Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12)
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So, how exactly did they make a difference? If you remember back to last week, you'll remember that I pointed out that Jesus began by sending twelve disciples out to their fellow countrymen with the message that would come to be known as the gospel – and that ultimately that message started by Jesus and shared by only those twelve at first changed the world. How did it do that? It's a good question. If you read the New Testament carefully, you'll discover that essentially it was a question not just of the message they shared but of the life they lived. Remember my “mantra” (so to speak) of last week: “Share the message; live the message; be the message.” And the early disciples of Jesus took that to heart. They went out and they did it. If you read some of the accounts in the Book of Acts, you discover that the early church attracted followers not because of what they said but because of how they lived. Their lifestyle attracted attention. How they cared for each other attracted attention. The purity of their lives and the love that they shared so freely stood out in a world that was often harsh and uncaring; often still governed by the “survival of the fittest” rule. It made a difference. People noticed, because the disciples took the teaching of Jesus and made it the way they would live. To think about it in more contemporary terms, they took their Sunday morning faith and they lived it on Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and so on. For them, Sunday begat Monday. The days faded into one another, because every day was their day to bear witness to Jesus in the way they lived and in the way they loved.
What was it in more concrete terms about their lifestyle that attracted so much attention? In 1 Thessalonians Paul encourages those who would receive his letter to lead a life that would stand out, and the interesting thing is that as we look at what Paul wrote, we might find that this is yet another way that ancient Scripture has much to say to a modern world. Basically, Paul gave three pieces of advice to Christians who want to “win the respect of outsiders.”
The first piece of advice was to “lead a quiet life.” Now, that's not the same as leading a dull or uninteresting life. Basically, Paul was suggesting that the quiet lives Christians should is because Christians should be content with our lives. Contentment often seems lacking in today's world. People are constantly pushing the envelope to find something more exciting, more thrilling. Some of that, certainly, is just normal human curiosity – and without that where would we be? It's what took human beings to the moon, after all! But some of it seems to be the need for thrills for the sake of thrills. Everyday life isn't good enough, so we need something to pump more excitement into it. Go to a theme park. The roller coasters are getting taller every year! The old wooden roller coasters that took you around and up and down just don't cut it anymore. Lynn and Hannah and I went to the CNE this summer. It's the first time we've done that as a family, and the first time I've been to the CNE since I wasn't much older than Hannah. We went on the day after the great “Cronut Burger” fiasco. If you're not familiar with the Cronut Burger – it's a cheeseburger, but instead of a regular bun, it's between a bun made of a croissant-donut hybrid, and on top is what's called maple bacon jam. It's got sugar, fat and lots and lots of calories along with all sorts of other things – but you'll never know how many of these things it has because those who made them refused to say, which should be the first warning sign! The day before we went to the CNE, more than 200 people got sick after eating them. The sickness was eventually traced to the jam, apparently, but as a nutritionist said later, even if the jam had been fine, the human body just isn't made to digest that kind of cocktail. And we all know it! And who knows how many more than the 200 got sick but didn't bother reporting it, or ate it and were fortunate enough not to get sick. But it's an adventure. We can't just eat the same old boring food. And not too long before that, two teenagers in Oklahoma were arrested for murder. According to their confession, they killed a man – because they were bored and wanted to find out what it would be like. I'm sure none of us have ever murdered anywhere, and it's kind of likely that none of us have ever tried a Cronut Burger, but the fact that people do it is all the more reason for our lives to be a living witness to Christ. Live a quiet life; be content. There's no need to be constantly pushing the envelope to get the next “fix” - because since we have Christ, there's really nothing more that we need. And if we show ourselves to be content, maybe people will wonder what it is that we have that they're lacking! “Lead a quiet life.”
Paul's second piece of advice was “mind your own business.” That sounds pretty harsh, doesn't it – but it's probably good advice. One of the things that I've noticed Christians being criticized for over the years is that there's a perception at least (and perception is reality for those who perceive it, and there's usually at least a bit of truth behind perception) that Christians spend a lot more time minding other people's business that we do minding our own business. We sound judgmental, and then we leave ourselves open to charges of hypocrisy because as soon as we choose to mind someone else's business, we leave ourselves open to others minding our business – and since none of us are perfect, if someone else mind's our own business too closely, they might well find something! I mean, Richard Dawkins – who could be called the late high priest of atheism – has written scathing things about Mother Teresa based on things he's discovered and perhaps taken a bit out of context. So why invite someone into our business by poking ourselves into theirs? Better, perhaps, to learn the lesson of Jesus - “Why worry about the speck in your brother's eye, when you have a plank in your own eye.” In fact, maybe that's where Paul got this idea! “Mind your own business.”
And Paul's third piece of advice was “work with your hands.” I suppose in a way this is the antidote for the problem he dealt with in his previous comment: if you're working with your hands you're busy, and if you're taken up with your own busy-ness, then you have no time to mind anyone's else's business! I don't think Paul was necessarily thinking in terms of employment, by the way. A concern I have is that some people could take these words out of context and use them as an attack against the unemployed: “just get out and get a job!” I do think that what Paul meant was that whatever out status in society (employed, unemployed, under-employed or retired) we should have things that consume our attention and – by the way – that constantly bring us into touch with other people, because that's how we demonstrate the impact that faith has on our lives. Be engaged with the people and world around you. “Work with your hands.”
Sunday leads to Monday, and that's when our faith really needs to take control of our lives and impact how we live and how we relate to those around us. After all, if you only live as a Christian on Sunday and forget about it the rest of the week, then that's not a faith; it's a hobby. It's been said that you have to be very careful as a Christian when you're out in the world because – and it's true – as far as the people you meet are concerned, you may be the only Christ they'll ever encounter. Paul's advice is pretty good advice for how to portray Christ in a positive and life-giving manner: “lead a quiet life ... mind your own business and work with your hands ...” They're good lessons to learn, and a good way of life to put into practice!
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