Calvary Bible Church - Pastor Ken’s Weblog

Passage for Sunday, 2/24/08

I Thessalonians 4:1-12; 5:1-11:  

“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified…”  

Live it!

My goal this week was to try to wrap up this series on Church Life that we started the first Sunday in January.  We’ve covered a lot of ground, beginning with the importance of making wise choices when given the option of following what the Lord has told us to do and our own inclination, and choosing how to live in a way that honors the Lord and our spouses and our church family by choosing to serve one another in love rather than fulfill the desires of our sin nature. It seems the Christian life is one choice after another, doesn’t it?  Well, that’s because it is!  In fact, one of the key points we need to take away from this series is that life is all about the choices we make, and having a heightened awareness of the consequences of those choices should help us make wise ones! 

One of our primary problems, at least so it seems to me, is that we are too near-sighted.  We do not take the time to evaluate the consequences of the choices we make.  No one in his or her right mind  sets out to be a Cain. But if we are not aware of the Cain potential that lies just beneath the surface in each of our hearts, we can easily find ourselves following in his steps.  In this letter to the Church in Thessalonica, Paul addressed issues that the church still wrestles with today: Christians were raising questions about Jesus’ return to earth and were disagreeing on matters of morality.  We’re going to  skip the  rapture issue this time, and stick closer to our theme of living the life we are called to live, increasingly reflecting Christ as we do.   

Paul’s solution is simple, live to please God.  Let’s take a look:I Thessalonians 4:1-2:  “Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living.  Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.  For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.” In many ways, this Thessalonican Church reminds me of our own.  Paul commends them for their obedient walk, and later for their love for each other.  He tells them they know how to live.  These are all strengths of our own church. 

These verses also indicate that Paul probably stayed in Thessalonica longer than just the three Sabbaths he went to the Synagogue and reasoned with them from the scriptures, reported in Acts 17.  His stay was rather brief though, and ended rather abruptly, but according to these verses he did stay long enough to teach them the basic truths and practices of the faith, which probably would have taken longer than three weeks. Our Adult Sunday School class has been following Paul’s ministry through the book of Acts, and learning quite a bit about his style of ministry, and that information is helpful as we look at passages like this. 

Here Paul commends them for living the truth they had been taught, and encourages them to even greater efforts.  He doesn’t go into great detail reiterating all the doctrine they had been taught and were applying in their lives, but goes to the areas where their knowledge was lacking, to where there was disagreement or misunderstanding.  Many of these Christians came from pagan backgrounds, and the moral climate of the culture in which they lived was even worse than our own, if you can imagine that.  Sexual immorality was practiced as part of pagan worship, and the consciences of the people so numbed that they accepted immoral behavior as normal, much like many are trying to push our society toward today. 

Paul was about to straighten that aspect out for them. Verses 3-6a: “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him.” Paul tells them, and us, that it is God’s will for us to be sanctified:  Set apart for the Lord.  Sanctified can also mean “made holy,” which is done by: (1) being declared holy through faith in Christ’s atoning death on the cross (sometimes called positional sanctification), and (2) being made holy by the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians (sometimes called progressive sanctification). 

In these verses, Paul is talking about the latter, progressive sanctification, the process of becoming more Christ-like in the way we conduct our lives, of living holy, set-apart to Him, specifically here in the area of sexuality. This is only possible as we yield control to the indwelt Holy Spirit and live in His power, following His direction and guidance.  As we saw last week in Galatians 5:23, the Holy Spirit produces the fruit of self-control in the life of the yielded believer. This Spirit empowered control allows us to choose to resist sexual temptation and avoid sexual immorality. This in turn not only helps separate us from the heathen, the  world around us, but also exhibits brotherly love, rather than the damage a lack of control in this area brings to one’s self and others. 

Sexual sin harms others besides those who engage in it.  In adultery, for example, the spouse is always wronged.Premarital sex wrongs the future partner by robbing him or her of the virginity that ought to be brought to marriage. Our own Society is being destroyed far more rapidly from within through the vehicle of sexual immorality than any threat of our political, religious or social enemies, real as those dangers may be. Rampant sexual immorality is rapidly destroying the traditional family in America, which is and has long been the framework of our society.  And, as a result, the Church is in danger as well. We are at War, don’t be fooled. 

