Good News in Hard Times - 2022-10-02

“Good News in Hard Times”

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Message #10 in 1 Thess. Series

McEwen Bible Fellowship

2 October 2022 

INTRODUCTION:

In October 1988 my family and I were living in the 22.5 million megacity of São Paulo in South Brazil. October 12^th is celebrated annually in Brazil as “O Dia da Criança,” meaning the Day of the Child. On that day in 1988 my wife and I made plans to take a carload of donated used clothing and toys to one of the many state-run orphanages, this one in Campinas, the city where we had lived during our first term in Brazil. Campinas is a large city with 3.4 million people located about 1½ hours inland from São Paulo.

To get into the orphanage we needed a permission document from a friend of ours who was the chief prosecutor of the regional juvenile court system. Months earlier he had told us about a little girl who had come into the child welfare system because of repeated abandonment by her biological mother. She was being kept in their Centro de Triagem (Triage Centre), awaiting the final disposition of her case. We had for some time wanted to adopt a little girl, but two previous attempts had fallen through when at the last minute the mothers changed their minds and decided to keep their babies. 

On that day, as we were seated in his office waiting for him to fill out the permission papers, our friend, Dr. João, the prosecutor of the regional juvenile court told us that the little girl he had told us about was now past the one year waiting period and was finally eligible for adoption. He asked, “Would you like to see her today?” We jumped at the chance. The required documents were quickly drawn up, and we went and dropped off the gifts at the orphanage. Then we found our way to the Centro de Triagem where the little girl was being kept, along with about 100 other little children.

She was 23 months old, just a little tiny thing with big brown eyes and a huge mop of shiny black hair. She could not talk but she was beautiful, and we immediately fell in love with her. Two days later, on October 14^th, which happens to be my birthday, we were once again in Campinas, seated in front of Dr. João’s desk signing the final permanent adoption papers for Simoni to become our daughter. 

But I will never forget the emotions I felt as we drove over there to see her for the very first time. And I will never forget the feeling I had as Dr. João told us later that she was ours if we wanted her. That was great good news for us, indeed!

TRANSITION:

What is the best news you have ever received?

·        Was it when the doctor phoned and said the scan had come back all clear and they had ruled out any kind of cancer?

·        Was it when you received that letter saying that you had been accepted into the college or graduate school you had been hoping for?

·        Was it when you got summoned into the boss’ office and were offered a big job advancement with all the perks?

·        Was it when your radio operator got news from headquarters that reinforcements were on their way and that you and your platoon would be relieved soon?           

The sweetness of the good news is often directly proportional to the danger and darkness of our immediate circumstances. By that I mean, when we are in a big mess and help arrives it is even more wonderful and more appreciated. 

The Christians in Thessaloniki were passing through some dark days. They were being persecuted for their faith and were suffering for no other reason than that they had chosen to follow Christ. When Paul was with them, he had taught concerning future events, including the Rapture of the Church and the Second Coming but they had gotten confused on some of the fine points. As a result of their present trials some of them were worried that maybe Christ had already returned, and that they had perhaps missed the boat, or maybe that He was not really going to come back at all.  Some were also worried about their loved ones that had already died, fearing that they might be forgotten and left behind if Jesus came back.

To ease their fears and explain what would happen to them Paul writes these words in

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, our text for today.

¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.

¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

¹⁵ For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with a shout, with a voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

¹⁷ Then, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

¹⁸ Therefore comfort one another with these words. 

MAIN BODY:

Verse 13: But we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.

·        It is clear from 2 Thess. 2:5 that the apostle Paul had taught much about this subject while he was in the city, but the main point of his teaching had evidently concerned the advent of Christ and not the resurrection. In the meantime, perhaps some of the believers had died, and the question arose, “Have their premature deaths caused them to lose all hope of sharing in the glorious reign of Christ?”

·        “I would not have you to be ignorant” is a phrase that Paul uses frequently in his writings when he wishes to explain some new point (cf. Rom. 1:13; 11:25; 1 Cor. 10:1; 12:1; 2 Cor. 1:8). By the way, “ignorant” is not a pejorative like “stupid” or “dimwit.” It simply means, “lacking information or uninformed.”

·        “…about those who are asleep.” Here Paul uses a present participle construction to show ongoing action, “who are lying asleep.” This Greek word for sleep is used in the NT of natural sleep as well as death, but only the death of a Christian (cf. 1 Cor. 7:39; 2 Peter 3:4, etc.).

