STANDING FIRM: Living to Please God (1 Thessalonians 4:1-12)

Summary: In these passages the Apostle Paul encourages the Thessalonians to strive to live a life that aligns with God’s standards, focusing on sexual purity, brotherly love and respect for daily responsibilities which all contribute to a community that reflects God’s Glory.

We often find ourselves questioning our life’s path and trying to discern God’s Will for our lives.

While desperately seeking answers, we fail to see that God has already revealed HIS WILL.

God’s Will for our lives is Sanctification!!

Definition: Sanctification encompasses the progressive transformation of believers toward holiness.

We should steadily be advancing on a journey that sets us apart. Allowing our daily actions and conduct to lead us toward our PATH TO TRUE PURPOSE.

#1) Holiness Is God’s Will (1 Thessalonians 4:1-3)

Paul encourages the Thessalonians to continue growing in their pursuit of a life that pleases God, building on what they had already begun practicing.

Paul shifts from narrative to instruction, reminding the church of the principles previously established through the AUTHORITY of Jesus Christ,

Gods’ Will for their lives, CENTERS on their Sanctification.

Greek Word:  Hagiasmos (ἁγιασμός) refers to sanctification or holiness

Sanctification “Holiness” Is AN Action, Not Just a Position

• To Be “Set Apart”: It derives from the root hagios (meaning “holy”), implying that a person is completely removed from common worldly things and consecrated to God.
• Purification: Describes a lifelong spiritual process where a believer is progressively transformed by the Holy Spirit into the image of Christ.
• Position and Pursuit: In scripture, hagiasmos is treated both as a position given by God (“you are holy”) and a lifestyle that believers must actively pursue (“live holy”).

Scripture:

John 17:16-18, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself that they too may be truly sanctified.”

Hebrews 10:10, “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

1 Peter 1:14-16, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written: Be holy, because I am holy.”

Ephesians 1:4, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”

This instruction is the backbone of Paul’s message. To be set apart for God, means to walk in a way that matches the IDENTITY you have been given.

Illustration: Soldier in Uniform

When a soldier joins the Army, they do not simply add a job to their life. They Adopt an Identity.

Sanctification works in the same way. You have been given an IDENTITY in Christ.

Isaiah 61:10 “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness”

Reflection: Where in your life is there a gap between your identity in Christ and your actual conduct?

#2) Holiness is Not Vague – It Gets Specific (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8)

Self-examination: Am I honoring God with my body?

Background: For the Thessalonians, this new concept of sexual purity was an adjustment that they had to learn.

These verses speak of people who KNOW GOD and the ones WHO DO NOT KNOW GOD.

• Sexual sin was a characteristic of the Gentiles who did not know God.
• Implying then, to act in sexual immorality is to act as though you do not know God.

Verse 8 Whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20, “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.

God has given us our bodies with added responsibility. TO CARE FOR OUR BODIES!

It is our responsibility that we break out of habits or norms that are culturally or traditionally accepted that do not align with God.

Reflection: What does your sexual conduct reveal about your knowledge of and your relationship with God?

#3) Holiness Extends into Every Aspect of Life (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12)

Instructions for Practicalities of Daily Life.

• Aspire to live quietly
• Mind your own affairs
• Work with your hands

These directives were to address a problem in the Thessalonian church. Some church members had an eschatological misunderstanding of their newfound Faith.

They concluded that if Christ was returning soon, then ordinary life no longer mattered and so some had stopped working.

Paul urged that the return of Christ does not make ordinary life irrelevant. It makes it more urgent.

The challenge to integrate faith into every aspect of their lives should also challenge us today.

Ephesians 4:12, “To equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up”

Ephesians 4:28, “Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.”

Colossians 3:23-24, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

John 14:2, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?”

Final Reflection: What does holiness look like in your most ordinary responsibilities in any given day?

• Your work ethic
• Your finances
• Your behavior

Good News is that we are not doing this alone.

The Holy Spirit who lives in us will Guide Us. God has called us to holiness and gave us the one who makes holiness possible.

So that we can STAND FIRM and unite in like mind and action for those whom we are supposed to reach.