Untitled Sermon (3)

How Do I Know God’s Will?

INTRODUCTION

If you are involved in the lives of other Christians, especially if you are discipling or mentoring believers who are younger in the faith - there is one great question which you WILL be asked, at one time or another. That great question is this: “How can I know God’s will for my life?” You WILL be asked this question - I can promise you that.

“How can I know God’s will for MY life?” It’s a question that many of us have battled with. How do we find that will?

Some people do something like Suzanne, who Bruce Waltke writes about in his book, “Finding God’s Will: A Pagan Notion”. Suzanne is looking for direction from teh Lord. She’s saved a little money and wants to invest it for her retirement. But, since her husband died, she hasn’t had anyone she feels she can lean on for sound advice. A nice young man from her church visited her recently and talked about annuities and other investment strategies, but much of it was over her head. She has also heard from her alma mater, which is looking for people to invest in ther childhood education program. And then there are the several Christian ministries that have sent her letters, asking for financial gifts. She doesn’t know what the Lord wants her to do with her money. So, what does she do?

She sits down in her favorite chair, Bible in her lap.

“I need you to tell m ewhat to do, Lord,” she prays silently. “Show me through yoyur Word.” Then she picks up her Bible, flips it open, puts her finger down on the first page that lies flat and starts reading from where her finger lands:

“But Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.’”

Well, Suzanne takes this as God’s leading that she’s supposed to invest in children’s ministries - so she writes a cheque and sends it to her alma mater.

Other people try to discern God’s will for them in some way along the lines of Douglas. Douglas is a teenager, active in his youth group at church - wanting to find love and marriage, and wanting to find the girl God has chosen for him:

So he works out a system to get that direction: First, he makes a list of all the girls that he knows and is interested in. Then he begins phoning - starting at the top of the list. If he gets a busy signal at the number of the girl he calls - he takes that as God’s sign that he’s not supposed to date her. If no one answers, he takes that as a sign that he should wait and try again later. If the phone rings and the girl answers - that means God has given His blessing for Douglas to ask her out.

Many of us have our own personal stories of how we’ve tried to find God’s will for our lives - as if it were a secret bullseye on a target, which, unfortunately, God hadn’t shone the light on. So, in the dark, we are looking for that target - so that we can aim at the bullseye, terrified that if I don’t make the right decision here … I’m going to be stuck living a plan ‘B’ life.

Our text, this morning - speaks to that fear. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul removes all guessing and tells us exactly what God’s will is for our lives.

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1 GOD’S WILL: YOUR SANCTIFICATION, vv. 1-3

Here is God’s Will for you, Christian. Paul spells it out right here in our text. Verse 3, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification ...”. The will of God for your life … no matter what stage of life you’re in, or what big decisions you face right now - whether it’s career or finance of marriage - God’s will is not like a hidden target in the dark - leaving you to try and hit the bullseye by making the right decision - if you want to live a ‘Plan A’ life. God is sovereign - He expects you to live in wisdom and He’s not anxiously awaiting your decisions - to make sure they are the best of the best, so that He can bless you. If you battle with anxiety, desperate to know whether you have hit the bullseye or not … go ahead and put down your fears and live in freedom - as you focus on pursuing Him.

God promises to work all things out for your good, if you love Him and are called according to His purpose.

The Bible tells us God’s will for all of our lives: “your sanctification”. 1 Thessalonians is not different from Paul’s other letters. In his NT letters, Paul spends the first half of the letter (give or take) focused on doctrine - theology; and in the second half, he focuses on instruction. “Because of Who God is and what he’s done … THIS is how He intends you to live, in response.”

1 Thessalonians 4:1 is the watershed moment of this particular letter. In the first 3 chapters - we focused on the Gospel and how the Good News of Jesus Christ forms the Church. The we saw how the Church SPREADS the Gospel. In chapters 2-3, we saw how Paul and his missionary team set the example of faithful ministry - and that God worked through them - Timothy has brought back a report from Thessalonica and the church is standing firm - even though Paul couldn’t be with them as long as he wanted to.

But now, the apostle turns his focus forward - to give guidance for the future - and make sure the Christians in Thessalonica, young as they are in the faith - to make sure they understand how the Gospel IMPACTS your life. The difference it makes to be a Christian.

In other words: Being a Christian is more than ‘making a decision for Jesus’ - The Gospel that takes hold of a life .... SHAPES a life. That’s why every letter of Paul has a whole section on ethics.

