Excel Still More

August 21, 2016 (090410)    NOTES NOT EDITED

Excel Still More

1Thessalonians 4:1-12

SIS:  As the world becomes increasingly hostile to the message of Christ, the Church needs to renew our resolve to pursue excellence in presenting the soul-saving message of the gospel.

About 2400 years ago, the noted physician, Hippocrates, from whom the Hippocratic Oath gets its name, gave us this famous saying, “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” His exact wording translated from Greek would likely have been, “"For extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure, . . . are most suitable.” 

If we take the teachings of Paul to the Thessalonians, the phrase might be worded, “Desperate times call for excellence in Church.” We are living in a day when “business as usual” in the Church simply will not suffice.  The blackness of evil continues to thicken and only the Light of the gospel can dispel it.  Even “good enough is not good enough” for a church today—if it ever were.

Thessalonica was a good church.  Paul had a very deep appreciation for the Church in the city of Thessalonica.  He, with the help of Timothy and Silas established this church sometime around 48-50 AD. It was strong, hard-working church composed mainly of Gentiles, with perhaps a few Jewish converts.  The city survives today as the second largest city in Greece, in the northern area called Macedonia.  By all measures, the Church at Thessalonica was a great church.

I think it is quite interesting that Paul points out the great faith and hard work of this church and says, "Now do more.  Now, do even better." Excellence is the true measure of greatness for a church.

No church ever "arrives," at her destination or "accomplishes" all her goals.  We should always be growing, always be doing more, and always seek to do what we do even better than we have ever done it before.  That's the meaning of the words, "Excel still more."

These three words in the NASB are actually two words in the original Greek -- perisseuēte mallon.  The word, perisseuete by itself means, "to possess in overabundance; a superabundance."  The HCSB translates these two words as, “Do so even more.”  “What they “possessed,” or “were doing,” was a “faith demonstrated by living in a way that pleased God.”  Paul as guided by the Holy Spirit wants to emphasize the pursuit of excellence to an even higher degree so he adds the adjective, mallon, which means more.  So Paul is saying that our love and service to Jesus Christ should be in "superabundance and even more," or "Excel still more." And, to make sure we really get what he is saying about excellence, he repeats it in verse 10.

¹⁰ In fact, you are doing this toward all the brothers in the entire region of Macedonia.  But we encourage you, brothers, to do so even more.

Let me ask you a question:  "When is our service to Jesus good enough?"  Here's the answer:  NEVER!  We can and should always seek to do more and to do better in our love and service to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

To outline how we can "Excel still more" I want to focus our study of the passage around the acrostic: EXCEL.  First, let's read together Paul's encouraging words and call to excellence in 1Thessalonians 4:1-12:

¹ Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. ² For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. ³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴ that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,  ⁵ not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. ⁷ For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. ⁸ So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you. ⁹ Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; ¹⁰ for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, ¹¹ and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, ¹² so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.

I want to begin our acrostic "excel" with the letter "c" which is right in the middle.

1.  C  is for Christ at the center of our lives (vv1; 11-12)

This is where everything starts.  This sets the tone for all our life and service -- and for all we will do or be in eternity.  We must get this right.

When you really set your heart to know what the will of God is in a passage of His Word, God will reward you with insights that may be missed by a casual reading.  Notice Paul's phrase in verse 1:

¹Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God.

As we "excel still more" in our walk with God in Christ, we cannot do so unless Christ is absolutely in the center of our lives, just like the "C" is in the middle of the word, excel.  Watch this:  Paul tells us "what" he wants us to do -- to walk, that is live in a manner that pleases God. He also in that sentence tells us the primary key to doing that -- "in the Lord Jesus Christ."

Our lives are like a wheel.  A wheel (let's think of a bicycle wheel that is a simple example) has basically three parts:  the outer rim and tire that touch the surface; the spokes that connect the rim to the hub; and the hub that is connected to the axle that gives the wheel power.  If the rim and tire is not connected to the hub the hub will turn but the tire will do nothing.  If the tire and rim are connected to the hub by the spokes, but the hub is not in the center, the wheel will wobble and be useless -- even dangerous.

Paul talks about where the rubber of our lives meets the road -- so to speak -- in verses 11-12:

and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, ¹² so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.

