The "I-Live-If-You-Live" Lifestyle

Since chapter 3 begins with a “therefore”, we must go back to chapter 2:19-20 to discover what it’s there for. Putting his sentence into English, but keeping his word order, we read: “For who [is] our hope or joy or victor’s wreath of boasting - or [is it] not even you - in the presence of our Lord, Jesus, at his coming?”

Then we move into chapter 3 where the key word in this chapter is in verses 2 and 13 – “establish”. The key verse is verse 8: For now we live, if/since you are standing firm in the Lord. The “if” is a condition of first class, “ean” and present active indicative, which could be translated “since you go on standing fast in the Lord.”

Now for an explanation of the title – The “I-Live-If-You-Live” Lifestyle! There are two kinds of lives that human beings may live. There are two lifestyles that human beings may pursue. Most human beings never realize this, but one of these patterns is Satan’s lifestyle while the other is the Savior’s lifestyle. One is the normal lifestyle of a sinner (and it is the only lifestyle a lost man may live), and the other is the normal lifestyle of a practicing saint. I use these words carefully, because any saved person may still at any time lapse into the practice of Satan’s lifestyle.

 Jesus said, "He who would save his own life (the self-advantaged, self-curled, survival life) shall lose it, but he who would give his life for My sake and the Gospel's shall save it."  So the lifestyle pictured in the first diagram is a life of loss, but the self-forgetful, self-giving, self-disinterested lifestyle of the second diagram is the saved life.

The Christian lifestyle is to live so relationally, so unselfishly, so self-forgetfully, so other-orientedly, that the individual Christian only truly lives if his disciple is standing fast in the Lord.  Paul said, "I only live if you stand fast in the Lord."  So the Christian lives in, by means of, for, and through his disciples!

Let’s briefly walk through the 13 verses of chapter 3 and see the traits of this “I-Live-If-You-Live” Lifestyle!

1. Your Faith Must Be Gospel Based

There is one little phrase which appears five times in the space of the first ten verses of chapter 3 – “your faith”:

• the profession of your faith (verse 2);
• the examination of your faith (verse 5);
• the proclamation of your faith (verse 6);
• the consolation of your faith (verse 7);
• and the additions to your faith (verse 10).

In Romans 16:25, Paul uses the same word that he used 4 times in 1 & 2 Thessalonians. He prays that the Roman believers may come to experience the power of God in such a dynamic manner as to “establish them by his gospel …” The Greek word for establish is sterizo, from which you get our English word steroid - meaning something that makes you strong. He says that the way to become strong, fixed, growing, established, in your Christian life is to live on and out of the whole gospel!

A. The Gospel is a Sterizo that will Empower Believers to Stand in the Faith against Erroneous Conclusions– 1 Thess. 3:2-5

Paul was concerned that those having to suffer for the sake of the gospel might misinterpret the hardships and heartaches that had come their way. If they succumbed to the subtle voice of the Devil, and believed his lie over God’s gospel truth, they would become bitter and angry toward God for allowing it.

Paul had sent “Timothy, our brother and God's co-worker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort them in their faith, so that no one would be moved by their afflictions.” How was Timothy going to establish them? By proclaiming and teaching the whole gospel to them.

B. The Gospel is a “Sterizo” that will Empower Believers to Stand in Holiness against Temptation – 1 Thess 3:13,

“…so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.” - Our hearts need the gospel sterizo to make them firm instead of fickle, full of faith instead of fear, and confident in the face of confusion. Our hearts need to be empowered, established, encouraged in the love of God, against the fears of men, the frowns of the world, and the temptations of Satan.

C. The Gospel is a Sterizo that will Empower Believers to Stand in Courage against Persecution – 2 Thess 2:17,

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. - Paul continues to ask the Lord to “establish you in every good word and work” - that is, in every good word of God, or truth of the Gospel, which contains good tidings of good things, so as not to waver about them, or stagger in them, or to depart from them. Someone rightly stated that Christians in the United States are in greater danger of being seduced by non-Christian cultural values than of being persecuted by them.

2. Your Focus Must Be on Disciple Building

Because Paul is their spiritual parent (1 Thess. 2:7,11), he is concerned that they do not interpret his physical absence as proof that he does not care about them. (Maybe Paul's enemies were telling them this.) There were good reasons why he could not come back, and he has been deeply concerned about them the whole time.

But there is another reason. He explains this because he expects them to take up the same loving responsibility (as spiritual parents) toward others – “The “I-Live-If-You-Live” Lifestyle.” That's why he ends this passage by praying not only that God will direct his way back to them (3:11), but also that they will love others in the same way that he loves them (3:12).

This is one of the key dynamics of the New Testament church that is so different than the traditional church model of today.

In the traditional model, the church is like a PERPETUAL SPIRITUAL DAY-CARE CENTER. The movement tends to be from the outside to the inside; from go and tell the gospel to come and hear it in a building.

In the New Testament church, the church is like a GROWING and DEVELOPING FAMILY. New children are being born into the family. The parents take care of the young children. But as the children grow older, they are expected to help care for the younger children, and then to get married, have their own children - and teach their children the same model. This is the model of inside to outside living that equips every available believer to become a spiritual parent!

Paul was most concerned to build up their faith (3:1-2, 5a), to bolster their courage (3:3-4), and to block or neutralize any temptation from Satan (3:5b), so that the believers became like their spiritual father. 1Thess. 1:6, “And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,”   

Jesus said in Luke 6:40, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” 

3. Your Fervency in Prayer Must Overflow All Bounds

Paul prayed for three specific requests.

a. He prayed that their faith might mature (1Thess. 3:10). Paul asked God to make it possible for him to minister to them personally, but God did not answer that request. Paul longed to see them again; he longed to minister to them and help bring their faith to maturity. The word translated “perfect” has the meaning of “adjust, equip, furnish.” Our faith never reaches perfection; there is always need for adjustment and growth. We go “from faith to faith” (Roms. 1:17).

b. He prayed that their love might abound (1Thess 3:12). 1 Thess. 3:12, “And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you.”

c. He prays that their character and conduct would be that of holiness of life (“so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints”1Thess. 3:13).

Which direction describes my Christian lifestyle – outside to inside or inside to outside? What causes us to really live?