And we need to hear this in our day - when people in Church today say, “We’re not under the LAW, We’re under GRACE …” - they are half right - but the HALF-truth is damning.

“By grace you are saved through faith, not by works - lest anyone should boast.”

But does that mean I live however I please - doing whatever I want?

“How can I say that I belong to Jesus Christ and I’m truly living in grace, when I am thumbing my nose in rebellion against the character of the Holy God who has poured out grace upon grace.”

The Bible says - keep the whole truth together: 1 Thessalonians 4:1- 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.

This is emphatic: “We ask AND URGE you in the Lord ...”

In these first two verses Paul is not concerned with specific problems of behavior (though he is using them to introduce his treatment of some specific problems), but with the whole of the Christian life. His expression is stronger than NIV, for he says “how you must5 walk and please God” and goes on to speak of “abounding.” “Walk” is commonly employed, especially by Paul and John, as a way of referring to the whole of a believer’s manner of living (cf. 2:12)11 Morris, L. (1991). The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians (p. 115). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

There is nothing new in all this, as Paul is at pains to make clear. He had told the Thessalonians to live in this way at the time of his mission among them (“as you received from us”), and he is not now introducing some novelty. He had told them then that they “must” behave in the fashion outlined, and thus had brought before them the compelling necessity under which Christians live. When anyone is saved by the work of Christ it does not lie open before him as a matter for his completely free decision whether he will serve God or not. He has been bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:20). He has become the slave of Christ. Christian service is not an optional extra for those who like that sort of thing. It is a compelling obligation that lies on each one of the redeemed11 Morris, L. (1991). The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians (p. 115). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Verse 2: The word “instructions” is plural: Paul and his companions had given instructions on several matters, possibly in the form of rules. The word is an unusual one in a Christian context; it is found elsewhere in the New Testament of commands to believers only twice (1 Tim. 1:5, 18). It is more at home in a military environment, being a usual word for the commands given by an officer to his men (cf. its use in Acts 5:28; 16:24). It is thus a word with a ring of authority. It is this which makes it suitable for this context where Paul is stressing the authoritative nature of the injunctions in question.

These, though given by Paul, did not originate with him. He makes the point that they were given “through the Lord Jesus” (NIV has “by the authority of the Lord Jesus”).1

1 Morris, L. (1991). The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians (pp. 116–117). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

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2 SANCTIFIED SEXUALITY, vv. 3-8

The first area of real life Paul addresses, is the area of sexuality. Verse 3: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality. Verse 7, “For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.”

And some people see these words and their response is: “SEE - Christians are obsessed with sex. They can’t shut up about it and they’re always trying to repress every last bit of freedom and pleasure. Pau’s already doing it here - in the earliest years of the Christian Church. … Things never change.”

And that’s half true - things do not change. Our culture’s attitude to sexuality is very similar to what it was in the Roman world of Paul’s day. And that means anything goes … which actually means, ‘anything goes for those who have the power.’

Demosthenes, Greek orator in the 3rd century BC. He made an off-handed comment, not even thinking about it - but described the way men looked at sex in the Greco-Roman Culture: “We have mistresses for our enjoyment, concubines to serve our needs, and wives to bear legitimate children.”

Imagine what it would be like to be a woman in that culture - this is the most demonic form of patriarchy: A woman exists for a man’s pleasure: finding sex wherever you desire - that’s no big deal. After all, a man’s got ‘needs’. It wasn’t even thought of twice - it certainly isn’t a matter of morality.

How different is it from our culture today? ‘A wife for legitimate children’ - but there are plenty of other avenues, as well. Pornography is a multi-billion dollar business. Just, don’t be inhibited! That’s the message all around us.

Pauls says, “That’s not God’s Will for you. That’s not holiness.” What’s God’s will? Verse 4, “… that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honour, NOT i the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.”

That word, in v. 4, translated as ‘body’, in the ESV and NIV. The NASB and the KJV translate it as ‘vessel’ - and that is, literally correct. The Greek word is skeuw - and it means ‘vessel’. The idea is of the human body - particularly the male anatomy - thought of in sexual terms.

The Bible says, ‘Keep your body, seually - in holiness and honour.” What we need to be clear on, as Christians in our culture - is that Sex is not EVIL - it is a Good Gift given by God Himself, as part of His good creation. But in a fallen world - it is a most difficult gift to control. How many are the lives that have been destroyed by uncontrolled sexual passions - that turn the aggressor into an animal, the victim into an object - and degrades humanity.

