The Greek word translated as "strive," "labor," and "study" in Romans 15:20, 2 Corinthians 5:9, and 1 Thessalonians 4:11, highlighting its meaning of "ambition" or "esteem with honor." Paul's ambition was to preach the gospel in unreached areas, a calling extended to believers today. The message contrasts this with negative examples like Demas, Diotrephes, Ananias, and Sapphira, whose ambitions were self-serving or led to spiritual decline. It concludes by urging listeners to cultivate a genuine ambition to serve the Lord, live pleasingly before Him, and actively share the gospel, rather than succumbing to excuses or self-interest.
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Would you turn with me please to Romans chapter fifteen? Now for those of you who can see I've written something on the board here but there's one word that I have deliberately not put in at the moment but I will put in a few moments. I'd like to read three portions please. First one is in Romans chapter fifteen and verse nineteen and twenty. and second Corinthians chapter five and verse nine and first Thessalonians chapter four ten and eleven Romans chapter fifteen please through mighty signs well let us go one more verse eighteen or I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deeds through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about unto Il Recon, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation. But it is written to, but it is written, as it is written, to whom he was not spoken of, they shall see, and they shall... and they that have not heard shall understand. Second Corinthians chapter five, please. And verse nine. Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. First Thessalonians chapter four, please. And we'll start at verse ten to complete the sentence.
And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia. But we beseech you brethren that ye increase more and more. And that ye study to be quiet and to do your own business and to work with your own hands as we commanded you. That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without and that ye may have lack of nothing. May God bless to us this morning the reading of his precious word. Once again, I count it as a very great privilege to be here, and not only to be here, but to have the joy to share with you my fellow servants in the Lord, something which has been very, very precious to me, and one which I would like to share with you, and I trust that equally it will be just as precious to you.
In the three portions of the word of God that we have read, there does not appear to be any coherent thought running between the three passages. And yet the three passages are written to three different assemblies. One in the city of Rome, one in the city of Corinth, and one in the city of Thessalonica. And Paul uses a particular Greek word which he does not use in any other part of all of his writings. I am not a Greek scholar, so please don't get that into your head. But I do enjoy looking at various words. The word that I have written here on the board is a particular Greek word that Paul uses.
He uses it in these three epistles. And we read the English translation in Romans fifteen and verse twenty. It is the word stride. Then again, in second Corinthians five, he uses the English, or it is translated to labor. And then again, in the epistle to the Thessalonians, he uses the same word, but it's translated as study. But the missing word is this. The Greek word translated means to esteem with honor or, Mr. W. E. Vine goes this, ambition. And any of you who have not been baptized or you will find that that is the word that is put beside it.
Now, I would like to take this word in the three categories and share some thoughts with you. Paul, in Romans chapter fifteen, it is his spiritual objective. It is his ambition. And what is his ambition? He says, I have fully preached the gospel from Jerusalem on to Elricum. Sorry. Not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation. For Paul, this was a great honour. Now, we know that in the life in which we live here upon earth, we all have varying ambitions. But as the servants of the Lord, there should be these three ambitions that Paul brings or mentions, and we bring them all together, the ambition to serve in the preaching of the gospel.
You notice that he uses the personal pronoun, I. I have strived. I have made it my ambition. If you just want to see just how deep that ambition is and it never left him, you'll find it further in Second Corinthians chapter ten and verse sixteen. You can almost hear him re-echoing the same strain. I have strived to preach the gospel. Not where Christ was named. in second Corinthians ten and verse sixteen, to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hands.
This is indeed an ambition that is to be esteemed with the highest honor, our ambition to preach the gospel where Christ has never been named. There is a thought today that Africa does not need to be evangelized. There is no country in the world that can speak in that kind of terminology. In my country, in Ireland, other parts of the United Kingdom, Europe, in the United States of America, in any other part of the world, this definition cannot be said that we don't need to preach the gospel. Unfortunately, in relation to the great continent of Africa, because of our history, Many seem to accept the thought that Africa no longer needs any more missionaries.
That is a fallacy. That is something that comes from the devil. About twenty years ago, I heard the concept expressed, missionaries need to stay in the city or cities or in the larger towns and teach our African brethren and let them go out and read by behind them and encourage. My dear brother, that is not so. That is not so. That has been detrimental to the progress of the gospel. Would you believe me if I told you that in Kenya, I have traveled with my brother Raven into the southern, the northwestern part of Kenya, into vast regions. Yes, there are small assemblies.
