More and More

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Welcome to week 4 of our study on the first and second letters to the church in Thessalonica.  Today starts a transition in the first letter, but we will get to that in just a few minutes.  Let’s pray and ask God to speak to us and teach us during this time.

Lord, thank You for Your Word which you have given us for teaching, exhorting, and training in righteousness.  May You speak to us through it today.  Amen

To review the history of 1 Thessalonians, Thessalonica was the largest city in Macedonia and located on the Via Egnatia, a major east / west thoroughfare through what is now Northern Greece stretching all the way to modern Istanbul.  Because of its location, it was a melting pot of cultures and religions, much like Corinth.  The Bible tells us that Thessalonica had a synagogue, and I find it hard to believe that Judaism wasn’t the only religion with a strong presence in Thessalonica.  In fact, Paul commended the Thessalonians for turning from idols (1 Thess. 1:9).  Paul taught in the synagogue for three Sabbaths and was also most likely teaching during the week anywhere he could find an audience.  As a result, many Jews, Greeks, and proselytes of the Jewish faith were converted to Christianity.  Luke tells us in Acts 17 that “not a few of the leading women” were among the new group of converts.  Luke often used this inverted syntax as a form of emphasis throughout Acts, so we know that it was probably a majority of the leading women of Thessalonica who were now true believers and among the small congregation in the new church. 

The Jews became enraged and ran Paul and his missionary team out of Thessalonica and, just a little later, out of nearby Berea.  Forced to leave before he felt like the young church was ready to stand on its own two feet, Paul sent Timothy back to help encourage and strengthen these new believers.  Paul himself tried to return to Thessalonica to find out how the church was doing and to strengthen it, but he was prevented, at least for now.  (Some say he probably stopped by later on in his life as Thessalonica is referenced in other places in writings from Paul that we know were written after I Thessalonians.)  In chapter 3, we saw Paul’s great concern for the church, and he obviously wrote I Thessalonians in response to Timothy’s report.  So the last two chapters of I Thessalonians deal with several things that Paul wanted to address within the church in Thessalonica.

As I mentioned earlier, today, we start a transition in I Thessalonians. Paul’s letters are often easily divided into two sections: 1) Teaching and 2) Exhortation.  I would say that I Thessalonians is better split as 1) Encouragement/Praise and 2) Teaching/Exhorting.  Chapter 4 marks the break between these two sections, as is evidenced by its first word, “Finally.”

The Greek word translated “Finally” in many translations, including the KJV, NASB, and ESV, is loipos.  But, loipos really means “the rest” or “remaining.” The NIV and a few other translations translate it better by saying “Furthermore” or “as for other matters.”  I remember hearing many speakers growing up who would say “finally” and keep speaking for another half hour (much like I’m about to do today.  I think this verse may be where they got that from.

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. —1Thessalonians 4:1-2 (-ESV)

Writing in Greek, Paul uses a common Greek structure to emphasize a point – repetition.  Repetition aids learning; and, as children, we all learned that when mom says it twice, she really does mean it. Paul uses two very similar verbs, “ask” and “urge,” to reinforce the request he is about to make.  But he also makes this request “in the Lord Jesus.”  He is asking, not only as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, but in the power of the name above all names, that the Thessalonians do something.  This must be pretty important if Paul is repeating himself and “asking” and “urging” them by the power of the Lord Jesus.  What does he ask them? “To continue walking as [they] ought and to please God” just as he and Silas and Timothy had taught them when the three missionaries were in Thessalonica.  He says they are doing walking as they ought and pleasing God, but his real focus is that they continue, and do so more and more.  Verse two is just a short rephrase of verse one.  “You know what instructions we left you.  Take those, and keep doing them.  And don’t stop.”  Kind of like Dory from Finding Nemo: “Just keep walking.  Just keep walking.”

Jumping ahead in time, what is the answer to the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, “What is the chief end of man?”  “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever” or, “to glorify God and to enjoy pleasing him forever.” 

The Reformed Expository Commentary of 1 & 2 Thessalonians by Richard D. Phillips attributes the following quote to G. K. Beale- “Whether in the ancient world or today, the chief end of humanity has often been to take pleasure in this life.  In contrast, our passage begins by affirming the opposite: humanity’s chief goal out to be to take pleasure in pleasing God.”

