Whenever you find yourself in a situation of conflict, you will say to yourself, now what are my rights? And as soon as you say the R word, I want you to say the E word. What is my example? Never ask what are my rights without asking the question, what is my example? Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. Colin, I like that idea that we shouldn’t ask what are my rights without also asking, what is my example? You know, I found that to be a really useful way of remembering an important principle. It comes up all the time. Just in this last week, I had another conversation, a guy who has a reason for which he might take legal action, and he has a right. And our conversation was all about, well, now you have this right, but then you have a family, and you have an employer, and your wife has an employer, and your children have been looking at your example, and they are looking at your example, and what are the effects going to be on all of these people around you? And, you know, it’s one thing if the discussion is all about rights, you tend to move in one direction. When the discussion is about example, you begin to think, maybe rights isn’t the all-important thing. And that’s what Paul says. Here’s a situation where we had rights, but we were thinking more about our example. That’s a distinctively Christian approach to a situation of conflict. You’ve brought up the Apostle Paul, so let’s see what he had to say about that in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 3, and verses 6 to 15, as we continue the message, pursuing what is right. Here’s Colin. Whenever you find yourself in a situation of conflict, you will say to yourself, Now, what are my rights? And as soon as you say the R word, I want you to say the E word. What is my example? What is my example? Never ask, what are my rights, without asking the question, what is my example? What is my example towards unbelieving colleagues who are watching me and see me and know what I’m doing? What is my example to my children and what I’m doing right now? What is my example to the church, to the family of God? What is my example to the angels who are watching? What is my example to the demons who want to blaspheme the name of God? And that is what I’m saying and what I’m doing and what I’m seeking, Luke, King Luke, in the eyes of Almighty God, who gave his son on that cross for me. Now, this is a huge principle of mammoth proportions in its importance. Your work is a gift and calling from God to be pursued for his glory and for the good of others, and your example is more important than your rights. I did not say that your rights don’t matter. I did not say you should never claim them. I said that your example is more important than your rights, because that is the principle that the Apostle Paul has here in 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 9. Now, that takes us to the third thing, and I think the most important for us today. And it brings us to verse 13 and this marvelous statement that summarizes the whole letter. Having spoken about what work is and having seen what it means to be an example, especially in that context, he comes to this. He says, verse 13, never tire of doing what is right. And so Paul is moving here very obviously from a rebuke to those who have insisted on being idle to an encouragement to those who are faithful. Never tire of doing what is right. So here are people who are doing what is right. He’s speaking to Christian believers who are faithful men, faithful women. They’re on the right track. And the issue that they’re up against, and it’s the issue that many of us I’m sure today are up against, is simply they’re getting tired. They’re doing what is right. They’re on the right track, but they’re getting tired. This is an experience that comes to all of us. Some of us tire more easily than others, but all of us will struggle here at some point. And I want to suggest to you that there are three places where we are especially vulnerable to getting discouraged and tiring of doing what is right. I found these in my own experience. I’m sure you have found them in yours. They’re very obvious, and they are very, very common. Three places where you will be especially vulnerable to getting discouraged and tiring of doing what is right. Here’s the first. You can tire of doing what is right when doing good brings trouble in return. And I put that first because it’s obviously what was happening here in the passage. Some of these faithful believers had shown great kindness to the folks who were idle. And what was happening? These folks were giving back trouble in return. Now, many of you know this in your experience. It is very discouraging when you reach out to help someone else, and then the very person you have extended yourself to help turns on you and starts to bring you trouble. And it feels like a slap in the face. And if it has happened to you, you will know how discouraging it is in the whole of your life. You say this, once bitten, twice shy. And you tire of doing what is right. You say, well, I extended myself and look what happened. And it’s so discouraging. Then here’s a second situation where you can easily tire of doing what is right. You can tire when doing good brings little thanks. Is there any parent who has not at some time in the course of bringing up children felt the experience of this one? You extend yourself. You make extraordinary sacrifices for the children. Or maybe for your company. Or for the church. And nobody seems to notice and nobody seems to care. And you feel undervalued. You feel taken for granted. And it drains your energy. And at some point this thought comes into your mind, well, if nobody else cares, I won’t care either. And you tire of doing what is right. Here’s a third. You can tire of doing what is right when doing good brings slow progress. I was reading from a pastor whose work I appreciate a lot, James Phillip. And he says most parents and most teachers know all about this. Let me quote him. He speaks about the common ground that parents and teachers share. Namely, the sometimes desolating sense that they are getting absolutely nowhere with their young charges. And that they are complete failures as far as getting anything over to the children is concerned. Is there any teacher or parent who hasn’t at some time felt that? Am I getting anywhere? Painstakingly slow progress. There’s a real danger of us tiring in doing what’s right. And all of us know it. All of us have experienced it. The wind’s out of your sails. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes, I think very perceptively, very helpfully, about this battle with weariness and the battle with discouragement. It’s in his great book on spiritual depression. That is a marvellous book to read. And he says this. I am perfectly convinced that the most difficult period in all of life is the middle period. He says there are compensations in youth and there are compensations in old age, which seem to be entirely lacking in the middle period. Then he applies this, and this is what I think some of you will find really helpful today. He applies this to the difficulty that many face in the middle years of working life. And he says this. They have got beyond the stage of developing and building up. They have attained to a certain level. For many reasons, it is impossible to develop further. They are on the level. And the difficulty is to keep going on that level while lacking the stimulus that took them there. It’s so perceptive. You see, you were climbing this ladder. And there was this great stimulus and all those progress you were making. And now you’ve hit a level. You’ve hit a ceiling. And how are you going to stay where you’re at? How do you find the end? How are you not going to tire of doing what God has given you to do? See, when this happens, when we hit that point, and so often it happens in the middle years, you hit that point in work, or you hit that point in marriage, or even in the church. And what happens is that we’re tempted to respond in one of three ways. One response is simply to give up. You throw up your hands in frustration. You say, well, I thought I was going to achieve something more than this. I quit. I’m out of here. Or, I’m done with this marriage. I’m done with this job. I’m done with this church. I’m done with the Christian life. Give up. You’re tired of doing what’s right. Or another response is the response of simply abandoning hope. You say, well, this is all my life is going to be then. I have to make the best of it. I have to grin and bear it. And the light goes out in your life, and you become a joyless person. Third way in which some people respond when they hit this most difficult experience, you try to find an escape. You turn to artificial stimulants, to drink, to drugs, to an affair, to gambling. And all of these folks are responses in real life to chronic discouragement and not knowing what to do with it. And God says to us here, never tire of doing what is right. If you’ve known what it is to tire, you’re going to ask the question right now, how? How can I get through my life and sustain what God has given me to do in a way that is for His glory in all the difficulties that that involves? Please tell me, how can I never tire of doing what is right? You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the message Pursuing What is Right. It’s part of a series, Staying the Course When We’re Tired of the Battle. And don’t forget, if you ever miss one of our messages in the series, or if you want to go back and listen again, you can always come online to openthebible.org.uk and there you can find any of our previously broadcast messages. Back to the message now, here’s Colin. Never tire of doing what is right. If you’ve known what it is to tire, you’re going to ask the question right now, how? How? How can I get through my life and sustain what God has given me to do in a way that is for His glory in all the difficulties that that involves? Please tell me, how can I never tire of doing what is right? How can I keep going? Because I get tired, get discouraged. So let me conclude with just these three observations on how to persevere through discouragement, because that’s what this is all about. Let me encourage you from the Scriptures in this way. Look back to what Jesus Christ has accomplished. I’m taking that from Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 3, because you remember that Hebrews reminds us about all that Jesus suffered, and then it says this wonderfully, Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and so that you will not lose heart. In other words, it’s speaking directly to exactly the problem that we’re speaking about today. How can I avoid growing weary? How can I make sure that I don’t lose heart? What am I to do? I’m to consider him and how he endured such opposition from sinful men. That’s what the book of Hebrews is saying. So think about the trouble that came to him. You have experienced perhaps that you extended yourself to do someone else good and trouble came back to you. Think about how that was for him. How he went about doing good and they called him Beelzebub. The devil. And then they hung him on a cross. Think of how little he was thanked. Ten lepers healed. A miracle. And one comes back to say thank you. Jesus says, where are the other nine? Where are they? Where are they? They mean nothing to them that they were healed of leprosy. Think of the slow progress when you’re frustrated at how difficult it is with the work that you have been given to do. Think of the slow progress he had as he worked with his disciples and how little progress they made under his perfect teaching. Do you still have no faith? Do you still not understand? Folks, honestly, when I look at my own sins and I look at the many gifts of God in my life that I take too often for granted and I look at the slow pace of my own progress in the Christian life, it is absolutely amazing to me that Jesus Christ would not throw up his hands and say, I’m done with him. He isn’t worth it. Don’t you feel that about yourself? But our Saviour never tires of doing good. Isn’t that amazing? He never tires. Your salvation hangs on it. You consider him, you’ll find strength coming into your soul to persevere with all the difficulties you’re facing. Then here’s another strategy, just very practical and very brief, very simple. Because these are things we all face and we all have to deal with. But the Bible encourages us not only to look back at what Christ has accomplished but to look around at what Christ’s people endure. I’m thinking here of 1 Peter 5 and verse 9. And let me tell you honestly, we all have times when we feel sorry for ourselves, don’t we? When I feel sorry for myself and I start thinking that I carry a heavy burden, I have found it over the years wonderfully helpful to look at the burdens that other Christians are carrying. That helps me, it strengthens me. And that’s exactly the point that Peter makes in 1 Peter 5, 9. He talks about what it takes to stand up to Satan and he says, now