In Paul’s culture - a man would get married at age 18. She would go straight from her father’s house to join her husband in his. Men, however, would not get married until 30-plus. So, the man, in that world, hasbeen sexually active for 12 years or more - and his wife comes to him as a virgin. And she’s expected to stay faithful to him … but for the man … well, you heard the words of Demosthenes. Paul says, “That’s got to stop”. “When the Gospel of Jesus Christ comes and a someone is saved - the lifestyle of promiscuity goes away with the rest of the ‘old self’

Sex is God’s gift - but it has a God-given CONTEXT - heterosexual marriage - from the beginning, from the design of the human body, from God’s creation purposes and affirmed by Jesus Christ in the New Testament and the apostles.

And - sex has a God-given STYLE - as the second half of v. 4 puts it: “… in holiness and honour” - that’s the style.

Now, it’s fine to understand what the Bible says - it’s important to understand what God’s Will IS … but how do we communicate that in our generation where sexuality isn’t just seen as an activity people engage in - but is the driving force of their lives? I mean, people DEFINE their very identity by who they are attracted to. If we want to help our kids and our own generation - we’re going to need to go to them with more than a simple: “Don’t do that!”

We have a tendency to hear words like this and shrink morality down to the level of ‘rule-book’ - as if God has done nothing more than call us to obey a set of rules.

This is so much greater than that - Paul does so much more than that, right here in our text! Look at vv. 7-8, “For God has not called s for impurity, but in holiness. (8) Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives His Holy Spirit to you.”

In a culture - even a Christian culture that is becoming more and more dominated by a belief in sexual freedom … and there’s more and more resistance to teaching about sexuality in a Biblically faithful and compassionate way - we need to recognize that, ultimately - we’re not talking about RULES … what we are talking about is the character of God.

If God has given sexuality as His gift - then doesn’t it only follow that you can’t understand the gift, unless you understand the character of the gift-giver?

Holy: v. 3 - “This is the will of God - your SANCTIFICATION” - the word ‘sanctify’ means - to ‘set apart as holy’.

V. 4, “That each of you know how to control his own body in HOLINESS’ - same word

V. 7, “For God has not called us for impurity, but IN holiness”. See - There’s the word again. But also see the preposition Paul uses in front of it. He just said that God didn’t call us FOR impurity - so you would expect that he would contrast that by saying that He called us FOR holiness.” But he doesn’t. Notice what he does say: God called us ‘IN holiness’. In other words, God called us IN holiness - because everything He does flows out of His holy character - and He’s called us to reflect that holiness.

Verse 8, “Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not man, but God, who gives His Holy Spirit to you.”

Holiness, Holiness, holiness - and love.

The self-giving God - who saw us in the death of our rebellion, The Holy God who smelled the stench of our sin - and didn’t turn away in disgust, but took on our flesh, to enter our world in the person of His Son - to gain the righteousness we never could … and to pay our price, at the cost of His own life - So that He could give us EVERYTHING we were created to enjoy.

That’s love - and God has called us to reflect His glorious character in our sexual lives.

Do you see how that applies? You can’t love and destroy another person at the same time.

You cannot love and destroy another person at the same time. But we’ve turned the word ‘love’ upside-down. In our culture, love really means the pleasure I GET when I’m engaged with someone else, RATHER than, a giving of myself for the sake of that person.

GIRLS: If that guy says he loves you - then he will not try to take from you. He will treat you as the sacred person you are and recognize that he is going to stand before God one day - togive account for how he protected your honour and holiness. And it works the other way around, as well.

So, if he says to you - “I love you - and if you love me - you will let me do what I want” … then turn the other way and RUN - and don’t look back. He doesn’t love you. You cannot loev and destroy another person at the same time.

“Oh but I can’t help myself. I have these desires and if God didn’t want me to act on them - then I wouldn’t have them!”

Verse 8: “… Whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God … Who GIVES you His Holy Spirit.” Don’t miss the tense of the verb in that sentence: “He GIVES you His Holy Spirit” - that’s present tense.

Do you ever get the feeling that when you came to saving faith in Jesus Christ, He gave you His Holy Spirit as seal of your salvation - you remember how alive you felt. But that was years ago … and now the freshness has faded and its like gas in my pickup truck - I had a full measure - just a few days ago … but I’ve been on the road - and my tank’s almost empty.