Paul gives another good reason to live a holy life, to be  sanctified in Verses 6b-7: “The Lord will punish men (and women) for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you.  For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” Paul points out that another reason for chastity before marriage and monogamy after is the holiness God calls us to live.We need to understand that sexual sin is sin against God, who gives the Holy Spirit to believers for their sanctification. To live in sexual immorality is to reject God, and His gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s counsel to the Corinthian Christians is worth repeating here.  I Corinthians 6:18-20: “Flee from sexual immorality (remember the example of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife).  All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.  Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body.” 

He continues here in verse 8 with that same thought:  “Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.”Paul wanted to make sure they understand that this isn’t just Paul talking, this is God’s instruction. Sexual morality is not a matter of  situational ethics, it is the clearly defined standard of the Word of God, and it is not an un-enlightened society or  old fashioned morality that people reject, but God, and, for believers tempted to sexual sin, the influence and guidance of the Holy Spirit. He then commends them for their love of one another and encourages them to greater effort in another section that reminds me of this church:   

Verses 9-10: “Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.  And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia.  Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.” How amazing is that. Paul says we are taught by God to love each other! And the Thessalonians had learned this lesson so well that the effect of their love was evidenced throughout Macedonia! Paul explains this teaching ministry of God’s further in I Corinthians 2:6-14: “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.  No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.  None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”– but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.”

That, by the way, is one of the most misunderstood and misapplied sections of scripture. Paul is not talking about heaven, which is how most people use these verses, but the Gospel. “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.  For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him?  In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.  This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.  The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” God teaches us through the indwelt Holy Spirit. John gives us another perspective in I John 4:7-8: “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” God teaches us by example and by influence! God in us loves others through us. Paul continues with more instruction on godly living. 

Verses 11-12:  “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. This is a classic exhortation, at least in my opinion, to lifestyle evangelism. It is also the direct opposite of the Worlds’ idea of living.  What is one of the greatest problems most of us have today?   

Busyness 

We have a desire to use our spiritual gifts, but struggle with finding the time.  We’re just too busy.  Paul says aim for a quiet life, minding your own business, earning your own living. Keeping up with the Joneses isn’t Paul’s notion of living.  Why is it that we seem to have bought into the worlds’ system instead of following the Lord’s?  Don’t let yourself get caught up in the  rat-race - there is no winner!  And you’re wasting your time running around with and trying to impress a bunch of rats!  Reset your priorities.  Aim for a quiet life.   

Skip down to: 5:1-3:   “Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  While people are saying, “Peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”  I told you we were going to skip the portion on the rapture.  Here Paul reminds them that Christ’s second-coming, a different occasion than the rapture, was coming, not to get caught up in worrying about dates and times, but that being ready is the key.  People won’t have time to change their mind at the last minute.  They need to choose Christ now. 

He goes on:  Verses 4-8:   “But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.  You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.  So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.  But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.”  

In Acts 26:17b-18 Paul records his mission given to him by the Lord:  “I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”  Here Paul says we need to live differently, not just claim to believe differently. And wear your Spiritual Armor, life is a battle, remember?  We are at War!  Adam Clarke says: “We are not only called to Work, we are called to Fight!”  I like that! 

Paul then goes on with one of the great promises/reminders in scripture. Verses 9-10: “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.  He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live (walk) together with him.”  Paul points out that the believers, the  sons of the light and  sons of the day were not appointed by God to wrath, but salvation through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. The rapture will take believers, dead and living, to  live together with Him before this wrath hits those who live in the darkness.  In the meantime, we are to  live together with Him here and now, living a sanctified life, a holy life, the life we were called to live, the life that points people to the Light!  We close with Paul’s final word of exhortation in this section: 

Verse 11:   “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” Because this is true, because we have this assurance and confidence, we should actively encourage and edify one another. This encouraging and edifying is an ongoing effort, not a one-time event. We do it by living a sanctified life, set apart from the world to God, by sharing God’s word of encouragement with each other and the lost, by exercising our spiritual gifts, by loving one another as we are called to. We do it by our example, living the life we are called to live, increasingly reflecting Jesus Christ in our life and actions, individually and as a Church, the body of Christ.

In His grip,