Pleasing God by Loving your Fellow Christians - 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10.

“Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.”

There is nothing more important in the Christian’s life than love. It is the foundation of all other graces and should abound in all our service for Christ. It is after all the greatest of all gifts of God - so 1 Cor 13.

The previous section of this letter was about sexual purity. Put euphemistically, it addressed what is sometime talked about as ‘making love”. However “love” is a broad term and in the New Testament, referring to a number of different expressions and contexts.

So phileo - the fraternal love of freinds. Storge, the loyal love of family and even eros, the sensual love of pleasure and particularly the leasure derived from sexual activity. Finally there is agape, the unconditional love of God to mankind and Christians for one another!

And remember that in the context Paul is still describing “how to live in order to please God” (vv. 1–2). We please God by loving one another!

In this passage Paul remidns them of...

Something you ALREADY KNOW about.

““Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you...”

Paul states that the Thessalonians know how to love one another. He had seen and heard plenty of evidence for this.

The word for love used here is phileo - brotherly love (philadelphia), not the same as agapē of God (see on 1 Thes 1:3)that is to be exercised by the Christian towards all people, irrespective of their merit or the reverse. This kind of love however is special - the exercise of brotherly love can only be exercised to those united with Christ together in the household of faith. Outside the New Testament philadelphia almost invariably denotes the love that binds together the children of one father; in the New Testament it is without exception used for the love uniting Christians to one another. James Denney thought that the importance of this ‘is not sufficiently considered by most Christian people; who, if they looked into the matter, might find that few of their strongest affections were determined by the common faith. Is not love a strong and peculiar word to describe the feeling you cherish toward some members of the Church, brethren to you in Christ Jesus? Yet love to the brethren is the very token of our right to a place in the Church for ourselves.’

So here is this wonderful church, distinguished by their zeal; their faithfulness to Christ, the peace that filled their assemblies; the purity of life and their love that they practised so fully, and actively - 1 Thes 1:4-10; 1Thes 4:1.

This reminds us that love, though it begins in God as a noun, essentially becomes a verb - a doing word. It is an active, giving qaulity that makes a difference to people who are the objects of our love.

John the Apostle tells us that “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) and this led God to act because “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) and this provides believers with a model to follow: “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” (1 John 3:16)

John Piper: “Love is the overflow of joy in God that gladly meets the needs of others” (Desiring God p. 119).

Love becomes a verb in expression and can be learned:

Paul says to Titus: “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children.”(Titus 2:4-5). Notice love can be trained; its not something you simply feel. It is a continual action of choice based on a promise to a person.

Jesus commanded - “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37–39). Again, He said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:12) and He announced “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35).

Love is displayed in action, as John says, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

The story is told of a woman who left her husband. The husband called the police and filed a “missing persons report.” A few weeks later the police found her a few counties over. They asked him if he wanted them to take him to her. By now the husband had realized how poorly he had treated his wife. He decided to write his wife, and he did for months. Finally, Christmas came, and he went to see her (she was in a run down hotel). He asked her to come home and she did. On the way home he said, “I’ve written you for months, why did you come home so easily?” She replied, “Because those were just letters, this time you came in person.” Christ came in person to save us and show us His love and to show us how to love - “Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.”(1 John 3:18).

Maximillian Kolbe: “For Jesus Christ I am prepared to suffer still more.”

AFTER AN EXHAUSTING DAY of forced labor in July of 1941, the prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp lined up for evening roll call, only to discover that a prisoner was missing.

Immediately, guards and dogs began the hunt for the escaped inmate, a man from Block 14. The remaining prisoners, already gaunt from living on a mere 300 to 500 calories a day, were forced to stand at attention for three hours while the search continued. But the real torture was wondering which prisoners from the escapee’s cell block would pay—as had been the case with the last two prison breaks—by being sentenced to a slow, agonizing death by starvation.

That evening the prisoners were sent to their bunks, but the next morning Nazi SS captain Karl Fritsch announced that the escaped prisoner had not been found. While everyone else was marched off to the fields for another day of work, the men of Block 14 were forced once again to stand at attention for hours. Finally, Fritsch scrutinized each prisoner and, one by one, removed from the ranks 10 condemned men. One, Franciszek Gajowniczek, a Jewish sergeant in the Polish army, sobbed uncontrollably, wailing, “My poor wife! My poor children!”

It was then that prisoner #16670 stepped out of line and walked toward Fritsch—a brave move, given the machine guns aimed at him. When Fritsch demanded what “this Polish pig” wanted, the man removed his hat and quietly said, “I would like to die in place of one of these men.”

That prisoner was Maximilian Kolbe, a 47-year-old Franciscan priest who convinced the Nazi commander that an old, frail priest would be a better choice than the young, distraught husband and father.

