Quiet Love Matters More

1 Thessalonians 4:9–12

ICC’s Sunday PM 11/27/22)

Introduction

Opening comments

Let’s continue to study Thessalonians

Prayer

Lord, open our eyes to see wonderful things in your word

Catch- as a talkative person I know that being talkative can be really annoying

Winston Churchill told the story of a man who was always chattering.

“Sir Winston,” he chirped, “I haven’t told you about my grandchildren yet.”

“And for that,” Churchill answered, “I am deeply grateful.

not exactly what quiet means in this context, but it is sure funny

Being quiet is so much more than that

Quiet is about a loving focus on others rather than just what I need or want

And quiet is more often needed when there are differences

The early Pastor Justin Martyr explained Christian as

We who used to value the acquisition of wealth and possessions more than anything else now bring what we have into a common fund and share it with anyone who needs it. We used to hate and destroy one another and refused to associate with people of another race or country. Now, because of Christ, we live together with such people and pray for our enemies

Today we will see how love connects with being quiet

Review

This is a book about being a growing church, a God pleasing church.

Chapter 4 began with this verse

1 Thessalonians 4:1-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.

Paul spends the first part addressing issues of sexual immorality in a Greek-Roman culture that said if you feel it, you must do it

We saw how Christianity uniquely said that even a young man can have self control over his body and impulses

But christians are to live for God’s will… being sanctified or different

Being self controlled and pure

They had received this instruction, but they seemed to need more reminders on this as perhaps their susceptibility to this temptation was stronger

This makes sense of

James 1:14–15- But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Each person is tempted by their own desires…

Robert burns wrote a poem- Thou know’st that Thou hast frmed me With passions wild and strong; And list’ning to their witching voice, Has often led me wrong

and each group has certain desires that are more acceptable that others

We say these together leave me subject to sins that barely tempt others. God made me this way, so what can I do?”

But he still says, let me encourage you to do more

3 priorities to develop growing love

1) Agape Love fellow Christians (9-10)

Explanation

Verse 9 begins with a now or but

It could be a new subject that Paul just moves to as the next things that needs to be discussed

Or he could be saying, I’ve had to say some hard things about sexual immorality, but you don’t really need me to write to you about brotherly love

Verse 8 says if you disregard this, you’re rejecting God

But v 9 says you’re taught by God.

Paul even addresses the issue they are strong at, let alone what they wrongfully allow

Brotherly love was used by the greeks to speak of love for one’s kin

But the New Testament applied to the Christian family

This is not agape, a choice to love we give to everyone , but a love that exists naturally for family

They have no need from someone to write it

Instead, they are taught by God

It is a word unread in the Greek language elsewhere, so people think perhaps Paul coined it based on passages

John 6:44–46- No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’

Jesus is quoting from the prophet Isaiah

Isaiah 54:12–13- I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children.

Isaiah is writing about the end times when when God will live so intimately with his people through his Spirit that they will no longer have to be taught by human intermediaries, but rather will be "taught of God.?

Paul is reminding them of their special Covenant relationship with God

This blessing promised to the Jews is being participated in by a group of gentiles because of Jesus breaking down that dividing wall

Now, they naturally love because of the Holy Spirit

Romans 5:5 supports that reality: “The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” At conversion Christians receive the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit works in the heart of a believer to love what they see of God’s work in other belivers

Now the word he uses to love is not brotherly love, but it is agape

Yes, they had no reason for anyone to write to them about the fact that they just loved being together with the churchbut maybe they did need some encouragement to love

but maybe they did need some encouragement to love

The one another are a set of at least 20 commands through the New Testament that believers are to live out together.

Loving one another is one way that the church helps each other grow

And the Thessalonian church was doing this well

This area of Macedonia is the Balkan Peninsula north of Greece

Think of it like a church is known for loving all the other churches in the state really well.

1 Thessalonians 1:7–8- so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.

But even though they had a reputation being superb in this regard… Christians must excel still more

We naturally want to lift up our gifts and build up our weaknesses

If you or I were getting this we might say… “come-on Paul, there are so many other things I’m struggling in… why are you picking apart something I’m good at”

But Paul did this to himself because of greater joy available

Philippians 3:12–14- Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Illustration

Agape love for fellow Christians should be pursued even if we are already doing well.

Paul used the language of the Olympics and I think we should too because it shows ultimate prizing reaching

Mikaela Shiffrin is Alpine skier is closing in on the career World Cup records

She said “The way I used to think about it is that if I got to a certain point in my career with enough wins, I would actually finally start to feel confident that I am a winner and I deserve to be there…,”

And I realize now that it’s never going to feel that way. And every single morning when I wake up, the first thing I’m going to think is: What do I have to do today to earn that again?

Paul tells us to have the same drive, but not to make ourselves good enough… but because Jesus is already good enough and we’re chasing him knowing we will sin

Application-

What is an area in your life you think you’re doing well at that you need to pursue still more?

Paul does really define what love means here because they’ve got this, sot he point we should take away is not being angered when someone says I need to grow

We might think we’ve got family down… we’re a loving church… and maybe so, but never neglect a teachable moment when someone offers a way you could do better

People see it being taught my God and they make it about me.

I am so great because I have the thing about me and I have been given the privilege of being by God.

But that’s not the point the point is that God is the one who taught.

Let’s be God focused.

Trans: After telling them to excel in love, Paul gives them wasy they can do so more

2) Be all about that quiet life (11)

Explanation

Quiet is not something our world appreciates

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -George Bernard Shaw

But quiet is appreciated by the bible

Proverbs 17:1- Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.