There are vast areas where the gospel has not been preached. Equally so in Tanzania. We, Maria and I, over the last five, six, seven years, have passed through an area called Katrish in the district of Hainain in the region of Arusha. And for long, all over these periods of time, our heart has gone out for a particular area which there was no record, or at least available to us, as regards gospel activity. There are tribes like the Wabarba, the Wanyaturu, the Wadzindiga, the Waharak, and the Wadangi. And under those five tribes, three of them have very, very little evangelical work going on amongst them.
But we are talking in terms of close to a half a million people. It is, I am sure, all of it. I speak for all of it, that it is our ambition to take the gospel. My dear brother and sister, don't let that ambition dwindle. Don't let it dim. Here is a man and he says, and he writes to the assembly, So have I made it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named. And there are vast regions in this world and in the areas in which you are laboring. Where the gospel has not yet been preached. And as we said yesterday, this is not a time for slacking.
You know, just at the turn of the year, I got a letter from the... the British government informing me of my upcoming pension. I said to Maria, they have made a mistake. This is not right. This can't be me. This must be somebody else. And she turned around in her sweet way and she said, you know, you are getting on. I said, but you know, we must not adopt a pre-retireal syndrome. We mustn't do it, my brethren. We must be in there with our beloved brethren and helping them, encouraging them, and getting into the field with them and to preach the gospel with them. My dear brother Lombini Millie, a beloved evangelist, sometimes it's he and I in the marketplace and in other places preaching the gospel with hundreds and hundreds and perhaps thousands of people milling around, going on with their business.
But we must not retract. We must not select it. This is not the time for sitting back. Paul is getting on. He says, I have strived. I have made it my ambition. I have counted an honor, a great honor, to preach the gospel. This is his spiritual objective as he is writing to the church in the city of Rome. And of course, it starts off and it reminds us of his devotion to the gospel. You go through it. And indeed, If you follow his usage of the word stride, you will find this that on nine different times he uses, he speaks of the word stride.
But on eight occasions he uses eight different Greek words. But only on one occasion does he use a negative. In Second Timothy chapter two and twenty-four. Chapter two, second Timothy two and verse twenty-four. The servant of the Lord must not strive. That is, fight. There's a dear brother in the prayer meeting this morning, and I gringed as he prayed and prayed deeply from a sincere heart that missionaries have their problems and they fight not physically, they fight with words. And his prayer was pouring out from his heart that there may be a reconciliation.
And is it not true, my brethren? We can have a difference one with the other, but not to the point of breaking of fellowship unless it is a vital part of doctrine. Listen to what he says here to young Timothy as his life draws to an ear. You can almost hear him as he pens with that quill of the prison. The servant of the Lord must not strive, and this is the only time where he uses a negative. But be gentle. Be patient. be understanding, be gracious, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach and patient. On these eight occasions, he used, as I've said already, eight different words.
This is the only time he uses a negative. My beloved brethren, what are we doing? Wasting precious moments, arguing, bickering, dividing, being divisive in our ministry. Oh, my beloved brethren, We are here together for a few days, and shortly, all too soon we will separate, and very likely we'll never meet again all of us who are here at this moment. But it will be meaningful, and the purpose will have been achieved if we each can take something from our time together that will stay with us, that will remain with us, and will be an encouragement to all of us, brother and sister alike in the various mission fields of the world.
Now this man, Paul, in January of this year in Tanzania, it was my responsibility to speak to the evangelists. And I took up Paul's missionary journey. And when I came to the end, which included his going up to Jerusalem, I had a great admiration for Paul beforehand. But I have an even greater admiration for him since that study. He was a man who spared not himself. He didn't have a vague... He probably walked it all the time. And he probably covered something like about anywhere between nine to ten thousand miles over a number of years. In the pursuit of preaching the gospel. In the pursuit of going to visit the assemblies to encourage them.
Ever moving onward. We have not reached the place where we apply the full stop and adopt the pre-retireal syndrome. There is work to be done. We've got to get on with it. And let us have this ambition as precious to us as a day when we were commended to the Lord's work. And let it remain and take hold upon it. That it is a privilege. It is one that is high in honor to be a representative of the Lord and to preach the gospel. To count it as an honor. To preach the gospel where Christ has not been named. And I learned very early that in my Christian life, never ask a brother to do something that you cannot do yourself in regard to the preaching of the gospel and the going out to teach in the assemblies of the people.