·        “…so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope” – Without Christ the people of the world grieve endlessly, with no hope of seeing their loved ones again. “The rest” are the same people he referred to up in 4:12 as “outsiders.” 

Verse 14: For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

·        “If we believe” – this Greek construction does not open the door to doubt. The meaning is, “since we believe.” In Greek it is called a first-class conditional clause. It is a rhetorical construction expecting the positive response, “…and we do believe.” Believe what? The Gospel that he lays out clearly in 1 Cor. 15:1-4.

·        Our future resurrection is based on Christ’s successful death, burial, and resurrection and His promise to come back and take us to be with Himself forever. 

Verse 15: For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

·        Here we have Paul’s promise, his positive declaration that the Christian dead will be raised first and will therefore undoubtedly have a share in the Kingdom. The statement is made as authoritative as possible by stating that it is “the word of the Lord.” There are two possible explanations of this. It could be an otherwise unrecorded saying of Christ (cf. Acts 20:35) or it may have come to Paul by direct revelation (cf. Acts 16:6; 18:9). In any case, the Thessalonians need not be worried. Paul assures them that the dead will have a foremost place, for the living, he says, “shall in no wise (= emphatic negative, meaning “will not, no way, no how”) precede those who are asleep” at the Lord’s return. Notice that Paul included himself among that living group and evidently expected to live until the return of Christ (cf. Phil. 4:5 and Titus 2:13 written later in his life). One of the wonderful things about the hope of the Rapture is that it burns brightly in the hearts of each generation of Christians regardless of how long His return is delayed.

Verse 16: For the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with a shout, with a voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

·        Paul now fills in the details of the picture of what will happen when the Lord returns. Christ Himself will return. The word “Himself” is in the emphatic position in the sentence and emphasizes that no intermediary, but indeed the Lord Himself, will usher in this great event. Because it will be He Himself who comes, the attendant circumstances will display all the grandeur due His personal presence. There will be “a shout.” It is a word of command used in classical Greek for the shout with which an officer gives the order to his troops or his crew.  “Hoist the sails, full-speed ahead, run out the guns, fire on my command.” That kind of thing. There is in the word a ring of authority and a note of urgency. It is not said who utters the shout, whether it is the Lord or an archangel. However, “a voice” (indefinite article) of “an archangel” will be heard. Michael is the only archangel specifically mentioned in the Bible (cf. Jude 9), but it is not impossible that there are other archangels. Notice the absence of the definite articles here— a voice, not the voice, and an archangel, not the archangel. Although Gabriel is mentioned as a high-ranking angel (Dan. 8:16; 9:21; Luke 1:19, 26) he is not specifically designated as an archangel. Jewish tradition listed seven chief angels together. “The trumpet of God” will also sound when He comes. This is also referred to twice in 1 Corinthians 15:52.

·        Again, the priority of the dead is mentioned, for they shall be raised first, that is, before those who are alive at the Lord’s coming are changed. “Dead in Christ” is, of course, an alternative description of those who “sleep in Jesus.”

Verse 17: Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

·        Next in order there will be the change in the living. “Then,” epeita, implies order of events and not necessarily any lengthy interval between. We shall be “caught up.” The word means, “to seize” or “to snatch” and the Latin translation of this verb uses the word from which we get “rapture” in English. Thus, the translation of living believers is often called the Rapture of the Church. Rapture means the act of quickly conveying a person from one place to another and thus is properly used of this transport of the living believers to Heaven. Paul also used this word to describe his own experience of being caught up into the “third Heaven” (cp. 2 Cor. 12:2-4; w/ Rev. 12:5). It would appear from these other occurrences of the word that Paul had in mind being taken into Heaven and not just into the mid-air to turn around suddenly and return to the earth He also implies in this idea of rapture the necessary change in mortal bodies to fit them for immortal existence in Heaven. This is stated in greater detail in 1 Corinthians 15:50-53, and while the method of this change is never revealed, Paul clearly believed that it is possible to have a metamorphosis without the dissolution caused by death.

·        The reunion is two-fold. It is first with loved ones who have died, for we shall be caught up together with them. Second, it is a meeting with the Lord in the air, in the clouds (with a view to proceeding on into Heaven, not returning to the earth immediately, as stated above). The natural consequence of this wonderful meeting with the Lord is that there will be no subsequent parting. After His return there will be uninterrupted union and communion with our Lord.

