That Ye Would Walk Worthy of God

Introduction: The Marks of a True Minister and the Goal of Ministry

0:02 For the 25th time this morning, let us turn to the letter of Paul to the church at Thessalonica, 1 Thessalonians, as we resume our studies in the second chapter of this very instructive letter. We come this morning to our last study in this section that I have entitled The Marks of a True Minister and of a True Ministry. And I do trust that simply because we come to the end of the study formally in this way, we are not coming to the end of our study of this portion of going back over that which we have seen in these verses, refreshing our minds on them continually, for it's in this way that the man of God prospers as we read in the first psalm, because he meditates in the law of God day and night. Our text this morning is the twelfth verse. This verse, which cannot be read without backing up to the eleventh, where we focused last Lord's Day morning. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 2.

1:18 In the eleventh verse, the apostle said, As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father doth his children, that ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. We saw last week that one of...

1:38 One of the many characteristics of a true minister and a true ministry is that which Paul focuses on in the eleventh verse, namely, fatherly direction. Not only is the mark of a true ministry, whether it's a parent to his children, an apostle to those whom he ministers, or a pastor to his people, or a Sunday school teacher, or a witness as a Christian to one's neighbor, not only must there be the gentleness of the nursing mother, mentioned in verse 7, the beautiful feminine characteristic of gentleness, but there must be that masculine characteristic of fatherly direction so little understood in our day in the natural realm, and consequently even less understood in the spiritual realm. We have been cursed for several decades in the evangelical church with an anemic, bloodless kind of femininity that even falls...

2:37 short of true femininity. And the whole masculine concept of fatherly direction and fatherly discipline, which is pretty well lost in the world, in the human family relationships, has pretty well been lost in the church in spiritual relationships. But if we will stick with the scriptures, you can see that we will not err on the one hand of becoming harsh and unbending, or on the other hand by becoming...

3:07 sentimentally, well, whatever you want to call it. I just call it the spirit of the general ooze, where love is considered as just some kind of a gloppy ooze that just goes out and covers everybody and makes them smell nice and feel good, but has no principle, has no guidelines. Well, the apostle would keep us from this, for we saw last week that he exercised this fatherly direction, which had three aspects. Number one, there was individualism.

3:37 There was individual attention. How we comforted and charged and exhorted every one of you. And in the original, it's strong. Every one of you, one by one.

3:48 And secondly, that fatherly direction was exercised with varied instruction. We exhorted, we comforted, we charged. And then the third thing we said about that fatherly direction, but we could not expound it, was that it had a clearly defined goal. Sure, he was giving individualism, individual attention to every Christian.

4:10 Sure, he had varied instruction for each of them, but did he have an overall plan? Yes, he did. And he tells us what that plan was in the twelfth verse, that ye would walk, or better translated, to the end, that ye should walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. So we see that if we as parents, if we as Sunday schoolers, if we as school teachers, as witnesses, whatever our ministry is, if we would be biblical, if we would have the ministry that is owned of God, it must not only have this aspect of fatherly direction that deals with people individually, that varies the instruction to them, but it must have a clearly defined objective, a clear goal, a direction to which all of this is moving. So as we think our way through the text this morning, let us consider in the first place this end or goal described by the apostle. Notice in the first place that his goal in all of this fatherly direction and instruction respected the walk of these people. We exhorted and comforted and charged you as the father doth his children to the end that ye should walk.

The Goal: A Walk Worthy of God

5:34 The goal that he had in mind was directly related to the walk, the walk of these people. Now, what does the word walk mean?

5:46 Well, this word is used throughout the scripture to describe the general direction and tenor and climate of an individual's life. You remember our Lord Jesus said in John, He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness. Paul says in Galatians, Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. We read in, First John, Walk in the light.

6:13 If we walk in the light. Well, what does that word walk mean? Well, I think if you were to sit down and try to work out a definition, you'd come up with something like this, that it's used to describe the general direction of a man's life, taking in his deeds, his thoughts, and his motives. It takes in the whole spectrum of a man's life, and whenever it's moving in a given realm, we say that's his walk.