Paul says, “The Spirit that God has given to seal and live within us - is none otehr than the Holy One - God’s Spirit, who reflects His character.”

You can’t say, “I’m helpless … I can’t ...” - “He GIVES HIs Holy Spirit to you” - Present tense. And the reality of life as a Christian is that we live, PRESENT tense, IN the Spirit.

It’s the language of the New Covenant that God promised in the Old Testament, precisely becase we showed that we are horrible failures at keeping God’s commands in our own strength.

Jeremiah 31 God promise, “I will make a new covenant … I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts.”

Ezekiel 36:25–27 TURN THERE: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

Back to 1 Thessalonians 4:8, “God, Who gives His Holy Spirit to you.” Paul is picking up God’s promise - and reminding these new Christians in Thessalonica: “God has given you His Divine empowering to walk in His ways … and that does NOT mean following a list of do’s and dont’s.

It means that, you, who were created in God’s image and fell … by faith in Jesus Christ, through the life-giving, transforming work of Jesus Christ and the regenerating power of His Holy Spirit - you have been RE-CREATED in His image - so that you can reflect His character, as you live by His Spirit He has put within you - as you are formed more and more into the character of God Himself.

That, friend, is the purpose and glory and pleasure f God - A human being … created in His image - FULLY alive.

Christian living - ethics, sanctification - holiness - whatever you want to call it … it is NOT a matter of Do’s and Do Not’s - It is a matter of living in the freedom and delight of reflecting the character of God himself.

Oh, the irony of a culture that has taken the good gift of God’s creation and rejected it … as gift - replacing it with a pagan definition where anything and everything goes ...

… a culture that has degraded human sexuality until it is just another animal instinct - where every last thing that can be sold by sex, is sold … claiming that this is all about ‘freedom’ - when we’ve created a culture that is utterly enslaved to its sexuality.

In the 2nd century, Celsus (a critic of Christianity) wrote that Christians “are able to convince only the foolish, dishonourable, and stupid, only slaves, women, and little children”.[54] Yet what represented a sneer for Celsus was a boast for the early church. Historian Rodney Stark has wondered aloud “why every woman who heard about [Christianity] didn’t become a Christian.” The church became a place of dignity, protection and provision for women. In 251 a bishop in Rome wrote to another in Antioch, pointing out that “more than fifteen hundred widows and distressed persons” were in the care of the local congregation (a congregation of about 30,000). Moderns look back on these congregations as “mini welfare states”, but at the time the churches saw themselves as families. In the cosmic romance, those who consent to the committed love of Christ are united, marriage-like, to God’s Son. They are thereby brought into the Father’s household, calling on fellow Christians as brother and sister. In other words: they are family.

Scrivener, Glen. The Air We Breathe: How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality (p. 95). The Good Book Company. Kindle Edition.

Paul makes a theological statement in v. 6 and he says it in such a matter-of-fact way, that it would be very easy to miss. I don’t want you to miss it. Take a look at the verse again, “… 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.”

“The Lord is an AVENGER”. This is a word of promise for some of you within the sound of my voice. You have been the victim of someone who chose passionate lust - crossed the line of decency, refused to control their own body - and took from you.

You were in a vulnerable position, you trusted, you were weak, you were a child, maybe - and they stole from you - your innocence, your feeling of self-worth - they changed your life by taking what you didnt’ want to give ... and for years - maybe decades - it seems as though the thief has gotten away scot-free. They have gone on living in their passionate lust, without consequence .... while you have been dragging yourself through life with wounds that never go away and you wonder: “Does holiness even matter?”

God says, in His word: “Oh my dear child - don’t worry. Lift your eyes up and see the big picture … ‘Vengeance is mine .... and I WILL repay!”. That’s Romans 12:19

Right here: “The LORD IS AN AVENGER in all these things.” Hold on. Justice is coming.

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3 SANCTIFIED IN THE CHURCH, vv. 9-12

In verse 9, Paul moves on from Sanctification in sexuality to sanctification in the public areas of life.

A. LOVE OF THE CHURCH FAMILY, v. 9-10

It is not always realized that Paul uses the words for love more often than anyone else in the New Testament. For him it is a major part of the life of the believer (cf. 1 Cor. 13). It is thus not surprising that he devotes a section of this letter to the way the Thessalonians had responded to his teaching about love and the importance of their making still more progress. He is here mostly concerned about love within the fellowship, brotherly love.

