Practical Encouragement
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
As you know we are studying the letter of 1 Thessalonians
And it is a letter all about encouragement.
Through this letter the Holy Spirit shows us
What encouragement looks like, as well as how to give it.
Tonight we begin a new section of the book,
Which deals with Paul’s practical encouragement to the Thessalonians.
In other words, we are starting the section
Where Paul details what exactly he is encouraging them to do.
This is the application portion of the letter.
As we have said many times;
True Christian encouragement pushes toward Christ-likeness.
A Christian encourages with the spiritual goal in mind.
A Christian encourages with the will of Christ in mind.
And so we know that at some point our encouragement
Must not only console; must not only comfort;
BUT MUST EVENTUALLY EXHORT.
All true Christian encouragement brings with it an expected confrontation.
And don’t think of that as a negative thing.
Confrontation is only negative when a person chooses to remain in sin.
Proverbs 9:7-9 “He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself, And he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you, Reprove a wise man and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning.”
And so confrontation is not negative unless
You are dealing with a person who loves sin and desires to stay in it.
But regardless of the response,
Confrontation is a necessary part of true Christian encouragement.
Paul told Timothy the same thing.
2 Timothy 4:1-2 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”
He could not move his flock from sin to Christ-likeness
If he refused to confront sin and guide into truth.
Confrontation is obviously required.
And it is obvious Paul did it, when you read his letters.
• He confronted the Galatians for their legalism.
• He confronted the Ephesians for their worldliness.
• He confronted the Philippians for their selfishness.
• He confronted the Colossians for being naive.
• And just think about all he confronted the Corinthians with.
Squabbling Adultery
Tolerance of sin Greed
Idolatry Drunkenness
Gluttony Feminism
Chaotic Worship Selfishness
Heresy
Paul revealed why he does this in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 11:2 “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.”
Paul confronted, Paul challenged, Paul encouraged
Because he wanted the churches to be acceptable to Christ.
Max Lucado once said, “God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus.”
Paul knew that as well,
And so his encouragement always included confrontation.
AND THAT IS ALSO TRUE HERE.
• Here we are dealing with a good church.
• We are dealing with a church that had already encouraged Paul.
• We are dealing with an obedient church.
• We are dealing with an enduring church.
• We are dealing with an evangelistic church.
Paul is not upset with these people.
He is fond of them, he is proud of them.
Yet, even they need to be further confronted
And challenged to Christ-likeness.
We learn then, that everyone needs encouragement,
Regardless of how good they appear.
Let’s look at Paul’s practical encouragement to them. (3 things)
#1 STRIVE TO OBEY GOD’S COMMANDS
1 Thessalonians 4:1-2
Paul begins by saying, “Finally”
This is the close of his letter.
He has spent three chapter gushing over them,
Now it is time to leave them with a word of exhortation.
“Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus”
And we understand what he is speaking of.
The “request” is what Paul wanted to see.
The “exhort” is what Jesus wanted to see.
And Paul was not about to miss the opportunity to shape on their lives
So that they might be more pleasing to Christ.
Here it comes.
“that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.”
And what great insight.
We know that Paul is not upset with the Thessalonians about anything.
He isn’t even frustrated with them about the way they have responded thus far.
By Paul’s own admonition he says that
They “actually do walk” according to his instruction.
When Paul came to Thessalonica he taught them
“how [they] ought to walk and please God”
And can we think of any better subject?
When we go out and teach people,
It is not to make them better citizens,
It is not to make them more productive,
It is not to make their lives happier.
Our instruction is to help people learn how “to walk and please God”.
So much “Christian” encouragement and instruction today
Falls drastically short of this goal.
Much time is spent talking about an abundant life or a blessed life,
As though the only goal of life is to figure out
How to get as much out of it as you can.
And somewhere Christians began to assume that our goal
Was to help people find a life that is more pleasing to them.
And that is absolutely backwards.
Our goal is to help people live a life that is more pleasing to God.
That obviously begins with telling them
To trust Christ who justifies them before God.
And then it leads into a teaching of God’s word that the new believer
May learn how to walk according to God’s commands.
• And Paul says when we came that is what we taught.
• And that is what you received.
• And that is what you have even tried to do.
Our encouragement to you now is “that you excel still more.”
WHAT GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT!
Don’t assume you have arrived.
Don’t get content with your progress.
Don’t sit back on your past accomplishments.
Don’t be satisfied with your current level of holiness.
