Living To Please God

Introduction

The beginnings of the church in Thessalonica do not appear to be promising at first glance. In Acts chapter 17, as that church is established during Paul’s journey, as they came to Thessalonica, and he, according to his custom, on Sabbaths, would begin reasoning about Jesus in the synagogues or among the people. He explained and gave evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, saying, This Jesus who I am proclaiming to you is the Christ. And I would just say briefly about verse 3 that’s what we’re all about. That’s why we’re here today. The very things that Paul proclaimed at Thessalonica two millennia ago are still the essential things that are the basis of all that we’re about, that Christ suffered, that he rose again from the dead, and he is indeed the Messiah, the Christ, that the Old Testament had appointed had pointed to.

And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with the great multitude of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women. Women who were prominent in the society of Thessalonica, many of them. But the Jews, and I love how Luke says, just like they were of Jesus, becoming jealous, and taking along some wicked men. Oh, that’s okay. We’ll use wicked men and we’ll make a commotion. And they took these wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob. You know, God’s always like that, forming a mob. And setting the city in an uproar, and coming upon the house of Jason. We don’t know much about this character, other than the fact that he was a saint among those in Thessalonica. And they were seeking to bring them out to the people.

And when they did not find them, Paul and Silas were not with Jason at the moment. They began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, These men who have upset the world, have come here also. It’s an upsetting that the world needed. And Jason, that culprit that he is, he welcomed them. And they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, which was of course a lie, saying that there is another king, Jesus. Oh, yes, there is another king, but his kingdom has little to do with Caesar’s kingdom. It’s certainly not a rival kingdom in terms of earthly government. Jesus’ kingdom is of a spiritual nature, as he said before Pilate, but anything will do if you need a charge. And they stirred up the crowd in the city authorities who heard these things, and so Jason offers a pledge, and they released them.

And immediately things were so stirred up in Thessalonica that Paul and Silas are sent away quickly to Berea. Oh, the Bereans, we know this verse, right? These were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica. For they received the word with great eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see whether those things are so. We might know more about the Bereans because of that off-quoted verse, Acts 17 and verse 11, and how much noble minded, much more noble minded they were than those in Thessalonica because they received the word with eagerness and searched those things to see whether they be so. You’ve heard that verse so many times. But not everybody in Thessalonica was a spiritual failure, as we’ve already read about Jason and some of the brethren and some of the leading women and God honoring Greeks who had embraced the message in Thessalonica.

And so it might be a little surprising as we move onward in the New Testament story that among Paul’s letters with a personal tone, that one of the most glowing epistles in the New Testament is the one written to the church in Thessalonica. 1 Thessalonians. What a wonderful message. The surpassing greatness of the things that God has done has led to an extraordinary response, not whole scale like we see in Berea, not the amount of people perhaps that we see in Berea, but it has received a glowing, extraordinary response among these saints. That Paul was with for only a brief time, it appears in the city of Thessalonica. And so this message begins, and I want to start in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. I don’t want to read every verse of this because we’re going to be drawing our attention to several verses later.

Silas and Timothy are with Paul as he writes this letter to the church, and he thanks God always for them as he does the Philippians. And he constantly says, bears in mind their work of faith, verse 3, the labor of love, and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father. I want you to focus on this verse, underline it, circle it, pay attention to it. Notice that a relationship with Jesus Christ, that being in Christ should eventuate in three things the work of faith, the labor of love, and the steadfastness of hope. And all of these things are to be pursued in the presence or in the sight or on the basis of our relationship with God the Father as well as his Son.

Knowing brethren, beloved by God, his choice of you. If the Decker Prairie Church is indeed the people of the Lord, if you are indeed in Christ, understand that it is by his choice that we are so, as he chose those in Thessalonica, as those who had the kinds of hearts that would submit to him. If we are those people, remember that we are his chosen, a chosen race, 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, he says, but in power and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction. And you knew what kind of men we live what we preach. You knew what kind of men we proved to be among you. And you became imitators of us, he says, of those brethren in Thessalonica.

And you became an example to believers in Macedonia and Achaea. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you. Not only in those places, but also in every place. You know, people are talking about those brethren of Thessalonics. You know where they had all the trouble. They had to send them away, and the gospel was more readily received in Berea, more noble-minded as a city goes. But these brethren in Thessalonica, their faith has sounded forth beyond even Macedonian and Achaia without Facebook. Beyond Macedonian and Achaia. And in every place, your faith has gone forth so that we have no need to say anything. Isn’t that great to write a letter to a people that are doing so well? You don’t have any rebuke of any kind to offer.

