1 Thessalonians 3 - Good Reports - And Good Intentions

        Give credit where credit is due.  There are a lot of churches out there that are healthy, transparent, and follow the Way of Jesus Christ as shown in the New Testament.  Those churches have elders that meet Biblical standards, have regular fellowship meetings, are ordered, preach the truth of God, care for what Jesus cares for (the lost, the sick, the jailed, and the poor), and take holiness and righteousness seriously.

        Similarly, many organizations today are transparent, and work hard week after week to honor God, to encourage and motivate fellow employees, to get the right people in the right seats, and to be accountable to their stakeholders; but, far more importantly, to God.

        I love working in business.  Most of my career has been in finance and energy.  But companies of all sizes intrigue me.  Every company of every size can be improved.  It’s a Christian principle of good governance and continuous improvement.  With the new year approaching I encourage business leaders to plan well for the coming year and to get priorities right.  Be great servant leaders.  Survey your organization.  And hire a consultant if needed to help your organization excel.  It is more than worth it.

        Paul had his priorities right.  In this passage, we hear about Paul sending Timothy to Thessalonica to get a report on how the church was doing and to do an honest assessment.  Paul’s chief concern was reporting to the Lord Jesus when Jesus returned.  And Paul was dedicated to helping us, fellow believers, prepare us to stand before God our Father.  I think it’s been taken, but it’s still a great motto: Be prepared.

        Lord Jesus, please help us as Christian men and women, servants of God, to get our priorities straight.  We know we must do better.  For we see dysfunction in many places.  We see war, struggles, and churches that don’t seem to look anything like what we see in God’s word.  We see greed and get-rich-quick schemes.  We see never-ending temple-building projects, dictator-like organizational structures, social justice initiatives masquerading as ministries, political power jockeying, and many examples of evangelical aristocracy and dynasty-building exercises.  Please forgive us and give us clean hands and pure hearts, strong, blameless, and holy.  Amen.

        Who are those who are faithful servants of Christ today?  I contend there are many.  Millions.  Worldwide.  Thank God!  May God abundantly equip all of the co-workers today.  Like Timothy may our organizations be filled with Barnabas-like encouragers.  Wise.  Pure.  Holy.  Honest.  Hard-working.  And faithful to Jesus.  I’m more and more convinced that it is in our business organizations that we make the most eternal impact.  That is not to say that our families and churches are not the priority.  They are.  But people spend their days in organizations.  Who we are is very much where we work and who we share our days with.

        Holy Spirit please enable the co-workers of Christ to strengthen and encourage the church today.  Worldwide.  Help us to practice the truth of Jesus Christ.

        So, like Timonty’s report, what’s our report?  Is our faith strong?  Are we prepared to stand before God the Father?  Who is surveying your church?  Who’s doing the report and who do they report to?  And what are we doing about the report?

        The Bible is filled with exhortations to give yourself and your family and your church honest assessments (2 Corinthians 15:5 (Examine and test yourself.), Romans 12:3 (soberly assess yourself), 1 Corinthians 15:9 (measure yourself), 2 Corinthians 10:12 (Compare yourselves), 1 Peter 1:13 (prepare your minds with sober assessment, etc.)).  We see clearly that Jesus always gives an honest assessment (Revelation 3:17).  Jesus not only knows our deeds.  It's actually much more.  Jesus says, "I am the one who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person.  And I will give to each of you whatever you deserve" (Rev. 2:23).  That's sobering.  I know very well my intentions.

        So, what to do.  If you give yourself a bad report this morning or if your organization or church gets a bad report let’s take it seriously.  Like a cancer diagnosis.  Don't delay.  Take prompt action.

        Let’s take a lesson from the Church at Sardis.  This is what Jesus Christ said to them after they got their assessment, “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive - but you are dead.  Wake up!  Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead.  I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God.  Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly.  Repent and turn to me again.  If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief” (Rev. 3:1-3).

        Yikes.  This message is to me.  Okay, I’m awake.  I’m listening.  Yet we are so worldly.  So timid.  We often don’t assess our organizations as it would make us confront reality.  We want to be nice and be seen to be good.  We want to win by standards that don't ultimately matter.  We often hear of leaders gaslighting those who bring forth honest criticism - they make them the evil ones when in fact it is those people who are trying to honor God in word and action.

        It is worth it for us to get right with God.  Let’s pray for genuine faith, holiness, and good governance.  Everywhere. From the family on up.  Let’s wake up and indeed be sober-minded.  Let’s repent and turn to Jesus Christ.  He alone knows if we have obeyed his commands and He will protect us and give us strength to persevere.

        Father God, we earnestly ask for your help.  For ourselves, our families, and all the way up to our governmental leaders.  We want to stand before you, blameless. We pray for Christian businessmen to have courage like never before.  Bold and humbly confident in Christ.  Help us to plan well.  And to send those like Timothy out to do a good report.  And may we get a great report like the Thessalonians did.  For we know that Jesus Christ will return.  And when He does, may we have great joy as we enter His presence.  Amen.

In Philadelphia earlier this fall.