1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Some Missing Ingredients in A Christian's Life

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on October 15, 2017 at Beacon Church

Why does Paul, at the beginning of a new paragraph only half -way through this letter, begin with the word, "finally"? It's not because he was now beginning to wrap it up. It's because he is now finally getting to his point for writing. In chapter 3:10 Paul indicated he hoped to still visit them in Thessalonica in order to "supply what was lacking in their faith". But in the meantime, he is writing now to start filling some of those gaps through writing. Everything in the letter so far has been about Paul's prayers for the Thessalonians--why he thanked God for them, why he was still thankful, what he was asking God to do for them. Now, in verse 1, after he writes "finally", notice that he's no longer talking about what he was asking God to do, but about what he is now asking the Thessalonian believers to do: "we ask and urge you".

In fact, the whole rest of this letter carries on back-filling deficiencies in the faith of these new Christians. What was "lacking in their faith", yes, but both in terms of things they need to do ("we ask and urge" v1; "we ask brothers" 5:12), and in terms of things they need to know ("we don't want you to be uniformed brothers" 4:13; and "you are fully aware… but," (5:2, 4). So the rest of our sermons in this series will be about what was missing in their faith that affected even how they grieved for dead loved ones, how they lived out their lives, how they conducted themselves as a church family, but this first sermon is about what's wrong with their relationships.

Their relationships revealed something was missing in their faith. That is, because their faith in God was deficient, so were their other relationships. Someone has put it like this: "Wrong behaviours come from wrong theology." You show me people who claim to be Christians but promote racism and hatred, and I'll show you people who are seriously ignorant about the God they claim to believe in. So Paul starts by showing what was missing in their most important of all relationships--their relationship with God. And then he works outward from there to help fill what's missing in two other kinds of relationships ever Christian has.

Our relationship with God suffers because of our deficient understanding of God

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.  2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.  3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;  4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,  5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;  6 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.  7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.  8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.  (1 Thess. 4:1-8 ESV)

If you will notice in verse 1, Paul here is really clear that what he wants is for the new Christians in Thessalonica to continue on in their relationship with Jesus in the way they had begun (e.g., "as you received from us", "just as you are doing", "do so more and more"). He's not saying, "change your ways because everything you're doing is wrong", he's saying, you're doing a little bit right as you did when you began following Jesus, now I want you to do more of that. That's why he starts with "asking and urging… in the Lord Jesus". They began at first by coming to Jesus as Lord, and now he doesn't want them to stop doing that. The word, "lord" is not a throwaway title. It's who Jesus is. And not just "a lord", but "the Lord"--he's not one among many, He is the King of kings and the Lord above all other lords, as Paul also wrote to Timothy some years later, Jesus is "the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords" (1 Tim 6:15). And as Paul had taught the Thessalonians' fellow Greeks down in Athens, about this same time, where they had an idol to an unknown god, Paul explained who that God is: "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth" who doesn't live in temples and buildings or need people to serve him or do anything for him as if He lacks anything, but who wants people to seek Him and find Him though He is not far from anyone. Then Paul said, "the times of ignorance God overlooked but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." That "man", though He is much more than just a man, that One who will one day judge the living and the dead, that Judge to whom God has given all authority in heaven and earth, is Jesus Christ, "the Lord". In verse 1 Paul reminds the Thessalonian believers that this was the authority and divinity of Christ they first heard from him and the other two missionaries ("you received from us"). But there was still something missing in their understanding of the Lord Jesus that left some big gaps in how they treated God.

Paul writes about how they "ought to walk and to please God" (v1). When I was a much younger Christian, I would read that and only really see the words, "ought to walk", and my main emotion in response to thinking about God was guilt. But filling in the holes in our faith, that is in what we know and believe about God, doesn't just teach us what we should do, it gives us new motivation as well. A filled-in knowledge of who God is and what He is like does bring with it a negative response: I ought to obey the Lord because He  is going to judge me one day. But much more powerfully for the sake of actual life-transformation, when I learned through the Gospel what God is like I began to find positive, strengthening, comforting, life-giving, and joyful reasons to want to obey God. You can try and make someone do something right out of fear, but how much more effective is it to give someone hopeful and happy reasons to want to do the right thing? Christians with a filled-in faith in Christ know how they "ought to walk", but they also discover they "want to please God".

The obedience Paul calls them to is spelled out in verses 3-8. The authority behind these instructions is divine--(v2b) "the Lord Jesus" himself! But the "why" is where they can find all the powerful, positive motivation they need: because it's God's will--what God wants for these believers--is to make them holy (i.e., to make them more like Himself). What does all this tell us about Jesus? That He is Lord, that He is equal with God as the One Judge appointed with authority over heaven and earth and all Creation, that He is holy, and that He *wants* His people to also be holy like Him. But there is another reason in these verses that we can now see: in verse 3, when Paul says God wants us to be "sanctified", it's because of what he already wrote in 3:13, that Jesus is coming back to live forever "with all his saints". Saints are literally "sanctified people". God wants you and me to be holy so that we can live with Him forever when Jesus comes again. He wants us to be with Him. Our Creator. Our Father. Our Saviour. He wants to be with us.

