Practical Encouragement – Part 2
1 Thessalonians 4:9-12
The last time we studied in this first letter from Paul to the Thessalonians,
We saw Paul begin the “Practical Encouragement” section.
As we said, all true biblical encouragement
Must include the concept of exhortation or confrontation.
Our aim and goal as Christians is not solely to uplift or console,
But ultimately to mold and push each other into Christ-likeness.
And so our encouragement cannot just be emotional or sentimental,
It must be that which takes the truth and confronts one another with it.
And in this fourth chapter Paul has
Two major practical encouragements for the Thessalonians.
The first we saw two weeks ago as Paul outlined their desire to walk in a manner that is pleasing to God.
1 Thessalonians 4:1 “Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, 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.”
Paul reminded the Thessalonians of their main goal in life,
And that is that they please God.
1 Thessalonians 4:3a “For this is the will of God, your sanctification”
God’s will for your life is that you begin to look like Christ,
And that you continue in that journey for the rest of your life.
And as we said then,
This was a journey that the Thessalonians were embarking on.
“just as you actually do walk”
The Thessalonians were striving to please God.
Paul’s encouragement for them was this: “that you excel still more.”
Throw off your contentment in regard to your level of achievement
In this Christian life and strive for more.
Similar to the way Paul lived, “forget what is behind and reach for what is ahead, strive to lay hold of that for which you were laid hold of by Christ Jesus.”
Take your commitment to God to a whole new level.
Strive to Obey God’s Commands
Strive to Achieve God’s Will
Strive to Honor God’s Spirit
In a practical sense Paul used the example of sexual immorality to help them see how to take their commitment to God to a whole new level.
• Through Abstinence (3)
• Through Self-Control (4-5)
• Through Fear (6)
Paul wanted them to take their commitment to God to the next level.
Tonight comes the second piece of practical encouragement.
And it is in the area of LOVE.
And again it is the same type of encouragement (10b) “But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more,”
The first encouragement is please God more.
The second encouragement is love people better.
And of course that also encompasses
The Greatest and 2nd Greatest commandments.
Well, tonight let’s look at this second practical encouragement.
2 main points
#1 THE OBSERVATION
1 Thessalonians 4:9-10a
In verse 1 Paul said, “AS TO how you ought to walk and please God”
Here he says, “AS TO love of the brethren”
It is a new topic.
But, like the old one, it was NOT AN AREA OF IGNORANCE.
(9) “Now as to love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;”
He is not bringing in a new piece of theology
Or something no one has ever heard of before.
He is talking about something that God Himself has taught them.
John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
(My dad – “I teach you nothing,
I only confirm what the Spirit has taught you”)
And that is sort of what Paul is saying here.
If you really are saved, and if you really do have the Holy Spirit,
Then I shouldn’t have to teach you a thing about loving other people.
Romans 5:5 “and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
1 John 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”
You have probably heard before
That there were three Greek words for “love”
AROS – the emotional, passionate, soap opera type love.
PHILEO – brotherly love
AGAPE – unconditional, God-like love.
AROS may come natural to you,
But PHILEO and AGAPE only come from God.
When God truly moves into a life, love moves in as well.
And so Paul can say to the Thessalonians, “you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.”
And here tonight with a Sunday night crowd,
I don’t think the command to love shocked anyone.
You know it and so did the Thessalonians.
SECONDLY, THE THESSALONIANS ALREADY DID IT.
(10) “for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia.”
So, not only did the Thessalonians know the importance of love,
But they also practiced it.
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 “We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father,”
1 Thessalonians 3:6 “But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always think kindly of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you,”
So again, like the previous encouragement,
This is not an area where the Thessalonians struggled.
We’re reminded that when someone pushes you to be like Jesus,
That does not necessarily mean they thought you were unlike Him.
They already do love the brethren.
That is Paul’s observation.
#2 THE EXHORTATION
1 Thessalonians 4:10b-12
And here we see the encouragement.
“But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more,”
I know you know about love…
I know you practice love…
I just want you to take it even a step farther and be even better at it.
And in one sense this is obvious.
If our goal is Christ-likeness…
If God’s goal for us is Christ-likeness…
Then regardless of how much we love now,
We can all stand to do it better.
And Paul is here pushing the Thessalonians to that great kind of love.
Only here his encouragement is not in regard to the DEPTH of their love, but rather it is in regard to the BREADTH of their love.
When you read this entire passage you realize that
Paul knows they love the brethren,
But he now wants them to love those outside.
In fact look where Paul is taking them.
