1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
It’s been a few years since I went to school. But here’s what I generally remember about it. The teacher instructs you about something. You take notes while they are teaching. You get sent home with a workbook, which helps you remember and apply what you learned. Sometime in the future there’s a quiz or a test.
Is not really a stretch I don’t think to say that’s more or less what life is like too. Life lessons are going on all around you, and you better be taking notes. You better be paying attention. You are going to have to apply these life lessons soon enough. Take good notes, go through your workbook and practice, and be ready for some sort of test.
And isn’t that what the beginning of our reading from 1 Thessalonians sounds like, too? “Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 2For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.”
Twice in that section there’s a reference to instructions. And there’s an urging and encouraging to put into practice the instruction and to do so, more and more. Later, there’s even a warning about what happens if you fail the pop quiz. “The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you”.
We will see this morning how much school and our faith have in common. Or don’t. Quick spoiler. There’s a pop quiz alright, but the pass / fail part of it is not about what we did or didn’t do, but about what Jesus did in our place. Even more good news – if we don’t think we’ve got the smarts or the ability to come up with the right answers to God and do the right actions for God, we’ve got God’s grace and power to do exactly what we need to. And really that’s our prayer this morning - Lord, give us the wisdom and knowledge to do the things that please you. In other words – teach us Lord. And the second part of our prayer is: And then Lord, after you’ve taught us – give us the grace and power to put into practice what you’ve taught us.
Yes, the beginning of our reading is instructions about God-pleasing living. But it’s a dangerous thing to just read one section of Scripture without understanding the context that surrounds it. And that context in 1 Thessalonians is this. These Christians in the city of Thessalonica came to a saving faith in Jesus the God sent Savior of the world. They were taught and the Holy Spirit worked faith in their hearts that caused them to believe that Jesus took away all their sins through his perfect life of substitution and through his atoning death on the cross. In this book of the Bible the apostle Paul thanks God for the faith of these Christians and encourages them to remain standing firm in the faith. He knows there will be pressure for them to stop believing in salvation through Christ alone. Again and again he writes about staying in the faith. And then, here, he gives them a workbook so that they can.
So, maybe the first takeway is this: we don’t follow God’s instructions just for the sake of following them. We don’t even live holy lives for the purpose of getting right with God. We are right with God through faith in Christ Jesus who lived for us and died for us and took away all the unright things we’ve done. But in order to stay close to God now so that we are ready to live with him after that great pop quiz day, we need to remain in the faith. And one way to remain in the faith is to live how God wants us to live. To keep doing what we are doing and get even better at it.
I helped coach Little League baseball when my boys were that age. And every day we would practice, we would hit grounder after grounder for the infielders – hit fly balls for the outfielders – and throw batting practice. You could always tells the boys who did this at home with mom and dad – and those who didn’t touch a glove or a bat unless they were at practice. The ones who practice at practice and at home …. Got better and better at it. Muscle memory formed. Tracking a fly ball got easier. They grew more comfortable at the plate. So. I spent some time in Baltimore MD when Cal Ripken was playing He said – it’s not “practice makes perfect. It’s perfect practice makes perfect. So. If more practice makes more perfect works for baseball skills, do you think it can also work for Christian believing and Christian living?
“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God;”
More important than corralling a baseball is controlling your own body. Do that and you will avoid sexual immorality. Do that and you will act in a way that is holy and honorable. Don’t do that and you aren’t acting like the heathen who do not know God.
God knew what he made when he made us. He made not many of us to go through this life alone. And so he made a complimentary partner for us. Someone that is not random, but there for us, every single day, good days and bad. Someone who can give us a hug when we need it the most. When he did this, he instituted marriage. And when he did this he gave 1 man and 1 woman something very special - the gift of sex. It was meant to bring about children, yes, but also joy and closeness in a marriage. It was not meant to be abused.
Oh my, how the people of today have abused and perverted God’s gift of sex. It makes us blush to even think about. Except that we don’t blush anymore. We’re hardly even phased by it. Not when it shows up on our television screen. Not
when certain words flow so easily from our mouths. Not when we are quick to defend ourselves with, “Don’t judge me. I can do with my body whatever I want”.
There’s an easy fix for how we’ve fallen to being an adulterous nation. Stop and review. God loves us. In love he gives us the gift of marriage. Read the instructions about marriage and put them into practice. Find a good God-fearing spouse. Go to church with this spouse and raise a God fearing God loving God believing family. Remain committed to your spouse until death parts you. You’ll find love. You’ll find happiness. You’ll be a good example. And more and more people will want the same good marriage that God has blessed you with.
The apostle Paul goes on to more instruction, more review, and more encouragement to add on to what they have already learned. “Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more”.
Paul sounds like a good teacher. I know you know this. I know you are doing this. Now I urge you to do it more and more and better and better. The subject is brotherly love. And love is much more than a feeling, it’s an action. To love each other means to help each other. To physically do what you can for someone who is in need. God feels so strongly about this that he has the apostle John write, ““We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar.”. In other words – you can’t really be a believer in God unless you are willing to love one another. And I’m not sure loving one another includes insulting someone because their political beliefs are contrary to yours. And I’m not sure that loving one another means blaming someone else for all of your problems. And I’m not sure loving one another means hanging on to something that happened 15 years ago. And I’m not sure loving one another means hoarding everything you’ve got for yourself. I am sure that if you want to get better at being willing to love and help and forgive one another, you need to start practicing it. Take home the workbook and review and practice and do so more and more.
And when you are so busy practicing and practicing on loving and loving more, you’ll be more productive because you’ll be more busy and you’ll be more quiet.
Paul writes, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, 12so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”
The male Greeks of Paul’s day, were not known for their lifestyle of manual labor. The Greeks loved oratory. Greek men often had the ambition of being the best at using public speeches to sway large crowds. Oratory was one of the main studies Greek boys had to pursue. As well as producing great orators, this also resulted in a lot of loudmouths. Being quiet and minding your own business was another way that God teaches us to love one another. Spending all day talking can lead to spending all day complaining. Gossiping. Not getting anything done. And that’s no way to love God and love God’s people.
I realize as someone who talks for a living, I may sound like a bit of a hypocrite. But Paul isn’t telling us all to go out and get a job in the coal mine otherwise we aren’t living the Christian life. He’s saying, its’ okay to keep your opinions to yourself. It’s alright if you just walk away when someone starts talking bad about someone else. We don’t need to counter and argue every point that we disagree with. Maybe the Greeks sat around all day talking, but that’s nothing to aim for because that kind of idleness only gets you into trouble. And if you are of the age, and have the ability, get a job.
Most importantly, do all of this in the Lord Jesus. That’s the how of God pleasing Christian living. We do it, in view of his mercy. In response to his unconditional unfailing forgiving love. In full knowledge and faith of what he has done for us. In thanksgiving. As a part of your faith. As you wait for his coming again. When Jesus comes again, it will be sudden, like a pop quiz, but we won’t fail because he did not fail in living under these same set of laws and passing with a 100% A+. When he comes again, our C’s, D’s, and F’s won’t be coming with us, because they’ve been forgiven, forgotten, wiped from the report cards and record books. But we don’t know when he’s coming again. So we’ve got to keep studying. Keep reviewing. And keep practicing. Good thing we’ve got the instruction manual and the workbook to take home. Amen.