The sermon, titled 'Some Marks of A Life That Adorns the Gospel,' is based on 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12. It discusses how Christians can live lives that adorn the Gospel through certain characteristics: leading a quiet life, minding one's own business, and working with one's own hands. The speaker emphasizes that these qualities contribute to a life that reflects the Gospel positively to outsiders. The sermon also highlights the importance of distinguishing between turmoil caused by faithfulness and that caused by personal faults, suggesting that true peace should not be sought at the expense of faithfulness. The text encourages Christians to live productive lives not just to sustain themselves but also to be able to give to those in need. The sermon concludes by urging believers to ensure that their lives are consistent with the Gospel they preach, making it compelling rather than repelling to outsiders, and emphasizes that these behaviors should stem from an inward transformation brought about by faith in Christ.

Turning your Bibles to 1st Thessalonians chapter 4. Sermon text this morning is 1st Thessalonians 4, 11, and 12. I will start reading in verse 1. Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God. For you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you should abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God, that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the LORD is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore, he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us his Holy Spirit. 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 toward those who are outside and that you may lack nothing." The title of the sermon this morning is some marks of a life that adorns the Gospel. There's a life, a pattern of life that adorns the Gospel that is characterized by things that bring credit to the Gospel, that make the Gospel compelling, make the Gospel appealing. And the opposite is also true. There is a pattern of life that brings discredit on the Gospel.

There are characteristics of life that make the Gospel not appealing, not attractive, not compelling. And that's really what is before us in the text today. We are given by Paul and Silvanus and Timothy some marks of a life that adorns the gospel. We want our life to adorn the gospel. To bring credit and not discredit to the gospel.

We are in a section that began at the beginning of the chapter in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 1 and it's about growing in walking to please God. So We're supposed to walk to please God. We're supposed to have a pattern of life that God finds pleasing. And we have to grow in that. You start out as a Christian not pleasing God very much, because you have all these broken patterns in your life, even though you've been pardoned and forgiven.

That doesn't mean that the patterns are all swept away on day one. You began a life of growth, and a life of learning how to please God more and more. That's what this whole chapter has been about. The first thing that we were brought to is something that we need to keep far away from, its sexual immorality. We are to abstain from sexual immorality in all its forms.

So as we are growing in walking to please the Lord, there are things that we should keep way back from. One of those is sexual immorality, there are many others. Last week we were given something that we should cultivate, nurture, feed in our lives. That was love and a specific kind of love. It was brotherly love.

There is a special love between Christians. It's not a different category. It's in the category of love. It's like love towards outsiders. But it has some particular manifestations like family love.

It's a very close knit kind of love. It's birthed out of being adopted into a family so that we all have one father. We have one father, we're all growing to try to imitate this good father. As we do that, we love our brothers and sisters. It's brotherly love.

And we're to increase more and more. This week, our text ends with a consideration of how we walk towards outsiders. So that's how we're going to end. In thinking about our pattern of life towards those who are outside the faith. In other words, we're not of the world anymore.

Once we've been adopted, we have this good father. We're not of the world anymore, but we're still in the world, and we're still going to be having interactions with those who are outside. Will those interactions adorn the Gospel or bring reproach on the Gospel? That is really where our text takes us to today. Pattern of life, again, as we've been talking for a number of weeks now.

Pattern of life. What characterizes your life? And will that pattern adorn the Gospel or bring reproach on the Gospel? As we live out our lives, not of the world, but in the world, still relating to people who have not yet believed, and may never believe. As we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer.

God, I thank you for this text. I pray that you would work in your people by your spirit to demonstrate in our lives the power of Jesus Christ to change us. I pray that through time as the months and years pass, that more and more our lives will be a demonstration that Jesus reaches into lives full of sin and He transforms sinners. He not only pardons, but He changes sinners. And that our lives would adorn the Gospel.

They would make the Gospel attractive and compelling to the outsiders who are looking at your people. May it be so in Jesus' name, amen. Okay, like last week and like next week, we only have two verses. So we're just going to keep taking things verse at a time. So, hopefully you have your Bibles open to 1 Thessalonians 4.