Skip down to verse 12 and we see the objective Paul is pushing for.
(12) “so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.”
It is clear that everything Paul commands in verse 11,
Is simply to help them love those outside the church better.
• By Paul’s own admonition this church had love of the brethren down.
• By Paul’s own admonition he didn’t need to tell them anything about loving the brethren.
God was doing that, and they were doing fine.
This is about encouraging them to let their love spread
Beyond the walls of the church to a lost world.
Paul sees their love is genuine, now he wants it to spread further.
He wants them to “excel still more”
And he even gives them specifics
As to how their love can be shown to those outside the church.
As believers we know we are called to love the lost.
Furthermore, we want those outside the church feel loved by us.
We want them to know the love God has for them.
Paul here gives basic guidelines as to how you can begin to show that.
And he begins in a place you might not expect.
• He doesn’t begin by showing you things to for the lost world.
• He doesn’t begin by showing you ministries you can start.
Paul begins by giving you three areas in your own life
That you first need to bring under control
So that you do not kill your witness with a lost world.
WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH LOVE?
Friend, if you offend them by your actions,
You won’t ever even get the opportunity
To express that love you want them to see.
And surely as you have studied the Scriptures
You must know that Paul was very conscious
About his image before a lost world.
People today say, “I don’t care what people think of me”, but that is a foolish statement.
You ought to care,
Because when it comes time for you to share the gospel with them,
You want to have enough credibility to do so.
Paul was like this.
Remember in Acts after he fought that ferocious battle in Jerusalem in order make sure that the Gentiles did not have to be circumcised.
Immediately after that, do you remember what he did?
Acts 16:1-3 “Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. And a disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, and he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted this man to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.”
Even later when Paul arrived back in Jerusalem,
He found out that he had been the victim of false accusation.
Acts 21:20-26 “And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law; and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. “What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. “Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law. “But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.” Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.”
And Paul did it.
He did not want to lose his credibility with the lost world.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.”
Paul was willing to sacrifice self,
In order to be able to maintain credibility with the lost he longed to reach.
And Jesus was no different.
Matthew 17:24-27 “When they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?” He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?” When Peter said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are exempt. “However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.”
AND THAT IS LOVE.
And that is where Paul begins here with the Thessalonians.
Before he ever tells them about practical ministries they can start,
The first step of love is that they get their own lives in order
So as to be able to gain credibility with a lost world.
And here is the question for you.
• How hard would you be willing to work to gain the respect of the lost?
• Would you be willing to sacrifice yourself in order to gain an opportunity to share the love of Christ with someone else?
That is what Paul is about to ask the Thessalonians to do.
What we see here are three bad habits
For Christians seeking to impact a lost world.
1) BUSYNESS
“and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life”
The statement Paul makes here almost appears to be contradictory.
The word “ambition” literally means “to love or seek after honor”
The word “quiet” is just the opposite meaning “to be still; quiet, tranquil”
It’s kind of like the statement we would make to “hurry up and wait”.
Paul tells them to be ambitious, but not in a worldly sense.
He tells them that their ambition is to be different from that of the world.
Their ambition is “to lead a quiet life”
And of course this can have several applications to life.
On one hand it speaks of contentment.
Be tranquil, in the sense of contentment.
Don’t be the type of person that is always discontented and restless
Always wanting something more.
Such a lifestyle sends a bad message to a lost world
We are supposed to be those who are fulfilled and content in life.
We are supposed to be those who are at peace in our circumstances.
We are supposed to be those who have enough and have found the answer.
Show a little tranquility in the midst of this rat race world.
Another application could be in regard to being a busybody or gossip.
The 2nd letter he wrote to the Thessalonians seems to imply this.
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.”
They were apparently sticking their nose in other people’s business,
Trying to jump in the middle of other people’s dilemmas.
We have all seen compassion cross the line to just being nosy.
We have all heard prayer requests turn into gossip.
And that is also a bad example to the world.
And either way here Paul is letting you know that
Either being a flustered, discontented person, or a nosy busybody;
Either way will not win you the respect of the world.
If you want to win their respect, be content, be tranquil, be at peace,
And don’t jump into the gossip rat race of life.
So one bad habit is busyness
2) CARELESSNESS
“and attend to your own business”
Most people read this as if Paul is saying “Mind your own business”
As if to say, “keep your nose out of mine”.
And as we saw in the last point, that is certainly applicable.
But here the Greek phrase simply says, “Do your own”
And instead of speaking of meddling in someone else’s affairs,
This speaks a person who doesn’t take care of his own affairs.