How can we please God?  Paul is goes on to tell us.  In fact, twice in I Thessalonians he tells us what is God’s will; what God desires from us.  The first is in 4:3.  We’ll talk about the second one in a few weeks.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; —1Thessalonians 4:3 (ESV)

We please God through our sanctification.  Okay, what does that mean?  Simply put, sanctification is “holy living.”  Paul even gives an example of holy living: “that you abstain from sexual immorality.”  Paul, why did you have to pick that one?!?  Why couldn’t you pick an easier one?  Because just like it does now, sexual immorality permeated the Thessalonian society.  The Greek word translated “sexual immorality” in the ESV (porneia) covers a broad range of sexual topics, and is most easily defined as “anything outside of marriage.”  I looked for a nice, succinct definition, but most lexicons vary on the definition ever so slightly, but they all seem to boil down to “anything outside of marriage.”  That covers a very broad spectrum of sins.  I want to be careful here in mixed company and varying ages, but it is clear that Paul is saying that any sexual act outside of a man and his only wife is sin; it is opposed to holy living.  Our society bombards us with innuendos, immodesty, and sex just about everywhere.  It is a minute by minute battle to maintain our holiness by “abstaining from sexual immorality.”  Paul goes even deeper with this than to just abstain from it.

That each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.  For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.  Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. —1Thessalonians 4:3-8 (ESV)

Paul instructs believers to control our own body in holiness and honor.  We are to stay set apart from those who give into their fleshly desires, thereby bringing honor to the name of our Father.  The Catholic Church is in ridicule worldwide right now because they’ve had some priests who didn’t control themselves.  The whole church is viewed with great shame, even in guilt / innocence cultures. 

Scripture tells us that sexual sins are sins against our own body (I Corinthians 6:18) and against others.  Sexual sin damages our brains and adversely affects our thinking.  I won’t go into great detail, but God created our brains to release certain hormones and to react a certain way in response to our spouse so that it creates a bond not found by any other means.  Anything outside of His designed plan pollutes and damages not just our way of thinking, but the actual brain itself too.  Sexual sin also affects others around us by damaging marriages.  Yes, those of you not yet married, you can adversely affect your marriage now by the things you allow to enter your mind.  God designed a family to be the basic building block of society, and Satan has succeeded in using something God created to be used in a marriage to create a stronger bond to actually tear about the basic building block of society and ruin society altogether. 

It seems so hard with our culture absolutely bombarding us with immodesty and sex to avoid sexual sins.  However, “God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.”  God won’t call us to something then not empower us to do it.  Look at the end of verse 8, “who gives his Holy Spirit to you.”  We have the power of God living within us.  We can live lives set apart to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.  By the way, if you’re too busy enjoying Him, you don’t have time for anything else.

Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, —1Thessalonians 4:9-10 (ESV)

Richard Phillips tells this story in the commentary referenced above: “The famous Archbishop Ussher was once shipwrecked off the coast of Ireland.  Destitute of sullies, he wandered into the house of a local clergyman.  The minister was suspicious of the disheveled man who claimed to be a bishop and hesitated to offer him aid.  To test the stranger, the clergyman asked, “How many commandments are there?”  Ussher replied, “I can at once satisfy you that I am not an imposter, as you think, for there are eleven commandments.”  Hearing this, the reluctant man answered, “No, there are only ten commandments.”  Only if Ussher could prove an eleventh commandment, he said, would he offer any help.  The archbishop then asked for a Bible, and turning to John 13:34, he read Jesus’ words to his disciples: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.”  Corrected and convicted by Jesus’ words, the man immediately received Ussher and provided all that he needed.”

Paul challenged the Thessalonians to lead holy lives, but also reminded them in the next breath that “Christian holiness is never a cold formalism, but is always joined to the virtue of Christian love” (page 138 of Reformed Expository Commentary of 1 & 2 Thessalonians by Richard D. Phillips).  We will also display our set apart lives by our love for others.  Paul encouraged the Thessalonians as they were an example to all the other believers in not just their city, but the entire Roman province of Macedonia.  But he urged them to do it more and more.  They were taught by God, probably as a reflection of Jeremiah 31:33 “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” and Romans 5:5: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”  Loving others is an outward expression of the work of God in our hearts.

The final two verses of our passage this week were probably the most difficulty for me to expound upon.  I kept searching for a deeper meaning than what was on the surface, but thank God for commentaries and a new tool I found preparing for this teaching: a translator’s handbook.  It is deep reading, but it opened up the passages to me in new ways and brought me back to the simplicity of the text.  Knowing the struggles of the people that he was writing to, Paul exhorted them to do some things, but at first I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by them.