“excel still more”
Remember that church at Sardis we have studied?
Revelation 3:1-2 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. ‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.”
Remember Sardis was that town (and church) that lived in the past.
They had retired, assuming they had accomplished enough.
And Jesus says “I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.”
YOU AREN’T FINISHED
There is more to be done.
And that is what Paul tells the Thessalonians.
Push on.
In fact, this is what Paul expected even of himself.
Philippians 3:12-16 “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.”
Obedience isn’t a checklist, it is a lifestyle.
We don’t just obey a rule and then check it off,
We study God’s word to try and learn how to live
Even more obediently tomorrow than I did today.
And Paul here tells the Thessalonians
That they need to apply themselves to it.
WHY?
(2) “For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.”
Notice Paul doesn’t say, “You are familiar with all the other suggestions we gave you.” “You know there are other ways to try out.”
If it were all a matter of suggestions and different possibilities
Then the Christian life would be all about you finding your niche
Or what works well for you.
If it were all about suggestions,
Once you found the life that made you content,
Then you would be invited to stop and sit back and enjoy it.
But we aren’t dealing with suggestions,
We’re dealing with “commandments”
And we are not dealing with your goals, we are dealing with God’s goals.
And so Paul says, you may have come far, but you aren’t finished.
God still expects more out of you.
And I want to encourage you in the same way tonight.
Push yourself
Apply God’s word more diligently.
Obey it better, obey it longer, obey it more often.
Strive to obey God’s commands
#2 STRIVE TO ACHIEVE GOD’S WILL
1 Thessalonians 4:3-6
Now Paul just told them to “excel still more” in their quest to obey.
Here is why.
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification;”
Now everyone stop and let’s all do a little memory verse time.
1 Thessalonians 4:3 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification;”
(Quiz the congregation)
I don’t know how many times I’ve talked with people
And their statement is something like this.
“I just don’t know what God’s will for my life is.”
Well now you know.
God is clear.
His will for your life is “your sanctification”
God has a sovereign plan for your life.
He has you on a highway, He has you on program.
If you’ve ever seen those commercials where people are supposed to follow that little green arrow that leads them to financial security.
Well God has His own little green arrow for your to follow.
WANT TO KNOW IT?
Romans 8:28-30 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
God has you on a course that started with foreknowledge
And ends with glorification.
Now since glorification will not occur until you die or Christ returns,
Right now all living believers are in the same part of the course.
We are on the “sanctification” part of the course.
It is that section of the course where God is molding and shaping you
To become more like Christ.
AND GOD CAUSES ALL THINGS TO HELP YOU REACH HIS GOAL
So we understand God’s will for our lives.
It isn’t wealth, it isn’t health, it isn’t prosperity, it isn’t comfort.
WHAT IS GOD’S WILL?
“your sanctification”
And Paul is here challenging the Thessalonians
To strive to achieve God’s will.
In fact Paul even gives a specific way in which they can do that.
“that is that you abstain from sexual immorality.”
Of all the sins Paul could have mentioned,
I don’t think there is any confusion as to why he picked this one.
I can’t think of any sin that affects man more.
The saints of old had multiple wives.
The man after God’s own heart (David) had an affair.
And every city in the New Testament world had sexual problems.
The reason of course was because sexual immorality
Was such an integral part of pagan worship.
AND WE STILL FACE SEXUAL IMMORALITY TODAY
• Sex today is seen as recreational.
• Sex today is seen as simple bodily function (like eating).
• Sex today is seen as another means of self gratification.
• Sex today is seen as just a way of getting to know someone.
And society has done everything possible to minimize
Any and all negative consequences to having sex.
Devices to prevent pregnancy
Means to terminate pregnancy
Means to control disease
Laws to legalize any and all forms of sexual function
And so Paul isn’t far off when he confronts sexual immorality.
And while no specific sexual sins of the Thessalonians are mentioned,
It is obvious that Paul sees this as an area
Where even the Thessalonians could do better.
Paul sees this as an area where the Thessalonians could be more pure.
And Paul even shows three practical ways
That we can strive to achieve the sanctification God wants for us.
1) THROUGH ABSTINENCE
“that is that you abstain from sexual immorality”
The concept of abstinence wasn’t invented by parents
Who didn’t want to become early grandparents.
That concept was invented by God.
And according to God’s word, there are simply some things
That Christians just don’t need to take part in.
“sexual immorality” is obviously one of those things.
