Holiness and Hope

The hope of Christ’s return should inspire us to holy living.

“What connection do you see between emphasizing the practice of Christianity in holy living and teaching about the soon return of Jesus Christ?”

1. Live To Please God

A. Live in Moral Purity

1 Thessalonians 4:1–6 NIV

1 As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.

But after salvation comes a critical question, “How should a saved person live?” A follower of Christ, saved from sin, should live to please God, as commanded by Scripture and as a necessary reflection of love for God.

In contrast to the idolatrous and immoral Gentiles, devout Jews were strongly opposed to all sexual relationships condemned by the Old Testament: fornication, adultery, prostitution, homosexual relationships, incest, and all sexual perversions.

Questions for Application

What is the relationship between living to please God and spiritual growth?

Do you believe the apostle Paul’s exhortation that Christians live in moral purity is still needed today? Explain.

Resource Item 1: Distribute the work sheet “Flee and Follow” Have students complete it individually or in small groups. Then discuss their responses, focusing on how Christians help one another live for Christ.

B. Obey the Call to Holiness

1 Thessalonians 4:7–8 NIV

7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.

more than just a call to abstain from sin; it is also a call to actively seek out the kind of life that pleases God

If we carelessly neglect or willfully choose to disregard God’s call to holiness, we disregard God Himself.

habitual disregard for God may cause the withdrawal of the Spirit from us (see the examples of Samson in and King Saul in ).

Paul’s warning that the Thessalonians abstain from sexual sins was a common theme in his ministry

1 Corinthians 6:18–19 NIV

18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

Questions for Application

Why is purity and holiness so important for the Christian?

What are some practical ways that holiness is evidenced in our lives?

RESPONSE TO THE WORD

Jesus, our supreme Example, lived in a way that was pleasing to the Father (compare and ). Make a plan to study the Scriptures, growing in your knowledge of what a life that is pleasing to God “looks like.” Then ask the Lord for help to live a holy life.

2. Live To Influence Others

A. Increase in Christian Love

1 Thessalonians 4:9–10 NIV

9 Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10 And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,

As Christians, we can have a good influence on others by demonstrating genuine Christian love for them

through the Holy Spirit

Resource Item 2: Distribute the work sheet “Love One Another.” Use it to lead a discussion on how students can show love for one another in practical ways.

Questions for Application

How would you explain why God’s love for us should lead us, as Christians, to love one another?

How does loving others have a good influence on them?

B. Practice Godly Living

1 Thessalonians 4:11–12 NIV

11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Making it your ambition to lead a quiet life (verse 11, NIV) involves learning not to be a troublemaker. Words spoken unwisely are a great cause of hatred and human conflict. Therefore we need to learn to speak wisely. Likewise, minding our own business is not only good for us; it is also good for others.

Paul said that by working to provide for our own needs, we will not feel compelled by need or greed to act dishonestly to acquire what we need or want (verse 12). There are people in this world willing to lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want from others, but a Christian should never be guilty of such behavior.

Honest work, motivated by a desire to please God, has always been the right way—and the best way—to obtain what is needed to live in this material world.

Questions for Application

Would you say that having a good work ethic is a way to have a good influence on others? Explain.

How can we honor God in the work we do to earn our living?

RESPONSE TO THE WORD

Jesus identified God’s commandments to love Him and others as the two greatest commandments (see ). If we love God and love people as we ought, we will have a good influence on others.

3. Live in Hope of Christ’s Return

A. Hope for Deceased Believers

1 Thessalonians 4:13–14 NIV

13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

Twice, Jesus spoke of deceased individuals He raised from the dead as “sleeping” while they were deceased (see ; ). Since a sleeping person is not dead, and is expected to awaken at some point, this terminology simply meant that death was not final.

Since we, as Christians, believe God raised Jesus from the dead, we also believe that those who die believing in Jesus will be raised by God at Christ’s return.

Questions for Application

Why can Christians experience something very different from hopeless sorrow in the face of death?

How does being a Christian change the way you look at death?

B. The Catching Away

1 Thessalonians 4:15–18 NIV

15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Resource Item 3: Distribute the information sheet “The Rapture.” Discuss the information as preparation for this subpoint.

Paul said his description was based on the Lord’s own word (verse 15). This may refer to a teaching Jesus made that is recorded in the Gospels (e.g., ), or even reference a well-known teaching of Jesus not recorded in any Gospel.

[Note that this catching away takes place prior to the Great Tribulation, a seven- year period of judgment that will be dominated by the Antichrist—an evil figure who will be more fully discussed in Lesson 12.]

Many call this catching away “the Rapture,” from a Latin word that means “to be caught up.”

Paul concluded his description of the events surrounding Christ’s return with this exhortation: “Encourage one another with these words” (verse 18, NIV). We don’t know the fears of the Thessalonians regarding those who had died before Christ’s return. Perhaps they feared there was some advantage to being alive when Jesus comes, or even that those who had died might miss out in some way.

Questions for Application

Why is it significant that Paul said his description of Christ’s return was based on the words of Jesus?

When do you find special comfort in this teaching of Christ’s return?

RESPONSE TO THE WORD

The Christian hope of everlasting life is based on Christ’s resurrection from the dead. The One who gives us everlasting life is alive forever. Because He lives forever, we will live with Him forever. This “word of the Lord” gives us certainty about what will happen to believers, whether deceased or living, when Christ comes to catch away His own. When we trust in Christ, nothing can separate us from Him (; ). Take a moment to describe how this truth impacts the way you look at and live your life.

CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP

It is said that early Christians came out victorious over the pagan world because they thought better than the pagans, they lived better than the pagans, and died better than the pagans. As a Christian, what do you think it means to think better than the world, to live better than the world, and to die better than the world?

Ministry in Action

Close in prayer for one another, providing time for students to encourage each other to live pleasing to God and have a godly influence on others. Such comfort can help them deal with the sorrows of life by celebrating the hope of everlasting life with Christ.