It started out to be a normal workday for Utah highway patrolman Lieutenant Nick Street. When Mr. Street saw a car driving down the highway at 30 mph swerving in and out of lanes; it didn’t strike him as out of the ordinary to his daily experiences. However, when he could pull the vehicle over, his normal workday would be one that he would remember for a long time.
Lt. Street was expecting to find an adult, possibly with a medical condition when he made his way to the front of the car. Instead, he found a five-year-old boy. The boy had taken the keys to his parent’s SUV. He told the Lt. Street that he was driving to his sister’s house in California and would buy a Lamborghini with the 3 dollars he had in his pocket. The five-year-old boy showed tremendous ambition.
Ambition can be good, or it can be bad. One person has defined ambition “as a striving for some kind of achievement or distinction, and involves, first the desire for achievement, and, second, the willingness to work towards it even in the face of adversity or failure.” This is a good definition.
Aristotle spoke about the distinct characteristics of ambition as virtues. He distinguished between “healthy ambition,”, “unhealthy ambition,”, and “lack of ambition,”. Healthy ambition, said Aristotle, is a “measured striving for achievement or distinction, whereas unhealthy ambition is destructive and more akin to greed.”
We can see the dark side of ambition in our world and culture today. One only has to do a Google search for self-help books on ambition and you will find titles like: “Looking Out for Number One”, “Every Man is a King”, “Pushing to the Front”, and “How to be King of Your HIll.” This is an unhealthy ambition, and it is surely a nonbiblical ambition. It is an unholy ambition.
The Scriptures call us to be ambitious for the kingdom of God and for the glory of God. The word of God calls us to a holy ambition. A simple definition of holy ambition is aspiring to live a life that is pleasing to God.
The apostle Paul wrote these words, “Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more,” (1 Thessalonians 4:1). Pleasing God needs to be our ambition in life. Paul further defines this ambition in subsequent verses, “Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and aspire (make it your ambition) to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you. So that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one,” (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12).
In verse ten, Paul exhorts Christians to love “more and more”. He states in verses eleven, “and aspire”. Some translations say, “make it your ambition”. This ambition calls us to a God-honoring ambition. There is an enormous difference between worldly ambition and a holy ambition. Worldly ambition aspires to do what self wants to do. A holy ambition aspires to be who God wants you to be and to do what God wants you to do. Paul gives four truths in verses nine through twelve that should be the ambition of every follower of Christ. First, we should make it our ambition to have a maturing love for others.
Maturing love for others.
In verses nine and ten, the topic is love. Not just any love, but brotherly love. The Greek word translated is a compound word. It combines the Greek word “phileo” with “adelphos.” Phileo love speaks of a love that is tender and affectionate. Adelphos is a family term. Paul is speaking about an affectionate love that God’s family needs to have for one another.
As believers in Christ, we are born again into the family of God. We become joint-heirs with Jesus, which makes Jesus our elder brother and God our father. The Thessalonians were doing an outstanding job affectionately and tenderly loving one another. God taught this brotherly love to them and to us.
In the last part of verse nine, it says, “for you have been taught by God to love…” The Greek word for love is not “phileo,” but “agape.” Agape love is sacrificial love. It is divine love. It’s the love that we experience when we come to Christ and the Holy Spirit pours the agape love of God into our hearts. The Son of God teaches us to love too.
It was Jesus, in the thirteenth chapter of the gospel of John, who gave us a new commandment to “love one another, as I have loved you.” He also said, “By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” God is love, and he teaches us to love. Not only does he teach us to love; he also gives us the ability to do it.
In verse eight, it says, “Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.” God gives his Holy Spirit to true believers, and only by his Spirit can we live the Christian life and continue to mature in our love for God and for others. As we experience the filling of the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit, we can truly love others with the same love that we have experienced from God.
Paul says that we must continue to mature in our love “more and more.” It is a lifelong process. And one of the most frequent ways God matures us in our love is by putting unlovable people in our lives. Some of these people have hurt us terribly to where we consider them our enemies. What does God’s love teach us? It teaches us to forgive those who have wronged us. It teaches us to pray for them. It teaches us to bless them. What does that look like? For me, I ask God to bless my enemy with the same blessings I want him to give me. I then pray for God to help me rejoice in those blessings if he blesses them. It must be our ambition to mature in our love for God and others. Second, it must be our ambition to have increasing faith in Christ.
Growing faith in Christ.