Part of becoming more sanctified
Involves you and I learning to do without some things.
• Too many men in the church have felt deprived by their wives and decided to satisfy their cravings on the computer.
• Too many women have felt deprived by their husbands and decided to satisfy their cravings in some other social relationship.
And what is worse most justify it by saying,
“Well, I’ve got to get it somewhere.”
What Paul is saying here is “No you don’t.”
“You could just learn to do without.”
(Now obviously that is not a mindset to promote healthy marriages,
Paul clearly taught the Corinthians to stop depriving one another)
But the idea here is that being deprived (even wrongly deprived)
Doesn’t give you the right to taste sin.
Learn to abstain, learn to do without.
This is what Paul had in mind in his letter to the Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
Sometimes you just have to run away.
Learn to abstain from sin.
We strive for sanctification through abstinence
2) THROUGH SELF-CONTROL
“that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;”
Part of being sanctified is saying no to sin.
Another part of sanctification is learning the art of self-control.
Now self-control is a fruit of the Spirit and therefore a gift from God.
That is why “the Gentiles who do not know God” don’t exercise it.
They instead live like wild animals “in lustful passion”.
They just seek to gratify all natural desires they have, however they can.
But a Christian who desires sanctification must learn
“how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor”
And for clarity sake, we know that your “vessel” is your body.
And Paul says that you must learn to use your body
For God’s glory not for your own fleshly desires.
Do we not read?
Romans 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
Did we not just study in the Sermon on the Mount?
Matthew 6:25b “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”
Your body is for God’s glory, so learn to use it that way.
1 Corinthians 6:12-13 “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.”
And so learn self-control,
This is one of the ways we achieve sanctification.
Through abstinence Through self-control
3) THROUGH FEAR
“and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we told you before and solemnly warned you.”
If saying no to sin because it displeases God is not enough for you.
Then try this motivation.
Say no to sin because God judges it.
Specifically sexual immorality,
“the Lord is the avenger in all these things”
Romans 12:19 “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.”
If you walk in sin, especially sexual immorality,
Just know that God promises to get even with you.
If you sleep with another man or woman…
If you look at junk on the internet…
If you engage in sexual sin of any kind…
God will get even.
Let that be motivation to live a sanctified life.
But whether you do it through abstinence, self-control, or fear, STRIVE TO ACHIEVE THE WILL OF GOD,
Which is that you be sanctified.
I challenge you too.
Put away sin and instead of making it a goal to gratify the body,
Make it a goal to glorify God with your body.
Strive to Obey God’s Commands Strive to Achieve God’s Will
#3 STRIVE TO HONOR GOD’S SPIRIT
1 Thessalonians 4:7-8
And there is a great statement.
“For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.”
DID GOD SAVE YOU SO YOU COULD SIN WITHOUT PUNISHMENT?
No, God saved you so you could not sin.
Romans 6:1-4 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
Romans 6:12-14 “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
This is God’s Will.
This is God’s purpose.
(8) “So he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.”
God has been so gracious that not only has He decided to dwell with us,
But He decided to dwell in us.
WHY WOULD HE DO THAT?
So we could be Holy. (That’s why we call Him the HOLY Spirit)
And so the picture here is that God wanted you to be holy so badly
He actually placed His Holy Spirit within you to make it possible.
And it is one thing to reject a man’s desire for you.
But when you reject sanctification…
When you reject holiness…
When you reject obedience…
YOU ARE REJECTING GOD’S PLAN FOR YOU
God called you to be holy,
And if you reject holiness you are telling God to forget it.
NOW, JUST HYPOTHETICALLY SPEAKING
Suppose you purchase a shovel for the purpose of digging.
What will you do with that shovel if it bends when you try to use it?
Suppose you purchase a pot for cooking.
What will you do with that pot if it melts in the fire?
Suppose you purchase a dog for hunting.
What will you do if he refuses to leave the pen?
WHAT IF WE REJECT GOD’S PURPOSE?
Instead Paul calls us to embrace that plan and honor God
By doing everything we can to achieve His will for our lives.
YOU SEE IT IS PRACTICAL STUFF.
Strive to Obey God’s Commands
Strive to Achieve God’s Will
Strive to Honor God’s Spirit
Regardless of where you are on the holiness scale
This is still relevant encouragement.
This is how we encourage as well.
We confront one another that our God may be more pleased.
And so I challenge you to strive to be more holy,
And I encourage you to encourage others to do the same.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.”
