This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to day four of our look through First Thessalonians
chapter one in daily drive time devotions. We're looking at the last part of
verse five through verse eight today. And let me begin by reading verse eight to
you.

Because I think in verse eight is something we all desire for our lives. Paul
writes to the Thessalonians and he says, the Lord's message rang out from you.
Not only in Macedonia and Achaia, your faith in God has become known everywhere.

Therefore, we don't need to say anything about it. I wouldn't want to have that
kind of faith. The kind of faith that rings out, that's known everywhere, that
makes a difference in people's lives.

The question is, how do I get there? Because for many of us, that just seems so
far away. It feels honestly like level 50 of a video game where I can't even
figure out level one.

And the danger in that is, the danger in that is we become a fake. I know I
can't get there, I feel I can't get there, but I want to make a difference with
my life and so I'll fake it. You do not have to do that.

God has a process of growth in every one of our lives that does take time, but
it's also guaranteed by his spirit in our lives and his love in our lives. Oh,
we can short circuit the process by trying to go too fast or deciding to be a
fake. But when I put faith in God, when I put trust in God and his process in my
life, he grows me.

And I do become someone who's being able to be used of God so that the message
can ring out. Let me go back to the last part of verse five and then read all
the way through verse eight again. What's the process?

Paul says, "You know how we lived among you for your sake, and you became
imitators of us and of the Lord in spite of severe suffering. And you welcomed
the message with joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all
the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

" Those were the nearby regions to where they were. "And the Lord's message rang
out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia. Your faith in God has become
known everywhere.

Therefore, we don't need to say anything about it. " You see the three-part
process? He says, "First, you became imitators.

Second, you welcomed the message. " Those two things go together. And third, you
became a model.

First, he says, "You became imitators. " You want to grow to be all that God
wants you to be? It starts with becoming an imitator.

He says, "You became imitators of us and of the Lord. " You might be thinking
now, wait, wait, wait, wait. I thought you said we weren't supposed to be a
fake.

So what is this about imitation? Well, imitate, the Greek word mimetes here is
to mimic. And what I would say to you is this, don't fake, do imitate.

Now, what's the difference? Well, to fake is to pretend to be something that
you're not. To imitate is to intentionally model your actions after someone
else.

And that is where everyone starts. Without a model, you will not get anywhere.
There's this idea, this false idea that many of us have that somehow just
springing out of my goodness, just springing out of my own energy, I'm going to
figure this whole thing of the Christian life out.

Paul says, "It does not work that way. " He says, "I imitated Jesus Christ and
now you imitate me. " You have to have someone that models for you how to live
the life that God's given you to live.

Someone has to show you how. So you drop your pride and you let someone else
show you how. You also drop your fear.

Because as you learn how, you'll quickly develop your own style, your own
personality will come through, inevitably it'll shine through. So the idea that
if I imitate someone else on how they're doing something, that somehow I'm going
to become a fake, that's just not true. No, you model it after someone else.

How do you learn to pray? You listen to someone that prays, a genuine prayer to
God. And you begin by imitating that, but then very quickly your own heart, your
own life, your own personality begins to shine through.

How do you learn to teach God's word or to study God's word? Well, you find
someone who's doing it and you follow them, you do it like they're doing it, but
then very soon your own style, your own personality starts to shine through.
There is a big difference between being a fake and imitating the actions of
someone else.

Someone who is a fake acts like they've got it all figured out already. But
someone who's willing to imitate says, I need someone else to show me how. This
is how to get past that, I'll never be where you are feeling that many of us
have.

We see someone who's way ahead of us in faith, years ahead of us and we think,
I'm never going to be there and it discourages us. How do you get past that
feeling? I'll never be where you are.

Be where they are, do what they do. One of the most famous books in all of
Christian history is Thomas Aquinas' book, "The Imitation of Christ. " And the
title comes from these verses.

That is our goal. The reason I imitate the actions of someone else is because
they're learning how to live life from Jesus Christ. Other people can help me
towards that goal of imitating, living life, modeling my life after Jesus
Christ.

First, you become imitators. Many people miss this part of the process. So they
never grow like God wants them to grow.

But once you realize that's the first step, it becomes a little more simple. You
became imitators. Second, he said, you welcome the message.

In fact, he says you welcome the message in spite of suffering with joy given by
the Holy Spirit. Welcome the message. Let God's message in the front door of
your life.