That's why He wants us to put away every kind of sexual immorality (a Greek word, porneia meaning every kind of sexual activity outside of marriage between a man and a woman) (v3).[i] That's why He wants us to learn to control our own bodies and not remain slaves to our basic instincts, drives, and appetites: For "holiness and honour" (v4). Not for animal-like selfish behaviours we wouldn't want others to find out about. Not in the "passion of lust" like the peoples of the nations who don't know God (and remember Paul is talking to Greeks for many of whom the pursuit of sensual pleasure was like a religion!). Again the wrong behaviour comes from a lack of faith in who God is. Verse 6 punches this home: the result of putting away these behaviours is not to take away your pleasure, but to protect other people! If you or I abuse others for our own gratification, especially if they are "brothers or sisters" in the family of believers, the Lord of Heaven and Earth will avenge our victims, that is a "solemn warning" Paul had already given. God is holy and has called us, in His holiness, to pursue holiness in purity, not corruption. “Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you,” (1 Thess. 4:8 ESV). Paul could not be more clear: these are not man-made, culturally repressive rules of conduct. These instructions came from and through the Lord Jesus, they reflect God's will, and to reject them, dismiss them, or ignore them, is to reject, dismiss, and ignore not some preacher, but God Himself.

The thing is, there is no excuse in any church that claims to be about Christ, to tolerate and especially cover up any kind of sexual abuse, or corruption. The Apostle Peter wrote, “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” (1 Pet. 2:16 ESV)

Our relationship with other believers suffers because of our deficient understanding of God

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,  10 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, (1 Thess. 4:9-10 ESV)

I saw a news piece recently about a pastor of a church right here in BC who is charged with numerous counts of sexual assault. I wonder if unbelievers are still surprised when they hear about scandals like that? It's heart-breaking and it's inexcusable.  But you know, I think unbelievers would be a bit shocked and amazed if they heard about a church family who actually looked out for each other, supported one another, genuinely cared for every member, and put the needs of their fellow Christians ahead of their own interests. That's "brotherly love"--to want and work for what is best for a fellow believer. When that is missing in a local church, as it so often is, according to Paul in 3:10, it is because of a lack--a deficiency in their faith and understanding of God.

Genuine brotherly-and-sisterly-love in congregations of Christ-followers is not natural. It is supernatural. It comes from knowing who Jesus is, once the light goes on and we realize He is the God-man who died to save sinners like you and me. That saving act demonstrates what divine love is like:  "…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8 ESV) Jesus taught us how to treat each other when He died for us. He taught us what love in action looks like when He gave His life to save ours. He showed us what we should be like when He showed us what God's love is like.

Our relationships with unbelievers suffers because of our deficient understanding of God

“…And to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you,  12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one,”  (1 Thess. 4:11-12 ESV). I don't want you to get the idea that this baby church in Thessalonica was all innocent and pure--they had only been Christians for around 6 months by this time. Paul was writing these things to them because these were real issues that needed to be addressed in their church. But it was still a church of genuine believers whose lives had really been changed when they heard the Gospel of Christ and put their hope in Jesus. They had started well, but they still had a long way to go. I think there are a lot of churches like that. Most churches never get mentioned in the newspapers. The scandals make a lot of noise, but it's not because of how common they are, it's because those sorts of failures are still shocking. Paul is calling these new disciples to live the sorts of lives that demonstrate in action what God is really like. And so it's a call for us as well to live our lives in light of what we know about Jesus and therefore how we respond personally to Jesus--that's what Christian faith is: a personal response of humble trust and dependence to the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians who have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, have peace with God. So we are called to live peaceably with others too. If we believe our acceptance with God depends entirely on something Jesus did for us, and not in anything we can do, then we should have no excuse at all for gossip and slander. Much less, for condemning unbelievers because of what they do! "Mind your own affairs" means exactly what it sounds like. Imagine if every Christian did that!

The purpose of the instruction here to "work with your hands" is not to get rich, but to be able to provide for our own needs and also have the ability to help others in need. And the end result, if the Thessalonians and also us, right here in Victoria, were to work hard, mind our own business, live in peace, and love one another, would be more than newsworthy: it would be an example worthy of the Good News. It would be a church of people whose very lives validated our belief and faith in Jesus Christ, in who He really is and what He has done. For the sake of what "outsiders" see and hear when they see and hear about Christians. If Christians are living advertisements for who Jesus is and what He has done to reconcile people to God, then we have a long way to go, yes. But we also have a lot of good reasons to start and not give up: Just look at these verses--"Jesus is Lord" (v1); we have His instructions (v2); He wants us to be holy (v3) (so that we will always be with Him!); He has taught us to "know God" (v5); to escape the coming Judgement (v6); He has called us in holiness (v7), and He has given us His Holy Spirit (v8). Jesus taught us what love is when He died for us (v9); He defends us, accepts us, and provides for us His children who trust Him (vv 10-11); and teaches us to depend on Him (v12).