How to Rescue Those in Spiritual Danger, Part 2

Chip Ingram: Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram: if you saw someone that you loved drowning, what would you do? Well, I know what you'd do, you'd go get them, wouldn't you? Well, today we're going to learn how to rescue those who are spiritually drowning. Stay with us.
Dave Druey: I'm Dave Druey and today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram continues our series, Building Authentic Community: How to Lift Up Those You Love. Chip lays out what he calls a spiritual rescue intervention, a complete step-by-step plan for reaching somebody who's spiritually drifting before it's too late. It's specific enough to actually use, not just another vague call to pray for them. If there's someone drifting in your own life, you're about to hear exactly what the Apostle Paul did to bring people like that back. If you have your Bible with you, open it now to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 as we join Chip for today's message titled, "How to Rescue Those in Spiritual Danger."
Chip Ingram: I'm going to give you four steps of rescue intervention. Step one: communicate your gratitude for the authenticity of their faith in the midst of spiritual opposition. Do you hear that? Have you got step one of rescue intervention? That's how you communicate to people that are drifting away. Now we're going to talk about step two in just a second. Let's look at what the Apostle Paul does. After he communicates his gratitude, then he expresses genuine concern. Verse 17: "But we, brothers, having been bereft," that's an interesting word, the NIV, I like a little better, says "having been torn away from you for a short period, in person not in spirit, were all the more eager with great desire to see you face to face." By the way, this little word "bereft" or "bereaved" is the idea—you might circle it—it means to be physically separated but also with mental anguish. It's an involuntary separation. One commentator says you could translate it "orphaned." Do you hear what he's doing? He's communicating his sincere concern. This isn't perfunctory. This isn't "oh, we happen to go to church together." This is "I care about you." And notice the word here he says, "we have great desire." It's the most emphatic intensive form of that verb that you can have. He's saying, "My heart beats for you." And even though we've been separated geographically, I'll tell you what, it's "out of sight, out of mind" doesn't happen to the Apostle Paul. Out of sight, deep in my heart. He says, "I greatly desire to see your face." Why? "For we wanted to come to you, I, Paul, more than once and yet Satan thwarted us." Do you get the picture? The Apostle Paul is saying, "You matter. I'm concerned about you. Not only am I grateful for what God's done in your life, but I'm concerned about you and I care about you and I love you." And it was almost like they'd had no contact and it would be like someone that you haven't heard from in a long, long time saying, "Oh, it's glad I finally got to see you and I've really missed you," and you say, "Yeah, right." And then they have a box and they say, "Here." And you say, "What's in the box?" "Oh, you open it." And you take the box and you open it and there's a stack of 30 letters in it. And somehow they couldn't get the right address, they couldn't find you. And on the corner stamped in red in every letter it says "return to sender, return to sender." That's what he's saying here. Then notice the reason. Look at verse 19: "For who is our hope, our joy, or our crown of exultation? I mean, why do we live? Why do we get up?" The Apostle Paul says, "I don't get up so that I earn more money this year. I get up in the morning and I live for your spiritual welfare and progress. You are our hope, our joy, and our crown." Two words for crown in the New Testament. This one is reference to a crown of victory. It's the idea of royalty coming and arriving with his crown as a sign of honor. And he says—notice what his crown is—"is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" He says, "The day when I come to Christ, whether He comes back or whether I die and go to Him, when I go to Him and when I go to that believer's judgment, the crown that I'll wear on my head of victory and royalty will be my relationship with you as a church. I invested in you. I loved you. I led you to Christ. I built into your life. I gave my life. And when I stand before God, you are my crown, my joy, and my hope." In fact, he repeats it. Look at the last line: "For you are our glory and joy." Now you know something, if the person—even if it's you, you need to get to know some others—but if the person in that little rowboat that you have pictured in your mind is drifting out to sea and is spiritually adrift from Christ, can you imagine what would happen if someone