Welcome it. Don't keep it out on the porch while you consider whether you want to
follow or not. No, you welcome the message in.

And I love the honest balance about life in this world and this welcome. He says
you welcomed it in spite of suffering. If you're going to do anything good,
anything right, anything holy, it's going to be in spite of the circumstances.

If you think God's going to give you perfect circumstances in order to be able to
serve him well, you haven't read the Bible. There is not one person of faith in
the Bible who had perfect circumstances. No, they all go through the same
circumstances that everyone else goes through and sometimes worse.

The Thessalonians were going through severe suffering. We talked yesterday about
the fact that the very beginning of this church, it started to be persecuted.
But even in spite of the fact that they were being persecuted, that others were
looking down on them because of their faith and were rejecting them because of
their faith, they continued to have faith.

But the balance is not just the suffering. He says in spite of suffering with
joy, joy given by the Holy Spirit. The spiteful circumstances of life cannot
take away the Spirit's joy.

Circumstances are on the outside, joy is on the inside. And when I listen to
what the Spirit has to say, I'm going to hear joy. I'm going to hear hope.

I'm going to hear that whatever circumstances I'm going through, he has a work to
do in my life. You welcome the message. He said, you don't keep it at arm's
length.

You welcome the message into your life. So the question is, what message from
God right now are you holding at arm's length? What do you not want to let in?

Maybe it's frightening to you because you feel like you could never live out
that message. Or it's frightening to you because you feel like the changes that
that message would bring would somehow ruin your life. Well, God's not out to
ruin your life.

He's out to bring you joy. What message are you holding at arm's length? Admit
it now and say, how can I welcome the message?

What's this process of change that happened in the Thessalonian church? Well,
they became imitators. They welcomed the message.

And then because of those two things, they became a model. It's pretty simple.
They became a model because they imitated, they followed others.

They welcomed God's message in their life instead of holding it at arm's length.
And before long, if you do that, you're showing someone else. I have to admit, a
lot of people stumble here.

They're willing to learn, but they are not willing to be a model to someone
else. They look at themselves and they think, I know I don't have it all
together. And honestly, they're a little afraid of the responsibility of being a
model to someone else.

And so they never allow themselves to move to a place where they're influencing
others. They always hold that off in their lives. They always say, oh, don't
follow me.

And if someone tries, they might even intentionally do something that causes
somebody not to follow them. What they don't realize is we are all models
whether we want to be or not. People are watching you.

If you decide to take your faith only so far and then put on some false face of
humility and refuse to become a faith leader to those around you, you are
modeling exactly that to the people that are around you. And there will be
people who follow you in that. I know it's frightening to think I'm a model of
faith to someone else because we all know we're not perfect.

We all know that we've sinned. We all know that we continue to sin, even as
believers in Christ. Whatever is not from faith is sin.

So there's not a day in my life that I don't sin. God's not looking for perfect
models. He's looking for models of faith in Jesus Christ.

And so you say to people, one of the things I want to model for you is that I am
not perfect, but I want to model for you how to follow Jesus Christ and how when
you realize the imperfections in your life to bring them to him, to recognize
his forgiveness and to trust him for change. Imitate, welcome, model. That's the
simple process.

Let's talk to God about it. Jesus, the challenge to imitate you, to live life
like you live life. At first glance, it seems so huge, seems so beyond us.

And yet when we read your word and we realize you've given us a church, you've
given us a small group, you've given us others around us, they can help us to
learn how. And that as one of us is strong in Bible study and others of us
imitate that, we all become stronger. Another of us is strong in prayer and we
all imitate that, we all become stronger in prayer.

Another strong in compassion, we all imitate that, we all become stronger in
compassion. We all have something that can help others to learn. So God, help us
to offer ourselves to you and inasmuch as we follow Christ, help us to help
others to follow you.

Lord, in this moment, we welcome your message into our lives. And if there is a
place where we've been holding your message, your truth, your call, your
direction at arm's length, God, give us the courage. Give me the courage to drop
my arm, to open the door and to say, God, I don't know what's going to happen.

I'm afraid of what's going to happen, but I trust you. And so I open the door and I
welcome your message in. I welcome what you want to do in my life because it is
better than anything I could imagine.

Welcome, Jesus Christ, in your name, amen. Well, tomorrow we'll end our look
together at First Thessalonians chapter one with a look at verses nine and 10.