5 Ways to be a Godly Example

Good morning! My name is Matt Martinez and I am the pastor here at Renovation Church Shoreview.

What do people think of God when they watch you?

We have all seen the fallout from a godly example that is bad. I have witnessed my fair share of that. But I can also say that I am here today, because of some amazing godly examples in my life.

Because God is unseen, our example is a powerful witness. Our passage today does its very best to help us be a good example of God in the world today.

Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12. If you need a Bible today, grab the one under your chair and turn to page 807 of that Bible. Once you get to that page, look for the big number 2.

We are a Bible-teaching church. We open up the Bible and walk through passages verse by verse, reading what it says, and looking to God to learn about what this means for our lives.

We took a short break from our teaching series in the book of the Bible titled 1 Thessalonians, but now we are coming back.

Paul (a big influential church leader and church planter at this time) wrote this letter. But before he wrote 1 Thessalonians, he was preaching in the city of Philippi. Map of Paul’s second missionary journey Paul was preaching the gospel: the death and resurrection of Jesus saves us from our sins and by God’s grace we are redeemed and get to spend eternity with Him. There was a group of people in Philippi who did not like this message and so they arrested Paul, beat him, and threw him in jail.

Once he got out, he left Philippi and came to the city of Thessalonica where he started preaching the good news of Jesus again. The people in Thessalonica were worshiping idols and not following God. But many, when hearing Paul preach this message, gave their lives to Jesus, and the church was born in that city.

But there were other people in Thessalonica who were not happy about Paul and this church and so they began to riot and chased Paul out of town where he eventually arrived in the city of Corinth. After Paul left, the angry Thessalonian mob turned on the new Christians in their city and began persecuting them.

The Thessalonian church’s integrity was put to the test. Would they hold to their belief in God even when it wasn’t popular? When the comfort of their lives was taken away and their lives were threatened, would they still be a good example of God to the people around them?

Paul uses the example of his own life to show a number of different ways the new Thessalonians Christians should take in being a godly example in the world. For our time today, I have found:

5 Ways to be a Godly Example (in our passage)

Let’s read about the first one.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 page 807

You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. 2 We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition.

5 Ways to be a Godly Example

1- Take the right risks for the right results

What Paul is saying here is really interesting. Remember he just came from being beaten and thrown in prison. He just had to run from a city because people wanted to kill him- all because he was representing Jesus- those are bad results to me. But Paul sees all of what happened to him as good results because more people are following Jesus.

For the followers of Jesus in the room, Paul is saying that the right results of people coming to know Jesus should outweigh the risks we endure.

The right risks are the ones that help lead others to Jesus. Many followers of Jesus understand this and know that leading others to Jesus is amazing. But when those moments require some discomfort… we can begin to lose sight of this.

• My schedule is too busy, and so priorities of prayer and Bible reading are pushed to the side. Thus the foundation of our witness is unstable.
• Holding onto the values of Christian marriage is honorable, until I am alone and tempted and I just want to feel this just this once. The credibility of our witness is shaky.
• I want to live with integrity, the way God wants me to live, unless it hinders the results or performance I desire. Our obedience to God surrenders to allegiance to ourselves.

How do we stay the course? How do we continue to be an example of God with integrity even when we suffer, or those we love suffer? How do we do it when we are tempted?

Paul gives the answer right there in verse 2, "With the help of God."

Taking the right risk every day can begin by taking the plans you made, and the responsibilities you carry, and the people in your life and holding them before God. Asking Him for help. God, do you have any plans for me as I go about what is needed today? That little action step will help you begin walking toward the right results of helping people knowing Jesus.

Let’s keep reading.

3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. 6 We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority.

5 Ways to be a Godly Example

1- Take the right risks for the right results

2- Put away people pleasing and take up God-pleasing

Have you ever painted yourself in a certain light to get out of trouble? Maybe it wasn't a blatant lie, but it wasn't an accurate picture of you either. Have you ever described what you did in a way that got you the response you wanted? Have you ever told a story where you smoothed over your part in the problem and heightened the other person's part? That's people-pleasing, even if the person you're pleasing is yourself.

Paul and his friends had real authority. They had been approved by God and entrusted to teavh the gospel. They could have used that position to get flattery, praise, even the upper hand, but Paul says they refused. They didn't flatter people to get something from them, and they didn't wear a mask to cover their own agenda.

Why would anyone refuse praise? Why would someone give up power and authority, why would they give up their right to be right? Why would Paul embrace pleasing God above everything else?

Because Paul knows people change. Feelings change. The world changes. If your sense of who you are depends on what people think of you, you have to keep changing to keep it up. It will never be enough. People-pleasing makes you a slave to what others think and what others want, and it keeps you there until they change their minds.

So how did Paul get free? Notice the first thing he says in verse 4: we speak as those approved by God.

Paul didn't need approval from the Thessalonians because he already had it from God. That's the gospel. In Jesus, you are already approved. You don't have to earn it, and you can't lose it. When you know that, you're free to stop chasing it. You are free to stop projecting a certain image. You rest in the love of God. Just you, is pleasing to God.

Saint Ignatius says it so well, “We look at God, who looks at us in love.”