I'd like to read verse 11, follow along as I read, and then I'd like to talk about verse 11. 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 11, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy write, 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. In this verse we have three life characteristics for Christians to aspire to. So if you're taking notes on handout and filling in blanks, it's three characteristics. Three life characteristics for Christians to aspire to.

This verse begins at that you also aspire to. So it is hooking us back to the last two verses where we considered love and brotherly love and how we should increase in love. So it's a follow on to that thought. It's actually the same sentence. So we're not far afield from that at all.

And we're being given things that we're to aspire to. The NASB and the NIV are translations that render that. Make it your ambition. So, okay, here's the thought. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are giving us the target.

A target that we are to aspire to in our pattern of life. We are to have some ambitions in life and we are given those ambitions. Aspire to this. Make this the target. Make your life point towards these characteristics.

And again, it's said in the same breath with seeing love increase. So these cannot be inconsequential things. If it's in a sentence after the colon with love, these can't be little things. These are important matters that we're being brought to. And here are the three life characteristics that Christians are told to aspire to.

Number one, a quiet life. Christians are to lead, to aspire to lead a quiet life. Now a proper understanding depends on proper definitions. That's always true. I think it's particularly true when we're talking about a quiet life.

In other words, if you mis-define the terms, you end up thinking something totally unbiblical from a Bible text. So we don't want to end up there. And so I want to try to draw the lines carefully about what this does mean, aspiring to live a quiet life, and what it does not mean. Aspiring to lead a quiet life does not mean that a quiet life should be sought as the ultimate virtue. Meaning, bought at any price.

Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are not teaching here that we should buy a quiet life at any price. We are being told that It is an ambition that we would have a quiet life, we would lead a quiet life, we should aspire to that. But that is not the same thing as saying, buy this at any price. Listen to Jesus in Matthew 10. It's only a couple of verses so I'm not going to ask you to turn there although you're welcome to but in Matthew chapter 10 verses 33 through 39 Jesus says this, do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.

I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it. And he who loses his life for my sake will find it. What Jesus is saying in Matthew chapter 10 does not sound like a quiet life to me. He's talking about the members of your own household being your enemies.

And so Jesus is saying in Matthew chapter 10 that faithfulness might wreck the quietness of your life. If you embrace the gospel and live faithfully according to the gospel, the quietness of your life might be more than disturbed. It might be wrecked. It might be ruined. But that is not to say that Jesus and Paul are teaching opposite things.

They're both teaching true things that should be properly understood. A quiet life is not to be bought at the price of faithfulness. In other words, if you have to abandon the gospel in your family relationships in order to get that quietness of life, you can't pay that price. That's what Jesus is saying. You have to be willing to take up your cross and forfeit peace sometimes in order to be faithful to your king.

Or listen to this. This is 1 Peter chapter 4 verses 14 through 16. Again, it's going to sound like Peter is teaching something that is opposite to what is in 1 Thessalonians, but that's not true. This is in 1 Peter chapter 4 verses 14 through 16. Peter writes, If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. Here we have another text in 1 Peter 4 where it doesn't sound like a quiet life. It's not describing a quiet life.

But Peter makes a very important distinction. He makes a distinction that there's a couple of different kinds of turmoil. One, we should be satisfied with. If turmoil comes into your life because of Christ, because of serving him, following him, obeying him, being faithful to him, be content with that lack of peace in your life. If you suffer as a Christian, we can actually rejoice because God is glorified when we suffer as Christians.

But he makes a distinction. He says that's not the only kind of turmoil there is in life. Sometimes we suffer, sometimes the quietness of our life is disturbed because of our own sins and stupidity. We should not accept that. We should go to work on that.

So there's a key distinction that's being made here and I think it works right into our text because he names one of those areas of stupidity and sin where sometimes we suffer, where sometimes the quietness of our lives is greatly disturbed when he says don't suffer as a busybody in other people's matters. Now this is going to come right into our text. So if you forfeit peace and quiet because you are faithful to Christ, you accept that. It brings glory to God. But if you forfeit peace and quiet in life because of your sins and stupidity, then that has caused a repentant change.

