The Power Of Blameless Life Series

The Power of Blameless Life

"Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe..." (1 Thessalonians 2:10)

That's a pretty powerful statement to make - to call on God as a witness to your holiness! Yet, without flinching, Paul boasted to the believers in Thessalonica: "I and my co-workers lived blamelessly before you and before God. Our conduct was righteous and pure. God is witness to our holy behavior - yet you also are witnesses. You saw that we walked holy and blameless before God and men!"

Paul was an effective preacher. And he knew the secret of his effectiveness in moving people toward God. He could stand boldly before every living soul, every principality and testify: "I live daily under the gaze of a holy God. I walk always as if His holy eyes are upon me. And you all are witnesses to my blameless life!"

The apostle desired every believer to have the same power he had in moving people toward God. And he prayed night and day that all of God's children would be established holy and unblamable before God: "To the end he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God... at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints" (3:13).

Let me share with you Paul's description of a blameless life - and about the power such a life releases:

Paul Clearly Explains What a Blameless Life Is

Here is the kind of behavior required of the holy, just, unblamable believer, according to Paul:

1. To be blameless is to have no deceit of any kind. "For our exhortation was not of deceit" (2:3). A blameless Christian is one without any deceit in his heart! Paul said, "I was not a fraud, preaching one thing to you and yet living another. My behavior was an open book!" He warned the Corinthians, however, that certain men were going about claiming to be apostles. He said, "They boast that they walk as I do, in blamelessness. They say, 'I'm an apostle, appointed of God... ' [But] such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:13). Paul said, "You can't fake a blameless walk. My message goes right to the conscience of men - because I live the truth I preach!" (see 4:2).

2. To be blameless is to touch nothing unclean. "Our exhortation was not... of uncleanness" (1 Thessalonians 2:3). Paul's emphasis here is on sensuality and lust. He's saying, "Not an unclean word came out of my mouth. My conversation was pure, coming forth from a clean heart,"

Paul had his body under control. No fleshly passion drove him - no spirit of lust or fornication possessed his mind. He was a free man!

Show me any minister - or any believer - who tells dirty jokes, makes sexual innuendoes or has roving eyes, and I'll show you someone whose heart has not been cleansed!

You may sit in church thinking you worship God from a pure heart. Yet if you go to your job and a stream of unclean talk springs out of you or if you even give ear to dirty jokes then you give credence to filth! God says, "I won't have it! If you are going to walk blameless before Me, you're going to have clean ears, a clean heart and a clean tongue!"

3. To be blameless is to be without guile. "Our exhortation was not... in guile" (verse3).

The Christian without guile is not clever, crafty or manipulative. He has no hidden sin or hidden agenda. He is totally honest and open! Yet the church today is filled with manipulators - in both pulpit and pew! These people work to have their own way - not through the power or leading of the Holy Spirit, but through the cleverness of their minds.

Paul said, "I didn't manipulate you into the kingdom of God. I didn't use clever words or try to play on your feelings. I gave the gospel to you straight!"

Paul never played word games; he never used psychology to get people to like him. Can you imagine the apostle Paul going around to people in the congregation, hugging them and putting on a forced smile, wanting to be admired and accepted? Never!

Paul said, "We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children" (verse 7). But when sin came in, he rebuked it with thunder from out of heaven! He didn't desire or need the approval of any man, yet he loved people with all his heart.

"Neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness... Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others" (verses 5-6).