They are irresponsible.
They are not dependable.
And as a result they are always requiring someone else
To take up the slack for them.
And such behavior does not win the respect of the world.
Proverbs 24:30-34 “I passed by the field of the sluggard And by the vineyard of the man lacking sense, And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles; Its surface was covered with nettles, And its stone wall was broken down. When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction. “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest,” Then your poverty will come as a robber And your want like an armed man.”
A Christian ought to take care of his own affairs.
And this is as simple as paying your bills on time
And keeping your yard mowed.
Your non-Christian neighbor mows his yard,
And so it is obvious he doesn’t want your house to be an eyesore.
You’ll never win his respect if you don’t take care of your own business.
Busyness Carelessness
3) LAZINESS
“and work with your hands, just as we commanded you”
We read earlier in 2 Thessalonians that
If a man does not work, he shall not eat.
Work is important in Scripture.
Proverbs 6:6-11 “Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise, Which, having no chief, Officer or ruler, Prepares her food in the summer And gathers her provision in the harvest. How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest” — Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your need like an armed man.”
Work is obviously important.
Furthermore you live amongst lost people who do it every day.
You may even work with people who do it every day.
And if at work, your non-Christian co-workers out work you,
You will not earn their respect.
If you are a person who gives the appearance of a bum,
Because you don’t work, and you are always having to reach for handouts, that is not the way to win the respect of the lost world.
Now, are we as Christians striving to gain the world? – No
Are we working to get rich, and live luxurious? – No
But Christians still ought to be the hardest workers around,
Because they work alongside lost people who do value it.
And the application here is easy.
If you want to show love to your lost neighbor,
There is obviously no better way to do that than to introduce him to Christ
But if you offend him with your lifestyle or do not earn his respect,
You will never get that opportunity.
So the idea here is that you sacrifice.
• Learn to be content and sacrifice to earn his respect.
• Take care of the little things in your life that may not be important to you, but are to him.
• Work hard so that he will see you are not just trying to skate by on life.
This is the way you earn the respect of the lost man.
And this is what Paul wants from the Thessalonians.
(12) “So that you will behave properly toward outsiders”
The second reason is so that you will “not be in any need.”
We as Christians are called to be ready to share, not ready to borrow.
We as Christians are to be generous, not needy.
We as Christians are to be benevolent, not beggars.
And one of the ways we achieve this is by working hard
So that we will be able to give and share and not be in need.
Apparently at Thessalonica there was a hint of a problem
Where people in the church at decided to look for Jesus so zealously
That they were forsaking all other duties.
Some even quit working just to wait for Jesus.
And Paul’s point is that this is irresponsible.
1) You will lose the respect of the lost world around you.
No one respects a lazy person who wants to live off of everyone else.
2) You will burden other Christians unnecessarily.
When Paul wrote to Timothy about widows he said this:
1 Timothy 5:16 “If any woman who is a believer has dependent widows, she must assist them and the church must not be burdened, so that it may assist those who are widows indeed.”
The church is called and commanded to help those in need.
But if she is constantly having to help you because of your laziness,
Then she is not able to help others.
3) You won’t have anything to share with people in need.
One of the greatest blessings of Christianity is the privilege of giving.
But a lazy man who doesn’t even take care of his own responsibilities
Can’t appreciate that blessing.
Ephesians 4:28 “He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.”
And these are good reminders to us as Christians.
We don’t put our hope in money.
We don’t strive to obtain the world.
But we do work hard, and take care of our own responsibilities,
So that when needs arise we will be able to share,
And so that we can win the respect of the lost world around us.
And that is what Paul is pushing the Thessalonians to here.
He knows that they love each other.
Now he wants them to “excel still more” in their love
By giving of themselves
To earn the respect of the lost world around them.
He is encouraging them not only to strive to please God,
But to also strive to love people.
And this is good Christian encouragement.
If you are a Christian, then strive to be the best Christian you can be.
And if you are a Christian in this world,
Then be the best citizen you can be.
And if you are a Christian in the work place,
Then be the hardest worker you can be.
And if you are a Christian in your neighborhood,
Then be the best neighbor you can be.
And if you are a Christian in your family,
Then be the best son or daughter or aunt or uncle or cousin you can be.
Sacrifice yourself to show your love to the world,
Gain their respect, and earn the opportunity to show them Jesus.
That is how the church is to live in this world.
And Paul is encouraging the Thessalonians
To be that type of church.
I encourage you to be the same.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.”
