Day 39
1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 NIV
1 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. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;4 that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable,5 not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God;6 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.7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
9 Now about brotherly love 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 the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more. 11 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to 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.
A life pleasing to God!!!
"Finally, brothers, we instruct you how to live in order to please God!" Wow, what a daunting task. How can I live in a way pleasing to God? Paul proceeds with what is a pleasing or sanctified life; avoid sexual immorality, learn to control your body, do not walk after the lust of the flesh, don't wrong or take advantage of your brother, lead a quiet life, and to mind your own business. This is quite a list but it is only a list, this isn't a how to but rather a what to do. Paul began with this is how to live in order to please God not here is what you need to do in order to please God. See we cannot instruct one another in living a holy life because none of us of our own accord accomplish this. It is only when we live in Christ that we are holy or that we can walk in holiness. Paul is referring here to sanctification but he isn't talking about a one time experience with God that causes us to be holy, he is speaking of a life of commitment to God and obedience to Him. Paul goes on to say you are not trying to live out my ideal Christian life but rather the life the Holy Spirit would instruct you to lead. They are warned not to neglect the instruction of the Lord through the Holy Spirit. I once worked with a woman who had been involved in a multitude of sins. Many of us would have met her and deemed her hopeless. She was a meth addict, lived with a man who was not her husband, and on and on. The list is far to long to recount. There were those around us who wanted to correct her and change her but God continued to say allow Me time to work in her life. She came to church and we laid hands on her and prayed and she was instantly delivered from her drug addiction, what a miracle it was. There were still those around who were pressing me to challenge the other issues in her life but I was resigned to leave her in the hands of God who was surely working in her life. After about two weeks she called and acknowledged that God (through the Holy Spirit) was dealing with her about living with a man who was not her husband. That next weekend we helped her move out of that home. It was like this over and over we simply stepped back and watched as God transformed this hungry believer. The thing I want to point out is this, God didn't love her anymore after her deliverance than before. God simply honored her hunger for change and made it possible for her. We could have taken a legalistic approach and given her a list of how we felt she should live but this would not have provided for her deliverance, God has a better way. I have learned that hungry people obey God the bible says "they that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled", most of the time we are little more than spectators to what God is doing. Oh yes, we pray and seek God we teach and preach, we serve as we are led but ultimately it is God who changes individuals into His pleasure. I simply love watching God at work in a hungry, desperate life, it is a beautiful thing. So in review our job is to preach the hope of Jesus Christ and pray for those who don't know Him but it is God's job to change people and He will do so when we commit individuals into His care. He will do it His way in His time and we cannot manipulate this process. Enjoy the view and do your job! Are you doing your job or are you trying to get into God's business? Paul instructed these people in how to live a please life but he also knew that it was God who changed his heart and God would have to change these submitted believers. This way if someone isn't changed we are not responsible all we can do is communicate the hope of Christ and there level of hunger and faith will determine how much they are changed by the transforming power of a loving Father in heaven. Are you pleasing God? Are you still hungry for Him? When your hunger subsides you will cease to change in other words as long as we hunger and thirst we will continually be filled but when that stops we cease to grow. Examine your life, are you growing?
Blessings,
Pastor Larry
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