6:37 A man who walks in the light is a man, a man whose thoughts, whose motives, whose actions are characterized in the main, not completely, not with mathematical perfection, but in the main, they are characterized by what? Light. A man who walks in darkness is a man who in his thoughts, his motives, his deeds, is characterized by what? In the main, he's characterized by darkness.

7:04 To walk in the spirit means that in my thoughts, in my motives, in my deeds, in the main, my life is one depicted by the realm of the spirit. And so Paul's concern as he instructs these people in the ministry touches their walk. In other words, his goal in all his theoretical instruction is the practical living of his hearers. Now there's a tremendous principle involved here that the goal of all biblical instruction, is to alter the walk of those who receive it.

God's Goal in Redemption is Paul's Goal in Ministry

7:45 Paul says we did all of these things, exhorting you, verse 11, comforting you, and charging you to the end that in the realm of your thoughts, of your motives, and of your deeds, there might be indication that the truth has filtered down and is affecting the totality of your life. Now why was this Paul's goal? Did he just somehow sit on a log somewhere on the outskirts of Ephesus and cogitate and say, well, you know, I ought to have a goal in my ministry. Anyone who's efficient has some kind of objective.

8:23 So let me see, what will be the goal of my ministry? What would be a worthy goal? Did Paul just sit around and kind of think and come up with this idea? No, no.

8:31 The reason why Paul had as his goal the godly walk of his hearers is that Paul realized this was God's goal, in redemption.

8:45 God's goal in redemption must be Paul's goal in ministry. That makes sense, doesn't it? What God has pledged to do, his servants must be earnest to do. And we read in very simple, categorical language that the goal of God in redemption is the godly walk of his redeemed people in a verse like Ephesians 2.10, for we are his workmanship, created anew in Christ, Jesus, for what purpose? Unto good works, which he hath before ordained that we should walk in them. We are created in Christ Jesus, with what end in view? That we should walk in those works which God hath before ordained for us.

9:37 Even those works of godliness and of true piety. Peter states it a little bit differently when he says, in his first letter, quoting from the Old Testament in verses 15 and 16, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of living, that's your walk, the whole tenor of your life, your thoughts, your motives, your deeds, for it is written, be ye holy, for I am.

10:06 Ephesians chapter 1, Paul tells us, he chose us in Christ that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love. So, Paul's goal could be nothing less than God's goal. Why did God put redeeming truth in Paul's hands? Why did Paul then dispense that truth by way of exhortation, by way of comforting, by way of charging?

10:31 Why the whole end for which God committed that truth to him was to make his people holy. So, God's goal in giving the truth to Paul is Paul's goal in giving that truth to others. He states it so beautifully and so simply in Titus 2.10 where he says that the people of God must be careful to adorn the doctrine of God in all things.

The Means: Instruction to the Mind

10:58 To adorn the doctrine of God in all things. To put that truth on and to wear it in the realm of one's walk and experience. Now, will you notice how Paul did this? The goal was the walk and yet what was the goal?

11:15 Was the means by which that goal was to be attained by this instruction that came essentially to the mind. You remember last week we mentioned that these three things exhorting, comforting and charging are done with words addressed to the minds of people. Now, don't miss this. Stick with it now.

11:34 It's a vital principle. We exhorted and we comforted and we charged to the end that you should walk worthy of God. We long that God God's goal in redemption would be realized in you. But the only means we had at our disposal was instruction addressed to the mind we exhorted, we comforted and we charged.

12:00 The old writers used to talk about the primacy of the mind in the work of redemption. What they meant by that was simply this that when God deals with us the way he approaches us is not directly to our feelings not directly to our will but he approaches us directly to our minds. We are made in the image of God. We are made rational beings.