After the war, Gajowniczek was reunited with his wife, although his children had died in a bombing. Gajowniczek, who died in 1995 at the age of 94, later recalled that fateful day in 1941: “I could only thank him with my eyes. I was stunned and could hardly grasp what was going on. The immensity of it: I, the condemned, am to live and someone else willingly and voluntarily offers his life for me—a stranger.”

Amazing love, amazing sacrifice! Love in the heart from God, led to love in action towards men!

2. Something you have been TAUGHT by God.

Paul assures his friends that there is no need for him to exhort them in this matter (cf. 2 Cor. 8:1ff.), because they have been taught by God (theodidaktoi, here only in the New Testament, though cf. John 6:45) to love each other, - the Greek shifts here from “brotherly love” to “agape love”: eis to agapan allēlous.

Brothers are to love one each other with the love of God. What they feel is fraternal affection, what they demonstrate is unconditional giving, sacrificial love! - 1 John 4:15-21 “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

This follows strikingly on the reference to the work of the Holy Spirit in the previous verse.

We are reminded of Jesus’ words, ‘If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God’ (John 7:17; cf. 6:45). God is active in the sincere seeker, and specifically it is God who teaches believers to love.

This is a reminder to us that the Holy Spirit is our ultimate teacher - although Paul spoke to them about love when he was in Thessalonica, it was God the Holy Spirit in them who taught them how to live in love.

It is a supernatural love that is taught of God: “The fruit of the Spirit is love.” It is not a theoretical kind of love, not just an abstract term.

We have mentioned before that it cannot be just love in the abstract, but it must be love in the concrete. Such love can only be produced in the hearts of believers by the Holy Spirit.

Everything good comes from God and our praise should therefore be directed to him. God himself instructs, guides, urges. “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Rom. 5:5). We then pour out this love to one another. It is a direct work of God.

The evidence that they are “taught by God” is seen in the abounding and continual nature of their loving:

v10 And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. - The words “and in fact” (kai gar) marks an advance; they have been taught by God to do this and they are doing it! Reminding us that it is one thing to know what to do and quite another to do it.

The Thessalonians constantly practised brotherly love - note the present tense you do (poieite) has the full force of continuous action: ‘you habitually do’.

This reminds us thas although love is a work of God, it takes willing and obedient hearts and so Paul can commend them for the great job they are doing in loving all the brothers throughout Macedonia. It was generous and broadly expressed not sparing or clannish.

And where do they exercise this love?

throughout Macedonia - that’s a big geographical expanse covering churches in Philippi, Berea and Thessalonica, containing churches and people they have never met and may never meet, but they love them and they demonstrate this love in pracrtical acts of service.

Believers who witnessed to the gospel as thye travelled showed this love; missionaries like Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke have demonstraed this love and received it as they went to strenghten and build up those beleiving Christians in these places.

This reminds us that the Christian church should be as extensive as possible in showing love, reaching beyond the boundaries of our immediate neighbourhood and into the lives of those we may never meet.

Tertullian - “see how these Christians love one another.”!

The change that has taken place in our hearts because of God’s grace should be proclaimed abroad through the example of our love.

The church in Thessalonica was a caring community. It had that kind of reputation - we need to seek to have such a reputation among our fellow believers in Christ so that when Christians from elsewhere speak of us they can say “see how these Christians love one another.”!

This was the language of Tertullian - in his work “To the Gentiles “ an Apologia or defence where he directly attacked pagan beliefs and practices as superstitious and immoral, and argued that the Christian life as taught in Scripture and practiced in the church was morally superior. He imagined pagans looking at Christians and saying, “Look . . . how they love one another (for they themselves [pagans] hate one another); and how they are ready to die for each other (for they themselves are readier to kill each other).” Tertullian believed that Christianity would unavoidably conflict with pagan society, leading to “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

For Jesus love is sacrificial and the standard is so high — “Greater love has no man than this, than a man lays down His life for his freind”(John), Let’s see ow sacrificial it is by hearing this illustration:

“An eight-year-old boy had a younger sister who was dying of leukemia, and he was told that without a blood transfusion she would die. His parents explained to him that his blood was probably compatible with hers, and if so, he could be the blood donor. They asked him if they could test his blood. He said sure. So they did and it was a good match. Then they asked if he would give his sister a pint of blood, that it could be her only chance of living. He said he would have to think about it overnight. The next day he went to his parents and said he was willing to donate the blood. So they took him to the hospital where he was put on a gurney beside his six-year-old sister. Both of them were hooked up to IVs. A nurse withdrew a pint of blood from the boy, which was then put in the girl’s IV. The boy lay on his gurney in silence while the blood dripped into his sister, until the doctor came over to see how he was doing. Then the boy opened his eyes and asked, “How soon until I start to die?” - Ann Lammott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Anchor Books, 1994.