9 Something that should give modern Christians much food for thought is the way in which the early church was characterized by love. “Behold how these Christians love one another” is hardly the comment that springs spontaneously to the lips of the detached observer nowadays. But if our manner of life was based on the New Testament picture, something like it would be inevitable. The characteristic Christian attitude, as we see there, is one of profound faith in God, a faith that spills out into all of life in the form of self-denying, self-giving love.1

1 Morris, L. (1991). The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians (p. 127). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

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CONCLUSION:

In a situation that has become far too common in Pakistan, a young Christian girl was abducted on August 22nd of this year - and then forcibly converted to Islam and married against her will to the abductor. The victim, Samreen Aftab, was a ninth-grade student at a school in Jaranwala where her father is the principal.

The girl's parents attempted to recover their daughter from the Muslim man who abducted her, including filing a police report. They even told the police his name. Unfortunately, the process was delayed by the local village council, who expressed their intent to resolve the matter internally. A week later, a marriage certificate and a certificate of conversion to Islam were presented, which further complicates the process.

The use of kidnapping and forced conversions against those of religious minorities, along with false accusations of blasphemy, are common ways in which many Christians in Pakistan experience persecution.

Do you think that, if you were Samreen or her parents - you would start to panic - wondering if you had missed ‘Plan A’ of God’s will? Why the suffering? How many Christians in the persecuted church today - find themselves in a situation like that - suffering has blindsided in their Christian lives and now they are tempted to second guess decisions they made along the way.

The Bible says, “This is the will of God - your sanctification.” That’s the focus, friend. Trust God with the rest.

In 1369, Jan Hus was born in what is now the Czech Republic, into a poor family. He decided he would become a priest - there was no great spiritual reason for his career choice. He thought it would bring him a better life and more prestige. But as he preached and taught in the academic world - God took hold of him and Jan Hus decided to pursue God’s will for his life - He pursued holiness.

Hus lived in a timme when sexual immorality ran rampant in the priesthood of the Catholic Church - and Hus could not keep quiet. He began preaching ‘violent sermons’ against the unholiness o the clergy - until he was reported and the archbishop banned him from preaching.

He’s lured to a Church Council in the city of Constance, under the promise of safety - but Jan Hus is, instead, ordered to recant and, when he refuses - he’s immediately thrown into prison. For six months - he languishes there - deprived of nutrition, deprived of sunlight.

When he is finally brought out - he is pale - a shadow of his former self. He’s stripped of his clothes, adorned with a dunce hat,painted with evils and labeled, ‘Arch Heretic’ - all as he prays for his enemies.

They then led him past a burning pile of his books and chained him to the stake. In response to being chained up like a dog, he said, ‘My Lord Jesus Chrsit was bound with a harder chain than this one for my sake, so why should I be ashamed of this rusty chain?”

They gave him one more chance to recant, but he refused. “What I taught with my lips I will now seal with my blood.” And that’s exactly what he did.

He is burned at the stake - and as the flames climbed higher and higher around him - he sang.

When Hus was finally condemned to death, he proclaimed, “You may roast the goose, but a hundred years from now a swan will arise whose singing you will not be able to silence.” Now, I don’t know the Czech language, but in that tongue, ‘Hus’ is the word for GOOSE.

You can roast the goose, but a hundred years from now, a swan will arise whose singing you will not be able to silence.” Hus, was martyred in the year 1415. Burned to death for his faith. There were riots and protests against Rome that lasted for about a decade. And then there was nothing - and the status quo justcarried on - or so it seemed.

If you were Jan Hus, do you think that you would wrestle with whether or not you had found the bulls-eye of God’s will? “Did I misunderstand something, somewhere along the line? I mean, what good does it do to God’s kingdom to have me dead and silenced?”

But not this man of God - he pursued God’s holiness - sought to reflect His glory and have it

Exactly 102 years later, a German monk nailed ninety-five theses to Wittenberg’s door.

He too, seeing the discrepancy between Roman doctrine and Scripture, sought to reform the Catholic Church. He too was led to challenge the pope. And he too was condemned as a heretic. During the Leipzig Debate, Luther was disparagingly condemned as a “Hussite.” He rejected the title in the moment, but took time to read his works during an intermission, returned, and commended the teaching of the condemned Hus. Luther was Hus’s swan, and would later own the association. He’s often painted with swans to this day.

The Swan spearheaded the Reformation - and he followed the Goose ... and Rome still has not silenced him.

This is the will of God, your sanctification.