·        One more thing… this event will come with no warning and will not even be seen or heard by unbelievers. It will happen in the twinkling of an eye and be over and accomplished without the world even being aware. “Done and dusted” as the Irish say. Before anyone even notices we’re gone we will be in Heaven with the Lord. 

Verse 18: Therefore comfort one another with these words.

·        As a result of what has been stated there should be no sorrowing but rather comfort concerning those who have died. Notice how Paul sticks to the subject—the dead in Christ.  He says nothing in this passage about the resurrection of the wicked, the intermediate state, judgment, the means of translation, or our reign with Christ. In this passage our hope is centred on the assurance of the resurrection of the dead in Christ, the change in the living, and the eternal union with our Lord. Repeating these truths often will bring assurance to our hearts. 

CONCLUSION:

For the Thessalonian believers, this letter must have sounded like great Good News. They were going through some hard times—times that made them have doubts about things they had come to believe. But Paul’s letter with this wonderful explanation about what awaited them, and their dead loved ones, must have brought them great comfort and encouragement.

I do not know what trials and tests you are facing right now, but I know that in the Gospel there is good news for you and for your present situation. The God of Paul and the Thessalonians is our God too. And He has never changed. He is still able to save all who call on Him, and He is still ready to rescue us when we pray to Him.

FEEDBACK:

What does this passage mean to you personally? What impact does it have on your daily life? In verse 18 we find one of the many NT “one another” commands: namely, “comfort one another with these words.” How can we do this specifically?

 

  

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it's off to work we go... - 2022-09-25

“Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it’s off to work we go…”

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

Message #9 in 1 Thess. Series

McEwen Bible Fellowship

25 September 2022 

INTRODUCTION:

What would you do if you found out for certain that Jesus was going to return two weeks from today at exactly 2:00 PM? How would that knowledge change your life? Would you do anything differently? Is there anything you would start doing? Is there anything you would stop doing? Would you go to work tomorrow?

The Bible is an extremely practical book. It is not just a storybook. It is not just a theology book. It is an instructional manual for living a life that is honouring and pleasing to God. Please turn in your Bibles to our text for today, 1 Thess. 4:9-12.

TRANSITION:

⁹ Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; ¹⁰ for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, ¹¹ and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, ¹² so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need. 

MAIN BODY:

Verse 9: Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;

·        The subject here is Christians loving other Christians. For “the love of the brethren” Paul uses the single word philadelphia, from philos, love, and adelphos, brother. It is clan love, the love between members of a family. His point is that our fellow-Christians are members of our spiritual family, which is God’s family. He says that God teaches us to love one another. I believe he is referring to the fact that it is normal and natural to love members of one’s own family. God has hardwired that into us. No one needs to teach a mother to love her children. I did not have to take a class to learn how to love my grandchildren. Loving our family is natural, normal, a God-given trait in humans, in believers and non-believers alike. Loving other Christians should be just as natural.

·        Jesus taught this love for the brethren too, but He also commanded His followers to “love their neighbour.” You will remember that His story about the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 was to illustrate this truth. But in Matthew 5:43-44 He ramped things up a notch, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour [referring to Lev. 19:18] and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”

·        It is not always easy to love other Christians. Sometimes they seem unlovable. But to love our enemies… that is even harder. In fact, without God’s help I think it is impossible.

Verse 10: for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more,

·        Here Paul commends the Thessalonian believers and says that they are already doing this. They love one another and are showing kindness to one another. However, he says, “I want you to do it even more.” You will notice that this is the second time he has said this same thing in this passage. He used the same words up in verse 1: “…that you may excel still more.”

·        This reminds me of a coach’s talk to his team. “Guys, you are doing a great job. You are scoring and your game is right on the money. However, I know you are capable of more. You can do even better. Now get out there and make me proud.”

·        N.B. Here is where you need to know some more historical information. I asked you in my introduction what you would do if you found out for sure that the Lord’s return was going to occur in two weeks. Some jokingly said they would quit their jobs. That is exactly what happened in Thessaloniki. After Paul and the other guys taught them about the Lord’s return and the fact that Jesus could come back at any minute some of them decided that they would just wait around for the Rapture. They quit working and were just hanging out, waiting, mooching off other people. It was causing problems and hard feelings in the congregation. One of Paul’s motives for writing this epistle was to set these idle brothers straight and get them back to work.