communicated that they really cared? I mean, they really cared, not perfunctory. In fact, step two of our rescue intervention is express your sincere concern for them as a person. I put that very purposely. Not as a project, not out of duty, not "I'm making seven calls and I haven't seen you in church lately," you know. "You're on my list. I'm on the slipping away, falling away, backslidden recovery committee." Give me a break. People need to know that in your heart of hearts, they matter. Most people don't believe anybody thinks they matter. Express your sincere concern for them as a person. How? With words and ways that make sense to them. I was the black sheep of the college ministry that I was involved in. In fact, one guy I'll share later said, "I don't think you're ever going to amount to anything." And I had trouble getting up and going to church. Everyone went to Bible studies and I blew about half of them off. I still remember a couple that I fell asleep at. Everybody was memorizing a couple verses a week and I said, "Look guys, if you want to do that, fine. They're all in here. Why mess up my brain with spending all that time?" I had a little—I wanted to grow in Christ as long as it didn't cost anything. That was my motto. And so I kept getting involved in a number of things that were not very healthy for me. But you know what? Timothy's really right, as the Spirit of God speaks through him, you can deny Him, but He won't deny you. He really won't. And you can deny Him so that the blessings of God can be off your life, but see, there's something happened when you trusted Christ. If you really trusted Christ, you said yes to Him and God said yes to you. You can break your word till the cows come in, He'll never break His word to you. He won't let go of you. He'll make your life miserable until you come back to Him, but He won't let go of you. "Well, He's making my life miserable." And you know, finally, in a moment of weakness, I said to my roommate, I said, "Bob, I'm tired of this. I'm living on the fence and it's very uncomfortable." And I said, "Will you help me? I really want to walk with God but I'm just lazy and I keep blowing it off." And he said, "Okay, well, I'll help you. I'll help you get up for church." And he said, "The other thing I'm going to do, I'm going to help you because, man, Chip..." Bob was big, strong, heavyweight wrestler at our college. Big dude. About 235, 240. His arms were like my thighs, or close. Huge guy. And he said, "Chip, until you get in God's word for yourself, you'll never grow. Every morning I get up and I have a quiet time." And I said, "Bob, every morning, I like to sleep." He said, "Well Chip, do you mean business or not?" I said, "Yeah, Bob, I really want to do it." I said, "No matter what I say in the morning, you help me get up." This is the kind of concern, this is the kind of concern that goes to the nth degree. So I'm doing what I do best early in the morning at that point in my life: sleeping. And the alarm goes off. Get rid of that thing, it's a nuisance. I had the habit of throwing on my sweats five minutes before class, running to class, baseball hat on. Many of you students understand that life. And so it went off in time for a quiet time. Bob says, "Get up, Chip." "Get out of my bunk." "Chip, you told me to wake you up." I said, "Hey Bob, you know, just get out of my face, man, I'll read the Bible tomorrow." Bob reaches down to my ankle. True story. Because he didn't do this once. He took my ankle and he lifted me up just like this, out of my bed. And then he walked—he could do it with one arm—and he lifts me up, walks me over, and he said, "Drinking fountain or shower?" Man, I'm "Bob, get off of me!" And he said, "Well, we'll try the drinking fountain today," and he hits the drinking fountain and it's pouring over me and I'm going like this. He said, "Chip, you made a commitment." I said, "Bob, okay, put me down, so help me I'll read my Bible, okay?" So he took me down and I got up and I read my Bible. The next morning he took me into the shower. The next morning I got up on my own. He got me to church. He called, he reminded, he prayed, he invited me to meals, he took me home with him on breaks, he brought homemade cookies from his mom. He loved me in a way that made sense to me. He cared. He cared when it was easy, he cared when it was hard. Bob wouldn't give up on me and he wouldn't let me give up on my faith. Now the Apostle Paul will tell us step number three. Paul is going to demonstrate his deep concern and genuine fear, and because of that, he will send Timothy to encourage the Thessalonians. In chapter 3 verses 1 to 5, he's basically going to say, "You know what? I've been up night, I've been pacing the floors, I don't know how you're doing, I am going absolutely nuts, and so what I did is I sent Timothy to find out about how you're doing."