It is very easy, my brethren, very easy to sit back and give a number of lessons and then say to our brethren, well, the Lord be with you and keep you until we meet again. And so that dear man goes off and we just stay at home. Know my brethren, I say this with love in my heart for all of you. We need to be out there. We need to be with our African brethren. We need to be encouraging them. Now listen. All of us in this room today, all of us at this seminar, call it what you will. Every single one of us appreciates a word of encouragement. Am I right or am I wrong? All of us. Do you not think, my beloved brethren and sisters, that our beloved African brethren and sisters, that they also would appreciate it?
I'd like to get behind them and throw my arms around them. And I said, listen here, Ombany, I've never heard you preach the gospel so well. Brother Stephen, that was a great word. Brother George, that was tremendous. Brother and Geyser, that lovely man who labors away from the northeast to western part of Tanzania, for years, he never saw a missionary, for years. And when we reached him, and for him to be able to tell us what is going on in the Lord's work in that life, that is a man who never spared himself from the day of his conversion, reaching out with the gospel. Paul counted it an honor to preach the gospel. And is it not so, my brethren, is it not so an honor above all the honors that we may receive in this world?
A privilege, an honor to preach the gospel where it has never been preached before? There are not many who have this ambition. It's an ambition which may involve suffering, as we very well know in the last twenty-four hours. It's an ambition which may involve suffering, hardship and personal sacrifices. Sadly, we are in an area of church history where excuses are spoken which will make us find an easy way out of sharing the gospel. Let us, let each of us seek to share the gospel and to assist its going forth.
Then let us turn now for a moment please to second Corinthians chapter five and verse nine. Now this time notice what he is saying. Wherefore we labor. Now this is the English translation of this Greek word here which means ambition. We have an ambition. that whether present or absent, we may be accepted or well pleasing unto him. Isn't that lovely? Now, after listening to Mr. McDonald's ministry last night, concerning the person of Christ as our example, is it not an ambition of ours that we might live our lives in such a manner that would exalt him, that would speak well of him, and cause conversation to arise.
Well, you seem to be so different. How is it you're different from everybody else? Well, not really, except from the point of view that I know the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. Ah, that's the difference. That makes the difference. That is the divisive point. That's the point that separates the ungodly from the godly. Knowing with a personal knowledge. Now notice how he puts it. He's not now writing in the personal pronoun. He collects himself and he identifies himself with the assembly of Corinth. And he says, we labour. We labour that whether present or absent, we may be well pleasing unto him. Now for those of us who are married and have little children, and some of them are young men and young ladies today, but when they are small and perhaps even as they grow on, Our children have a deep wish in their young heart that they may please their parents.
And how meaningful it is to our children when we say, calling them by their first name. John, that was lovely. That was really, that has brought joy to my heart or to a daughter. And how that child listens to those words and takes them personally. And they say, my parents, my parents have been well pleased with me. And they endeavoured to do more. Is it not so in the Christian application? And particularly us who are servants. Are we saying one thing from the platform? But in our private lives we are something different. Now that's strange, isn't it?
But unfortunately it has been the case. Sad to say. Is this the man that preaches the gospel? is this the man that walks day by day? But who is he walking with? These are living situations. Here Paul counted, and he attaches himself with the assembly in Corinth, that we may be well pleasing unto him, to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. This should be our second ambition, that our lives may be lived in such a fashion that it will bring honor to our Lord Jesus Christ and to be able to sit down and talk with him.
In Ethiopia, it has been our great privilege to work with amongst Moslem people. And I remember well moving, we came home from visiting the province, the provincial capital, and we got a message that a particular Moslem Sheikh in the town, his little daughter had been killed with a land rover. And I said to Maria, now we ought to go to this family. No matter what his background is, we ought to go. And how when we got to the place, it was in a state of turmoil. But when we arrived, the whole multitude of people just opened and just led us through. And when the wife, the husband, the Sheikh Muhammad was not there, he was away somewhere else.
And how the wife invited us to come into the family and to share the grief with them. And then I asked, would I have permission to pray and to read the Holy Scriptures? And the answer came back. And this is our household that is totally Islamic. Said, yes, we would love you to do that. My dear beloved brother and sister, we should be impartial in our preaching and we should be totally committed in our living. And Paul here is bringing before the Corinthian believers that together that their lives should be lived well pleasing unto the Lord. And by that well pleasing, then we will be able to open doors which are normally closed.