God doesn't want a performance. He wants a heart that's real. Paul chose that over the ever-changing demands of the people around him. When you rest in God’s love, you stop performing for people. You're free to love the people around you and help them follow Jesus too. This kind of life is pleasing to God.

Let’s come back to our passage.

7 Instead, we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. 9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.

5 Ways to be a Godly Example

1- Take the right risks for the right results

2- Please God over people-pleasing.

3- Share your life alongside the gospel

This past week in House Church, one of the guys in my group talked about serving here on Sundays. He said he has to remind himself that even though he's not up here presenting the gospel, he's still part of how people meet Jesus. Setting up a chair. Helping someone find a seat. Welcoming people as they come into church. We share the knowledge of Jesus from the stage, but we also show people what Jesus is like through the way we live and serve. Our actions don't replace sharing the gospel, but they give people a glimpse of how the gospel has changed us.

Look at the picture Paul gives us in verses 7-8: “We were gentle among you, like a nursing mother caring for her children... we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.”

That's intimate, family language. Think about the new mothers in our church. Have you seen how they hold their babies, talk to them, and care for them? There's such tenderness and affection. They give so much of themselves for their kids. They don't just tell their kids they love them; they show it through the way they care for them.

That's the kind of love Paul is describing. He didn't just come to the Thessalonians with a message. He loved them enough to share his life with them.

Then in verses 9-10, Paul talks about how he worked tirelessly, day and night. The Thessalonians had seen his life up close. They knew his actions matched his preaching. When Paul describes himself as holy, righteous, and blameless among them, he's not claiming to be perfect. He's saying that his life and ministry were marked by integrity. He wasn't just preaching a message; he was living it out among them.

And that's what we're called to do, too. Not to pretend we're perfect, because none of us is. Failure is part of discipleship, and that doesn't contradict salvation by grace through faith. We don't earn God's love by getting everything right. But having experienced God's grace, we want all the more to live in a way that reflects his love. We want to keep growing to look more like Jesus.

Yes, hypocrisy can push people away from Jesus. But the failures of some people don't define who Jesus is, and they don't have to define us either. We don't have to pretend we've arrived. We can be honest about our failures while continuing to let Jesus change us.

Genuinely following Jesus allows his grace to change us. People see that most clearly when they get close to us, just as the Thessalonians saw Paul's life up close.

Let’s read our final verses of the passage now.

11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

5 Ways to be a Godly Example

1- Take the right risks for the right results

2- Please God over people-pleasing.

3- Share your life alongside the gospel

4- Live in God’s timezone

One of the most challenging parts of international travel is changing time zones. Your body clock gets messed up, and you experience what many of you know as jet lag. In 2023, researchers at Northwestern University found a quicker way to reset your body clock: mealtimes. If you're flying from Minneapolis to Paris in the evening, have a light dinner, skip the meal on the plane, and when you land, enjoy a perfect Parisian breakfast with plenty of croissants, eggs, and coffee. In other words, you eat according to the time zone you're going to, not the one you're coming from.

When we live solely in the world, for the world, and like the world, the world is what we get. And last time I checked, the world isn't in a good place most of the time.

Look at the end of verse 12: “Live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.”

If we belong to Jesus, we belong to a different kingdom. And if we're headed toward that kingdom, our lives should begin to reflect it now. We don't just live according to the world around us. We learn to live according to the kingdom we're called into.

So when someone needs courage, we encourage them. When someone is hurting, we comfort them. When someone is drifting, we urge them back. That's what Paul describes in these verses. We help one another live the kind of life God has called us to. We are to live now as it will be then.

Now, plenty of good people who don't follow Jesus can do these things. They can encourage, comfort, and help others live with integrity. So what makes us different? It's not that Christians are the only people who do good things. It's that our lives are a response to the God who has called us into his kingdom and glory. We're not trying to earn our way in. Because God has called us into his kingdom, we want to live in a way that reflects him.

Which leads us to the final way to be a godly example:

5 Ways to be a Godly Example

1- Take the right risks for the right results

2- Please God over people-pleasing.

3- Share your life alongside the gospel

4- Live for God’s timezone

5- Remember that you are called by God

We are called by God to be a godly example, meaning we we don't do it by our own power, strength, or skill.

If we're trying to change the world and do good on our own, we'll eventually run out of strength. The suffering and sadness in this world can be overwhelming. And the world's definition of what is good is constantly changing. But Paul reminds us that, even though the world isn't as it should be, it won't always be this way. God has called us into his kingdom and glory, and he will be with us as we live for him.

Look at how often Paul points to God in these verses. Verse 2: with the help of our God. Verse 4: approved by God. Verse 5: God is our witness. And verse 12: God calls you into his kingdom and glory.

Do you see it? When we are in trouble- God is there with help. When we feel inadequate- God approves us. When we face pain and sadness- God see it and is present with us. When we lose our way in this world and wonder what will happen next, God has called us to rest in him because he holds our future!

God has placed you where you are for a reason. He's placed people in your life whom you have the opportunity to love and point toward Jesus. Your family, your neighbors, your coworkers, your friends. Don't overlook the people God has put right in front of you. God has called you to be His example to them. Let’s pray.