Present Faithfulness

Well, a few years ago, one of my reoccurring bad dreams actually came true.

Now, when I talk about reoccurring bad dreams, I think you guys know what I'm talking about.

Those are the bad dreams that you frequently tend to have, right?

The ones you have over and over again.

Like some people have the dream of falling, or maybe it's that dream that you're being chased by somebody, or the one dream where like you show up to an event and you realize you're not wearing any clothing, right?

Those are the common bad dreams that we have.

That's not the bad dream I have, by the way.

But the as a pastor, one of the common bad dreams that I've had more than one occasion is that I'm supposed to speak somewhere, I'm supposed to preach, and then when I end up showing up, I'm not prepared.

Uh that's a dream I've had several times before.

And uh a few years ago, I had this dream, but I didn't wake up because this time this dream was reality for me.

Let me set the table for you.

I was asked to speak at this event, and it was a very important event, and it was not a church event, but I was asked to speak.

There's quite a few people, large gathering, and I actually had to look back at the email this week to make sure I was telling you the truth.

The person who invited me asked me to preach for 40 minutes on a topic.

So I was honored by the invitation.

It was a really cool opportunity, so I gladly accepted and I received the invitation, got all the details.

The challenge was I thought it was an evening event, and turns out it was a morning event.

I got the AMPM mixed up, right?

So this is a Tuesday event.

I thought it was supposed to be Tuesday night.

Turns out it was Tuesday morning.

Now, during that season, I was pretty busy at the time, right?

You know, there was lots of stuff going on at work.

And so um, I had in my head kind of prepared for what I was going to talk about in terms of concepts and kind of studied out a few things a little bit.

It was a little bit in my brain, but like I hadn't written anything.

I hadn't put the work into writing the message because it was so busy.

And so what I did was I blocked out in my calendar plenty of time on that Tuesday in both the morning and afternoon to write the message that I was supposed to preach in my head that evening.

So I was pretty shocked in the morning when I got a call, and the call was, hey, uh, what time do you think you're gonna get here this morning?

Uh this was the call that the person who coordinated the event called me because they I wasn't there yet and they were expecting that I would get there soon.

And when I got that call, I'll tell you what, I realized this was a bad dream that it had come true, right?

I basically kind of threw up in my mouth in the moment, like was like it was awful.

And one of the reasons I share why it was so awful, not only had I not prepared for the message, but I hadn't taken a shower yet.

And so what I did was I quickly, this is by the way, this is not a small event, this is a big event with pretty important people.

So I, in a panic, run to the shower, quickly take a shower, throw on some clothing, I'm disheveled, I make my way to the event, and for 40 minutes I preached.

And I'm gonna be honest with you, I was I was kind of winging it for 40 minutes, all right?

It was uh one of those moments where for me it was it was my nightmare coming true.

I I didn't preach heresy, I don't believe.

There's nothing heretical that came out of my mouth, but it was certainly not my best work, and that's an understatement.

Now, uh the truth is I knew the event was coming.

I was totally aware.

I was excited about it.

I knew it was coming, I was excited, looking forward to it.

I had every intention of being ready for this event, but when the event finally arrived, I wasn't ready.

I was totally unprepared.

Now, I share this story with you because, in many respects, this is the scenario that the Apostle Paul and his crew want to speak into as they warned the Church of Thessalonica about the coming of Jesus.

You see, in this letter that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, over and over and over again, he's repeatedly come back to this reality that Jesus is returning.

This is a dominant theme in the book of 1 Thessalonians that's woven throughout the tapestry of the letter, that Jesus is returning.

And so the big question that I want to ask this morning, because I think this is what we're gonna see, is this what does it look like to be ready for his arrival?

If Jesus is truly coming back, what does it look like to be ready for his arrival?

This is really, I think, the question that lies behind all that we're gonna read in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 this morning.