In this verse, our everyday lives out and among the people of our community is like the rim and tire:  it is where we shop, where we work, where we play.  It is where the rubber of our lives meets the road.  It is where we become the witnesses -- for good or bad -- of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Paul calls it, "attending to our business."

The hub of a Christians life according to the New Testament to the New Testament is Jesus Christ. The N.T. does not call him the "hub" of our life, but it does call Him our Master, the Mediator between God and man, the Alpha and the Omega, Beginning and End, or as Paul says in Colossians:  "the One who holds all things together."

It is only when we are "in Christ," that is our entire existence revolves around loving and honoring Him, that we can live "a quiet life that wins the respect of outsiders."

The spokes that transfer power to our everyday life is our "healthy habits of devotion," prayer, Bible study, evangelism, and fellowship.  When we put Christ in the center and practice our devotion with excellence, power flows into our everyday lives.

That's what being a Christian is all about.  If anything else but Christ is at the center of your life, you are not a Christian -- you are an "idol worshipper."

A wheel cannot work without a hub in the center.  Your life cannot work, and you cannot "excel" without Christ in the center.  Just like the "C" is in the center of "excel," Christ must be in the center of your life.

2.  E stands for ENCOURAGING others
(1:10 2:19 3:13 4:18 5:23)

Every chapter in this book ends with a reference to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  Paul in the Book of Titus calls the Second Coming,

"The blessed hope" (Titus 2:13)

The teaching of the Second Coming has always been a source of encouragement and hope for the saints down through the ages because this teaching is a constant reminder that this life is not all there is for a believer.

Jesus, Himself, comforted the disciples with the promise of His Second Coming in John 14:

¹“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. ² In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”

As believers in and followers of Jesus Christ we literally have the weight of the world on our shoulders.  We have the burden or realizing that God, through Christ, entrusted the salvation of souls to His disciples when He gave the Great Commission.  There's no way around the understanding that people will be saved or lost according to how well followers of Christ deliver the message of the gospel.  That is an awful weighty burden and sometimes, even the strongest Christian, gets discouraged. 

Let me add a note about church attendance here.  Paul admonishes us (warns us) in Hebrews 10:24-25:

²⁴ Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. ²⁵ And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

It is extreme dereliction of duty for a believer to miss church without a very, very good reason—like, having a heart attack or something like that.  Too many people treat church like a buffet.  They attend when they want and pick and choose which parts of the message they will accept and which parts they will discard.  The pursuit of excellence includes excellence in churchmanship. It is discouraging for others when we see fellow-believers neglect their church.

Jesus knew we needed encouragement.  Paul realizes we need encouragement. 

The word for "encourage" in 4:18 is, "parakaleite."  It means "to walk alongside of another."  It is the same word John uses in John 16, verse 7:

⁷ But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

The word, for Counselor (KJV, "comforter") is the same word Paul uses in 4:18 for "encourage one another."

Fellow believers are the warm blanket that God wraps around us when our spirits grow cold with discouragement.  Fellowship is our food when discouragement brings a hunger of emptiness to our soul.  We need to be ENCOURAGERS -- we need to be willing to walk alongside those in the family of God.

When we miss church for no good reason -- and there are not many -- we become "dis" couragers, instead of encouragers.  This is what Paul warned against in Hebrews 10:24:

24 And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, 25 not staying away from our meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other,  and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

The NIV translates it like this:

²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵ Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

There are at least three ways in which we can be "encouragers":

1)  By our Presence
2)  With our Purses
3)  In our Participation (service)

3.  eX is for eXCELLENCE with a silent "e"

³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification;

I've heard many times people talk about "finding God's will."  Well, here it is: "be sanctified."  The word, sanctified is related to the word "holy."  It means to set something aside for the exclusive use of God.  Simply stated it means, "Be holy," or more correctly it refers to the "process of becoming more and more holy," or "holified."

God sets the bar for His children very high when He says,

"Be holy, as I am holy" (1Pet. 1:16)

You would almost be right to object by saying, "That is a standard too high, I can never reach it."  On our own, we can never achieve this level of excellence in our service to God -- but it must be our goal nonetheless.

William Law stated the matter very clearly over 400 years ago in a little book I read often titled:  "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life." Dr. Law states the matter like this when he observes (and I paraphrase):  "The problem is not Christ followers fail in their serious attempt to be holy, the problem is that most do not even intend to be holy in the first place."