In verse eleven, begin a series of commands, “and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you.” The apostle is dealing with a specific situation in Thessalonica with these commands. The expectation of Christ’s return consumed this church, to the point they were no longer working and taking care of their own needs. They were also anxious about Christ’s return. A few of the believers had died, and they wondered about what would happen to the dead at his return. Therefore, Paul addresses this issue in the subsequent verses.
The first command deals with the quality of life lived as believers. Paul makes an interesting word choice, “and to aspire to live quietly.” Literally, he says, be quiet. Another way to translate this is “stay calm” or “make it your ambition to be still.” Paul is referring to the tranquillity of life, calmness, and simplicity in life.
The anxiety of the Thessalonians caused them to be annoying. It’s addressed in the second command, “and to mind your own affairs.” One translation says, “don’t be busybodies.” The Patrick Mead translation of the first two commands is, “stay calm, be still, trust God, and don’t be annoying.” The only way we can overcome anxieties and avoid becoming that annoying person controlled by anxieties is by trusting God and asking him to give us an increasing faith in his promises.
I pastored a lady anxious about her salvation. She constantly questioned her salvation. She would call me, or email me with this issue constantly. I would share the scriptures with her and the promises of God, and it helped for a while. However, over time she would become anxious about the same thing and who did she call or email? Yes, her anxiety was annoying, and what she lacked was a simple faith in the promises of God.
What about our own lives? We live in a fast-paced society, running in all directions, causing much tension and anxiety. I’m convinced that one wonderful thing from COVIC-19 has been the slowing down of our lives. As believers, we need to be still and spend time in the presence of God, which results in increasing our faith.
Recently, the Lord gave me Psalm 46:10 for the season I’m in, “Be still and know that I am God.” The NAS says, “Cease striving.” I really love The Passion Translation, “Surrender your anxieties to the Lord, stop striving and know that I’m God.” The Lord is saying, “stay calm and trust in me. Stop trying to make things happen, sit back, and watch me work.” Third, we must make it our ambition to have a penetrating impact on society.
Penetrating impact on society
The last command Paul gives concerning the specific situation is, “and to work with your hands.” With the anticipation of the imminent return of Christ, the Thessalonians stopped working. As a result, they became dependant upon family, friends, and society to take care of them. They were unproductive contributors to society. There is a broader principle to apply from this command.
The impact the Thessalonians were having on society was not a positive impact. It did not reflect well upon Christianity. Our ambition as believers should be to have a penetrating, positive, Christ-centered impact on the society that we live in. This impact is about being the person God wants you to be so you will do the things that God wants you to do. When you have a penetrating impact for Christ you are being productive for God.
I recently finished the biography of Jim Elliot, one of the five missionaries killed on January 8, 1958 in Ecuador by the Auca Indians. Jim’s wife, Elisabeth, after his death, reached the unreached people with the gospel, and the men who killed the missionaries gave their lives to Jesus. The lives of Jim and Elisabeth had a positive impact on subsequent generations and continues today. Madelina Pena said it well about this couple: “Jim and Elisabeth Elliot are two of the most influential people in the history of missions. Their lives reflect total devotion to Christ and the message of the gospel. Their stories of perseverance, suffering, and even death have inspired many to go reach unreached peoples.” Be all that God wants you to be and do all that God wants you to do. Have a penetrating impact on society. Fourth, we must make it our ambition to have a fitting representation before outsiders.
Fitting representation before outsiders
It states the reason for having a holy ambition in verse twelve, “so that you may walk properly before outsiders.” The outsiders that Paul is referencing are unbelievers, people who have never given their life to Christ. A proper walk with Christ, a holy ambition, gives a fitting representation of Christ to those who don’t know Christ.
Have you ever been to a funhouse at the fair or carnival? Most every funhouse has a section full of mirrors. They call some house of mirrors. The house of mirrors is full of distorted mirrors, which do not represent the image in front of the mirror. Some mirrors make you look fat, others skinny, or tall, or short. These mirrors purposely distort. When we don’t have a holy ambition, we distort the image of Christ. And when we distort the image of Christ, we distort an outsider’s understanding of Christ.
It’s interesting to think spiritual things are best understood through what we can see, hear, taste, smell, and touch. God uses material evidence to reveal spiritual truths. This material evidence is a sacrament. The word sacrament means a visible sign of an invisible reality. We see this in baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and marriage.
As followers of Christ, we should strive to make our lives a sacrament, a visible sign of an invisible reality, Christ Jesus. To do so, we must have a healthy, holy ambition to please God, one that aspires to love others, trust Christ, be what God wants us to be so we can properly represent our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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