The
Thessalonians Epistles
Walking
in the Will of God
Lesson
VIII
1
Thessalonians 4:1-12
Written:
We
note that often times in his letters Paul will use the word ‘therefore’ (Romans
12:1, 1 Corinthians
One
other observation, a word Paul loved to use is found in the opening verse of
this 4th chapter. The word is
‘beseech’. We have illustrated the
meaning of this word by our own experience.
When Anne and I were married in 1943, we did not have a dishwasher. So dishes had to be washed by hand. My wife never commanded me to wash the
dishes. From the beginning of our
married life she would say, “Lorne, would you like to help me with
the dishes? Loving her as I did, there
was nothing I would like to do more than to please her. In her statement to me she was ‘beseeching’
and not ‘commanding’.
1 Thessalonians 4:1-2
(1) Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort
[you] by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk
and to please God, [so ye] would abound more and more.
(2) For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord
Jesus.
That
was Paul’s approach to the subject of the believer’s walk. In their walk they were to please God. Paul wanted them to know that the commandments
came from the Lord and not from him (1 Thessalonians 4:1-2).
1 Thessalonians 4:3
(3) For this is the will of God, [even] your
sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
2 Peter 1:4
(4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and
precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
1 Peter 4:4
(4) Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with
[them] to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of [you]:
“For
this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from
fornication:”. The Amplified Bible
explains the verse. “The will of God is that you be separated and set apart for
pure and holy living.” Moffatt
translates the word ‘fornication’ to be ‘sexual vice’. In the Bible there seems to be a greater difference
between adultery and fornication than the meaning given in the dictionary. In the Bible fornication involves all sexual
perversion and impurity. Peter calls it
“the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4), from which
the believer has been separated. In
these matters the world thinks it strange that we run not with them …(1 Peter
4:4). We should not expect the world to
understand.
1 Thessalonians 4:4-5
(4) That every one of you should know how to possess his
vessel in sanctification and honour;
(5) Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the
Gentiles which know not God:
The
subject matter of 1 Thessalonians 4:4-5 has certainly not been explained by all
the same way. We believe by keeping in
the context of the entire passage, these verses are teaching a sanctified life
with one’s wife.
There
are reasons for believing that the words “his vessel” refer to a man’s
wife. By way of example the T.C.N.T.
translation reads, “Each of you recognize the duty of taking one woman for his
wife. This will abstain from
fornication. This will sanctify one to
honor his wife.”
1 Peter 3:7
(7) Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with [them] according to
knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being
heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
According
to the Scriptures the husband-wife relationship is very serious.
1 Peter 3:7 “Likewise, husbands,
dwell with them (your wife) according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife,
as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that
your prayers be not hindered.”
Ephesians 5:25, 28, 33
(25) Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved
the church, and gave himself for it;
(28) So ought men to love their wives as their own
bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
(33) Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so
love his wife even as himself; and the wife [see] that she reverence [her]
husband.
Titus 2:4
(4) That they may teach the young women to be sober, to
love their husbands, to love their children,
1 Corinthians 7:2
(2) Nevertheless, [to avoid] fornication, let every man
have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
1 Peter 3:1
(1) Likewise, ye wives, [be] in subjection to your own
husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won
by the conversation of the wives;
Husbands
are commanded to love their wives (Ephesians 5:25, 28, 33). If the husband loves his wife as Christ loved
the Church, the wife will naturally love her husband as she is instructed to do
(Titus 2:4). Husbands are to have their own
wife, and the wife to have her own husband (1 Corinthians 7:2, 1
Peter 3:1). Here we should go back to
the first husband and first wife. Eve
was God’s gift to Adam. Adam could say:
“Eve, you are mine, just mine, all mine.”
There
was no other to have!
For
years my wife wrote letters to me whenever I was away from home on a preaching
mission. The letters would begin with
the words: “My very own dearest darling.”
She felt that I belonged to her and I felt that she belonged to me.
1 Thessalonians 4:6-7
(6) That no [man] go beyond and defraud his brother in
[any] matter: because that the Lord [is] the avenger of all such, as we also
have forewarned you and testified.
(7) For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto
holiness.
Husbands
and wives who are Christians are to remember that they have been called to a
life of holiness. Not only called out of
sin but called into a life of righteousness. (1 Thessalonians 4:7). And such a life and testimony begins at
home. As go our homes so will go our
society.
1 Thessalonians 4:8
(8) He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but
God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
To
reject, disregard this instruction is to despise God; not human rules (1
Thessalonians 4:8). If we had no other
Scripture, this verse alone teaches us the seriousness of same sex marriages,
homosexuality and so on. Such are not
merely rejecting religion or Judeo-Christian tradition, such are rejecting God.
For
Christian believers, there is an added serious note. “(He) hath also given us
his holy Spirit” (verse 8).
Remember: The Bible came from a holy God.
It came by the work of the holy Spirit; by the hands of holy men, for the purpose of producing holiness (which is spiritual health) in the
lives of holy, that is, set-apart people.
1 Peter 3:8
(8) Finally, [be ye] all of one mind, having compassion
one of another, love as brethren, [be] pitiful, [be] courteous:
As
touching brotherly love (including love for one’s wife) we are taught of God to
love one another. “To have compassion
one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful and courteous.”(1 Peter 3:8). If a husband does not show courtesy to his
wife he has lost the right to be courteous to another man’s wife. At weddings we instruct bridegrooms that they
have no right to open a car door for another man’s wife if they do not first do
so for their own bride.
1 Thessalonians 4:9-11
(9) But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I
write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
(10) And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which
are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and
more;
(11) And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own
business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
Once
again Paul uses the word ‘beseech’. In
verse 10 we read “…but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and
more, in love for one another.” Furthermore
he instructs them to “study to be quiet, to do their own business, and work
with their own hands…”, “endeavoring to live quietly” (Moffatt) and “to be
attending to your own affairs and be busy at work.” (RHM)
Paul
warned of those who if idle would be tattlers and busybodies, speaking things
which they ought naught (1 Timothy 5:12).
A very sobering statement is found in Ezekiel 16:49, “Behold, this was
the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of
idleness….”
1 Timothy 5:12
(12) Having damnation, because they have cast off their
first faith.
Ezekiel 16:49
(49) Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom,
pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her
daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
The
worst kind of crimes (I speak as a man) have been and are being committed by
young men and women who are well to do.
Having been born into rich families, they have nothing to do and thus
have abundance of idleness. The
situation does not support the lie that poverty is the cause of all crime!
1 Thessalonians 4:12
(12) That ye may walk honestly toward them that are
without, and [that] ye may have lack of nothing.
Finally,
Paul instructs the Thessalonians to “walk honestly toward them that are
without”.
Integrity
of those in public ministry is a must.
Integrity in life should be the mark of every Christian.
Romans 13:8
(8) Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he
that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Philippians 4:11
(11) Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have
learned, in whatsoever state I am, [therewith] to be content.
Hebrews 13:5
(5) [Let your] conversation be without covetousness; [and
be] content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee.
Christians
should avoid debt (Romans 13:8) and learn to be content (Philippians 4:11;
Hebrews 13:5).
According
to the Bible it takes very little of this world’s goods to bring contentment.
1 Timothy 6:8
(8) And having food and raiment let us be therewith
content.
1 Timothy 6:6
(6) But godliness with contentment is great gain.
All
that is needed is food and clothing (1 Timothy 6:8), remembering that “godliness
with contentment is great gain.”(1 Timothy 6:6).