And that includes being a busybody in other people's matters, which he's going to begin to talk about in our text in 1 Thessalonians. We see this in the experience of the Thessalonians in Acts. In Acts chapter 17, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy have come to town, they've preached, they've made converts, and what happens? Jason gets dragged out of his house, he gets dragged in front of the authorities, and he's accused of causing an uproar. Falsely accused of causing an uproar.

And of teaching that there is another king, Jesus. They are guilty of that. So, then what does it mean? I've sort of explained it away. I don't mean to explain the whole concept away, but I think it's important that we start with what it does not mean so that we don't end up with a very unchristian idea that we buy peace and quiet in life through compromise.

That's not what is being taught here. There's a text that I think helps us understand what it does mean. That's 1 Timothy chapter 2. So please turn there. 1 Timothy chapter 2.

Christians aspire to lead a quiet life even though that's not guaranteed and even though faithfulness to the gospel might deprive you of it. Aspiring to something is very different than being guaranteed something. Isn't that true? You make it your ambition, you aim at it, You don't get everything that you aim at. We're not guaranteed a quiet life, though we should aspire to a quiet life.

That is the actual calling in the text is to aspire to it. 1 Timothy Chapter 2, I'd like to read verses 1 through 3. Follow along. Paul writes to Timothy, Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.

I think this is intimately connected with what we have in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4. Paul tells Timothy that he should be and should be leading in prayer for all authorities. Why? So that we can lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and reverence. There are certain circumstances that lend itself to a quiet and peaceable life which allows Godliness and reverence to thrive.

And so we should pray that God would use our authorities to give us those circumstances where we can live quiet and peaceful lives so that godliness and reverence flourishes in our lives, in our churches, in our communities. In 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 we're told to aspire to a quiet life. And here in 1 Timothy chapter 2 we are told to pray for all who are in authority so that we can have quiet and peaceable lives. And the key phrase is, in all godliness and reverence. You should aspire to a life where godliness and reverence can flourish.

I've been reminded by this so clearly in the couple of visits to prison that I've made. I'm visiting Matthew Jackson monthly in prison. And in the things that we talk about, in the things that Matthew and Eric are facing in prison with the circumstances that God now has them in, it is harder to live a life of godliness and reverence than it is for you and me because we're in very different circumstances. Life in central prison isn't like life next to the library in Youngsville, where I live, or where you live. You're brought into circumstances, you're brought into relationship with unbelievers in close living quarters with them in a way that makes living a life of godliness and reverence more difficult.

It's hard for godliness and reverence to flourish in those circumstances. And the point is this, though Christians may be falsely accused, and though Christians are often falsely accused, Christians are not agitators by nature. Meaning they are not looking for trouble. Trouble might find them because of the gospel and because of faithfulness. But they're not looking for it.

They don't delight in it. Trouble is never the intended end, either within the people of God or without the people of God. Christians are not by nature agitators. In Men's Bible study on Monday morning I threatened to title the sermon, Don't be a pot stirring moocher. But I think that rolls the whole text together actually.

Don't be a pot stirring moocher. For those from Columbia, A pot stirrer is someone who is always stirring up trouble. Why? Because it's their hobby. They're an agitator by nature.

If they can pit one person against another person, they'll do it just for the fun of it. That's a pot stirrer. And if you have enough young children, from time to time you'll have pot stirring happening among the siblings. Pitting one against the other just for the sport of it. Christians are not that by nature.

And we're coming to this, but a moocher is someone who has no real need to be dependent, but they're making choices that make them dependent. They're always looking for others to supply the things that there is no good reason they can't supply for themselves. That's a mutual. So Paul and Silvanus and Timothy come to us Christians and they say don't be a pot-stirring mutual. Don't be someone who loves controversy for the sake of controversy.

That loves to agitate for the sake of agitation. That loves to Depend on others when there's no good reason why you can't depend upon yourself. Don't be a pot-stirring moocher. There's another text that I think helps us, and it's Romans 12. Turn to Romans 12.

