Graduation
Notes
Transcript
12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,
13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.
14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.
15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.
16 Rejoice always,
17 pray without ceasing,
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
19 Do not quench the Spirit.
20 Do not despise prophecies,
21 but test everything; hold fast what is good.
22 Abstain from every form of evil.
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
25 Brothers, pray for us.
26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
I want to start of by saying Congratulations Josiah and Adam! Graduating High School is a huge milestone in your life. I know for the last several years, one of the most common questions you have been asked is what do you want to do when you graduate or are you planning to go to college? And this is a big decision.
What do you want to do for the next 40 to 50 years of your life is a very important question, but there is something more important than that I want to ask you this morning, and that is what does God desire of you? Turn with me to our text 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. I want to look at three questions that are more important than what are your plans when you graduate.
The first question is how will you treat those in authority especially in spiritual authority, look at verses 12 & 13
12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,
13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.
You are called to respect those in authority and to esteem them highly, wow. I have to admit that I haven’t always got this one right. But I want to ask you a question, what does our culture encourage?
The second question that is more important, “How will you treat others?” Look at verses 14 & 15.
14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.
15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.
Wow what a charge from The Lord! Our flesh is the opposite, isn’t it? We complain about the idle. We judge the weak and faint hearted and our flesh absolutely lacks patience, at least my does. Why, why is it unnatural for us to admonish the idle and encourage others and be patient with others? Because we naturally focus on ourselves. And how others laziness or weakness affects us. By nature we are focused on ourselves. Let’s look briefly at chapter 4 where Paul gives us some more instructions about how to treat one another.
Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,
for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more,
and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you,
so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.
Compare this to the culture. “Aspire to live quietly” this is foreign to most in our culture. We want to be noticed we want to be heard.
What about “work with your hands?”
Finally what about the charge “To love one another?”
The third and final question that is important, “How will you walk with God?” look at verses 16-22
16 Rejoice always,
17 pray without ceasing,
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
19 Do not quench the Spirit.
20 Do not despise prophecies,
21 but test everything; hold fast what is good.
22 Abstain from every form of evil.
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.
2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;
4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,
5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;
6 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.
7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.
8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
You may be asking how do I accomplish this? Life is hard, How do you rejoice always? Life is distracting, How do you pray without ceasing, How do you test everything and know what is good and hold fast to it? How do you abstain from every form of evil? Look at verses 23-24
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
As you strive to live a godly, your flesh, the world, and the devil will try to convince you that life is all about you. It is about your safety and your happiness. About your rights and what you want but that is not the truth. As we saw in our passage, we all need to ask ourselves How are you treating those in authority, especially spiritual authority, How are you treating others, and how are we walking with God?
It is always the Holy Spirit’s work to turn out eyes away from self to Jesus. But Satan’s work is just the opposite; he is constantly trying to make us look at ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates, “Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you do not have the joy of His children; you have such a wavering hold on Jesus.” All these are thoughts about self, and we will never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: He tells us that we are nothing, but that Christ is everything. Remember, therefore, it is not your hold of Christ that saves you - it is Christ; it is not your joy in Christ that saves you - it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, although that is the instrument - it is CHrist’s blood and merits. Therefore, do not look so much to your hand with which you are grasping Christ as to Christ; do not look to your hope but to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of your faith. We will never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our deeds, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we are to overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by “looking to Jesus.” Keep your eye simply on Him; let His death, His sufferings, His merits, His glories, His intercession be fresh upon your mind, When you waken in the morning look to Him; when you lie down at night look to Him. Do not let your hopes or fears come between you and Jesus; follow hard after Him, and He will never fail you.
