Living Quiet Lives of Holiness

More and More Sanctified

(1 Thessalonians 4:1-12, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, November 3, 2013)

[4:1] 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.

In the remainder of this brief letter, the Apostle Paul is urging the young church in Thessalonica to devote themselves to pleasing God in light of the approaching Day of the Lord. The details of that day are discussed in some of the passages that we will read in coming weeks.

Today, God wants us to do something “more and more,” just as he wanted the Thessalonians to do more and more. They were already living life as followers of Jesus, but they needed to keep on going further in that way. The world that they lived in was in many ways different than our modern world. Yet in some ways, life in the Greek and Roman culture of the 1^st century was similar to what life all over the world has become in our generation. They lived in a society that had embraced a freedom of sexual life and a liberty of recreation and ease that was against God's Law and was ripping apart the fabric of their societies.

Their immorality and laziness had led to instability as will always be the case. The church is supposed to know this, to see it, and then to respond to it. When people do not live to please God, the judgment of the Lord is very near. The church is uniquely equipped by God to understand this, and to act in accord with the Lord's will. The very first response that we need to have to impending societal destruction according to what Paul says here, is for each of us individually and together as a church to devote ourselves more and more to pleasing God.

[2] For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. [3] For this is the will of God, your sanctification:

God's will for our lives can be summed up in one word: “sanctification.” This word has to do not only with an inner holiness of heart but also with an outward reformation of behavior which is called “righteousness,” not to be confused with self-righteousness. It is so important that we who know the Lord and who have the Scriptures dedicate our lives to God's will, which is our sanctification. It is not being legalistic or ingrown to concern ourselves with sanctification, it is a prerequisite for our usefulness in a confused, needy, and rebellious world.

that you abstain from sexual immorality; [4] that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, [5] not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; [6] that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

Sanctification is not just general, it is very specific. Paul focuses on two very important specifics in the verses that remain in this passage. The first of the two topics is sexuality.

One of the best passages in the Bible to correct our confusion about sexuality comes from the lips of Jesus in Matthew 19:4-6. The church needs to recover these three verses and the wonderful Christian tradition that was birthed by them, culminating in the customs by which we celebrate weddings. Our Lord was responding to a question regarding divorce, but rather than addressing only that plague, he gave the positive general teaching that shows us the right way of sanctification in all matters of intimate sexuality: “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh'? What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” If the church would take this passage more seriously, we would have the answer to the sexual confusion that is troubling us so much at present. Combine that with what the Bible teaches about singleness in places like 1 Corinthians 7 and we have a compassionate and holy word for a dark age. But we lose the right to offer that compassionate clarity if we are not pursuing sexuality purity more and more ourselves.

We do need to speak. We have something clear and good to say about sexual ethics. Confusion about the plain Word of Jesus about sexuality is not compassion, it is just more confusion in a sea of cloudiness that is all around us. The Gentiles all around the church in Thessalonica had their own ways of pursuing the satisfaction of their desires. The church was not to follow them but Jesus. How did Jesus pursue His bride? With self-control, holiness, and the honor of the cross. We will see with our own eyes how right He was when He comes with His beautiful bride on the Day of the Lord. We who have believed in Him and who follow His lead are part of that bride. We are vessels of His good seed from heaven. We need to repent of all sexual immorality, and we need to recover the substance behind our good marriage ceremonies, respecting individuals, families, communities, and the church. This is our sanctification.

[7] For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. [8] Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.We cannot claim to love Christ and His cross and then surrender to personal impurity without a fight. Jesus calls us to holiness. That is not harsh. It is part of the good news. If we disregard the ethical elements of the gospel then we disregard not man but God. God considers our progress in sanctification more than a good idea. That is one of the reasons He has given us His Holy Spirit.

[9] Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, [10] for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, [11] and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, [12] so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.The general word of sanctification is this: “Love like Jesus loved, and do so more and more.” That love is expressed in the specifics of sanctification. The second specific in this passage has to do with honest and quiet work. Here again the Roman and Greek world had given into their increasing desires for ease, entertainment, and fame. Sanctification required a new work ethic.

Jesus was a worker, and He calls us to the joy of meaningful labor in a world where everything is falling apart. Work here is a training ground for more joyful work in the new world of the resurrection, where good work lasts forever. We can make it our ambition to live a quiet life of service, minding our own business, and working with our hands in what God has called us to do.

Work is what Jesus did in His great ministry and look at what He accomplished! He calls us to follow Him in this simple detail of life. Do we need to be celebrities in order to feel like people of value? Isn't it enough to be children of God? If it is enough to have the unstoppable love of God, then we can do the tasks that our Lord has appointed for us with joy. This is your first step of evangelism. Walk properly before outsiders, working hard in what the Lord has for you every day, and being dependent on no one. And when someone does need help, we should care for one another as Christ has cared for us. This is the will of God for us—the specifics of sanctification. With Christ, specific personal change is possible. Let us pursue what is holy more and more.

We live to please our God

And serve Him more and more,

In quiet lives of holiness

For Him whom we adore.