Rejecting God

Please take your Bible and turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, as we consider Rejecting God.

Rejection is something that each of us has faced. We may have been rejected when we asked someone out on a date. We may have been rejected when we applied for a new job., or a promotion in our current job. We may have been rejected when we applied to our first college of choice. We may have tried out for a school sports team only to have been rejected.

As a composer, I’ve submitted music to various publishing houses, only to be rejected for this reason or that reason. This past week as I was going through a box of music stuff I had collected, among other things, I found the letter from one publisher stating that wanted to publish my choral piece. That was my only acceptance, among many rejections.

I remember back in 1985 when I was offered a position teaching music at the Christian school where my soon to be wife was also teaching. My mother didn’t want me to accept that position. But my close friend encouraged me to accept it, which I did. My mother was so hurt that I would reject her counsel in favor of my peer’s counsel. I wonder how God might feel when His children reject His wise counsel in favor of the counsel of this world?

We most often think about unbelievers as those who reject God. Such rejection often goes hand in hand with the suppression of truth in unrighteousness. And the end result of continued rejection is eternal damnation.

But in our passage for this morning we will see that believers can also, perhaps inadvertently, reject God. We should clarify that such rejection does not produce the loss of salvation, but it does bring discipline from God. When believers reject the clear instruction which is found in the Scriptures, they reject God.

Let’s read our passage together. We will begin at verse 1.

1 Thessalonians 4:1–8 NASB95PARA

Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.

Let’s look first at

The Object of Rejection

Because verse 8, which is the last verse of our text, is a kind of conclusion regarding the gravity of what Paul is writing, I’d like to begin there. 1 Thess 4.8

1 Thessalonians 4:8 NASB95PARA

So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.

Note that:

When We Choose to Reject God’s Word, We are Rejecting God

Yesterday morning, after I’d already finished this message and recorded the YouTube version of it, I had a chance to catch up on my reading of the Table Talk devotional magazine, which is produced by Ligoneer Ministries. This months issue is dedicated to surveying to state of Theology in America today. What I read seemed fitting to our message today, so I’ve added it in. They’ve taken a poll of those who consider themselves to be evangelical Christians, and they’ve made statements to which the respondents are to mark as strongly agree, not sure, or strongly disagree. Here is one statement and a part of the comment:

EVEN THE SMALLEST SIN DESERVES ET E R N A L DA M N AT I ON. THIS STATEMENT IS DIFFICULT for some Christians to affirm because we frequently lose sight of the true nature of sin. We fail to grasp the true nature of sin because we do not grasp the true nature of the holiness of God. When we begin to understand better the holiness of God, we begin to get a clearer understanding of how utterly evil sin is. To be as blunt as possible, all sin is satanic. Every time we commit any sin, we are following in Satan’s footsteps. We are turning against our holy God, spitting in His face, and defiantly saying to Him, “Not Thy will, but my will be done.” A seemingly “small” sin, eating a piece of fruit, led to the fall of humanity and the curse under which all creation still groans (Rom. 8:18–24). Many people, even Christians, look at this and ask how a just God could inflict such a punishment for eating a piece of fruit. What they fail to realize is that in the act of eating that piece of fruit, Adam and Eve were doing much more than biting and chewing food. They were trusting the serpent rather than God (Gen. 3:3–6) and disobeying a direct command of God (2:17).

Here’s a separate statement and comment:

T H E B I B L E I S 1 0 0 % A C C U R AT E I N A L L T H AT I T T E AC H E S. THE EASIEST WAY TO UNDERSTAND why Christians rightly affirm this statement is to substitute the word God for the Bible in the statement. God, of course, is 100 percent accurate in all that He teaches. No Christian would deny that statement, but is the substitution of those words legitimate? Yes, because the Bible is God’s Word. Paul writes: “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Tim. 3:16). Peter explains how this relates to the human authors: “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).

God, then, is the primary author of Scripture, and His Word is truth (John 17:17). He cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18). Based on the fact that Holy Scripture is God-breathed, the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy states: “We affirm that Scripture, having been given by divine inspiration, is infallible, so that, far from misleading us, it is true and reliable in all the matters it addresses” (Article 11).

What does it mean to reject God?

To reject something is to set aside, to nullify, to make void or cancel

What or whom is being rejected when we set aside God’s clear instruction?

Not Paul

God

1 Samuel 8:7 NASB95PARA

The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.

Follow Instructions:

The “this” referred to in this passage is a reference to instructions Paul had just taught about in verses 3-7

Paul has Christians, rather than non-Christians in mind

“Rejecting … the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.

As we unpack this passage we will do so in terms of commands for the believer to follow, and in doing so they will protect themselves from rejecting God.

First, we see that the believer should

Embrace God’s Will

Look at verse 3.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 NASB95PARA

For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality;

Note that:

It is the Duty of Believers to Live According to God’s Revealed Will

How to determine God’s will

We find it in God’s Word

Three times in the NT we find the phrase: “This is the will of God”

Our present passage asserts that the believer’s progressive sanctification is the will of God

1 Thess 5.18 asserts that gratitude is the will of God

1 Thessalonians 5:18 NASB95PARA

in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 2.15 asserts that doing right is the will of God

1 Peter 2:15 NASB95PARA

For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.