By the way, as we're leaving 1st Timothy 2, we should obey 1st Timothy 2 and we should pray for all who are in authority of us so that we can lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. As our leaders lead in a different direction, and the culture that we're living in goes in a different direction, we're on a different trajectory, it's going to be harder and harder to live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. We're going to be coming into circumstances where it's hard for godliness and reverence to flourish. What should we do about that we should be praying for our leaders. God would turn this ship so that we're not brought into circumstances where it's hard to be godly and it's hard to be reverent.

Alright, now Romans 12. I'd like to read verses 17 and 18. Romans 12, 17 and 18. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.

If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. I think this is exactly what Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are saying in our text. If it is possible, as much as it depends on you, and not everything does, live peaceably with all men. And he actually tells us in Romans 12, Paul does, one of the ways to do that, repay no one evil for evil. This is one of the ways in which we aspire to lead a quiet life, is that we don't respond in kind.

If you repay evil for evil, if you respond in kind every time someone mistreats you, you can write off a quiet life right now. People are going to treat you in ways they shouldn't treat you. If you respond in kind, you lose your quiet life. As much as it depends on us, we should live peaceably with all men, recognizing that it doesn't always depend on us. If Christians don't have peace today, we should be working to have it tomorrow.

I think that's what it means to aspire to lead a quiet life. To have it as an ambition of ours that we're brought into circumstances by God where we can lead a quiet life. We might not have it today with our family because of faithfulness to the Gospel issues. But if we don't have it today, we want it tomorrow and we're working to have it tomorrow. This is what we're being called to in our text in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

So I'm developing the three characteristics of life for Christians to aspire to. The first one was a quiet life. We should aspire to that. We should have that as our ambition. Here's the second thing.

A well-managed life. They're filling in blanks. It's well-managed. A well-managed life. That's the characteristic.

That is a characteristic of a Christian life lived well. Now the actual phrase is to mind your own business. That is word for word what's in the text. To mind your own business. And there's two sides to that coin.

I'm going to explain why I have equated that with a well managed life. Here's the first side of the coin. What we hear, when we hear, mind your own business. What does your brain translate that into when you hear mind your own business? Your brain translates it into don't mind my business, get out of my business, stay out of my business.

Right? That's what we hear. If you hear somebody say to another person, mind your own business. That's what they're communicating. Stay out of my business.

Nothing will deprive me of a quiet life quicker than meddling in somebody else's business. So these things are tightly related, right? We're aspiring to lead a quiet life, and we're to mind our own business. You can see how those things are connected. Go meddling and see how long the quiet lasts.

Go stick your nose in everybody else's business and see if they leave you alone. That was explicitly said in 1 Peter 4 when we went there and looked at it. You can suffer as a busybody in other people's matters. Paul is making the same connection that Peter makes. You want to suffer for your own sin and stupidity?

Go metal. Go mind other people's businesses. But there's another side to that coin that we might miss because we have such a strong draw to mind your own business equaling stay out of my business. But the other side of the coin is that We all have real business that really needs to be minded. So there's more here than just stay out of other people's business.

We're actually being assorted by Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to really mind our own business. I have real business that really needs my attention. It really needs to be minded. It really needs time and effort and attention. And I should give my time, effort and attention to my business.

When I look at the Greek words that form this phrase, I think a good Translation would be be busy with your own In other words the Greek word behind mind Can also easily be translated be busy with busy yourself with So be busy with your own is a good translation of these Greek words also. There's nothing wrong with the translations that are offered by the good English translations at all. I'm just saying if you go and you look at the lexicons and you explode it out into something larger, you would get something like this. Busy yourself with your own things. And to translate it that way gets us out of our normal track of how we hear.

Mind your own business. It's an exhortation to busy ourselves with our own things. Christians are stewards. They are given resources, often given lavish resources in relationships and actual physical material resources too. And we're to be stewards of that.

We didn't give ourselves that. The Bible teaches us that God gave us that. God gave us our relationships. God gave us our material resources. God gave us our spheres of responsibility and we're stewards of that, of our relationships, of our material possessions, of our spheres of authority and responsibility.