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

And so if you want to answer this question with me about what it looks like to be ready for the arrival of Jesus, then open your Bibles with me to 1 Thessalonians 4 this morning.

1 Thessalonians 4.

If you're a guest with us today, welcome.

If you're new here, we're so glad you're here.

We're um thankful that you chose to join us.

We open our Bible every Sunday.

So if you bring your Bible, you'll use it, we promise.

Um but if you didn't bring it, we've got you covered.

There's a Bible in front of you.

You're welcome to use that.

And if you don't own a Bible, take that Bible home this morning.

And if you're looking for 1 Thessalonians, it's in the New Testament, kind of near the end of your Bible.

So the New Testament is like the last quarter or so.

You've got the four Gospels, you've got Acts, then you have the epistles or letters.

Romans, first, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians.

That's where we're at.

And as you're turning there, I just want to remind you, we're working our way through this series.

Uh, this is a series, so we're just going section by section all the way through the book of 1 Thessalonians.

We're calling this series ready because as I shared, that's the theme we keep revisiting.

It's the Jesus is returning.

I want to bring you up to speed, though, with where we've been so far.

So, just a reminder Paul and his team, his missionary team, they planted the church in Thessalonica during Paul's second missionary journey.

So I think I've got a picture here of the city of Thessalonica.

If you want to read about Paul planting this church, just read Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

So they go to the city, they proclaim the good news of Jesus, people hear the good news, and after only a couple weeks, people start responding and trusting in Jesus.

But as soon as the church is established, there's a group of people in the city of Thessalonica, the Jewish contingency, some of the Jewish leaders, who were jealous of this newfound church.

And so what they began to do was not only to persecute the Christians who lived there, but they also began to persecute the missionaries who came to them bringing the gospel.

And so Paul and his team, they were forced to flee from the city of Thessalonica.

They moved on to other cities.

But even though they left this city, Paul and his team, they loved them.

They were still concerned for the well-being of this church, especially in the face of persecution.

And so they made a strategic decision while they were in Athens for Paul and Silas to send one of the team members, Timothy, back to this church to try to encourage them and support them during this difficult season after they began as a new church.

And so Timothy went and then he returned to Paul.

And what we're reading here in this letter is after after Timothy returns, he gave a report that the Thessalonian church largely was doing really good.

In the face of all that persecution, they were standing firm, and so they bring that report.

And so, in the first three chapters of the book, really what Paul does and his team is they reminisce.

They walk through some of that history, they share common knowledge about how all that unfolded.

And so we've been reading and been seeing in the text that Paul has been recounting their history, he's been expressing his love and concern for them, he's been celebrating their faithfulness in the midst of persecution, but all along the way, he keeps revisiting over and over, and as we're gonna see over and over and over again, this topic of Jesus returning.

This is found in every single chapter of the book that Jesus is coming back.

In fact, we're gonna be in chapter four.

I want to pick up from the end of chapter three real quickly.

Notice what it says as kind of a segue into our text in chapter three.

He says, Now may our God and Father Himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Now, I want you to notice how Paul ends this chapter.

He's talking about the return of Jesus, but notice specifically what he prays for here.

He prays that the Church of Thessalonica, that they would be established and be blameless in holiness at the coming of the Lord Jesus.

Now, I think that's very important, right?

This is an important detail.

When people say, hey, you know, the end is near, you might hear people in Christian circles say that.

When people think about the end times, often the mindset that's taken is that, well, as Christians, we need to be ready, so let's kind of pull away from society.

Let's retreat.

Often when people think about the end times, they they think about that in terms of separating themselves from the world because things are gonna be maybe scary and they they want to prepare for that.

You ever heard the term prepper?

Maybe there's isn't there a show on National Geographic about doomsday preppers or something?

You probably know what I'm talking about.

The people who have the bunker in their backyard, they stockpile things and they hide out when things get bad.

I want to say to you, first of all, if if you have a sense of wanting to have a contingency plan in case things kind of turn south, I don't think that's dumb or bad.

