Waiting On Purpose

1 Thessalonians 4

Context leading into Chapter 4

Thankfulness for the Thessalonians example

Paul Telling about their time in Phillipi

Paul Recounting memories of their time with them (1 Thessalonians 2)

Timothy’s encourging report

Paul’s longing to see them again

Paul’s pastoral prayer:

1 Thessalonians 3:11–13 CSB

Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you. And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we do for you. May he make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Amen.

May you be presented blameless in holiness at the coming of our Lord.

Hurry up and wait!

1 Thessalonians 4:1–2 CSB

Additionally then, brothers and sisters, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received instruction from us on how you should live and please God—as you are doing—do this even more. For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

Paul’s prayer to end chapter 3 begins to draw out the urgency that which Paul so frequently writes with. He wants to see the church be blameless in holiness at the time of Jesus’ return.

So how should the church be prepared to do that? He now transitions the letter towards preparing for this moment.

But it’s more than a casual workout, there’s an urgency to what is about to come, don’t wait, do this now!

What do we do while we wait? Pursue holiness and act as redeemed.

Pursue Christ-likeness through intentional sanctification (1 Thes 4:3-8)

Live in holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:7)

Control your body and your lusts

Abstain from impurities

While this passage is aiming at sexual immorality, failure to control lustful passions, which no doubt is something we must be on guard for these days, this goes farther than just the sexual.

We must be on guard and control our desires to live in a manner that is in opposition to what the Lord has called us to.

We are holy because He is holy and we have been made clean by Christ

We are to be Holy because it is the will of God for us to be holy

We must be clear that no one is able to be holy without faith. No matter how good you may be, you will never be good enough to be seen as righteous in holy in the sight of the Lord without Christ.

To live outside of holiness is rejecting the Lord

Verse after verse, letter after letter, you will find that scripture is not silent on this. You either choose to walk in a manner that is worthy of the Lord, or you choose to reject him.

When you place your faith in Christ, your old self must die, you cannot maintain the same lifestyle, the same patterns of life. To maintain or even fall back into this pattern is to live in a manner that rejects God.

It is our responsibility to make sure that our actions meet the Lord’s will for our life: Sanctification

Love one another well (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12)

Loving one another is something that is easily understood and learned from God’s word and His example (1 Thessalonians 4:9)

Keep doing these things

seek to lead a quiet life

Don’t be the person endlessly stuck in pointless contriversies or drama.

to mind your own affairs

Simply put, mind your own beeswax

work with your hands

Be able to live a life that is not dependent on others work.

It’s hard to stay in other peoples business when you are working to support yourself

So that we may walk properly before outsiders

Our behavior is a reflection of Christ to the world. How we engage both the church and those outside of it reflects Christ.

Build each other up into Christ (Eph. 4)

Live with hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

We do not grieve as those who do not hope, we know that through Christ, those who have placed their faith in Him, they will be with him in eternity, and when he returns

Wether asleep or awake, those who place their faith in Christ will not be separated from Him.

Death is only temporary, as Paul refers to death as ‘sleep’ so to is the past tense action of living. For only a short while may death exist. (Stott)

The language and ceremony around Baptism are so helpful for this, as this is a spiritual symbolism to our salvation, it is also symbolic of the eternalality of our souls. While we too will be buried like Christ, we will be restored through Him upon his return.

What is the purpose of waiting? To bring glory to God through our lives.

To expand His kingdom (Matthew 28:18-20)

Glorify Him through our living sacrifice (Philippians 1:18-26, Heb. 13:21)

The Church must be distinctly different than the culture it finds itself it. The ills of the culture should find death at the threshold of the community of believers.

When the church falls victim to the same ills - without a dedicated fight - we are no longer living in accordance to the Lord’s Will.

Reflect Him to all who see (Eph. 5)