We've been entrusted by God and we're to be faithful with those trusts and that requires time and attention. The things that God has entrusted to us fall apart if we don't give them our time and attention. I'm trying to think of the category of life that you can just let go on cruise control indefinitely and it doesn't fall apart. It doesn't totally disintegrate, evaporate, turn into a mess. The point being, I don't have time to meddle.

Not only is it wrong for me to meddle, I don't have time for it because of the relationships and the material resources and the areas of responsibility that God has given me. They need my time and attention. And most days I feel like they need more time and attention than I actually even have. How can I reallocate to meddling in your business? When I meddle, I steal.

When you meddle, you steal from the things that God has entrusted you with. You're stealing. God trusted you with things and you're a steward and they require time and attention so you should mind your own business. You should busy yourself with your own things. Because they are not your own things.

They are God's things that He has entrusted to you. So we are working through these three characteristics of life for Christians to aspire to. A quiet life was number one. A well managed life was number two, where we don't mind other people's businesses but we actually give our time and attention to our own things. And three, a productive life.

Words in the text are to work with your own hands. To produce. Christians are supposed to have productive lives. Now is this a requirement for everyone to engage only in manual labor. Work with your own hands.

That's the literal interpretation, but I don't think that's what's being taught by Paul and Silvanus and Timothy. I think they're saying this. Even if it requires engaging in the most basic, least esteemed occupations, work to supply your needs, work to be productive. Even if it means that. Even if it means that you engage in the most basic things, in the least esteemed things, You should be productive.

You should supply your own needs. Now the Greeks despised manual labor. I think it's important that this is said in 1 Thessalonians. This teaching is brought into a Greek culture. So the Greeks, in Greek culture, manual labor is for the numbskulls.

The people that can't do anything else. And we're being taught that is not the Christian ethic. Okay, that honest labor is God glorifying labor. And we're being called to honest labor, diligent labor to supply our own needs. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy modeled this very thing.

Look back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 9. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 9, For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil, for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you we preach to you the gospel of God." In 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 9 they're talking about their pattern of life among the Thessalonians. And they say we didn't depend on you, we labored day and night. We toiled away. We worked double time.

We labored among you to preach the gospel and we labored to provide for ourselves so we wouldn't be dependent on you. This is exactly what they're calling the Thessalonians to in our text in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Labor hard. Almost certainly the labor being done by Paul and Silvanus and Timothy that is referenced in chapter 2 verse 9 is the working with their hands. This is exactly what we see when Paul goes to Corinth in 1 Corinthians.

Excuse me, in Acts 18 verse 3, Paul is in Corinth and he drums up a tent making business with Aquila and Priscilla. And they're working together as tent makers. They're working together with their hands so they don't have to be dependent on the Corinthian Church. Just more of the same in the life of Paul. And that is what he's calling the Thessalonians to.

Listen to Ephesians chapter 4 verse 28. I think this gets right to the heart of the matter. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 28. Paul writes, Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands, what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need." So Paul starts, Ephesians chapter 4 verse 28, talking about an illegitimate way, an improper way to sustain yourself. Stealing.

That's not a Christian way to sustain yourself is to take from others. So he begins by talking about the illegitimate. Let him who stole steal no longer. Stop it. Stop doing that.

But rather let him labor working with his hands what is good. So he's taking us from the illegitimate to the legitimate. Which is to work hard, to labor with your hands, what is good. To make an honest living. He's pointing us to an honest living.

Why? So that you can care for yourself and sustain yourself? Yes. But more than that, listen to the end, that he may have something to give him who has need. This is the Christian ethic.

Honest work for honest pay, so that we can sustain ourselves, yes, but also so that we have extra in order to give. The Christian ethic is that we labor diligently so that we're givers not takers. That's the target. The Christian ethic, in other words, what the Bible says of right and wrong, it says this is right. That we labor diligently and honestly, so that we can provide for ourselves and more.

We're in a position to give to others when they need. Christians work and are productive. If you inherit $10 million tomorrow, you should still work. This is what the Bible teaches. Christians are workers.

