I Thessalonians 4 1 10 Living a Godly

I Thessalonians 4: 1 -10 Living a Godly Life While Waiting for our Redemption

• Recap: • I Thessalonians 1: Covers the impact that the Thessalonian church has made in the world (vv. 8 -10). • I Thessalonians 2: 1 -16: About Paul’s relationship with the Thessalonians and his ministry within that church and city (vv. 9 -12). • I Thessalonians 2: 17 -3: 10: Paul reveals why he left Thessalonica in an abrupt manner and also why he has not been back. Also, the contents of Timothy’s visit to Thessalonica are revealed.

• A Life Pleasing to God (I Thessalonians 4: 1 -12) • There is a difference in teaching “God always loves you” and “God is always pleased with you”. Only one of these two phrases are accurate and it isn’t the latter. Because of the work of Christ, God will always love his church. But, because we are sinners, God is not always pleased with us. • Genuine sorrow for sin is in short supply in our world. In our culture, everyone is a winner and everyone is awesome. But, telling someone that God is pleased with them may seem compassionate, but depending upon our current life, telling someone that “God is happy just the way you are” is in disagreement with the Spirit of God. • The Holy Spirit knows that we are sinners and He knows that we constantly live according to the flesh. It is the task of the Holy Spirit to put to death the part of us that loves to sin. And, it’s true, every day, the Spirit molds us into the image of Christ; but, make no mistake about his, when we sin, God is certainly displeased. Turn to II Samuel 11: 26, 27.

• The Bible teaches these three things about the love of God: • 1. God has a level of compassion towards everyone. The Bible clearly teaches that God is compassionate towards the orphan, the fatherless, the widow, the elderly, the outcast, and those who are oppressed. • 2. Secondly, the Bible teaches that God extends his grace even to the non-elect. Jesus says, “God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5: 45). • 3. The Bible also teaches that God hates the wicked. The World says, “God loves the sinner but hates the sin”, but, the Scripture teaches that God punishes the sinner and casts him into Hell where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth”. • 4. There is a difference in saying God is gracious to everyone than saying God loves everyone. God only loves, in the most strictest sense, his elect, because God loves his Son. • So, therefore, there is a danger in saying that God loves everyone unconditionally, because God doesn’t. Teaching that God does permits men to sin, and it causes men to refrain from repentance and to live an entire life believing that God is happy with them just the way they are.

• Since it is possible that God can be displeased with those who He loves in Christ, how do the elect please God? • We please God by worshipping Him. We worship God personally and corporately. • 1. How do I please God in my personal worship? I please the Lord in my personal worship when I devote every part of my life to the service of God. That is my ultimate purpose in life. Everything I say and do, all of my obedience, all of my relationships, all of the opportunities that God gives me to use my gifts and talents, my character and behavior during adverse situations, and all of my dealings with human hostility, must be managed in such a way that God is both honored and glorified. • 2. How do I please God during corporate worship? By having his word be the center of everything that we do during our worship. That means: praying God’s word, singing God’s word, reading God’s word, performing the sacraments (God’s word made visible), and preaching the word. That’s how we please God in our corporate worship. • 3. Pleasing God should be everyone’s priority and we are responsible for holding each other accountable to pleasing God in our personal and corporate lives. Look at I Thessalonians 4: 1, 2. • A. Paul says we ask and urge which is accountability and responsibility. • B. In v. 2, when Paul says “for you know what instructions we gave you” that describes orders being passed down from one soldier to another. The instructions come from Christ, to the apostles, then to the elders, and then to the members.

Obedience to Commands Enduring Human Hostility Pleasing God in our personal worship Impeccable Character Glorifying God with your gifts

Preaching & Teaching from Scripture Fellowship with the Word Singing the Word of God Pleasing God in our corporate worship The Sacraments Prayer Reading God’s Word

• Sexual Purity (vv. 3 -8). • The Roman Empire in the first century was very promiscuous in their sexual activity. To put it bluntly, fornication was not a sin to the Romans and they believed it was encouraged by their religious deities. The Romans believed that their female deities (like Artemis) controlled fertility. If their goddess was pleased by the level of fornication, the Roman women would become pregnant and their land would reap bountiful crops. Daily, men would meet with the cult prostitutes at the altar of their goddess and participate in sexual immorality. • I think the reason why Paul mentions sexual immorality in conjunction with living a life pleasing to God is because some of the Thessalonians are still participating in this particular sin. At the very least, the Thessalonians would be tempted to participate in sexual immorality. This used to be a part of their normal life. But, for the Christian, sexual immorality is not a part of the Christian life and it certainly does not please God. • God forbids all acts of sexual immorality which are fornication, pre-marital sex, homosexuality, adultery, incest, pornography, polygamy, rape, pedophilia, and fertility methods.

• For a very, very long time, our world has taught that your private life and your public life are really two separate lives. We have been mislead to believe that our private lives do not have to match what we present in the public view. What you do in the privacy of your own home is your business. That is absolutely untrue. Turn to Leviticus 18. • This dialogue has taken place in all of our households: • Parent(s): Do this. • Child(ren): Why? • Parent(s): Because I said so. • God: Do this. • God’s people: Why? • God: Because I am the Lord your God. • Thessalonians should refrain from sexual immorality for two reasons: • 1. Their God is not like other gods. • 2. They are not to be like other people. • What is so bad about sexual immorality? • Bringing shame upon the name of God and the Christian life, and your spouse; loss of reward from God; possible evidence of an unregenerate heart, loss of credibility as a parent, possible traits passed down to children, unshakeable guilt, trust issues with spouse, children, friends, and church leaders; being disqualified to serve in the local church; the enemies rejoice and mock the faith; sexually transmitted diseases; possible monetary ramifications; a discredit to your name and reputation.

• Concerning brotherly love (vv. 9 -12). • One thing that the Thessalonians do not lack in was brotherly love. Paul says in v. 9 that “you have no need for anyone to write to you, for yourselves have been taught by God to love one another”. Writing to the Thessalonians on paper instructing them in love would be a waste of time for Paul because God has already written how to love one another on their hearts. Brotherly love is from the Greek word “phileo” which we get the city Philadelphia from. • In the New Testament Greek, there are 3 words used for love: agape, phileo, and Ares. • A. Ares is only used once in Acts 17 when Paul was in Athens and preached to the Philosophers in the Areopagus. • B. Agape is used more often than Phileo; but, “agape” does NOT mean God’s love. It means affection. Phileo means to befriend. So God is described in the NT to have agape love and phileo love and the same goes for the church too. • Love is also a word that gets thrown around a lot and because of that it has lost its true sense of meaning. Because of sin, love is often confused with lust. God is displeased with lust, but is completely pleased with love.

• Why is God completely pleased with love? • 1. It is the fulfillment of the law. Romans 13: 10, “Love does know wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfilling of the love”. • 2. Love was perfectly demonstrated by the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to I John 2: 7 -10. Love is both an old commandment (listed in the Law of God) but it is also a new commandment because Jesus perfectly on display through the life of Christ. • 3. Loving another honors God as their creator. All humans, no matter what region of the world they are from, no matter what religion they take up as their own, no matter the level of righteousness, should be treated kindly based on the simple fact that they are made in the image of God.