LIVING TO PLEASE OUR GOD
1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
ILLUSTRATION A brilliant young concert pianist was performing for the first time in public. The audience sat enthralled as beautiful music flowed from his disciplined fingers. The people could hardly take their eyes off this young virtuoso. As the final note faded, the audience burst into applause. Everyone was standing - except one old man up front. The pianist walked off the stage disappointed. The state manager praised the performance, but the young man said, "I was no good, it was a failure." The manager replied, "Look out there, everyone is on his feet except one old man!" "Yes," said the youth dejectedly, "but that one old man is my teacher."
Do we have the same desire for God's approval as that pianist had for his teacher's praise? Our Lord's approving smile is what really matters. Let us find out why by studying 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12. (Read the text.)
EXPOSITION
Paul encouraged the Thessalonians to persist in pleasing God by the way they live (vv. 1-2).
1As for other matters, brothers and sisters, 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. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
Please (aresko) literally it means to fit or adapt.
Like buying a shoes or a garment, you want something that would fit your body or feet. You want something that would adapt your size and color. Metaphorically, to please means to gratify or be acceptable in the eyes of God. It is an intentional and deliberate action on the part of the disciples of Christ.
How could we please God?
A. BY MAINTAINING MORAL PURITY (vv. 3-8)
3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. 7For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.
It is God’s will that the believers should live a sanctified life (v. 3). Sanctify (hagiasmos) means to dedicate to the service of God and to be loyal to deity. It is a lifestyle dedicated or consecrated to God. One way to live a sanctified life is in the way we use our physical body. Paul said that we must avoid sexual immorality. These are sexual activity outside the context of marriage generally, pre-marital and extra-marital affairs.
ILLUSTRATION A new book was released with the provocative title, The 50-Mile Rule: Your Guide to Infidelity and Extramarital Etiquette. The author told one interviewer that the book contains "serious information presented in a fun way. There are no books out there on this subject in a format that is not judgmental. I want to help people make smart decisions….
Affairs are wrong. But the reality is that people are having them anyway. So you have to meet people where they are. For a lot of people morality doesn't end up in [the equation]. If you are going about your business in a discreet way and you are continuing to take care of your wife and , most importantly, your children, there is no reason to feel guilt." Certainly our culture is confused about standards of right and wrong! (Today in the Word, July 2003, p.25)
We should learn to control our body in a holy and honorable way and not in passionate lust like the pagan who does not know God (v. 5). Honorable implies a lifestyle worthy of respect and esteem by others and God. God did not call us to live in impurity and indecency (v. 7) We must avoid sexual immorality especially in relationship with a brother or sister in Christ. The church is not exempted in this kind of immoral behavior.
The idea of committing wrong to a brother or sister is specifically described as stepping over a boundary or going beyond prescribed limits. In doing this, we are actually taking advantage of him or her, meaning acquiring more than what is prescribed or the boundary.
Anyone who sets aside or disregards the instruction on moral purity is disregarding God who gives him His Spirit. We are the temples of God’s Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (NIV) 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
B. BY SUSTAINING BROTHERLY LOVE (vv. 9-11)
9Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10 And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, 11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life:
The Greek text included a preposition “but” on this verse implying contrast. In other words, instead of sinning against a brother, Paul urged them to demonstrate brotherly love. How?
1.) Progressively – “more and more” (Romans 12:10)
Hebrews 13:1 (NIV) Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.
We should never stop loving our brethren. Loving our brother should be an act of the will. And we will love our brother continuously no matter what.
2.) Inclusively – “love all the brothers”
Loving one another should not be selective. Love should be willing to cross boundaries and reach out to everyone.
C. BY LIVING A RESPONSIBLE LIFE (vv. 11-12)
11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
These verses emphasize the importance of industry and individual responsibility in Christian living. Nothing disrupts the peace of a Christian community more than the unwillingness of members to assume their responsibility to live.
2 Thessalonians 3:11–12 (NIV) 11 We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat.
Paul exhorted the Thessalonians to "mind their own business," this implies that they should stay out of other people’s affairs and keeps one’s own affair in order. Next he said, “Work with your own hands.” Some members of the Thessalonian church appear to have taken advantage of the generosity and liberality of other Macedonian Christians in accepting financial help while making no effort at self-support.
Ephesians 4:28 (NIV) 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
We do not know the reason for this idleness. However, the believer should not be dependent on anybody. The problem of being dependent with others for livelihood is that you lose respect and it is unstable. Christians must never evade their daily responsibilities under the pretense of proclaiming or preparing for Christ's return.
To do so is to distort this great hope. That restlessness may have been a problem for the Thessalonians is implied by Paul's exhortation--"make it your ambition to lead a quiet life."
Conclusion
Being saved by the grace of God should encourage us to please our God. Live a life that always pleases Him.