Another incident. High up in the mountains where we lived in Ethiopia at that time, there was a Muslim seminary. And to know of a Christian going inside, well, that was Maranatha. Or Anathema, that's what it was. Sorry. It was, I wish I could have said a Maranatha, but anathama. But here, when we were, the chief Muslim teacher was very ill and the message was sent to us. So with another missionary brother from Ireland, the two of us went off and when we went up to the seminar, the doors were open and we were invited to come in. When we were shown to the chief man, there was a crescent shape of Muslim teachers gathered around him.
And they didn't make us a welcome at all. But the old man, he knew about it. He knew who we were and who we represented it. And he kindly beckoned us right into his presence. And he explained what was wrong with him and so on and so forth. And eventually we were able to give him some medicine. And then I said to him, you know, I have a little book with me. It's the Gospel of Mark in Arabic. Would you please read it? He said, I give you my word, I will read it. And I could feel all those men and their eyes coming in upon us, not at all being friendly, but very strong in their opposition against us. But then we went away and came back a week later and the dear man was sitting up healthy and well and so on and so forth.
And we had a nice chat with him. We talked about the Lord with him. And he said, you know, I read that book that you left with me. Isn't that lovely? Who are we representing today? We are representing our Lord Jesus Christ. And to be able directly to converse with people about the Lord. Not about the political situations in the world. We may have individual interests in those. But when it comes down to our service for the Lord, there is only one person who should occupy our time. And that is our Lord Jesus Christ. That in everything. we will bring glory to His name. That we make this our ambition to serve Him well, to serve Him completely, to serve Him in totality, and in doing so to live for Him, so that we can honor shamedly, wherever it may be, when someone says, are you a Christian?
Yes, I am a Christian. Not to look around and see who's listening, and then, yes, nice and quietly to nobody here. What have we got to be ashamed of? when we consider the love of our Lord Jesus going all the way to the cross of Calvary and they're dying for us. We are his representatives. Let us make it our second ambition to live in such a manner by our actions, words that we speak, the way that we walk spiritually, that we will commend our Lord Jesus Christ, that we may be acceptable, well pleasing to him. This is a beautiful ambition for every believer. There are seven days in the week. We can't live six days any old way doing what we like.
Then on the Lord's day, go to worship the Lord and expect him to bless us. It is not on, my brethren and sisters. It is not one day a week, four days a month, or five days a month, the Lord's days I'm referring to, but it is every day. and to be, but rather to live in constant communion and fellowship with him, that men and women who are not saved may be able to act as, well, how is it that you're so different from everybody else? Isn't that the beginning of a lovely conversation? Coming over in the plane from Ireland by London, we were sitting beside two US citizens. And you know, ladies, don't take this as being rude.
Ladies are great people for conversation. And here we are. My wife was sitting beside a lady from the United States and complete strangers. But after half an hour up there, thirty-three thousand feet up in the sky. And the conversation started and all the whole way to Washington, apart from mealtimes, we were talking about the Lord. Isn't that lovely? Isn't that the way it should be? Or just say, well, you know, I'm tired and if you don't mind, I'll read the newspaper and have a rest and have a long journey and a busy schedule ahead. Not at all. To be able to engage in conversation for six or seven hours, well-pleasing, taking every opportunity to share the Lord with those who have a desire to know who the Lord is.
Really. Now I want to draw your attention to something here. Where are we today in the second ambition? What is our position? Are we living? Is this our ambition to live our lives in service for him that we shall be well pleasing unto him? Now, let me give you three examples. There is a man called Demas. In Philemon, in Philemon, chapter, verse twenty four, please. Philemon, verse twenty four. Now, I want you to look at this young man. Philemon twenty-four, what does it say?
And of course Paul says in verse twenty-three, There saluted the Epaphras, my fellow prisoner, in Christ Jesus. Verse twenty-four. There's Marcus, there's Aristarchus, there is Demas, there's Lucas, my fellow laborers. Isn't that lovely? That could keep us going for an hour by itself. Notice where Demas comes in here. He's included with this band of faithful servants. My fellow laborers. That is beautiful. But I want you to notice something else. I want you to turn with me to Colossians chapter four, please. Colossians chapter four. Now at that particular time in the life of Demas, he was living his life in such a manner that he was well pleasing to the Lord and to Paul.
my fellow laborers. Now, in Colossians chapter four, please, if we start from verse seven and go down, right down to verse fourteen, there are eight men mentioned by name. But there are seven of them that Paul has something to say about. In verse seven, at Colossians chapter four, verse seven. All my states shall Titchicus declare unto you who is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. Well pleasing to the Lord. Verse nine. With Anusimus a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you. Well pleasing to the Lord.
