1 Thessalonians Love

I get so much joy from my kids, especially when I see them working together.

There's nothing like seeing Isaac playing with Micah, building a tower that they then

smash together, seeing Tamara make Micah laugh.

My children have this amazing ability to bring so much pleasure to me.

There is something profound when all the guidance, all the teaching, all the no, don't hit

her, use gentle hands, something profound when it all comes together.

I suppose because I know how beautiful they can play and share and love each other, it

makes me so frustrated when it's not ideal.

When they are as good as they can sometimes be, it's amazing, but when they're not, it's

tough when they don't obey and hurt each other, when all it seems to be is conflict and self-centeredness.

I wonder what God thinks when he looks at us.

Do you think he finds joy in us?

Do we please him?

Or is he just as frustrated that we are not living as we should, angry that we can't play

together nicely?

Is that all God sees?

Christians believe that they are justified and forgiven by God's grace in Jesus' death and

resurrection.

But is that all that it is to the Christian relationship with God?

Is he just a judge who forgives our crimes?

We're saved by his grace and sanctified and he sanctifies us to fit his heaven and now we

work hard to obey?

Is that all the relationship with God is?

It seems a bit transactional.

God loves us.

He gives us his grace and we obey him.

Is there anything that we do to please God?

Is there anything we can do to please him?

Today we're continuing looking at the book of 1 Thessalonians, standing firm in faith, hope

and love.

And today we're looking at issues of holiness.

We're looking at issues of sexual purity and loving one another.

key issues for the church and for the Christian.

And in light of these issues of obedience, we're going to see whether there is anything

we can do to bring joy and to please our Heavenly Father.

So as we have a look at this passage, I'm going to pray for us.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that we can indeed call you Father.

Father, and as we look at your word this morning, help us to know you better and to know how

we can please you.

Amen.

So as we've seen over the last couple of weeks, Paul and Silas were in Thessalonica, likely

for a couple of months before they were chased out by a mob of Jews.

And Paul has received word about how this new church was going.

And he spent the first half of the letter celebrating the church and what God was doing in them

and through them.

And he's explaining and defending his motivations for coming.

But now Paul turns to issues within the church.

Everything seems to have been going well, but Paul still needs to address a couple of issues.

And so he begins this with a section of prayer that shows us what he is going to talk about

over the next couple of chapters.

From verse 11 of chapter 3.

Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you.

May the Lord make your love increase and flow for each other and for everyone else, just

as ours does for you.

May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our

God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

So he mentions three things in particular.

I want you to increase in love.

I want you to strengthen your hearts, particularly in view of holiness.

And I want you to hope, keep hoping that Jesus will return.

Faith, hope and love.

It's the three themes of the letter.

We saw it at the start.

It's here again in the very middle of the letter.

And now it's the themes for the last couple of chapters of the book.

They have heard the message of adoption, of acceptance, forgiveness, all by God's radical

generosity.

They've heard the message of faith in Jesus, of hoping in his return and loving one another,

which he reminds them of.

Not only does Paul remind them of how they are to live, Paul has some amazing news for

them.

Chapter 4, verse 1.

As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please

God, as in fact you are now living.

Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.

For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

The church was instructed how to live, how to live in order to please God.

And not only have these people been saved by Jesus, they're being sanctified, they're taking

off their old way of life, being changed, but it actually pleases God.

And it's not some impossibility, as it says, we instructed you how to live in order to please

God, as in fact you are now living.

They were pleasing God.

The lives that they were living were amazingly pleasing to God.

This is not legalism or a works-based theology that makes God have to forgive us if we obey

Him.

Not at all, but it's a reminder that God is a person.

He thinks, He feels, we please Him and we displease Him moment by moment within His loving,

forgiving hands, inside His fatherly care for all of us.

Through the finished work of Jesus on the cross, the way we are living our lives, the obedience

we do, we have to God, the good deeds we do, it is actually delightful to God.

Maybe you're feeling unsure at this point, because you don't really have a relationship

with God as Father.

Maybe you relate to God as Lord.

He's a God who is very far off.

He is distant.

He's a distant master who doesn't take joy in His servant.

He just expects His servant to obey.

Is God a judge that doesn't find happiness in the fact that the criminal has gotten away

with murder when they're found innocent?

But God is our Father.

Have you ever thought about how your actions, your obedience, could see the infinite God who

made the universe, could actually bring Him joy?

That He sees everything at once, and He sees you, and He takes delight in you, when you choose

to continue to follow Him over other things, over yourself.

