Pleasing God
1 Thessalonians 4v1-7
26th November 2021
1 Thessalonians 4:1-7
Finally, brothers, 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.
For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual
immorality;
that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy
and honourable,
not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God;
and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of
him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you
and warned you.
For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.
At this point in their letter, Paul, Silas and Timothy turn to the question of Christian conduct. They begin by saying "we instructed you how to live in order to please God". When Paul, Silas and Timothy were in Thessalonica, they taught the Christians there how to live as Christians. If we study our New Testaments, we'll find plenty of instruction there for us. There's no excuse for not knowing how to behave; God has told us by writing this book.
I love the idea that the things I do and say tomorrow might please God. But I realise that some of the things I do and say tomorrow might displease God. I know that, even when I say something unkind or do something impure, God will still love me. But the true Christian doesn't just live a good life to get rewards from God and avoid punishments; we want to please our heavenly Father. And I find it amazing that this is even possible. How can the perfectly pure, almighty God be pleased by anything I do?
Firstly, and unsurprisingly, God likes it when we show Him proper respect, and dislikes it when we slander Him or abuse His name. Wouldn't we all? But He is our perfect Creator and Redeemer, and He deserves all respect.
Secondly, God loves humans, and He hates it when we hurt each other. Husbands, perhaps your wife has a beautiful vase, or some cut glass, or a photograph of a loved one. You know how distressed she'd be if you damaged it. Wives, perhaps your husband has a car that he obsesses over. You know how upset he'd be if you crashed it. Many of us have children or grandchildren, and would be devastated if anything happened to them. Well, God loves humans much more than even that, more than we're capable of loving. And when we damage one of them, He's displeased. Of course He is.
God loves humans. He gives us the sun and the rain, the seas and the earth to grow food. God gives us the air we breathe. God shows us great patience when we deny He exists, or criticise Him, or ignore His laws. God gave us brains and free will. He put a sense of His infinite love in our hearts, although some of us have buried it very deep. God loves humans so much that Jesus came to earth to die for us, so our sins could be forgiven, and we could be restored to God, and could live for ever in heaven.
God loves humans. When you or I hurt another human, God hates it. When you or I help, or encourage, or reach out, or forgive, or support another human, God loves it.
A life that pleases God is a life in which we always show God the respect He deserves, and always love other humans, and never hurt them. You'll be familiar with this passage:
Matthew 22:34-40
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.
One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind."
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: "Love your neighbour as yourself.'
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Thus is how it always was and always will be. To live a life that pleases God is to love God and love other humans.
Micah 6:7-8
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of
oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for
the sin of my soul?
He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of
you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
All the religious observance in the world, all the meetings, all the prayers, all the songs, and all the sermons, mean nothing unless we act with justice, mercy and humility towards all our fellow humans.
The Thessalonians knew that it was right and proper to show God respect, and to love all the humans we come into contact with. Paul encourages them with the words, "as in fact you are living" but then he urges them, "to do this more and more."
Dear fellow Christian, if you are indeed a Christian, I'm sure your life pleases God more now than it once did. The work of the Holy Spirit in you will have had some effect. You have repented. You have chosen to live your life God's way. And the Holy Spirit is helping you and changing you. But I'm sure you know that there's still room for improvement. The Bible here urges us to go on changing – to love God more, and to love other humans more, to become more just, more merciful and more humble.
It's a lifetime's work. But God is making us Christlike. Don't give up half way. Never fall for the lie that your life would be better if you were a bit less kind, a bit less merciful, a bit more arrogant or selfish. Go on growing in God, and in virtue.
Galatians 5:22-23
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control…
Paul says:
1 Thessalonians 4:2
For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
The Thessalonians knew what Paul, Silas and Timothy had taught them, and we can all know what the Bible teaches us, if we'll study it. Let's accept what the Bible teaches. Let's not try to pretend that it doesn't say what it says, and let's put it into practice. Then we will live lives that please God.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-6a
It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid
sexual immorality;
that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is
holy and honourable,
not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God;
and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of his
brother or take advantage of him.
There must have been a particular problem with sexual sin in Thessalonica, because Paul uses so many words here to discourage it. It's often been said that the ancient Greeks were particularly fond of sexual immorality. But isn't our own society - England in the 21st century - much the same? We can see sexual immorality on the television every night, if we so choose. The internet is awash with it. We approve a prime minister who brought his girlfriend to live with him in Number 10 Downing Street. In England and Wales, 47.5% of babies are born outside wedlock. It's not surprising that our young people make bad sexual choices when the society all around them is encouraging them to do so. God hates all this, because He knows it's bad for us, as individuals and as a society.
Christians should be different. We have the Holy Spirit of God within us, but we're also human. We're tempted just as our neighbours are tempted. There are some things I need to say about this.
Firstly: sexual sins are not worse than other sins. Evangelical churches have singled out sexual sins for special opprobrium for decades, while excusing selfishness, greed, ambition, gossip, judgmentalism, laziness and other sins. We really shouldn't do that.
Secondly: no matter what sexual sins you've been involved in, whether you were the guilty party or the victim, no matter what broken hearts and broken relationships have resulted, God completely forgives all who truly repent, and so must the church. Let us never speak of sins committed by our brothers and sisters in the past. God has promised never to remember them, and we should have the same attitude as God.
Thirdly: if anybody is caught in a sexual sin habit, and has struggled to get free, and so far has failed, the church must not judge them. None of us is without sin.
Some sexual sins have an addictive quality. You may need God's help to break free. Find a trustworthy Christian and ask him or her to pray with you. If you just can't trust anybody that much, pray for yourself until God sets you free. And seek whatever help you can.
We all want, I hope, to be sanctified, to be made holy by the operation of the Holy Spirit in us. And we cannot claim to choose holiness while deliberately continuing in sexual immorality. Each of us should learn to control his own body.
It seems there was a great deal of adultery in Thessalonica, because Paul writes that "in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him". Adultery isn't just wrong in the abstract; it's wrong because it's unkind and unjust to take another man's wife, or another woman's husband. How can we claim to love our neighbour as ourself while sleeping with his wife?
If we've never committed this particular sin then, before we get judgemental about it, we should remember that our Lord Jesus said:
Matthew 5:28
… anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery
with her in his heart.
Paul says:
1 Thessalonians 4:6b-7
The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you
and warned you.
For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.
A Christian will never lose his salvation, but that doesn't mean we won't be punished. If we choose to live impure lives, God will discipline us in this life, and we will have less treasure in heaven. God is perfectly pure, and He wants us to be pure people.
And, again, I need to point out that sexual impurity is not by a long way the only kind of impurity a Christian can fall into. God calls us be pure in every way: pure in thought, pure in word and pure in deed.