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Introduction
Paul has been grounding in his target for the Thessalonians.
I will reiterate again his figure of speech in 1 Thess.
3:8 “For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.”
What Paul sought for people from the beginning of his ministry to the end was faithfulness.
And we can demand faithfulness, but what does that look like?
Being a faithful employee can have certain traits: showing up on time for work, striving to your best ability, taking initiative.
Being a faithful spouse can have different traits: getting to know your spouse and showing them love in ways you reserve only for them.
Not showing that type of love and devotion to others.
Being a faithful friend has different traits: always intending good will toward that person in times of abundance and times of hardship.
But what are the traits of being faithful to Jesus?
What does it look like to be a faithful Christian?
Does it mean that we go out and live by our self in the desert?
Does it mean that we have to become a pastor or missionary?
Does it mean we have to read theology books all the time?
Does it mean we don’t go to the theaters?
Does it mean we shave the top of our heads (tonsure)?
Does it mean we visit the confessional all the time and say our “Hail Mary’s”?
What does a life devoted to Jesus look like?
Paul is about to explore that very topic in the following passages.
We are going to see what this entails:
1.
Our sexual purity (4:3-8)
2. Our brotherly love (4:9-12)
3. Our attitude toward the dead (4:13-18)
4. Our readiness for Christ's return (5:1-11)
5. Our labors and good works (5:12-22)
And before we dive into these specific topics that Paul brings to the forefront, we are going to look at the first two verses as Paul explains the importance of a sanctified life.
Teaching How to live a life pleasing to God is important
1 Thess.
4:1-2 “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.
For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.”
Paul says, “that as you” (the Thessalonians) “recieved from us how you ought to walk and to please God. .
.”
Of course the time that they “received” this was when Paul and his companions were living with them before they were kicked out of the city.
The word “walk” there is a figure of speech used throughout the Bible to describe someone’s style of life or overall behavior, desires and attitude.
So Paul taught them a lifestyle, a code of ethics if you will, that was pleasing to God.
Paul believed teaching how to live a life pleasing to God was important.
The gospel, theology, and doctrine and central to our faith.
There are certain doctrines core to the Christian faith that if removed the entire belief system falls apart.
For example, take the resurrection of Jesus.
Paul says in 1 Cor.
15:12-19 “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
If you take away the resurrection, the Christian faith is absolutely pointless.
Although doctrine is a core distinctive of our faith, if it does not lead to a changed life, then it is pointless as well.
Right doctrine leads to right practice.
Orthodoxy leads to orthopraxy.
James makes this clear.
James 1:22-25 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
Jesus himself addresses people in the final judgment who had right doctrine but did not walk as they ought to walk.
Matt.
7:21-23 ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
Notice what these disciples said.
They acknowledged Jesus as “Lord.”
They had right doctrine.
Not only that, but they did mighty works in Jesus’ name: prophesy, cast out demons.
But what was Jesus’s final assessment of these false disciples?
They were “workers of lawlessness.”
That is, they lived as though Jesus never gave any commands.
Hear this verse as the clarion call, the warning of our age!
You see many Americans, especially in our area here in the South believed themselves to be saved because they prayed a prayer, or were baptized, or became a member at a church.
Aren’t all these things signs of faithfulness?
Of course they are.
But I want you to hear this carefully.
Just because someone prays a prayer, gets baptized, and becomes a member of a church does not mean that they are faithful to Jesus.
Does your life please God?
Americans are concerned with so many things: politics, finances, entertainment, and on and on the list goes.
Not many Americans are concerned with whether their life pleases God.
Yes, but what about those people seeking for God?
What about the seekers?
Well, to those that may bring up this issue I would just point you to your Bible.
Have you never read, Rom.
3:10-11 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.”
People who do not God and are searching are not seeking God, more than likely in the US they are searching for the number 1 idol of our day: self-fulfillment.
Psychological and therapeutic fulfillment.
You see this idol all over this place, “find purpose, find meaning” American Christianity advertises.
Do you know who self-fulfillment pleases?
It’s not God.
It’s yourself.
We live in a self-gratifying culture, anything we can grab at to please ourselves we’re going to take and we’re going to take it now.
That’s our society.
Why do you think so many lost people go to church in America?
Because we’ve convinced this sinful people that they can be self-fulfilled in our services.
We’ve done a good job training people how to please themselves rather than God.
Then we sit back and wonder, why is divorce as prevalent within the church as outside the church?
Why is abortion as prevalent within our churches as outside?
Why is sexual abuse just as prevalent within our churches as on the outside?
Why? I’ll tell you why.
Because American Christianity by and large is more concerned with pleasing self rather than God.
Let me illustrate this for you.
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