1 Thessalonians 5:12-28 · Final Instructions
The Fred Factor
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Sermon
by Scott Suskovic
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A couple of months ago, I read the book Good to Great, in which Gillette was named as a great company. But I was having a hard time getting my mind around what made it so great. Did those executives, engineers, and assembly workers really wake up each morning thinking, "Today is the day that we are going to create an even better razor that will produce smoother legs and faces around the world"? Do people really get charged about that? Am I missing something?

Then a friend gave me a small book called The Fred Factor. It reminded me of Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians 5. Paul challenges us to look beyond ourselves, our work, our needs, and our wants to see the bigger picture in how each one of us fits into God's grand design. Paul boils it down to three basic attitude adjustments — rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.

Fred is a postal worker who has a relationship with the people on his route. They aren't just addresses for Fred. He knows them by name. He protects their mail and watches out for their homes — amazing. He goes the extra mile by establishing relationships and treating people with respect. Have you ever met a Fred? She's that flight attendant on the airplane who can tell a joke while teaching us how to buckle the seatbelt. He's that clerk who finds your wallet, looks you up in the phone book, calls you, and then holds onto your wallet until you return. He's that cable guy who not only installs your cable but sets the timer on your DVD machine that blinks 12:00. Fred probably doesn't wake up in the morning and think, "Today is the day I get to hand out credit card applications, catalogs from Victoria's Secret, and coupon books." That's not it. So what is it? What is that Fred Factor?

It can't be the money that is the motivation. I asked one person about her job and she said, "I design cardboard boxes." I thought, wow, that's a special talent. It's like the engineer who designs those cool envelopes that if you carefully open them on the perforated edges, will then fold into itself and create its own return envelope. Someone smart figured that out. I asked if she went to MIT, to some cardboard design school. "No, it's a boring job. I'm a communications major. For now, this job is a paycheck to cover the bills."

Certainly that's true for all jobs — to pay the bills. But if that's it, we miss Paul's attitude booster to rejoice, pray, and give thanks. If your work is only about a paycheck, there will always be discontent. It will never be enough. Some time ago, Terrell Owens of the Philadelphia Eagles was in a huge battle with the owner of the team because he felt that his 8.1 million dollar contract wasn't enough. He needs 10.5 because, he says, he has a family to support (or was that a small town?). Whenever they say it's not about the money, it's always about the money. Rockefeller was once asked, "How much is enough?" He said, "When I get a little more." Now, be clear here. Money isn't the problem. Working for money isn't wrong. In fact, Jesus said in Luke 10 that the worker deserves his pay. Money isn't a problem. Paul said in 1 Timothy it was, "The love of money was the root of all kinds of evil" (6:10). Why? Because it will never be enough. It will become your god. But I don't think that Fred became a postal carrier for the money.

What else motivates a Fred? Is it his ego? Is Fred like the actress who says, "Mr. Deville, I'm ready for my close up"? Or the professional who really likes that title of doctor, judge, pastor, or vice president of marketing and sales. I remember once hearing an interview with Madonna during her younger, more expressive years in which she was having an argument with a television censor for her lewd acts on stage and she said, "I'm an artist. I need to express myself." Some live and breathe and work for the applause, but not Fred.

Nor was ego the motivation for John the Baptist. He could easily have stolen center stage. He had the crowds, he had the attention, and he baptized Jesus. Yet he kept that ego in check with one simple phrase, "I must decrease. He must increase. I must decrease. He must increase." Paul put it this way, "But all of us who are Christians ... reflect like mirrors the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 3:18). That's what made Fred shine — he wasn't reflecting himself. It wasn't about him. It's not about me.

I heard a great story about an older man who worked for the Wycliffe Bible Translators. He was in maintenance and spent the day repairing motors, fixing leaking sinks, cleaning floors — whatever odd job needed to be done. But when he was asked, "What do you do?" he would reply, "Bible Translation." And he would be correct because every person on that team was working toward the larger goal, which was bigger than any one person of putting the Bible into the hands of the people around the world.

I think this is getting close to the attitude that Paul suggests, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances" (vv. 16-18). It's not about the money. It's not about the personal praise. What is it? It has to be that last part where Paul writes: "... for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

When my family went to Romania for a mission trip, my son, Nathan, joined me on the construction site. I went indoors to hang sheetrock and he stayed outdoors in the hot sun digging a ditch — one foot wide and three feet deep. The ground was awful. An adult had to break up the rocks and roots and Nathan had to get into the ditch and take out the pieces. It took forever.

The end of the first day, he said, "Dad, this is hard work. I don't like it." And I asked him if he knew what he was doing. He said, "Digging a ditch." "No," I said, "do you know what we are doing here? This building was once a communist office. We are converting it into four apartments that will house people temporarily who have been evicted from their apartments, lost their jobs, or are in crisis. That ditch you dug today will be filled with concrete. Concrete blocks will be placed upon it. They will build a small room where they will install a wood burning water heater that will provide hot water for four families that don't have a home."

From that point on, whenever people asked Nathan what he was doing, he said, "Providing hot water for people living in emergency housing." Now, it was still ditch digging, it was still mixing concrete and pouring it. It was still stacking blocks. It was still hard work but now he could see his labor in terms of a providing a blessing.

That's the Fred Factor. It's about being a blessing. You can just deliver mail or you can have a relationship with the people on your route. You can dig a ditch or you can provide hot water. You can sell insurance or you can protect people in crisis. You can be in banking or you can support the economy and create more jobs. You can be a financial planner or you can help people send their children to college. See, it is the same job. And sometimes it isn't all that fun. So what is the difference? In the secular world, it is called the Fred Factor. Here, we call it being a blessing to others. "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17). This means whatever you do, do it well as if you are serving Jesus himself. Or, let me put it another way. You don't have to be a doctor snatching people from the jaws of death. You don't have to be a lawyer defending the innocent and bringing to justice the guilty. You don't have to be a pastor preaching every Sunday to be a blessing. You can deliver the mail. You can dig ditches. You can provide the customer with a great product at a fair price. You can manage people with respect, integrity, and fairness. You can be a blessing by rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, giving thanks in all circumstances.

The reason I say that with confidence is because through faith Paul says that it is no longer you who live but Christ who lives within you (Galatians 2:20). Through faith, your life mirrors the image of the one who created you — let it shine. Through faith, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. That's why you can be a blessing because he was to you.

If you ask Jesus, "What do you do?" I doubt that he would pull out a pay stub. He probably would not answer that with a title on a business card or a degree on the wall. I doubt that he would even speak in terms of the global impact of being raised up at the fullness of time to atone for the collective sins of the world. No, I bet he would say, "I provide you with the way back to God. I provide you with the truth about this world. I provide you life — abundant, passionate life. And I provide you the opportunity to live — to live for others. You be my hands. You be my feet. You be my mouth. You be the blessing by letting your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Amen.

CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Sermons for Sundays in Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany: Maybe Today, by Scott Suskovic