12:22 So when God is going to save a man how does he do it? He gets his word to him. And what does his word do? It tells him some facts about God.

12:29 It tells him some facts about himself. It tells him some facts about sin. It tells him some facts of how sin can be cleansed. It tells him some facts about Christ.

12:39 Some facts about repentance. Some facts about faith. Some facts about regeneration. It tells him some facts about repentance.

12:45 And then mingled with that there is the appeal to the affections and the will. But the will and the affections which must be changed before the life can be changed are never dealt with directly by God. They are dealt with through the mind. The truth comes to the mind.

13:02 How shall they call on him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? There has got to be someone to teach them. Now what is true in getting men into the Christian faith is true with their development.

13:14 How are people to be sanctified? Well the main instrument of sanctification our Lord delineates very clearly in the 17th chapter of John. Sanctify them by thy what? Thy word is truth.

13:27 Well how does the truth sanctify us? Not magically. You don't put your Bible under your mattress and go to sleep at night and wake up a little more sanctified the next morning because somehow some rays of sanctifying power have been oozing out of your Bible. Like, uh...

13:45 The word just won't come to me. You know, when you go with the Geiger counter you have the radioactive materials. That's what I'm trying to say. Just go out.

13:58 Those materials don't need to do anything. You just get near them. And whether you know it or not you're being influenced by that radioactive material. Well, the word of God doesn't work that way.

14:08 It doesn't work that way. How then does the word work? As it comes to the mind exhorting, comforting, charging, instructing, illuminating the mind. And so the Apostle Paul joins together in a beautiful way the principle that every child of God and every stable ministry must recognize.

Avoiding Extremes: Doctrine Without Life vs. Life Without Doctrine

14:28 And if you miss either one of them you fall into an area of terrible religious curse and flight. There are those who would say yes, we must seek to be holy. We must have God's end our end. We must seek to have a walk that is worthy of God.

14:45 And so what do they do? Well, they're doing everything in their power to get people to walk worthily of God. They set up a list of regulations. Or they may try to move people by the emotions and they may try to clobber them over the head and move the will and get them to do this and do this and the other.

15:03 They miss the principle that the way people walk worthily of God is to be exhorted and comforted and charged by the word of God. The mind must be instructed before the life can be altered. So where you have all this pressure and emphasis for the life without doctrine you don't have true Christian godliness. I met some people even this past week at a conference that I was privileged to minister in Quebec, in Montreal.

15:34 I'll be saying more about that tonight, about that conference if the Lord is willing. And this was the objection. One of the young fellows came up and he says all this talk at this conference about doctrine, doctrine, doctrine. He said the thing people need is not doctrine, they need Christ.

15:50 They're about to get Christ to them, see? Christ is the life and we've got to get Christ to them. And I said now young man, what Christ are you talking about? Well the Christ of the Bible. I said well who is he?

16:00 Well he began to define him. I said that's doctrine. That's doctrine. You can't have Christ without doctrine.

16:07 You can't have it. Because there are many Christs, Paul says. There are lords many and Christ many but to us there is but one Lord and one Christ and he defines that Christ and so may God keep us from that sentimental pursuit of holiness which looks down upon the place of truth truth addressed to the mind to the understanding. Now you've got the other side of the coin where people say ah yes we need exhortation and we need comfort and we need charging we need to be taught the word of God we need to be grounded in the word of God we need to have the doctrine come to the mind and have it straight but then they fall short of realizing the end of all of this is what?

16:51 Not to pad your head but to change your life. Not to pad your head but to change your life. We exhorted we comforted, we charged to the end that ye should walk worthy of God. And so as Paul lays out the end that he had in all of his instruction we see that it touched the walk of God's people, the godly walk of God's people and that that must be our goal and we must seek to attain it the way Paul did.