I asked the question earlier in regard to "the pursuit of excellence in the Christian life:  "When is good enough, good enough?"  The answer was, and still is:  never.  Good enough should NEVER be our goal in Christian living and service.  Our goal should be nothing less than absolute excellence -- or holiness Now, how can such a goal be attained if we all agree that human effort can never attain it?  God's Word, like in every matter gives us the answer:  2Peter 1:3:

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and grace."

We attain excellence in our Christian life not by our own power, but by the Holy Spirit that indwells us.  the Word says (Acts 1:11):

"You shall receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes upon you"

At the moment of our salvation we are given all the power we need to become "holy as God is holy."  The process of sanctification begins at the moment of redemption, and continues without end throughout eternity.  Revelation 22:11 says,

let him who does right continue to do right;

and let him who is holy continue to be holy.

Holiness is at one and the same time both an event -- when we become the righteousness of God in Christ -- and a process as "we work out our salvation with fear and trembling."

The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. Vince Lombardi

God did not give His second or third or fourth best when He gave His only begotten Son to be the once for all sacrificial payment for our sin -- it is blasphemy for us to suppose we can give God anything but our absolute best in every endeavor of our lives.

4.  E  stands for Embrace Challenges (v. 10)

for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; ¹⁰ for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia.

No doubt such a loving church as Thessalonica loved many fellow-believers throughout Turkey and northern Greece.  But, Paul has in mind the brethren in Macedonia. 

Recall the words to a beloved hymn we sing from time to time: 

We have heard the Macedonia call today
Send the Light, Send the Light,

There are souls to rescue there are souls to save
Send the Light, Send the Light

What exactly is the Macedonian Call?  Acts 16:6ff tells us:

⁸ and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. ⁹ A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Paul had been blazing a gospel trail all over what is now Western Turkey.  He had been meeting with many challenges.  Then, in the still of the night Paul had a vision.  A man, a Macedonian man, was calling from across the Aegean Sea, in what is northern Greece saying, "Come bring the gospel to us."  NOW, DON'T MISS THIS PART: Acts 16:10

immediately we sought to go into Macedonia,

Paul had a missionary spirit that could not be stopped
by circumstances or difficulties.  When prompted by God to go -- Paul went.

Paul embraced whatever challenge God put before Him.  And challenging it would be. Upon arrival in Macedonia Paul cast the demon out of a slave girl her mastered used for profit and was promptly beaten and stripped by a mob, thrown into prison along with Silas and his hands and feet bound in chains.

Embrace challenges.  Never run away.  Never give in.  Never give up.  It is in the challenges and the risks that the rewards of life are found.

Don't be like water looking to find the path of least resistance always flowing downward drawn by the gravity cowardice. Embrace challenges.  Look for opportunities disguised as obstacles, or God's design for blessing wrapped in the trappings of difficulty.

This week I was reading the obituaries as I always do.  I was quite relieved to find I was not among the names.  But, I found something that pricked my heart instead.  I found the obituary of Aaron Patrick Sampson, 4 years old.  His picture was like that of an angel to me.  I don't know how he died.  But, I know a little of how he lived.  These words got stuck in my heart:  "[He was] always drawn to new adventures."

Friends, I would love for that to be said of each of us:  we are "drawn to new adventures."  Excel still more -- Embrace challenges.

5.  L well that's for LOVE everybody (v. 9)

Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;

Nothing of great significance will ever happen unless and until "loving" others is the passion that pulsates through the pews of a church.  Without love, and the kind of love God showed to us through the sacrifice of His Son for our sins, all our activity in the church will be the empty clanging of a meaningless symbol. Paul said beautifully,

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. (1Cor. 13:1-3)

A church without love is like a mirage to a man dying of thirst in the desert.  It holds out the false hope of life and refreshment, but it is really just dryness and death.

You can always tell a church that is pulsating with the passion for people -- it will be a growing, exciting, attracting place where people of all ages want to gather and worship God together.

"Excel still more!"

Possess the life of Christ in "superabundance."
Be an Encourager.  Pursue eXcellence.  Have Christ
at the center of life.  Embrace challenges. Love as God loves.

As the world becomes an increasingly blacker, bleaker place the Church needs to become a brighter, more effective instrument of God’s peace and light.  Yesterday’s efforts are not sufficient for today’s challenges and tomorrow’s hope.  We must do as Paul commands and

 "Excel still more!"