Arascarcus, my fellow prisoner, salute with you. Well pleasing to the Lord. Mark it. Sister son to Barnabas, touching whom ye receive commandments, if he come unto you, receive him. Well pleasing to the Lord. And yes so, which is called Jusus, who are of the circumcision, these only are my fellow workers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me. Well pleasing to the Lord. Verse twelve, Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluted you, always laboring favorably for you in prayer, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God, well pleasing unto the Lord.
Verse fourteen, look the beloved physician, well pleasing unto the Lord. Now notice that Demas is at the end of the list, and there is nothing said about him. There is no descriptive title. There is a silence. And I wonder was Paul beginning to realize that in this young man of promise, there is a lot of cooling down of fervor, a cooling down of his desire to serve the Lord. There's nothing said of Demas. He follows on by saying, Look the beloved physician.
What more could he say? So a personal prayer. But well pleasing to the Lord. And demons. And then a comma. Great job. Nothing more to be said. Now turn with me please to Timothy. Second Timothy please. And chapter four. And verse fourteen. Now Paul as we said yesterday. Is now coming to the end of his ministry. End of a search. There are not much time left. And so he pens, these are his last testament, if you like, in chapter four. And he says here in verse fourteen.
Sorry, verse ten. Verse ten. For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present wealth, and is departed. Aunteth, Thessalonica. You know, it is one thing to be disappointed by a friend, but it is also quite a different thing to be betrayed by a friend. I can tell you, from personal experience, it is not easy. I wonder how Paul felt at this moment. Demons, that young man of promise but a few years before.
His ambition has grown cold. It was growing cooler all the time. And then finally he had to pen these words, Debus, half or secondly. Lost his ambition. Lost his ambition to live for the Lord. Now you may consider that these little messages are all very strange at a missionary seminar conference like this. But you know my dear brethren and sisters, I have not just pulled these out of the hut. or going through my study file and say, yes, that would be nice, that would be suitable. This has come out of much heart searching before the Lord. Rekindling of our missionary priorities. One, our ambition is what?
To preach the gospel, wonderful, my brother, and my dear sister, as you labor amongst the women folk, that the Lord will help you to protect that ambition, and to keep it glowing firmly, and to count it a great honour, second to none. It was said of an old missionary many years ago that he may not have received the honours and accolades of this life, but he looked forward to a day where he said, home of the Lord. Someone say to him, you're not home yet, brother. The rewards are still in the future yet. And that is true, my brethren and sisters.
We're not talking about pie in the sky. We're not trying to make ourselves believe something that is not factual. But from our personal experience day by day with our Lord Jesus Christ, we know that these things are true. And sometimes we meet people, especially in the student world where I teach in some of the secondary schools in Moshe and Tanzania. They say, well, where are the fuck? They quote the facts from their science books in physics and chemistry and all the rest of it. Well, we have a book of facts. We don't have to be embarrassed about taking it out and going through it and quoting various portions of the Word of God. We don't have to be embarrassed about this. We're talking about the things of God.
We're talking about His Holy Word. Here are the book of facts and all the answers that we may so much need in this life. Demas have forsaken me. He had lost his ambition to preach the gospel, and he had now lost his ambition to be well pleasing to the Lord. But there's another man. We find this man here in the second, third epistle of John. His name is Dauphrophies. And this is some boy, this boy. Now, here's Diocletus and here's John. Now, please don't forget, my dear brother and sister, that John is a very old man.
Church history records that he's possibly round about in his nineties at this time. And that Caelicia, that wicked and evil Caesar in the Roman Empire, done his best to destroy this man's effectiveness for the Lord. Church history records that he has boiling oil poured over him. He had him segregated through the Isle of Patmos. And we know what that means, to be isolated from other believers. Now my dear missionary brethren and sisters, we know what it's like. Do we not? To be in places of isolation, not by choice, I don't mean it in that form, but in the following through of our service for the Lord, isolated perhaps from another missionary colleague of the same mind, hundreds and hundreds of miles away.