·        When you think of his words here in that historical context it is easy to see the point that he was trying to make; namely, that it is a violation of Christian love to become a lazy freeloader, living off the labour of other people. But apparently that is exactly what was going on. Some of the brethren were using the hope of Christ’s imminent Rapture as an excuse for being both meddlesome and lazy. In this letter Paul cuts loose his first salvo. Apparently however, it did not completely solve the problem because later in 2 Thess. 3 he fired off a second salvo, going into this subject in much greater detail. Look at 2 Thess. 3:11 for example, “For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies.”

·        In the next verse of our text Paul lays out a three-point solution to the problem. 

Verse 11: and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and attend to your own business, and work with your hands, just as we commanded you,

·        “…and make it your ambition…” Paul uses a word here that literally means to “be ambitious” [Rom. 15:20, “I aspire to preach the Gospel.” 2 Cor. 5:9, “We have as our ambition…to be pleasing to Him.”] However, the word came to be used with the meaning of “strive eagerly” for any worthy goal. Here Paul urges them to strive eagerly to “lead a quiet life.” What does that mean? What would that look like? In part, Paul is encouraging them to not go off the deep end about Christ’s return because no one knows when that is going to happen. He is saying, “Calm down and don’t go nuts over this.” That is good advice.

·        You may not know it, but a similar thing happened in more recent history. The Seventh Day Adventists started out as a group of gullible Christians from many different churches and denominations who followed after the teachings of William Miller, a wacky Baptist preacher from Low Hampton, New York. With great certainty Miller predicted on the basis of his interpretation of Daniel 8:14 that Jesus Christ would return to Earth on October 22, 1844. Many of his devoted disciples quit their jobs, sold their homes and belongings, and cashed in their stock certificates. When Jesus failed to appear, most of Miller’s disappointed and disillusioned followers disbanded and returned to their original churches. However, those who hung in there with his wacky teachings eventually formed the Adventist movement under the leadership of Ellen G. White.

·        “…strive eagerly to attend to your own business.” We get an inkling of Paul’s thought in 2 Thess. 3:12 where he says: “Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread.” In part, I believe that Paul is telling them to shut up and get back to work. “Quit stalling, quit meddling, and get busy!”

·        “…strive eagerly to work with your hands.” The Greeks shunned manual labour. They thought it was fitting only for the servant/slave class. But when Paul was with the Thessalonians, he told them that Jesus worked with his hands as a carpenter. Paul himself worked with his hands as a tentmaker. Luke worked with his hands as a doctor. Peter, James, and John worked with their hands as fishermen, etc. Paul’s point is that any kind of honest labour is noble work for a Christian. Many people today work in offices, pecking on their computers all day. They do not do manual labour, but they work hard to earn a living and provide for their families. That is the point that Paul is making. Any kind of honest work is noble and good. Moreover, our God is a working God. He worked for six days and rested on the Sabbath, providing an example for us to follow. Creation implies work. God made everything good; therefore, man can perform the most menial tasks knowing that he is in touch with the Creator’s handiwork. Furthermore, the Bible tells us that we can do our work to the glory of God.

·        The fact that Christ will return some day and that life as we know it will end, is not a reason to stop working. In fact, it is a reason for working all the harder and all the more faithfully, so that when He comes back, He will find us going obediently about our Father’s business. 

Verse 12: so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.

·        Here Paul was telling them that they must portray Christianity in a positive light to “outsiders,” meaning unbelievers, by the diligence and the beauty of their lives. To go on as they were doing, to allow their so-called “Christianity” to turn them into useless citizens was to bring discredit to Christ, the Gospel, and their testimonies.

·        William Barclay, in his commentary on 1 Thessalonians says this about this passage: “A tree is known by its fruits; and a religion is known by the kind of men it produces. The only way to demonstrate that Christianity is the best of all faiths is to prove that it produces the best of all men. When we Christians prove that our Christianity makes us better workmen, truer friends, kinder men, and women, then and only then are we really preaching. The important thing is not words but deeds, not oratory but life. The outside world never comes into a Church to hear a sermon, but the outside world sees us every day outside the Church; and it is our lives which must be the sermon to win men for Christ.” AMEN!

·        The last part of verse 12 makes it clear that the antidote to Christians being in need is for all Christians to work. With the surplus we create by hard work we will be able to help others who are in genuine need. There will always be a few people who cannot work and will need our help, but for a Christian who can work but chooses not to, that person is an embarrassment to Christianity. The effect of the lazy idle Thessalonians was that others had to support them. They became spongers, leeches, if you will.