Dave Druey: You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and we'll pick the message back up in just a moment. Quick question: is Chip's teaching already on your phone? The Chip Ingram app puts his messages, video teachings, and daily encouragement right in your pocket, so you're never more than a tap away from something like what you're hearing right now. It's completely free and it only takes a minute to download wherever you get your apps. Okay, now let's get back to today's message.
Chip Ingram: He pursues a relational connection. Look at it: verse 1 of chapter 3. "Therefore, when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone," and you ought to jot in your Bible 2 Corinthians, because you'll learn that when Paul was in Athens, he was having a very difficult time. It's one of the few times in the Bible we learn of a great apostle where he says, "Man, I'm depressed. I'm down." And yet rather than keeping a close friend, he says, "Hey Timothy, I may be down, I may be depressed, but I gotta find out how they're doing." By the way, do you hear what's behind this passage? Do you love people or not? Do I love people or not? Do you? If you do, you go after them. If you don't, then you know, you rationalize like I do and "oh yeah, they're probably this and probably that." Then three years later, "oh yeah, I heard they're separated." Four years later, "they're divorced." Five years later, there's two kids bouncing around all over the country, two days here, three days here, and you and I saw it five years ago. But you know, "what would they think if we pry into their life?" They might thank us for all eternity is what they might think. "When I could endure it no longer, I thought it best to be left in Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ." Why? "To strengthen," literally the word means to support, "and to encourage or comfort you as to your faith." Why? "So that no man may be disturbed," NIV "unsettled by these afflictions." The word "disturbed" or "unsettled" means shaken or to be lured away by a deceptive means. That happens to all of us. He said, "We sent Timothy because, man, we are uptight in our soul because we know that every believer will encounter spiritual entropy and they'll get unsettled, they'll get disturbed, their faith will get shaken and they'll be lured away. For you yourselves know that we've been destined for this." The Apostle Paul basically says all that jazz you hear on the radio and on TV about "come to Jesus and all your problems will go away and you'll be healthy and wealthy and drive nice cars" is a bunch of baloney. He said when you follow Christ, you'll be destined for swimming upstream in a downstream world. It will be hard, it will be difficult, but you'll have the truth, and you'll have purpose, and you'll have peace, and you'll have all the things that matter, but it won't be easy. Notice what he says: "For this reason then, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith for fear that the tempter might have tempted you," the tense of the verb here—it was already occurring—"and that our labor should be in vain." Let's bring it into our day. Step number three of our rescue intervention for that person in that little boat drifting out to the spiritual sea is pursue a specific means of relational connection for the purpose of spiritual encouragement and protection. It's not enough to know who they are, it's not enough just to drop them a note, it's not enough to start really caring, it's not enough just to express your concern. You've got to pursue a relational connection. Means you give them a call this week. Means you ask them to lunch. Means you drop them a note. Means you drop in at their work—they'll usually be there. And you say, "Lord, for the next three or four months, I don't know where I'm going to get the time, but I'm going to find an hour or so for this person every week on their turf in a way that matters to them." And that's what he did to me. And that's been my motto and that's what I do with people. I kind of change where I work out and I change who I do it with, and it's primarily a ministry vehicle because I'm trying to stay in shape and it's hard, and I just thought, "You know, I want to do it with people that need to grow in Christ." What do you need to do? In your mind, what do you need to do to reach out to that person in that boat? Or by the way, if you're the person in the boat, by the way, this is a two-way deal. I mean, if you leave here thinking, "Oh, I now know the problem. Everyone's supposed to come and love me and care for me, and I don't think enough people are doing it. I hope they're listening." No, no, no, no, no. You are morally, spiritually responsible for your own spiritual health. And don't you blame anybody else for anything. There's enough opportunities for you to take steps to get plugged in, get loved, to come to dinner, to come to a class, to get in a small group, to get involved in a community group. You take those steps and we'll go out and reach all those other people as well. And if you feel disconnected, you think of someone who's more disconnected than you and you start helping them and you'll find yourself deeply loved. Do you hear it? Fourth step: the Apostle Paul goes beyond sending, then he gets a report back. And when he gets the report back, he is the master motivator. I'm always interested when I hear all these motivational speakers with these "secret principles" of the