For they themselves, the testimony about you comes from other people. They themselves report about us what a kind, what kind of a reception we had with you. How you turn to God from idols to serve a living and true God. And to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Remember, I said I’m going to say more about wrath in an upcoming sermon. There it is right there. The wrath is coming. It hasn’t come yet, but it’s coming. He delivers us from the wrath to come. Oddly enough, this sermon only has two points. Don’t do that very often. But this lesson has two points, quite a few subpoints, not under point number one, but point number two.

1. The Twice Repeated Phrase: Excel Still More

But point number one is simply this. It’s called the twice repeated phrase. Point number one, the twice repeated phrase. Just as I repeated that twice. And the phrase is found in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. As he begins this glowing epistle with these glowing remarks about these brethren in Thessalonica, he has no need to say anything to them. So when he comes to chapter 4, he says, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, on the basis of our relationship with him and his authority, that as you receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God, just as you actually do walk, that you may excel still more. In verse 10, as he talks about love of the brethren, as we’ll get to momentarily as they practice it toward all the brethren who were in all Macedonia, but we urge you, brethren, he says, to excel still more.

Considering the awesome God and Savior and the awesome things in which they are partaking, their response to the gospel was only fitting. But it was no reason to rest on their laurels or to become complacent. Complacent churches, complacent Christians, are an indication of spiritual stagnation and decline. And we should never plateau or become satisfied with the progress we’ve made, the things we have learned, or the church that we enjoy. There are yet more souls to be saved. There are more battles to be won. There are yet others to be served. And so he tells them, excel still more. It is much like, though not having the personal tone, say of Philippians or Thessalonians, it is much like Ephesians 1, verses 18 and 19, when he says of the church in Ephesus, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of his calling.

It’s not that their eyes had never been enlightened to that fact. But he wants them to stay enlightened or to become more enlightened. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling. What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? And I’ll tell you, we lose sight of that. We become complacent and sluggish and plateau when our enlightenment fails. And we fail to grasp the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe. We do not preach ourselves, Paul tells the church at Corinth. But Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as bond servants for his sake.

This is the response of one whose eyes are enlightened. It’s not about us, it’s about the Lord. We’re just merely his bondservants, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not of ourselves. Whatever the Thessalonians were able to accomplish, it was by the greatness of God and the power of God that he was able to use them, and may their hearts be enlightened to that. You know, Paul mentioned the surpassing greatness of the revelations that were given to him. And I bring your attention to all of that as we talk about the surpassing greatness of the things God has done in the Thessalonians. Because we lose our enlightenment often because we fail to be impressed as much as we should be.

2. With a Great Calling Comes Great Responsibility

Because I think one of the things that we struggle with is losing our grasp, our enlightenment of how awesome these things are in which we are engaged. I think people stop being impressed. We become a lot more impressed with far inferior things. And so impressed with them and so enthralled in them that we lose our enlightenment. And what are the riches of his glory in his inheritance among the saints? What he has done to redeem us from the pit, to bring us to salvation and glory in him to be his people, to be his special people. May we never fail to be impressed by that. Stay impressed. The second point this morning has to do with the fact of this surpassing greatness. And that with a great calling, with a great calling comes great responsibility.

Understanding our great calling invokes a great responsibility upon us. And a great response like we see among the Thessalonians should be expected in us as we strive. Therefore, as they did to live pleasing to God. Do you see that in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 1? Finally, then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God, just as you actually do walk, that you may excel still more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus, for this is the will of God. And I have that underlined in my Bible. And by the way, it’s okay to write in your Bible.

I have that phrase underlined in my Bible, or underline it on your iPad. For this is the will of God. When you see that in Scripture, for this is the will of God, you need to pay attention. With a great calling comes great responsibility. And what word follows that? For this is the will of God, he says, your sanctification. If you’re going to sum up the right, appropriate, God honoring, God pleasing response, this is the will of God. One word does it sanctification. It’s a big word. It just means that God has set us apart for a specific purpose. It’s the same concept or a synonym to the word saint. Or what we sung in that song that Ed did a good job of singing songs applicable to the lesson.

Be holy to the Lord. And all the wonderful sentiments of that song. Reverend. All the things that psalm says. Sanctification set apart. And of course, underlying that would be stay away from sexual impurity. And he mentions that specifically. He says, Abstain from sexual immorality. Know how. Know how. This isn’t, this doesn’t come naturally. This is not a go with the flow response. I can be like everybody else. I’ve got to learn something. I’ve got to figure this out. I’ve got to make some plans. I’ve got to work toward this. I’ve got to know how to possess my vessel in honor. The body is not for immorality, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, but it is for the Lord. We’ve got to know how to possess our vessels in honor.