Christians are productive. We don't just work because we have needs. We work because God made mankind to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth and subdue it and to bring things into order and to produce things. As Genesis chapter 1, from the beginning God put man in the garden before sin and he gave him work to do. Christians are workers.

Christians are producers. So, if you get the good news tonight that you've inherited 10 million dollars, by all means take some weeks and to rejoice in the blessing that God has brought into your life. I'm not saying that. The domes get the ten million dollar check slipped in the door this afternoon. There will be some weeks of rejoicing at the blessing that God has brought into our life.

And then I pray we'll get back to work, to produce something. Now that might change the work that you do. That might allow you to work on some other things that you wish you could work on and produce now that you're not able to because of the current circumstances of your life. I'm not denying that. I'm just saying that it's not the Christian ethic that we get the ten million dollar windfall and then we say I'm never working again, I'm never producing again, that is un-Christian.

Because, if you do get the ten million dollar check tonight, God did that. God gave you that. It's not yours just to spend on yourself. Christians don't think that way. Christians think, wait, God's giving me resources to be a blessing.

God's given me resources to put in place so that he would be worshiped. How can I best use this ten million dollars? You can be sure it's not just to spend it all on yourself. And this verse ends with this phrase, as we commanded you. And this is important because they're saying, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are saying, we commanded you these things when we were there in person, and now we're writing you to reinforce these things.

It may very well be because Timothy brought back a report that these things weren't in order yet. That's possible, though the text doesn't say it. We do know this. In the next letter, in 2 Thessalonians, we're going to find out that these things are definitely still in disorder, and it's going to be to the point where it's time to bring discipline into the lives of the disorderly who will not work and provide for themselves. So this is going to be important.

They were there in person, they instructed them in these things in person, as we commanded you. Now, they're not there in person, they're writing back to reinforce things that are very important, and they're talking about this. This is number two. And then in the next letter we're going to find out they were disregarded. On this matter, they were disregarded and it's time to escalate this and discipline people who will not be orderly in their lives.

Now to our text, let's look at verse 12. I'm going to read 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 12 and then talk about it. Please follow along. That you may walk properly toward those who are outside. And that you may lack nothing.

Here we have the results of those characteristics. If you're filling in blanks on the handout, it's results. The results of those characteristics. Verse 11 gives us three characteristics of life for Christians to aspire to, and verse 12 gives us the results of those characteristics. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are telling us why it matters.

They're telling us what's at stake. That you may walk properly toward those who are outside. We're talking about our walk. It's the same Greek word that's used in verse one where we read, just as you received from us, how you ought to walk to please God. Remember it was pattern of life.

Not a snapshot of life, which might be good, bad, or ugly in any given moment. But we're talking about the pattern of your life, what characterizes your life, what you're usually like. My pattern of life is an outward-facing testimony. You got that? I'm a Christian.

I've taken on the name of God just in the fact that I'm a Christian. I call myself a Christian. The name of Christ on me. I follow Christ. I'm a Christian.

And now my pattern of life is an outward facing testimony. Meaning I'm not of the world anymore, but I'm still in the world and I'm still relating to unbelievers every day and they observe me. So what I'm normally like testifies. My pattern of life is an outward facing testimony and so is yours. If you profess Christ, if you're a Christian, if you've taken that name on yourself, then your pattern of life, what you're normally like is an outward-facing testimony.

Testifying to outsiders about what we believe is true. Pattern of life testifies about what we believe is true. Ostensibly, you're living out what you think is true. And about the power of God to transform our lives to match what we believe is true. So testifying to at least these two things.

Outward facing testimony, meaning billboard for the world. I think this is true and God has power to transform me to live like I think is true. Or not. Or not. Not a walk that is inconsistent with the label Christian testifies that I I don't think it's true.

Or that I do but the God of this gospel doesn't have the power to transform me. Either one of those is devastating to the testimony of the Lord's people. If you live a life, if you have a pattern of life, what you're usually like, that doesn't match the label Christian. The label Christian. This is what Christians believe is true.

You're either testifying, your billboard is saying, I don't really believe that. Or, the God of this book is dead, is powerless. Can't really make me into that image. And that's devastating to the testimony of the church. So if I aspire to lead a quiet life and I give attention to my own business, not yours, And if I work diligently to provide for my needs, that is a testimony of something.

That testifies that I believe these things and that I'm actually being transformed into something consistent with that. My quiet life and my giving attention to the things that God has given to me and working diligently to provide for my needs that is the testimony that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are calling us to at the same time. If I'm a pot stirring moocher, that's a testimony too. I love to agitate as a hobby. That has nothing to do with faithfulness.

That's not what we're talking about. People will be agitated by faithfulness. That's not what I'm talking about. People will be agitated by faithfulness. That's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about the sport of agitation. And if I'm always looking to others to provide the things that there's no good reason I can't provide for myself And that's a testimony of something too and the loss won't be converted by a proper walk but they surely despise an improper one. In other words, I don't believe that lifestyle evangelism is sufficient. Nobody gets saved by looking at your life and saying That's so compelling I'll trust Christ without a testimony, a verbal testimony of their own standing before God and their own need for Christ. So lifestyle evangelism is real but it's not sufficient by itself.

There must be a preaching of the gospel as well as a living of the gospel. But an improper walk toward those who are outside can ruin it all. That's what I'm saying. Can spoil the most precise, accurate, wonderful explanation of the Gospel. It can make outsiders despise us and our gospel.

Listen to what Paul says in 1 Timothy 3 verse 7. Now, 1 Timothy chapter 3 is qualifications for an elder. So this is one of those. 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 7, a qualification for an elder. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside lest he fall into reproach in the snare of the devil.

We've looked at the qualifications for elders many times and I say the same thing every time. This is not a super Christian, this is just a verified Christian. Meaning the things, the character qualities that elders are called to are not unique to elders. All Christians are called to these things but you have to make sure these are proven in the life of a man before you put him in leadership. That's all it means.

So this is not super Christian stuff. This is Christian stuff. We must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest we fall into reproach. So that is the first thing that said, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside. Here's the second thing, that you may lack nothing.

This is the second result of having these life characteristics that Christians are to aspire to. That you may lack nothing. The NASB translates it this way. And not be in any need. The ESV translates it this way, and be dependent on no one.

The thought in each of these translations is that you have eliminated personal lack through diligent work. Okay, so they're, each of these three translations are saying the same thing in a little different way. You've eliminated personal need, personal lack through diligent work. Dependence is not necessarily sinful. Dependence doesn't have to be sinful.

No, of course it doesn't have to be. It is not by definition sinful. But there is such a thing as sinful dependence. So it would be a grave mistake to say you have a need that's sin. Your Dependence is sinful by definition.

No, no, no, Christians don't do that. We're a thousand miles away from that. Christians recognize that often people have legitimate dependencies, legitimate reasons, legitimate circumstances that have brought them into need, and that our brothers and sisters in Christ should jump in and help. But there is such a thing as sinful dependence, where it's our lack of diligence, or how we've thought about things wrongly that has brought us into the place of dependency. The Macedonian churches are a great example of this.

The church in Thessalonica is one of the Macedonian churches. In 2 Corinthians chapter 8, Paul commends the Macedonian churches for giving beyond their means. You're giving way more money than you really have to spare. Why? They were giving this to the churches in Judea who were experiencing a tremendous famine.

There is no rebuke for the Judean churches for being in a place that has a famine. Their dependence wasn't sinful. Their dependence was because God brought them into circumstances that stripped away their resources and they had legitimate need. And yet there is such a thing as being sinfully dependent. Being a moocher.

Looking to others to provide the things that There's no good reason on earth that you shouldn't be providing for yourself. You just don't want to work. You just don't want to be diligent. That's sinful. Here's the conclusion.

If we are sinfully disruptive, or sinfully dependent, it defames the gospel. I'm going to say that again. Christians are sinfully disruptive. They're agitators or sinfully dependent. They're moochers.