I don't want to diminish that.

I think there's some wisdom in that.

I can appreciate it.

However, biblically speaking, this is not really what we see the Bible teach us as it relates to being prepared.

It just isn't.

When Paul talks about being ready for the return of Jesus, that's not where his mind goes.

His concern for the Thessalonians isn't that they would prepare in such a way that would enable them to withdraw from the city around them and hide out somewhere and preserve themselves.

No, quite the opposite, in fact.

Paul assumes that they're gonna continue living right where God has placed them.

So the Thessalonians are gonna go to work, they're gonna have relationships, they're gonna talk to their family and to their friends and to their unbelieving neighbors, right?

They're gonna continue living ordinary lives in an ordinary city.

This is what Paul believes.

But as they do, this is the key, as they do, Paul wants their lives to continue to reflect the one whom they belong to.

That's the point.

He wants the church to be holy.

And so I would suggest to you today that more than anything else, biblically, when we hear that scripture shows us that we should be ready for the return of Jesus, this theme, more than anything else, is repeated.

That's what that means is that we are people who are holy, who are prepared spiritually for the arrival of Jesus.

This is what the Bible teaches us.

This now becomes a bridge as we move into chapter four.

So notice now how our chapter is going to begin, right?

It's going to be real explicit here.

It says this.

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that just as you receive from us how you ought to walk and please God, just as you're doing, that you do so more and more.

For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus, for this is the will of God, your sanctification.

Now, in the chapter here, chapter four, which is our chapter today, I want you to notice how Paul begins by saying the word finely.

Now, when he says this word finally, this word doesn't mean that Paul is about to wrap things up.

We know that because we we've got this chapter and a whole other chapter.

Paul is not saying, hey, I'm almost done here.

Now, as a preacher, if I say the words finally, you're kind of like, Phew, that guy's almost done talking.

I was hungry, right?

That's what you're thinking in that moment.

Paul is not doing that.

He he's he's transitioning.

So the first chapters have largely been looking backward, about centered on looking backward and recounting the history that Paul and his team have with the Thessalonians and reminding them of this amazing work that God had done.

That's what the first three chapters are all about.

But here, now in chapter four, it takes a turn, and Paul moves away from declaration toward exhortation.

What I mean by that is this he moves from talking about what God has done for the Thessalonians to now beginning to talk about what God wants them to do in light of what he's done.

So, in particular, Paul is going to make it clear here in light of the Lord's return, we are called to be people who are holy.

That's clear.

In fact, notice how clear Paul makes it.

He says, For this is the will of God, your sanctification.

Now, if you're somebody in the room today who didn't grow up going to church, maybe you hear the word sanctification and you're like, I have no idea what that word means.

That's a very big, fancy word, and it's a fancy way of saying continuing to grow in holiness more and more as a Christian.

That's what the word means.

It's our growth and holiness.

Now that we're Christians, we are being sanctified.

We're being made more holy throughout the Christian life.

And Paul is explicit here that this is the will of God for you.

You know, I hear people say sometimes, especially young people, man, I just wish I knew what God's will was for my life.

Well, this morning I'm gonna tell you exactly what God's will is for your life.

How do you like that?

Right?

This is free of charge.

God's will for your life, unequivocally, right?

Guaranteed.

For sure.

God's will for your life is that you would be holy.

This is the revealed will of God, right?

We don't have to question this.

Boy, I wonder if God wants me to be holy.

No, he does.

If you're a Christian, this is the will of God, your sanctification, your holiness.

God wants you to be holy.

God wants your life to continue to reflect the life of Jesus each and every day, more and more.

That's what God wants for you.

He wants this for your life.

Christ became like us to save us.

By grace, Jesus came, he rescued us from sin by dying on the cross, and then he rose from the dead.

Christ became like us to save us, and now by God's grace, we get to become more like Jesus.

