do these things and it means it will typically go well for us in life. And that's the second promise of this obedience, or this principle of obedience. Look with me at that second point in verse 12.

And that you may lack nothing. So you won't have need. Isn't it amazing? If you get a job and you work with your hands and you're diligent with your work, you'll get a paycheck. Wow, none of you guys gasped. If you diligently labor with your hands and you trust in the Lord, generally it will go well with you. And we might think, oh, this just seems so formulaic, it just seems so bad. There's got to be more about it, right? Brothers and sisters, this is the grace of God in the Christian law, in Christ's law.

He's saying, generally, if you labor with your hands, if you mind your business, if you're willing to live a quiet life, you'll not have much lack. It's not promising you're going to be rich. Don't throw me to synod as a health, wealth and prosperity preacher. I'm not saying that.

But generally, if you work, the Lord will prosper your work. Does that mean that you're always going to prosper in your work? No, the crops might fail. Does that mean you're always going to get the biggest paycheck? No, the Lord might humble you. Does that mean everything is always going to go well and everybody in the community is going to like you? No. Remember who he's writing to the first two chapters.

They were being under severe persecution in Thessalonica. But these principles stand. Generally, if we are those who are willing to love and work like Jesus Christ loved and worked, there are blessings that flow from it. This is part of the outflowing of grace.

This is why we go to God's Word, so we might learn how to love. So yeah, verse 12. that you may lack nothing. But sometimes you will lack. Sometimes you'll be in need. And that's where the church comes in. That's where others who labor with their hands, in the book of Ephesians it says that we're to labor unto the Lord that we might be able to give to those who are in need. This is why the deacons exist. This is why there's care for widows. This is why there's, when you have financial hardships, and by God's providence, not because we're lazy, but because God and His sovereignty put you in a position that you have need, Christians get to joyfully surround you and care for you.

So brothers and sisters, I pray that you get to go home this week. Go home this afternoon. Take a great covey nap, get a good day of rest. This is a day that the Lord has given you, the Lord's day where you don't have to do any work. Praise God that He's given us a day of rest.

Closing Prayer

But then when you go to work tomorrow, work to love your neighbor. When you go to work tomorrow, go to glorify God. Go that His kingdom might expand. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the blessing of work. We thank you that you give us hard things to do, but we thank you that we do not rest on our own strength, but that by the strength of Jesus Christ and your Spirit in us, Father, we pray that we might live quiet lives. That we, Lord, might be people like this word speaks about. Please, Lord, let us live it. Let us believe it.