·        As Christians it is our duty not to draw from the community, but to contribute into the community. As Christians we should take delight in giving but have a holy independent pride that refuses to take, so long as our own two hands can supply our needs.

CONCLUSION:

I believe that this passage is very relevant to our lives today. In recent elections and certainly in the one coming up in November one of the issues that separates the two major parties is the role of government in the lives of average Americans. There are those who have come to believe that government owes it to the people to provide cradle-to-grave services including free preschool, free college education, free healthcare, free everything. I believe that is dangerous, as well as unbiblical, unchristian, and cowardly. 

The welfare state in this country is, in my opinion, a huge embarrassment. I am embarrassed and ashamed that there are so many of my fellow Americans who are so lazy that they think everyone else owes them a living, a free ride.

In Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, in 3:10 he reminds them, “For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: If anyone will not work, neither let him eat.” I believe this is a principle that we need to follow in the church and in the society. Of course, I am not saying that we should refuse to help people who are in genuine need of assistance because that would go directly against Christ’s teaching about helping the poor, but to give money and resources to lazy people who refuse to work only exacerbates the problem and enables them to go on living a useless unproductive life. May God grant us His wisdom to know how to apply this teaching to our lives, our churches, and our society. 

FEEDBACK:

·        How does Paul’s teaching here square up with the expectations of many Americans, even Christians, toward government handouts including welfare, food stamps, cash assistance, WIC, Section-8 housing, Dignity Village, etc.?

·        How do we get people to take responsibility for themselves, and work for their keep?

·        How much Christian obligation do we have toward people who are lazy and will not work?

Possessing Our Vessels - 2022-09-18

“Possessing Our Vessels”

1 Thessalonians 3:11 – 4:8

Message #8 in 1 Thess. Series

McEwen Bible Fellowship

18 September 2022

INTRODUCTION:

Fire, guns, sports cars, dynamite, and sky diving—what do these 5 things all have in common?

Ø  All 5 can be exciting

Ø  All 5 can be useful

Ø  All 5 can be dangerous 

Let’s pretend that we are all going on an elk-hunting trip this year. Sing along with me, “A-hunting we will go, A-hunting we will go, Heigh-ho, the derry-o, A-hunting we will go.” We are all going to take our rifles and go after the illusive Rocky Mountain bull elk. But for those who have never handled a rifle, what words of good advice should we give them before we put a high-powered elk-slayer into their hands?

Ø  Never point it at anything you do not plan to kill

Ø  Carry it with the barrel pointed at the ground

Ø  Never carry a loaded rifle in the car with you

Ø  Never lean a loaded rifle against a tree

Ø  Never try to cross a fence while holding one

 

Why do we insist on these rules? Because while a rifle is exciting, and useful, it can also be deadly dangerous. A hunter needs to know the things to do and the things not to do to avoid hurting himself or others. 

TRANSITION:

In our text for today the apostle Paul brings up a subject that has much in common with what we have just been discussing. He talks about something that has great power for good, but also for evil. Let’s read the passage together in 1 Thessalonians 3:11 – 4:8.

¹¹ Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you; ¹² and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; ¹³ so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. ¹ Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. ² For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. ³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴ that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honour, ⁵ not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶ and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. ⁷ For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. ⁸ So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you. 

MAIN BODY:

Verse 11: Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you;

·        Verses 11-13 is Paul’s prayer to the Lord, expressing his sincere desire to get together again with the Thessalonian believers. He looks forward to when he will see them once again to continue the discipling work he started before he was forced to flee from their city. 

Verse 12: and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you;

·        “...May the Lord cause you...” – This is important because it is the Lord who is orchestrating our sanctification. He is the one who causes the growth in our lives, although sometimes we do not like His methods nor the “fertilizer” He uses.

·        “...to increase and abound in love...” – See in your mind a bucket being filled up at a cool spring flowing out of the mountain. You set the bucket under the flow of water and the level begins to rise. The water is “increasing.” Finally, the water gets to the top and begins to flow over the sides of the bucket. Now it is “abounding.” That is what Paul is praying for... that their love for one another in the Body might overflow all boundaries, but that the overflow would reach out even to their enemies.

·        And he adds that his own love for them has this same characteristic. 

Verse 13: ...so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.