How cool is that! He became like us to save us, and now that we're saved as Christians, we get to be more like Him.

We're called to grow in holiness, to be conformed more and more into His image, and this is exactly what God wants for our life.

And so now, in the verses that follow, Paul is going to give a handful of very practical examples of what holiness, sanctification, looks like in everyday, ordinary life.

Now, I want to keep this in mind.

This is not exhaustive.

If you're the box checker, you're like, okay, so if I do these things, then I'm holy.

No, no, no, that's not how it works.

It's not exhaustive.

He's just kind of spitballing here and giving some examples of the way that holiness manifests itself in normal life.

And so we're going to see three examples that's going to frame up the rest of our message this morning.

So three things, three ways that we demonstrate holiness in our life.

You ready?

Number one, this is what holiness looks like with number one, our bodies.

Our bodies.

And notice what Paul says beginning in verse three.

He says, For this is the will of God, your sanctification.

And then notice this, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God.

That no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger of all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you, for God has not called us for impurity but in holiness.

Therefore, whoever disregards this disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

Now, as we begin this section, I want to start by reminding you of the city that these Christians were in.

This is the city of Thessalonica.

Now, Thessalonica was this major center in Macedonia.

I've got a map here, you can kind of go back to it and see it.

Here's Thessalonica.

This was the main city of Macedonia, leading city.

It was thoroughly shaped by Greco-Roman culture.

And so when it came to sexuality, the values of the culture were very different from the values that Paul and his team are advocating for that we see in Scripture.

So in this city, in Thessalonica, let me just break it down for you a little bit.

Sex outside of marriage was very, very tolerated, very normal.

A prostitution, very common.

Taking a concubine, a second wife, to satisfy sexual desires, that was pretty normal.

The boundaries that we see that Christians are called to honor in Scripture were very different from the boundaries that were established in the surrounding culture.

So these believers were surrounded by a sexual ethic that constantly pulled them away from what God says is holiness.

And let me remind you where Paul is writing from.

He's writing from the city of Corinth.

If you were with us during our series on 1 Corinthians, you remember we talked about Corinth was like the Las Vegas of the ancient world.

What happens in Corinth stays in Corinth.

You want to talk about sexual immorality.

I mean, that place was rampant with it.

And so Paul, no doubt, now in the city of Corinth, seeing what's going around him, knowing what the culture's like in Thessalonica, this was a major topic for him.

So it's no surprise that he focuses on this topic as he exhorts the church to live holy.

And Paul says, if you want to live holy with your body, he's very clear.

He says, abstain from sexual immorality right there in the text.

Abstain from sexual immorality.

Now, this this word sexual immorality in Greek is the word pornea.

So this is where our word pornography is derived from.

It's connected to the root, at least for this.

And so the word pornea is a generic term.

It's an umbrella term that describes all kinds of sexual activity that's that's deemed as sinful.

Now, I realize we don't live in the Greco-Roman world today.

Our culture is very different from the Greco-Roman world that Paul was writing this letter to in Thessalonica.

However, if I can be honest with you, when it comes to sexual immorality, I don't think our culture is all that different.

Can we keep it real again this morning?

This subject, holiness with our bodies, this is no less relevant today than it was 2,000 years ago in Thessalonica.

This is a big issue today.

Not just in the prevailing culture, but in the church.

It's a problem everywhere.

So for the next little bit, let's just talk about it.

I want to just mention when I preach, oftentimes I notice that people are falling asleep.

Right now, you look all very alert and awake.

It's awesome.

Look at that.

It's great.

All you gotta do is say sex from the pulpit.

And everybody's like, what?

What do you say?

Well, let me begin.

I'm gonna give some foundation here a little bit.

Let me just start by saying sex is a good thing.

God created it, it's not evil, it's not shameful, it is good.

But like all good things, God creates it with a specific design and with limits and boundaries.