And to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. [1Th 4:11-12 ESV]

The Greek word translated for “aspire” means “to strive with ambition.”  One translation actually say “make it your ambition.”  The phrase “live quietly” is suggested by some to mean “don’t go around always making a lot of noise” or “don’t go around all the time arguing loudly.” A couple authors that I read argued from looking at both 1 and 2 Thessalonians that the foolish, immature behavior of some believers would strain relationships with more mature believers and damage the witness of the church.  Thus Paul instructs them to strive to live quietly. 

The other two odd phrases are pretty literal translations of the Greek.  And unless context would dictate otherwise, it is general best to go with a literal hermeneutic (rule of interpreting text) when interpreting Scripture.  “To mind your own affairs” is translated by some to say “mind your own business” or “don’t meddle in others affairs”.  “Mind your own affairs” is sometimes translated “earn your own living.” Don’t meddle, and don’t be lazy.

Paul isn’t telling us to go hide in a corner, live our lives all by ourselves while minding our own business and not being lazy.  We are to care for the sick and the hurting.  We are to “bear one another’s burdens.”  Hebrews 3:13 urges us to “exhort one another every day...that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”  We aren’t supposed to be a bothersome meddler or a useless idler randomly inserting our opinions where they don’t matter or wasting our or others time and resources.  Paul says he told them these things while he was there, but he was again reminding them of these instructions.  Why?  He didn’t want the Thessalonian believers to be dependent on anyone and to live a holy life before unbelievers.

Before the communist regime in Yugoslavia collapsed men used the church as a means of political gain.  They robbed, murdered, and cheated everyone for their own personal gain, doing it all in the name of Christ.  During this time, there was an evangelist named Jakov who strove to spread the truth of the real gospel. Ravi Zacharias tells Jakov’s story this way:

“One day…Jakov arrived in a certain village. He commiserated with an elderly man named Cimmerman on the tragedies he had experienced and talked to him of the love of Christ. Cimmerman abruptly interrupted Jakov and told him that he wished to have nothing to do with Christianity. He reminded Jakov of the dreadful history of the church in his town, a history replete with plundering, exploiting, and indeed with killing innocent people. “My own nephew was killed by them,” he said and angrily rebuffed any effort on Jakov’s part to talk about Christ. “They wear those elaborate coats and caps and crosses,” he said, “signifying a heavenly commission, but their evil designs and lives I cannot ignore.”

Jakov, looking for an occasion to get Cimmerman to change his line of thinking, said, “Cimmerman, can I ask you a question? Suppose I were to steal your coat, put it on, and break into a bank. Suppose further that the police sighted me running in the distance but could not catch up with me. One clue, however, put them onto your track; they recognized your coat. What would you say to them if they came to your house and accused you of breaking into the bank?”

“I would deny it,” said Cimmerman.

“‘Ah, but we saw your coat,’ they would say,” retorted Jakov. This analogy quite annoyed Cimmerman, who ordered Jakov to leave his home.

Jakov continued to return to the village periodically just to befriend Cimmerman, encourage him, and share the love of Christ, with him. Finally one day Cimmerman asked, “How does one become a Christian?” and Jakov taught him the simple steps of repentance for sin and of trust in the work of Jesus Christ and gently pointed him to the Shepherd of his soul. Cimmerman bent his knee on the soil with his head bowed and surrendered his life to Christ. As he rose to his feet, wiping his tears, he embraced Jakov and said, “Thank you for being in my life.” And then he pointed to the heavens and whispered, “You wear His coat very well.” (https://bible.org/illustration/you-wear-his-coat-very-well)

Why do we live holy lives?  To enjoy pleasing God.  The side effect?  Others will see the true gospel and join us in pleasing God. 

Is there something preventing your holy life?  What is it?  What area of your life are you not pure in?  If it’s a sexual sin, deal with it today, please!  I promise you, the hardship of dealing with it now is worth the freedom it will bring when you confess and repent.  Trust me.  I know from experience.  Men, if you need help, I’m happy to be an accountability partner.  You cannot fight this alone.  It is far too strong.  Is it something else?  Are you not living in love?  Are you a busy body?  Let’s focus this week on how we can live a life that is more and more loving to fellow believers and non-believers alike. 

Let’s pray.  Lord, we cannot live pure and holy lives without the power of Your Sprit.  Please give us the strength, will, and dedication to live sanctified lives today and every day.  Amen.