1 Thessalonians 4:1-2 - Exhortation

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. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

Target Date: Sunday, 18 December 2022

NOTES:

Word Study/ Translation Notes:

Finally – λοιπόν (lŏipŏn) – Remaining, indicates the change to the subject, but following from the immediately prior subject – a magnification of a related thought.

Then - οὖν (ŏun) – accordingly, often translated “so” or “therefore”.

Ask - ἐρωτάω (ĕrōtaō) – originally, seeking information, but by this time in Greek (koine), became understood to be a petition, prayer, or request as well.

Urge – παρακαλέω (parakalĕō) – exhort, to call near, meaning to encourage to be in proximity

This participle indicates an invitation or call, specifically for someone to come where you are.

Exhorting seeks to draw the other person, not order them.

Received – παραλαμβάνω (paralambanō) – to take from alongside, to receive from someone near

Walk – περιπατέω (pĕripatĕō) – to walk around, i.e. to live your life

Please God - ἀρέσκω (arĕskō) – to be agreeable to God, to please God

those who are in the flesh cannot please God. – Romans 8:8

But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord - 1 Corinthians 7:32

For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. – Galatians 1:10

No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. – 2 Timothy 2:4

Do so more and more – περισσεύω (pĕrissĕuō) – to super-abound, to be excessive in their obedience and pleasing God.

Found not only here, but in v. 10 as well.

Instructions – παραγγελία (paraggĕlia) – a mandate, charge, or command.

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. – 1 Timothy 1:5

This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, 19 keeping faith and a good conscience - 1 Timothy 1:18-19

Through – dia – modifying the genitive “Lord” – probably to be interpreted as causal (“on account of the Lord Jesus”).

Building Points:

The manger is empty.

The cross is empty.

The tomb is empty.

Because our Lord and Savior lives forever.

Sermon Text:

This morning we move on to the next section of this brief letter to the Thessalonian church.

Up to this point, the letter has had some theological assumptions, but if it stopped at the end of chapter 3, it would seem to be merely a personal letter:

Personal reminisces and catching the Thessalonian believers up on what has gone on with the apostles since they were forced to leave the city.

What today we might call a missionary newsletter,

Almost similar to a family Christmas letter that details the highlights of the past year for their family and friends.

Please do not think I am minimizing the first three chapters; I do nothing of the sort.

If they had been simple or trivial, I assure you, we would not have spent the last year looking at them.

We have seen to this point the great teachings given to young believers, lived out in the WAY these apostles were able to write to the Thessalonian church.

Paul and Silas could make ASSUMPTIONS about the doctrines these young believers would understand because of their efforts in teaching these converts,

who had come to the truth of Jesus Christ from a lifetime of pagan idolatry.

What we have found in these first three chapters has been a wealth, undocumented in any other epistle, that demonstrated the first primary teachings of new believers.

Obviously, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Personal holiness,

Love for each other and for those outside the fellowship,

Prayer,

And the Parousia, the Return, of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Additionally, we see how thoroughly the message of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ saturate every thought of these apostles,

So that, even in a personal letter to a beloved group, every sentence proceeds from the message of the gospel.

Their thanks to God;

Their prayers to God;

Their trust from God with the gospel.

Their appeals to God as both commander and example of their behavior.

I daresay many of us would not tend to include so many references to God or His gospel in a personal letter for fear that we should be labeled “holier than thou” or something to that effect.

Certainly Paul and Silas could have been subject to the same accusation, except for one thing:

The way they lived their life.

They had left everything for the gospel of Jesus Christ, to bring it to the Thessalonians.

Except when they set out, they had no idea they would ever BE in Thessalonica.

But though beaten in Philippi and imprisoned and then expelled form the city, they had boldly preached the gospel in Thessalonica.

Even when the opposition in Thessalonica rose up and ran them out of town, they preached the gospel.

Even when those evil men followed them to Berea, and they were forced from there, they preached the gospel.

The reason it was not suspect for Paul and Silas to constantly mention the gospel of Jesus Christ in their letters is that they had proved their devotion in their lives.

But when WE speak of the gospel, do we do so with the testimony that it is the way we LIVE?

When we share the sweet verse on social media, do people read it and think it sounds just like everything they hear from us?

Or do they suspect our motives because most of the words from our mouth are contrary to the love and obedience of the Bible?

Or are we even, in fact, simply posting verses that continue arguments we are engaged in,

Spiritually sniping at others?

Can we say honestly to all our audience, that we have “proved to be gentle with them”? (1 Thessalonians 1:7)

Did we love them – or did we just dispute with them?

Or do our “spiritual” posts come in the middle of derogatory, questionable, selfish, or outright sinful posts, conversations, or actions?

The only way to be innocent of being “holier than thou” is to be holier in our ENTIRE life, or, as Paul put it in 2:12:

walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

But there remain two more chapters in this letter, a little more than half the verses in this epistle, and they constitute what scholars call the Paraenetic or “Instruction” part of the letter.

And it is not just the scholars.

Paul and Silas themselves recognized this as a change in the form of the epistle because they began this section with “Finally, then…”

This prelude both sets the new section off as distinct, but it also ties it to the first part of the epistle.