universe and then they give one of them and I say, "Yeah, great. Boy, that was excellent." Then I think to myself, "Hmm, let's see, that's 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13." It's amazing how they discover the truth. But people in motivational circles, you know what they know? You need to rejoice over people's success. You need to rejoice, you need to explode with joy when people make a little progress. The problem with most of us is with our kids, with our mate, with people that we know, they make a little progress and we say, "Well, that's not bad, but you still have a long way to go." I mean, that just motivates you, doesn't it? I mean, it just makes you want to get up and make the bed tomorrow. Just makes you want to be more affectionate and kind with your mate. Just makes you want to jump for joy and say, "You know, quit raising the bar and start patting people on the back for the bars that by the grace of God they're getting over." Notice what the Apostle Paul does. Look at it: Paul explodes with joy and he breaks out into prayer over Timothy's report of the Thessalonians' positive spiritual progress. Verse 6: "But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us good news of your faith and love." Notice what he praises: not their activities, their faith and their love. Sure, it comes out in activities, but he praises the values. "And that you always think kindly of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you." Verse 7: "For this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith." He said, "You know, we're going through a lot of hard times and life is really hard," in fact, literally the word "distress" means a choking type situation. He said, "We were encouraged and comforted knowing that you're doing well." Verse 8: "For now we really live if you stand firm in the Lord." One commentator said basically the translation Paul says, "The moment we heard that you're pressing on with the Lord," he said, "I got a new lease on life. I'm sleeping better. I'm sleeping better. My heart is lifted up. I'm encouraged because I live, I bleed, I dream, I think about your spiritual progress because you're so important to God and because you're so important to God, you're so important to me." So he says, "Now we really live if you stand firm for the Lord." Verse 9: "For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account? As night and day we keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face and may complete," a—means to bring to full maturity, to adjust, to give input, to bring health—"that we may complete what is lacking in your faith." He's exploding with joy. And now he breaks out into prayer. Verse 11: "Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct or make straight our way to you." He says, "Man, we want to see you. we want to see you. And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for each other and for all men, just as we do for you. Wow. So that He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints." You see the ultimate goal? The ultimate goal is that God wants to take that person, even if it's you or a friend or a relative or a mate, and they're drifting out to the spiritual sea and He wants you to express gratitude for when they were on the shore. Then He wants to say, "I care," get on the megaphone, "Hey! on that boat out there! You may think no one cares, I do! I do, for real!" And then you take your boat and you make a relational connection, you get right up next to it and you throw a line over and you hook it in. And then you pull them in and as you're pulling them in, they start taking some steps back to shore on their own and every time they take a little tiny step you go, "Yippee! Yippee! I'm so proud of you! Way to go! Way to go!" That's what he does. So our step four: rejoice with them and over them. I like that phrase: rejoicing over a person. At any and every step of positive spiritual progress. We don't have to see people that we know and feel uncomfortable and say, "Hmm, what should I do?" We can express our gratitude for their faith. We can communicate our deep concern. We can this week determine how to get relationally connected and then when they take a tiny step we can rejoice. If you turn to the back page, the first question is "On a scale of 1 to 10, what manner of spiritual drifting is occurring in your life right now?" It would be a shame to talk about how to help others until we kind of look in the mirror, wouldn't it? A 1 is you're anchored in Christ. A 5 is there's a subtle drifting and number 10 is you're out to sea. You know, if you had to put a star right on there, where would you put it? Secondly, quickly list those who come to your mind whom you sense are spiritually drifting. Might be three or four or five people, just quickly do it, jot them down. And then here's your assignment: which one of these people do you care enough about to attempt a rescue intervention this week, empowered by the Spirit and the grace of God?
Dave Druey: You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and a message titled, "How to Rescue Those in Spiritual Danger." We're in a series called Building Authentic Community, and if you missed any part so far, feel free to catch up anytime at livingontheedge.org. Chip walked us through all four steps of that rescue plan: the gratitude, the concern, the pursuit, and the rejoicing. Every one of those steps comes down to the same thing: choosing to love somebody.