And so every person is encouraged, exhorted to live within the boundaries that God established.

And depending on your situation, for some, those boundaries can be a little more limiting than for others.

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna just kind of give some terms, give some boundaries, explain some things.

So let me just start by saying this.

Sex, outside by that I even mean like all sexual activity.

Sex has been designed to be something that's expressed and experienced within the confines of marriage.

I'm gonna say that again for those of you in the back row.

All right, maybe you didn't hear it.

Sex has been designed to be expressed and experienced within the confines of marriage.

Now, I'm gonna even define some terms.

Let me be clear here.

When I say marriage, what do I mean by that?

Well, biblically speaking, I mean it's a committed covenant relationship that's lifelong between a man and a woman.

I realize that's not always very popular.

Our goal is not to be popular, we want to be biblical.

So what the scriptures teach is that is marriage.

This is biblical marriage.

That's what sex is designed for within the confines of marriage.

Anything outside of this boundary is considered sexual morality.

So to be really, really clear, if you're married, it's about faithfulness in this area.

And if you're single, it's about abstinence in this area.

Those are the boundaries.

Now, I'm gonna keep sharing a few more things because, you know, this is such a big topic, and I feel like I can't just leave something hanging.

So we're gonna hit some things real quick as we work through this section.

First of all, let me just begin by by saying this.

I realize that many, many people today, and many, many people in the room have fallen drastically short of this standard.

This is a struggle for everybody.

It's a common struggle.

Many of us have fallen short.

So I want to begin by saying if this has been a struggle for you, if you've fallen short in this area, hear me this morning.

There is a limitless supply of grace and mercy and forgiveness for you today.

There is a limitless supply of grace.

And mercy and forgiveness for you today in this area.

Jesus died for these things.

So if you're in Christ, the sin that you committed here, it's been paid for in full by Jesus.

And this is good news because this means that these past failures, they do not define you and they no longer condemn you, not in Christ.

What's past is past.

That's good news, isn't it?

But here's where it gets challenging.

While it's true that these past things they've been dealt with in Jesus.

Well, that's true.

At the same time, the past things, these past sins, these should not be repeated today or in the future.

This is where it gets challenging.

As Christians, we're called to repentance, which means turning from sin and pursuing righteous living.

That's a challenge for us.

We're called to turn from this and to pursue lives of holiness.

And this is what Paul is exhorting the church to do.

In order to be ready for the return of Jesus, in order to be prepared, we're called to be holy with our bodies.

So so let me also just be really clear about some other practical outworkings of this.

Men out there.

Whether you're married or single, if you've been addicted to pornography, the Christian ethic in this area is to repent.

To turn from sin.

I'm not saying it's easy.

I realize that sexual sin has a stronghold in certain people.

But turn from this.

Maybe you need to confess it.

Maybe you need to have accountability, people around you, to help you walk in righteousness, but we're not called to pursue that, not in Christ.

No, we're to glorify God in our bodies, so glorify God in your bodies.

Couples out there who we say living together, you're having sex, but are not married.

Let me just throw this out there.

For you, you probably should come to some decisions here.

First of all, if you're both believers and you love each other, you should probably just get married.

We can help you with that here.

I don't know if you know that.

We're we're church.

I have a situation like a year ago where there was a situation that kind of unfolded, and I think I had two days' notice.

It was like the middle of a day here, and it was like, hey, here's the scenario.

Let's pursue marriage.

If you're not both believers and you don't really love each other, you should probably break up.

I realize I'm being really blunt here, okay?

I'm also being very black and white about things.

I realize that the world we live in, there's a host of circumstances that make some things more complicated.

You know, maybe there's a relationship and they're a believer and an unbeliever, and there are kids involved.

Like there's stuff there that you're like, okay, we gotta think through that.

If you have one of those relationships that maybe like social media would deem it's complicated, come talk to a pastor here.

Talk to us, talk to an older, wiser person, a friend, talk to somebody.