What would you do?

How far would you go to please God, to bring God joy?

This made me think of marriage.

When two people get together, their best thoughts are often of trying to make the other person

happy.

You can probably imagine a newlywed couple.

Think of a newlywed couple.

I'm not sure if we have any newlywed couples here.

Is there any newlywed couples here?

Anybody that wants me to use an example of them?

Doran, when you get married, brother, that would be a wonderful thing.

Let's just use two people.

Who can we imagine?

Should we just use Stephen that?

Maybe, maybe not.

Let's just imagine this young married couple.

They're just like puppy dogs.

They're really sweet.

They're so keen and eager to make the other person happy.

They'll do anything for them.

Maybe this was you when you first got married.

Maybe this is still you.

I'm not sure.

One of the things that I do, that I continue to do to bring Alyssa joy, is to deal with

the spiders in our house.

I've never really been a kill spiders kind of guy.

I prefer to take them outside.

I used to be okay that there were spiders because spiders eat flies.

And I don't like flies.

And spiders, they just kind of hang out in the corner.

But Alyssa, she's not a fan of any kind of spider.

And so I had to change.

I changed so I could bring her joy.

Well, less fear, more joy, I suppose.

I changed who I am.

So I became the Spider-Man of the household.

I'll take them out.

I'll gas them.

I'll squash them.

I'll set them on fire.

Whatever it takes to get our house free of spiders.

But there is a truth to this.

We change who we are to bring people joy.

If Alyssa didn't like me having a beard, well, I probably wouldn't have it.

My preference is to have a beard and to have my head bald.

But I don't like having these locks of questionable color.

Somewhere between blonde, brown and red.

But Alyssa likes me having hair.

And so I keep doing that to bring her joy.

Now, we are not married to God.

But we do have a relationship with Him.

The Bible actually describes the church as the bride of Jesus.

Our God has shown His radical love to us.

And so He has the right to say,

This pleases me.

And this doesn't.

I don't like this behavior.

But this is wonderful.

The God who accepts and loves and delights in us,

He is also capable of saying,

We need to sit down and have a talk.

It's time for some serious changes in your life.

And so Paul encourages and urges the church in Thessalonica

to continue to please God more and more.

Particularly, he urges them in faith, hope and love.

And we're going to look at the first two of those,

faith and love.

And next week we'll be looking at hope.

So Paul, when he was with them,

he gave them instructions on sexual purity.

But because it is so important,

he writes to them again.

Chapter 4, verse 3.

Living in this way is both God's will for our life

and it pleases God when we do it.

The kind of, not a little bit of change from,

you know, leaving the dirty clothes on the floor

to putting them in the basket.

This is massive change in the lives of the Thessalonian church.

Paul calls on them to avoid sexual immorality,

not to reduce it,

not to keep a small part of sexual immorality in their lives,

not to keep some hidden deep in our hearts and homes

where no one else sees,

but to avoid sexual immorality,

to abstain from it,

to have control over each of our bodies

in a way that honors and brings pleasure to God,

to show that we are set apart,

that we are holy for Him.

Controlled by our desire to please God

and not please ourselves,

not in passionate lust like the pagans

who don't know God.

Instead, for people that do know God,

that we would have self-control and self-mastery.

The Gentile, the non-Jew,

the members of the Thessalonian church,

would have found it incredibly difficult

to understand how their conversion

to the Christian God

meant that they had to change their behavior

and abandon their pleasures.

You see, the other religions in the area,

with the exception of Judaism,

all of the other religions,

promoted sexual immorality.

The cults of the gods, Dionysus,

Aphrodite, Osiris, and Isis,

they all encouraged sexual license.

Female slaves could be used to satisfy desires.

Prostitutes were at the service of any person.

Sexual immorality on view here

is anything outside of marriage,

and it was easy to access for people in Thessalonica.

And so if you moved from one religion to another religion,

you would continue in those practices.

But moving to Christianity meant radical change.

And Paul gives four motivations to seek sexual purity

on top of seeking to please God.

From verse 6, have a look with me.

And that in this matter,

no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.

The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins,

as we told you and warned you before.

For God did not call us to be impure,

but to live a holy life.

Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction

does not reject a human being,

but God,

the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.

So firstly,

sexual purity is desired

so that no one wrongs a brother or a sister.

Sexual sin was not just a sinful liaison

between two people or alone.

It actually damaged relationship between people

and relationships with God.

It damages existing relationships

between husbands and wives.

