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.

In Chapter 3, Paul has just finished telling the Thessalonian church that he had been praying for them night and day. And he wrote a few final verses that could be read as a prayer that their love would increase and overflow for each other and everyone else. He prayed that their hearts would be strengthened so they would be blameless and holy in the presence of God the Father when Jesus comes with his holy ones. Now he starts Chapter 4 by mentioning other matters. He refers to his prior instruction, with the goal of having them live in order to please God. Based on what he’d written already, his hope was that they would continue living as born again Christians, they wouldn’t be tempted to abandon their faith, and they would no longer return to their idols. Timothy’s trip to meet and and help and report on the church gave Paul a confirmation that this was how they were living. The goal of life is to please God, and the church was continuing along that path. Paul exhorted them, urging them in the Lord Jesus, to live this way more and more. The Christian life should be lived this way, not just loving but increasing and growing in love in an overflowing manner. Not just living for God in one aspect of your life, but increasing that type of living to all aspects of your life, in various conditions, with various different people. It’s not just about loving people at church; but loving “everyone else” as Paul had written. And the love that you have shouldn’t be static, but it should be increasing. Paul urges the readers to do this more and more. He urges them in the Lord Jesus. Our motivation shouldn’t be to appear nice, good, respectable, and decent people so we look good for others, but to do this in the Lord Jesus to bring him Glory. He refers to instructions he personally gave them by the Authority of Jesus.

3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified:

What is God’s will for our lives? In some ways, that’s a hard question to answer quickly. I might have some sort of monumental life decision that I need to make, but wrestle with which one is God’s will. Let’s take a hypothetical example. Should I move across the country for a job offer, or should I stay here? Which one is God’s will? When you frame the question like that, it’s hard to have a clear or good answer. Because we think there’s a right and wrong answer, and one is God’s will and the other isn’t.

When you look at it that way, it can lead to worry and anxiety, and that’s logical because you don’t want to make the wrong choice. But if you look at God’s will differently and investigate what Paul’s saying here., “It’s God’s will for us to be sanctified.” Thinking like me, I’d ask God, “Can you be more specific?!” God’s will is for us to be sanctified. It’s almost missing details in its simplicity. But the concept of sanctification covers a lot! Sanctification means we should be growing in holiness, becoming more and more set apart for lives of service to advance Kingdom of God. We should pick up our cross daily, and put to death our sinful nature and put to death the lordship of self, while exalting the lordship of Jesus Christ. We should take off sin, and put on Christ, and share this gospel of reconciliation with others, demonstrating what love and forgiveness we’ve experienced from God. God’s will for our lives is be sanctified. That means to grow in this type of holiness, not stagnate. Paul’s instruction doesn’t give specifics. When you ask the question, is it God’s will that I should move or is it God’s will that I should stay here, you miss the point Paul is making. You should really frame it another way and say. If I move across the country, how do I plan on growing in Holiness, what does obedience look like in that position or job. What parts of my spiritual life will be more difficult there? Where are the churches in that area that preach sound doctrine and rely on Scripture as their source of truth? On the other hand, what does my spiritual growth look like here, and have I been growing in holiness in every aspect of my life? What areas of my life are becoming more Christ like, and which areas am I neglecting? What’s motivating me to move across the country? Am I trying to run away from something difficult that I need to face? When you examine both of your choices and analyze the different things that are going on in your heart, you come up with a more nuanced decision. Now, either decision you make, you have thought about your spiritual growth and have come up with a plan on how to live your life according to God’s will, growing in holiness, whether you move or not.