Defining 'Worthy of God'

17:23 Now we must hurry on to see how he describes that walk that godly walk that ye would walk worthy of God. Now the word worthy can be used in an absolute sense or it can be used in a relative sense and certainly it's used in a relative sense in an absolute sense there's nobody worthy of anything but our God. In the book of the Revelation you find that description of praise I think it's in the fourth chapter there was none found worthy to open that sealed book but then the voice came weep not for there is one found who is worthy the lamb is worthy worthy is the lamb and in the absolute sense only one is worthy and that is our God but in a relative sense the word worthy is used to describe a manner deserving something it's used throughout the scripture in this way Christ said he that doesn't forsake father or mother is not worthy of me he's conducting himself in such a way that he no longer deserves the privilege of my grace he that confesses me before men I will confess before my father whosoever denies me I will deny him he is not worthy of me so what Paul seems to be saying in this passage is this the end of all my instruction

18:51 is that your walk should be one that is worthy of God that is you will walk like a people who belong to such a God and therefore express his virtue in your lives first Peter 2 9 that you should show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness or he could mean and I think the second aspect is the thing he's driving at to walk worthy of God means to walk suitably to the great mercies you've received from God walk worthy of God walk worthy walk in a way that is commensurate with the great mercies you've received from him let me illustrate try to picture a young man say in his early twenties living in a situation of absolute squalor filth and poverty ignorance impending death his parents have died he has no home to call his own then a man who sits upon a throne of royalty who is a king by birth and by position it's pity upon this young man in all of his squalor his loneliness and his filth and he takes him out of that situation of squalor and filth and loneliness and he brings him into his palace not only to set him at his table but to receive him into the circle of his family and he does whatever is necessary to make this son a legally

20:17 adopted son and having no children of his own this young man now becomes the legitimate heir to the throne of his father now once he's been brought into the court and all the legal transactions are settled he is in reality a son of the king he is in reality a prince and an heir to the throne but he doesn't overnight learn what it is to walk to think to act to react to plan in every area of life as a prince some of his old ways still carry over with him so from here on out in every situation he must learn to bring his thinking to this perspective how do I act in this situation that will be worthy of my new position I'm no longer a disinherited pauper I am no longer a serf amongst other serfs in squalor and in filth I am now a prince I am a son of the king I must walk what worthy of my new position I must carry myself like a prince and whenever I would think of being ungrateful I must think back of the mercy that has brought me into this position of a prince to walk worthy then of this calling into which he has been brought means that he will walk in such a way

21:46 as to bring honor to his father walk in such a way that will bring praise to his father's kingdom walk in such a way that will give no legitimate reproach to his father it means to walk in such a way that will show that he appreciates the mercy that has brought him into that status of a prince and into the great inheritance of that kingdom well in a little way that's what God's done to us the illustration like all of them breaks down in that we were not just in filth and in the squalor of our sin but we were actually under the wrath of God in his judgment hanging over our heads we were the very children of the devil according to John chapter eight and wonder of wonders God in mercy has put forth his hand and called us unto himself made us his adopted sons and daughters made us joint heirs with Jesus Christ so that the scripture says all things are yours but simply because we're brought into the kingdom and into the place of sonship and heirship does not mean that we automatically now conduct ourselves in every realm that is worthy of our new position so that the whole goal of the instruction of the scriptures as we understand more about our father and what would please him more about

23:14 ourselves and what displeases him the whole end of all this instruction whether it's exhortation comfort charging whether it's the reproving the rebuking the exhorting that we read about in second timothy what's the whole goal of it that we might more and more walk worthy of this God who has called us that we who are princes might more and more be princely in all of our bearing in all of our actions and reactions our dispositions and our attitudes that we who are the sons of God might be more and more like our father who has adopted us into his family this is what Paul means when he says the end of all of our instruction was this that you might walk worthy of God and then he describes that God will you notice the latter part of the text of God who called you it's in the present tense better translate who calleth you unto his kingdom and glory in fact if you were you men in the men's class you're saying this morning how it's hard in going from one language to another if we were coming literally out of the Greek at this point here's the way we would translate it that you would walk worthily of the calling you into his kingdom and glory God and you'd have hyphens between he's described as the calling you into his kingdom and glory