It doesn’t mean “Now we have caught you up, here are the things we want you to do…” – although to us it may seem that way.

For the words used here, this is probably the most understandable translation, but the tone and implications should be understood.

Literally, the same phrase could be translated “The rest, therefore…” or, in a phrase that sounds a lot like my teenage children, “And so, the rest…”

This initial phrase is meant to make the readers of this epistle, both the Thessalonians and us, to know two things:

1. The teaching in these last sections depends entirely on the relationship with God through Jesus Christ that has been demonstrated in the first half of the letter.

And 2. What follows are teachings meant entirely to build believers up even more in humble obedience to Jesus Christ.

Many of these teachings are given because the apostles simply did not have time to full instruct this fellowship on the proper conduct of the children of God here on earth.

There were things they had not gotten to in their discipling of these believers, perhaps even things Timothy had observed but needed some help or support in correcting.

Even where corrections are offered in these final chapters, they are corrections done by loving parents to erring children.

But these faithful apostles trust these children will hear their words and will take them to heart,

Will be guided by the Holy Spirit,

Thereby becoming even more mature in their faith.

And so the first teaching in this section is found in verse 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.

Notice how they go about this teaching: they ask and urge (meaning “exhort”)…

Why both?

Are we to take this simply as Paul using two words to mean the same thing?

Many commentators recognize these as synonyms, so they conclude the idea was doubled for effect.

But I find Paul and Silas very economical with words, and I think they chose here precisely the words they intended.

And I think it all hinges on the word “walk” later in the verse.

The difference between ask and exhort is the difference in the location of the believer with respect to true obedience.

They ASK the believer to continue to do the good things they are already doing to please God.

We already saw earlier in this letter, 1:6, that the Thessalonians

became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

So it was natural simply to ASK them to do, as we see later in 4:1, just as they were doing.

But to simply keep doing those things more and more.

They would EXHORT or URGE the believers to do something different from what their habit is.

Because EXHORTING means to call or draw someone nearer.

Notice it is not that they were PUSHING those who may not be walking in a way that pleases God, but DRAWING them near to the truth.

Now we must not make the mistake to think that the things the apostles were teaching were optional – they certainly were not.

In verse 2 of this passage, they are called instructions; more appropriately COMMANDS from the Lord Jesus.

You can look back in 2:13, where they recall the Thessalonians’ reception of the gospel:

when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also is at work in you who believe.

So when the apostles and Timothy ASK and EXHORT us through this letter to greater obedience in our life, we must also understand the COMMAND implicit in those words.

Not their command, but the command of our Lord Himself.

When we deal carelessly with sin, heedless of its devastating effect on us,

We place ourselves at greater risk than we will know in this life.

We disobey God at our peril;

We presume upon the grace and forgiveness of God to our ruin.

This time of year, the Christmas season, so many people are told that the baby Jesus came to forgive you of your sin.

To simply abrogate the Law of God to declare this practically universal forgiveness for everyone.

How sweet…and how wrong.

Jesus did not come to simply forgive your sin; He came to FREE YOU FROM IT.

He came to rescue you from its slavery.

He came to redeem you from its curse.

He came to replace its reign in your life with His own reign of goodness and righteousness.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” – Luke 2:14

Jesus Christ was born, lived, crucified, buried, resurrected, and taken bodily into heaven to make His people at peace with God.

Those are the ones with whom God is pleased – those who live in peace with Him through Jesus Christ.

That is not just the goal of our life; that is the PURPOSE of our life in Christ – to walk pleasing to God.

And when we say walk, I assume you all know that is another way of saying “live your life”.

It is like saying “while you walk around doing the things of your life…”

He actually says as much in the first part of verse 3 in chapter 4:

For this is the will of God, your sanctification - 1 Thessalonians 4:3

I probably should have included it in the Scripture passage for this week, but it fits into the next passage we will look at as well.

The will of God is…your increase in holiness.

That is what “sanctification” means – that you are getting holier, more like Jesus, all the time.

More and more.

If you think you have arrived at the full extent of your holiness, I might hate to be the one to tell you, but you are not there yet.

To be more direct, if this is you, take a look again at humility, and I think you will see the problem.

If you are comforted by the fact you talk about religion or about Jesus or about God more than others, take a look at whether you are WALKING pleasing to God, not just TALKING … or POSTING.

Are you DOING the things of Christ at every point – with the right motives for the right reasons?

Are you following the commandments of Christ, which include, but are not limited to, the commandments of the Law?

And finally, I mention this because I have been guilty of it: if you are studying, reading, or listening more to someone talk ABOUT the God of the Bible more than you are reading the Bible and praying to God, that is a dangerous situation.

I don’t care how engaging the teacher is,

Or how close he comes to the Scripture.

I don’t care if he is expository, or if he has helped you see great things.

If you are spending more time at his feet than in reading, searching, and wrestling with the Scripture itself, you are in danger.

The Psalmist never declared “O how I love your rabbis”

Psalm 119:97-101: Oh how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For they are mine forever. I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. I perceive more than the aged, Because I have observed Your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word.

Accept no substitutes for real time with God.