Thessalonians (6)

Walking a life that is pleasing to God

1 Thessalonians 4:1–12 NKJV

1 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; 2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. 8 Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit. 9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10 and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; 11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

Intro:

The moral climate in the Roman Empire was not healthy. Immorality was a way of life; and, thanks to slavery, people had the leisure time to indulge in the latest pleasures.

The Christian message of holy living was new to that culture, and it was not easy for these young believers to fight the temptations around them. Paul gives reasons why they should live a holy life and abstain from sensual lusts

We live to please God. VS 1

Everybody lives to please somebody. Many people live to please themselves. Pleasing God ought to be the major motive of the Christian life

Pleasing God means much more than simply doing God’s will. It is possible to obey God and yet not please Him. Jonah is a great example.

He obeyed God and did what he was commanded, (finality) but his heart was not in it.

God blessed His Word but He could not bless His servant. So Jonah sat outside the city of Nineveh angry with everybody, including the Lord!

Our obedience should be “not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart”

We live an a evil immoral world. We as Christians have the potential to make a difference. We have to live by what is commanded of us.

Ephesians 4:1–4 (NKJV)

1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,

2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,

3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;

If we are live according to this, we will please God.

Paul what the Thessalonians to understand this.

1 Thessalonians 4:1 (NKJV)

1 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God;

Finally then

KJV Furthermore.

Paul is changing pace. Paul was moving on in this letter.

He had told what great things they were doing.

1 Thessalonians 1:2–3 NKJV

2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, 3 remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father,

1 Thessalonians 2:13 NKJV

13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.

1 Thessalonians 3:6–7 NKJV

6 But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, as we also to see you— 7 therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress we were comforted concerning you by your faith.

Paul commended them, now he warns them.

The live they had lived, to the live they now lived was a total turn around.

1 Thessalonians 4:1 (NKJV)

1 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God;

1 Thessalonians 4:1 AMP

1 FURTHERMORE, BRETHREN, we beg and admonish you in [virtue of our union with] the Lord Jesus, that [you follow the instructions which] you learned from us about how you ought to walk so as to please and gratify God, as indeed you are doing, [and] that you do so even more and more abundantly [attaining yet greater perfection in living this life].

We urge: Beg or pled with you.

and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God;

Paul is saying we want you to follow some instructions

Abound more and more: keep doing what you are doing, get better at it.

just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God;

Walk: Behavior.

1 John 1:7 NKJV

7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Ephesians 4:1–4 NKJV

1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;

1 John 2:6 NKJV

6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

In our lives, we need to walk in a way that is pleasing to God.

How to others see us, I mean those outside the church.

1 Thessalonians 4:2 NKJV

2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

Commandments are not suggestions. They are commandments.

Commandment: Charge.

We: Paul, Silas, Timothy .

1 Thessalonians 4:3–5 NKJV

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God;

The live they had lived before Jesus transformed them was a live full sexual immorality.

A man would have a wife, a mistress, concubine. Prostitution.

Paul didn’t want them to slip back into that life style.

VS 5 Do not know God.

1 Thessalonians 4:6–7 NKJV

6 that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.

1 Thessalonians 4:6–7 AMP

6 That no man transgress and overreach his brother and defraud him in this matter or defraud his brother in business. For the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we have already warned you solemnly and told you plainly. 7 For God has not called us to impurity but to consecration [to dedicate ourselves to the most thorough purity].