The God Who Calls You to His Kingdom and Glory

24:42 God what God the calling you into his kingdom and glory God it's one long description of what God Paul's talking about he said the God of whom you're to walk worthy is the calling you into his kingdom and glory God that's the God when you think of walking worthy think of him as this God now he's many things to his people but at this point he says I want you to think of him as that God who calleth you to his kingdom and glory so somehow the whole exhortation must be bound up in an understanding of this phrase and I believe it is so let's try to take it apart for a few minutes when he says he's the God who calls you what's he mean well he doesn't mean who just invites you we studied the word calling some months ago in fact it's been about a year and a half ago now what does that word call mean it doesn't mean simply summon these Thessalonians had not simply been summoned into the kingdom of God they were in they were in the gospel came to them how in power and in the Holy Ghost they turned to God from their idols they were serving the living God they were waiting for his son from heaven the calling here is nothing less than that effectual call of God not only the summons but the power that makes the summons powerful and draws men into a vital relationship with Jesus Christ as Paul says to the Corinthians

26:08 for ye see your calling brethren not just that you're inviting your invitation but the mighty way that God has drawn you into his kingdom verse Peter 2 9 the God who has called you out of darkness into marvelous light he's actually brought you out of the darkness into light Romans 8 as many as he called them he will also justify and glorify so when Paul uses the term call he wants these Thessalonians as they think of walking worthy of God to think of him as the God who took the initiative in their salvation who not only brought the gospel to them in word but who made it effectual in their hearts by power the God who sought the wandering sheep and laid the sheep upon his breast and brought them home to the fold of God think of him as the God who's called you to what two things to his own kingdom and to glory his kingdom that's the place the realm of his present blessing Jesus said except a man be born again he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven but when he is born again he enters the kingdom of heaven and what is the mark of that kingdom Romans 14 17 the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking it doesn't consist in a lot of religious regulations no no what does it consist in present spiritual reality the kingdom of

27:37 heaven is not eating and drinking but righteousness peace joy in the Holy Ghost so what is his kingdom it's that realm of the present enjoyment of all the redemptive blessings of God that he has marked for now now what's he marked for now many things the fruit of the spirit love joy peace long suffering peace with God the peace of God all of these present blessings are found where within the kingdom and he says you people I want you to remember all the charging all the exhorting all the comforting I did had as its goal walk worthily of that God the God who called you into all the present blessings of the gospel think of them you Thessalonians just like the king would say to that adopted son think of what I brought you into when you're tempted to walk unworthily of your position think of what I brought you into heirship with myself all of my kingdom is yours the smile of my face the spread of my table the love of my heart that's what Paul is saying to the Thessalonians think of him as the God who calls you into his kingdom present blessings of redemption but that's not all he calleth you to his own kingdom and glory glory speaking of the place of future blessing and culmination

29:05 of all the present blessings of redemption as our Lord Jesus prayed in John 17 in verse 22 for his own that as he himself was to be glorified this is what he prayed for his own and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one verse 24 I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory Colossians chapter 3 says when Christ who is our life shall be manifested then shall we also be manifested with him where in glory the glory everlasting the presence of God heaven the eternal state where all the joys that we now know in germ form will come to full expression where all the holy longings we now have in germ and seed form the longing after God after holiness after purity all of that will come to its full worth that is awesome Paul says to these Thessalonians I want you to walk worthy of the calling you into his kingdom and glory God that's the God I want you to walk worthily that's the God whom I want you to regard in every aspect and relationship of life this God to whom you are indebted for all your present blessing in the kingdom now and all the future prospects