1 Peter 3:4- but let [the wife’s] adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

1 Timothy 2:2- [Pray] for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

2 Timothy 2:22–23- So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.

Youthful lusts are not just the sexual immorality but the foolishness to never stop talking or to pick your battles

Paul gives 3 commands here

1) Strive hard to live quietly

It’s almost a contradiction of be loud in working so hard to bet quiet

Aspire= be zealous, sweat from working so hard

Quiet= be silent, remaining at rest

Bite your tongue if you must to stay quiet

This is seen in

Isaiah 30:15–17- For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling, and you said, “No! We will flee upon horses”;….

Judah was being judged because of their sin

Judah’s return to strength was revealed: In repentance, and rest … in quietness and in trust. This is the true path to victory and peace… doing what God says

But they refused God’s salvation and tried to get military help from Egypt instead

He clarifies this with the second command

2nd command) Mind your own business

A general statement to concentrate on their own lives and not meddle in the affairs of the others

This was such a problem that Paul had to write again and clarify what it meant to saying

2 Thessalonians 3:11- For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.

The word there is so good, they’re work arounders… or wasters of labor

Often procrastination and not doing work doesn’t involve doing nothing… it is doing everything except what you should be doing and often int eh business of others

They were getting into issues that were not their’s and it kept them from the tasks god had

So Paul’s solution was diligent and faithful labor to their own jobs

3rd command- Work with your own hands

Greeks believed free men should never stoop to do manual labor, it was for slaves

It seems that many in the church were depending on others’ resources to sustain themselves

So Paul writes again to them saying

2 Thessalonians 3:10 that “if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.

The Holy Spirit teaches us that working in our own way is good, work is not unspiritual

His point was that A quiet that keeps you from making troubles for others

So get busy working

Ephesians 4:28- Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Illustration

A quiet life is good because it keeps us from being distracted by what matters less

Instead, this is what CS Lewis wrote in the Screwtape letters about one older demon to a young startup saying

Nothing is very strong: strong enough to steal away a man’s best years not in sweet sins but in a dreary flickering of the mind over it knows not what and knows not why, in the gratification of curiosities so feeble that the man is only half aware of them…

You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from [god]. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts

Application

If there is one thing the American church doesn’t want right now, it is quiet people

We are worried about problems happening to African’s without water in Malawi while being annoyed by a homeless person entering our restaurant

We might rightly be concerned about something happening in a school board meeting in Virginia, but have we ever helped the children in our own church or community

To live a quiet life is not too be ambivalent to the needs of others, but it is to care about things that I can have a direct affect on…

not vote or pay others to do something about it,

so how will you work with your own hands, mind, and will to love others in your direct influence

Lastly, Paul calls believers to be quiet because we are to.

3) Care about what unbelievers see (12)

Paul gives two reasons to live this way

First- Proper life before outsiders

Those outside are those who are not part of the brotherly love groupthey’re not Christians or church goers

they’re not Christians or church goers

The goal is not to be regarded a certain way before outsiders, but to live in the correct way before them as Peter wrote

1 Peter 2:12- Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

John Macarthur writes, “the key to evangelism was the integrity Christians manifest to a sinful, confused, and agitated world.

When believers display diligent work attitudes and habits and live in a loving and tranquil manner that respects others’ privacy and does not intrude or gossip, it constitutes a powerful testimony to unbelievers and makes the gospel credible

Second- Not needing anyone

It’s the same word as not needing anyone to tell the, anything in v9

As we said, some people in the church seemed to not want to work but were relying on others to pay for their needs

Spiritually it can be when someone just goes to another for every question or frustration rather than going to God in prayer or His word

Paul says here it is a loving act to be self-sufficient in regard to our own work, as this allows us to help others

Does this mean we can never be a burden?

NO, this is those who could work

Paul wrote elsewhere

2 Corinthians 8:13–14- For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness.

Illustration

We try to have quiet brotherly love because we care about our witness and reputation before the unbelieving world

That’s what happens when a church obeys the commands of Jesus together. The commands to forsake anger. To reject lust. To love enemies. To give to the needy. To not be anxious about anything.

When Christians inside act this way toward one another and toward outsiders, the world sees their good works as a city set on a hill and illuminated with the twinkling lights of Christmas.

We are to care about making those Christmas lights look good

Application

It is easy in response to the wicked sexual lives of lust that he gentiles had (v5) to just say I don’t care about what they think

Much like today, we look at the pedophiles and say who cares about them‚

But Paul says… no, don’t fight fire with fire… don’t win at all costs

Instead, do the right thing before them and let God handle the results

We do not want to be dependent, but it is ok to be a burden at times

Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

Next time someone you trust asks how you’re doing, tell him. Don’t edit your story so it’s not “too much.” Share your burden honestly.

Therefore

If these 3 priorities are true (Cohesion)-

Give more agape love to other believers, no matter how much we’ve given

Be all about a quiet life that focus on the calling God has put before each of us, not the problems of others

Care about how we are perceived by outsiders by being about what God calls us to

Then We know we must strive to work hard in the area of stewardship God has given you

Think of our savior

Jesus’ work ended—so it seemed—in failure. He was betrayed by a close friend. His other followers deserted him. Almost nobody believed in him. He failed: he was crucified in weakness. And yet “he will see of the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied” (Isaiah 53 v 11

The stuff we can measure is the unimportant stuff: church budgets, church buildings, pastors’ reputations, numbers, numbers, numbers—even professions of faith.

But changed hearts cannot be counted

So let us not boast too much, let us not get too upset, but let us be faithful to do what our Lord has commanded

Closing prayer

God, open our eyes to see what you have

Give us contentment with whatever you sovereignly decide