that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control your own body[a] in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God;Paul gives them a specific warning to avoid sexual immorality. God’s will is we should be sanctified, and Paul is concerned that this area of their lives is not being sanctified. So for context, the Thessalonian church was coming from a place of idolatry, and certain sexual practices were common in pagan or idol worship. They may have been more prone to sin in that way based on their past. However if you look at modern media, advertising, magazine covers, the tinder and hook up culture, it’s easy to see how even the best intentioned Christian can be tempted to sin in forms of sexual immorality. Sexual immorality doesn’t just mean doing something physical, like casual romantic relationships, it includes pornography and fantasizing about someone who isn’t your spouse. Jesus said if you look at somebody with lust in your heart, you’ve committed adultery in your mind. All of these things hinder our process of sanctification. The Bible is clear. The way to honor God with our bodies is holiness and purity. Paul explains that holiness and purity are the result of control. Learn to control your body, don’t live in passionate lust like pagans who don’t know God. Passionate lust is a condition where you are no longer in control of your body. Your body is in control of you. Your heart and emotions are in control instead of the mind and the spirit. This need for self control is not limited to sexuality, in other letters Paul discusses self control over various other things, like drinking alcohol, overeating/gluttony, anger, pride, greed. Here the message is keep sexual relations within the context of a marital commitment.

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. 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.

Even if you believe that both parties of a relationship appear to consent and agree, there are unwritten and unspoken expectations and a huge emotional component that comes from being united romantically as husband and wife are. And when you bypass the commitment to be husband and wife, but go ahead with a physical relationship, you take something special away from that other person’s future partner (or current partner, but that’s clearly adultery). Sexual immorality has a way of leading to many broken hearts and sorrows, not just directly between two people but there third parties and innocent bystanders who are wronged. It makes for captivating soap operas, or romantic comedy plot lines, but in real life it leads to pain, and it doesn’t Glorify God. Paul is saying sexual immorality has the potential for wronging someone else. Taking advantage of someone else. If sexual immorality is with Christians, they are your brother and/or sister, and you should look at people who aren’t your spouse with the purity you would look at a brother or sister. Paul actually writes a similar instruction to his co-author here, Timothy. In 1 timothy 5, he says to treat older women like your mother, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. Paul said, when you live with sexual immorality and wrong one another, that the Lord will punish such sins, and he writes that he’s told them this before, so it’s a reminder. We were not called to be impure, but to be holy. This instruction isn’t just something Paul is saying as personal advice, or because he’s prudish. The instructions regarding purity Paul wrote are from no human being or no human system of mores and customs, they are from God, and it’s the same God who gives us the Holy spirit to believe in Jesus and be redeemed. Rejecting this instruction is rejecting God and God’s Holy Spirit.

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,

Back to the idea of treating all christians as your brothers and sisters, Paul says to love one another with a brotherly or sisterly love. He says he doesn’t even need to write it to them, because God teaches that kind of love, and he has seen their actions and the evidence that they are doing so. They have a reputation throughout the region of Macedonia that they love each other and treat each other kindly. He urges them to do this more and more.

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.

Verses 11 and 12 are an interesting few verses. Paul elsewhere warns people against selfish ambition, and here he’s saying to have an ambition to lead a quiet life. Some people bring drama and conflict, other people want to be widely known and famous or infamous. But Paul says a quiet life should be our ambition. A life in which you work hard at whatever God has you doing day to day, a life where you are busy enough and engaged in your pursuits and interests, providing a Christian home for your family, busy enough that you are kept focused on your own business and have no time or use for anyone else’s gossip. That doesn’t mean you don’t have to be a Good samaritan if the need arises. If someone needs help, please help them, but you don’t need to focus on everyone elses drama. Paul says, your daily life wins the respect of outsiders. It’s not the big displays of charity. It’s not the big break, it’s the daily grind. He said you should work with your hands so you don’t rely on anyone else or are dependent on others. There’s no shame in asking for help when you need it, but your goal should be not to be dependent on anyone. Dependency has a way of adding complexity to relationships. In Proverbs 22:7 the bible says that ‘the Rich rule over the Poor, the borrower is servant to the lender.’ The borrower is servant to the lender. The debtor is enslaved to the creditor. Once you owe money to someone, you are kind of owned by them to an extent. When you rely on another person to supply some need or want, or owe somebody a debt, you can be bent and your moral scruples tend to take a second place to getting along with the guy you need to get along with, whether it’s the person you owe money to, or the person you are counting on to let you borrow something. All of a sudden, if you see an injustice or disobedience toward God’s laws, you might just smile and nod, instead of say, “well I don’t see things that way, because I’m a Christian.” And if you’re are in debt, and you’re stuck paying 10% on a loan, you have no control about where those profits could go. Your creditor could use their wealth towards any evil or anti-christian initiative that your creditor wants to spend their money on. But, in as much as you can live a quiet life, earn your money, spend below your means, and not borrow, that’s better. It’s both good worldly advice, and also good spiritual advice. Now, the last 5 verses of chapter 4 actually are speaking on a whole new topic. Death. I will touch it briefly today, but it does segue into Chapter 5, so next time I will unpack it a bit more.

