TAKING THE SHEPHERDING WAY
TO PREACH THE GOSPEL AND REVIVE THE CHURCH

SERIES FOUR
SHEPHERDING PEOPLE ACCORDING TO GOD
TO BRING IN A NEW REVIVAL

Message Eight
The Work of Faith, the Labor of Love, and the Endurance of Hope

Scripture Reading:

1 Thes. 1:3     Remembering unceasingly your work of faith and labor of love and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father;

WORK OF FAITH

In verses 2 and 3 Paul goes on to say, “We give thanks to God always concerning you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering unceasingly your work of faith, and labor of love, and endurance of hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father.” Here we see that when Paul prays for the church he gives thanks to God for three matters: for the work of faith, the labor of love, and the endurance of hope. Faith here indicates the nature and strength of the work. Our work is our faith. This means that the nature and strength of our Christian work is faith. The strength with which we work and the nature of our work should both be faith. Our Christian work should be of the nature of faith, not of the nature of human knowledge, ability, or power. (Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, msg. 1)

We have to learn to take action, to work, to labor, in faith, not by our feelings. When we make a resolution to visit people, we may begin to feel down. This is a common thing. We should still labor regardless of our feelings. First Thessalonians says that our work must be of faith. Faith means not doing anything in yourself, not doing anything by yourself, and not doing anything according to your feeling. We should not be people who take action just when we are feeling very good and very high. We need to take action in faith regardless of how we feel.

If you have everything, you do not need to exercise your faith. But if you have only the Lord, you surely need to exercise your faith. When we touch the Lord’s work, we should not do anything by our feeling. We should simply take action by faith. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, msg. 10)

LABOR OF LOVE

We need to understand the difference between work and labor. Work may be something which is not very deep and which may not be very difficult. Labor, however, is both deeper and harder than work. When we are doing a work that is difficult to accomplish, that is a labor. This labor should be of love. Love is the motivation and the characteristic of our Christian labor. This means that love is the expression. Our Christian work eventually becomes a labor, something that is deeper and more difficult. For this labor, faith alone is not adequate; we also need love, a love that is lasting.

Raising children is a good illustration of a labor of love. Mothers know that caring for a child is a labor, not merely a work. After giving birth, a new mother will have a tender love for her infant. For a while she will work happily to care for the child. Eventually, however, that work will become a labor that presses and exhausts her. How good it is that the Lord has created within this young mother a mother’s love for her child! Without such a love, she would not be able to bear the burden of caring for her child over the years. This love motivates her to care for her child. It is also the characteristic, the expression, of her labor. This illustrates that in the Christian life first we have a work of faith and then this work becomes a labor of love. (Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, msg. 1)

Our labor should be a labor of love. This love indicates that we love not only the Lord but also the saints. We love the stronger ones, and we love the weaker ones. We love sinners; we love our friends; and we love our relatives, our classmates, and our colleagues. We simply love people. Love is the motivating power of our labor. Because of this love we prefer to put aside many other things and to labor. We do not know who the fruit will be and from where and when it will come. We only know to labor.

OUR LABOR IN THE LORD NOT BEING IN VAIN

Our labor in the Lord would never be in vain and could never be in vain. We should just labor. A very deceiving tactic of the devil is to keep us from laboring for the Lord. You may make an excuse, saying that you have been working in a particular place for three years and have not gained one person. Would you not try for another three years? Eventually, if we speak to people concerning Jesus, they may not believe, but they will hear a word concerning Jesus. They could never forget that. What we have done will never be in vain.

We all need to labor in love. We need to love the Lord, love His recovery, love the church, and love the saints. We should love the stronger ones and should love the weaker ones even more. We should desire to see them and speak to them. We must be on fire. This will cause us to be very contagious. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, msg. 12)

ENDURANCE OF HOPE

Hope is the source of endurance. All mothers know that caring for children requires endurance. It takes endurance for a mother to bear all the troubles that come with raising children.

In the church life as well as in the family life we all need endurance. We must be trained, educated, first to work, then to labor, and eventually to endure. An apostle is one who endures. As long as he has endurance, he is qualified to be an apostle. In 2 Corinthians we can see the endurance of the Apostle Paul. Such endurance is the topstone of our work.…Likewise, in the work of shepherding others, endurance is crucial. If we would be successful in shepherding the saints, we must exercise endurance. Endurance involves suffering, not enjoyment. Shepherding always involves an amount of suffering. (Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, msg. 1)

If you go to visit someone consistently for half a year and nothing happens, you should keep going. If you labor much and nothing happens, will something happen if you cease your labor? Seemingly, your labor has been in vain, because for six months you have not seen any result. But for the long run, there will be a result. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, msg. 12)

ENDURANCE COMING FROM THE HOPE
IN THE LORD’S COMING

In 1:3 Paul speaks of the endurance of hope of our Lord Jesus Christ. This endurance comes from the hope in the Lord’s coming, or from the hope in the coming Lord. Hope is the source of endurance. (Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, msg. 1)

We need to be willing to suffer opposition. We need to be a person who endures in hope of the Lord’s coming. According to Luke 16:9, in the kingdom age many will welcome us into the eternal tabernacles because of our labor.

Our hope is in the coming Christ with His glory, and it is also in the reward of the coming kingdom. The endurance of hope is the long life of our work of faith. Through such an endurance we can subdue all kinds of disappointments, discouragements, and impossibilities, and we can also overcome all kinds of oppositions, obstacles, and frustrations. Such an endurance consummates in gaining sinners, feeding the believers, perfecting the saints, and building up the church, the Body of Christ, for the kingdom of God and of Christ. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, msg. 12)

We need to help the new ones to grow in faith, in love, and in hope, in particular, in the work of faith, in the labor of love, and in the endurance of hope. (Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, msg. 1)