3. Something you SHOULD DO MORE of.

“Love is a costly thing.’

a missionary to Sudan describes the experience of a dying mother, suffering from the ravages of a famine: “She was lying on the ground. In her arms she held a tiny baby girl. As I put a cooked sweet potato into her outstretched hand, I wondered if she would live until morning. Her strength was almost gone, but her tired eyes acknowledged my gift. The sweet potato could help so little -- but it was all I had. Taking a bite she chewed it carefully. Then, placing her mouth over her baby's mouth, she forced the soft warm food into the tiny throat. Although the mother was starving, she used the entire potato to keep her baby alive. Exhausted from her effort, she dropped her head on the ground and closed her eyes. In a few minutes the baby was asleep. I later learned that during the night the mother's heart stopped, but her little girl lived.”

Love is a costly thing.” God in His love for us (and for a lost world) "spared not His own Son" to tell the world of His love. Love is costly, but we must tell the world at any cost. Such love is costly. It costs parents and sons and daughters. It costs the missionary life itself. In his love for Christ the missionary often must give up all to make the Savior known. If you will let your love for Christ, cost you something, the great advance will be made together. Remember, love is a costly thing. Do you love enough?Paul urges them to “love…more and more” (perisseuein again, as in 1 Thes 3:12; 4:1).

Paul comes back repeatedly to the thought of the abundant life. The Thessalonian love, however special and admirable neds to extend and abound more and more!

It needs to grow and freely express itself without the constricting restraints of legalism or license.

Let me illustrate this from my own experience of two teachers, Mr Scott and Mr Calvert.

Mr Scott was tough and you did not cross him without understanding the consequences. He was my Head of House and he inspired fear in students. He used threats and cited rules and laws to esnure we did what he inteded for us to do and woe betide you if you did not do this - the cane! The rod of discipline to correct our disobedience. Mr Scott inspired fear but not love. He told me I was a waste of space and in fact, Mr Scott produced obedience from disobedient pupils but created hypocrites as a result. We obeyed when he was present, not because we wanted to or desired to please him but to avoid the cane! The cane being the great governor of the school but here’s the thing, it did not prevent us from rebelling as soon as his back was turned!

But then there was Mr Calvert, he taught me English, at least he tried hard, I was not a great student in those days. Still, I behaved for him and learne from him. Why? Because he was kind, he was gentle and caring and paitent and understanding and guess what he won the hearts of his pupils. Never once did he cane me or even have to threaten to do so. His classroom was not defined by lots and lots of rules and regulations, because we cared for him in return and wanted to pelase him and d well for him. He loved us and we loved him in return because love begets love and were unwilling to grieve him.

Our love for Christ grows from love to love not from law. We love HIm because He first loved us and we love one another becase He loves us!

Christlike love is not something we attain, a state of being or an emotion; it is an ongoing action that we constantly strive to improve.

This reminds us that perfection this side of heaven is never attained; there is always room for spiritual growth and progress, however mature we might be. “There is not a point in this life when we decide we have arrived and everything is settled. There is no complete maturity level where we sit back and gaze at the past for the rest of life. There is always the challenge of moving forward and doing more of what Christ has commanded. All believers need to keep growing in love.” (Dr Larson).

Archbishop Usher was once wrecked off the coast of Ireland and being almost destitute of clothing, wandered to the house of a local clergyman, who was suspicious of his identity and cold towards him. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, the clergyman demanded, ‘How many commandments are there?’ fully expecting to uncover an impostor. ‘I can at once satisfy you that I am not an impostor, as you think, for there are eleven commandments.’ ‘No,’ interrupted the clergyman, pleased that his suspicions had been well founded, ‘there are only ten commandments. If you can tell me the eleventh commandment, I shall give you all you need.’ ‘Bring me a Bible.’ Turning to John 13:34, he read, ‘A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another’ (AV). With that the clergyman was ready to help him in every way.

Love cares. It encourages

Indeed let’s read 1 Corinthians 13 to remind ourselves of what it is, what J.I. Packer described as the Primacy (1 Cor 13:1-3); Profile(1 Cor 13:4-7) and Permannence of Love( 1 Cor 13:8-13).

Alexander Solzhenitsyn - “Men have forgotten God”:

Let us love eachother and will eachother on in our journey with Jesus. You never know just how much people need it!

Alexander Solzhenitsyn “Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened." Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.”

As a prisoner in a Soviet prison in Siberia. He became so weak and discouraged that he wished he would die. The guards would beat and usually kill anyone that stopped working. He decided to stop working so that the guards would kill him. As soon as he did so, another Christian drew a cross where Alexander could see it. Alexander said that he was encouraged by remembering that God gives hope and courage. He decided to continue working because of a Christian who cared too much to let him give up.