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. 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.

Apparently there is some confusion among the church members about death. People have different expectations involving Jesus Christ’s return. When does it happen? Are we wasting time here doing other things? If we live until Jesus returns, is that better than if someone else died, but believes? If someone doesn’t make it and dies before they see Jesus comes back, do they miss something? The transition from Life to Death to Resurrection or Eternal Life is very confusing and the idea of it can be troubling. First Paul says, Don’t grieve like the rest of mankind about death. They have no hope, but we have a great hope. To live this mortal life on earth means we will face death, it’s an inevitable conclusion. To many it’s the end, but as Christians we believe that Jesus died and rose again. This is the message we preach every Easter, and is pivotal to understanding the Promises of our reconciliation with God. Jesus’ resurrection gives us proof that Death is not the end. We have a hope in life after death, because Jesus died and rose again, we have confidence that if we share in his death, we can share in his promise of Eternal Life, an eternity in the Presence of God and his Glory, praising him with the angels and the saints, and whosoever believes in Jesus. God will bring with Jesus all those who have fallen asleep, or died, in Jesus. The only requirement is to be in Jesus, to believe that He came and lived a perfectly obedient life, he died the death we deserved, our sin was taken up by him, his righteousness was imputed onto us, and in that identity with the Son, God the Father will forgive us, and bring us to his Glory. Paul says according to the word, people who are left alive until the Return of Christ will not precede those who have already died. The chronology is kind of weird when you switch from the confines of Time to the Eternal. People who have died will precede those who live. I guess the idea of what thing precedes the other thing is only really relevant when Time exists, but probably doesn’t matter as much once you step onto eternity. If God is beyond Time we can all be brought to him in an instant or a twinkling of the eye, which might appear from earth to be different points in a time. Are these simultaneous or hundreds of years apart? The truth is kind of both. It isn’t an either or question.

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.

The Lord himself will come down from heaven. There will be a loud command. The Voice of the Archangel and a trumpet call of God. The Dead in Christ will rise first. In First Corinthians 15:51-53 Paul writes this,

“Listen I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable and we will all be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.”

First corinthians says we will all be changed. We are currently perishable, but we need to be raised imperishable. Because the perishable must clothe itself with imperishable. We need to put on Christ. Death or Coming of the Lord happens fast, in the twinkling of an Eye. This change happens together.

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.

When does this happen? If you’re dead, it will happen immediately after you die, if you’re still alive you’ll be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air. Hundreds of years could be between those who are dead, and those who are still alive at the coming of the Lord, but everyone meets together in the air. I used to read this and think, “well, Paul got it wrong. He thought he would live to see the coming of the lord, but he died too!” But if the dead are raised first, preceding those who are still alive, then he was right, Those who were dead in Paul’s time were raised first, Paul was alive, but his time would come where he would die and in a twinkling of his eye he would change from perishable to imperishable. From Paul’s perspective, he was left on earth and waited to be caught up together with the dead in the clouds. From our perspective, he has been dead in Christ, along with those who preceded him. To us it might seem like they are all waiting for us to meet the Lord in the clouds, but to them, this transition is instantaneous, and will together with us meet the Lord in the Air. Our time will also come, where we will either Die and instantly see the coming of the Lord, or see the coming of the Lord. Those who outlive us by decades or hundreds of years will meet us in the air, also in a twinkling of the eye from our perspective. Paul writes this to encourage them that they will be united with the Lord. We will all meet the lord in the air together. If you are in Christ, and you clothe yourself in the imperishable, then the exact moment you perish, or how long you survive until actually becomes irrelevant, because we all experience the Coming of the Lord, and it will be a time of rejoicing in the Glory of God, and victory over death.