Just to go and share a little personal conversation. To go and share the Word of God together. To be together to get down and pray. And it was mentioned here this morning. And this is a living fact. To spend time in prayer and fasting. Yes. Brother Ambedi Mealy. He and I have spent weeks. Fasting and praying at different times. Because the problems are so great. To where shall we go for wisdom. to deal with them. But to spend day after day is prayer and fasting. And there is no alternative to this, my brethren and sisters. Do we really mean it because the Lord means to invite us to come to him and to share our problems and to get down on our knees and the times if necessary to shed tears before the Lord.
Not tears of emotion, but tears of deep spiritual concern, Lord. If you don't do something, your testimony in this area will be contaminated. And the only way to solve these problems is to spend time, get those of like-mindedness, and get done on our knees and pray as if we would never get off our knees again. Our God is real. He is waiting for His people to come to Him. I love that scene in the book of Exodus. Hmm. when Moses goes before Pharaoh and the directive from the Lord.
Pharaoh says, who is this God? Who is this God that I should worship or that I should hearken to? Moses comes from the presence of the mighty and the most greatest power on the earth at that time. A man who has greatly discussed him, he is frightened and he comes and he prays and he charges the Lord God for not fulfilling his word. And chapter five opens, and God is speaking to Moses, and he says, I will bring him down, and he was brought down. My dear brethren and sisters, in our ambition to live for the Lord, let us understand afresh and afresh every day that we can move into the very presence of the Almighty in a holy boat, and it's not characterized from carnality.
but our awareness of our weakness and his greatness. And to plead with him to undertake for it. Has it not happened, my brethren and sisters before? Of course it has. I'm sure that all of you, all of us together, Older mission reason, younger ones like ourselves. We can tell over and over and over again of the mighty things that our God has done for us through His Son, our Lord Jesus. And the most magnificent one of all, that He ever saved us. Isn't that right? That He ever saved us. My dear brother and sister, where would you and I be today if it had not been for His sovereign grace?
Where would we would be? It is frightening, is it not? It would be alarming. But God and His mercy through His Son reached down and saved our precious soul. Now look at this man's diastrophes. This is some character. Thirty-fifths of John. Verse nine. John, the old man. I say that with affection. I wrote on to the assembly. I wrote on to the church. My diastrophes. This is some fellow. Look at this man. He loves to have preeminence among them, among who, among the church. Received us not.
Isn't that painful? Isn't that hurtful? Wherefore if I come, I will remember his deeds, which he does, plotting against us with malicious words. and not content therewith. Neither does he himself receive the brethren, and forbids them that would, and castes them out of the church. What a docile day. What arrogance. But more than that, what ignorance. My beloved brethren and sisters, here was a man, and his ambition was to have first place in the church. May the Lord help us, and I please take this kindly from your fellow servant.
May the Lord help us in all of our service for the Lord, that we will be preserved from ever adopting such a stance and to do so in the name of the Lord. He loved to have the preeminence. That was his ambition. And I'm afraid that the children of that man, there are some scattered throughout the world. and they're following the same pattern. It's that. Now this man was not his ambition to live for the Lord. It was his ambition to live for himself in the church. May the Lord help us that we may not be guilty of such behavior.
Then there was another. This time there was a couple. Ananias and Safari. They love to have a good name in the church. They sold the property. They wanted to be like the rest of the believers. And they only put a portion in. But you know they were never told of that. They sold it of their own free will. They just wanted to be like the other believers who were committed. But they only put a portion in. And kept the rest of them in. And God sought. And God dealt with it. And it's fearsome. It is really. There's a holy fear about it. But there was no true commitment. There was no expression of their ambition to serve the Lord to his pleasing.
May the Lord help each of us to live our lives that will be well pleasing unto him. Now let us go quickly to the third one. Second Thessalonians, please. Chapter four. First Thessalonians chapter four. First Thessalonians chapter four, please. Now I'm reading here at verse ten, eleven and twelve form one complete sentence.
Now the direction of the grammar changes. Now he's writing directly to the assembly. Romans fifteen, it was him personally. Second Corinthians chapter five and verse nine, it is Paul linking himself with the assembly at current that we all may live. To make it our ambition to live our lives while pleasing unto the Lord. Now the direction of the grammar changes. Now he says, this is first Thessalonians chapter four and verse ten. and indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia. But we beseech you, brethren, that ye change.
That ye increase more and more. Isn't that just great? Now what's he saying? That the assembly in the city of Thessalonica, that their spiritual development will continue to increase And that ye study, it's the word study, making an ambition, that ye make it your ambition to be quiet and to do your own business, not to be a busy buddy, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you, that ye may walk honestly toward them that are with art, and that ye may have lack of nothing.