May 15, 2016
Evening Service

In chapter 3, Paul stressed the need for us to grow in Christ and for us to help our new believers to become disciples; not only a follower of Christ but also one who seeks to spread the news to others.  That is how the church has survived and will survive; producing disciples to carry on the work into the next generation.  He closed the chapter with this encouragement.

1 Thessalonians 3:12-13  (12)  And may the Lord make you to increase and abound in love toward one another and toward all, even as we also toward you,  (13)  in order to establish your hearts blameless in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

·         My commentary said this:  “Holiness is a process not an achievement.”  So to establish our hearts in holiness is to create a lifestyle that purposely and continually makes choices that please God.  He continues that thought into chapter 4 and expounds upon it more specifically.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:1-2  For the rest, then, my brothers, we beseech you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that, as you have received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more.  (2)  For we know what commands we gave you by the Lord Jesus.

·         Our process of holiness we are working on is also our journey.  Paul here asks the believer to walk on their journey according to the teaching they have received.  We are so blessed to have the very Word of God at our fingertips for us to read and study.  We are able to know, with the Holy Spirit’s help, exactly the manner of life we should be leading in order to please our Father.  Paul told the Colossian church:

 

Colossians 2:6-7  Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,  (7)  rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

·         It is not enough to simply know scripture, but we must live it out, abound in it, with a thankful attitude.  He again uses the word “established” here referring to something that we are accustomed to do over a long time period.  He now gets a little more specific into one part of our lives.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:3-6  For this is the will of God, your sanctification, for you to abstain from sexual immorality,  (4) that  each one of you to know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor  (5)  (not in the passion of lust, even as the nations who do not know God),  (6)  not to go beyond and defraud his brother in this matter (because the Lord is the avenger concerning all these, as we also have forewarned you and testified).

·         Sanctification means being set apart for divine use.  Paul explained it like this in the Roman letter:

 

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

·         Our reasonable service or act of worship is that we “present our bodies a living sacrifice.”  We set apart (sanctify) ourselves as one who is to be used for the glory of God.  A slaughtered lamb sacrifice had a single purpose but it was fulfilled in a moment.  Our challenge is to do that for a lifetime.

·         Here he specifically targets our sexuality.  We are to be in control of not only our bodies, but also our minds in accordance with sexual matters.  To “possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor.”  Remember how Jesus magnified the Law by saying:

 

Matthew 5:28 But I say to you that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

·         It is not only our actions, but our thoughts that have to be sanctified as well.  That was a challenge for the Thessalonians as the Gentiles viewed chastity as weakness and sex as a means of satisfying the passion of lust.  God sanctified our sexual activity to be within the confines of marriage between a man and a woman.

·         If they struggled with this back then, consider the need for this message today as you cannot even watch television without a commercial using sensual persuasion to sell anything and everything.  It is an area of our lives that we all have to choose to sanctify with a great deal of purpose and resolve.

·         This is not something that only affects us, but verse 6 tells us it defrauds our brother.  How can we try to live a life in front of others that pleases God and become someone else when we are alone?  We are being hypocritical and defrauding our brothers. As we talked about a few weeks ago this deals with our integrity (who we are when no one is watching) and our character. It also has even deeper spiritual consequences.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:7-8For God has not called us to uncleanness, but in sanctification.  (8)  Therefore he who despises does not despise man, but God, who also has given us His Holy Spirit.

·         Our sin not only affects our brothers, but it shows that we “despise God.”  It is a direct act of disobedience violating our relationship with Him and the “temple of God.”

 

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit in you, whom you have of God? And you are not your own, (20)  for you are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

·         Our bodies and minds belong to God because He paid for them with His blood.  We are His and we should “glorify God” with our body and spirit not despise Him with it.

·          That is what sanctification is all about; realizing we are His and yielding our bodies and minds fully to Him, surrendering our will to His, and offering our lives and as an act of worship ending in His glory. 

·         He now switches gears and instead of “abstain” he wants us to “abound.”

 

 

 

 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 But regarding brotherly love, you do not need that I write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.  (10)  And indeed you do it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we beseech you, brothers, that you abound more and more

·         The word Christian and the word love should always ring true together.  We all know this to be true as did the Thessalonians.  Paul says we are to continue to abound in that it is also is not an achievement, but a process.  Everything we do must be done in love and a loving spirit because love never fails (I Cor. 13:8)

·         This can be extremely difficult at times.  It calls for self-sacrifice and putting others needs above your own even loving our enemies.  But when we have sanctified ourselves (set ourselves apart) for God’s use love begins to flow out of us naturally.  It becomes who we are as we begin to resemble our Father.

·         Paul closes this section with some very simple yet profound advice (command).

 

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12  (11)  and that you aspire to live a quiet life and to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you,  (12)  so that you may walk properly toward those outside, and that you may lack nothing.

·         Don’t seek a life in the limelight.  Be content to be little and unknown serving quietly behind the scenes.

·         Mind your own affairs well and don’t worry so much about how your neighbors handle theirs.

·         Be self-supporting by working and doing what you can yourself to not to have to rely on others.

·         In walking in this fashion we become a good witness to others outside the faith and lack nothing.  We sanctify ourselves and establish our ways as His ways.

 

Paul gives us some easily understood but difficult to do teachings in this short section of scripture.  We are to set ourselves apart for God’s use by being sexually pure, loving others, and living a quiet self-supportive lifestyle.

 

Lord, may we be found faithful in sanctifying our entire lives to You.