here’s what you do, you resist him and you stand firm in the faith because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering. In other words, remember that there’s a whole world of Christian believers and they’re all carrying unique burdens and they’re all facing the same activity of the tempter. Remember that. The sufferings of other Christians help us to resist Satan. Knowing the burdens that others carry will help you to carry your own. When I feel sorry for myself, the best thing I can do is go visit someone in need. I look at what they’re carrying and I say, oh God, why did I ever complain? Why did I ever complain? Pastor Ted Olson has a wonderful, wonderful phrase that I have found so helpful. He says, irrigate your soul in the joys and sorrows of other people. Isn’t that beautiful? Irrigate your soul, water your soul, replenish your soul, renew your strength. How? By touching the joys and the sorrows of other people. And then here’s a third and final strategy and again a very practical one to help us in these most difficult times that all of us will encounter and many of us will be there today. Look forward to what Christ has promised. This is all over the Bible. Because you cannot endure through the difficulties of life without hope. Remember how Isaiah put this. It is those who hope in the Lord who will renew their strength. That’s Isaiah 40 and verse 31. And here’s how Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians. We don’t lose heart, he says. Why? Because we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen and on what is eternal. You folks know I very, very rarely tell a sports story. Almost never. But I will just as we wrap up today. I have always enjoyed tennis and my tennis hero is Jimmy Connors. Anyone else like Jimmy Connors? I love Jimmy Connors. To my mind, he was not the most gifted of players. What I loved about him and love about him still was his sheer determination. Well, one year at Wimbledon and those of you who love tennis, I guess will remember this as I do so vividly. Jimmy Connors was playing a guy by the name of Mikel Pernfors. And Connors was in trouble. Two sets down. 6-1, 6-1. And 4-1 down in the third. And on top of that, he was nursing a leg injury. They had to bring out the doctor, treatment at the side of the court and all the rest of it. And incredibly, he came back to win the match. I can see myself sitting in the car, pulling in the side of the road, huddled over the radio. I was on my way to take part in a meeting. I didn’t want to leave the radio. It was so exciting. And the joy of seeing it on the television later at night when I came home. And what I will never forget is how afterwards an interviewer said to him this. You’re 34 years old. And you’re carrying a leg injury. And you’re two sets down and you’re four games to one behind. And you’ve already won all this stuff. Don’t you ever, even for a moment, think to yourself, is this really worth it? And Connors looked straight at the interviewer and he said, It is always worth it. It is always worth it. And I want to say to you today, never tire of doing what is right. It is always worth it. It is always worth it. And supremely for this reason, Jesus said, even a cup of cold water, the smallest act of kindness that is done in his name, will have its reward. That’s what he said. And one day you are going to stand in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you were a Christian on that day, every act that honoured Christ, every decision to do what is right, every sacrifice you have ever made throughout the long years of your Christian life, will be of infinite value. Gloriously worth it. You will never regret one good deed that you have done. You will never regret one sacrifice that you have made for Jesus Christ. You will never regret one costly decision to do what is right when you are in the presence of Jesus. So, look at what is ahead. Look at what he promises. And press on. Press on. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the message Pursuing What is Right, part of our series Staying the Course When We’re Tired of the Battle. And I think a really helpful message today about how to persevere through discouragement by looking back at what Christ has accomplished, how to look around at what his people are enduring, and of course, looking forward to what Christ has promised. And don’t forget, if you ever miss one of our messages, you can always catch up or go back and listen again by coming to our website. That’s openthebible.org.uk There you can find any of the previously broadcast messages. You can also find our messages as podcasts. Go to your favourite podcast site, search for Open the Bible UK and subscribe to the podcast to receive regular updates. Open the Bible is supported entirely by our listeners and if that’s something you feel you’d like to do, this month we’ve got a special offer for you. In return for setting up a new donation to the work of Open the Bible in the amount of £5 per month or more, we’d love to send you two copies of a book called More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowall. And Colin, who is this book for? Well, it’s for anyone who wants to bear witness to Jesus and anyone who has questions about Jesus which ought to just about cover everyone who’s listening to the programme today, I’m sure. This is a marvellous book. More Than a Carpenter has a story behind it. And the story is that the author, Josh McDowall, actually set out to disprove Christianity. That was his aim. And what he found when he set out on that journey was that the evidence for Scripture and for the claims of Jesus Christ was so compelling that he himself was converted. And became a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is a great book for helping anyone who wants to be clearer and more confident in their testimony to Jesus. And it’s a marvellous book to be able to give to anyone who is a sceptic or is asking honest questions about the Christian faith. And that’s why we want to send you two copies of this book, More Than a Carpenter. One for you and one to give away. That’s our gift to you if you’re able to set up a new donation for the work of Open the Bible in the amount of £5 per month or more. Full details on our website openthebible.org.uk. For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick and I very much hope you’ll join us again soon. What does it mean for ordinary people like you and me when the Bible says we can have peace at all times and in every way? Find out next time on Open the Bible.