It steals what should be kept for marriage

from the marriage bed.

Sexual immorality corrupts the eye

and the heart of the viewer,

leading to damage in later relationships.

And so Paul says,

don't wrong someone else

by sinning sexually.

Secondly,

Paul says that the Lord will punish those

who commit such sins.

Now, this warning wasn't new for the church

because sexual sin

doesn't just damage the community,

it damages the relationship with God.

And God says that he will punish those

who sin.

The third thing,

God called us to be pure.

He called us to himself

to be pure,

to live a holy life.

He didn't call us to himself

to be corrupted.

The question of sexual immorality

is not a question of

what little things can I do,

how far can I go,

what is permissible,

or what can I get away with.

It is purity.

How pure can I be?

And fourthly,

it's not Paul being rejected.

Paul motivates them by saying,

this is the word of God.

If you reject what I say here,

you are rejecting God himself.

These are not man-made words.

These are not words of a culture.

They are not words of a particular time.

It is God

who calls us to be pure.

God's will is that we are to be pure

and holy

and blameless before him.

And when we are,

it pleases God.

Living pure lives

is actually a delight to God.

Have you ever made an omelette before?

Anybody made an omelette?

Did anybody have an omelette for breakfast?

No?

Okay.

I've occasionally made an omelette.

Imagine you're going to make an omelette

for the person you love most in the world.

Let's say I'm making it for James Cason

just because he's right in front of me.

And so I'm making an omelette for James.

And I've got the bacon already chopped.

I've got the cheese,

the chives,

the mushrooms.

James,

anything else you need in there?

Egg.

Okay.

We'll get to the egg.

We'll get there.

Anything else?

Anything else?

Tomato?

Peppers?

Capsicum?

Okay.

Salt and pepper.

Okay.

And of eggs.

Eggs.

Okay.

So I've got the eggs.

I've got six.

Don't worry.

I don't really have eggs.

This is all hypothetical.

And the recipe calls for six eggs.

And so I go to my fridge

and I've only got six eggs left.

This is really good.

This is good.

This is just going to feed James.

James is a very hungry,

growing boy,

isn't he,

mum?

And so,

you know,

six eggs is just going to be good for him.

And this omelette is going to bring

so much joy to James.

And so I crack the first egg

and the second egg

and the third egg

and the fourth egg

and the fifth egg.

And I crack the sixth egg.

Remember,

I need six eggs

or he's going to be hungry

and he's not going to be satisfied.

And it stinks.

It's rotten.

Now,

we don't get too many rotten eggs

these days.

I can't remember the last time

I got a rotten egg was,

but I got it today.

But this recipe calls for six eggs.

So what do I do?

Do I put it in anyway?

Let's put it in anyway.

Because I really want to please James.

I need six eggs.

How much do you think

that little bit of rotten egg

is going to influence the whole?

And so I cook it up.

I present it to James.

And before he can even get his fork into it,

the smell hits him.

It's just awful.

He goes green.

What is this disgusting mess

you've put before me?

He shouts.

Impure.

And he tosses it on the floor.

He's an angry guy.

He's not.

He's not.

He's lovely.

We wouldn't present something like that

to someone we love

to consume,

would we?

And yet we bring bodies and minds

that are far more rotten than an omelette.

And yet we offer them in marriage.

We say,

God,

this is enough for you.

We've been loved by God so much,

and yet we respond by giving him the good parts

mixed with bad,

and we think it's enough.

Brothers and sisters,

God calls you.

God chooses,

and he's called us not to live a life

mixed with good and bad.

God loves you.

Not the good eggs with the rotten eggs,

but to one of purity and holiness,

to be a delight to him.

Now let me encourage you,

even though we have all sinned in many ways,

we have all sinned sexually,

there is no time better

to change our lives,

to live a life pleasing to God.

God,

if you are struggling in this area,

come and talk to me after church.

We can have a good chat over a coffee.

Come and,

if you're a woman and don't want to talk to me,

come and speak to Deb.

Speak with your community group leader.

It is good and right

for God to command us

to obey him with our lives,

to live lives of purity,

and when we do,

they are a delight to God.

And so,

in very similar language

to Paul's encouragement to sexual purity,

he encourages them

to continue to live lives of love.

So,

have a look with me at verse 9,

as we start to have a look

at Paul's call to love.

Verse 9.

Now,

about your love for one another,

we do not need to write to you.

For you yourselves

have been taught by God

to love each other.