It’s a high calling. And with a great calling comes great responsibility. And just so we don’t miss it, he says it again. And we saw this last week in the awake passage of Romans 13. It’s time to wake up. Not this. This isn’t awake. Lustful passion or impurity. So abstain from sexual immorality. Possess your own vessel in honor, not in lustful passion or impurity. And like we talked about last week, it’s the temple concept that we read about in the New Testament. No, we’re not buildings. I don’t know. I sort of feel like I’m the size of a building right now. After all this eating we’ve been doing, please let the food stop. Too much of a good thing is not good. Temple. We’re the temple of God.

We’ve got to keep that ever before our minds. Holy to the Lord. And the second thing that he says, this great calling involves great responsibility. Interestingly enough, he talks about love of the brethren. As he goes on to say, don’t transgress and defraud your brother. And I’ll tell you this, the Lord’s going to avenge those things. Just as we told you before, he says in verse 6. For God is not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. He goes back to that concept. If you reject this, you’re rejecting the Holy Spirit. And then he says, now, verse 9, as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.

And that goes back to Romans 12, some passages we looked at last week. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. For indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, excel still more. And I just want to make these passing observations about this second major point of this is the will of God for us sanctification, love of the brethren. We need to set our hearts to these things because great calling involves great responsibility. What are these passages saying? What is this concept saying to us? Instead of being self-serving, thinking about, think about something that you can do to help your brother along the way. Of all the resolutions people have in the new year about weight loss, as Charles brought our attention to on Wednesday night.

How about a resolution of service? I’m going to choose. How about this? I’m going to choose one person every week to be a recipient of an act of service by me. If not every day, but I’m going to choose one person. And I’m going to serve them. And we have all these wonderful mediums at our disposal. I mean, we have social media. We have text messages. There’s the old phone we could use. Or even better yet, a personal visit.

A card we can write. A word of cheer that we can bring. An interest in someone else. It was during a gospel meeting, and I was visiting in a nursing home with some of the brethren, perhaps the elders, and I can’t remember if Sherry was with me. I think she might have been. But there were several of us in the room already, and here comes Beboping in one of the young sisters of the congregation who had three little girls, I believe it was, three little girls. And here they Sherry was with me. I think I thought I remembered her being there. This woman comes in with these three little girls, and the elder lady, elder lady lying in the bed, she just lit up. Here this woman came with these three little girls to cheer her up.

And the presence of those kids meant the world.

That’s not that hard to do. But what an impression it left on me that day. You know, the more we focus on others, the less focused we’ll be on ourselves.

Let me ask you. Who have you served lately? Be specific.

Name one person that you serve. I know we serve in our homes, and that’s that’s the fundamental place of service. At least it ought to be. Serving the people in our household. But who have you served beyond that? Who specifically have you encouraged? Excel still more. Alright, now we come to the last two verses of this section, and I think they contain some simple instruction that we might tend to overlook. He says, first, to live quietly. As he says, to excel still more and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. No doubt that is said in contrast to riotous living. Lives that are unquiet, boisterous, partying, and the kinds of things that we talked about in Romans 13 or in 1 Peter chapter 4, the banquetings, and the things associated with the consumption of alcohol.

He says, lead a quiet life. He secondly says, attend to your own business, or the ESV says, mind your own affairs. Don’t be a busybody in other people’s concerns and try to run everybody else’s life. You make sure you run your life well. Attend or mind your own affairs. It’s the idea of Galatians 6 and verse 5, as we are to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ, Galatians 6 and verse 2. Three verses later it says, but each man must bear his own load. We each have our own responsibilities that I can’t bear for you, and you can’t bear for me. And we need to make sure we attend to those things. Mind your own affairs. Thirdly, he says, work with your hands.

Boy, that’s a hard one to figure out, isn’t it? That’s pretty simple. Don’t be lazy. Don’t be a sloth. Do we get that? Not this. Sloths are so cute. But they’re lazy. We live in a time when people want to get paid, but they don’t want to work. You seen that?

I found this article this week by Nando Pelusi. What a name. Nando Pelusi, PhD. Wrote in Psychology Today in 2007 an article entitled The Lure of Laziness. Listen to this. We’re built to slack off. Now, God didn’t build us that way, but our society is building us that way. We’re built to slack off, but we can fight our biased belief that life should be easy and rewards must be immediate. You know, that’s where people are. My life should be easy. Rewards ought to be right now. He says, in the grand scheme of things, we’re all members of the leisure class now. No matter how hard you work, and I’m sure you work hard. You’ve likely got it better than any generation in the history of mankind.