Practical Applications for Ministry and Life

30:33 of the glory everlasting so powerful way paul in this text lays out their gospel duty walk worthy of god then he undergirds it and enforces it with tremendous gospel privileges and motives you're called to his kingdom and glory in the light of that walk worthily of such a great god so much then for the text and its meaning now what does this say to us in a very practical way what does this text say to us as we sit here this morning seeking to be true ministers to our children to our sunday school class to our neighbors what does this say to me as a pastor what does it say to you who in the providence of god will one day have this privilege of being servants of christ in his church well in the first place it says you better have a clear goal in whatever your ministry is you better have a clearly defined goal paul said we did all of this but we weren't just doing it to keep busy in the lord's service we didn't simply sit down look at our watch and say well it's time to go out and serve the lord so we'll go out and do a little exhorting a little bit of charging a little bit of comforting no no he said i had a

31:50 strategy had a strategy i had an end in view and no matter how busy i became in comforting a saint here in charging a saint here in teaching a saint here in all of this i never lost sight of my goal my goal was this i want to see the people of god walking worthy of the god who's called them to his glory everlasting to his kingdom now now let me ask you a very simple question do you have any clearly defined goal in your ministry as a parent remember now this is the whole parental image he says as a father does all his ministry to his children with an end in view so i as a spiritual father minister with an end in view do you as a parent have some clearly defined goal in your ministry to his children goals for your children goals that are always before you i think back now and see again how wonderfully god by his spirit taught this to my own dear mother i can remember her saying words to this effect son the thought that followed me day after day in the midst of all the pressures of rearing a large family with no outside help and none of the conveniences that she even now has was the thought that i was rearing future fathers future mothers future servants of christ future citizens in society what do you need to be a good father

33:20 you need something more than a body that's been relatively well kept with enough food and clothing you need to know what it is to share responsibility you need to know what it is to be understanding you need to know what it is to discipline your children faithfully lovingly firmly you need to know what it is to say no to yourself in self-denying love therefore �

34:03 Jiang doing things you don't like children's character it unless you've learned about that kind of character you'll never amount to anything in life life is not made of just doing what you want to do life is made up many days of doing what you don't want to do. If you don't learn now, you'll crack up then. It's been the only thing, humanly speaking, that's kept sometimes going in the ministry, doing things you don't like to do. Why? She had a goal, and the goal was not to put a little milk on the cereal and see me happy and go my way to school and wash the clothes and put them on my back. The goal was there, seeking under God to produce a mature, intelligent, responsible creature in the kingdom of God and in society at large.

34:48 The goal. Do you have any goals for your children? Do you have goals like that? I'm not asking if you see them attained, but do you at least have them? Do you have them? That's the goal.

35:03 That's the goal. Then bring it up to the realm of the spiritual. What's the goal that every child of God should have for those that he labors with, prays with? What's the goal I as a pastor should have for you people, for this church? Is there any higher goal than this, and that we should walk worthy of God? Can you find any higher than that? Would you want to accept one any lower? Well, that says it, doesn't it? To walk worthy of God. To so walk in every relationship of life that we reflect that we are sons of the King, living in the squalor and the peasantry of our past. We're showing forth the virtues of God. We're showing forth the virtues of God. We're showing forth the virtues of God.

35:54 We're showing forth the virtues of God. We're showing forth the virtues of God. We're showing forth the virtues of Him who called us out of darkness into light, as Peter describes it. We're living not only so as to reflect the virtues of our King, but we're living under the continued sense of indebtedness for the great mercies. The God whom we seek to be worthy of, in whose light we seek to walk worthily, is the God who's called us out of darkness, put us into His kingdom now, and will land us safely in His kingdom. That's the first principle I see here, that as Paul had a clearly defined goal in all his instructions, so ought we on the parental level, on the pastoral level, in the Sunday school, in all our spiritual ministries. Secondly, the second principle I see here is that this is the test of a true minister and a true ministry, namely that his goal, referring to the minister.