The commands of God as found throughout the Scriptures are the will of God

The outcome of rejecting God’s Will

Disciplined by God

Potential discipline by the church

Loss of fellowship with God

Brings about the sense that God is not listening to your prayers

Psalm 66:18 KJV 1900

If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear me:

Loss of position in spiritual leadership

1 Samuel 15:26 NASB95PARA

But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

What we need to do when we recognize that we have rejected God’s will

Confess our sin — agreeing with God that we have sinned against His person and His Word

1 John 1:9 NASB95PARA

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So, the first duty of a believer is to embrace God’s will and live in accordance with it. Next we see that the believer should

Live a Sanctified Life

Note that:

When We do not Progress in Sanctification, We Displease God

Look at verse 3-5.

1 Thessalonians 4:3–5 NASB95PARA

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

Living a Holy Lifestyle — holy living, sanctification, etc.

You’ll notice that, though Paul could have referred to various ways in which one does not live a holy life, he deals specifically with sexual immorality. Why would he do so?

John Stott pointed out:

The Message of Thessalonians 2. Paul Urges Us to Control Ourselves (4:3–8)

It is not surprising that the apostle begins with sex, not only because it is the most imperious of all our human urges, but also because of the sexual laxity—even promiscuity—of the Graeco-Roman world. Besides, he was writing from Corinth to Thessalonica, and both cities were famed for their immorality. In Corinth Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sex and beauty, whom the Romans identified with Venus, sent her servants out as prostitutes to roam the streets by night. Thessalonica, on the other hand, was particularly associated with the worship of deities called the Cabiri, in whose rites ‘gross immorality was promoted under the name of religion’.

With this in mind let’s consider three key things which Paul instructed believers in regards to sexual purity.

Three Instructions on Purity:

Abstain from fornication (3b)

Control sexual urges (4)

Live like those who belong to Christ (5)

So far we’ve seen that when we reject the clear teaching of God’s Word, we are not rejecting our instructor, but we are rejecting God. This means that we reject God’s will for our lives. Rather than living contrary to God’s will we should live holy lives. While the specific issue at hand has to do with sexual purity, the same broad aspect is true in all forms of disobedience to God’s will. Now let’s look at a further ramification of sexual impurity — namely, that sexual impurity defrauds others.

Put in positive terms, believers should

Respect Boundaries

Note that:

When We practice immorality We Defraud Others

Look at the first part of verse 6.

1 Thessalonians 4:6 NASB95PARA

and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you.

What does it mean to defraud someone? Defraud means to selfishly, greedily take something for personal gain and pleasure at someone else’s expense.

How Does Sexual Sin Defraud Other?

Premarital sexual sin robs a person of their virginity which ought to be brought to their future spouse as a gift upon marriage

Extramarital sexual sin infringes on multiple people

All sexual sin is against our own body as well, which for believers is the Temple of the Holy Spirit

As believers we need to live a sanctified live, according to the will of God, and we need to refrain from defrauding others in the matter of sexual passion. Paul goes on to imply that we should:

Remember Who the Judge is

Note that:

Christ is the One Who will avenge Those Who Have Been Wronged

Look at the second half of verse 6.

1 Thessalonians 4:6 NASB95PARA

and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you.

In the NT the term translated “Lord” is most often used in reference to Jesus. He will hold His sheep accountable for their lack of sexual purity. Again, I remind you that this does not mean that a believer who falls into sexual sin will lose his or her salvation. Even the sins which we commit after coming to salvation were settled at the cross as far as eternity is concerned. But there are always consequences to our actions. As Paul wrote to the Galatians, we reap what we sow.

Knowing that Christ is the avenger should motivate us to do a better job when it comes to controlling our sexual passions.

Let’s consider next how we are to

Live According to our Calling in Christ

Note that:

When our Actions are Impure, We Make a Mockery of our Calling

Look at verse 7.

1 Thessalonians 4:7 NASB95PARA

For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.

**********************************************

It is a serious issue for the believer in Jesus Christ to reject the clear teaching of Scripture. Doing so is not a rejection of man’s teaching, but a rejection of God. And God does not take rejection from His people lightly.

In order to avoid rejecting God, the believer should embrace God’s revealed will, live a sanctified life, respect boundaries in relation to sexual activity, remember who the judge is, live according to our calling in Christ.

Not only is rejection of God’s Word by believers a serious offense, but the rejection of Christ by the world is as well. There are many who claim to believe in God but not in Christ. This rejection leads to eternal damnation, for they have rejection the Creator of the world who died as a substitute for sinners. Such folks have to pay the penalty for their sins themselves. If this describes you, then I invite you to come to Jesus in repentance for your sins, placing your faith in His person, His work, His death and resurrection. Then you can begin working on living a holy life which is pleasing to God.

Let’s pray.

Closing Song: #581

“Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus