INTRODUCTION
• When we started this series on 1 Thessalonians, I stated that a good theme for the book could be titled the same as a Chuck Colson book, “How Now Shall We live?”
• How are we to live out our lives as we await the return of our Lord Jesus?
• In have spent the first couple of messages talking about how we are called to reach out to people who do not know Jesus and how we are to then take those people and help them to become disciples of Jesus.
• As we get into the final two chapters of this great letter, we are going to see what the apostle Paul says about how we are called to live our lives.
• The way we live our life will either help or hinder our ability to reach out to those who do not know Jesus.
• When we voluntarily give our lives to Jesus, we are called by Jesus to live our lives in a certain way.
• In our society we do want anyone telling us how we should live our lives; we do not even want anyone, including God, to tell us how to exercise our faith.
• I wonder if one of the reasons the church in general is struggling to make in impact on society and in the lives of the lost is the fact that too many Christians want to do it their own way, make up their own rules, follow their own path.
• As we look at the text for today, I want us to see how affirming Paul was to the readers. He tells them they are doing a great job living their lives for Jesus, but he wants to encourage them to strive for continued growth!
• The title to my message this morning is, “Live the Life.”
• It can be easy for us to live a God pleasing life when we are in the church, but the challenge comes when you leave this place to go to your jobs, schools, homes and places of recreation.
• I believe Satan can lull us into thinking that the way we live, the way we interact with others, what kind of citizens we are does not really matter. We can let the “I have a right to live my life how I please” attitude cause us problems at times. Remember, if you gave your life to Jesus, it was your choice. It would be like renouncing your US citizenship and moving to Iran, then complaining about not having freedom.
• When we accept Jesus as lord and savior that is when our new life begins!
• Let us see today what kind of life Jesus encourages and expects those who call themselves His to live.
SERMON
We are called to:
I. LIVE THE LIFE OF SUBMISSION (2,3,7,8,9)
• The first calling we have is to live the life of submission.
• This is important because everything else we do in our lives flows from how submissive to Jesus we are willing to be. At what point will you cease to be submissive to God? That is the point at which you will stop growing and maturing.
• What is it that if God called you to do it, you would refuse do it? Remember Jonah?
• Look at verse 1 with me. READ Verse 1
• The word “ought” means “obligation.” In this verse, Paul gently reminds us we are to walk or live in a way that is pleasing to God. The word “request” denotes a gentle suggestion among equals. In other words Paul is not trying to use his apostolic authority to make them do what they are called to do. To “exhort” means to earnestly and vigorously encourage, to come along side to encourage.
• He reminds us that to live for God is the Christian’s motive for right living.
• When you look that the twelve verses we are covering today, something should really jump out of the pages at you.
• Paul tells the people they ought to walk to please God, but not because HE tells them to, but because God tells them to.
• How many times have you heard people tell you, “Who are you to tell me what to do or how to live me life?”
• “Who are you to tell me that I cannot live with my girlfriend/boyfriend before we get married?” Who are you to tell a homosexual their lifestyle choice is a wrong choice?
• Before we get into the other points of the text, one must be clear. God’s word is the authority for making judgments of what is right and wrong, what is acceptable and what is not. Just in these 12 verses, look at how many references there are to this.
• READ
1. We are to walk to please God. (1)
2. The command to be pure comes by the authority of Jesus. (2)
3. Obedience to these commands is the will of God. (3)
4. God will avenge those who defraud a brother. (6)
5. God has called us for the purpose of purity. (7)
6. Rejection of these commands is a reject of God Himself, not man. (8)
7. We are taught by God. (9)
• Paul makes it clear that it is by God’s authority he shares with us what he is going to say.
• God alone has the authority and right to dictate what is acceptable in his sight! If try to make up my own rules, I am not living a submissive life to Jesus. We are called to submit to the authority of God.
We are called to:
II. LIVE THE LIFE OF PURITY (3-7)
• In verses 3-7 the boundaries of Christian sexual behavior and gives us reason for these boundaries.
• I will be a bit careful in dealing with these passages in the presence of all the young people here today. Our children are being hit from every direction with sexually explicit messages and images. They along with all the adults need to know that God takes a strong stand in favor of purity.
• Look at verse 3 with me.
1. God’s will is for His children to be sanctified and pure. (3,7)
• To be sanctified means to be made holy, to be set aside for special service to God, to be treated as holy.
• If you are a Christian, you belong to God, it is God’s will that you be set aside for special service.
• I am troubled that our society thinks that young people cannot control themselves, that they are nothing more than animals.
• If you belong to Jesus, you are special and have been called to do special things. The world may tell you things are all right to do outside of marriage, but God says you are special and are not to follow the flow of the world!
• Because we belong to God, we are called to resist the temptation to fall prey to inappropriate physical contact. We called to exercise discipline and faithfulness to God because…
2. Participation in impurity put us out of God’s will. (3)
• We are told it is God’s will we abstain from sexual immorality. This includes inappropriate physical activities before marriage, extra-marital activities, or homosexual activities.
• We are hit with so many images on the television, billboards, and just about everywhere else you look that is makes it hard to maintain our purity, but when we fall prey to immorality, we hurt ourselves and the work that God has laid out for us.
• 1 PETER 1:15 says, “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;”
3. Purity depends in part on our self-control. (4,5)
• Look at verses 4-5 with me.
• We are to control our bodies and the desires of the body.
• 1CO 6:19 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?
• The passion of lust is powerful, but falling prey to it is a symptom of ignorance of God, it betrays what God calls us to be here for. Our bodies were not given to us so that we could dishonor God.
• ROM 6:19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
• Our life is about choice, will you choose to control your urges or give in to them?
• We are to honor God with our bodies. USE ILLUSTRATION FROM SHILOH
4. When we live impure lives, we defraud someone out of what is not ours. (6)
• When we participate in immorality, we usually include another person with us. Look at verse 6 with me. READ
• To transgress means going beyond prescribed boundaries. To defraud means to attempt to gains something for oneself at the expense of another, to cheat someone.
• When we engage in immorality with other people, we are stealing something from them that does not belong to us, their purity. When a young man adds another notch to his gun belt, he has stolen something that should have belonged to that young ladies husband and vise versa!
• In appropriate sexual behavior is not a private matter, it is not to be treated casually, it is not victimless.
• This is serious enough for Paul to remind us that God will repay those who break these commands. READ VERSE 7. God calls us to a higher calling!
We are called to:
III. LIFE THE LIFE OF LOVE (9-10)
READ 9-10
1. God teaches us to love. (9)
• JOHN 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
• 1JO 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
• Where is the grace we are supposed to show to a brother or sister who is struggling with something? Why do we think we have to kick someone when they are hurting?
• Is it a good witness for the church to have people kicking other people when they are down?
• God EXPECTS us to show love and grace to our brothers and sisters in Christ!
2. We are to love one another in word and deed (practice it). (10)
3. We are to never stop the practice of love. (10)
• What if… What if…
We are called to:
IV. LIFE THE LIFE OF COMMUNITY (11-12)
1. We are called to live a quiet live. (11)
• We are to live a life that does not cause unnecessary disturbance or conflict.
• Sometimes the very act of sharing the gospel will seem to violate this. What we are to do is present God’s word IN LOVE.
• For some, everything is a crisis, the world is always in trouble for them or because of them.
2. We are called to attend to our own business. (11)
• This passage is used by many to justify telling other Christians to mind their own business when someone tries to help them when they are struggling with some sin in their life.
• What this is telling us is that we are called to be responsible for our own lives. We are called to take responsibility for what happens in our life.
• It also means we are not called to INTERFERE in the affairs of others.
• There is a difference between helping a brother and interfering in their affairs.
3. We are called to be industrious. (11)
• Christians are people businesses should want to hire because of their work ethic.
4. We are called to behave properly toward lost people! (12)
• Truth in love!
CONCLUSION
• Christian young people. You are special, you have been called to a special purpose, the purpose of serving the creator of heaven and earth, the one who loved you so much that He sent His Son to die so that you could have eternal life.
• The purpose of your life is not be an object to be used for the gratification or pleasure of another person.
• God has called us and commanded us to be pure.
• After a violent storm one night, a large tree, which over the years had become a stately giant, was found lying across the pathway in a park. Nothing but a splintered stump was left. Closer examination showed that is was rotten at the core because thousands of tiny insects had eaten away at its heart. The weakness of that tree was not brought on by the sudden storm; it began the very moment the first insect nested within its bark. With the Holy Spirit’s help, let’s be very careful to guard our purity. http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations/theDetails.asp?whichOne=p&whichFile=purity
• Every bit of immorality we allow into our lives is like letting one of those insects come into our bodies and start eating away our heart until we are rotted from the inside out.
• Are the insects eating away your core?