36:56 Its goal, referring to the ministry, will be the glory of God in the holy walk of the people of God. That was Paul's goal. How are you going to judge a true minister? Well, you ask this, what's his goal? Some of you men have been on pulpit committees. You know what it's like, you ask a preacher, well, if you came to this church, what would be your program? Well, if he doesn't sooner or later get around to this, he's got the wrong program. I don't care how many other programs he's got. But by the teaching, exhort, comforting ministry of the word of God, we might have a people walking worthy of God.

37:34 That God might be glorified in the worthy walk of his people. That's the goal of a true minister and of a true ministry. The goal is not to have a full church. The goal is not to have a going church. The goal is not to have a financially lucrative church. And the goal is not even to have a busy church. But the goal is to have a people walking worthy of God. That's the goal, according to Paul, a people walking worthily of God, by a holy light. One of the old saints caught this because he realized that it's only this that will commend the gospel to a community. It is said of one of the old saints that he came to one

38:20 of the monasteries and said to a young man, brother, let's go down into the town and preach. So they went forth, the venerable father and the young man, the old saint, and the young man. And they walked along upon their way, talking as they went. They wound their way down the principal streets, round the lowly alleys and lanes, and even to the outskirts of the town and to the village beyond, till they found themselves back at the monastery again. Then said the young monk, father, when shall we begin to preach? The father looked kindly down upon his son and said, my child, we have been preaching. We were preaching while we were walking. And the young monk said, well, when shall we begin to preach? The chap who had a walk, the young man said, do you think you can sea anything? The young man says, well,

39:23 let me see a picture. Most especially the old men are being preached up to the holy temple of the holy Tumbner. The young man said… The young monk leans over the Nothing church from the church and so he decides, what does Veronica tell him, what does the Bible say about Some How, some how, and the young one would so adorn the doctrine of God that wherever they walked, they preached that the things that Paul preached were powerful things. They changed people's lives.

39:43 They not only declared them to be sons, they made them act like sons. Not only declared them to be princes, but made them conduct themselves like princes.

39:53 That's the mark of a true ministry. It has as its goal the holiness of those who embrace it. And then the third principle that I see in the text that has been a great area, I believe, of weakness many times in my own life, and this is simply enforced it. Here it is, that gospel motives alone form the driving power for gospel duties.

40:19 What are gospel duties? Here it is, walk worthily of God. Now, what motive does Paul give to it? Well, you see, he doesn't bring to it the motive of fear.

40:27 If you don't walk worthy of God, he might spank you. That's true. He will. But he doesn't bring that motive in here.

40:34 He doesn't bring that motive in here. He doesn't bring that motive in here. He doesn't bring in the motive of reward. If you do walk worthy of God, there might be some reward, and that's the truth, but it's all in the background.

40:43 Do you see what he uses as the strong point of motivating these people? Gospel motivations. Gratitude. The sense of indebtedness.

40:52 Walk worthy of the calling you to His kingdom and glory, God. Do you Thessalonians find that you don't have much gas to move in that direction of walking worthily of God? He said, I'll tell you what will fill your tank. Here it is.

41:08 You just stop and think of what God did when He called you into His kingdom. Brought you out of darkness by power. Took you out of the clutches of the devil and the grip of sin and brought you into His kingdom. You think about that.

41:23 And if that doesn't do too much for you and only get your tank half filled, you just think about what He's called you to. You just read the last few chapters in the book of the Revelation and read about His people looking upon His face and sorrow and sickness and sighing God. Enjoying the presence of God without any of the remains of corruption and sin. And Paul says, as you think of the great privileges of the gospel, these will act as a motivating power to move you in the direction of performing the duties of the gospel.

41:57 Now the church, you see, is using all kinds of motives in our day to try to get people to do something. There are some churches, I know, that actually offer green stamps for church attendance now. Seen it advertised? Yes, they do.

42:12 And if you come to the evening service, you get so many green stamps. Well, you see, something's wrong. People aren't motivated to come to the service. Frankly, any church that would offer green stamps probably isn't giving much more than poor hash for a so-called spiritual diet and maybe that's why.

