Walk to Please God
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 ESV
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. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
Walking (living) to please
God is not optional for the life of the believer in Jesus Christ. We don’t “get
saved,” and then live however we want, and then get to go to heaven one day
when we die. It doesn’t work that way. That is not what scripture teaches. This
passage makes that abundantly clear.
And, yet, so many people who
call themselves Christians live just like that. They have their “salvation,” or
so they believe, but then they live just like the world, and many of them are
addicted to sexual idolatry, as well, and yet they think God will do nothing,
because they believe their sins are forgiven and thus they have eternal life
with God, no matter what they do.
But, we were not saved from
our sins so that we could continue in them without guilt and without remorse.
Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. That is the
essence of the gospel message. We are not set free to live how we want. We are
set free from slavery (addiction) to sin so that we can become slaves
(bondservants) of God and of his righteousness (See: Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17;
Eph. 4:17-24).
We are called to be holy,
which means to be separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are
being made into the likeness of Christ. If we continue in willful sinful
practices such as are mentioned here, in lifestyle, we don’t have the hope of
eternal life with God, but a fearful expectation of judgment and the fires of
hell (See: Rom. 8:1-17; Lu. 9:23-25; Gal. 5:19-21).
Remember, these words were
spoken as a warning to the church, not to the people out in the world. If we
profess Christ as Savior of our lives, but we live in the filth of this world
and we make sin our practice, especially sexual sin, which is often called out
in scripture, and thus we willfully do harm to others knowingly and without
conscience or true repentance, then we must know that God is an avenger in all
these things.
“The person that commits these things the Lord avenges, either in this life, by the hand of the civil magistrate, who is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath on him that does evil; or by a violent death, as in the case of Zimri and Cozbi, and twenty four thousand more at the same time; or by some awful judgment from heaven, as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah; or in the world to come; for the law of God is made and lies against such persons; these living and dying in such sins God will judge, to whom vengeance belongs; these shall not inherit the kingdom of God, but have their part and portion in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone” (Gil’s Exposition of the Entire Bible).
Concerning Brotherly Love
1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 ESV
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 to aspire 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.
We are always to love one
another with God-like love, which prefers what God prefers, which is what is
moral, pure, honest, honorable, and faithful, etc., and thus it does no harm to
its neighbors (to anyone). But, as followers of Christ, we are to love our
fellow Christians with a special kind of affection and kindness, caring and
concern, that should exist within a family who loves and cares for one another.
We should, thus, be
thoughtful about our brothers and sisters in Christ and their needs, and
concerning our duty to minister God’s love and grace to one another, using the
gifts God has given us for building up the body of Christ and for strengthening
her and helping her to maturity in Christ. We should care, too, if a brother or
a sister falls into sin, and we should be careful to, in all humility,
encourage him or her back to a right fellowship with God and with the body of
Christ.
We are here to help one
another to walk in the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. We are not
here to just pat one another on the back to make one another feel good while we
or they continue in willful sin against God. Thus, this admonishment to mind
our own affairs is not an encouragement to “stay in our own lane” while
ignoring sin within the church and while doing nothing to help lift a brother
or a sister out of a pit if he or she has fallen. For, this is our business! We
are family! We help each other to walk rightly before God (See: Eph. 4; 1 Co.
12).
To mind our own affairs and
to work with our hands means to take responsibility for our own lives, and to
not pass that responsibility on to others because we are lazy or living in
addiction. It means to not butt into other people’s business that God does not
make our business, unless we are invited. And, it means to not be one who is
idle who just goes around gossiping about other people, too. And, it means,
too, not to blame others for our own mistakes, failures and sins, but to own up
to them, and to cooperate with God in his work of grace in our lives so that we
no longer walk (live) in sin, but by the Spirit we now walk according to the
Spirit.
Encourage One Another
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ESV
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
One day we are all going to
die. It is inevitable, unless we happen to be among those who are still on the earth
when Jesus returns and we also are ones who have trusted him to be Lord and
Savior of our lives.
But, when we stop breathing and
our heart stops beating, what dies are our flesh bodies, not our souls; not the
real us. Our souls will live on, either with God in eternal joy and comfort or
with Satan in eternal torment and punishment. Living with Christ is regarded as
life, while living in eternal punishment is regarded as death, because when we
live in this life for sin, we die in our sins, and thus we don’t have eternal
life with God in victory, honor, joy, and peace, etc.
But, when Jesus Christ
returns one day for us, his bride, our salvation is completed, and our marriage
relationship to him is fully consummated. We who have died believing in Jesus
Christ, perhaps even as martyrs for Christ, will be resurrected from the dead
and we will be given glorified bodies, not like these flesh bodies we live in
now. And, those who are still alive on this earth, who have trusted in Jesus
Christ, will join us in being with our Lord forever, and they also will be
given glorified bodies (See: 1 Co. 15:42-53).
Then, all that we have
suffered for the sake of Christ and for the sake of his gospel, while we have
lived on this earth, will be no more. Jesus will wipe all the tears from our
eyes. There will be no more pain, sorrow, abuse, betrayal, adultery, and sexual
immorality, etc. No one will hurt us anymore. We will not ever be sick or
injured or be tempted to sin, either. We will be forever with our Lord in
perfect harmony with him. And, that is awesome! I look forward to that day when
I will be forever with my Lord. Amen!
This I Believe
(The Creed)
Hillsong Worship
I believe in God our Father
I believe in Christ the Son
I believe in the Holy Spirit
Our God is three in one
I believe in You (Jesus)
I believe You rose again
I believe that Jesus Christ
is Lord
We believe in love, Jesus
I believe in the resurrection
When Jesus comes again
For I believe, in the name of
Jesus
I believe in the resurrection
That we will rise again
For I believe in the name of
Jesus
Thursday, May 31, 2018, 7:22
a.m. – Thank you, Jesus, for this teaching from Your Word. Bring it home to our
hearts, I pray in Jesus’ name.
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