·        Again, Paul brings in the subject of Christ’s return. That is a scarlet thread woven throughout the tapestry of his theology.

·        “...so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness...” – The only way we can be without blame is to be truly holy. But we cannot be truly holy without Christ making us holy. It is the Lord Himself who establishes our hearts. Again, this is looking at the process of sanctification that God the Holy Spirit brings about in the Christian’s life over time. 

Verse 1: Finally, then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and, please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.

·        Here we sense a change of subject. This letter has several purposes:

ü  Paul wants to encourage the saints

ü  He wants to instruct the saints

ü  He wants to warn the saints.

·        “...we request and exhort you...” – To request is to ask politely, to ask as a favour. To exhort is to command, to require compliance. Paul does both things here in the same sentence. If the request gets the desired result, then the command is unnecessary. However, Paul is leaving nothing to chance. This is too important.

·        What is the area of concern? – “How you ought to walk [i.e., live] in order to please God.” Here he throws in the word of commendation that they are already practicing this, but he wants them to excel in it to an even greater degree.

Verse 2: For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

·        He reminds them that this teaching was not invented by him and the other apostles but came from the Lord Himself. Therefore, it is authoritative and cannot be ignored or blown off. We often do this with things we do not like to hear, don’t we. Or is it just me? 

Verse 3: For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality.

·        This is one of the clearest statements of intent in the Scriptures. God wants our sanctification. That means He wants us to live a sanctified life. “Sanctified” means holy, set apart unto God’s service. It means given over to a holy purpose, a holy calling. Paul says that this is God’s will for the Thessalonians, and by extension, for us too.

·        But he does not leave to the imagination what he means here by sanctification. He narrows it down to specifics—he is talking about the area of our human sexuality. We are to abstain from, desist, refrain, withdraw, and give up all forms of sexual immorality. ALL FORMS? What does he mean by all forms? How many forms are there for crying out loud? Well, let’s list a few:

ü  Adultery

ü  Fornication

ü  Bestiality

ü  Homosexuality

ü  Child pornography

ü  Prostitution and sex trafficking

ü  Internet pornography

ü  Sexual chat rooms

ü  Sexual dating

ü  Sleeping around

ü  Sexual favours for business or career advancement

·        This is where we get back to our discussion from the beginning, that certain things in life may be exciting, fun, even useful under the right circumstances, but they can kill you when used wrongly. SEX is one of those things. Fire in the fireplace is wonderful, but fire in the curtains is awful. A rifle on a hunting trip is great but pointed at your head it is dangerous and can kill you. Sex in the confines of a loving marriage is marvellous, but anywhere else it is like acid dripping on the soul. It will eat you up. It will kill you. 

Verse 4: that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honour,

·        Notice that Paul says, “each of you.” You cannot do this for me, and I cannot do it for you. We each must go to God for power to live a life of purity and holiness. It is a sure cinch we cannot do it on our own!

·        “How to possess his own vessel” – Some scholars have tried to say that Paul here is talking about how to take care of your wife [i.e., the weaker vessel]. I do not think so because it does not fit the context. He is using the same language and word picture here that he used in 2 Cor. 4:7 where he talked about us being “earthen vessels,” “jars of clay.” “But we have this treasure [i.e., the Gospel] in earthen vessels [i.e., fleshly human bodies], that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves.”

·        There is something here, however, that should be an encouragement to us. God never commands us or asks us to do something that is impossible. He always gives us the means to carry out His will. That means that it is possible to have my body be sanctified (set apart unto God’s service), and holy (with no filthiness or sin). It is possible to live a life of sexual purity without dropping back into the old patterns. The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to obey this command.

Verses 5: ...not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God.

·        Paul is not making a racial slam against non-Jews but is simply referring to the fact that most of the Gentiles of his day were pagans, followers of pagan religions, with their pagan practices, including their sexual practices. This was not a cultural issue but a religious one.

·        Most of the pagan religions practiced some form of temple prostitution, or fertility rites including sexual intercourse with priests, or in some cases, with total strangers. Those religions included the worship of Astarte, Baal, Aphrodite, and Ishtar, etc.

Verse 6: and that no man transgress [cross the line] and defraud [deceive, cheat, swindle, take advantage of] his brother [= generic, includes both sexes] in the matter because the Lord is the Avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you.

·        From this verse it is obvious that Paul is not joking around. There is no “wink, wink, nudge, nudge” here. This is profoundly serious business and to violate God’s laws in this area is to invite severe divine punishment.