It defames the gospel. It makes the gospel unattractive. It makes outsiders want nothing to do with the gospel that we proclaim. The other side. If Christians are diligent to be peaceful, if Christians are diligent to be productive, it adorns the gospel.

Both are true. And the chasm between them is massive. Our mission is the great commission. To take the gospel to the end of the earth and not just preach it but to live it in a compelling way. To preach it in a compelling way and to live it in a compelling way.

To live consistently with the gospel that we're preaching. If we're sinfully disruptive or sinfully dependent, it defames the gospel that we're preaching. But if we're diligent to be peaceful and quiet, if we're diligent to be productive, it adorns the gospel and makes it attractive. Three applications. Three applications.

One, are you a pot stirrer? Or do you aspire to lead a quiet life? Do you gravitate towards controversy? Sort of like a confrontational atmosphere. Most of us, I realize, are wired completely the opposite of that.

You hate confrontation, and so you won't even be faithful. That's more often our struggle, I think, by natural wiring. We have to ask this question. Are you a pot stirrer or do you aspire to lead a quiet life? Number two, whose business receives the priority?

Your own business or everybody else's business? What gets priority? We have the clearest exhortation in the world in this text to mind your own business. Really mind it. Really give your time and energy and attention to the things that God has given to you and you don't have time to meddle.

You don't have time to meddle. So Here's a follow-up question. This is still application two. What do your resources say? God's given you resources, He's given you relationships and material possessions and responsibilities.

Are they well attended? If you're like me, your house might be your biggest material resource. What's your house look like? Like is it well attended? How about the relationships that God has given you?

Are they well attended? Or do you need to reallocate resources back to the things that God has given you? To mind your own business? To be busy about your own things. Number three, are your days spent in productive activity?

Is that how you spend your days? Every day, talking about daily productive activity. Most of us talk about Most of us talk about how busy we are, but in our heart of hearts we know we can do twice as much as we do. Most of us complain about how busy we are. When I say most of us, I mean me.

I complain about how busy I am, but in my heart of hearts, I know I can do twice as much as I do. I need to repent. And I bet I'm not alone. Parents, we must help our children with this and insist on this with our children. We can't have worlds where they don't have anything productive to do.

We need to help them be productive and we need to insist that they're productive. Final comment. This easily becomes a pull yourself up by your bootstrap sermon. You have three characteristics And you can buckle down and do all three. And so can every unbeliever.

You don't need Jesus to buckle down and do all three. You can have a quiet life to serve yourself. Just to serve yourself. All three of these things are things that work well on planet Earth. They'll make your ride on planet Earth a lot more pleasant.

So all three of these things you can have an abundance. You can turn over a new leaf and work hard and do better and increase your comfort. You can aspire to a quiet life to serve yourself. That's not what Paul and Silvanus and Timothy were talking about. You can mind your own business and get better at your own things and get out of the trouble that comes from minding other people's businesses and it just be serving yourself.

And you increase your comfort and you're no better off. You can work diligently to provide for yourself and actually you can become quite prosperous in doing that. You just increase your comfort and serve yourself. But I want to say that I have zero interest in helping you become a more respectable unbeliever. That's not what this text is about.

Becoming a more respectable unbeliever. The calling of this text is for these characteristics to be an expression of an inward change of heart. Like a fundamental change of heart. The heart of stone for a heart of flesh, and then it works its way out into these characteristics in our lives. Not in a way that serves self, but in a way that glorifies God.

It starts with the atoning work of Jesus Christ. It starts with Jesus dying, so that we don't have to be consumed with serving ourselves anymore. All three of these things can be about nothing more than being consumed with self. But the calling of the text isn't that. The calling of the text is, be born again and then live to glorify God in these ways.

It's not self-serving at all. It's living to the glory of God. Let's ask the Lord to help us. Father, I thank you for this text. I do pray that we would be a people transformed by the atoning work of Jesus Christ.

That having a new heart would give us new patterns of life that adorn the Gospel. I do pray God that you would give us progress in all these things but keep us from doing this to serve ourselves more. Help us to be a light on a hill doing good works that they may be seen and that those who see would glorify our Father in Heaven. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.