The point here is either way, living together or really sleeping together outside of marriage is not God's design for you.

So glorify God with your body.

For those of you who are single, especially those of you who experience same-sex attraction, I realize that when we talk about the boundaries that God has established for sexuality, these boundaries feel incredibly costly.

For some of you, obedience in this area means saying no to desires that feel very strong and very real, that's not lost on me.

I don't want to minimize that.

I want to brush that away.

We're not gonna do that today.

When Jesus talks about this subject, it's a very honoring subject, and he makes it really clear that there are some people who pursue a life of celibacy, and they do so for the sake of the kingdom of God, and it's a virtuous and amazing thing.

Jesus esteems this highly.

Think about that for a little bit.

And yet he lived the most full, complete, and faithful life any human has ever lived.

Obedience in this area, honoring the Lord through celibacy, it doesn't make someone a second-class person, especially not in the kingdom of God.

No way.

You're simply following in the footsteps of your Savior.

Whatever your situation, whatever your circumstance, God has established boundaries for all of us.

Some of those boundaries, living within that, is a bigger sacrifice than for others.

I recognize that.

But we all have boundaries, and all of us, all of us are called to honor God and our bodies in this way.

As we wait for the return of Jesus, we're called to be holy in the everyday and the ordinary.

And one of the ways that we demonstrate this is number one, with our bodies.

Before I move on, I want to hit real quick because you just notice in the text here, if you look at it yourself, Paul ends that section by saying, if we disregard this area, not only are we disregarding ourselves, our bodies, but we're also disregarding the Holy Spirit.

Now, what's interesting here is Paul, who wrote this letter from Corinth, he says something very similar in 1 Corinthians.

Remember 1 Corinthians 6, where he's talking about sexual immorality, and he says that every sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sin of sexual immorality is inside the body.

It's the one sin we commit against our own body.

And then he goes on to say, Your body is a vessel, it's a temple, he says, of the Holy Spirit.

And he says, You've been bought with a price, right?

Your body has been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body.

That's what he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

He says something comparable here.

But that's not where he ends.

He's not just talking about holiness with our bodies, he's going to continue.

So with the five minutes and 14 seconds that I have left on my countdown up here, I'm going to try to give you my next two points, all right?

Sweet.

So as we wait for the return of Christ, Paul is concerned about holiness, the way that we live.

And so, number one, we can glorify God with our bodies, but number two, we can glorify God with our brothers.

Now, I'm using the word brothers here because this is what the text says.

Ladies, this is inclusive of you.

This is just the way the Greek works.

It's using the masculine, but it's inclusive for this language in this specific section.

So you're invited to this point, just so you know.

Um, notice what Paul says, picking up in verse 9.

He says, Now, concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you're doing to the brothers, to all the brothers throughout Macedonia.

But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more.

Now, as Paul writes these words, he he shifts now and talks about holiness as it relates to the relationships around you, specifically the relationships with brothers and sisters.

So he talks about brotherly love.

Quick trivia question.

Anyone know the city of brotherly love?

What it's called?

What is it?

Philadelphia.

You guys know Greek because that's a Greek word.

The prefix Philaleo is love.

Adelphos is Greek for brothers.

So literally, Paul is using that exact word here, Philadelphia, brotherly love.

Um, the missionaries who went there, Paul and this crew, they're exhorting this church to demonstrate brotherly love.

It's not as if the Thessalonians weren't doing this at all.

No, Paul is abundantly clear.

They've already embraced loving one another.

He's just saying that you can improve.

We want you to grow in this area.

Now, this is a key distinction for us, and it's helpful as a reminder because nobody arrives in this area.

If you're the person in the room who's like, oh, I got this one down, I'm really good at loving those people around me.

If you're kind of prideful in that way, God has a way of sending certain people in your life who challenge that, doesn't he?

And so we all can grow in this area.