And in fact,

you do love

all of God's family

throughout Macedonia.

Yet,

we urge you,

brothers and sisters,

to do so more and more.

And to make it your ambition

to lead a quiet life.

You should mind your own business

and work with your hands,

just as we told you.

So that your daily life

may win the respect of outsiders.

And so that you will not be

dependent on anyone.

So,

Paul encourages

the Thessalonian church

to love,

to love one another.

Not just the people around them,

as they've been doing,

but their love

has actually gone out

into the whole of Macedonia.

And he urges them

to do so more

and more.

Here,

Paul speaks about those

who

should mind their own business

and work with their hands.

Because it appears

that there are those

who had become lazy.

They'd become lazy

for one reason

or another.

And so they'd become

a burden

on their brothers and sisters.

Now remember,

this was a time

before

there was social systems

like ours.

And so,

they didn't have a government

who would

hand out assistance.

There wasn't

a dull system

in those days.

What you had

was family.

You had

your brothers and sisters

in the church.

The burden

would have been

on the family

to provide

for someone

who wasn't working.

The burden

would have been

on the new church family.

And so,

Christians should

either work

or be seeking work.

Now,

Christians,

you're all usually

a nice bunch.

You're a good bunch

of people.

But Paul encourages

everyone

to keep working

with their hands.

Because it would be

very easy

to become a burden

from someone

in the church

to other people.

It's similar

to Paul's comments

on sexual purity.

Brotherly love,

loving others,

is good for the community.

It wins the respect

of outsiders.

And instead of being

dependent on other people,

working means

that they could love

one another.

They could love

those in their church

and they could love

those outside

of the church

throughout Macedonia

as they had been.

It creates a view

that says,

I want to please God

and so I'm not

going to be selfish.

I'm going to please God

with my body

pursuing sexual purity

and I'm not going

to be a burden

on those around me.

Instead,

I want to work

and provide

for those people

around me

because God

has provided for me.

These

are really important

words

for a young

church

in Thessalonica.

He wants

this church

to continue

on for many

years,

to continue

to share

the gospel

of God,

to continue

to grow

and spread,

to continue

to share

the good news

of Jesus.

Now these

are messages

that are important

for a young

church to hear,

to be sexually

pure

and to love,

not being a burden.

Because unfortunately,

I've heard

too many horror stories

of churches

falling apart

because of

sexual immorality.

you may have

heard of

similar stories

where the devil

has dangled

temptation

in front of

the leader's

eyes,

hoping to

destabilize

a church.

Imagine this

church in

Thessalonica.

They are

influencing the

country and

the region

around them.

How easy

would it be

for temptation

at the top,

those who are

leading the

church,

so that

they sin

sexually

and the

church falls

apart?

How easy

would that

be to

happen?

When people's

eyes slip

from seeking

God to

seeking their

own pleasure,

it destroys

churches,

it destroys

people's lives.

And loving

brothers and

sisters more

and more,

it will combat

against all

kinds of sins

and personal

agendas in

the church.

staying pure,

staying blameless,

loving more

and more,

it effectively

future-proofs a

church against

attacks from

outside and

inside.

And so we

should be

praying,

we should be

praying that

this church

here would

continue to

love more

and more.

We should be

praying for

one another,

we should be

praying for

our leaders,

you should be

praying for

me,

that we

would please

God with

our lives,

that we

would avoid

sexual immorality.

We should be

praying so

that our

families continue

strong in

the Lord,

so that our

daily lives

would win the

respect of

outsiders and

ring out into

the area around

us.

God has

saved us,

he has

forgiven us,

he has loved

us,

and he

delights in

us.

Obeying

God actually

pleases

him.

We can

please the

God of

the universe.

How can

we not

change and

seek to

live lives

to bring

delight and

joy to

the God

who loves

us and

made us?

Let me

pray.

Heavenly

Father,

you have

indeed loved

us so much,

so much that

we can't even

imagine it.

Heavenly

Father,

thank you that

you have

brought us

into your

family,

that we

can indeed

call you

Father.

And Lord,

we thank you

that when we

obey you,

when we

live lives

that bring you

honor,

that it

actually

pleases you.

God,

we seek to

do that

with our

bodies.

Help us to

do that in

purity.

God,

we ask

that you

would help

us to

do that

with love

to one

another,

so that

our church

would stand

firm,

so that

our lives

and our

families

would stand

firm in

faith and

hope and

love,

so that we

can please

you and

bring you

all the

glory.

We ask

this in

your son's

name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.