TEXT: 1 THESSALONIANS 4:1-12
THEME: BE SANCTIFIED
Greetings: The Lord is good and his love endures forever!
Introduction: This section runs through chapters 4 and 5. Prior passages were mostly a description of the Thessalonian believers' spiritual growth and their excellent reputation. The term "finally" in this verse introduces the final section of 1 Thessalonians. Here, Paul presents his final instructions and information. Paul especially emphasizes the importance of sexual purity, as well as the need for believers to live peaceful, polite, and productive lives. Paul then begins to discuss the subject of Christ's return (BibleRef).
1. Be Satisfied (1 Thessalonians 4:1-2) -Live an orderly life
“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.” (1 Thessalonians 4:1).
The goal of the instructions Paul had given the Thessalonians was that they might manifest right conduct in the midst of a pagan society that had lost all ethical moorings. They must show their satisfaction in their daily life walking with Christ.
“The Christian life is not a single step that instantly brings a believer to spiritual maturity. Rather, it is a lifelong walk. Paul knew that a Christian’s walk is a Christian’s life” (Austin Precept).
The Christian life becomes routine, but the freshness of our first love for Christ fades (Revelation 2:1-7). The same thing can happen in marriage. But to keep the relationship alive walk with extra care and cover.
Be satisfied with all the provision of God in a given circumstance, in a given life time, in a particular situation of your life. Never look into the lives of others with fret, with fear, with disappointment, with dissatisfaction but trust and be happy with the Lord.
In Ephesians, Paul repeatedly uses the word “Walk” metaphor to show different aspects of the Christian life. Walk in the good works which God prepared for us beforehand (Ephesians 2:10), Walk in a manner worthy of the calling (Ephesians 4:1), Walk not like the Gentiles, in the futility of mind, being darkened in understanding, excluded from the life of God (Ephesians 4:17-18), Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you (Ephesians 5:2). Christ’s love is "Agape love. It means "to have a warm regard for and interest in another, cherish, have affection for, love." Exactly, “it is the power to move us toward another person with no expectation of reward.” This unselfish love is rare unless God enables us. "We love because God first loved us" (1 John 4:19), Walk as children of Light (Ephesians 5:8-10). “Be careful to walk as wise men with the redemption of time (Ephesians 5:15-16).
“One of the great weaknesses of contemporary evangelical Christianity is our comparative neglect of Christian ethics, in both our teaching and our practice.” it is noteworthy both for its authoritative tone and for its emphasis on pleasing God as the foundation for Christian ethical behavior (John Stott).
2. Be Sanctified (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8) – Live a holy life
"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 his own body in a way that is holy and honorable,
5 not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God;
6 and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you.
7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-7).
Paul prayed for the sanctification of the Christians in Thessalonica. Sanctification is the process of being separated from sin, processed by the Holy Spirit, and progressing in the Word of God with the right attitude and behaviour. Sanctification is a walk, conduct, and relationship with God. He emphasised here the moral purity. He wants their hearts to be established without blame in holiness. Christian holiness is not a leaf, not a flight but a careful walk step by step.
Sanctification is "personal dedication to the interests of the deity, holiness, consecration, sanctification." "Be holy, because I am holy" (Leviticus 11:45). “You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own." (Leviticus 20:26). We are holy positionally. We are holy because we are "in Christ," We are becoming holy experientially. We are being changed day by day into Christ's likeness as we focus on Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). (Jesuswalk.com).
Paul gives us three ways in which we can abstain from sexual immorality. First, understand weaknesses and evil tendencies, maintain self-control over the desires of his flesh, and possess his own vessel for sanctification and honor. “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16).
Second, do not behave like unbelievers. In the Greco-Roman world outside of Judea and Galilee, sex within marriage was a very strange notion. Various forms of extramarital union were tolerated, even encouraged. Demosthenes, the greatest orator of ancient Greece (384-322 BC), said: "We have mistresses for pleasure, concubines to care for our daily body's needs, and wives to bear us legitimate children and to be faithful guardians of our households." Mistress for intellectual companionship, concubines are slaves at the masters’ wish, and harlots for commercial sex, and a wife, legitimate partner. A number of popular religions in the Mediterranean area involved ritual sex with temple prostitutes. (Jesuswalk.com).
“Flee immorality. Every other sin that man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18–20).
Third, never take sexual advantage of others (believers) through defrauding. Defraud means “to selfishly and greedily take something for personal gain or pleasure at someone else’s expense.” "Fornication," (KJV porneia) means, "consensual sexual intercourse between two persons not married to each other."
3. Be Self-disciplined (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12) – Live a quiet Life
Self-discipline is choosing to do what’s right when you feel like doing what’s wrong. Self-discipline is a form of freedom. Freedom from Laziness and lethargy, freedom from expectations and demands of others, freedom from weakness and fear and doubt. Self-discipline is governing yourself. Its ability to regulate your thoughts, emotions, and actions in a godly manner. It’s to govern your mind, emotions, and actions according to the word of God. When we lack self-control over our attitudes, actions, and words; we derail our relationships, our lives, and our spiritual growth. (Dr. David Jeremiah, A life beyond Amazing, 2017).
Self-disciplined people do the following things: Master their moods: Proverbs 25:28, Tame their tongues: Proverbs 13:3, Regulate their reactions: Proverbs 19:11, Control their times and days: Ephesians 5:15-16,- Manage their economy: Proverbs 21:20, Bridle their Body: Mark 8:34-35. Successful people practice a lot. (Dr. David Jeremiah, A life beyond Amazing, 2017).
In “The science of sinning less” an article in Christianity Today, sociologist Bradley Wright and Psychiatrist David Carreon found that people with self-control “live longer, are happier, get better grades, are less depressed, are more physically active, have lower resting heart rates, have less alcohol abuse, have more stable emotions, are more helpful to others, get better jobs, earn more money, have better marriages, are more faithful in marriage, and sleep better at night.” Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, discipline your body, train up your body. The body and the soul are interlinked. They are depended upon each other (Dr. David Jeremiah, A life beyond Amazing, 2017).
There is a thrill in conquering yourself, your inner demons. Everyone has a struggle with any one or most of these: Temper? Impatience? Honest? Thought life? Sex? Pride? Laziness? Self-centredness? (Dr. David Jeremiah, A life beyond Amazing, 2017). Our greatest glory is not in never failing but rising from failure and journeying to success.
Paul advises them to have an ambition to lead a quiet life. They are to lead a quiet and tranquil life as they wait for the return of the Lord. He advised them to be ambitious to attend to their own business, concentrate on their own lives, care for their own families, and not get involved in the affairs of others, not acting like busybodies. Also, be ambitious to work with their hands.
Each Christian must take heed of their own holiness, individually responsible for corporate holiness. “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” (Hebrews 12:11).
Conclusion: God bless you and help you to have a holy life.