Nobody's perfect at loving one another.

Uh, this is true not just for us, but for the Thessalonians.

But notice here how Paul says that this idea of loving each other, brotherly love, this is not some novel concept, right?

It's not like, oh, as a Christian, like I didn't know I was supposed to love other people.

No, we know this.

It's abundantly clear.

In fact, nobody needs to teach us this.

That's what Paul says to the Thessalonians.

We've already been taught that.

The moment that you trust in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live within you.

And the Spirit begins to teach you this intuitively.

And this is why Paul says explicitly here, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.

Like we know it's true.

We know we're supposed to love one another, and God wants to help us with this, but we're to grow more and more in this area.

And so following Jesus means that we're to grow in our love.

And let's be reminded of the fact that we're following the guy who perfectly demonstrates love.

There's no greater love than this than one who would die for his brothers, die for his friends.

That's Jesus.

We're following him, so we're to grow in this area.

So as Christians and our relationships, not just with the world, but specifically even the church, we're to grow in this area.

That's part of what we're called to do.

And so as we await the return of Jesus, we're called to be holy.

Some of the everyday ordinary ways that we're holy is number one, with our bodies, number two, with our brothers, sisters included.

It's the way that we love one another.

But now, as Paul begins to wrap up this section, he gives one more helpful ordinary example of this.

So the final example of how we can pursue everyday ordinary holiness as we wait for the return of Jesus.

It centers on the way that we conduct number three, our business.

Our business.

Notice what Paul says next.

He wraps this up and he urges to aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs and to work with your hands as we instructed you so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

I in this whole section, this is one of my favorite verses, sections in the whole book.

So practical, so helpful.

Remember, Paul is repeatedly circling back to the return of Jesus.

So, in light of this, in light of the fact that Jesus is returning, uh, what does it look like to be prepared and ready for his return?

What does readiness look like?

Well, Paul begins by saying, number one, live quietly.

Live quietly.

Translation, don't build your life on chaos and disruption.

That's what he says.

This is such a helpful word of exhortation.

As Christians, we're called to live peaceably.

That's part of our holiness, our sanctification.

So don't get caught up, the point here is in all the other garbage around you, right?

Save the drama for your mama.

That's what he's saying.

Live a quiet, peaceable kind of life.

And then notice notice how he goes on to say this.

This is really good.

Mind your own affairs.

Oof.

We got to hear that one, don't we?

Translation.

Don't meddle in other people's business.

I probably got to say that for the back row again.

Don't meddle in other people's business.

Don't allow gossip and other people's issues to be your primary focus.

We spend so much time and energy evaluating other people's problems, and we tend to neglect our own.

Paul says, mind your own affairs.

Take responsibility for your own life.

Your own walk with God, your own family, your own responsibilities.

Listen, there are plenty of things that we can keep busy with about our own lives.

So focus on those things.

Who has time for other people's dirt, anyways?

Look at your own life, be focused on your own life.

That's a great word of exhortation for us.

And then notice how he says this.

I love this.

Work with your hands as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

As we read this passage, it seems to me in the text that perhaps there was a propensity in Thessalonica toward idleness.

And one of the reasons I would say that is because if you read 2 Thessalonians, that becomes a more of a prominent theme in that letter.

In light of the Lord's return, some of these believers started to neglect some of their everyday ordinary responsibilities.

But Paul says that's not what it looks like to be ready.

Paul says part of being ready for the return of Jesus simply means doing the things that are right in front of you, being faithful with the work that the Lord gave you to do.

So listen, go to work.

And when you're there, be productive.

Go to work, show up, do your job, earn an honest living, take responsibility for yourself, and glorify God specifically with what you're expected to do, and do those things with excellence and diligence.

This is what he says.

It's super interesting when you think about it, because in the early centuries, this ethic Christians of working hard, like we work under the Lord, right?

He's our boss.

You might have a really crummy boss, okay?

