1ST THESSALONIANS SERIES
OUR PURPOSE
A TIME FOR CONCENTRATION ON OUR SANCTIFICATION
OUR ANCHORING VERSE
“FOR GOD HAS NOT CALLED US TO IMPURITY BUT TO SANCTIFICATION.”
(I THESSALONIANS 4:7)
“Finally then, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us how you must walk and please God — as you are doing — do so even more. For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus” (1st Thessalonians 4:1-2).
‘We ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus’
One of the richest blessings Carrie and I share is the joy of our 3 sons. Since they have come into our lives, Noah, Luke and Jude have made our days better in every way. Being their father, though, requires me to parent them; to instruct them. To do so, effectively, starts with my personal walk with the Lord. I must walk in a way that is pleasing to the Lord before them, first from my heart, then in my actions. It is only my submission to the Holy Spirit’s conviction and counsel that will create in me an obedience, which leads to a gospel-flavored fruitfulness. As I remain submitted, I must continue to do so, bearing fruits consistent with the Holy Spirit’s renewing of my disposition as their dad.
If I simply tell them what to do, even if it is right, but they do not observe me doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord, then my parenting will produce the wrong result in some way. They may hear and respond to my instructions, however, if they see the hypocrisy of my own life, then authority and respect in our relationship becomes compromised.
However, if I walk in a manner before them that is pleasing to the Lord, then when I correct their behavior, they are going to be much more inclined to listen and receive my instruction from a father who’s garnered their respect. As I remain submitted to the Holy Spirit, the old adage comes out of my life correctly: “I am not just ‘talking the talk’, I am walking the walk.” So, then, the actions in my life that are consistent with the Holy Spirit’s renewal of my disposition, then serve to provide me the proper authority to speak as their father and parent them.
So, when I then have the fatherly discussion with them and I have to say, “As your father, I am asking you to…”; “As your father, I am encouraging you to…” then the statements (the commands, the instructions, the encouragement) that follows bear the appropriate weight, often garnering the respectful and right response.
This is what Paul is doing here in chapter 4. This pastoral council (made up of Paul, Timothy and Silas) is asking and encouraging the believers of Thessalonica to continue to walk in a manner pleasing to the Lord from a fatherly-authority. Their fruits have served to provide them this authority and the church was, therefore, receptive and fruitful.
‘We ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus’
As Paul asks and encourages in the Lord Jesus, he is pointing to the fact that they are bound, as family, in Christ. Being made alive in Christ, the Holy Spirit is now the seed and the counsel that is renewing their disposition as the Lord’s children, yet also sealing them for heaven, eternally.
So, he emphasizes this corporate holy-branding that is renewing them all, in their submission to the Lordship of Christ, making each of them holy as He is holy. That shared identity is the mark of their sanctification, personally and collectively! This holy renewal taking place within them is then pouring forth through them - may this be ever truer of us, Highland - so that the glory of God is produced and that the good of those in our lives would be promoted!
“As you are walking in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord, do so even more…”
Highland, as Paul is asking the Thessalonian-believers to’ do so even more’, this is where I want our hearts to hold onto as well. Let us walk in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord even more so. This is the road of our sanctification that is being traveled - being, even more so, holy with each passing day and decision and He is holy. If we profess Jesus to be Lord with our lips, then our hearts belong to the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the evidence then becomes that we are less and less comfortable with sin and grow more comfortable within the presence of our Lord, Who is holy. This is how I have encouraged you to pray and I continue to pray for us, as we continue our journey of sanctification, which results in our hearts being at home in His holiness. Psalm 119:33-37, Highland, let us continue to pray through this passage, together.
I love you, Highland,
Rob