He says, accomplishing practically anything today means overcoming the need for instant gratification. And questioning the idea that a task will be excessively painful. The rewards of getting what you want in the long run make the present moment hassles worth enduring. Of course, you risk an infinite regress in getting lazy and fighting laziness. Not to worry. You can start to work at any time. Instant reward is the default setting of the brain. But we like ourselves better when we tackle unpleasant tasks. That’s a synopsis of what he said, but I like that. That’s what we need to hear. And he offers some simple suggestions which are so biblical. Like he says, start small. Is it really that hard to just spend 15 minutes? And I think about prayer.

Is it really so hard to carve out 15 minutes for prayer? Or 15 minutes for Bible study, or 15 minutes for meditation about the Word of God. He says, start small. Challenge yourself, he says. Dispute the idea that you can’t do it. Often we learn by trial and error. And if you take a long range view instead of that instant gratification thing, you’ll find that you can do something difficult. He says, keep tabs. Monitor your progress. Commit to others. Once you make a public announcement, you’ll sort of be committed. I don’t mean everybody come forward and make a public announcement this morning about what the things they’re committed to do, but maybe we need to do that. But he’s just saying, let somebody know what you intend to do.

That’ll help you in making progress. And he says, accept incremental progress and dispute the idea that you need comfort and immediate reward. Getting rid of these ideas can refocus you on the long-term goal. And then he said, reward yourself. Relaxation differs from laziness, and that is a reward for a completed task. Let yourself relax after a period of sustained effort. We want a period of sustained rest and then maybe a little work. But he says, let rest be a reward for a period of sustained labor. And I think that’s what Paul is saying. Stay busy. Work with your hands, don’t be lazy. There’s something about work that we need. Behave properly toward outsiders. The ESD uses the word walk. And that speaks of a constant progression of steps in a certain direction or for a purpose.

Walk worthy of the vocation, as we’ve read many times in Ephesians 4 and verse 1. Walk with wisdom toward outsiders. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, as it were, that you may know how to respond to each one. Walk with wisdom toward outsiders. What does that mean? Boy, this is a lot. Live quietly, mind your own affairs, work with your hands, and watch the way you’re interacting with other people. That’s that golden rule comment we looked at last Lord’s Day evening, Matthew 7 and verse 12. This person I’m coming in contact with today has you would have them treat you, so treat them. Walk with wisdom toward them. Let all that you do be done in love. Love is kind. 1 Corinthians 13 and verse 14.

And then he says, To not be any need, to be dependent on no one. That goes back again to what we saw in Romans 13 last week. Oh no man anything. He says, take care of business. Oh, there are sometimes the things are greater than us. I understand that. But the things that you can take care of, instead of saying, I want everybody to serve me and take care of me. As much as you can, take care of your own business, he says. Be dependent upon no one. He understands that we need to serve each other. We need to help each other and bear one another’s burdens. But he’s also saying, don’t just sit there and do nothing and let everybody else do it all. Be dependent upon no one.

Conclusion

Take care of your business. All of these things. Under the head of a great calling involves great responsibility. And so when I think about the surpassing greatness of the things that we’re involved in and how we need to be impressed with that, and these things that we’re challenged to do and to excel still more in doing.

The upward call of God, he says, in Christ Jesus. And what did he say? He said, I press toward the mark or for the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Our call is an upward call. Paul says, I press. I give effort to excel still more. I give effort to end diligence in the direction of the goal because the prize awaits the obtaining of the ultimate goal and reward. But remember that this prize is reserved for those who are in Christ Jesus. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17. Are you in a right relationship with the Lord? Have you responded to his will first in forsaking the paths of sin and becoming that sanctified person, that holy person to the Lord.

Have you died with him and arisen to walk in newness of life with him? And are you now walking the path of the upward call of God? Are you pressing on the path?

I think at one time most believers in Christ began by pressing. As Jesus spoke of the coming kingdom, he said, everyone is forcing his way into it. Luke 16 and verse 16. There is an urgency, a desire, a motivation that brings people in the Lord. But we’ve got to maintain that pressing posture. That zeal, that diligence, that desire to excel even more. Not because we’re meriting salvation or earning our way to heaven, but because our Lord deserves that kind of response. Our gratitude ought to fuel it. The twice repeated phrase. Excel still more. The great calling that involves great responsibility, sanctification, love the brethren, then all of those things that flow out in verses 11 and verse 12. Are you pressing? Toward the mark. For the prize, toward the goal.

And can we assist you in making that great decision and making that the great course of your life? If you need to respond, come now as we stand and sing.