No, your ultimate boss, if you're a Christian, is Jesus.

And you work so that way he can say, Well done, good and faithful servant.

That's who you're serving, Jesus, not your crummy boss.

So in the first century, in the second century, in the Roman Empire, when these Christians began working hard and doing their job and having a great attitude and being helpful, serving one another, their employers began to see that and they're like, oh, we should probably start hiring these Christians because they set themselves apart in the Roman Empire.

That's part of the testimony of the church.

Do you realize that Paul says here you may walk properly before outsiders?

Do you realize your coworkers are watching you?

If you're grumbling and complaining and you're lazy, what testimony is that of the fact that you serve Jesus?

No, he said part of being holy is doing the work that's in front of you.

Even everything as ordinary is going to work.

Going to work, it can be an expression of holiness.

How cool is that?

And so with that, we've come to the end of our text.

And so with what we've seen throughout this passage, we've seen that as we wait for the return of Jesus, which is surely coming, readiness is about growing in holiness.

And that holiness doesn't just show up in the extraordinary things of life.

No, it shows up in the ordinary things of life, things like our sexuality, things like our relationships, things like our work, in the everyday decisions we make as we follow Jesus.

So when we think about preparing for the return of Christ, Paul does not call us to retreat from society, to pull back, to hide in a bunker.

That's not what he's teaching us at all.

Also, comparably, he doesn't teach us to sit back and twiddle our thumbs and just wait passively or procrastinate.

That's also not what we're taught.

No, what we're taught here is that God calls us to live faithfully and holy lives right where he's placed us.

Right here, right now.

I know what it's like to be unprepared.

I have firsthand experience with that, trust me.

I have lived that bad dream.

I intended to be ready for the big day, but when that moment arrived, I wasn't ready.

I was unprepared.

And spiritually speaking, I don't want that to be true of any of us.

Jesus is coming.

Amen.

We know he is coming.

We know that.

So while we wait, how are you living the life he's given you today?

I would suggest to you that you pursue holiness, that you honor him with your body, that you honor him with your brothers and sisters, that you honor him with the business that you're involved in, whatever you're doing, that you honor him.

In fact, this is the big idea that I'm going to leave you with today, very clearly from the text.

It's this waiting for Jesus means living faithfully now.

Not someday, not at some point down the road, when life settles down, or maybe not when following Jesus gets a little easier.

No, right here, right now, today.

In this very moment where God has placed you, with the body he's given, with the brothers and sisters you have, with the work he's put in front of you, the business you have to do, waiting for Jesus means living faithfully now.

And if we live that way, I want to tell you, if we actually live that way, then when Jesus returns, whenever it is, then we'll be ready.

Let's pray.

Lord, help us today, we ask.

Preaching through this text is a really tricky, tough text.

But it's very practical and real.

This is not a theoretical passage.

And so, Lord, as we look to honor you with the various spheres of life that we possess today, the body you've given us, with the relationships you've placed us in, with the work you've given us to do, Lord, I pray that we would be holy as you are holy.

And Lord, I thank you so much that this morning this is not about our ability to pull up our bootstraps and get to work in our own strength to try to be more holy.

Lord, we can't do it, but we don't have to.

You saved us and gave us yourself.

You gave us your Holy Spirit.

He lives within us.

He convicts us, He teaches us, He encourages us, He enables us to pursue a life of holiness.

And so, Lord, as we work toward this goal of holiness, I thank you that He is working in us as well.

He is working and we are working for this ultimate goal of being more like your Son Jesus.

And Lord, I know we're not going to arrive and be exactly like Jesus on this side of glory.

That's true, but Lord, we can continually grow in this area.

And as Paul prayed, that we would be established blameless and holy at his arriving.

I pray that that would genuinely mark us as a people, that we'd be holy people.

So help us.

Help us to do this, Lord, ultimately for your glory, for the sake of our testimony, and for our own good.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.