·        What is Paul’s point? All forms of sexual sin hurt, defraud, and take advantage of someone. For example, people sometimes call prostitution a “victimless crime,” but nothing is further from the truth. Terrible damage is done both to the women themselves and to the men who pay to use them as sex objects. Or how about the child pornography industry around the world? Is that victimless? Of course not! And is viewing pornography not a violation of the dignity and sanctity of the bodies of the young people, usually women, who appear in those photos and films? Even though they are usually complicit in their own destruction that does not justify or exonerate those who buy or view their products. Statistics show that most of the young women (± 90%) in the sex industry grew up without fathers and most of them were molested when they were just little girls.

·        Paul says here that God Himself will avenge all these things, and I tend to believe Him. To blow off this warning and continue in any of these sinful practices is to invite hellfire, and I do not think I am overstating the case. 

Verse 7: For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.

·        God did not call us to Himself just to have us continue in sinfulness and impurity. He called us to Himself to walk in holiness, as a witness to others of the power and presence of God in our life. 

Verse 8: So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.

·        Paul makes it clear that to walk in sexual impurity is to reject God. This is a profoundly important concept to grasp. We cannot claim to know Him, to belong to Him, to have Him abiding in our life, and then go out and practice sexual impurity, which He forbids. Listen to what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

·        I love that last verse: “Such were some of you; but you were washed (in the blood of the Lamb), but you were sanctified (by the cleansing of the Word of God), but you were justified (declared righteous and not guilty) in the name of the Lord Jesus.” The Bottom Line = A holy life must accompany a holy profession. Once again, we are being called to walk-the-walk, as well as talk-the-talk.

CONCLUSION:

I am frankly astonished at the number of people today who call themselves “Christians” yet who live lives of sexual immorality and filthiness.

·        I have talked to many professing Christians over the years who say that they do not think that God means for them to go through life being forever deprived of a loving sexual relationship, just because they do not happen to be married.

·        I know for a fact that Internet pornography is one of the most common sins among both Christian and non-Christian men in much of the world. It is at epidemic proportions, with a quickly growing number of women caught up in the same demonic web of sin, secrecy, self-gratification, and self-deception.

·        Double-blind surveys reveal that many pastors and full-time Christian workers say that pornography is the greatest temptation and battlefield in their lives.

·        Adult porno shops, sexual massage parlours, and sex toy stores have popped up everywhere, even in places you would never have dreamed of seeing one. And city governments are complicit in allowing them to move in and set up shop.

·        Among professing Christian teens many are caught up in premarital sexual practices that include anything and everything including full-on sexual intercourse, and they justify it by saying that they are just “messing around” or “hooking up.”

·        Today, it is reported that at least 90 percent of kids between the ages of 8 and 16 have watched pornography online at least once. Not only have most tweens and teens seen porn, but boys ages 12 to 17 are actually the largest consumers of online pornography. With this statistic, pornography has even been compared to being the drug of choice for youth. In fact, the statistics keep rising every single year. Right now, statistics are showing that kids first gain exposure to pornography at the age of 10 or 11.

 

At the beginning of this message, I started out by asking a question. Do you remember what it was? I said, “Fire, guns, sports cars, dynamite, and sky diving—what do these 5 things all have in common?” We said...

Ø  All 5 can be exciting

Ø  All 5 can be useful

Ø  All 5 can be dangerous

 

We need to add a sixth thing to that list—our human sexuality. Like the others, it can be exciting. In fact, it is perhaps the most wonderful thing God ever invented. It can also be useful. It allows us to form families and continue the human race. It allows us to obey God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply.” But thirdly, our sexuality outside of the boundaries that God placed around it is like fire in the drapery—it is very dangerous, a disaster, and capable of destroying everything in its path, destroying us, our families, our testimonies, our ministries, plus a whole lot of other people. 

FEEDBACK:

·        Why do you think that God gave us such a powerful thing as our human sexuality and our sometimes-out-of-control sex drives? Isn’t it kind of like handing a kid a machine gun?

·        Why did He make the drive so strong in us? And why is it so hard for us to keep our sexuality under control?

·        Why does God seem to take this so seriously? Is it really that big of a deal or are Paul and I blowing this out of proportion?

·        What are you going to do with what we have learned today? Is there a personal step you need to take to bring your life more in line with the Word of God?