42:31 I never saw anybody have to be enticed to the table when there was a juicy steak. Sometimes you might have to entice them to the table if you had the leftovers of three weeks just thrown together in a pot. So maybe that's, it works both ways, I'm sure, but the principle is there that you don't motivate the people of God by natural motives. This is why I have refused to bring the circus into the church and to run this, even some well-known churches in our area, a religious circus, as it were, to get a Sunday night audience and all the time be offering some scintillating program, some dashing, outstanding, dramatic title or some unusual speaker who's seen the devil in person or who's talked to the Pope or something else, you know. It's just absolutely disgusting. Why? Because, you see, it's using motives that appeal to the flesh and you'll reap exactly what you've sown and you'll get exactly what you've pitched for.

43:31 If gospel motives can't move us to gospel duties, then we won't be moved at all. That's why I won't stand up and bang you over the head with threats if you don't come to prayer. If we're going to do this or that or try to bait you with some unusual thing. No, no, no, no.

43:45 I just say we're privileged to meet together to pray and seek the face of God. If you love God and His kingdom and aren't providentially hindered, you'll be with us. Now, if that can't move you, I'm sorry. You won't be moved according to God's way.

43:59 So the great third principle in our text is that gospel motives alone can lead to the performance of gospel duties. Isn't that what Paul does in Romans 12? I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the what? The mercies of God present your bodies.

44:15 Think of His mercies. And if that doesn't move you to say, Here, Lord, I give myself away. Paul says, I'm sorry. I've got no lever to move you.

44:22 If I can't move you with mercy, you just won't be moved. He does that in Ephesians after laying out all those great doctrinal truths in the first three chapters. He begins chapter 4 by saying, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of God. I, therefore, in the light of these gospel privileges, I would motivate you to gospel duties.

44:46 So when our heart for gospel duty begins to flag, meditate on your privileges. When that young man begins to be lagging in his desire to walk worthy of his princely position, he needs to sit himself down on a bench somewhere and begin to think of what his father did when he took him out of this and brought him into this and has promised him all of his kingdom, in the future. He needs to remember his God, his Father, as the one who called him out of squalor into blessing and his pledged future blessing. We need to sit ourselves down somewhere and think of what God has called us out of and what he's called us to.

45:28 And then, in closing, may I just give this word of exhortation by way of application to you who are not savingly joined to Christ. You know what the worst thing about some of you this morning is in the sight of God? It's not that you're going around killing people. I doubt we have any murderers here.

45:48 It's not that you're going out and openly, maybe, flagrantly breaking the law of God, living in adultery or covetousness of a gross form. No. You know what the worst thing about you is if you're not joined to Christ? You know what the worst sin about you is this?

46:03 You're not living to the glory of God. You're not living a life worthy of God. He gave you life. He gave you a mind.

46:11 He gave you strength. He sustains that life. He put all that investment in that life. To what end?

46:17 That that life might be lived to His praise. And yet you live day after day to gratify your own desires, to carry out your own plans, simply to live to yourself. That's the most gross form of wickedness that the sinner lives not with a passion to be found walking worthily of God, but simply living to please himself.

46:42 That's it. That's the essence of mankind's and sinfulness. And so I say to you who are not joined to Christ, who have not repented of your sin, to whom these motives don't do a thing when I say think of what God did in calling you out of darkness. Think of what He will yet do in the kingdom of glory.

47:00 That leaves you as unmoved as it leaves this insensitive desk.

47:06 My friend, the reason those motives don't appeal to you is because you've never experienced the power of the gospel. And I trust that God would send a word from His word to your heart like an arrow. And cause you to realize that you cannot walk worthily of God until you are motivated by those motives of gratitude to God. And you can't have those motives until you too have been called out of darkness into His marvelous light.

47:35 The end, the goal of a true minister in this ministry is that the people of God might walk worthily of the God who has called them to His own kingdom and to His glory. Let us unite in prayer.